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A Hero

A familiar sound filled the clearing atop the plateau. Fire, crackling and snapping, tossed embers up into the air, disturbed by a particularly sturdy stick that was burnt, but was not yet reduced to ash. The one holding it, an earth pony of fallow color and red mane, sighed softly as she'd witnessed its embers dying out at its very heart. It was a parallel to her own standing of Equestria, she'd been going on for so long, a fire burning in her heart for adventure and helping others, and every so often it would die down. She would feel her faith in the country waver, but she would always find a reason to keep going.

Jabbing the stick further into the fire, jostling the logs and tossing more smoke and embers into the air, the earth pony sighed. She hadn't thought far enough to collect the firewood needed for the night. If she did decide to go now, she'd have fire for the night, but would go without a meal until the sun was well past the horizon. She wasn't exactly winning in either regard; the bugs would have at her no matter what.

Shifting about from her cross-legged form, her plates clinked and scraped against one another as she stood up. Stretching her arms and back, groaning as the former "popped" a bit, she relaxed, sagging her form for a few short seconds. With a deep breath, the earth pony straightened her posture. Squaring her hooves with her shoulders, and her form more acceptable, lacking a slouch or stoop of any kind, she felt just a bit more alive than she did moments ago.

Walking over to the tent she'd pitched, the pony grabbed a sheathe of hard leather and metal resting near her bedroll. Freeing the blade from its confines, she'd tossed the sheathe onto her bedroll. Holding the thick and wide broadsword in front of herself, both hands upon the handle, she smirked to herself. Slipping her left hand loose, letting it drop to her side, her other arm and the blade it held followed suit to her right.

Walking away from her camp site, the pony made her way towards the edge of the plateau. Walking amongst the grass, minding little of its quiet rustling in the evening breeze, she faced towards the sunset, stopping ten paces away from the edge. Balling her left hand into a fist, the pony took slow and measured breathes. She focused, raising the blade up in front of herself with one hand.

She held it firm, closing her eyes as she slowly cut through the air with the blade. She felt its weight, and she gradually allowed it to become an extension of herself once more. She wouldn't swing madly, and she wouldn't see it as a mere weapon. Steadily, her cutting became more fluid through the air, faster and with immense precision. She carried her momentum from swing to swing, cutting, slashing, thrusting, and hopping back and forth above the grass.

She parried a foe that was aiming for the underside of her arm. She carried her momentum of the parry into a dance, stepping away with a flurry of steps. She followed through, carrying her weight with each swing as she stepped forward with each swing of herself. She slashed, she grunted, she deflected, and she sighed.

Jabbing the tip of her blade into the dirt, the pony rest both of her hands over the pommel. Setting her weight down onto the broadsword, she looked back unto the horizon once more. She smiled again, feeling a small gust of wind toss her mane about in the air. Beyond the mountains near the ocean side, beyond the rolling waves far below, beyond the clouds that dotted the horizon, she found serenity in the moment she found herself within.

Rays of yellow, orange, and purple shined beyond the horizon and clouds. The setting sun was putting on one last show before it left with the moon in its place; equally beautiful, but lacking the warmth she'd always felt beneath the brighter celestial body. This world, this country, and its ponies… they were all worth fighting for. She was never going to give up on them, as they never gave up on her.

The world needed ponies like her. They needed ponies of action, of those who would jump to the occasion to protect and help others. Equestria needed heroes, she was going to be one of them.

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Hope you enjoy the little story. It's another, different take on Latch again, as though she were naive to think she is a hero.

Upvotes at import: 59 | Stars at import: 43
Posted previously at: 2017-09-03T04:01:17 | Posted previously by: LatchieLatch