Chapter 31: Old Soldiers, New Friendship
“This is gonna be great!” exclaimed Shield Maiden, opening the door to the Pedersen’s small garage. “We haven’t gone camping at all this summer.”
“No kidding,” agreed Iron Hoof, as he entered a step behind his sister and looked for where the camping equipment was stored. “Your mom hasn’t taken me out in the woods for months now.”
“Our Mom,” the small unicorn reminded the earth pony. “My Mom is your Mom, and your Dad is my Dad. Remember?”
“Yeah. Still getting used to it, you know?” responded Iron Hoof sheepishly, before his eyes lit up in recognition of a familiar bag hanging up in the roof trusses of the small building. “There’s the tent!”
“Um, anything we can do to help?” asked the ankh-wearing leader of the trio of goth girls who had begged Foxfire to teach them about magic and were about to embark on an unexpected camping trip.
“Yeah, look around for the camp stove and any sleeping bags,” suggested Shield Maiden, as she pulled down the bag Iron Hoof had spotted. “By the way, I’m Shield Maiden. What’s your name?”
“You?” asked the woman with the fading dye in her hair. “YOU’RE the ‘Maiden of Brightly’? You were the Pony of Light against the godwindigo?”
“Pffft, no,” snorted the yellow unicorn, some of her black mane falling into her eyes as she shook her head. “I just lead the Power Ponies. The big pony thing was the whole town working together.”
“But you’re a legend,” protested the goth. “I mean, we must have watched the news clip a dozen times. You’re magic.”
The young pony’s ears flattened against her head for a moment in surprise at the effusive praise. Praise that threw an unwelcome spotlight onto Shield Maiden. Magic wasn’t what she was, magic was something she did. Something that she was still learning to use, just like her mother was, and it was her mother’s example that shaped the young pony’s response.
“My Mom is magic. I’m just a kid,” said the young unicorn, after a few moments. “Anyway, what’s your name?”
“Uh, I’m Leigh. Leigh Chill. But my friends call me ‘Chilly’, “ answered the fading blonde, hesitating at first, but growing in confidence.
“I’m Summer. Summer Longford,” added the ankh wearer with the flat black hair, offering her hand, before trying to pull it back as she belatedly realized she was offering her hand to someone with hooves.
The woman’s embarrassment became confusion as Shield Maiden held the woman’s hand in place with her magic so she could place her hoof in Summer’s hand. After a moment’s hesitation Summer’s confused look turned into a wide grin as the unicorn and human firmly shook appendages.
“I’m Charlotta,” replied the last of the three, a bit shyly. “People call me ‘Char’.”
Together the three humans and two ponies managed to find and extract a tent, three sleeping bags, ground pads for each, as well as a classic boxy Coleman camp stove along with various other small bits of gear.
“Okay, that should about do it,” Shield Maiden stated, looking up at the pile of gear. “Now all we need to do now is get you out to the woods so you can start working on mom’s list of herbs.”
“Mom said she thinks they should go out by the lake,” Seeker supplied, hoofing over a small list to her brother before retreating to an out of the way spot.
“That’s a great idea, you can be near water and there’s a campsite by the dam you can have a spot at,” the young earth pony. “Lessee. Silverweed, riceroot, salal, soapberries, hawthorn, and some others. Nothing too hard.”
“We don’t have a clue what any of those are,” admitted Leigh.
“And how far away is the lake?” added Summer, looking apprehensively at the camping gear.
“About four kilometres,” Shield Maiden replied, looking up with a surprise at the answering groan from the three women. “It’s about an hour walk.”
“We already walked all the way from the barge,” complained Summer, adding, “we haven’t even had a chance to buy any food since we got here.”
“We can give you some food. And I bet Windweaver would help out too!” the unicorn said, her enthusiasm lending an energy to everyone in the garage.
“And me and the other Power Ponies can help you get out to the lake. We just gotta let Foxfire know where we’re going, and besides, I’m her apprentice, so I can show you what some of the things on her list look like.”
“But you’re an earth pony, not a unicorn,” Char added, having also gravitated to a quiet part of the garage that was quite accidentally next to Seeker. The two glanced at each other briefly before drawing back into themselves a bit.
“Iron Hoof was Mom’s apprentice even before we became ponies,” supplied Shield Maiden. “He knows way more stuff than I do about plants and stuff.”
Iron Hoof blushed both at the praise and the comments of, “Alright!” from the women.
