The snowfall had just broken. The light of the full moon shed a radiant glow over the entire clearing, touching off the last few flakes that still stirred in the air. The stars high above, far from being blotted out, sparkled endlessly in the dimness of the sky. It was a perfect night.
The young stallion sighed. It always was.
It wasn't always like this. He was young, and it was only a distant memory, but he had seen a time when the sun and moon had interchanged. It was a strange concept to think of, this idea of 'day'. A time when a warmth infused the land and everything was lit, chasing the darkness away. Instead, they subsisted in a murky twilight, seemingly forever guided by a stationary moon.
Bless the princess, she tried! But nothing could compare to what he remembered. The pale light of dawn, watching from a cloud as he nuzzled up to his mother and father. The look of love and burning care in his mother's eyes as she looked deeply into his, and told him how much better he was going to fly than any pegasus that flew before him.
How those proud eyes had becomes so fearful, so pained, one morning. When she looked at him in a way he couldn't understand, and nuzzled him, promising to be back soon. It was a promise that went unfulfilled. And so it was also the last time that the sun had risen.
The darkness had been total, descending in an instant as the sun vanished from the sky without fanfare. He had shut the time out, only remembering the soft glows of unicorn magic intermingling with the tiny specks of the lamps they outshone. It had been hard to understand at the time, but the chaos that ensued was unrestrained. His father had snatched him up, pulling for the sky, striving for the little luminescence of home.
It had haunted him, the expression on his father's face. To his limited understanding, it was so blank, so empty. It had taken him so long to understand the emotions he had seen. To realize the loss, not just of a wife, but perhaps of the very way of life that all of Equestria had known.
He wished- No, hoped! No! Prayed! That whatever divinity remained would would allow one more conversation with him...
“So this is where you've been, Chroma.”
Chroma was taken from his own deep musings by a voice at his back. The startled stallion spun in place, throwing a wash of fine snow over the tiny clearing, including his hapless visitor.
“Aww, come on! I just cleaned this stuff today!” The mare complained softly, brushing the fine powder off of her armor and orange coat.
“C... Captain Breeze! I'm sorr... I mean, I didn't... I...” The stallion turned pink at the ears, stuttering into silence.
“Forget it kid.” Breeze said as she pushed a loose strand of her purple mane out of her eyes. “See? No harm done.” She cracked a small smirk. “Plus, it lets me know I'm getting better at being sneaky.”
“I... If you say so. Was there something you wanted, Captain?” The blush still present, Chroma raised a hoof in uneasy salute.
“Huh? Oh yeah! Looks like you're finally getting called in...” The mare cut herself short and stared at Chroma. “What'd I tell you about saluting?”
“Er... That I shouldn't salute to you?” Came the nervous reply.
“And... What are you doing now?”
The younger pony seemed to notice his raised hoof for the first time. His still burning ears lit further into a deep red as he slammed the hoof down.
“S... Sorry! We were told to always salute officers during training!”
Breeze locked her purplish grey eyes with his for several long moments.
“Well... you're not in training anymore, are ya? That means you need to listen to what I say, right?”
Chroma dropped his eyes and nodded.
“And I'm telling you not to worry about it, okay? In my head, we're equal, no matter what this rank stuff says.”
The stallion lifted his head, only to meet Breeze's eyes. She had a soft smirk on her face that made her words ring of honesty. Chroma smiled as well, the blush fading gently as he calmed down.
“Now that the touchy-feely stuff is over with, I can actually get to why I was looking for you.” The mare continued, rolling her eyes.
“Anyway, it looks like the ponies up in the keep are finally calling you in. Took them long enough. They transferred you here at least a month ago!”
Chroma couldn't share his superior's enthusiasm. He had been quite happy at his previous post, guarding the sleepy village of Ponyville. Even with Everdark and the the castle ruins nearby, he never had very many problems.
Now though, he was on the front lines, more or less. He had been through training of course, so he knew something of what to expect. Still, the prospect of going into battle wasn't a particularly exciting one. What did their ruler want with one young guard-pony, anyway?
Breeze, to his embarrassment, had continued to expound on the interest and honor of being called by the princess. He hoped she wouldn't notice that he hadn't been paying attention.
“-I'm not sure what you all do to get noticed, but I..”
