Assembling the Pieces
It's about time I got this done and posted. College has started here for me, so my writing time has been severely limited, but I did get around to churning this chapter out, and I'm proud of myself for pushing through some major writer's block at the beginning. After a while though, I hit my stride, and I almost couldn't stop writing.
Anyways, as always, I really appreciate comments telling me what your opinion on the chapter and story is. It's nice to gauge how much people like the story, and what I need to improve on.
“He’s coming around.” A familiar voice said. I slowly opened my eyes, to see something oddly familiar. Six ponies were standing around me. My head, being in the state that it was, took a minute to realize who they all were. A biting smell suddenly brought me to full attention, and I snapped into an upright position. This was the wrong thing to do as pain coursed through my head, and I quickly lay back down.
“Hey now, you shouldn’t be doing that,” The low, slow voice of Stonewall droned. I looked up to him and just smiled.
“I think I can take a little pain.” My reply was rather dry, but there was a hint of humor there, and luckily he caught it. A big, country grin spread across his face before he replied.
“I see your point, still…it didn’t stop me from bucking you into next week, Sir.” The assembled ponies all chuckled at that one, and despite my condition, I even had a laugh. With the help of Stonewall and Quicksilver, I was able to stand on all four hooves.
“I’ll tell you this; you are a hell of a fighter. What would you say to joining my group? If I do in fact have an outfit. I’d have to clear it with General Gale Force, but I’m sure he’d grant the request, considering the nature of the assignment.” I hoped he would accept the offer, because it would be immensely helpful to have a pony of his strength on board. Thankfully, he didn’t leave me in suspense for his answer.
“Ah’d be honored ta fight beside ya, sir,” he said with certainty. Looking to Quicksilver, I saw that she was outfitted in her dragon-hide armor. Realizing that Stonewall would need to be fitted, I turned to Steelhoof and raised my eyebrows. He gave a grunt and nodded before motioning to Stonewall to follow him. With that taken care of, I decided it was time to head off and talk to General Gale Force.
Quicksilver helped me to my feet, and then we started walking. First, we headed into the locker room to retrieve my armor. On our way to the General, I faltered, and she quickly caught me. It reminded me so much of the time when Applejack had caught me in Fluttershy’s cabin that I felt my cheeks burn a bit.
She must have seen it, but if she did, she didn’t say a thing and I was glad for it. We passed the rest of the walk without incident, and I knocked on the General’s office door.
“Come in, “ the gruff voice of the General spoke. The pair of us entered and saluted him. He returned the salute and motioned for us to sit down. “I take it you have figured out that you are going to be given a team?” I nodded in silence and he was satisfied with it. “This team will be considered a unit of its own, and as such you will have to name it. Until you provide a suitable name, you will simply be known as the Pony Team Six. You and Quicksilver are the first two members of your team. You may choose up to 4 more of my ponies. Is there anypony you had in mind yet?” The question was my opening to ask, and I took it.
“Sir, I ask that you assign Pvt. Stonewall to my team.” General Gale Force studied me after my response, looking over my obviously battered body. Then he nodded.
“You’ll have him. Now, as for your bruises, I take it those are from training?” His voice betrayed the fact that he knew more than he let on. I answered the question anyways, because I was, after all, his subordinate.
“Not exactly sir. I had a boxing match with Stonewall. He is a hell of a fighter. I held my own for a while, but he knocked me out in the final round.” I weakly smiled as I finished, and the General just stared. Then he broke out in laughter.
“I’ve already heard the story, they tend to spread like wildfire amongst the ranks. You’ve gained a lot of respect from the soldiers here. Any doubts they had before are gone. You’ve done a good job. Is there anything else you need?” I was happy he asked once again, because I did need to request one more addition to my team.
“If you would be kind enough to oblige sir, I’d ask that you assign a unicorn to my team. I need someone proficient in combat magic, but also multilingual. If he speaks Lupine, that’s all the better. Seeing as the Lupine might not be the only species we meet, I might need a pony with language talents.” At this, the General smiled again.
