Eye of the Storm
The howling shrieks of the blizzard were filling the sky; ever growing gales battered the battlements of Pegasopolis, bringing ice and snow in their wake. The mourning cry of the frozen winds seemed to overpower all other sounds as the pegasi prepared to face the menace that sought to threaten their mighty stronghold. The haunting sound of the blizzard and the distant cries of the wraiths that were carried upon its winds resounded and echoed everywhere, filling the air as the sun slowly set with a mournful tune.
The haunting dirge could be heard everywhere upon the open skies. Everywhere but at the exact center atop Pegasopolis itself, that is.
The howling winds and haunting shrieks, the bitter cold and the swirling snow rushed forth towards the home of the pegasi as if a hungry beast seeking to pounce upon its prey, only for it to be repulsed by the unyielding roar of thunder.
As if another predator demarking its territory, the echoing boom of thunder and the crackling of lightning rebuffed the mourning cries of the blizzard as more and more storm clouds gathered atop the mighty fortress of the pegasi. As though a titan striking against metal, thunder resounded through the air; as though a beast roaring its defiance, lightning filled the horizon. All of it at a counterpoint to a song that seemed to embody the wild and free feeling of the very thunderclouds themselves, of the untamed winds that called the sky their home, proudly proclaiming its defiance to the coming blizzard and all that it entailed.
And yet, despite the roar of thunder and the flashes of lightning, despite countless storm clouds gathering in ever increasing numbers atop the home of the pegasi, each and every single one of them as black as a starless night forming the greatest thunderstorm any living pegasus had ever seen, not a single drop of rain was to be found.
Dozens upon dozens of colorful blurs could be seen flickering amidst the rainless storm clouds, as the weather teams under Colonel Spring Shower gathered and repositioned the dark clouds filled with thunder and lightning where they needed to be placed. But even as they efficiently manipulated nature’s wrath so that it could be unleashed upon the enemies of the Armada, the weather teams couldn’t help but sneak awed glances towards the green figure standing at the very center of the rainless thunderstorm.
As he deftly continued to play his flute, weaving his magic into the ever growing storm, Link paid little mind to his audience. The amazed glances and the muttered whispers meant next to nothing to him. Storm Caller, the pegasi called him, but in the end it was just one more title to add to the collection, unimportant in the face of far more relevant things.
Keeping the sound of thunder in harmony with the Song of Storms as he started the next stanza of the melody, the Wielder of Courage maintained his focus upon the careful weave of magic, intent, and will contained in the song he was playing. As more and more dark clouds crackling with lightning formed all around him, he had to admit that creating storm clouds with the song while preventing them from unleashing a downpour immediately afterwards was something that he had never done before, a somewhat rare occurrence when all was said and done.
It was an interesting challenge.
A few minutes later as he reached the song’s ending point, Link decided that the amount of storm clouds gathered was probably sufficient for what was to come. His assumption was reaffirmed by the fact that the pegasi were hurriedly carrying the clouds away as fast as they could, and yet the sky above Pegasopolis was still cluttered with the dark clouds. And so he removed the flute from his lips and allowed the song to slowly fade away into silence.
Or at least, as close to silence as the center of a massive collection of storm clouds could get.
Giving a quick look around and noting that Colonel Spring Shower seemed to be slowly approaching his position, the Wielder of Courage decided that the pegasi had things well under control here.
Giving a nod to Spring Shower as he flew away before she could reach him properly, Link started to move towards the northern perimeter while pretending to not notice the rather… intense look the female colonel was giving his green-coated form as he departed. Or the faint blushes and very appreciative looks quite a few female, and a scattering of male for that matter, weather ponies were giving him.
Such things were not exactly welcome. But he knew from personal experience that pretending to not notice anything was by far the best way to deal with such a situation. Oddly enough, trying to deal with such things directly had the very annoying tendency of escalating everything instead of solving anything, while pretending to be oblivious placed everything into a stalemate the other side rarely broke without prompting. He had no idea why it was so, but experience had taught him that was simply how it was.
