Blackscale

by Leviathan

Always Running

Two days. It had taken two whole days to reach Haysead Swamps. There was still time though. There had to be.

I was galloping through boggy woodland, dodging past swampy earth and twisted roots. I gave no regards to the idea of stealth or the danger possibly posed to me. Caution didn’t take precedence over what I was trying to protect.

This was about family. Specifically, my family. They needed me and I couldn’t let them down. They had never let me down, after all.

The branches of boggy willows whipped by me, curling limbs trying to grip me. Roots protruding from the ground attempted to pull me down into the soft earth. They were trying to drag me down and away from my goal. Leaping through the thick shrubbery left me with marks from their thorny bushels.

My mane and tail were matted with sweat and clumps of dirt. Strands of both were torn away by the vicious woodland. This was not a friendly place. And I had to go deeper still into the bog. I had reach a cave, a sanctuary of cold stone among the dry, hot swamps.

The closer I came to our headquarters the more my lungs burned. I had been galloping for quite a while. At least long enough for exhaustion to overtake me. Nature hadn’t constructed unicorns for long distance sprints, yet here I was defying biology. And now, for my dissent, nature was punishing me, stealing away the energy I so desperately needed to reach them.

Anxiety and paranoia had prevented me from achieving sleep in the days it took to reach the swamplands. The depravation of rest took its toll on both my mind and my eyes. My vision faded in and out as my hooves pounded against the soft, mushy earth. Alternatively, my mind was only able to focus on a single thought. Nothing was able to pervade the walls enervation had created.

It was only then, once I was overcome by fatigue and anxiety that a single gnarled root came forth. My fore-hoof crashed against it, sending me sprawling to the ground. The low-dug roots of trees that protruded from the soil pummeled my sides as I rolled over them. Unfortunately, I had been moving downhill, which forced me to roll continuously.

I came to a stop after crashing into a lifeless willow. The weight of my form shook the small tree, dislodging the narrow leaves. They fluttered to the ground, enshrouding me in their weave-like limbs. Leaves sat atop my form for hardly a second before being swept away by the abnormally strong gales.

I laid still with my eyes shut for a moment, body battered and bruised by the swamps that held my home. The azure of my coat was stained in the blood flowing from my numerous cuts. My breathing expanded my chest, forcing it into the earth and causing the dirt to grind deeper into my wounds. Weariness kept me ignorant to the pain and stress kept me oblivious to the weariness.

One choice breath brought more than oxygen into my lungs. An unknown substance drifted into my trachea bringing me to cough forcing me out of my rest. I opened my eyes to the sight of an ashen woods. A field of cinders and black powder lay before me, blown away by the wind. The wind had blown it away. It had blown it away from the direction I was heading...

Ignoring the protest of my tired limbs, I arose. All my hooves could manage to do was scrape against the ground as I struggled to rise. I had to push the cuff of my knees against each just to manage to stand on the flats of my hooves properly.

I pushed myself forward, holding a steady gallop that, while not exactly fast, was moderately impressive considering my condition. More ash blew against me as the soft gales that frequented the bog carried them to me. The black powder stung as it scratched at my eyes, but that was good. It kept me awake and gave me something else to focus on other than the burning feeling in my chest.

The tree line thickened as I pushed deeper into Haysead. The sharp twisting forms of the thin branches scraped against my shoulders, cutting markers through it. They were ignored in favor of something else. Something I found to be far more pressing.

Smoke. I could smell smoke. I really hope someone was just happening to have a massive bonfire, or a cookout, or something. Hah, blind hope. Is that what I’ve been reduced to? Sicarius had always said hope was a fool’s food. That, and sunflower seeds.

Limping farther into the forest the reality of it became more than just a wayward scent. A gray haze began to thicken, originating from an epicenter that could only come from the sanctuary. My eyes watered as the particulates of dead forestry and ash dug into my corneas. Or maybe I was crying.

There was only one possibility given the evidence: fire. The almighty destroyer, that which indiscriminately kills all, had made its way to my home. But maybe I would be lucky. Maybe the few who were still in the sanctuary escaped. Maybe they found somewhere safe to hide out.

