//------------------------------// // The beginning of the end // Story: Lost in Conflict // by YoshiBrony //------------------------------// Chapter 16 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The sun was just making it's way over the horizon, it's rays beaming down over the temporary campsite. Twilight awoke quickly, rubbing her eyes and readying herself for the day ahead, she quietly exited her tent before making her way over to the other end of the camp where Fluttershy lay sleeping. "Fluttershy? Wake up, we need to get the others." Twilight said softly, Fluttershy tossed around for a second, getting herself acquainted to the new light entering the tent, but after getting her bearings she sprung up and almost fell over out of eagerness to leave. Twilight calmed her down as the mare already began to exit the camp. "Wait, we need to get the others first. You get Rainbow Dash and Applejack, i'll get Rarity and Pinkie Pie." The two went about their objectives before heading out of the camp. Fluttershy met Applejack first, already awake and looking out over Ponyville from under a nearby tree. "R..Ready to go Applejack?" Fluttershy said in her usual timid tone, Applejack nodded, still with her eyes set on Ponyville. Turning back to Fluttershy, she rubbed her eyes before responding. "Everythin'll be different after this. But if Isaac comes back from this, promise me ya will take care of him." "Of course Applejack, i'd do anything to make sure he's safe." The two shared a quick hug before heading back down to the camp, looking for Rainbow Dash. A few more minutes had passed before the ponies met each other at the edge of the campsite, the other ponies in the town still fast asleep due to the time of day. As the six met together, Twilight had arrived carrying a very familiar wooden box. "We won't have much time before the army heads out, so we'll need to head now. And i'm sure you all remember these, it's likely we'll need them at some point." Opening the box, she took out each of the necklaces that symbolized the elements of harmony. After passing the golden amulets to each pony, Rainbow Dash spoke up, glassy eyed. "This...This is going to be one hay of a fight, huh?" She managed a weak chuckle before placing the the lighning bolt-shaped amulet on around her neck. She forced back her tears as she felt Twilight's hoof on her shoulder. "It's okay, Rainbow. Everything's going to be fine." Rainbow sniffed before nodding in approval, the six then began walking across the open land, cutting across the wide area in the hopes of finding the army before they headed into the Everfree Forest. The walk would take them around 4 hours at least, but they were confident they would make the journey in time. "What about Berry Punch?" Twilight asked, wondering if they should wake the purple mare from her rest. "Berry Punch?" Fluttershy questioned, curious as to why they should take somepony without any way to defend themselves. "Berry Punch obviously cared about Irrie, not just because he brought customers to her bar." Twilight thought back to the wonderful evening were Isaac played in front of everypony, cheers of joy and applause ringing through the crowd as he sang. "I don't know Twilight, even if she didn't have to fight, I think the whole ordeal would be too much for her." Rainbow piped up, both for the sake of getting a move on and keeping Berry safe. The friends made their decision and moved on further away from the camp. Readying themselves for the long journey ahead. -------------------- "My....Army?" Isaac said as the soldiers saluted and headed off to ready themselves, dumbfounded, but also honored to have a force under his command. "It's not much, but they'll keep you safe until you reach the Leviathan, but it all depends on you destroying it." "Why would they throw their lives away to protect me?" Shining Armour sighed before continuing, looking at the armored colts, their green tint a symbol of their allegiance. "Because each of these soldiers has something to care about, something worth fighting for. And they'll fight to the death to protect it." The words hit Isaac hard, the soldiers reminded him too much of his former self. He saw the fear in their eyes, but also the determination and courage to fight, the soldiers only reminded him more of what his task was, and the consequences should he fail. Collecting his armor, he placed it inside a sack and hoisted it around his waist. In the corner of his vision he saw Celestia talking to Shining Armour, planning their offensive on the Leviathan, he walked back towards the library to retrieve his device. However, before he could do so, the same guard from earlier this evening crashed down into the ground in between Isaac and Shining Armour. Rushing over to the injured pegasus, the group found him to be shaking, multiple cuts and bruises along him. "What happened?" Shining Armour commanded, his voice catching the attention of everypony in the area. The wounded colt simply shook, his eyes going up to Shining fro a moment before he stared into nothingness. "Its.....Here.....Just, passed the valley..." Shining's eyes lit up, as did Celestia's, Isaac stood unmoved. Hearing enough bad news made him grow almost accustomed to hearing it. "Get every recon party back here now! We are leaving!" The captain commanded to his generals, he turned back to see the colt now looking up at him, holding a large gash in his lower body. "No...No point, sir. All gone.....Leviathan....All is lost..." The pegasus took one last breath before shutting his eyes, collapsing on the ground, the horrified look in his eyes stayed as his heart stopped. Shining looked at the colt before closing his eyes with his hoof, then steadily walked up to the middle of the camp. "Alright everypony! We're moving out! Double time it!" The entire army quickly set about their work, dousing fires, packing up tents and weapons, and readying themselves for their trip to the valley. Isaac simply looked on as the ponies whizzed past him in order to get ready quickly, he decided to take one last trip to an area he had completely forgot about until now. After maneuvering through the masses of soldiers rushing through the town, Isaac found himself just outside of Fluttershy's cottage, the house was empty, a result of the yellow mare taking most of her animal friends with her, the rest retreating to the forest. As he came across the site, he noticed a few pink hairs entangled with the grass. Lifting it up with his magic, Isaac thought to himself and gave a slight chuckle. "Seems more than just under a week..." Isaac felt a tinge of sadness flow through him as he gazed on the spot where first appeared in Equestria, wishing all of this would disappear. But he couldn't give up, not now. Not after everything he has to fight for, turning back towards the