154 ALB

I galloped through the woods at full tilt, my mind fixed on one thing and one thing only: reach the smoking house. I had seen the plume of smoke rise from over the treetops and ran off the second I saw it. It was too large to be from anything other than a building and there was only one building anywhere near where it was coming from.

I reached the clearing that surrounded the small country house, only to find the flames almost entirely gone. I doused the remaining flickering lights with the water jug my mentor had kept by the house and threw the door open, literally knocking it off its hinges. I was about to take a step forward when my hoof encountered a limp body. Looking down, I saw that it was a unicorn I didn’t recognize. I shoved it to the side and wove my way around the blasted furniture and bodies, fearing to find a specific one on the floor. There must have been eight or nine, but none of them were the one I dreaded finding.

Finally, I reached the door to his bedroom, the last room in the house. Part of me knew what was in there and didn’t want to open the door, but I mustered my strength and kicked the door open.

The bedroom had been spared any fire damage. None at all, which was extremely surprising. It had a single occupant; my mentor lay on the bed, staring right at me.

“Floydien. I would have expected you to make it here at least a minute earlier.” I breathed a sigh of relief at seeing my mentor unharmed. “Come closer.”

I walked over to his bed and my expression darkened. My nose picked up the faint smell of blood. I looked closer at his bed, only to see a very slowly widening darker circle of green. It was already too large. It seems my mentor didn’t escape unharmed after all. The changeling looked up at me with his teal eyes, hoof reaching behind him to fetch a bag.

It was a bag I knew well. He always kept it with him, even when we were sparring. He may have been older than my grandsire, but he still had plenty of fight in him.

“Floydien, you have no doubt noticed by now that I am dying. An unfortunate happenstance, but one that would happen eventually.” How could he treat death so flippantly? Those ponies had slain him and he just sat an accepted it? “As such, one of two things may happen. One, I die, and you take this bag as your responsibility. Two, I die and this bag explodes and probably kills you. The latter is very unlikely though.” He chuckled weakly at his joke, despite being so near death. I reached up a hoof to help him, but he waved it away.

“There’s no time for that. In the bag is a letter from me to you. It explains everything. And if you hear a deep booming voice in your head in a few seconds, it’ll make sense after you read the letter. Rest assured, they mean you no harm.” He sighed and sat back, leaning his head against a pillow. “Volucris, Vicis, please summon Silvari for me.”

“She is coming. And most distraught.” My eyes widened in surprise, but I was confident in my mentor. He had never steered me wrong before. After the voice, a few seconds passed before a blinding green flash appeared outside and a large changeling ran in, a tearstain evident on her face. She charged her horn upon seeing me, but I still only stared at her.

“Stay your power Silvari, he’s a friend.”

Her horn dimmed and she came closer, crouching next to me and giving me an amused look. “A friend with a deer? I would never have thought it. You always did surprise me Lacaxi.”

“I know. And now I have one last request.” He gave a weak cough, the kind that you give when you don’t have long.

The changeling he called Silvari nodded, more tears appearing in her eyes. “Of course. Reconnect?” He nodded and Silvari lit her horn. Touching it to his, I could see as his body relaxed, not with the relaxation of death, but with it of happiness.

“Thank you. It has been an honor to serve you my Queen.” He coughed again, interrupting what he would say next. “Floydien, while ponies may have done this, it is not their fault. I knew this day would come eventually. Do not mourn me.” Even though he might not blame the ponies, I did. If not for them, my mentor would still be alive. “Silvari, I have learned a great deal from Volucris and Vicis.” Pause, another cough. “The Hive they may be, but it is best that they are away from changelings. They know that you will lead our people well in the decades to come. Should a changeling ever get their hooves on the orb—“ He broke out in another fit of coughing. I rummaged in my satchel for a cup and poured water from my canteen into it.

“Thank you Floydien. Should one ever get the orb, or any other creature get the orb for that matter, it will give them control of the Hive. As such, I am entrusting them and the orb to Floydien.” Both of our eyes opened wide in shock. “Floydien, you are now the first Keeper of the Orb. Volucris and Vicis will help you.”

He gave a sigh and leaned back on his pillow, staring at the mural I painted on his ceiling so long ago. “It’s been a good while. But I think that I’m finally ready to say good bye.”

By this point, a tear was well on its way to falling down my face. Lacaxi had taught me almost everything I knew ever since he found me banished from my tribe. With his help, I had managed to become part of another and would soon become chief. I literally owed my life to him and now he was dying with nothing I could do.

