A Charred Stone

by Priceless911

Ch9 Final Test

I stood in shock as I stared at the first slope of the mountain… which was closer to a cliff then a slope. As I looked at the wall of rock and stone, I spoke to Captain Storm who was standing next to me, “so… we are setting up a camp… on the other side?”
Captain Storm nodded his head, “yep, on the other side of this mountain lies a key position in our defense. Luckily, I won’t be crossing over this mountain. The Convoy will actually be going around it.”
At first I felt relieved but then I realized he used emphasis when he said I so I asked, “Wait… so somepony will be crossing over this mountain? Who?”
“You and I…”
Not expecting the reply, I turned to Commander Bolt who was just now approaching as he spoke, “It looks shorter than I remember it, then again it’s been… how long has it been Storm?... about a year right?”
Captain Storm nodded his head, “Yea, just about.”

Almost expecting what his answer would be, I asked, “So… you and I?.... you mean we are climbing this thing?”
Commander Bolt smiled, “Yes… Cadet, you have completed every portion of training that you need to fight in this war. Your combat flying is adequate, your archery is flawless, and even your ability with a sword has improved… well… sort of. Nevertheless, you will soon begin the final phase of your training, which is one that even I did long before I joined the royal guard. Without the use of our wings, both you and I will climb to the top of this mountain and back down the other side using only what we can carry on our backs.”
I almost couldn’t believe what I was hearing, “W-without using our wings?... is… is that even possible?”
Both Commander Bolt and Captain Storm nodded their heads, which told me that even Captain Storm had to complete this task at one time.

With my worry beginning to rise, Lieutenant Snow approached as he spoke, “Commander, it would appear that everypony in the convoy is fed. Should we prepare to depart?”
Commander Bolt turned to Snow and replied, “Let’s take another hour or so.”
Lieutenant Snow nodded his head as he replied, “Understood sir.”
Still unsure of the reason, I asked, “um sir?... exactly… why are we climbing this mountain?”
Commander Bolt replied, “As a pegasus it’s very common to take our wings for granted, but in combat, wing injuries are very common. Fractures, dislocations, some even lose a part or an entire wing. Nevertheless, this will train you to survive in one of the harshest climates without relying on your wings. Captain Storm did it when he was a Cadet, I did it when I was a twelve, and every pegasus that has been trained by Commander Mist has been through this exact training.”

Part of me was shocked to hear that Commander Bolt said that he did this when he was twelve, while another part of me was still skeptic about this. either way I didn’t like what was going on, and to be honest, I didn’t know if I was understanding the situation clearly so I had to ask, “Are you serious sir?... we are going to climb this mountain?”
Commander Bolt smiled, “of course… how else will we get you proficient on climate survival?” he turned to Captain Storm, “Storm, while we are gone, you will be acting commander. I want you to set up a forward position on the other side of this mountain in the valley and wait for the Cadet and I to link up with you. From there, depending on how long we take and what news we gain from the front, we will formulate a strategy to push the Celestial Crusaders as far as we can. We already know where their front camp is. However, until we attain a large enough force, we should only watch them and refrain from being caught in a skirmish. We are still outmatched and outnumbered, even with the lightning orb.”

Captain Storm nodded his head as he replied, “Understood Commander, we won’t let you down.”
As Captain Storm turned to approach the convoy, Commander Bolt turned to me, “Cadet, Gather a small amount of items for the journey. Take only what you need for survival, that includes your armor, bow, and something to keep warm. Once you’re ready, meet me here and we can get started.”
Feeling a little rushed I asked, “Started… you mean… we are leaving now?”
Commander Bolt shook his head, “no, we are leaving as soon as you’re ready. The sooner we leave the more ground we can cover until nightfall. If all goes well we can cross the mountain in as little as two days. But when I did it, it took me four days, so we better get started, and soon.”
“F-four days?”
I looked as high as I could but with the clouds above blocking the summit of the mountain, I could only guess the mountains height as Commander Bolt nodded his head, “Four days… give or take. So I'd suggest bringing a little food and a blanket, nights are dark up there so we will need to travel only through daylight.”

With nothing more to say, Commander Bolt trotted past me and into the convoy as he started gathering a few belongings of his own. So trying to think ahead, I went to the wagon that had my duffle bag in it and gathered what I thought I would need, Rope, a blanket, some flint and some food and water. Since I had no idea what to expect, this seemed to be all I would need. After I gathered all the stuff I met Commander Bolt back at the base of the mountain as I approached him and spoke, “Alright, I’m ready when you are sir, what’s first?”
Commander Bolt nodded his head as he replied, “one more sec, I'm waiting for Captain Storm to get here.”
“Captain Storm? Why?”
Commander Bolt smiled, “You’ll see.”

