The Tempest's Maw

Chapter 2

“Fettered Pride”

As I neared the library, I noticed a long line of ponies, all of them pegasai, enter the library. They had very short manes and even shorter tails, a tell-tale sign that they were part of the military. When I stepped through the wooden doors, a cacophony of chatter filled the air. On the opposite end of the door stood Princess Celestia. An aged, gargantuan griffin dressed in regal vestments stood, conversing with her. The pair stood on a large platform with a map of Equestria and Gryphus behind them. A tinge of uncertainty appeared on their faces.

The roar of conversing ponies subsided as Princess Celestia stepped forward. We bowed.

"Rise," she said. Her voice sounded strong and confident, but there was this strange inflection when she spoke, as if she feigned her powerful timbre. "Now I'm sure that you've all heard the frightening news of the attack on the Wonderbolts one week ago. I've spoken with-"

"Sorry I'm late!" a red-haired pony roared upon opening the large doors.

It was Spitfire.

The crowd immediately turned to her, glaring while she slowed her hurried pace towards the winged unicorn. Spitfire immediately bowed when she rose the steps to the throne, meeting a slightly amused grin of acknowledgement from Princess Celestia.

Spitfire looked exhausted: her eyelids drooped, her posture was slouched, her torso swinging back and forth like a pendulum. She breathed heavily while she tried to regain her composure, and then joined the crowd of pegasai listening to Princess Celestia's speech.

Was Spitfire searching for me before she came here? It's not like her to be late.

Princess Celestia continued her speech. "As you all know, the griffins attacked two weeks ago, mortally wounding one of our own in the process. They attacked without formal declaration of war and I have since spoken with Lord Möbius, King of Gryphus and discovered that a group under the name of "Lumisade" has broken off from the griffins. They acted against Lord Möbius' rule and aim to secede from Gryphus. He has since asked the nation of Equestria for assistance, and because of our good relationship with the griffins, we cannot sit and idly watch. We must fight for the sake of retaining peace and harmony in the world."

She stepped backwards and pointed to the large map behind her.

"The griffins, like our pegasai, possess robust flying prowess. However, intelligence from Lord Möbius has revealed that the rebels possess a weak ground power. To take advantage of this, we have planned a two-pronged assault on the cities under Lumisian control."

"The largest group will attack in the east near the city of Aquila to distract the rebels, while this group will attack the south, where their armaments are located. If this plan succeeds, we can strain the militia's fighters and their munitions until they cannot fight back."

"A two-pronged strike?" a soldier repeated. "Just how large is this rebel force?"

"Large enough to take over the city the thrice the size of Manehattan and large enough to gather support the splitting Gryphus by force," Lord Möbius replied. "And seeing that Lumisade will not listen to diplomatic means of peace, Princess Celestia and I have agreed on lifting our ban on explosive powder."

Concerned whispers broke the still air. Such weapons would simply feed the furnace of war that devoured the griffin nation, we all feared. The Princess, however, had no choice but to fight back. My flight instructor was right after all these years: No matter how extensive the peace may seem in a serene world, it will always be shrouded under the pall of war.

"For the sake of this mission," Princess Celestia continued, "There are only two groups we will use: The Tempest Flight the Comet Squadron."

"Spitfire. Rainbow Dash," the Princess called. "Come forward."

They broke from the crowd and saluted.

"Soarin’," the princess said.

I wanted to step forward, but I hid beneath the many faces of the crowd. Do I remain dead? Should I live in blissful apathy and watch the war from afar? "Soarin'?" I heard again. The bile in my stomach ran up my throat. My heart twisted as it palpitated violently.

No. A Wonderbolt never shows cowardice.

I stepped forward and saluted. The soldiers erupted into chatter like a flock of loons, heralding that I was an apparition still clinging to my worldly existence for a chance at revenge. They ogled and commented about my broken wing and bandages covering my body. They thought I was the product of some experiment to see if my rotting corpse could be restored to full health. It only served to frighten me and remind me how powerless I was without my wing. My eyes winced at every whisper, my head sharply turned away from the crowd every time I heard my name.

"Follow Lord Möbius," she said.

The aged griffin gestured up a flight of stairs, to which we followed with sheepish compliance.

"Soarin'! Is that really you?" Spitfire asked.

"Yes," I replied.

There was nothing else to say. I couldn't even bear to look at her. She probably searched for me in the Everfree Forest ever since I fell from the sky. Even though she said that I couldn’t survive the attack, she must have wanted to give me a proper burial.

