A Charred Stone

by Priceless911

Ch 10 To the Summit

The air felt cold and dry as I tried all I could to breathe at this high altitude. I tried to ignore the snow blowing around me as I grabbed onto each rock, which was so cold, it felt like rough ice. Feeling the slack in our rope, I tried to look as high as I could to see the summit, but with the thick snow and clouds all around us, it proved impossible. As I tried to look up, Commander Bolt who was climbing right below me tapped my back hoof as he spoke, “let’s keep it moving cadet, you may be up front, but I still can’t hold on forever.”
Nodding my head as I reached for the next rock on the mountain, I replied, “Why am I leading again?”

Commander Bolt continued behind me as he replied, “you’re lighter than me, so it would be better if you went first. That way if I grab onto a loose rock, I won’t fall and take you with me from the jerk in the rope. With you leading, you can safely hold me while I regain my grip. This rope around our torso is there for a reason you know.”
“And… what about me?... what if I fall?”
Commander Bolt replied with confidence, “then I'll catch you… you don’t weigh that much… do you?”
I gave him a serious look as I replied, “don’t even think about trying to guess how much I weight.”

Looking back to what I was doing, I continued climbing as I heard Commander Bolt chuckle behind me and despite me being the butt of this joke, I couldn’t help but smile along with his laughter as we continued up the mountain with the rope connecting us both. As we continued up the side of the cliff, I could only guess how many hours had passed since we reached the snow line on the mountain. Four, five… maybe even more. Either way, I knew we were very high up since even I was starting to feel the air thin itself out. Finally, I saw what looked like another platform above as I called back to Commander Bolt, “Commander… I think we made it… there is a flat area ahead.”

Commander Bolt nodded his head, “I don’t think our time was that good… but then again I haven’t paying much attention. We may be at the summit”
I smiled with excitement, “we could only hope right?”
With hope in my actions, I reached for the top of the platform as I pulled myself high enough to see over its edge. Sadly, when I did,I could see the entrance to a cave with a wall that continued into the thick clouds above. Seeing this, I sighed as I reached for an embedded stone on the top of the ledge, “Nope… false alarm, there’s still more mountain to cli…”
Before I could finish my sentence, the stone I grabbed onto broke free from the ground as I started falling back and off the edge.

With my body slowly starting to fall from the side of the cliff, my body went into an unusual combination of shock, and hesitation as everything around be seemed to slow down as I fell. Still seeing everything around me moving slowly, I looked towards the cliff as I started to pass Commander Bolt who was still holding onto the cliff. With everything around me moving slowly, I watched as Commander Bolt moved in almost lightning fast speed, to wrap the support rope around his right hoof and brace himself for what came next. With the slack in the robe quickly vanishing, I found myself being jerked upward as Commander Bolt caught my weight in the rope as I slammed into the side of the cliff as I heard Commander Bolt grunt in pain over the tightening rope wrapped around his hoof.

Stunned from the impact, I dangled from the support rope for a few seconds as Commander Bolt spoke through his pain, “Ca-det… are… are you okay?”
As I realized what just happened, I looked back up at him as I replied, “yea… I'm alright… thanks to you.”
Commander Bolt continued speaking with a little pain in his voice, “G-good. Now if you wouldn’t mind. Grab onto something before I lose my grip.”
Quickly realizing, I reached out for the cliff as I grabbed it and pulled myself in before anchoring myself and replying, “I got it sir! You can let go now.”

Worried I watched as Commander Bolt unwrapped his hoof from the rope before placing it against his chest as if he were slinging it. Then he replied, “Alright cadet… let’s try this again… this time without falling. Go ahead and climb up.”
Nodding my head, I proceeded to climb up the side of the cliff a second time until I was level with Commander Bolt, then I looked at him and asked, “Commander? Are you alright?”
Commander Bolt nodded his head as he replied, “I will be once we are on stable ground. Get a move on.”
Hearing his impatience in his voice, I continued climbing up the cliff until I reached the platform that I fell from earlier.

