Of Blades and Brothers

by ChaoticHarmony

Sharpening Stone

Chapter 5: Sharpening Stone

Iron Dancer cast the harness that had held her lance into the corner to join the armor on the floor. She ignored the ring of metal on metal and fought to remain upright. Though trained to wear that heavy plate mail, it still drained her when she had to wear it for long periods. She found herself wishing that she had packed her chainmail to take to Cloudsdale. Fighting the fatigue that gripped her body, she walked slowly to her bathroom. The hotel they were staying in was fancy, fancier than her own quarters in the castle barracks by far. She hated the fancy rooms and food that they served here; her place was with the men, joking and eating the military slop. Sighing to herself, she cast off the leather coat that was worn under the rest of the armor and stepped into the warm shower.

The warm water washed over her grimy white coat and dripped to the clouds below, brown from the dirt and sweat they washed away. This was the one part of the fancyness that she could live with. Back in Canterlot, not only was the water for washing cold, bur they had to always retrieve it themselves. Being the best pegasi soldiers in the military didn't count for anything when it came to basic duties, and so whenever they wanted to wash they had been sent to get their own water. Cloudsdale, being the capital city of the pegasi, was the leading producer of rain clouds in all of Equestria. Banishing the random thoughts from her head, she leaned her head back and let the warm droplets pound on her face. She sighed dejectedly when the water stopped flowing from the clouds above her. Even the fancy hotels had limits on how much they would give, for free at least.

She stepped out of the shower and shivered with the sudden updraft of air that gusted through the small pores in the cloud. The gusts of icy wind were another thing she could have done without. Cloudsdale had some sort of system where they made a team of pegasi flap their wings for hours, sending the wind throughout the city via a system that the city officials called "air conditioning". She shook her head at their strange term for cold air, and grabbed a towel from the rack that was just outside of the showering area. After a bit of struggling, she managed to dry off most of her body. She unfurled her wings and flapped them rapidly to send waves of air against her coat and drive out the rest of the water. Happy with her drying, she slipped on the leather coat and walked back into her room. She was just about to lay down on the bed when she heard a knock, steady and sure, at her door.

As she opened the door, she was greeted with the sight of her right wing flyer, Stalwart Spear. He was a stallion of few words, but whenever he spoke everypony listened to what he had to say. His very presence on the battlefield brought courage to his allies and delivered death to his enemies. Stalwart was still in his armor, with a forboding expression on his face. She looked into his eyes and he nodded to her as she opened the door to admit him. Instantly the mares who had been following him started to whisper excitedly. He always attracted the attention of many wherever he went, being a Night Pegasus. Night Pegasi were almost a thing of legend, being nearly extinct. As far as all of Equestria knew, only five or six remained, with the means to create them lost to the sands of time. His bat wings were folded against his dark-blue coat as he sat down on his haunches and saluted formally to her.

"Everything has been seen to Ma'am. Are there any other orders that you wish relayed to the unit?" Iron Dancer couldn't help but to roll her eyes at his formality, but she shook her head to answer his question. Normally, Stalwart would have left her then after saluting a second time. Today he didn't move from his spot on the floor as he seemed to struggle to day something.

"What is it Spear? Spit it out." She rolled her eyes again as he recoiled at her tone. Just because I am the captain doesn't mean you have to be so formal all the time. She had to supress a sigh as he saluted her again.

"Permission to speak freely?" he asked in an unsure tone that was unlike his usual way of speaking.

She waved a hoof dismissedly. "Speak your mind Spear. We aren't on the battlefield either, so lose the formality."

He almost saluted her again, but stopped himself wit a hoof halfway to his head. Setting his hoof back down on the floor, he looked out of the room's window and into the sunset. It would be his time to feed again soon, but Iron had no fear or him attacking her. "Well, it's about... That pegasus who was in the Flashing Metal show, the one with the device named by himself as a 'Slicer'." She wanted to smack Spear in the head with her wing, but she knew that no amount of work would have him lose all of the formality. "I would like to suggest that he come and join the War Wings. We are going to search for the Black Coats regardless, and it is fitting that he would be a part of it. He is a potent soldier, and he has a very large attunment for machinery. You saw what the Black Coats used. We may be good warriors, but we haven't fought enemies with weapons like these before."

She nodded slowly as he finished. She had also considered extending the hand of invitation to both pegasi, but given the events at the competition, she felt that it would have been an insult to invite the surviving twin into the unit. "I believe so as well Spear. Tonight I will go and seek him out. You should go and feed now because you look dead on your feet. Stay away from the towns and hunt some deer or something." Spear flinched at her casual reference to his feeding habits, and then grimaced at the order to eat deer. Nevertheless he saluted her, and turned to exit via the window. She watched him fly away, black wings flapping in the bright, silver light of the moon.

Sighing, she turned to the pile of armor that was still lying in the corner and pulled on the harness. Slipping her spear into it's holder, she clasped the joints shut. She wiggled her body, and smiled as the harness moved with her, perfectly fitting as always. She picked up the armor and tossed it into the air. She flew up under it and winced as the weight of it settled onto her back. She dropped back to the floor, and slipped each of her hooves into the plated shoes that every War Wing wore. Those shoes had saved her life more times than she could count, and would more than likely save it many more times. Armor assembled, she turned to the window and leapt into the cool night air.

000

Cloud Slicer sat in the silent graveyard, running the blade across the tombstone of his brother. Sparks flew from the metal as it was rubbed against the granite headstone. He pulled the metal away from the stone, testing the edge against his leg. Pulling the blade away, he smiled at the small trickle of blood that flowed from the shallow cut. Nice and sharp. He pressed the button on the slicer and the blade whisked back into the sheath. Cloud stood and unfurled his wings, preparing to take off into the sky. He looked down one last time at the mound of freshy turned dirt that was pounded flat, the flower he had placed there was swaying with a soft breeze. It was a Sky Bloom, a special flower that popped into the air as it grew. As a young colt, Sky had always loved that flower. Turning away from the grave, Cloud walked a small distance away from the flower so he wouldn't disturb its growth.

The sound of a pegasus flapping their wings heavily made him spin around, smoothly punching the button on his slicer and assuming a combat stance. He crouched low as the pegasus landed with metal armor clanking as its hooves touched the ground. Cloud was poised to jump, every muscle screaming for a release of the tension they were under, but something stopped him from leaping at the pegasus. Plate mail? No pegasus wears that to fight. Well, no pegasi do except the ones in the War Wings. A flash of moonlight shone through a gap in the trees and Cloud saw that the armor was the same color as the night around it and streaked with strips of white and blue. Behind the face-guard, Cloud saw midnight blue eyes looking at him with apprehension. Recognizing the pegasus in front of him, he lowered his sword, pressing the button to retract the blade.

Cloud felt himself crash to the ground and he looked up into Iron Dancer's grim face. "You shouldn't have done that." He didn't even have time to shout as she thrust her lance downward.