The Callling of the Storm
by LightningRain
Chapters
Chapter 1
Its a funny thing really. I mean, here I stand at the Gala. A few years ago, this is the last place I thought I would be.But you don't know what Ive been through.What i have seen, done, even heard. You don't know anything about me. Not even my name. So lets just start with that. My name is LightningRain. I am a white coated, white and black maned, Colt Pegasus with ADHD. So now that we know each other a little better, how about I speak to you a bit about my past. That sounds fair enough right? I'll see how far I can get before my contract gets here.
I grew up in Ponyville, well at least for 7 years I did. I had the basic family life for a Pegasus, that is other than the fact that the rest of my family members are Unicorns. We are all blood related, I just resembled my grandfather on my mothers side. So most of my elders on my mothers side have been mixed breeds. But as I was saying, my life was pretty normal. I had an older sister and of course father loved her most. The old man would hit me if she were to do something wrong. But it wasn't her fault. She would plead until he would stop his lashing of me. She was a good sister, well is a good sister but I will get to that later. I think you might be better acquainted with her than you are with me actually. You might even know her. Her name is Rarity. Her name suits her to the core too. She was always about fashion and such things as that. I'm not gonna lie to ya. She has given me a few tips that have helped with the Filly's. Mother on the other hand, she was always there for me. When ever I was scared. lonely or just wanted to hang out, she was always there for me. I was a hard core mama's boy. Well now that you have gotten a taste of my old home life, how about I tell you where my story really started. The day I got my cutie mark.
Chapter 1: Sacrifice
The day started out like any other day. I woke up in my room with my window wide open. I liked to sleep with it open. Most ponies would call me crazy for saying this but it having it open made me feel safe. But then again, most ponies aren't afraid of their dad. I sat up and looked out my window. The sun was just coming up. I could feel the air getting warmer as the sun got higher. I was completely relaxed. But then I heard the sound of hooves coming from the hallway, outside my door. My sister, Rarity, then appeared in my doorway. "Good Morning Lightning!" she said with a smile. I was so used to this that I didn't even have to ask why she was in my room, so early in the morning. I was forced out of bed before noon because Rarity wanted me to go help her find some damn diamonds. I was never sure how but she always fooled me into doing the hard work. I got used to it after awhile. A day of hard work is good for a growing colt. My mother always told me that. I usually got something out of it in return though. Anyways back to the story. I got up out of bed and cleaned up. When i got down the stairs I found Rarity standing in the middle of the room with the spade and bucket I always used for diamond hunting. "Come on dear little brother! Those diamonds are not going to hunt themselves" she said.
"Well whats in it for me sis? What do i get in return of doing the messy work this time? You know I'm not gonna do this for free." I said with a slight laugh. She promised that she would pay me with 25% of the findings. When any young colt is offered diamonds you would expect something like "EWW! DIAMONDS ARE GIRLY!! WHY WOULD I WANT THOSE?!?" But not me. I was smart. I knew that if I had diamonds, I could get money for them from a jewelry trader in town. With the right diamonds, you could get over 200 bucks with just 5 of them.
We then headed out the door and in to our front yard. Rarity sparked her horn up and fallowed her seances. I fallowed her, telling her that we had better find something good or I would never help her that early in the morning again. Eventually, after traveling a 3 mile trail out into the middle of B.F.E, we got to where her horn had led us, but then she sparked her horn off and yelled at me to stop. Being the ADHD fellow that I am, I wasn't paying attention. I was staring up at the clouds, walking forward. I then tripped over a log and fell just a few feet in front of my sister. "You idiot! I told you to stop! Don't you know where we are heading into"? I didn't actually. It looked just like any old forest. Trees of different colored leafs, moss, flowers, grass. It seemed legit. No different than any of the others we had gone hunting in. "What is so bad about this forest sis? Your horn led us here. Why would it lead us to a bad place?" I asked.
"That's the Everfree forest! We can't go in there!"
"Why not?"
"Most ponies say that it's not natural!"
