//------------------------------// // Chapter 31: Soldier and Civilian // Story: Never Lucky // by Ferris the 1st //------------------------------// So, there I was dangling over an active volcano, clutching an ancient artifact of incomprehensible power. My sole lifeline was the length of rope tangled around my hind hoof and I was laughing like a crazy stallion. Makes a bit more sense now, doesn't it? I also might have forgotten to mention that the volcano had only recently become active and was still bubbling viciously from being woken. I was still riding the high of life and laughing myself silly as my unknown rescuer began to pull me up toward the rim of the volcano. Just like that, the universe decided to give me a massive shot to the chin as I came into sight of the pegasus glaring at me. I stared at her, “Hi Storm. I have two questions: how are you here and is it too late to jump into the volcano?” Feral Storm snorted at me, her wings flaring to either side of her as she cleared the immediate area of smoke. Glancing between myself and the spear, she spat, “Like your Royal Guard friends could hold me. We're square, Lucky. You saved my life, now I've saved yours.” I had several comments that came to mind, but that was thrown to the wayside when the soft puttering of an airship drew closer. The pristine white form of Sunslayer dropped from the airship and dove down to us, dropping Martial roughly before landing. He spared a glance toward Storm. “Ah, I was wondering when you would return, Storm. Welcome back,” his gaze turned to me or, more accurately, the weapon in my grip, “bravo... bravo indeed. You've definitely surpassed my expectations of you, Lucky Signs. Now... give it to me and I'll let your friends go...” He held out a talon toward me, staring into my eyes with a firm, predatory look. I flinched, eyes trailing down to the spear. I couldn't just hand this thing over to him... not after what had just happened. The conflict must have been clear in my face as he moved his talons down to grip Martial's head roughly, earning a cry of pain from the mare. I flinched again, turning my gaze to her. Martial was gritting her teeth, one eye clenched while the other was locked on me. It was that look that told me that her opinion on the matter was to tell the featherbrain to go buck a cactus. She was a stubborn mare... Then Sunslayer dug his talons into her head, drawing rivets of blood. At her restrained groan, I held up a hoof, “Wait! Wait... okay...” Moving on three hooves, I plodded my way toward the gryphon, who maintained his grip on Martial with one talon while holding the other out toward me. With a great measure of reluctance, I slid the ebony haft into his grip. With a dark glee, Sunslayer dropped Martial again and stepped off to one side to admire his new toy. My attention went to my thestral companion as I quickly made to untie her. Her body was covered in bruises and dirt, telling me that she had not been treated kindly in my absence. She looked up at me silently as I checked her for more severe injuries, “You should... have chucked it... into the lava.” she stated through her mask. “Yes, he should have,” Sunslayer agreed, his eyes falling on us once again, “but he did not. He traded the future of Equestria for you. Heartwarming... and foolish. Know this, Lucky. I do admire your devotion to your fellow agents, but there is a mighty difference between them and you.” He jabbed a claw at Martial, “They have had years to perfect their craft. Some of them were born into it. They are soldiers, heroes even! Each and every one of them would give everything that they are for the greater good! They would sacrifice each other for it! You?” He chuckled as he stalked in a slow half-circle around us. He was taking a sick delight in all of this and his words struck hard, “You're just a delivery colt. A civilian. You had the luxury of deciding what is right and what is wrong. To be fair, that is the way with most of Equestria, isn't it? All of you think that you're better than the rest of us. From the lowest to the highest, you think your precious Harmony makes you right! Well, take it from somebeing who has seen how deep the pit can get, pony: sometimes you don't get that luxury... it's time that you all learn that and find it in yourselves to keep your noses out of other creatures' businesses!” He rose to his hindlegs, the Reach of Sol parallel to the forelimb holding it as he pointed the tip toward us. With a devilish grin, he laughed, “I am destined to be king, Lucky Signs! So let this be my first proclamation: you are far too dangerous to leave alive! You are unpredictable! Uncontrollable! For the good of our world, beyond your precious Equestria... you shall die. I know the language that this weapon responds to!” A strange, otherworldly noise escaped his beak and the tip of the spear began to glow softly, “Witness