Revelations of the past
Chapter VI: Cat and Mouse
Silence…
Silence…that was what greeted the Royal Equestrian Army as they crossed the border between Equestria and The Crystal Empire. The Princesses had sensed something was wrong when they crossed over the border; Celestia raised her right wing up flaring it out fully signalling the marching army to come to a halt. Something was wrong, they could both feel it and as much as they needed to hurry to the aid of the Emperor, they needed to determine just where Sombra’s main forces where.
Nearby lay a town, the last one in the Empire before travellers would cross over into Equestria. Celestia could see a small group of soldiers coming over with a look of relief on them.
“Princesses! Thank the ancestors you’ve finally arrived!” The leader called out and gave them a bow.
“What’s the situation soldier?” Celestia replied.
Luna and Steel Hoof came up beside Celestia and both of them remained quiet for the time being, they had seen Celestia like this before. It was the look of a veteran of combat and a fierce leader
“Honestly Princess, were in the dark here. We received the Emperor’s warning about King Sombra yesterday and gave the messenger a report on what we had seen or heard which luckily there was nothing out of the ordinary, after he had left to return we began to set up defences and such.”
He indicated to several barricades which had a dozen or so soldiers on each one before carrying on.
“Since then we have been waiting for our orders, the mayors already ordered the civilians to pack and prepare to be evacuated in the worst case scenario, but like I said. It’s been a day and we haven’t received anything else, we sent out two messengers who have yet to return. Some of us want to return to the capital to assist whilst the others think we should remain here to defend our town, either way we don’t really know what to do.”
Celestia looked around in thought before turning her gaze back to the soldier in front of her.
“What is your name and rank soldier?”
“Sergeant Night Flight your highness.”
“Well Night Flight, I think the best thing right now is for my forces to use your town as a base for the time being. I need more intelligence before I can risk sending them in, do you have any recent maps of the land?” She asked him.
“Yes your highness, there’s not enough room in the town for all of your forces though.”
“That’s fine; they can erect a campsite beside the town. It’ll be easier for them to move on a moment’s notice.”
Night Flight nodded and then led the Princesses towards the town, Celestia beckoned over Steel Hoof over to her.
“Captain, go tell the soldiers to make camp on the eastern side of the town and await further instructions. For the time being they can be at ease.”
“Yes Princess.” He replied and went over to the waiting army.
Celestia and Luna followed Night Light into the town as the army began to build a camp outside of the town; the town itself was a pleasant one that reminded her of Canterlot. It was busy and everywhere she looked ponies where going about their business, she was saddened to see that the majority of them had concerned and worried expressions as they went about brought on from the confusion and uncertainty of the current events.
“Tell me Night Flight, what is the name of this town.” Luna asked him.
“Whitewall your majesty.” Night Flight replied
“It’s a beautiful name.” she smiled.
“I’ve lived here all my life and wouldn’t dream of leaving, my families been here for generations and hopefully, my foals and their foals will continue to live here.” He said to her with fondness.
As Luna and Night Flight began to talk more, Celestia smiled. She had noticed Night Flight relaxing a bit more simply from having a conversation with Luna about his home, she let them talk as she began to look around the town as they walked to the centre.
She noted several soldiers running around in carrying sandbags and other things to and from places, it saddened her to see ponies in this state. Battle and war were obviously terrible but sometimes waiting for a battle to actually happen could be just as bad, they were led to the town centre where the town hall stood. She could tell it was the town hall from the large clock tower that loomed over and stood up tall and proud.
Outside the main doors at the top of stairs that led to them was a red coated stallion with a slightly darker red mane talking to some soldiers, both Celestia and Luna could see from his messy mane and the shadows forming under his eyes that he hadn’t slept properly. As the three approached he excused himself and quickly ran down the stairs bowing before the monarchs, he turned to Night Flight and dismissed him letting him get back to his duties.
“I’m glad to finally see somepony that can help me shed light on everything your highness.” He said.
“I wish our visit was under different circumstances…”She sighed replying with a smile.
“Likewise, my name is Red Watch, the Mayor of Whitewall.” He replied back to her.
