The Soldier
The Soldier
Azure Vessel and Greenheart were set up in camp that evening, around a small fire they had managed to scrape enough tinder for. They were able to bring Bulwark with them, but the going was slow, for he was larger than both the unicorn stallion and earthborne mare, and care had to be taken for his wounds. The duo set camp on the spot that Greenheart felt her connection to the land grow strong once more. The damage the pair saw at the cave extended far deeper than just what was evident on the surface, for the land itself was in pain, and could not respond to the geomancer's calls well. Azure had spent most of his magic on summoning his healing breeze to tend to the unconscious pony's wounds, so extensive the damage was.
As the night wore on, Greenheart took to watching over Bulwark as he slept, applying fresh bandages as gently as she could, while Azure regained his energy to begin a new round of casting. After resting a bit, the blue mage made his way back to his patient.
"So," he said, "this pony, you said his name is Bulwark? I take it you know him?"
"Yes," Greenheart replied, "I met him on my travels before I came to this place. I was passing a village on my way to a forest I had seen from a distance when I was beset by a group of highwayponies..."
-=*=-
She was excited, to say the least, to have seen such a beautiful forest from the ridge of the hill she just crested. The young earthborne mare was merely two months into her Earthseek, yet the prospect of having already found a place that could potentially be her tribe's new home had filled her heart with glee. So overcome with happiness was she, that she did not notice the small village just down the road, nor the group of three pegasi that were making their way towards her from a group of clouds up above.
It was not but when she was a mere twenty yards from the dirt road when the pegasi landed around her, snapping her from her reverie. The sudden appearance of the three stallions startled the young mare, and the intimidating presence of them was not helped in the least bit by the red tint painted upon their wings, the scruffiness of their clothing, or the daggers they bore in their mouths. One of the pegasi, apparently the leader of the trio, stepped forward and addressed the mare.
"Well, well, boys," he managed to say around the handle of his knife, "it looks like we have some dirt farming mare using our road. Perhaps she doesn't know this, but we charge a tax to use our road, and right now, we're here to collect. That'll be ten bits, if you please, then you can be on your way to roll in the mud or whatever it is you rock herders do," he said with a sneer, and thrust his hoof out towards the mare expectantly. The young earthborne shied back, not expecting to be confronted with such a hostile group of ponies. Perhaps word of the unification of the three tribes hadn't spread to this remote village? It was entirely possible.
The lead bandit once again thrust his hoof out, expecting the mare to simply give up the bits and flee, but she did nothing of the sort. Instead, she looked up into his eyes and held steadfast.
"This road is free for all to travel," she calmly protested, "and I'll pay not a single coin to use it." The bandit was none too impressed, and returned his hoof to his side. The other two stallions began to move to flank the mare, their daggers eagerly awaiting use, while the leader of the trio continued, a slight bit of mock disappointment tinging his words.
"Oh, well, that's too bad. Y'see, this here's pegasus territory, and we're not too keen on having you mud rollers come on through here, mucking things up. Especially when you have bits on you that would be better put to use in a pegasus' pocket. Now, we can do this one of two ways. We can do this nice and easy," he grinned as he clinched up on his knife, "or we can do this the hard way. Personally, I like the hard way. It's more fun. For me, at least." He stepped towards the mare as the others moved to close in. Before they got much further, however, a loud, commanding voice rung out from the direction of the road.
"Thou shall not proceed any further, cur!" The three pegasi and one earthborne turned to see who issued such a command, and their eyes were met with a large earthborne stallion. The tan-coated, gray-maned stallion wore a white breastplate with gold and silver trim, and chain barding surrounding his barrel and the top half of his forelegs. All four of his hooves bore greaves wrought in the same manner as the main piece of his armor, gold and silver trim and all. He wore a shield strapped to his left side shoulder and withers, while in one of his forehooves, he held a sword designed to match the armor and shield. He held a righteous fury in his eyes as he regarded the bandits.
"Thy depravities cease here, knave, and thou shall return with me henceforth to the authorities. Thine preying upon the ponies of this village and these roads is at an end!" He stepped forth, bringing his shield to bear, "Or, if thou wish, we can settle this in glorious combat, and let the fates decide who shall leave this field today!" He brandished his sword as the three pegasi shared a round of confused looks before busting out laughing. The knight took a moment to take the measure of his foes, and then, with a somewhat flat look on his muzzle, trotted up to one of the goons and bonked him on the head with his shield, knocking him out. The other two quickly snapped out of their laughter to engage the earthborne stallion, but were quickly brought to ground when the very grass beneath their hooves writhed up and wrapped itself around them. Their struggles were quickly put to rest with two more shield bops on the head.
