//------------------------------// // Alpha // Story: The Omitted Forest // by TwiztedSaxGuy //------------------------------// Cold, unimaginable cold, the cold that can slow blood flow and leave you frostbitten until death approaches. The cold that distracts you with thoughts of warmth and fire. What is it that warms us? Is it a campfire, the sun perhaps? Maybe a workout or a blush after being embarrassed. But this cannot stop it. Everything will freeze, nothing will escape its path. For it feeds on something that is so hot, but so cold… fear. The weather has been relentless lately, and I don’t believe it will stop anytime soon. Ever since the Unicorns asked for more food, things have been going haywire. All I know is that Commander Hurricane declined the increase in shipments going to the Unicorns. There are also more borders set up to prevent any illegal immigrants looking to steal food. It may seem weird to take security measures against ponies with obvious horns and wingless bodies, but no one knows what powers they have. If Hurricane continues this, we may start a war. Overcast Ponies need food, and those Earth ponies are hogging all the grub. Not to mention the Unicorns asking for extra so they can get full each meal. Us Pegasi hardly get enough food because the other two races think we are the ones causing the cold weather. To be honest, we really don’t know what’s going on. I just hope we can get food for our families and loved ones. Phoenix A normal day in the Pegasi Fortress; freezing, bland. Not a single brightly lit cloud, just gray and depressing. It makes us reminisce the good ol' days of sunshine and rainbows. Many professors argue that the only cause of this weather is the Unicornia. A professor, Wind Turret, explains a different theory however. He explains how everything was set in a meticulous manner, such as the Unicorns doing a test spell and the pegasi not being able to reciprocate it. How our cloud maneuvering only made the effects worst. He backs his theory with another theory-chaos theory. Though, however, others have more vague and bleak arguments. One pointing out that the only way this freezing climate has started is because of the Unicorns freaky magic that is bent on destroying the Pegasus race. Wind Turret still debates those professors, but never realizing that he too was wrong. The more common perceptions of the Pegasi citizens were that both the Earth and Unicorn ponies are to blame. Such as the Earth ponies and the Unicorns are in alliance; working together to destroy the Pegasi. Rumor spreads like a tick and the whole town agrees with this. Commander Hurricane does little to placate these rumors, nor gives a solid explanation to the mystery of the cold. He worries about bigger things; spears and swords. More and more pegasi are ignoring the crux of the mystery, they continue to hate the other races for arbitrary reasons. It is only a matter of time before it overwhelms them, blindly turning them into a war. Stormcaster was trotting toward the small and utilitarian base. The base was usually referred to as the “War Room” seeing how all the tension is in there. You could feel the sweat protruding from officers as they spoke to Hurricane. He reached the base, the base was surrounded by four pillars that symbolized the culture and history of the pegasi. At first there was Pegasi, but then one pegasus decided to mate with the evil and obscene unicorns. The pegasi god of death, Hades, cursed the pegasi race to starvation and death, but two pegasus survived and were purified. Many of the pegasi wonder if the curse has returned. Storm walked toward the base. It was just a normal base with a few extra guards and flags waving around. As Storm always did when he went to the base, he touched one of the pillars. Almost an ancient feel to them, he thought every time. He brushed off all of the snow on his coat as he trotted into the headquarters. The inside was only about twenty degrees warmer than outside, but it was better than nothing. Guards were placed on each side of a door with a menacing expression. The guard ponies were trained more fiercely than the army, Hurricane wanted to feel secure at every possible moment. Storm trotted over to the receptionist. “Hey Jan,” Storm said. “ I’m Stormcaster, here for the meeting.” She flipped through some clipboards and papers. “Ah, here we are, Mr.Storm, Commander Hurricane would like to see you right away,” She said as she began to escort Storm to the war room. Storm felt some trepidation toward the meeting with Commander Hurricane. He is a brave warrior and a great leader, but he can lose his temper easily. If you don’t agree with the Commander, prepare your ears for loud shouting. As she opened the door Storm first noticed the smell of musk and sweat. The air felt heavier and the tension was evident. The second thing he noticed was that he wasn’t alone. There were six ponies sitting at the large elliptical table with strangely familiar faces. They reminded him of the dreams he’s had for a few weeks now. Sitting at the front of the table was Commander Hurricane with an emotionless face. “So glad you could come, but you’re on time,” Hurricane said. Storm felt confused, being on time is a good thing right? “Uhm sir, being on time is a good thing right?” “Were you not trained to be prepared? Always be earlier than the enemy expects.” He didn’t see how that applied to this