And I did not tell her that I still lived. I really am a stupid stallion. All this time I could have written a letter to her, but I was so focused on recovering that I assumed it would take just another day for my wings to fully heal. But it took another day for my wings to heal, and then another day. I wanted to return to Spitfire as a strong stallion; I did not want Spitfire to see me in this decrepit state.

"Why didn't you tell us that you were okay?" she asked, her voice a mixture of betrayal, and of anger.

Because I didn’t want you to see me in such a helpless state.

“Answer me!” she said. Her voice had a mixture of anger, of betrayal.

Because I couldn’t swallow my pride.

"Cut the chatter!" Lord Möbius said sharply.

As we reached the second floor, we were greeted by a purple unicorn in front of a map of Gryphus. She gave us a cordial smile, but the unicorn's face then turned serious.

"Is this the team Princess Celestia created for the operation?" she asked.

Lord Möbius nodded. He walked to the map and turned to us.

"I'll explain your task in brevity." Lord Möbius said. "You four are now part of the Solar Empire Air Force, 2nd Aero Division, 56th Tactical Bomber Flight 'Tempest.' Your mission is simple: obliterate any source of ground fortifications before the Lumisians have any time to launch an effective counterattack."

He pointed to the southern half of Gryphus. He directed our gaze to a red circle around the town by the name of "Außenstadt," close to the border of Ponyville and Gryphus.

"Lumisade's forces have concentrated here, a town with fortress wrought of stone that holds immense amounts of weaponry. Destroying the fortress and the weapons concealed within them are vital to the success to ending the war swiftly."

He pointed to me. "You're leading the Tempests. Unfortunately, until your wing heals you cannot participate in battle, so you'll be helping our friend, Twilight Sparkle. She's a student of Princess Celestia and she will be-."

"Wait a minute!" Rainbow Dash said. "She's a unicorn! She can't fly!"

"Let me finish." Lord Möbius said harshly. "Twilight Sparkle will be using a balloon to provide long-distance surveillance. She'll help alert your team of any enemy combatants, and tell you where to concentrate your attacks when you bomb the fortress."

Lord Möbius looked to Twilight, nodded, and went downstairs. We looked back to Twilight. An unsure smile was on her face.

"Alright then." Twilight said, giving us a salute. "Twilight Sparkle, at your service."

"I'm Soarin’."

"The name's Spitfire. Nice to meet you."

"You already know me, Twilight." Rainbow said, snickering at our introductions.

"I'll finish the briefing," she said proudly. "Our first mission is to destroy Stummer Fortress in Außenstadt before Lumisade has any time to transport their munitions elsewhere. However, we don't know the location of the explosives, so we have to use our weapons to scare the griffins out of the fortress so that our armies can secure their munitions. If this mission succeeds, we can both dishearten and disarm Lumisade and push them towards peaceful negotiations. That is all."

With that, we headed downstairs. The soldiers immediately focused their gaze on us, completely silent. Every step I made echoed throughout the room.

"Have you completed your briefing?" Princess Celestia whispered to us.

"Yes." Twilight nodded.

"Then you understand the gravity of the situation. I need not remind you of the dangers that you will encounter during this campaign." She said, turning to the troops before her. "May luck be the wind beneath your wings."

They gave the two teams uniforms while Twilight and I filled her balloon with equipment for the two teams. I could smell the repulsive stink of gunpowder beneath the wax cylinders that held the bomb together. Before long, the two teams emerged from the library, ready to take for the skies. Princess Celestia and Lord Möbius wished us luck as we ascended into the air. We were in high spirits, but my legs shook with frightful anxiety. I had this strange feeling that this simple bombing run would not be so easy as Princess Celestia told us.

The ride to Gryphus took several minutes. Twilight and I kept a vigilant eye from the balloon with binoculars, scanning the air for any sign of Lumisian resistance along the way. Some of the Comet Squadron members began to chat amongst themselves, making bets if any griffins would attacks us, how many they would shoot down, how many shots it took to kill a griffin. I tried to acquaint myself with them, but I only got the name of their squadron leader, who went only by the moniker Haze. He was a little older than me, probably by a year or two, but I could sense this fiery passion to defend Gryphus when he spoke. He said that he had some friends that lived in Gryphus, so he sympathized with Lord Möbius' plight and wanted to see Gryphus reunited once more.

Soon, I could see Stummer Castle through my binoculars. It was atop a hill surrounded by the evergreen trees that covered the mountain range nearby. It was a stout fortress, proudly waving the flags of Lumisade.

