NightStalker: Chapter 27

NightStalker: Chapter 27

By: Knight-of-Luna



The next few weeks went by peacefully. Ponies came in all the time to ask me questions and check in on me. I was surprised at how kind the ponies were to me. They would come in and ask how I was feeling or if I needed anything. There were a few questions about my past like I had expected but none of the angry, malicious questioning I thought it would be. The most curious ponies were the town's little fillies and colts. They would crowd into my room and ask me to tell them stories of the battles I had fought in and the far off places I had been. It only occurred to me later that most of them had never traveled out of that sleepy little town and I was like a dictionary of the world to them. Many of the adult ponies, especially the mothers, would ask me if I had family or if I wanted them to send a message someplace to comfort my friends but I would always turn them down. It wasn’t because I didn't want to talk to my mother and friends but I was afraid that any letters sent would lead the military back here to try to find me and bring harm to theses ponies.

I remember that by the end of the second week I was feeling well enough to walk around on my own and was able to go out into town. That same day Amber came in to tell me it was time to remove the bandage over my left eye.

"You ready Night?" She asked sitting next to me.

"Ya, we have to do this sooner or later." I said as I ran o hoof over the bloody bandage.

"I'm here Night." Eclipse said from my right side.

She held my hoof in hers trying to reassure me but I could sense her fear and anxiety.

"Lets do this." I said and braced myself for the worst.

Carefully Amber levitated a pair of gauze scissors up to my bandage and began to cut it away from the bottom. The outer wrap came off easily only leaving a soft second layer to cut away.

"Give me a mirror." I said to Amber as a reached out a hoof.

"I don’t think you want to see this." Amber said nervously.

"I do." I said firmly.

I held out my hoof and she gently placed a small mirror in it. I held it up and angled it so I could see the entire left side of my face. The soft under wrap was thoroughly soaked in crimson blood and a thick white puss. Amber picked up her scissors and began carefully cutting away the layers from the top. Slowly a deep red line presented itself and I saw it was running the length of my face. Looking at the swollen line I knew it would leave a scar there that would brand me for the rest of my life. I watched as Amber carefully cut more and more bandaging away, only stopping occasionally to clean the exposed wound.

"It seems to have healed pretty well." She said with a spark of hope.

"How bad was it?" I asked.

"Bad, I could see the bone underneath it was parted so much." She said grimly.

That sent a chill down my spine. I was honestly amazed I was still alive at this point. Amber again began to cut away blood soaked bandages until finally she reached my eye. It was still closed and that ugly red line straight across my eyelid. She cut away the last of the bandages and finally my face was free. I carefully ran my hoof over the jagged line that now branded the left side of my face. Eclipse began to softly whimper next to me as she hugged my arm.

"Do you want to try opening your eye now?" Amber asked nervously.

"Is it safe?" I asked, nervous myself.

"It should be. When you came in we lifted your eyelid and your eye was still intact but there was no way to tell if you would be able to see out of it. Only you can figure that out." She explained.

"Alright, lets do this." I said through clenched teeth.

"I'm here Night." Eclipse said squeezing my hoof.

I concentrated and slowly began opening my eye. There was a little crackle at dried blood cracked and fell away. I felt a gooey sensation in the corner of my eye as my tear ducts released built up fluid. My eye felt sticky as I opened it but I continued despite the sensation. I felt my eyelid fully open but half of my world was still in darkness.

"I can't see." I gasped desperately and began to shake.

"Calm down," Amber said "I think I know why."

"What happened?" Eclipse asked nervously.

"There's a layer of fluid still covering his eye. It's like the body's natural antibiotics." Amber explained. "Now I need you to be very still Night. I'm going to put this over your eye and try to flush it out with water. Ok?"

"Ok, do it." I replied shakily.

She carefully placed a cylindrical tube over my eye and I felt a light pressure as sterile water rushed into it. She placed a small cup under my eye and lifted the tube off partially to let the water drain out.

She pulled it completely away and light flooded in. It was an intense white that made me dizzy and sent me reeling. I closed my eyes and held my head in my hooves.

"Damn that’s bright." I said as my eye stared to tear up.

"I'll shut off the lights so you can readjust." Amber said as she used her magic to flip the light switch.

I slowly opened my eye again to find complete darkness.

"When you're ready let me know and I'll start adding light a little as a time." Amber told me.

"Ok, just a little now." I told her.

Her horn glowed and the room was bathed in a soft yellow light.

"I can see." I said excited.

"Let's add a little more." Eclipse said and added the glow of her horn to the mix.

