Chapters A Fairy Tale
Roarin's House
"StrongOak! Get your butt down here, Now!!!"
I groaned and rolled over, successfully falling out of my bed.
I sat up and rubbed my eyes before standing and tossing my sheets back onto my bed. Stretching, I made my way over to the circular window of my second-story bedroom and peered out. Standing just outside my door, looking up at me, was Jonathon IronWood.
"Finally! Get out here StrongOak, we got a problem!" IronWood bellowed up at me.
If it were anyone else, I would have told them to fuck off, then gone back to bed, but General IronWood was one of those behemoths I mentioned earlier. A whopping 8 inches tall!
And he was my superior officer.
"I'll be right down sir!" I shouted back, saluted, grabbed my sword, then rushed downstairs to my armor stand.
About three minutes later I emerged from my house, fully armored and sword at my side. I looked around quickly and spotted the general moving briskly down the street. I had to jog in order to catch up.
"What's the situation sir?" I asked as I fell in step beside my superior.
"Our perimeter guards spotted a small army of Havocs heading in this direction. I plan on taking a force and stopping them at the river."
I grimaced. Havocs, as we like to call them, are corrupted fairies. Imagine a fairy with black skin, and then vampire-ize it. Vicious beasts. Sadly, they don't burn in sunlight.
"I assume I'm going with you, but who else?" I asked cautiously. When dealing with Havocs, it was always good to be over-prepared.
The general stroked his short black beard. "William and HaKeen are waiting for us at the front gates." He replied.
I nodded in approval. William ThornSpear would be a good choice, he was the strongest out of all seven of us generals, and that strength was transformed into pure destructive force through the huge warhammer he carried. HaKeen BlastSpore was another general who would come in handy in this situation. No one had fought as many, nor had as much knowledge of Havocs than HaKeen. There was even a rumor that HaKeen used to be a Havoc, but somehow miraculously purified himself. This would explain his darker than average skin. However, I knew it was because that HaKeen's parents were Oasiis (desert fairies) from the Saddle-Arabian desert, so they had naturally tanned skin.
We arrived at the front gates to discover the two other generals and an army of fairies (all female of course) armored up and ready to go. There was some last minute planning, before signaling the sentries to open the gate.
When the gate was wide enough, we spread our dragonfly-like wings and the entire army took flight. We would stop this potential menace before it got too close for comfort.
The River; North Side; Mid-Day
I sat on a small mound overlooking the river. This was never a favorite place of mine. It was a fearsome sight, that river. Fifteen meters wide and ten meters deep, (to a human being), all of it churning water and hidden rocks, winding its way through the forest, coming from and going who-knows-where. It held a reputation in our clan for being the one thing that had killed more of our fairies than any enemy we'd ever faced. A mis-flap, zoning out, fainting, any of these harmless actions could end fatally if one didn't recover fast enough. Even a general could become a victim of the river if he wasn't careful enough.
Now with the added threat of Havocs, the goal would be to see how many of us didn't die.
In an attempt to take my mind off the possibility of an early death, I pulled out my sword and began to polish it. An old habit of mine when I was nervous.
The sword was called Rüzgar fizyon, or Cleaving Wind if you translated it from the old language.* I had inherited it from my grandfather, who had supposedly used it to slice an eagle in half. A little more than four feet long, (to me) classifying it as a longsword, it had never once failed me in battle. Hopefully this would continue to be the case.
I was deep in thought, so I didn't register the footsteps as they approached me.
"You are nervous, my friend."
I jumped, then turned to see HaKeen standing over me, his tanned face scrunched up in concern. Out of all the generals, it was HaKeen I liked the most. He wasn't extremely muscular, but his speed made up the difference. He was intelligent and understanding, not to mention loyal. Although, I had never asked why a Oasiis fairy such as himself had taken up residence in a clan of Tree fairies.
I thought about lying, but i figured that HaKeen knew me too well.
"Yeah." I sighed. "Just wondering if today's the day."
HaKeen's frown deepened as he grasped my shoulders and pulled me around to face him.
"Listen my friend, if you think like that, then it will be!" His voice was deep, but whispered. "If you wish to live another day, then believe you will. It's how I've gotten through all my battles."
He was right. The corners of my mouth perked up in a small smile, and I stood.
"You're right." I said to him. "I apologize for such negative thinking."
HaKeen's face broke out into a grin and he nodded at me. Then his face became serious again as he looked to the sky. We stood there for a few moments, silent as the grave.
"There is a storm coming." He said finally.
I nodded. Despite there not being a cloud in sight, I had learned never to doubt HaKeen when it came to the weather.
"Perhaps you should inform General IronWood." I suggested.
"I will try." HaKeen agreed with a nod, before heading back towards the camp.
