Children of the Sun

by Vanner

Cracks in the Foundation

Chapter Six: Cracks in the Foundation

The Swan’s Head was the sort of place where high society would gather if the highest society you had was lower middle class. Rather than tapestries and quiet music, it was filled with tattered window dressings and the sort of quiet despair that comes from equines asking “What have I done with my life?” It was quite charming if you liked melancholy and sort of sad if you didn’t.

Truthfully, it was the nicest place in Hackney Cove. The furniture may have been run down, but it was all whole. The window dressings may have been ratty, but there were windows. The drinks weren’t watered down, and the food wasn’t full of maggots. The owner of the establishment kept things quiet and patrons knew better than to start any nonsense.

There was gaggle of working girls that were standing at a table when the four ponies walked in. Ridgeline had announced the presences of Her Lady Constance of Stalliongrad, and bowed to her as she passed through the door. The girls tittered in amusement at the stallion that would treat a prostitute as nobility. They approached Constansce, all smiles and grins.

“Got a live one did yah?” asked a griffin. She was draped in a tartan that exposed more than it concealed to tantalizing effect. “And lookit him! All strong and fulla muscle he is!” She gave Ridgeline the once over. “Wouldn’t think a farm boy like ‘im be able to afford to travel with the likes of you.”

“Looks like you’ve brought an entire crew,” said a zebra. She was wearing a sarong, and had bangles around both hooves. “Are these ponies really loyal to you?”

“I am sworn to protect the innocent, and uphold the codes of Celestia,” said Ridgeline. “I will faithful protect the Lady Constance and Lady Heart Chase until I am no longer needed, or I receive other orders.” The girls giggled in reply.

“Frugal!” squawked the griffon. “You best roll out the red carpet; we got us nobility ‘ere!” The donkey behind the bar looked up from his scroll at the incoming ponies, snorted, and immediately went back to writing. The griffon turned back to Ridgeline, and ran a tail under his chin with a purr. “Why don’t you let Gina take you upstairs and reward you for your ‘service’ to our lady Constance?”

“D…duty is reward enough,” stammered Ridgeline. “And if I s…should leave her, who would p…protect her then?” The girls shared an uproarious laugh at the blushing pony. Constance only shook her head with a giggle.

“Now, now, girls,” she chided. “Ridgeline is off limits to you. He is my noble protector, and I won’t have you breaking his vows.”

“Break more than that he would,” said the zebra. “I bet a pony his size has got to be good.” Ridgeline was completely baffled by the zebra’s remark, though it caused the girls to again descend into fits of laughter. Heart Chase stepped up to speak.

“Ladies,” she said. “I need to get back to Bridleburg. Do you know of any ships that are headed that direction?” The girls turned to look at the yellow pony. She wasn’t dressed as one of them, and she carried herself with a certain authority that suggested that she might be more than just common stock. They fell quiet for a moment before Gina spoke up.

“Not much traffic goin’ up river, dearie,” said the griffon. “Your best bet is Ricoh; he’s the best barge captain this side of Equestria. He can get you there in a day’s time, if that’s where you’re headed.” Heart Chase nodded her thanks to the griffon.

“Thank you, Miss,” said Heart Chase. She turned back to her group of ponies. “And thank you all for your help; especially you, Constance. I couldn’t have done it without you.”

“No trouble at all love,” said Constance. “But please, allow me to escort you to the docks. I’d hate to leave you in trouble so close to your goal.” The ponies said their goodbyes to the working girls. They replied with blown kisses and coy waves as the herd walked back out into the streets of Hackney Cove.

The streets had begun to spread out a bit. Ponies had gone back to work at their shops or ships. The southern docks bustled with the loading of cargo as Equines, Hamites, and deer all worked together to ready ships for their next great adventure. Further into the city, the streets began to funnel into the eastern docks where shallow drafted riverboats made ready to head upstream for trade, smuggling, or whatever else they needed to do. It was breeze to find Ricoh’s ship, as it was the only triple masted barge on the river.

A crimson coated pig who had covered himself in nautical tattoos was barking orders to the mixed crew aboard the deck of the barge. His colorful language made Ridgeline blush with embarrassment, whereas Bard had to chuckle at the way he turned phrases. Constance tapped him on the shoulder with a polite hemming.

“And just what in the bleeding horn of… Constance!” The pig replaced his surly stare with a lecherous smile. “And what can Richo do for you today? I really don’t have time if you’re working right now, though I do always enjoy your company. I’m ready to set sail up river to Bridleburg; got a load of catapults for them. Why they’d need that sort of firepower is beyond me.” The pig looked over her companions, paying special attention to Heart Chase. “And who are your companions?”