She trailed off slowly, looking at the younger pony. Chroma felt foolish at his lapse. Here she was, happy for him, and he was destroying her mood. He hated letting other ponies down.
Breeze looked confused for a moment, before she smirked again. “Kid... Chroma. You're more nervous than I realized. Sorry about that. Look, I think I get it...”
Chroma blinked, feeling stunned. In his short time knowing Breeze, she had always seemed... driven, sure of herself. He wouldn't think of her as particularly perceptive to other ponies problems.
“It's okay to be nervous. Do you think you're the first pony to be called in to see the princess? Not by a long shot. And I really doubt you're going to be the last.” She placed a hoof on his shoulder. “So don't worry too much about it, okay?”
Chroma felt a bit more at ease, even if he was still puzzled.
“What? I have a ton of confidence, but that doesn't mean I don't care how the ponies around me feel.”
The stallion continued to stare at her a bit nervously. Had she been able to tell what he was thinking?
“Heh. You know, you really suck at hiding what you feel. It's totally written all over your face!”
Without another word, the mare turned and walked to the edge of the clearing. She left behind a rather confused Chroma, who could only blink dumbly, trying to catch up. The stallion shook his head. Regardless of what had just happened, he felt a bit better. All that remained was to get moving before he thought about it too much.
Breeze trotted a few paces ahead as they made their way back through the forest in the direction of camp. It wasn't a dangerous place (hence why he had been out star-gazing), but there was always the chance. This close to an important location, they stuck to the ground in case of ambush. Despite this, Chroma found it peaceful enough that his mind began to wander.
Captain Breeze had certainly surprised him. He had thought a month would have given him a relatively clear picture of his commanding officer. It was more than a little embarrassing to find out just how wrong he was.
It made him drift to thinking a bit more about the mare. What was she doing here, commanding a regiment at the front of the war? Why was she fighting? Had she seen much of the war? And if she had, how did she remain so confident, not losing that aura of purpose? What cutie mark should she have to represent it all?
“You know, if you keep staring, somepony might get the wrong idea, squirt.”
When Breeze's voice once again broke his concentration, Chroma felt his ears heating up again. Lost in thought, his eyes had wandered, unseeing, onto her bare flank. He averted his eyes nearly before the realization registered.
“I... Err...”
Chroma struggled to find something to catch himself with. He failed as he succeeded.
“I... I wasn't. Sorry. I was just wondering about marks. Cutie Marks, I mean. Why don't we... you, me, everypony.... have one?”
Close enough to the truth, at least.
Breeze stopped, nearly causing Chroma to run into her. She looked back at him, wearing a smile that was utterly unlike the confident ones he had previously seen. It was a haunted smile. The sort enjoyed by those who had long put to rest something unchangeable.
“That's... quite a question.”
“Sorry, I didn't mean to pry.”
She waved it off. “Not a bad one either. So don't worry about it. Just a difficult one.”
She paused a moment, concentrating on the spaces between the trees.
“I'm no unicorn, and I've never been that interested in magic, so I doubt I can give you a solid answer. But I can tell you what I think about it, at least.”
The haunted look evaporated into the smirk that better suited her.
“But, I can do that on the way. We need to get going or else you really will be late.” Breeze turned and started to walk again, with Chroma trailing behind, listening intently.
“So, you know about the Nightfall, right? Or at least you were taught about it. The day the sun vanished right out of the sky...” She paused a moment and glanced back at him. Chroma nodded softly, moving alongside to hear better.
“Right. So everything went totally black for a while... Because, you know, there was nothing to light it up.”
Chroma again nodded, this time more absently. He had just been remembering a bit of what she was talking about.
“So everypony was panicking, trying to huddle around whatever lights they could. Except for yours truly, of course.”
She flashed a smile to him. Chroma felt like laughing at her brazenness, but settled for returning a smile of his own.
“Then, while we were trying to get everypony together, there was this silver spark on the horizon. That took everypony by surprise. That was the Rising, of course, and it kept going until it ended up where it is now.” She paused briefly while explaining to gesture at the moon overhead, visible through the diminishing tree cover.
“Err... Captain? This is interesting, but what does it have to do with Cutie Marks?”
“Hold on a sec. I'm getting there!”
Chroma managed not to squeak at her tone, but instead dropped back into line behind her.