situation, but it’s best not to question Hurricane’s motives. “So…” Storm said. “Please take a seat Storm you’ll want to be relaxed for this,” Hurricane said. Storm sat at a cold metal chair. “As the rest of you know, we have a state of emergency. The forest, the lives lost in that damned forest, I want to know what happened.” He sighed, “Heres the info you need Storm.” Hurricane passed Storm a manilla folder filled with details of a large, mysterious forest. Storm read over most of it, skipping the daunting fatalities. Storm thought, I really hope he isn’t sending me here. “Let us discuss shall we?” Hurricane said. “Hmm,” a mare from across the table said, “What I find odd about this forest, from the description, is that there is no way it should be there. It’s been in the same dead condition for a year and it just doesn’t decay?” Storm studied the familiar white and polka dotted mare. She seemed to look like the pretty, but dumb type, but sounded intelligent. Guess you can’t judge a book by the cover. “I’ve asked professors the same thing, they have no clue about this either. I’m sorry Snowcone, just can’t answer that,” Hurricane said. Snowcone nodded. “My colleagues aren’t the best of intellects,” A short and weak stallion said, “It’s seems perfectly obvious why this forest remains alive. The Unicorns must find some value in this forest. But this doesn’t rule out the green hooves of the Earth’s.” “Even so, Wind Turret, where does that leave the fatalities? I’m positive our soldiers could have made it out of that forest alive, they are trained for harsh conditions and combat against Unicorns and Earth ponies,” Hurricane said. “Everything happens for a reason,” Wind, said. “Next question,” Hurricane said. “This just doesn’t make any sense!” A stocky and fiery red mare said. “How so?” “Our soldiers are trained rigorously in the corp, I train them and know all of their names, and I know for a fact that none of those soldiers could die to some measly weather or Unicorns.” “Phoenix, I understand where you are coming from, but these things happen, just look at operation MAGE,” Hurricane said plainly. “That doesn’t prove anything,” Phoenix Flower said dismissively. “You mean the fact that we stole Unicorn magic books and were supposedly able to anticipate all of their magic attacks only to find out that they have a plethora of other spells.” “Sheesh, getting a little hot in here,” A cocky stallion in front of Storm said. “My turn, how in Davy Jones's locker is it possible that they were stuck in the forest?” “We don’t know Hawkeye,” Hurricane said. “Well thats vague.” Commander Hurricane shrugged his shoulders. “Come on, was it an illusion spell?” Hawkeye said. Stormcaster and Wind Turret’s ears perked up. An illusion spell, Storm thought, the highly controversial conspiracy that unicorns have the power to put anything under an illusion. It was a scary thought. “Impossible,” Wind Turret said. “Just, ugh,” Hurricane rubbed a hoof over his face. “Next question.” A ghostly stallion spoke up and said the one question everypony was afraid to ask, “Why are we here?” Hurricane sat quietly for a few seconds. “It’s really quite obvious Specter. I want you stallions and mares to go in that forest.” “Have you lost your damn mind!” Phoenix Flower said, banging the table. Commander Hurricane stared at Phoenix with cold and serious dead eyes. Phoenix sat down immediately. “I’m afraid that there is no other choice, I have a theory, this forest holds the key to solving the mystery of this cold climate.” “Those two subjects are irreconcilable,” Wind Turret said briefly. “It is possible, as you know in the folder, the forest holds the coldest temperatures,” Hurricane said. “The forest could hold some magical object that needs to be destroyed or something. You could be the heroes who stopped the cold.” “This mission seems expendable,” Hawkeye said. “Well excuse me for trying to save my people from starvation and freezing.” “Let’s just get this mission over with huh guys?” Storm said. “I have a family, maybe you guys have a family, this mission is inevitable, so the sooner we finish the faster we are back home.” “Thats the spirit Stormcaster,” Hurricane said. The others groaned. Hurricane smiled, “Good, you’ll be briefed and supplied and ready for take off tomorrow. If there is no other questions, the meeting will now be adjourned-” “We’ll all die,” A shadowy figure in the corner of the room said. “We’ll what now?” Hawkeye said. “We’ll all die,” The shadowy pegasus kept repeating. “Will someone shut him up?” Specter said. Hurricane gave a fake cough, “Overcast, you seem parched, may I get you a glass of water?” Overcast immediately stopped his chant and cowered in his seat. “The meeting is now adjourned.” After the meeting, Storm trotted home at a reasonably fast pace to get out of the cold weather. He couldn’t get the mission out of his head, something felt missing. The details were so vague. Not to mention the squad of pegasi who went into this forest earlier. Could this forest really be the source of this weather? He was still thinking over all of the outcomes and strategies in his head as he walked in his house. Storm felt uneasy as he told his wife, Wing Torpedo, that he would be gone for some time. “You’re going to what?!” Wing said nearly screaming. “Look Wing,” Storm put a hoof on her shoulder, “I’ll be back before you even know it. it’s just another easy