A Song of Storms: Of Skies Long Forgotten

by The 24th Pegasus

Chapter 4: Gale

If I am to lose a wing, then so be it;
It is much better to sacrifice the skies for my country than to fly against it with two.
If I am to lose a leg, then so be it;
It is much better to be crippled for my country than to stand against it with perfect health.
If I am to lose my life, then so be it;
It is much better to die for the glory of the Empire than to live a coward.
Before the Legion there was nothing,
And after the Legion there will be nothing.

--- The Legionary’s Oath

Chapter 4: Gale

The world spiraled around Hurricane, the ground taking the place of the sky before it was chased away just as fast by the gray clouds. He felt the leading feathers of his left wing drag across the mud before flinging a few drops of muck skyward, his shoulders completing another rotation. With a grunt, the air was forced out of his lungs as his body collided with the soggy ground and his face dragged in the filth, blinding him.

Behind him, a severely dark blue pegasus lowered his hind legs onto the ground, looking scornfully over his gold-trimmed iron armor at the crumpled figure behind him. After pausing for a second, the soldier walked over to Hurricane, who was still recovering his breath on the ground. One wing was splayed out behind him, the other draped over his chest.

“On your hooves, recruit! I don’t know what kind of shit you wallow in back on your farm, but here we don't plant sorry shits like you to harvest when you've grown into a full shit crop!” Three twisted, arched feathers stacked atop each other on the pegasus’ shoulder piece glowed softly in the dreary gray light filtering in from above.

Hurricane grunted as he pushed himself to his hooves, resting on his hindquarters as he wiped the mud off of his face and helmet. He fiddled with the grime on the red plume atop his helmet for a few seconds before abandoning the effort. Seeing the centurion’s outstretched hoof, Hurricane grasped it and was hauled to his hooves.

He inhaled shakily and was about to mutter ‘thanks’ before a sharp jab from a wing across his cheek sent him reeling to the ground again. He felt a hoof smack against the side of his head as the centurion turned around to address the fifty-nine other privates standing a few yards away.

“Your enemy will give you no quarter in battle, and I expect you to give them none in return! Even if it means beheading every feathered bastard you see as he lies in a pool of his own blood, you will not leave a single griffon that could harm you or your comrades alive! Harden yourselves against compassion, for the griffons deserve none! Do I make myself clear?!”

The recruits replied with a weak affirmative, shrinking down within their armor under the centurion’s piercing glare. The pegasus’ face contorted into a scowl, and quick as lightning he yanked a random soldier from the line, bringing the might of his wrath down on the miserable creature. The soldier, who was barely more than a colt, nearly collapsed as the centurion screamed into his face.

“I can’t hear you, hawk bait! Are you scared? Do you want me to bring your mommy here for you?” The terrified recruit feebly shook his head, and the centurion hurled him back into the line, where he knocked over another two recruits. He swiveled his gaze towards the rest of the privates. “I said, do I make myself clear?!”

“Yes, Dusk Strike sir!” The response was loud and clear, even if half of the pegasi were quaking in their armor. Dusk Strike gave a satisfied nod, and flicked his tail towards Hurricane, who had just gotten himself up. Hurricane trotted back towards the ranks and resumed his place in line, mud still dripping from his helm.

Dusk Strike frowned and surveyed his recruits. The air whistled as the wind slowly began shifting across the ground. A fat raindrop landed between Hurricane’s eyes. He fought the urge to shake it off as his commanding officer spoke.

“Gryphus declares war on us, the world falls to shit, and the Legion hands me sixty greenwings to get whipped into fighting shape in just three months. I’d much rather be spilling griffon blood on the front lines, but if I’m the only one qualified to get meat like you to actually kill some of the bastards before your wings are ripped from your shoulders, then I’ll do it!” The centurion spread his wings out wide and gestured to the land around him. “I hope you haven’t gotten too acquainted with the scenery, because the way you all fight you’ll be six feet under before you’re even halfway through training!”

Several dozen hastily constructed buildings stood in neat rows behind him, each one serving as the barracks for a different regiment. In the center of the camp stood an impressive rough-hewn stone building that was the officer’s quarters, flanked on one side by the mess hall and the other by the armory. Hurricane and the rest of his century stood on the large stretch of barren earth adjacent to a lake that served as the training grounds. Scattered across the field were other centurions drilling their recruits in a similar manner. The entirety of the area made up Fort Cyclone, positioned fifteen miles downwind from Stratopolis. Not that the recruits would have any time to visit the city during their training.