-=*=-
"Bulwark and I then took them to the village, where the guards there put the bandits under lock and key," Greenheart concluded, "Afterwards, we introduced ourselves to each other, and have been friends ever since." She looked kindly upon his sleeping form as the campfire shed its bouncing light around the three ponies. Azure Vessel looked to the sleeping knight, then back to Greenheart. He then gazed out into the night sky, the moon and stars already marking their path across the great vault. For what felt like a moment, he almost felt as if they gazed back upon him.
"To have your friends by your side," he signed, "and to have your hearth by which to hang your cape. These things I envy you, as mine have gone missing. I wonder if the others look upon the same sky as I do this evening."
"Your friends will find a way to return to you once again," Greenheart offered, "The fates have a way of connecting friends to one another, even should they be separated by misfortune." She lay a bowl of soup the two had been preparing down next to Azure, before taking a bowl for herself. She had a bowl ready in case Bulwark awoke. "Where did you say you got separated from your friends again?"
"The bridge overlooking Ghastly Gorge, on the way to Everfree Castle. The last I saw of them, we had plunged into the river at the bottom. I awoke alone, sometime later, on the outskirts of your forest."
"Ah!" the geomancer exclaimed, "I know that river. It leads south below a mountain range that splits the San Palomino Grasslands in two. If your friends traveled further down stream, they would be there." A few moments after saying this, Greenheart heard some mumblings coming from Bulwark, "It looks like he returns to the realm of the awake."
Bulwark began to stir, first holding some one-sided conversation with himself under his breath, then shaking back and forth, whatever nightmare he was in slowly being torn asunder. Suddenly, he woke with a sudden shout, as he struggled to get to his hooves.
"HAVE AT THEE, JACKAL!" Bulwark was on his hooves, looking every which way, until it dawned on him that he was no longer in the cave. Greenheart was the first to speak up and meet his gaze, in an attempt to calm him down.
"Be at ease, Sir Bulwark," she cooed, "It is only my friend and I here, and we are safe in our camp now." Bulwark calmed a little, taking in the scene, and looked to the white unicorn with a blue mane, tail, and outfit. Greenheart continued, offering the startled paladin the bowl of soup she prepared, "You have been out for a while. Here, have this soup and tell us what happened to the Earth Mother. I cannot feel a strong connection to her any more, and the land was befouled when we found you." She had a look of concern as Bulwark considered the soup.
"Tis nary a boon tale, Lady Greenheart," Bulwark said, "and one which time doth not favor a full recounting of. A fiend of most unscrupulous intent moves against the crystals, and I fear the Earth Mother mayhap fallen to his vile clutches." The paladin looked to Azure, only now noticing his presence, "Pray tell, who might thou be, whom keeps Lady Greenheart company whilst I recover?" The sudden attention startled Azure.
"Oh, my apologies," Greenheart answered, "I forgot to introduce my friend. This is Azure Vessel, a blue mage from the village of Cornelia. He had stumbled into my grove after taking a recreational dive off a bridge really high up." She giggled as she teased the still mentally stunned unicorn.
"It, er, wasn't so much of a dive," Azure reached a forehoof up to the back of his head to scratch his mane, "as it was me being exploded off of it. Then there was another explosion, I passed out, and I awoke some time later to meet Greenheart here." He sheepishly grinned as he pointed to the mare. Bulwark had a bit of a disbelieving look on his face as he regarded the mage's tale.
"Thou... exploded? Twice?" the paladin asked, confused.
"Um, apparently, I guess. It could have been more than twice, I'm not sure. There was a lot of loud noises, screaming, and blue everywhere..." Azure limply kicked at a loose rock he found on the ground.
"How is that even..." Bulwark looked to Greenheart, who could only offer a shrug as an answer. The large stallion shook his head and continued on, "Nevermind that. Azure Vessel, it is to the ministrations of Lady Greenheart and thyself that I remain upon this mortal coil. Therefore thou hath my thanks, and I pledge to do my best to repay thy favor as is necessary and just. I am Bulwark, paladin of the Order of Saint Ajora, and sworn protector of the Earth Mother and her sisters."