"There it is!" I called. "Tempest Flight, move in. Comet Squadron, get into formation and defend them."

"Keep up with us, Comets!" Rainbow Dash said, "Let's knock them out before they can even see us!"

"Comets 2 through 6, follow me! The rest 'a you, follow Spitfire!" Haze yelled.

Rainbow Dash and Spitfire flew next to one another in a horizontal line, while the Comet Squadron split into two groups and flew in a dispersed skein behind them. Even though the mere thought of war was distant to all of us, they executed a flawless attack formation without hesitation: Uniform speeds, altitudes, even their beating wings moved in synchronization. They left me in awe, and a little jealous. For a brief moment, I wanted to be in that formation, to fly with them, to defend Gryphus.

As they neared Stummer Fortress, I saw what appeared to be a flock of large birds flying in one large skein. An icy chill ran past my broken wing; it was a griffin squadron, confronting the Comets.

"Twilight, do you see that?" I asked.

She didn't answer. Her eyes were transfixed on the confrontation.

The squadrons stopped in the middle of the air. There was a long moment of silence; Haze was probably trying to convince the griffins to stand down. But griffins don't stand down, nor will they tolerate anything that gets in their way.

The griffins charged at the Comets, causing me to put down my binoculars. I feared for Haze and the Tempests, but something compelled me to watch. By the time I found the squadrons again, they had already broken their neat formations and transformed into a fervent, dizzying fandango for their lives. Small wisps of smoke from the gunpowder cannons the skyfighters used shrouded the fight.

My heart began to beat faster than my rapid breaths. I was focused one Comet, watching him evade countless cannon shots effortlessly. The Comet then made a sharp descent and under the pursuing griffin. The pegasus fired several rounds, but all of them missed; the griffin was too agile. They flew in nauseating circles in a desperate attempt to get even a single shot at the other's body, hoping that the other would make a misstep and leave themselves open.

Can they really win this battle?

"Soarin', somepony's coming towards us!" Twilight suddenly exclaimed. "I-It's one of the Comets!"

I saw the grey and red uniform of the Comet headed towards us, but there were more red blotches around his wings; it was his blood. He could barely keep himself with one wing. Twilight and I moved and gave him some space to land, only to crash on his head along the basket of the balloon.

My stomach churned at the sight: Bloodied feathers were scattered across the basket. The pegasus’ baleful eyes shook in a mixture of rage and terror as Twilight began to cast a spell to stop the bleeding. She asked for the progress of the battle.

"They're stronger t-than we expected." The Comet said weakly, withholding tears from his bloodshot jade eyes. Blood dribbled from his nostrils and mouth as he spoke. "Comet 6 is headed this way, and Comet 12 took a shot to his forearm, but she's still strong."

"What about the Tempests? Are they hurt?" Twilight asked.

"They managed to slip through the crossfire."

"How many griffins are there?" I asked.

"No more than ten, but we were only able to get one," he said. "We're outnumbering them twelve to ten."

I removed the back-mounted cannon from the Comet, and placed it near the reserves of ammunition. My eyes and nose drew me to the surplus bombs nearby. They were neatly placed in a large pouch, no larger than my flank. Out of curiosity, I lifted one pouch, and to my surprise, the pouch wasn't too heavy; I had to fly with training weights much heavier than the pouch. I turned back to the injured Comet. His wounds were closed thanks to Twilight's spell, but an expression of agony was on his face as he lay soaked in his own blood. His eyes strayed to the battle, shining with fury.

"This is Comet 6! I'm landing!" we suddenly heard.

Another pegasus flew into the basket, opening a compartment on his back-mounted cannon. His uniform was not tarnished with blood, unlike the injured comet, but sprinkled with black explosive powder. Comet 6 told us that he needed ammunition, as he went through all of his reserves in a matter of minutes.

"Fire only when you see the nostrils on their beaks." I said as I handed him several clips.

He mumbled, "You'll be lucky if they're stupid enough to be in front of you for that long." Comet 6 took an extra clip of ammunition from my hooves and stuffed it between the straps of the back-mounted cannon. He explained that Comet 10 was low on ammunition.

Before he left, he asked the injured pegasus which griffin shot him down.

"The one with the yellow claw on his wings." I heard him reply.

With a nod to the injured stallion, Comet 6 flew off.

It was then I realized why the Comet Squadron had so much difficulty trying to fend off the griffins. They were against him. Normally, we pegusai benefit from superior speed and agility due to our smaller frame, but the griffin was as fast and supple as I, perhaps even faster. He probably had that destructive weapon as well. I had to warn Comet 6, but he already flew back into the fray.

