//------------------------------// // The calm before the invasion // Story: For the hive, my mom and myself // by Lighting Ace //------------------------------// "There it is brother, Ponyville" Tempress pass me the binoculars so I could had a clear view of our objective. After a long trip from the badlands to Ponyville, our army decided to take the ruins of an old castle in the middle of the Everfree forest and transform it into our temporary base of operation to spend the night before we made our move. "Je so that is Ponyville, I have to say for what I heard from mother stories about this place and how the vein in her existence lived her I expected something…more" "Looks can be deceiving Kabuto, we of all ponies should know that, what can be vulnerable and pathetic, can actually be dangerous and letal" She say turning into a dragon to make her point across" "Ok sister I get it, you can turn back now" I say rolling my eyes and passing the binoculars back to her witch she took when returning to her real form "So when do we strike?" "Patience brother, we can't be rash, the town may look peaceful but it still holds many dangers we should be on alert for, particularly the princess of friendship and her companions. For now, go back inside and rest, you will need all your energy for tomorrow" "And what about you?" "I will remain here and act as look-out for a bit longer, just enough so I can memorise a map of the town" "Hmmm ok, but don't stay up for to late sis, we will need you as well" I tell you as I start to leave. "Please Kabuto, I could stay awake for days without feel tired, I will be fine during the mission" At her comment I sigh and shake my head, Tempress could a genius but she can also be extremely stubborn at times. And although it true she could bench 3 days without sleep with no problem, I much rather have my sister at full capacity than at fifty or forty percent. Ok…time for the big guns Stoping in my tracks I smirk before turning to her. "Hey that great, that means that you also be able to test this castle pool" That got the effect I was hoping for, as I saw Tempress body flinch before she slowly turn to me "P…pool?" "Oh you didn't saw it? the scouts report to me not to long ago that the basement is floaded, apparently a river vein pass directly indent us, there is even a underwater tunnel that connects to the main river, in this forest" "R…river?" Tempress manage to say starting to shake Oh boy this is too easy that is almost sad…but well I need her to be tired so she will go to bed and a nice long swim will do just the trick "Oh yeah, a nice long cold river that spread, miles and miles away." "Kabuto, I know what are you doing, and I'm telling…it will not work" "I have no idea what you are talking about sis" I pretend ignorance as I leave the place and start walking throw the halls counting backwards. "Oh hey Kabuto there you are" looking up I saw Freya approaching me "I was looking all over for…" "Shhhh" I silence her with a finger and press both of us against the wall, as I look behind us "What is going on?" "Just wait" I tell her with a smirk, and then resuming my counting but aloud this time " 5…4…3…2…" "DAMN IT KABUTO" In an instant we saw Tempress rushing pass us as fast as she can before disappearing in the distant. Freya immediately understand and just smirk while looking at me "You told her about the pool did you?" "Guilty as charge" We both share a laugh at the situation for a good while before Freya speak again "Oh mare, Tempress is going to be so mad at you when she comes back" "ah let her, I prefer a mad an alert sister than tired and grumpy one" I mention with a wave of my hand "So you say you were looking for me, right?" "yeah, tomorrow we will start the invasion, so I wanted to give you a little lucky charm" she tells with a smile before he hand me over a katana, but not any katana I knew this one particularly well, it was an authentic 'Satsuji' that means the blue assassin for her red steel, this things are one of the rarest and more powerful of blades ever existing. For what Tempress told me, there is only 12 in existence, enchanted so they will never ever rust and according to the stories, so sharp that even dragons can be cut with it. I only have seeing this kind of weapon before and that was when Freya show me hers. Witch mean she just hand me over her favourite sword. "What Freya this…this is…" "My sword? ja you wish" she exclaim before unleashing her on Satsuji, witch only made my confused even further. "Do you really think I will hand over my baby? yeah right, you can have it after you rip it from my cold death body" "But…but…you…you can't possible had made another one, the process to create a Satsuji, was lost eons ago, nobody know how to build one, how did you…" She only silent me with a finger and just wink at me "Lets just say that your sister had her contacts, you can be sure this one is a new one too so congratulation you are holding the 13 Satsuji" "What?!" My expresión was only receive by another laughter with her "Don't even bother ask me how I did it, I will never tell" "Freya this is…this is too much I can't…" "Just take it" she say before she continue her walk "I know that you can used it properly, made sure you can myself so there is nothing to worry about, and since you refuse to used any kind of armour, I know you will need the extra help" I try to say something but unfortunately she was kind of right, ever since I almost burn myself alive trying on an helmet I made my personal goal to used as little metal on me as possible. Opting instead to used black leather like Chitin, and even that I try to keep on the minimum so I could concentrate in speed and fast attack where I triumph over everything else. Because of that my armour end up becoming a white shirt with a black hood, black pants, leather shoes, light shoulder plates and a leather breastplate, all of them enchanted so they could resist fire, poison, ice and even electricity, a security measure mom insist on adding since I refused to wear a chain mail disguise as a cape. Yeah I know what happen to those that used capes. Thanks but no thanks Turning to around I try to argue but she was already long gone so leaving me alone with my thoughts. Well it IS a present after all, it will be rude not to accept it Nodding to myself I put the sword to my side and proceed, to head toward my bed when suddenly, whisper start to be hear all around me Turn back… …they are using you… …Don't trust the changelings… Its a trap As I continue with my trip the whisper start to get more and more strong until one of them suddenly yell at me making me stop You are falling in their trap! Turning around I try to discover the source of the sound starting to panic, only to discover a weird looking tree made out of white diamonds glowing in front of me. I didn't knew what it was but for some reason, the image was resulting attractive, it was like the tree itself was calling me, beacon me to approach it. The sensation that its light emit was soothing and relaxing I was starting to feel in trance when suddenly a voice brought me back to reality "Sir?" Shaking my head I look up to see one of my soldier looking at me with concern "Are you alright sir? you look like, you just saw a ghost" "y…yeah…yeah I'm cool I just heard something, did you hear something too?" "I didn't hear anything sir, are you sure you are alright?" "yeah I'm ok, just tired, I must have heard the wind and my mind was playing tricks on me" "you should be more careful sir, this place might be in ruins but there are still functioning trap door everywhere, you don't want to end up activating one of them" "you are right, soldier…I will go to bed right now, you too be careful, this place can play tricks on you" "I will sir, have a goodnight" "Night" I leave the soldier and continue my path toward my bed holding my head in pain "what was that? It felt so real could this place also be hunted? god I hope not, there is a conquest to complete, the last thing I need is a ghost breathing on my neck