“Floydien, come close.” I did as he asked and leaned in my head, careful to not hit anything with my antlers. “The greatest thing I’ve done in my life was help raise you. Not even saving the changeling’s came close. May peace be with you always.” I heard him give one last shuddering sigh and his body relaxed completely, his teal eyes losing their shine. Some might call it silly to be saddened by the death of a changeling, but he was one like no other.

I don’t know how long I sat there, but until Silvari shook me out of my reverie, nothing else mattered. “He was one of the greatest changelings to ever live. Fiercely loyal and never one to pass up an opportunity to help any creature. He will be given a king’s funeral.”

“Not among your people.” Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her raise an eyebrow, but she remained silent. “He deserves to be buried with the greatest of deer chiefs and warriors. I will take him back and see to it. He wasn’t just my mentor, he was a friend to all in this forest and healed many an injury that no one else could fix.”

Silvari seemed to think for a moment before nodding her head. “That sounds agreeable. I must go now, but have Volucris and Vicis contact me when it is time. They know how.” She lit her odd horn and disappeared in a flash.

I turned away from the bed, finally noticing the rest of the room for the first time. In the corner against the wall lay a pony. Dead, but no signs of outward harm. The most disturbing thing was that I recognized him as one of the ponies who sat on the tribal council of a village we traded with. In anger, I scooped him up in my horns and tossed my head to throw him out of the window, shattering the glass into pieces. He landed with a thump outside, but I ignored it.

I proceeded to make my way through Lacaxi’s house, almost being able to do so blindly. Every pony that I found I tossed onto my horns and carried outside, piling them on top of one another. When I had cleansed his home, nine bodies lay together. Hermit as he was, my mentor was not someling to be trifled with. As he once explained to me, severing his connection to the Hive allowed him to grow to be a powerful unicorn and pegasus, equal to the higher ranked members of Equestrian military. But even still, nine on one was no fair fight.

Walking back into his house, I went to the kitchen and found his cooking oil, a strange substance to me but one that he used in quite a bit of his dishes. As I learned from my one attempt at cooking, it was incredibly flammable. I paused, and looked up at the scorch mark on the ceiling, remembering all the memories the house held.

Returning to the outside, I started pouring the oil all around the house. I tracked it through the rooms before arriving back at the bedroom. I picked up the bag that he wanted me to have and slung it around my shoulders before picking up Lacaxi himself and draping his limp body across my back. He had secrets here, secrets that not even I knew. I wasn’t going to leave his house in a state that someone could use those secrets; they belonged to my mentor and him alone.

I walked out of the house and carefully set my teacher a safe distance away from the house. Going back into his kitchen, I found the flint and steel he used to light fires. Walking at the entrance to the house, I made a single spark and lit the oil, the first quickly spreading throughout it from there. I tucked them into the bag I had been given and turned my back on the house, picking up Lacaxi and not looking back. I didn’t care if the ponies burned; there was vengeance to be paid.

BREAKING NEWS! Deer Tribes Unite and Attack Small Equestrian Villages!

By Zedra

Recent reports show an increased level of violent attacks on the Equestrian villages that lay near the border of Equestria and the lands inhabited by the Deer people. These attacks have increased in frequency over the past seven years, going from one or two attacks in a half-year timespan to as many as three or four in a month. That is a 2400% percent increase in seven years, growth that hasn’t been seen in such an important event since the zebra liberation a century ago.

These attacks have badly damaged relations between the two people going so far as that deer and pony couples are being persecuted no matter where they live. Already facing backlash from the recent Free Marriage law that Princess Celestia signed into office last year, these blows make it seem like the two species just aren’t meant to be together.

As for the attacks themselves, they seem to be all lead by the leader of one of the strongest deer tribes, Floydien. When I requested an interview, it seems that his hatred towards ponies extends to zebras as well. For the time being, I suggest that all creatures should avoid any and all routes that lead near the deer peoples. Floydien has proved unpredictable as a leader thus far, and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him going after other creatures as well.

There has been talk in Canterlot of moving in the Royal Guard to help quell the threat, but it has been stopped because of the protests of anti-militarism and pro-deer parties. The former argues that the military should be completely disbanded, while the latter argues that we have been encroaching on their territory in our effort to expand. Politics is an ugly thing here in Equestria and this does not seem to be helping it one bit. The fact that Floydien has repeatedly turned down or denied opening peace talks makes it seem that a battle is inevitable. Ponies have started to turn from their warring and violent history, but only time will tell if this deer problem can be resolved peacefully.