I briefly thought of revenge against the griffin, but my injuries denied me that opportunity. But my mind threw aside my long aversion to war; malice and spite began to fuel my every thought. I began to think that my injuries would miraculously heal in time join the fray. Was this the result of war?

"Twilight, can you remove these bandages? I'm going to help out." I said, picking up the pouch of explosives.

"Are you insane?!" Twilight roared. "You're still hurt!"

"I-I know, but I have to help the Tempests. If they can't destroy Stummer Fortress fast enough, then more of the Comets will end up getting hurt. We can't risk having more injured flyers after our first mission."

She turned away and looked at the fight with her binoculars and scoffed. "You have to believe in them, Soarin.' Rainbow Dash is the kind of pony who doesn't waste time. And Spitfire has some military training as a skyfighter, right? I'm sure they'll be fine without you."

I tried to tell her that Haze and the other Comets could not fend off the griffins, even if they outnumbered them. My reasoning however, fell on deaf ears. Twilight kept telling me that the Tempests would destroy the ammunition in Stummer Fortress soon. But kept telling her that the ammunition hid within the stone walls of the fortress; it could take several minutes to even find the stockpile, and the Comets could be defeated before they even initiate the bombing.

A sensation of mediocrity began to creep into my mind. Fear of the Comet Squadron's death began to haunt me, and the sight of Spitfire being shot down raced in my mind. I was hypnotized by my fears: It convinced me that both teams died by my inaction, that the griffin with the yellowed insignia effortlessly obliterated the Comet squadron and the Tempest flight with the cannon that exhaled the black smoke of Death.

A Wonderbolt never wavers in times of weakness.

While Twilight stared at the fight through her binoculars, I began to unroll the bandages around my wing and fastened the pouch of bombs to my body. I flapped my wings slowly, being careful not to make too strong of a breeze to attract Twilight's attention. To my surprise, my injured wing did not sting when I moved it.

"I'm taking off." I said.

As I leapt from the balloon's basket and flew into the skies, I cast my fear of war aside. The need to protect the Comets and Spitfire from suffering my fate transcended my passive nature.

"Soarin', you're not strong enough! Come back!" I heard Twilight bellow.

I didn't look back, I kept flying.

Soon, I entered the pall of smoke and dove into the dogfight. Comets flew by, pursued by griffins. The sounds of cannon fire echoed through my ears. I sped through the battle in attempt to reach Stummer Fortress.

"Winterhof 6, engaging!"

"Winterhof 4, engaging!"

I heard bullets whiz past my ears. I looked back, and saw two griffins attacking me, along with a trail of black smoke and lightning. I instinctively made the Wonderbolt's signature contrail and idiotically drew attention to myself. As I swerved to avoid the rain of bullets, I felt a disquieting shock of pain tingle from my injured wing. I found myself beating my uninjured wing twice as hard just to stay in the air.

"Hey Haze, we got an injured pegasus in the combat area." I heard a Comet nearby. "Is that Comet 9?"

"That's Soarin'!" Haze bellowed. "Comet squadron, protect Soarin' at all costs! If he falls, Gryphus falls!"

The several Comets began to follow my pursuers and shot at their tails, causing the griffins to retaliate at their attackers. I got lucky; if the Comets did not attack soon, I would have died. I kept flying to the castle, but my wing began to ache, began to writhe with every flap, began to burn

Black smoke billowed from the windows of Stummer Castle. The Tempests managed to elude the griffins. A duo of pegasai flew closely together, tossing bombs into the open windows of the castle. They were wearing white uniforms, with a green stripe around the fetlocks, connected to a large green stripe on their spine and on their underbellies.

"Tempests, you're now a group of three!" I said, flying in the middle of them.

"Let's take the east wall, Soarin'," Spitfire said.

I followed Spitfire; I had difficulty keeping up. Every other movement of my injured wing caused me to stumble midflight. The light bag of bombs began to feel heavier.

The moment we reached the east wall, Spitfire slowed her beating wings and began to carefully toss bombs through the windows. I did the same, accurately throwing each bomb strong enough to break the glass windows of the castle. Seconds later, I saw a satisfying red glow of fire, a calming roar of ignited gunpowder, and a hideous cloud of black smoke and the repulsive odor of ash that followed.

"You're not strong enough to fight, are you?" Spitfire asked, an expression of restrained anger across her face. "And don't lie: I can tell your wing slid out of that cast too soon."