“I know precisely the pony you need. He’s a little odd, but he is everything you just described. He is Specialist Rhetoric. He should be at his bunk currently. He’s had a rough past few days, translating communications from our allies.” I nodded to him, and took it as permission to leave. We saluted, and turned to the door.
As Quicksilver and I reached the door however, we were stopped, “One more thing. Good job Sergeant Pathfinder.” He saluted to me, and I saluted back with wide eyes. Then he gave me a small black insignia to place on my uniform.
I was so shocked that I almost dropped it. I had been promoted already. I hadn’t even led a mission, and I had been promoted. It made no military sense whatsoever, and yet it had just happened. There had to be a reason. The only one I saw was that it gave me rank over all the ponies under my command, but that still didn’t seem to warrant a promotion on the spot. He could have waited until after I had led a mission and done my job.
I forced myself to forget about it, so as not to dwell, and I turned to Quicksilver as we left. She just grinned at me, and shook her head in amusement. “How did you manage that?” Her voice had such an amused tone that it made me smile.
“I really don’t know. I’m just as surprised as you.” I let out a nervous chuckle, and she just shook her head.
“You know this will just make things harder on you,” she said, and I nodded solemnly. I knew it very well.
“Well, let’s just go get our newest member.” She nodded in response, and led me to Rhetoric’s bunk. There on the bed was a white pony with a short, spiky black mane and tail. He was fast asleep, and I almost felt bad for having to wake him.
“Specialist Rhetoric,” I spoke, and he stirred. After a couple moments he sat up, and looked at the pair of us. “Specialist Rhetoric, I’m Sergeant Pathfinder.” At the mention of my rank, he stood up rapidly and saluted. I returned the salute, and ordered him at ease. “I have a proposition for you. I’ve been told you are one of the top upcoming linguists in the military, and that you have combat magic skills as well. These skills make you a perfect fit for my unit. We’re new, Pony Team Six for the moment. You’ll be in close contact with Lupine, mainly our allied Lupine. What do you say?” The unicorn seemed stunned at this offer. Then a wide smile spread across his face.
“This is a joke isn’t it? I know it is. The guys are playing another joke on me. There is no way anyone would offer me a spot with a special unit. I-“ I stared at him till he cut off mid-sentence. “Okay, so it isn’t a joke. Why me?”
“I already told you why. First though, I have a question or two to ask you. What languages are you familiar with?” I wanted to gauge his usefulness to me. Sure, the General had said he was good, and I trusted his judgment, but I also wanted to know for myself. The Specialist turned around and picked up a pair of glasses and put them on his face. He probably should have already done that, but I didn’t comment.
“I am fluent in all dialects of Equestrian, as well as Zebrican, Lupine, Dragonian, Griffic, Ibexian, Leonic, and I can translate High Equestrian runes, “ he spoke in a matter-of-fact tone. This pleased me. He was confident, and I would have need of confident warriors. “Any other questions sir?” I smiled at his question, then I nodded.
“What kind of combat magic can you perform?” It was a simple question, and broad enough for him to elaborate where he wanted to.
“I can perform many maneuvers with a weapon, and I can fire magical bolts. I can also wield my magic as a sword, slashing and hacking with its edge. This is often deadlier than a real blade, because it can bite through armor and flesh easily,” Once again his response was good, so I asked my final question.
“So then, what do you say? Will you join me?” I looked him in the eyes, and I knew that I had him. There was a fire burning there, and I hoped it never went out.
“I accept the offer sir. If you don’t mind, I also have a name for the unit,” His second statement took me off guard, but I was pleasantly surprised. I nodded to him to continue, and he spoke again, “How about The Equestrian Misfits” I couldn’t help but smile at the name. It fit so well, and for reasons that Rhetoric wouldn’t even know. I had practically no memory of my past, Quicksilver was a mare, Rhetoric was possibly the nerdiest pony in the military, and then there was the behemoth of a pony that Stonewall was. That name would do just fine.
