//------------------------------// // The incoming storm // Story: The Birth of a New Kingdom // by Dranz_89 //------------------------------// Focus… She was breathing deeply, seated under her favorite pine tree, her eyes closed. The glowing of the magic aura around her horn increased when she inhaled, and decreased when she exhaled. Her magic perfectly synced with her meditation, and her mind in blank. It was just her, the pine tree and… “Clover.” Just her, the pine tree and a mysterious voice that somehow found it’s way through her ears. Was that the voice of a very handsome unicorn calling her name? Her breathing increased speed and the aura around her horn became more volatile. Focus! The silence returned and brought the calm with it. Remember the words of Master Starswirl, ‘if you drank too much apple cider, and you have to speak in public, remember to…’ No! Not those words! FOCUS! “Clover, wake up! I need to talk to you!” Called the voice again. She felt a poke from a hoof on her left cheek. She tried to stay calm and breath deeper, but the poke insisted more and more. “Argh! What do you want!?” Clover screamed furiously, she opened her eyes and glared at the pony calling her name, only to realise that she startled the unicorn that interrupted her meditation. It was Raystorm, he looked scared… and quite handsome. “Oh… Raystorm, please, I wasn’t sleeping, I was training.” ‘What kind of training requires you to sit and do nothing?’ Raystorm thought, he cleared his throat and regained his cool. “Sorry, I didn’t know. I just wanted to tell you that  we’re planning another quest to rescue Princess Platinum, I know I’ve asked this before, but you would make an invaluable recruit. Would you please reconsider?” “My answer is the same,” said Clover, “sorry, but I have my own business to attend.” “Clover… you shouldn’t leave her alone just because of my previous actions. She needs us, maybe needs you more than anyone else, she’s your friend!” “She’s more than just my friend!” Clover stood up from a boost, “much more than just my princess! She is like my family! My sister! Her vision, her ideals! I truly believe in her! And she thought that you believed too. She needed your support and you sold her out!” The silence took over Raystorm, he looked down for a second realising that he pressed a fresh wound on Clover. He spoke to her about the princess a few days ago, and she exploded in anger as well. After a short gulp, he finally spoke again, ”Clover… please understand. I was trying to do what’s best for everyone. It wasn’t supposed to...” “Well, you got your honor and prestige back,” Clover turned her back at Raystorm and grabbed her saddle bag laying next to her, “at least you did what’s best for yourself. Look, I have to go, like I said, I have some business to attend to, so if you excuse me, Captain Raystorm, I must be on my way.” “We’ll depart in one hour if you change your mind,” said Raystorm, raising his voice to make sure that Clover listens. ‘Yeah, right. She hates you, idiot.’ Raystorm waited for two hours just to make sure if Clover would arrive. Of course, she didn’t. He didn’t know why, but now that Clover wasn’t being awkwardly friendly towards him, it was a painful feeling. After admitting that Clover wasn’t going to show up, he and the twelve more unicorns he recruited began their mission heading to the hills to the north, where the earth ponies that captured the princess headed a few days ago. They walked for hours and hours as their city shrunk in the distance behind them until it was out of sight. They found nothing but a white field as far as they could see. The wind was blowing as if threatening with an oncoming storm, and the sky was getting darker. “Yo, sir, I think it’s time to camp!” said an orange unicorn, he had a black vest and a black beret, he was thinner than the others and his equipment consisted of only a map and a compass. However, Raystorm did not stop, he kept walking forward. “Stay on track, scout! If it is a storm, our limited equipment would be no match for it, anyway. We’ll move forward until we find the princess or we’ll die trying!” Suddenly, he felt a force on his tail that pulled him backwards, and a golden magic barrier appeared, protecting him and the other unicorns from the blizzard. He turned around to see the responsible, for he knew it was Arcana, Clover’s mother. “Look, I understand your eagerness to save the princess,” she said, “and if you want to die doing so, that’s fine. But don’t drag all of us into your suicide misadventures. Some of us have families and would like to come back home safely.” Raystorm calmly nodded, and commanded to set up the camp. He took out some wooden sticks out of his saddlebag, and cast a fire spell on them to make a bonfire. He turned around and saw how Arcana took out some cabbages from her own saddlebag and shared them with the rest of the unicorns. He approached to take his ration, but also to talk to her. “You said I would be rewarded,” he said with a low tone, almost whispering, “I followed your advice and now your daughter and the princess hate me! Even if we find her, she would prefer to stay captured than being rescued by me.” “Pardon me? Are you