Eye of the Storm
By Elwynn13
Edited by Malheur, Anunymau5, Ogatasensei123
Prologue: Stormcaller
"Got a call from an old friend; we used to be real close..."
I sat in the Watcher’s Waterhole, dripping wet and tired. Drizzle, one of my closest friends, was sitting across the table from me, screwdriver in her mouth as she worked on our radio. Lousy piece of junk burnt out once more, the fifth time this month. It was a miracle that she managed to repair it as many times as she had. I downed my whisky, enjoying the burning sensation. I spread my wings and flapped them a couple times, attempting to shake some of the excess water off of them.
I hated being wet. Being wet sucked. Granted, being hurt sucked more, but I didn’t really get injured much. Anyone with half a brain would know how to stay out of a bad situation, or at least fight their way out without getting too injured. Recently, Drizzle and I were hired to take a whack at doing some maintenance on the local DJ’s radio tower. My train of thought was shattered by the radio sparking to life, with Drizzle letting out a triumphant cheer. A mournful refrain was playing on the device, every note chilling me to my very soul.
Drizzle produced a deck of beaten-up playing cards, a bulging bag of bits, and dealt us both a hand of cards. Poker, then, I suppose. I dug a clawful of bits out of my bag and tossed them on the table, the wind outside shaking the windows. The light blue mare smiled and brushed her mane out of her face, picking up her cards. The music on the radio gradually died out with a familiar mare’s voice blaring through the speakers.
“Good morning, Equestria,” the radio announced, “and welcome back to News with the North! I’m your eye in the sky, located in beautiful Stormcaller Pinnacle! A big thank you to the Monsoon and the Merc; without them, nopony would be getting this broadcast! Swing by my studio later, I have something to show you two. And now, some news.”
The announcer went on to talk about the dangers of wandering into The Thorn. Everypony already knew that Maple and her gang were bad news, so anypony with even a single functioning brain cell would steer very, very clear of The Thorn.
I groaned and folded my hand. An ace of spades, seven of spades, three of hearts, six of clubs and a nine of diamonds. Complete rubbish. Drizzle smirked as she raked my bits to her side of the table.
“You know that the point of gambling isn’t to see how many bits you can lose, right?”
I growled and pulled my rifle out, the sturdy oak stock a comfortable weight in my talons. The steel barrel was pristine. On the side of the barrel, I had scratched a single talon marking. The calling card of my crew, it could be found anywhere we had worked in one form or another. I placed the rifle on the table and pushed it into the pile of bits.
“Yea’, ah know that. Ah just think tha’ ya’re usin’ marked cards,” I muttered, my attention elsewhere. I never won a single poker hand, so it was a futile attempt to even break even. I don’t even know why I kept playing. My luck was somewhere in the negatives, for crying out loud!
“Me? Cheat? You hurt me, ‘Dina!”
I hated that nickname. I really did. Besides, this was a mare with a lockpick for a cutie mark. Of course she’d cheat.
I glanced out the window and sighed. It had been raining for days. The aged buildings of Stormcaller Pinnacle were drenched, the ivy growing on many of them dripping with murky water.
I also hated the rain. In the mainland, it may have been acceptable, but the weather was actually managed down there. Up here, in the Northern Reaches, the weather did what it wanted. Our pegasi tried time and time again to tame the wild climate, but...
No dice. The clouds were resistant to any attempt to disperse them, as Drizzle was quick to point out whenever I teased her to give us some light. Her rants were golden, whenever she actually let herself go through with one.
The door crashed open, a very large, brown, unicorn stallion stomping through. His cutie mark was a shovel. He glared my way and began trudging towards me, his expression an angry frown. He wore barding of rough kevlar that had clearly gone through quite a few fights. On his belt, a sickle was hooked. The blade was visibly coated in dry blood.
I frantically grabbed my rifle and loaded two cartridges. I really hoped that I wouldn’t need to use it, but this guy looked like one mean customer.
He stopped at my table and slammed a hoof down on it. “You’re Gredina, right?” His voice sounded like rocks being ground together. I nodded and tightened my grip on the rifle. “Come with me.” It wasn’t a request.
I pulled my bags on, slung my rifle over my back, and motioned for Drizzle to follow me. If this turned bad, I’d rather not have to brawl with this monstrosity alone. She nodded and stuffed the deck of cards into her saddlebags, pulled them on and trotted to me.
The pair of us followed the large stallion out the tavern’s badly damaged door, the wind and rain buffeting us. He took us to the edge of town, to the overhanging cliff on the far north side of Stormcaller. The stone was scorched from a multitude of lightning strikes. Even in the rain, the land looked worn. He gestured to come to his position at the absolute edge of the cliff. Now, I may have been a bit drunk, so I marched over to him. Drizzle followed me from above. The only indication of her being nearby was her occasional quiet sniffling.
In the lackluster visibility of the unending storm, I could make out the stallion grinning widely. “Hello, Gredina. It’s been a while.”
I blinked a few times. “Ochre?”