Rise of Firefly Teaser... · 2:07pm Oct 17th, 2015
As an enticement for my TLaTU readers, here's an excerpt from the latest Before the Storm: The Rise of Firefly chapter. If you'd like to know more about Firefly and the experiences that shaped her/the battles she fought, take a peak below...
I had to learn the hard way that there are two lines in life that once you cross, you can never go back. One was pleasurable, the other decidedly not. The latter happened long before the former for me, and marked a loss of innocence that only those ponies who have experienced it themselves can understand.
Growing up, I understood none of this. All I knew was that I enjoyed fighting. That I liked to duel. That I loved the adrenaline rush of combat, wouldst even later learn I thrived on it. Even as a filly I sensed I had been born for battle, that a warrior was what I was meant to be. So I eagerly devoured old military stories. I studied all the fighting manuals I could. I looked with admiration on the exploits of pegasi heroes both past and present, like Commander Hurricane or Captain Typhoon.
And yet, through it all there was something important that escaped me. An act and duty I wouldst one day be called upon to perform. It was a day when I would finally answer the dreaded question that Windshear had put to me…
The day that naive young filly finally learned what it was to be a warrior, and the terrible price that must be paid...
Three days before Hearth’s Warming, Lieutenant Sundiver had still not returned, sending word that senior division commanders remained heads-down trying to discern the intent of recent Gryphon activity. That was above my pay grade but I’d settled into my command at Outpost Epsilon quite well; there had been no further challenges and my ability to best all comers in training matches, even longtime veterans, had earned me a great deal of respect.
After making my customary final patrol round after dusk, I turned the outpost over to Fell Flight for the night and retired to my quarters. Technically, I was allowed to take Sundiver’s private quarters for the duration of my command but refused, feeling it belonged to the First Lieutenant. I’d been instead sleeping in a senior enlisted bunks with the other veteran sergeants, though there’d been a couple nights we’d stayed up late swapping stories or playing cards.
There would be time for neither sleep nor card games that night as a series of alarm gems suddenly activated throughout the base, glowing bright red and emitting a shrill sound as they vibrated hard in their casing. They could only be set off via remote magic at division headquarters, and their use meant an attack was underway.
The outpost responded immediately, ponies spilling out of bunks to hastily don their flight gear and make for the armory, pulling on wingblade assemblies and even readying a few storm clouds if they were needed. Whilst they assembled, I immediately flew up to the tower, where Fell Flight had already received a message from division HQ via dragonfire gem. I scanned it and learned a large force of gryphons had broken past our defenses near Outpost Gamma—they’d hit the other end of the border at outpost Alpha hard to draw in the bulk of the Corps ready forces, and now a second force some fifty strong was slicing through the gap that had created in our patrol screens, descending on the town of Gallop, nearly fifty miles inside Equestria.
They’d chosen their target well. Being set back from the border, that town, a farming community, didn’t have an Army presence, only earth pony militia, and their fighting quality was highly suspect at best. In any event, my orders were clear—intercept immediately, protect the townponies, and… as nearly a dozen Corps pegasi had been slain in the attack on Alpha, we were to go in ‘hot’, with wingblades on!
I stared at the order for a moment, praying I’d misread it, but there was no mistake—the gryphons had returned, and this time were out for blood… and thus, we were to answer in kind.
“Commander?” Fell Flight prompted, sensing my sudden fear and giving me a leery look. “Orders?”
I forced myself to focus and drive my fears away—ponies were in trouble, and Epsilon was the only uncommitted border force. Sundiver had done his best to teach me squad and platoon-level tactics, and ’twas time to put them to the test. “Leave two squads here to defend the base, as well as one weather team, with orders to go on continuous patrol. The rest of us will head off the Gryphons. You will lead Cirrus’ and Stormrunner’s squads to a blocking position east of town and position our other two weather teams to bracket the gryphons with lightning as they approach.
“When they arrive, you’ll hold them there whilst I make a wide sweep with Blindside and Derecho’s squads and attempt to… well, blindside them,” I winced slightly at my clumsy phrasing. “I want your eyes in front, Fell Flight. You need to spot them before they see us so we can position properly and get the first strike in. Signal via flare when you’re heavily engaged, then look for us to attack out of the moon,” I nodded upwards at the Mare in the Moon, hoping her light might shine favorably upon us that night.
