The Tale of a Storm

by Tempestus

Chapter 3: The Tale Begins

Scootaloo had, surprisingly, opted to keep the old paintings in her room. I suppose it was curiosity, mostly. The bed, however, I insisted we change. If not just the mattress, since it was an older one at that. I had a few ideas in mind that would suit her nicely, but that could wait till tomorrow. For now though I found myself removing the furniture anyways.

"So, why are we taking everything out?" She asked me as we dragged the dresser out of the room, leaving the room barren.

"Tell me, hardwood or carpet?" I asked, tapping my hoof to my chin.

"I like the floor being wood." She looked down for a moment, "Could I have a rug?"

"Under the bed or next to?" I smiled as her eyes lit up.

"Next to!" She squealed.

"The walls don't suit you, forest green doesn’t seem to be your preference. What color would you like?" I pondered aloud, as a look of understanding crossed her face as she finally realized that I wanted her to make this space her own.

"Can we… cyan maybe?" She crossed her forehooves and blushed.

"Of course, little one." I replied with a hearty laugh, "Come, the store will be open for at least two more hours, we can fetch our supplies."

    Out the door we went towards the hardware store I had visited earlier in the day. The entire way I kept looking at the filly in front of me, her expression was that of pure bliss as we walked through town. We got a few curious glances as we walked, yet nopony approached us. Thus, without interruptions, it didn't take long for us to arrive at the store itself.

    Upon entering this time, the old stallion was, in fact, awake and currently engaged with a customer. And with my earlier expedition I knew exactly where to look for our supplies. I nodded towards a cart and Scootaloo brought it over. In nearly no time we had the paint, rollers, primer, and sealants, a drop cloth, tape, and edger.

"Would you like anything special done to the walls, panelling or trim?" I looked down at the filly at my side with a small smile.

She in turn was wide eyed looking at me, "Um, I’ve never really thought about it… can we just leave it plain?"

I chuckled and nodded my head, "Of course we can."

With nothing left to acquire we trotted up to the counter where the old stallion was finishing up with a customer.

    "'Ave ah pleasant day sir!" The old stallion waved him goodbye before turning to us, "Well now, you're back soon, and ya brought Scootaloo with ya." He smiled as we placed the wares down.

"Mr. Nail!" Scootaloo chirped.

"Eeyup, kid, that's mah name. Don't wear it out." He laughed. It was moments like this that reminded me that Ponyville was a relatively small, close knit, and rapidly growing town. "So what is the project this time, sir?"

"Redecorating her room, paint fit for walls isn't something I normally keep around the house." I would say I smiled, but I hadn't stopped smiling from earlier.

"Well ya certainly have enough equipment now," he noted as I gave him the bits to cover the exchange.

"Thank you again, sir." I bowed my head, but stopped as I noticed a poster of an aerial demo team with a familiar yet illusive spectral maned pony in the formation, "Pray tell, what are the Wonderbolts?"

Surprisingly, Scootaloo spoke before Nail could, "The Wonderbolts are only the best fliers in all of Equestria, can we go see them!?"

I swear her tail was wagging like a dog. How could I say no to that, let alone the puppy eyes she was firing upon my curious gaze?

"Then it is settled, when is this show?" I inquired, looking back to the poster.

"One week from now, and they just put up the advertisements so tickets are probably still available." Nail stated as he polished his glasses.

"Very well, where would one go for tickets?" I shot a glance back at Scootaloo who seemed to have gone from giddy to face splitting grin in record time.

"Well, ta save ya the trip ah sell em 'ere. An’ ya could go elsewhere but ah reckon it's the same everywhere." Nail replied as I read the poster for the price.

"Then these sixty bits are yours." I hoofed over the amount and he pushed half of it back.

"She gets in fer free." He pointed to my charge.

I raised an eyebrow but took the bits back before nodding. We then shared a final wave goodbye before leaving the shop.

"So, you get into these shows for free?" I found myself asking as I looked down at the orange filly.

"Yeah, Rainbow Dash is one of the Wonderbolts, she is sorta my honorary big sister!" She chirped back as she pranced about.

"Did this Rainbow Dash know you were living on your own?" My inquiry was answered by a rather exaggerated shake of the head, confirming that Scootaloo had, in fact, kept it from everypony she knew.

The trip home was as uneventful as any walk through Ponyville could be. Painting her room, however, proved to be more complex. That isn't to say the filly isn't talented with a paintbrush, I just wasn't expecting her to paint me as well. By the time we had finished painting, and laughing, it was late in the evening.

"Can you tell me about them?" Scootaloo asked as we sat at the table.

"My paladins?" I looked at her and gauged whether or not she would be ready for such a tale.

"Yeah, in their paintings they seem so intense and kinda like you. I really want to know what they were like." She put her forehooves on the table and stuck her bottom lip out.

"I should warn you, I shan’t spare the details, this is not a tale filled with flowers and rainbows, but one of blood and death." I looked her in the eye before sighing as she refused to back down.