“That fits amazingly well. I can see your talents were not exaggerated. Okay, now that you are in, you need to report to Steelhoof in the armory. He will get you outfitted. We will more than likely be leaving before the night falls,” I ordered him. He nodded, saluted, and ran off to the armory. Passing him on the way in was Stonewall, he had his armor on, and with it he was even more intimidating.
“Sir, I am ready to go,” he spoke as he saluted. I nodded, and then responded.
“You have a few hours to collect whatever you wish to take. I will find you when we are to leave, be ready.” He saluted me, and I saluted back before walking away. Quicksilver remained by my side as I walked back to the General’s office. I knocked and was beckoned in. After pleasantries were exchanged, I told him of the name, “Sir, we’d like to be The Equestrian Misfits. I feel it fits well.” Gale Force chuckled in amusement.
“I agree with you. It definitely fits. It’s a good thing you came by. I just received your first orders.” With that, he handed me a sheet of parchment. It had Luna’s seal upon it. I broke the seal and read it.
My loyal subject Waya,
We hereby request you leave Canterlot upon assembling your team. You are to report to General Crazy Ghost of the 1st Lupine Regiment. You shall stay with he and his wolves. We need you, if your previous actions have not already done so, to gain their complete trust. You must work well with them, for they shall be among your greatest allies when you go into battle. Celestia wishes for you to be an envoy, so be it, but you are also my instrument. Always remember this, whenever all seems lost, look to my night sky and to those around you. It is there you will find solace, and it is there you will find the courage to continue.
Princess Luna
Once I had finished reading, I folded the parchment and put it in a hidden pocket within the armor. “Thank you sir. I must go gather the other two ponies in my unit.” He stopped me before I saluted however, and he spoke.
“Go then, and be careful amongst the Lupine. You can never know where their loyalties lie. Don’t trust anyone, nor anypony. That will keep you alive, and you are more useful alive than dead. Celestia-speed Sergeant Pathfinder,” Gale Force spoke softly. It was a moment that I’d remember for a very long time after. I gave him a salute, and he returned it crisply. With that, I gathered my ponies.
Once we were all ready to go, we reported to the hangar and quickly jumped into the waiting chariots. In the air I noticed that our guard was small, but sufficient. We were all warriors, and if attacked, we could fight right alongside the Pegasi slated to be our protectors. Mercifully though, the flight was short, and I did not have to deal much with my fear of flight. I seemed to be outgrowing it a bit. The chariots had set down in a small clearing just inside the Everfree Forest. I was silently handed a map by the Captain in charge of the detail, and pointed towards the Lupine camp.
The journey from was supposed to take about an hour to complete, if everything went right. Unfortunately it didn’t. We had been traveling along a rarely used path for around fifteen minutes when an unnerving shriek pierced the night air. It caused my fur to stand on end. I knew that screech.
“Take cover in the trees!” My order was clear, and my unit didn’t hesitate to follow it. As I ducked behind the nearest tree, I turned and saw the beast that had made the noise. It was a wyvern. They were almost unnatural in their fierce visage, and they were more than lethal enough to take down a pony. Suddenly, images went flooding through my mind of a Lupine fighting a Wyvern. I knew what I had to do.
“Quicksilver! You’re in charge now! Get to the Lupine camp, and bring back help if you can. I know how to hold him off,” I bellowed the command, and they hesitated, but I got them moving by shouting, “Now! That’s an order!” With that, they three of them went sprinting off into the night. I jumped into the path to distract the wyvern, and it worked. He dove at me again, and I barely had time to roll to the side.
My next move was to wait for it to come back. I hid behind a tree as it made another pass, and then I jumped on its back. Its scaled hide made it hard to hold on, but I had an idea. I quickly activated my gauntlet and the blade shot out, right through the wyvern’s armored skin. This only seemed to enrage the beast, as it started bucking around in mid-air, flailing its tail at my head repeatedly. Thankfully I was able to dodge each of the attacks, but the bucking, accompanied with the slickness of the wyvern’s blood, managed to dislodge my blade. Needless to say, I went flying, and I wasn’t amused.