“Iron Hoof, why don’t you and the rest head over to the Hardings and see what they have. I’ll let Mom know where we’re going and see if we have some more stuff in the house,” the leader of the Power Ponies ordered.
“You got it,” replied Iron Hoof, expertly flipping the bag holding the tent onto his back. “Let’s go!”
A few minutes later a warrior pegasus and a witch unicorn watched with more than a little amusement as a trio of confused young women were enveloped by eight bouncy ponies, as the CMC along with Darter and Skylark, joined their friends at the front door of the Harding home. Windweaver and Thunder appeared as well, handing out what was most definitely camping gear and food for much more than three people.
“Don’t worry, we’ll keep an eye on them,” Pumpkin Spice assured Foxfire, pointing out two of her detail standing a discreet distance away and pretending to be fiddling with phones. A deception that made them stand out as Brightly still lacked cellular phone service.
“I hate that there even has to be a detail,” complained the white unicorn, raising a hoof to forestall the automatic reply that was instantly forming on the pegasi’s lips. “I know, I know it’s necessary. Especially after what happened with ‘Team Mercury’, we’ve got to make sure everyone is safe.”
The last reply that either pony expected to hear was the “click click” of a weapon’s action behind them. Whirling in place both ponies saw two armed individuals behind them. The first was a white pegasus with ice blue tints throughout his mane and tail, and similar colouration to the tips of his wings. Polaris took a moment to blow a bit of offending dust from the chamber of his Colt C19 rifle, as a wing slid a silver-white cylinder into a waiting loop on a bandolier filled with similar shapes.
Foxfire breathed a sigh of relief at seeing the pony who had given them all their chance against the Godwindigo, but her face soured as she saw his companion. He was a grim faced, dark complected man in a US Army uniform with a scarred face and a large blue feather hanging from the chain that held his dog tags.
“People are supposed to knock when they want to come in,” Foxfire growled at the intruders in her home.
“I’m not people. I’m a soldier,” Captain Rios tossed back.
“What are you doing here?” Foxfire demanded, feeling the urge to call on the energies at her command but stomping on it ruthlessly.
“My question exactly,” added Pumpkin Spice, her own weapon at the ready, but not aimed at anyone in particular. “Along with how you got past my security details.”
“Whoa, easy everybody. The captain and I are here to brief you and Lieutenant Ram about some stuff that’s happened up north,” Polaris stated, stepping between Rios and the women.
“You’re here for that,” Rios corrected, reaching up to touch the feather at his breast. “I’m here for another reason.”
Foxfire’s eyes widened as she saw and recognized the piece of plumage the American was wearing.
“Is that—” the unicorn began.
“A feather. Off the pony you back-stabbed? Off the pony that trusted you?” Rios demanded, not moving at all and keeping his hands still and at his sides. Even so, Foxfire reacted as if each word was a slap across the face.
“It… it wasn’t me. Okay, it was, but it wasn’t,” Foxfire babbled, trying to explain what had happened.
“I know,” Rios said in a too calm voice. “Luna explained it all to me.”
“You’ve talked to her? How?” Foxfire demanded in turn, desperation, guilt and worry colouring her words. “Is she okay? Did they get back okay? TELL ME!”
Rios stood absolutely still for a few moments, intently studying the unicorn in front of him. Taking in every line of face and body. Measuring the set of her mane and lift of her tail, all against the list of parameters that Princess Luna had drilled into him a hundred times. The tableau of bodies stayed in position for a few moments more, before Rios let out a breath and sagged slightly in relief.
“You’re not the Umbral,” he said, without preamble. “Thank God.”
“No, but I was. When I hurt the closest thing I’ve ever seen to my Goddess in an earthly form, I was,” replied Foxfire. “But not anymore, thank the Goddess.”
“What happened?” Rios asked, noting that the fawn coloured pony hadn’t relaxed one bit and was still ready to act at a moment’s notice.
“I got lucky. Luckier than I had any right to be,” Foxfire answered, shaking her head ruefully. “I had been arrogant, and blind and that thing had me in its power. So, when I blasted the princesses through the portal I was basically just along for the ride. I was nothing more than a mount with the Umbral in the saddle and holding the reins.”
“What happened?” Rios asked again, feeling the question deserved repetition.
The two pegasi in the room relaxed, seeing their charges were now talking instead of being on the near edge of fighting with each other. Polaris quirked an eyebrow at Recon, who shrugged her shoulders in response. Foxfire had never mentioned what had happened during the portal collapse to anyone except those who had directly witnessed the events, and this was new information to Recon as well.
