to hear a battlecry

Chapters

prelude
he doesn't seem so bad
better understanding
the story of Battlecry part 1

prelude

It’s early spring, the sun hangs in the mid noon sky and the animals frolic in the pleasant weather. There is a mild chill to the wind as it blows.

Warm, comfortable light trickled through the window landing on Fluttershy, prompting her to wake. She rose from bed with a stretch and a faint yawn. Her vision was blurred slightly do to her restful sleep.

After rubbing the blurriness out of her eyes and getting her hooves on the ground, she headed towards the kitchen of her small cottage.

She produced a kettle from one of the cabinets that adorned her kitchen walls and put on some tea.

When the yellow pegasus looked over from the stove, she saw a disgruntled Angel starring her down and pointing to the clock.

“Oh my,” Fluttershy exclaimed, “ I’m so sorry Angel bunny I must have overslept. I’ll get your breakfast ready right away.” The mare spoke in a nervous tone and began to pull out a variety of fruits and vegetables. Soon she had two servings of salad laid out on the table.

She and Angel enjoyed their meal, then Fluttershy moved on to feeding her other animals.

Between her late awakening and feeding her animals, Fluttershy had completely forgotten that she was supposed to meet up with her friends today, until she found a reminder she had wrote herself yesterday.

“I’m late,” she gasped as she remembered her plan to spend the day with her friends.

“I hope they don’t hate me,” she thought aloud as she dashed out of her cottage. This was the first time in three weeks that all six of them had had the chance to be together and she was already ruining it. She continued mentally beating herself up all the way to Ponyville.

When Fluttershy arrived in Ponyville, the roads were empty, the windows were shut, the curtains were pulled, and the doors were closed. It was just like when Zecora first started visiting, but a far greater sense of fear filled the air. She wanted to know what was going on but there was nopony around to ask.

“I … I guess I should go to Sugarcube Corner,” she the thought aloud, not knowing where else her friends would be if they were all together. Shaking with slight unease Fluttershy made her way down the familiar path to Sugarcube Corner.

Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie, and Rarity were all huddled around a table in Sugarcube Corner.

“I can’t believe there are gangsters in town,” Rainbow said with a shutter.

“Dashie, I didn’t think you were afraid of anypony,” Pinkie asked.

“Common street thugs are one thing, but these guys are genuine “kill you if you look at them wrong” gangsters,” Rainbow answered. The thought sent a chill down her spine and she shuddered again.

“Ah here their leader is one of Equestria’s most wanted,” Applejack added in, speaking through chattering teeth.

Fluttershy rounded a corner and almost ran into a tall, tough looking stallion.

“I’m sorry,” Fluttershy squeaked. The stallion didn’t pay any mind to what Fluttershy said; he instead vulgarly yelled, “ Get outta da way!” The way he slurred his words made Fluttershy uneasy. She tried to move, but she was trembling so hard that she couldn’t budge.

Everypony in Sugarcube Corner had been drawn to the windows by the commotion outside.

“Is … is that Fluttershy,” Rainbow’s voice cracking as she gasped the words.

“If it is then what are ya’ll just standin around for,” Applejack’s tone implied she was a little upset, both at her friends and the situation outside.

“A.J. is right, we need to go help Fluttershy,” Twilight said in a rational tone.
Fluttershy could do nothing but be terrified as the mean looking stallion’s friends drew near her. Their approach was slow and menacing; Fluttershy wanted to run away but she was paralyzed with fear.

“All of you, leave Fluttershy alone,” Rainbow yelled as she soared in front of her friend. The other four mares arrived shortly after and formed a protective circle around their friend.

The stallion’s crew continued to close in, except for one in the back, who now wore a face filled with horror. He looked as if somepony was holding a knife to his throat.

“Lets get outta here,” the now trembling stallion in the back of the group spoke as calmly as he could.

“Why boss,” the stallion in the front responded, “she disrespected you, we gotta show her what happens wh-” he was cut off.

“I don’t care if she threw mud on me and owed me a million bits! It’s not worth the price of messin with her.”

The boss, as the other stallion called him, seemed frightened by something about her, but Fluttershy couldn’t quite put her hoof on it. His face changed when Rainbow Dash appeared; while she sometimes found Rainbow intimidating she didn’t think that was what was scaring him.

“What, are you scared of five little mares,” the stallion in front teased his boss.

“No, but if I heard her name right then all we get outta this is an unmarked grave, or whatever is left of us will anyway”

Fluttershy couldn’t tell why her name was so intimidating to him.

“What, is she some kinda badass or something? She sure doesn’t look it,” the stallion in the front seemed amused by the concept.

