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Post by StormShroud on Jan 29, 2012 4:13:08 GMT -5
All over Equestria, night fell, a dark blanket of shadows and stairs laid across the sky and land alike. Residents of Ponyville were asleep and comfy in their beds, though some might have been awake late to work - And others, unfortunately, weren't awake for work, but for worries.
Storm Shroud rest on his cloud up above, within eyesight of Ranger's burrow, and Fluttershy's Treehouse. Granted he could see fairly well up here, but those were the two closest buildings he could reach first if need be. Shroud's home was a simple cloud, roughly the size of one's kitchen, or living-room, in size. A fluffy cloud in the corner for a bed, a protective shroud of fog around the entire thing, which while it looked wispy and appeared to be something you could drift through, it was Storm Shroud's special technique, The Fog Barrier. A seemingly harmless coating of fog which upon contact would repel anypony like they were bouncing on rubber.
A good defense against birds, and unwanted guests, he thought. Especially since he was so close to the Everfree Forest, and there had to be flying monsters in there. Yes.. His own crafted technique was a wonderful creation, wasn't it? Easy to make, hard to withstand.. especially with his concentration on it.
Yet if it was so perfect, why did he feel like it was nothing? Ranger would think it was nothing, anyway.. 'What's that going to do? The Monster will just walk around it and get you from behind.' He could hear Ranger's voice scolding in his head, and knew that no matter how he tried to explain to Ranger, it wouldn't make a difference.
A soft sigh heaved, Storm Shroud closed his eyes, rolling off of his bed and onto the floor to stand, where he looked out of the window forlongingly. He'd never get into the military like this.. He wasn't even too sure how to get into the military in the first place. He thought this was the way, but if Ranger didn't give him a chance, what chance did he have?
Blue eyes drifting down to Ranger's burrow, Storm Shroud stared at it for a few lingering moments. After a while, he blinked softly, and something clicked in his mind. He seemed to furrow his brow, flapping his wings to blow open a door through the fog blanket, wings promptly spreading as he glided gently through the night, down to the ground.
He couldn't just sit here wallowing, no matter what Ranger said. And if he couldn't get past ranger.. Well, he might just have to go around him. That might be the only way. He wasn't going to let blind ignorance block his destiny, that was for sure.
Touching down on the grass before Ranger's home, he drew in a deep breath and trot up to the door, folding his wings tightly against his sides. Mustering the best posture he could manage, he lifted a hoof, gently knocking on the door so as not to jarr him too terribly. Tonight, while Kuruka was asleep, however, might be his only chance to talk to Ranger without it being too terribly awkward for the Zebra Pegasus.
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Post by Red Charge on Jan 29, 2012 4:22:15 GMT -5
The door swung open almost as soon as he knocked on it, but no one was on the other side. Closer inspection would reveal a young unicorn filly in a green hood and goggle mask. She frowned at him for a moment, before calling out, "Brother, one of your friends is at the DOOR!" She screamed out the last word, before slamming the door in Storm Shroud's face rudely.
The faint sounds of Ranger reproaching her and her reply were heard from within, too muffled to be understood from the outside however, and moments later the stallion himself was at the door, mask and hood on his person. "Hi Shroudy, sorry about that, my sister can be impatient sometimes. Would you like to come inside?"
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Post by StormShroud on Jan 29, 2012 4:32:41 GMT -5
Blinking down at the green-hooded filly, Storm Shroud seemed a bit taken aback that anyone but Ranger would be here. Moreso, that he had a little sister he was taking care of. In Shroud's mind, Ranger was a bitter old loner who.. Ah, nevermind. Whatever the case, he was wrong on that point.
"I--" Shroud had tried to speak, but found the door slammed rudely in his face. His ears folded against his head, a quivering breath escaping him. Why did he suddenly feel so.. Nngh? His legs felt weak, and he had the urge to flee tugging at him from every corner.
Shroud was about to turn, to leave, when the door re-opened to reveal Ranger standing there. Storm Shroud froze, ears lifting, though not perking.
"N-No, it's alright." He muttered in reply, fully turning, "It's nothing. I'm sorry for disturbing you-- It's nothing. Have a nice night." Storm Shroud muttered quickly, doing a poor job of backing his claim of nothing being wrong before trotting off of the doorstep and out into the open grass, tail limp and ears pinned. Even he wasn't quite sure what was going through his mind.
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Post by Red Charge on Jan 29, 2012 4:35:49 GMT -5
Ranger quickly trotted after him, closing the door. His sister could be heard calling, "You better not let your dinner get cold!" Right before it shut.
"What's up Shroudy? Something bothering you?" He asked, blinking through the mask at the pegasus. It was pretty obvious that something was. What other reason did he have to knock on Ranger's door in the middle of the night after all? He did wish Sprite would have been a bit more polite in the way she answered the door. But he figured he'd talk to her about that later.
If something was bugging one of his militia ponies, he wanted to know what it was.
