1. The Gathering of the Lodges
Canterlot Castle. The massive towers and walls of the complex loomed over the other buildings of The Heartlands capital city. It was both social and political anchor for Canterlot, visited by hundreds of ponies a year seeking royal favor.
And right now it felt like the very walls were closing in on Lightning Dust.
The turquoise coated pegasus nervously picked her way through its halls, a chilly tingle of doom running down her spine. She wasn’t the only one. A smattering of other ponies trudged along with her, their moods a mixture of dour and nervous. Together, they were the motley remains of the once mighty Everfree Rangers. For centuries, the various lodges of the order had protected Equestria from the beasts that lurked within the forest’s darkened boughs. But then had come Chroma. The ancient alicorn had turned so many of the rangers against their homeland, promising glory and a true purging of the brutish caprataurs and other vicious monsters of the forest.
Lightning’s mood grew darker as she did a quick count of her fellows. While the heraldry of all the lodges were present, some more numerous than others, the numbers were woeful compared to the last great meeting of the lodges she had attended. That glum feeling clung to her like pond scum as she shuffled into the throne room. They had all been called by royal summons to learn the fate of the Rangers in light of the mass treason of their fellows. It was an uncertain future they were staring down, which made Lightning Dust all the more nervous. One thing that was clear to her as she stepped into the room, however.
King Sombra had prepared.
Banners bearing the heraldry of each lodge had been hung from the ceiling, forming a half circle around the empty royal throne. Above the throne was stretched the flag of the Heartlands, a quartered shield in black and jade green. To represent its rulers, the lower left quadrant showed a black sword on its jade background, and the lower right showed a jade chrysalis on black. The upper left, meanwhile, showed the six-pointed Star of Harmony and the upper right a rearing stallion, echoing the heraldry of Old Equestria. It was a setup that Lightning Dust had seen before, at the last meeting of the lodges.
Dutifully, she walked to the spot of the floor under the Black Rook Lodge’s banner. It depicted the full heraldry of her lodge. The red silhouette of a shield signified the fact that they were warriors, always ready to heed the call of battle. Yet the green bar that divided the shield diagonally had its own dual meaning; that they were defenders of Equestria’s freedom. The shield was flanked by a pair of crows, symbolizing both the permanence of their post and the actual colony of crows that called their lodge home. Finally a sturdy anvil sat at the bottom of the shield symbolizing their honor and pride as an order of the Everfree… or at least it used to.
Yet now Lightning Dust stood alone, the last of the Black Rooks.
As the other Everfree Rangers filed into their their spots, Lightning Dust nervously tugged at the one thing that probably saved her from the dungeons. The Element of Laughter. One of the ancient relics of ponykind and she was wearing it. Despite the severity of the situation, that was a fact that she felt an undeniable amount of pride about. The necklace may have been a little tight but she wore it and the full ensemble that it had provided her all the same. The sky blue cloak, the gleaming tatzelwurm leather armor and the enchanted crossbow that hung at her side.
While they waited for King Sombra to arrive, Lightning took stock of how the other lodges had fared. There were fourteen of the mighty fortified lodges, running in an unbroken line from Equestria’s southern coast- where the Everfree thinned into a rough stretch of scrubland and brush- all the way to its northern reaches where mighty pine trees held sway.
The lodges closest to hers were suffering the most. To her right, she could see the grim faced ponies of the Horn Breaker Lodge. The hulking form of their lodgemaster, Primal Fury, was nowhere to be seen. Lightning Dust wasn’t surprised at the red maned mare’s absence. Her hatred for the caprataurs was unmatched and it defined the tone of the Horn Breakers. Shattered horns, taken from their culled foes, bedecked their tatzelwurm armor. Lightning Dust shivered slightly. Yes, they were a grim lot to be sure and most probably jumped at the chance of a great culling, rather than a defensive position.