"You're right. I just thought I could-"

"Come on," she grumbled, flying to the north wall.

I followed her, and we repeated the same bombing procedure. But this time I heard screams of pain, bloodcurdling screeches of agony, and ear-piercing cries of terror after each explosion. I tried to block the sounds from my ears, yet I could not. When Spitfire and I ceased our attack, I still heard the shrieks of pain. The burning flesh mixed with smoke, forming this abhorrent stench that reeked of Death’s hoofwork. I could feel my heart sink and my stomach spin in disgust. I stared into the flickering flares, hypnotized by their chaotic appearance.

"Soarin'! We're done here." I heard Spitfire call. I looked up, and she gestured me to follow her; Rainbow Dash had already began to fly back.

I followed them back to the balloon. We soared high above the clouds to avoid the fight between the Comets and the griffins. Strangely, I heard no cannon fire, but voices.

"Winterhof Squadron, let them go. It’s no use." I heard.

"I'm sorry, Engel. We couldn't defend her," another said. “And it’s my fault we lost Rot; I was supposed to be guarding his flank.”

When we arrived at the balloon, nearly half the Comet squadron had suffered injuries. Haze was among one of the uninjured, yet his face no longer held the shining optimism he radiated minutes before. He had that same half-awake, vacant gaze as the rest of us. He had his head down as if he was on the verge of tears, just like the rest of us.I asked him if he was alright, and he replied in a strange monotonous voice:

"I'm... alr-right. I'm alright."

The flight back to Equestria was marked with silence. When we reported the victory to Princess Celestia, we had no victory celebration. Just an empty library. We were rewarded with a command to assemble at the library at the same time in three days.

I was just a child when the war erupted, and how the entire nation split when Lumisade took over Southern Gryphus, and how that split brought Death upon us. I was one of the many griffins uprooted by war. But my tender roots could not sustain my frail body, so Engel and Himmel took me under their wings when I was separated from my parents.

“I still remember that day, the day the war spread to Außenstadt. I was in the middle of a street, and hundreds of griffins flew off into the blue skies to seek political asylum. I lost track of my parents under the pall of griffins scrambling into the air. The moment I could call out for my parents, all the griffins that crowded the streets had disappeared. Without my parents, I was completely alone. I remained in the street, weeping, praying in vain that they would come back.

“They did not return. Cannons lined the streets, ready to shoot down anypony that dared to enter the city. But I returned to that spot day after day until I called that desolate space "home." One day, as I wallowed in despair and self-pity, I suddenly felt Himmel ruffling the feathers on my head, trying to pacify my shrill cries by smiling widely. Engel tried to coax me into talking with her as they brought me back to their base.

“ I despised them at first, as they separated me from the few I called my own, but I could not help but admire their bravery, their steeled minds. During my time with them, I began to look up to Himmel and Engel with the aspiration becoming just like them: A proud skyfighter, a knight to protect the weak, a hero.

“Although Engel and the others that rebelled against Lord Möbius' reign were regarded as "rebels that don't know their tails from their heads," I found solace in their presence. Himmel became my aloof, but kind-at-heart father and Engel transformed into a composed, gentile mother. As the war raged on, I forgot my parent’s faces. To Engel’s embarrassment, I innocently called her “mother” on more than one occasion. Leaving them, I discovered, was not an option. They treated me like their own flesh and blood, even though the only thing that bound our fates together was this war.

“They were just like you, my parents, and I; they loved life and valued freedom, just like anypony would. Perhaps that is why they rebelled against Lord Möbius.

“In the skies, the Winterhof Squadron were ruthless skyfighters and fought with fearful vehemence. I knew this because of the way Himmel’s gaze changed whenever he went on sortie. I’ll never forget the change that came over in his eyes: his soulful expression that exuded his sagacity gave way to a piercing stare accompanied by a wicked smile. And whenever I approached him after a skirmish, he would blink his wide eyes and breathe heavily as if he were purging demons from his body.

“‘You should have seen me, Ribbon! Even with this metal weight, I’m still the fastest one out there. Nopony’s even close to hurting me.’ Himmel would always say as he gasped for air at every other word. I would always humor him by believing his words.

“Against both Equestria and Gryphus, the constant threat of death loomed among them. They greeted that stifling fear with a dissonant, calm demeanor. In the skies, they were like heartless, emotionless demons. On the ground, their heinous actions did little to scathe their conscience. Pride was their façade of choice.

“Except for Engel and Himmel.