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Post by StormShroud on Jan 29, 2012 4:41:31 GMT -5
"Don't ca--" Storm Shroud stopped in his tracks, sighing sharply as he hung his head, wings relaxing at his sides. He swallowed a lump that had quickly risen in his throat, and turned to face Ranger, hooves planted firmly in place to cease their shaking, expression downright serious as he spoke.
"Why do you call me that, 'Shroudy'? You hate me, right? The last time I checked, you don't use a pet name for someone you hate, Sir." Storm Shroud asked, a brief moment passing before he realized that wasn't what he meant to say. He gave a sharp grunt, and shook his head, closing his eyes in reserved frustration.
"That's not what I meant. I mean.. I came to ask how it is a pony gains access into the military. You told me yourself my skills are no good here, and so I figure the sooner I'm out of here, the sooner you have one less pony to worry about slowing you down or getting you killed." He managed to speak his thoughts clearly, this time, as muddled as they were in his head. As long as he kept his eyes closed, it seemed, and didn't look at Ranger, his nerves were steady.
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Post by Red Charge on Jan 29, 2012 4:48:50 GMT -5
"First of all, what the hay makes you think I hate you?" Ranger asked, puzzled, "And secondly, no one said your skills aren't good. You have a lot to learn. You need to learn to work as a team. What, you think in the army they're going to give you a sword and send you out on your own? Your perspective of your abilities applies only to when you are on your own."
At that, completely suddenly, Ranger threw Storm Shroud to the grass and pinned him down, "I'm not letting go of any pony under my watch until it's time. You understand that? Like it or not, we're commander and subordinate now, we are extensions of each other. When your life is at stake, it's also my life and vice versa." The stallion explained meaningfully. "If that's not something you can live with, the army isn't for you."
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Post by StormShroud on Jan 29, 2012 5:00:40 GMT -5
"Because you always talk down to me!" Storm Shroud blurted out in reply, looking Ranger directly in the eye as the stallion continued to speak. Storm Shroud opened his mouth to reply, but was taken by surprise as he hadn't expected to be pushed and pinned.
"Unf!" He grunted, as he was pinned, and tried to pull his hooves away, "Hey! What gives--" He paused, then, blinking at Ranger's next words.
A scowl crawled onto Storm Shroud's face. He stared up at Ranger, the heat of anger gathering in his face.
"You don't understand at all, do you?" Shroud snapped, wings flapping against the ground in agitation, "Commander and Subordinate mean nothing if there's no trust between the two. Ask any General, he needs to trust his men enough to carry out his orders, and his men need to trust him enough to carry out those orders if a war is to be won!" Shroud squirmed, "But how am I supposed to trust you if you don't trust me? How am I supposed to prove to you that I'm not useless, that I CAN work with other people, and quite well I might add, unless you give me that chance? From day one, you've scolded me and told me I can't do anything right, that I know nothing of the world and the military, and working with people and allies, but that's just not true! And the minute you stop being ignorant enough to understand and accept change and accept me for the pony I am, that ISN'T going to change!"
At the peak of his angered rambling, the very end, the emphasized word, Storm Shroud bucked his legs as hard as he possibly could, with aim to flip Ranger right up and off of him, so he could stand up on his own hooves and maybe regain composure. He certainly couldn't do a thing action or word wise as long as he was pinned under that overbearing pony!
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Post by Red Charge on Jan 29, 2012 5:07:29 GMT -5
"Not trusting you?" Ranger said, using the momentum from the buck to gracefully get off of Storm Shroud, "I didn't say that. And scolding you? You mean that little push thing? Or when I commented on how FOGGING an area can disrupt your allies more than your enemies?" The woods pony asked, "I never doubted your abilities. I conveyed expectations. Perhaps if you stopped being so defensive and mistrusting yourself, you'd see that I'm only out to help you get better. Or maybe you think you have nothing to learn from me?" The stallion asked angrily, "Because if that's the case, I'll give you a letter of recommendation and send you right out."
Ranger wasn't angry, he was not even indignant, he was hurt. How one's perspective could warp things so far as to make him throw out such allegations. "And I don't think you're useless." He added as an after thought, "Because fact of the matter is, I think you could be a great asset to a unit if you swallowed your pride and just sat your flank down and listened."
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Post by StormShroud on Jan 29, 2012 5:20:33 GMT -5
"Are you just saying that?" Storm Shroud asked in reply, having gotten up to his hooves in a split moment, jumping back in another, "If you really mean what you say.."
Storm Shroud's wings spread, and with a jerk of his head and a strong flap, a gust of fog materialized from the gust his wings fomed, drawing full circle around him as his fog barrier appeared. Thin enough to be seen through, but strong enough, especially with Shroud's concentration, to repel attacks like rubber. Hopefully he'd have the element of surprise, since it looked like normal fog.
"Then prove it. Spar me, right now. Give me at least one chance to show you some of what I can do. After that, I'll be the best little colt you ever saw, taking orders to the T without a single question asked." He loomed, really quite serious in his proposition of a quick battle with Ranger in the dead of night.