But the further away from the Black Rook Lodge one went the less the tendrils of rebellion had spread. The lodge most intact seemed to be the Wolf Heart Lodge, at the most northern end of the fortress chain. An insular lot, they were adept at winter survival and tracking mighty beasts across the wilderness. They waited for King Sombra in silence, standing stock still all the while.
They didn’t have to wait long.
There was a flash of magic and a billow of shadow that filled the room. The enchanted torches on the wall flickered and danced as Sombra’s darkness casually battered at the flames. As quickly as they appeared though, they vanished again.
King Sombra stood before his throne with one wing raised, his stern glare washing over the assembled ponies. The ruler of The Heartlands never failed to cut an imposing figure, with his dark gray coat, black mane and ermine trimmed red cloak. The presence of an annoyed King Sombra would have been bad enough for the assembled rangers, but he wasn’t alone.
The snow white form of Queen Chrysalis stood beside him. The queen’s expression was much harder to read than that of her husband’s. Neutral and non-threatening, most ponies wouldn’t think much about her presence. Lightning Dust wasn’t most ponies though. Weeks ago, before this muster, she and her new friends had claimed the Elements of Harmony. And during that adventure Adagio Dazzle had seen a vision of Equestria before the fall. In it she had seen a Queen Chrysalis wrapped in black beetle-esque chitin, with wicked green eyes and an equally wicked attitude. Even now, Lightning found herself nervous in the queen’s presence. Could it really be true? Was there a monster lurking behind that beatific smile of hers?
Those conflicting thoughts almost made Lightning overlook the last two ponies present. The first was clearly noble, judging by her ornate purple dress. An earth pony mare with a short blonde mane and brownish-orange coat, she sported a very sour look as she glared at the assembled rangers. And there was no question that it was a glare at that. She seemed genuinely angry at their presence and it was likely that King Sombra was the only thing holding back a vicious tirade of some manner.
A hulking mountain of a stallion was at her side, managing to match the two alicorns he shared the room with. Dark brown in color- save for a white stripe down the front of his face- a patched and worn green cloak was the only clothing he wore. But he also had a maul, nearly the size of his whole body, strapped across his back. Lightning nervously licked her lips. He certainly had the muscles to use the thing. Despite his clear warrior build however, he seemed almost exhausted. At least Lightning couldn’t work out how else to describe the exasperated expression he wore.
Finally the incredibly awkward silence was broken by King Sombra. “Everfree Rangers!” he barked, with a stomp of his hoof. “What are you?”
The response was immediate. “We are the necessary evil!”
“And why are you necessary?”
“To shield the Heartlands from the worst of the Everfree! To break the hordes of monsters and caprataurs upon our bodies!”
“And why are you the chosen few, ordained by this crown to undertake this inharmonious task?”
“BECAUSE NOPONY ELSE WILL!”
The hollow echo of what once would have been a thunderous response hung in the air. King Sombra looked them over again with the hint of a smile. But as fast as it appeared, it fled again and Sombra sank into his throne.
Queen Chrysalis, however, rolled her eyes. “So full of valor and vigor! But you’ll have to forgive our lack of enthusiasm considering how many of you are currently locked away in the dungeons!”
Sombra sighed heavily, now slumping like a mighty weight was resting on his back. “The truth of the situation is that the mass defection of the Everfree Rangers has put the lodges in a precarious position. The nobles whose lands your lodges lie within are pushing for direct control, citing the incidents of treason as the need for greater...oversight.”
The throne room immediately exploded into a chorus of furious shouts and curses.
“Damned foolish dandies!”
“Perhaps we should let them handle the next caprataur invasion themselves!”
“Are they trying to prove Chroma right?”
“To Tartarus with them! We will stand forever free!”
Lightning was probably the only ranger not currently shouting. She already knew that this move was coming, as Adagio had warned her that it was going to be a likely powerplay by the more ambitious Heartlands nobles.
