Chapters From the eye of the Storm
Feeling rather confused by the door being as broken as it was, I trotted inside, gently pushing it aside with a squeak as the hinges groaned under the strain. Trotting past the oddity, I just shrug, deeming that the door just decided to break on its own. Being home now, filled with a mixture of confusion at the current situation, and the pride of having escaped my cell, I decide to gather my voice and call out.
"Mummy! Daddy! I'm hooooooooooooome!"
My announcement is met with an odd silence. What should follow, in the listed order, is a mixture of Sky Blaze (daddy) being proud of me, and Dusk Dawn (mummy) dissuading him from encouraging such behaviour. However, the bickering would soon subside, both would sigh, and then trot into the room and proceed to hug me in love and warmth and parent stuff! But...This time...It's different. The declaration of my freedom is met only by a heavy silence. I frown, repeating the call, slightly louder and with a higher pitch this time.
"MUUUUUUUUM! DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD! I'M HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOME!"
Once more, the call is met with silence. I frown deeper; this is very unlike them. Perhaps...Perhaps they aren't in currently! Yes, that's it! I smirk in my deduction of the situation, and trot into the living room with my held high and my eyes shut. Upon doing this, however, I bump my nose into something...Warm. Fleshy. A leg. Sent reeling by the unexpected impact, I open my eyes, landing on my plot and rubbing my nose. Looking up at the fleshy offender, I then make sense of it. I trail my eyes up the leg, spotting another leg. Then a body. Then a head. Yes, this is indeed a pony. A...A dark grey pony with a black mane and tail. I tilt my head in confusion, before her tail brushes me aside like dust. Hitting the wall with a grunt, I get back up, tears welling in my eyes. Being knocked aside, though, gave me a fresh perspective. I really wish it hadn't. My eyes constrict upon seeing the view in the middle of the room, and my bottom lip quivers. There, the captain of the Ponyville branch of guards and the Ponyville weather team captain, tied to chairs with their wings, smashed and crumpled, bones protruding through the delicate skin. Their faces, bloody, bruised and bleeding, and their eyes, filled with a mixture of tears and blood focus on me. I cannot find the words to describe the feelings I'm currently feeling. My eyes trace Sky's body. It's covered in bruisers, cuts, and there's a bloody knife on the floor. They're both now shaking their heads violently, as the grey pony turns to me and lifts me. I squirm in her grasp, her hooves holding me firmly in place. I cry out now, tears starting to flow freely from a mixture of fear and pain as my small, colt body is crushed. I'm then thrusted infront of my parents, and they're now shaking, staring down at me with pinprick pupils. Their heads are both shaking, and they're tugging against their restraints despite the obvious pain, their cries for me to run and hide muffled by the gags in their mouths. I try to back away, but I once again back into that same grey mare. I look up at her, and she's grinning down sadistically at me.
"Pegasi...Hmph. Nothing more than glorified chickens. Your parents here...They're rather tasty."
Wiping blood from her maw, she forcibly turns my head to view their wings once more, and upon closer inspection I can also see bite marks, fang piercings and chunks of flesh and bone missing. I shake more violently now, trying desperately to avert my eyes to the horror infront of me. I cry out once again, and the mare just laughs.
"You honestly think that you're gonna get out of here?" A thought then crosses her mind, and she gently pats my mane, making my skin crawl from a mixture of fear and a newborn hatred for her. I let out a small, yet determined growl, and begin my assault on her legs - to no avail. She instead just throws me away, and I once again hit the wall, cackling as she does. Upon hitting the wall, it concusses me, and my surroundings begin to swirl and fade to black. As I do, though, an even larger hooded earth pony hands her a...Cylindrical tool with some kind of...Handle. The end facing away from her is pressed to Sky Blaze's head, and he begins shaking even more wildly, desperately trying to escape his bonds. His wings flap in futility, the broken bones and missing chunks becoming more pronounced now, as he causes more and more damage to himself. As I slowly drift into an unconscious state, I only hear one thing: a thunderous roar, and then a faint laughing. Darkness comes to greet me as the sounds fade to nothing, and I'm rendered immobile...
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I awake several hours later, my eyes failing to adjust to the light properly, causing me to squint them shut as soon as they open. My entire body hurts, and it's hard to remember why. Gently rubbing my head as my eyes begin to adjust to the evening light, I take in my surroundings as my pupils refocus. My house...Yes, it's mine. However, something's...Off. I then stand up, and grunt, my right hindleg hurting immensely. Taking the pressure off of it, it eases some of the pain circulating in my veins. However, the pervasive of offness still persists. I finally manage to allow the room to fully process in my mind, and the realisation of what it is strikes me like a train: lying there limp, in the centre of the room, is a pair of ponies. My...My ponies. My parents. I immediately tear up and run towards them, gently shaking their bodies.
