In Duty's Name

by Cloudhammer

06 - Recovery

Chapter 6 – Recovery

The first thing he felt was pain. Pain was good, in a way; it meant that he was still alive. Then the realization that there was a whole lot of pain made him groan and try to shift. Almost immediately the world exploded in a flurry of sounds that seemed to be making words, but the meanings were lost to him. They also had the unfortunate side effect of making his head feel like it was splitting open. Then, a single louder tone cut over the others and made things blessedly quiet again. He decided to try and open his eyes, and after a few tries, he managed to force his eyelids into motion. The first thing he was aware of was that the light now streaming into his eye was painfully bright, and the second was a wall of pink, containing a pair of cyan eyes and a mouth frowning in concentration.

The frown abruptly transformed into a beaming smile, and the sound came crashing back in as its owner shouted, “HE’S AWAKE!” The sudden noise caused him to clap his hooves to his ears on reflex, which he immediately regretted as his right front leg exploded in pain and his left hoof colliding with his head didn’t do anything to alleviate the pounding in his skull.

Twilight looked over at Pinkie’s shout, jolting into motion as she saw that Cloudhammer was twitching on the ground, having tried to move his injured leg and whacked himself on the head with the other. “Pinkie! Give him some space and keep it down, we don’t want to have him hurt himself anymore. Zecora, is that potion of yours almost ready?”

“Be at ease Twilight, it is almost done. It just needs to sit a moment and soon his pain shall be gone.” Zecora was gently stirring a small bowl filled with a noxious smelling soup colored a dull brown. Rarity trotted over, took one look at the bowl’s contents and quickly backed away, a grimace on her face. Zecora chuckled, the first happy sound they had heard out of the zebra since they had left Canterlot. “It may not be appealing to the eye, but rest assured it will dull his pain in one try.” A few more moments and she nodded to Twilight, and with a shimmer of magic the bowl floated over with the pair as they trotted towards Cloudhammer.

Cloudhammer, in the meantime, was more concerned with finding the position that hurt the least. He heard something coming closer and cracked an eyelid to see a pair of shapes coming closer, one purple and one black and white. Forcing the lid all the way open, he recognized Twilight and Zecora, and that Twilight was carrying a bowl with her magic.

Reaching him, Twilight gently lowered the bowl and held it there. “Alright Captain, Zecora put together this potion to help with the pain. I’m going to tip it for you to help you drink it, ok?”

Cloudhammer nodded weakly and lifted his head slightly; opening his mouth as the bowl lowered and the contents began to pour into his mouth. The taste was horrendous, and despite himself he spluttered the first bit out before getting his gag reflex under control and swallowing most of the medicine without incident. After he was finished Twilight took the bowl and trotted towards the creek to rinse the bowl out.

Zecora stood and watched until she was certain the unicorn was out of earshot. “Fighting those Lupus on your own was a bold move, but of your choice to wait until night I must disapprove.” She looked down as Cloudhammer snorted and winced as his chest wound reminded him it was still there.

“Bold nothing, would you have had me let a bunch of untrained mares trying to help? Even somepony like Miss Applejack, strong as she may be, doesn’t have the training to handle actual violence. It’s nothing against her mind you, just the objective truth. And even with Miss Sparkle’s substantial talent for magic, she froze up and very nearly couldn’t cast her spell.” Cloudhammer sighed, the effort of speaking still a little much for the moment, then looked surprised as his chest didn’t hurt anywhere near as bad. “By the sun, that gunk really does work huh?”

Zecora smiled as she made her way back over to where her bags sat. “I do try to do my best, though for the moment Captain you should rest.”

Cloudhammer’s face briefly twitched into an ironic smile before he laid his head back down and had soon fallen asleep again.

…

Meanwhile, on the other side of the clearing, another cluster of ponies were centered around a rainbow maned pegasus who was trying to defend herself from the accusing stares that were pointing her way.

“So ya fell asleep! Ah can’t believe ya sometimes Rainbow! If Cloudhammer hadn’t gotten up on his own we’d all be puppy chow righ’ now!” Applejack was beside herself, both with anger at Rainbow’s carelessness, and still trying to drive the image of the Captain slamming his helmet into the Lupus’ neck from her brain. She was ashamed that she had frozen when another pony had needed help, but every time she tried to think about it, the feeling of sheer terror came back to lay it’s icy hoof on her heart.

