//------------------------------// // 1-15 // Story: The Sparrow in the Storm // by The 24th Pegasus //------------------------------// The morning was heavy and the air smelled of rain. Warm and humid, the air clung to Typhoon’s feathers and frazzled her stiff, graying mane. If Typhoon opened her mouth, she could taste the weather in the air; Boiling Springs would be soaking wet by noon. Nopony would be out in the market once the storms started, and Typhoon feared that would extend to the wizard she planned on meeting. The door to one of Warbler’s Roost’s rooms slid open with the groan of its heavy iron hinges, and Sparrow wandered into the communal area where Typhoon sat with a wide yawn, rubbing at mismatched eyes with the back of a fetlock. Blinking twice, she spotted the legionary and shuffled over to the table, flopping down hard in a chair and letting out a sigh and another yawn. “Morning,” she mumbled. “You’re late,” Typhoon noted. The fork held in her wingtip stabbed at a pile of scrambled eggs like a lance at a ragged band of infantry. “Sunrise was an hour ago.” “Was it?” Sparrow squinted with bleary eyes at the open windows lining the room’s walls. “It’s so dark and gray outside…” “Rain.” Typhoon took one bite of her food and set her fork down, then stood up with a grunt. The armor hanging from her body rattled with the motion, and she flipped Hammer’s helmet onto her head with a quick flourish of her wing. “Come on. We don’t have all day.” “But I haven’t even eaten yet!” Sparrow protested, but when Typhoon raised an eyebrow at her, the young unicorn sighed. “Can’t you at least let me enjoy this morning? That was the first time I’ve slept in fresh bedding in at least two months!” “I’ll give you coin for another night once you do your job,” Typhoon told her. “I need to meet Deep Blue now, and if we wait any longer, then it will start to rain, and I doubt he’s going to want to visit the market when it’s raining.” She started to move for the door, and Sparrow reluctantly stood up and followed after her, though not before picking up the rest of Typhoon’s eggs off of her plate and holding them in her magic as they left. “I doubt that’ll bother him all that much,” Sparrow muttered, and she pinched off a chunk of egg from the mass levitating by her head and floated it into her mouth. “The guy smells like he lives in a bathtub. I guess personal hygiene is the first thing to go when you’re a crazy wizard.” Typhoon pushed open the door and stepped out into the street, feeling the cool spring wind tickle her ears and whistling lightly over the earholes in her galea. “In my experience, true wizards cared more about their craft than their appearance,” she remarked. “Clover the Clever was never afraid to get her hooves dirty with field work. Diadem the Scholar kept herself clean for her lectures, but her mane would be a frazzled mess after nights spent in her study without rest. Star Swirl the Bearded goes without saying.” As she walked down the street, she couldn’t help but snort dismissively. “Wizards obsessed with their image waste time they could use to help ponies by devoting it to themselves. Real wizards don’t care what they look like so long as their magic helps ponies.” “Yeah but like…” Sparrow crossed her eyes and stuck out her tongue. “The guy could at least invent a spell to not smell like mildew all the time…” The two mares continued down the street, Typhoon leading the way to the market and Sparrow following along behind her, quickly finishing off the rest of Typhoon’s breakfast. Throngs of ponies crowded the streets, all hurrying about to conduct their morning business before the rains hit, but Typhoon’s armored presence parted the crowds without effort. Wary glances fell first on her armor, then on her wings, and hushed whispers floated along the winds and past Typhoon’s ears. But the old soldier disregarded it all, even the frowns from the town guards she passed by. They simply weren’t worth her attention. They did, however, fail to escape Sparrow’s notice. “Ponies don’t like you,” she observed as she trotted up to Typhoon’s shoulder. “And I thought being an urchin was bad.” “The bandits around here have ruined the memory of the Legion,” Typhoon curtly answered, and her lip twitched as she bristled at the thought. “I never would have tolerated this from my soldiers. I trained them better. I gave them honor and showed them how to carry it. What they do with my training now is a disgrace.” But her shoulders sagged and she let out a defeated sigh. “Though maybe I was wrong about that. Maybe I was a fool to think that without the Legion my soldiers would still be legionaries. And maybe I’m a fool to be wasting my time on the frontier instead of trying to do something with what little I have left.” She glared down at the street, stewing in her frustration. And Sparrow, though she opened her mouth to try and push back, found she had nothing to say to the old soldier’s bleak musings. When they made it to the edge of the market, Typhoon changed the topic at hoof like a shift in the winds. “We’re here,” she announced, turning to put a red eye on Sparrow. “Summon him.” “Geez, he’s the magician, not me,” Sparrow said with a roll of her eyes. “I can’t just make him appear like that.” Typhoon narrowed her eyes. “You have been giving me the impression that was not the case. I hope you haven’t been lying to me.” “I just didn’t mean like that,” Sparrow grumbled, and she pressed her hoof against her forehead, right under the base of her horn. “I mean that he showed me and the girls how to let him know that there were gems in the market he’d be interested in. It’s still up to him when he bothers to show up.” “When was the last time you called for him?” Typhoon asked her. “Like, maybe a month ago. It’s been a while,” Sparrow admitted. “Good.” Typhoon nodded her head. “If it’s been some time then he should answer. So summon him.” “Would it kill you to say ‘please’?” Sparrow muttered under her breath, but she nevertheless turned around and started walking toward an alley along the perimeter of the market. “He enchanted some bricks over here so we could let him know if there was something worth his time in the market while being discreet. He hates dealing with other ponies and especially the town guard, so the less time he spends in Boiling Springs, then better. Or at least that’s what he’s told us before.” Typhoon