Two talented generals in Equestria's regular army have powerful visions of lives they lived before.
Wander is a city colt who works his way up through the ranks. Green Brier is gentry who holds to his ideals.
No two ponies in Equestria are probably more different, yet they both keep inside themselves a powerful secret. Both of them have memories of a time of horrific war fought by baffling creatures on a distant world. Of those creatures two have shown them what it means to be an officer, to be a soldier...and to be a friend.
In this story, the first of The Somewhere Cycle, Wander and Green Brier share with you, the reader, these memories. See if you can figure out who their beloved masters were and what horse they were in our reality before the story ends!
This work of fan fiction contains characters, ideas, situations, and places found in the Hasbro Studios series "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic". No infringement of copyright is implied by this work of satire and parody, and this work is meant as a celebration of the people involved in the creation, development, and production of the series.
Original Release Date: July 22nd, 2011
Somewhere in time's own space There must be some sweet pastured place Where creeks sing on and tall trees grow Some paradise where horses go For by the love that guides my pen I know great horses live again.
-Stanley "Cap" Harrison
The Somewhere Cycle Volume I: "Wander and Green Brier"
Written by The Descendant
Chapter 1
Green Brier: My ancestry is that of note in Equestria, though I find it unbecoming of a gentlecolt to speak of his ancestors and rely on pedigree to fill his self-worth. Though my family was landed and of means my father and mother drilled into me at a young age that I was to make my mark of my own accord…they instilled in me the value of determination, drive, self-reliance…and respect.
My childhood was happy, and I wanted for nothing, and I loved my family. As I did my best to honor my parents and heed their words I had always the sense that these were lessons that I had always known, that I had already learned…
Wander: I grew up in a saltbox house, sharing a stall with two brothers. There were seven of us foals in all. My father ran a bleachery, one of a few in Equestria, an unpleasant but necessary industry, one of many he had tried his hooves at.
From the minute I was old enough, probably before, I was helping pull the cloth through the ringers. I felt the sting of the chemicals on my lips. I hated every minute of it, but I would help my family without complaint. Loyalty, determination, resolve…these were lessons I had learned already…
Both: …in the life I lived before.
Green Brier: Since before my mark was revealed I had seen visions of a life I lived before the privileged existence I currently enjoy.
In that life, I am born in a field of green under fleeing clouds. My dam is nearby, and within moments of my birth I stand on wobbly legs and cling to her side. So very different…
Wander: I ain't afraid to say that when I first began having the dreams it put me out of sorts. My mother, Journey Heart, would hold me and rock me, trying to soothe me. When she asked me what was wrong I didn't know how to answer her.
As she did, I was ashamed that visions of a different mother filled my mind. I see the large building, my dam, and the green fields beyond. I see them through eyes that are not really mine…
Both: …yet so very similar.
Green Brier: My father supported the decision I made to go to the Academy of Arms, though it caused me great pain to see how it worried mother so. Yet, it was a way to show all that I did not consider my high birth an excuse to avoid service to my nation.
Of course, and I do admit, my family's close association with the local Proconsul of Her Majesty's Parliament did not hurt my chances of acceptance into the academy. I have never denied my fortunate disposition in the matter, but instead tried to earn what had been given me.
Wander: I wanted to go to the Academy of Arms the second I realized it was on the other side of Equestria. I didn't want my father's life…not the one he planned for me. Fortunately, he accepted this, and I made my application.
It didn't hurt that my father had business contacts to make recommendations on my behalf. I've never denied that.
Green Brier: I do not wish to seem arrogant but I was, in point of fact, a most excellent student. I was fawned over by instructors for my studious nature, my professional demeanor, and leadership among my peers.
I was looked up to and admired by my fellow cadets, and I tried to make myself worthy of adoration. No demerits befell me, and when I graduated it was as third in my class.
I, however, could claim only one great driving motivation. It was one I could not explain it to my peers. All that I can say is that I feel that my Bobby would have wanted me to do well…
Wander: I was a firmly middlin' student. I passed under the gaze of most instructors at the academy, but to a few I did seem to stand out. A few seemed to see that my vacant expression hid something more, and took me under their wings (literally in case of the pegasi among the faculty).
I was better outdoors, out on the parade grounds and in the hills, swamps, and the fields where we truly practiced being warriors. Here I hit my stride.
I graduated in the middle of my class, but I had risen farther than I could have hoped for someone from my background. I hoped that Sam was proud of me…
Both: …wherever or whenever he was.
Green Brier: In the other life, the older one, I am an animal. I look like a pony, like any Equestrian, but massive.
Animals like me, not as vivid in colors as Equestrians, but large and graceful, surround me. Without, perhaps, the intellect of us Equestrian ponies, but with grace and bearing…a horse, yes…I was a horse.
It is disconcerting to me, in my visions and dreams, to see myself in such an unsophisticated state, but at times I am running in those fields and I feel the power and majesty of being a horse in that other world…and I am pleased with it.
And then the creatures come for me…
Wander: From the moment I am old enough to leave my dam in that body I'm brushed, stroked, wiped, and fed by the most silly lookin' creatures that a pony could ponder.
In that world they wear the clothes, they speak, they live in the houses and it is me and my kind run the fields. To my sensibilities as an Equestrian this is disturbing, but in that time it seemed so natural, in that body and that world it was, I guess, common.
The creatures, people, I guess…love me. They tend me, gush over me…
Both: …and I am amazed by them.
Green Brier: My record after the academy was one of constant promotion and acclaim. I was immediately placed in the staff of senior commanders, and then given command of a company, a battalion, and finally a regiment.
In my time with them I turn the 87th Regiment of Infantry, "The Stars and Garters", into the finest organization that a pony could hope to command. Other regiments stare as we turn tight circles, snap into our facings, and proceed through our manual of arms in clockwork precision.
Each morning I awake with my soldiers, and before we take our breakfast we bow to the sun together, and I beg Her Majesty to favor us with a day to prove ourselves in battle.
In my first trial of combat I justified in my own mind my charge to live up to the blessings bestowed me, and the trust placed in me. The enemies of my sovereign, Celestia, fall before my regiment in piles. They cast their bolts, draw their swords, and fall in great heaps, screaming in fear and pain and drown in blood and gore.
My regimental flag flies in victory, other regiments of our brigade flock to us in strength and the day is won.
As the assembled ponies chanted my name I closed my eyes, and there is Bobby, walking me down some garden path, leading me with a bridle. He stops, turns to me…
Wander: Out of the academy, I was posted to a fort in a place so lonely and forgotten that I have to pretend that I know where it is until I can find a map of it. "Here there be dragons," it stated, and I rolled my eyes.
There I waited.
The company I commanded was made up rejects and unfits from other commands. At first they scorned me, seeing me as another academy "gentlecolt soldier" to be broken.
Within three months this bleachery colt has turned them into a crack command.
Someone, some higher-up, found out. Whether as punishment or as reward I am sent other misfit companies. New ones…untested, rowdy ones…undisciplined, broken ones…scarred by defeat.
I made them into the 124th Grenadiers, "Wander's Colts", and their legend began at that moment.
Rumors reached me, more wild peoples from beyond Equestria's borders approached. I took my regiment out to where their siege weapons would be useless, where my crew could turn and wheel. They are surprised utterly by my choice of ground, the persistence of my attack, and they are destroyed entirely, not one of them leavin' that place whilst breathin'.
Across the snowy plains my soldiers carried me, shouting and hollering. All I could do was close my eyes, and there feel Sam stroking my head. I open my eyes in that world just as he scratches my nose…
Both: …and smiles at me.
Green Brier: In my other life I see the creatures, the humans, looking me over. They seem very proud of me for some reason. I am tended and well fed, and often let to run free across the hilltops of the farm where I am raised.
Yes, I know now it was a farm, and my rational mind does wonder at it in disgust. The idea that I was breed for some purpose in that life does not sit well with my Equestrian sensibilities.
Yet, when I am back in that body in that world it feels most pleasant, and I am happy.
The human who I spent most of my time with at first takes me as he rides from some squat little buildings to the next. I sense that he occupies an official position, but I never dwell too much upon him, and my memory of him fades.
Whilst awaiting him outside one of these structures that I see myself in that world, looking down into a vast tin of water set aside for us horses. I am handsome, in the rugged way I judge horses in that world. I am dappled grey, my mane is black, and I am tall.
Forgive me for saying so, but I do feel that in that world…
Wander: Before I met Sam a very proud man owned me.
Heh, owned…I shan't pretend that doesn't bother me to think about.
In any case, I remember him takin' me each year to a large space with colored buildings. In my mind now, as I ponder these visions, I know that it was a fairground, and that an annual fair was taking place. But, when I am back in that body with only the senses of an animal, it is a blur of excitement and color.
Each year these…people, I guess, come around with tall black hats and funny bows and cover me with them, and the human, I suppose they're called, who owns me looks even prouder each time.
It was while being admired by the people at that fair that I see a poster. I strain now in my mind to look through the eyes I had in that other world, the distant yet familiar eyes.
Looking at the poster I see a very tall horse. He is a black giving way to brown at the flanks. He has a white star on his forehead and a trim mane and tail.
It is then I realize that horse on the poster is me, or rather, the me that I am in the other world, in the other time.
I'll not lie to you…
Both: …I was a beautiful horse.
Green Brier: I moved from colonel to brigadier general to major general quickly. I cannot claim that my meteoric rise was due to a string of uninterrupted victories. I do lose battles, but my soldiers do not. My brigade, and then my division, does not sweep the field in each contest. But always we leave in good order, never fleeing, and never in chaos. Those contests are always a chance to grow, to show my soldiers that our losses are always…
Wander: I have to fight for my promotions, both in body and in mind. There exists a bias against me, but no one says it aloud. There are those who can't bring themselves to believe that a colt from the sticks can lead ponies in battle.
But I…no, my lads and lasses, my crew prove them wrong and me right.
I earn my stars, both through victory and in defeat. Always my detractors number my defeats, but they must admit that they are…
Both: …tactical in nature, never strategic, and I never make the same mistake twice.
Green Brier: I had traveled to Canterlot before, when I was but a foal of nine years. We, my father, mother and I, had come to participate in some festival, perhaps the Gala, perhaps not.
I remembered being most impressed, almost intimidated. I strayed from my parents, trying to seek out each enclave. I entered a garden space, and as I made my way along the paths I was overcome by the beauty of all that surrounded me.
At once I heard proud hoof beats, myriad hooves falling in time, and in a glance I saw her.
Falling by the side of the road I supplicated myself, bowing so low my chin scraped the grass. At once a guardspony is above me, beside me, and I take it I was not meant to be here.
Yet, as I lay trembling I was overcome with a sensation of completeness and joy, and I felt her looking over me. I dared open my eyes and found Her Majesty smiling upon me.
"Forgive me, Majesty, I did…did not mean to trespass…" I stammered.
"Have you enjoyed my garden?" she asked in a voice like milk flowing over honey.
"There, there is much beauty in it," I spoke, letting words flow out, as though truth itself was leaping to entreat with her, "But not nearly as much beauty as in the one who graces it with her presence."
She laughed, and smiled broadly. Looking to her escorts, whom only then I noticed, she stated, "Now truly, my friends, here is a gentlecolt!"
And with that she nuzzled me, and all that is golden and good flowed through me.
I bowed again as she moved on, and stayed bowing until her court, the Royalty of the Races, her lords and ladies, the proconsuls, her officers, her guards, and their bearers had all passed by.
"Stand, lad!" ordered the guardspony. I expected at once to be punished, but instead onto my small head is lowered his helmet, and with a chuckle he leads me out of the garden. I marched proudly, my heart afire, doing my best to match the cadence of his longer legs, to look like a soldier in the service of a sovereign should.
More than twenty-five years later, I entered her presence again.
With the court all around, my aged mother and father nearby, their society friends, and a cadre of my officers at my side I made my way down the long silken ways that lead to the High Dias of Equestria, and there bowed before her.
As she cantered down the steps she gathered up my second star from a silver tray.
I bowed lower, my chin near the marble, and awaited my new rank.
Yet, there was a pause, and I heard her hum.
"My General Brier," spoke that voice, that melodic voice, "This is not the first time you have knelt before your princess…is it?"
"Majesty," I spoke, daring to raise my head, "nearly three decades ago you found me in your garden, just outside that window. In the time since I have served my country, and my eyes have seen many things, but they have witnessed nothing as beautiful as my sovereign as I saw her that day. You, Majesty, are just as radiant now as you were those long days ago."
She blushed, and with a giggle she removed the single star from my helmet with her magic. As the two-star plate slid into its place, she spoke to me again.
"I remember that day, the little grey foal, the gentlecolt, and his kind words. I also remember his reward for his honesty…"
And, as the court looked on, for the second time in my blessed life I am nuzzled by my sovereign. By the time I am recovered enough to stand she is returning to her throne, already various ministers, members of the royal houses, and parliamentarians falling in around her.
I bowed, and as my officers fell in around me I left Canterlot, returning to my corps as a Major General, a fully ranked division commander. Self-consciously I tried to look to my helmet, to my shoulder plates, look to the stars…to see if they look anything like the ones Bobby wore.
Wander: I arrived in Canterlot in the middle of the worst damned rainstorm. Fair Trot and I stood outside the gates for an hour it seemed until the damned things came open.
Shaking off the water I tried to make my way up to where I expected the ceremony was to take place, but every damn guard in the damn palace stopped me.
It wasn't until they saw my star that they realized that I was an officer, and then they became all quiet and nobody could tell we what I'm supposed to do or where I'm supposed to go.
Orderlies, summoners, and ministers were running all over the place. From what my brigadier, Fair Trot, and I could gather that the Gold Army Group, made up of Chestnut, Cherry, and Linden corps, had gotten itself cut up by the Chrey.
That left the Sycamore Corp as the only viable option for guarding the Southeastern Approaches, the rolling hills leading the edges of the Everfree Forest along the backing roads up to da' mountains.
But no one could decide where to send it.
"Damn everything!" I called to Fair Trot as we stood beneath the great glass windows with their baffling solar images, the rain pelting them, "The army needs to march and my lads sit in the weeds spitting peach pits while we wander round this damn castle like lost tourists! Somepony has to make a decision, I tell you that straight!"
"I could not agree more, General," says Procer Celestia Invictus, brushing by me. At her slight touch my sight is reduced to rainbows, sunlight, and white clouds. It quickly faded and she called, with a toss of her head, "Walk with us."
"General Wander," she says, walking briskly, "My ablest army group and corps commanders tell me that I must choose to defend either my capital or my southern cities. What is your opinion?"
Between she, Fair Trot, and I were about a half dozen of my superiors, her Minister of War, and some other high-ups.
After a moment of thought, I replied, "Ma'am, if it were between those two I would say defend the cities…"
"That would leave Canterlot exposed…Ponyville as well!" called somepony.
"Yessir," I say, just in case it's somecolt I don't care to offend, "But it doesn't matter, sir."
Unfriendly stares were pointed in my direction as we trotted.