“We aren’t completely sure, but we think that when the portal collapsed, taking magic with it, the Umbral basically starved to death, like a fish out of water,” Foxfire stated. Her voice was calm but her ears lay flat against the sides of her head and her tail drooped lifelessly.
“Just like that?” Rios questioned, with some suspicion in his voice. “It just died, because the magic went away.”
“The Umbral was a creature of magic, living in it like a fish in water or us in air,” explained the unicorn. “”When it died, it was so much in control of my body and mind that it almost took me with it.”
“That’s why you were in that coma afterwards?” Recon asked, committing as much as she could of the conversation to memory.
Her superiors had wondered what had happened and the town’s primary medical practitioner, Medevac, had been very reluctant to talk about the events as well. Even a midnight covert rifling of the clinic’s files had failed to reveal any clues beyond the bare medical records.
“Yeah,” Foxfire answered simply, before adding, “there’s more, but I’d need someone’s permission to tell their side of things first. Your turn now. Is Princess Luna okay, and how did she speak to you?”
“Through this,” Rios stated, holding up the feather to catch the eyes of all present. “It’s sort of a link she can use to access my dreams and talk to me there, but only on the night of a full moon and sometimes a day or two on either side of that.”
“Do you want some tea?’ Foxfire asked suddenly, surprising the others. “Or something to eat?”
Rios narrowed his eyes in suspicion as he took the now nervous twitches he was seeing in Foxfire’s ears. Luna’s lessons were paying off as the body language of the unicorn told him Foxfire was now a very agitated pony inside, especially compared to the intense interest he was seeing from her bodyguard.
“No, you might try to poison me,” Rios said, drawing a gasp of surprise from Polaris, but only a sad nod from Foxfire. “After all, I came here to kill you if I had to.”
Less than a blink later Rios was looking down the barrel of Recon’s P90 as Recon had brought her weapon into position, flicked its selector to “Fire” and moved between Rios and his potential target in less time than it had taken him to realize Recon had even moved.
“Don’t make any sudden moves,” Recon quietly commanded. “That goes for you too, Polaris.”
“I said ‘IF’ I had to,” Rios restated, and making sure nothing but his lips moved. “Luna told me that if the Umbral was in control of you when I got here, that the only way to save this world would be killing you to get it before you took over the town and then started expanding. Considering how long it took me to actually get here, I was pretty worried that me and Polaris might be walking into a town of zombie slaves under the control of the ‘Queen of Brightly and the Lands Beyond,’ if I remember the term right. Anyway, while I think you’re telling the truth when it comes to the Umbral, I don’t take chances when it comes to magic, so I’m gonna pass on anything you offer just in case that thing is laying low and playing a deep game.”
The three ponies in the room blinked as they absorbed the very long speech from the usually taciturn American soldier. The silence in the room stretched out until Recon flicked her weapon back to “Safe” and lowered it.
“That’s… actually pretty reasonable,” admitted Foxfire, before regaining her poise to ask, “Would you be willing to have a seat, or are you worried I’ve poisoned the couch cushions as well?”
“Punji sticks,” Rios riposted with a lopsided smirk. “That’s what I’d use.”
“What? Don’t like wooden enemas?” Foxfire volleyed, rolling with Rios’ apparent desire for levity, and both pegasi relaxed further as tensions bled off.
“I prefer being the fucker, not the fuckee,” and the soldier’s crude reply cause all three ponies to snort in humour, and Rios took the opportunity to sit down on one of Foxfire’s two couches. “Huh, no punji sticks. Pity.”
Foxfire sat down opposite the soldier, and crossing her hooves asked, “Now that that’s all over with, can you please tell me how Luna and Celestia are? And if there’s any way that you can tell them how sorry I am?”
“Well, I’ve got an idea,” Rios began…
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Glad to see you're doing better.
Dios: honest, fearless, tactless. No wonder Luna likes him.
11424467
thanks. It's... a process, and not a linear one either. But I am getting better.
11424581
A kindred spirit for sure, heh.
11424581
Recon too. Remembered what happened the last time an American army man started talking tough, and took immediate action not to let that happen again.
Can’t imagine what you might be going through with your loss. I hope you’re taking the time you need for yourself and your mental health to come to a point of stability with it. Thank you for continuing your amazing story, but it should never be at the expense of your own health if it’s encroaching.
11428845
I am, and I've got people who sit on me if I try to push too far. Which I do on occasion. Currently I'm trying to write at least one sentence a day instead of concentrating it all on my days off work. It's helping.