“My name is Heart Chase,” said the yellow mare. “I’d like to book passage to Bridleburg, if you’re headed there.”

“What, all of you?” asked Ricoh. He pointed to Ridgeline. “I’ll take that lummox there; he looks like he could haul the barge there himself. Of course Miss Constance is always welcome aboard the Boar’s Head, but Bard can stay here. I’ve lost too much money to him at cards to allow him anywhere near my wallet.

“Nice to see you again too,” said Bard. “You still owe me money, if I remember correctly. But, no, we’re not headed North, we’re just here to…” Bard paused a second. “Wait, did you say catapults? You mean…” He scanned the docks for someone. His eyes wet wide as he caught site of what he was looking for. “Onboard!” he shrieked. “Onboard, onboard, onboard!” Bard galloped up the gang plank, and hid among the boxes. The other three ponies looked at each other with expressions of pure confusion. It wasn’t till a gravelly voice behind them spoke up that they realized the reason for Bard’s unrelenting terror.

“I wasn’t done with either of you yet,” said Einhorn. “You owe me another day,” he said as he pointed to Constance. “And you, Knight; you owe me blood.” Ridgeline moved with the swiftness of the breeze, and took a defensive position in front of the mares.

“I suggest you move along, Einhorn,” growled Ridgeline. “The Lady Constance is her own mare, and The Lady Heart Chase is none of your concern.” Einhorn only chuckled as he lowered his head to charge.

“I think I’ll take them both then,” he said. “I’ve never had two ponies at once.”

The stallion and the stag crashed into each other with the force of a tidal wave. Einhorn towered over Ridgeline by at least a head, but the earth pony was far more solid, and was at least twice Einhorn’s weight. Ridgeline reared back on his back hooves and lashed out with a crashing right hook to Einhon’s sides. The stag winced as the blow connected and sent him staggering. Einhorn came back with a swipe of antler that filled the pony’s mouth with blood. It was that taste of salty iron that seemed to lower the temperature of the docks by ten degrees.

Shouting came from other places on the docks as more of Einhorn’s crew joined the fray. Heart Chase and Constance ran aboard the Boar’s Head in a panic. As the crew franticly struggled to unmoor the boat, they ponies looked back in horror at the unfolding carnage.

Ridgeline’s soft grey eyes had gone nearly black. Einhorn swung again at the stallion only to have his horn caught in the pony’s teeth. The last thing the stag ever heard was the crunch of his own vertebra. Einhorn was lucky to be dead so he couldn’t feel what happened next. Ridgeline shattered through the other attackers, wielding Einhorn’s broken body as a club. Zebras and Hamites were tossed aside under the weight to the stag before Ridgeline slammed the corpse to the ground and charged at the other attackers.

The stallion crushed under hoof every single creature that stood in his path. Hamites were sent careening across the docks and into the waters by bone-snapping hooves. Ponies who tried to stab at him with cutlasses or spears had their throats bitten out as if by a lion. Necks snapped as if they were reeds in the wind beneath his bucks. Ridgeline threw entire crates of cargo atop creatures that weren’t even involved in the fight, and plowed through the docks as if he were the vengeance of a forgotten god. In the short minute since the fight started, a dozen bodies lay broken beneath his hooves in a display of unquenchable rage that made a slaughterhouse look like field of daisies. Creatures of every stripe ran in terror from the harbinger of death.

Bard stood up and wrapped his magic around Ridgeline’s mind. What he found there was an all consuming bloodlust that he couldn’t read past. All he heard was the unholy scream of fury that threatened to consume his sanity. The blacked eyes of the earth pony turned toward the unicorn. He charged at the fleeing boat and lept across the widening gap between the boat and the charnel house of the docks. He landed on the deck with a braying that sent everypony scrambling in terror. Sparkles of magic wrapped around Ridgeline’s head, and he fell asleep. The ponies stood staring in horror at the blood soaked pony that slept upon the deck.

“What the hell was that?” asked Heart Chase. “He just… murdered all those creatures! That wasn’t defense; that was a slaughter! My goddess, what happened back there?”

“Berserker,” said Bard. He shook his head it fits and spasms. “I’ve seen it once before, but never in a pony so powerful.” He gritted his teeth, and twitched his head again. “It’s… the voice of a demon that takes….” He closed an eye, and ground his teeth. “Takes over… and…” He cried out in pain before he dropped to the deck. Heart Chase galloped to Bard; he was panting in pain.

