//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 The Calm Before The Storm // Story: Eye of the storm // by Bronycommander //------------------------------// Chapter 1: The Calm Before the Storm Within the home of the town of Trottingham, a colt blue unicorn mare slept peacefully until her eyes were slowly forced open by sunlight invading through the window. With a yawn, the scarlet colored eyes blinked a few times, a smile formed on her lips. “Looks like this will be a good day.” She spoke to herself before the door of her bedroom opened. “Good morning, Mom! I made you breakfast.” It was an earth pony colt with the same coat as her but dark brown eyes and a ginger/orange mane. With pride, her son carried in a breakfast board with toast and tea, which she appreciated. “Thank you, sweetheart.” “You’re welcome,” Tungsten replied with a smile of his own before walking out. She took her time to enjoy every sip and bite of her freshly made meal. She had missed the taste of a fresh and warm meal. Yet Blue Murder’s mind was lost in thought. Four months ago, she was forced to flee and on the run, separated from her son and friends after a series of events most refused to divulge, living with her lifelong foalhood companion, Nancy and her son Pipsqueak. But after an unfortunate accident some friends of her and Pip had, she got the chance to redeem herself, with Fletcher Fray, Eternal Knight of Princess Luna, vouching for her to ensure she could be reunited with her son, which she was very grateful of, Nancy and Pip did not hold a grudge against her, forgiving her, which she was also happy about. It had been a week or 2 ago. Even after so long, she still couldn’t believe what had happened. Had Faust have had pity for her and wanted to give Blue a second chance? Or had this been fate all along? Regretful, her eyes fell on a picture on the nightstand, showing a young Blue Murder and orange, golden-maned stallion at their wedding. “Marmalade…” Blue could not help but wonder, if he still would have been with her, or would he have cut ties with her? She would never know. “I am done, you can go into the bathroom now.” Tungsten tore her out, she nodded before entering. A frown went over her lips to see in the mirror that her dark red mane was slightly messy, yet it only took her a moment to get her mane cleared and straightened out. “Much better.” “Ready to enjoy this day, Mom?” Her son asked cheerfully, causing her to smile back. “You bet, sweetheart.” With that, they exited their house, enjoying the calm morning as they walked through town to a small lake, seeing a orange, blue-dappled batpony stallion with a white ponytail, setting a the lake wearing a colored cloth and eyepatch over his right eye. He was holding a fishing rod, waiting patiently for a fish to bite. A black-and-white-speckled Earth pony stallion, possessed of a grey ponytail of a mane, dark moss-green, a tasseled red jerkin with bandoliers thrown across his chest and shoulders and toted a fedora with a trophy band, was next to the batpony. “Shadowplay, Tybalt, nice to see you.” Blue greeted, they smiled back. “Likewise. How are you, Tungsten?” Tybalt asked the colt. “Doing great, uncle Tybalt!” He exclaimed before his ears twitched at a new voice. “Hello, Tungsten.” He turned in its direction, seeing a periwinkle unicorn filly coming towards them together with an earth pony colt and human girl. “Dinky, Blau Streifen, Katja, nice that you could join us. Where’s Lilly and Pip?” The older foal asked as he couldn’t see the 2 along his friends, getting a look of pity from Dinky. “I am afraid they both got sick this morning.” “Ah, pity.” He frowned, “How about-“ Dinky beat him to it. “Tag! You’re at!” Tungsten was not mad at all, chasing after his friends with a laugh, the adults watched, their hearts warmed at the sight. “Looks like I just came at the right time.” Blue turned her head, a green unicorn stallion came her way. “How are you, Blue?” “I am doing good, Fletcher.” A sigh escaped her, lowering her head. “I still can’t believe you vouched for me back then, Fletcher.” “It’s nothing, Blue, really.” The stallion smiled weakly. “You proved yourself of good deeds when helping me to keep Dinky and her friends save, you deserved a second chance.” The mare opened her mouth but got interrupted. “Fletcher, can we practice?” Blau asked, holding his toy bow up eagerly. “Sure thing.” Despite this, the portly mare did not mind at all, watching everypony with a weak smile. Seeing her son happy was