“ENOUGH!” Sombra bellowed, rumbling the room with the Royal Canterlot Voice. “Considering recent events, you’re all lucky that the entire order was not dissolved outright and your lodges rightly claimed by those ponies willing to hold to their oaths!”
A round of muttering swept the room, a few of the rangers recoiling from Sombra’s admonishment. But others didn’t, including the lodgemaster of the White Pine Lodge, Gloriosa Daisy.
“With all due respect your highness, the traitors have have been arrested. We all remained loyal. We didn’t listen to Spitfire. Yet now the very nobles that always dragged their hooves when coming to aid us are now threatening to take our lodges! This is unjust!”
While another round of muttering followed Gloriosa’s impassioned statement, Chrysalis whispered to Sombra.
“Listen?” he asked, suddenly leaning forward in his throne.
Gloriosa blinked. “M’lord?”
“You said ‘listen’. Lodge Master Gloriosa...did you speak to Spitfire? Did you not warn your king of impending acts of treason?”
“I...no! I mean...I didn’t think it was real! Chroma was supposed to be locked away with all the others! I thought it was just talk!”
Sombra smiled dangerously. “Just talk? Then perhaps it is also ‘just talk’ that the dungeons aren’t quite full enough at the moment!”
Tendrils of shadowy magic rose behind his throne, swirling and thrashing with an anger that matched the furious expression on Sombra’s face. But then Chrysalis placed a hoof on his side.
“There has been enough blame cast about on this matter for now. They are here and I suspect they are willing to fight for their lodges. Let us take that and move forward.”
Everypony quickly fell silent as Sombra deeply sighed, letting his magic fade. “My wife is correct, of course. Now is the time for the Everfree Rangers to rebuild. To prove what they can offer to the Heartlands once again. And there is one pony you can thank for the fact that you are even receiving this opportunity. Ranger Lightning Dust.”
Now all eyes were on her and a confident smirk played across her face as she puffed out her chest. If only there had been a convenient breeze to make her cloak flap dramatically to punctuate the moment!
Chrysalis nodded towards her. “As one of the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, Lightning has proved her steadfast resolve to the Heartlands and provided a useful counterpoint to some of our nobles demands. However, there are still some concerns.”
She glanced towards the ill tempered looking mare. “Baroness Harshwhinny?”
Baroness Harshwhinny coughed once to clear her throat before speaking. “If the Everfree Rangers are to be rebuilt and maintain their independence, the courts require assurances that this time the lodges will maintain a proper sense of...professionalism.”
Lightning really did not like how she emphasized that word.
“In three months time, your efforts to rebuild your respective lodges will be subject to inspection. With particular attention being paid to your training program,” she said. For a moment, Lightning was sure that Harshwhinny’s glare had lingered on her in particular when she said that. But then it was back to berating the group as a whole.
“Make no mistake, that the future of your little organization hangs on a razor’s edge. If it were up to me, we’d disband the lodges and build something new in their place. But King Sombra has convinced me to give you a chance.”
Sombra nodded and raised a hoof. “Now go, Everfree Rangers! Reclaim your stolen honor!”
- - - -
A day and a half later and Lightning couldn’t be happier to see the town silhouette on the horizon.
Ponyville.
Jewel of the Dazzling Barony. Primary holding of House Dazzle. Bulwark against the Everfree Forest. And, perhaps most important to one Lightning Dust, it was her home.
Swooping low to the ground, she skimmed just above The Great Western Road following it through the fields that radiated outwards from the town in wheel like rings. During harvest time they were a riot of browns, greens and oranges as the grain, vegetables and fruit reached full maturity. At the moment though, they were more of a tableau of muddy browns from the near apocalyptic storms that had swept over the area almost two weeks ago.