“Anyway, like I was saying, the moon rose, but it wasn't anywhere near as powerful as it is now. I mean, you could see by it fine, sure. But the plants and the ground needed more than just moonlight, and without the sun, the princess couldn't give us that.”
“So what happened?”
“Like I said, I don't know. This is just me spec... specu... making a guess.”
Chroma stifled a chuckle at her verbal trip up. It wasn't a good idea to laugh at your commanding officer, even if she seemed to be very lax.
“While I was flying up to try and get a better look at the town, this big light show started. Like little bits of silver flying up from the ground to the moon.”
Chroma stayed silent in thought. He certainly didn't remember this!
“I think... I know, that what I saw then was some of the magic going out of Equestria. I could feel it... That something was different. There's only so much magic in the world, basically, and whatever old, old magic gave us our Cutie Marks had to pay the price to save us all.”
Breeze gave a soft sigh.
“Sorry, it's kinda hard to talk about.”
“Why is that Captain?” Chroma felt her tone made it seem like a sore subject.
“We just wanted our Cutie Marks really badly. We had waited so long. Not exactly uncommon, but we didn't want to be Blank Flanks forever!” Breeze stopped and turned, more than a little frustration evident on her face.
The blue pony could only blink in response, quite lost. In return, Breeze's look lost its edge as she became confused for a moment as well. She recovered and replaced her expression with another smirk.
“But you wouldn't know about that. It was a mean thing to say to ponies who didn't have their Cutie Mark, ages ago.”
Breeze chuckled.
“I guess most of us are blank flanks now though. Must be harder to say when most ponies have the same problem. Nopony talks about it anymore.”
She gave him a nice smile that Chroma couldn't help but remain neutral to, given that he didn't quite understand the humor. Before any clarification could be asked, the mare continued on with her train of thought.
“If you really want to know more about it, I'd ask Sweetie... At least if you can find her. She'd probably be able to tell you all the formulas that go into it, and the exact rate of magical whatevers that were released. Super boring, at least to me, but if she says it's right, I guess I can't argue.”
“Who?” Chroma responded, trying to catch up to her again.
“Right, right. Even if you'd met her, she'd be going my a different name...”
She thought for a second.
“She goes by 'Song' now, I guess. White unicorn, with a curly mane? Wears that silly cape and pointed hat that all bigwig mages have?”
Chroma quirked an eyebrow. He vaguely remembered seeing such a mare a few times at a distance. The silver star patterned garb certainly made them stand out, but it did keep them from being individually memorable. He wondered if that was actually the point.
The trees had thinned out considerably as they were walking and talking. The sounds of camp drifted to them: the rustle of tent fabric, the clang of assorted metal, and of course, the crackle of campfires. Many burned around the camp, supplemented by magical torches, to beat back the endless night.
Breeze sighed and started to clam up as they drew within sight.
“She goes by another name? Why?” Chroma tried to keep from losing this thread of connection to his captain.
“Same reason I changed mine. Without Cutie Marks, we wanted some way to show we were different.”
The captain continued to face ahead, her expression unknown.
“Hold on. Breeze isn't your real name?”
“Nah. Not really. But I've been using it forever, so it might as well be.”
A beat passed.
“So what is it? Your real name?”
Breeze looked over her shoulder and smirked at the young stallion again. Then she nodded toward the break in the trees that signaled their destination.
“Maybe later, Kid. Look. We're back.”
Despite having lived in it for a month, the difference Forest Hollow possessed when compared to his previous post still made Chroma's head spin. Before the two of them, the camp itself formed a half-circle, pressed against the base of a small, steep rise. The tents for commanders sat in the center, hunkered in the protection of the rock Radiating outward, the various kinds: earth, unicorn, and pegasus alike, all mingled together, rather than being in strictly defined formations. Some shared tents, others simply acted as neighbors. Some did cluster according to their kind around the armory tents that serviced them or the mage's library, but overall the groups mixed fairly well. Surrounding it all was a ring of bonfires, magical and non-magical, that illuminated the dark cover of the forest.
From their position slightly above, the young stallion could see the forest sweep out to their sides, flanking them like a pair of wings. He could even make out the dim area past the camp, where the forest turned into an open, rolling plain. The only high ground to be found was the rock outcropping adjoining the camp, giving a solid defensive position. At its top, serviced by a path down its only gentle slope, sat the unimaginatively named Forest Hollow Keep.