"However," he continued, his eyes downcast from a bit of depression, "it seems I have failed in some regard to that last claim. As I said earlier, the Earth Mother hath come under attack by a fallen brother of the Order, a dark knight by the name of Garland. He had been cast out for dabbling in the forbidden arts of Chaos magic, and was to be sentenced to death for his profane arts, but the fiend made a pact with his foul god. He was swept away from us, his mocking laughter the only trace of his presence remaining, and the Order hath been hunting him since."
"I only recently had caught wind of rumor he was in the area, and I had not ascertained his motives until it was too late. Now the Earth Mother lay rent by his hoof, and I fear the other crystals might be next." Bulwark's voice held a mixture of fury and regret as he brought his tale to a close. Greenheart moved next to him to provide a comforting hoof upon his shoulder, when Azure reached into his saddlebags and produced the Wind Crystal. Its soothing glow washed the encampment in its pale green light.
"You mean, this?" Azure asked. Bulwarks eyes widened in shock as he beheld the crystal, shrunk in size, but otherwise perfectly intact. He turned to the unicorn, disbelief clearly scrawled across his muzzle.
"Thou art a pony of many surprises, it seems," the paladin mused, "How dist thou come across the Wind Mother, and what pact hath been made to have her come with thee?" Azure put the Wind Crystal back into his bags, then turned to the earthborne with some slight confusion etched across his muzzle.
"Finding it was the work of Vin, a friend of mine," he looked up, a forehoof brought up to his chin in thought, "As to making a pact, I can't say we made any pact with it, in so much as it told us a riddle, then started tagging along with us. I've had it ever since. It sometimes tries to speak to me, or warns me of something sometimes, but I have a hard time hearing it. Sometimes I just have to listen to, and feel, the winds to try to catch what it's trying to tell me." Azure brought his hoof and his gaze back down to regard his two companions once again.
"Ah, then a true pact has yet to been made," Greenheart said, "If a pony makes a pact with one of the Mother Crystals, that pony can hear what she wishes to convey, and can feel her through her medium. There are four Mother Crystals, one each for Fire, Water, Earth, and Wind, and to make a pact with one of them is to be connected to her, and to feel her power flow through you," her voice dropped to a sad hush, "but now, I can barely feel hear the Earth Mother, I can already feel her slipping away, and I know not what to do..." She broke down into a sob, Bulwark providing a shoulder into which to cry.
"There is yet hope, if you act quickly..."
The gentlest zephyr brushed against Azure's ears, snapping him to attention as a whisper on the wind called to him. He looked around, wondering from where the missive came from.
"Hey guys, did you hear that?" he asked. The two earthborne simply gave him a shake of the head, not hearing anything but Greenheart's quiet cry, and the crackle of the campfire. A moment later, Azure pulled out the Wind Crystal again, looking into its depths to see if it was the culprit. Another breeze, accompanied by a slight pulse of light from deep within the center of the crystal, was its response.
"The cave of my sister... the land becomes infested... free her from Chaos..." The breeze departed, and the glow softened once more to its cool radiance. Azure looked up to the two earthborne.
"I think we need to go into the cave. I think we can still save the Earth Mother."
-=*=-
The trio decided to enter the cave in the morning, after they had gotten some rest. Bulwark's wounds healed nicely thanks to the combined efforts of the geomancer and the blue mage, and the three set off to determine the cause of the land rot that centered around the cave. They had entered the cave, and were appalled at the condition it had been in. While Azure had never been to the cave, he was fairly certain that the walls and ceiling originally didn't drip a thick, gummy ooze, and that the cave floor felt as if it had once been more solid rock than the slimy mud it had become. The looks of revulsion Greenheart and Bulwark were giving seemed to confirm his theories. Worse yet was the smell; something vile had taken up residence in the cave, and hygiene wasn't on the top of its 'to do' list apparently.
The cave descended several floors, and the smell got worse and worse. So, too, did the deterioration of the land the further down they got, as several sink holes and tar pits began to open up. The three had to be careful where they stepped, lest they get caught in some pool of muck and get dragged to their doom. Greenheart was visibly shaken by the horror of what had become of the Earth Mother's home, while Bulwark seemingly seethed with some unexpressed fury.