Zipping between some of the farmers on their way out to continue their repairs on the fields, Lightning Dust exchanged some half-hearted waves before soaring higher to shoot over Ponyville’s sturdy stone walls. The tightly packed buildings beyond teamed with activity, as ponies of every walk of life put the finishing touches on what had been a frenzied reconstruction binge. From her aerial vantage point Lightning Dust could see the last bits of thatch and wooden shingles being lowered into place, all to a chorus of hammers and saws at work.
Angling her wings slightly, Lightning passed over the main square and the site of town hall, planning to cut a little time off her trip to the Black Rook lodge instead of going the long way around Ponyville. Being a pegasus had its perks, after all. But a familiar orangeish blob in the crowd below made her pause and then transition into a dive with a large grin on her face.
To see Baroness Adagio Dazzle, current head of House Dazzle, devoid of her usual finery was quite the bizarre scene for Lightning Dust. Even the dark and foreboding Everfree Forest had not stopped the unicorn from wearing a dress during their daring search for the Elements of Harmony. But save for the five purple gem spiked mane band that was the Element of Magic, Baroness Dazzle only wore only her natural coat today. The reason why floated beside her. A fresh bucket of lilac colored paint. Hovering just slightly behind her, Lightning watched with a bemused smirk as Adagio gingerly coated her brush and began dabbing at the door frame of the rebuilt town hall.
“You missed a spot,” she said simply.
Adagio jerked about, a streak of paint splattering against her side from the sudden motion. Lightning had to admit, few ponies could pull off a withering glare quite like Adagio’s. There was just something about the way her brow furrowed that helped convey the maximum level of disdain for her target.
“What?” Lightning Dust grinned back. “You really did miss a spot! Since when do you do manual labor anyway?”
“Since I decided that I needed to interact with my subjects some more,” Adagio answered with a sigh. Carefully placing the paint down, she helped herself to a rag from a nearby pile and set to cleaning her coat. “We’ve been working on this all week. How did your trip to Canterlot go?”
Lightning fidgeted slightly, but kept a cheerful smile up. “It went well enough. King Sombra met with all of the rangers and laid out his expectations for the future.”
“And just how many are left?”
“Hey, shouldn’t Suri be out here helping you?” Lightning asked, scanning the crowd and not at all avoiding the question.
Adagio glanced up from her cleaning efforts. “Lightning...how many Rangers are left?”
“Not enough,” she answered with a sigh and a hoof scuffed against the boards of the porch. “Right now the Wolf Heart Lodge has the most. But they’re the furthest north from us, isolated from Spitfire’s big mouth.” Lightning didn’t let the down mood stick around though, as she snapped back to cheerful almost immediately. “Though, just between you and me, they’re a little on the weird side. What with their winter wolf cloaks and howling before going into battle!”
“Lightning.”
“I mean, come on! We’re ponies, not wolves! Timber or otherwise!”
“Lightning!”
“Then again, the Fire Falcon Lodge is kind of weird too…”
“Lightning Dust!” Adagio snapped, stomping a hoof. “You don’t have to smile your way out of this!”
Lightning Dust fell silent. The admonishment fell heavily upon her back. Last of the Black Rook Lodge rangers. A title she now held, that came with certain painful obligations and truths. Now rebuilding the Black Rook Lodge was her responsibility.
Picking up on her friend’s nerves, Adagio placed a hoof on Lightning’s withers. “I imagine King Sombra made a proclamation for recruits?”
“He did,” Lightning nodded. “I also passed out leaflets in most of the neighborhoods before I left.”
Adagio blinked. “Even the poorer districts?”
“Why wouldn’t I? Poor ponies can join the Everfree Rangers too! Just because you’re a noble-”
“I…no, that’s not what I meant! I was wondering how they were going to read them. Not everypony has access to books and an education.”
“Ah,” Lightning blinked, before nervously rubbing the back of her head. “I used a lot of pictures for those leaflets. My fetlock was really sore when I got done with them all.”
“What of the lodge itself? Is it ready for new recruits?”