The rains started coming down at an ever increasing rate, while the unseasonably cold winds sliced through Hurricane’s armor and coat, chilling him to the bone. Dusk Strike gazed at the sky, then spat at the ground angrily, crushing his saliva into the mud with a hoof.

“I’ve got much more important things to be doing than standing out here in the rain watching you fillies blunder over each other in what you call ‘combat’. I’ll see you out on the field tomorrow morning at four o’clock, fully armored and ready to go. Dismissed!”

The sixty recruits quickly saluted Dusk Strike and scattered off the field towards the barracks. Hurricane trotted in the rain, hoping the precipitation would clean the mud off of his armor for him. By the time he made it back to the structure, the rains were so thick that he couldn’t see halfway across camp.

In stark contrast to the weather outside, the barracks was well lit, warm, and most importantly, dry. Hurricane slowly walked over to the bunks that he and Silver Sword shared, taking his armor off and trying to wipe the water out of the creases and grooves as best he could. Silver had just finished cleaning his own armor and was lying on the top bunk, staring up at the wooden ceiling.

“The Legion sure isn’t anything like I figured it’d be,” he mumbled, tracing the rafters with a hoof. Hurricane set down the cloth he was using to dry his breastplate.

“It’s everything I imagined it to be so far.” The black pegasus stuck his tongue out the side of his mouth as he tried to polish away a spattering of mud on his helmet. He held the helm up to the light, squinting at his own reflection. Satisfied, he put the headpiece in the chest by his bed.

Silver Sword held his namesake weapon up to the light, absentmindedly pretending to slice the candle at the far end of the room in half. “Two days here and all I’ve done is been yelled at and kicked around by Dusk Strike and the other officers. When am I gonna get to actually use my blade?”

Hurricane finished polishing the rest of his armor and gingerly set it down in the chest. He looked up to where Silver Sword was running a hoof along his weapon, dully tracing the edge of the blade from the hilt to the tip and back again.

“They haven’t finished telling us we’re worthless pieces of crap yet to let us swing weapons at one another.” Hurricane looked at the sword he had been issued by the Legion. So far it hadn’t left the barracks, and its spotless steel surface glinted in the candlelight. The Legion prefered to use actual weapons for training rather than wooden swords, and Thunder Gale had told him of many stories where a pegasus was wounded or worse during a sparring exercise.

Silver Sword grunted his agreement and slid the weapon back into its scabbard. “Yeah, really looking forward to when I can actually kick some griffon hide rather than mope around here all day. Say, when’s dinner at?”

Hurricane felt his own stomach rumble at the thought of food. “I think the mess hall should be opening any time now.” He stood up and stretched his wings, shaking the moisture out of the feathers. “Though it’s probably military rations this time, not what we had last night.” To welcome the new recruits to camp, the Legion had provided a wide assortment of food, and much of it was better than the usual fare Hurricane could get back home. At the rate things were going, however, he very much doubted that their hospitality would continue.

Silver Sword rolled off of his bunk and landed with a thud, wings spread on either side for balance. He pushed past Hurricane towards the exit of the barracks, tail swishing back and forth enthusiastically. “I don’t even care, Cane, any food will do.”

The two pegasi emerged from the barracks, the camp now completely drenched with precipitation. They sprinted across from one building to the next, zigzagging their way under rooftops and overhangs to the mess hall. Silver Sword went through the door first, Hurricane not too far behind him. By the time he shook his coat dry of rainwater, Silver was already receiving his meal, an unappetizing mush of potatoes and carrots.

Hurricane quickly filled a tray and sat down across from his friend, who had forgone utensils in favor of a more direct food-to-mouth approach. He recoiled as Silver’s head emerged from his plate, dripping mashed potatoes. The two stared at each other awkwardly before Hurricane began shaking his head, smiling.

“What? I was hungry!” Silver began wiping his face clean with a hoof, carefully ensuring that no food went to waste. Hurricane rolled his eyes and began thoughtfully eating his own meal, trying to ignore the soggy taste.

As he was transitioning from the potatoes to his bread roll, Hurricane felt a tap on his shoulder. He looked to his left, but didn’t see anypony. He felt a hoof lightly punch his right foreleg, and he looked over to find a familiar manila-coated mare standing next to him.

“Hey. Mind if I take a seat?” There was a feeble smile on her face around the tray of food she carried as she waited for his response.

Hurricane nearly choked on the bread roll. “Swift Spear? What are you doing here?” He set down his food and angled his body closer towards the mare, motioning for her to sit. Despite the poor terms they left on last time, something within the stallion told him he wanted to repair relations with Swift.