As I flew through the air, the wyvern twisted its body and darted for me. I wasn’t about to die without a fight, so I spun to face it. As it neared, I prepped my swing. Before I could take my swipe at the creature, I was hit from the side. The resulting landing was surprisingly light, as the thing that tackled me, set me down softly. Looking at the being that had saved me, I realized it was a tiger. This wasn’t any normal tiger though. It stood taller than Princess Celestia, and it’s snow white fur was broken only by its pitch black stripes. He stood up, and then addressed me.
“Are you okay bud?” The manner in which the tiger spoke was surprising. In fact, it was surprising that the tiger spoke at all. Once I got over it, I was able to answer.
“Yes, I’m fine. Let’s wait for introductions until after we dispatch this creature, shall we?” He nodded in response, and we took off in opposite directions. The wyvern had to make a choice, and it choose me. It’s screams of rage tore through the sky, and I knew it wanted revenge. Instead of running from it, I stood and waited. As it swooped down, I rolled into it, and dragged my sword across its stomach. I made a gash, but the gash, though deep, wasn’t fatal, and it only served to piss the beast off more.
When I finished my roll and I was on my hooves, I heard a loud roar. The tiger jumped out of a tree and land on the wyvern, much like I had, except his claws gave him much more purchase. As he did this, I noticed his paws were wrapped in what seemed to be silver fire. As soon as he latched on to the wyvern, the fire engulfed the creature and it fell from the sky. The tiger lithely leapt off of it before it hit the ground. It incinerated upon impact, and I was dumbstruck. It was just too amazing to believe. This tiger had one hell of an ability.
As he approached, I studied him. He was very large, rather muscular, even with his thick covering of fur, and he seemed amused by most everything. This last part struck me as odd, but I would reserve judgment until after I mad learned more from him.
“Thank you for your help. If you hadn’t intervened, I likely would have been that wyvern’s dinner. May I ask your name?” I spoke truly. He had saved my hide. The question came out of curiosity. He stood there, much taller than I, just looking at me for a few moments. Then he seemed to decide it was time to speak.
“I find it highly amusing that you seem so calm near a predator such as myself. Most ponies run when they first meet me, yet you stand and speak to me as an equal. Then again, I find much amusing. My name is Shirotora. It means-“ He spoke with a strong voice, but at the mention of his name, I was stunned to find out that I knew what it meant, and I involuntarily cut him off.
“White Tiger,” I blurted suddenly. This caused the Shirotora to smile, flashing his large, sharp teeth.
“You know Neighponese?” The amused tiger asked. I didn’t know how to answer him, so I answered truthfully.
“I really don’t know. I just somehow knew what it meant.” I shook my head, trying to bring back any flash of a memory I could, but to no avail.
“Well then, in that case, call me Shiro, everypony does. So, what’s your name my little pony?” He chuckled at his own words, and it confused me a bit, but the most interesting was his mention of Everypony. He spoke Equestrian quite well.
“My name is Pathfinder. I serve in the Equestrian military,” I answered with precision. Once again I seemed to amuse him, as he gave a deep chuckle. I raised my eyebrow at him, and he stopped to explain.
“It’s just, you don’t seem like a Pathfinder to me. More like a Waya.” When he said my real name, I recoiled. He smiled upon seeing this and said, “I knew I was right. Good old Chaos magic. You can always trust it…usually.” He gave a wicked smile as he finished, and I couldn’t hold my military bearing. I started laughing, which triggered Shiro to laugh as well. Once we had calmed, I had a question to ask of him.
“So, you wield Chaos magic? Like Discord?” He understood where I was going with my questions, because he held a paw out to stop me.
