It has been four weeks since the first round of training, as Crimson's injuries had gotten better, allowing him to be fully prepared for the next round. During that time, he was mostly confined to his bed, since everytime he tried to sneak out for a while, Luna would some how manage to catch him. How she was able to do that, he would never know.
"You should be fine in a few more days." the doctor said. "Just get some more rest, and you should be back to normal." He finished wrapping the last of the bandages around Crimson's waist. The effects of the combined spell's of Celestia and Luna still hurt, but the pain was slowly going away.
"That's a good thing." Crimson said. "I really need to get out of these things and move around outside more."
"Actually, you will have to stay inside for another week after the bandages come off." the Doctor explained. Crimson's face turned dark as soon as that was said.
"Tá mé ag dul a mharú go, Discord." he said. The doctor just looked at him confused, not knowing what he said. Crimson just left the room and went back to where he was staying, plotting a way to get revenge on Discord when he was better.
"What did the doctor say?" a voice from behind him said. Crimson turned and saw Celestia with two of her guards walking towards him.
"Good news, I'll be fine in a few days," Crimson explained. "Bad news, I'm still stuck inside for another week."
"What are you going to do now?" Celestia asked. Crimson took a moment to think before giving his answer.
"I'm going to try and sneak into the kitchens and get some food before your sister catches me," Crimson told her. "I need to figure out a way to keep her from doing that." With that, Crimson walked off to the kitchens, keeping his eyes peeled for any sign of both Luna and Discord. He knew Discord was hiding somewhere, since they had officially began a prank war against each other. While Discord may be winning, they both knew that their pranks could cause more trouble than they needed.
While Discord wasn't the problem, Luna could find him before he could get anywhere. While he knew she was getting ready to raise the moon in an hour, she would be on the lookout for trouble, including patients trying to get out of bed rest. While back home, he was able to avoid that with being able to take care of himself, but there was no such luck here in Equestria.
As he entered the kitchen, he found it empty, allowing him to relax and began to make himself a small sandwich, just as Discord appeared.
"So, no pranks for me today?" He asked. Crimson just shook his head, knowing that he was just trying to figure out what he was planning.
"Only thing I'm doing today is get something to eat and hide from Luna before she finds me out of my so called 'hospital bed'," Crimson explained. "And I have you to thank for it. Do you know how much pain you put me through? I can't even go outside and walk."
"More like you should thank me," Discord said. "With all the dangers out there, you would never even make it out of the front door without something attacking you." Before Crimson could retort, Discord had vanished.
"Just ignore him and I'll get through this," Crimson said to no one in particular. As Crimson finished his sandwich, his head began hurting, as his brain began flashing back. "No, not now. I need to get out of here." He ran back to his room, immediately moving to a little corner upon arriving, as he began flashing back to years ago.
The heat was beating down hard on a young earth pony stallion as he began attending his garden. While the heat would normally cause an average pony trouble, this young stallion had been working in the outdoors for years near his home city. The city itself was surrounded by a massive wall, as the land had been a massive civil war, with warlord's vying for control. At the moment, there are only three warlords left. Alaric Beccon, Bloodhoof, and Honor Warrior. Alaric and Blood had been the two main warlords, with fighting around other cities with the winner gaining the city.
A rough looking guard from the city walked up to the stallion.
"Time to pay up, Crimson." he said. The young Crimson looked at the guard and went back to his work, just as the guard went up and knocked Crimson to the ground. "Didn't you hear me? Pay up!" Crimson just got back up and continued his work. The guard's face began to turn red and finally he drew his sword and sliced Crimson's front left leg, causing the young stallion to collapse in the dirt.
"Next time I say pay up," the guard said. "You pay up." As the guard left, Crimson began to get up and head into his little house to patch up his injury.
Crimson let out a deep breath as he got away from his flashback. His eyes shut as tight as they could as he placed a hoof over his old injury. The pain was still there, but it was mostly ghost pain compared to the recent pain from his trip to the Crystal Empire and the training from a few weeks ago.
"I guess their version of training makes ours look like foal's play," Crimson laughed to himself. While he didn't get training on being an Alicorn, he did pick up military tactics that Alaric used pretty quick, of course, before becoming a farmer, he was studying military tactics when he was young. The constant civil war had forced many young colts to go into the military, meaning many had to know tactics and how to fight. For Crimson, he was just able to pick it up fast. And he was glad he did after what happened.
