The unicorn mage and his pegasus friend walked together after Cloud's trial. To Cloud it seemed they wandered aimlessly through the great castle of Canterlot, but Starswirl would take turns without warning his friend.
"Shouldn't we be getting ready for our journey, Starswirl?"
"We are getting ready, at least I am. Walking like this has always been calming to me, and I will need all the calm and clear thought I can get."
The red pegasus raised an eyebrow. "Well that is fine and dandy, but I need my armor back, maybe a weapon or two. And what about supplies? And where are we even going? I have to know these types of things, I'm a general for hay's sake!"
The unicorn was still deep in thought, but he pointed a hoof to a solid oaken door bound with iron. "Take what you need, and maybe just a little of what you want."
Cloud pushed open the door with a heave, inside lay gleaming racks of only the finest weapons and armor. Every make and style of armor, gold burnished plate mail that guards wore sat next to exquisite Diamond Dog crafted steel chainmail. Rack upon rack of longswords, maces and even several heavy crossbows. And of course in a corner lay his own black armor and his cheap, mass produced pegasus weapons. Starswirl nudged the younger pony. "Close your mouth before you start catching flies."
To a warrior like Cloud Hoof, this was like stumbling on a dragon's hoard with the dragon already slain. Grabbing an appealing sword he tested the heft, maybe just a half ounce heavy on the pommel, but still the finest weapon in this armory. A quiver of javelins and a short spear joined his pile of loot. Though his armor choices were mouth watering, Cloud stuck with his own armor, a pegasi's legacy was recorded in his armor. Every scratch and scrape was a tale of battle and a badge of honor. Besides, this was the armor he was to be buried in, or pass on to his heir.
Starswirl looked at Cloud's choice of weapons, looking at the sword tore wounds in his heart. "I know this blade Cloud. I enchanted it myself, the bearer's courage will never fail in battle as long as he bears this blade."
"Who was it meant for?" asked the pegasus general.
Starswirl fought back the pain, "It was meant for Prince Silvergaze, to be given to him on his next birthday, a gift to show he had become a stallion."
Cloud looked at the exquisite blade at his hooves, it indeed seemed fit for a prince. Besides the excellent workmanship, the grip was laced with gold and pearl inlay, in the pommel lay the emblem of House Sirius, the cluster of stars with the dog star central among them. "I am sorry Starswirl, I did not know." He moved to place the sword back on the rack.
"No Cloud, you keep the blade. Silvergaze would have been honored to have his sword born by such a noble and honorable stallion."
Cloud placed the sword into his armor harness, "Then I shall bear it in his name, and avenge his spirit." He placed a hoof on Starswirl's shoulder, "We will find whatever is causing this, Starswirl. We will bring justice to them, and nopony will die because of it."
Starswirl looked his old comrade in the eye. "Why do I doubt that?"
"Do not lose faith in harmony Starswirl, we will prevail over these agents of chaos, and I will fight to my last breath to see our tribes have peace and harmony. Come now, gather your weapons, we have some humans to find." The pegasus general turned from his friend and walked out of the armory, carrying his chosen weapons to his provided quarters.
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It was time, Cloud rose from his uncomfortable feather mattress and began to strap on his armor. Though supposed to be the ultimate comfort, a feather mattress had nothing on a proper cloud formed bed. With breastplate on Cloud used his prehensile wing tips to strap on his spears and buckle his sword belt. He then placed on the coup de grace, his helmet. Based on an ancient human design, it had a horsehair crest on top with metal cheek plates. He looked at himself with a small chuckle, this was what humans considered intimidating? He remembered shaving his own mane for the hair to outfit this helmet. Other than that he had more sharp objects on him than a porcupine and more metal than a human war machine. Quite the intimidating persona, if he didn't collapse of exhaustion from carrying all of it. Making a last minute decision he dropped his quiver of javelins in a corner, throwing a light pegasus round shield on his back instead.
He trotted to the appointed meeting area, the predawn light shrouding the courtyard of Canterlot castle as he looked at his traveling companions. Three of his own brethren, armored as he was, carrying their spears with grim familiarity. Starswirl stood with his three chosen warriors, dressed in his flowing blue robes with bulging saddlebags. His soldiers were the gold armored unicorn guards, lightly armed with weapons, but armed to the teeth with magic.
Oddly enough, four earth ponies stood with them instead of three, all armed with short swords and crossbows. Cloud recognized his earth pony accuser from the trial. He gave a short nod and proceeded to join his soldiers, who gave crisp salutes for their general. As a group the party of twelve warriors walked to the gate to be met by their loved ones.
