Whisper Wing

by Unicorncob

Unexpected Help

Chapter Two
Unexpected Help

“Copper Alloy, was it?” Asks Captain Valiant Glory, his head slightly dipped as he looks at the stallion beside me, “Tell me, what do you do?”

“I am just a blacksmith, sir,” Copper responds, sounding a lot less aggressive than he was with the haughty Lieutenant Flash, “I was making a delivery to Riverhoof, just an order of cooking knives.”

“I see,” the unicorn nods, his stern look unwavering, “And the Sunstar jumped you on the pass and arrested you for… what was it, Lieutenant?” He turns to look at the pony in question, eyebrows raised.

Lieutenant Flash’s eyes were practically ablaze with embarrassment and rage, and in a few moments he responds, “Weapon smuggling.”

The Captain nickers, whether in amusement or disappointment, I can’t tell. “Honestly? The Sunstar seem to be looking for reasons to arrest ponies nowadays.”

“The Sunstar arrests suspected traitors and conspirators to the Kingdom of Equestria,” The orange unicorn quickly barks, teeth bared in anger as he gets into Glory’s face, “And they answer to me. Or have you forgotten that, sir?”

“Well, the Sunstar are a faction of the Royal Unicorn Guard,” the Captain retorts, as calm and level-voiced as ever, “and therefore, they ultimately answer to me. Or have you forgotten that, Lieutenant?”

Flash snarls and backs off, and mine and Copper’s satisfaction only grows. Nice to see this pompous idiot put in his place. A few snickers break out from the prisoners, and even some of the guards. The Lieutenant is obviously not the most popular soldier in the barracks.

Captain Glory turns his attention back to Copper. “I greatly apologise for the inconvenience, blacksmith. Once I’ve cleared things out with the rest of the captives, you will be cleared to go. And I will make sure you are compensated for any damages.”

The earth pony nods but keeps quiet. Unicorns have gained a bit of distrust due to their use of magic. Rumours of necromancy and the like, it’s ridiculous. I can see that distrust in Copper’s eyes. The Captain can probably see it as well, but doesn’t say anything else. He just steps forward and looks at me.

Both of us keep our mouths shut, our eyes fixed on each other in a hard stare. He might be more benevolent, but I wasn’t ready to give up any secrets to Flash, and I sure as Tartarus wasn’t going to give anything to Glory.

“I overheard Lieutenant Flash saying you were in possession of Nightwind armour,” he finally says, “is this true?”

I say nothing. Just keep glaring him down.

He lifts his head slightly, looking down his muzzle at me. “Your silence will only incriminate you.”

“So what if I had it?” I finally answer, then look toward the unicorn guards, “Plus, Nightwinds aren’t known for being out in the open. How would he know what the armour looks like?”

Lieutenant Flash is quick to jump in. “This is not the first time we’ve dealt with you little sewer rats.”

Valiant Glory, however, looks curious, and shows the look to his subordinate. “Lieutenant, who was the guard who informed you of the armour?”

Flash curls his upper lip in annoyance. “Star Arrow, sir.”

“I don’t recall that name. When did he join?”

“Just last… week…” Flash’s eyes widen and his pupils dilate once again - I figure this is a thing he does - as they slowly scan over to the keep. Something just dawned on him.

Before anypony can do anything else, a yell breaks out as a barrage of arrows arches over the town wall facing me and the prisoners, catching a few unlucky ponies in varying parts of the body.

“Get down!” Captain Glory yells, he and some other soldiers dropping to the ground. With these shackles on, I can only manage a pathetic crouch.

I’m slowly losing my grip on my dignity.

I look back up and see a pegasus standing on the wall, red-coated and clad in silver armour of the Pegasus Empire. I can tell from the mohawk of gold mane on top of the helmet. At least a dozen similarly armoured pegasi, unfortunately lacking the stylish mohawk, appear and flank him at both sides. They’ve all come armed with bows or swords, even throwing spears tucked beneath their wings.

A smirk escapes me at the pride of having such articulated limbs, something these prim and prissy unicorns lacked.

“Imperials!” Captain Glory yells, and waves a hoof to command his soldiers, “Lieutenant, take some stallions and get the citizens to safety! The rest of you, fend them off!”

“The Mock Princess will fall!” The mohawked pegasus acclaims, “In the name of General Hurricane, we will free these innocent captives!”

And all Tartarus breaks loose.

---

The commanding pegasus leads his sword-bearing soldiers into battle, while the spear ponies stay on the wall and the archers take to the sky over the town. Captain Glory, despite his lack of armour or weapons, leads the attack with some unicorns, their magical auras enveloping their own swords and bows. I have to admit, that kind of duty and bravery is pretty admirable.