Her smile solidified into a more confident expression as she placed her tray on the table and took a seat. “My father’s Gold Feather, remember? When the war started and the draft order went out, I volunteered immediately for the Legion. I doubt that father would have allowed me to stay around the house had I not gone.”

Silver Sword looked up from his tray, wiping the food off of his chin. “That’s pretty harsh, if I do say so myself.”

Swift partially extended a wing in greeting. “I just did what was expected of me. And I see the two partners in crime are in the same century. Good to have friends to work with in camp.” She turned her apologetic face towards Hurricane. "I'm sorry we left on less than amicable terms at Stratopolis. You were right, I didn't need to go charging in to the fight and risk my life. Father would have been fine anyways. Can you forgive me?"

Hurricane nodded, his own expression brightening. “Of course I can. I understand you were worried about your father, and I was just worried you'd get hurt." He hesitated a bit, then held out a hoof towards her. "Friends?"

"Friends." Swift tapped her hoof against Hurricane's and began to take bites out of her meal.

"I wish you were in our century, Swift. Do you know anypony in yours?”

The mare shrugged. “I already know most of the centurions and commanders at the fort. But no, you could say that the rest of the recruits I’m not familiar with.”

“Well, couldn’t you request a transfer to our regiment then? We’d love to have another friendly face to drill with.”

Swift Spear shook her head. “As much as I would love to, the centurions running the camp have already been hard enough on me with my father’s reputation, trying to test my mettle. The last thing I need is for them to get another angle to drop the hammer. They’ll think that I couldn’t take the pressure by myself and wanted out. I don’t intend to give them that notion.” She took a long swig from her mug of cider before setting it down, looking at her reflection on the surface of the drink.

The black stallion shifted in his seat. “Is it really that bad? I didn’t think any of that would matter to them.”

“Half of camp is learning to play the game. You either learn to shut up and take orders or you get drilled and broken down until the Legion can bend you to its will. My father – our fathers – learned how to play both sides of the coin, learned when to take orders and when to improvise. That’s how they became commanders.”

Hurricane nodded thoughtfully, tucking away that snippet of information for later reference. He finished his meal and pushed the tray to the center of the table, pensively sipping on his cider.

Silver Sword downed the mug in one go, slamming the wooden container on the table. “Seems rather pointless to me. I can’t tell if the centurions want us to be good soldiers or if they’re more interested in breaking us to pieces for the hell of it. Make up their minds, why don’t they.”

Hurricane was about to reply, but a roar of raucous laughter several tables down interrupted him. A group of four pegasi were slamming their hooves down on the table, obviously slightly drunken. They were all gesturing and trying to talk to a large red pegasus who sat at the center of their knot, obviously the one who made the joke. Swift Spear sighed and rolled her eyes, taking another gulp from her cider mug.

“Fire Star,” she muttered, her voice filled with contempt. Hurricane raised a questioning eyebrow at her. Swift looked back again at the red pegasus, who was receiving high-hoofs from the other ponies sitting around him. “He’s from my century. Obnoxious stallion, thinks he’s better than everypony else. Idiot.”

A mischievous smile crept across Silver Sword’s face. “Sounds like it’s something personal, eh Swift?” A glaring set of blue eyes silenced the jocular stallion. “Hey, it was just a joke…”

“Then I apologize. The first day I had to put up with him hitting on me while we were getting assigned to centuries and equipment. By some cruel joke of the Gods I got placed in the same century as him.” She pressed a hoof between her eyes. “I wish that the Legion actually had a separate barracks for its female soldiers. I’m surprised I hardly got a wink of sleep in with all the catcalls being hurled my way. Gods, what I wouldn’t do to just kick him in the nuts over and over again!”

Silver Sword and Hurricane looked on at her outburst with more than a little worry. Hurricane, who had been at the receiving end of one of those outbursts not too long ago, shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Silver Sword soon broke the silence. “That was an alarming display of hostility towards a stallion’s personal zone.”

“That’s because this specific stallion deserves it,” said Swift as she made one last look towards Fire Star’s table. Unfortunately, the red stallion noticed her and began whispering amongst his friends, pointing in her direction. Following a burst of snickering from the table, he rose from his seat and began strutting over.

“Somepony please kill me…” muttered Swift under her breath, head held low between her forelegs. In a second Fire Star was standing over them, a smug grin emblazoned across his face.

“Ah, Swift, there you are. I was feeling oh so lonely last night, why didn’t you come over?” Fire Star began massaging Swift Spear’s shoulders. Hurricane knew she was struggling to contain herself, but only her flaring primary feathers betrayed her emotions.

“I’m sorry, but I thought a fully grown stallion such as yourself would be past needing someone to tuck him in.” She turned and glared at him, blue eyes piercing through red. “Or do you have mommy issues?”