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Post by Red Charge on Jan 29, 2012 5:26:24 GMT -5
"If you're sure. I can guarentee you're going to lose. In fact, you already have." Ranger smiled. He just sat there patiently, gazing into Storm Shroud's eyes, when all of the sudden the grass around Shroud grew into long green tentacles and wrapping tightly the colt, swinging him high up in the air.
"There, Brother won. Now both of you come inside so we can have some dinner." The little unicorn filly said, materializing just below Storm Shroud, letting him go and retracting the tentacles back down into ordinary grass.
Ranger smirked behind his mask, "What can I say? My sister's the best."
At that the unicorn flicked her tail impatiently at him, "Flatterer. "
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Post by StormShroud on Jan 29, 2012 5:30:47 GMT -5
True, he was taken by surprise by the vines. But his fight hadn't been with her - Ranger's little sister. No, his quarrel was with Ranger himself, and he wasn't going to accept that his sister stepped in on it.
When released, Storm Shroud's wings snapped into action, and he hovered above them both with a hurt expression present. Hurt, and angry - Tears had gathered in his eyes at this point he was trying so hard to keep from simply screaming in frustration.
Without a single word, just a sharp, airy grunt, Storm Shroud turned, leaving behind a small cloud of fog behind him as he flew directly toward Everfree Forest. One might have thought he was going home, if he hadn't zipped straight past it, shaving a corner off of his own place in his hurry to reach the night-covered forest.
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Post by Red Charge on Jan 29, 2012 5:33:38 GMT -5
Sprite looked after him, "And you say I'm the foal." She said to Ranger, who merely ran back into his house. "Alright Sprite, you go ahead, have your dinner and go to bed. I'm going to go after that shoe head of a pony. If I'm not back by the time you wake up, go tell Mayor Mare." The woods pony insisted, then, running out of the house, fully geared, directly on Storm Shroud's fast fading trail.
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Post by StormShroud on Jan 29, 2012 5:44:02 GMT -5
Since Storm Shroud was flying there, it wasn't going to be as easy to follow his trail. The fact that Storm Shroud was flying close to the tree tops, as well, and in a twisting, disorienting pattern, also made it just that much harder to follow him. Storm Shroud wanted it that way - He was fairly sure Ranger wasn't going to send his little sister out here. And if anyone could track Storm Shroud this far, it had to be Ranger. This would be one-on-one if he had anything to say about it.
Peering down through the breaks in the canopies below, he flew until he found suitable, non-boggy land on which the fight could be staged. Storm Shroud found this place, a nice flat grove with a few flat boulders scattered around, and a nice break in the canopy directly above to provide moonlight to work by. Shroud sailed down, landing atop a boulder as he loosened his wings and legs.
Anyone could tell, Storm Shroud had something to prove to himself more than he did to Ranger, at this point. Maybe all those years... Maybe the fear of all those years of his time and life he'd poured into training, going to waste, frightened him. The things, and the people he'd lost along way to obtain a single chance at crawling to his dream - It was almost horrifying to think of. He could see a flash of spring green mane before his eyes, the gentle sound of natural music drifting past his ears.
Yes, the things he'd lost.. Though he wouldn't confront the fact, he needed to prove to himself that losing these things would be worth it in the end.
Trauma was setting in.
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Post by Red Charge on Jan 29, 2012 5:50:13 GMT -5
A tranquilizer dart just narrowly missed his cheek, whipping past it and embedding into the ground. "That was a warning shot Shroudy." Ranger's voice seemed to come from all around. The acoustics in the clearing were very unclear. "If you don't come back right away, I'm going to have to sedate you and drag you back."
At first Ranger thought of following him straight in the clearing. But something seemed right off by the way he landed. He was wanting to rig a fight? Well he picked the wrong arena to do it in. Everfree forest was Ranger's turf. He knew it by heart, and he knew how to manipulate it to his advantage. He was also prepared just in case the Pegasus decided to work in his fog.
"Give up this foolishness and stop horsing around. Let's get out of here." The woods pony said, constantly on the move beyond Storm Shroud's sight, never giving away his position, using the acoustics to his advantage to seem all over the place.
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Post by StormShroud on Jan 29, 2012 5:56:36 GMT -5
"No." Storm Shroud replied, not bothering to look around, it seemed - The pony peered down at the tranquilizer dart, breathing softly, "Somehow I get the feeling that if I don't get a chance now, I never will. Am I right?" Shroud asked, wings slowly moving up and down, and in slight circles, as if stretching. Shroud's ears perked, and his eyes closed.
"I didn't know you had a sister, Ranger. This whole time I thought you were a loner, and the reason you're so worried about losing ponies under your charge is because you didn't have anypony. But clearly, you do, and so that's why it's more important than ever that this happens." He explained, "You won't be responsible for another loss of a pony.. And I can tell you right now, Ranger, I won't be responsible for making that filly lose her older brother."
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