"The capital is wherever her majesty is. Ma'am, you could be floatin' down the river of yer' choice on a box of crabapples and we'd all bow just the same…Canterlot doesn't produce food, arms, or provide hospital beds…"
"Why are none of my soldiers are being tended in my capital, as they had been in ages past?" said Celestia in a voice that denoted an immediate suggestion rather than a question. An orderly quickly dropped out o' the entourage, allowin' me to move closer.
"At the moment, it's more valuable as a lure. As for Ponyville, well, if I'm wrong we trade one settlement for others which are immediately more of use…"
Somepony dropped something at this point in shock, and I use the opportunity to get closer to the princess.
"Sycamore Corp should go on the attack," I say, weavin' forward. As I say that some other stallion faints. The unicorns, and almost all of them are unicorns, are stunned by my suggestions.
"Arrayed in the hills along the road they can flank, flank, and flank again till' their hearts are content," I say, trying to maintain myself in her presence, "If they demonstrate properly the Chrey'll be deceived into thinking that it's the remains of the Gold Army Group. The corps can then envelop whatever forces that are there simply by catching them in the valleys…"
"General Hat is one of the best you've got, Ma'am. He's put together the best corps…His artillery chief is the best in Equestria, and his division commanders are for the most part excellent. Brier is very, very good, Rod is good, General Pad is…well, is…"
"No longer a concern," say the big unicorn on my left. "Your division is detached? Get it to the fords at Steeplechase by the end of the month, we'll move on the road by Autumntide…"
I looked to that unicorn, and only then did I realize it is General Black Hat, the very stallion I had been praisin' to the princess. He realizes that I had just realized who he was…and laughs.
"That is not a job for a brigadier," said the Minister of War, coldly.
"I agree," she states, turning around, revealing to me for the first time her entirety in grandeur, "Bow, General Wander."
I kneel before her, and with a touch of her magic my old star comes out of my helmet and shoulder plates, and from somewhere beyond materialized my two-star badges.
Before long I am once again standing outside the castle gates. As the rain came down I took off my helmet and looked at the two stars. I was now a major general, not just the senior of a group of brigadiers. I lifted my muzzle to the sky, letting the rain wash over me.
At that moment a group of pegasus ponies cleared the sky, leaving me staring at a panorama of blue like a great fat idiot.
Fair Trot laughed, but all I could do was look at my stars and wonder if this is how Sam felt when he received his.
The Somewhere Cycle Volume 1: "Wander and Green Brier"
Written by The Descendant
Chapter 2
Green Brier: I first meet my Bobby in a place where old rivers slice through ancient mountains.
All around are the men, the humans. They are arrayed in the formations of an army, and my old owner is one of them.
They wear the colors of smoke and earth. I guess that this is a new army…they still seem to enjoy the prospect of war far too much.
As we stroll along the lines of soldiers he wheels me about, and gives me a command. I, in that vast animal body, dip down in what I would call a bow. When my head comes back up I am looking at slight human.
With a soft voice he approaches me, and my ears perk up.
He removes his gauntlets and runs his hands up and down my nose as he speaks with my owner. His voice is soft, but when he speaks all are listening.
I am almost sad when he walks away.
He meets my owner again, and again. And each time I sense that I am more and more the topic of conversation. He refers to me as "my colt", and I am intrigued. Shall I become his horse? My owner lets him ride me. He is firm and fast in the saddle, and I bear him well. He leads by suggestion, by shifts in weight, and for the first time I get the feeling of what it is to have a good rider.
The words of the creatures, the humans, are not always easy to decipher. My animal ears do not understand them, and therefore disregard them. It is in impressions that I see the day, months after I first felt his hand on my muzzle, that my Bobby comes for me and I truly become his horse.
Bobby takes my reigns, and we walk off at the head of a long column of the smoke and earth colored soldiers, under their red flag…
Wander: My old owner is sick, perhaps dying. He coughs and sputters all the way out to the new city.
It's not a city like in Equestria. It's big and black and dirty. Down through the middle of it flows a massive river, and along the steep banks of the river are boats. They belch black smoke, and huge wheels that slap at the water drive them.
I am stabled in a cramped stall, and as he leaves me my owner strokes me awkwardly, and then departs in tears.
That animal, the big horse that was me, is anxious. I pace in the small space the stall affords.
The next day the doors of the stall open, and the stable boy comes for me.
The boy leads me out into the yard of the, oh, I suppose it's a hotel. My old owner stands in the doorway, but I am distracted by the sounds of the city. I am let loose, but I do not bolt. I let the sounds try to scare me. None can.
I hear a whistle, my ears going alert. My head turns to the sound. A human leans on the fencepost. He has a black beard and dark, sad eyes. He wears a uniform, crumpled…dirty.
He jumps the fence, walks to me, and offers me some apple, which I take.
I pace him as he walks, he checks my gate.
He leaves my side, and I watch, wondering who this man is, what he is doing.
He returns with a saddle. The boy places it on me. He is firm in the saddle, but not overbearing, he leads with confidence, intuition. I sense that he has spent much time with horses. We are a good match, it seems. He lets me fly down the yard, and across the common.
We ride back up to the hotel, to where my old master stands coughing. He leans down out of the saddle and shakes the hand of my old master, and I realize I am now his horse.
That's how Sam and I met, and later that day…
Both: …we begin our journey together.
Green Brier: I came to know Wander for the first time as the Sycamore Corp was preparing for an offensive through the Gap of Tyre, just as autumn was setting in.
His division arrived a few days after Note Pad's was detached and sent off to be reformed. My staff and I were one and all anxious to be back up to the full strength befitting a corps, and to see of what quality this new division and its commander were made of.
My summoner, Jeroh, breathed a note into my presence from General Black Hat. It explained that Wander's division had arrived. Placing my helmet upon my head, very much like the one I had worn in the garden all those years before, I went out to meet him.
He was a full hand taller than me, and was a very plain looking fellow. He wore the half-plate armor of a junior officer, and apart from the stars he blended in with the countless lieutenants, captains, majors and colonels that were running about. It was only when he spoke that the power and certainty that I associated with a high officer fell over him.
We are very different and when we were formally introduced our conversation was halting and lacked commonality. It seems our only similarity is that we are earth ponies, though our different stations of upbringing are clear. I doubted that we should ever be friends, but I knew of his service, and that he was already a far, far better general than the deposed Note Pad.
His division, which I reviewed with General Black Hat, and General Golden Rod, were all fine looking fellows. They were mostly volunteer units, but well tested ones. Like their regular army counterparts in his ranks their armor is dented and patched. Scars cover flanks. These were fine fighting ponies.
I knew one of his brigadiers, General Kick Start. I was surprised how an otherwise proper officer had taken on the disheveled appearance of his commander, as all his brigadiers, and even some of his colonels. Still, I supposed, they had earned their regards. I cannot say I approve utterly of Wander's methods and discipline but…
Wander: I met General Green Brier for the first time when mah' division crossed the fords of the River Tyre above the village of Steeplechase.
We had arrived a day early, and I reported to General Black Hat as soon as my last regiment had forded.
The pickets had been shocked when they realized I was a Major General, and they hurried me up to Black Hat's tent.
After a few words of idle conversation he called a summoner, a wyvern named Kerit, and with a breath of green fire a message went out. Within an hour generals Golden Rod and Green Brier had come to greet me.
Golden Rod I knew from a former post. We had been brigaded together in Beech Corps Second Division. We chat, but my head keeps turning to the tent flap. I wanted to see this Brier, see if he was everything everyone had said he was.
He entered in his full Major General uniform, his gentlecolt's bearing, and an air about him of calm certainty. He's a touch smaller than me, but one could hardly tell. We are both earth ponies, but I can tell he's from old money, he carries himself like a landowner. I know, though, that he's my equal…he's prepared himself for this life…he's where he's fought to be.
Just like me.
He tried to engage me in conversation, but we are worlds apart and it goes poorly.
Later, as my division was making camp, his moved by in parade formation, returnin' from maneuvers.
My soldiers dropped what they were doing, and stood open mouthed, watching.
They look like him; his division is a living portrait of Brier. They are almost all career soldiers, old army. They are muddy from their drill, but their armor was tight and shining, their helmets gleamed.
They looked like a picture book of what an army is supposed to be like. In the eyes of each regiment that passed, each giving me the "Eyes, right!" salute as they cantered by I saw the same calm look of certainty and practiced professionalism that I saw in Brier…the look of somepony who refuses to brag about how easily he could rip out your guts.
Brier and I are different, too different, and I don't think we'll ever be close…
Both: …but Black Hat knows his worth better than I, and I will trust him.
Green Brier: Bobby is unleashed.
We had spent weeks in a city, one farther east than I had ever traveled. It is an anxious place, and everyday more and more of the smoke and earth colored soldiers pass through. My Bobby is in charge of something, but he wants to be out there…fighting…
One day my grey haired master greets a pinched-faced man and they talk. As soon as the conversation ends Bobby saddles me up and we bolt through the city streets, more horses at our side with their riders.
We explode out into the country, out to where dust clouds rise up, and I see not one but two armies on the march.
The enemies of my Bobby are so very close to the city. I can feel the pounding of the feet of the armies in the ground, a tremor crossing miles.
For seven long days my Bobby leads his army in a string of battles. I have never heard anything like the calamity before when I was in the body of that animal, that other me. I do my best to help him, yet in that form I am so simple, so unable. Yet, I feel that he does rely on me for comfort, for strength.
By the end of the seven days of battle his enemy, whomever he is fighting, is reeling, uncertain. His has pushed them to the top of a hill below the city. This warfare is loud, specks of metal whistle through the air, buzzing like insects, and death drops its harvest around me seemingly at random.
The next morning I am saddled, and slowly, cautiously we make our way up the hill. Oddly, there is no noise. We reach the crest…and his enemy is gone, escaped down the nearby river.
I can't help but feel the excitement of Bobby's soldiers. Certainly, the city has been saved; certainly this war must be over?
But my Bobby does not agree. He is suddenly heavy. He leads me to a quiet place, and there I see in his eyes that he fears the war will go on. I could not know it then, but far worse than I had witnessed in this place is to come, and years of bloodshed and loss are to follow.
Wander: Sam and I come across another big city. This one is dirty too, and is filled with soldiers who salute and cheer for Sam and for me as well…well, the big horse that I am in that world…in that time.
The city smells funny. It smells like soldiers, like the sea and sky colored soldiers that cheer for Sam, all of them at once.
We arrive at this big house, and there's a party going on. I am lead out back by a servant. Sam is complainin' about having to wear a good uniform. After a while a cheer goes up and I startle. As the groom calms me I realize that they are cheering for Sam, and I am happy for him, though for the love of me I can't figure out why.
The next day we come back to the big house. More noises come from within the white walls of the place, and I began to wonder exactly what type of city this is where people get so excited all the time.
As the day ends Sam comes out, and a man is with him. My ears perk up, and the man sees me. He's a tall drink of water, and at seeing me he puts his hands on his hips and looks a fright, all whilst smilin' and giving me compliments.
Sam smiles too, and I take a likin' to the man. He is an odd lookin' duck, but Sam likes him, and so I do as well.
While they talk Sam scratches my nose. Their conversation gets quiet, and suddenly the tall man looks very old, and very tired. I reach my nose out to him, and he gives me a scratch and a smile.
He nods back to Sam, and Sam says something that makes the tall man nod again. He turns away, back towards the house. I watch him go, struggling with some big old weight around his neck, it seems.
Within a few days I am out on the battlefields with Sam, and here I will see the things and know the horrors, which, unless I miss my guess, made the tall funny looking man so weary…
Green Brier: The offensive we undertook that autumn went down in the annals of Equestrian military history.
Sycamore Corps retook all of Our Majesty's dominion lost to the barbarian peoples earlier that year. The plan advanced by Black Hat and Wander, using the hills to screen our movement and lure the Chrey into a series of flanking traps, works in spectacular fashion.
I make use of my division in the role of bait. My division knows how to retreat in good order, and in pretense of cowardice we moved off the road and up the slopes of the hills beyond.
To our enemy it appeared that we were being routed, but my soldiers were not so easily put afear'. As the Chrey columns ran down the hill, thirst of blood in their eyes, Rod's division and Wander's division streamed in from both sides of the valley. Our artillery dropped rocks, bolts, and Greek fire upon them from over our heads, and within a few minutes it is over.
We buried them in a mass grave, looked to our wounded, and then moved on to our next battlefield.
We are notified that winter is scheduled to begin and we are to return to Steeplechase. The Everfree Forest has already lost all of its leaves, and a frost has fallen. I could only hope that in the coming year, with it under the dominion of My Sovereign, that it would come under the control of our mechanizations of weather and nature.
As we make our winter quarters outside the ring of the Everfree I behold for the first time a horrific sight. As we officers stand about a fire Black Hat became quiet, and excused himself.
In a moment there was a crash, and we raced to his quarters. There he lay on the floor, his legs lashing, his hooves crashing around him, his eyes wild...his eyes rolling about.
Wander grabbed at him, called to me for help. I however was frozen in horror and shock. Golden Rod raced in and laid his head on his lap. After terrible moments Black Hat laid still, breathing heavy, trembling.
After long minutes Black Hat self-consciously asked for water. This I fetched quickly from the cistern, and I brought it to him in my own canteen.
He says little, but states that this was not his first experience with what he calls his "fits". I was silent, Wander stared at me…it was not the first time I had seen a great person put to pain…
Wander: In the space of three months we killed more Chrey for the lowest loss of our own ponies than any other corps acting by its lonesome had since Celestia first was made to pull the sun across Equestria's sky.
Sycamore Corps puts the spurs to 'em, and by the time the first frost hit the ground we had taken back all the land they'd taken from us in the whole year before.
Brier does well, I admit. His division made a convincing portrait of a retreating army, but they spin about on their pursuers, and all it takes after that is for Rod's division and my own to enter from positions on opposite ends of the valley and the issue was, apart from some blood and gore, decided.
The best part about slaughtering your enemies utterly is that, wit' none of em' leaving to tell their compatriots, yer' free to use the same plan again. And we do.
And we used it well.
We made our way out of the Everfree Forest when the trees lost their leaves and the air turned cold. It's fascinating to me to see nature moving on it's own accord, instead of being managed by pegasi.
I don't claim to know the deep magic that drives Equestria, but I did wonder how we related to this world…was it all so random? Are we the abominations?
Anywho, we made our winter camp outside the forest, overlooking the fords we had left at the beginning of the season.
We were gathered in the large cabin built for Black Hat and visiting dignitaries, bracing against the cold. All the senior officers were there, and we sat round the fire drinking bracing liquids.
I heard a crash, and a wild horse whiny, like those I heard from wounded horses in the other life.
I raced down the hallway to find Black Hat thrashing about, his eyes wild and in fear. I tried to gather him up, keep him from hurting himself. Brier and Rod came in and I called for Brier to help, but he stood there like a statue.