There was a chorus of low calls from the pegasi at Fire Star’s table. Somepony muttered “burn” just loud enough for Hurricane to hear it. Fire Star must have heard it as well, for he glanced at his companions with the tiniest hint of rage before burying it under his surly expression.

“Good one,” answered Fire Star through gritted teeth in a horrible representation of a smile. “I love it when the ladies play hard to get. I’m too used to getting all the attention back at home.”

Silver Sword snickered at the other side of the table. “From what, your hoof?” Hurricane quickly stifled a chuckle as Fire Star took to the air, hovering mere inches from Silver’s face.

“You think you’re a funny guy, eh?” Hurricane swore he could almost see flames flickering from the red stallion’s nostrils. “You better watch your mouth, colt, or that’ll be the last thing you say.”

Silver was unfazed. “Practice what you preach. At least I’m not the one kneeling in the alley behind the barracks.” Despite his best efforts, Hurricane snorted loudly at Silver Sword’s retort. The steel pegasus seemed to expand with the anger Fire Star directed his way. Verbal sparring was one of his favorite forms of entertainment.

Fire Star backed off, seeing a squad of centurions enter the mess hall. “One of these days your words are gonna come back to bite you. I’ll make sure to clear a spot in my trophy case for your mark.” The heated pegasus turned away and stomped off, his group of friends following him closely behind, looking over their shoulders at Hurricane and his companions. Silver Sword wasn’t done yet, and stood up long enough to hurl one last insult at Fire Star.

“Can you just skip the foreplay then? I’ve got things I’d much rather be doing than spending the night satisfying your fantasies!” The stallion sat back down, receiving a high-hoof from Hurricane over the table. There was a solid thwack from the opposite end of the cafeteria, and a bowl of mashed potatoes and carrots struck Silver upside the head. Hurricane turned just in time to see Fire Star lower his rear hooves back to the ground and storm out of the mess hall.

Swift Spear passed a stack of napkins to Silver Sword, who began clearing his face of the mush. “Sorry about that. He’s one of those stallions who’s quick to anger at anything. Thanks for standing up for me, though.”

Silver dropped a potato-encrusted napkin onto his tray and picked up another one. “Hey, that pony’s a pain in the flank. Somepony’s gotta show him his place eventually. And he gave me some more food anyways.” He finished clearing his mane of the potatoes and set the bowl down in front of him, emptying it of its remaining contents. Hurricane watched quietly, feeling bad that he hadn’t helped Swift out himself.

The lightly colored mare looked up through the high windows, the panes dripping with water. In the distance, the sun was starting to peek through the flat gray clouds that surrounded it. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and flexed her wings, the long primary feathers inadvertently brushing against Hurricane’s side. She opened her eyes and smiled.

“Perhaps camp won’t seem as long as I figured.”

Hurricane wasn’t so sure about that, but he was inclined to agree with Swift. The future definitely seemed a shade brighter.

Comments

[Seattle_Lite]

Hnnnnng

[Riku006]

Snap, Fire got owned!
It really does surprise me how this doesn't have more views than it does now. Seriously, this is building up nicely.

[Seattle_Lite]

Shorter than expected. Decent transition chapter. Read more for enjoyment than review, so only one thing stuck out at the end-
>lightly-colored // NO.

[The 24th Pegasus]

1489331

Adjusted, thanks for pointing that out

[djthomp]

Hmn, didn't really expect to see Swift Spear show up again quite so soon. Makes sense that she would volunteer.

[Nopony in Particular]

Oh, that was deliciously hilarious!

[PaxMano33]