Leaving behind his contribution towards the ‘ammo supply’ of the pegasi, Link wondered if there was anything else he could do to aid in the preparation for the fight before the wraiths were to reach them in the time they still had.
Though, judging by the growing frequency and volume of the beasts’ shrieks, he guessed that said remaining time wasn’t exactly plentiful right now.
Using one of his melodies to try and counter the fierce blowing winds seemed of little use, especially since the pegasi seemed to be already erecting some kind of wind current around the fortress to try and mitigate the worst of it. And summoning more storm clouds mid-battle was ill advised considering that it took some concentration in order to prevent rain from following, and soaking everypony with water while fighting in freezing weather while flicking around lightning sounded like a very unsound idea. The Sun Song was also out, for while it had proven itself effective against the wraiths last time, the length of time the song kept those bound by its magic immobilized was relatively short, which alongside the lack of someone to truly take advantage of the opening provided for a critical strike turned its new heavy cost in magic and stamina prohibitive and ill advised.
And that was not including how Old Oak had pulled him aside back on the village before his departure and had insistently explained how Link was to show his ability to control the Sun with song to nopony, unless he wanted to cause a civil war to immediately explode between the pegasi and the unicorns, that is.
The elder had seemed like the well grounded and well read sort, and so Link was inclined to believe him for the moment.
After another moment of thought, Link decided that he had done as much as he could in regards to the battle preparations. And now all that remained was to aid the fight directly.
Something that apparently would take place in the immediate future, if he were to judge by how all the pegasi seemed to be mobilizing while the shrieks of the wraiths and the blowing winds of the blizzard grew in intensity.
Narrowing his eyes, Link drew his blade as he flew to join the front lines, the light of the setting sun playing around the sword’s edge as he focused on the task at hoof.
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In other circumstances, Colonel Winter Gale knew he would be outright salivating at the show of skill the Storm Caller had so casually displayed by summoning so many storm clouds out of thin air with no apparent effort.
He knew that Thunderstrike and Spring Shower were masters of their craft, trained officers of the Armada that knew their crafts inside and out. And yet, he knew that neither of them, even with the aid of all weather ponies under their command, would have been able to gather even half the clouds that the Storm Caller had.
What he could do with such an ability! The heights the Armada could reach! The cursed horn heads wouldn’t even be able to muster a shadow of a defense as heaven’s wrath itself fell upon them!
Alas, far greater things than mere daydreams demanded his attention, as he dismissed such idle thoughts away while he kept formation as he flew amidst his soldiers upon the northern skies over Pegasopolis.
The biting winds of the blizzard were battering his troops as they stood outside the bubble of calm protective winds Spring Shower and her ponies had created near the battlements. Yet neither he nor his troops showed any sign of discomfort, the freezing winds meaning next to nothing to him as he kept his hard eyes focused upon the heavy snow clouds attempting to crash down upon the proud home of the pegasi.
“Draw weapons,” he commanded as he saw the flickering forms of this new enemy start to appear amidst the swirling ice and snow.
The sound of steel being drawn resounded as his brothers and sisters promptly followed his command. The next moment he felt as they wrapped their weapons in weather magic without need of his verbal command, the feeling of so many pegasi doing so at once making it so one could almost taste the sharp tang of the magic upon the wind.
Now his brethren would be able to strike down the loathsome beasts. An extremely valuable bit of intel, even if the knowledge of whom they owed for it made him have to fight to not allow a scowl to surface upon his features. It was a pity that his bloodline had been tainted, for it was clear that despite said disadvantage Wonder Bolt’s skill and dedication were commendable. Clearly Wondrous Sky had done something right raising him in order to manage to overcome such a massive hurdle. Something he most assuredly could not say the same in regards to his own flesh and blood.
Looking at the shivering waste of space hovering but a few hoofs away from him, Winter Gale felt his mask nearly break due to the growing desire to snarl.
