//------------------------------// // Chapter 10 // Story: The First Standoff // by bookhorse125 //------------------------------// Gusty thudded to the ground, the wind knocked out of her. Gasping, she struggled to her hooves, wincing at all her newfound bruises, scrapes, and sores. Another unicorn crashed to the ground next to her, her sap colored coat matted with real sap. The pony staggered to her hooves and lit her horn, making her dark green mane come out of the messy bun it was in and pulling pine needles out before putting her mane back into a new, neat bun, tying the ribbon double tight this time. “Up, cadets!” snapped Storm, glaring at the two unicorns from his little surveillance platform in the trees. “Back to the start!” “How about I knock you out of that tree,” Gusty muttered under her breath, narrowing her eyes at the back of storm’s head as he turned away to yell at some more ponies, “and then drop a boulder on your back, and stand on top of that and yell at you to get back up a million times, and see how you like it.” The unicorn snorted with laughter. “Please do,” she gasped, wiping tears from her eyes. “It would be much better than doing this all day.” She held out her hoof. “Everpine.” “Gusty.” They shook. “I wasn’t joking, cadets!” roared Storm when he saw that the two unicorns hadn’t moved. “Get moving! This isn’t chit-chat time!” A sudden thought occurred to him, and he smirked. “If you can’t complete the training, you need to leave immediately!” “Would you mind painting me in the direction of the exit?” Gusty called back. Storm pointed to the east. “Does this mean you quit?” he asked, unmistakable hope flashing across his face. Gusty flashed him a grin. “No. I just wanted to make sure you knew which direction you’ll be heading. We wouldn’t want anypony getting lost on their way out.” Everpine burst out laughing again, as did several other ponies who had paused to watch. Flush creeped up Storm’s neck, and he sent a look of pure hatred and loathing at Gusty before he roared, “Everypony back to training!” He turned to shoot another fiery look at Gusty, only to find that the unicorn had turned and was trotting back to the beginning of the obstacle course with a new, infuriating bounce in her step. He growled and turned to yell at an earth pony who wasn’t doing anything wrong to satisfy himself. Training took place in a secluded clearing, surrounded on all sides by a thick, tangled ravine that was impossible to cross - if you didn’t have access to the secret tunnels under the ravine, under constant watch and protection by unicorns. Pegasi subtly patrolled the skies, keeping a strict no-fly zone over the area and the immediately surrounding five meters. Earth ponies walked through the rope bridges and tree stumps and evergreen trees and other training equipment, assisting the leaders and trainers (more unicorns and pegasi) wherever they needed it, or, if they were lucky, got put on patrols with the unicorns, keeping everything the Equestrian army did a secret. It was Gusty’s second day here, and it was just as brutal and difficult as it had been the previous day. She and Everpine climbed a spiral staircase built into a tree and reached the starting platform for the rope bridge Gusty had been trying to cross for the past hour. There were no railings on any of them, but this one in particular was made of chunks of wood, barely as big as one of Gusty’s hooves, strung on two ropes with varying distances between them. The ones near the beginning were easy, but the farther you went, the larger the spaces became, until you were practically jumping from one to the other. Worse, the platform at the end was at least a meter above the starting one, meaning that you got higher as you went. Already the distance to the ground was enough to make Gusty dizzy if she thought about it too much. The leaders had swapped - now a younger unicorn stallion stood there, his dark red coat contrasting with his bright orange and yellow mane that looked like real flames when he moved. His green eyes were kinder, which was a good sign to Gusty. He introduced himself as Colonel Fire Storm. “Well?” He stepped to the side and jerked his head at the bridge. “Seriously?” Gusty scoffed and tossed her head in overly exaggerated disbelief. “No words of wisdom that make no sense until the heat of the battle, when the pieces finally click, and your whole life is suddenly changed forever, allowing you to finally give the enemy the dose of justice it deserves?” She looked around and lowered her voice to a stage whisper. “This could be the difference between victory and defeat, chief.” He cracked a smile. “Sorry,” he told her. “No words of wisdom from me.” “Aw, come on!” Everpine begged, getting in on the act. “Just one?” Fire Storm sighed, as if these ponies were wearing on him. “All right, fine,” he finally relented, and Gusty and Everpine’s faces grew eager with anticipation. “I’m going to share a piece of very important, top secret information.” The two mares leaned forward as the colonel whispered, “Before the battle of the hoof comes the battle of the mind.” “Pfft,” Gusty said dismissively, “I already knew that.” Fire Storm’s eyes twinkled. “Ah, yes, but do you know what it means?” “It means we need to figure it out later and try this dumb bridge again!” Everpine announced, leaping forward and landing on four pieces of wood, wobbling a bit. Once she regained her balance, she turned and grinned at the two ponies behind her. “Come on, Gusty!” “I’ll bet I’ll beat you to the other side,” Gusty challenged, taking off after Everpine. The pony in front of the sap colored unicorn slipped and fell, managing to spread his wings before he crashed, and flying dejectedly back to the start. But while Everpine wobbled, she didn’t fall, even as she leaped from one wooden block to another. Then one of the blocks slipped as Everpine put her full weight on it, and the unicorn lost her balance, toppling towards the ground headfirst, unable to twist out of that position. She had only been three steps from the end, and was much higher up than she had ever been. And she was heading towards a massive boulder at an alarming speed. Everpine screamed, and while many ponies turned her way, none seemed able to react fast enough.” “Everpine!” Gusty cried, leaping forward half a dozen steps and lighting her horn desperately. The falling pony was suddenly caught in a magic aura of yellow and gently lifted back onto the bridge, on a much safer block of wood, right next to Gusty. Everpine threw her arms around her friend. “Thank you,” she whispered, unable to say anything more. “What are friends for?” “Is everypony okay?” Fire Storm demanded as he came to a halt by the two mares. “We’re fine,” Gusty assured him. “But you should make sure that none of these are loose - somepony really could get hurt.” Fire Storm frowned at the tilted stump of wood. “That shouldn’t have happened,” he fretted. “All the steps are reinforced with tree sap - they shouldn’t be loose.” “It would take magic to do something like this,” Storm snapped, having joined the group. He spun the step and glared at Gusty. “You think I would do something like this?” She glared right back. “Why would she do something like that?” Fire Storm demanded, taking a step forward, though his hoof only found air, and it took him a few moments to regain his balance. WHen he did, he fixed his fiery eyes on Storm. “Trust me, I was watching the whole thing - however that happened-” he thrust a hoof at the bridge “-was either an accident or was planned out beforehoof-” “And would it be too hard to assume,” Storm said loudly to the crowd that had gathered around the group - training seemed to have been forgotten, “that a unicorn would plan something like this?” Mutters broke out, pegasi and earth ponies leaning together and whispering, while unicorns looked furious, though they still looked at Gusty with suspicion and distrust. She felt her face growing hot, and an uncomfortable feeling was growing inside her, that made her want to light her horn and blast all these ponies in the face for thinking she would do something this awful, but that would only prove them right, and get her kicked out of the army - her last chance to help defeat Grogar and free the land. Now is not the time for strong emotions. Fire Storm raised his hoof, and everypony fell silent. “As I am the highest ranking pony present, I’ll be the judge of this,” he said in a tight voice. “This will be investigated, but for now, we will assume that it was nothing but a freak accident, one that shall stand as a future example. And rest assured,” he added, “if a pony can be found responsible for this, he or she will be appropriately punished. Cadet, Gusty, a word.” He trotted off, and Gusty followed him, her head held low to avoid the stares, though her ears couldn’t quite shut out the whispers.