“Hey, I tried, alright?” Rainbow was angry with her friends for all turning against her and not trying to see things from her side, but what was really tearing her up inside was the fact that they were right. She had really tried to stay awake, but found her eyes drifting stubbornly shut less than halfway through her part of the watch.

“Still Rainbow, you should apologize to Cloudhammer for being such a lazy-lazy pants!” Pinkie Pie stated, the pink earth pony trying very hard not to look towards the side of the clearing where the two Lupus carcasses still lay.

“Pinkie’s right, Rainbow dear. I know you didn’t mean to, but falling asleep after agreeing to take the watch is just… just…” Rarity sputtered out, trying to find the words for what she was trying to get across.

“LOOK! I get it alright! Get off my back, jeez!” With that, Rainbow snapped her wings out and launched herself into the air, spiraling upward until she vanished behind a cloud.

“Rainbow! You git back ‘ere!” Applejack shouted uselessly. She dug restlessly at the ground before looking at the others. “Well, now what do we do?”

Her question was met by blank stares as each pony realized that they really didn’t have a plan in mind beyond coming to terms with the night’s events and making sure the wounded Cloudhammer was alright. The sun continued to rise uncaringly over the clearing, yet each pony’s mind was dark with the weight of the thoughts that hovered over their heads.

…

Cloudhammer twitched feebly, his mouth drier than a barrel of salt, and started trying to push himself off the ground. His muscles protested the movement, stiff after lying in one position for so long. However, he didn’t get far before he felt his back tingle and stop as if against a solid wall, and a dull purple glow became visible through his eyelids. He sighed and relaxed back to the ground, and the pressure lifted. “So, what’s the damage Miss Sparkle?”

Twilight cast an eye over the captain’s body. He was a mess, but no bones looked broken, his chest wound had been cleaned and bandaged, and the leg wounds had been stitched closed by Rarity, who not surprisingly knew her way around a needle and thread. The blood that had stained his wing turned out not to be his, and he had a large bump on the side of his head. What had concerned her at first was the russet color that covered his head. In the chaotic aftermath she had thought it was blood, but upon not finding any injury to explain it, she had examined closer and realized that all the hairs were the same color, indicating that the russet was his natural coat color. “Well, I’m not going to lie, you’re pretty beat up, but you’ll live. You had me worried when I saw your head colored differently from the rest of you.”

At this, Cloudhammer’s eye’s opened; his hoof flew up, stopped at the last second, and gingerly touched his head, poking tentatively at the lack of helmet. “Well, I suppose you’ll be wanting an explanation for that then.”

Twilight smiled wryly. “Well, I have my own theory, but hearing it from you would be just as good.”

Cloudhammer sighed again. “Can I at least get some water? Feels like my mouth’s been replaced with cotton.”

Twilight smiled and reached out with her magic, levitating a small cup filled with water to him. Cloudhammer pushed himself wearily to his haunches, only wobbling once as he put some weight on his injured leg, and gratefully took the cup in his mouth. Draining it in near record time, he set it down and looked around. “Best bring everypony over; I don’t want to have to repeat myself.”

Twilight nodded and waved towards her friends, who had been busying themselves with doing really anything that kept them on the other side of the clearing from the Lupus bodies. They quickly came trotting over and formed a rough semi-circle in front of Cloudhammer.

“Alright, now before I say anything, you have to understand this knowledge is to be kept within this group. I want your word on that first.”

The others all nodded assent, a chorus of acknowledgements ringing out. Pinkie Pie took it one step further. “Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!” Miming the motions with her hooves and making everypony wince when she actually jammed her hoof into her eye.

Cloudhammer looked quizzically at her, then to Twilight.

She shrugged. “It’s a Pinkie Pie Promise, now she’ll never break it. She uses it since, as she puts it, losing a friend’s trust is the fastest way to lose a friend foreve…”

She was cut off as Pinkie suddenly stood right in front of her, a serious expression etched onto her face. “FOREVERRRRRrrr…” She growled as she slowly slunk back to her spot before suddenly beaming again.