It was clear by the fretful movement of his eyes and how tightly he was holding his sword while outright shivering that Wind Shriek was not appreciative of the efforts Winter Gale had personally taken to volunteer the lieutenant for the frontlines. Another disappointment to add to the long list of disappointments the scourge to their family line had caused.
Anger and fury coursing through his blood, Winter Gale took a deep breath in order to control his temper. He had to keep his mind cold and controlled for the fight to come. The disappointment would atone for his sins, or perish in the attempt; he would make sure of it.
“Hold!” he commanded as the creatures started to rush towards the pegasi lines, the order being repeated by his officers as his brothers and sisters prepared themselves to deal with these pathetic interlopers that dared to challenge the true rulers of the skies!
No matter how much he desired to simply charge forth and expunge the taint to his family honor by defending their home with all that he had, tactically speaking the honor of first blood would befall Thunderstrike and his troops. And so he waited as the shrieking beasts drew closer and closer.
“Hold!” he repeated, sword held at the ready and wings tensed, ready to move at a moment’s notice. But still he remained calm and collected; waiting as the freezing winds buffeted his troops and the wraiths drew even closer. He could feel the tension growing within his brethren as the shrieking beasts rushed ever closer, but just as it neared its breaking point, Thunderstrike acted.
Light and sound consumed the skies for a brief moment, as hundreds upon hundreds of thunderclouds were unleashed simultaneously. A barrage of lightning surged forth, right through the holes his formation left there for that explicit purpose, and raining down upon the charging wraiths.
The creatures’ howls and shrieks swiftly turned to howls of pain as lightning coursed through their see-through forms before they dispersed into nothing amidst the frozen winds. Before the beasts could react, a second salvo was fired, the roar of thunder and the blinding flashes of lightning once more filling the skies and breaking the creatures’ ranks even further.
“Charge!” Winter Gale snarled, wings beating fiercely as he dove straight towards the creatures, his brethren shouting alongside him as they followed, blades drawn and ready to make the foolish beasts pay!
He cut clean through the neck of one of the apparitions before turning towards another with a snarl on his lips. As more and more of the beasts fell to his blade, as his fellows charged unflinchingly with him into the maws of the blizzard, as thunder and lightning resounded all around him, Winter Gale focused all his anger and fury regarding the events of the last few days into the task at hoof. The Armada would endure! No matter what!
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The biting cold winds battered his body as he dodged and weaved between hail and ice, as he spun and charged, his wing-blades bit deep into the wraiths that surged before him. But Wonder Bolt could feel a sinking feeling start to form at the pit of his stomach.
As he dove in order to dodge a screeching wraith, which was promptly taken by one of Colonel Shake Spear’s officers, only to moments later pass it forward by doing the same to another soldier, Wonder Bolt couldn’t help the feeling of dread that was starting to permeate his being as a feeling of déjà-vu fell upon him.
Even if, by all accounts, the initial strike had been wildly successful, taking out hundreds of the beasts in mere moments as the forces of the Armada bit deep into the enemy forces. Even as the sound of thunder and the flashes of lightning never seemed to stop for more than a heartbeat as Thunderstrike and Spring Shower’s forces kept raining the fury of the heavens upon the beasts. Even as Link became little more than a green blur upon the sky, leaving a swath of dispelling wraiths in his wake. Even with all of it, one fact remained.
They just kept coming.
No matter how many they took down, no matter how many fell before pegasus blades or were struck down by lightning, there were always more to take the place of the ones that had just been destroyed.
Time was not their ally. This was something Bolt understood better than almost anypony else in this mad melee. They simply could not allow this to turn into a battle of attrition. And yet, as the cold winds howled all around him and he battled the endless hordes of the specters alongside his brothers and sisters, this was exactly what the battle was slowly turning into as the overwhelming push of the initial assault ground to a halt under the apparently endless numbers of wraiths.