“It’s not her I’m afraid of,” his trembling had died down, but fear still drenched his voice. “But the thought of fighting Battlecry has me scarred.”
“Then you mean she’s -” the drudge in front was interrupted again.

“Unless you know any other Fluttershys, then yeah she is”

“What’s it matter anyway? Last I heard, Battlecry was in the Everfree forest, and that was three weeks ago. He’s probably dead,” the drudge said, trying to reassure his boss.

“Anypony else probably would be, but I wouldn’t be surprised if all the creatures are too afraid to come outta their caves while he’s still in there,” the boss seemed pretty sure of himself. “I wonder how many of the poor creatures were misfortunate enough to run into him,” he added with a nervous laugh.

“One hydra, two dragons, and an ursa major,” a grim sounding male voice chimed out.

Everypony looked over to where the voice was coming from. Perched on a tree was a pony wearing a crimson fighting hoodie, covered in black tribals, a necklace comprised of three large fangs hanging from a metal cord, and a tooth the size of a door strapped to his back. Upon closer inspection, one could see that his coat was gold and his cutie mark was a black hoof covered in flame.

he doesn't seem so bad

The new stallion sat on his roost in an ominous peace. He pulled the strap holding the tooth to his back with his teeth, it came lose and plunged to the ground below. He slid his hood off revealing a mane crimson like his hoodie and gleaming silver eyes that burned with a cold fury.

“It’s B… B.. Bat-” the gang stuttered in unison.

“Battlecry,” the new stallion finished for them. Just like that the so called genuine gangsters were screaming and running around like a bunch of frightened fillies on Nightmare Night.

A smug grin washed across Battlecry’s face. He spread his large wings and leapt from his roost; he vanished before hitting the ground. He reappeared in front of the drudge who had been so keen on hurting Fluttershy.

“It’s not polite to pick on mares ya know,” Battlecry’s tone was light hearted, but he seemed disappointed in the stallion cowering before him. “But if you want to fight that badly, then perhaps I could be your opponent,” his tone was confident and menacing.

Both possible combatants knew who the winner would be. The drudge tried to escape only to once again meet Battlecry’s fearsome eyes. “I can’t have you running away on me or I wouldn’t get to have any fun.”

“I’m not afraid of you!”The drudge screamed as he charged forward with a blind headbutt, only to hit air. He didn’t even have time to comprehend what was happening before a hoof slammed into the back of his head with enough force to send him flying forward. He collided hard with a tree causing him to cough blood. Even as everything began to fade to black he felt a hellish pain coursing throughout his entire being. “So this is what it’s like to fight a storm blood,” he thought as he faded from consciousness.

Twilight watched in awe and horror as Battlecry vanished and reappeared, leaving scorch marks and unconscious ponies in his wake.

“Who is he?” Twilight thought aloud. She didn’t expect her friends to know, but asked more out of habit than curiosity.

“Come On they’ve only said my name a billion times,” Battlecry said, appearing in the middle of their group as he did. Fluttershy’s five friends tensed up. “Relax, I’d never even think to harm one of Fluttershy’s friends,” his tone had lost it’s unnerving malice.

“How do you know Fluttershy!?” Rainbow spat, still on edge.

“She has never told any of you about me?” His voice became sad, “Ouch Shyla I’m hurt.” He turned his attention towards Fluttershy.

“Shyla?” Rainbow made a strange face of disgust and confusion as she said the word.

“I’m sorry Battlecry, it just never came up,” Fluttershy mumbled as she tried to hide behind her mane.

“Fluttershy, you know him?” Rarity asked in disbelief as she surveyed Battlecry’s handy work.

“Yes,” Fluttershy peeped back.

“What I don’t get is how my existence just didn’t come up,” Battlecry sounded upset but out of having his feelings hurt rather than rage.

Fluttershy’s response was incomprehensible.

Battlecry let out a sigh, “Oh well, I guess it’s introduction time then. I’m Battlecry, Fluttershy’s older brother.”

The whole group was silent for a moment. It was Rainbow Dash who finally broke the silence by asking, “Fluttershy since when have you had a brother?”

“Always,” was the only word the yellow pegasus could manage to say.

“How come you never told me?” Rainbow felt insulted that she, Fluttershy’s oldest friend, knew nothing about this supposed brother.

“You never asked.” Fluttershy wished they’d stop asking her questions, she was running out of ways to dodge them.

Turning to Rainbow Dash, Battlecry asked, “So are you going to tell me who you are?” Battlecry seemed irritated that he was being ignored.