my question has nothing to do with the modern story. it has to do with when the pegasi were still disparate tribes under the rule of the gryphons. when the gryphon emporer noticed that the pegasi were growing stronger, what kept him from making peace with them? why couldnt the pegasi and the gryphons peacefully live together? that would have averted any and all conflict before it even started. as it stands now, the whole reason they have a war is because the old emperor felt threatened. but he had no plausible reason to be threatened. in fact, any emperor with a brain recognizes that your empire can never have enough friends. an up-and-coming pegasus society within his empire could only have been a good thing. if he extended welcome, peace, and friendship toward the pegasi, then the pegasi would have had no reason to get all riled up. was this a mistake on his part? how could the emporer not have seen the potential good that the organization of the pegasus tribes could provide? seems less to me like a believeable sequence of events and more to me like a desperate plot device used by an author to start a war...but thats just me.
and why is swift spear in the same camp as hurricane? hurricane has never even held a sword in his life, yet swift has a freaking SPEAR on her flank. her special talent is in war for pete's sakre, her father is a high ranking general, she has probably had a TON of training before now. she is an entirely differrent class of warrior, and yet they are put on equal footing. why? what, is the army sexist or something? seems to me like a desperate plot ploy used by an author to bring her and hurricane closer together.
and what about the other pony races? i get that the unicorns and earth ponies are entirely separate from the pegasi, but then how did the alicorn race come into play? i mean, alicorns are just as much pegasi as they are earth pony or unicorn. why dont we see them? what, are celesta and luna hangin' out over the ocean with the unicorns? that could be true, but isnt that a bit racist? the two gods making their dwellings amongst the unicorns-or even the earth ponies- and yet totaly ignoring the other race?
or maybe celestia and luna arent yet born? i mean, in hearths warming eve spike does say that the tale takes place long before the princesses rule. but if thats the case, there must be an entire race of alicorns from which celesta and luna spring. but its a bit incredible for the pegasi to have heard of earth pones and regular unicorns but not to also have heard about the alicorns. it seems a bit weird to have an entire race of alicorns go unnoticed by everyone.
or perhaps celestia and luna are the children of a unicorn and pegasus? if so then you had BETTER bring about unicorns later on. but that dooesnt work either. how do mr and mrs cake-two earth ponies-have aa unicorn filly and pegasus colt? parental race apparrantly has no bearing on the race of the child. it also sems a bit racist toward the earth ponies. what, only a joining of a pegasus and unicorn can have an alcorn baby? celesta's father cannot POSSIBLY be an earth pony and therefore earth pones cannot be part of the royal line? strkes me as fishy.
but thats funny. if its true that parental race has no bearing on the race of the child, then why are there no earth pones or unicorns in your fic? what, do they view unicorns as shameul to their great pegasus lineages and throw them over cliffs in shame and contempt? what gives?
also, im kinda wondering why the gryphons havent learned about cloud technology yet. in gryphon the brush off, we clearly see gilda sitting on clouds the same as reainbow dash. the gryphons clearly interact with clouds on the same level as pegasi and therefore can do the same things with them as the pegasi. they can do even better things, because they have individual talons, not clumsy hooves. what, did they have a period like the dark ages where knowledge was suppressed and they lost the ability to maneuver clouds? please.
and speaking of clouds, how does that cloud city stay still? does the wind affect it? is it anchored down somehow?
also, i think pegasi would be able to incorporate clouds and their natural bouyancy into weapons or vehichles somehow. i think youre creative enough to think of how.
and how is there marble in that floating city? i can get that pegasi would be supported by clouds, but rock? youre pushing it there.
whew! im done for now. i wanna get back to reading!

[Lunae Lumen]

2603396

Regarding peace between gryphons and ponies: pretty much all real world history ever also fails the "Why can't we be friends?" test. If it were really that simple, why would there ever be war anywhere? What if there are limited resources (especially farmland) and expanding populations? If the pegasi are united, that means they will start looking to expand outward, rather than fighting amongst themselves. Then there's plain old-fashioned bigotry, on both sides. Clearly, the pegasus point of view is that only pegasi really count as people. I strongly suspect the gryphon outlook is much the same. That's not even accounting for the possibility of historical and cultural reasons for their animosity (the sort that you see play out in a lot of modern conflicts in the Middle East).

Regarding Swift Spear going through boot camp: it doesn't matter how personally talented you are, or how much private tutoring you may have received, you still have to learn discipline. Cirra is clearly inspired by the Roman empire, and the Roman army was famous for, and effective because of, its discipline and coordination. They won battles by fighting as a unit, not by being individually more talented than their opponents. A terrific fighter who can't be bothered to stay in ranks and follow orders is more of a liability than an asset. Also, blatant nepotism is terrible for morale.

Regarding Celestia: Yeah, the show is not really clear on where Celestia and Luna came from. Although we do see, quite clearly, that at least one unicorn has grown wings. So there's that.

Regarding the Cakes' children: the Cakes clearly indicate that they had some unicorn and pegasus ancestry, however slight. It is a fluke of genetics, just like a blond child born to dark-haired parents.

Regarding rocks in the clouds: I seem to recall plenty of solid structures in Cloudsdale. Including lots of what looks like (gasp) marble! This fic is taking the same tack as the show in that regard: not stopping to explain how it works, only showing that it does.

[SolidFire]

“Somepony please kill me…” muttered Swift under her breath

No! Don't say that! Don't encourage this madman of a writer! Other than her fate being sealed, I loved the chapter. I knew we hadn't seen the last of her, and I'm glad she's back.

~SolidFire