Keeping you up to date on foreign news,

-Zedra

I sat with my other war leaders, peering over the map of the border in front of me. Around my neck was the bag that Lacaxi had given me, though I had to repair it a several times after it saved my life in battle. The beings that Silvari had mentioned, Volucris and Vicis, had remained silent ever since Lacaxi’s funeral. Truth be told, I almost forgot about them except for the times I noticed the bags that contained their spirits. At least, that’s what Lacaxi said.

I read his letter after the funeral, learning about the two beings and the orb I had been charged with taking care of. It wasn’t hard; I wore the bag at all times and no one was stupid enough to try and steal it. Not yet at least. I snapped my head out of thoughts of the past and tried to focus on what my war minister had to say, but he too was interrupted by a courier bursting in on our conference.

“Chief Floydien! It’s your daughter; she’s gone missing!”

My eyes widened in shock and anger. I tore out of the tent, immediately heading to the place that I knew where my daughter should have been. Outside of the back of the tent, I saw two sets of tracks: one the stumbling cloven hooves of my young daughter, the other the circular indentation of a sure-footed pony. I growled in anger before releasing a scream into the sky. The others found me, easily seeing the same tracks that I did.

“The first move those cowards make directly against us and it’s the best and worst one they could have picked,” I heard someone, most likely my strategist, mutter.

“Protect the village,” I managed to get out, my mind awash with the thoughts of my only daughter being slain by a pony. If it happened, nothing would stop me from slaying everyone the captor held dear. I walked out, following the tracks on shaky hooves and leaving all of the villagers behind me.

“Chief, do you need assistance?”

I paused and looked back. “No. I’m going to catch this cowardly pony and post his head on a pike. If this is meant to distract us, it is better if I am the only one to go. Protect the village from harm.”

The trail was easy to follow, at least for my trained eyes. At one point, my daughters tracks disappeared and my heart caught in my throat, but careful study of the deeper later tracks showed me that he probably picked her up and ran; no doubt when he heard my scream. It led straight to one of the rivers that bordered our territory. The pony’s tracks led straight to it where he no doubt hoped to lose me in the water. From here he could have gone anywhere from straight across, to downstream somewhere, to fooling me even more and going upstream. I wouldn’t be able to catch the culprit in time, especially if he crossed another river. I fell back on my haunches and felt tears start to come to my eyes, something that hadn’t happened since Lacaxi’s death.

Thinking of Lacaxi made me remember something: the charge that I had protected all these years. Hastily reaching into the bag on my shoulders, I pulled out the black and white sacks that he had said contained the two ancient spirits and set them in front of me by the river.

“I don’t know if you two can hear me right now, but please, Volucris and Vicis, I beg of you, show me where my daughter is.”

I heard nothing but silence for a minute and my heart started to fell. Just before I had given up and was ready to throw the bags into the river, a deep voice sounded in my mind.

“No.”

“What?” I cried. “Is it not within your power? Can’t you just—“

“It is well within our power,” he said, the same voice as before. “But I will not do it. You have slain countless ponies in the name of revenge for one of the greatest creatures to ever live. I will not do it.”

“Vicis…”

“Don’t you ‘Vicis’ me sister. He is not worthy.”

“But the life of a fawn—“

“The life of a fawn may be what he needs to realize the error of his ways.”

As the two continued to bicker, I lowered my head, partially in shame and partially in hopelessness. A part of me knew that they were right and that I had messed up big time, but what the ponies did to my mentor needed to be rectified.

“Floydien, your crimes have rectified anything that they may have done to Lacaxi ten, a hundred times over. It is time to lay down your spear and bury it.”

“I will,” I vowed, knowing that I meant it. “Just please, help me find my daughter.”

The voice was silent for a while, almost making me think that he had forgotten about me. “While I still do not condone it, I will not stop you from using your magic Volucris.”

A moment passed and a line of bright white appeared in front of me, leading upstream. I leapt up in eagerness, knocking rocks from the shore into the river with my hooves. Not saying another word other than to breathe my thanks, I dashed up the water, nothing slowing me down.

At one point the beam turned, leading me back into deer territory. I stopped for a moment, but, upon seeing the tracks of my pursuit, continued to chase the white line. Thirty seconds in, I heard a growl from up ahead. The sound caused me to pause momentarily before running full tilt into a clearing where the line stopped. Except that it stopped behind three Timberwolves, all of whom were advancing towards the base of a tree in front of me.

Not even pausing to grab a weapon, I charged, using my sharpened antlers as spears. Hitting one timberwolf in the rear, I used my powerful neck muscles to toss him over my head and breaking him against the forest floor behind me. Before the second even knew what happened, I plunged my rack into its side, running forward to skewer it against a tree and smash it to pieces. Wrenching my pointy head decorations free from where they barely stuck into the tree, I turned back to face my third foe. To my surprise, it was simply a pile of sticks. Now that the imminent danger was passed, I turned to the cloaked figure laying at the base of the tree.