“Aye-aye, ma’am!” she acknowledged and started barking out orders whilst I donned my own armor, trying to ignore the growing tightness in my chest.
On parchment, ’twas a good plan. I was sending the veteran squads and weather teams lead by my senior NCO and best pair of eyes to find and hold the gryphons whilst I slashed in with two more squads from an unexpected direction, hopefully breaking up their raid before it could hit the town proper. I cringed again at the idea that I might be required to kill, but I cringed even more at the thought of the Gallop townponies preparing Hearth’s Warming festivities in their homes with no idea of what was about to hit them. In the past the gryphons had shown little regard for civilians, and utter contempt for pony holidays.
My armor on, I donned my flight goggles and wingblades, which felt strangely heavy against my back. I did not deploy them, even though many corps pegasi already had.
Nothing said I had to before we arrived at the scene.
* * * * *
We took flight at 2335 hours, scarcely eight minutes after the alarms had sounded—I was gratified by the rapid reaction of the base, at least. The town of Gallop was seventy-five miles away, and the Gryphons had a head start on us. But whilst they had stamina, we had speed, and we closed the distance quickly; within forty minutes the town lights were in sight. I wasn’t sure whether or not to be relieved by that; on the one hoof it meant the town had not been hit yet, on the other they were completely unaware the gryphons were coming.
And how could they NOT? My brow furrowed. Methinks if we were alerted, they had to have been as well…
Something wasn’t right. Ordering my two squads to alight and rest on a nearby hill that overlooked the town, I swooped in and found the town of Gallop… not on alert, but readying for the holidays, the pubs open and earth ponies and a few unicorns bustling about despite the late hour. Here and there was some caroling, a pegasi weather team was assembling snow clouds overhead without a care in the world, whilst the town militia base had barely any activity at all, shut down in anticipation of Hearths Warming.
Normally, I wouldst present myself at the front gate, but there was no time. I blasted right through the perimeter—the base was so lax that even the anti-intrusion enchantments had not been kept powered—and, finding the messages and mail office, I burst in through a window to find… a single earth pony sentry standing low watch, though ‘standing’ was a very generous term given he was sleeping on duty. His uniform tunic was unbuttoned and he himself was snoring softly as he lounged back in his chair, his hind hooves propped on his desk and forehooves hanging limply to the sides, a spilled mug of cider nog having fallen from one. “Corporal!” I barked, startling him awake, causing him to lose his balance and fall backwards to the floor.
“What? Who?” he focused with some difficulty on the surprising sight of a mare in silver and red Guardspony armor wearing a blue-and-white Aerial Corps wingblade harness. “Oh, wow. Nice costume, filly, but methinks Nightmare Night was two months ago…”
The narrowing of my eyes gave him pause. “I am Sergeant Firefly of the Royal Guard, you brainless twit! Who is your commanding officer?” I demanded to know. “Why are you not on alert? Did you not receive word of a Gryphon attack?”
The stallion stared at me like I was crazy. “Lady, what are you talking about? What word? What attack?”
Sensing I was getting nowhere, I scanned the magical communications gems arrayed behind him. The alert gem was dark; there were no message scrolls waiting beside the dragonfire gems either. He may have been a buffoon, but he was telling the truth; they’d received no word of any intrusion or attack and ’twas beyond belief that word had gotten to us but not to them. Impossible, even. “No attack? Then why were we…?”
A trickle of fear went down my back. In that moment I knew what had happened, and what the real target was. “They’re not hitting here,” I whispered, a huge pit forming in my stomach. “They’re hitting…”
“Ma’am?”
Without bothering to reply, I shot back up into the sky and found Fell Flight. “It’s a trick!” I told her frantically. “Methinks they sent false messages to our alert and dragonfire gems!”
“How?” Fell Flight asked, visibly skeptical in the moonlight. “Their communication magic is supposed to be unbreachable. And if ’tis a trick, to what end? If they’re not coming here, then where…?” Her eyes went wide as the only possible answer hit her even before I spoke my next words.
“Don’t you see?” I made a sweeping motion with my hoof, trying to bite back the fear and panic threatening to overcome me. “’Twas all a ruse! They were just trying to draw the bulk of us away! They’re not raiding Gallop, they’re attacking EPSILON!”
So what happens next? You'll have to read to find out. 