“I’m Rainbow Dash, fastest flier to ever come out of Cloudsdale, and only pony to ever perform the sonic rainboom.” Rainbow put on a confident face as she thought, “try to top that Mr. Hotshot.”

“A sonic rainboom? Impressive,” Battlecry stated with look of surprise on his face. Rainbow’s expression became arrogant. ”I knew he wouldn’t be able to top that; he may be tough but nopony is faster than me.”
“But I’ve got a better trick,” Battlecry said with a dubious grin forming around his mouth.

Rainbow was incredibly nervous now, but she wasn’t about to let anypony know that. “Oh yeah, prove it.”

“With pleasure.” Battlecry launched from the ground and grabbed a cloud. He compressed it into a small storm cloud. He went into a nosedive and enjoyed the cool wind lashing against him for a moment before increasing his speed. A cone began to form around him and right before breaking the sound barrier as he forced a jolt of lightning from the cloud. There was a loud boom, the ground shook, and Battlecry seemed to be replaced with a massive lightning bolt. Rainbow couldn’t believe what she was seeing. The mass of lightning was easily twice the speed of her sonic rainboom. After zooming around for a while the lightning bolt shot straight upward and exploded into a crackling electrical storm. Battlecry emerged unscathed from the storm that he had created and descended back to where the others were waiting.

Rainbow was in complete and utter shock. She didn’t want to accept that anypony was faster than her; she couldn’t accept it. She had to maintain her image. “I never said you could use props, that doesn’t count.”

“You never said that I couldn’t use props.” Battlecry knew his answer would annoy her, but it was refreshing to not be serious every once in awhile.

Rainbow glared at him and was about to open her mouth to speak, when Applejack stopped her by laying a hoof on her shoulder and shaking her head. “Just let it go Rainbow.”

Battlecry smiled contently after which Applejack had to stop Rainbow from charging at him. “Well, that was fun.” Battlecry spoke genuinely, “I can’t wait to get to know the rest of you.”

“Alright then, I suppose I will go next. I’m Rarity, I run the Carousel Boutique and make the finest dresses and suits in Ponyville. And if I may be so bold as to ask ,what is that outfit you are wearing made of? It looks simply dashing.”

Battlecry turned his head to look back admiringly at his jacket. “It’s made of steel silk, which is silk that has been treated with strong chemicals and magic to make it as hard as steel, yet still as comfortable as silk.”

“Ooh, how ever did you come into possession of it?” Rarity cooed.

Battlecry put on a proud smile. “I won it in a fighting tournament.”

Rarity wasn’t too enthused about how he admitted to getting it, or how happy he had been to disclose that information. She let out a fake laugh before continuing their conversation. “That’s interesting, do you think I could borrow it for a little while? I’d like to see if I can replicate the fabric.”

“What use could you have for it? It’s made for fighting, and no offence, but you don’t strike me as the fighting type.”

“Well, you’re right about that. I don’t much care for violence, but that fabric could make me famous. Imagine that I, Rarity, would be the only dressmaker in Equestria who could make tear proof dresses.”

“That is an interesting motive. We’ll have to talk more about it later.” The day had passed by quickly and the sun was setting. Everypony had decided it was safe to go out and went home if they weren’t already there. “It’s getting late, perhaps we should pick this back up tomorrow.” When everypony present had agreed, they all parted ways. All except Fluttershy and Battlecry...

better understanding

Battlecry had held his swelling emotions in check while Fluttershy’s friends had been there, but as soon as they were out of sight tears began to stream down his face. He embraced his sister with his forelegs and whispered silently to her “I thought I would never see you again.” He laid his muzzle on her neck and sobbed.

“Why’d you leave?” His composure was coming back and his voice growing increasingly serious.

“Because I didn’t want a life of violence.” A burst of determination filled her response.

“You mean they broke their promise?” His words were spoken coldly but his eyes burned with unbridled fury.

“Yes,” she squeaked in reply. “They thought I had it as well and..” she was reluctant to speak further but continued none the less. “ They arranged for the other foals to pick on me in hopes of awakening it.”

The anger in his voice seemed to die but his presence was a surge of rage. “ I will meet the rest of your friends tomorrow and you can say goodbye.” Fluttershy took a few steps back, the expression on her face said that she didn’t want to leave. Battlecry gave a sigh and a slight smile. “I don’t mean permanently, we’ll be gone a day or two at most.”

The yellow pegasus’ voice was softer than normal. “Um.. okay. Where are we going?” Her mumbling would have been lost to the ears of anypony else, but Battlecry understood her perfectly.

“To get an apology.” There was a cruel deviousness to his tone that unnerved Fluttershy. She knew all too well how her brother could be.

