The attendant put the chain chanfron on Storm's head, and he stood rigidly as she tightened it.
'We are what we are.'
Storm had truly come into his own, among them. They had taken him in. And now he knew who he was, what he was. He still remembered what they had told him. "Ponies are like dogs, my son. There's the little, tubby fat ones everypony likes to pet, and the tall, rangy ones we watch race and bet upon. There's all kinds of house dogs with wagging tails. Then there's the wolf. It is strong. It has powerful jaws, and it is ferocious when roused. We are what we are, my son. And wolves is what we are. And all them little waggy-tail beasts best walk wary around us."
Storm would keep those words in his memory forever.
The crinet came next, covering and protecting Storm's neck. The tan pegasus kept steady, as the unicorn mare tightened the crinet around him. Loose armour was a hindrance on the battlefield. It would be flexible, but properly fitting.
He had met Luna herself. Mother. Calling her that - it felt good.
The dark blue unicorn mare next took up the crupper, its bronze plate shining even in the dimly lit room. It affixed on to Storm's hindquarters and the upper legs, and the straps were tightened to fit.
She loved him, just as he loved her. Storm had never needed the word 'devotion' before, but now it seemed...right. Were she to order him into certain death, he would obey happily.
Next, the peytral was lifted up in the unicorn's pale blue magic. As she lifted it to its place protecting the front of Storm's torso, Storm could feel her magic on his coat, a warm, comforting touch.
And his brothers would do the same. For her - for mother - anything would be done, no matter the cost.
The flanchards came next, plate now protecting his flanks apart from the wings. Straps tightened the plate's hold, and Storm waited for it to be finished, before flexing his muscles. Well made armour, it kept the full range of movement.
His attendant waited until he had finished, and then lifted up the plate crinet. Like the mail, this would protect his neck, but more securely than the mail alone.
Storm remembered his first session with the armourer, when he had questioned this very thing. The armourer had shook his head, and corrected him. "The plate is sturdy, but like any rigid armour, it has chinks so you can move in it. See? And then," he said, taking out a knife, "what do you think happens when somepony puts a knife through that? Your mail is there so that even if that should befall you, you have protection. You'll see, young one, that there may seem some strange things in battle, but they each have a reason if you seek for it."
Next to last, his attendant added another piece of plate, covering the mail chanfron. The plate chanfron was there for the same reason as the plate crinet, to help protect against any weapon.
Last was another piece of mail. Gently, his attendant lowered the mail caparison over him, covering even his wings now. Storm nodded to her, and she bowed and withdrew, her duty to him done.
Next were the weapons, and Storm carefully fitted on the boots. Unlike typical horse shoes, these were hooked and bladed, with jagged ends. A well trained warrior could kill an enemy with a single blow, even through armour. And Storm was well-trained indeed. The Sons of Luna all were. It was what made them who they were. And nopony, nobody, would deprive them of that.
Next came the lance. Common weapons for many of the pony military, in the hooves of one of these elite fighting stallions, they were devastating. Strapped to the side, and used in mass charges, they could devastate an enemy line.
Storm, armed and armoured, knelt down, and re-swore the oath he had made on that day, so long ago...
Act One - Rising Storm - Chapter One
ACT ONE - RISING STORM
Chapter One
Chivalry woke up from his dream, still in bed. The dream of last night still clung to him, and he had trouble bringing himself to get up. He slowly got up, and yawned. The dreams...they'd felt so vivid, and real. But...already, like the other dreams, the details faded. In some, he was a brave warrior, fighting against dragons or...Or something else. He never quite remembered. In others, he was a member of the weather factory in Cloudsdale, or some other mindless career.
There weren't many careers open to pegasus ponies. Well, not many worthwhile careers. The young blue pegasus colt wanted to be doing something important. But as he reflected on his life so far, that didn't seem altogether likely. The orphanage... Well, even the best orphanages weren't as good as proper parents. And...
Well, even some of the other foals had received their cutie mark, but him - well, he was still a blank flank, wasn't he? Even his friends had theirs already.