Maybe, maybe, maybe, but no- I couldn’t hope. I knew I shouldn’t have hoped. Yet I did anyways. What a fool I was. My reason for living could not simply leave me. They just couldn’t. I wouldn’t let everything I’d held onto for the last seven years disappear. Never again would I be alone, never!

My sight was failing me as I willed myself deeper into the swamplands natural forestry. But I pressed on, oblivious to the ache in my joints and the fire in my lungs. The sounds of burning wood overpowered every other noise. The crackle of flames alerted me to my proximity to certain death. I lowered my head away from the cloud, opting to run blind. As lucky as I was it came as no surprise when I collided with an object. A squishy object.

“More of you!?” A foreign, scratchy voice exclaimed.

I didn’t allow myself the privilege of a daze. Rolling away from whomever collided with me I got to my hooves, shakily. My action was performed in time to feel the solid thud of two alien objects against my back. A heavy weight was pressed against my neck and chest, as well.

My hoof went instinctively for the place I normally kept my weapon sheathed, only to meet with my an empty pouch. They had already disarmed me? Before I could push against my mystery assailant and retaliate their voice pierced the air. “Trixie! You’re alive!” I could feel a blade being slipped back into my secure pack. An ashen mare pulled away from me to answer my prayers.

“Brightwing?” I asked. A mare stood in front of me. Her voice had been scratchy and throaty due to overexposure to the thick smoke. Soot and ash was smeared upon every visible part of her coat, hiding the deep crimson that was underneath. Thick wings protruded from her back but were covered in the smoldering remains of the woods. They should have been red and orange. Eyes that should have been a pale blue were glazed over and watery. In short, she looked like she’d been partially cremated. But she was safe. She was alive. There really was hope.

Her words were first to puncture the silence. “You’re alive? You’re alive! When they got here I assumed- Goddess, I thought I sent you to your death. But you’re alive. You’re so very, very-” Her speech was cut short by a series of coughing. I could hear the scathing noise of dust grinding against her windpipe.

I silenced her by placing a hoof against her lips. She needed to conserve her energy. So did I, actually. “It’s good to see you too, Brightwing. But where are the others? What happened here?” I found it hard to speak. My words came out as one blurb, strained and hardly audible.

She pushed my hoof away and brought me into a long hug. Somehow it was sad. “Not here. Not now. We have to get out of here...fast. Come on.” She motioned to run before I placed a firm(sort of) hoof on her shoulder, staying her. She looked perturbed by this. “We don’t have time for this, Trixie!” She looked at me desperately. I hated to see that.

I stood firm, my expression hard. “What about the others? We have to find them.” My voice was resolute despite the harsh conditions of our environment. Nothing could break my determination on that front- not exhaustion, not fire, not even more family.

Brightwing was looking more and more desperate by the second. “They got them! Now come on!” She was tugging on my hoof, her stamina drained legs dragging my stamina drained body gradually. She was so scared. But so were they, probably.

“We have to go back for them then!” I shouted, attempting to pull away from her grip. She was naturally more muscular, however, so all I managed to do was make myself light-headed in my feeble undertakings.

“Please, we have to go! They’re coming after me too. Them and their stupid fire! They’re chasing me right now. The others fought to give me a chance to run. Now run!” Tears streamed down her face as she spoke. Crap. She was obviously just as hesitant to leave our family as I was.

I bit my lip; it’s an action that any pony who has ever had a problem has done. It was quite obvious Brightwing needed to get out of here. Her ragged form showed just how little energy she had; if she reentered the inferno enervated she would surely collapse. I needed to make sure she got out of here safely before anything else. “Fine...but we’re coming back!”

Ignoring the last comment she had begun to run, checking behind her occasionally to make sure I was following. I galloped after her, straining to keep her pace. Even for a pegasus, Brightwing was incredibly swift. Only while traveling on hoof, though, she was rather sluggish in the air.

We ran. That is all we did. I knew not where we were heading, only that safety came with flight; constant, unending flight. Running was in my nature. From the day I was born I was running...until someone caught me. And I was going to leave them now.

My body was protesting my demands, threatening to collapse if I did not rest. Unfortunately for my body, I do not take kindly to threats. I pushed forward, tears streaming down my face as cinders rained down. The cuts overlaying my coat screamed out as the embers burned into them, searing me.

