Light at the End of the Journey

by Darth Plague

High Noon

The morning brought forth a warming gale from the sea, signalling that they were near the Vaverfront border. Hours of non-stop driving and many checkpoints later, the occupants of the truck could finally taste the salty smell of freedom. But before they could celebrate, beyond the horizon, a final obstacle stood in front of them: the Vaverfront coast guard.

As the truck rolled into their view, the coast guard soldiers had their brow up; their confusion heightening. Nevertheless, they made a sign for the driver to halt the vehicle. Mikael cautiously brought the truck to a stop near the security post and rolled down his window, as two deer approached him. They noticed his army uniform.

“Halt! This is a restricted zone. State your business, otherwise we will be forced to turn you around.”

“At ease, Lieutenant! I am Senior Lieutenant Matias”—as he stated, he gestured towards the badge pinned to his chest—“and my squad has been tasked with a mission. We have been informed about a possible disturbance out on the sea near our coast, and I am here to requisition a naval vessel from the coast guard. Here is all the necessary paperwork, but please hurry! We already wasted a lot of time just getting here.”

The two officers looked at each other and then asked Mikael to kindly wait. Mikael gave out a frustrated grunt, which was equal parts acting and equal parts real internal turmoil that he felt inside. Despite his paperwork being perfect or not, the more time they spent here, the more chances they had of being caught. But wait he had to, so wait he did.

When he saw them come back quickly, however, he was far from happy. Something was wrong, he could feel it. The two coast guards raised their guns at him, confirming his fear. A third deer strode up to the truck from behind them. Before Mikael had any chance to plead innocence, the deer spoke up.

“Apologies for the confusion Senior Lieutenant Matias but you see, we have a few… issues with your paperwork. For one, as Captain of the Vaverfront Coast Guard, I was not informed of any such…disturbance that you claim of. And yes, before you correct me, I know that normally coast guards are not privy to such special information relegated to special forces. But I assure you, my dear Matias, things such as this rarely escape me. Even a few… whispers from the sea.”

Knowing that they were caught in the act, Mikael made a split decision and stomped down on the accelerator. Immediately, the engine roared to life as the deer started firing. He could hear screams and panicked shouting in the back of the truck, but adrenaline had hyper-focused the deer, as he gunned straight for the strip of harbour at the far end.

Thankfully, the military grade vehicle managed to hold its own against the hail of bullets impacting upon it, but Mikael knew it was only a matter of time. The refugees behind had adopted fetal positions on the floor, hearing bullets rip through the weaker fabric of the rear part of the truck from above them.

As his destination came into view, Mikael twisted his body to look back, opening the small hatch window to the backside, and asking loudly, “Is there anyone who knows how to operate a boat!?” Silence was what met him for a few seconds, before a hand meekly shot up. Satisfied, he brought his attention back to the road and began rummaging through his bag beside him, taking out what looked like a grenade. He flicked off the metal pin and threw it out the window, as gas slowly bellowed out of it in a huge volume.

Once he saw that they were completely covered, Mikael stomped down on the breaks, bringing the vehicle to an abrupt stop, before asking the refugees to quickly unload. In silent shock, everydeer complied immediately, and looked to him for further instructions.

“Listen, they will catch us before we ever make it to the boat. I will lead them away as distraction. Get to the end of the docks. There is a teal-coloured boat over there that is placed for our use. Here are the keys,” he throws the keys to the one who had raised their hands, “Once you get away from here, head towards Vanhoover. There will be someone waiting for you.”

And with that, he drove off; dropping even more grenades of the explosive kind. Nodeer questioned how he planned to get away. They all began to book it towards where the driver had instructed them, hiding here and there when they felt they were exposed.

Helmi stuck close to Valla and Lumi as they made their way towards the boat. For whatever reason, she had grown close to the young deer, making her an unspoken third member of their two-deer group. The soldiers, who had earlier been concentrating solely on them, now fired at something else in the distance, completely ignoring the group of refugees as they silently made their way across to their vehicle of freedom.

