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The Final Quest of Star Swirl the Bearded

by JohnPerry

Chapter 5: Act II: Chapter II

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Humble Pie stirred softly in his sleep. His rest so far had been rather fitful, with his mind as filled as it was at the moment. Through the haze of sleep, he could just make out the tranquil rush of the river nearby, the chirp of crickets, the rustle of leaves in the wind…the sudden snap of a twig.

The earth pony’s eye shot open at the sound. His mind hadn’t caught up to where he was or what he was doing in this place, but it knew that something was wrong. He spotted what appeared to be a small pile of wood a short distance away, arranged in such a way that it almost looked like a figure of some sort. Humble Pie briefly wondered whether he should dismiss the pile of wood as an illusion before it moved, its glowing yellow eyes turning upwards from the twig it had stepped on, looking up into the pony’s horrified gaze. It wasn’t a pile of wood at all, but a wolf made entirely of timber; its hide consisted of pieces of bark, its legs thin sticks, with teeth and claws of sharpened wood and eyes that shown in the darkness of the night.

In the split second that followed, the wolf realized it had lost the element of surprise and made the decision to attack. With a snarl it lunged for the earth pony still lying on the ground. Humble Pie gave a panicked yelp and leapt to his feet, narrowly escaping the wolf’s grasp. The vicious animal was quick, however, and just as the pony turned to flee it managed to lunge forward and bite down on one of Humble Pie’s hind legs, just barely catching it with its front-most teeth. With a terrified shriek the earth pony bucked as hard as possible with his other leg, catching the wolf square in the jaw, dislodging a couple of wooden fangs and promptly releasing the creature’s grip on his leg.

Humble Pie hobbled a few steps away, holding his injured hind leg off the ground. As it turned out, he had done more injury to the wolf than it had done to him; the wolf had only barely managed to bite down on his leg, leaving several minor cuts that were riddled with splinters from the wood of the teeth. The wolf, meanwhile, had retreated several paces and was now nursing its wounded jaw, wary of striking again. More importantly, however, Humble Pie’s scream had awoken everypony else, and they were quickly rising to defend themselves against several more wolves that had followed the first into the clearing.

With a flash of motion, General Hurricane swept down from the sky, smashing headlong into one of the wolves. Her armor rattled the animal and knocked it to the ground before she swiftly took to the air again. The pegasus swung around in mid-air for a second attack, but the wolf was quick and rose to its feet just as Hurricane closed in. With lightning-fast reflexes the wolf swung with one of its foreclaws, swatting the pegasus out of the air. Hurricane crashed to the ground, an impact that was fortunately softened by the soft grass she slid across. The general rose to her hooves just as she heard Star Swirl’s voice call out across the clearing.

“STOP! Don’t bother fighting them!” the unicorn cried frantically. He had removed his cloak and hat and was levitating them in the air in front of them, shaking them furiously to ring the bells on them as loudly as possible. “They’re frightened by loud noises! Just make noise!”

At first Hurricane simply stared at Star Swirl, figuring the unicorn had completely lost his mind. However, she quickly noticed that the wolves the magician was facing down were backing away slowly, apparently perturbed by this unfamiliar sound. Taking the hint, Hurricane removed her helmet and snatched a branch lying on the ground nearby. Holding her helmet in one of her front hooves, she began smacking the metal with the stick repeatedly. The effect was immediate; the wolf nearest to her visibly flinched and began retreating. In short order the other pegasi had removed pieces of their own armor and were beating on them, forming a line in front of the wolf pack and driving them back into the woods. The wolves growled in response, but the cacophony was clearly working, as each of the animals had expressions of pain, wincing from all the noise. Finally they turned tail and fled the clearing, departing as quickly as possible. Hurricane and Thunderhead briefly kept up the assault, flying a short distance into the trees while maintaining the racket, to give the impression that they were on the chase before finally relenting and returning to the clearing.

“Is everypony alright?” Commander Tempest asked in a calm, level tone, looking around at her soldiers.

“Humble Pie’s hurt!” Swift Cloud exclaimed in concern, pointing at the earth pony standing nearby, still with his injured leg lifted slightly off the ground. Thin streams of blood were trickling down from the cuts left on his skin and the pony was breathing heavily, still in shock over what he had just been through.

“I’m fine,” Humble Pie quickly replied. “It only had me for a second, I’ll be okay.”

“No, we have to treat that wound,” Star Swirl said sharply. “Timberwolf bites leave splinters in the cut, and if they’re not removed quickly it could become infected.”