At least they didn't talk about it much. That was better than the carers. "Don't worry," one of them had said, "it'll come in time. Not like there's anything bad with being a, hmmm, a late bloomer, either!"
There was. Of course there was. And the other foals and he knew it. It was embarrassing. The few ponies looking for foals looked for two types. The young and cute (which Chivalry was no longer and had never been, respectively), and the older with talents. The first were for adoption, the second were for hiring.
And Chivalry, what was he? Five, maybe six? Almost time that he'd be sent out into the world anyway, for better or worse. And still, no cutie mark.
He was walking down the corridor of the orphanage, deep in these gloomy thoughts, when he bumped into a unicorn filly, almost the same age, and with a dark blue coat.
"Oh, um, sorry, Chivalry," she said, while he struggled to remember her name. Morning Star? Meadow Song? Charity? The ponies changed almost every day, and besides the three other ponies he was friends with, Chivalry didn't really remember names easily. With no real memory of her name, Chivalry reverted to a generic response.
"It's no problem. I was just thinking." He stepped aside, letting her pass. But she didn't seem to want to do such a thing, instead joining him at his side.
"Thinking about what?" she asked, keeping pace with him.
"The future, of course," he said. "What does anypony here think about besides that?" Of course, they don't usually think about them so bleakly, he thought to himself, just me.
"Oh, um...I don't know...maybe about other ponies?" she said after a second or two passed, with a slight blush appearing. Chivalry reluctantly nodded. It was true; despite all the adults' efforts, colts would be colts. Well, he thought to himself wryly, at least it means they won't run out of little ponies to adopt out.
"I suppose," he said. "But really, what's the point?" He laughed cynically. "Chances are you'll never see the other pony again after they leave. No; not for me that sort of thing. Not yet, at least."
"B-but...But what if it's true love? Wouldn't that be enough?" she protested, continuing to walk with Chivalry. Chivalry sighed, the filly apparently being more persistent than he had thought.
"True love?" he countered. "How does one know whether love is true or not? One might as well ask the apple tree to produce oranges; or ask the stones to fly like clouds. Even the smartest of ponies can trick themselves into 'seeing' something that isn't there."
The filly, however, was persistent especially now. "But true love, you know it. It's right. You...You just know it. And it feels good, no matter what that pony says." With that, the filly turned and walked away, leaving Chivalry bewildered at her seeming to take such a...well, for lack of a better word, safe discussion area personally, and annoyed - leaving before he could answer her words. He snorted, and shook his head well-humouredly. Might as well use those similes for understanding anypony, too.
He shrugged, and continued on his way down the corridor.
Chastity walked down the corridor dejectedly. She barely noticed her friend Ambrosia coming up to meet her. "Chastity!" said the raspberry red earth pony. "What's up?" The dark blue unicorn didn't look up, still in her doldrums.
"Chastity?" called out Ambrosia, by her side now. "What's wrong?" Chastity, suddenly noticing her friend, looked up and faked up a smile.
"Um, nothing's wrong. Everything's okay. Everything," she said, injecting false cheer into her voice. "Why would anything be wrong?" Even to herself, Chastity admitted that she didn't sound convincing. And her friend picked up on it.
"Have some of the other foals been picking on you again? I'll beat them up!" she said, anger evident in her voice. Chastity smiled weakly. At least Ambrosia could always be counted on to be a protective friend. Chastity remembered back to when she'd first met Ambrosia. Ambrosia had protected her from a couple of bullies by kicking their flanks. She was put in time out afterwards, but she said it'd been worth it.
"No," she said, a hint of real happiness entering her voice. "No, it's not more bullies. It's...well...the pony I've...you know." She blushed bright red, and looked down, embarrassed. She hadn't told anypony but Ambrosia yet...well, aside from almost admitting it to the pony in question just today... and she was still shy about admitting it. She hadn't even told Ambrosia who it was, yet.