Afterwards, when Black Hat is back on his feet, I looked at Brier. I wanted to be mad at him, but I see something in his eyes, a distant look. He was troubled by something beyond. He's seen something like this before, I can tell.
I've seen something like it too, a great man hurting himself, and I was unable to stop it…
Green Brier: Bobby's army is fighting. The crack and hiss of their weapons are sounding again.
For the first time I believe I am to see the enemies of my Bobby. They are close, and Bobby is dangerously near them. Yet, it is his enemy being driven forward, and as we go down the road towards the sounds I know my Bobby is winning again. There is a long cut in the earth to our left, and I feel it is a place where they intend to put rails. Now though it is filled with Bobby's soldiers. To our right are more of Bobby's soldiers, and his best general, the one he calls Pete, is leading them.
Bobby dismounts, holds my reigns as we stand next to a ravine along the road. It is filled with the stumps of trees shorn apart by the awful artillery of this war, of this world.
At once though the other army makes a stand, crossing the road on a fill in front of Bobby and I.
For the first time I see them, Bobby's enemies, clearly. I am horrified at what I behold.
They are not monsters, they are not some demons…they are not even a different race. They are not like the enemies I fight in my current life, some people from a far off land attempting to claim Equestria for their own.
No, no they are just like Bobby's smoke-and-earth soldiers. The only difference I can discern among the haze of battle is the colors they adorn themselves with. They are the color of the ocean and a cloudless sky. They are crying the same words; they are making the same awful sound when the metal shards reach them.
It is wrong, it is horribly wrong. There must be a mistake. The animal that is me senses it…and when they rear up, attempt to stand against Bobby's soldiers, I am made fearful. I rise up, I rear, or rather the horse that I am in that life rears.
Something moves, and suddenly I am lighter, there is no one holding my reign. My eyes look to the ravine, and there is my Bobby against a stump, moaning in a heap…
No! No, please, no! I…I have thrown him! I, I have thrown my Bobby!
Pete races to him. His horse, Hero, is blocking me from my master. He tries to raise himself up, but calls out in pain. As Pete helps him up I try to get near, but one of his officers holds me back.
Around us the battle fades away. The ocean and sky colored soldiers melt away as Bobby's boys throw them forward. Bobby is lifted, but he holds his…hands, I suppose they are called, in front of him, wincing in pain whenever they move.
He looks to me, sadly, and in his eyes I see the same resigned disappointment that Wander fixed me with when I was unable to assist Black Hat, and I hate myself for it.
For the next few months he rides in an ambulance, and I in that big horse body can only trot along afterward. The horse has no emotions, not as I know them in my present life, yet I know that the horse I was knows he has hurt Bobby. He knows that the master, my master, was hurt by its actions…my actions.
The hurt gets worse when he gets a new horse.
It is a little horse, though still larger than any Equestrian I have met. It is a quiet little sorrel…
…a mare.
At first I do not know what to make of her. When Bobby comes to the paddock where we are, after he is recovered, I see him saddle up and ride off on her, and even with the senses of that animal I am disheartened.
They call her Lucy. And as time goes on we grow closer. Not close as in terms of friendship, or love, as animals in that world do not have such things. They lack emotion, intellect, but instead it is a form of familiarity.
I once was jealous of her, but both as the animal I was and in my mind now I see her for the creature of grace and beauty she was.
One night, when there is no fighting, and we are turned out into a field, she comes to me, brushes beside me. In the ways of an animal of that world I sense with smell and instinct what she wants of me…
…but I am unable to answer her plea.
There's something wrong with my body, something that the humans have done. Something they did back on that farm. I do not consider myself a pony of emotion, but I do not care to forgive them, for taking that from the horse…the animal that I was…
Even if it was another life, another time, another world, I am still mad that I was unable to give…
…
She finds other means, and when she is discovered to be with foal she is lead away from the fighting, and I wondered if I would ever see her again.
In time, when the sounds of battle ring out again, Bobby comes to me, and from that moment forward I refuse to let him concern over me when his thoughts should be on the battlefield.
I will be his good horse, lending him my strength in that world…and I will be a good general in my present life in honor of him.
Wander: When Sam took command of his new army, I watched.
I know Sam has lead an army before this, everything about him says that he is an experienced commander. He has the worn look that proves it, but when we first arrive at the place along the river where the masses of sea and sky colored soldiers wait the officers don't seem to know much about him.
The soldiers are the same way. This army looks like one that's been worked over more times than it cares to think about. The men are thin, tired.
Yet, they have a fire in their eyes. They look at Sam when he goes by. They watch him, I feel their eyes on him, on me. The great big horse that I am in that life knows that they want Sam to be the one to help them win, win something so important that it's bigger'n life itself.
I know Sam can do it, and I will help. I will be there for him.
We move south.
The army moves quietly, anxiously. They are trying to reach something, get past something.
One morning, as dawn is breaking, I hear the snap, snap, snap sounds that I will soon learn marks warfare in this world, in this foreign land and distant time where I am Sam's horse.
His officers ride up to him on their horses, they gather around him and in worried voices speak with him. He gets 'em to shush, then tells them clearly and crisply what they are to do. Through the eyes of the horse I watch as he makes himself the calm center of the storm.
Then he sits, and as more of the crack, crack, pop sounds echo through the surrounding woods he sits, picks up a stick, takes out a knife, and begins to whittle it away…
Sam believes in these officers, knows that this army wants to win. I sense that he feels that they have been cheated, misused. He believes that if just given the chance they will win.
He doesn't like the field though, it's an awful place for a battle. It's not a wood proper, more like a bramble. He knows his boys will have a tough time in it. I know, because he puts the burning weeds in his mouth.
I hate them, hate the tightly bound weeds that his places in his jaw. The thick bunches wrap him in a haze, and the smell permeates all. I've seen nothing like it in Equestria, and I hope it's something only found in that lost world of my past life.
He does this when he is worried, and increasingly when he is not. I am sickened because I can smell what it is doing to him.
As he lights the weeds on fire there is nothing I can do but snort and whiny.
I see Sam's enemy for the first time, too, through the eyes of the horse. Prisoners are brought out of the brambly wilderness. I am shocked at what I see. They're just like Sam's soldiers. They look the same, sound the same, are just as worn, thin, and tired. They even have the same heavy desperate look in their eyes.
There's only one difference I can see…they wear the colors of fog and turned soil, and some don't wear shoes.
I am amazed, and I realize that this is a very brutal war, the worst type of war. The war is a fight against themselves…Sam has to fight his own kind.
The day wears on. More officers and couriers come and go, and Sam begins to pace. Soon an orange glow fills the sky, and he throws the bunch of burning weeds on the ground and curses.
I am saddled, and we ride towards the noises.
Here I see the battle, and it is disgusting to me. The soldiers fight in lines. They snap their weapons and something buzzes from them, and the soldiers across from them die.
Then they do the same, and Sam's drop dead, or fall screaming in pain.
But it gets worse. A fire has broken out in the thickets. Soon it is raging. The men of both sides must stop and pick up their wounded.
Oh, the wounded! They cry for help, but soon they are overcome by the smoke and suffocate. Those are the lucky ones, the poor humans. Others are burned alive, unable to crawl away fast enough.
If they looked so similar before, the soldiers of Sam's army and the soldiers of the other army, then look even more alike as piles of ash.
We leave when Sam can do no more, when the fighting stops and all is but perfect horror and flames.
The next day, I'm saddled and as I am the soldiers, dusty, dirty, and covered with ash, watch. Sam steps up, and gives me a soothing rub behind the ears. He sees the eyes of the soldiers on me, on himself.
One of his generals, George, and his horse Baldy come with us as he wheels me around, faces me south, and we walk. As we come across the soldiers he points them down a road that faces them once more against the enemy.
The soldiers explode into cheers, and I know that they see that he will not be turned from his task. I know then that we are going onwards, towards some great conflagration that matches the flames of the days before.
As long as Sam goes there, I will go with him. I will go with him until Death itself grabs for my reins and pulls me to the ground, until Death itself makes me stop.
The Somewhere Cycle Volume 1: "Wander and Green Brier"
Written by The Descendant
Chapter 3
Green Brier: Over the course of the next three years Sycamore Corps launches a series of offensives that carry our flags deeper into the Everfree Forest and farther along the mountains than they had been placed in generations.
We defeat the Chrey utterly, their officers throwing down their swords and laying on the ground in supplication. We push so deep into their columns that we reach the places where they are sheltering their old, their young, their sick and wounded.
So, it is like any of the peoples coming over the mountains…they are refugees. We are Equestrians, and true to the wishes of Her Majesty we do not commit crimes against them. We are merciful…they are all taken alive, we share our rations with them as they look on us with unbelieving eyes.
Why was their first instinct to fight us? I try to gather these things from the survivors, but most do not know my words, and those that do seem more afraid of what is over these mountains than of us.
It is up to politicians to decide what the peace that we are soon to bring will look like, and we move into the mountains. Our trinity of races, the unicorns, the pegasi, and the earth ponies work together to defend the passes and gaps so that the endless wars do not enter Equestria proper…as our forebears have done for millennia uncounted.
In the first year we had discovered the place where the old Gold Army Group had been destroyed, and we buried the remains of our brothers and sisters who fell there in that lonely place.
We gathered up their flags, those that were still identifiable as such, and sent them back. There the survivors of those corps, now being rebuilt, would tend them, make them ready to fly over proud regiments, brigades, and divisions once more.
As other army groups and corps gain strength we assist them, and they us. Soon the entirety of the Eastern and Southeastern Approaches are cleared, and we stand atop the Pass of Fides, the legendary place where Equestrians first entered this world.
There we rebuilt the Altar of Vita, and looked out across the Lesser Everfree to the deserts beyond.
I wondered what it was that was driving the wild peoples, these other races, and for the first time I pondered what could be so horrible beyond that expanse that it was scaring multitudes of these peoples into attempting to flee across it, and into the awaiting weapons of an resurgent Equestria.
It was there, atop that mountain, as the sun broke across us, in that one perfect moment, that General Hat had his worse tribulation…
Wander: "Oh, no…" said the general, looking to each of us, his eyes going wide. He took three steps away, and before our unbelieving eyes, fell down into horrific spasms.
He had been having more of these as our years in the mountains continued, but we politely ignored them. What else could we do?
We looked on as his armor tore up the ground, as he brayed and tossed, his hooves flaying out around him. To have approached him would have resulted in blood and broken bones, both on our account and his, so in pity and horror all we can do, Brier, Rod, our staffs, and I, is watch as the greatest stallion we've ever served under is reduced to a jibbering, foaming mess.
When it's over Brier brings water, Hat's proud head rests on my lap, his hooves in Pad's hooves, and the proud old unicorn cries, and cries, and cries.
We are to come off the mountain. Other units arrive, along with Royal Engineers. They will fortify the passes, they will construct great gates, and perhaps this will give Equestria some safety from whatever wild people come sniffing at our borders for weakness…
…and from whatever is pursuing them.
It's sad though, that no matter how we do, safety is not certain. Not even within our own borders.
We made our way out of the Everfree forest and back within the proper limits of Equestria just as summer was beginning. We are to go to Ponyville, just below Canterlot. It's a holiday, the Longest Day of the Year, and as tradition most of my boys stay up all night to great the sun…
Green Brier: …but the sun does not come.
I had been up, awaiting the sun, the blessed sun that Her Majesty delivered across our country each day.
Yet, as I bowed, along with my men, as I always have since that day in the garden, I am aware that the sun is not rising.
For hours, I wait, my head bowed. Time flees before me. The men who had joined me begin to feel their stomachs growl, and I dismiss them.
Some stay. Captain Hazel, General Rolling Stream, stay nearby, or just stretch.
Time goes from early morning to late, from late morning to noon, to afternoon, but the night remains. For the first time since I am nine years old I am not kneeling before the sun in the morning.
I close my eyes, lock them down, and concentrate on My Lady, My Sovereign.
Bobby would do this, when he was in doubt, and I look to him for strength.
Wander: My men were worried. Fair Trot tried to keep their spirits up, but soon the name of the Mare in the Moon is mentioned, and from there the rumors set in.
I saw Brier at his camp, on the hill nearby, he and a few adherents still bowing, as he always does to the sun. As I watched more of his men come and join him.
In his camp, there is quiet, peace.
In mine, rumor and fear.
I trot over to where Brier laid, his head down in supplication. A few of his officers, like Captain Hazel nodded, saluted me, but Brier remained motionless.
We were never close. Even after these three years of fighting side by side our relationship was impersonal, entirely professional.
But I saw in him then something that I'd never have. I bowed down beside him, rested my head on the grass, and concentrated on the princess.
Soon, men of my division joined me. Kick Start, Fair Trot, many of my officers and enlisted men stray over, bow down, and join us in the silence.
Green Brier: I feel General Wander arrive, I hear him kneel beside me. Soon after more ponies are moving, bowing, and silence overwhelms us.
Soon General Rod arrives, and General Black Hat. Soon that great green field, those hilltops, with the mountains and forest behind, is covered not only in the blanket of night but in the still and silent form of tens of thousands of ponies, all of whom are focused deeply on Her Majesty, Her Grace…My Lady.
At once there was a blast of light, and arc of color in the forest far south of us. A rainbow, massive and terrifying, leaps up vertically into the sky near where Ponyville lay beyond river and meadow. Our heads turned to it in awestruck wonder.
At once the sun, which had cowered behind the mountains, unable or unwilling to cross over Equestria, erupts to its rightful place in the sky, a blazing tail following it.
The soldiers stand and cheer, around us wild exhilaration.
I though, turned to Wander. Awkwardly I nodded to him, and spoke.
"Thank you."
Wander: "You're the one to be thanked."
We arrived outside Ponyville within a week. By that time however couriers, newsponies, and the usual gossip mill had provided us with excruciating detail about the events we had witnessed from afar, about the emergence of Nightmare Moon, the Elements of Harmony being reformed, the retrieval from darkness of Princess Luna, and the return of the Two Sisters to the throne.
We arrived outside in Ponyville, and as soon as we'd set up camp I got a visitor. It was not anyone I would have expected. Her Majesty's Minister of War found his way inside my tent, and I offered him some hard crackers and jamoke. It's all I had at the moment.
He refused, politely, and tried to engage me in small talk. It goes just as badly as when I try to talk to Brier. There are long pauses, and finally he sighs.
Taking his glasses off he wiped them on his long black coat. As he did he looked up to me. "Forty years ago I got an application to attend the Academy of Arms across my desk. I'm not supposed to get them, that's the job of the Commander of the Academy. It seems that he was worried because certain business people had endorsed it, people with whom Her Majesty's government had contracts for arms…"
I was suddenly very interested.
"He asked if it was okay to let it go forward. I said that it wasn't the applicant's fault…'Let the colt have a shot', I said."
I looked at him, and he continued to clean his glasses.
"Years later I received reports that a commander at a lonely army post had turned the worst company in the army into a premier force. Imagine my surprise when I saw it was the same name as on the application all those years ago."