“I’m fine!” he said, pushing her away. “I’m fine. Just… that voice inside his head… It’s like something that bores into your soul, and you have to force out.” He panted for a moment more before coming to rest. “Poor Ridgeline,” he said at last.

“Poor Ridgeline?” asked Constance. “Poor Einhorn! That stag wasn’t a kind creature by any stretch of the imagination, but that monster nearly ripped his head off. No pony should be that powerful! He’s dangerous. We can’t travel with him.”

Bard looked at the copper coated pony as he snored on the deck. He was completely caked in blood, and he had not a scratch on him. Bard only shook his head; it was no wonder Ridgeline’s mind seemed simple. There was a demon in there that prevented him from reaching his full potential. Ridgeline wouldn’t have been terribly clever anyway, but that… thing inside his head had stunted his growth, and turned him into a monster. Bard only felt pity for the earth pony.

As the river boat sailed north, the deck hands worked around the sleeping pony. After the display on the docks, none wanted to come near him, lest everyone on board wind up dead. The stiff autumn winds propelled the barge through the calmed river as the navigator tacked back and forth across its width. Ricoh spoke on deck with the herd of ponies.

“You’ll get that monster off my ship when we hit Bridleburg,” said Ricoh. “Else I’ll cut his throat as he sleeps, and throw him overboard.”

“Ridgeline is harmless unless he gets a taste of blood,” said Bard. “He is a simple pony, who only lives to make others happy. It’s not his fault he’s cursed, and I won’t have you trying to kill him for it.”

“Fine,” said Richo. “You are responsible for him. If he so much steps a hoof out of line, he dies. Understood?” Bard nodded. “Now as to passage…”

“Take if off what you owe me,” said Bard. “That covers me and Ridgeline.” Heart Chase fished out a small sapphire, and presented it to the crimson boar.

“This should cover Constance and me,” said Heart Chase. “When can we expect to dock in Bridleburg?”

“Sometime tomorrow afternoon,” said Ricoh. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a ship to run.” He trotted away, leaving the ponies carry their unconscious companion below deck.

…

It was almost mid day when Red Chase and Quill Pick awoke. The fishing shack was not only warm, but incredibly dark, and the ponies curled up within happily slept their fill. Quill looked outside to see no traces of the pony patrols that had vexed them earlier the previous day. At least something was going their way.

The duo made their way north along the river’s edge toward the Chase Family Farms. It was only another five miles and with the patrols gone, it would only take another hour of hiking to make it there. Though their stomachs rumbled, Quill and Red pressed on. They’d find food at the farm, as well as help and other supplies. They only hoped that the farms were still there to greet them.

They walked with quiet chatter along the river banks, talking about their lives, and how they had spent their childhoods. Quill had spent most of his youth in the mines as all young Picks did. He picked up the business end of things by showing a propensity for math and accounting, and he earned his cutie mark by balancing the books in time for tax season. That was only a year or two before the war started, if he remembered correctly. So much else of his youth had been wrapped up in providing for the war effort. As their father left for the fields of battle, Quill and Silk had stayed behind to run the mines. Every day they shipped ore and gems in great wagon trains to the old capital, and they waited for news from the front. When it was all over, Iron Pick had come home from the castle’s last stand, but never spoke of what happened there.

Red Chase took in Quill’s history with fascination. Much like herself, he had been forced to grow up in the middle of a war, and take on responsibility one wouldn’t expect of fillies and colts of their age. Here they were, the youth of two different wars, separated only by four years time. Quill and his late brother had been forced into adulthood by the coming of the Lunar Rebellion and Red had been catapulted into responsibility by ponies’ reaction to the aftermath of that war. They stood at a crossroads now, both figuratively, and literally. Red led Quill north to the hills that surrounded the farm.

Looking down into the valley of the Chase Family farms, they saw graves marked with simple stone placards. In the fields were the ponies who had survived the attack two days before, moving on with their lives as if nothing had happened. Red had been a part of the Chase family long enough to know that when tragedy struck, you simply grit your teeth, and worked through the pain. Work heals all wounds, and if you’re exhausted at the end of the day, when are you going to find time to cry? Sentimentality was a right reserved for the elders, of which Red was not.

Red and Quill descended the hills and onto the farm. They ran first in Harvest Moon, a palomino filly who was Red’s cousin several times removed. She dropped her scythe and ran into Red’s arms.

“My goddess, you’re alive!” she said “Sweet, merciful Celestia, be praised! Every pony thought you were dead!” She let go of Red and stepped back. “And Master Quill! I’m so happy to see you alive and well. Oh, it could only be happier if your Aunt Heart were here.”