the demise of your world! The wrath of the sun!” I had seen enough to know that I didn't want to be where I was. The problem was that Martial was not in a good condition to move and I wasn't going to be fast enough to save us both. So I did the one thing I could do. As the air filled with the scent of ozone, I flung the freed mare as far as I could from me. Light erupted around me and my world went blindingly white... ** Excerpt from the field report of Lieutenant Martial Cadence concerning the events of The Cinder Run I had always considered myself a strong mare. Born into a family with a long history of guards for various reasons. Pain and defeat were things that I knew well, even with my talent and training and I also knew the art of liars. Sunslayer was one such individual. He had planned on killing Lucky Signs from the beginning, but keeping me weak had made it all but impossible to warn the poor colt. Part of me was angry that Lucky had handed over the spear, but he was still a civilian at heart. The other part of me was happy that he had thought I was worth saving in my failure. Then he decided to save me again by tossing me to safety. Even as I slammed into the ashen ground, adding to injuries slightly, Sunslayer activated the magic held within the Reach of Sol. A beam of light, brilliant as the sun and hotter than dragonfire, swept out in a cone from the weapon and washed the stone in its fury. It always hurt to lose somepony. Losing Lucky hurt far more deeply. I'd never admit it to his face, but his sarcastic attitude had been... uplifting. Now he was gone. I wanted to scream, to rip Sunslayer apart with my bare hooves, but my body refused to respond. The cowardly gryphon took his pegasus companion and returned to the airship hovering above. The gloating issuing from his beak told me that their destination was Canterlot, but I was in no position to pursue. In the end, all I could do was watch them fly away, leaving me to die from heat exposure or suffocation. Copious amounts of smog covered the area that had been devastated by the magic blast and heat blossomed outwards from it. I looked around, hoping beyond hope that Lucky would come striding out of it to give a witty remark, but he didn't. A series of heavy wingbeats filled the silence and I forced myself to my hooves to defend myself. The smokescreen broke across a series of scaled forms. Dragons. They ranged through various sizes and shapes and could obviously see me. They weren't attacking however. I discovered why when a blue dragoness in golden armor drifted down to the ground before me. She exuded an aura of authority and I recognized the form of Dragon Lord Ember soon after. Giving her the quickest version of events that I possibly could, I pleaded with her for transportation to Equestria. Needless to say, the other dragons were firmly against the idea, but for her size, Ember had quite a pair of lungs. I made a personal note to thank Spike the Dragon in any way I could when she mentioned him. She chose the quickest among her number to fly me to Canterlot as quickly as possible. If the princesses were not alerted, the damage that Sunslayer could cause was going to be enormous. I wasn't sure how the gryphon thought he was going to win a battle against the capital, but his confidence in his chances shook me as well as the raw magic currently in his talons. We were still conversing when one of her drakes called out from the annihilated ground. I couldn't believe the words when he spoke, but he was digging through something within the slowly clearing smoke. “Dragon Lord! The other pony is over here!” At first, my rational mind told me that he had simply found Lucky's body. Between the heat and blast, there was nothing short of a dragon that could have survived the attack Sunslayer had unleashed. Then Ember rushed over and her comment filled me with hope. “If this isn't the luckiest pony ever, I don't know which one is...” The smog cleared enough and I saw the truth of what had happened. Sunslayer's aim had been off, striking the ground a distance from Lucky primarily. Stone had been ripped up by the strike, forming a makeshift wall even as more stones had tipped over to create a shelter of rock. It was from this pile that the dragons pulled a maroon form that groaned as he was pulled free. Lucky Signs, the crazy stallion, blinked groggily as he came around, his body marred by cuts and bruises from the stones that had covered him. I saw him look around at the astounded faces of the dragons around him and mutter something under his breath. It took me several moments to find my voice, shouting to him in disbelief. He turned his head toward me, one ear flicked sideways in confusion, “Who else,” he asked me, flashing a grin that morphed into a serious expression, “Martial... we need to go.” I had never agreed with something so readily in my life.