//------------------------------// // 1-4 // Story: The Sparrow in the Storm // by The 24th Pegasus //------------------------------// “The Queen’s Royal Guard aren’t really all that recognized out here. Or that popular, for that matter. A company of them went into Farrier’s Ferry about a month back to collect taxes, but they got run out of town by a bunch of legionaries that had settled there. They haven’t been back since.” “It wouldn’t matter if it was the other way around,” Penny Saved remarked to his sister. “Point is, Farrier’s Ferry didn’t have to pay taxes for two years when the Legion disbanded. The Royal Guard wasn't big enough or ready enough to enforce the law throughout all of Equestria, so when the Legion went ‘poof’, so too did all semblance of the crown’s authority.” The stallion chuckled. “And when ponies don’t have to pay taxes, well, they’re not too keen on having to pay them again.” Typhoon walked alongside the wagon as the siblings pulled it along the road toward Green Glade, and raised an eyebrow at the remark. “And what do you think is going to happen when the queen’s soldiers come back in bigger numbers?” “I don’t know, but we plan to be far from it,” Penny Earned said with a grin. “You’re from Everfree, right? I don't think the Legion puts old soldiers out on the frontier... no offense.” Typhoon merely grunted at that. "Yes, I’m from Everfree. I'm not too familiar with what’s been happening on the frontier.” “Well, with the Legion gone and the forts all abandoned, it’s been kind of a free-for-all on the frontier. Ponies like us have to move supplies around to all the towns now that communications have been cut off with Everfree. Of course, that also means there’s lots of bandits prowling the roads and sacking towns… have I mentioned how happy Saved and I are that you’re traveling with us?” “Only a couple of times now.” Typhoon let her eyes scan the trees closing in around the road, looking for any signs of bandits laying in wait. But just as it had been for the past three hours, she saw nothing, and she doubted any bandits were going to attack a wagon escorted by a mare as dangerous as she knew she looked. “How much do you know about what happened in Everfree?” she asked them. Penny Saved shrugged as he walked. “Only thing anypony this far south knows is that the pegasi and the unicorns had a big spat after that war with the spiders. The unicorn queen wanted to have her soldiers supplant the Legion, and their commander gave up his post in protest. Kind of a stupid thing to do if you ask me, but if the point of the whole thing was to stick it to the queen, then I’d say what he did worked. Soon as that happened, all the legionaries on the frontier followed his example and abandoned their posts, too. Way some of them speak about it, it sounds like they weren’t going to bow to the queen just for her to replace them with her own ponies and kick them out of their posts. I assume that’s what happened with you?” Typhoon worked her jaw from side to side. “Something like that,” she admitted. “It was a little more personal for me. I… I wasn’t happy to see everything Commander Hurricane built up get torn down by his own daughter.” “That’s right, the unicorn queen was his daughter, right?” Penny Earned wondered aloud. “Forgot about that. News from Everfree rarely made its way out into the Frontier. The only reason anypony knew what was happening in Everfree was because of all the legionaries who deserted their posts and took up residence in the nearby towns. And they never had anything good to say about her.” Typhoon grunted in acknowledgement and flexed her wings some, the metal scales attached to them hissing as they slid around on well-oiled hinges. “I couldn’t say anything bad about Queen Platinum,” she finally said after a minute of silence. “But these days, it’s hard to say something good, either.” “Sounds like you’ll fit right in on the frontier,” Saved said, shooting her a wink. “What brings you out here anyway? Most of the legionaries either settled into frontier towns or formed bandit gangs, and it doesn’t seem like you’ve done either.” “I’m… looking for somepony,” Typhoon said. “I don’t know who they are or where they are. But I’m looking for them all the same. Until then…” A shrug. “I’ll help ponies who need helping. It’s what the Legion was supposed to do before I—before it was disbanded.” Brother and sister exchanged a look. “How are you going to find somepony if you don’t know where or who they are?” Earned asked her. “Don’t know,” Typhoon admitted. Ruby red eyes flicked in the merchants’ direction. “Know any powerful wizards?” “We try to avoid crossing paths with anypony that could turn us inside out with their mind,” Saved said, adding a nervous chuckle for good measure. “There’s a couple of unicorns that I’d guess you’d call wizards living out in the frontier, in their little towers or whatever. Not sure if that’s who you’re looking for, but they were out here for a good reason. And that’s reason enough to not go there.” “They’re dangerous,” Earned added, and her features turned into a sharp frown. “Why else would they build towers outside of the Legion’s reach in the frontier? Whatever they’re doing, the wizards in Everfree didn’t like it, otherwise they’d be up there instead of in the middle of nowhere. But if you really want to find