Proud Defender looked out over the reconstruction of the district that had been extensively damaged by the attack. It had been a week since the sudden and unpredictable strike on their home, since the flames scorched their refuge and sent hundreds to scatter. After several hours of repelling the beasts that swarmed the ground below, the Lord General alongside several fireteams and the valkyries weeded the bladed flower and tore it asunder. They scattered the pedals of the abomination over the wilds beyond the wall: a simple yet effective warning to the beasts that dared claw at the walls of Grad that it wouldn’t surrender even a micrometre.
That day they proved Grad’s strength… but Defender knew all too well that it would be tested again, and again until the day they faltered. The Dark would seek to bleed Grad until it had nothing left to lose, until it was all to certain to fall.
Hundreds died.
But Defender would never allow for them to be forgotten. He wouldn’t allow them to be forsaken. Because to him? They were the bastions of his hope, and because he relied on their examples and called upon their memories: they were immortal.
Plenty had been recovered, but it would still take months until the southern district could be considered suitable for occupation. Until then, the residents of Grad would unite hooves to ensure that what they lost would be rebuilt. The north would sacrifice their quilts, the east their firewood and the west their concrete until the scars of the south healed. It was times like these that the peoples of Grad learned to rely on each other, and every time it moved Proud Defender.
He could hear the light footsteps that approached from behind, as Defender tilted his head slightly to make out the approaching Burning Skyline.
“Don’t you have patrols?” Defender asked.
“Seems you forget, I clear them faster than any other team…” Skyline responded as she briefly stuck her tongue out at Defender, “y’know I am your fastest flyer.”
“Sometimes things don’t require speed,” Defender replied, “ever hear the story of the hare and the tortoise?”
“It’s called a story for a reason!”
“Ha…” Defender sarcastically replied, “say, Skyline, what do you know about construction?”
“Not a thing.”
“Some things you can still learn, my young student. There are several components to building a skyscraper… first there must be a foundation laid and that requires a very, very big hole. It can take months of hours spent with the spade. Once that hole is dug, then they place in the footings that allows something to be built atop. Then the frame is set up, followed by the innards of the place, down to the finest detail.” Defender explained, “Now, why’d you reckon I bring that up?”
“I’m guessing it has nothing to do with the fact that you’re watching something be built?”
“Nah, you’ve lost my respect…” Defender chuckled, “point is, when we’re focusing on making something impressive, sometimes we forget the small details that truly make this effort worthwhile. Too many fuss over the details that are obvious: lay the foundation, put up the foundation, but how inconsequential is that small tile that we always walk on?”
“For a stallion focusing on the big picture…” Skyline mused, “what causes you to consider the small thing?”
“We’ve been struck before, with a wall or without a wall… but no matter what we do, to some degree we manage to lose something. Sometimes, it takes that tile to be kicked loose until we realised how much we appreciated it… how much it contributed.”
“Ah, I see what you’re on about…”
“It pains me, Skyline…” Defender replied, “as much as it honours the memory, it’s knowing that the new blood have been throwing themselves without a chance.”
“How many?” Skyline asked as her warm demeanour seemed to fade away.
“Twenty-seven, who haven’t even served a week. Several more who’ll be immobilised for the rest of their lives. This keeps going, we’re going to be spread thin, and for as good as we are… we can always be better. Each improvement… every step we take, we can build something better. We can ensure that our brothers and sisters have a fighting chance, that we can raise a generation that’ll be better than us.”
“Sounds like you’ve got schemes…”
“I’d prefer ‘plans,’ Skyline…” Defender responded, “but it’ll require all of us. Veterans need to pave the way, for untold legends.”
“He’s awake.” A third voice announced behind the two ponies, “Still in rough shape, but at least he’s kicking.”
“Speaking of untold legends…” Skyline nudged Defender as the Lord General smirked, and turned around to face his griffon friend.
“So the new blood is still with us…” Defender smiled. To him, it was another victory. Another soul that had braved the field of combat and despite all the odds, made it out alive. He paused for a moment before he continued: “Can we raise the fellow to his feet?”
“Leg is still in a bad condition, but if we get it in a brace, then we can probably get him out of the wing for a while.” Snowstorm responded.