Cloudhammer shook his head, wondering if he had just gone insane and this was all in his head. “Anyway, way back when the Royal Guard was first founded, it was decided that it would benefit us more to have everypony who joined look the same. Needless to say, that proved difficult at best with using dyes or just trying to only have white pegasi and unicorns apply. Eventually, a unicorn by the name of Dawn Spear had an idea. If it was impossible to actually have everypony look the same all the time, why not use a basic illusion spell to change the appearance of every pony?” He paused to take a breath, and saw that everypony present wasn’t getting it except for Twilight, who was looking intently at where the border between his white and russet coats met. “To put it simply, he decided to enchant the armor we wear so that we all share the same coat and eye color.” The group’s eyes widened in comprehension.

“But that doesn’t answer two questions I have.” Twilight asked, a puzzled and yet mortified expression on her face. “First, your eyes when the helmet was off were the same color as when it was on, and if all of you Guards are supposed to look the same, how come your helmet has that bladed ridge when no other pony’s does?”

Cloudhammer’s eyes grew flinty, and she shrunk back a bit, afraid she’d crossed a line. However, his gaze softened slightly, and he glanced over to where the Lupus lay with the helmet still stuck in its neck. “Well, answering the first one is easy, that’s just my natural eye color. As for the second, it’s actually a helmet from the founding of the Guard. During those times, there was a lot of fighting with the griffons of the north, and pegasi are at a certain disadvantage when it comes to one on one fights. So, that helmet was designed so the wearer could zip in close and sever the wing muscles, which can be fatal when you’re fighting above a mountain range.”

Everypony’s eyes had widened during his explanation, and Fluttershy looked like she was going to be sick at how callously he had talked about it. Twilight did as well, but her mind instead chose to focus on how the captain hadn’t explained why he had a helmet like that. She decided to let it slide for the moment, and ask him about it when she had the chance.

Cloudhammer looked around. “Now, where is Miss Dash? I have a few things that need to be said to her.” Getting to his hooves, he made his way over to the body of the Lupus, gripped the helmet in his teeth, and with a sickening squelch yanked it free. The others all turned away at the sight, but Cloudhammer ignored them as he limped to the stream and washed the helmet off as best he could. The usually pristine gold had darkened to an almost burnished appearance in places, but he didn’t seem to mind. He then made his way back to the group, and fixed them with the stare they had become accustomed to. “I don’t like to repeat myself. Where is she?”

Rarity wavered, and then caved in. “She flew up there a while ago, and hasn’t come down since.” She indicated a large white cloud that floated serenely overhead.

Cloudhammer nodded. “Thank you, and I need to ask one more thing of you Miss Rarity. Fix the straps on this for me.” And he held the helmet out to her, the broken straps hanging loose.

She flinched half a step back as the helmet drew closer, the stains on the bladed edge still smelling of the beast they had come from. However, she took a deep breath, steeled herself, and took the helmet in her magic. Floating a few things out of her bag, she moved them into position and the glow intensified for a moment before dimming, the straps now looking as new as if fresh from the sewing room. Cloudhammer took the helmet back and placed it firmly onto his head. As soon as the helmet was settled, the white coat instantly began to spread, covering the russet hair until not a trace of it remained. Extending his wings, he flexed them experimentally before rearing back onto his hind legs and launching himself into the air, a little shaky at first but soon soaring upwards into the cloud layer. The rest of the group looked nervously at each other, and decided unanimously to start making lunch.

…

Rainbow sat on the highest part of the cloud, her mind spinning a mile a minute as thoughts crashed through her consciousness. She shut her eyes as she recalled the looks in her friend’s faces as they shouted at her, but worse than that, she remembered seeing Cloudhammer fighting against the pair of Lupus. Even if the attack hadn’t happened until after her part of the watch had ended, Applejack had hit the nail bluntly on the head that they had gotten lucky. She was so absorbed in her thoughts she didn’t even hear the wingbeats of the approaching Cloudhammer until he cleared his throat roughly. Flailing in surprise, she fell over and rolled down the slight incline, coming to a stop unceremoniously at the bottom in a pile of legs and wings. Untangling herself, she looked up to see Cloudhammer standing there, his wings folded tightly against his sides, his expression iron-hard. Her wings flared up as her anger returned. “What? So you’re gonna yell at me too? Got some news for ya pal, everypony else has beaten you to it.” She looked away and instead focused her attention on another cloud further off. She heard the rustle of the bandages as Cloudhammer trotted down the cloudside towards her, stopping a foot behind her.

