Ghost of the Everfree

by David Silver

55 - Final Harvest

Dry gathered ponies. Most of them weren't soldiers, which confused them, and the soldiers. One of those soldiers reached to tap the small cleric on the back. "What do you need this gathering for? It's against the rules, you know."

"Just once." Dry waved at the field they were next to. "A pony has passed..." He drew out a photograph of the deceased, recovered from the house, and set it in a prominent place. "This is the last time his work can be harvested. A friend of the... town... I don't think he'd want this last gift to go to waste. Let us all respect his fading wish, and gather it."

The energy shifted as the weight of the news fell on them. One mare stepped forward from the others. "What... happened? Will we have a... funeral?" The way she said it, it wasn't a common thing for Equestrians to think of."

A stallion frowned at that. "Doubt it... As if they'd let us."

Dry clopped as commandingly as he could, in his colt-form. "He is dead, that can't be changed. Let's respect this, his last gift. His last warm token of friendship. Let us think of him, the friendship we knew with him. Plan to share this gift with friends, new and old. This is a somber time, but it is not an end, just a start." He shivered softly, feeling too old for the moment. But he was an adult. It was time to act it. "I asked that ponies skilled in farming be gathered. If you can't or won't help, please, go home in peace. The rest, let's begin."

A few hesitated, but none fled. As others advanced to collect the harvest, it inspired others to join in, and they sang. It wasn't a cheerful melody, as most heartsongs were. They sung of loss and pain, but of collective strength and unity. They were hurting, together, and doing the right thing, together. It has taken their friend from them, but they were doing what they could, and they sang in somber celebration of that fact.

One of the soldiers, a stallion, watched the scene with naked amazement. "Who taught them that song? They don't seem... the sort that'd have it ready."

"They didn't." Dry watched it, that ritual of sorrowful friendship. "Ponies of this world sing what their heart feels. If you stay, you may become part of it... They..." He trailed off, sinking to his haunches. "They deserve a witness. I won't sing." It wasn't that he didn't feel the urge to join, but it wasn't his song. The loss, not his loss. He hadn't been their friend, just a passing priest...

Operating in heartsong, the harvest was done smoothly and without accident, at least no accident that wasn't smoothly intercepted by the next singer, catching the falling pony before they could hit the ground and flowing smoothly to the next part of the song. They were one creature, locked in song, and that field was stripped bare of any edible plant.

One mare slammed a sign down on the final note of the song. The sign had the picture of the pony, posted on the top, making it quite clear who the field belonged to. The song was over. She wheeled on the soldiers, armed or not. "Can we... Will you let us have our funeral? This food's... obviously meant for that. Just forgetting where it came from is too sad."

Another mare pointed at the sign. "Let us. What are you scared of?"

An elderly stallion moved ahead of the mares, his eyes on the soldiers all around them. "We have lost so many... This one, at least, we can greet with some amount of dignity. So many were lost, already gone. The town needs this. If you have a heart in your chest, you will allow us."

The soldiers shuffled in place, out of their element. One near Dry looked to him as if he should have the answer. Dry wished he could just go to school, in that moment... "It's not up to me. If it were, I wouldn't stand in the way. A final meal for a lost friend? How would I say no to that...?"

"Yes, how would you say no to that," barked the fiery mare, glaring at the soldiers. "Then it's settled. We're having our party." She stomped off, declaring the matter closed.

The group dispersed, heading home and taking the food with them. The soldiers were a bit of a disorganized mess, grumbling in argument and conflicted emotions on the whole thing.

"Hm." A mare, not a townie nor a soldier, advanced on Dry as the others dispersed. "No wonder you fled."

Dry looked up with surprise, recognizing the Lashtadan priest. "Oh, hello."

"Hello." She sat next to him. "Heavy is the burden you accepted today."

Dry swallowed thickly. "I... had to."

"That is a lie." She inclined her head at the foal, at least in her eyes. "No pony must do anything. You decided to..." She glanced towards that final sign left to rest in the empty field. "But I do think you did a good thing. All lines become one... in time. But that is a dream of our god, and we are not creatures of... that long sight. This line has ended." She flicked an ear back. "Perhaps? Mm, maybe they have children. It doesn't matter, not to you, or to me, right now. It's not fair."

"It's not fair," he echoed, voice wavering.

"It's not fair." She gathered him against herself and held him close.

To shed tears felt like the only thing he could do, in the mare's grasp. "I don't even know him."

"Nor I." She rocked with Dry slowly, providing comfort in her presence. "But it is a sadness we understand." She inclined an ear at him. "I confess, little one... It amazes me. You look so young, but you... It's not fair... You should be kept safe."

"It is never safe." He wriggled away to his own hooves. "Life is not safe. We survive..." He turned on the other priest. "We guide. Um... I don't want to do... ends like that."

"Nor I... But, should it come up again..." She placed a hoof on his head. "Please, find me. You don't deserve this. I will take care of the next. Neither of us wishes it... but I will accept it."