As more light was added I began to see more and more detail. Until their horns were at full glow.

"Ready for the regular lights?" Amber asked.

"Let's try it." I said confidently.

She used her magic to flip the lights on and again a bright white flooded my vision and I rapidly blinked it away. Slowly details began to come into focus and the brightness began to fade to a bearable level.

"You ok?" Eclipse asked.

"Ya, it takes a little longer to adjust but I can see again." I replied.

"Oh thank Celestia. I was so worried." She said hugging me.

"So was I." I admitted as I returned her hug.

"Well I'm glad you're feeling better." Amber said, putting a hoof on my shoulder.

"Ya, now I just need to live with this ugly thing." I said as I ran my hoof across the scar on my face.

"It doesn't look that bad." Eclipse lied.

"Thanks but I know how bad I look." I replied as I looked in the mirror again.

I felt the tug of Eclipse's magic envelop the mirror and it was gently pulled from my grasp. I turned to ask her why but found her lips meeting me. At first I was surprise but quickly melted into her loving embrace. As we kissed her hoof pressed against my chest and mine at the back of her head. We clung together a moment longer before separating.

"No matter what happens Night, I'll always love you." She said as her emerald eyes peered into my blood red ones.

"I love you too Eclipse." I said hugging her.

"You two are so cute together." Amber squeed next to us.

Both of our faces blazed a shade of red akin to that of Celestia's sun. Eclipse quickly buried her head in my chest and I turned to Amber.

"Oh you too are to cute." She giggled. "I'll leave you two love birds alone."

She jumped down off her stool and walked out, closing the door behind her.

"Well that was awkward." Eclipse said, raising her head.

"Little bit." I replied looking at the closed door.

"Well now that we're better we can finally get out of this hospital." Eclipse said happily.

She had been ok for the last couple days but had refused to leave the hospital without me.

"Well I still don’t think I'm ready to travel again." I admitted.

"Well we could at least stay at the inn. I could help Hope and try to make some money to help pay for all this." Eclipse suggested.

"Well we still need to figure out how much this is. We only have one hundred ninety eight bits between the two of us." I replied.

"Well it's a start." She sighed.

"Well you wanna go to the market with me? It would be nice to get some fresh air." I asked as I stood up.

"Would love to." She replied, jumping down next to me.

I grabbed my saddlebags on the way out and threw them across my back. Exiting our room we found Amber sitting behind the front desk.

"Where're you two going?" She asked, happy to see us up and about.

"Going to look around the market and get some fresh air. The room you set us up in was nice but looking at the same four walls all day gets boring." I replied happily.

"Well have fun. If you have any recurring pain or issues come right back." Amber cautioned.

"Will do." I replied nodding. "By the way how much do we owe you?"

"For your stay here?" Amber asked a little confused.

"Ya, we need to know where we stand financially." I replied.

"Let me check." She said grabbing a clipboard.

She consulted it for a moment before digging into her desk and pulling out a pen and a piece of paper. Gripping the pen in her magic
she began writing numbers and began to add them. She mumbled as she worked and as I heard more and more numbers I began to worry.

"Well," She said awkwardly. "The full amount comes out to three hundred twenty two bits."

My jaw dropped.

"Well I guess that was kinda expected." Eclipse said looking at the floor.

"That's still a lot of money." I replied.

"Well you were in really bad shape when I dragged you in here and we've been here a couple weeks." Eclipse replied sadly.

"Well we only have one hundred ninety eight right now." I told Amber nervously.

"Well you're more then half way there." Amber replied hopefully.

"But even if we gave you everything we would still owe one hundred twenty four bits. And we still need to pay for food and a place to stay." I answered anxiously.

"Well there are jobs around town once you feel better." Amber tried to reassure me.

"Plus we need money to travel the rest of the way to the crystal empire. Oh this is not good." I half replied and half thought.

"We'll make it work Night." Eclipse said nuzzling me softly.

No matter how bad I felt I found it funny how Eclipse could always make me feel better. For the first time in my life I genuinely felt like I was in love. This little grey mare had changed me in so many ways it was indescribable. I would do anything to protect her and I knew she would do the same for me.

"Alright, lets see what we can do." I said and headed for the door.

Together we walked through the market looking for work. There were a lot of small jobs to help unload shipments, deliver packages, or drop off letters but they wouldn’t make us enough money quickly. After a couple hours we went to the inn to see Hope. The moment she saw us her eyes lit up.

"Night! Eclipse!" She practically yelled as she trotted up and wrapped us in a hug. "You two look so much better."

