Of Blades and Brothers

by ChaoticHarmony

Take Off to Cloudsdale

Chapter 1: Take Off to Cloudsdale

“So, are you sure you dulled them?” Sky Slicer asked his brother. “If they aren’t dulled, they won’t let us fight.” Sky sounded as if he wouldn’t mind if they did stop them from fighting. They were on their way to Cloudsdale, more specifically the Cloudasium, where the Flashing Metal Show was being held. It was a place where young pegasi who were interested in fighting could go to showcase their skills.

Sighing, Cloud Slicer hit the button on the device attached to his right hoof, holding it away from him as its blade shot out from its sheath. Before his twin had a chance to say anything, he smacked the dulled blade into Sky Slicer’s flank, not too hard, but enough to hurt. He smiled at his brother’s shout of pain as he pushed the button again to send the blade back into its sheath. “Does that answer your question Sky?” He had a hard time keeping the laughter from his voice as he watched his brother rub his flank with a sullen expression on his face.

“You could have just TOLD me you know!” Sky Slicer glared at him through teary eyes, “Just because it’s dull doesn’t mean it doesn't HURT when you smack me with it!”

“Yeah, I know that,” The laughter in his voice was plain. “I just couldn’t pass up a perfect chance to hit you. You know, you kind of set yourself up for –“His words were cut off as Sky Slicer leapt on him, dragging them both closer to the ground. They tumbled into the cumulus clouds, spinning as they each tried to overpower the other. Growling at his troublesome twin, Cloud began to flap his powerful wings, sending his twin spinning away from him.

“C’mon Sky, we have a competition to go to remember? Let’s save the fighting for that eh?” Cloud Slicer inspected his saddlebags, making sure the straps were still attached properly. The load that they carried was pretty heavy, after all. “Remember, we are the last to go, but we are going be the best!” He clapped a hoof on his brother’s shoulder, and pulled him around with him to face towards Cloudsdale. The pegasi that were there were easily visible, even from the distance the two pegasi flew. The flapping wings of the Cloudsdale pegasi could just barely be heard, sounding like a soft whispering breeze.

“If you say so Cloud, but I don’t know. What if something goes wrong? What if we accidentally both get knocked out?” Sky began to breathe faster as he considered the possibilities for errors, “What if… what if we accidentally hurt each other really bad? Or what if we-”

Cloud cut him off, “You worry too much Sky; I re-flattened blades especially for this occasion. They are flatter than the sound of Mono Tone talking.” His joke about their former foal-sitter received the desired response, coaxing a laugh from his nervous twin and eliminating his train of thought.

Cloudsdale grew ever so closer to the two as they flew to the city in the sky. As they entered the airspace around the city, they were directed by a bored-looking traffic pegasi, who raised an eyebrow at their drooping saddlebags and hoof accessories, but said nothing as he waved them in.

As the two flew towards their destination, the sound of cheering pegasi grew louder. Cloud patted Sky on his shoulder reassuringly, trying to alleviate some of his twin’s anxiety. They entered the building, the sounds of cheering now a dull roar, and headed off towards the locker rooms. Each contestant had a room to themselves, and the Slicer twins, being partial celebrities, were granted rooms of their own choosing. Naturally, the twins chose rooms next to each other. As they stood outside the doors to their rooms, they looked at each other and nodded, each of them heading to their own separate rooms.

Once in his room, Cloud took off his slicer, the name he had given to his invention. He figured naming it after his family was only natural, and fitting. Of course, there were only two like it, his twin being the owner of this one’s twin. This show would be the first time anypony else would see them in action, wielded by pegasi. Blade turned it over and opened the back panel, exposing the inner workings of the weapon. It was a simple setup, the blade being held within the gears until released by the push of a button. It conserved space that way, integrating the gears with the sword.

Other pegasi soldiers didn’t use swords, finding them to be too cumbersome in their mouths. Cloud himself had gone to the earth pony training camp and tried his hoof at swordplay. The resulting tooth ache and the taste of spit-sodden hilts took months to finally fade away. Instead of swords, the soldiers’ preferred weapon was the lance, being able to be used in a diving attack with ease. It suited the style of the pegasi, fast and light without much danger in using it. It also didn’t have to be held by the pegasus wielding it. Using a harness to hold the lance over their shoulder, the soldier was given more freedom in a fight to bash in opponent’s skulls and deflect blows with iron-plated hooves.

When he first sought out his dream of becoming a soldier, Cloud looked into many different weapons. He found the lance held a lack of versatility and durability to be repulsive. The lance often broke off after being lodged inside of an opponent, and could only be used effectively in a stabbing manner. Cloud was prompted by these disadvantages to create the slicer. Of course, his brother had demanded one after he had gotten wind of it, and Cloud saw no reason to deny Sky, who shared his dream, a slicer of his own. Today was the day that they would not only show off the slicer’s capabilities, but to show off to the War Wings, who were present at the competition. The War Wings were the Royal family’s personal force of Pegasi soldiers. It had been Cloud and Sky’s dream since they first heard of them in Cloudsdale when they were just foals.

Cloud pushed the button on the slicer, smiling to himself as the blade shot out with a ringing sound, glinting in the dull light of the changing room. Normally, the blade would be dirt specked and scratched. It had been polished the night before, to shine in the lights and make the fight look even flashier. Of course, Sky’s had been fixed up and polished as well. Setting the slicer down on the table, Cloud Slicer turned to his saddle bags, where his silver and blue fighting jacket was. He pulled it out and threw it over his head, working his wings through the chainmail protectors. Suit on, he pressed the button on the slicer and watched as the blade slide back into its sheath. He then slid the slicer back onto his hoof and walked towards the door. Outside was his brother, suited in a similar fashion, though his suit was streaked with red instead of blue. Walking side by side, they walked on the soft clouds towards the stadium’s entrance.

They stepped out into a large stadium, cheering pegasi surrounding them. Patting his brother on the shoulder with a hoof, Cloud flew to a cloud platform while Sky flew to one on the opposite side of the stadium. Cloud flapped his powerful wings to send gusts of wind to buffet the crowd, silencing them. Once he was sure of his audience’s attention, Cloud raised his voice so that everypony there could hear him. “Ok, me and my brother here will be showing you something new. We will be fighting, but not with hooves or lances, but with swords.” This brought a round of mumbling from the audience. Holding up a hoof and flapping his wings again, he brought them back to silence. “These swords won’t kill, but they do sting. Don’t worry everypony, even though he annoys me, I wouldn’t cut my twin apart!” His joke received a couple of chuckles from the crowd. “Now, you might be wondering where the hay our swords are, and we will be glad to show you.”

Synchronized, they both raised their left hooves slowly and then brought them down on the button of the slicer. Twin metallic rings sounded throughout the stadium, but the swords were lodged in the clouds, hidden from view. With practiced ease, both of them swept the blades through the clouds, sending puffs of white scattering as they each brought the blades, glinting in the sunlight, to point at the other.

Silence held the stadium as they both leapt into the air and charged towards the other, blades held ready and flashing in the harsh sunlight.

Comments

[Harmonic_Chaos]

Impressive.

[NopeNopeNope]

Very well done. I especially like that you show, not tell, when Sky asks if the blades are dulled.