A horseshoe to rule them all

by Bronycommander

Chapter 4 Shattered Memories

Chapter 4: Shattered Memories

Despite the horrors they has witnessed yesterday, the foals had sleep well, yawning as they awoke. “Good morning.” Dinky smiled at the CMC.

“Morning.” They replied in unison as they got up for breakfast.

“Good morning, young ones, I hope you slept well.” Eryn greeted with a smile as she, her husband and Talion had bread with water and some vegetables for breakfast with the foals.

The bread tasted soft and fresh, being a welcomed taste for the kids.

Then Dinky remembered something. “Can I ask you something?”

“Of course. Ask away.” Hirgon replied.

“Who is this Sauron you mentioned?” Upon her question, his expression became one of disgust and anger.

“Sauron is the Lord of all Darkness in Middle Earth, a necromancer, an earth-breaker, a foe so terrible most fear to speak his name. These creatures are his servants, his warrior race. Orcs, or Uruks in their foul tongue. They were elves once...Brilliant and beautiful...but proud, cold and untrusting. Sauron's powers twisted them into these monstrosities.” He explained.

The foals looked at each other with unsure, realizing in what they got themselves into it.

Sweetie Belle’s expression became scared, just wanting to go home. Scootaloo was looking to the ground, worried if they could ever go home. Apple Bloom and Dinky gave them assuring smiles.

“Don’t worry, the Knights will have a way to bring us back home. They dealt with stuff like this many times before. ”The unicorn said, making them hope as they weakly smiled.

“You’re right, they will.” Scootaloo replied.

“I wish hope came to us as easy as it does for you. Your lands must be bright indeed.” Hirgon added with a smile of his own.

---

For the rest of the morning, the foals helped out to carry supplies and played with Eryn, having much fun, despite the situation they were in.

The woman had sympathy with them, weakly smiling, they were children, lost in a dangerous place, she didn’t wanted to imaging what Sauron would do to them if his minions would capture them. She knew they had to protect the foals from the Dark Lord.

“Are you alright?” Apple Bloom asked her.

“Oh? Just in deep thought.”

“How did you meet Hirgon?”

“My father used to be a constable, being a cold and hard man who served a rough justice. I tended to the needs of the prisoners and fed them, also singing for them. Apart from nursing my husband, my singing was what brought him and me together.”

“Sounds like a sweet story.” The white filly commented with a smile.

“So, if you fell in love at the gate, how come you weren't there when Talion was?” Dinky wondered.

“Well, that's a rather deeper tale, young one.” Hirgon replied.

His wife took a deep breath. “My father ran the dungeons. He was grim and uncompromising but he served ably and doing his duty by Gondor meant everything to him. But then he died of fever. The one who took after him, a Breeman named Ferny, was nothing like him. He was crooked to a fault, took bribes from the new prisoners to line his pockets in exchange for favors, including escape when he could get away with it! And he tried to have his way with women, myself among them, he said such horrible things. Eventually, I left and joined the Outcasts, descendants of those Gondor exiled from their havens, scratching a living off the rocks of this blasted land.”

That brought her back to me. At the time, I'd stopped guarding the dungeons and become a ranger as Talion had done. One fateful day, I caught a frail but fierce young woman sneaking out of the gate with a basket of stolen food...” Hirgon told as he looked at his wife with a smile.

“Not enough that anyone would go hungry.”

“Indeed not. The penalty for such a crime was death but...I decided letting innocent people starve was a far greater crime. I let her go. Then a few years later as life on the Gate become bleaker and bleaker, followed her, searching for where she'd run off to day and night until I caught a fever and became too weak to walk...Only then to discover she'd been watching me the whole time and she knew how to cure me of my ailment.”

“And keep him from any new ones, including a ranger's axe. For desertion, Talion and the other rangers were pressed to hunt him down. So I led him to the secret dens that only the Outcasts knew, did my best to convince them he was one of us...”

“And before too long...I was.” Hirgon finished.

Sounds like you both that the right thing.” Dinky said with a grin.

“Where are you going? The Outcast leader asked and the foals turned around, seeing that the Ranger walked towards the entrance.