“Silver Lining, see to Humble Pie’s injury,” Tempest ordered, receiving a quick nod from her advisor before he trotted over to the earth pony’s side. “Private Thunderhead, take first watch; you can change shifts with me in an hour.” Thunderhead nodded and saluted before glancing at the moon to judge its position in the sky so that he’d know how much time had elapsed. He took to the air, his eyes carefully scanning the edges of the clearing for any sign of movement.

“I was foolish not to establish a watch earlier,” Tempest sighed, closing her eyes and rubbing her forehead in frustration. “I must be getting old. How could I, a commander, commit such an amateurish mistake?”

“In your defense mother,” Hurricane offered with a sincere smile. “I don’t think any of us were expecting danger quite this soon on this journey; especially in a place as seemingly peaceful as this one.”

“Still, I feel I must apologize. Are you hurt, my child?” Tempest asked, a great deal more concern entering her voice than usual.

“What, this?” Hurricane laughed, turning to show her mother the scrape on her torso where she hit the ground. A few grass stains and some minor streaks of red were all that were present. “But a scratch. If anything, I regret not emerging with a proper battle scar!” Her expression darkened as she turned to the unicorn who was standing nearby. “How in the world did you know that would work?” she asked, indicating the bells on Star Swirl’s cloak.

“I don’t wear these bells without reason, General Hurricane,” the magician responded with a smirk. “I’ve spent enough time in the woods to know how most of these creatures react to loud noises. And timberwolves are a creature I have some familiarity with.”

On the banks of the river, Silver Lining was treating Humble Pie while Swift Cloud watched on with interest and mild concern, holding a lantern over the other two ponies so they could see clearly. Silver Lining took some water from the flowing stream, pouring it slowly over the earth pony’s wound to wash away the blood. Humble Pie hissed and cringed slightly as the liquid washed over his injury. After the blood had been sufficiently cleaned away, Silver Lining examined the cuts closely to find the offending fragments of wood lodged inside. Fortunately, none of them were wedged too deep, and the pegasus was able to remove them the best way a pony without tools could: he pressed his mouth over the cut and sucked out a splinter, spitting it out before attempting to remove more.

“I must admit, I didn’t take you for a healer,” Humble Pie muttered between deep breaths. His heart was still racing from the encounter with the wolf and he was doing his best to calm down.

Silver Lining spat out another splinter before responding to the earth pony. “But of course. An advisor to the commander must be knowledgeable in a wide range of talents, should the worse happen to our leader.”

“You okay there?” Swift Cloud mumbled through the handle of the lantern held between her teeth, grimacing at the sight of Humble Pie’s injury.

“Fine, just fine,” the earth pony repeated. Silver Lining had finished removing all the splinters and was now retrieving a strip of cloth from his saddlebag, which he wrapped tightly around Humble Pie’s leg.

“There, that should do it,” the pegasus finished, tying off the cloth firmly once he was satisfied the wound had been sufficiently covered. Humble Pie stood up, feeling some pain but nothing he couldn’t ignore. His heart rate was finally returning to normal, though he couldn’t help but suppress an involuntary shudder.

“You sure you’re alright?” Swift Cloud inquired, looking at the earth pony with concern.

“Yes,” Humble Pie smiled. “But if you’ll excuse me, I need to…err, do my business, as it were,” he said, gesturing towards some nearby bushes.

“You can’t go in there without checking for more of those wolves!” Swift Cloud exclaimed. “Here, I’ll scout it out first.” She quickly took to the air and raced into the trees, taking the lantern with her. Humble Pie followed, briefly watching the beam of light from the lantern shine between the trees, swiftly moving back and forth as the pegasus darted about.

“All clear!” Swift Cloud’s voice came calling back from the trees as she emerged out of the woods. “But be sure to keep your eyes open!”

“Thank you, I will,” Humble Pie replied, putting on a small smile. “Now if you’ll allow me a little privacy…” he trailed off, gesturing towards the clearing. Swift Cloud took the hint and flew back out of the woods, leaving the earth pony alone to sit behind a large bush.

In truth, Humble Pie had no need to empty his bladder at this moment. But he did have a desperate need for privacy after what had just happened. Taking a great, shuddering breath, the pony placed his face in his front hooves and began to weep quietly, bitter tears streaming down his face.