placing the blame on me?” she replied with a calm smile, and  put a cabbage in Raystorm’s mouth to shut him up. “I advised you to do what you thought was best for everyone. The key word here is ‘Advice’. Advice is free, my dear, listening to others costs much more. The one who did everything was you, and you alone. My daughter and the princess think of you as a traitor? So what? Be a stallion, stand behind your own decisions, admit your mistakes, swallow your pain, and deal with it. Don’t come crying to me just because it didn’t turn out how you wanted. You’re already grown up, I shouldn’t be telling you this.” Captain Raystorm stood silent, what could he say? Everything Arcana said was truth, and her warm smile was still on her face. ‘Who is this mare?’ he lost himself in his thoughts, his skin was freezing under his fur, and the slumber was gaining weight on his eyelids. He turned his sight to his recruits, who were laughing at their inappropriate jokes. He ate the cabbage in one big swig, and headed toward his tent, sad or angry or tired, whatever. He just wanted to shut his eyes and, hopefully, clear his mind until the next morning. After he placed his head over the uncomfortable pillow, his eyes closed immediately. “Captain, you may want to see this!” the scout unicorn called to him. Raystorm woke up with a jump. ‘How much did I sleep? It felt like just an instant.’ He wasted no time to walk outside of his tent, the light of morning overwhelmed his view for a few seconds. He noticed that all other unicorns were all facing skywards with their mouths wide open. When he gazed upon the sky, he understood why, and did the same. No unicorn could believe it. A cinnamon colored pony passed right over their heads followed by a group of over twenty of these strange ponies. After a swift and well organized U-turn maneuver, like a flock of birds soaring through the sky, the strange ponies gracefully landed in front of the unicorns. They were all mares, wearing armors made of hard steel. The cinnamon colored pony wore a helmet that had a red colored mane that looked like a brush. She took the helmet off her head and fixed a long ebony colored mane, but that was not the most shocking part of it. The most shocking part of it was that she spread two limbs coming out of her body, they were not legs, though, they were a pair of large feathered wings. Due to the noise of awe and shock, Arcana came out of her tent, yawning and barely awake, “must we really wake up so early every single day?” she said, but when she spotted their unexpected guests, her jaw almost hit the ground, and the winged mare stared directly at her with her two golden eyes. “Who are you?” asked Raystorm, with a defensive tone. “Shut up, stallion, before I kick your tail back to the kitchen where it belongs,” replied the winged mare, very offended. She approached Arcana and gently bowed down to her for a split second before talking again. “Well met, lady. My name is Commander Cotton Cloud, don’t laugh. I’m here to inform you that you… what? You’ve never seen a pegasus before?” Arcana, without saying a word, shook her head, contemplating the beautiful wings of the ponies before her. “Oh, well… this is kind of awkward,” the pegasus mare grinned, “well, you are trespassing our territory. What is your business in our lands? Who is your highest authority?” “I am,” responded Raystorm, “and I’m sorry, we didn’t know this lands belonged to another creature. We are on a quest to look for someone, have you seen any creature that looks just like us? But without horns on their heads... or wings on their bodies.” “Really? You?” Cotton Cloud shifted her sight between Arcana and Raystorm, with disgust in her eyes,  “a stallion has a higher authority than a mare? That is unthinkable in our culture. You unicorns are certainly a strange lot. But yes, we know about the earth ponies. When you spend your whole life on the sky, your horizon has no limit, you can see everything. Anyway, last I heard, earth ponies and unicorns were at war. What is your purpose on going there? With these numbers you’re gonna get destroyed, earth ponies are the masters of guerrilla operations, you know?” “Trust me, I know that very well. But with all respect, our business is NOT your business,” said Raystorm, “we’re just looking for the earth ponies, and that’s all you need to know. If you would be kind enough to point us in the right direction, we’ll be on our way, and out of your territory as soon as possible. We don’t want any conflict with the pegasus folk.” “Good. We don’t want any conflict with the unicorns either,” Cotton Cloud said, sensing some hostility from Raystorm, “specially, considering the ‘condition’ of your kingdom. I will tell you where you need to go. There are three neighbor villages completely populated by earth ponies. Just turn around and head west, you can’t miss them, they are on top on a hill. Now, ‘with all respect’, I’ve had enough talking with a stallion as an equal. I will have to ask you to leave, please.” Raystorm bowed down to the pegasus commander, and ordered his recruits to quickly lift the camp and leave, as the group pegasus lifted off to the skies and stood on a cloud high above