the most beautiful thing for her in the world. And she would do everything to keep him safe. Helping Dinky, Lilly and the siblings back then, it felt so natural to her back then, given she was a mother herself. And she had no doubt that her husband would have been proud of her. Or so she hoped. Suddenly, without a warning, her train of thought got interrupted as something hit her flank, jumping up with a yelp. She looked down to see what had hit her. To her surprise, it was Blau’s arrow, the suction cup right on her cutie mark…which was ironically a target symbol. “Sorry! Blau exclaimed, his eyes filled with fear, “I got a cramp when I was about to fire!” He tensed himself for the worst, only to get a weak smile as answer, “It’s okay, no harm done.” The mare said in a calming tone, then using her magic to carefully pull the arrow off her with a “Pop!” sound. Shadowplay let out a chuckle. “Bullseye.” He slightly trembled as his female friend glared at him before his rod twitched. “Got something!” The batpony tried to reel in the line, using all his strength to fight against the fish as it struggled, the rod bending left and right. Shadowplay lost this fight, getting thrown into the water with a loud yelp himself. Everypony looked worried at the plash for a moment. Then, the stallion surfaced, swimming back to shore. “I get it next time!” He sounded confident as Fletcher used a drying spell on him. Dinky looked at the older colt as he sighed. “I still can’t believe what all happened. How you helped my mother to be reunited with me.” She wrapped her hooves around him for a calming hug. “She helped us, as we did her, Tungsten.” “And that is what friendship is all about, helping and forgiving each other.” Katja added, her brother nodded. “Righto…” Tungsten mumbled before a loud thunder startled everypony. The group looked up into the sky, their eyes went wide. Without any warning, the sky had become dark, a vigorous thunderstorm had formed. “Odd, this wasn’t in the weather forecast, but we better get to shelter.” Fletcher suggested and they all moved to safety as fast as they could. With another loud Thunder, a lightning strike came down. Dinky, Tungsten and the siblings screamed as a massive pain burned through their bodies, blacking out. Groaning, Dinky slowly came to, panting in slight exhausting and pain, although it slowly stopped. Are you alright?” She asked as she saw her friends next to her, all struggling to get up. “I am fine. You sis?” Blau asked, getting a nod from his sister. Tungsten, however, looked around in alert. “Where are we?” Only now, the others took notice of their surroundings. They were in a fenced area, next to some boxes and a generator. “Hello?” A voice called out with what sounded like a South American accent. “Senior, this is a restricted area, leave now.” It was male, sounding serious and a human silhouette came into view. To the surprise of the foals, it was a human indeed. His skin was slightly tan, wearing a blue uniform with red outer strips, face was hidden by a black ski mask, only brown eyes were visible, carrying what looked like an SMG, appearing to be male by the looks of his slim body structure and voice. Behind him was another human. This one was wearing the same uniform and mask but with a lightish blue-grey bulletproof vest, pale blue helmet and dark red ski goggles over the eyes, making his emotions impossible to read, an assault rifle in his hands. Dinky and the siblings realized: They were on earth once more. Yet Tungsten was slightly trembling. “P-please, we are lost.” He said, his voice cracking, causing both men to step back in shock. Taking a deep breath, the young unicorn stepped forward. “I know this is confusing but can you help us?” Both men looked briefly at each other, then the helmeted man stepped forward, kneeling and holding out a hand to Tungsten. “Of course, I can help you.” His voice was of a slight British accent but sounded a bit higher in his vocals, like an Australian. While hesitating, Tungsten slowly took it, getting helped up. The man then turned to his comrade. “I know you take your work seriously but we should help them.” Katja and Blau then gave Tungsten an assuring hug. “It’s gonna be alright, Tungsten, together we can make it through this.” “Don’t worry, Fletcher and your mother were with us when that happened. They surely will find a way to us soon.” Dinky added. It seemed to have the intended effect, as he gave a weak smile, knowing how Fletcher got her and the siblings back