But enough about that, I have to get out of here!

These shackles on my hooves and the rope around my wings really impedes my manoeuvrability, but something like that can’t stop me.

I hope.

And before I can even think, one of the armoured pegasi drops down in front of me, causing me to yelp and jump back. A stallion with a turquoise coat.

“No funny business!” I warn him hastily, “Just because I’m tied down doesn’t mean I--”

The shink of his steel sword being drawn shuts me up.

“Fear not, sister,” He says, holding the sword in his curved wing, “I will have your wings freed in a moment!”

“Sister?” I repeat, blinking confusedly as the stallion takes the hilt of the sword in his mouth and carefully saws at the rope tied around me, “I don’t have any brothers! ...I think.”

“Ah, but we are both pegasi, yes?” He mumbles, his head jerking side to side as he cuts, “That is enough to consider you a sister of mine!”

Being one to never look a gift pony in the mouth, I shrug and accept the answer.

I breathe a huge sigh of relief as I feel the rope slide off me, and give my scarlet wings a ruffle before spreading them out. “Much better.”

“I regret my blade cannot cut through your shackles,” the stallion says, “You will need to find the key.”

“Already done,” I smirk as the key in question catches my eye, hanging off the armour of the guard from earlier, “Thanks, my wings are all I need.”

The soldier nods and takes off to return to the fray. That just leaves me to free my hooves.

The guard bearing the key is locked in combat with a pegasus fighter, so he shouldn’t see me coming toward him. My usual stalking technique won’t work with these shackles, so I’ll need another approach.

I flutter my wings and get myself a few inches in the air, watching as the unicorn downs the pegasus. He raises his sword in his magic, looking ready to cut the poor stallion’s head off.

Maybe it’s time to intervene.

With a thrust, I speed toward the unicorn and turn my shoulder to face his side.

WHAM!

The sword drops harmlessly to the ground, the unicorn and I not so much. He lands on his side with a heavy, clunking thud, while I sit up and clutch my shoulder.

“Ooooowwww!” I grunt, rubbing my upper foreleg with a hoof, “Worst, idea, ever.”

The unicorn hits me with a look that could curdle milk. “What in Platinum’s name do you think you’re doing, prisoner?!”

“Regretting my life choices; then stealing your key.”

After giving my sore foreleg a testing flick and confirming it not broken, I hop toward the key hanging off his flank and hold it in my wing. Then I awkwardly stand on my hindlegs to reach the shackle locks.

click, click

The shackles fall off with a jingling thud.

Okay, now the hind hooves. Which requires me to curl up a bit into a ball to reach the key.

What in Phauste’s name am I doing with my life?

click, click

Another jingling thud, and I am officially free.

I stretch out my legs in every conceivable angle, sighing in relief from feeling my joints click and pop. Freedom never felt so good.

But I’m not done yet.

I look toward the keep in the corner of the town, where that Star Arrow took the chest containing my gear.

I take a look at the prisoners still chained up, and remove the key from the unicorn before tossing it their way. “You’re on your own.”

Nopony seems happy to hear that, not even Copper Alloy.

With no chains to weigh me down, I practically whiz over to the keep door and creep inside, invisible within the conflict.

----

The cobblestone floor of the keep feels wet from how cold it is. Torches are lit in their sconces to illuminate the room, but it doesn’t do much for the heat.
In front of me is a spiral staircase leading to higher floors, and to my left is a hallway, where I can just make out a descending staircase.

My guess is the dungeons are down there. Nice and out of the way.

I creep toward the hallway, ears tuned, paying attention for any sounds coming from inside, but all I can hear, aside from my hooves clopping on stone, is the yelling and clashing of steel coming from outside.

I’m not really one for war or anything, but if it keeps me covered, then fight on, brave ponies.

Thanks to some masterful architecture, only the top and bottom of the stairs are lit by torches. The stairs themselves are hidden in pitch black.

As much as I like being in the darkness, I’d rather not have it where I could trip up and break my neck.

Okay, Whisper, not to worry. Just one step at a time.

I carefully begin my descent, one hoof at a time.

Being used to working in the dark, I can almost see the outlines of each step as I make my way down. A cocky smirk crosses my muzzle at the thought of my mastery of the shadows.

“--rry up, Star Arrow, the others need us!” A distant stallion’s voice calls from the doorway at the bottom.

One of the ponies who took my gear!

“I’ll stay down here,” the other, who I assume is Star Arrow, says, “In case that Nightwind comes down for her things.”

“She’s chained up,” the first stallion argues, “How could she get down here?”