followed Sparrow into the alley, her eyes wandering over the nondescript bricks lining the walls of the buildings on either side. “I’m starting to understand how he feels,” she said. “I imagine the town guard isn’t too happy that a powerful mage is frequenting their town. Especially since they have to know that they wouldn’t be a match for him should he appear with malicious intent.” That made Sparrow pause, and she looked back at Typhoon with a note of concern. “Have you ever had to do that?” she asked her. “Fight against evil wizards?” Typhoon’s nostrils momentarily flared. “In my time, yes,” she admitted. “It’s never pleasant. Especially when one was after my heart and I had to put an icicle in his.” Sparrow blinked. “Like… literally or…?” The old soldier chose not to answer that, instead gesturing with a bladed wing toward the bricks, the metal scales lining the crest rattling as she did so. “Go on,” she ordered the young unicorn. “Alright, if you say so.” Sparrow’s magic picked a rock off of the ground and tapped it against a series of bricks in quick succession. “If he feels like coming here, he should appear from the wall. It’s some kind of portal or something. But I don’t think he’s gonna be happy that I got a legionary with me.” “Leave all that to me,” Typhoon assured her. “I’ll say what I need to say. Hopefully he’ll be willing to help.” “And if he isn’t?” Typhoon shrugged. “I haven’t thought that far out yet.” “Aren’t officers supposed to think in like, strategic terms or something?” Sparrow asked her, chucking the rock aside. “Don’t you have to think ahead?” “‘Plans are useless, but it is nevertheless important to plan,’” Typhoon said, and when Sparrow gave her a look, she shrugged. “It’s an old saying in the Legion. Point is, it’s important to both think ahead and be able to improvise. Don’t let one compromise your ability to perform the other.” After a moment, Sparrow frowned at her. “You’re just bullshitting me, aren’t you?” “A commander never reveals her intentions with words, but with actions,” Typhoon quipped, and at Sparrow’s exasperated groan, the line of her lips curved ever so slightly in bemusement. That curve didn’t last long as the grout between the bricks glowed blue, and with a grating groan, the bricks curved in on themselves, revealing a magical void that filled the hollow space they used to occupy in the walls. After a moment, a blue unicorn emerged from the blue glow, his horn long and pointed as it pierced a mess of a blue mane streaked with green hairs. Light blue robes decorated with patterns of white and blue swirls hung from his frame, though the sleeves on his forelegs were clearly damp, as was his coat itself around his fetlocks. He stood on the tall side for unicorns, with the tip of the lanky Sparrow’s horn rising only to about his nose, and standing a full head above the smaller Typhoon, weighed down with age and armor as she was. A scruff of a beard decorated his chin, and as he walked into the alley, a drop of water fell from its hairs and struck the ground. “Finally,” the wizard muttered as he emerged, his voice smooth and flowing like running water. “I was wondering when somepony was going to get to one of these towns with gemstones. If that had kept up, I’d have had to deal with that annoying dragon and remind her whose turf she’s encroaching on…” Sapphire eyes fell first on Sparrow, but at the clicking of metal, immediately jumped to the right where they met ruby and widened in response. “Legion? What is the meaning of this?” “She… asked to get in touch with you,” Sparrow said, taking an anxious step back when she saw the scowl that plastered itself across the wizard’s face. “She—” “Deep Blue,” Typhoon interrupted, addressing the wizard by name and pushing Sparrow out of the conversation. “I need your help.” “My help?” Deep Blue repeated, surprise coloring his words. “Do you take me for some common hedge mage? Your petty concerns aren’t worth my time, whatever they may be. I am an archmage in all but title, and only then because that misguided mare at the Academy made it clear I was no longer welcome in Everfree. Go fly back there if you want something enchanted, old mare.” “I’m not welcome there either,” Typhoon said, and off to the side, Sparrow blinked in surprise. Then the old soldier opened up her saddlebag, dipped her wing inside, and dropped a couple of sapphires and aquamarines on the ground. “I’m willing to pay for some of your time. I heard that you were looking for these.” Deep Blue’s eyes narrowed, and his long horn glowed with glittering blue magic as he picked up one of the sapphires and looked it over. After a moment, he looked back at Typhoon, and with a snort, tucked the gemstone into one of the pockets hidden in his robes while his magic picked up the rest. “I guess this wasn’t a total waste of time, then. Fine, you’ve earned a bit of my day. What is it that you want?” “Can you break a hex?” The wizard paused. “Hexes are powerful magic,” he said, slowly. “Fey magic. Stronger than the curses the darkest souls of ponykind have ever created. Who cast it?” “Luna.” That one name made Deep Blue take a shocked step back, but it was Sparrow who reacted first. “Luna?” the young mare blurted out in disbelief. “You mean one of the Sisters? Not just, like, some other pony named Luna?” Typhoon shot her an annoyed glance, but nevertheless the tip of her muzzle gave one small bob up and down. After overcoming his shock and searching for words for several seconds, Deep Blue only shook his head. “No. Her magic is powerful, her knowledge ancient. If she cast a hex, then that is beyond my knowledge to break.” Typhoon’s wingtips twitched and her nostrils flared for a moment. “Do you know anypony who might be able to?” “Other than Luna herself? No.” Then he paused, thinking for a moment. “At least, not any ponies…” The old mare took a breath. “Who?” “It’s… complicated.” Deep Blue tucked the rest of the gemstones away, then angled his head back towards the swirling portal behind him. “Come. Maybe I can help you after all.” With that, the wizard turned around and stepped through the magical void, his tail disappearing into the wall with a slight glow of light. Typhoon, a small frown on her muzzle, followed right after him. And Sparrow, after a moment of confusion, astonishment, and hesitancy, swallowed hard and galloped after them before the portal flashed shut.