"Garland..." the mare whispered, "why would he do something like this? What possible goal could he be after?" The paladin merely shook his head.
"Making sense of his twisted plans," the knight offered, "will surely lead one down the path of madness. The knave only babbled on about bringing the advent of chaos and discord upon the land, and that his master will reward him. Whatever mind he hath left to him, it was too far into the clutches of insanity to make any manner of sense out of." Bulwark looked on ahead as they continued to draw closer to the chamber of the Earth Mother.
"Whatever it was he was researching when he was banished, it gave him power, that I can attest to. I fought him as best as I could, but the madpony, his lust for power had somehow granted him abilities far beyond any I have seen in my life, and it allowed him to shatter the Earth Mother as if it were mere glass. Something... unholy guides his hoof, and it means to make a move against Equestria. I cannot allow that."
The three adventurers came to a chamber that opened up somewhat from the tunnels they had been traveling in. On the far side from where they entered lay a stone door, engraved with the carving of a mountain peak in its center. The expanse of floor between there and the trio was covered in that same viscous, putrid slime they had been slogging through. The smell was almost unbearable by this point, the ponies having to fight to keep themselves from evacuating the contents of their stomachs due to it alone.
"Let us make haste to the Earth Mother's chamber," Bulwark said as he moved towards the door, "so that we may yet be away from this wretchedness." No sooner than he said that, than the ground between him and the door rumbled and erupted in a fountain of muck and grease. He quickly withdrew from the falling debris, hoping to not get buried alive under it, and when he and the others looked to the cause of the eruption, their surprise turned to horror. Laying in the center of the room was the skeleton of a dragon, one about a third the size the room they were in, and it was moving under its own power! In its skull, in the place where the dragon's eyes would have been, were but two baleful red glowing points of light, seeking out lives to extinguish.
Stunned by the sight, the ponies were almost caught off guard when the skeletal dragon swiped forward with one of its bony claws. Bulwark was the first to respond when he charged forward with his shield, intercepting the attack as it made its way towards Greenheart, who snapped out of her bewilderment at the sound of bone clanging against metal. She shied away from the fray as Azure began to gather his magic to lob a pinecomb bomb at the creature. The blast caught the dragon in its side, but it barely had much more effect than to rattle a few bones loose, of which soon returned to their spots on the dragon's side. Greenheart attempted to draw some of the power of the land to her to help her friends defeat this monstrosity, but her pleas went mostly unanswered. All she managed to do was to ease a few of the wounds Bulwark sustained as he drew the attention of the beast.
It was not long before Azure realized something was wrong. After having landed a solid blow from his diamond dog punch to little effect, he had began to wonder what manner of monster this was. It recovered from blow after blow of both his and Bulwark's swords, and Azure's magic wasn't having much effect, either. Greenheart was starting to tire from keeping the group healthy, and this dragon was showing no signs of slowing down.
"What is this thing?" Azure yelled out as he dodged yet another claw swipe. Bulwark suddenly appeared at his far side, raising his shield just in time to take the brunt of the tail slam that was about to hit Azure's blind side. The blue mage yelped as he leaped back, his heart pounding a mile a minute.
"It is an undead, the remnants of some poor soul bound to a decaying body via the power of necromancy," the paladin replied, "Garland most likely awoke it to guard this place when he left, but for what reason is beyond me. It has an unending spring of power, stemming from the realm of the dead, and it will not stop until we are slain by its claws."
"Then how do we stop it?" Greenheart worriedly cried out as she barely avoided being sliced to ribbons as a claw passed by her by mere inches. She did not know if she would be capable of dodging many more of those.
"Give life to unlife, and let it rest in peace..."
Azure once again heard a whisper on the wind, and the memory of the fight against the Mist Dragon popped into his head. While he wasn't sure that the same strategy could possibly work again, he gave trust to the words carried on the winds, and summoned up his healing breeze. This time, however, instead of directing it to one of his allies, he turned it against the vile abomination before him. As the rainbow colored winds beat against the bones of the skeletal dragon, it gave out an echoing moan as the bones began to disintegrate into dust. The last of the skeleton, the skull, faded from view as the winds swept away any trace of the creature. The three ponies breathed heavily as the skeletal dragon was defeated.
"How dist thou know to do that?" Bulwark asked Azure, his breath ragged. For his part, Azure merely nodded as he stood and began to make his way to the mountain-engraved door.