the unicorns. Commander Cotton Cloud, vigilantly, saw the unicorns march to the west as she told them, looking down on them as if they were little ants compared to her. “See, Hurricane?” she talked to a grey colored pegasus with silver mane and tail who was standing behind her, “strength is everything. Those unicorns noticed our strength. They stood defensive, intimidated by it. I’m glad no combat was necessary. You know how much I hate unnecessary fights. Weak and unarmed, there is nothing more unnecessary than an easy fight against a weak opponent. The only way to get stronger is by fighting strong opponents.” “Yes, you are right, commander,” said Hurricane, her calm black eyes and the slow pace of her speaking showed boredom, as if she had heard the same speech many times in the past, she scratched the back of her neck as if doing so would rid her of her boredom. “Still, it’s strange that a group of unicorns that small is looking for earth ponies, but not for a fight, it’s.... intriguing. Maybe a plot that we are unprepared for. Take just one mare of your trust and follow them, Hurricane. Find out what’s going on, and make sure you stay hidden.” After a long yawn, Hurricane saluted and marched away while her commander headed back into a tall squared building made out of the same cloud they were standing on. Seconds later, Hurricane lifted off to follow the unicorns, she was accompanied by another sea green colored pegasus with violet mane and tail. After two entire days of exhausting marching, the unicorns found a hill to the far west, and on top of it, there it was. A group of small wooden houses. The first signal of civilization after two long days. Raystorm stood still as his recruits celebrated the discovery. But the important  question was still unanswered, ‘is Princess Platinum in this town? And is she still alive?’ As he carefully rehearsed on his mind all the possible courses of action and outcomes of this situation. Arcana carefreely moved ahead. “Hellooooooo! Earth ponies! We’re looking for the princess! Is she heeeere?” she shouted while waving her hoof, with a big smile. First, only one earth pony poked his head from a window. Then, he went back inside, and seconds later, he came out of the house and rushed toward Raystorm and company, armed with a spear. Shortly after, another earth pony followed the previous one. And then another, and then many, many more. The unicorns were surrounded by over fifty earth ponies and they were all armed with spears and clubs. Arcana realised her mistake, and cowered back hiding behind Raystorm. The unicorns prepared for battle, aiming their horns at the earth ponies, and the earth ponies aimed their spears at them.The tension grew up, Raystorm planned the next move. Right in front of him, he spotted a trembling earth pony among them who could easily drop his spear and run away. It was an obvious opening in the enemy’s formation. With a deft maneuver he easily shot a magic beam to the earth pony as a diversion. The earth pony moved aside and stumbled with his partners, breaking the formation. Raystorm and his recruits charged forward, breaking through the earth ponies’ formation, and heading into the village. The unicorns were outnumbered for about ten to one, and the streets were guarded by mares and young stallions, prepared for the worst. With no time to think, Arcana cast a spell that created a golden light ball that burst into a cloud of smoke, Raystorm took advantage of the confusion, he pulled Arcana by her tail and ran inside an empty house. The unicorns quickly grabbed tables, chairs and beds and barricaded the front door and the windows. Arcana cast another spell that covered the whole house with a golden barrier, the same she used on the snowstorm days ago. “Stargazer… Stargazer…” Arcana ran to the nearest corner inside the house, while trying to regain her breath. Nor her lungs nor her muscles were tired, but there was an unusual chill in her spine and her knees wouldn’t stop shaking. She noticed that none of the unicorns felt the same way as she did, they all had calm and serious faces, vigilantly looking out the window and ready to fight back. The already fast beating of her heart sped up even more when she could hear the earth ponies attacking the barrier. “Save me, Stargazer!” “Well done, Mrs. Arcana,” said Raystorm, he palmed her back, “I didn’t know you had the instincts for survival. You’d make a great soldier.” “Instincts for…? No!” Arcana widened her eyes, “ you got it all wrong! It’s not instinct! I’m scared! I just wanted to run for my life! Unlike you, you are so calm and collected, you don’t look scared at all.“ “It’s normal to be scared, you did pretty well on your first taste of action,” Raystorm said, he seated next to her, “in my first real combat, I dug a hole on the snow and hid my face like a little colt, my sergeant grabbed me by the tail and took me to a safe bunker.” “That’s nothin’, yo!” said the scout unicorn, “in my first mission, I panicked so hard that I shot our sarge in his right hind leg, and he still managed to carry my tail back to camp while I was crying like a baby.” “R-Really...?” Arcana calmed down a bit. Raystorm touched Arcana’s shoulders and stared directly at her teary eyes, “It happens to everyone. I learned that: ‘Being scared doesn’t make you a coward, and ignoring fear doesn’t make you brave.’ It was Sergeant Stargazer who taught us that.” Suddenly, a loud crash sound invaded the house, like a shattering crystal. Then the door was blasted open by the headbutt of an earth pony. It was Seed Sower, they cornered the unicorns inside the house, he growled and the other earth ponies pointed their spears at Raystorm and his recruits. “Well, well, well,” Seed Sower smiled, “what do we have here? If it isn’t...” “Please, allow me,” the familiar voice of a young mare spoke from behind, interrupting Seed Sower’s talk. The earth ponies’ formation opened to make room for the the mare to show her face. It was Princess Platinum, she glared at Seed Sower, and cleared her throat. “Well, well, well,” Princess Platinum smiled, “What do we have here? If it isn’t ‘Sergeant Backstabber’ and his ‘Backstabbing Crew’!” “Actually, he was promoted to captain,” said the scout unicorn, a nervous grin drawn on his face. Princess Platinum’s face got red of anger. And the scout unicorn wisely understood that his mouth should stay shut. “Princess! I can explain!” said Raystorm, “We were not sent here with violent purposes. The king, he...” “I don’t care what my father said, ‘Captain’!” Platinum covered her eyes with her hoof, trying to shake off her anger. Then, she took a glance at the other unicorns, she stared at the scout’s silly face, and next to Raystorm was Arcana, trembling with fear, “Mrs. Clover’s Mom! What are you doing here!?” “Heh, hello, Princess,” said Arcana, trying to calm herself. A feat that proved to be most difficult with the sharp point of a lance aiming at  her chest, “We are v-volunteers in a quest to find the c-captured princess. P-please, don’t kill me.” “What? No! Of course not!” Platinum gasped, “I promise you that no one is going to die. Seed, please, let them go.” But after turning her sight back to Raystorm, she corrected herself, “Everyone, except him, he’s not to be trusted.” Seed Sower sighed and said, “Platinum, no  unicorn is to be trusted, if we let them go, they will give our location to the king, and that would be our end.” “Please, don’t hurt them! They’re just following my stubborn father’s orders. Can you, at least, release Mrs. Clover’s Mother? I know her, she is one of the nicest unicorns I’ve ever met.” “I doubt that’s her actual name,” said Seed Sower, “But fine, I’ll concede you this one. Not because you know her, that means nothing to me. But because she’s scared to death, I don’t think she’s any danger. You take care of her, Platinum. I won’t hurt the others, but I promise nothing. If they try even a small ruse, it will be their last.” The pony threatening Arcana lowered his spear, and Arcana ran to Platinum and hugged her tightly, like hugging her own daughter. The rest of the unicorns were taken away, tied and blindfolded, to the outskirts of town. “Give thank to your princess, unicorns, for I won’t kill you,” said the earth pony leader, “But I don’t think the cold night is as merciful as I am.” Princess Platinum introduced Arcana to Smart Cookie and Puddinghead, and she was received with open arms and big smiles. Estrella, however, was horrified to have yet another unicorn in her house, but Celestia and Luna were fascinated by her, both fillies immediately asked her to do some magic. “Absolutely not!” Estrella protested. Meanwhile, from a cloud above the village, Hurricane and her partner were spying on the events in the earth pony village. The sea-green colored pegasus watched cautiously, taking her mission very seriously. Unlike Hurricane, who was laying on the cloud, not paying much attention to the earth ponies, like she didn’t care at all. “I don’t believe it! They got the princess captured,” said the green pegasus, “those unicorns were a rescue team, and it looks like they failed miserably. And you thought the war had ended, looks like I won! Stop being a lazy bum and pay up!” “I can do one of those things,” Hurricane took off her helmet, and from it, she grabbed a small pouch filled with golden coins and gave it to the green pegasus. “Seriously, Hurricane,” said the green pegasus, with a disapproval face, “if you weren’t the laziest pegasus ever, you would be commander of your own unit. You could even surpass Commander Cotton Cloud.” “I don’t think the pegasi need yet another meathead commander, yelling at everyone and being moody all the time,” said Hurricane, stretching her legs, “besides, that would be a lot more work to do, it’s just not what I’m looking for.” Then, she poked her head from the cloud and took a look of Princess Platinum, who was talking to Arcana and walking to a nearby house, “don’t you think the Unicorn Princess looks more like a villager than a prisoner? Why is she roaming free like that? Shouldn’t she be locked in a cell or something?” “Beats me. What matters is that we found out some juicy stuff for the commander. I say mission accomplished, let’s go report.“ The green pegasus smiled with great excitement and lifted off. As for Hurricane, she yawned yet again, stretched her legs, and followed her partner.