Breeze took a deep breath and smiled contentedly.
“The air under the open sky always smells better, for some reason.”
She looked over at Chroma. Seeing his thoughtful stare, she added: “You'd think you'd never seen the camp before.”
His concentration broken (His mind did seem to wander quite often, but pegusii were prone to having their head in the clouds, right?), the pegasus focused on his commander again. Best to follow orders and stop day dreaming, even if they were just going back to the armory.
“Come on. Let's fly over to the tents. If you're gonna be up at the castle for a long time, you'll probably want to stretch your wings a bit.”
The blue stallion could barely slip out a “sure” before his captain vaulted into the sky. Chroma was hard pressed to match the kind of take-off speed she displayed, and so ascended more slowly. Breeze signaled her impatience (and excess energy) by pulling slow loops in the air. When he drew level with her, the elder pony nodded and bolted without a word, headed for the other side of camp.
Chroma flew after her, following the other pegasus' whoop of joy. He watched as Breeze barrel-rolled and pulled corkscrews through the air, all the while pulling further away. It was humbling, seeing somepony so good at flying. At the same time, it awoke another response from the normally reserved pony. A desire to catch up. To prove himself. To win.
It was so unlike him to think in such a way, but it took root in a small place of his mind, urging him onward. The stallion took a deep breath and focused on gaining more speed than he had before. Wind whistled over his wings, chilling them. With each heavy flap, he drew closer to his captain, who still seemed unaware of her subordinate's redoubled effort. Though every logical thought begged to understand his reasons, Chroma only pushed himself harder, drawing alongside. The pony narrowed his eyes against the buffet of air, even as a shout of his own rang out.
That was when Breeze noticed him. She blinked once in surprise, her mane whipping back and forth in the wind. Then she grinned. It was unlike anything Chroma had seen her wear before. Unlike her friendly smirk, this expression seemed more like a challenge: “Think you can keep up?”
With that wordless response, Breeze rocketed forward, starting to loop the camp. Despite himself, the stallion couldn't find the ability to back down. The two started to make laps around the camp, quite forgetting their previous task. Ponies that had grown used to turning a blind eye to Captain Breeze's flights found themselves looking upwards at the new voice added to the mix. They found a spectacle that was certainly worth their time.
The two racers themselves had lost all interest in what was happening on the ground. Chroma focused on closing the distance to his captain, while Breeze concentrated on staying ahead. That was proving to be a surprisingly difficult task for her. Even stopping all of her tricks, focusing only on speed, the stallion was gaining! With each lap, Chroma gained just a little ground, slowly but surely drawing back beside her.
After four laps, the mare descended to end what had become, essentially, a race. More for her pride, since the kid was closer than she would like to admit, than for the sudden realization that Chroma had somewhere else to be. She managed a graceful decent toward one of the clusters of cloud tents that circled the pegasus armory.
The same could not be said for her follower. Chroma managed to slow himself, but still came into a bone jarring landing. A small wave of fresh snow kicked up, settling into a small flurry around the stallion. The image might have been impressive, were he not breathing so hard, head tucked down. That said, he was still on all four hooves, so there was some accomplishment to be had. Recovering slightly, he took a shaking step toward her, the curl of a defiant smile evident between lightly ragged draws.
Breeze noticed, to her annoyance, that she was breathing hard herself. Taking a deep breath to keep her voice steady, she addressed the younger pony.
“Not bad kid... Not bad at all. Look like you've got some talent that you never told anypony about, huh?”
Chroma could barely hear her, let alone answer. His heart was pounding in his ears, and his wings ached from being pushed harder than they ever had before. Whatever he tried to say kept being pushed aside by burning lungs.
As the stallion's breathing became slower, his smile faltered.
“Not good... enough... I guess...”
His ears went a little pink.
“I still couldn't... catch you.”
“Don't count yourself out, kid. You kept up, and that's more than I can say for most fliers.”
She gave him a look that was halfway to a smile.
“Chroma, I think you can fly way better than you're ever going to let yourself realize. You just seem way the hay to modest. But, I think if I gave you a bit of training, we can get you moving faster in no time.”
Chroma stared at her with a hopeful, surprised expression.
“You'd really...?”