mission.” “Care to share this mission?” She scolded. “You know I can’t give you that information. We’ve been over this before.” She still stared at me skeptically in disbelief. “Just think of us, your son, we could starve before you get back.” Wing has a point, this op could be anywhere from a few days to a month. Storm couldn’t tell her this though, she would only worry more. “I’ll send extra rations to our address. It’ll be alright, I promise you.” He gave her a nuzzle for encouragement. “Ok, I trust you,” She said as she gave into the affection. A young filly, Blizzard Stone, ran up to Storm and wing and gave a warm hug. “Hey dad, can we practice with our swords?” He said as he smiled. Some parents may criticize me for teaching Blizzard how to use weapons as the age of eight, but times are tough, you never know when a skill will come in handy, Storm thought. “Hmm,” Storm put a hoof to his chin in contemplation. “How about this!” He grabbed Blizzard and pinned him to the floor. They began to wrestle in between saying silly insults. “No fair, you caught me by surprise,” Blizzard said. “Always do something the enemy doesn’t expect, or element of surprise, or something like that.” “But how does that go with this situation?” Sometimes I believe Blizzard is just like me, only mentally, Storm thought. He has an icy blue coat, hence his name. “Never change Blizz, never change.” The next morning Stormcaster packed his bags and was getting ready to meet at the rendezvous. “Alright Blizz, you’ll be the stallion of the house.” “I feel safer already,” Wing said. Blizzard shuffled his hooves. “When will you be back?” Storm honestly didn’t know when he would be back, he assumed a week at best, but this is not the ordinary mission he partakes in. “I’ll be back in a few days, don’t worry.” The family gathered together and gave loving, warm hugs to each other before they said their goodbyes. Storm lifted his scarf to his muzzle as the howling winds grew stronger and trotted over to the drop off. The team is going to meet outside of the walls of the cloud fortress. There they will fly down toward the Earth and walk to the forest. As I walked out of the city limits, I felt poignant. This mission wasn’t just taking me to a mysterious forest, but it’s also taking me away from my home. I’ve grown up inside the Pegasi City all of my life. It’s the place where I first experienced flight on a warm day with a rainbow looming above the skies. Those were the days, now it’s just cold and dark. I saw four of the five crew ahead of me sitting and chatting. They seemed to be enjoying themselves, besides Overcast who leaned against a cloud far from the others. “Hello comrades,” Storm said jokingly. “Who are you again?” Snowcone said. “I’m Stormcaster, you can find me in the op details.” “Oh yeah, you were the boring guy,” Hawkeye said with a grin. “I feel like I’ve seen you before, actually all of you before.” Snowcone said skeptically, rubbing a hoof under her chin. Overcast ears perked up and he listened intently now. “All the ladies know me, doesn’t surprise me. Maybe you woke up with me at a hangover party,” Hawkeye said. Overcast shook his head. “Never mind,” Groaned Snowcone. “I feel as though I’ve seen you guys before too. Well, not physically, just in my dreams,” Storm said. Overcast excitingly, but stoically listened again. “Well, now that you mention, I do believe I recognize all of you, but I’m positive I’ve never seen any of you in my life,” Specter said, quizzically. “Well whatever, you guys can go be weird somewhere else, Hawkeye said. “Hey wheres the geek?” “Probably packing extra, he looked like the precarious type,” Phoenix Flower said. Overcast’s head drooped low at the sudden topic change. Everypony turned their heads as they heard a faint voice becoming louder. It was Wind Turret, carrying a large amount of supplies and books. “Sorry, I didn’t plan large enough last night,” Wind said panting. “Well, speaking of the devil,” Storm said. “So the gangs all here, I suggest we do a stock check and head out.” “Who put you in charge,” Specter said. “I-I was just giving a suggestion, I want to go home as soon as possible.” “We all do, now lets get to it!” Hawkeye said, jumping up and began to take an inventory. We had a large amount of supplies: twelve thick coated blankets, six sleeping bags, and a week’s amount of food. Not to mention we all have our personal choice of weapons. I prefer the double edged sword, a reliable weapon with decent range in close combat. Everypony else had their bows and daggers. We had a first aid kit, but no medic to use it. You would think the instructors would have taught us first aid in the training program. “Everypony ready?” Phoenix Flower said. “Yea lets go,” Specter said. Wind Turret stepped forward and said, “I would like to say that this could be a huge learning experience. This expedition, it could be life threatening, but rewarding. I could get my name in the books, everypony would remember me for centuries and-” “Just shut up and get going,” Hawkeye said. “But, ugh,” Wind groaned and packed his bags. There was no need for words, everypony just nodded their heads and began their descent toward the forest. It was a strange feeling flying side by side with his partners, Storm thought. The crew turned their heads, inspecting the skies as they flew next to each other. They all had determined faces. Toward the unknown they go.