before. “We should report then in.” The other soldier stated, only to be countered. “And who would believe this?” The helmetless soldier slightly hesitated before sighing. “Alright but if we get into trouble, it’s on you.” Having this settled, the children received an arm wave to follow by the apparent Australian human, getting led to what looked like an armored truck. It had slightly sloped armor on all but the rear wall, which had a door instead. A troop transport the children realized, not hesitating to get in, their helper did too, while his comrade took the driver seat. Through the tinted windows, they could see they had landed in what looked like an outpost, some other soldiers with the same uniforms patrolling around. The landscape was flat grasslands as far as they could see, with small hills from time to time, It was relaxing, the seats comfortable as their helper looked at them. “So…would you like to tell about yourself?” He sounded curious but not confused by the fact he spoke with speaking ponies. “I am Dinky, and those are my friends, Katja, Blau Streifen and Tungsten.” She introduced everyone. We come from Equestria, where pones live together in peace. There are unicorns, like me, who can use magic, Pegasus, who can fly and control the weather, as well as earth ponies, like Tungsten and Blau. The Special Talent of a pony is represented by a ‘Cutie Mark’ on the flank, which I haven’t got one yet but Tungsten did.” In response, the oldest pony nodded with a weak smile, a Viking's hat and a Wizard's hat on his flank before his friend finished “Equestria is ruled by Princess Celestia and Luna. They’re Alicorns and they control the sun and moon. As for how we landed here, we got hit by a lightning strike that….brought us here.” Dinky sounded unsure and awkward about this. “I see… You seem to be very familiar with humans” Now, fasciation was in his voice. Scratching her head, the little unicorn admitted, “Well…we had a few…adventures on earth before.” Before any form of answer could come from their helper, Tungsten took the word. “Where are you taking us and where are we actually?” He asked, his expression forming to one of unease,” you are pretty calm for meeting speaking ponies.” A shrug was the reply he got. “Let’s just say, I saw far more odd things before. As to answer your question, you are in Solis, a South American country, west of South America. And I bring you to a city for Shelter. You have my word, I only want to help you.” The soldier stated, his voice sounding honest. “My name is Cooper Robison. And this is Bruno.” He pointed to the driver, who nodded. “You mind some music?” Dinky and the others shook their heads, with Bruno turning the radio on. “I try not to talk too much, unlike Diago and Santiago. Those guys just never stop talking. Don’t know how they do it, or why…okay, here’s another good one.” The radio host mumbled before rock music played. The ponies and young human enjoyed, despite being not their real taste. It wasn’t a long drive until a big city with any apartment buildings as well as businesses and shops. There were also skyscrapers, a stadium and a Ferris wheel could be seen in the distance. But the eyes of the newcomers went wide as they spotted a large tower. It was triangular shaped at the base, raging several meters high into the sky, with an egg shaped observation deck at the top. “Welcome to Nueva Voz, the capital of Solis.” Copper announced, the transport stopped near a house, a dark blue luxury sedan was parked in the garage next to it. As they got out, Bruno commented, “I see you later then,” before driving off. Bruna made a gesture for them to wait while he opened the door. “Ana, I am back!” “Welcome back, Cooper.” A mature, female voice greeted. “Cooper!” two younger voices followed, one female, the other male. The sound of a TV inside drowned out any further sound, making it impossible to hear what they said. Tungsten felt his heart racing, getting nervous, only for Dinky to give him a pat on the back. “It will be alright.” He smiled weakly in appreciating, taking a deep breath as the man came to them, waving a hand to enter. Tensed, Dinky took the lead, followed by the siblings. In the hallway of the home, they faced a woman with black hair and brown eyes. Behind her were a girl, brown hair and blue eyes, the boy had the same hair and eye color as his mother. They all looked confused at the ponies and girl, as expected by them. “Hello.” Dinky said with a friendly smile, causing the mother and