"I decided upon an experiment. I sent that commander more and more, shall we say, 'hard-luck' units, just to see what he would do with them. Not at all to my surprise he made them into a jewel in the crown of the army, and used them to defeat an enemy of Her Majesty completely."
He finishes cleaning his glasses with a flourish, then puts them back on his long face. The unicorn, his long beard flowing down the front of his jacket, fixes me in another glare.
"Years after that I'm trotting down the halls of Canterlot, suggesting to Her Majesty that he'd make a proper Major General, that I'd watched his progress through the ranks..."
I stammer, and as he stands I escort him to the door of my tent. As it opens I see Brier there, waiting to speak with me on some matter. He recognizes the Minister, and they bow to each other.
As he left he turned to me again and said, "Please do try to look good during the parade and ball. I'd like you to make a nice impression on the Military Council."
"Parade?" I said, turning to Brier.
Green Brier: "Ball?" I answered.
It was more a review than a parade. The Sycamore Corps was to be celebrated, our victories had finally brought some measure of certainty to the Eastern Approaches, and the soldiers certainly deserved to be recognized.
The morning of the review our three divisions fell into line. The skirmish regiment, the unicorns trained in fighting magic would go first, followed by Black Hat's personal guards.
Then came the pegasi brigade, our flying scouts and interdictors.
The artillery, in limbers, followed.
Rod's division was first in line, followed by mine, and finally Wander's.
Wander: I hate parades.
Green Brier: I adore reviews.
All three divisions stood facing the road, awaiting in formation. General Hat approached, his summoner wyvern riding his back. He opens his mouth and tries to speak, but before he can a rumble erupts from behind me, and around me.
"Black Hat! Black Hat! Black Hat! Black Hat! Black Hat!" cheers the entire corps in unison. I look to him, the aged unicorn, the gentile commander whom has either served in this corps or lead it for the entirety of his career, and I am not surprised when the tears begin.
He held up a hoof, and the entire corps went quiet. He nods to Rod, Wander, and myself as his summoner put three notes to flame.
My summoner handed it to me, and I read it aloud…
Wander: "My Dear Corps,
In light of these many years of service, and at the behest of Her Majesty, the entirety of the Sycamore Corps is to be given leave of one year, commencing upon their dismissal following the review of today by their division commanders.
I will not be here when you return. My decades of active service are ending. I know though, that as this phase of my life ends, that I have lead into battle, and served beside, the greatest warriors our nation has produced.
In the name of Her Majesty, I bid you farewell. May peace find you in time, and love follow you in all places.
Your Grateful Commander, Senior Major General Black Hat, Commanding Officer, Sycamore Corps"
Green Brier: "Black Hat! Black Hat! Black Hat!" they chanted again, but soon Rod's division devolved into cheers.
Mine followed more traditionally. "Hip, hip!" called one of my brigadiers.
"Huzzah!" answered twenty-three thousand tongues.
"Hip, hip!"
"Huzzah!"
"Hip, hip!"
"Huzzah!"
Wander: Mine broke out into an improvised and unofficial corps theme song. I stop them before the raunchy parts are hit.
"Command!" called, Black Hat, choking.
Both: "Division!" I called.
Brier: "Brigade!" answered the brigadiers. And so the call to attention went all the way down to the company level, officers of all stripes put their soldiers in order.
Wander: "Without undoubling…left…" called the old warrior.
Both: "Without undoubling…left…" shouted we division commanders.
Brier: "Without undoubling…left…"echoed again the brigadiers, and so down through the regiments, battalions and companies went the command.
Wander: "Face!" calls Black Hat.
At once seventy-five thousand unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies snapped in unison. The ground shook at it, trembled with it.
Brier: "Forward…" called General Black Hat, and we echoed his command. He trotted up to where his banner and staff awaited. We officers stepped to the forefront of our commands as the men prepared to march. The standard bearers stepped forward, the bands lifted their instruments…
Both: And, after a moment of pause, Black Hat, in cracking voice, gave the last command he'd ever give his beloved corps.
"…march!" he shouted, and at it his thousands stepped off together in time, and "The Old Roan Thistle", the official marching song of the corps, beat out from fifty regimental bands.
Green Brier: We came down off the hills that surrounded Ponyville, already young foals greeting us, handing us flowers and trying to march in time.
We crossed the High Bridge above the city, breaking step so it wouldn't collapse at the weight and rhythm of our multitude.
As soon as we had entered the city the cheers went up. The streets were lined with ponies, tens of thousands of them, more than we had in the corps. Official delegations from every settlement in Equestria that had soldiers in the corps were present, and they sought out their sons and daughters.
Wander: We make a wheel down a principal road, and soon I hear cheers, and I know Black Hat has reached the podium. We mark time as the line comes to a halt, and in my mind I can see him kneeling before the princess, taking his seat beside her on the platform.
Green Brier: We march again, and soon I hear the cheers for General Rod. As we march down onto the main square we wheel right, and then in front of the city hall of Ponyville.
"Eyes, left!" I order as we round the circular structure, the crowd cheering as I am recognized. I blush…it is my soldiers whom deserve the cheers.
Up on the platform I see her, and I order a halt. As my division marks time, my summoner, my senior brigadier, and I march up the steps to the platform.
There I salute Black Hat and, once more, I kneel before my sovereign.
"My General Brier, you bow before me again? Do you think that just because you have delivered such victories, that you have safeguarded my borders, that I will give you the same reward I delivered unto you the last two times you knelt in my presence?" speaks Her Grace in a playful tone.
"My Majesty, I have only that hope," I state, lifting my head.
And with that she places her head to mine, and moves it from my ears to my shoulder and back, and my world is perfect and beautiful.
Only then do I see the six ponies, the dragon, and the other princess on the dias, and bowing to Her Majesty Luna I make my way down the stairs, and back to my division.
Wander: We march forward when Brier's Division moves out, and the crowd erupts into cheers when they see me. I don't look like someone to cheer, in my old junior officer uniform, but they seem to believe so.
My division marks time as I head up the steps. There I see not only Black Hat, but also a group of ponies, and the two princesses. "My Ladies," I state, bowing.
"Well done, General Wander", says Procer Celestia Invictus, "We had watched and awaited what you should do in the mountains."
"I live to serve, Ma'am," I answer, bowing.
I turn to Princess Luna, but she half turns her head, as though not knowing what to say.
"Ma'am," I interject, "we're mighty glad that you have returned to us."
"Thank…thank you," she says, her face illuminating.
With that I make my way back to my division.
Green Brier: I am to address my troops, but I have no words for it. Instead, I wait for them, regiment by regiment, as we cross the Low Bridge.
I shake hooves with all who can reach me, and tell each officer, "Well done, dismiss your lads and lasses. Well done, dismiss your lads and lasses." They reach for me, speak my name, wash around me…
And soon they are gone, up the hill and past me, an army evaporating into the green grass and open sky.
My summoner, Jeroh, looks up to me. I see tears in the eyes of the wurm. "Jeroh," I say, "What is wrong?"
"I don't know sir, I don't know. It's just so kinda sad!"
I laugh, and as he hops on my back I carry him up into the camp. "Never be sad that something is over, my boy," I tell him, "But always be glad it happened…"
Wander: Before we even crossed the Low Bridge, my division loses cohesion for the first time in its history. The entirety of my command is swarming around me, calling my name, "Wander! Wander! Wander!"
I was dripping with tears…I could not stop crying. I did not stop until they have carried me into camp and then, slowly, they all began to fade away.
The Somewhere Cycle Volume 1: "Wander and Green Brier"
Written by The Descendant
Chapter 4
Green Brier: All of that, Black Hat's tearful goodbye, the review through the streets of Ponyville, my goodbye to my colts…that had all progressed and completed by 11 a.m.
By noon I am ready for some nourishment. I was in no mood to stay in camp in any case. My division was dissolving. Soldiers were taking their leave. They were starting down the long roads that would take them to the places they called home…my soldiers were leaving, and I feel as a parent watching his children leave. Only my officers knew to stay on until after the ball that evening.
As I packaged my personal belongings with a hotel steward from the establishment I am to patronize that night Royal Guards appeared before me. "Sir," says their captain, "Her Majesty Princess Celestia asks if you to join her and some small company for a noontime meal."
"I, I could ask for no greater privilege," I stammer.
We head to our left, across the river, out through the city where some of the lingering crowd noticed me, and they called out my name. Some soldiers, both from my division and ones unknown to me, saluted.
We crossed past a beautiful landscape of orchards, up to a farm on a hill with a little white house nearby.
In the yard is a gazebo, festooned with bunting and lace, and inside is My Majesty, and some other ponies unknown to me.
I entered My Lady's presence and she introduced me to a number of the same ponies whom had sat with her on the dias.
Chief among them was her designate in Ponyville, a young unicorn named Twilight Sparkle, her summoner, a very young dragon whose name I believe was Spike, and also one of her associates, a Miss Applejack. It is was only then I recognized that they wore around their necks components of the Elements of Harmony…powerful artifacts that I had convinced myself were simply legend.
It was to my shock that I learned that Miss Sparkle was the one whom was chief in defeating the Mare in the Moon, though I hide my surprise well. I was in the presence of powerful magic users, and I tried to hide my awe.
Her friend, Applejack, spoke to me and complimented my soldiers on how sharp they appeared in the review.
I blushed and thanked her. Her voice reminded me of the voices of my Bobby's soldiers, as improbable as that may be, and when her brother introduced himself the effect was uncanny as well.
"Private Big Macintosh, sir," he stated, "Grape Bunch's Battery, Twenty-Third Light Artillery, Holster's brigade…Beech Corps…"
I saluted him, and he returned the gesture.
"You were wounded, I take it?" I stated, noticing the bandages.
"Ayeup…err, yessir. Battle of The Sacred Grove...bearing broke loose, hit by return fire…dragged me into the mechanizations of the trebuchet, crushed mah' innards up pretty bad…good thing a magic-usin' medic was nearby…still hurtin' mahself at times…still pullin' things on occasion…hence the honorable discharge…"
I saluted him again. I noticed the look on Miss Applejack's face, as though she were hearing this story for the first time.
"Twilight is now studying in greater detail the magic that rests with friendship," says My Sovereign as she is served tea and apple crisp by the big red fellow.
My attention turned back to the young pony seated across from myself as Her Majesty implored, "Would you not share, General Brier, some anecdote with us about friendship, to aid her in her future studies?"
"If My Lady asks me I shall of course do my utmost," I replied, sitting back, watching as the young dragon took cookies off of a silver tray.
I looked around to the encircling hills, and up to the bright blue sky where the magic of Her Ladyship worked the sun across her dominion. Soon I was thinking of my Bobby, and a time he was under a sun, a different one, and under the gaze of hills. I thought for a moment, then changed the story in the slightest to match my audience.
"I knew once a great general, perhaps the greatest I've ever known. His mane was white with age…"
So it was that I told them the story of when my Bobby, his soldiers, and I went north for the second time. We crossed out of the place ravaged by war and across the big river, stepping from stone to stone at a vast ford.
We enter a green land, a place where the war my Bobby was fighting had not yet come. Soon we were drawn into a battle. So immense was it and so violent that it took three days for it to be fought.
On the third day my Bobby called for Pete, and they had a great long talk. Pete looked so terribly worried, but my Bobby tries to calm him. Pete leaves looking awful worried, powerfully worried, but he gives me…the big grey horse I was, a quick smile and a rub.
Soon the awful cadence of the big weapons started. It was artillery, but it is unlike ours in Equestria. In that lost world it is worked by the same foul smelling smoke that drives the weapons each soldier carries, but these are massive in their report, and they scythe death in front of them.
And soon, from across the way, comes the reply from the ocean and sky soldiers. Bobby's boys hide from the barrage.
Within an hour we are standing at the crest of a ridge, looking across a vast lot of fields and fencerows. Bands are playing, and as Bobby watches a great part of his army steps forward. They are cheering his other name, the tiny name that my mouth in this life fumbles to speak.
At once they step forward, and off they go across the long fields, up the long slope to the other ridge. Fifteen thousand of them, of Bobby's smoke and soil soldiers, if I make my guess. They are magnificent to behold, the haze of the smoke from the weapons surrounding them, making them appear as phantoms…and soon that is what most will be.
My animal ears in that world hear the cries, hear the constant, crack, crack, crack, of the weapons…cries of pain. I see, with those other eyes, bodies fly apart in front of the big thumping artillery…
They are in and among the ocean colored soldiers. I see them jump the long stone wall in front of a stand of trees, I see the flags begin to shudder, stumble…and fall…
Soon, all too soon, my Bobby's boys are coming back. They are beaten. Their ranks are shredded, they are bloodied messes, the horse I am smells the blood that covers them. There are so many fewer of them…
My Bobby is riding me among them, imploring to them, begging them…begging them for forgiveness. They…they are still reaching up to him, still speaking his name with awe…but their voices are weak.
They have laid their lives on his altar. They were his blood sacrifice…and he squandered their offering…
We leave them, trotting behind the line, and I can feel his body heaving in sobs that he struggles to keep within. He's never lost a battle, not like this one, not on so massive a scale.
I am lashed to a line, and he sits alone by a fire. Usually officers always surround him, but now they leave him alone, so alone. I strain at my line, the horse I am wanting to be closer, to comfort him.
Pete comes, Pete who knew that the attack would fail. I wince as I look on it in the vision, half expecting Pete to be mad, upset.
But he is not. When my Bobby is at his lowest moment, Pete is there. Pete will always be there. Pete is there the next day when the rain begins and the ambulances make a line fourteen miles long. Pete is there as we cross back across the great river. Pete is even there after his arm is found by one of the metal shards.
"…and that, Miss Sparkle, is the story of the greatest general I ever knew, the most profound mistake he ever made, and the pony who stood by him when he needed it the most."
"That is what I would have you know about friendship, Miss Sparkle, that a friend loves you when you have made an error, a friend is with you when you need it the most, and a friend does not desert you, and a friend most certainly does not say 'I told you so'."
I had disguised the names, faces, and circumstance of the humans in my vision. As I always have…who can know that I saw all of these things in a different life? In a world that may be long gone, a race of life that is unimaginable, and a horrific war in a time unknowable…how can I share these things with anyone?
As I looked up My Sovereign caught my eye, and across her face flies a knowing smile. Is it possible that she knows from whence the story comes? Can she see the cloud of remembrance that embraces me across the veil of time and space? Oh, how I wish I could simply ask!
The luncheon continued, and I shifted the attention from myself to the wonderful young fillies in whom My Majesty was delighting. They were joined by a third, a wild young pink pony whom, I must say, was most indiscreet. Yet, around her neck, resting as lightly as those on her friends was one of the Elements of Harmony.
I am enthralled by the magic. So much so, in fact, that I absentmindedly promised the pink one, Ms. Pie, a dance that evening.
As three o'clock rolled around I excused myself, stating that I simply had to prepare for the ball that evening.