The sky, which was earlier a mix of grey and orange, was now filled with the golden rays of the morning sun; already a lot better than how it was in Feslott. Reaching the boat, as others quickly climbed onto it, Helmi took a moment to soak in the morning glow, closing her eyes. It had only been a day, yet the difference was— in some sense—literally night and day. In her heart, she couldn’t wait until she was on the other side.

As she opened her eyes and turned to look at Lumi, she noticed a deer in the far corner of her vision. Looking at them.

With a gun pointed right at them.

The next few seconds passed in a blur, but the taste of salt water in her mouth shook Helmi out of her frozen state. She felt water around her, and a weight was pressed on to her body from the side. Suddenly, an engine roared from behind as she turned to see the boat beginning to drift ever more into the water. Somedeer had found a gun on board and started firing back, albeit with lesser success than their army counterparts, who had now coalesced upon the ship and began spraying at its occupants.

Helmi felt the weight beside her move: Lumi was hanging onto her, face down in the water, looking unconscious. She could feel her chest move but it felt shallow and heavy. Some distance away, Valla was trying to swim over to them, but she was visibly struggling as a dark stain spread around her in the water, clearly originating from her left hoof.

“Oh my God, Valla! You have been shot!” Helmi screamed at the sight of blood, stirring Lumi ever so slightly from her dream-like state. “It’s…it’s fine. I am fine,” Valla grunted with a strain, then thrusted her uninjured hoof towards her friend. As soon as Helmi grabbed it, she lurched forward from the pull, as Valla tried dragging them towards the boat. Someone lent a hand, which Valla took gratefully, as the refugees became more adept at providing cover fire and the driver grew more comfortable behind the seat.

As soon as they got on board, Helmi turned to help Lumi but to her horror, she instead saw her sinking motionless into the sea, one hand outstretched as her eyes stood open in a state of shock. Before she could do anything, Valla pulled her away and towards the floor, while shouting at her.

“Helmi! Stay down, or they will shoot you too!”

“But Valla! Lumi is still—”

“Lumi is gone, Valla! She was shot, remember?”

Helmi remained speechless but took a cautious yet terrified glance over to where Lumi’s body used to be. Nothing besides a dark red stain upon the water’s surface remained of the deer that she knew as Lumi.

“But…but she was right with me. She was breathing… we must help her Valla!”

“Helmi, please. She is dead. With no medical aid, she was dead the moment that soldier shot at us. If she weren’t in front of you, you would have died instead. Do you want her sacrifice to go in vain by going back there to die?” Valla pleaded.

Helmi remained speechless once more, drowning out the sounds of injured groans and cries of anguish among their crew as bullets whizzed by, and as the sun peaked once more from the clouds, temporarily blinding the coast guards with its sharp glare, she lay back down on the deck; her mouth moving in a silent prayer.

---

The sunlit sky shone a bright orange as the Sol star itself glittered high in the noon sky, rendering Helmi blind just to look at it. Still, she persisted anyways, opting to feel ever more the ONE thing she longed for more than anything in her life ever since she left home. Or more accurately, as a sign that said, “See you soon!” with Appleloosa written underneath went past her window, the only solace she had left ever since she had to leave a place that she called home once again.

More than anything, she did not want to look straight at the newspaper that the pony in front of her was reading; the title ‘OLENIA BECOMING A PROTECTORATE UNDER CHRYSALIS. THE CHANGELING MENACE SUBJUGATE YET ANOTHER NATION AND ITS PEOPLE MERCILLESLY’ splashed on the backside in bold letters.

The door to her train carriage opened, allowing Valla to enter with the day’s lunch in her hoofs. Helmi gave a tender smile, but the pony did not return any. Sighing, Helmi took her half of the food from Valla, who stored the excess food in one of their three bags that contained all their possessions. How ironic[/], Helmi thought as she dove hungrily into her favourite tomato soup. We came to Appleloosa with nothing, and then we left with nothing.

She winced at that thought. It was a tough decision to make. When she received news of what happened to her home, she knew the rumours that she had heard of when living in Feslott were more real than she had given them credit for. She knew it was only a matter of time before they came for Equestria, and although Appleloosa was far from the border, she didn’t want to take any chances.