her kids to step back, looking shocked at Cooper. “Did they just?” The woman asked Robison, who nodded. “Yes, they did.” He spoke with awkwardness in his voice. “I know this is unexpected and such but what was I supposed to do?” Slowly, the woman started to smile. “I guess you have a point.” She then turned towards her guests. “My name is Ana Vega.” “I am Miranda and this is my brother Axel.” The girl introduced herself. Both looked of the same age of 10 to 12. “Pleasure to meet you.” Dinky greeted back, her friends nodded. “Your Spanish is pretty good by the way.” Ana commented and the filly chuckled in slight awkwardness. “Well, I can’t exactly explain it, but the magic in our home somehow passively acts as translator for most languages.” “Magic?” The woman raised an eyebrow and Katja took the word. “Yes, you heard her right.” With that, she repeated what Dinky had told to Cooper and Bruno before. As expected. Their hosts’ eyes went wide in fascination and surprise but before any of them could speak up, the sound of a throat being cleared got everyone’s attention. It was Cooper, now dressed in casual clothes, revealing his round face. Blond hair, forest green eyes with a slightly awkward smile. His build was athletic, he seemed to be in his early 20s. “I know this is sudden and awkward but what should I have done?” After a short moment of silence, Vega stepped forward with a weak smile. “You did the right thing, your parents would have been proud of you. And don’t worry, with my job, it’s no trouble to host them.” In response, the ponies and girl smiled in appreciation, Tungsten spoke up, “So, what could we do now?” “Oh, I know!” Miranda exclaimed, “how about Uno?” Dinky smiled, the siblings too. “Sounds good to me.” “I guess I could give it a try.” Tungsten mumbled before they took a glance at the interior, of the living room. A radio, couch and TV, a common but comfortable furnishing. The room of the siblings was as typical for children as could be. A TV, PC and gaming console, a few board games on a shelf. “Its similar to Mau-Mau, be first to play all of your own cards. However, there are a few special cards.” The girl explained, holding up a card with a crossed circle, like on a sign that means something is forbidden. “This card means skip, next player in sequence misses a turn.” Then she switched to a card with crossed arrows, “this one means order of play switches directions. Then we have Draw 2”, the next card had a 2 with a plus next to it, being self-explanatory “And the wild card” Her hand held it up to be see seen clear. A black background but with all colors in the middle. “You declare the next color to be matched. There is also a combination of it and the draw card, where the next player must draw four instead of two.” “Righto.” The oldest guests nodded and they gave it a try. It was a very fun experience, with the mother bringing some sandwiches as lunch as time passed. “UNO, UNO!” Dinky explained, finishing first, with Tungsten having the bad luck of being the last for this round. The next rounds, everyone else had a chance to finish first but not him, getting him a little bit frustrated. Though eventually… luck finally got on his side, a big grin as he laid down his last card. “UNO, UNO!” “Good game, Tungsten.” Dinky praised him. “And just in time for dinner.” Axel’s and Miranda’s mother added and they walked towards the dining room. Had time passed so fast? She had made what seemed to be a vegetarian stew, made of cassava, sweet potatoes, yams, plantains, onions, and garlic, boiled in coconut milk. “Looks delicious.” Katja commented and took a bite. It tasted fresh due to the vegetables, with the woman smiling at the happy faces. “Glad you like it. This is called Metemgee, a meal from Guyana. And don’t worry, we have a guest room.” Nodding, Dinky took the lead, yawning as his friends followed her. “I take a sleeping back, you should have the bed, Katja and Blau.” She suggested, showing her selflessness as she had before when they first met. “Do you mind, Tungsten?” He waved a hoof. “Nah, I understand. I just hope Fletcher can find us soon.” An expression of unease overcame him as she got comfortable in another sleeping back. “Mother already lost dad, I don’t think she can take…” “Stay positive, Tungsten,” Blau tried to give him hope with a weak smile. “Fletcher is most likely already on his way, he saw what happened.” “Righto…” Tungsten nodded before they all tried to sleep, also hoping for the best. But what was yet to come?