As I came out of the farm I noticed a most adorable young foal maintaining a stand filled with the wares of the farm. As she was most certainly a younger sibling to Pvt. Macintosh and Miss Applejack I stopped and looked over the wares.
Selecting a pie, some crisp, a bottle of cider, some cookies, and basket of the red fruit I opened my coin pouch and for the first time in months made a purchase with my own money. The army met so many of my needs that I simple couldn't spend my pay fast enough…
The foal's eyes went wide as I placed the coins in front of her, and she thanked me with a wide smile. I sense that times are not as abundant in Ponyville as we are led to believe. Was the economy starting to suffer from the protracted wars?
If that were the case I was even happier to have stopped. Having been wounded in an accident, instead of by the enemy, Pvt. Macintosh would not be receiving wounded pay, instead just the regular pension. Continuous visits to the healers was expensive…
Laughing to myself I went down the path into the city juggling all that I had purchased. I had not worn my saddlebags! I stopped at the first house I come across. There I laid all the items on the front porch, knocked on the door, and cantered away.
Wander: I did my damnedest not to look outside the tent as my division melted away.
As Tucker, my summoner, helped put my personal belongings into the trunks provided by the hotel my tent came down around mah' ears. Two orderlies began apologizing profusely and stated that they'd thought I'd already been on my way, and I sighed.
I followed a steward back to the hotel. They'd sent a carriage, but I certainly wasn't gonna be caught in one of them flying conveyances. Magic…worries me.
When we entered the hotel I was suddenly surrounded and set upon. The crowd noticed me and so began a rush. They tried to shake my hoof or just stare at me. They literally backed me up onto a sofa, for Celestia's sake!
In the middle of all of this madness Royal Guards suddenly appeared and that, as per usual, was enough to get everyone's attention.
"General, sir," said a major, "The Princess Luna wishes to know if you would be joining her and her guests for a noontime meal."
My eyes darted up to the nearby restaurant that adjoined the lobby of the hotel. There, from a separate table, four sets of eyes returned my gaze.
Four very welcome sets of eyes, considering the situation I found myself in. "Most certainly," I said, leaping from the couch, past the disappointed throngs. Landing beyond the guards, I waited for their escort. Soon they caught me up and walked me into the restaurant.
I approached the secluded table and attempted to bow to Princess Luna but I immediately felt my hoof being caught up in another. I am surprised to find myself being lead to the table by a stunning white unicorn with a purple mane and tail.
"Most glad you could join us, General! I am Rarity, modiste and sewist of houte couture, so very glad you could join us….Fluttershy be a dear and slide over," she says, showing me to a seat among the middle of the group, "You of course know Her Majesty, the Princess Luna…"
I do my best to bow to the princess while at the same time trying to pay attention to my apparent hostess.
"This," continued this Rarity, pointing out a pegasus filly at the table, "is my close friend and dear associate Fluttershy."
"Oh, oh…hello," answered the pegasus, staring at the floor with a slight smile.
"Miss," I state, bowing my head, watching her blush.
"And this," says my hostess, taking my helmet off my head and placing it on the nearby rack, "is Rainbow Dash."
"Hey," states another pegasus pony, this one appearing very distracted, her head on her hoof, leaning on the table.
"Miss Dash," I state, running my hoof through my mane. My helmet-head was probably a fright to look on. I hadn't expected to be dining wit' the royalty.
The hostess, Miss Rarity begins having the dining staff bring out courses of what appeared to be a fairly involved luncheon.
As we progress through each course I realize that this Rarity had designed everything. She knows every last thing about the meal, and tells us about it in long, anguishing detail.
I can barely eat and feign interest in the history of the salmon mousse' at the same time. The guards, noticing my distress, tried to stifle laughter. When Rarity goes to see to something in the kitchen Miss Dash collapsed onto the table with a long moan, and I turned to Miss Fluttershy.
"She is quite, thorough, with her planning and presentation. Is she always like this?" I ask.
"Well, oh…" says the demure pony with a slight twitch of her wings, "Our Rarity…Rarity is, is…so very good…at designing things…" she said, slowly returning to staring at the floor.
To my left a sound starts, and soon I realize that Princess Luna is…laughing.
"She planned this for me, you know," she says to me, then turning to the pegasi, added, "She wanted to do something special for me, didn't she?"
The princess turned to each of them. Miss Dash had been eatin' on the centerpiece, and when the princess faced her she slid back into her seat. When the princess looked to the other pegasus, Fluttershy, she gave a small sound and then once more put her head down. I half leaned next to her attempted to discern what could possibly be so fascinatin' about that one bit of floor.
Before I could figure it out the princess had become quiet, staring at her plate with a soft smile across her face. She looked at her place setting where course fifteen or sixteen or so awaited a return of her enthusiasm.
"Everyone is being no nice to me," she said, he face going a little red, "I am barely able to comprehend it. You two should know more than any…what it was I did…"
I looked to her, tried to gauge her expression.
I liked Princess Luna. She was not nearly as imposing as her sister, she was no larger than most ponies, and surprisingly approachable for an alicorn. Alicorn. At the word I remember that, despite all appearances, I was in the presence of one of the most powerful magic users in Equestria, a seemingly immortal and apparently divine being.
I was interrupted by the familiar voice of my summoner, Tucker, statin' his protest.
I looked up to discover that the steward was attempting to deliver my trunks, and that Tucker was tryin' to defend them from none other than Miss Rarity.
"Miss! Miss! Ya' can't be runnin' roughshod through me' General's personal effects!" states the wyvern, bouncing up and down, his feathers flying about, trying to catch my clothes.
I am stunned by the hilarity of it. She continues to violate my privacy as the steward looks on aghast, Tucker boundin' about. I begin to laugh.
"Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear! Ma'am, please!" he stated, grabbing at my levitating shirts. At once Miss Rarity's mouth went wide in horror. "My dear!" she stated, turning on Tucker, the wyvern trying to defend himself with my extra boots, "This is simply unacceptable!"
"Errr, mah' apologies?" he states, looking at her over my hoofwear.
With her magic she quickly folded everything and placed my collective belongins', Tucker included, into the trunks. As we, the occupants of the table and the surrounding guards, began laughing hysterically she returned. My old dress uniform hovered in mid-air above her, suspended in her magic.
As my poor summoner called from within my trunk she fixed me in a judgemental glare. "You should be ashamed, General!" said the filly who just committed petty larceny, invasion of privacy, and unlawful imprisonment, "This formal uniform is in horrible condition! It cannot be worn to the ball tonight in such fashion! You simply must let me spruce it up a tad."
"If that is your pleasure, Miss Rarity," I stated, watching my trunk hop across the lobby floor.
After desert, which I made a point to share with Tucker, we left the hotel and restaurant and made our way across the square to what I soon discovered was Miss Rarity's own shop.
As we sat in the shop I couldn't help but look on as Miss Rarity created a swirling mass of ribbons and fabric that condensed around Princess Luna in the form of a stunnin' dress.
"My sister," she said, "your Sovereign, Celestia, is going to try to stay up all night for this ball…stay up with me. She's, she's been so…worried over me…since I returned…"
At once her eyes lifted to mine. Ah' see the ages that she's spent lookin' to her people, her sadness at lettin' them down, her confusion at why they have embraced her so…
It was then mah' turn to look to the floor…fumble fer' words. I wished Brier were there, oddly. He'd been so much more eloquent than I in all the conversations I'd had with him.
There is a soft smell of roasting almonds, one that opens up a part of my mind, and I find myself drawn to the periphery of one of my visions. I race to change the names and places…
"Majesty," I say as the vision fills my head, "I knew a general once, one with a great black beard and sad, gentle eyes…"
The battles are grinding affairs, brutal. We are a machine. We are one great cylinder of death, rolling forward. Sam's soldiers are fighting for inches. Soon we are ever throwing up earth, moving trenches farther out and along, trying to wrap around the smoke and soil colored soldiers.
It is a hard kind of warfare…dirty, mind crushing, dangerous.
Something changes for Sam though. One day we go down to a vast harbor, and there among the thousands of craft he searched one out, riding me up and down the quay where the noisy boats discharged food and arms at a dizzying rate.
At once he sees something, and I am run out onto the wharf right onto the deck of a boat! As I let the odd sensation of it shifting beneath me take hold Sam leaps right off my back and runs along the deck. There he grabs up a female, I think a woman is what they're called, and kisses her over and over. Soon four cubs…hatchlings, kids…whatever young humans are called…run out to him too. He gathers them up in a huge hug and swings them around as the captain of the boat realizes there's a horse on his deck.
The big horse I am in that world feels what is flowing around Sam, knows that his family has come to be with him.
There are three colts and a filly. Errr, three boys and a girl, I think that's what they're called.
Over those months I see a side of Sam I'd never seen before. The gruff, stoic, grumpy general becomes a beaming parent, proud of his mate and the brood he's sired.
I wish ah' knew the human words for all of these things…
They make themselves a part of the camp over the winter, and soon the untidy members of Sam's staff are all polish and well groomed. The horse I am in that world doesn't notice of course, but through these visions when I return to that body I can't help but laugh at it.
As the winter opened up to spring someone else comes down tah' meet with my Sam, and there's a part o' me that was very glad for it.
The tall lanky man, the odd lookin' duck from the white house where all the parties were bein' thrown, he comes. He comes ashore off a boat as bands play and Sam grumbles about having to wear a good uniform.
It doesn't last long…soon the lanky man is just as much a part of the family as any o' the colts…boys. Soon Sam's foals, kids, are playing with him just as much as they are fawning over me. The little filly, ummm…girl, leads me all through camp on my reigns as the soldiers call out "Here's your mule!" It's one of the few statements made by the humans that I can remember through the ears of the horse.
There's few others that stick out clearly in mah' visions, and the lanky fellow is involved in two of 'em. There were only two other people Sam ever let ride me after he became mah' master. One was someone who once saved his life; I could smell the link that attached them through the sensibilities of the horse.
The other one was the lanky man...the odd lookin' duck with the gentle yes. He, like Sam, was an excellent horseman. He's a bit more top-heavy than Sam, but as we ride down the roads near the camp, past the stacked arms, the pyramids of the awful weapons of this reality…this world where I'm the horse, the soldiers roll out of their cabins and tents and cheer for him…and for me! He lifts his funny black hat a gives them all a goofy lookin' smile and calls out to them.
Once, after such a ride, the lanky man began to dismount, but Sam stopped him. Sam takes my reigns and we walk up to a part of the camp where new regiments had just arrived. Here the soldiers look just a little different. Their coats are all the same color…I don't mean the coats they are wearing, but their skin. Here they are all darker in color, almost black. Even the horse I am in that time finds it strange that soldiers are kept apart based on their color, but they are here, and Sam smiles at them as they realize who is riding me.
At first the darker skinned soldiers try to form ranks, try to do the "present arms" salute…but, soon, there are cries, open weeping…and one breaks ranks and runs up to me, grasping the lanky man's hand, kissing it. Soon others join, soon the whole brigade. They surround me. They all reach for him, and he shakes their hands, lets them run his hands over his jacket.
Sam looks on, knows that nothing can scare me, the good horse, that he wouldn't have done this if I were able to be put 'afear. He trusts me, loves me. He is my Sam, so I stand.
The darker skinned soldiers chant his name, the lanky man's, and it sounds out over un' over in mah' ears I can not miss it. I hear it now as I look back in the vision.
"Father Abram'!" they call, "Father Abram'!" they call out over and over, soon it becomes a song, the whole assembly rocking with it, saying "Father Abram'" and "the kingdom come!"…at least that's how I think it went.
When finally Abram' gives me the little kick and we spin away I can feel the tiny drops of his tears, feel the tall black hat rest on my shoulders as he pulls out a handkerchief and wipes it across his face.
Sam smiles at Abram', and at me.
Weeks later Sam's army is getting ready to move again, swing farther south and hopefully, finally, catch the smoke and earth colored soldiers.
Things are movin' fast, the big horse I am feeling the nervous energy as the soldiers make ready, as they steel themselves.
Abram' is to leave us, and Sam's family are sad for it. Sam's hatchli…kids, wrap themselves around his legs, beg him not to go. Sam's mate kisses Abram' on the cheek.
Sam walks me to the pier where the boat rests that will take Abram' back to that odd city with the big white house where everybody is so excitable.
It is here where the ears of that old big horse perk up, and through a moment of clarity I hear again what I heard with those ears, when I was that horse.
Abram' reminds Sam of the instructions, instructions that they'd discussed before I guess. I see the motions they make, agreement, and soon the words become clear as crystal…how the war was to end…
"Go easy on them, Sam," Abram' says, the words ringing out clearly even after all of these ages and on this side of reality where I am an Equestrian. Yet I kin' hear them still. "Let 'em just go home…"
Sam salutes and Abram' tips his tall black hat, and with that he boarded the boat. Sam walks up to me and we wait and watch as the boat heads out into the harbor.
It was the last time I would ever see Abram'.
My mind flashes forward, back across the tracks of time and space and sheets of reality.
I had tah' change all of the names and places of course, hidin' once again the nature and truth of my experience. As I looked into the eyes of Princess Luna I finished my story, and without moralizing I gave her mah' take on her situation.
"Yer' Majesty…just like mah' friend, you have family that love's ya' to death. I've only ever spoken with Princess Celestia twice, but I know that she is the only other pony in this world who's seen the wonders that you've seen. Her forgivin' ya' isn't all that unusual…that's what family does. Loves one another, just like his family wanted nothing more than to be with him, and he them, after he was gone fighting for all those years."
I dared tah' pontificate upon my ageless sovereign a touch more.
"As for everypony being so nice to ya', well, just like my friend's associate said, all we wanted is for you tah' be yourself again…to be home and be who ya' really are."
I dared to look up into her eyes, and there was a small knowing smile. Some part of me wondered if she had guessed where my knowledge had truly come from. Wouldn't have surprised me in the least. Still, I'm not brave enough to simply say, "Oh, I learned all this of course from bein' a mindless animal in another reality."
There are times I wish I could. Is it really possible that I'm the only Equestrian who's been through this, who has these visions of another time and life? Am I simply insane?
Miss Rarity had worked as I had spoken, looking up from time to time to listen to my story. We both bow as the Royal Guard, these painted grey to match their roles as her escorts, lead Princess Luna out of the shop.
Before long Rarity has spruced up my old dress uniform. It is wonderful to behold. After she gives Tucker a gem to suck upon in apology I pay her. Her jaw drops open as I place a pile of bits upon the table. I have no use for them…so, let talent be rewarded.
With that Tucker and I departed, making for the hotel.
Green Brier: I am placing my things in order in my suite in the Hotel Seabiscuit when something races through my head.
At once I experience the smell of roasted almonds, the cue that I am to once more have a vision. This is rare, like this, in the middle of the day. At once I sit, but instead of entering a cloud of remembrance my mind instead picks up a tune…
The song had been played by bands in Bobby's army…it was a favorite. It was played both in camp, upon the march, and when the horrific scenes of that war played out around us…
I sat back in the chair, pursed my lips, and let it slide out of me, let the song fill the room. I whistled it, remembering the tune, seeing the faintest shadows of the long lines of grey soldiers on the march, fighting, dying…
Wander: I am coming up the stairs of the hotel where I'm staying when something jumps out at me and bites at me like a snake.