"Uh sis, we aren't ponies. I'm a Pegasus and your a unicorn."
"Still. What if we go in and something bad happens?"
"What could happen? We go in a little ways and get some diamonds, leave. End of story sis."
"I don't know Lightning. What if........"
"Come on! I'm not gonna let anything happen to my favorite sister". I told her this as a joke. Most of the time whenever she was down, scared or just plain nervous, a joke such as that one always cheered her up. "Well ok. But I don't wanna stay longer than one hour". She said.
"Alright then, lets go get some diamonds". I said as I began to skip along the forest path, enjoying the crunching sound the fallen leafs made. Looking back now, I wish i would have just stayed in bed that morning. We walked inside the forest. We found a diamond infested area. It was incredible. Every few feet, diamonds. If anyone was to of ever actually hit the mother load, by hell we hit it. " BLUE, SAPPHIRE, GREEN, PINK, OH MY!" Rarity shouted with pure excitement. If i were to have made it to a trader that day, I would have been the richest colt ever. An hour had passed and my bucket could no longer hold diamonds. Then sun was now in plain sight. "OK Rarity, this accursed thing can't hold another diamond. I think it might be time to head back home." I said these words while panting from exhaustion. She then Smiled and congratulated me on a hard days work. We were going to sort out my payment when we got home, but then it happened. We heard a lowed noise off in the distance. "Get down and stay silent." I said as I quickly pushed Rarity into the closest bush I could find. I hid in the bush next to the one I had thrown my sister into.
"What is it?" Rarity asked.
"I don't know, just stay silent until I say otherwise". Whenever I gave her an order, she knew it was given with full on seriousness. Then a group of fierce looking dogs came out of nowhere and began to walk in our direction. They were not aware of our presence just yet. There were 3 of them. One was very tall and ripped. He looked like a bar bouncer. Not the kinda guy you would wanna get in a fight with. The 2nd out of the three was kind of a short guy. He had an eye patch over his left eye. He wasn't really ripped but he wasn't really skinny either. The last guy was tall, thin and carried a bat. An iron bat with dents and fresh blood dripping from it. After having spotted the blood, I turned to Rarity and warned her that these guys were bad news and that we may need to stay awhile longer until they were out of sight. She gave me a look of understanding with a slight nod. We always kinda had a sort of telepathy with each other. If one was hurting, the other automatically knew. When the 3 got closer I noticed something eels. The tall, ripped one was carrying two cages. It looked like there was something in one. Surely enough there was. The cage in the dogs left hand was holding a young, colt unicorn, shacking with fear. Rarity noticed the it second I did and let out a shriek. The tall, ripped dog quickly turned to the bushes. "What the hell was that" he said. The tall, thin dog with the bat began to walk over to the bushes. I then jumped out of my hiding spot and forcefully pushed Rarity, out of hers and down a hill. She rolled to the bottom screaming. She regained her balance and stood up. "DON"T JUST STAND THERE SIS, RUN!" I shouted.
"I am not going to leave you at a time like this Lightning"! Rarity replied.
"DON"T ARGUE WITH ME! PLEASE JUST RUN HOME!"
She knew I was right. She then looked up at me and shouted " PLEASE FIND A WAY HOME! JUST PROMISE ME YOU WILL MAKE IT!" I turned my head from her and faced the dogs.
"Rarity..........go home..........I can't promise i will be there but please, GO HOME!" I shouted. Tears began to run down my face. I had no idea what was going to happen to me. But I wasn't about to let those bastards take my sister. My older sister. The best damn friend I have ever had. I then heard her shout out that she loved me and then, galloping. The sound of her running away to safety made me realize what I was put on earth for. Protecting the ones closest to me. What happened next, even surprised the hell out of me. "COME AT ME YOU BITCHES IN HEAT!!! I'M NOT SCARED OF YOU!" EEEYUP! (I need to stop hanging out with Big Mac so much). My first line of vulgarity was spoken at the age of 7. I'm not gonna lie to you. I felt epic.