"Oh," said Ambrosia with a hint of laughter in her voice. "Is Mister Special avoiding you, hmmm? Imagine that." Chastity almost, deep in her heart, wished he had been. At least she could watch from a distance, then. Watch and... and pretend he cared about her. But... from what it sounded like, he seemed like he hadn't even noticed her.
"Y-yeah," she managed. "I-imagine t-that." She sniffled a bit, and tried to smile again, but her heart wasn't in it. Ambrosia looked apologetic.
"I'm sorry," she said, "I didn't mean to make fun."
"I-It's okay. Y-you're right."
"No," said Ambrosia fiercely. "No colt would want to avoid you."
"But-"
"No buts. You're a cute filly. Now... about this colt... I have an idea."
Chivalry had finally reached his destination. The courtyard was a grassed area, and there his friends were waiting. Faith and Meek were sitting down, while Brave was standing up, boasting as usual.
"I'm telling you, I'm the fastest pony here, bar none," said the bright orange earth pony colt. "Even the pegasus ponies aren't as fast as I am." Chivalry slowly sauntered up to the group.
"Talking manure again, are you, Brave?" he said. The earth pony turned, while the pegasus filly and the unicorn colt snickered behind them. The earth pony stuck out his hoof, and Chivalry took it, quickly forcing the other's hoof down.
Brave grinned. "A good hoof-wrestle as always, Chiv. How are ya?" He clapped the pegasus colt on the back. Chivalry smiled. At least he didn't have to worry about figuring out his friends. Brave wasn't the brainiest pony, even he'd say that. But a more loyal friend and a pony happier in being who they were - you'd never find such a one. Faith, the pegasus filly, was a fair bit smarter. And Meek? Well, somepony had to be the good looking one. And that pony was Meek, in the unicorn's view.
Of all the fillies and colts there, only Meek had gone out of his way to ensure he got well made clothes, even saving up the few bits they got each week to get 'properly tailored clothes suitable for such a handsome unicorn as himself' (his own words). But despite his seeming materialistic view on life, Meek was still a loyal friend.
"Yeah, I'm doing well," said Chivalry with a broad smile, the past confusion with the filly in the corridor gone now. "What's new, everypony?" He sat down beside Meek and Brave, opposite Faith.
Faith grinned, a cheeky little grin that made Chivalry ever-so-slightly uneasy. "What's new? Besides your new shadow?" Chivalry looked questioningly at her.
"What do you mean?" he said, a slight tone of confusion entering his voice. Someponies already knew something about him he didn't know?
Meek smirked. "Oh, he doesn't know, does he? How innocent." He stood up and shook his head in mock dismay. "Oh, Faith, I simply don't know what we're going to do with him." He peered at Chivalry closely. "Are you sure you don't remember her? Filly, following you around, giving you doe eyes, thinks she could love such a hunk of junk as you?" At Chivalry's continued ignorance, he rolled his eyes, turning to Faith. "What a shame for that poor filly, carrying a torch for somepony so obtuse."
Something clicked in Chivalry's brain. "Wait... You mean that filly in the corridor?" he asked, that reaction starting to make a lick of sense...
"Well," said Meek, "I wasn't actually there, but I'd presume so. Let's see. Unicorn? Blue coat? No taste in ponies? If your pony fits those three, then that's a 'probably'!"
"And... what, she's following me around because she's got a crush on me?" asked Chivalry with a groan. Just what he needed. It's not that having another pony around would be bad, really - it was more that he didn't know her - and wasn’t after the same thing as she appeared to be.
"Ding ding ding, we have a winner," said Meek, clapping his hooves together. “Really, my friend, you can’t honestly admit you haven’t noticed her, can you? Sisters above. She’s been hanging off your every word. You can hardly spot her in a different room to you.”
“So,” said Faith, a smile on her face. “When’s the first date?”
Chivalry shook his head. “Date? There’s not going to be a date. I mean,” he said, spreading his hooves defensively, “I’ve got more than enough to worry about without having to deal with some filly trying to get a kiss.”
“Ah. So you scared her off, hmmm?” said Meek, snickering a little. “Well, I suppose that means we’ll have to talk to her for you.”
“But...”