“Rainbow Dash, look at me.” She continued to stare stubbornly into the distance. “RAINBOW DASH, WHEN I GIVE AN ORDER, I EXPECT IT TO BE FOLLOWED, DO YOU GET ME?” At the bellowed command, Rainbow instinctively turned to face him, only to see that the anger she had expected to find was instead the same stern eyed look he usually had. “Now, I’m not going to yell at you. Your friends have already done that. However, there are still things that you need to hear. Do you know why your friends were yelling at you?”

Rainbow hung her head. “Sure, because they’re always mad at me for falling asleep on the job or slacking off…” She looked up sharply as Cloudhammer rapped a hoof on her head. “OW! What’d ya do that for?”

“Because watching another ‘oh poor me’ session is not something on my list of things I want to do today. Your friends are mad at you because you pledged to do something and failed to carry through. But it’s deeper than that. They’re angry because they’re scared, and you were the easiest thing to vent that fear on.” At Rainbow’s confused look he shook his head and continued, “Look, I’m certain now more than ever that none of you have ever seen actual combat, right? As in a real life and death situation where you’re not sure if you’ll come out alive.” He tilted his head as Rainbow raised her head in defiance.

“Sure we have! There was that dragon that tried to nap outside Ponyville, and our run in against Nightmare Moon, and fighting Discord!” She held her ground as Cloudhammer edged closer, an unreadable expression on his face.

“I’ll tell you what Miss Dash; I’ll tell you a story. Once, a young First Lieutenant in the Pegasus Guard was next in line to become a captain. It was something they had worked hard for years to prove their worthiness. However, it’s not as simple as accepting a badge and getting a new office. The Guard has its own way of testing potential captains to decide if they have what it takes. Do you know what that is?”

Rainbow shook her head, her innate curiosity now outweighing her previous anger.

“After a lengthy, day long physical fitness examination, the exhausted candidate was brought to a secluded area of the training grounds, and told to wait for further orders. The candidate waited for over an hour before they suddenly heard a blur of motion behind them and felt a hoof impact with the back of their head. They pitched forward and spun to see another pegasus wearing a set of basic training armor facing them. They bristled and were confident they could take them, but then their blood ran cold as more hoofsteps echoed in the night and five more pegasi emerged, all wearing the same training armor. They spread out until they had the candidate encircled, and then, almost on a signal, charged in. Oh, the candidate put up a brave fight, knocked out one and broke the left wing and front legs of a second, but the fight was pretty much settled from the get go. The other four took advantage of their back being turned and beat the candidate bloody. Once a few minutes had gone by, they backed up and formed a line, the candidate wavering on the edge of consciousness. They asked if the candidate would give up, to which the candidate spit out a couple teeth and told them they were just warming up. The four pegasi shrugged and charged in again, the candidate bracing for the impact but getting knocked unconscious anyway. Later, once they woke up, they found themselves lying in their bed, all their injuries healed and a folded envelope on the bed beside them. In it was an order to report to the meeting hall at once. Upon arrival, they found the entire senior leadership of the Guard present, along with Princess Celestia. As the candidate entered, they all rose and bowed. Then the General of the Guard motioned for him to stand before him, and after waiting for almost a minute, congratulated them on passing their promotion to Captain. Now, do you know why the Guard savagely beat their own candidate Captains like that, then ask them if they want to give up?”

Rainbow just stared, dumbfounded. She’d had no idea that being a guard could be so brutal and tough.

“If a pony’s going to be a Captain, they have to be willing to go all the way, to never back down and be willing to put everything on the line. If a candidate does surrender, they can never again become a Captain, it’s why we have so few in our ranks. So, do you know why I told you this?”

“No, not really.” Rainbow admitted, realizing belatedly that the pegasus in front of her must have gone through the same process at some point.

“If you’re going to offer to take a responsibility, think hard about if you’re really ready to do what you have to in order to carry it out. Whether it’s something simple like standing watch, or hard, like taking on the impossible in order to protect those who cannot do so, once you say you’ll do it, do it.” With that, Cloudhammer turned and began to make his way to the edge of the cloud, spreading his wings in preparation for the flight back down.