"That's some big talk from such a little filly." said the eye patched dog. I then ran full force at him, only to be met half way by the dog with the bat. The next thing I felt was a smack to the skull and then..............blackness. I was unconscious for the next few hours. I then woke up in the cage that was clutched by the dogs right hand. I then looked at my flank only to realize that I had obtained my cutie mark. I didn't know what it said at the time for it was written in another language. I would tell you what it means now but. We will get to that eventually.
Chapter 2: Ambush
Well, there I was. A 7 year old Pegasus, trapped in a cage, being carried to god knows where. The 3 dogs were awfully silent for some reason. I would complain, cuss and even threaten them. All they did was shake the cage a bit. After awhile I gave up on getting any information out of them. Then I remembered that i wasn't the only one being kidnapped by the dogs. The unicorn. I quickly looked over to him only to find that he was still shaking as tears fell from his face. I thought I would try to talk to him. "Worth a shot." I said with a sigh. "Hay........pssst. Hay? Can you hear me?"
"Ye...yea. I can hear you. What do you want?" he said. Success! I had someone to talk to know. "Thank Celestia! Someone to talk to. My name is LightningRain. What is your name?"
He gave me a look that kinda made me feel stupid. I got this look a lot. From family, friends and people that didn't even know me. "Why do you seem so happy? You've been kidnapped!"he said this with the same expression on his face from before.
"I'm not happy in the least." I said. "I'm just thankful that someone is talking. Look, do you know anything about where we are heading? Anything at all?"
He looked down for a second. He let out a few more tears so he could talk without stuttering. "*sniff* All I know is that they are taking us to some place called The Arena and that once we get there *sniff* we will be given further instruction. That's all I know. *Sniff*!"
"The Arena?" I said. " Do you know how far away we are fro..." THUD! We were dropped. We couldn't see much of what was going on or where we were. We only had 3 small slits on each side of our cages. They didn't let in much light. I could feel a few blades of grass poking through the slits in the cage. At this point, all you could hear was the dogs walking of into the distance. The unicorn next to me the let out a sniff and a sneeze. "Shhhh. Try to stay silent for a few moments. I want to know whats going on." I said this as kindly as I could.
"Well I'm sorry if my *sniff* if my *sniff* condition is a inconvenience to you." said the young unicorn. I was starting to not like this guy. I was about to continue my attempt to keep him silent but then, off in the distance, the sound of iron wrestling with itself began. I put my right eye right up against one of the small slits in the cage. "Shit! I cant see a thing!" Cussing was becoming a habit of mine from this point on. "Hay kid, can you tell whats going on?" I asked.
"I have a name you know!" said the unicorn.
"Well ya didn't bother to tell me it earlier, now did ya?"
"I'm sorry *sniff*. My name is SharpSphere."
"Nice to meet ya, now answer my other question Sharp." I heard his cage rattle a bit. He was moving. The sounds of clapping iron were progressively getting louder. "Do you see anything?" I asked him.