"The winds, they whispered the creature's weakness to me," the blue mage managed to gasp out between heavy breaths, "and once again, it is the healing breeze that I learned that seemed to work. I'm beginning to wonder if there isn't more to this Wind Crystal than even it's letting on." The two earthborne and the unicorn made their way to the door, the slime slowly beginning to recede. As they pushed it open, another large chamber greeted their eyes.
However, unlike the chamber of the Wind Crystal, Azure saw that this chamber had a far more earthy feel to it. Whereas the Wind Crystal's room had clouds within it, and a windswept look, this room had various rocks, stones, boulders, and gems scattered about, with stalactites hanging from the ceiling. In the center of the room was a dias, upon which would have rested the Earth Crystal. It was empty now, and about the room were the remnants of a battle, with pock and scorch marks here and there testament to the power witnessed by this room. All about were shards of crystal, shattered by some unknown force.
Greenheart, after seeing this, broke down and started crying, Bulwark once again being the shoulder into which she cried. Azure moved to the dias, examining it for any evidence of what they came for. After a few minutes of looking, he was about to turn back when the Wind Crystal floated out of his saddlebags, glowing it's ethereal light about the room. As the light touched each of the crystal shards scattered about, they slowly gathered in the center of the dias. Once all of the shards recombined, a small crystal, the same size as the Wind Crystal, floated before the group, glowing a soft, earthy yellow color. The three ponies gasped as it floated towards Greenheart and Bulwark.
"Thank you for freeing me from the grasp of madness and discord, my little ponies," the crystal said, "I am the Earth Mother, and I have grave news to tell of the darkness that stalks this world."
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I'm amazed you could write 36k words with only 4 upvotes man, I would've caved to depression by now.
I tend to abandon fics if they don't get enough limelight.
2603174
I haven't worked on it in a while, true, but I plan on finishing it anyways.
This was a project for last fall's National Pony Writing Month on Equestria Daily. All of what's up here was done in a single month, so there wasn't really much in consideration of worrying about upvotes or views at the time. Although now that I'm no longer under those constraints, I'd certainly like to have more readership. It's just not forthcoming.
2603224
Have you tried dropping it in a few more of the groups?
Writing one shot spin offs that require knowledge of the first fic is also a crafty method. ;) Assuming your fic can stand up to the new attention...
2603240
I haven't really thought of what other groups it could be put in other than the ones it's in already. Any suggestions?
And as far as spin-offs and one shots go, I had planned on doing a write-up of a prequel and a sequel story. I was going to try for the prequel first, as the sequel will need some elements from both this story and the prequel to make a little sense. I'll need to finish this one as well for that to work, but I think I can pull it off.
As far as standing up to the attention, I haven't a clue, as it hasn't gotten too much attention to begin with, so I wouldn't know how to gauge it really.
2603294
First step is to get some sweet a$$ generic art from literally anywhere on the internet, it garners interest in the story. It doesn't have to be super prevalent, but almost anything is better than nothing.
2603301
Amusingly enough, I tried that, but for whatever reason, FimFic wouldn't let me upload any of the images I picked out for it. I could try again, but I'm not sure how much it'd help at this juncture.
I also looked into commissioning some art, but just about every artist is busy or just won't respond. It's very frustrating overall.
2603319
Yeah sometimes you gotta trick them or 'sell' your fic. They're a choosey bunch, I was lucky I got Conicer to like my OC's story enough to do a piece for it. Instant success!
Well, damn. I have no clue why this image works now when it never did the last 20 times I tried to upload it, but whatever. It's on there now.
2603322
Well, as you might be able to see, the image I had actually picked out for this story finally decided it wanted to be uploaded. It's only tangentially related, but it does the job as far as I'm concerned.
At any rate, if you're interested, check out the story and let me know what you think. If anything, an opinion on it could help me figure out where to go from here. Your suggestions have already helped as is. For that I thank you.
2603322
I also just realized; I'm reading your story My Little Marriage: Mary is a Mare all the while speaking with you over my story. Either coincidence, providence, or just crafty planning on one and/or both of our parts?
Fate only knows...
3097906
Not really. I didn't base this on any specific entry of the franchise, but rather, drew inspiration from the series as a whole to base characters and elements of the world upon.
3097906well with the tital detaining to crystals i would most likel be pertaining to ff3