And all for the better too, because no sooner had she left that the news came about the Changelings taking over Vanhoover and blitzing down towards Las Pegasus. The speed had caught everyone off-guard, but Helmi was at least grateful that her somewhat paranoid nature caused her to think of a backup plan.

The plan, as it was, was to reach the eastern port city of Baltimare by train. From there…well, she had only heard of it in stories but after further investigation, she found out that the famed deerlaw nation of Hindia did indeed exist. To her, it was perfect. Sunny beaches, a nation of deer and, most importantly, no nearby enemies.

A huff brought her attention back to her long-time companion, the wince on her face, as she blew tenderly over the soup, made it abundantly clear that it was still hot to drink.

Helmi watched her struggle, her heart slightly heavy. Out of all her preparation, Valla was the one that she knew would be the most troublesome. The journey out of Olenia had, unbeknownst to her earlier, left Valla a bit on the edge. The comfort of a home in Appleloosa had renewed some of her strength, as well as her smile.

But when Olenia fell and Helmi started ‘preparing,’ that feeling of comfort and safety was becoming increasingly foreign to her once more. She started looking at Helmi with an exhausted look, as if she would rather die here back home on some lawn chair, than keep running till the end of days. Eventually, in a moment of clarity, she decided that her foalhood friend WAS the home she wanted to die with. They sold most of their belonging, packing only the most necessary items or the ones that held emotional value to them, and began their journey east.

Helmi sighed as she looked once more to Valla. She was fit as always, and her body showed no signs of fatigue or malnutrition that many pictured refugees looking like. But on her face, she could see all the mental tension that was gripping from within. Today, she hadn’t even asked whether Helmi wanted something to eat before getting up to get lunch. At first Helmi thought it was just her psyche decoupling from her time as a housekeeper, but the venomous aura that leaked from her expression when their eyes met told a different tale.

A deep sign suddenly emanated from the golden earth pony, shuffling in her seat to go to sleep. Helmi gave an internal sigh of relief too and began to rest her head on her window as slowly drifted off to sleep as well; the view beyond her window changing, as vegetation slowly started to creep upwards on the southern desert.

---

In the sweltering heat pooling inside her train carriage, Helmi had never slept so peacefully. Her body coat naturally smaller since birth, the sweat matted fur stuck to her body like a make-shift blanket, cooled eventually by the evening wind that blew through when they reached deep into the south-east. A state of perfect bliss, in her dream addled mind. So, when the emergency siren blew like the Gjallerhorn straight into her ears, she burst up from her sleep with a start. Not noticing the flurry of movement outside her train carriage, as well as within, she gazed out of her window.

The sky had grown dark above the train, with rows of trees whizzing past them on the ground. However, Helmi could see bright flashes of light in the sky as well. Lights flew across the sky like shooting stars, following the path of objects obscured by the darkness. A bright flash sparked once more behind one of the objects, providing a clear silhouette to her. Helmi gasped in surprise when she realized what they were.

Planes. Hundreds of them.

From here, she couldn’t see what flag they bore or who they served, but she knew she didn’t want to stick around to find out. Finally bringing her attention back inside, she turned towards Valla, who was making sure all their items were packed and secured.

“Valla! There seems to be a battle going outside!”

“No shit!” Valla replied with a frustrated tone, then immediately suppressed what she was going to say next. “Listen, they have called up everypony in the train who has military experience to man the Bofors anti-air, but they don’t have enough. I am going out to help them. I might not be an Equestrian anymore, nor have any skill in using a gun, but this is still partly my home dammit!”

Helmi’s eyes grew enlarged as she processed that information. She didn’t want Valla to get hurt of course, but she didn’t know how to persuade her.

All that came out of her mouth was, “Well, what do I do?”

Valla looked at her with a disgruntled reaction. “Just stay here and try to keep out of trouble. See that nobody takes our stuff.” And with that, she opened the carriage door and sped away to her would-be post.