I watched him go, and then turned back to the river. I began scanning the opposite bank, just in case the Havoc force decided to come calling.
It was sundown before there was any sign of action. I had not moved from my post on that mound, and was scanning the opposite bank for probably the hundredth time of the day, when I made eye-contact with something peering out of the foliage across the river. With the coal black face, the sharply hooked nose, and the long pointed ears, I knew exactly what I was looking at.
But before I could sound the alarm, something dropped onto me from the branches above. Both me and the thing hit the ground and began rolling around in a wrestling match. I felt the sharp claws clawing at my armor, felt the beating of its bat-like wings, and listened to the thing screeching in my ear.
I cried out as something sharp scratched at the back of my neck.
Suddenly, the thing gave a gurgling, strangled sound and let go. I rolled away from it and leapt to my feet.
Lying on the ground where I had been earlier was a dead Havoc, a knife embedded in the back of its head.
"Are you all right, my friend?"
I turned to see HaKeen rushing towards me.
"Yes, thanks to you." I admitted, rubbing the back of my neck. Luckily, I wasn't bleeding too badly.
Our conversation was cut short by another screech, as another Havoc dropped from the trees. This one was dispatched by me while HaKeen grabbed his war horn and blew.
http://youtu.be/pNVvtvmpl-g
(You can choose which one you want it to sound like)
Almost immediately there were shouts and the sound of other horns echoed throughout the surrounding area. We watched as our forces took to the air and began engaging the emerging Havocs, the battle taking place over both banks and the river itself.
HaKeen and I nodded to each other before joining the rest of our forces.
I cam not recall much, as can be expected during all the action of a battle, but I do remember that, at some point, true to HaKeen's prediction, a storm swept in and decimated the battlefield. Fairies and Havocs alike were being swept away by the wind and bashed into branches or rocks, or dropped into the river and drowned.
Eventually, there was an unspoken agreement between the two armies that there was no point in fighting each other in the presence of a more powerful enemy, and each broke away to opposite sides of the river to seek shelter from the pounding rain and wind.
I was at the back of our retreating force, keeping a lookout for stragglers, when I heard something.
"My friend! Please! Help me!"
My blood froze and I twisted around wildly, attempting to get a lock on my friend.
Finally I saw him.
HaKeen was in the river of all places, using all his strength to cling to a small branch that had been wedged between two stones.
"HaKeen!" I screamed out, and charged down, dodging a few leaves that blew my way. Despite the wind, I was eventually able to reach him.
"Can you fly?!" I shouted above the wind.
He shook his head. "Took some Havoc claws to the wing."
"Damn. Hold on!"
I ignored his weak chuckling and flew behind him, wrapping my arms under his armpits, and attempted to lift my friend, but he didn't budge. There must've been something underwater that was holding him in place.
"Sir, can we help?!"
I turned and saw that a couple of soldiers had, despite the dangers, flown down to us and were offering their help. I nodded.
"Yes!" Hold his arms, and be ready to fly him out of here! I'm going to dive down and free him!"
I sensed they were ready to protest, as I was a general, and too valuable to lose should something go wrong, but I didnt give them any time as I released my hold on HaKeen and dove into the water.
The current was incredibly strong, and it took all my strength to grip onto the rocks. I looked around and spotted HaKeen's foot, wedged between a couple of smaller rocks.
I surfaced, took a deep breath, then dove down again and grabbed one of the rocks that trapped the general's foot. I pulled, using the force of the current as extra leverage to remove the stone.
Slowly, the rock slid towards me, until finally it was well clear of the trapped appendage.
Desperate for air, I shot to the surface, gasping.
"Go! Go!" I gasped.
The two soldiers pulled with all their might, and succeeded in lifting HaKeen out of the water. They then took off towards the camp for medical attention.
I pulled myself out of the water and shook my wings to dry them, but before I could takeoff, I was struck in the forehead by either a stock or a stone, I can't remember which, and I fell backwards, quickly losing conciousness.
The last thing I remember was the booming voice of General IronWood screaming out my name, before I submerged and blacked out.
"Shhh! It's waking up."
"OOOOOOHHHHHHH!!!!!!" I groaned as I sat up, my head throbbing painfully.
I groaned again as I cradled my head in my hands. What in Tartarus happened?
Then it all came back to me.
The Havocs! The battle! The storm! HaKeen! I had to get back and tell them I was okay!
I fumbled with the covers and scrambled out of bed, before making my way to the bedroom door.
I grabbed the doorknob, threw opened the door, took a step out........and somewhere, reality decided to kick on the generator.......and the wheels in my head, began to turn.
I retreated back into the bedroom, and slowly, closed the door.
I looked around carefully. Something was very wrong here. No, multiple somethings.