Rainbow suddenly surged to her hooves, certain pieces of the captain’s story starting to connect in her head. “Wait! That story you just told me, about the candidate… Who were they?”

Cloudhammer turned his head back and lifted an eyebrow. “Figure it out for yourself.” And he launched himself off the edge, spiraling downward to the ground below. Rainbow stood there for a while longer, lost in her own thoughts as the sun shone brightly on her patch of cloud.

…

After watching the captain disappear, the others all kind of drifted to their own private thoughts, though all of them steered well clear of the side of the clearing that held the bodies of the two Lupus Minors. Twilight couldn’t stop herself from looking over every few minutes, remembering the third Lupus, the surge of fear and rage that had filled her, and the small twinge of satisfaction she had felt after sending the beat flying to it’s almost certain death. She shuddered again at the memory, and buried her face in her hooves, the tears already starting to well up. Suddenly she felt a hoof on her shoulder and looked up to see Fluttershy standing there, a quiet look on her face. Twilight quickly rubbed the tears away and tried to pretend like nothing was wrong. “Hey there Fluttershy, what’s up?”

The yellow pegasus didn’t say anything, merely fixing Twilight with her steady gaze. The unicorn’s resolve wavered and finally broke, the tears beginning to pour down her face as she buried her head into her hooves again. “I can’t help myself, I keep seeing that moment of deciding to release the spell, to hit that Lupus and make it pay for what it did. And some part of me liked that, liked doing that. Oh Celestia what is wrong with me?” She began to sob, shoulders jerking with the force of them. She heard Fluttershy move closer, and then the yellow pegasus was hugging her gently, silently telling her it was alright to cry, to let it all come out. Twilight returned the hug fiercely, holding tightly onto her friend. She was dimly aware of others around her, joining in the hug until everypony present was involved. Even Spike clambered up and hugged the back of her head. Eventually the tears stopped and everypony let go. Twilight wiped her bloodshot eyes and looked up at her friends with a grateful smile.

“Twilight, I don’t think you’re a bad pony. If you hadn’t acted, that Lupus would have really hurt Cloudhammer, and Celestia would be upset then, and if you hadn’t used the spell you did, then the Lupus would have attacked us next… and a bad pony wouldn’t have done that.” Fluttershy finished, hiding partially behind her mane.

“Sure as sure Sugarcube. You did a sight better than ah did, that’s fer sure.” Applejack agreed.

“Most certainly darling!” Rarity chimed in.

“Yea Twi, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you cast a spell that strong that quickly before!” Spike exclaimed.

“The choice you made is not one easily made, but it is even tougher when you are afraid.” Zecora said with a proud smile, though a hint of sadness touched her eyes.

Twilight smiled, albeit with a little bit of strain still showing around her eyes. “Thank you everypony, I needed that… Now what do we do?”

Rarity suddenly smiled, “I know! How about we put together a nice meal, let everypony unwind and try to relax.” Everypony’s eyes lit up at that, though they shot a few short glances towards the other side of the clearing, and silently agreed to stick to this side when setting up. As they began laying things out, Twilight saw a shadow pass over her, and shot a glance up to see Cloudhammer spiraling down towards them.

…

Later, the sun was setting, and the ponies were in the middle of having dinner when Spike looked up, seeing a familiar rainbow blur making its way down towards them. Cloudhammer kept his head down and finished his meal as Rainbow landed and joined the others.

“Look guys, I just wanted to apologize for last night. I know I screwed up, and it won’t happen again.”

Twilight and the others smiled and started to voice their acceptance, but Rainbow wasn’t finished. Turning to Cloudhammer, she took a deep breath and said, “I want to take the first watch again tonight, and since you’re so hurt, I think me and Applejack should split it between us, and let you sleep.” Applejack froze, keeping her gaze rooted firmly to the ground. The others present all looked confusedly at each other, then at Rainbow, and then to Cloudhammer, who kept his nose down for another moment before lifting his usual stone glare to Rainbow’s level gaze.

The two stood like that for over a minute before the captain snorted derisively. “Suit yourself Miss Dash; do try to stay awake this time. Miss Applejack, I need your help for a moment.” Cloudhammer turned and trotted towards the bodies of the two Lupus who hadn’t been moved for the whole day. Fortunately they had stayed out of the sun, so the smell was only intolerable. Applejack hesitated for a moment, then sighed and followed dejectedly after him. Once she caught up with him at the first Lupus, he indicated that she should take the back half while he pushed the front half. Together, they rolled the body into the forest and managed to get it about 30 hooves into the undergrowth.

