You would think being saved from drowning would be enough to heal the hurts caused by a previous mistake. Apparently that was not so with Captain Cannonball. The moment the minotaur regained consciousness he wrapped his hands around my neck and proceeded to choke the living daylights out of me. When darkness finally started to overtake my mind I decided to stop struggling and give up on life. But he suddenly let go and walked away with Squibles, probably thinking that I was dead.

When my strength and mental functionality returned completely half an hour later, I stood and made my way into the countryside. As I walked I remembered the museum that I wanted to visit after our planned raid and I diverted in the presumed direction of the town where it was located.

The Moose Kingdom, Empire or whatever they called themselves was quite a beautiful place. It reminded me of Canada. But it was hard to enjoy the sights when my stomach was on empty. At the time I had not realised this but there was plenty for me to eat. I was a pony after all, but had yet to start thinking like one. So I started looking for berries or other fruit that would sustain me as I continued on my quest. As I moved into the denser forest I found what I was looking for when I passed a small creek.

Now, I could tell that the berries that I had discovered had the possibility to be poisonous. So I did what a survival expert told me to do back when I was a human. I popped on of the berries into my mouth, didn’t chew and spit it back out. I waited for a reaction but nothing happened. I then chewed on another berry and again spit it out. Other than having a strong nutty flavor, I couldn't feel any allergic reactions happening in my mouth.

So then I ate a few, and quickly passed out.

I awoke to voices talking about some stupid pony that ate sleeping berries and after a while my mind released that their conversation was about me.

“Er dird’nt nah hay er swerping berrers,” I said groggily and still unable to focus my mind.

“Oh good,” one of the voices said. “Recruit number 151 is awake finally.”

My eyes opened and I found myself on the dirt floor in a tent with a zebra and a moose looking down at me. Near the entrance stood a kangaroo with a machete.

“Who are you guys?” I managed through my dry throat.

“Silence 151,” The moose hissed. “If you need to know, we are the FMLF! The Free Moose Liberation Front and you have been recruited to fight alongside us.”

I blinked slowly. “I didn’t sign up for this, bro.”

“We recruited you!” He bellowed. “Now cease with your gabbering!”

“And if you are the moose Liberation Front,” I continued. “Why are you the only moose I see? Or are there more outside?”

“Uh, we are largely a mercenary group.” The moose shook his head violently, trying to get his mind back on track and away from my distractions. “Shut up and let me speak!”

“Why are you guys fighting anyway?” I sat up. “If you rely mostly on mercenary help then you must not have much support from the population.”

“Why are you still talking!”

“I see that you are wearing a lot of jewelry.” My hoof flicked a solid gold necklace on his chest and he growled. “You are also able to afford the mercenaries and they, most likely, aren't cheap.”

“Do you even know how to shut up?”

I smiled and continued with my point. “That shows me that you have a large amount of money and since the citizens of Moose Land or, whatever this place is called-”

“I am going to tape your mouth shut any second now.”

“-are behind you, I believe you are a noble trying to gain power for yourself.”

They stared at me probably hoping that I was done talking.

“Am I right?” I asked in an innocent tone.

Eventually the moose spoke. “Lieutenant Zorzo and Corporal Bounder, take 151 to his tent and prepare him to be cannon fodder for the next battle.”

“Not if you can’t catch me!” I darted out of the tent, intending to finally use my pegasi abilities and fly away from a problem. I spread my wings, leaped to the sky... and fell flat on my face.

“The hell!” I screamed, spitting dirt.

“We clipped your feathers,” said an Australian accent from behind me. I guessed it was the Kangaroo named Bounder. He lifted me to my hooves and pushed me towards a group of tents. “Don’t worry mate, they’ll grow back in a few weeks or so. Though, you might be belly up by then.”

“Belly up? I ain’t a fish dude!”

We entered a tent with only one inhabitant. A buffalo with war paint and feathers adorning his fur.

“New tent companion, good day this is,” the buffalo said.

“Hah, I can't believe how funny this is,” I laughed. “Moose Canadians, Kangaroo Australians and Buffalo Native Americans! Damn, God has a sense of humor!”

They looked at me with confused faces before the kangaroo left, shaking his head. The buffalo waited before he was gone then spoke.

“What is your fighting style?”

“Uh, well, when I still had hands it would probably be using a gun or a sword. Or I could tell you that I was trained by Bruce Lee and I knew how to kill a person with my pinkie.” The buffalo raised an eyebrow as I continued. “But now that I have hooves... kicking stuff?”

We looked at each other, unsure how to continue the conversation and I honestly didn’t want to.

“Well, I am going to walk around camp if that’s okay with you my friend.” Without waiting for a response I left.

The camp was tiny, and not compared to a military's but tiny compared to a boy scout camping trip. I counted five tents
and a few of them were empty. I found a gryphon cooking outside of a tent and I ambled up to him.

“What is up?” I asked looking at the assortment of food.

“Nothing,” he replied harshly in what I believed was a French accent. “What do you want? Meal time is not for another hour!”

“Oh I’m not hungry, I just want to ask a few questions if that is okay.”

He looked at me with an expression that said, “No, it is not okay. Go away.” I continued anyway.

“So, this is quite a small army. How large is it exactly?”

“Why don’t you go count,” he replied flatly.

I was about to press the question when the moose leader, I still didn’t know his name and nor did I care, emerged from his tent and called for the entire army to listen to his announcement.

“My soldiers,” he began. “I have learned that the capitol has been left largely unguarded! Tomorrow, it has been decided, we will attack and liberate this nation!”

He then went on to explain his plan, tell us that we are brave freedom fighters and that we will be glorious under his command tomorrow. I didn’t really listen to most of it. I was too busy counting the strength of this army.

The moose leader noticed me and ground his teeth, “151, what are you doing?”

“Hmm? I’m counting.” I finished and looked at him. “You call my 151 but you only have 24 troops. Why?”

He glared at me before returning to his tent. I frowned and looked at my buffalo tent mate.

“Want to escape tonight?” I asked.

“I thought you would never ask,” he replied with a smile.