A thought came to Dry, ears pricking. "Can't you heal them?"

She recoiled, ears folding. "I am a priest... not a cleric. I speak her words, but I do not wield her power... Lashtada's will is mine, but not her abilities... Blessed colt, I would be jealous if I were not so sad. You should not have to... Find me, should this come up again." She touched her nose just between his eyes. "I will help as I can."

She took a step away. "I should return to the other foals. My duty does not pause. But... find me. For that, I will come." She hurried off back to the orphanage, with no supernatural powers, just a sincere will to do her part to bring her god's glory to the world around her.

Dry brought his hooves together. "A true friend. May her steps be blessed with knowledge and kinship." His prayer had no direct power, but he could hope Luminace would act, in some way. A pity he didn't have such a direct spell. Yet? Perhaps he could learn it, in time. "I think your own god already smiles on you." He headed for home with a little smile. He knew so little of Lashtada, but he couldn't imagine that obscure goddess would be anything but pleased at the work of her priestess.

---

"What is it?" The captain glowered, unseen behind her helmet, at the pony that strode in.

"The priest." He pointed off. "I have news."

"Continue." She sank to her haunches. "I would hear that."

"They have healing magic. I was unable to locate healing artifacts that would explain it. They are clerics or other users of healing magic." There were a number of magical specialties that might let someone perform a healing ritual. "It was not of mental nature."

"Not a soothing spell, good... That's something." She rolled an armored hoof. "What else?"

"He organized a... calling it a funeral feels wrong. A passing ritual?" He shrugged helplessly. "He gathered the locals to harvest the last field of wheat and corn that deceased had grown. There were no incidents during that."

She took a firm step forward. "What?! I gave no permission for any assemblies."

"No... The soldiers in charge decided, on their own, it would be a good idea."

"Fools." She stomped past him. "I should have been consulted. You give them one inch, they demand a mile. That's the nature of it. Has that demand already come?"

"It has, Sir. They intend to hold a funeral, using the food they gathered." He tapped the ground just ahead of himself. "I came as soon as I heard, Sir. I thought you should know."

"I should know. I should have known when it happened." She took a slow breath. "Get me a list of every soldier who should have used their rank to stop this madness. It is time they had a reminder of the proper order of things."

"Of course, Sir!" He saluted sharply and pivoted in place. "I will see it done." A mild nod was enough to be sure he was dismissed, and he strode off to get that done.

"This appointment will be the end of me." She went to the outside. The soldier that had just been there was still visible, striding purposefully. Her attention was on her loyal door guards. "You!" They perked and turned to her quickly. "Find those priests. I want them available whenever I decide it." She considered the two and pointed to the one on the left. "You. Stay here. This door still needs guarding."

She stormed inside, leaving the guards with her order. The one not commanded to stay took a step down the stairs. "I'll be back as soon as I can."

"See that you are." Without the other, it meant no breaks for him. "Good luck."

---

Their adopted mother jumped when knocking reached her from the door. "Who is it?" She hurried for it and opened it to find a soldier, but a familiar one. "Oh, hello there."

The female soldier that had promised food came in with her sides burdened with that food. "Good evening. I'm off duty." She said that last with emphasis, to be clear on that. She was not wearing armor to add to that. "I volunteered to get this over on my way out." She went to the dining table and stood there. Foals gathered around her to grab food and help them get away. "Such good little things."

The mother closed the door gently and joined in the effort of getting things away properly. "Thank you. This means so much... Have things improved?"

The soldier sighed and shrank a little. "No... There are some grumbling that the food taken from that field should be used to help everyone survive, soldier or citizen. To waste it on a funeral? We don't have that luxury..."

Dry stormed on her, glaring as best he could, which wasn't a very good glare in his adorable colt form. "They are hurting and need this. Tell your commander to let the ponies take care of themselves and they'll stop starving. Just..." He staggered back, eyes darting as if searching for somewhere to hide. "Just..."

Silver Spoon grabbed him, one arm around him and clutching him tightly, letting him shiver against her. "It's alright," she whispered, rocking him.

The soldier sank to her haunches, bags emptied of the supplies she brought. "I know... I know. But what can I do? I'm not that commander."

Diamond rolled a hoof from the plush chair she was seated in. "But you know where she is and can talk to her, so talk to her. If you can convince her to stop messing this up..."

Author's Note:

There is a lot of weight here...

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Comments

[Booster Spice]

The harvest in and stomachs filled, but for how long until the tyrant screams their defiance at the universe for demanding that wprker slaves need any form of sustenance beyond their own existance, while the tyrant demands their right to exist in rule, for the same reason, that they exist.

I think, therefore I am.

I exist, therefore I rule.

[redmar]

It seems that even the soldiers are unhappy with how extremrely controlling their commander is.

[badninja]

This commander need a personal meeting with all four princesses. I think when confronted with that they will definitely break because they are crossing lines that are not acceptable.