I hear that song, the song that echoed across the battlefields when we moved against the smoke and soil colored soldiers.
I stumbled on the stairs, nearly fell, the force of it was so startling. I sent Tucker ahead to mah' rooms as I searched out the sound. It slid on out from beneath the door to a suite, and I found mahself prancing back and forth before it like a great fat idiot.
I listened to it until I could listen no more, until I felt like I had to wheel around as Sam did when placing his corps, his blue soldiers, to answer the challenge of the song, the approach of the grey ones…the ones who lifted the defiant song…
I knocked on the door.
Green Brier: The song was interrupted by a knock upon my door. Even as I stood it began to drift away from me, back beyond the veil of thought.
Gathering myself up and straightening my uniform I answered the door. To my surprise, it was Wander…
Wander: It was Brier; he was the one whistling the song. My mind went blank.
We stared at each other and made small greetings…and suddenly the whole thing seemed ridiculous, and the old uncomfortable feelings slid between us.
My mind flew around, tried to find some excuse. But, as I did, something tugged at me, tore deeper as I fought it. No, I had ta' ask…
"This is gonna sound a bit odd," I stated, moving down into a whisper, "but I overheard ya' whistlin' that ditty…ya', ya' wouldn't happen to remember what it's called, or the words? I swear…I've heard it before…"
Green Brier: I stood shock still, unable to move, scarcely able to breath. It wasn't possible, there was no way that Wander could know…that song was sung by…Bobby's grey soldiers. How…
It wasn't possible…it couldn't be. I cleared my throat, thought for a second, put on the false names and hid it once more.
"It was something I learned long ago, through the auspices of an old friend, a dear one," I said. "I'm sorry, General Wander, but, but…I can't remember a name…oh, wait!"
I actually jumped around a bit, much to my own surprise, as a remembrance of some small word jumped to my mind. It was a short one, almost as small as Bobby's family name…
Wander: I smiled at ol' Brier as he actually startled himself thinkin' o' the name. It was the most animated and unreserved I'd ever seen him. He returned the smile as he looked back to me and asked, "Brixey? I do believe it was a name…"
Green Brier: Wander pondered for a moment, arching his eyebrows, one first, then the other. He smiled back at me, then asked, "Was it 'Trixie'? Naw, that ain't it…how about 'Nixie'?"
We begin to laugh at this odd little game. I answered him though my chortling. "I do believe it was fuller than that…rounder, as it were. Was it, perhaps…'Pixie'?"
Wander: I stuck the tongue out of the side of my head, looked at the ceiling with one eye. "Naw, that ain't it…closest we've gotten though, so we'll stick with that."
Green Brier: "Well, they can't accuse us of not trying, at least!" I added as we both laughed at our situation.
I can't know what Equestrian song he's confusing it with, but I am thankful that we've shared some small companionship. For the first time I feel like I'd made some sort of connection with Wander, and I am most happy for it.
Still, even better, I got to discuss something about that world, to have a remembrance…even if I had disguised it, that felt good indeed.
Wander: I can't for the life of me figure out at that moment what old Equestrian Army song Brier was after, but I'm happy to have shared some laughs with him. Fer' the first time I feel like we've been friendly rather than just being cordial, and I'm glad of it.
More satisfying is sharin' something of that place in the visions. Even if I couldn't speak right of it, it had felt good to think on it.
Green Brier: We smiled at each other for a few moments, the Wander nodded and turned to leave.
"Best not think on it too hard now, Wander," I called after him, realizing that this is the first time I don't add 'general' to his name, "You should get a headache if you do…and this damniable ball tonight shall undoubtedly produce more than enough of those by itself!"
Wander: "Undoubtedly!" I chortled, "I assume the food will disagree with me too!"
Green Brier: I laughed at what I believed was Wander's accurate assumption and then answered as I turned to my rooms.
The Somewhere Cycle Volume 1: "Wander and Green Brier"
Written by The Descendant
Chapter 5
Wander: As far as balls go, that one weren't the worst I'd ever had to sit through. I've never been much at social functions. Sam wasn't either. He hated them so. I guess that rubbed off on me.
This one started off fine, with the main square of Ponyville covered in bunting, and with a pretty healthy lookin' spread set out for us along the long rows of tables.
It's funny, I feel lighter without mah' armor, almost free of an encumbrance, as it were. As I try to eat I notice more than a few eyes on me, and I become self-conscious. Damn it all.
There are very good reasons why I wear my uniform loose, why I keep wearing my original junior officer's uniform, as rusted and weather-worn as it is. I don't want to look like I'm trying to be important. I've struggled all mah' life to earn everything, or to rise to what I've been put to…I don't want to seem cocky about it.
So, as the evening grows, I keep food in my mouth un' keep silent. I watch as Trot, Start, and my other officers try to mingle…I'd never learned how.
Green Brier: As far as social events go, this one was not the most reserved I'd attended, but it was quite pleasant.
The food was ample, and I do my best to satiate myself without appearing a glutton.
It is good to be without my armor, I think. I do enjoy wearing my formal uniform, I must admit, and I have had no occasion to do so in recent years. It lies across me so loosely. I wish I had thought of that, how thin I'd become over the years of fighting…
…like Bobby as the war slowly ended.
I bring myself back to conscious thought. Bobby had experienced a heart attack; the animal I was could smell it, even as he hid it from the other humans. I'd not done so badly.
Yes, I like my uniform, though I try not to be proud. It is the symbol of the faith that my nation, my superiors, and My Lady have placed in me. I look proudly upon my officers, especially the younger ones as they are fawned over by a variety of fetching young mares that bat their eyes at them and ask about medals and stripes.
They are gentlecolts, and they know what I expect of them.
Wander: As the dinner wore down and we began to make our way to the city for a dance…I hate dances…I find myself being called upon. My head drops in despair until I recognize the voice of General Hat. I make my way through the throngs to where he stands.
As I do I see that he is motioning to somepony else as well, and I see Brier politely making his way through the crowd.
Green Brier: As we were processing towards the city hall I suddenly hear the familiar voice of General Hat calling to me over the crowd. I look up to see him motioning to me, and as I begin to state "Excuse me" and "Pardon me" to the throngs I see that Rod is already with him, and that Wander is making his way over as well.
Something, I feel, is ahoof.
Wander: We gather to Black Hat and when we, his three division commanders, are with him we he nods to us and turns down a path alongside the river that runs through Ponyville.
Brier, Pad, and I look to each other in confusion and then follow after him.
He takes us down to where a stream turns into a mill trace, and soon we stand alongside a big old mill buildin' as the water wheel slaps around and around in the gathering twilight.
He waited as an older pony with a crumpled hat and white beard went across the bridge, pulling a cart behind, before he spoke.
Green Brier: "Lads," said the gallant old unicorn, "I've got news…"
He looked across his shoulders; as though he was worried that somepony may be listening in on us. As he did he noticed something, and he trotted on farther as we followed.
He stopped, looked up to a tree…a sycamore tree, the symbol of our corps. He levitated a leaf to each of us with that amazing magic. We stuck them behind the bands of our rank stripes as he continued.
"I was let in on a piece of intelligence, and they asked my opinion. I just want you each to know that I told them all of your merits, each of you, and that I thought that you each would do a fine job…"
Oh, my.
Wander: My eyes went a little wide, I admit.
"Tomorrow morning two of you will be called to come down to the city hall, and there one of you will be informed that you're the new corps commander," he said, looking to the ground, "The senior Major General, as it were."
We looked to one another in silence, waitin' on the general to lift his head.
"Rod," he said in a sad whisper, "I'm sorry. I told them that any of the three of my lads would do well…that they're the best I've ever had the pleasure to command, and I mean it. You're an excellent general, Rod, and I'd trust you with my life, but when they pressed me…"
Green Brier: My heart flew out to Golden Rod.
Wander: Poor Rod!
Green Brier: "…I had to go with either Green Brier or Wander as my two choices."
We looked to Golden Rod as his head fell down, then back up in a forced smile. He nodded, said he'd do whatever he was commanded, follow either of us gladly.
He is an excellent soldier. He's proven his worth. His soldiers like him. What he lacked is creativity, but he's made up for it in dedication and introspection. But, sadly, a general who is not an artist is not suffering enough, and I knew why Wander and I were Hat's choices.
My Bobby was a clever general. During one battle where he was outnumbered he sent half of his army around the blue soldiers on a day's march led by a general named Stone Wall (the closet thing to a Equestrian name I remember the humans having in that forgotten world). His horse was named Little Sorrel. They attacked around 'bout the outside and nearly won Bobby that war.
Nearly.
But at that moment I wasn't pondering Bobby, I was wondering…was it Wander, or I?
Wander: Rod began to salute us each, but we gathered him up in an embrace.
Rod is a good stallion, and I knew that he would not to seek promotion above what he's good for. He is a capable division commander, and I know Brier or I will rely on him.
I knew another general like that once, one who refused to go higher than he knew he could go, where he fit perfectly. His name was Winny, or that was what his friends called him. He was one of Sam's best. He was good, very good. But, it seems, he refused to be promoted…he knew where he was best needed, best used.
I found myself ponderin' that as we walked back up towards the city hall. Upon which one of us would that new responsibility lie? Is it Brier? Is it I?
"Now, colts," speaks Black Hat, looking to us each, "keep it a secret between us, and act surprised."
That I certainly would.
Green Brier: The city hall was alive with light, and as the four of us entered a cheer went up. Next to the door is General Rolling Log, our brigadier artillery chief, the best one I've ever worked with. As we enter he introduces each of us in turn as new ovation thunders out from the hooves of the finely dressed denizens of Ponyville.
My name was called after Rod's, and I stepped forward into the great rotunda of the city hall, and My Lady is standing there, her Sister Sovereign at her side.
Wander: We bowed before the alicorns, the assembly with us, and we're begged to stand, and once again we were applauded.
I'm becoming flustered, and it doesn't get any better as Princess Celestia goes on and on about our achievements.
Green Brier: I bask in the attention of My Lady.
Soon she called Black Hat forward, and the valiant old unicorn received from my deathless sovereign a kiss for his long years in her service. I could only beg that one day…well, let's not make assumptions.
Black Hat made a brief speech…
Wander: Old Hat, he's made his mark by being quick and decisive. His little speech is a thing o' beauty, and it ends with us all standing quietly…
Green Brier: …remembering those who were left up in the mountains, who sleep in sod now once again part of Equestria.
Before long the music started and we watched as Black Hat wheels and dips across the dance floor with his wife Golden Flicker. I see in Black Hat many of the great aspects of what it means to be a general, a stallion of worth, and as he stared into the eyes of his mare the well-earned wrinkles played out as he smiled.
Wander: His fits had become better, but not cured, as we had come out of the hills. Black Hat has served this nation well, and in his new function in Canterlot I know he will work fer' the betterment of the army and our benefit…wear out the last few years before he retires to his manor alongside the Whitetail Woods.
Green Brier: He's earned it all…and I can't help but wonder if we'll rise to what he's done.
"Gentlecolts," says a somewhat familiar voice, and I wheeled about to see that the Minister of War has interjected himself between Wander and I. We give him a slight bow as he continues. "You see, fellows, that decorum demands that you be the ones to ask …"
My mind flies back to our manor house, growing up as a colt. Decorum? I follow the gaze of the minister to the dais. There I see Golden Rod asking the mayor of Ponyvile for a dance…leaving my sovereigns at a loss…
Wander: Brier and I fling a single glance between us, and then make our way to where the princesses sat awaiting. I bump Brier a bit to switch positions, so that he can approach Celestia. His little crush on the elder princess hasn't ever been much o' a secret.
Together we bow, and the take hold of their hooves as they come down the steps, and soon we are wheeling the seemingly ageless and apparently divine sisters through the hall as the denizens of Ponyville look on with misty eyes.
Luna is so frail, almost fragile…
Green Brier: My mind wonders at it as I try to keep my composure. She's taller than me, of course, nearly three hands taller, but yet she is so light. Celestia, oh…My Sovereign…lets herself be led so lightly…
I wonder how many ponies in my situation she's danced with before…how many victorious generals have felt this. I wonder if she remembers all of them…if, in a millennia, she'll remember me…
Wander: As the first dance ends we suddenly find our services in demand. My card is filled with those whom I met in the hotel. Miss Fluttershy is demure, and like Miss Dash she is so light…the pegasi are so light.
Miss Rarity is the best dancer of the group, even better than myself. As we float along she actually rests her head across my shoulders and sighs. I sense she's wanted to dance with somepony for a great long while…poor thing, and I break decorum for one instant and take her along for a second song.
Green Brier: I find that My Lady hands me off to Miss Applejack, and though my heart breaks at the end of My Sovereigns touch I soon try to rise to the occasion that presented itself. There aren't many stallions here apart from our officers…as in all our cities many are off in the mountains or along the sea defending our borders, so, we dance.
Miss Applejack blushes the whole time, trying to keep up with me. Miss Twilight has the startled look on her face of someone who has read a book about dancing but has never actually done it. She soon learns, and we wheel about.
I am caught off guard when Ms. Pie grabs me up and leads me in something more akin to one of Hat's seizures than a dance.
Soon enough I am standing by the door to the hall, announcing how much I enjoyed it all, thanking the assembly…letting all know that I am soon to leave. Soon Wander and Rod are nearby, doing the same…
Wander: …givin' our married officers a chance to beat us back to the hotel.
As the ponies give us an adieu our officers with families bow and salute and move out the door, knowing what we expect of them.
Things happen when an army corps goes on leave in a city…things that have been happening since the first mare batted her eyes at the first stallion. It's part of nature ah' assume, and the next generation of ponies has to come from somewhere.
But those of them who have made promises, promises to love and cherish, are to keep them…
Both: …and they know I'll not have a liar on my staff.
Green Brier: I return to my suite to find Jeroh already asleep in his bassinet. Silently I washed and prepared for bed. I settled my self down, wishing to have a good night's sleep.
Wander: Tucker was already snoring loudly by the time I returned. I picked him up and put him in the tub so I could close the door and keep the noise to a minimum. I wasn't wantin' to listen to that all night long. I felt mah eyes get heavy, felt myself drift off into blessed sleep.
Green Brier: I shot straight up in bed, soaked with sweat. I gave a gasp.
Wander: I awoke with a scream. My invective was so loud I heard Tucker jump out of his rest and fall over the edge of the tub…
Both: Something had gone wrong with the visions…something that had never happened before.
Green Brier: The visions have always returned to me in order, as though I were living that life, the life of the horse, over and over in a repeating cycle. It…it had allowed myself to prepare for the things that animal had seen…even the worst of them…
Wander: They go along in order, you see, the visions…the living dreams. I can always expect which one is next…get ready for it, even the worst ones, like the battles.
