//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: Reuniting with an Old Friend, Reminiscing Over the Past // Story: A Paladin's Strength // by Blaze Riaz //------------------------------// A/N: Quick note, This is post edit, basically my editor finished looking at it. This is mostly for those who read this before its edit. Don't worry its the same only fixed small mistakes and grammar problems. With the class over, all the ponies flew off the school grounds and head to other activities or towards their homes. Vigilant headed over to the basic track field to practice for the Nationals. Several hours passed before Vigilant was done with his practice session. He pulled his old goggles down to his neck and trotted over to the water fountain. “Hey...uh, Vigilant…” said a young mare from behind Vigilant. “Huh?” he mumbled out as he turned to face the mare. “With Nationals around the corner, I...uh...well, I got my dad to help me get these for you.” the mare pulled a new pair of flight goggles from under her wing. They were a new design, instead of the normal round eye holes, they were square and the outer edge was also glass, giving the wearer a greater field of view. Around the eye holes was some sort of fabric that cushioned the holding so it was more comfortable for the wearer. The leather strap had the engraving of “VP” on the back. “You got me new goggles?” Vigilant asked as he looked at them. “Yeah, that old pair looks like they are about to fall apart.” said the mare as she pointed at the old goggles. “Heh, yeah, I do need a new pair, but these look expensive.” he said with a concerned look on his face. “Don’t worry about that. Take it as a gift for helping me.” the young mare said with a smile. “Wow, Thanks a lot, I don’t know what to say.” he exclaimed as he hugged the mare with his wings. The mare gasped for a moment, but ultimately returned the hug. After breaking the hug Vigilant put on the goggles with a huge smile. “Wow! These are awesome! Thanks again. See you tomorrow!” he said with excitement before taking off into the sky… ______________________________________________________________________________ “Spit?” Vigilant gasped at the sight of his old friend, he hadn’t seen her since he graduated from Flight Academy and joined the military. “Who else would I be?” She said as she trotted up to Vigilant, Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo. “Now my turn for a question.” she snickered leaning closer to Vigilant. “Why. didn’t. you. tell. me. you. were. on. leave?!” she barked at Vigilant, smacking his shoulder with each word. “I… uh… well, I actually live here now, Spit.” Vigilant responded as he rubbed his now sore shoulder. “Wait, you retired? Why didn’t you tell me?” she gasped as she leaned closer to his face with a stern look. “I...I have only been here for less than three days.” he answered, stepping back from Spitfire. “Fine, but why did you retire? You seemed like you were enjoying being a soldier.” she asked as she tilted her head in confusion. “I… I’ll tell you later…” he answered looking down. “Okay… but hey, that was an amazing race! I’m not surprised he beat you, Rainbow, he used that trick at Nationals to win.” she said as she looked at Rainbow. “Oh… uh, yeah…” Rainbow said dejected. Vigilant wrapped his hoof around Rainbow’s shoulder. “Look, Rainbow Dash, I did that at Nationals to the lead pony to win and it was a longer track. If you were there, I bet you would of won.” he said with a smile on his face again. “If Vigil says you would of beat him, you know you're a good flier.” Spitfire giggles out as she looks at the two racers. “Why does it matter what he says, he’s not a Wonderbolt like you.” Rainbow said confused. “Well, he was captain of the track team and taught every member some nice tricks to help them in races. He even helped me with my flying skills.” Spitfire said with a blush. “You’re exaggerating, I only gave some pointers.” Vigilant remarked as he scratched the back of his head. “Some pointers? You turned a decent track team into national contenders with your two years as captain!” Spitfire exclaimed as she shook Vigilant by the shoulders. “Okay… okay… stop shaking me!” he yelled. Spitfire stopped shaking him and laughed a bit. “It’s been too long, Vigil! We need to catch up!” she said with excitement. Vigilant shook his head to stop the dizziness Spitfire caused him. “Yeah, sure, I was going to treat Scootaloo at SugarCube Corner for showing me around town. Hey, Rainbow Dash, care to join us, I bet Spit is your idol.” He smirked as he pulled the goggles off his face and down around his neck. “Oh! Sure!” Rainbow said as she rushed up next to Spitfire. Spitfire suddenly had a concerned look. “Vigil, what happened to you eye?” she asked as Vigilant grabbed his hat and placed it back on his head. “Oh, right, that. You remember the battle of Fort Nimbus?” he asked as he put back on his jacket. “Yeah, Oh, wait, I remember reading that a Sergeant took charge when the ranks fell apart, was that you?” Spitfire questioned as she trotted with Vigilant, Rainbow, Scootaloo, and most of the crowd over