"Ummmm, no *sniff* I don't see anything *sniff*.........WAIT! The one with the eye patch, he is limping, and coming this way!" I was prepared to be jerked up off the ground and then i heard the sound of sharp iron piercing its way through the air. *Thhp* Right into the limping dogs back. "DAMN IT ALL!" He exclaimed as he fell to the ground. His body landed right in front of my cage. "You little bastards are more trouble than your wor*COUGH*th!" Then, all life faded from his body. Blood was gushing out of his mouth and spine. The blood from his mouth had made its way into my cage. It was warm and gooey. I was paralyzed. I had seen death. The blood of that dog was now on my coat. But I didn't black out. I knew what was happening, was happening for a reason. I was supposed to see this. If I was to turn away, I was screwed in the long run. I got a hold of myself and looked the dogs lifeless body in the eye. "Hes dead. Hes dead Sharp! I just watched a dog die right in front of me!" I waited for an answer from SharpSphere but i heard nothing from his cage. I could see his horn poking its way out of one of the slits in his cage. I quickly turned back to the body. I stared at it for awhile, then i heard the claps of iron again. I looked in the distance just above the dogs corpse. I could see the dog with the bat holding a dead unicorn by the neck with his left hand , letting its body drag the ground. With his right hand, he grasped the bat and swung it at a colt. The colt quickly hit the ground. The dog then walked over and crushed its skull with his own foot. These images would surly haunt my dreams for the rest of my life. But i couldn't turn away. The way the sun beamed through the trees and touched these lifeless corpses were now etched into my mind. The dog with the bat began to walk back to the cages. The third must have died somewhere off out of my sight because I never saw him again after that battle. "Hope you like what you see kid, cause your gonna be the one doing it soon." The dog said this as he laughed and kicked at the corpse of his fallen comrade. The only thought going through my mind at this point, could I really do it. Would I go so far to protect someone I cared about and kill? I didn't want to know and yet, I did. The dog picked up SharpSpheres cage first. "AWWW look at him. All this blood was to much for him. Well we will have to fix that wont we?" the dog then turned to my cage and picked me up. "Welp lets be on our way now kiddies! I cant wait to show you around The Arena." The sun was beginning to set at this point. The orange sky, brown leaves. These were the only thing I could see from the inside of my cage now. A small breeze would flow through the slits and leave me with a chill. I wanted to know what The Arena was, if Rarity made it home safely, what my cutie mark said and why we were ambushed. My eyelids were getting heavy. I laid my head down between my hooves and tears began to fall down my face. I knew all of this was happening for a reason. It was just to overwhelming at that age. I then drifted off to sleep wilts awaiting what was to come.
Chapter 3: Swamp
It was a sunny day. All the trees were filled with leafs of green. A slight breeze would roll in and cause them to make a rustling sound. Rarity and I were standing in a large meadow, filled with all sorts of flowers. I picked up a jade colored one with my teeth and took it over to Rarity."Yes that's the exact color of flower I was looking for Lightning." Rarity said as she rubbed the top of my mane, causing it to come out of it's warriors wolf tail. "Haha! Stop it sis! Your gonna mess up my mane!" I smiled as I tried to remove her hoof from the top of my head. She then put her hoof back on the ground and turned to the path that led to our house."Come on now little brother. We need to get home." she said. I was going to follow her. But then I noticed something. The meadow had been set ablaze. I was surrounded by fire.
"Sis! Help me!" I cried out for Rarity.
"Come on little brother, supper is probably ready by now." Rarity said this as if nothing was happening. The sky had become gray, the flames grew larger and hotter. Then the ground below me shattered into glass. I fell into a pit of corpses. They began to grab a hold of me. "Come now LightningRain." Said a corpse of a young unicorn, filly. "You can't leave us alone. We need you." There was something strange about this filly. I felt like i knew her as well as I did Rarity. It had a white coat. Its mane and tail were both purple with pink stripes. Its mane was slightly curly. Its eyes were missing. I wanted to help it with everything in me. I pulled it out of the pile and tried to fly away. But it was no use. The higher i flew, the higher the pile of corpses grew. The shrieks of these damned creatures began to ring in my ears. My wings turned to ash, causing me to fall down into the pile. "Why lightning?" Pleaded the young filly,unicorn. "Why would you let them take us?" Blood began to run out of the empty sockets where its eyes should have been. "I'm sorry!" I screamed "I would rather die alone than you dieing with me! I would kill myself a thousand times over if it meant you would be safe!" Why was I so intended on saving this young filly I didn't even know? The Corpses than began to claw at my body. Scratches from there hooves opened up fresh gashes, allowing blood to spill from my body. Tears began to run down my face. "I'm so sorry."
"What the hell are you crying about?" said the dog as he smacked my cage against a tree. I opened my eyes. I was shaking. Tears still falling down my eyes. It had all been a dream. "Hay! Didn't you hear me you little shit?" The dog shook the cage more. "Its none of your damn business." I said.