“I…need to check on something.” Talion replied.

“Can we help?” Apple Bloom looked at him.

The Ranger thought for a moment. “Well, you were a great help in freeing Eryn, you maybe can help me with our new…allies.”

“We do what we can to help.” The yellow filly said before they moved out.

It was raining but that didn’t bother the kids in the slightest as they followed Talion for a while. Luckily, they encountered not Orcs at all until they came to a cart, where the small human-like creature appeared to dig through a pile of bones. “Sweet little ratsies…Where does it hide?” It wondered before Talion held his dagger at its neck.

“Desecrate one more body, and your corpse will join them.” The creature then hid under the cart as the spirit kneeled down.

“Show me another treasure. From your dreams.”

“Yes, we will prove ourselves, Bright Master. We will prove we are friends.”

“Take us to it.”

“Yes. Come…this way…come on.” The creature made a gesture to follow and climbed up a cliff, the human and ponies followed it without hesitation. “Must follow us, Bright Master! To the treasures we go.”

The group was led towards a ruin, where thy stopped in the shadow as a patron of Orcs passed by. “Nasties above, kill them!” The creature pointed to two archers up at the top of the ruins, Talion drew his bow and shot them in the head before they could react, clearing the way.

The creature then moved through the ruins, starting to sing. “Bright Master will takes us to the precious, we shows him. We shows him and he rewards us.” It then stopped behind cover. “Sharpsies up there, there!” It pointed up to another Archer on top of the ruins. The Ranger once again drew his bow and fired an arrow to the head, opening the way.

The human-like creature started to sing again as it led the group through the ruin.

“We likes the Bright Master, the royal one. Smells sweet, like flopping fishes. But filthy tricksy Ranger comes along. Cruddy Ranger, smelly, stinky Ranger. He hurts us. He steals from us…like Bagginses… Bagginses…He’ll shows us, then we’ll takes it. He’ll shows us, then he’ll steals it. No! No!”

The singing sounded very monotonous, lacking any kind of emotion.

“Any of you girls know what just a 'Bagginses' is meant to be?” Apple Bloom asked, the other shook their heads.

“No idea, but I think this…creature had a hard time.” Dinky suspected.

“We’ll takes it from him…we’ll takes it from…oh sharpest of sharpsies…But not hurting! No hurting! Gentle sharpies! Shows us, Bright Master.”

The foals looked with pity at Talion as they heard how the creature despised him, Surprisingly, his expression stayed neutral the entire time until the create reached a large ruin. “You goes. We waits here for you.” The creature said.

The man and ponies walked inside, looking around. “Your ‘friend’ seems quick to lead us to danger.” Talion commented.

“Knowledge of my past is worth any trial.” The spirit countered as Dinky spotted what looked like a headband on the ground, waving at the Ranger to get over here.

He picked it up and again, a white light engulfed him and screamed in agony, the light grew brighter, blinding the children.

---

Dinky opened her eyes, she saw a flashing light inside of a large castle. Blinking, she found herself inside the castle, seeing that the flashing came from a man that crafted something. The flashing came whenever his hammer hit the table before the scene showed a throne room. On it sat a man with pure blue eyes and long black hair, his ears were pointy. He looked to his left with a smile to see two female humans, a younger and older one returning it. The younger one had also black hair, a band made of flowers on her head, her blue eyes full of innocence. The elder one had blonde hair and black eyes, wearing a similar headband as the man on the throne. The looks of adoration they gave him were clear. She knew that look. She'd seen it on every family photo in her home.

Family.

His wife and daughter.

Then they all turned towards the door with surprised expressions as a man walked in.

She couldn’t make out any details as he stood in the shadow, but something about her made her blood freeze, feeling unsure and scared of him as he walked out of the shadow.

His hair was blonde, his eyes fire-red as he kneeled down and offered a well-crafted tool.

At first, the blue glow it had made it difficult to recognize. As the light vanished, she thought it was a hatchet or an axe by the shape of it. Still, the filly noticed that it had similarities to an old-fashioned hammer.

The man in the throne smiled at his visitor. “It is so fine a gift.” The voice sounded identical to that of the sprit, making her realize this man was him.