“It’s ok, I forgive them. They don’t need to apologize.” Fluttershy’s words were full of anxiety, she knew exactly where this was going and wanted to avoid it if at all possible.

“You may have, but I haven’t. They put you in danger, they broke their promise, and because of them I haven’t seen you in ten years.” Pure hatred exuded from him as the words came from his muzzle.
“Fine.”
Battlecry’s mode instantly became one of great joy as a smile crossed his face. “But we do it my way.” And with those few words his smile gave way to a bitter scowl.

“You and your peaceful compromises.” Fluttershy shot him an assertive glare. “Alright we’ll do it your way,” Battlecry stated with a heavy sigh.

The two headed towards Fluttershy’s cottage. She offered to let him stay, he accepted but insisted that he sleep on the couch. There was little other talking done on the way there. As soon as they were inside Battlecry collapsed onto the couch falling asleep instantly. Fluttershy looked at him with a smile. “Ten years and you're still the same,” she said solemnly to herself.

Twilight wasn’t able to sleep. What she saw today had given her far too much to think about. “How was he doing that? That kind of speed shouldn’t be possible for anypony to reach.” She asked herself while poring through books looking for the answer. He had looked like he was teleporting, but that was a very high level spell, not to mention the fact that he wasn’t even a unicorn. On top of that he claimed to have defeated an ursa major but unlike Trixie he had proof, there is nothing else that tooth could have came from.

“Every single thing about him raises more and more questions.” Twilight was irritated with the lack of results her research was turning up. “Uurrrgh, why is there nothing in this library about this stormblood or whatever it is that thug called him. I guess I’ll just have to wait till tomorrow and ask him.” No sooner than she had said it, light began to peek through the library’s windows.

When the sun was high in the sky they all began to gather at the library. Twilight couldn’t wait to have her curiosity satisfied, her excitement was rivaled only by Pinkie’s, who without a doubt probably wanted to throw Battlecry a party. When everyone had arrived they began where they had left off the previous day.

“Pleasure meetin’ ya, names Applejack, and I run Sweet Apple Acres.”

“Is that it?” Battlecry asked puzzled.

“Yup, I don’t care too much fer braggin’.”

“Hhhm, modesty, that’s are rare commodity these days.”

“Why thank ya kindly.”

“Ooh, ooh, does that mean it’s my turn?” The pink pony was ecstatic and literally bouncing off the walls.

“I reckon,” was Applejack’s only response.

“YAY. I’m Pinkie Pie, I work at Sugarcube Corner, do you like parties because I love to throw parties and if you like parties, then that means I can throw you a party.”

“Sorry, I’m not that fond of parties and I don’t plan on staying too long.”
Pinkie’s face drooped and Battlecry instantly regretted what he said as Pinkie started crying loudly. “Now hold on a second, I never said you couldn’t throw one for me.” Pinkie’s mood changed back to happy faster than a heartbeat.

“In that case, I better get started right away!” The pink party pony exclaimed as she dashed out the door.

“Well that was… strange” Battlecry was dumbstruck by how quickly the pink mare’s mood could change.

“I guess it’s my turn now,” Twilight said as the promise of new knowledge caused her mind to wonder what sort of secrets she’d learn from this stranger, who claimed to be Fluttershy’s brother. “My name is,” she was cut off.

“Twilight Sparkle, I know” Battlecry stated nonchalantly, but everypony else in the room seemed surprised.

“How do you know my name?” Twilight asked

“Because I know your brother.” Was his simple response, but he could tell from the look on Twilight’s face that she wanted to know how he knew her brother as well. “I’m the former second in command and leader of the pegasus branch of the royal guard.”

“Former?” All present except for Fluttershy and Battlecry asked at once; Pinkie even managed to be there before vanishing again.

“Yes, former. As of last year, I took my rightful place as captain of the night guard. Now before you question me further, I have a story that will probably answer all of your questions and more.”

“It all began ten years ago.”

props to my prereader

please comment or leave suggestions

the story of Battlecry part 1

(This chapter is written in the form of a flashback)

The air was stiff, Battlecry was surrounded by other fresh recruits. This was the day he had been waiting for, the day he would join the royal guard. Those present had passed inspection and were being assigned to their barracks.

“Hopefully, I don’t get stuck with weaklings,” Battlecry thought to himself as the barrack groupings were made. He was stuck with what looked to him like nineteen of the most pathetic recruits out of the group. Taking another look around he noticed that almost none of the new recruits looked like royal guard material, but maybe this meant the training was hard enough to toughen them up, for their own sake more than his.