“Of course! Talent like that doesn't come around much, and it only gets you so far. I'm not gonna let get away with not reaching their limits!”
The sudden stray thought hit the younger pony that he might have just gotten himself into more than he might have bargained for.
“Anyway, lets get you suited up. I planned a little ahead, so we had some time, but it's not my strong point. With this little race, we need to double time it to get you up to the castle.”
She marched over to the tents, Chroma following, trying to loosen himself into presentable shape.
The armory tent they had landed near was quite obvious in its purpose. Surrounded by tents made of cloud, the place itself was also adorned with a few skillful cloud structures. All of which were depictions of ponies in combat garb. The captain trotted inside, moving to one of the several cloud lined chests it contained. Shifting the top, she rooted around inside with her nose briefly, before emerging with a metal body covering and winglets in between her teeth.
Chroma flexed a foreleg to get the last of this stiffness out, eying the armor carefully. He had never been fond of the attire, despite the protection it offered. Breeze placed the armor to the side, passing Chroma each piece as he finished fitting on the last. She seemed to sympathize with his look.
“I know wearing this stuff can get uncomfortable, but the cloud lining on the locker should keep it from wearing on you for a while.”
“Being next to a cloud keeps sky metal from getting heavier?”
Chroma ran his eyes over the surface of the bluish-white metal he had in hoof.
“Sorta. Not just any cloud will do the trick. It needs to be a similar type of cloud to the one that's mixed in when they forge this stuff. Hard to get right, basically.”
“So while it's inside the box, the cloud feeds it magic? Like a pegasus would normally do?”
“Exactly. It means we don't start wearing ourselves out the second we get ready. Wouldn't be the best way to go into a fight.”
A still moment stretched out. Chroma looked at her, an eyebrow raised.
“Kid, the whole wild eyed look is getting old. What? Do you think I made captain by accident?” Her eyes became a little harder as she spoke.
“N... No, Captain! It just surprised me. I've been here a month and haven't gotten to talk with you, so I assumed...”
The younger pony trailed off to silence and twitched nervously.
For a long span, Breeze held the younger pony under a soft glare. As Chroma looked back up, it seemed to break and dissolve back to a friendly smirk.
“Like I said, way too easy.”
The mare again started to help him into the remaining armor, talking as she went.
“Well, whatever you thought, it's probably right. What I know about magical stuff is mostly because of Sweetie-- 'Song', I mean, explaining it to me.”
“She's told me all these theories about how Pegusii are just as magical as Unicorns. We just show it in a different way. If not for her, I'd be clueless on most of this junk.”
She comically cast about the room for observers, before leaning closer with a grin on her face.
“To be honest, after a little while, it all just starts sounding the same. I just tune her out and keep nodding most of the time.”
Chroma didn't respond. Mostly because he wasn't sure how. He knew next to nothing about this friend of Breeze's, but he still felt guilty on her behalf. Was there anything that would come out correctly? Sensing the shift in mood, the elder pony stopped her comments, and the remainder of the suiting passed in relative silence, punctured only by a few terse commands.
The task finally complete, Chroma needed to get back into the feeling of wearing armor. With a few experimental movements, the pegasus quickly discovered that Breeze had been correct. The covering felt much less draining than normal and still retained its light weight. A quick flutter of the wings checked that his winglets were properly seated, even as they clacked against the side of his chest piece. Bending with the wing, the 'lets could snap open and rigid with a full flare. Combined with the sharp outer edge, they were useful on both the offensive and defensive in aerial combat.
“Everything fit?”
Chroma nodded.
“Well then, you'd better get moving. You can skim the camp to the base of the hill. We're still on a no fly up to the castle, so you're gonna have to walk up.”
Chroma nodded again, then bent his legs to take off. He paused a moment, hesitating for what to say, before turning to her.
“Thanks Captain. It was great to talk to somepony. It's been difficult since I was stationed here.”
“No problem Kid.” She called after him as he pushed back into the sky.
The flight to his target was short and simple. It took a moment to adjust for his new attire, but after a few wobbles, he settled into rhythmic wing beats. The stallion touched down with a slight rustle of metal and crunch of snow, focusing his gaze up to the keep. He felt nervousness returning, but pushed it away as quickly as it came.
With a deep breath, and one hoof in front of the other, the blue pony started up the path.
