Chapter 5: A Vacation From Inferno

Right as I reach our gateroom, Lieutenant Termin steps out of the shadows.

"Captain Raiden sir, we...have a huge problem." My eyes start twitching.

"Oh God, what the hell is it this time?!" I say furiously. She motions behind her with her head. We walk into the training yard, where a terrified teal pony with a white mane, shakes in place holding what I presume is his daughter. He looks around at my soldiers, eyes huge and tearful. His jaw clacks up and down so hard, I can almost hear it. His daughter has light tan fur and a mix of pink and blue in her mane. She holds onto his foreleg with her eyes shut. Termin bumps my arm.
"We ran into them when we fell back. It was close enough that his screams would have drawn the princesses. Our only option was to gag them. We haven't had a chance to release them so we brought them here." I fall to my knees and cover my face with my gauntlets. This was really, really bad. There was no way in hell I was killing them, but could I risk them saying what they saw and it getting back to Canterlot? At the same time, we couldn't just hold them prisoner forever.

Emeris strolls past me. I look up and see he's wearing his formal teal attire with a giant smile plastered on his face. He greets the colt with a colossal wave of his arm. He sits on the dirt and crosses his legs.

"Hey there! I am so sorry you got mixed up in all this! You see we didn't know what was going on and it was our first time meeting the princesses, so we didn't want her getting ambushed you know? We had to have our special guards in the area and they didn't know who you were! But don't worry, everything is cleared up!" The colt stops shaking, but there's still stone-cold fear plastered on his face. He nods a few times, still looking around the yard. I get to my feet but decide to let Emeris handle this. Emeris rubs the back of his head.

"Jeez, I'm really sorry, I know you're scared. Don't worry, these guys only look evil, they're actually really nice! Aren't you?" He calls out joyfully, turning his head to the soldiers in the yard. Like a bunch of idiots, my soldiers turn to each other, before looking back at Emeris and shrugging. Emeris narrows his eyes and gives them an angry glare. They get the hint and start nodding.
"Yeah yeah! We're real friendly, like...totally not going to kill you." One of them says. I turn around and groan into my gauntlets again.

"Well tell you what, what's your name?" The colt looks at him and opens his mouth.

"My uh...my names Coldstone sir." Emeris nods, scrunches his eyes a bit and smiles again.

"Well tell you what Coldstone, who do we got here?" He taps the air in the direction of his daughter.

"Um, this here's Gemstone." Gemstone opens her eyes and looks up at Emeris, still clinging tight to her dad.

"Well hi there Gemstone! My names Emeris! I'm sorry you're so scared! You know, it's been a long day and I could really use a new friend! Do you wanna be my friend?" She sniffles and crawls her way out of her dads legs. She nods and sticks out her left hoof. Emeris takes it carefully and barely shakes it.

"Alright, well lets get you two back home!" Emeris leans over and picks up Gemstone like you'd pick up a cat and cradles her in his arms. The colt gets up and gives Emeris his best smile, with a hint of apprehension in it. Emeris asks them about their town as they walk out the back gate. I turn around and Termin follows me, looking over her shoulder one last time.

"I get it, I really do, but what happens if they start talking? Do you...want me to make it look like an accident?" I stop in place and stare ahead silently.

"I think it would be easier to explain our paranoia than a murdered civilian. Let Emeris handle it for now." Termin nods and suddenly all I can hear is my own footsteps as I head to the gate room.

As I exit the double doors of the castle, I still see the sisters leaving with their guards. I signal to a sentry at our front gate to hold them up a minute. The Princess’ greet me with a smile as I reach them. I bow with my hands to my sides.
“If you will permit it, I would love to visit your palace as a Taraskan ambassador.” The sisters glance at each other and gladly invite me to tag along. Luna doesn't make eye-contact when she speaks.
"I apologize, I was under the impression Captain Emeris was an ambassador?" I swallow a bit.
"He's...occupied at the moment."
Celestia gives me a light smile.
“Normally we’d take a chariot, but we didn’t want to seem...invasive.”
I chuckle under my helmet.
“I’m going to be honest your highness, a flying chariot would have given us quite the fright.” Luna lets out a tiny laugh.
“And here I was, almost ready to wear my cape made of bats.”. I stare at her, unable to tell if she’s joking. I let out a humerous scoff just in case she is.

The walk back is taxing in heavy armor, but the scenery and company made it more than bearable. Everywhere I look was at least one curious pony who wanted to know what the commotion was about. I did my best to wave, but it slowly dawns on me that my armor was designed to inspire fear, as any new guest quickly hid from sight. I still couldn’t believe the color. Every animal, every flower, every creature was their own unique painting. I turn to Luna.
“So you said the occasional villain pops up, how is this so with such a harmonious and inviting land?”
Luna thinks for a moment.
“To be completely honest, it’s not so much how many villains we get, it’s more about the return of old ones.”
I nod and try to think of the least ruthless response I can.
“Would it not be easier to simply execute them and rid yourselves of the problem once and for all?”
Celestia, while shocked, does her best to stay neutral with her response.
“In our kingdom, we do not execute. All negative presences are met with the expectation that reform is possible, while others are met with exile. We do our best not to show the same careless anger as our enemies.” I take slight offense to it, as I had executed my fair share of soldiers, but in a way I understood. It was an act of mercy and kindness. Also it freed you from making permanent mistakes. I had my own regrets with punishment that I had longed to take back.