Dodging a hail of razor sharp ice shards, Bolt felt the frown currently upon his features grow even heavier even as his attacker was taken down by the swirling blur that was Colonel Shake Spear’s namesake weapon. The cream-coated colonel twirled his blade in such a way that it looked like nothing but a silver whirling blur, a silver blur that shredded any wraith stupid enough to approach the colonel.
And yet, it simply was not enough. None of it was.
They had taken down thousands of the beasts by this point. The constant lightning barrage alongside the fierce onslaught being offered by Winter Gale and Shake Spear’s forces meant that even when one of the beasts split into two it wasn’t long before the new one was taken down too. And yet their numbers seemed limitless. For the moment the Armada was holding firm, surging forth against the damned creatures in a display of power few would be able to match, a show of martial power that even the vaunted war mages of Unicornia would find daunting to face. And yet, it was simply not enough. As things stood it was but a matter of time before the biting cold winds and the exhaustion of combat would start to take its toll. And then…
For a moment a hint of despair tried to nestle upon his heart, only for Bolt to shake it away, a snarl of anger on his lips as he stuck down two more of the beasts.
They could not falter! Would not falter! Far too much was at stake for any other option to be acceptable!
And so he struck and spun, dodged and parried. Aiding and being aided by his fellow pegasi in kind as he flew through the chaotic battlefield, doing his level best to ignore the freezing winds as he attacked any and all wraiths in sight.
But even as he did so, he inwardly knew that they had to take a different approach. Raw military might was clearly not the answer! They had to find a way to deny their enemy in its seemingly limitless numbers!
Hard eyes searched the battlefield with fervor even as he kept fighting. Even as he dodged and spun, struck and parried, he searched for something, anything, which could be of use to turn the tide before it could swell enough to engulf and drown the whole of the Armada!
As the cold of the blizzard seeped into his bones, as he slowly drifted away from his initial position closer to the battlements of the cloud fortress and the protective winds that forestalled the worst of the ice storm there, as he downed enemy after enemy, he finally found something.
It was small, so small that if he hadn’t been so desperately searching he probably wouldn’t have even noticed. So small, that even after finding it, it had taken him several moments longer to make sure he wasn’t just imagining things and that what he felt was actually real.
Of course, that moment of inattention almost cost him his head, as a beast attempted to strike him down with ice and frost for it. Only the armor he wore saved him as it deflected the worst of the blow from a frozen spear.
Openly cursing, he took down the attacker while berating himself for the lapse in judgment, the throbbing upon the muscles of his left wing a stark reminder that a single mistake was all that it took to down even the mightiest of warriors. Falling back slightly, he allowed two other pegasi to cover him as he attempted to refocus upon what he had found.
It was a subtle thread amidst all the raging weather magic of the blizzard. No, not a thread, but countless ones! Each as thin as a spider web fluttering upon the breeze! Apparently connecting everything upon the battlefield, carrying within them something back to the blizzard! He had no idea what was being carried, but he knew that if the enemy wanted it, then they should deny them!
Narrowing his gaze, he turned his steely eyes towards where he thought the threads connected. Attempting to see past the blowing hail and swirling snow, the snarling pegasi and the shrieking beasts, he saw it. Deep within enemy lines, a part of the storm that seemed deeper than any other! A place where the winds seemed to blow fiercer than anywhere else! And where, even as he stared, he could see more of the beasts appearing as if by magic!
“Found it!” he shouted, wings tense and heart hammering against his chest, his eyes never straying from the heart of the raging blizzard even as he fought a new onslaught of wraiths.
“What have you found?” a snarling voice demanded from his right flank as a pale blue blade hammered against a shrieking wraith, before a deluge of frozen shards rained down upon two more. The ice-based weather magic did little against the beasts, but the continuous rain of blows kept them at bay long enough for two more pegasi to rush forth and strike them down.
“Colonel Winter Gale?!” Wonder Bolt exclaimed in alarm as his eyes saw the pony that had spoken. The ice-blue colonel’s snarling visage simply glared at him, a visage that was not helped in the slightest by how his armor seemed to be covered by a second armor made of jagged ice spikes.