A few seconds later Captain Storm flew to us as he held out two thick belts and spoke, “Here you are sir. Cadet put this on around the outside of both your wings and armor.”
At first, I was a little confused, but then I watched as Commander Bolt placed the belt on his back and wrapped it around his torso and over his wings, then Captain Storm tightened it on the other side so that his wing couldn’t be moved. When I saw this, I fixed the belt on myself in the same manner as Captain Storm approached me and pulled the belt tight enough so that I too couldn’t move my wings. The belt wasn’t comfortable especially since it pressed my wings against the outside of my armor, but luckily, my armor was snug to begin with so it wasn’t in any way painful. Either way this guaranteed that even if I wanted too, there was no way I could use my wings without somepony taking this off first. It was far too tight for me to remove and even if I tried, the angle that it was on me was impossible for me to reach the flap to remove it myself.

After the belt was on, Captain Storm spoke, “there, now you’re all set to go. Just be sure to take your bow and quiver, ya never know if you’re going to need it or not.”
Hearing that Commander Bolt spoke, “Of course she will, part of being a soldier is always keeping your weapon in reach. You can guarantee I'll be taking my shield along. Although I hope the rest of your bag is light, you won’t find any smooth trails to the summit. We will be going straight up on more than one occasion. But there is more of a lesson to learn from this than just climbing without flying, but you find out for yourself, I won’t tell you… this will be something you learn through experience.”
Although I didn’t put too much though into it, a part of me was curious about this second lesson, but knowing Commander Bolt, I know he will wait until the last moment to tell me, or better yet, show me since he seemed a little cliché when it comes to this sort of thing.

Anyways now that my wings were secured and I was ready to go, I put on my saddlebag, slung my bow and quiver, and looked at Commander Bolt, “well sir, when you’re ready… I guess I'm ready too.”
Commander Bolt nodded his head as he replied, “Then let’s go. Captain, you have your orders; wait for us on the other side of the mountain, but… if something happens that may force you to change locations. Just remember; always put the wellbeing of the soldiers first.”
Captain Storm nodded his head as he replied, “Understood Commander, we will wait for you when we get there. Cadet? Next time I see you I'll expect to refer to you as Lieutenant, okay?”
Nodding my head, I replied, “alright Captain you stay safe.”
Captain Storm smiled, “That’s my line, Good luck Cadet.”

With nothing more to say to us, Captain Storm turned to the convoy and called out his orders, “Convoy! Prepare to depart!”
With Captain Storm approaching the formation to take command, Commander Bolt looked at me as he spoke, “Well Cadet, let’s get moving. If I remember right, there is a trail that will help lead us up the mountain not too far from here.”
Since it seemed like he knew where he was going, I just nodded my head as he and I started trotting along the cliff face until it started to level out onto a trail. As I looked up the trail, It was hard to see exactly where it was leading since it seemed to weave a number of times. However, Commander Bolt continued up the trail without any hesitation, so I just followed him as he led the way.

Not long after going up the sloping trail, I started to feel the weight of my bag and bow, but that was nothing compared to what he did next. As we continued up that trail, Commander Bolt stopped and turned to a rocky slope that was even steeper than the trail as he spoke, “here we are, first thing we need to do is set an anchor, did you bring any rope?”
I nodded my head as I reached into my saddlebag and pulled out the rope. As I gave it to him, Commander Bolt smiled, “Good. Stay here I'll try to tie it off.”
With the rope still rolled up, Commander Bolt slung it over his head as he backed up to the far side of the trail. Then taking a running start, Commander Bolt ran to the steep slope and ran up it as far as he could until he grabbed the furthest tree that was in the slope as he pulled himself up and tied off one end of the rope. When the rope was tied off, he tied the other end to his shield and laid it down on the hill as it slid back to me below. Once the rope was back to me, I grabbed it and started climbing as Commander Bolt used small shrubs and buried stones to continue up the steep dirt covered hill.