After reaching the platform I climbed up and anchored myself as I called down, “alright commander! Ready when you are.”
Although I didn’t hear any reply, I knew Commander Bolt heard me since the slack in the rope started to get looser as he made his way up. When he finally reached the edge of the platform, I rushed to him as he reached out with his uninjured hoof for me to grab and pull up. As soon as he was up, I noticed him limping a little when he stepped on his right hoof as I spoke, “you okay commander?”
Commander Bolt nodded his head, “I'm fine… just a little pain is all. There should be a cave not too far from here. We need to get there and take shelter. A quick break is all I need.”

Without letting me reply, Commander Bolt started trotting along the cliffs edge that seemed to be some kind of mountainside trail. Following him closely, I watched as Commander Bolt continued his failed attempts to hide his limping. Though it was too noticeable, I still decided not to say anything. Twice now, I asked about it and twice he shot me down. So I thought that his pride would only push him further if I tried again. A few minutes later the trail ended as it lead to a mountainside cave. Without hesitation, Commander Bolt entered the cave and sat inside far enough that the stinging wind couldn’t reach us. As he sat down, he placed his saddlebag on the ground and pulled out some hay and a few apples. Then he held out an apple to me and spoke, “here… before it gets cold.”

Noticing the corny yet obvious joke, I replied with a smile, “Gee thanks.”
As I reached up to grab the apple, Commander Bolt chuckled. “Funny… that’s the first time you ever smiled at me, without accomplishing something first.”
Feeling myself blush a little I replied with an annoyed tone, “Well it’s not like I can’t smile or anything! It’s just… um…”
Commander Bolt smiled back, “you haven’t had much reason to smile… have you.”
I didn’t reply, not because I didn’t want to, but I couldn’t think of a believable excuse. Noticing my silence Commander Bolt replied, “Don’t take it the wrong way… but… I just didn’t know you could smile like that.”

I had no idea what other way I could take a comment like that other than wrong… but I just sighed as I replied, “How’s your hoof?”
Commander Bolt held it up as he replied, “well… it’s been better, although I'm glad I didn’t try to guess your weight… I would have been way off.”
This time I couldn’t keep silent “W-what? What’s that supposed to mean?!”
Commander Bolt smiled in a mischievous way, “it’s a compliment.”
Annoyed with his comment I picked up a small pebble and threw it at his as it hit his hurt hoof, causing him to grip it in pain, “Ooowch!”

Seeing his reaction, made me giggle, this wasn’t anything like the Commander Bolt I knew… this Commander Bolt was playful, funny, and liked to joke around. Nothing like the Commander Bolt that had beaten combat training into me for the past few months. Seeing him grip his hoof, I could only call him the one word that described what this Commander Bolt seemed like, “you big foal”
Almost immediately Commander Bolt looked at me with confusion, “What did you call me?”
Noticing his tone was still joking I replied, “you heard me… you’re just a big foal.”
Commander Bolt smiled as he replied, “wow… I’ve never been called that before… kinda makes me feel young again.”
Feeling a little confused I asked, “Wait… how old are you?”

Commander Bolt smiled, “About twenty… I know I'm still a little young, but you calling me a foal makes me feel like I'm closer to twelve.”
Hearing that, I could only laugh as Commander Bolt finished his food and stood up, “Well… time for us to get a move on.”
I was a little confused, “What?... already? But what about your hoof?”
Commander Bolt stretched it and tried to hide his pain-riddled expressions as he pressed it against the ground and replied, “It’s fine now… see, I just needed a little time to rest. We aren’t far from the summit. If we start now it should be only about five minutes before we reach it.”

Finishing my apple, I tossed the core on the ground as I followed Commander Bolt outside and to the face of the cliff. I tried to look up and see where the cliff ended but it was no use. The snow, the thick clouds, and the white haze made it impossible to see if he was telling the truth or not. Jerking the rope that was tied around his belt to see if it was tight, Commander Bolt reached for the nearest step as he pulled himself up and reached for the next, “Let’s go Cadet… we don’t have far now.”
As he got a head start on the climb I looked up one more time then continued to climbed behind him once I saw that the summit was still too far for me to see.

