Legacy of Illumination

by Metool Bard

Pets, Formation, and Love

Have you ever had a pet kiwi? Also, is the reason you're afraid to fight any large ratites because of they're imposing size and deadly kicks? Or are you just afraid you'll die from their sheer majesty?

Hey, I never said anything about being afraid of flightless birds, Mr. Book. I just said that I never had to fight them in my career as a soldier. There's a difference.

As for pets, well, I've never had a kiwi. I'm from Cloudsdale; we're kinda limited to pet who can fly. My sister Medley had a pet bluejay, though. She named him Arpeggio, and she liked teaching him how to sing. Yeah, my sister and I took very different paths in life.

What was it like forming the Wonderbolts for the first time? How difficult was it?

Actually, it wasn't that hard. Keep in mind, we had just celebrated our first celestial year of peace. Restructuring a branch of the military during peacetime was not going to be an issue. Especially since I was aiming to make the Wonderbolts more than a simple military strike force, which is something Princess Celestia approved of.

Most pegasi recognized my idea as something that would benefit Equestria, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't encounter some resistance. Older ponies who grew up on the battlefield thought that I was taking capable soldiers out of the military and making them mere entertainers. This wasn't the case at all, obviously. But, that's the thing with new, radical ideas. Not everyone accepts change right away.

Of course now, I get to laugh in the face of all the naysayers who thought the Wonderbolts were a bad idea. The pegasi of Equestria are still as dedicated as ever to defending our boarders. The only difference between then and now is that it's not all they do. They also inspire hope off of the battlefield and give young ponies role models to look up to. That is what I had in mind when I formed the Wonderbolts, and I stand by that decision. Admiral Fairweather has been doing a terrific job keeping that dream alive, and I hope it will remain alive for generations to come.

Did you ever fall in love? Nimble seems pretty interesting.

You mean Nimbus? I don't know where you got that idea, Mr. Book. Sure, Nimbus was a great comrade and all, but I could never imagine myself falling for him. There's nothing wrong with him per se; he's a handsome stallion with a lot of passion and enthusiasm, and I respect that. He just wasn't really my type. That and his tendency to rush everything he did made me a bit skeptical about how fast he was when it came to, certain activities. I'll just leave it at that.

No, my heart actually belongs to another. Though truth be told, I never thought I'd end up saying that. Growing up, I didn't really give much thought to romance. I don't know, it just wasn't a priority to me. I already had my comrades and wingponies, as well as lovely sister and my wonderful parents. I honestly wasn't looking for anything more in my life. Sure, Medley would sometimes set me up with somepony or another while I was off-duty, but those dates never really panned out.

And then, I met Dragonfly. He was the stallion that really opened my eyes to what this love business is all about, and to be honest, we met quite by accident. He wasn't one of the suitors Medley somehow managed to find for me, nor was he a Wonderbolt recruit. He had no presence in my life until the day I met him. And that is a day I won't be forgetting anytime soon. But before I can get into that, I should probably set the stage.

***

To the southeast of Equestria, there is a nation known as the Neko Shogunate. To this day, we don't know all that much about them other than the fact that they're an isolationist society that does not believe in outside influence. Because of this, nopony has never set foot in the mountains the nekos call home. Some say it's out of fear; others say it's out of respect. I lean towards the latter myself. One of the sacred tenants of the EUP is that we never, ever start wars. Princess Celestia made that very clear when we first started out.

Now, for the longest time, the nekos never raised a paw against us, either. Then, about a year after the formation of the Wonderbolts (it might've been two years; I can't say for certain), a wicked sorceress named Catrina attacked our land. Because we know so little about the Neko Shogunate, we don't know if this was an attack from the Shogunate itself or if Catrina was just a rogue warmonger. All we knew was that like the dark centaur Tirek, she was aiming to steal our magic and use it for her own selfish schemes.

But she wasn't just going after the magic of us ponies, oh no. She was also after dragon magic. Which is where Dragonfly comes into the picture.

See, ponies don't know all that much about dragons. We know they're out there, and we know how to deal with them should they become a threat. But other than that, you'd have a hard time finding anypony who could paint a coherent picture of dragons without relying on myths and legends. Dragonfly is one such pony.

Dragonfly's special talent is researching dragons. Of course, a lot of ponies who know jack squat about dragons thought that he was crazy and/or suicidal. They still think that, actually. I guess that's why he enjoyed the company of dragons more than ponies. But really, I don't blame the guy. He was just following his destiny, just like any other pony.