---

The filly blinked again and found herself in reality, breathing heavily to process what she had just seen.

She noticed that Talion was lying on the ground, not moving. “Is he…dead?” The white unicorn asked with fear.

The blond filly checked his pulse. “No, he’s just passed out.” She replied before the creature inspected the headband.

“What a gift…But where is the Precious?” It asked as Talion stirred and Dinky stepped back out of instinct as he shoved the creature back and grabbed its leg.

“You little thief! Come here!”

“Bright Master! It yelled as it struggled to get free and the spirit appeared in front of them.

“Talion! Release him.”

“Why do we chase these dreams? They offers no answer, only more questions!” The ranger yelled angry as the creature hid behind the ghost.

“These are not mere dreams. With each vision my power grows stronger.” The spirit explained calm.

“Master looks after us.” The creature said, getting their attention. “Ranger should go now. Very dangerous here. We waits at the ancient tower for him.” And like a rat, it slunk into the shadows, noiseless, and soon disappeared from sight.

The man and foals looked around, feeling uneasy like something was close nearby.

A terrifying screech echoed in the ears of the children and they started as a few meters in front of them, something shot out of the ground. It looked like a small, disfigured human, lowing yellow eyes, long, dog-like skulls, and sharp teeth and claws, screeching in rage.

Several more came out of the ground, the foals trembled as Talion exclaimed, “Ghûls!” He drew his sword, taking a defensive stance in front of the scared foals as the Ghûls charged at him, crawling across the ground on all fours.

The Ranger sliced them without trouble, but then, several packs of them appeared out of the ground, surrounding the group. Dinky looked around, trying to think of a way out of this, but it seemed hopeless as Sweetie Belle yelled, “We’re done for!”

“No, we’re not!” Talion yelled as his sword started to glow in the same blue as the spirit and slammed his left hand into the ground. It created a shockwave of the same color, throwing the Ghûls back and apparently killed them, as the glow on them faded, lying lifeless on the ground.

Scootaloo breathed heavily. “What are…Ghûls?”

“Feral, nocturnal beasts. They live in damp, fetid places or underground lairs, and only emerge from their nests at night when they swarm in packs to bring down prey.”

“Okay.” The Pegasus shivered but started to smile as the rain stopped and the sun came out again.

“Let’s check on Ratbag.” He suggested and the foals nodded.

---

After a short walk they reached another ruin, seeing an Orc in black armor, with scant strands of oily black hair around his scalp. His face was broad, his nose small, and His sharp teeth were packed closely together in a permanent snarl. It reminded Applebloom of the stoats and weasels who Winona chased off on the chicken coop at the farm; mean, greedy and sly. In front of him was another Orc, kneeling, his hands tied up behind his back. Dinky and Scoots realized the latter, it was the same Talion had interrogated as they first met him.

“B-B-Brogg, boss, please! I did all I could! I did all I-

Out of instinct, the ponies closed their eyes, as with a tarrying chop sound, said Orc was decapitated. Upon opening their eyes, they saw how Ratbag to brought forward.

“Wait, wait, you call this a duel?!” He asked.

“No. I call this a Losing duel, you glob.” The executioner replied and made a sign for Ratbag to kneel. Ratbag gave a snarl. He'd been pushed around one too many times already. If he was going down, he'd take the arrogant captain down with him. He stood to his full height...

And found himself looking up at the captain's guard, taller than him by a clear foot and a menacing look about his eyes and, more prominently, his jagged teeth.

Ratbag chewed his lip and knelt where the captain had commanded. “Right here? Is that…Is that good? I’ll just go right here…” Ratbag said in a scared tone.

We’d better hurry. Or he’ll lose his head.” The Wrath advised and Talion asked,

“Awfully temping, isn’t it?”

“Blind his many eyes and the beast can’t see you coming.” The spirit added as 4 Archers stood on top of the ruin.

“Wait here.” The Ranger advised and the kids nodded as he drew his bow and took out one after another.

“It’s your head this time. We haven’t had a proper execution in weeks.” The executioner commented with a grin art Ratbag, eager to do it.

“You can't just execute Ratbag 'cause you're bored?”