“Nightwinds are resourceful, you never know with them.”

“Touché. Okay, watch that chest like a hawk, I’ll go and meet the others.”

I creep back up the stairs a bit, huddling up to the wall as the armoured unicorn rushes past me and up the stairs.

I smirk as he doesn’t even look back.

Too Easy.

I peer into the next room and have a look. Nopony is around, just a table to the side with some shelves, and to the other side, some barrels.

I assume it’s some kind of food storage.

The shelves have some cooking utensils, like table forks and knives, and a cutting board. Some brightly coloured bottles are there as well, which I know as potions for health, stamina and magic.

If only I had my bag…

For now though, I open a barrel and fish out a fresh red apple with my wing.

One for the road.

I continue forward and down another flight of stairs, nonchalantly crunching the apple, and freeze in place as an armoured unicorn stallion looks right at me in the next room. Looking past him reveals a few cells, and at his hooves is the chest with my things.

“Ah, the dungeons,” I state the obvious, returning my awkward look to the unicorn, “I… guess you’re in charge in here?”

The unicorn looks as awkward as I do. “Yes…?”

“And I assume you’re meant to not let me take my things…?”

“Those are my orders...?”

“So I suppose you’d object if I went to get my things…?”

“I guess…?”

An awkward silence goes on for a few moments.

“...just gimme my things,” I finally say, as flat as I naturally can, and then give him a dung-eating smirk, “Star Arrow.”

The unicorn rolls his eyes and kicks the chest toward me. “Can never pull the wool over your eyes, Whisper.”

“You’re damn right you can’t,” I say, noticing the chest is unlocked, and flip it open, “Thanks for unlocking it, Night Gleam.”

“I had a feeling you’d be coming,” He says, removing the uniform to reveal his lavender coat and fuschia mane, “So I thought I’d spare you the time.”

My smirk grows as I begin dressing. Everything is here.

My lightweight black armour and shoes, my straps and sheathes, my black dagger, a pair of steel wingtip blades, a saddlebag of holding, and a black hood with a muzzle cover.

I’m finally Whisper Wing again.

“Finally,” Night Gleam smirks, levitating a sack out from under the desk by the leftmost cell, “You look weird without your armour.”

“And you look weirder with that army gear,” I retort, sticking my tongue out, “Hurry up and get changed, we need to get out of here.”

“I hate this place as much as you do,” he says, getting geared up in the same armour, “Let’s get back to Gaskin, Goldeyes is probably worried about you.” He smirks.

“I know he’s not worrying about your sorry behind,” I smirk back, “So how can we get out of here without drawing attention?”

“There’s a secret exit in this very room, actually,” Night Gleam says, and uses his magic to open one of the cell doors, “In here.”

I follow him into the cell. “You’re not being a triple-agent or something, are you?”

“Phauste, no,” he laughs, and slides his hoof across one of the stones on the wall, “If you’re already this paranoid under a day of being captured by the Sunstar, I’d hate to see you last a week.”

Before I can get a smart comment out, a door-sized chunk of stone on the wall starts to shake. The wall then opens inward, again like a door, and reveals a pitch black corridor.

“Goldeyes says he discovered it years ago,” Night Gleam explains, while lighting up his horn to illuminate the tunnel in a pleasant lavender tint, “Shall we see where it goes?”

“You mean he never said where it leads?” I point out, raising an eyebrow.

“He shouldn’t have to,” he comments, rolling his eyes, “Let’s go.”

Comments

[P-Jay]

*frantically clicking the like button*

[Unicorncob]

6852303

6852968 Thanks :D

[Golden Rule]

The unicorn hits me with a look that could curdle milk. “What in Platinum’s name do you think you’re doing, prisoner?!”
“Regretting my life choices; then stealing your key.”

HAHA! Love the honesty

“Ah, the dungeons,” I state the obvious, returning my awkward look to the unicorn, “I… guess you’re in charge in here?”
The unicorn looks as awkward as I do. “Yes…?”
“And I assume you’re meant to not let me take my things…?”
“Those are my orders...?”
“So I suppose you’d object if I went to get my things…?”
“I guess…?”

Best. Conversation. Ever

My lightweight black armour and shoes, my straps and sheathes, my black dagger, a pair of steel wingtip blades, a saddlebag of holding, and a black hood with a muzzle cover.

I could NOT let this line slide
1) Wingtip blades? can you say AWESOME! Dang I feel like I should have seen that coming, they'd be frigg'n assassins from the skies!
2) Saddlebag of holding? sounds like an RPG item name. Is there an alternative to saddlebag verbage besides holding? Just teasing you, love the chapter.