Anyway, our paths crossed during Catrina's campaign. One hot summer day, we received intel from the front lines that she was planning to attack the Great Dragon Migration. That was just the kind of intel I was hoping for. Up to this point, Catrina was focusing on land-based combat. That wasn't our forte. But if she was planning on going after a dragon migration, she had to get herself airborne somehow. Which meant she was fighting on our turf, which gave us the advantage. As soon as I got the report, I rallied up my squadron and prepared them for a surprise attack that would hopefully send her packing.

With the help of a few scholars and a lot of luck, we managed to trace the path of the migration through the Everfree Forest. This was already shaping up to be a dangerous mission. The Everfree Forest is not like the rest of Equestria. Cloudsdale has no control over the weather in that area. Every time they tried, it just changed on its own. Not to mention all of the other dark rumors surrounding the place. Luckily, if everything went according to plan, we wouldn't actually have to go into the forest. Nevertheless, I knew we had to watch ourselves. With a combination of unpredictable weather, a flock of dragons, and a mad neko sorceress, there was no telling what was going to happen.

As soon as we had visual confirmation of dragons heading our way, I gave the Wonderbolts the order to scramble. We had a few new members along with the original six I mentioned before, and this was going to be their first taste of combat. I know most ponies think that these circumstances were a bit much for a first battle, but my first taste of combat was fighting a giant sea monster. There's no way anypony can control this kinda thing, so it's pointless to complain about it.

We maintained our position and kept our distance as the dragons passed through over the forest. As we watched them pass, I had to admit it was a majestic sight. It even got Wind Cutter to crack a genuine smile, and that's saying something. But suddenly, something odd caught my eye. Flying alongside the dragons was a green pegasus with a lavender mane, a Cutie Mark depicting two leathery wings, and a small satchel strapped around his shoulder. Already, I had a lot of questions. Was this pony crazy? Why was he flying with something as ferocious as dragons as if they were ponies? And through a place as unpredictable as the Everfree Forest, no less. Right away, I wanted to know more about this stallion. He just intrigued me to no end.

But as I was thinking this, Catrina made her move. She had made herself gigantic, even in comparison to the dragons she was attacking. Her large form cast a shadow over the entire Everfree Forest; her mad cackle shook the skies. I shook myself and pushed the thoughts of the mysterious pony out of my mind. We had a land to defend.

We charged at Catrina in a scattered formation, making sure to move around the dragons. After all, we didn't want anyone to get hurt in the crossfire. Catrina, however, had other ideas. She took in a deep breath and blew on all of us, creating a sharp gale that knocked us into each other. This got the dragons agitated and confused, and they began to fight amongst themselves. That made our job that much harder, which frustrated me to no end.

Regardless, we pushed forward, weaving around the dragons to the best of our ability. While I flew towards Catrina, I kept one eye peeled for the mysterious stallion. As far as I knew, he was a civilian in a combat situation. As a member of the EUP, his safety was of utmost importance to me. Of course, dividing my attention in a hectic situation like this was not exactly smart. Luckily, I had a good wingpony to rein me in.

Thistle's telltale nervous whistling forced me to pay attention to where I was going, and I stopped in my tracks. Had I continued flying, I would've run right in the middle of a duel between two of the dragons. I turned to thank Thistle for saving my bacon yet again, but as it turned out, her whistling had attracted the attention of other dragons. Without a second thought, I flew to her aid. Just as I was about to punch the first dragon advancing towards her, another pony stopped me.

It was that same mysterious pony from before. He flew in front of the dragon and spoke to it with calm, soothing words. At this point, I wrote him off as completely batshit insane. Keep in mind, I knew as much about dragons as the average pony. I never would've even considered the possibility that you could reason with them. I was about to drag the poor guy away from the dragon's massive claws or fire breath, but the beast did nothing of the sort. It just flew away, and the other dragons followed suit.

I had nothing to say to that. There was nothing I could say to that. It just boggled my mind and left me speechless. Who was this guy?

Of course, Thistle soon reminded me that I had more pressing matters to attend to. With a quick nod of thanks, I resumed my attack on Catrina.

Once we got past the dragon flock and to Catrina herself, the battle was a lot more intense. Catrina's dark magic combined with the unpredictable nature of the Everfree Forest caused a lot of problems. Spontaneous sun showers drenched our wings, making them too heavy to fly properly. Magic-stealing lightning rained down at random intervals, occasionally sapping magic from our squadron and giving our foe more power to use against us. Strong currents of wind continued to pour from her mouth, messing out our coordination. But despite all that, my guiding light kept our morale high. I wasn't about to let some overgrown fur ball take me down.