“Aside from Aria, nopony’s been in there since Chroma’s attack,” Lightning Dust mused while rubbing at her chin. “It probably could stand a thorough cleaning. ...And a sweep to make sure Spitfire didn’t leave us any nasty surprises.”
“The girls and I can help with that. Tomorrow then?”
A wide grin crossed Lightning’s muzzle. “So eager to jump into more manual labor? You better be careful, or the Canterlot crowd will revoke your ‘detached noble license’.”
“Oh, hush,” Adagio chided back with a smirk of her own. “You’re our friend, Lightning. ...Besides, Ponyville needs the Everfree Rangers.”
Lightning Dust couldn’t argue with that. High walls were only so much defense against what lurked in the Everfree.
“Tomorrow then,” Lightning said. “Bright and early. Right when-”
“I know what bright and early is,” Adagio sighed, wincing slightly. “But I’ll make sure we’re all there.”
- - - -
Sleep had not come easy to Lightning Dust that night. Even after a full dinner, she had taken to pacing around the now empty barracks of the Black Rook Lodge. She wanted to get started! She wanted to fix things! She wanted to put the last bit of unpleasantness that came from Chroma’s attack on Ponyville behind her. ...Behind her friends too.
After pacing for a while Lightning huffed in frustration and wandered out of the barracks. Slowly crossing the lodge’s wide open courtyard, she headed for the largest of the buildings on the compound, which contained not only the kitchens and feast hall, but the offices of the lodge’s leadership.
Spitfire’s was the largest of course and was much the same as it had been a week ago. A massive map of the Everfree Forest and its surrounding environs dominated the right wall, nestled between a pair of short, hoof hewn shelves that contained what few manuscripts and books she had owned. Armor stands, stripped of their raiments, were lined up before the opposite wall. Lightning allowed herself an amused smirk. They almost reminded her of knights standing in waiting for a command. Undoubtedly, that had been Spitfire’s intention.
Her desk was straight ahead, positioned to take advantage of the windows facing the courtyard and drill yard. It had been one of Spitfire’s favorite tactics to let those under her command receive a thorough tongue lashing while training, usually at random, just to keep them on their hooves. Lightning idly wondered if that was a practice she wanted to continue. This was her office now, after all.
“This is my office now,” she muttered to herself.
Becoming the head of a lodge...that had quickly become one of her goals after joining the organization. They had been her lifeline out of poverty and encouraged her to be the best pony she could be! To be standing here, in what was now her office, was everything she ever wanted.
“And I’m going to prove that I deserve to be here.”
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Great work on this chapter.
Hmm. A Lightning Dust story. Trackiiiing.
I really don't know how you do it, but you do. Without even actually mentioning it at all, you have actually incorporated a key part of what gave these organizations of antiquity their character: Heritage.
Being an Everfree Ranger is more than just belonging to some kind of guild. It's more, even, than belonging to some kind of extended family. It's why old institutions are so resistant to changing, and I don't think a lot of people really understand that. The individual, even though they remain an individual, nevertheless becomes an extension of the organization. Slights and insults against the organization become the same against the individual. Saying that the organization is out-of-touch or obsolete is saying the same about the individual.
And, for as much as Lightning Dust knows that she did more than her part, she can't help it:, and every time she acknowledges that the Black Rooks failed the Heartlands, she can't silence that voice in her head that immediately corrects her: "I failed the Heartlands."
8726211
Thank you!
8726221
I hope that you'll enjoy this little AU take on Lightning Dust!
8726239
Yeah, Lightning Dust really does consider the lodge as her home and family, as it were. That heritage and legacy was something she really clung onto once she joined up.
You said it.
HUZZAH!
8726860
It makes sense that she did. That heritage allowed her to become something greater than she was without it. Sure, she's got a fancy necklace now that basically cements her as greater than she is without it, but it's hard to forget where it is you came from.