When I climbed up the rope and reached the tree that was used as an anchor, Commander Bolt looked back at me from a few feet ahead and called, “Cadet, bring up the rope and my shield. You can use the plants to climb higher but keep track of that rope; we will need it again later.”
Nodding my head, I pulled up the rope and slung his shield before placing the rope back in my saddlebag and following him up the steep hill. As we continued, we finally reached a platform in the sloping mountain as Commander Bolt stopped and sat down to rest. As I climbed onto the ledge, I unslung Commander Bolt’s shield as I gave it to him and spoke, “Here commander, that thing is heavier then it looks.”
Commander Bolt than slung his shield as he replied, “Well it could be heavier, let’s take a little time to breathe here. I'm glad you brought a rope, but what else do you have?”

Looking through my bag I replied, “I got the rope, a blanket, some food and water plus some flint. I figured we would need it for a fire or something.”
Commander Bolt smiled, “Good, you may have brought the minimum, but it’s everything we will need for standard survival. Just a little hint later, the air will start getting thin soon. It won’t affect us now since pegasi are used to flying at high altitudes, but when we approach the summit you will start feeling it.”
As we sat catching our breath, I decided to make small talk as I spoke, “um… commander? You said you climbed this when you were twelve… but why would you do such a thing when you were only a colt?”
Completely dodging the question, Commander Bolt looked further up the mountain at the slope that was growing even steeper, “you got that rope? We are getting to a part where we will need better support.”

Still expecting an answer I opened my bag and pulled out the rope as I continued, “here… but that still doesn’t answer my question.”
Completely ignoring me, Commander Bolt tied one end of the rope around his torso as he replied, “here, tie the other end around you like this. That way if one of us slips we can catch each other without falling.”
Although I was still waiting for an answer, I didn’t say anything as I tied the rope around myself and looked at him for a reply. Still ignoring the question Commander Bolt reached into his saddlebag as he pulled out what looked to be a long dagger, or a shortened sword of some kind. With the weapon in hoof, Commander Bolt looked up the slope as he spoke, “Alright Cadet, if I were you I'd use an arrow to climb from now on. There are plants and stones ahead, but with the mountain getting steeper, they will be spaced further apart. You ready to continue?”

I was annoyed that he dodged the question, but since he had already started trying to get his footing on the slope, I just nodded my head as I replied, “sure, I'm ready when you are sir.”
With that, Commander Bolt planted his hind hooved firmly on the hill as he used them to jump along the slope before digging the short sword into the slope. Then using the shield in his other hoof, Commander Bolt dug its blade into the slope a little higher as he used both of the weapons to climb the slope like a ladder. Trying to prevent the rope we had tied to us from losing its slack, I pulled two arrows from my quiver and started climbing behind him as we made our way up the steepening path. Little by little, Commander Bolt and I continued climbing the face of the cliff until it grew too steep to even bear plant life. By this time it was as Commander Bolt had said, I could feel the air around us getting thinner and thinner. And before I knew it, my ears popped at the height we had climbed.

Hours passed and as we continued up the cliff, I couldn’t help but feel my fatigue catch up to me as the slack in the rope connecting us slowly disappeared until Commander Bolt looked back down to me and spoke, “Cadet? You okay?”
Trying to hide my fatigue, I replied, “I'm… I'm fine Commander, just a little winded is a…”
Before I could finish, one of my arrows that I was using as an anchor snapped as half of my body started to dangle from the cliff. Seeing the incident, Commander Bolt buried both his blades into the cliff and locked his hooves and he braced himself for the immediate tug that the rope connecting us gave. When the rope stopped me from sliding, Commander Bolt called to me, “Anchor yourself! Now!”
Knowing what he meant, I dropped the broken arrow and let it fall, as I quickly pulled another arrow from my quiver and buried the head into the cliffside. Afterwards, I tried to climb a little higher and give the tight rope some slack as Commander Bolt called, “You okay?”

Though I was a little shaken up, I looked back and replied, “Yea… about as much as I can be right now!”
Commander Bolt looked up the cliff as he replied, “we have about fifty more feet to cover before we get there, think you can hold out till then?”
I replied, “Do I have a choice?”
Commander Bolt chuckled under his own strain, “not if you want to live you don’t.”
Although it was a sarcastic comment, with Commander Bolt’s strain, it seemed like a serious one as he and I continued up the mountain and completely forgot what we just went through.

Within the next twenty minutes, Commander Bolt reached a small cliffside as he anchored himself at the top before pulling me up. After I climbed to the top of the small balcony, I rolled onto my back to catch my breath as I spoke, “finally… now we can res… oh crap…”
As I laid on my back I could see the continuing slope of the mountainside as it climbed higher and vanished into the clouds above, leaving the summit impossible to see. After seeing this, I looked at Commander Bolt as I spoke, “I thought you said it was only fifty more feet?”
Commander Bolt smiled, “oh no, that was to this platform. In all we are about a third of the way to the top, so we got a while to go.”
With an annoyed sigh, I picked myself up as he continued, “We will set up camp here for the night, it may be a little secluded but it’s sturdy enough to hold us up.”