"Thanks Hope. How are things here?" I asked her.

"Going well as an inn can in a sleepy little town. What brings you two here?" She asked happily.

"Wondering if you still had a room for us to stat and if you have any work ya need done." I told her.

"Well I could always use you in the kitchen." She said pointing at Eclipse. "You got a real knack for cookin."

"I can do that." Eclipse said stepping forward.

"As for a place to stay I always got rooms open. If you still want it your original room is still empty." Hope said looking to me.

"That works. Would be nice to get out of that hospital room." I replied. "Later we'll head back there and pick up our things."

"As for work I really don’t have anything for ya but ya could play your violin around meal times. I'm sure ponies would tip you." She replied.

"That'll help. Gotta find some real work though. We owe the hospital three hundred twenty two bits for everything." I told her.

At that here eyes widened.

"That much?" She asked in surprise.

"Ya, we don’t have enough to cover it." Eclipse said sadly. "Plus we still need money to travel."

"You two still plan on leaving?" Hope said even more shocked.

"What else can we do? If we stay it puts this town in danger." I told her.

"How so?" She asked with a tilted head.

"Because your military could find me." I told her. "If they catch me they could charge ponies here with harboring an enemy soldier. I don’t want anyone here to get hurt."

"Well I never really thought of that." Hope admitted.

"Ya, figure ponies don’t want us hangin around anyway." I replied.

"Well why not? You two aren't bad ponies." Hope asked with a little smile.

"Because I'm still an enemy. I expected to be on a prisoner train by now and I'm thankful I'm not so I don’t want to overstay my welcome." I told her.

"Well you're always welcome here. You can consider that room upstairs yours until you find a better place." She said genuinely concerned.

"Thank you Hope." I said and gave her a hug.

"Anytime Night." She said and released me.

"Well I'm goin go head to the barracks and see Swift Wing." I told Hope before turning to Eclipse. "You going to be ok here?"

"I'll be fine. I'll be waitin for you." She said before heading towards the kitchen.

I left the inn and made the walk across town towards the main guard post. I was passing through the market when I saw something that stopped me in my tracks. I saw a short pony with a yellow coat and an orange mane. I noticed that pony. Crowbar.

He saw me and waved me over discreetly. I started to trot towards him but slowed my pace so I wouldn't attract any unwanted attention. As I got close he turned and began to walk away. I understood the silent message and followed a little behind him. We walked across town a little before he turned and walked down an ally. I waited a moment before following him in. I was walking down it and thought I had lost him when I heard a low whistle. I looked around and noticed a sewer drain. The top quietly popped open and Crowbars head popped out.

"Down here." He whispered before disappearing again.

I carefully started down the ladder and replaced the cover. I followed him around the corner and was suddenly grabbed. I was thrown up against a wall and a blindfold went over my eyes before I knew what was happening. I was quickly gagged and my hooves were bound. I started to struggle and freak out but then I heard a soft whisper.

"Easy, this is just a precaution." A mare's voice said before I felt myself being laid over a ponies back.

I was carried around to Luna only knows where until finally I felt the rush of air and smelled pine trees. I was lowered off the ponies back and rolled onto my side.

"It's him. I told you it was him. There was no reason for this." I heard Crowbar saying to some unknown pony.

"Well we needed to be sure. I don’t want to loose anyone else." I heard the pony say.

I heard a hoof blade like my own click open and I felt my binds being cut. The blindfold was taken off and I blinked rapidly as my eyes adjusted to the bright sunlight. As the world fell back into focus I saw I was surrounded by ponies I knew. Crowbar, Fletching, Glow Dust, Mornings Sorrow, and Lightning Rod were standing in a semicircle in front of me.

"My Luna! You guys are alive!" I gasped as I jumped to my hooves.

Sorrow was at the point of tears and charged me. She threw her hooves around me and pulled me into a hug.

"We thought you were gone Night." She said as she began to sob.

Fletching, Dust, and Lightning quickly rushed in and hugged me as well. Crowbar, in his usual fashion, just gave a smile and a nod.

"Damn I was worried about you." Fletching said after they had all released me. "What happened to you?"

"Well that night I rushed off I was shot." I said opening my wing and showing them the ugly scare. "I passed out in a field with a river running through it."

"We found it the next night. There was blood by the river's edge but there was no sign of you." He told me.

"Well that's where I ran into Eclipse. We fought for a while and I used one of those poison arrows we had to knock her out." I told him.

"Who?" Lightning asked curiously.