He felt another sharp pain in his head, as another flashback began to occur.
Smoke was rising from the city as Bloodhoof's forces began ransacking it. Honor Warrior began fighting off most of the invaders, but was soon killed by Bloodhoof. As their leader fell, the city began to burn from the fires. Crimson watched from a hill outside the walls as both his home and farm burned. The screams from the ponies reaching his ears. He turned and fled, knowing there was nothing he could do.
Crimson continued running until he reached an open space near the woods that were said to be haunted. While normal ponies would avoid it, he had no other choice. He immediately got out his ax and began cutting down some trees for a fireplace to keep him warm for the night and to build a new house before winter set in.
As he laid down to rest, he thought back to what happened. The screams of the ponies of his home in his head. His house burning as the vandals attacked. His own city going up in a blaze, leaving no survivors. While it wasn't uncommon for ponies like him to be the last of their city, it was still a hard thing to go through the first time. Many ponies had escaped the war after their own towns and villages had fallen and continued to escape on occasion. He was one of the few that was able to get away a first time.
As the cold air blew through the woods, Crimson laid down next to the small fire, letting the remaining tears of what happened flow freely. Never before had he witnessed such destruction, and he hoped he would never have to see it again.
As Luna finished raising the moon, she began her journey into the dream realm, in search of any trouble dreams to assist. When she found none, she would sometimes just watch as the dreams go by, relaxing from her duties. Tonight, she ended up not finding any dreams, which allowed her to wonder around, looking at the different dreams of the ponies of Equestria.
She walked around for a while and found a small portal into a dream realm she had never been to before. As she entered, she found many more dreams. As she continued walking, she bumped into a grey stallion with a yellow mane and moustache.
"Sorry about that," Luna apologized. When she saw who it was, she stepped back in shock. "You're Alaric!"
"Not really," the stallion replied. "I'm just something that my people dream of to protect them. I could take the form of anypony or even a dragon if they want me to. My job is to keep any troubles away from their dreams, but I only work within my home. When one is away, I can't help. But you can. Follow me." Luna followed the dream spirit as he stopped in front of one particular dream door. "While it may not be a dream, it's a pretty bad flashback." Luna nodded as she walked inside, determined to find out what was happening.
When she entered, she saw a familiar stallion sleeping on the forest floor, yet he did not have a horn or wings on him.
"I thought dreams were meant to be private?" A voice asked from behind her. She turned as saw Crimson standing a few feet away. "I mean really. How can I dream with somepony walking into it at random? Isn't anything sacred anymore?"
"Sorry," said Luna, looking away in took a deep breath before continuing.
"No," he began. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap, it's just, I haven't been in my best of moods lately and being stuck inside hasn't helped me none. You can stay. Just be prepared incase there's something you don't want to see."
"It can't be that bad," Luna replied. They watched as the dream Crimson got up and went to work on building a new house. What caught Luna off guard was no cutie mark. "Why is it you don't have a cutie mark yet?"
"To us," Crimson began. "A cutie mark doesn't fully matter. It doesn't tell us are destiny. We make our own, allowing us to focus on what we prefer. We don't limit ourselves to one thing, nor do we care on how long it would take us to find what we're good at. There are many that never find theirs and they're happy. We never judge on a cutie mark or appearance."
"I was wondering why you had a red Alicorn that seemed a bit off," Luna mentioned.
"Deceit?" Crimson responded. "He may look different, but he can be a good ally. If one of us is in trouble, he'll come and bail us out. It works that way for everyone. To us, never judge on appearance, race, or cutie mark. We're all equal no matter what." They continued to watch dream Crimson finish chopping down a tree as he got the wood needed to build his house. "Just be glad you didn't appear earlier. Bad memory there."
"About what?" Luna asked.
"My home," Crimson answered. "Like many that lost their homes in the war, it's a painful memory that we try to put behind us."
"If it would be alright with you," Luna began. "I would like to look further back into your memories on occasion to see what happened."
"As long as you stay out of certain ones please," Crimson explained. "Some are meant to be private and not shared with anypony unless needed."
"I could let you walk outside the castle for a bit," Luna relented. "But I will be walking with you the whole time to make sure you don't get injured." She finished, her eyes narrowing.
"Yes," Crimson squeaked, afraid of his friend, knowing the power she possessed. Luna walked out of the dream, allowing Crimson to go to sleep. "That mare scares me more than Sombra."
I changed Thomas to Alaric
