Author: Ennelly Von Swortts
Co-Author: ElectroPHX228 (Blitz)
Chapter Twelve: The Three Tribes-Pegasi Of The Legion
Solena smiled as the small, blue Pegasus tried to sneak up on her. Luna was always trying to get the jump on her. Solena waited until she was about to jump out and try to surprise her, to reach out with a wing tip and ruffle the filly's mane. "Hey there sister, what are you doing here?"
Luna giggled. "You have found me out again, sister. I will never learn how you do it." Even as Solena listened, her eyes were always scanning for any sign of trouble.
"You should be in school. Please, Luna, go there now." Solena warned, commander Hurricane was going to show up at any moment.
"School let out early today. What's the rush, Solena?" Solena glanced down at her sister for a brief moment.
Carefully lowering her head, she whispered in Luna's ear. "Commander Hurricane has a top secret meeting today, and wants nopony to know. Now run along before he gets here." Luna nodded before running off.
"Good work, Lieutenant." A voice behind her said as Luna disappeared down the street. Solena stood at attention, instantly recognizing Private Pansy as she walked around her. "Commander Hurricane wouldn't want children near here during this meeting. Fact is, I'm not sure you should be anywhere near here yourself." Solena remained silent, having nothing to say to the mare.
Snow began to fall. Pansy looked up. "I remember when snow wasn't the only thing one could see on the ground below. I remember the sun, the sky. The moon, and the stars. There is a lot I would give to see them again." Pansy shook her head. Looking at Solena, her face looked sad. "I wish ponies like you, of all races, could get the chance to see the beauty of grass, instead of this endless cold." The sound of wings caught their attention as Commander Hurricane landed close by.
"Are we ready, Private?" he asked in his deep voice.
Pansy snapped to attention as she answered. "Just waiting on you, Sir." Hurricane nodded as he walked past, and into the building. Pansy hot on his tail.
Solena had just relaxed, when a deep voice called from behind her. "Lieutenant, get your rump in gear, and get it in here!"
Solena snapped to attention. "Moving, Commander!" She called as she shot after the two Pegasi. She quickly caught up with them, and fell into step behind them. It wasn't long before they reached a pair of doors with two Pegasus guards standing to either side. They quickly opened the doors as the small group walked into the council room.
Solena stood behind Commander Hurricane, confused as to why he wanted her there. Looking around at Hurricane's advisers showed they were curious as well. "Down to business, Gentlecolts. What are we going to do about this unending winter?" Hurricane asked.
"Find somewhere warmer, obviously." Stated a dark brown stallion.
"Where would we go? There isn't much known about this land. We stay here and continue clearing the skies. At some point, we'll have them clear again. Then the Unicorns and Earth ponies will have to thank us, and the Earth Ponies will have to stop hording all the food." A mare on the other side of the table retorted.
Hurricane remained silent as his advisers argued back and forth. Solena listened to the different points being made, and compared it to what she had learned from her studies of the other races. It wasn't long before she had her own opinion on what needed to be done, but she knew it wasn't going to come across to these ponies talking about 'honor' and 'stupid Unicorns' and 'greedy Earth Ponies'.
Eventually, Hurricane raised his hoof. Silence fell almost instantly. "I have heard the opinion of everypony here ten times over. Except one. Lieutenant, you've heard all sides of this. Tell me, what is your honest opinion on the matter?" Solena froze as all eyes landed on her.
She took a deep breath, preparing herself for a possible court-martial. "My opinion, Commander? I think all this arguing is pointless." Everypony froze as Commander Hurricane outright laughed. Once he had calmed done, he gestured for her to elaborate. "You all are focusing on just the Pegasi. We can not grow food, we can not cast spells powerful enough to shake the very ground. We are meant to soar high in the sky.
"Earth Ponies know the land better then we ever could. They can grow more food in one year, then we could eat in ten. The only thing attacking them would do, is cut what little food we can get off for good. We would starve. Unicorns, if it is to be believed, have enough power that only a few can move the sun and moon across the sky. Attacking them could lead to two things. One. They use their power, and destroy this city. Two. If we do manage to win, our numbers will have dropped. And the spells they use to heat their city will no longer keep the bite out of the cold. We will likely freeze.
"If we want to survive, that leaves us with two options. The first is to find a way to work with the other races-" She was cut off as the entire room burst out in angry shouts. She winced at the backlash of her words.
Commander Hurricane stood. "SILENCE!!!!" You could hear a pen drop after the echoes had died off. "I said I wanted to hear her opinion. I expect everypony to let her bucking finish!! Understand?!"
After getting nods from each pony, he gestured for Solena to continue. "Find a way to work with the other races. That doesn't mean we have to go and be friends with them. The other option is to leave this place behind, and travel south. Learn how to farm the land, to grow crops. Make our own food. It will not be easy either way, but we could survive." A few of the advisers were watching her with thoughtful looks on their faces. Others refused to look at her. Those who were left were glaring at her.
Hurricane and Pansy both looked thoughtful. Then the Commander smiled. "Second Lieutenant Solena Broadwing-" She stiffened at her name. "-has proven she's wiser then a lot of you today. Possibly wiser then even me." Several looks of surprise appeared around the table. His smile faded back to the tough expression everypony was used to seeing. "My decision is made. We will see if we can work with the other races."
No pony dared argue with the Commander as he slowly stood. Nodding, he walked through the doors. Solena fell in step behind him and Private Pansy. "I'm beginning to see why you like her, Private. She'll make a good leader one day." She froze for a moment as his words registered in her mind.