"It was before the Equestrian Kingdom was, times were different then…"

~~~~~

Numerous sets of armored hooves thundered down the muddy earth path as thunder rumbled across the skies. We had found ourselves on a well paying assignment to run patrols near what the locals called No Mares Land. However, our surroundings were far from it, in fact we had been surrounded by lush vegetation and an abundance of bunny rabbits were the only things I had seen on my march. In fact, the only thing that seemed to stand out was the perpetual thunderstorm in the area.

My superior stopped abruptly in front of me so I stepped around him to see why. In front of us, maybe fourteen paces away, stood a lone pony in a cloak. By the initial looks of it they were young, though I could tell nothing more of them from the coverage of the dark grey and tattered cloak they wore; not that the lighting in the area aided in that regard. The lieutenant held out a hoof to me as he used his golden magic to draw his sword.

“Identify yourself” He ordered the lone pony ahead of us on the path.

The pony turned their head in our direction yet did not reply to his command.

“I said to identi-” Without warning the cloaked pony had leaped the distance and pounced onto my lieutenant, bringing him to the ground in one smooth motion.

I drew my blade in my muzzle and roared through my teeth as I charged, the tip of the arming sword thrusting forward towards the cloaked pony. It plunged deeply into our assailant’s side, just above her shoulder. What caught me off guard was the lack of response from both of them. My lieutenant remained on the ground, his face obscured by the pony on top of him whose head was near his own. I twisted the blade and cut out of the pony atop him as the others in our group rallied and surrounded us in a defensive circle.

“Hatchet, art thou alright?” I asked my officer as I backed off.

The pony on top of him slowly moved off, seemingly unphased by the wound, and smiled at me, her mute blue muzzle covered in blood. The others in my group noticed as well and had rounded to stand facing her, spears, flails, and swords drawn and ready. What gave us pause was the lieutenant rising from where he had fallen, his neck drenched in blood and his once muscular features now stretched and dry.

“Vampire! It’s a vampire!” One of my fellow mercenaries shouted as I watched our former comrade charge us alongside the monster.

He fought with no regard to his own safety, no weapon, and seemingly trying to bite us. A close friend of mine, Fair Winds, rammed his spear into our new opponent's chest only to find it futile. This caused the pegasus to fly up into the air and retreat, hopefully to find help or at the least report back to the village and tell them of the vampire. Lighting flashed as I cut the head off of my lieutenant, ending his assault while my allies had tried to fight the vampire. Several of them had fallen and risen again, soon enough there were only three of us surrounded by ghouls, the vampire herself having disappeared into the night.

I readied my arming sword once more and joined my few comrades in arms in cutting down the undead in a seven versus three brawl. The ghouls fought using their hooves and teeth, granting us the advantage of reach. As with the lieutenant I cut a swath, left to right, with my arming sword to behead my first opponent before jumping back as two more tried to kill me. Ram lived up to his name and used his poleaxe with a nimbleness that Earth Ponies shouldn’t, by any right, be capable of, easily decapitating an opponent before swiping the legs out from below another while standing on his hind legs and balancing on his weapon. Our other ally was a unicorn and had by far the best advantage of all: magic. To this day, the only opponents that will ever truly give me pause are those who have a horn on top of their head. While we had dealt with four opponents with standard weapons, Clover had merely picked the other three up in his cerulean aura and crushed their bodies into pulp, truly quite clever.

“Clover, I would assume that thou haveth a plan?” Ram asked as he positioned his weapon over his back with his right foreleg.

“Mayhaps, though we are significantly underprepared for this undertaking, lads,” he replied, his staff having ceased glowing.

“We can’t do nothing.” I stated, frowning while deep in contemplation.

“We know it is a vampire, so we can start with garlic, silvered weapons, and magic too,” Clover agreed, “Though we should wait till morning.”

“When vampires are most vulnerable,” Ram added, hoisting his axe up further on his shoulder before turning back towards the village.

I nodded my head and followed my two elders. Both Ram and I wore rather simple suits of chainmail, Clover, however, as a mage wore green robes, a standard for unicorn magisters. I always found it funny how the dark green unicorn wore a white trimmed bright green set of robes with a hat to match, the only contrast being his brown mane. Ram in comparison was a beige pony with a white mane, an experienced soldier having served under many banners through his life.

When we got to the village we found that Fair Winds had already gathered the needed supplies and rallied the rest of our mercenary group. Ram and Clover nodded to Grim, a mostly black unicorn with a white pattern on his face that made it look like his head was a skull. Grim's amber eyes seemed to narrow slightly at the confirmation of Fair Winds, "tall tale" from Clover.

His voice was like an iron blade scraping against stone, "Clover is correct, we shall set out an hour before sunrise, try and trap the creature in the light of Solaria."

~~~~~

I paused my story and stood up on my legs.

"Then what happened?" Scootaloo asked, leaning towards me with rapt attention.

"Well, it is late and we have worked hard. You should get some rest and I will continue the tale tomorrow." I smiled down on her as she sat back down on her bed.

"But-"

"Are for sitting on, I shall tell the tale tomorrow, I swear it to you." I patted her mane and covered her up before leaving.

This tale required preparation, the kind that came with relics, and perhaps a visit from the subject matter as well.