"M-Mummy? D-Daddy? C-Come on...Wake...Wake up...This isn't f-funny anymore..."
In my haste, I didn't notice one minor detail: the pool of blood I ran through. The blood now caking my hooves, I begin shaking, as I recall the events that took place. My eyes tracing every section of their bruised, sliced, eaten bodies, my mind can only draw one conclusion that no colt should EVER have to...They are...They're dead. Refusing to accept this fact, I begin shaking them harder, to the point where Dusk's wing falls off from the damage. I gasp, recoiling, not knowing quite what to do. My mind is numbed by the mixture of smell, emotion and sight, and only one thought prevails: run. Turning and galloping as fast as my 3 available legs will allow, I run straight from my house, through the centre of Ponyville and straight into the Everfree. Everypony was a little surprised to see a colt running through town, covered in blood, but they just assumed it wasn't actually blood; Ponyville wasn't THAT kind of town. In the Everfree, the light of day doesn't shine through, and the weather patterns are both unpredictable and controllable. It puts even the strongest ponies on edge, let alone a scared orphan colt. Making my way through the mass of trees, bushes, and animals, I arrive at a clearing. This brings a moment of confusion for me, as surely the Everfree is completely covered in trees and other green leafed things. However, my query is soon answered by a loud roar, causing me to wince back from the direction it came from. I slowly turn to face it, my ears flat against my head. The origin of the roar is a beast I've never seen in person before, but daddy used to tell me stories of fighting nests of them from the royal guard! He...D-Daddy...I derail that train of thought, focusing on my current surroundings. The Manticore infront of me is circling me, intent on securing its new snack: me. Realising this, my eyes constrict and I turn to run. As I do, the Manticore gives chase. As I let out my last scream, a mixture of the pain, trauma and fear of the recent events, the end doesn't quite come. I hear grunting, snarling and tussling behind me. Terrified, I turn VERY slowly, to see something I never would've expected. A green Pegasus pony with a silvery mane, slamming his hooves right into the face of a now angry Manticore. I start back-pedalling as the two engage in a proper fight, hooves and claws flying left, right and centre. The Pegasus himself takes very few hits, and the only ones he does take are a few large gashes upon his forelegs and one of his wings receiving a battering. However, after a very tense few minutes of trading blows, the unnamed pony produces a make-shift shiv, ramming it right into the Manticore's neck. It recoils, before crying out in pain and flying away, knowing that the fight isn't worth its life. The pony then grunts, landing in the clearing, a few meters away from me. I'm immediately paralysed by his gaze, the light magneta reminding me of...A pony very dear to me...He then smiles lightly at me, speaking with a silk smooth voice.
"Hey, kid...The Everfree isn't the best place to be alone, I...Thought a Pegasus like you would know that by now."
"...I...I-I don't have a h-home anymore..."
"...Huh. Tell ya what, kid. My place is open right now, and I've got a spare bed...How's that sound?"
I tentatively nod my head, the stallion somehow recognising the look in my eyes and knowing not to press the matter further. He slowly trots over, and I wince as he picks me up. He then looks at my hindleg in confusion.
"Uh, kid...? Why're you carrying...That?"
His hoof gently pokes my leg- no, wait...It doesn't. This intrigues me, in-spite of today, and I turn my head to look. There, strapped to my hindleg, is a rather oversized leather holster carrying a .44 revolver, a stainless steel Smith and Pegasus model 29. He lets out a low whistle, and I look at it in confusion.
"...I really don't know, mister..."
"Hey, kid. The name's LightFinder."
"I'm...I'm Desert...Storm..."
"A Storm, huh? You guys are quite well known in Cloudsdayle! Yeah, don't worry, I got a place just for ya."
And once the conversation ceases, he begins flying low among the trees, dodging and weaving to a point that makes my untrained body feel sick. After several minutes of the nauseating flying, I end up deeper inside of the Everfree, minimal light piercing the heavy foliage. My eyes adjust rather quickly, and focus upon a small cottage perched upon a mound. The Pegasus, LightFinder, who's carrying me trots inside, and sets me down. I sniff a little, the motion sickness fading as I look around at the room. It's rather bland, but it's warm, illuminated by a fireplace in the centre, obviously lit. I instinctively trot towards the flames, sitting down infront of them. I only just realised how cold I am, and I immediately begin shivering as the warmth radiates throughout me. LightFinder sits down next to me, wrapping a wing gently around me. I clutch onto him, needing the comfort. I then silently begin crying into his side, now in a calm environment, allowing me to start to try and process what's happened. The wing tightens around me, and I hug his side tighter.
