Tales of an Equestrian Battle Mage

by Babroniedad

02 - Sunset - What Dreams May Come

Sunset tossed and turned as she dreamed that night, the smoke and screams of those she exterminated filling her senses. She wandered from one scene to the next, seeing again and again the carnage of the evening replayed as she drifted in and out of deep slumber. Always ending with that final question.

“Why?”

As the sky began to lighten, her dreams shifted, regressing back to her training and conditioning for her role as a Battle Mage.

“Eyes forward, maggot!” screamed her instructor as her thoughts drifted. She snapped back into focus, eyes forward and ears attentive. “Better! Stay with me candidate!” the instructor continued.

“You cannot think of the low life vermin you are sent to exterminate as fellow creatures. They have lost that right or you would not be paying them this visit. By the time you get there, they are vermin. One step below pond scum, good for only one thing, extermination. There can be no pity! There can be no compassion! And there sure as Tartarus cannot be any friendship in what you are doing here! You are here for one purpose only! You are here to clean house! You are here to take out the trash! You are here to kill off these overgrown cockroaches, smash everything they have tried to build and leave them bleeding and dying under your hooves. No quarter! No mercy! And no hesitation! Do. You. Hear. Me. Maggots!”

“Sir Yes Sir!” chorused out from the battalion of mages.

“Very good maggots! You can be taught! Which places you one step above the trash you are exterminating! If you cannot do what it takes to complete your job, ponies will die! Ponies will die Needlessly! You have to be the iron hoof that shatters the challenge brought against your Princess! You cannot show weakness. You are the strength of Equestria. You are her iron will. You are her firmest resolve! Do not fail your Princess! Do not fail your kingdom! Do not fail your fellow ponies! Leave nothing but death and bitter memories in your wake! Be her iron resolve!”

“Hoo raw!” shouted the battalion, including Sunset.

“Soon you will all take your first assignment. This will sort the mares from the fillies, the stallions from the colts! This will be your chance to show our Princess you have what it takes to be her elite! To show her she was right to place her trust, her faith, in you! This will be your finest hour! To victory! To our Princess! To Celestia, our Sol Invictus!” Shouted the instructor.

“Sol Invictus!” shouted the mages.

“Hoo raw!” shouted the instructor. “Study hard! Train harder! And when the time comes, for those of you who prove Worthy of her Trust, prepare for your assignments. Then you will be accomplished and storied members of the mage corps! Dismissed!”

The battalion stomped in unison, then broke ranks and scattered to gather their equipment and supplies.

Her dream skipped forward. It was the day before, receiving her first assignment. Sunset gathered her belongings, placing them in her saddle bag and drifting over to the assignment roster to receive her first assignment. She was still buzzing with the excitement of the instructor's speech, and the thrill of her first assignment. She was not going to let her mentor down, she would show her, and all the other mages, she had what it took. She was the right stuff. She could be everything her mentor needed, and one day, she would be her partner, shouldering the load of leadership with her, so her princess would never need to be alone again.

Her dream drifted forward to the moment she received the orders with her assignment, taking the envelope from the staff sergeant, then moving aside to open and read it. She was thrilled to see her first assignment was a punitive combat mission against a known aggressor. “She really trusts me!” thrilled Sunset, reading through her orders. “I won’t let her down!”

She was then back at the end of the assignment, giving her brutal speech to her designated survivor. She watched again as the newt fled screaming in terror through the fields, watching with mounting horror as she smiled smugly while the newt ran off. She started crying as she watched them.

“No!” she shouted to herself. “No, I can’t feel mercy for them! They are less than insects! They are vermin! No!!!”

She was outside of herself, watching herself crying as she watched herself smiling at the fleeing newt. She screamed at her crying self. “Don’t you dare! Don’t you dare feel for them! You can’t feel for them! Ponies will die if you show them mercy! No mercy! No quarter! No!!!!”

Still her other self cried. Still her other self smiled in smug satisfaction. Still she shouted at them both.

She woke up with a start, realizing it was once again morning. Shaking herself free from the last of the nightmare, she rolled out of her bed and into her bathroom to prepare for her morning training.

Author's Note:

Poor Sunset. It seems she isn't of one mind on this, and seriously who could blame her.