I looked to the sky to see how much of the day had passed, but with the eclipse on the other side of the mountain, all I could tell was that it was the afternoon so I asked, “it isn’t the evening, yet… why are we setting up camp so early?”
Commander Bolt replied as he started unpacking his saddlebag, “any higher and we will reach the area where snow can settle. Meaning that the night will be harsher there. Since we will have to endure at least one of those nights, it would be better to wait and deal with few of them then to risk frostbite. It may seem warm now, but at certain altitudes, camping can be brutal.”
To be honest I had no idea what he was talking about since it didn’t seem at all cold where we were, but since he has been up here before, I decided to just take his word for it as I replied, “um… I guess that works sir. Anyways what should we do now if I might ask?”

Commander Bolt looked at the small platform we were on as he replied, “we’ll set up camp here. It isn’t much but we have room to place one pallet to sleep and a camp fire.”
Now I was confused, “one pallet? Aren’t there two of us?”
Commander Bolt smiled, “So you can count… but remember we are members of the Nightmare legion. Somewhere out there are literally thousands of ponies willing to kill us in our sleep. And since we don’t have our raving guards to protect us, we must rely on each other. In other words, one of us will sleep, while the other guards.”
Although I knew he was serious, part of me was hopeful as I asked, “you’re kidding… right?...”

Commander Bolt shook his head, “nope. We will take turns. One will sleep while the other guards. If you want, I can take the first shift. So from now until about one o’clock in the morning will be the first shift. Then from one until about five in the morning will be the next. So if I'm taking the first shift, then you should get some rest now while it’s early.”
Disappointed that he was serious, I looked at him with curiosity, “but… how are we supposed to tell time?...”
Commander Bolt smiled as he reached into his saddlebag and pulled out a pocket watch, “with this, all I brought was a blanket, some rope, food, water, and this watch. Plus a small map but I doubt we will need that.”

I knew that this would turn out to be a long night, so I just sighed, “Okay… I'll get something to eat and get ready to get some sleep right away.”
Commander Bolt smiled, “Good, make sure you get your rest. I'll wake you when your shift starts.”
As he said that, Commander Bolt took this time to set up a small place stand guard. Meanwhile, I decided to set up a sleeping pallet on the ground with the blanket I brought. Luckily, with the belt over my wings, removing my armor wasn’t an option so the hard surface of the armor’s outside made the ground feel like the soft padding on its inside. So with the sky starting to turn dark, I decided to eat and lay down to get some sleep.

A few hours later, I awoke to the sound of tapping metal when Commander Bolt tapping his shield against my armor, “Cadet, your turn. Time to wake up and keep watch.”
I won’t lie; I was incredibly annoyed that I was woken up so early only to see pitch black and the light of a small fire that Commander Bolt had made after I fell asleep. But since I got used to it from all the mornings that Commander Bolt and Captain Storm put me through, it was easy to ignore my agitation as I looked at Commander Bolt and sighed, “…Okay… so what is it I'm supposed to do?”
Commander Bolt replied as he laid his shield down next to the sleeping pallet, “All you do is sit here and make sure nothing tries to attack me while I sleep. Trust me; it’s almost too easy.”
I couldn’t help but reply with skepticism, “Almost?...”
Commander Bolt smiled as he laid down on the pallet, “Well… the hard part is staying awake… but I promise you, if you fall asleep, not even Celestia could help prevent the torment I'll bring. Well g’night…”

With that said, Commander Bolt rolled over and became silent as I tried to asked, “b-but… how do I stay awake?”
Commander Bolt replied without looking at me, “Can’t hear you… I'm asleep.”
Knowing that there was no talking to him, I could only sigh as I picked up my bow and replied, “Fine… I'll figure it out on my own.”
With nothing else to do, I just sat down beside the fire and started poking it with one of my arrows. Sure I was supposed to be watching out for enemies or something, but with the surroundings completely black, there was no way I could spot anything further than twenty feet away. Not to mention we were on a small ledge that sat on the edge of a steep slope on the side of one of the lesser-known mountains in Equestria. As long as nopony told anypony we were here, the only visits we could possibly get was is a lost mountain climber or somthing. But as long as I’ve been under Commander Bolt, I felt it was better to just do what he says instead of arguing, he’ll only win in the end.