"Hey, little Stormy...It's alright. Just relax...You're...You're safe now."
After a few long, long minutes of crying and releasing the pent up emotion, I sigh shakily, shutting my eyes and drifting off into tormented sleep in spite of the warmth around me. I...I don't know how to move forward from this, without Mummy or Daddy, but...But I'll find a way. I have to.
From the eye of the Storm
~ ~ ~ 15 YEARS LATER ~ ~ ~
A spear flies towards me. Spotting the glint, I turn my head to face the crude weapon, and with a smirk I boost myself into the air with my wings, neatly backflipping over the incoming projectile. Spotting the offending spear tosser, my eyes narrow and my bow rises. It's a rather crude weapon, fashioned purely from wood and string, but it does what I need it to. Drawing a sharpened stick from my quiver, tucked nicely on my back, I load the "arrow" into the drawstring and draw, taking aim and releasing. The projectile is launched with surprisingly large force and flies true, hitting the camoflauged tribal stallion square in his right eye. The arrow pierces his eye rather cleanly, before his biology releases it's under assault. The stallion is felled, leaking lifeblood and gore from that eye, falling to the ground face first and driving the arrow in further until it pierces his skull and the subsequent flesh behind, making a head kebab in essence. I smirk a little at my marksmanship, but despite the small victory I still have 2 more ferals circling me, brandishing expertly crafted daggers and knives. The unicorn stallion leading the hunting party spits on the ground next to me, and I raise my right forehoof to counter his action, neatly dodging the incoming spit-jectile. He then grunts, raising his knife towards me and charging. He's a stocky, well built earthpony, easily able to destroy me in a few hits of his weapon. In spite of this, I've never been one to backdown. While he charges at full pace, hurling insults and promises of death, I barrel roll to the side and stick out my hindleg. It sends the stallion flying, knocking him into a roll before impacting a tree and stopping. I giggle at the comedic effect of such a thing before being assaulted by the unicorn who just teleported behind me. I raise my foreleg to my neck, knowing by now that the ferals have some sort of neck-slicing-fetish, and true to my judgement the knife slices a rather large, serrated gash into my leg. Wincing and growling, I bring the sharpened end of my bow up and trail it across his face, effectively caring a large scar from his jaw to his forehead, before kicking him off in his confusion. I raise to my hooves, before grinning and tipping my bow at them.
"I'd love to stay and chat boys, but I have somewhere to be!"
As I'm about to leave, I suddenly find I cannot. Perplexed by this, I begin searching my surroundings for the source of my apparent inability to exit, and I immediately spot the aforementioned unicorn casting a prison spell. I frown at this, quickly loading and firing the bow as I prepare to run again. However, he smirks this time, the arrow impacting off a shield he casts, and then full on laughing as I run into the magical prison, electrocuting myself in the process. This, obviously, annoys me, and I stand up, slinging the bow upon my back to pair up with its friend, quiver. I like to imagine the two talk sometimes. Heh. A rather quaint thought, now that I'm trapped inside of this rune prison. I gently press my hoof against one of the "bars", and my curiosity is met with the raw anger only a magical feedback can provide. Once more I'm sent reeling, my mane smoking now from the electricity coursing through me. I get up once more, shaking my head and grunting.
"You're right, Mr. Storm...You DO have somewhere to be."
I crane my head towards the voice, and who it is shocks me. The pony emerging from the shadows isn't quite who I thought it would be. The voice was male in nature, for sure...But for it to be HIM? No. I show my disbelief involuntarily through my facial expression, and the scarred earthpony just laughs at me. His voice now changes back to something I'm more familiar with: a low, menacing rumble, striking fear into his enemies. He grins with a pair of bloody fangs, trotting slowly up to the cage and resting his hooves upon it, not so much as flinching from the current now flowing through him.
"Tell me, Desert...Famed assassin...Did you really think you could kill one of my lieutenants and leave this camp ALIVE?"
"Well, I mean, you were busy rutting at the time and the ferals have placed a massive bounty upon your, and your lieutenant's heads, so...Yes. That is indeed what I was aiming for. As you can see, I've hit the mark for one of them."
With a smirk, I gesture to the dead pony. Mr Scary Earthie trots up to the body, and examines it. He then growls upon my word being confirmed, before swivelling with surprising speed and trotting back to me.