A quick look around and Bolt realized he was surrounded by Winter Gale’s personal troops as they stood at the very northernmost part of the battlefield. Bolt hadn’t even realized how detached he had truly gotten form the rest of Shake Spear’s troops as he searched! And suddenly finding himself right in front of the snarling visage of Winter Gale and his personal troops was also not exactly a pleasant thing.
“Corporal, report!” Winter Gale demanded, his eyes showing he had no patience for any further delay.
“Sir, the enemy is gathering a significant amount of some kind of magic towards the northeast of our current position!” he promptly replied, years of training and survival instincts bypassing his panic and hesitation. “The area in question has an unusual amount of the wraiths constantly leaving it, but none entering! I believe it may be the heart of the blizzard, sir!”
As Winter Gale turned his hard pale eyes towards where Bolt was pointing, muttered curses and imprecations carried over the small group of pegasi that were close enough to hear his words. Curses and imprecations that grew louder as they realized that Bolt was right.
“That cannot be allowed to stand,” Winter Gale fiercely stated, unblinking eyes staring at his new target even as he unleashed a new barrage of ice to counter that attack of another wraith that was then overtaken by two more of his pegasi. “How many of your number have training in how to dismantle wild storms?”
“I do, sir!” Bolt promptly replied, only, with a sinking feeling to realize his voice had been the only one to answer.
“Truly?” the Colonel questioned, briefly averting his eyes from the storm to gaze into Bolt’s eyes. Gulping down his nerves Bolt held his own, staring right back.
“Sir, my mother, Wondrous Sky fully trained me in all the intricacies of weather magic!” he continued, refusing to back down. “Up to and including how to deal with rogue storms, sir!”
Winter Gale briefly assessed Bolt’s form, before with a barely perceptible nod he continued. “Can you dismantle that storm?”
“It would take a concentrated explosion of raw weather magic unleashed at point blank right at the heart of the storm to dismatl-“ the Corporal started to explain, only for Winter Gale to cut him off with a brusque sharp movement of the hoof holding his sword.
“That was not my question, Corporal!” the Colonel bitingly stated, hard eyes glowering at the Corporal before him as the sounds of the battle and the storm raged all around them before repeating himself. “I asked: Can you do it?”
“Yes,” he replied after a moment of hesitation as he pushed down his doubts away and re-focused on the task at hoof, before swiftly adding. “But I will need an open path. It will take my whole focus to do it, I’ll be unable to do anything else!”
“So be it. A path will be cleared. To me, brothers and sisters!” Winter Gale commanded, turning his back to an openly gaping Wonder Bolt as he shouted for the troops in their vicinity. As the colonel ordered his troops, Wonder Bolt wondered if he was perhaps dreaming, or hallucinating. Because there was simply no way that Winter Gale was using Bolt of all ponies as a pivotal part of an attack plan!
“Corporal, I do not have to tell you what this would mean for the battle,” Winter Gale frostily said, his eyes filled with such burning fury that Bolt abandoned all musings and idle thoughts, focusing solely at the task at hoof. “Do not fail.”
With those final words, Winter Gale charged into the storm, several dozen pegasi following him with war cries upon their lips. And so, amidst the swirling snow and raging winds, Wonder Bolt left all doubt aside and charged after with a war cry of his own.
Wings beating against the raging storm, Bolt abandoned all thought of offense and defense, focusing solely on the task at hoof and the heart of the storm in the distance. He knew that Winter was right. For if the heart was as they both suspected the focal point where the wraiths were gathering the energy to multiply, then destroying it would severely cripple their ability to do so.
Hard eyes narrowing even further, he kept beating his wings as he concentrated, gathering as much raw weather magic as he could before his front hooves. He paid no mind to the wraiths screeching all around him, as each of the beasts was either tackled by armored pegasi or struck down by bolts of lightning. He focused the weather magic further and further, all the while his wings beat harder and harder, pushing him through the stormy winds in a swift and straight path towards the very heart of the storm. He was an arrow aimed straight towards the heart of the enemy that dared to threaten his brethren.