First off, my sword and armor were nowhere in sight, meaning that someone, or something had removed them.
Second, why was I even inside?
Third.... The place was unnaturally silent.
"Alright...where am I?" I wondered silently.
My warrior senses were on full-alert, and I began to search the room for anything that I could use to defend myself.
The room itself was something else. It was covered in pink wallpaper, (I shuddered), the furniture: a bed , a couple chairs, and a table, was wooden, (nothing strange there), and there was a single rectangular window in one of the walls, that I made sure to stay away from. One could never tell what dangers lay outdoors.
After a relatively thorough search of the room, I settled for demolishing one of the wooden chairs and taking one of the legs as a club.
Now armed, I tiptoed to the bedroom door and pressed my ear against it. Nothing.
Carefully, I inched the door opened, the entire time watching for any sign of an enemy. When none appeared, I slipped into the hallway and silently shut the door behind me.
Next, I explored the other rooms. I found a couple other bedrooms, a bathroom, (all relatively small), and a game room, which contained a small card table and a billiards table. (Yes, fairies do play pool and poker). At the other end of the hallway was a staircase that spiraled down to a lower floor. Considering that I did not find stairs leading up, I assumed that I was on the top floor.
Cautiously I descended the stairs, club at the ready. Nothing.
I was a bit relieved, but also a bit nervous. I would have calmed down a bit had I actually run into someone, but this lack of life was starting to creep me out.
I checked all the rooms on this level, but found nothing of interest. I continued down to the next level, but once again, I found nothing.
By the time I finally reached the bottom floor, I was bored out of my mind.
Screw caution.
"Hello!" I called out, "Anyone here?!"
No answer.
"Well, shit." I mumbled as I opened the first door on the bottom floor, only to find myself staring at something so completely hideous, I nearly wet myself.
"Aaaaaauuuuuggggghhhhhh!!!!!!!" I screamed in horror, as I instinctively began beating the crap out of the creature with the chair leg.
Imagine my surprise when after about five whacks, the creature just......fell over with a *plop*.
I could only stare at it. There was no blood, not cuts. Perhaps I had just knocked it out?
Carefully, I stepped over the strange creature and found myself in what appeared to be a kitchen. Being careful to keep an eye on the fallen foe, I made my way around the kitchen, opening drawers and cabinets, which I found empty for some reason.
With my search of the kitchen proving fruitless, no pun intended, I returned to examine the creature I had possibly killed.
Whatever it was possessed four thick, but flimsy, legs and was covered in a cloth-like substance, possibly full-body leather armor? Something in my memories told me that this thing looked familiar, but I brushed the thought aside. I tried to remove the armor, but found no possible way of doing so. Perhaps if I had my sword....
'Well, time I got out of here and found myself some answers.' I thought, and began searching for the front door.
After a few bad guesses, I finally found the right door. However, what I found on the other side confounded and scared me even more!
It was a house within a room! Albeit the room was much, much larger than the house, it was still a room.
I jumped back inside the strange house and slammed the door, pressing my back to it.
Note to self: add hyperventilation to vocabulary.
"C'mon Roarin old boy," I told myself. "You can do this. Nothing to be worried about."
After a few more false starts, and even more pep talks, I finally managed to get myself outside again, albeit my eyes were closed. Some warrior I was.
"Alright, here we go..... And 3....2....1......" I opened my eyes......
And screamed bloody murder.
Well you would too if you saw what I saw!
Not twleve feet away was a pair of huge, blue eyes, about as big as I was!
At the sound of my shouting, the eyes pulled away, revealing something similar to, but much more terrifying than the creature inside the house. It also stood on four legs, but towered above the house. A large pair of ears and a snout adorned its head, along with a large horn. What's more, the giant appeared to be covered in pink fur! I also caught sight of a purple tail.
And just when I thought it couldn't get worse, another creature, similar to the first, except this one had blue fur with a silvery tail, appeared from around the corner of the house!
I turned in place and flew back into the house, leaving a very impressive hole in the door as I did so.
From there, my terror only increased, as I was suddenly surrounded by a pink aura, and began to float through one of the hall windows!
I struggled, kicking and punching, attempting to free myself from the strange force, when I noticed that I had stopped moving.
I had stopped moving, right in front of the gigantic pink creature.
My mouth opened and closed in silent screams, until the pink creature opened its mouth.....and began to speak?
"Hello!" She said, quite cheerfully. (The voice pitch gave away that it was a relatively young female).
I was quite taken aback, as I had been expecting the worst. In short, I was speechless.
"Be careful Jingle, you probably frightened the poor thing to death!" Scolded another voice.
I twisted in midair to see that it was the blue one talking. From the sound of it, she wasn't any older than the pink one.