one, ask the ponies in Green Glade. I’m sure somepony has to know where the nearest nutjob with a horn is holed up.” Typhoon gave her a curt nod. “I just might.” “Hey, it’s your funeral, ma’am.” More walking, more birdsong, more creaking of the wagon’s wooden joints as the pair of siblings hauled it to their next destination. Somewhere in overhead in the dense canopy of trees, a woodpecker drilled into the bark of a dead tree, its beak hammering out a sharp staccato that echoed throughout the forest. The world seemed at peace, belying the danger hidden within this far out on the frontier. And if Typhoon hadn’t run into her share of bandits and monsters since venturing south out of settled Equestria, she could almost believe the picture of peace that the world painted for her. “What’s it like living out on the frontier?” she asked the two siblings. “Boring,” Penny Earned said with a huff and a hang of her head. “Dangerous,” Penny Saved said with a huff and a roll of his eyes. Almost immediately, the two siblings glared at each other. “Well, maybe for you!” they both shouted at each other at the same time. “Is… that so?” Typhoon asked, raising an eyebrow. “I mean, I get it. Being a soldier means long periods of boredom punctuated with frantic bouts of danger. But I’m curious what makes it so for you, besides the aforementioned bandits and the like.” “Well, the frontier was never really connected with the rest of Equestria besides from the Legion forts,” Penny Earned explained. “News gets here slowly, if at all. Saved and I were born in some little town called Watercrest. I doubt you’ve heard of it, and Everfree barely knew about us. The closest Legion fort was about twenty miles away, which meant we might as well have fallen off the face of the Earth. The only news we got was whenever somepony went to the fort, and when the forts were abandoned a few years back, well, you can fill in the gaps.” “And not being connected to the rest of Equestria means we’ve got all sorts of problems out here,” Saved said with a huff. “Bandits are probably the biggest problem now, but they weren’t ten years ago, when the Legion actually worked. You lot did a good job keeping them under control. But even more dangerous than the bandits are the monsters. Ponies aren’t the only smart things living out here, and a lot of them have sharp teeth and empty bellies.” “The Legion did a good job taking care of them, too. Watercrest had a couple of problems with manticores or ursas, and one time a sea monster swam up the river… probably the most exciting thing to happen to that town since it was founded.” Earned finished her addendum with a shrug. “What about you, ma’am? What’s your story?” Typhoon worked her jaw from side to side. “Does the name ‘Typhoon’ mean anything to you?” she asked the siblings, and she studied their faces closely in a sidelong glance to see their reaction. After a moment, the two merchants looked at each other, raised an eyebrow, then turned puzzled looks to Typhoon. “Not that I can recall,” Saved said. “He somepony important?” The old soldier let out a muted grunt. “Not anymore.” She shook her head and continued on, eyes turning forward once again. “I was an officer in the Legion, in Everfree. I led armies and fought battles. Then the Queen replaced us during the war with the spiders. I decided to leave rather than watch her destroy the last piece of Cirra we have left—or worse, be an accomplice in it.” “Cirra?” Penny Earned asked, tilting her head. “I think my grandma used to tell stories of that place, stories her grandma told her when she was a filly… that’s where we’re from, right? Us pegasi?” Typhoon winced at the genuine question. “There once was a mighty empire of pegasi across the sea, the Cirran Empire,” she explained. “The griffons nearly destroyed it, but Commander Hurricane saved our race by leading us across the ocean, away from their claws. When he founded Equestria, the Cirran Legion was the last bit of our history we still had from the days of our mighty empire. And now it’s gone.” “Ah.” Earned fluffed up her wings and looked sheepishly away. “I, uh, see why that’d bother you, then.” “I dedicated my life to serving the Legion,” Typhoon said. “I started when I was a filly. All told, it was forty-odd years of service both here in Equestria and back in the old Compact Lands. The Legion was all I knew.” She let slip a slight exhale that might have been a sigh. “And it’s gone. There’s little room in Equestria for an old soldier, so I decided to go south and see if I could make a difference out here.” “So you’re like a sword for hire, then?” Saved asked her. That got a concerned glare from Earned. “If you even think we can hire her long-term after the disaster in Farrier’s Ferry, I got some news for you, brother.” “And whose fault is it that we got lost on the road and by the time we got to the town half of the food we were carrying had expired, huh?” “I’m not a sellsword,” Typhoon growled, expressing her frustrations with the label and the potential for another sibling argument. “I don’t sell out my skills for pay. I help ponies who need helping, and all I ask in return is a warm meal, a place to sleep with a roof over my head, and some supplies to get me along the next leg of my journey. That’s all.” “So, you’re like a wandering knight, then?” Earned scoffed at her