to SugarCube Corner. “Yeah, it was. Did the newspaper really mention me?” he looked at Spitfire. “Well, duh, you lead all those troops to defend a helpless situation until the Griffin King came in to finally help stop those crazy griffins!” she asserted as they entered the shop. “Wait, wait, wait, what are you two talking about?” Rainbow interrupted as the group found a booth to sit in. “You don’t know? It was in the papers for about a week.” Spitfire asked. “I… uh… you see…” Rainbow stuttered out. “You don’t read the paper, do you Rainbow Dash?” Vigilant asked as Mr. Cake trotted up to the group. “N… no…” Rainbow replied dejected. “Hello, everypony, and welcome to Sugarcube Corner, what can I getcha?” Mr. Cake asked as he pulled out a pen and notepad. “I’d like a Sunday Supreme!” Scootaloo asked for in excitement. Vigilant chuckled a bit to her desired desert. “I’ll take a strawberry milkshake.” Spitfire asked. “I’m good, Thanks.” Rainbow replied shaking her hoof in the air dismissively. “I would like the chocolate milkshake, may I have some whip cream on top?” Vigilant asked. “Of course, is that all?” Mr. Cake asked. Vigilant looked at everypony who nodded at him. “Yes, thank you.” With the order taken Mr. Cake trotted to the back. “So, how many evil griffins were there?” Rainbow asked looking at Vigilant. “I honestly don’t know, but King Greybeak guessed it was around three hundred, maybe less. The fort had only fifty two troops, ten of which were spineless officers. I was leading a small squad of twelve so I had a bit of leadership when the ranks fell.” Vigilant answered. “Wow, so forty two troops fought against, like, three hundred griffins! Aren't griffins really hard to fight?” Scootaloo asked as Mr. Cake returned with their order. “Yeah, griffins are hard to fight. They have strength that can rival the Earth Ponies. We lasted, from my guess, about five hours in that siege.” Vigilant answered as he noticed many of the ponies in the building were looking at them with interest. “Guess everypony wants to hear what happened.” “If you are the war hero we all think you are, yeah, they do want to hear about it.” said Twilight as she made her way through the crowd to stand next to the booth accompanied by the four mares he meet before. “Huh, guess I could recount that day.” Vigilant said. ______________________________________________________________________________ It was like any other patrol I went on over there. It was long, boring and uneventful. I took four of my squad with me on this particular patrol. Hey, Sarge!” yelled Sunlit Blitz as he trotted up next to me. “What is it Blitz?” I asked as I still looked around. “Why are we out here on this patrol? Didn’t we do it last time?” he questioned. “Wish I could answer you.” I replied as I looked at the young red unicorn with a black mane and tail. “I heard that the fort commander hates you, Sarge!” yelled Iron Hooves from the rear of our formation. Iron is a light grey Earth pony with dark brown mane and tail, and he has been with me since I was promoted to Sergeant. He is one of the strongest ponies I have ever met. Lifted a gate by himself once, it usually takes four ponies. “Yeah? And where did you hear that?” I yelled back. “From Captain Steel, you and Colonel Ironside seem to have disagreements!” he replied. Colonel Ironside was a mediocre leader, and a corrupt one at that. He played favorites and usually did nothing. I fought him almost daily on how he ran the fort and the patrols. On the other hoof, Captain Steel was a great leader, he would always listen to my suggestions and he always cared about the troops. Unfortunately, he was stationed at Fort Sediment and we all were stuck with old Ironside. “Why do you fight with the Colonel, Sarge?” asked Storm Chaser. Chaser was a blue Pegasus with an orange and yellow mane and tail. He was a rookie at the time, fresh from training and new under my command. I could see he was very nervous when he trotted up next to me. “Why? Because he is a complete moron! He doesn’t know how to lead and he plays favorites. He would promote a pony he likes and expect them to do his job for him.” I laughed out loud. “Sarge! There is movement to the east! Isn’t this forest supposed to be empty?!” Shield yelled to me. Shield was a yellow Earth Pony with lime green mane and tail. The squadron stopped in its tracks as we looked to the east for more signs of movement. “Is this when they attack you and your squad?!” Rainbow interrupted “Yes and no, let me tell my story.” We form into a semi-circle and scan for any movement or sound. We heard a snap behind us, but didn’t see anything when we looked for it. As I turned, a dark griffin came out of nowhere slashing a blade at Shield. Lucky for Shield, he dodged it and rolled back. I turned and smacked the griffin in the head before retreated back with my squad. As we regrouped, a large number of griffins with various types of weapons flew out of the trees and landed in front of us. “Blitz, I need you to teleport back to the fort! Warn everypony, I think the griffins are attacking us!” I barked my order to Blitz who nodded