“Don’t worry about her,” said Red. “She’s fine. There’s no way she’s dead, I know it in my heart. You just keep watchin’ the river for her to come back.” Harvest Moon nodded, and wiped the tears of joy from her eyes.

“Oh, but we must get you back to the barn!” said Harvest. “A celebration is order, not to mention supper!” Red only shook her head.

“I’m sorry, Cousin Harvest, but we can’t,” said Red. “We’ve got to get into town to find Apple Chase and Iron Pick.” Harvest Moon looked at them with a skeptical eye for a moment.

“Oh, that’s right,” said harvest. “You wouldn’t have heard. Apple Chase and Iron Pick were married yesterday, and left for the mountains this very morning. Something about bringing home our troops. I only know what rumors go around the tables.”

Red cursed under her breath. Glaive was pulling strings faster than she and Quill could gather them. She thanked her cousin and bolted for the dining barn. Quill hurried to keep pace with her, and they were soon greeted by the sweet scents of supper. Red dashed into the kitchen just as the food was finished. Ponies greeted her with shocked gasps and hugs of joy. Red shook off the attention, and grabbed a spare saddle bag.

“I ain’t got time,” she said as she stuffed tubers and apples into the bags. “I’ll explain later, but Quill and I got a war to stop.” Quill grabbed up rope and some other bits that other ponies were carrying. They didn’t protest as he snatched up gear they would need for the road ahead. “I love you all, and if I don’t make it back, tell Heart Chase I love her. Watch the river; she is comin’, I can just feel it!” With that, the two ponies galloped away from the dining hall, and toward the city of Bridleburg.

…

The moon hung in low in the sky as the body of Glaive lay silent in the dungeon. His head had been wrapped in a massive iron helm to prevent him from casting spells, and he had been manacled to the wall. The screws in his cuffs had been turned tight to make him suffer. Behind that iron mask was only pain, and a pony that didn’t deserve to be there.

Iron Pick had no idea that a pony could be powerful enough to change bodies, but if it was any pony, it would have been Glaive. That soulless bastard had been there at the Castle’s when Celestia had banished Nightmare Moon and he had even tried to kill the princess as she wept for her sister. Had it not been for Soul Chase and Star Heart, he might have even succeeded. Iron Pick had been in another room fighting for his life when that happened.

Trapped with only his memories, Iron Pick remembered that night with horror. His detachments of soldiers were the last line of defense against the Lunar Rebels. Nightmare Moon simply shoved the mortal ponies aside to attack her sister, and left the Rebels and Celestia’s knights to fight it out amongst themselves. They fought to stand still for felt like an hour as sister clashed with sister behind them. It was Glaive who had broke the line by making one of the shield bearers a puppet. The fight spilled into the throne room. Glaive ran for the sisters but was too late. A rainbow colored burst of magic had vanquished the younger sister to the moon, and left Celestia weeping. Star Heart and Soul Chase broke ranks to save their princess. Iron Pick held the throne room from the onslaught of Lunar Rebels.

There was a cry of pain from the balcony and Celestia’s sobbing voice was downed out by the sounds of battle behind her. Glaive came charging away from Celestia. Iron Pick remembered the fear in his eyes as he sounded the retreat. The Lunar Rebels had been beaten, and Celestia was safe once more. Iron Pick still remembered the last words she spoke to any pony. Some ponies swore that she had said something else to Glaive, Star Heart, and Soul Chase, but to the rest of the ponies in Equestria there was only a simple message. Celestia’s final words had been spoken with such dark ferocity that Iron Pick and his soldiers thought the world might split at her hooves. Eight words forever changed how ponies saw their princess.

“I don’t know if I love you anymore.”

No pony had heard from her since. She simply flew away to Canterlot, and sealed herself inside the summer palace. The old capital was abandoned less than a month later. Ponies simply struck out elsewhere. They didn’t want to remember the tragedy that had befallen the two sisters, or the pain that they had caused at the split. The Everfree forest grew from the magic that flowed from the city, and soon it covered Equestria like a disfiguring and cruel scar.

Iron Pick thought back on that night, and how Glaive was sure to try again. No force in Equestria could get through those pearlescent walls. The ponies who had heard Celestia’s muffled words said that she had given the three ponies instructions on how to bring her back. Iron Pick believed it only because Glaive had returned to finish the job. Of the five ponies that were on that balcony, one had been banished to the moon, one has exiled herself, one was dead, one was insane, and the last one hadn’t spoke a word in five years.

Star Heart was the only pony in Equestria who knew how to stop Glaive. Iron Pick as the only pony who knew that and no pony would listen him so long as he was in Glaive’s body.