Cloud saw with hope that Starshine and Hurricane had not fled in fear of their fellow ponies, but came here to see him off. All around him ponies embraced their family members and close friends. Starshine kissed him deeply and without bar. Breaking away slowly she whispered to her husband. "Come back bearing your shield, or come back on it." Cloud Hoof gave her another kiss in response, never wanting to leave his beloved. Cloud turned to his daughter, kneeling to see her eye to eye.
"No matter what happens Hurricane, I will never stop loving you. Never forget what it means to be a pegasus; but more importantly, never forget what it means to be a pony."
Her violet eyes were moist with concern for her father. "Dad..." a single tear slid down her cheek.
Cloud raised a wing and brushed away the tear, "Don't cry Hurricane, I'll always be with you here." With a hoof he pointed to her heart. King Golden Flame himself approached the gate, waiting for the warriors to finish their goodbyes. Cloud stood to listen to the unicorn king.
"My fellow ponies, we stand upon the brink of chaos. A great wrong has been done to us, a horrible deed that threatens to tear us apart. But know that whomever has done this to us has sealed their own fates, for we ponies are strong! We are strong because of the love we hold in our hearts, for the unity that binds us. And now our enemy will quake in fear, knowing he has only brought us closer together! You twelve warriors stand as a beacon of hope for ponykind, your unity and strength of heart will carry the sword of light to strike at the heart of darkness. I task you to find this demon threat in the north and show them what we can do when ponies come together!"
Hooves stomped their applause, the armored ponies placing on their helmets as they began to march out the gate. Cloud donned his laconic helmet, but noticed Starswirl had not yet stopped saying goodbye to a mauve unicorn filly. The heavily armed and armored pegasus placed a hoof on his friend's shoulder. "Starswirl, we must go."
Starswirl talked to the filly, giving instructions as well as goodbyes. "Remember to recalibrate the ley line scanners everyday Clover. And don't touch the cooling box. I will miss you so much Clover, if I do not return, always remember to think with your mind and your heart."
"Yes Master Starswirl." He gave her mane a tussle, then joined his armored companion. Together they exited the front gate of Canterlot to find the hiding place of the murderous Cult of Chaos.
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Their walk was mostly silent, the extreme discipline of every soldier prohibiting idle chatter. The near exception was the crossbow bearing earth ponies. Being only militia, they broke their paired formation often and had to be reprimanded by their leader nearly on the hour. Cloud could almost set the time by it.
"Snowy, back in line!"
Six times since this morning, must be around noon. Cloud was getting tired of staring at the tail hairs of the unicorns in front of him. Starswirl had the best knowledge of the humans of any of them; thus, he led and his three warriors followed close.
The twelve companions passed farms and villages of the earth ponies. Though they worked their fields diligently, many of the farmers had a look of unease about them. Some even stopped their work, staring mostly at the pegasus ponies in the middle of the column. Many farmers had swords strapped to their waists or crossbows leaning against a doorframe. Cloud knew that these simple farmers and villagers held him and his tribe responsible for their suffering, for the murder of their beloved leader.
And now he would march to the ends of the earth to change that view, to bring the true killers to justice. And the wounds of mistrust would not be healed if they did not talk to one another. Cloud slowed down to walk with the earth ponies.
"So, I never did learn your name sir." he addressed his accuser from court. The tan earth pony muttered something under his breath. "Sorry? I didn't quite catch that."
"I said 'flutter off fly-boy'."
The pegasus general felt hurt, and cantered to the front of the column to speak with a pony he knew would be much warmer.
"So Starswirl, how have the years been?"
"I do not feel like idle talk Cloud."
"Come now, if we ever want to heal the rifts between our tribes, I think the first step would be to talk to each other."
Starswirl glared at him from the corner of his eyes. "Like we did with the humans?" Cloud's mouth clamped shut, this unexpected hostility catching the pegasus in a moment of hypocrisy. He fell back to his own trio of soldiers. Cloud never really was a social pony, but now he felt the need to chatter like a squirrel.
"Wedge?"
"Yes general." replied the pegasus soldier to his right.
"How is the family?"
"Sir?"
"You heard correct soldier, I want to hear about your family."
"Sir, yes sir. My wife left me recently for another stallion in my platoon. My son isn't doing so well in the Academy and can't seem to get his wings about him, custody of my colt is mostly on my wife's side, though I get to see him every other weekend, sir."
Oh for the love of the Earth Mother! Cloud was annoyed by the shear amount of bad luck and negativity coming from the twelve companions. "Well Wedge, I'll see what I can do about appealing to the judge to grant you a little more custody."
"Thank you sir."