Battlecry woke up bright and early ready for the first day of basic training, perhaps a little too early. It was a full two hours before wake up call, but that gave him plenty of time to warm up. He, however, was not the only one. There was a unicorn with a white coat and blue striped mane that seemed equally as eager. Something about him rubbed Battlecry the wrong way.

As the first day of training proceeded a tension built in Battlecry that he couldn’t quite explain. He and this Shining Armor as he had heard him called were far ahead of the rest of the pack in every aspect. Battlecry welcomed the rivalry at first, but as training wore on he realised that they weren’t on par with each other. Shining Armor was a whole league above him.

The bitter sting of jealousy festered beneath his skin. He couldn’t accept that there was anypony that much better than him. He began to push himself trying to keep up with Shining Armor, but he failed. His jealousy gave birth to spite, and eventually became hatred. One he had been shown up for the last time, he was going to settle this self imagined conflict. He struck Shining Armor without even the slightest bit of warning. Shining Armor who was normally calm and quite happy gave in to basic instinct and retaliated.

Battlecry soon regretted picking this fight as he was greatly outmatched and was reminded of this by the magical aura around him slamming him into the ground. The fight was short lived, however, as one of the drill sergeants broke them up.

As punishment they both had to run twenty laps and clean all of the barracks. Running the laps had cooled them off and had given Battlecry time to think about his actions as his body was worn down with fatigue. While cleaning he did what he thought was right, “I’m sorry for attacking you I was being an idiot, I was just so jealous of your talent.”
“It’s alright, to be honest I was a little jealous of you too.”
“Jealous of me, why?” the concept puzzled him. “Your stronger than me, smarter than me, and you’re better at magic than any unicorn I’ve ever seen.”
“Because you can fly and your speed is incredible, not to mention you’re courageous.” The more they talked the more they realized they had in common. When the day was over and the cleaning was done they had become friends.

The next few months passed quickly and the two friends had to part ways for their next level of training. The first day of advanced training was full of drills and incoherent rambling, so it was pretty much basic all over again. Battlecry had forgotten how boring training was without Shining Armor to hangout with, his thoughts lingered over this as he took a refreshing midnight fly. He liked the feel of the wind against his face when he took a leisurely flight.It wasn’t like flying drills where everything was about speed and precision, it wasn’t even close. When you’re flying slow you feel free and relaxed, like all your cares are swept away by the breeze.

The moon’s brilliant glow caught Battlecry’s attention, he landed on a cloud to get a better look at it. As he gazed up at it he felt as if it were gazing back at him. It brought him a sort of eerie comfort, he liked to believe Luna was watching over him from the moon. A sudden weariness washed over him and he passed out on the cloud.

It was dark and a storm tore the skies apart, flashes of lightning illuminated nightmarish creatures, and the sound of thunder and shrieks of agony filled the air. Battlecry saw himself on the ground bleeding out, then a majestic mare who appeared to be made of shadows flew down from the moon and wrapped him in her embrace and they both disappeared.
Battlecry’s eyes blinked open, it was still night.
“that was a strange dream,” he said aloud to himself, “I wonder what it could mean.” He rarely had dreams but when he did they always had some sort of significance. He headed back to the barracks a plopped down on his bunk, his mind wandered and eventually came back to his dream, more specifically the mare made of shadows.
“Could that have been Luna?”

The rest of his days in advanced training were rather uneventful. The months crept by and eventually it was time for his first assignment. All the now fully trained recruits were gathered together. He met Shining Armor in the crowd.
“You got any ideas of what they are going to assign us?” Battlecry asked almost sarcastically. He knew fully well that Shining Armor didn’t know, but he asked anyway just to see how he would answer.
“I don’t know, but it looks like it’s going to be something big if they’re sending us all.”
Before Battlecry could say anything back the captain began to speak.
“ALL RIGHT ROOKIES LISTEN UP, YOU ALL ARE NOW OFFICIALLY IN THE ROYAL GUARD. NOW THIS NEXT PART MAY COME AS A SURPRIZE TO SOME OF YOU, WE ARE AT WAR.” Expressions of confusion and despair crossed the faces of the rookie soldiers.
“IT’S YOUR JOB TO FINISH THIS WAR SO EQUESTRIA CAN CONTINUE IT’S ERA OF APPARENT PEACE. THIS WAR IS NOT KNOWN TO THE PUBLIC AND WE WOULD LIKE TO KEEP IT THAT WAY. YOU WILL ALL LEAVE FOR THE ENEMY HOMELAND IN THE MORNING.”

(sorry it's a little thin even by my previous chapters standards but I don't have as much time on hoof as I used to and for those who care I will try to bring the next chapter faster thanks for your time)