As we climbed, I notice that we were moving at a much slower pace than before. I could only assume Commander Bolt’s hoof was hurting him so after we were about twenty feet up I called “Commander? Are you oka…”
All of a sudden, Commander Bolt’s hoof slipped off the cliff face as he started to fall from a few feet above me. Trying to catch him as he fell by me, I reached out to grab his hoof. Unfortunately, Commander Bolt had fallen too far from me for me to grab him. After I missed him, the rope that was tying us together jerked against my body as it pulled me from the cliff and caused us both to fall. I tried to open my wings but with the belt still holding them down, it didn’t work. Less than a second later, both Commander Bolt and I hit the platform that we were on earlier as I slid to the edge and barley stopped myself from falling off.

Still a little shaken up I picked myself up as I looked at Commander Bolt who was lying motionless in front of me. With worry, I rushed to him as I shook him, “Commander! Commander! Are you alright?”
He didn’t reply, instead he continued laying silently as I felt the wind around us start to pick up. With no other choice, I dragged him into the cave and pulled his blanket from his saddlebag. After covering him up, I looked through my saddlebag and pulled out some flint. As I looked around, I could see the remains of what used to be an old campfire that still had some dry wood on it, so I dragged the commander closer to it, and started up a fire.

Once the fire was started, I looked at Commander Bolt and untied our rope as I started checking him for injuries. Although he wasn’t moving, I noticed he was still breathing so I could only assume he was unconscious. Feeling a little relieved I sat down, laid my bow beside me, and tried to get warm by the fire, but with the small amount of wood slowly burning away, I knew that it wouldn’t last very long. As I sat beside the fire, I started to her mumbling, “L-Luna…”
Confused I looked over at Commander Bolt who continued mumbling in his sleep, “I… I won’t… fail… Lu-na.”
As I heard him speak in his sleep I could only smile, “He really is like a big foal… isn’t he? Out cold and still trying to fight on.”
Looking outside to see that the snowstorm wasn’t letting up and that the eclipse was going down, I decided to lay down beside the fire and get some sleep too.

I don’t know how long I was out, but sometime in the night, I woke to find that our campfire, the only source of warmth we had, had gone out. Cringing in the cold, I started shivering as I tried my hardest to fall back asleep. As I laid there, I started to hear moving around me, so I opened my eyes and without moving my head, I looked around. At first I thought nothing was wrong until I noticed that Commander Bolt who was laying on the other side of the campfire was now gone. I wanted to look around, but with my muscles too sore from my shivering, I decided to hold still and ignore it… that is until I felt something warm press against my back followed by a blanket that came draping over me. Almost immediately, I knew what happened, Commander Bolt trotted over to me and was now lying beside me. While using his blanket to cover us both. Part of me felt completely awkward, but another part made me felt… safe. I don’t know why, but I didn’t mind that he was using his body heat to help keep me warm, and as awkward as it was, this feeling made it easier for me to ignore the cold chills that I felt, and fall asleep peacefully.

I don’t know why I felt so safe, nor did I know how long I fell asleep for, but later on, before sunrise, I felt him shake me as he spoke, “Cadet… Cadet, it’s time to get up.”
As I opened my eyes to see him standing over, me, I slowly picked myself up as I replied, “C-commander… what… time is it?”
Commander Bolt looked out the entrance of the cave as he replied, “I can’t say for certain but I think it’s about an hour before sunrise.”
As I rubbed my eyes I replied, “an hour?... but… why are we u…”
All of a sudden I remembered what happened in the middle of the night as I stopped speaking and started to blush, “Wait… did?… was?…”

Seeing the confusion on my face Commander Bolt asked, “Is something wrong cadet?”
Trying to dodge the question I replied, “what?... n-no nothing is wrong… nothing at all.”
Feeling nervous about his follow-up on my suspicious comment, I smiled innocently as he gave me a weird look and replied, “Well a fake smile like that is hard to miss… but I guess it isn’t my business. Anyways I wanted to get an early start. If we leave now we should be able to reach the summit before its time.”
“Time?... Time for what?”
Commander Bolt smiled “You’ll see, luckily the snow stopped as well so we won’t freeze to death before reaching the summit.”