The encounter with the wolves had shaken Humble Pie to his core, and now that the shock of the event had finally abated and his injury had been seen to, his emotions were quickly catching up with him and he needed this time to himself. He sat there, shuddering uncontrollably as he managed to keep his sobs silent, tasting the salty water that was now leaking from his eyes. His doubts and fears from the day before and earlier that night came flooding back to him in an instant.

What am I doing here?” he thought to himself. “I shouldn’t even be here! I should be at home, tending to my crops and sleeping in my own bed.” The terror and panic he had felt when the wolf had attacked was still very fresh in his memory, and a deep sensation of vulnerability like he had never known was consuming the earth pony. More than anything else right now, he wanted to be back with his family and friends, safe in his house. The temptation to flee back to his village, to drop this insanity and return to the comfort of his home, was very strong.

“Are you okay in there?” Swift Cloud called out to him from the clearing. Humble Pie realized he must have been sitting here for longer than he realized.

The earth pony quickly took a breath before responding. “I’m fine,” he called back in as even and nonchalant a tone as he could manage, hoping the pegasus wouldn’t pick up on any emotion in his voice. To his relief, Swift Cloud didn’t pursue the matter further, and Humble Pie could feel himself already calming down, the silent breakdown having already done its work. The urge to run home had abated, and now he was mainly feeling embarrassed and somewhat pathetic that he had managed to get attacked and nearly killed on his first night of this journey. “Never again,” he vowed to himself. “I’m not going to have these pegasi thinking I’m a weakling or just extra luggage. I will see this through.” With that, Humble Pie lifted himself off the ground and began trotting back to the clearing.

“Hey, are you alright?” Swift Cloud asked the moment she caught sight of the earth pony returning. “Your eyes are all red.”

“I’m just tired is all,” Humble Pie replied with his readied excuse. “Haven’t had much sleep tonight.”

“Oh, that makes sense,” the pegasus said sincerely, completely oblivious to the true reason behind the coloration of the earth pony’s eyes. “You should probably get back to sleep then.”

Humble Pie nodded, keeping his gaze to the ground to avoid looking anypony else in the eye as he promptly returned to his resting spot without another word, lying down next to the dying embers of the campfire. There he closed his eyes and patiently awaited sleep, feeling a slight twinge of pain under the bandages on his leg as he shifted into a more comfortable position.

***

Morning came all too soon for Humble Pie as the sun’s first rays broke across the valley, casting a light on the earth pony’s face. He grimaced, memories of the previous night still firmly in mind, as he steeled himself for the day to come and rose to his hooves. His bandaged leg now felt sore, but thankfully the pain was largely gone. He looked around the clearing to see the other ponies still asleep, with the exception of an alert General Silver Lining, who was presently taking his turn on the watch. He glanced over at Humble Pie and gave a quick nod and a smile, which the earth pony returned before turning away and trotting towards the river, splashing some cold water in his face to help him wake up.

Feeling far more alert now, Humble Pie decided he wasn’t going to delay getting ready this morning, if just to prove to these pegasi that he wasn’t a weakling who they would need to wait on. He grabbed his breakfast, an apple, out of his saddlebag and ate it quickly before scattering the remains of the campfire and strapping on his saddlebag just as the rest of the pegasi rose from the clouds. He decided to remain close to the river and took some long drinks of water while the pegasi prepared themselves, which only took a matter of a few minutes. Seeing that they were ready, Humble Pie reluctantly walked over to join them.

“Ah, our brave earth-bound friend has arrived,” Commander Tempest announced with a smirk. “And with a proper battle scar to show his worth!”

“Mmm,” Humble Pie murmured, not in the mood to reply to what he thought must be an underhoofed insult.

“Don’t be getting too bold on us, groundling,” Hurricane said in a mocking tone. “We wouldn’t want you to get hurt. After all, I still have no intention of carrying you.”

“Nor have I of letting you,” the earth pony grumbled, receiving several laughs from the other pegasi and a slight scowl from Hurricane. This reaction was not entirely what Humble Pie had expected of the pegasi, but he decided not to think much of it at the moment and press on with the day, taking to the road with Star Swirl once more as the pegasi took to the air.

Though Humble Pie could not know it that day, he had arrived at a turning point in his relationship with the pegasi. If there’s one thing soldiers respect, it is the scars of war and the courage to keep moving forward even after knowing the pain one must go through. That day, Humble Pie began to earn their respect.

Next Chapter: Act II: Chapter III Estimated time remaining: 3 Hours, 6 Minutes
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