We arrive at the mountain a few hours later. I can clearly see the palace from the ground, and it forces me to stop and admire it. Celestia and Luna don't seem to mind as I take in the sight. Celestia takes a few steps in front of me, but doesn't block my view. She points an inviting hoof at the mountain.
"Welcome to Canterlot! It is home of many wonderful shops and ponies. As you probably can see from here, there's an actual town built along the path to the palace. The town is technically Canterlot, but we sometimes use the name to reference either."

The palace is beyond magnificent. The entire place looks as if it had been built from the ground up to be elegant. There were hardly any straight walls. The top of every tower had its own unique paint job that still matched with the purple, gold and white theme. Winding staircases and pathways connected every building. The complete design of the palace insured that nothing was packed tight. Every tower had plenty of room from its neighbors, without any clutter nearby as well. You could almost see every tower from any point. I had never seen such a spacious and artistic design.

It made sense of course; there was no need for a fortress in their land. Had they ever fought an actual war before? This place was never meant to hold off an invasion. I considered warning them of the Og Nag, but we had just met and starting your first day with “We brought our worst, most brutal enemy here with us, nice to meet you.” didn’t seem like it would go over well. I contemplated the repercussions with both Canterlot and Taraska.

The King would have me executed, and even if I managed to never return, would our new allies cast me out as well? The thought of having no place to call home instilled a sense of dread in me that not even our “magic bomb” could do. I choose to remain silent, even though my gut tells me to warn them. The Og Nag were probably only interested in us anyways. Also, I doubt they would stand much of a chance against the magic this place has.

We begin our slow climb up the side of the mountain. Why do my eyes nag me to glance over at Luna? I feel her presence at all times. My ears can't help but listen to every gentle step she makes. My thoughts are a giant mess as I try to think of anything to ask her. As if picking up on my thoughts, she makes it easy for me.
"So, Captain Raiden, what can you tell me about your world?"
I go blank, being unable to say anything positive.
"Well...we...um...we don't do much besides fight...or prepare to fight, or wait to fight." The tension hangs in the air.
Celestia lets out an interested hum.
"Well then, you must be quite good at it. Unfortunately there won't be much here for you to fight with. Perhaps your citizens and ours can mingle and find hidden talents of your country! Who knows, any one of you could be the next great painter!"
Luna giggles to herself.
"You could always tape a paintbrush to your sword and paint like that. I would honestly pay to see such a thing."
Celestia chuckles and glances at me, probably curious if I was offended or not. Honestly the more steps we put between here and Taraska, the better I felt. They could make fun of me for all I cared.

They invite me inside. I soon realize Canterlot is not an ordinary city. It was a high society town full of all kinds of shops. Perhaps I should have changed into my formal attire, but I was expecting trouble. As we pass, everyone repeats the same action of bowing to the princesses, then getting half way through their greetings before being taken back by my armor. I was getting used to the stares and frozen faces.

We pass numerous shops and I can’t help but get angry. They have it so easy. They could run around the town as they please. No need to worry about getting attacked, having anything they want to eat just being across the street. No disease, no famine, no war. I was jealous, I couldn’t deny it. I see fancy clothing stores, restaurants where every table is custom designed with elaborate cloth draped over them. The smug looks on every face almost sends me into a frenzy. Noses high in the air, eyes almost closed as if the very town itself was honored just to have them. I started to loathe this place. There were innumerable colored flags on every pole. Every sign had been artistically crafted, having lavish, even paintjobs. There was absolutely no fading on anything.

Each building had random assortments of emblems on them. Sometimes unique stars, gems, whatever they could imagine. Part of me wanted a fire to break out, just to see how they dealt with a real tragedy. I tried to shake such murderous thoughts from my head. It wasn’t their fault their lives were so perfect.

I now realize Princess Celestia has been telling me about the town the entire time. I look at her and nod.
“Sounds like a wonderful place.” My flat tone makes me sound sarcastic. I notice a small pattern in all of their citizens: they seem to only greet Princess Celestia. Luna gets a few acknowledgments, but they’re scarce. I can’t tell if she legitimately doesn’t care, or if her casual glancing around the city is to hide her pain. Is it always like this for her? I’m craving to ask her, but this probably isn’t the time or place. A crowd is now following us out of curiosity as we near what seems to be the actual palace.

It almost seems Luna is just as much of a prisoner as I am.