Giving Commander Bolt a suspicious look I replied, “But… what about your hoof? And then there was that fall last night.”
Commander Bolt rubbed the back of his head as he replied, “yea… well, that was my fault. I thought I was still able to continue climbing through the pain, but as you saw, I wasn’t. Needless to say, it all worked out in the end, and I'm much better now. So we better get a move on while there is still time.”
I still felt a little skeptic; watching him trot outside showing little signs of pain although there was a small sign, then there was the weather, it seemed a little odd that it would clear up so quickly when it seemed to be a blizzard just a few hours ago. Nevertheless, Commander Bolt trotted outside with the rope as he tied one end to his belt and gave me the other to tire to mine. Trying to keep up, I grabbed my bow, my quiver and shoved the blanket into my saddlebag as I rushed to keep up.

After we were outside, Commander Bolt looked at me and spoke, “we won’t be making the same mistake twice. You’re going first this time. Here, I'll give you a boost.”
With Commander Bolt kneeling down in a way to use his back as a step, I trotted to him as I stepped onto his back and held my balance as he raised me as high as he could. Once I was high enough, I grabbed onto the cliff and started climbing as Commander Bolt started climbing behind me. Once we had a simple pace, both Commander Bolt and I proceeded to climb up the steep cliff as I noticed our pace began much faster than last night. As we continued climbing passed the point where Commander Bolt fell before, I looked at the stones and could see the snow shifted slightly where his hoof lost its grip. Grateful that I could still hold my own, I continued climbing pasted as we both continued climbing up the mountainside.

A few minutes later, I reached a platform as I pulled myself over its ledge and turned to help the commander up. As he planted his hooves on the platform I sighed, “There, much better then yesterday right?” Commander Bolt smiled as he replied, “Right… and look where it landed us?”
Motioning his head forward as a signal, I slowly looked away from Commander Bolt as I saw a small slope behind me that could only be described as a hilltop. But what really caught my attention was what was at the top of that hill. Embedded in the ground, was a long Golden Spear, and a Long Staff-like Morning Star. As I looked at the two weapons that looked as if they held some significant value, I spoke, “is… is that?”
Commander Bolt smiled, “Well Cadet? Are you going to beat me to the summit? Or are you going to let me out show you?”

Although he spoke as if he was going to race me there, Commander Bolt held his ground as I turned towards the peak and started trotting closer. With a little excitement making me keep my pace slow to enjoy the moment, I trotted closer and closer to the two standing weapons, however as I reached to take the last step, I was stopped as I quickly looked back to find that the rope that tied the two of us together stopped me. When he noticed this Commander Bolt chuckled, “whoops… sorry, kinda ruined the moment…” he untied the rope and let it fall to the ground, “there… as you were.”
Smiling while nodding my head, I took the last step and planted my hoof right between both the spear and the morning star. Feeling the joy of my accomplishment I spoke, “I… I did it… Without my wings… I managed to climb a mountain… or… We did.”

Commander Bolt smiled as he started trotting towards me, “there… now you’re getting the point of this lesson. Alone both of us would have died doing this. But together we managed to keep each other alive and make it to the top without the need for wings. This is the same as in battle. Alone an officer is only a simple honeybee. But with the support of his colony; his superiors and subordinates, he… or she, is a mighty force that can be deadly if taken for granted.”
After hearing his explanation, I noticed it all made since. If not for me, he would have died on the first night… or we both would if he didn’t suggest the night guard thing. Then there was when I fell from the cliff and him right afterwards, that would have also done us in. then… last night… I could have frozen to death if not for him… needless to say. We both did this together only because we were together.

Trapped in my own thoughts I looked down at my planted hoof and smiled, “We… we were a good team… weren’t we?”
Commander Bolt smiled, “and you… a trustworthy ally. And for that, I decided to get us here early enough to see.”
Confused I gave Commander Bolt a confused look, “see?… See what?”
With a smile on his face, Commander Bolt trotted up to me as he looked into the distance and replied, “To see that.”
Confused as to what he was talking about I looked into the distance and started to see a bright light coming over the horizon. As I watched the light, I noticed that it was something I have seen before, but it’s been forever since I last saw it.