“Yes, I use Chaos magic, but I’m far from Discord. Chaos is a part of harmony after all. If it weren’t for chaos, things would be extremely boring. It helps to have a little chaos in your day. Besides, I’ve lived in Equestria for some time now, even lived in Ponyville until a month ago. Do you think old Sunshine and Lulu would have let me live with the Elements if I was all that bad?” His explanation made sense, and I was amazed at his audacity in nicknaming the Princesses. Then I thought of something. I had to make sure he wasn’t lying, and Luna did say she would hear me my prayers…
“I could call Princess Luna here, to confirm your story. Are you sure you want to stick to it?” I had to be absolutely sure I could trust this strange being. This seemed to be the only way I could think of. The smile on Shiro’s face only grew wider at the mention of calling Princess Luna.
“I’m positive, and when you call her, be sure to keep it a secret who she’s meeting. I haven’t seen her in a couple months, so I want to surprise her,” the tiger eagerly replied. I stared at him for a moment as I tried to decide if he was joking or not. I finally determined he wasn’t joking, and I prayed to Luna.
Luna, I need your help. Please come to me, I prayed, hoping she would hear.
“I am here my child of the night.” Luna’s voice scared me, and I jumped in place. I turned around, bowing to the Goddess of the Night that had appeared so silently behind me. “What a…” Her voice trailed off as she looked at Shiro, now directly behind me. I heard a gleeful noise from the Princess that I hadn’t known she could make.
“Shiro! My wonderful kitten!” Her excitement amused me, and it was all the confirmation I needed. Shiro didn’t seem to care being called a kitten, and I stepped out of his way as he walked forward to give Luna a hug.
"Lulu, I've missed you!" Shiro's nickname for her amused me, because she took it so well. I waited while the two caught up for a short time. Right as Luna turned to speak to me, I heard a noise in the brush to my right.
“Princess! Stay behind us!” Shiro and I both took up defensive postures in front of Luna. We would both, I had no doubt, defend her with our last breath if need be. I yelled towards the noise, “Show yourselves!” As if they were compelled by my command, three Lupine warriors emerged from the shadows. Leading them was Crazy Ghost himself. When they saw who we were protecting, they bowed.
“We are sorry Princess for scaring you. We were told that our good friend Pathfinder had taken the great task of fighting off a Wyvern upon himself, and we rushed to help as fast as we could,” Crazy Ghost spoke while rising from a gesture from Luna. I saw him sniff the air, then he said, “Judging by the scent, we did not have to worry. Pathfinder is a very skilled warrior. Even most Lupine would be foolish to take on a Wyvern alone.” I couldn’t take all the credit, and as such I spoke out.
“I would have died, had it not been for the help of Shirotora,” I replied as I motioned to the large tiger beside me. Crazy Ghost looked the tiger over, and decided he was an ally quickly.
“Then we have you to thank for keeping Pathfinder alive. You have our gratitude.” The way he spoke, it was as if he had become the leader of a nation, rather than the leader of an army. This thought was cut short when I was blindsided by a speeding brown object. My attacker and I went flying over a pair of overturned logs and into a small hole. At the bottom of the hole I heard a familiar voice.
“Don’t you ever do that again!” Quicksilver pinned me to the ground as she spoke in her actual voice. I was confused by this sudden reaction.
“Umm…Quicksilver?” The realization of what she had done dawned on her as I spoke. Her cheeks burned brightly with a blush, but luckily no one saw, as we were still in the small hole. I smiled at how awkward she looked, but then I shook my head. I couldn’t be thinking like that now. Especially since I might lose her. I couldn’t get attached. “You might want to get off me…Then we can return to the others.” Her cheeks once again blazed with heat. She pushed up off me, hard, and then made her way up the small slope to the others.
I followed shortly after, and when I returned everyone had a laugh about what had just happened. In the time we were down the slope, Stonewall and Rhet had both joined the group. Out of the entire group, only two seemed suspicious of Quicksilver and I. They were Luna and Shiro. I shook this off, and hoped it would just be forgotten.
“Pathfinder? Have you received the help you were hoping for?” Luna’s melodic voice asked. I turned to her, and answered strongly.
“Yes my Princess, thank you for all of your help.” I hoped that was a sufficient thanks, but she was a Princess, and I didn’t know what was proper. She smiled down upon me with my answer, and then she spoke.