“Wonderful news… get the lad ready.”
Void tried his leg brace, as he weak leg turning back to its natural position. The ache burned with every step he took but at the very least he was able to walk, no matter how painful each step was. Void pulled a coat that was provided over his bandage-ridden body as his muscles burned, as he gently rested them as much as he possibly could afterwards. The stallion looked toward the doorway with an evident limp, as he stepped out of the hall that he had been kept in for the past five days.
Void was met by Snowstorm and a pegasus who he didn’t recognise. He bowed his head politely to the griffon and the pegasus, as he turned to face the camouflaged pony in particular.
“Void Walker, this is Burning Skyline.” The griffon introduced, “Burning Skyline, Void Walker.”
“I’ve heard a lot about you, new blood.” Skyline responded with a smile, “I’m quite impressed, but the next time something requires flying, how ‘bout you leave it to us?”
“That’s a suggestion I’ll take into consideration.” Void replied as the three wandered through the hallways and out onto the street where a silver self-driven cart waited. As Void looked around, he noticed that the citizens of Grad turned to look at the three as if in awe, taking precious moments of their lives to honour their guardians.
To thank them for everything they've done.
Snowstorm and Burning Skyline lept effortlessly into the cart, as Void lifted himself up with difficulty. Sitting opposite of the griffon and pegasus, Void stretched out his injured leg as he drew in a deep breath and exhaled sharply.
“Nice being outside?” Snowstorm asked with folded claws.
“One could say that, yeah…” Void replied, “hard to believe that I’ve been out of it for five days.”
“If it makes you feel any better, the doctor was reckoning you’d have been in coma for a time far longer than that. But hey, you’re ‘walking.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” Void huffed, before he turned and looked directly at Skyline: “what about you?”
“I’m thinking it’d be safer for me now to not say anything…” Skyline joked, “small steps, Void. Small steps.”
Void rolled his eye as he leaned back in the cart, as he looked out one of the windows provided. He watched quietly as several uniformed guardsmen wandered the street, smiling and laughing among themselves as they interacted with one of the street vendors. He watched the younglings run joyfully through the snowy streets, as they bounced a ball between each other, as a dog leapt around between them.
Void couldn’t help but smile.
“It’s nice.” Void simply said, “This place…”
“‘Tis.” Skyline sighed, “It can get too cooped up in the Wall or at any of the other installations… even when I was just a guardsman, the thing I liked doing the most was walking these very streets. It helped give perspective, to see how simple life was… how good it is.”
“It’s our duty.”
“Ah, you share sentiments with the old vigil…” Skyline chuckled, “Defender would say the same thing. He’s too afraid to see any life beyond him holding the line, even if it’s just a night out in Grad.”
“He’s busy… all the time.” Snowstorm scoffed, “Probably doesn’t help that he has to account for your wiles, Skyline.”
“I am a perfectly reliable pegasus.” Skyline sarcastically said, mimicking a robot, “Tasks one through a hundred are completed as is required by the Lord General.”
“So you are just a part of the defence force?” Void interrupted.
“Just a part?” Snowstorm chuckled in response for Skyline, “She’d claim to be the Lady General if Defender wasn’t up there.”
“I’m the most reliable flyer he has, so I figured that came with a few more liberties…” Skyline winked.
Void chuckled as the three approached an area that was all too familiar to the new light, as he quickly made out the seven nameless vigils that circled the capitol. He turned to look at Snowstorm, whose expression had faded to something more akin of respect while Skyline still boasted a confident expression. Void felt his own face droop as he started to remember that night…
No wonder Proud Defender was ‘too afraid.’
The cart came to a stop as the door swung open, as the three filed out nearly in the same order the same order they filed in. As Void stepped out he recognised that there were a series of torches that were lit around the entire installation, with several coloured candles that burned. Pictures of the fallen were meticulously placed, and the banners of each branch decorated the scene.
Dozens of guardsman lined the walls as the protectors of the fallen as hundreds of mournful souls gathered. Walking through a narrow passage toward the sanctuary of the seven spires, Void looked around him to those who gathered to remember someone--if not everyone--that Grad had lost. As he followed Snowstorm and Burning Skyline, Void realised he was being raised into one of the spires in particular.