Pausing for a moment as Applejack turned to trudge back; he suddenly spoke quietly, “It doesn’t get any easier.”

Applejack stopped, not sure she had heard Cloudhammer right. “’Scuse me?”

“That was your first time seeing a violent death, right?” The captain’s voice was soft, almost… kind. It was so completely out of character that Applejack turned around to make sure he was the one actually speaking.

“Yea… Ah ‘spose it twas.” The farm pony hung her head.

“They teach you when you first join the Guard that it gets easier as time goes on. But that’s a flat lie. The choice to consciously end another life is one that should never become easy.”

Applejack couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “But, ya… killed these two Lupus here without even skippin a beat. Seemed a pretty easy choice ta make if ya ask me.”

“It may seem that way from the outside, but I truly didn’t want to kill them. It’s just that if I hadn’t, they’d have killed me, and then killed all of you, and that was something I couldn’t let happen.” The captain stated flatly

“Sure, it’s easy for ya; you’ve got all that training to fall back on. Me? I just froze up, couldn’t do a single darn thing.” Applejack’s misery and anger at herself poured out with every word.

“Froze up? I was busy at the time, but as I recall, you turned and woke up Twilight instead of just running in to help me. Why did you do that?”

“Well, ah figured that ah’d just get in tha way, and saw you was hurt, so decide to get Twilight up so she could patch you up once things was all said and done.”

“And if you hadn’t done so, nopony would have been there to warn me about the third Lupus, and we’d all be dead right now. So, I’d say you didn’t freeze at all.” Cloudhammer turned and looked her straight in the eye. “It’s alright if you’re afraid of killing something. But don’t let that fear stop you from doing what’s necessary to protect your friends. Now, let’s go get that other Lupus out of sight so we can sleep better tonight.” With that, he turned and began to make his way back toward the clearing.

Applejack stayed still for a few more moments, before brightening a bit and trotting after the captain. Maybe she wasn’t cut out to fight, but the knowledge that she hadn’t frozen up when it mattered lifted her spirits considerably.

Comments

[Cloudhammer]

My apologies if anything seems rough or unfinished, feel free to point it out in the comments or message me

[Nathan Traveler]

Aside from a couple typos that seem to be the norm for every story, great job! It's good to see that there's a softer side to this bloke.

[Cloudhammer]

I'm also going to say it here, just because I can't say it enough. Sweet Celestia writing for Zecora is hard

[Rust]

104921
I know right? It takes a silver tongue to get all those rhymes flowing smoothly.
GJ, another excellent chapter!

[Draco Dei]

I'm not exactly buying the bit about the EoH not having been in "potentially lethal" fights... maybe you wrote it before some of the episodes in question came out, but:
S1E2: Manticore. Rarity, AJ, and Dash all fight (albeit in a non-lethal way), and were under the assumption that the Manticore intended serious violence.
Owl's Well That Ends Well: From where I am sitting that Dragon looked ready to commit murder, especially before Twilight and Owliscious(sp) showed up.

Less applicable:
May the Best Pet Win: Quarry Eels... didn't look like the sort of creature to let her off without at least trying for a serious injury once they got a grip (which probably never happens)... then again, they might have had a hard time actually damaging her given how she ACTUALLY gets in trouble on that run.
Stare Master: Cockatrice... might not have been PERMANENT, but still a serious threat,

[Rainbow Sparkle]

A great chapter, particularly for the bits about Rainbow getting chewed out. I still say its partially their fault though, they should have mentioned that she has a tendency to fall asleep. Also, dense Rainbow Dash is dense. And Pinkie should really be told that lesson #1 of dealing with injured unconscious ponies: Do not shout five inches from their faces.

[SolangeEggbert]

Beat flying - should be beast.

[FinalFan]

Cloudhammer made a foolish choice, and compounded his error if he actually believed that excuse he gave Zecora regarding Twilight. Lucky shot, hah. If he'd prepared them instead of keeping them in the dark they'd have been more effective, not less.

I disagree about Rainbow Dash; she's nap-happy but not a narcoleptic. But that's your call as the author.