"You've really got a mouth on ya, ya know that?" The dog raised my cage up so he could see into it. His eyes were blood red. I stared into them, tears still falling down my face. I wasn't about to give him the satisfaction of seeing me cry. I raised my wings the where they would cover the slits in the cage. "GO TO HELL!" I said this in hopes of making him angry. "I swear I can't wait to get my payment and leave this place." said the dog.
"Payment? What are you being paid for?"
"I'm getting paid for bringing two new additions to The Arena's Silver Rite team."
"Silver Rite team? Whats that?"
"It's one of three teams in The Arena. I think I'll just let the rest come as a surprise to you." Normally, I would have argued with him. But the dream I had just had, I couldn't get it out of my head. Why was I trying to help that small filly. I resembled no one, and yet I was ready to have my own body torn apart in order to save it. I looked by at my cutie mark. I wanted so bad to know what it meant. I then turned to then looked out the slits on the right side of my cage. Night had fallen upon The Everfree Forest. Cold night air was pushing its way through the slits of my cage. From what I could see, we were in a swamp. Frogs began to sing. The smell of damp moss was lingering in the air. I had this eerie feeling. A cold chill ran up my spine. *SPLASH*"DAMN!" The dog yelled as pulled his foot from the slushy bog water he had stepped in. Some of the bog water from the splash flew into the cage and landed on my face. It was cold ant wet. I wiped it from my face with my hoof. "Gross!" I yelled. The dog began to mumble to himself as he trailed his way through the bog. Off in the distance, I could see what looked like a small flickering of light. It would disappear every few feet because a fog was beginning to roll in. It was getting harder to see from the inside of my cage so I gave up on trying to figure out where I was. I place my head back between my two hooves. Then from the other side off the dog, I heard a noise. It was SharpSphere. He sounded like he was in pain. "*sniff* Mister?* he said. "Can you *sniff* let me out of the cage for one sec? I need t-*blrp* I need to---*Blaugh*" SharpSphere wasn't making it easy for the dog at all. The dog then sat my cage down. I could feel ooze from the bog seeping its way into my cage. Id much rather it be swap water than what was in SharpSpheres cage. I looked out of my cage to see what the dog was doing. He had opened up the cage and had it in his left hand, letting all of the vomit fall out. In his right hand, he had SharpSphere by the tail. Sharp was still vomiting. The vomit smacked onto the bog water and caked on top of some moss. "Are you done yet?" Asked the dog in a sarcastic manner. "I can't have you to slowing me down like this all the time." He was now shaking Sharp by the tail. How could this man be so cruel? Sharp is sick. Show some damn compassion. "Sharp. Are you okay?" I asked. SharpSphere looked at me through the slits in my cage. He didn't say anything. I had a better look at Sharp at this time. i noticed more about him than I did while he was in his cage. He had a purple coat, Yellow mane and tale. I could make out if he had a cutie mark. A few more drops of vomit fell to the ground and then the dog put Sharp back in his cage.
"OK! Now that that's over, we can make our way to The Arena." Said the dog. "I think i saw lit torches a second ago. We must be getting close."
Chapter 4: Welcoming
We arrived at a drawbridge in the middle of the swamp. Fog was now rolling in from every corner, making it even more difficult to see from the inside of my cage. The flickering of the torches that surrounded the drawbridge allowed a small amount of light to make its way through the slits of my cage. It was only a few hours until sunrise. "Hay!" Shouted the dog. "I've got your two new additions to the Silver Rite team right here in these cages." I heard a voice come from the other side of the bridge. The bridge was let down, the chains made a lowed clanking sound as they laid the bridge across the molt that surrounded the fortress. *SLAM!* The bridge was flat on the ground now. The dog carried us inside, mumbling to himself the entire way. It was now to dark to see from the inside of my cage. All I hear was the sound of the dogs footsteps against the cobble stone floor. As we progressed deeper into the fortress, torches began to light up the dark hallway. I could hear a more than just the footsteps now. I could hear the sound of steel being beat upon a smiths forge, fire being fed and many different voices. This had to of been it. I was in The Arena. So many thoughts running through my head were about to unravel.