“Good. Now I must be back to Canterlot. I must guard the night as usual. Stay safe my children, and let the shadows of the night embrace you,” Her voice trailed as she teleported away. With that, the Lupine decided to turn around. I ordered my ponies to follow them. I decided I was going to travel with Shiro, and see if I could convert him.
“So, Shiro, would you like to join my unit? Sure, it’s a pony unit, but we could really use someone of your talents.” I hoped my pitch would work. I didn’t have to wait long for the answer. Shiro looked at me for a short time before he replied.
“Why not? I am going to be fighting anyways, might as well have fun with my new friends while I’m at it!” His response surprised me. I had expected him to decline. I even had a whole new pitch ready for when he did so.
“You’re in? Just like that? I don’t need to cajole, or convince you? That was almost disappointingly easy,” My remark made us both laugh heartily. Finally, Shiro managed to speak again.
“I think we’re going to be great friends, you and I. Frustrating to each other, yet good friends nonetheless.” I had to agree with him on the frustrating part. Everything about him made little sense. Then again, nothing about me made much of any sense, from my memory loss to the fighting skills that were second nature to me. The one thing I did know was that the team was coming together.
I was slowly assembling the pieces, and hopefully I’d have one hell of a military machine ready when we went into battle.
Shirotora is an original character created by Shirotora. He stars in the fic Chaotic Harmony! Go check it out!(Keep an eye out for Waya in later chapters of that fic).
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The Equestrian Misfits. A "pony" without a memory, Mulan, the incredible Pulk, a geek, and now the most awesome, powerful, and damn sexy feline in Equestria(
). What's next Angel Bunny... wait, that could work. You should get him. Oh and since you didn't post it, here's the link
1228456
haha That description pretty much sums the outfit up haha.Now that Angel idea...Angel the demon bunny haha It works so well!
Don't harass me about the link! haha I was extremely exhausted when I posted this, and I had meant to link it, but I just forgot. I fixed it anyways haha
When I saw Waya in Chaotic Harmony I knew Shiro will be here
1230341
Yeah, that's because crossover fics are awesome, especially when they are crossovers with other fanfics! haha
1230341>>1231915 I agree and FYI another big cross over is coming up in the next arc. You might not believe who I got permission to use
(hint: he's extremely popular)
1235998
I bet I know who it is...but I'm not going to guess...I wouldn't want to spoil it, because I have pretty good intuition* haha
Disclaimer: Said intuition is most often right, but in the cases when it is wrong, it goes terribly, horribly wrong... Have a nice day!
1235998
WWWHHHHHOOOOOOO????????????????
Must keep eyes open
1236704 PM me your guess. I want to see how good your intuition is.
1239318 You have a pm now haha
1801519
Good, also, be ready for a new chapter soon! I finally have some time to write since I'm on winter break, but it will be slow seeing as I'm still having health issues....no worries though!
i can't wait for new chapter. and what is shiro doung there. I mean, is he simply some funny chaos cat, or former human, is there anything like his wife being RD's sister or not? I hope no, because waya in chaotic harmony was only sharing name and growing with lupine, but is not wolf-turned-pony like here. And I am still waiting for him to tell them allready about his suspicions that he is wolf, and prince. (at least to luna, but I can't wait to his old wolf friend realising this)
Ps. sorry for my English, not my native language.
1892605
No need to apologize for your English, I understand that feeling after trying to speak and write in Spanish with native speakers...didn't do so hot haha
As for your questions about Shiro...those will all be addressed in time. Sorry I can't be more specific!
1988512
Violence, tis acceptable in the morning haha
And I do believe killing Celestia has been recommended...time and time again
when we can expect next update?
1992273
Hopefully by the end of the week. I started having more medical issues again and so my winter break was spent undergoing a multitude of tests to determine the cause. I also got distracted by a random idea for a fic that wouldn't leave me alone until I wrote the initial chapter down.
*squee* SHIRO!!!!!!!!
Aaaaand now,this fic is 21.8% cooler. (dat reference.)
Off to the next one!