We fought and fought until the sun began to set over the horizon. It was then that something amazing happened. The dragons had stopped fighting each other, and now they were helping us fight Catrina! None of them used magic as far as I could tell (to this day, we have no intel on Catrina's plans or ambitions), but they managed to catch her off-guard with their fiery breath and razor-sharp claws. That was our opening. I gave the order for Hurricane Gamma; an attack formation that created a large tornado. The remaining Wonderbolts formed up into position and flew circles around Catrina. Within a matter of moments, she was enveloped in a cyclone of myriad colors, pulsating with the magic she was attempting to steal. The attack rendered Catrina stupefied as she lost her concentration. She fired spells randomly, most of them missing their targets by a mile.

But in the middle of the attack, I heard a stallion cry out in agony as one of those stray spells hit him. I didn't recognize it from my squadron, and I knew it couldn't have been a dragon. That left only one possibility. There was no time for me to think.

I broke out of the formation and flew towards the scream as fast as I could. Sure enough, I was right. The bolt had hit the mysterious civilian pony, and he was dropping like a rock. I increased my acceleration to compensate, and just before he hit the trees, I scooped him up. Behind me, I could hear a loud mewl of pain. It appears that in her confusion, Catrina had hit herself with her own spell. Her stolen magic burst from her body, and it was returned to its rightful owners. When the winds died down, she was back to her normal size and heavily injured. Before we could apprehend her, she used a fog-summoning spell to retreat into the forest.

As we licked our wounds, I turned to the civilian I had just saved. Looking at him, I had to admit that he didn't look half bad. Sure, he wasn't the most attractive stallion in the world, but he was easy on the eyes. As I looked at him, I noticed that the dragons were surrounding me. I was ready to fly out of there and get him to safety, but he woke up.

"It's alright," he told me. "They won't hurt you. They're just concerned for my well-being. You're General Firefly, correct?"

I wasn't surprised that he knew who I was. By this point, the Wonderbolts were a household name. Everypony knew who we were. Still, something about him made me all tongue-tied.

"Um, yeah," I said sheepishly. "Who're you?"

"My name is Dragonfly. I speak for the dragons," the stallion replied. "Thank you for saving me. Nopony has ever showed me that kind of compassion before."

I couldn't find anything worthwhile to say to that. All I did was save his life. That was my duty as a Wonderbolt. Yet he saw it as a genuine act of kindness that nopony had ever given him. For some reason, that caused my cheeks to burn.

"J-just doing my duty, Mr. Dragonfly, sir," I said. "N-no need to thank me."

By this time, the Wonderbolts had fully recovered, and we were ready to return to base. I gave Dragonfly one last goodbye, and he rejoined the Great Dragon Migration.

***

That wasn't the last time I saw Dragonfly. After Catrina had been properly vanquished by the mystical Meadowbrook, he would write letters to me about his life with the dragons. Turns out his special talent manifested itself when he discovered that he understood dragons better than other ponies. He had no real qualms with his own kind; he just enjoyed the company of dragons more. And to him, I was the first pony to help him with a problem.

Through his letters, I gained a fondness for him. The fact that he could fly alongside dragons and live to tell the tale was just, astounding. I also felt that he needed a pony like me in his life. It must've been difficult for him not being able to identify with his own kind. So, I invited him to stay with me in Cloudsdale. From there, we dated on and off while I was taking leaves of absence, and eventually, I proposed to him. The rest is history.

You have any sons or daughters or any grandkids?

I have one son. His name is Snapdragon, and his special talent is regulating rain to make sure ever flower gets their fair share. I knew as soon as he was born that he wasn't cut out for the Wonderbolts, but I love him all the same. After all, my parents didn't serve in the military, either. I guess this kind of thing skips a generation.

Speaking of which, Snapdragon did managed to settle down and have a child of his own. His name is Easyglider, and he can be quite a hoofful. Truth be told, I actually see a lot of myself in Easyglider. Every time he comes over to visit me and Dragonfly, he loves listening to me tell stories about how I served and protected Equestria. That's right, just like I listened to the stories of my grandfather Aquilinus. He hasn't found his special talent yet, but I believe that he'll make a great Wonderbolt someday.

Comments

[theNDinspector]

Here's a riddle for you Firefly: What occurs twice in a week, once in a year, but never in a day?

[theNDinspector]

It seems you've done a lot of traveling. Where else have you gone in the world? How was it different from your home? Did you like it?

What does your sister do?

[111segasonic]

Did your military career ever take you to a frozen tundra? Did you meet any penguins? I hear they're extremely psychotic.