"Is that them?" said an unfamiliar voice?
"Yup!" the dog said. "These are your two new recruits!" I was trying to get a good look at the guy that the dog was talking to. The dog then sat our cages down and flipped the locks open. The door of my cage opened up. I walked out slowly, only to find that the voice belonged to a rather large zebra. He had the basic zebra print. His mane was in a Mohawk. His entire left eye was white, the right was black. He was a horrifying sight. The room I was in, was lit completely by torches. Swords, bows, arrows axes and hammers were mounted on the walls. At the center of the room was a forge, where a unicorn stood as he forged a suit of armor. I was frozen. I began to shake, but I wasn't going to cry. No one would ever see me cry again. I had to be brave. I stood up straight, looked him in the eye and awaited his thoughts of me. "HAHA!" laughed the zebra. "You stand like a true warrior. Ready to take on anything. You will make a fine addition to our team!" I couldn't believe it. Me? A true warrior? He obviously saw something that I did not. The zebra then turned to SharpSpheres cage. He was still in it. "Is there another one in here?" asked the zebra as he put his left hoof in the cage, searching for any signs of life. He pooled SharpSphere out of his cage with great force and held him up by his mane. "Are you the other warrior that has been sent to me?" the zebra asked as he examined the small frightened unicorn. Tears were still running down Sharps face. You could see the traces of vomit around his mouth. "Wh---o.....who are you?" asked SharpSphere.
The zebra then dropped Sharp to the floor and placed his right hoof on his chest. "I am Blood Letter!" he announced with great pride. Blood Letter was a name that suited him indeed. Sharp crawled his way over to my side. He looked up at me with dry eyes. I guess he had cried all he could. I looked back at him and smiled hoping to reassure him. This ,of course, was a failed attempt. He looked away from me and locked his sight on the hallway leading to the drawbridge. I placed my left hoof on his sholder, he then turned to me. "SharpSphere." I said. "Don't give them the satisfaction of seeing you cry." The dog then let out a laugh. "Your not going to stop that little filly from crying." the dog said as he let out a howling laugh.
"Don't you have a payment to collect?" asked Blood Letter. The dog stopped his laughing and waved good bye to Sharp and I with the most sadistic grin on his face. "Hope you find all the answers to your questions, little filly's." said the dog as he walked into the hallway. Blood letter turned back to sharp and I. "Have you two been informed on what you are here for." asked Blood Letter. "I don't mind telling you that what you are competing in is strongly illegal. You two will be fighting side by side in The Arena. You will be out to kill! Why will you be doing this you may ask. Well its all because every pony likes a good fight to place bets on. The thought of young colts and filly's killing each other makes it more exciting, don't you think?"
Killing each other? That's what me and Sharp are supposed to do? Kill? I couldn't kill another pony who was just as scared as I was. Blood letter then turned to the smith. "Measure them!" he shouted. The smith dropped his hammer and walked over to us. He didn't do as much measuring as he did staring. He just walked around us a few times and then went back to his forge. "What the hell was that about?" I asked as I turned to sharp. Sharp was still frozen at the moment. "Huhhhh, such vulgarity!" said Blood Letter. He then turned back to the smith. "How long will it take?"
"Maybe until noon." said the smith. "It will be ready before the first battle though." Blood Letter simply shook his head with delight and walked out into the hallway. I looked back at Sharp. He seemed to be calming down. "Sharp, are you okay?" I asked. He didn't answer. "Listen, I will be by your side. I'm not gonna let anything bad happen. I'll make sure we make it out of here without having to kill any pony.
ShapSphere flashed a quick smile at me. Then I noticed something. Sharp was a blank flank. He had no cutie mark. This made me angry. A young unicorn taken away from his home just before he could figure out his calling. I didn't mention anything about it to him. It might have upset him. I then looked back at my flank and stared at the unknown mark. What did it mean? Why couldn't I understand it?
Maybe some pony there knew. I wasn't sure what was going to happen next. But let me tell ya. It made a huge difference in my life.