Cloud viciously clamped his jaws down on his own tongue, hoping to stop the infernal organ from doing anymore damage. Hours passed, at least six by the count of 'Back in line' commands by the earth pony leader. The twelve ponies walked the dusty road to the frontier, not as distant as it would be in the coming years. The earth pony farms and settlements seemed different the closer they got to the protected border. They seemed more unwelcoming, if possible, and more paranoid.
Earth pony farmers slammed their doors shut as the small column marched by, locking their windows and calling their foals inside. More than one earth pony was actually seen standing on his hind legs, toting his crossbow in his forelegs, standing guard over his homestead and his family, waiting for the next attack by the debated enemy. The tan earth pony ran to the forefront of the column.
"Stop!" He had stopped them in front of a farmhouse. "I want the general to see this."
"What is the meaning of this interruption? We must be at the border fort by nightfall!" Cloud interjected.
"I'm not lifting a hoof until you see what happened here."
Cloud stood firm, but seeing the look in the pony's face he conceded, "Fine, I will submit to this one transgression." He and the still un-named earth pony trotted to the farmhouse, leaving the rest of the warriors to rest for a few minutes. The tan pony pushed open the door and grimly beckoned the heavily armored pegasus inside.
It was a travesty, shattered plates and bowls covered the ground. The kitchen table was overturned and a pair of dried bloodstains decorated the floor. This was definitely a crime scene, though the corpses had been removed and interred in the earth. Swallowing the bile in his throat, Cloud asked the earth pony, "Who lived here?"
The tan pony blocked the stairs in the back, preventing Cloud from going there. "Chancellor Breezemane called this cottage home. I was the first one to come here in the morning. I wanted to check on him after so many other farms had been burned to ashes." the pony choked back the pain, "I found that damn pegasus sword up these stairs, next to his children. They suffered General, the monster took pleasure in making those innocent foals suffer. I can still hear little Apple Sweet laugh, but I still see her eyes frozen in fear as she tried to protect her little brother. She was like my own filly."
Cloud placed a wing on the other stallion's shoulder. "I cannot tell you how much pain I would feel if I lost my little Hurricane. And I could never say that I understand the pain of somepony that has, but I would never do anything to put my family in danger. And I would never put somepony else's family in danger."
The agony of loss defined the face of his comrade, "I know you would never do such a monstrous act General, and I only want to bring justice to the monsters that would."
"Come on, we will discuss the next stages of our journey when we reach the border post."
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The sun's fall and the sounds of early evening touched everypony as they trudged into the border post that marked the current extent of the pony nations, separating them from the wilder, more untamed lands where the humans dwelt. The pegasus ponies could have made the trip in just a few short hours with their wings to bear them, but they walked to keep pace with their unwelcome traveling companions. Cloud led the way into the post, saluting his troops. Sending the rest of his pony companions to the travelers boarding house he entered the commander's office. A solitary pegasus sat behind his desk, writing a missing ponies report when he noticed the entry of his general.
"General sir! We were not expecting an inspection at this hour."
"At ease commander, we're here on more serious business than a simple inspection. Are you aware that the entire unicorn royal family was assassinated and the earth pony chancellor as well?"
The commander of the post looked shocked, "No sir, we heard that the unicorns and earth ponies were upset about something. But not something that serious!"
"None of that matters now, we have obtained certain intelligence that says humans are responsible for these actions. And that these humans came from the north, most likely right through here."
The commander looked at his report, "That could explain this. General sir, a few days ago one of the guards left his post and never returned, do you think that the humans had something to do with it?"
"It is possible, the king and chancellor were both found with the weapons and feathers of one of our warriors near them."
"General Cloud Hoof sir, there is something else you should know. The demons are showing more signs of movement in the past few days. We've actually seen the plagued ones moving in packs, like they were out hunting."
"Damn, and we have to go into that territory."
The commander's eyes grew wide, "Sir, I would not enter demon territory with any less than a full legion of soldiers. My entire command is going with you."
"No, stealth is required for this mission. And if you abandoned your post to chase humans with me, they might take advantage of the hole in our defenses and attack."
The commander settled, "Of course sir, I will send a missive back to Cloudsdale to request reinforcements, just in case they do try something."
"Excellent commander, I take my leave for the evening." The commander snapped a hoofed salute, Cloud returned it.
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Cloud slipped the heavy pegasus armor off his shoulders, using a wingtip to try and rub out the soreness and chafing. He could have taken private quarters for visiting officers, but he chose to stay with his companions. Even if Starswirl and his still yet unnamed earth pony companion refused to try to heal the rifts, Cloud would be damned before pony forsook pony. He walked through the doorway separating the barracks from the mess, as he predicted the ponies were separated by tribe, his warriors in the corner, eating their standard staple of grains and oats. The unicorns sat in front of the fire, each one reading from a complicated looking spellbook while taking bites of hay. The earth ponies sat roughly in the middle, their eyes shifting between the other pony tribes as they took their supper.