Focusing like he had never done before, Bolt kept condensing the unstable weather magic gathering in front of him. His wings kept beating harder and harder as he flew faster than he had ever flown before, and then faster still. All while more and more weather magic gathered before him until he felt as if he was about to burst. And then he pushed even further still.
Hail and ice battered his form, but he paid no mind to the wraiths attempting to attack him, trusting his well being fully upon his brothers and sisters, and he flew faster still, the weather magic upon his hooves condensing to such a point that it seemed as if he was holding a pulsating ball of light within them.
A wraith surged towards him, blocking his path as spears of ice and frost formed around it, pointed straight towards the azure-coated pony. And yet he did not falter, his strong wings pushing ever onwards straight towards the creature that was seeking to end him with ice and frost, the mere thought of abandoning the attack run not even crossing his mind.
The beast shrieked as it unleashed its frozen barrage, only for it to strike the snarling form of Winter Gale, the frozen spears hammering the Colonel’s already ice-covered body, denting and cracking his ice armor before the ice-blue pegasi tackled the wraith and struck it with ice and hail of his own, pushing it away from the charging corporal’s path.
His path once again clear and target in sight, Bolt kept going, wings beating as hard as they could as the frozen winds futilely attempted to hamper his path.
As he dove towards the heart of the blizzard, towards the apparent endless hordes of frost wraiths that seemed to spring from its dark depths, he felt as if he suddenly hit a barrier. An invisible wall that seemed to want to dictate to him: this far, and no further.
Gritting his teeth and ignoring the complaints of his aching muscles, the splitting migraine hammering his head, or the burning feeling of keeping so much raw weather magic contained, he forced his wings to beat even faster. He completely ignored the wall attempting to block his way as he pushed his body harder than he had ever done before. Harder than he had ever thought possible.
He couldn’t care less about whatever it was that was attempting to bar his path! All that mattered was that it was attempting to stop his advance! To stop his mission! To stop him from helping his brethren! And if there was one thing that he had recently learned thanks to Link, it was that if a wall blocked your path and there was no way around, you just made a way through!
Screaming in defiance as the weather magic gathered right in front of him started to release bolts of energy every which way, nearing closer and closer to a catastrophic collapse with every moment that passed despite his best efforts to keep it whole, he flew harder still. The wraiths’ storm had to be destroyed, and by the sky above and the earth below, he refused to fail this task!
The very next moment, with a deafening booming sound the wall impeding his path shattered as though it had never been there as his body was enveloped in thunder and light.
Flying far faster than he had ever dared to imagine, Bolt didn’t waste a single moment wondering what the buck had just happened. Aiming straight towards the deepest part of the storm he could identify he kept going, darting past dozens of the wraiths far too swiftly for them to react to his approach.
Not even noticing the trail of light being left behind in his wake, mind completely focused on the task at hoof, he flew onwards. The beasts were unable to react to him in time due to his insane speed as he forged on and unleashed his payload right on the middle of the blizzard’s heart, where it promptly detonated with the fury of an untamed lightning storm.
The shockwave of thunder and light hurled him through the air, tumbling out of control due to its sheer power even as he attempted to use his insane speed to try and avoid the worst of the explosion.
But even as his whole body ached, even as his wings stopped listening to his commands and he started to fall from the sky. Even as darkness started to fill his vision, Bolt felt a small fierce smile appear on his muzzle. For even as darkness overtook him, he could still glimpse the massive hole devoid of all clouds where the heart of the storm once had been, a hole where no wraiths remained.
As he fell towards the ground far below he heard a roar of challenge echo through the skies as the sound of thunder redoubled its intensity. As he felt a pair of strong hooves grab him and arrest his fall, as his body lost its fight against the sweet embrace of unconsciousness, he only hoped that he had done enough.