"She's an Emperial unicorn. She saved my life." I told them.

"But she attacked you?" Lightning asked confused.

"Well at first she saw an enemy soldier and attacked because she was afraid. I knocked her out and I ended up dragging her into a cave with me to keep her out of the rain." I explained.

"Why didn't you just kill her?" Crowbar asked.

"I don't know. There was just something about her. She seemed so innocent." I admitted

"Well what happened next?" Fletching asked intrigued.

"Well we were hunkered down in that cave waiting for the storm to pass. She was still unconscious and I was in bad shape. Infection was setting in and I had lost a lot of blood. I passed out as she was waking up. She had the opportunity to kill me or leave me there to die but instead she stayed and helped me. She started treating me and we've been together ever since." I replied.

"Well how do you know you can trust her?" Dust asked.

"Well she's a deserter. She didn't want to fight. She was forced into the service." I told them but then thought of something. "What are you guys doing all the way out here? Are you here to take me home? How did you find me?"

"Well Blaze did get the letter you sent her. She forwarded all the information to us and we came to find you. We've been piecing together your movements based on the most logical route you would take north and we ended up here. We've been watching  the town for about a week now and we heard whispers but couldn't confirm anything." Fletching explained.

"And when I saw you I knew it was really you." Crowbar said. "By the way what happened to your face?"

"Ya, what happened to you Night?" Sorrow asked concerned.

"Well we left town, Eclipse and I, and we were headed north. We stopped to rest in a small clearing when we were attacked. The ponies that attacked us were dressed in a mix of Solar Empire armor and leather armor so I don’t think they were with the army. They attacked us is a group from all sides. I fought them off as best I could but eventually they got the best of us. The one I assume was their leader managed to get me. He ended up slicing me pretty good. It goes all the way down to the bone. I ended up passing out from the blood loss. I came to and they were beating Eclipse. From the looks of things they were going to rape her and somehow I mustered up the strength to get up and fight again. I charged them and I killed the them; brutally. I ended up blacking out again after I knew she was safe. She dragged me back here and they brought me to the hospital. From what I was told I was pretty much dead and I almost died a couple of times that night. I lost so much blood Eclipse ended up directly donating to me and she's the reason I'm alive . The Commander of the town guard ended up calling a meeting with the towns people and they actually let us stay after they found out we were ex military. There are a lot of good ponies here." I explained as I recounted the story.

As I talked I saw there faces turn sadder and more pained. Sorrow started crying and even Crowbar was showing emotion. As they learned more and more their expressions grew dimmer and dimmer as they realizes the reality of what I had went through.

"Night," Fletching said stepping forward with a shaky voice. "I'm sorry. I really don't know what to say. I wish we could have been there."

"Well you weren't and im mostly intact so everything's ok." I said with a little smile as I rested a hoof on his shoulder. "There's nothing you could have done."

"We should have been faster." He replied in a low voice.

"There's nothing you could have done. I didn't exactly tell you all my stops so you had no way of knowing." I tried to reassure him.

"Well I just wish we were." He replied.

"Well I need to know something. Are you here to bring me back?" I asked him seriously.

"Well that depends on you." He said looking up as me.

"How so?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well in your note to Blaze you said you were running but we aren't sure whether it was because you wanted to get someplace safe because you had nowhere to go or if you wanted to go there to get away from the war for good." He replied.

"Honestly Fletch," I began. "I want to get away from it for good. Meeting Eclipse changed me. Not all the ponies on the other side are bad ponies like they're made out to be. I don't wanna kill any more good ponies."

"I know what you mean." He replied sadly.

"Well what are you guys going to do now?" I asked concerned.

"Well I can't speak for everypony but I know I want to go with you. I'm sick of fighting." He admitted.

The others looked at me and I could tell they all agreed. Looking around I noticed something strange.

"Where's Blue Fire, Free Dancer, and Lavender Spirit? Are they out scouting or gathering food?" I asked looking for the rest of my friends.

"They're gone Night." Lightning said in a low voice.

"Gone?" I said eyes wide.

"The day after you disappeared we were attacked again. We had reinforcements from the main military camp but it was a brutal fight. The regular soldiers attacked the main line head first and we decided to split the team up and flank the Emperial troops on their flanks. We attacked on there left side and softened them up a enough for our troops to drive them back. Night fell and we couldn't find BlueFire, Dancer, and Lavender. We searched for them and found them lying in the woods surrounded by dead enemies dead. BlueFire and Free Dancer were both dead when we got there. They each had a few arrows in them and multiple stab and slash wounds. Lavender was still alive but she passed on later that night." Lightning told me, his voice more and more strained as he explained.