Cloud grabbed a bowl with his wing, walking to the hearth he scooped out a helping of stew from the kettle. And to the surprise of his warriors, took a seat with the unicorns. "Evening everypony."
The three unicorn warriors glared at him from the corners of their eyes, not trusting or liking the pegasus. Starswirl did not pay any attention, the old unicorn sighed as he stared at his spellbook.
"Starswirl, I am sorry for whatever I did. Please forgive me. Please, just talk to me."
Starswirl looked up from his book, his eyes were bloodshot, deep bags that seemed almost hidden by his vibrant purple fur. "It is not you Cloud, this is something that plagues me and me alone. What they did tears wounds in me, and rips open old wounds from the war."
"Starswirl, I do not know how unicorns deal with such pain, but amongst pegasi we talk to our friends to alleviate our sorrow and regrets. And even to find a shoulder to weep on if needed."
The old unicorn ran a hoof through his mane, sighing. "It's White Dawn. I still remember her, ten years after those...those demons took her away from me. And now they come back to tear away everypony that I love again. I couldn't save her ten years ago, and I couldn't save the royal family days ago. I hate them Cloud, I hate those motherless demons with every shred of my existence, but you say we have to give them another chance, try to help them."
"If we let them suffer and die without cause, we become no better than they were. We become the very monsters we rebelled against for our freedom. And I for one have seen the good in their hearts, I know they can become our friends if we show them something other than hate, fear and repulsion."
Starswirl's head shook, "Not all of us had the privilege to be held prisoner by the humans, much less get the chance to talk to one on equal terms."
Cloud chuckled, "I wouldn't exactly call it 'equal terms', the first time Dr. Patterson and I talked, he tried to give me a carrot and pat me on the nose while saying 'There's a nice pony.' I told him I wasn't the fondest of carrots." The unicorn warriors were breaking their stoic facade, small smiles creeping up the corners of their mouths as they tried to hold in their snickering. A light grin even crept up Starswirl's face.
"So what is with our friend over there? My old prosecutor."
"Him? He's normally just a lawyer for some of the pony villages, must have joined the militia a few years back. He took your case because Chancellor Breezemane's wife was his cousin."
"I understand that part, but what is his name? I can't go on a journey, fighting side by side with him just calling him 'you', 'hey' or 'tan earth pony with the waterfall cutie mark'."
"You don't know?" Starswirl glanced at his warriors, who all now had big grins on their faces, stifling their laughter. "If you didn't know that's probably why he didn't tell you."
"Well, what is his name for hay's sake?" Cloud'e eyebrows came together in annoyance.
Starswirl and his warriors were laughing openly now, "It's Sunny! Sunny Brook! Ha ha ha!"
"Sunny Brook? Isn't that-"
"Indeed, a mare's name!" the old unicorn was stomping a hoof on the table, laughing enough to where he had to catch his breath. Cloud took a chance and glanced in Sunny's direction. The earth pony was red with embarrassment and rage, his fellows continued to eat their stew, used to his oddity. Cloud stood and walked over with his bowl of stew. Sitting down with the earth ponies, he cleared his throat.
"So, um, Sunny, I was wondering how a pony could even use a crossbow with such efficiency as yourselves."
The tan pony glared, "Practice, now go migrate south, bird brain."
Cloud faked a laugh. "Ha, funny. Bird brain, cause I have wings like a bird..."
"That's the joke, feather head."
Cloud shifted uneasily, tapping a hoof on the floor. He took a slurp of his cooling stew, he nearly spit it out with how hot it was. "So, these soldiers know how to make a good stew eh?" One of the earth ponies shrugged. Damn it! He had to find a way to get them to trust him, if they didn't somepony was likely to get killed out there in the human territory.
"So Sunny, I can kind of see how you got your name. The Sun is a very powerful force, heck, the humans even say that the Sun created everything, including the Earth. And a brook, well, um....brooks are very pure in nature, sign of purity and true oneness with everything."
The tan earth pony stared at Cloud, wondering what kind of salt he had licking tonight. "Are you completely serious?"
Cloud nodded, his black mane shaking. "Yup."
"HA! Never looked at it that way 'General'. You are really that desperate for my approval? Alright, I'll tolerate you and your feather brained brutes. But I still don't like you."
"That's all I needed to hear." Cloud stood with his ever present stew, going to sit with his own warriors.