Helmi had felt a looming dread ever since she woke up, but it magnified after her best friend left. She was used to running a business empire, with a legion of helpers behind her. But out here, in the middle of a jungle with a warzone in the skies above her, she felt very out of her element. She felt helpless, and the one pony who could have told her how to help just left her alone to go fight her own battles.

Sitting back down on her seat, Helmi held one of her bags tight in her grip, as if hoping they wouldn’t leave her as well. Her gaze went out of the window again, as she had always done every time she woke up; an old habit that refused to die. But the scene outside filled with her something different than what she was used to. Rather than the cold apathy from Feslott, or the warm relaxed feeling in her small house in Appleloosa, what she felt now was absolute pure terror.

She didn’t know how many minutes passed by in dreadful silence, until the door flew open, and Valla came in with terrible fear in her eyes, as she screamed.

“HELMI, WE HAVE TO GET OU—”

The train suddenly lurched and derailed, their carriage toppling over as it went skidding on the dirt beside their tracks. Crashing into a row of tress, they thankfully came to a stop but not before rolling over a few times in a terrible dance of inertia. Helmi and Valla bounced around like ragdolls in a spinning machine, ending up unconscious but otherwise rather unhurt. Unfortunately, few had their luck: some carriages crashed with other carriages, with devastating results. Others blew apart by the sheer force of friction and deceleration. But a few did survive, and many could be seen lumbering out of what would have been their metal coffin.

Helmi woke up with a blinding headache, and her arm hurt really bad, but the entire lower half of her body felt numb and disconnected. She tried her best to move, to feel anything, but to no avail. Few minutes passed by in an agonizing manner as she tried to calm herself down, ignore the pain and move her body. It was only when she could lift her head that she gazed down to see her legs smashed by debris, a painful sight that explained her paralysis.

Her heart shot up in panic and grief as she cried for help. She could see ponies moving away from the wreckage, but they either couldn’t hear her or purposefully ignored her. As the hope slowly drained away from her, she heard a familiar shout.

“Helmi! Helmi where are you!”

“Valla? VALLA I AM HERE!” she screamed back, tears running down her face in a mixture of pain and happiness. Soon, Valla’s beautiful face gazed down upon her, tears running down her face as well. A small smile crept up on both of their muzzles as Valla tried to slowly lift her out of the wrecked carriage. Realizing the state of her legs, she opted to carry her across her back, galloping as fast as she could with a limp away from it. Helmi, scared and near-death just a few minutes ago, now felt the familiar warmth and comfort coming from being with Valla. She felt tired but the rising pain and decreasing adrenaline would not let her.

This inner battle would be won, however, when a shot rang out from behind her, snapping her alert. Both her and Valla looked back to see a pony limping away suddenly fall to the ground motionless. A hole protruded artificially from his back and warm blood oozed out.

Soon, other ponies suffered the same fate, falling all around them like domino, as the shots came closer and closer to them. Suddenly Valla lurched forward, throwing Helmi off of her as she too fell down. A streak of blood flowed anew from her hoof, as Valla cried in pain. Helmi laid stunned on the ground from the manoeuvre, not that she could move anyway. She glanced over at the pony besides her, as the same feeling of helplessness came over her.

She crawled slowly over to her friend, extending a hoof as she did to comfort her. But as soon as she laid but a tincture of her hoof on Valla, she swatted it away like a whiplash; cursing aloud as she did.

“FUCK! Please, leave me the fuck alone! I can’t, I can’t, I CAN’T! I can’t…,” her shouts devolved into whimpering cries, “I can’t…. do this anymore. I can’t run anymore. Please… please just let me go. Please…”

“Aw we got a cry baby here. Don’t worry love, we will soon put you out of your misery.”

Helmi, distraught as she was with how Valla was acting, stiffened like a tree bark when she heard that voice. While it had changed very much in the six years that she saw him, it had the familiar sinister tone underneath his playful façade. She knew already, with all her heart, that it was him before she even turned to face him. And when she did, the colour drained from her face; as torture victim no.1 locked eyes with her torturer.

“Hello… dear sister,” Olavi Lehtisaari’s quiet sneer boomed in Helmi’s ears.