I fell back and sat hard on my flank. They were really gone?  Ponies I was supposed to protect were gone because I wasn’t there to lead them. I had failed them and they were dead because of me. Tears began to well up in my eyes.

"Sorry to have to tell you this Night. There's nothing anypony could have done." Lightning said sadly.

"If anything it's my fault." Fletching said stepping forward. "I took over command when you left and I was the one that gave the order to split up."

"No, I disappeared. Its my fault." I said sadly.

"No Night. Don’t put that burden on yourself." Sorrow said resting a hoof on my shoulder.

"Just can't believe they're gone." I said teary eyed and looked up at all of them. "Are you still sure you want to come with me?"

"We wouldn't be here if we didn’t." Sorrow said sitting next to me.

"We're in this together." Lightning said with a nod.

"Well then we need to find a place for you guys to stay for a little while. I'm not ready to travel yet." I told them. "I'll go talk to Swift about it."

"Who?" Fletching asked.

"Commander of the town guard. Late twenties, married, two kids. The colt is five and the mare is three. Graduated fifth in his class at Canterlot Academy. Has a degree in business management and was working on a degree in medicine before he was drafted. His father is a rather rich and used his influence to get his son stationed here far away form and danger." Crowbar answered before I could say a word.

We all looked at him stunned.

"What?" He asked with a shrug. "You told be to do recon and I did. Not my fault I'm good at it."

""I thought I made you promise not to break into anymore houses." Glow Dust said as she gave Crowbar a stare that could kill.

"Hey, it wasn't his house. It was his office. Which is in a public building so technically I didn't break in. I just "readjusted" a lock." He said with a grin.

"I swear you're going to stick your head into more then you can handle one day." Dust said shaking her head.

"Well regardless of how I get intel I always get the good stuff." He said dismissively.

"Well I'll go talk to him and see if we can get you guys set up in the inn." I said. "Can one of you lead me back?"

"I'll take you." Fletching said and went back into the sewer system.

I followed next to him and once we were out of earshot of the rest of the squad I asked "Honestly how have things been?"

"Well we managed as best we could without ya." He replied.

"I'm really sorry about this Fletch. You know I wouldn’t do this on purpose." I sad sadly.

"I know. No one here blames you for what happens." We stopped at the latter to the surface. "Things will be better now that we're all together."

"I just don’t want to loose anyone else." I replied.

"We won't." He said with a reassuring smile. "we can get through this if we stick together."

I looked him in the eyes and I knew he believed it.

"Thanks Fletch. I needed that." I said sincerely. "Now lets see if I can get you guys set up in town."

"I'll be waitin here till you get back." He said as I ascended the ladder.

Went I reached the surface I started heading to Swift's office. The guards stationed at the outpost recognized me and led me to Swift's office. None of them seemed to mind me; a few even gave me a polite nod or wave. Once at the office I knocked on Swifts door. A moment later Swift appeared at the door and seemed a little shocked to see me.

"Night? Is everything ok?" He asked a little concerned.

"Ya, I'm feelin a lot better then last we talked." I said with a little smile.

"Well what can I help you with?" He asked opening the door fully and letting me in.

"Well I need to talk to you about something." I said to him.

"What is it?" He asked sitting back behind his desk.

"Well some of my friends just showed up." W said a bit worried.

At that his eyes shot open and he became concerned.

"What do you mean showed up?" He asked nervously.

"Well they deserted and came looking for me. They were my old team before I met Eclipse." I explained.

At that I could see him relax a bit. "So they aren't a threat to the town then?"

"Not at all. They are actually a little outside town because they were worried about coming close." I told him. "I wanted to see if they could stay at the inn while I recovered instead of in the wood. Once I'm better we're going to leave as a group and head north."

"You promise they're of no threat to this town or its people." He asked looking me dead in the eyes.

"No." I replied looking directly into his. "They're no threat to this community."

He sat back and after a moment said. "Alright. They can stay in town but if anything happens I'm holding you personally responsible."

"Understood. I'll keep them in line." I turned and walked for the door but stopped. "Thank you Swift. This means a lot to me. They're the only family I got."

I walked out of the office with a big smile on my face. I was getting my friends back, Eclipse was okay, and there was hope for the future. Even though I had almost lost everything I had still somehow gotten everything I wanted. Now all we had to do was survive the journey to the Crystal Empire and I thought things would be ok. We could all be happy together and live in peace far away from this war.