As he turned his head to look at one of the walls, he saw carved in them a series of names…
Void remembered that those were the fallen.
Eventually the group came to a halt, as Void looked at the chamber in which they gathered. Candles burned brightly underneath, as Skyrunner placed a portrait of their fallen comrade underneath a list that had chipped in the name in bold detail: FIRST FLIGHT. The stallion lowered his head sorrowfully, as he stood quietly along with the remaining team of Knights that had lost two of their own.
The Lord General stood by with his helmet removed as he looked up to Void Walker in particular. The smile that Defender bore wasn’t there… as he slowly approached and stood beside the three other new lights. The Knights didn’t shift their attention to their small little monument, as the four others stood by in silent sympathy. Eventually Fixed Wing reached into a pouch on her uniform as she pulled loose a battered fabric armband that held a picture of a sword with wings and laid it before the picture placed by Skyrunner.
Moments of silence passed on as the teary-eyed Knights eventually turned to leave, before Skyrunner stopped beside Void. He looked up to her as she offered a quivering smile of appreciation, before she patted the unicorn on his injured shoulder and pressed on without speaking a word.
Void watched as the Knights left, before he looked back up to the monument. He approached the wall as he kept his attention focused on the bold lettering of his friend and ally. He could feel the pain from that night, as he looked down to the portrait and the armband of First Flight.
“I remember this one…” Defender sighed, “he was always eager. Serious at first… but as he got going he loosened up. Made mistakes, but he learned. That is what defined him, is that he learned to be willing… willing to change. It was remarkable… it was inspiring. First Flight charged headfirst into situations even if it meant that certain end--no hesitation--time and time again.”
The Lord General looked down at Void, as if he was considering how to proceed.
“Point is, there are no safety in what we do… you’ve had to learn that at a confusing time, new blood. It pains me every time was are reminded that what we do--that everything we sacrifice--eventually will run its course and lay its end for all of us… it isn’t the easiest way, but it’s the most forgiving. To dedicate one’s life to something greater than itself, it’ll need to learn that through the pain and the sorrow of our way, we learn what we need to be if we are going to reach down to lift others up.
“First Flight knew that. He knew that even if it meant a broken wing, shattered spirits of his loss… he suffered those tragedies doing what he needed to do: to be a guardian and a beacon to those who surrounded him. It forged him into an unbreakable soul. It made him what we all needed him to be. He. Honours. Us.”
“He took to action without question.” Void added, “That is what he did… to the end.”
“You didn’t know the colt to well, Void…” Defender sighed, “just two odd run-ins and a uniting cause. Yet, you see the power behind a solitary piece. You’ve seen what First Flight flew for, and you’ve submitted yourself like him to whatever injury or fate lies to claim you. That’s something called foolishness, Void. But I call it bravery… it is exactly what it is: heroism.
“We’ll remember First Flight here, along with the rest that were claimed this past week… but their memory rests not on walls, but in our spirit. Let them be a beacon for all of us, until we shall meet again.”
Void stood still as Defender said this, glancing over toward Snowstorm and Burning Skyline as the griffon and pegasus stood still with lowered heads. The unicorn looked up to Defender who offered a brief smile, as the giant of an earth pony secured his helmet back atop his head and started to walk out of the chamber. Void turned his attention back to the monument, as he heard Skyline and eventually Snowstorm withdraw as he stood alone.
It was then he remembered what Defender had said but five days ago.
“I know every single guard under my command, new blood… I’ve seen the bravest of the brave, the strongest of the strong and the wisest of the wise. I’ve seen triumphs and failures… and every single story inspires me. Every. Single. One… to me? Everyone has already made their sacrifice… it’s only waiting to claim them. And I can tell you the day that I’m consumed in one of those bloody storms, I’ll happily give my life… because enough life has already been taken for my sake.”
“And I can tell you the day that I’m consumed in one of these storms,” Void whispered to himself as he looked down to the portrait of First Flight, “that I’ll happily give my life… because one has already been taken for my sake.”
And with that, Void turned and withdrew from the place as he walked through the candle-lit halls that were riddled with the names of those he had lost… that Grad had lost. He understood the depth and the direness of his journey and obligation now.
Void could never forsake it.