As I got closer, I could smell blood, I whipped back the hood of the cloak, only to see the cut and battered face of a pegasus mare. She stared back at me, eyes wide in fear.

“I didn’t kidnap your daughter,” she whispered weakly, breaking my gaze to stare across the clearing. I followed it and saw the shape of a pony motionless on the grass at the edge of the open area.

“Do you know where she is?” I asked, worried that I had been too late.

The mare nodded and, letting out a groan of pain, opened her cloak to reveal my daughter curled against her belly. To my surprise, she was completely unharmed. Scooping her away and placing her behind me, I took a closer look at the mare. Aside from the scratches and cuts on her face, she had a series of deep slashes on her right flank that were still bleeding more than they should. If I left her as she was, she would die in less than half an hour.

I reached in my bag and pulled out the field aid kit, removing the large bandages from it. Before I laid them on, I grabbed the strong anesthetic packed in all the kits and dropped some of it onto the edges of her wounds. She visibly relaxed, knowing both that I wouldn’t harm her and in relief from the pain. I checked my aid kit again, making sure I had enough bandages. Seeing that I did, I wrapped them around her wounds tightly to try and slow the bleeding. I nudged my daughter awake from her short nap and she sleepily looked at me.

“Come on Velvet, we need to take this mare to the stream.” A smile lit up her face and she raced ahead of me, already knowing where to go. I gently scooped the pegasus up in my antlers, holding her there almost like she were sleeping in a cradle. It took me a minute to reach the stream, but my daughter was already happily playing in it. I went downstream from her a few yards and waded in before carefully lowering the mare in. I removed her cloak and tossed it on the shore before paying attention to her. The cold rushing water helped jolt her awake as well as wash away most of the blood that was welling up.

Now that I could see her easily, I could tell that she was a dark blue pegasi with a light blue, almost white mane. Despite the water, she still stared off into space, not really focusing on much of anything.

After her wounds were mostly clean, I removed the bandages I had applied earlier and gently dried her off with a scarf I found in my bag. Replacing the three large bandages, I made sure to cover every nick and scrape I could find, dropping in anesthetic as I did so. After I was done, I wrapped her in her cloak and the two of us sat near the river watching my daughter.

“My friends and neighbors always told me of the cruelty of the deer. When I saw you had come for your daughter, I feared that you would kill me or, worse, leave me to die. This, I didn’t expect.”

“I had a friend change my heart. You only served to strengthen that vow by saving my daughter. What exactly happened back there?”

“The stallion that stole your daughter was a mercenary I had been tracking for a while. I finally corned him in the clearing and snapped his neck, but he some device of his own. They were like claws on his hooves, almost as if he had griffon talons. They struck me down, though I managed to rescue your fawn. When the timberwolves showed up, I thought I was done. And then you know the rest. Say, what’s your name?”

“Floydien.” Her eyes opened slightly wider, the name obviously familiar with her. “Yours?”

“Starry Sky.”

“You had a timberwolf bite on your shoulder. You were obviously protecting my child. Why?”

She gazed at my daughter, happily playing in the water as if nothing had happened. “All children deserve a chance to live. A deer taught me that, actually. I was a merc, same as that stallion, but my viewpoint of deer changed when one of them saved my son’s life.”

I felt her lay her head against my side, sleepily so. “There’s a story that’s been passed down in my family for years. According to it, my many greats-grandfather had once been a slavemaster working under the nobility of the time. One day, he freed a zebra slave, sending her to safety. Zebras had been considered less than ponies at the time, so everyone was shocked when they found out what he did. He was actually brought before the Princesses on a charge of treason. Family history says that he told them something that led to the anti-slave revolution and emancipation of the zebras.” She gave a large yawn, interrupting her story. “I’ve always wanted to do something like that. Something as simple as setting a slave free leads to freedom for all, something as simple as saving a fawn leads to peace among all races. That’d be nice.” I looked down and saw her eyes close, the anesthetic obviously causing her to fall asleep.

Her words struck a chord in me, almost because she had been in the same situation I was in. The first part at least. If she could come back from that and become a friend of the deer, even so much as to sleep and become so vulnerable in front of one, I could come back and become a friend of the ponies. Maybe her saving my child would lead to peace, at least between the deer and ponies. Maybe they aren’t all as bad as those who slayed Lacaxi.

I closed my eyes, feeling sleepy myself, and let myself dream of what the future could be.