With time starting to slow down due to the obvious thrill of sitting and looking at darkness, I noticed that after what seemed to be five hours of waiting passed by when in reality it was only three. After noticing this, I decided to try to entertain myself by drawing pictures in the dirt. First, I drew a bow, which was simple since it was just a long C and two lines for the string and arrow. Then since I couldn’t think of anything else to draw, I decided to try to draw my friends from the orphanage. I know it seemed a little sad now when I thought about those carvings on the floor as my friends, but questioning what kept me sane back then didn’t seem like the most motivating thing I could think of. So I just pushed that thought aside as I started drawing from memory. Since I sat in that corner, talking to those images for twelve years it was almost too easy drawing them the exact way they were back there… even if I drew them when I was six. Therefore, I drew them exactly as I remembered them, the slow stallion, the trusting filly, the exciting unicorn, and finally, my favorite, the young colt named Star.

As I finished the image of Star, something seemed very odd… looking at Star’s appearance as I drew it now and back then, I couldn’t help but feel like he looked… familiar. I couldn’t put my hoof on it, but I wanted to say that I’ve seen him sometime after the encounter I had with the colt all those years ago, but before I could put my hoof on it, my concentration was broken when I heard what sounded like gravel rolling down the slope. Immediately turning my attention to the steep slope that lead up the mountain, I could see little rocks rolling down as I looked into the darkness above. Curious, I trotted to the edge of the platform and tried as hard as I could to look up, but with the darkness, shrouding everything above I couldn’t see anything other than the small rocks that rolled down. Finally, I saw something slowly rolling out of the darkness, but when I did, my heart began to race. From above came a massive boulder, that came rolling down the slope and right for us.

Immediately reacting, I rushed to Commander Bolt and started shaking him, “Commander! Commander! Wake up! It’s a rock slide!”
As I shook him, I looked back up at the incoming boulder to find that it seemed too close to dodge. However, as I looked at the boulder, Commander Bolt unexpectedly wrapped his hooved around my neck as he pushed off the ground with his shoulder and forced both of us into a roll. With the action too rapid for me to know what was happening, I closed my eyes in worry as we both rolled off the pallet and out of the boulder’s path. Once we were clear of the dangerous obstacle, Commander Bolt stopped our roll as the boulder crashed onto the platform, causing half of it to collapse as the boulder, the blanket, and Commander Bolt’s shield all fell into the darkness below. When I opened my eyes, I found myself on my back under Commander Bolt as he looked towards the missing half of the platform and spoke, “well… that was a close one.”

With the commander standing over me, I couldn’t help but blush as the oblivious stallion stepped away and looked down into the void below. Still clueless or seemingly so, Commander Bolt looked back at me as I continued laying on the ground, “Good job Cadet. If not for you, I'd be crushed right now. Although I can’t say the same for my shield and your blanket… oh, well. I have a blanket with my things too so if needed I'll lend it to you. Also I hope you realize I'll be relying on your protection from here on out. Without my shield, I'm at a great disadvantage.”
Trying to forget the position we were in, I spoke, “What?... but… aren’t we going back for it?”
Commander Bolt shook his head, “it’s too dark to see how far it fell. Even then, we have no reason to go back when we’ve already climbed so far. The best thing is to keep moving forward. This wasn’t the first time I’ve seen a rock slide on this mountain, and if my experience is accurate, it won’t be the last.”

Since I agree that going back would be wasted effort I replied, “Okay, so what do we do now commander?”
Commander Bolt looked at me and replied, “You have that watch right? What time is it?”
When I heard the question, I realized something as I asked, “You… never gave it to me when I started my shift, you had it last sir.”
Commander Bolt gave me a funny look, “I didn’t? Well the last time I had it, it was with my shield… so…”
It was obvious we were thinking the same thing when we both looked into the darkness below so Commander Bolt looked back at me and shrugged his shoulders, “oops… I guess we should get an early start on our day. If you have anything that isn’t packed, go ahead and gather it now. We will eat a little bit first. Hopefully the sun will rise before we finish.”

Though I was impressed of how quickly he brushed off the fact that he was nearly crushed beneath a metric ton of stone, I still couldn’t help but wonder why he seemed so calm and after what we both just went through. Here we are with less then a split second to cheat death and he looks at it as if he planned it out from the start. Of course I know that’s impossible, but still, why was he so calm, and furthermore, what else could we expect from this so-called training. I had no idea, but what I do know is this. Without the commander, making me pull that guard shift… we both would have been asleep when this happened, and we both would be dead.