and teleported away. “Chaser, I need you to pick up Shield and fly back to the fort! Me and Hooves will be right behind you covering you.” I whispered to Chaser. “But Sir, I don’t know if I can outrun griffins while carrying Shield.” he replied back. “Leave the griffins to me and Hooves now go!” I barked as the griffins started to approach us. With a bit of hesitation, Chaser took off and grabbed Shield before heading back to Fort Nimbus. A few griffins took off but I followed suit with Hooves on my back with a halberd at the ready. Chaser was struggling with the extra weight when Hooves and I caught up to them. Unfortunately, so did the griffins that were chasing us. One flew to Chaser and Shield but I swerved towards him allowing Hooves to swing at him. This went on till we got close to the fort, by then the griffins retreated back. The shield bubble was up when we arrived and the gate was down. A section opened up and we flew in landing near the gate. Chaser looked exhausted. “You did good out there, Chaser. Get some water and rest up, we may be in for a battle soon.” I said as I patted him on the back. “Thanks…*Huff*… Sarge…” he gasped out. I trotted to the officer’s building to find out what the strategy was, if any. Before I entered Blitz trotted up next to me. “Hey Sarge, You won’t like what’s happening in there.” he said as I opened the door. There were ten officers as I said before, nine of them were in the situation room. Three were spread about crying or in the fetal position, the rest were arguing. I did not see Colonel Ironside, so I went to his office. He was not there, I looked in places you would normally find him when he was cowering, but I couldn’t find him. I reentered the situation room trying to see if I missed him somehow. “Has anypony seen Colonel Ironside?” I yelled loud enough to overpower the argument. “What?! Get back outside, soldier! This is for Officers only and we need to discuss what our situation is!” He barked at me. The stallion was one of the officers I did not know nor cared to know. He was just as spineless as all the others. “Sir, I was looking for the CO, we need our orders.” I said even though I wanted to smack him in the snout. “CO?” Scootaloo asked with a mouthful of her Sunday. “It means Commanding Officer.” Vigilant answered. “Well he ran before the shield went up! Now get out! Or I will get you court-martialed for insubordination,” he barked to me again. I left and stood at the door biting my tongue, I could not understand how he would be like that. “Whoa, I heard the officers were dishonorably discharged from the army after the battle. I didn’t know they were that incompetent.” Spitfire remarked. “Yeah, like I said before, Ironside played favorites.” “Sarge? What happened?” Blitz asked as we trotted to the ramparts. “Ironside ran!” I barked out in frustration. As we trotted to the ramparts, many of the troops were scared and unsure what to do. The so-called leaders were nowhere to be found and arguing over whatever they were arguing about. “What!? Ironside Ran!? But he is the CO, he is supposed to lead us in this defense.” Blitz yelled as we made it to the ramparts. Over the walls I could see dozens upon dozens of griffins surrounding the fort. In the back I could see makeshift catapults that they were setting up. Looking back to the inner part of the fort I saw many more crying and running around with no order. If nopony took charge and lead these scared soldiers, we all would die and the town that was nearby would be destroyed. “Why did they attack the fort and not the town? Wouldn’t that be easier?” Scootaloo asked. “My guess is that they wanted to take the town out without any problems. If the fort and its garrison were still around we would have defended the town when we learned of the situation.” “LISTEN UP!” I shouted, everypony nearby looked at me. “I understand you all are scared! Now is not the time to be scared! They have attacked Equestria and after they finish us off they will hit Hoofington! We are the FIRST line of defense and crying will not help the innocent ponies! Get off your flanks and prepare to defend this fort with your life! We sent for help already, all we have to do is last long enough for them to reach us!” I yelled to all of those willing to listen to me. I guess my speech did the trick as everypony now seemed motivated. The bubble shield was now being attacked by fire balls from the catapults. This would destroy it after a while, so we needed to think of another strategy. “Unicorns, form up!” I yelled out after realizing the shield that beginning to crack. All of the unicorns formed up below me Blitz was still next to me. “Good, now the shield doesn’t look like it will last much longer.” I stated, many of them looked scared now. “Do not worry, I have a plan that should help us. I need most of you to be up here on the ramparts and prepare to use magic attacks. Those who are up here are to only use their magic to attack any griffin that attempts to fly over the fort walls.” Many unicorns seemed relieved now. This was a strategy that would help more than trying to keep