Except something had gone wrong…horribly wrong. Or, maybe, just different…I don't know…all I know is that it skipped ahead a few…
Green Brier: Instead of the one I expected, it was a later one…one where the war was over…
My Bobby had lost the war.
I can sense it, see it in the way the world has changed…or, in reality, returned. The soldiers are gone, there's crops again, and we are living in a building…well, the horse I am in that world is in a stall, but Bobby is in a building.
I can smell from the air that we are very close to where I was born, where the animal I am in that world first walked the sweet grasses. To my utter surprise Lucy is here! In our new pasture she stands with me and other horses as well.
Bobby's family comes up as well…his family is here, mostly girls. They tend to me, and are kind to me. Yet, it seems, my Bobby is not the human he was even just a few years ago. He is very tired…almost used up, as it were.
It matters little…I don't care. All I want is for him to come and ride me, to go out into the paths beyond these groups of buildings, up the streams and across the green ridges.
Here, here in the clean air where there are no others but he and I we gallop, and for the first time since I met him we are able to go on and on and on without the shrieks of the wounded and dying, without the smell of the acidic smoke and blood in the air.
I'm very interested in the place where we have come after the war. It seems to be a place dedicated to learning…a university. Here my Bobby seems to have been put in charge.
That is amazing to me to think about. My Bobby lead soldiers in a vast and terrible war, but when it ended he's not imprisoned, not punished. These creatures, these humans, seem to have (or had, if they still exist) an almost Equestrian capability for forgiveness. I bless them for that, for letting my Bobby go, let him spend time up here in the clean air, with me.
The boys at the university…they adore me. I eat more apples and sugar cubes in a year than I have in all of my previous life. It comes at a price though…they like to pluck out the hairs of my tail and send them home as souvenirs. At one point Bobby said I appeared as "a plucked chicken".
I'm not thrilled by their acts, but I endure it.
One day, we go up into the hills on a ride, my Bobby and I.
As we are going along we come into a clearing, and there's a group of men standing there. They have those weapons, the horrible ones that snap and hiss with the puff of rancid smoke, and at the sight of them I rear. Bobby calms me, and when the men see him they lift their hats, and some salute…
…as if they were soldiers.
Bobby canters me up to them, and they speak with him, quietly at first, then with growing enthusiasm. They lower something long, take the cover off of it…
…and that red flag with the blue bars across it flutters before them. They want Bobby to lead them again…to start the war again.
Bobby wipes his hands across his face, speaks to them slowly. I can feel the age in his voice…he is so tired. Why won't they leave my Bobby alone…he's so tired…
Bobby speaks to them, admonishes them gently, I can feel it. Soon they are dropping their eyes, seemingly ashamed. He begs them to seek justice, to honor the promise of peace they have made. He holds out his hand, gathers their flag and I see that it is an old one, torn. Though I cannot read the human writing I know the words across it are names of battles we have fought, places where men of both the blue and grey fought and died. He presses his lips to it, rolls it back within its cover, and returns it to them.
Slowly they depart, in groups, more than a few shaking my Bobby's hands or even embracing him before they leave, weeping.
After the last one is gone we stand there, in the meadow, as the bells of the city where the university lies ring out beneath us. He climbs into the saddle once more, and we head down the hill.
Wander: I…I wasn't expecting the vision that came, wasn't ready for it. But, I expected the order to be the same…
Instead I awake as the army is crying, as men in blue stand around wailing. They call the name "Abram'" over and over and over, some rocking in sobs as though the world has ended. Even Sam simply stands there, the thin tape of the telegram in hand, his face pale, the tears starting.
Abram' is dead…poor gentle Abram'. I can sense that it wasn't right, that he'd been…killed. Who could kill such a kind gentle…lanky odd lookin' duck…so sad, it's so sad…I cry when I think on it in my Equestrian body sometime…such gentle eyes…
Time moves forward, in the vision we move into the city where everybody gets so excited all the time. We even move into the same big old white house where Abram' lived. At first I thought that we were going to visit him…but then I remembered…
Anywho, before we moved there I went back with Sam to a smaller city way out west. There I met his family again, and boy were they glad to see me! I also meet Sam's other horses. Yes, Sam owned other horses. I try not to be jealous that I don't have Sam all to myself…but the big animal that I am in that life is possessive. It takes me time to realize that the creamy colored one named Kangaroo was the horse he had ridden in the war before he got me…he had seen just as much as I had.
He'd been wounded though, terribly, and was rather weak. There was another horse named Jeff Davis, a terrible name for a horse and apparently a joke of some such manner, who was a bit disagreeable at times.
The horse in whom I shared the most qualities and spend the most time though were' a big old fellah nearly as tall as me. He was named Egypt.
When we live in the excitable city it is Egypt and I who pull the carriage Sam rides in. Sam never loses his love of going fast, and once as we two are pulling him he is made to stop by a policeman! The officer begins to write him a ticket, but tries to stop when he realizes who Sam is. Sam, being an honorable soul, makes him write the ticket anywho.
I don't know why Sam was in such a hurry to move to this city. All I know is that everybody here cheers a lot and is all in a frenzy all the time. We have to go down the street to a big white building with a dome all the time, and people are always coming to our big white house, shaking his hand, and asking for favors.
It drives Sam mad, and often he simply runs out to the stall, saddles me up, and we pelt through city streets before dawn, Sam puffing those horrible weeds into a cloud.
He does it so much more…I had hoped he would stop when the war ended…
Once as we are racing along one of those horrible butcher wagons passes us. The humans eat meat, it seems. Though I'm not troubled by eating fish or eggs, the idea of eating animals is a hard one for an Equestrian, but I stomach it when I see it in that world. I can't judge the humans…if they can produce a creature like Sam then they're beyond my right to judge.
Anywho, we get passed by this here butcher wagon. We pass 'em back. Then he passes us!
Next day Sam goes out and buys the horse pullin' the wagon. His name is Butcher Boy.
I guess Sam didn't like that noisy unhappy city much…I know I didn't…because after eight years we just pack everything and up and leave.
Green Brier: After I had awoken with a start. I sat there, wondering why the visions had come out of order.
I laid my head back down on the pillow, preparing to go back to sleep, knowing which one would follow if they came in the correct order. Usually I'd spend most of the day preparing for this one…but tonight, of all nights, I had not that option.
One day as Bobby is putting me away in the stall I smell something on him, the way the blood is moving in his body. I extend my nose to him…my concern evident.
He rubs his head, looks up to me. He takes the brush and moves it slowly across my shoulders. I can remember it still, in my present body, how little energy he had as he did so.
He hangs up the brush and turns to me, moving beneath my neck, letting my head fall across his shoulder.
With that he turned away, rubbing his hands through his white hair. I watched as he went up the stone path, how his decreasing frame is highlighted by the growing autumn colors of the trees. He turns the corner and disappears from my view.
He doesn't come for me the next day. He comes not the day after. For two long weeks the stable boys speak in whispered tones, and around the university the students are hushed as they come near the house.
One morning I awake to weeping coming from the house. It's Bobby's daughters.
Oh no…no, no…Bobby…my Bobby…
Before long boys dressed in black lead me out of the stall. My saddle is placed on me, and I'm given a fleeting moment of false hope. Soon they are draping me with black crepe, and I am lead out to meet a procession.
I follow a long stream of mourners. Pete is there, other humans I remember as well.
I am stationed behind something unusual on a caisson, like the ones the artillery used in that war. Upon it is a box.
One whiff tells me what is within. As the red and orange leaves fall from the trees in that lost world I see it still, the long box.
I will go with you Bobby, follow along, go with you. I am your good horse Bobby…I will always be your good horse, and I will come to you as soon as I can follow…
I am your good horse Bobby, forever.
We go up to the chapel, and they lift the box within, taking his body away from me.
So, I am alone. Yet, not entirely. Lucy is with me, and I spend long days in the fields with her foals.
Winter comes soon, and it disagrees with me. They are still wearing black, his daughters, and I try to comfort them. They can't ride me…no one can, it seems. They…they're treating me like an artifact…like a treasure.
Yet they are still pulling out the hair of my tail. I'm a bit saddened, disappointed, and lonely.
Oh, I'm still brushed, feed in abundance, taken for long walks…but, but I'm…alone. No more flying across green fields…
It's a nail, of all things, that kills me.
I know which stable boy left Lucy's old nail lay there for days, until the rust covered it. I knew who forgot about it until I absentmindedly stepped on it, driving it deep into the soft of my hoof, until it hobbles me and I fall to the ground with a wild animal sound.
He never confessed, he was too afraid, but I don't blame him. As death spreads through my body over the next few days he comes often, tries to give me water, tries to massage my stiffening joints. He's even crying as he does so.
I don't blame him. In fact, I think he did me, that animal I was, a kindness. As the sickness spreads to my jaw it clamps shut, and I can no longer open my mouth for food or water. I was left to wonder how long it would take the humans to do the honorable thing…
The girls each give me a kiss, the animal, and then turn away as the stable manager puts the weapon to my head.
I'm not mad, nor am I saddened. As he, the big man with the weapon, starts to sob I just think of my Bobby. I'm following you, Bobby, your good horse…now I'm going to see my Bobby. I think of him, and how soon wherever he is I too will be there, and together we shall fly together across green fields.
I don't even hear the weapon fire.
Wander: I had wanted a good night's sleep, but that was denied me. I listen on as Tucker pulls himself back over the edge of the tub. Soon he is snoring again.
I lay down once more. If the visions went back to the way they are supposed to be, in the proper order, than the hardest one is coming next. I'd usually rest up, prepare mahself for this one…but I have not the opportunity, so, dammit all, here I must go again…
We leave the big city where everyone is in a frenzy at all hours and insanity appears to be treated as a virtue. As soon as we are in the country I feel myself coming alive again…so ready to just run, and breath clean air and be with Sam and his foals…errr, kids. Hatchlings?
Anywho, we come up to a great big farm. To my surprise Sam is greeted by his old friend, the one who I decided must have saved his life at one point. Even the horse I am in that life can see the currents that shift around them, how appreciative Sam is of this fellow.
In any case, Sam and his family stay here on this farm with this friend for a long while, until the winter ends and into the next spring. It is a wonderful time, much like the time I hoped fer' during the war.
It ends, as all things do.
Sam was going on a trip, his mare…errr, wife, was going with him. He was quite excited about it.
So, as the spring turns to summer Sam takes me for rides through the fields and along a creek bottom near the farm. I am so happy for it. When the day comes for him to leave on his trip he gives me a good long pat and then turns to leave. "I'll be back for you!" he says, my ears catching the words, and then he was gone.
I didn't know it then, of course, when I was the horse…but now I know that was the last time I'd ever see my Sam.
Life on the farm is fine. Sam's other horses are here too…were just sitting around getting fat and waitin' on Sam to come back from his trip.
One day I am crossing the field, chasing after Egypt as we play at the inane little games of the horses of that world, the mindless ones of an animal.
At once there is a sound, and I can't breathe.
I go to the ground fighting for breath.
I fight for each one…gulping at them. Pull it in as Sam's other horses whiny in alarm…let it out as a boy comes running up to me. I pull another in as he runs off screaming for help.
I breathe hard…I, I just want to hold on until Sam can come…he, he said he'd be back…I…breathe, pull…please…out, I…Sam…
…in, out…no, I, please…Sam…
…Sam…
Both: My mind flies across time, space, crosses the sheets of hundreds of realities. I am a luminous being. Ages are nothing to me. I am light, and I hear the call of a distant sun.
I answer it, and there beneath that sun I hear a voice calling on a world that floats in its light.
I dive, wheel into that world, feel myself change.
I awake in my mother's forelegs, my Equestrian mother, in an Equestrian building. As she smiles down at me my life begins again.
The Somewhere Cycle Volume 1: "Wander and Green Brier"
Written by The Descendant
Chapter 6
Green Brier: It was still before dawn, the second time I awoke. There is an unusual sensation across my foreleg and I awake to find Jeroh is standing next to my bed, massaging my leg, looking down on me with sad eyes.
"Jeroh?" I asked, "What's wrong?"
"You…you were cryin' in your sleep, sir…cryin' pretty bad," speaks my summoner.
"Well, yes," I say, "I had a…dream."
I had been about to say "bad dream". As he looks on I put a smile on in the dim light, then returns to his bassinet.
Wander: The second time I wake up bawlin', shaking. Tucker is roused from his slumber once more. I hear him grumbling from the lavatory as his clawed feet make their way across the tiles.
Soon the door opens and I see the wyvern's form silhouetted in the pre-dawn light.
"Ya' alright, general, me bucko?" he asks, peering at me with drowsy eyes.
"Meh," I answer, "Must have ate somethin' disagreeable at the ball…"
"Well," he answers with a yawn, pointing into the bathroom, "If ya' need to use the facilities here in a jiffy just give me 'ah kick…"
Both: I lie there for a good long while, just staring at the ceiling, wondering why the visions had come out of order…
Green Brier: Was there any meaning to it?
Wander: Was there a purpose? Perhaps it was somethin' physical, with my body?
Both: These worries washed over me. How I wished I had somepony I could speak to about these things!
Green Brier: Dawn felt as though it was forever in coming. When finally the first glimpse of the sun punctured the horizon I bowed to it, as I always have since that long ago day in the garden.
I then did something I never have done before…I went back to sleep.
Wander: There was no getting back to sleep. I knew that I'd now be drowsy all day, even during the special super-secret meeting that I had to remember to act all surprised about.
I roused Tucker from his ensconced redoubt in the tub long enough for me to get mahself ready for the day. When I came out he was asleep in mah' bed so I sat in a big chair and watched the dawn rise over Ponyville.
Both: I actually was surprised when there was a knock on my door.
Wander: I roused myself from the big chair and went slowly to the door. Tucker tossed over a bit on the bed, and I let him lie there as I answered.
"General Wander, sir," says a big old Royal Guardspony lieutenant as the door comes open, "Your presence is requested at a meeting. Breakfast will be served there, sir."
I look at the big fellow for a few seconds, blinking. They look so grim all the time, even when they're wearing Celestia's white paint. "Yes," I say, yawning, "Yes, well…let's be off then."
I leave Tucker asleep on the bed, making my way down the stairs as I see one more guard waitin' by Brier's door. I hope he got more sleep than I…at least one of us should look presentable.
Green Brier: I roll from the bed. I feel very wavy, almost ill. As I go to open the door Jeroh stands in his bassinet. I wave to him to be still, and he lowers himself back within, eyes on the door.
I open it to reveal the deep dark eyes of a Royal Guardspony, a captain by his badges. He looks most severe, as always, but my mind goes at once to his helmet. They haven't changed at all since that long ago day in the garden…and my regular army one shows more hard-earned laurels.
"General Brier, sir," intones the guardspony, his eyes looking up, noting that I'm staring at his helmet through my delirium, "I am to escort you to a meeting…your breakfast will be taken there, sir."
I try to act surprised, ask if there's any purpose to the meeting, but he says that he is unable to say.