"Her sister has a lot of the same traits, Sir. They make a terrifying pair as proven in the capture the flag match of white." Pansy risked a small smile over her shoulder, only to meet Hurricane gazing straight at her.
Smirking slightly, he turned forward. "I remember that match. Two young Pegasi were picked to be officers. One was barely old enough. The other, younger one... Luna I believe her name was, is a Broadwing?" Pansy nodded. "I see. That little ploy of theirs was perfect. I think that was the only match that lasted a few hours. Faster then the week or more average. And with such low casualties. Both will make exhalent leaders. Lieutenant, you are dismissed for the rest of the day."
"Understood, Commander." She replied instantly. Luna was going to be excited hearing she had the rest of the day off.
"One more thing. Bring your sister tomorrow. I have an offer for both of you." Hurricane looked her in the eye. "I'm sure you both will accept. Now, get out of here."
"Moving, Commander!" She took off done the hall. Making it outside, she took off toward her home on the lowest tear of the large cloud city of the Pegasus legion. Landing, she nearly skidded into the door. Charging in, she stepped into the kitchen where her mother and sister were.
"I'm home. And I have the rest of the day off." Luna squeed as she nearly knocked Solena off her hooves.
"What brought this about?" Mrs. Broadwing asked.
"To cut a long, and top-secret story short, Commander Hurricane asked my opinion, my honest opinion of a serious matter and proceeded to call me wiser than most to all of his advisors. He went as far to say possibly wiser then himself." Solena said. "And now, he wants both me and Luna to go tomorrow for a reason he has not told me."
Solena's mother blinked. "I hope it's a promotion. Although, I do wonder why he would want to see Luna."
"Maybe he's going to make me an officer, mom." Luna said as she let go of Solena and continued eating the small amount of food that was available.
Solena smiled. "Maybe. I'll be right back, then we can go to the park. Ok?" Mrs. Broadwing smiled while Luna cheered. Solena quickly made her way to her room, where she pulled off her armor and hung it up. She returned to the kitchen to Luna bouncing in place, waiting to get outside. Smiling, Solena ruffled her mane with a wing. "Let's get going, Kido." And out the door they went.
.0.
Solena opened her eyes to see an upside down, dark blue face. "Good morning, Solena." Solena smiled.
"Good morning, Lulu." She said as she sat up.
Luna put on a sour face. "I thought I told you not to call me that."
"If I let you call me 'Tia', I can call you whatever I want." Solena stood and stretched. "You might want to get your armor on for today." Luna was gone before she could turn around. Shaking her head slightly, she turned to her own armor and put it on with practiced ease.
As she left her room, she glanced over in time to see Luna flip her chest plate into place, before dawning her helmet. "Wow, you've gotten Good, Lulu." Luna looked up with a smile.
"I've been practicing. Come on! Don't want to keep Commander Hurricane waiting, do we?" Luna stepped besides her as they made for the door.
Solena eyed her sister. "You best remember your training. This is The Commander Hurricane we'll be seeing." Even as she watched, she saw Luna's training start to kick in.
"I do remember, Lieutenant." Luna said as she sifted herself to just behind, and to Solena's left. Nodding to herself, she took off. Luna followed suit within moments, staying in her spot. The flight lasted just a few minutes before they landed in front of the main hall. Hurricane was somewhere inside even now.
Walking in, Private Pansy appeared next to them. "This way, you two." Both sisters followed her through several rooms before walking into the one Commander Hurricane was waiting in.
He turned as they entered, both quickly snapping to attention. He nodded to Solena, before turning to Luna. "Luna Broadwing. Still a little young, but not enough to be of concern. Congratulations on your promotion, Lieutenant Luna Broadwing." Luna's eyes widened slightly.
"Thank you, Commander!" She stated just like a Lieutenant should when talking to the Commander of a legion.
Hurricane raised an eyebrow. "Looks like you're ready for it. Can't say the legion is ready for you though." A small smile played at his lips as her turned to Solena. "Congratulations on your promotion Captain Solena Broadwing."
"Thank you, Sir." Solena hadn't really expected it much at all.
Hurricane nodded. "Now that that's done, I have a mission for you. As part of our efforts to work with the other two races, I would like to send you two to live among them for a few months. Know this, this is a voluntary mission only. Now, I do believe I have a promotion ceremony to plan. Now, neither of you have a current post, so you'll be on standby in the barracks for the day. Think carefully about the mission."
Commander Hurricane turned and left the room. Pansy turned to the new Lieutenant and new Captain. "Even I didn't see that coming. Congratulations you two." Private Pansy smiled, before showing them the way out. "Good luck you two."
.0.
It was about three days later that the ceremony happened. Before that, they spent all their time in the barracks. Solena was given a set of Captain's armor, while Luna was given a set of Lieutenant's. It was loose on her, being made to give her room to grow. In that time, they had thought carefully over the offer made and decided as long as they were together, they didn't care where they were.
The ceremony was simple. Everypony stood a attention while Commander Hurricane gave them their ranks. It was expected for him to put the rank of Captain on those who had achieved that rank. Rare was it for a Commander to give a new Lutenent their rank. But that is what he did with Luna.
"I would like to give my thanks to these two ponies for their accepting of a three-month long mission to the ground below. I wish you two Officers luck." After that, he turned and stepped out of the way as Solena and Luna picked up their saddle bags before taking flight toward a town in the valley close by. It wasn't long before the town came into view. The town of Earth Ponies.