up a shield. “So not many unicorns could keep a large shield up?” Twilight asked. “I didn’t believe so, at the time many of the troops were fresh and Fort Nimbus was their first base.” “Sarge, where do you want me?” Asked Blitz as I started to head back to ground level. “You stay up here and lead all other unicorns in this defense. I trust your skill in projectile magic.” I said as I hopped off the ramparts. “YES, SIR!” I rushed over to Iron Hooves who was in the armory checking on what we had. “Hooves, what's it look like in there?” I asked him as I looked around myself. “Not good, Sarge, many of the spears are dull and I have no idea where the shields are.” He yelled as he tossed me a spear. It was dull and the point was nonexistent. “Do you know where the one who was suppose to keep inventory?” I asked as I tossed the spear away. “No idea, you shou…” “I’m right here, sir, and the shields are in here.” Said a small green earth pony who was carrying several shields. “I was getting the shields for everypony. I was also getting the grinder set up.” He trotted over to Hooves. He took the shields and dashed out. “Good, get these spears and any other weapon sharpened, we will need them.” I ordered as I trotted out. “Yes, Sir!” As I exited the armory the shield broke and fell apart. I saw many magic projectiles fly into the air as griffins attempted to fly over the wall. We were lucky we had so many unicorns there. I dash back up to the ramparts and stop next to Blitz again. “Looks like it worked, Sarge! The griffins stopped trying to fly over!” He said with a smile. I looked over the wall and saw they were bringing up a battering ram. I should have guessed they planned for something like that to happen. “Great, they are more prepared than I hoped.” I mumbled as I looked at Shield and Hooves passing shields and spears to everypony they came across. I jumped down and looked at the gate that was already being battered. I saw that the gate had a small section that could form a shield wall, it was an old strategy, but effective if used correctly. “Every Earth Pony here, now!” I ordered. They formed in front of me. “Now these griffins are ready for almost anything, as you can hear, they are battering the gate. It should hold for a bit of time but not forever. Now when the gate is about to be beached we will form a shield wall.” “You sure that will hold them back?” Hooves asked me. “It has to, but I will have Pegasi use the spears to kill the griffins from above. Both parts of the plan will be dangerous, while the griffins are strong, I believe you earth ponies are stronger, especially you, Hooves. Now the Pegasi will fly over the wall and attack with the spears, while it will help, it can be dangerous. The griffins can grab the spears bringing them down to them. Do you all believe you can hold back these griffins?!” I asked “YEA!” they shouted. I was happy they didn’t give up and were now ready to defend this place. I told the Pegasi what they would do. A few were scared of the plan but accepted what had to be done. Several hours passed by as they tried to break through the gate. I ordered the unicorns to attack the griffins when given the chance. It was risky, they had bows and crossbows and they could attack us in return. When I heard the gate start to break I ordered the Earth Ponies to get ready for the shield wall. As the griffins started to breach the gate, the Earth ponies formed the shield wall. When they broke through, they hit the wall and pushed it back for a second, but it held. Some griffins tried to fly over the shield wall but were stabbed by the Pegasi who where flying just above the wall. “HOLD! WE MUST HOLD!” shouted Shield as they pushed back the griffins. There was shouting from both sides of the wall. The griffins tried to poke at us with their spears but only scratched us. With what felt like hours, I saw Shield get his shoulder stabbed, he held for a moment but fell. I rushed over stabbing that griffin in the heart and picked up the shield that Shield dropped. As I was about to plug up the hole, a griffin swiped at me with a sword. It hit my helm and slid down to my left eye. “So that’s how you got that scar.” Spitfire said. I smacked him with the shield, knocking him back, before plugging the hole myself. When more griffins attempted to push me back, which almost knocked me off my hooves, four Pegasi flew over to me. Two landed and pushed me helping me hold the griffins back, the other two protected the exposed two pushing me. “HOLD ON!” I shouted. I saw Hooves starting to waver when I heard an explosion. Suddenly all the griffins stopped pushing and looked back. More explosions sounded as giant rocks landed in the mob of griffins. This scared the griffins as they retreated out of the fort and away. When I climbed back up the ramparts I looked up to see an airship over the forest near the Griffin Kingdom. It was a griffin airship, as griffins flew out and chased the griffins that attacked us. “What?” I was confused. Even though they had no sign that they were part of the Griffin Kingdom’s army, I thought they were. As we saw the