town, the colt promised himself he wouldn't let this world fall. "Alright, we're going to head through the Everfree. everypony keep together, once we get to the valley I don't know how long we'll have before the fight. Let's move out!" Shining Armour led the army across the small field and into the Everfree, each section of the army slowly disappearing as they headed into the depths of the trees, Isaac barely had time to catch up before the last pony was submerged in the forest. Around 15 minutes of solid walking brought the army to the halfway point of their journey, the sun giving way to light grey clouds that dimmed the area around them. "So how far until we reach the valley?" Isaac asked, keeping his voice down as to not attract unwanted attention. "It should be about another.....Wait...Whats...?" Shining Armour was cut off as he heard a deafening roar in the distance, though far away, the pure volume of the unknown beast felt like it was but a few meters away. "Shit...The one thing we don't want to hear, and we're heading straight for it." ----------------------- Fluttershy and the other 5 had finally arrived near Ponyville, looking over the town as the last remnants of the army made it past the treeline into the forest. "Fluttershy! There he is!" Twilight squealed, pointing towards the green-maned unicorn making his way over to the treeline, carrying a large sac as well as the bomb on his back. Fluttershy couldn't help but grow a smile as she hurried over to meet him, but was suddenly stopped by a hoof in front of her. "Easy there, sugarcube, if we go over t' him, they'll just send us back home." "But...What do we do?" "Ah say we bide our time, wait until the right moment to see him." Applejack said quietly, as the last of the soldiers entered the forest, the six stayed out of sight, but close enough so that they still had a trail to follow. A few more minutes passed as the six became slightly closer to Isaac, he was now barely in their view, but still couldn't hear them over the sound of conversing soldiers. Without warning, the deafening roar caused Fluttershy to jump into a nearby bush, shaking and whimpering at the sudden noise. The rest of the ponies were equally shocked, Rainbow ended up jumping into Applejack's hoofs before sheepishly backing off, Pinkie Pie hid behind Twilight's tail while she held a hoof over Rarity's mouth to stop her squeals of fright. "Quiet everypony, they'll hear us..." Twilight hissed, looking out to see that the crowd had continued onward after the temporary delay. "Come on now, sugarcube." Applejack called out to a whimpering Fluttershy, still cowering inside the bush. "I can't...Too scared..." Applejack smiled softly and lifted the terrified mare onto her back, continuing the journey. A long while later the three found themselves at the edge of the treeline, the gaping valley just under a kilometer ahead. Through the treeline Fluttershy could see the army already preparing on the top of the hill leading up from the open area below, putting on armor and sharpening weapons, the ponies all wore the same types of colors, some gold, some silver. Each with a different color tint to signify their sections. Fluttershy looked all around the treeline, but saw no sign of Irrie among the masses of ponies. "Fluttershy, over here!" Rainbow called out, beckoning the five other friends to follow her up a small clearing. Once at the top they found themselves over a small cliff edge, a dozen meters above the crowd. From there Fluttershy immediately spotted Iridescent talking to no fewer than 100 ponies, each dressed in gleaming silver armor, tinted with a hint of green the same color as the stallion's mane. The six ponies lay down on top of the grassy cliff, unnoticeable by anypony below. Twilight began to get a little worried when Applejack and Fluttershy were caught staring at Irrie for at least the past five minutes, she was about to say something but her priorities changed when she saw a horrific sight by the bottom of the valley. --------------------------------- "Alright everypony, gather around me." Isaac commanded his forces with the same confidence as he did before he 'arrived' in Equestria, the many ponies of Isaac's military division quickly surrounded the white unicorn, his specially crafted armor shining despite the cloudy weather. Setting the soul bomb in the center of the area, he began his speech. "Now, I know how afraid you all are today, i'm just as scared as you are. But we have to do this, you all know what's at stake here." Isaac took a brief pause for the soldiers to quieten down before continuing. "Now, we know the army we're about to face isn't even half our size. But that's not the biggest threat by a longshot. The Leviathan will most likely be placed behind the main army, our forces can easily push through with a little help from the back archers. But this bomb is what you're protecting as much as me, the plan might seem a little selfish, but it's the only way to win this thing." The shouts of opposition and argument that Isaac expected were not heard, only nods of approval and reassuring responses followed. "Hey, we all know what we're in for. We signed up willingly knowing the risks, and we'll be damned if we abandon our posts for a way to keep us safer as individuals." One colt spoke out, his bulky form and heavy armor showing his high rank in the force. Isaac simply smiled and continued. "Now, i'll need you all to keep me, and this bomb, safe from harm." Grabbing a stick, the colt drew his tactic in the dry dirt in front of him. "I'll need the Earth ponies on the outer layer, keeping anything from getting further in the layers, use your shield to form a solid barrier around us. The pegasi, you poke spears through gaps in the shields, and fire arrows from the middle layers. Lastly the unicorns, you guys have the mos important roles. I'll need you all to fire artillery strikes into the crowd, while also forming a protective barrier around us all." Isaac left the drawing in the ground so the rest of the ponies could get a good look. Stepping back slightly, he looked into a nearby water hole, in his own reflection he saw a revelation. Inside himself he saw a fighter, a soldier, someone who will fight for what he believes in. And would gladly give his life to keep it safe. The shiny, metallic gleam of his armor shone in the light, and its jagged and sharp edges making feel pain just from looking at it. He looked over the faint scars on his body, still clearly visible. Looking up, he gazed over the valley, its base was nothing but dirt. No green grass, no water, just one large plateau of soil. Surrounded by hills and mountains, he was about to turn back when he noticed a large shape appear from the other end of the valley. "Oh no....How the hell...?" "Battle stations everpony! Get into formation!!!!"