The flats of my hooves were aching from the constant pounding against the ground. I couldn’t see through the water that was flowing from my eyes. As my hooves pumped up they kicked the scattered waste of the bog into my chest, staining it with the disgusting mixture of dry ash and damp swamp.

Eventually I was forced to the ground. When my form had taken too much punishment it fell. There was something there that made sure I wasn't down for long, though.

“You have to get up!” Brightwing was standing over me, pale blue eyes begging me to move. “Please, Trixie, get up. I’m not leaving you too...”

I pushed my hooves into the soft ground and shoved. I was only able to manage to get myself halfway up before I felt my knees tremble. I winced in pain as one of my hooves slid out. I began to sink to the ground before a pair of crimson hooves wrapped around me and pulled me up.

Brightwing pulled me to my feet, allowing me to lean against her to support myself. Her eyes penetrated mine. “Come on, we have to keep moving.” She wrapped her wing around me and pulled me into a forceful trot.

I looked at her as we moved. “Thank you.” All I got in reply was a grunt. She never had liked thank you’s.

As we worked our way away from the nostril-burning scent I noticed a few things about my companion. Cuts and bruises aligned her body, some neat and clean, others...not so much. The nicks resembled those of spears and swords, weapons a soldier would use. But other cuts on her body were...they were made by a ring blade. The even depth of the wound all around made confirmed that. The weapon itself was unique to our guild.

Leaning into her crimson coat I asked, “What happened back there?”

“Keep moving!” Shouted Brightwing. Was...was she avoiding my question? No, no, it couldn’t be. A distant noise was heard. It was shouting. Somebody was catching up to us. Brightwing looked over her shoulder examining the thin shroud of leaves. “I’ll explain everything later!”

We limped on, our pace still pathetically slow. I could see my companion’s legs trembling under the stress of my burden. “Let go of me and move, I’ll catch up.” I tried to pull away from the grip of her wing only to find it tightening around me.

“No.” She stated simply. Her eyes were hard set on the trek before us, never straying towards me. “You’re getting through this and that’s final. Because if you don’t, I’m not sure I will.” Her voice cracked. “I can’t let another one of you go.”

Branches and snags ceased to scrape against my tender skin as the treeline thinned out, revealing the rapids leading away from the Horseshoe Bay Basin. The shouting was growing in volume. Both Brightwing and myself were exhausted.

We had to stop upon reaching the cliffside facing the rapids. I was deposited upon the ground as Brightwing laid down. Brightwing looked behind her again, brow knitted into a frustrated expression. “We can’t run anymore. They’re catching up.” I was about to interject when she placed her hooves on my shoulders pointing me towards her. “Shush. I need you to listen.”

The look in her pale eyes told me just how serious she was. “We were assaulted by some agency back at the sanctuary. They started a fire and smoked us out. There were too many of them for us to do any real damage. It was basically a small army. At least one-hundred to our fifteen. It was professional work too, but that's not important.”

Brightwing pulled her saddlebag off. A layer of dust and soot descended to the ground as it came off her shoulders. She began strapping it to me. What the hay was she doing? The distant hoof steps of the small army became louder.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

She continued, ignoring me. “They knew everything. Where to strike, how to draw us out, every entrance and escape root, nooks and crannies, how many of us there would be...everything. Even their weapons were specifically designed to keep us at length.” Where was she going with this?

Brightwing bit her lower lip, staring away from me. Something in her eyes, something more than physical pain. “And what’s more is that I was attacked. By an adept. Someone assaulted me with a rather unique weapon, trying to kill me. I fought them down and got away, though. They did nick one of my wings, unfortunately. I didn’t see who it was...but their form, their weapon, their style...it was one us.”

The comment did not work its way through my mind immediately. I sat their for a moment, dumbfounded. I couldn’t filter the idea that someone I knew, that someone I trusted could do that. “That’s not-”

“Trixie. Deal with the emotional garbage later. There are more consequential things I still have to say, okay?” I nodded. “Great.” She said, half-hearted smile gracing her visage. I loved that smile usually, but right then it just made me want vomit. The bellows and hoof steps were getting close. “Those saddlebags I just strapped onto you are enchanted to be waterproof. They have my ledger in them, along with and a few supplies. As you know, my ledger has a record of all outgoing clients and jobs.”