"Oh, don't worry, Mr. Storm. You'll receive payment for this job. Ample that we have an entire division devoted to catching you, hm? Even have a pony called "Storm Chaser". He grins again, and I feel rather repulsed that the royal guard would allow such a mockery into their ranks. He notices my disgust with him, and the prison around me promptly fails. I blink in confusion, attempting to fly away before my wings are yanked back to earth, a rather large hoof having a hold of them. I turn back and grin sheepishly, knowing that I'm well and truly fucked now.
"Er...T-Truce?"
"You will pay...In blood."
"Can't I just pay in bits instead? I mean, your friend over there leaked enough blood, so I really don-"
I'm cut short by a thunderous punch, right in my jaw, breaking it upon impact. Moaning loudly from the deep, aching pain now having rooted itself in my head, the broken jaw is then grabbed by a hoof, crushing it further as my head is turned upwards to look at the assailant. He doesn't smile or grin this time, instead looking at me with a burning hatred.
"I want the last eyes you see to be mine...General Thunderhooves."
Even with my broken jaw, I manage to force a giggle, and raise my hooves in surrender.
"Alright, alright, you got me, big guy...There's just...One minor thing you're forgetting here."
"Oh? And what might that be, you insufferable wretch?"
"I'm the one with the silverbullet."
I don't even allow him time to process as my revolver is whipped out from the specially crafted holster in my wings, and I fire a round. I hit him right between the eyes, the entrance hole relatively small. However, for the millisecond it takes the kinetic energy to transfer, I watch the rest of his head splatter out behind him, akin to a rather badly carved pumpkin. I then re-holster it, taking to the sky and escaping before anypony can react. I smirk in my victory over the guard, and then make my way to LightFinder's place. Light's gotten on in the years, but he trained me into what I am today: an efficient killer, with no remorse for purging the impurities from the world. But it's...Deeper than that. I was his adopted little brother. I am his adopted little brother. He took me under his wing, and helped me to come to terms with the trauma I endured, while teaching me to use it for good. Unlike a large majority of ponies inside the forest, who are part of some sort of clan, he and I have lived separate from both societies of "normal" and "ferals", having preferred each other's company over the bright lights of the city or the bickering of the clans. I arrive at the cottage, but something doesn't feel right. Light trained my natural gift of the Storm sense, a trait, I'm told that helped the Storms ascend the ranks in the guard due to their ability to sense danger before it occurred. Legends passed around inside of the forest that there was a pink pony also capable of this, but the absurdity of it was usually over-ruled by the fear that the Storm was coming for them. Internal monologuing aside, I gently push open the door of his-...Our, cottage, trotting inside. Everything seems normal, and so I decide to call out for him.
"Light? You home, bro?"
My call is met with silence, and I frown. I trot in and sit down upon the chair I made for myself from animal skins and logs, getting comfy in it. Not quite a cloud throne, but it'll do for now. I then sigh, the adrenaline of the previous fight leaving my system and the pain of it bringing me back down to earth. I remove the bow and quiver, the feeling of being seated with them making me uncomfortable. I holster my revolver back into its secret concealment, and gently lick the wound on my foreleg. It stings like shit, but I have to atleast try to keep it clean. As I sit there, performing the world's worst sanitisation job, the door creaks open and Light blocks the doorway. I look up briefly, mid-lick. The pony is holding a box of stolen medical supplies, presumably from the local guard camp. I raise an eyebrow at how he can predict things so well, but then I chalk it up to experience rather than luck. I smile at him, and he returns the smile, trotting inside and setting the box down infront of me. I open it up, and immediately sigh in relief, applying a roll of bandages onto the gash and then biting it off once it's sufficient enough to cover it totally.
"Nice job, Light...Got a real talent for prediction there." I smirk at him. He then takes a seat next to me, sighing as his legs finally get a break from the day.
"Be glad I found those, Des...And by found, I mean acquisitioned." He gives me a happy cheek lick, and I return a knowing glance. Ferals certainly had an odd way of showing affection out here, but I've grown accustomed to it due to living most of my life out here...For obvious reasons. Heh. Thinking about it doesn't hurt as much anymore, but it's still my driving force. I look up at the ceiling, my mind now pondering that dreadful day. I then sigh, shutting my eyes. Light looks at me with concern, gently rubbing my shoulder with a warm, soft hoof.
"Something...Got ya down, Des...? I'm here to talk if...If ya need somepony to vent off to...Don't want you getting angry again...The amount of false trails I had to give that clan that offended you and you then proceeded to raise their village and kill the hierarchy...You fucked up the forest for a good while, there. Was kinda fun, but...Heh. Anyway, what's up?"
