"I... suppose it would help if you knew how I came to be here."
"I joined the guard the day I came of age. As long as I can remember, it had been my dream: to protect the weak, stand up for the innocent, and bring justice to the wicked. What I found... couldn't have been any more different. It was alright, at first: petty theft, public disturbances. Once I was even assigned security detail for one of the queen's speeches."
"Then came... the initiations. We were told one morning that the local prison was overcrowded, and they instructed us to..."
He pauses for a moment, unable to continue.
"... to issue beatings on the spot. I went along, good little soldier that I was. I would give them a few good whacks on the rump, like my mother used to do. Imagine my horror when I saw what some of the other recruits had done. Even still, I continued, but I think they suspected my heart wasn't in it. Nothing was ever said, but... certain others seemed to rise in the ranks far more quickly than I, for reasons that were never made entirely clear."
"When you got high enough, they started to trust you more. I would... hear things, that had happened in other prefectures. Over on the south side, a markspony squad opened fire into a crowd of demonstrators. To the east, one precinct over, a little filly of no more than four was hanged for stealing a loaf of bread. I was horrified, of course: how could anypony who had sworn our oath use their power to do such heinous things? But... I was naive as well. 'That sort of thing only happens over there, it could never happen here,' you know the feeling?"
"Goddess I was so naive..."
He must pause again.
"I had been in for about four years, when they woke us all early in the morning. For the past couple months or so, we had been dealing with a particularly nasty ring of rebels. The queen herself was supposed to make an appearance later that week, and there were reports that they were planning an assassination. They told us there had been a big break, that they had located the rebel's supply cache somewhere within the city. So, we all geared up and went out to the site. I was placed on overwatch, scanning the rooftops from on high. I saw the target building: a small schoolhouse, not unlike the one I went to as a colt. I was... angry. Cowards, hiding behind innocent foals while they plotted their evil deeds? The captain took his lieutenants into the building. They weren't long. He came out, and started giving out orders - I couldn't hear what he was saying from so high up. Then they.. they barred the doors, and... somepony brought out torches and..."
Starkey says nothing for a long time, overcome with emotion. At length, he continues.
"Even from so high, I could hear the foals screaming - oh goddess the screaming. i wanted to do something, to swoop in and fling the doors open and..."
"The next day, they sent us back to sift through the wreckage for evidence. we... didn't find anything, not one damn shred of anything incriminating. I... I still don't know why they did it."
"I was outraged Furious. I went straight to the prefecture captain to tell him what had happened. Surely he would be able to do something about this atrocity. I found him in his office, speaking with a strange mare. I gathered that she was a young mother, single, barely even a mare herself. Her... her twin foals had been in that schoolhouse. I didn't hear exactly what was said, but The captain didn't sound very sympathetic. He saw me listening, and ordered me to... to arrest her. I asked him on what charges. 'Treason,' he said."
"I was numb. This... this couldn't be happening, it had to be a dream. I visited her in the dungeon, whenever I had the time. Fikod was her name. We talked, about all sorts of things. It didn't matter what, we just talked. She told me about her family, how she and her parents had fled from AbbeyLashes after the Diomedians razed it to the ground. I told her about my foalhood traveling with the caravans, Mother and Father working as caravan guards. I told her things I never would have told my colleagues. In all my years in the guard, this mare was the first pony I could ever truly call my friend."
"About a month later, I learned that Fikod was to be hanged. There had never been a trial, no evidence of her guilt had ever been brought forth. The order was given, and we were expected to obey. She... was calm, resigned to her fate. 'At least I'll be with my little angels' she said. I... didn't plan on letting that happen. One night, I sneaked into the dungeon. She was the only one on the prison block at the time, so they only felt the need to post one guard. It was... easy enough to bring him down and get his keys. I took Fikod out of the city - she had no family to speak of, so there was no reason to stay in the city. At that point, I didn't care what they did to me: my friend was more important. So it came as no surprise that my welcome was... less than warm when I returned. the rest... well, that was the same for all of us, I think."
Author
Topic: My Little Fortress. Glitterglen. (Read 281775 times)