Wait. Brightwing never departed with her ledger. Seriously, what was she doing? “If there is a traitor, it’ll come in handy. I bet that you got ambushed on your mission. Right?” I nodded again. “Thought so. The others got jumped too, probably. You need to check it out. You need to make sure our family is okay, okay? All thirty of them.”

“So what you’re going to do is jump in the rapids and float out to Dodge City. There you’ll supply yourself and survive.”

Without thinking I blurted out, “That is the dumbest plan I’ve ever heard! We’re going to jump in the rapids? The rapid rapids?”

Her gaze hit the cliffside immediately. Uh-oh. “Wait, what’s that look?”

She looked at me sadly. “They’ve seen me. I’m too high profile. You, though, you are safe. They have no idea what you look like. I’m going to stay. Stay and hold them back. You-”

“What!? There is no way I’m going to let you stay here and die while I run away! I came here to save you and I’m not running away!” There was no way I would lose another friend. Never again would I be alone.

Brightwing smiled. This time it was that smile I loved. That self-assured, happy smile. “I won’t die. I won’t even fight. I’ll just keep them occupied. I'm quite the smooth talker ya'know." She winked at me with and flashed a copy grin. "But you need to go now, before they see that there was a second pony with me. Okay?” Her eyes were set on me now. She was set on this idea. It would have been foolish not to go along with her, because she felt quite strongly about this. She wanted to protect me. The best thing to do would have been to honor her wishes.

“No! Not okay! I am not letting you do this.” I may have been slightly, beyond irritated at the situation.

She let a hoof fall across my cheek. “I knew you would survive. I just knew it. You were always good at it. It was like your special talent or something. And I need you to do that now, okay? I need you to survive- for me, for Sicarius, for Aeria, for Star, for everyone. As long as I know you’re okay I’ll be fine. But you have to be okay.” She bit her lip.

“You’re the only one who can do this Trix. I don’t think I can...not knowing that everybody I’m checking up on...not knowing I’m the one who sent them into a trap...” Her wings sunk to the ground beside her, laying in a down, useless state. She instantly changed motions, looking directly at me.

Her pale blue eyes bore into mine, communicating her wishes for me. In my line of work it had always been a blessing being able to read faces...but right then, right then I would’ve given anything not to read her. Nothing has ever felt as horrible as the sight of that sadness. “You’re going for a run, Trix. Don’t ask me how far or how fast. Just know that I’ll be there at the end.”

It was just like Brightwing to spring something like that on me. She just had to go and make me feel that I was important didn’t she? She had to save me like that, screwing herself in the process. It was just like her to be self sacrificial. Why couldn’t she just be more selfish? Huh? Well you know what? I’m staying with her no matter what.

“Not happening Brightwing. I’m staying right here. Next to you. We’re getting out of this together. Then we’re going to find our family. After that we’ll find whoever is responsible for this. Okay?” The distant hoof steps were practically stomps now.

Brightwing let loose a deep sigh, despite her ragged condition. She threw a wayward glance to the woodlands. “You’re right. We have to stick together. We’re family. However-” She stood up quickly and rocketed her body into mine, propelling me off the cliffside. “-we have a better chance this way.”

Wind slapped against me as I fell. My respiratory system, already drained of oxygen, struggled to gain any sort of respite now. My eyes were closed against the force of the gale, water streaming from them. I’m not sure whether those tears were all related to the pain, though.

I heard shouts above the forceful breeze. I could make out the words “Halt!” An appeasing voice rung out above the throng of shouts, calming the shouts. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what was happening.

And I could do nothing to stop it...

Soon the crashing force the rapids washed over me, drowning out any and all noise. All I could feel was the cool blast of the sun-beaten waters and my own tired limbs drifting uselessly. I was launched forward, unable to muster the strength to stray off the path of the waves. Nothing could be done. Everything about me in that single moment was useless.

My mind faded as my senses slowly succumbed to the forces of nature. Soon only the harsh black of unconsciousness was there to comfort me. Maybe the world would be kind to me and let me die.

Author's Note:

Sorry it was such a long wait. I've been busy, no, no, extremely busy lately.