griffins… well, bad griffins, fled, the ponies all around me started to cheer. Blitz tackled me and wrapped a hoof over my shoulder. “WE DID IT!” he shouted as he took his helmet off and cheered some more. “VIGILANT!” he shouted. After that all the troops started to chant my name. I look over to the inner part of the fort seeing everypony shouting my name, all happy to be alive. I walk over to the edge of the ramparts. “WE DID IT!” I cheered myself. ______________________________________________________________________________ “Well, the rest is history. King Greybeak personally apologized to me about what happened and Princess Celestia when she arrived. He told us that those were a radical group of griffins that hated ponies with a passion. He also agreed to stay at the fort with his army until reinforcements arrived. That didn’t take long as Ironside returned with a full division accompanied by Princess Celestia herself. After I explained what happened and how Ironside fled before the attack while the other COs did nothing in the defense, she discharged them all. She also gave me the Celestial Medal of Honor for my leadership during the defense of the fort and Hoofington, promoting me to Caption and gave me command of a company.” Vigilant finished his tale as well as his milkshake. The crowd that formed around the booth expressed their astonishment when he finished. “Wow that sounded like it was a challenging situation. I’m surprised that Princess Celestia allowed such a corrupt leader in her army.” Twilight said. “The military is a large organization, not even she can keep corruption out of it.” Vigilant remarked. “How did you ever think of all those strategies to hold long enough for King Greybeak to arrive?” Rarity asked in wonder. “When I was still at basic training, I paid attention to what they taught us about strategy. I knew that the griffins would attempt to fly over to attack us, that is why I ordered to shoot them down when they tried. The shield wall was an old strategy that Earth Ponies figured out to hold back others with brute strength. It worked most of the time when used.” Vigilant answered. “That there was some mighty fine thinkin’ there Vigilant. No wonder the Princess promoted ya, ya sure deserved it.” AppleJack remarked. “If the COs were not incompetent they would have thought of the same things I did.” Vigilant said nonchalantly. “You’re kidding me?! I doubt many leaders would have thought of strategies that would help everypony last long enough for help to arrive! You need to stop being so modest all the time, Vigil!” Spitfire said as she punched his shoulder from across the table. “Okay, okay, fine, just stop hitting me, Spit.” Vigilant smiled. He got out of his seat and trotted over to the register to pay for the treat. Pinkie was behind it and looked at Vigilant with wonder. “Wowee, Vigi! Why didn’t you tell me you were a war hero?! I need to throw you a war hero party now and invite even more ponies and…” Vigilant placed his hoof over Pinkie’s mouth. “Pinkie Pie, you never asked much about my military past. And while your parties are great, you don’t have throw a party over that. I’ve had more than enough parties for that. Now how much do I owe for the treats?” Vigilant asked as he lowered his hoof. “Oh, no, no, no, no, no, for the war hero, it’s on the house. You also won the race!” Pinkie said with a grin. “I insist, Pinkie Pie, I don’t deserve special treatment over this.” protested Vigilant. “It’s alright, Vigilant. See it as your reward for winning the race against Rainbow Dash.” Mr. Cake interjected before Pinkie could say anymore. “If you insist, Mr. Cake.” Vigilant relented. With that sorted out he returned to his friends and crowed of ponies. “Now that you all heard the story, I would like to catch up with my friend in private.” Vigilant said looking at the crowed. The all went “AW!” and left the group alone. Rarity and AppleJack waved goodbye to them and left as well. “Oh, and Twilight, I’ll talk to you some other time, is that alright?” he asked before she could leave. “Of course, if you need to find me I will more than likely be at the Library.” she answered with a wave before leaving herself. “What is that all about?” Spitfire asked “It’s something I wanted to clear up.” Vigilant said “Uh huh.” “Do you guys want to head to my place for more privacy?” Vigilant asked as he got up once more. “Sure, where do you live?” Spitfire asked as she got up herself. Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo followed suit. “Not far, I got a cloud house on the northern edge of town. The only other one I’ve seen.” he answered as they left the building. He looked down at Scootaloo and asked “Who do you want to take you up?” The young filly looked up at him then looked at Rainbow. “Um...Rainbow, would you take me up to Vigilant’s home?” she asked shyly. “Sure, squirt.” Rainbow replied as she kneeled down for Scootaloo. “Don’t know how to fly yet? Don’t worry, I bet Rainbow and Vigilant are both willing to help you out.” Spitfire said with a wink. With everypony ready the small group of Pegasi took off into the sky.