As I turn back into my room to get dressed I hear the familiar hoofbeats of Wander going down the stairs. I do hope that he is more collected than I, that he had a more restoring respite. One of I us should look the part of a new corps commander, and at the moment I doubted that it was I.
As I finish washing up and slip on the uniform I come out of the lavatory to find Jeroh looking up to me once more.
"General," he asks, his hands over the side of his bassinet, "Am I coming with you? Do…do you want me to come?"
I smile down at him; leave my bits on the nightstand beside the bed.
"No," I speak in a hushed tone, "You go back to sleep, have a big breakfast downstairs in the restaurant…more than likely nothing of importance is going to happen…"
I closed the door behind me as the guardspony bowed. I followed him down the stairs, out through the lobby, and into the morning streets. As we went on I almost asked him what regular army unit he had served in, what he had done to have such an honor as serving in the guard bestowed on him…how badly he had been wounded.
I don't venture such a conversation though…it wouldn't seem proper. I laugh to myself a bit as I go on past the waking city scenes…I am unable to join the guard now. The dream of that little colt went in a different direction than I had anticipated. The commander of Their Majesty's Brigade of the Household is, of course, a brigadier…I'd need to be demoted first!
By some miracle we arrive at the city hall before Wander, despite his head start. I look around for him a touch before my escort salutes and then states, "I shall go announce your presence, sir."
I return his salute, and as he goes up the steps I look to the flags. Flags tell us many things, you see. For example, where our regiments are, whose headquarters this is, where I can find my division commanders, and things along that line.
I looked again to the flags upon the porch. They told me many things indeed. Not only was the city hall of Ponyville serving as the current headquarters of Sycamore Corps, due to the presence of our headquarters flag (Black Hat's, soon Wander' or my own), but also happily, My Sovereign was present!
I looked upon her Golden Sun flag upon its immaculate white field, my face brightening as I did so.
There was another flag. The flag of the Minister of War stood there on the porch, gentle bobbing on the breeze. That, I knew, worked this in favor of Wander.
I let myself think about breakfast. Bobby had a chicken that he kept with him during the war. It laid his breakfast for him every morning. I myself pondered some nice granola over yogurt…hearty grains, some raisins, roasted almonds…
Roasted…
At once the vision jumped to me, literally dragged me forward through my consciousness.
I was at once startled and aghast. For one to reach out for me here, in the morning, in the middle of the street…it was unusual to say the least. What happened next though went beyond unusual into the realm of the bizarre and amazing.
We come up a dirt road in the middle of a sleepy village, led by a human who shows us to a small brick house. It is very attractive house, wrapped as it was by a white porch with a flight of seven stairs leading up to it.
I had been so sure that there was to be a battle…I had heard the guns firing…but now it was quiet. So very quiet, that spring morning.
The groom takes me off the bridle, lets me nibble on the grass as Bobby comes up the stones past me to the steps. His head is heavy, and despite his immaculate uniform and sword he looks entirely beset.
I repeat that…as I, the animal, nibbled on the grass Bobby walks past me, Major General Green Brier as I stand there staring at him unseen…
What in Celestia's name is going on?
Wander: Ponyville is only just beginnin' to wake up as my escort makes his way through the streets. He's lost…the guardspony obviously wasn't a Ponyville native. I had found my way back to the hotel last night fair enough, but he's leadin' me all over Equestria.
I look on as street vendors set up their carts, as the first shop owners to open begin to unfurl their canopies, shaking them a bit to let out the mornin' dew.
It's a good little city…only that much more than a village, but a good one. I know that the ponies who we left up in those hills knew that they were fighting for these here today…that they could go on with their lives without having to worry, to face fear and doubt, that the Equestrians could continue on.
As we finally come up to the city hall the guardspony bows to me.
"I shall go announce you, sir," he says, cantering off ahead of me, realizing he's late. As I come up to Brier I stare up at the flags that flutter outside. I see Celestia's personal banner, the white field with golden sun, and I know that works in Brier's favor.
A lift my head and take a deep whiff of the smells that are comin' from within. I am ready for breakfast, and I guess the source of each one. Eggs, pancakes…waffles…roasted almonds…
Roasted…
At once my vision begins to recede, and behind my ears is the crackling sound that denotes that one of the dreams is reaching out for me.
Amazing, simply amazing. They don't come this way, in the middle of the morning. My heart races to see which one it could be…
But it does not simply sit before me, doesn't just play out before me. I am not just seeing through the eyes of the animal…I am him, I am once again the big black and brown horse…that world is absolute, and I am entirely there.
Sam jumps off, takes off the bridle, and lets me eat the grass. I watch him do this both completely as the horse, but…but…
But also as myself as Major General Wander, a phantom in that world. I…I…
What in the name of The Sisters is going on?
Sam gives me a pat. There's…there's a grey coated officer at the top of the stairs of a brick house, one wrapped with a white porch. I know which vision this is, but it is suddenly very different.
I am the horse…but, but I'm also watching Sam go up the steps…as me. I'm in the vision!
Green Brier: The vision had shook, trembled as the sad officer and his compatriots in the blue coats arrived, as they always had.
Yet as the other horse is led into the yard and turned loose with me, the animal me…he is also standing here beside me.
Wander…Wander has entered the vision.
Wander: Brier is in my vision. How…how is it possible?
Green Brier: I see Wander's eyes follow the sad looking human up the stairs. I see in him the same longing that I have when I think on my Bobby.
For a moment I settle back into the animal, the horse, feel the sweet grass cross my lips, hear the other horse move near me. For the first time in my life I know this other horse…this other horse is Wander.
I cleared my throat…
Wander: As soon as Sam has entered the house I fly back into the horse, yet I stay outside myself, watching myself graze back and forth across the grass while at the same time feeling it crunch in my teeth, feeling my massive body slowly moving.
Another horse is nearby, one I don't immediately recognize. I'd seen it before in the visions, each time this one has rolled around in their cycle.
Yet, this time I do. That horse, the grey one, I…I know him. It's Brier. Oh Sisters, tell me! How can it be Brier? What in the Well is going on?
Near to me somepony clears his throat…yes, somepony.
I return look up through my eyes and see Brier next to me, and my mind goes blank.
Green Brier: Wander has a look across his face as though he had accidentally swallowed a warm oven mitt. I must appear equally bedraggled. We simply stare at one another for a long moment, and slowly our heads turn to face ourselves. Our Equestrian eyes settle upon our animal bodies, the bodies of the horses that nibble on the grass, slowly swinging our heads back and forth across the green expanse and brushing away the flies with long tails.
I am astounded at it…Wander, Wander must have suffered the visions as I do…felt, so alone. He is strong, perhaps stronger than I, no wonder I had not noticed the travail upon him.
Wander: Brier would never have said anything…about the visions. He is more determined than I, more contemplative…I would never have guessed that he's been living these things as well.
There's a motion at the door to the house…a grey-coated officer, very prim and studios, elegant in a fashion, comes out first. He's very much like Brier in a sense, and I can see the heavy burdens on him.
My Sam and his officers come out afterwards. He's changed, my Sam, as though much worry has left him. I've often wondered what exactly happened in that house…but after my decades of these visions I've put it together.
They'd ended the war…it's over.
Green Brier: As my Bobby comes out of the house he is so much lighter…some, but not all, of his worry has left him.
I know now what I am seeing, sensing, what the animal that is being lead up to him had seen.
The war was over…my Bobby had lost, but it was over, and I am very glad for it.
My Bobby shakes the hand of the human that Wander's eyes had been set upon. With that Bobby turns, comes down and waits upon the bottom step as I, the animal me, am lead up to him.
I glance to Wander's human. He's a bit unkempt and haggard, but he has a strength about him and a clear, if saddened, eye. He's like Wander, after a fashion.
Suddenly I know him, that human, I know his name. It leaps to me across the void of thought.
My Bobby lifts his hands. He pounds his gauntlets together, once twice, three times…
Wander: I follow Sam's gaze down to the grey officer. As I do I see that Brier, or the horse that is Brier, is being lead up to him by another grey officer.
I see Brier, the one I've worked with for all of these years, cast a long sad glance over the older human, the one with the white hair.
Suddenly I feel his connection to him, feel how they are woven together, not unlike…no, very much like, the connection I have to my Sam.
Sam looks on taking deep breaths. His eyes are alight, he's happy. It's ended alright, and suddenly I think of Abram's words.
"Go easy on them, Sam. Just let them go home…"
Sam was letting them go home, just as he had promised.
The old grey officer, suddenly I know him. I know his name.
He lifts his hands, drives the tough leather gloves together once, twice, three times…
Both: Suddenly the world expands. Suddenly I am taken someplace I had never been before. Suddenly I occupy the world of the mind.
I see them, the humans looking to us, the horses. In that sharp unforgiving moment they both think the same thing, share the same thought.
"What beautiful horses."
Green Brier: As my Bobby passes by I turn, follow him. I don't want to leave him. What…what if Wander is here because this is the last time?
I don't want to lose my Bobby again.
My suspicion becomes worse when I see him seated upon me, upon the horse, and I cannot feel him. I have no sense of the horse anymore…for the first time I cannot see through my old eyes.
I…I can not force myself back into the animal, the horse that I was in this long lost forgotten reality…I'm, I'm not able…
As Bobby begins to slowly ride off all of the blue officers salute him, raising their hats in the air.
In the usual visions I simply carry him off, get to be the good horse that stays with him…but I'm denied that comfort. Instead now I can only canter alongside, avoiding my own hooves, the hooves of the horse, as we go along the fence line.
At once I am stopped. I reach the border of the vision…and I am left to watch as my old body, the horse, carries him away from me once and for all.
I don't turn back to Wander immediately, less he should see my tears.
Wander: As Wander chased himself down the sidewalk and along the fence I feel the tug of the vision, literally feel him bouncin' off of something that engulfs us here in this distinct shard of a long dead time.
Or is it? Could Sam still be alive…in this reality could time…perhaps…
No, no…not with what those weeds were doing to his body. No, best not think on that.
Brier had stopped short, and as he pushed forward once more I wondered why it was that he was so upset. As I saw his eyes following the horse, his other self, an awful thought slipped through my mind.
I concentrated on myself, my other body, the horse. I…I couldn't enter it…I was outside, watching.
My Sam and his officers come down the steps. They begin shoutin', celebrating. Sam quickly quiets them, tells some to go stop the army from shoutin'. It weren't that kind of war…
As he goes along the sidewalk I trot beside him. I know…know that this is the last time he'll seem so close, so real. I let the rustle of his uniform catch in my ears; let the hated tangle of the smoke from the weeds catch in my nose…even that becomes a parting gift.
He comes up to where I, the horse, stand. He pats my shoulders. I can't feel it, I can only watch. The realization that I'll never feel that again wafts over me, and my eyes begin to water.
I follow myself, the big ol' horse I was, as far as I can. Soon I too reach the periphery of our shared vision, watch myself carry him away. Sam goes off…
…goodbye, Sam.
I turn back to Brier. I cross over to where he is standing, facing down the road where his master had long ago disappeared.
"Brier?" I whisper.
Green Brier: I turn around to face Wander, no longer ashamed to be crying. Any lingering fears are assuaged when I see he too has great wet tears running down his face.
We had never been close. We had never been friends. But, now, as we watched that long lost day together I suddenly felt lighter…
Wander: …as though I had somepony in whom I could finally confide…
Both: …a new friend, one who truly knew the content of my character and from where my strength flowed…because he'd been down that lost road before as well.
At that the vision whipped away with a rushing sound, leaving the humans, the war, and all of it behind the veil of time and thought forever.
Green Brier: We regained ourselves outside Ponyville City Hall, no time seeming to have passed.
I looked on as Wander shook himself, regaining his perceptions.
"I…know who he was…the human," I said, trying to speak normally, to stifle my own shaking, "Grant…and you…you were Cincinnati, his...his horse."
Wander: Hearing the words spoken here in Equestria was not unlike walking through a thunderstorm. There was a poundin' in mah ears, and as I nodded I looked back up to Brier and told him was I had sensed.
"Yes, that…that was Sam's family name. That, that was my name, I believe…yes, yes it was…that's what he called me. Cincinnati," I agreed.
"And," I continued after seeking some clarity, "He…your master…he, he was Lee…and you were, were Traveller…your name was Traveller."
Green Brier: "I am Traveller!" I brayed, my head swimming with horror at the thought that I would never see through those eyes again, never witness those things again as Bobby stands nearby, peering through his field glasses.
I glare at Wander and at once his head falls down in shock and hurt.
With small steps I cross to where he stands as ponies pull carts along and singsong calls of birds chirp from the rafters of the city hall.
I place my head against his in the quickest embrace in Equestrian history, and then supplicate myself in embarrassment of my actions.
"Forgive me," I ask as he raises his head, "I…I am missing him terribly, again, already. Yes…yes, I was Traveller, am Traveller. You, you are Cincinnati, his good horse…we are their good horses…forever…"
Wander: I understand Brier's hurt. I understand. I feel it as well. As I nod the city begins coming alive around us.
I look at them, the colorful ponies that make up this nation, one race made of three. I wonder if any of them could even imagine the world that we two had seen, had lived through. Were there others like us? Ones who had seen that world? Perhaps, not just in our time…yet also before, after?
I wondered if that world still existed, somewhere…somewhere beyond time and space, hanging gently under a different sun. Were…were there still humans? How long had passed? Were there any living still that remembered the crack of the weapons…
Brier: …the shriek of the artillery…
Wander: …the flags flying above blue and grey soldiers…
Brier: …and the smoke hanging over fields of broken bodies and crushed machines of war and death?
Wander: Was there anyone left alive who remembers Sam, or have generations sped along since those days?
Brier: Do there exist any living things that remember my Bobby, or are Wander and I that last breathing witnesses of that era of sacrifice and the horrors of that war? We, here, in different forms, a different world…perhaps even a different reality, are we the final witnesses?
Wander: We pondered what we had beheld for a great long while. Slowly I lifted my head, turned the earth beneath my hoof as a smirk crossed my face.
"We were damn fine horses!" I spoke with an authoritative whisper.
Brier: I smirked back at Wander.
"You're not just whistling 'Dixie'."
As we chuckled at the remembrance of the song's name we watched the good ponies walk by, going about their business.
Soon the doors of the city hall would open, and we would be ushered into our new fates, one as a corps commander, and the other as his trusted division commander.
Wander: Whichever way that was to be we faced it together, and in this world we would now not have just the lessons we learned in the other reality to rely on, but now each other as well.
Brier: As I turn to look towards the hall I catch one last glimpse of my greatest friend, Bobby…
Wander: …Sam…
Both: …as he walks me down a garden path, turns to me to scratch my nose, and smiles.
Brier: A life lived in a different reality, granting us the gifts we use here in our own little paradise, an Equestria we can protect.
This, then is what is possible, I take it, as long as my Procer Celestia Invictus…
Wander: …and Procer Luna Revenio…
Both: …continue to guide their charges across the Equestrian sky.