The bright light that came from the horizon, the one that lit up the land as it rose higher, was the sun. amazed at the glistening texture that the sun gave as it reflected off the rivers, lakes and oceans in the distance, I could only watch in amazement as I spoke, “Its… it’s the sun… but… how?...”
Commander Bolt replied, “At this height, we can see the sun long before Nightmare Moon covers it. Though I do favor the night, I enjoy a simple sunrise from time to time. It just goes to show that all good thing do come to an end, but luckily they often find themselves returning.”
As I watched the sun in the distance, I smiled, “I… I guess they do.”
With the beautiful image in my mind I looked at Commander Bolt and smiled a little more… then I started to feel a little awkward standing next to him like this so I quickly looked away as I replied, “oh… um… so… now what commander?...”

Though I was looking away, I still could feel the tug on my body as Commander Bolt unlatched the belt that held my wings down as he replied, “This…”
After he got the belt undone, he dropped it to the ground as he continued, “put that in your bag. We won’t be needing it anymore.”
As I looked at the belt I replied, “What? But why?”
Commander Bolt smiled, “because there is nothing more to prove. You passed every task with flying colors and now, we will return to the camp, there’s still more that needs to be done to finish your training.”
Feeling like this misery was never going to end I sighed deeply as I placed the undone belt into my saddlebag, “What… another one?”
Commander Bolt smiled, “don’t worry, though it is easy, you will find that it can be the hardest task you’ve yet to face. But since you did climbed this mountain, I'm going to say that for you… it will be a piece of cake.”

Knowing how difficult this task was, I could only sigh as I replied, “alright… I guess I have no choice then. Lead the way, Commander”
Commander Bolt nodded his head as he replied, “then lets be off, cadet.” After taking a few steps away from the summit he paused, “oh… would you like to leave your mark with the rest?”
Pausing at the question I asked, “My… mark?”
Commander Bolt smiled, “yes, that gold spear was left by me when I was twelve, and the morning star was left by Captain Storm a few years ago. If you want to leave your mark, feel free to bury an arrow in that place along with the rest. Think of it as… proof that you did this.”

Noticing what he meant I looked at the two weapons that were embedded in the peak as I trotted to them and pulled an arrow from my quiver. With all of the accomplishment in mind, I slowly drew my arrow and readied myself to bury it into the center of the peak, but as I did, I started to think about everything I accomplished. Learning to use a bow, learning to overlook the strain. Surviving on the face of a mountain and everything in between. Thinking about these thoughts, made me slowly undrawn my bow as I lowered it and put both the bow and arrow away. As I did, I turned to trot to Commander Bolt as I replied, “thanks… but no thanks. I don’t need proof to know I did this. The only one I had to prove was you… and since you’re here with me… that’s good enough.”

Commander Bolt smiled as I approached him and began trotting beside him, “if that’s what you think then you’ll be an even better soldier then I was when I first started out.”
As I trotted next to him, I started to laugh as he continued, “Which reminds me…”
With almost no trouble at all Commander Bolt reached for the belt flap that was holding his wings down as he undid it himself and handed it off to me, “can you hold this for me? It’s beginning to chafe.”
Amazed at what I saw I spoke, “Wha… bu… H-how did you do that? The belt on me was so tight I couldn’t get it off even if I fought with it.”
Commander Bolt smiled, “oh, mine was never tight. I just wore it so you would assume we were at equal disadvantages. How else was I supposed to move the storm clouds away to see the sunrise?”

Extremely annoyed I tried to peace together a sentence “Yea but… well I… and you… and that…”
Commander Bolt started laughing, “If it make you feel any better I didn’t use my wings for the time that you were awake.”
Feeling like I was arguing with a wall, I sighed, “you really are a big foal… aren’t you commander?...”
Commander Bolt smiled, “Call me what you want I still taught you an important lesson today.”
Looking at him with hopelessness I could only sigh, “Yea… the stories really are true… never trust Commander Bolt.”

Comments

[Zwei]

ha ha, nailed it,

i had a sneaking suspicion that there was something along the line of commander bolt and his wings tho my suspicion was more along the lines of outside interference to make the experience more impacting.

still can't wait for the next installment of commander bolt's story

[Priceless911]

6830393
same here, I want to finish this story before starting on the next but its hard to keep taking notes and prevent myself from starting it too soon lol
Either way It will be a good one and the title will most likely be The Third Commander. (title better explained in the story)