Looking back on the chapter, now that I've had some time to digest it, each and every Lodge should be grateful that Sombra is even giving them this chance, because it means they aren't pulled into a larger conflict with the noble houses. At the same time, having the degree of civic loyalty they do is working against them, because the fact of the matter is that they are actually in control of these "negotiations." Say they refused to go along with this scheme. What then? They get imprisoned or disbanded, and then there will be no Rangers at all. And where will that leave the Heartlands? Undefended, that's where, because the alternative at that point is to have the various noble houses — that are, don't forget, actively and blatantly trying to undermine Sombra's and Chrysalis' rule — provide their own private militias for
unchecked rebelliondefense, and we all know how that would work out.It really hammers home the frustration that Lightning Dust has to be feeling at... everything. It's obviously a power play by the nobles, who are obviously trying to undermine their rulers and put themselves on the throne, and nobody can do anything about it because it would just make things worse, so they have to play the game and somehow beat the odds. The Wolf Hearts have it easy; they don't even need to do anything. Not so for Lightning Dust.
And now we all eagerly await the next chapter in the tale of the Last Rook.
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You're welcome.
This feels awkward, but I can't remember for sure if it explicitly breaks a rule of grammar. There are two easy, though mutually exclusive, edits that could be made in order for it to flow better.
1: than that of her husband.
2: than her husband's.
Again, this could just be me picking at what I think is a nit that turns out to be nothing, but it just irked me for some reason.
I thought I had noticed another error while reading, but if I did I forgot to mark it. I'd suggest having an editor give this a quick examination to see if they can catch it.
Yay, the continuation of the rainverse is here.
Now to wait patiently for the next chapter.
8726239
At some extend, I sympathize with Spitfire and her group: For how long did the Everfree Rangers protected Equestria while the nobility did nothing to help and Sombra&Chryssy washed their hooves? How many brothers and sisters in arms did they buried while their rulers played power games?
It's no wonder so many of them sided with Chroma when she offered them a permanent solution to their problems.
8730174
Well, the issue then becomes, "What were Sombra and Chrysalis supposed to do?" They saw, after all, what happened to the six Consuls. Even if we assume that there is a larger game at play here and they are not everything they seem to be (seems likely), it hasn't been that long since Roam fell. It's been short enough time that everyone remembers what happened, even if they weren't there to see it.
If the Crown starts to exercise too much control, the noble houses would have no problems at all whipping up an opposition force drawn from the peasantry, and the resulting clash would leave everything in an even worse position than present. This is largely the same reason they kept the Rangers barely able to operate: Because it served their goal to consolidate of power, and now they're threatening to bury the Rangers because, again, that serves their goal to consolidate more power. Everything those oldest houses do comes down to trying to get themselves on the throne, and this is the way it's always been.
They're going to have a hell of a time trying to dismantle the Everfree Rangers, though. The Lodges furthest from Ponyville had basically no contact with Chroma, and so are basically safe. One could argue that Gloriosa Daisy is incompetent, but that's about all; not a strong enough position to take over that Lodge outright. The closer they get to the Black Rooks, the easier it would be to take over those Lodges. But the current Rook Captain is Lightning Dust, who bears one of the Elements of Harmony: They can't question her ability to lead, because she was the least senior Ranger at the Lodge and was not leading anyone, and they can't question her loyalty to the Heartlands and to Equestria, because her loyalty is literally unquestionable. Her accoutrements have seen to that.
That's all I'm going to say on this topic. I know what I would do with that information, but I'm eager to see what she does with it.
Well, how does the old saying go? Oh, yes. "Be careful what you wish for... because you might just get it." Lightning Dust is in way over her head. She just doesn't realize it yet. I just hope Lightning Dust mentions Baroness Harshwhinny to Adagio in someway and that Adagio knows what her 'professionalism' is like. And I'm not surprised that Aria is joining the Black Rook. I wonder if Indigo Zap is going to try out for the Rangers or is she actually going to stick to cooking?