"...My mind is back there, Light. I...I dunno. I'm obviously no stranger to killing...My talent is killing...But honestly? Is killing the right thing to do to administer the justice deserved? Those guards...Corrupt, rapist bastards, trying to colonize an already colonized area...They get everything they fucking deserve, but...But Sky Blaze...My dad...He was the captain of the Cloudsdayle branch, man...If my driving force is supposedly justice for them, am I not undoing the work I've previously done in putting down murderers and rapists and all the rest...?"
Light's gaze is soft on me, his eye brows lowered slightly at the corner in a frown. He knows he has to be careful when approaching this situation. He turns the shoulder-hoof into a body hug, and I sigh softly, returning it. He flicks his mane, and smiles softly, nuzzling my cheek.
"Hey, flamehead, it's all justified...Those bastards out there had their chance, and they revoked it when they fucked with the forest. We stand united against them...They're even trying to blend in with us now, shedding their armour in favour of infiltration...It's disgusting. You're striking fear into the heart of them right now, and you're one of our greatest assets in the fight...The Storm. The mention of that name terrifies them. Whether it's just in their eyes or not doesn't matter, you know yourself you're doing the right thing. Sky Blaze wouldn't of wanted to be associated with such disgusting ponies."
I sigh, nodding and opening my eyes. I then look at him, and hug him a little tighter. The contact comforts me. Each kill, while easier than the last, is simultaneously harder. It's a big thing, taking a life...A soul is a fragile thing. The mind, even more so. Easy to corrupt and break...Mine's already been shattered, having made me into a lose cannon with the capacity to kill without remorse...Ponies fear and revere what they don't understand. And my mind is an enigma code yet to be cracked. If it can be cracked...I sigh once more, before shutting my eyes and resting my head against his shoulder. I never developed properly, at a smaller stature than your standard pony, putting me a bit larger than a teenager, I suppose. My head tucks neatly into the crevice on his neck, and he gently rubs my back, doing his best to keep me calm. I snuggle in a little closer, before slowly drifting off, needing the rest to heal my wings, foreleg...And most of all, my mind. Into the dreamscape I fade...For another night of tortured nightmares and the haunting eyes...The blackness, like a void...The cackling, and the pain she caused...I grip Light tighter, promising myself that I would end her. For...For mummy. For daddy. She will be stopped.
From the eye of the Storm
Chapter 1 - The beginning
Well, a good place to start I find is usually at...The start. Yes, let's begin from the start. The start of my life...It wasn't a pretty one, I'll be frank. Compared to all the other fillies and colts, mine was rather eventful, what with being an orphan and all. As I was only a foal at the time, I, thankfully don't remember a whole lot about it. The only thing I do remember was...The thunder. The thunder rose, my parents fell. That gunshot...I will remember for a long time to come. However, something I can remember is the aftermath. Being a crying colt, filled with a mixture of confusion, anger, and sadness that my parents, my LIFELINE, had been robbed of me before my life had even begun. How...How dare they? The unnamed assailants that stamped out life through a trigger pull before it had even begun! The fire born in me that day still burns bright within me to this day. I suppose I should begin my life story now that the main context is out of the way. Let's begin that now.
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I stare out of a window. The time? Mid day. The place? School. The pony? Me. The outside beckons to me, as I continue to stare out of my solid water vapour prison at the cloudground outside, our play area. If we're extra good, we get extra time! I long to roam around freely out there, to throw off the shackles of the "times tables" and "the alphabet". Upon spotting that the window is now actually open, my heart flutters in my chest. Can I go for it? Could I be the little colt who could? A grin spreads across my face, and my wings buzz quietly as I plan my escape. First, I will need...A distraction. Yes, this is perfect! A distraction! A part one of my amazing super duper escape plan! I raise my hoof, and the light blue Pegasus mare at the front of the class raises her spectacles from the bridge of her nose to her eyes, looking at me.
"Ah, Desert. What is it THIS time?"
"Er, nothing, miss. I just...Um...Wanted to say that...Er...Over there!"
As I say this, I follow the claim up with a gesture to the thing in question, pointing my hoof at the door. The blue mare, who's name I could never know, then sighs, turning to look at the door.
"Desert," she begins "There is nothing the-"
She is cut off rather abruptly as her head swivels back, as the pony in question, me, is no longer to be seen. The window is slightly more ajar, and she lets out a low sigh of frustration as the Pegasi fillies and colts`gathered in the room begin giggling amongst themselves.
"The 4th time this week, and we're not even 4 days INTO the week..." She sighs again, leaving the room and beginning her search for the troublesome colt.
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