“Says who?” The Captain raised an eyebrow.

“Well...alright, fair point, but...”

“Listen, coward! You got lucky with that bloated old maggot Gimub but Goroth's end was someone else's work! Don't try to lie to me! You can't ride a caragor any more than you can shrakh mithril! So once I'm done, I'll find out who's really bumping off the maggots around here and mount their heads right beside yours!” The executioner yelled.

The Ranger sneaked behind a Warrior and stabbed him, before a voice echoed in his ears. “You!” He turned around to see the executioner looking at him. “These scum are no better than Tarks like you…and I will show everyone here how that is!” The Orc charged forward but the human blocked his strike with ease.

Talion tinned out the regular Orcs with swift strikes until only their leader remained.

The fillies saw that the Captain was blocking every regular attack, and nodded at each other. They had to help their friend.

Sweetie Belle and Dinky fired a non-lethal spell, making the Orc stumble, Apple Bloom performed a karate kick on left leg, and Scootaloo a standard buck attack on his other leg by using her hind hooves, making him lose his balance before he had a chance to react. “You little toe-rags!” he snared and attempted to draw a throwing-axe as they retreated.

Talion in that moment grabbed the orc by his head and touched it, saying something they couldn’t understand, as his hand on the head glowed blue for a second.

The Orc’s expression became one of pain and fear, making the foals wonder what Talion did to him.

But they all could agree on, they didn’t wanted to be in his place and suffer the same pain as he groaned with a painful expression.

He then let go and the Orc fell lifeless to the ground.

“Ranger! Well, now that’s what I call team work, eh?” Ratbag said relived as Talion cut his restrains.

“Go, before I change my mind.”

“What about our deal?” Ratbag asked confused.

“Our deal is over.” The man replied, holding his word in a threating manner, causing the Orc to step back.

“Oh very well then. I just thought we…right…” The Orc mumbled and turned to leave before he had an idea. “Wait, wait! Ranger!” He ran over to the Captain’s corpse. “Watch this!” Ratbag places the knife at Brogg's snapped neck but then noticed the foals looking at him with disgusted expressions. “You er...might want to look away.” They did and he cut the executioner's head off. “Now, Ranger, you see this?!”

“Yes, put it away.” He said with disgust.

“No, no, you see, if you want to avoid every glob in Udun coming after you and your slave friends, you'll want to keep quiet about your involvement here.” He explained before Talion put a hand on his sword hilt meaningfully. “Now, wait just a minute, I'm not finished.”

Talion raised an eyebrow, as he continued. “Right, as far as any uruk around here knows, Ratbag valiantly broke free of his bonds, killed the guards and tore this ugly bastard's head off, without even breaking a sweat!” He said with a grin.

“Of course. How could anyone doubt that?” The human asked with clear sarcasm in his voice.

“Look, it'll be as good for you as it will for me, Ranger.” The Orc poked Brogg's head in the eye and accidentally pulled it out, much to the foals’ disgust. Glancing at it, he ate it, made face and spit it out. “Where was I? Oh yeah. Now I can see that you're confused. That's fine, over in Gondor, I'll wager you'd get the axe for this kind of thing, but things are very different here. In Mordor the bigger orcs kill the little orcs. And if a big orc's killed, it means the orc that killed him is bigger. Logic, see. And a big orc is good to have at your back. So, and here's the good bit, once the Warchief hears of my victory, he'll make me his personal bodyguard!” He exclaimed with pride

“And how does that help me?” The man wanted to know.

“Uh…A backstabbing bodyguard? I’ll take care of one of the Warchiefs for you. And you do the other four on your own…Then we’ll meet at the training camp, right? I’ll make sure the Warchief is here…when you’re ready to meet him. Whaddya say?

“You make sure you keep your head on your neck this time.”

“You’re right. Well, that’s my plan.” Ratbag said and left.

“So, what now?” Dinky asked the Ranger.

Talion pointed to the dead Captain. “Something tells me the Warchief isn't going to be as thrilled as Ratbag hopes.

“Should we tell him?”

The Ranger shrugged. “He'll find out on his own.”

Author's Note:

Will he?