"Oops! I'm sorry!" the pink one squeaked as she carefully set me back down on the ground.
This time however, I didn't run. After all, I now knew that there was a good chance that they could understand me, and that they meant no harm, for now at least.
"It's alright, no harm done." I replied, making a big show of dusting off my tunic.
My response seemed to startle them, as the two stepped back quickly.
"Now then," I made eye contact with each of them, "where is my armor and sword?"
The two looked at each other, then back at me. They seeming confused.
I sighed. "What you took off of me when you found me."
This time, the pink one's eyes lit up and she pranced off to another part of the room, grabbed something and came back, dropping a large cloth bundle on the ground in front of me.
Filled with hope, I unwrapped the bundle and gave out a shout of excitement at the sight of my gear. I never felt whole without my armor or sword.
Neither of the two creatures spoke, they just watched me with interest as I buckled and adjusted the different parts of my armor. When I had finished, I turned back towards them and thanked the pink one for her help.
She merely blushed and shifted a little bit.
"Now, where am I?" I addressed this question to the blue one.
"Um, well, this is our room. I'm Silver and this is my sister Jingle."
I then proceeded to question them, heartless and impolite as it may seem, but I needed information to find a way home. Also, I wished to know more about my rescuers.
Turns out that both Jingle and Silver were unicorn fillies who had been playing near the stream in their backyard when they found me unconscious on the bank. Having never seen a fairy before, they had decided to take me home and put me in their dollhouse to rest. The creature I had encountered in the kitchen was actually a ragdoll named Ms. RuffleCake.
It was also somewhat amusing, as the two fillies had been watching me search the house and beat the hell out of their doll.
However, when I asked them how to get back to my home in the Blue Mane Forest, there was one shocking piece of news I recieved from Silver. Somehow, the storm and the river had swept me to the other side of Equestria!
It took about half an hour to calm me down, the whole time the two fillies were assuring me that they would try and help me return to my clan in any way they could.
Naturally, since Silver and Jingle had been so helpful answering my questions, I offered to answer any questions they had about my life.
They were facinated when they discovered that I was a general and one of the few male fairies in my clan; and listened intently as I described some of the different fairy cultures.
As we talked, I began to notice slight differences between the two sisters preferences. Silver, despite being the reasonable one at all times, was actually enthralled by action, and hung onto my every word whenever I talked about battles I had taken part in. Jingle on the other hand, cared much more for the cultural aspect of fairies.
By the time the fillies had to turn in for the night, all three of us knew pretty much everything to know about each other.
Surprisingly, both fillies agreed not to tell their parents or anypony else about me, as I might be captured and sold as a pet or souvenir.
Really though, despite only meeting these two today, I felt that the three of us would become great friends later on.
Greetings traveler! I am Roarin StrongOak, a mighty warrior and a hero of my clan! I have slain many enemy generals and cleaved great flying monsters in half with my great sword! I have bargained with a dragon and escaped the halls of the changling lair. I have been granted an audience with each of the alicorn princesses and aided the fabled Elements of Harmony!
I'm also a fairy.
And yes, my pride does take a blow every time I admit it.
I know that many believe that fairies are mostly girls, and any male fairies are weak as well, but this..... Well the first part is true, but the men are most certainly not weak!
Let me explain a bit about fairies.
Most of what you believe about female fairies is true. They do care a lot for nature, they do have magic (but that's only the mages), and they are plentiful. Oh, and they are usually named after some plant or form of nature.
But they are not always peaceful. There are several different types of fairy, each with many different clans. And we all fight.
That's where the males come in. While the majority of soldiers are female, the males are considered generals. We are the strongest, the toughest, and the best fighters. True, we also have the naturey names, but it's always the last name. And it has to sound warrior-like, ThornSpear for example. He was a good warrior, ThornSpear....
Anyway, yes, we males are the superior officers and it is almost traditional to seek out an enemy male during battle and fight him. It has to do with honor and all that.
However, there are some negative aspects about being a male fairy. First off, because there are so few males (I believe there are seven in my clan), all of them are expected to have at least one wife, with the most powerful male getting the queen. I on the other hand, have yet to find a suitable mate.
Second, somewhat tying back to number one, fairies also have a estrus cycle, so if the average fairy clan contains about 250-270 female fairies and 6-8 males....so be careful if you ever visit.
And third, for some strange reason, there are no average sized male fairies. A fairy typically stands about 5" tall, so the males are either 4" or 6" tall. But I've seen a 3 incher and a behemoth 7 incher before, so I don't quite know the limits. I am in fact one of the 6 inch males thank goodness.
Ah, well, I suppose you want me to actually tell a story, and not ramble on... Fine! You win!
The reason I have a story is because of what happened to me several decades ago, when I was still in my teenage years....