brother. “Knights are a unicorn thing, idiot. You really want to compare her to that after what the unicorn queen did to the Legion?” When Penny Saved blanched, realizing his mistake, Typhoon dismissed any misunderstandings with a wave of her wing. “Knights aren’t Royal Guardsponies. I worked with the knights of the Diamond Kingdoms back in the day. While they lacked the discipline and cohesion of the Legion as an army, they were often skilled in single combat, and driven by a sense of moral duty and honor. Chivalry is what they called it. And while the Legion could patrol and protect the Compact Lands and Equestria as small platoons and centuries, there are many stories of valiant knights traveling the countryside and lending aid to those in need.” After that explanation, she finished off with a nonchalant shrug. “I may not be a unicorn, but ‘wandering knight’ might be the closest thing to a fitting label. A soldier needs an army, after all, and I have none.” “The Wandering Knight of the Lonely Legion,” Penny Earned said somewhat wistfully. “You meet any bards yet? I bet your story would make for a good tavern song.” “I haven’t done anything worth singing about,” Typhoon countered. “Doing the right thing shouldn’t be a big deal.” “It’s a big deal to ponies who can’t do it themselves,” Penny Saved said. “And in a place as unpredictable as the Frontier, ponies could always use some hero to sing about.” Typhoon’s reply was a disinterested huff and a flick of her tail. The conversation thus ended, Typhoon returned her attention to the surrounding countryside, and the two siblings soon launched into their own conversation, debating on what they should try and stock up on in Green Glade and what they would charge the townsfolk for their supplies when they arrived. For Typhoon, it just became more of the background noise of the countryside, but after another half hour, her ears twitched at some distant sound, and she held out a wing to stop the siblings’ chatter. “What is it?” Penny Saved asked, anxiously looking around. “Bandits? Monsters? Should we run?” “Shh!” Typhoon shushed him and spared the siblings a stern look. All three ponies immediately fell silent, their ears turning this way and that as they listened for the sound the old soldier heard. The sounds of nature filled the ensuing silence, but it wasn’t too much longer before a faint and distant roar made its way through the trees. “What was that?” Penny Earned asked, and her wings inched out a bit further from her sides, brushing against the harness she wore. “There’s some kind of monster out there!” Saved nervously hissed. “We should turn around, try to find another way!” Typhoon’s eyes narrowed in the direction of the roar. “That’s a dragon.” “A dragon?!” both siblings exclaimed in unison. “Some miles ahead of us yet,” Typhoon added. “But coming closer.” “What do we do?” Earned asked her. “Saved can’t exactly fly away like you and me!” “You better not leave me here!” Saved shouted at her. “I don’t want to be dragon food!” “Quiet,” Typhoon growled at them. Both siblings immediately snapped their jaws shut and watched her with wide eyes. After a moment, Typhoon angled her head toward the tree line by the side of the road. “Pull the wagon in there and unhitch.” “Then what?” “Then we wait.” A shrug from Typhoon’s left wing snapped open the flying latch on her scabbard and loosened the sword just in case, and she flexed her wings once to make sure the wing blades were ready for action. “Come on. It’s getting closer.” The Penny siblings certainly didn’t need to be told twice, and they hurriedly pulled the wagon off the side of the road and hid it under some trees. Then they quickly detached themselves from the harness and hid behind the trunk of a great oak, Saved at the bottom while Earned flew up into a higher branch and perched there. Typhoon, for her part, simply stood under one of the boughs of the oak and kept her eyes trained skyward, waiting to see what would appear from beyond the horizon. That didn’t end up taking all that long. Within a few minutes, a speck of crimson appeared in the sky, and the birdsong in the trees around the three ponies fell deathly silent. Typhoon watched with a small frown on her muzzle as a great red wyrm flew overhead, its leathery wings momentarily blotting out the sun as it passed by. In between its massive claws it carried a two-pony wooden wagon, not unlike the kind the Penny siblings owned, loaded with supplies strapped down to the frame. Typhoon watched it fly away, at least until it disappeared behind the canopy of the trees once more, and its roars grew ever fainter. “Did you see the size of that monster?” Penny Earned exclaimed as she dropped out of the tree. “It was carrying an entire wagon in those claws! It could have just plucked ours right off of the road and ate us for a snack!” “That’s probably what it did to whoever was further up the road than us!” Penny Saved said, and he sat down and took a few panting breaths. “What if it comes back? We’ll be next!” But Typhoon merely turned back to look down the road in the direction the dragon came from. “How much further is Green Glade?” “Probably another hour or two out yet,” Earned said. “At least, as the wagon rolls.” Typhoon nodded. “Right. Then let’s keep going. I have a feeling we’ll find out more about this dragon there.”