Red Watch led the Princesses back up the stairs and into the town hall, once inside Celestia and Luna watched as several ponies ran around hard at work much like the town hall in Canterlot. He led them down the hallway and into a large building where a large map was resting, around the table was a couple of soldiers discussing between one another and pointing at parts of the map. They stopped when they saw the Princesses and immediately saluted them, they nodded in response.
“So what is all this Mayor?” Luna asked him indicating the map.
“Please, you don’t need to call me Mayor.” He smiled to her.
“Very well Red Watch.” Luna replied with her own smile.
“And the map is to allow us to plan strategies, ones for if we need to evacuate the civilians and ones for when the inevitable battle happens.” He said as he walked up to the table. “Princesses this is my Captain of the guard Silver Wing.”
A Pegasus with a back mane and a pure white coat removed her helmet and bowed to the Princesses who smiled.
“Pleasure to make your acquaintance Captain.” Celestia said to her. “Red Watch I think it will be best to have this room be the base of operations, and I would ask to have control of your forces for the time being.”
“Of course your highness, I don’t have any experience in military affairs anyway. You’re more than welcome to use them as you see fit.” He turned to Silver Wing. “I want you to do whatever the Princesses ask of you; our Empire and town depend on it.”
“Yes Mayor.” She saluted him.
“If you will excuse me your majesties, I have things I need to attend to.” He said turning back to the Princesses.
“Not at all Red Watch, thank you for your help.” Celestia replied.
Red Watch bowed to both Celestia and Luna before leaving the room, where he was quickly ambushed by a couple of ponies carrying clipboards and bombarding him with questions to which he let out a frustrated sigh, Celestia and Luna shared a small chuckle knowing the feeling Red Watch was going through as a leader. They noticed the doors open and Steel Hoof came in walking past the Mayor and up to the room they were in; he gave them a salute and joined them.
“Welcome Captain, I trust the others are settling in well for the time being?” Celestia asked him.
“Yes your majesty, the soldiers have started setting up a campsite as you ordered.”
“Excellent, Captain Steel Hoof this is Captain Silver Wing, she is the Captain of Whitehall’s guards.”
Steel Hoof looked over to Silver Wing and they both gave each other a salute, they both caught one another looking into the eyes of the other and felt something stir within them and their mouths opened slightly, Celestia saw this and held back a giggle knowing what the look was. Steel Hoof then removed his helmet and turned his attention to the map.
“Is this a map of the town?” He asked.
“Yes, we’ve marked out locations where we need to move the civilians if the worst comes to light.” Silver Wing replied pointing at several locations on the map.
“I see…and what if the attack comes from the south?”
“Well…it’s highly unlikely they would.” She replied.
“It very well could happen; you need to cover every possible escape route Captain. This isn’t a bandit raid or anything this is war.”
“I know that Captain, but they wouldn’t attack from their because the southern part of the town is facing Equestria. They’d have to go around the town in order to reach it, it’s completely pointless!” Silver Wing said a little annoyed.
“Perhaps, but this is war, you have to remember the enemy could do anything.” Steel Hoof insisted.
“But I’m saying it’s pointless! They’d lose the element of surprise for one thing because we would see them!” She said slamming a hoof into the table.
“And I’m saying that you cannot be too careful in war! You need an exit strategy in case the enemy DOES attack from the south!” Steel Hoof countered slamming his own hoof into the table.
“BOTH OF YOU ENOUGH!” Luna roared at them slamming two hooves into the table denting it visibly.
Both Captains jumped in their armour and fell silent, but giving each other a hard cold stare.
“Thank you sister…” Celestia said giving Luna a quick ‘Control your temper’ glare before continuing. “You two are going to have to get along with one another, so stop arguing like a couple of foals.”
“Yes ma’am.” They both said in unison.
“Now, in the meantime, I’d like you both to form a small joint Equestrian and Crystal Empire recon team to scout out ahead towards the capital. Based on what intelligence they bring back is how we will act, is that understood?”
“Yes ma’am.”
“Good, off you go then.”
The two Captains saluted her once more before giving each other another glare and walking off out of the building side by side in silence.
“I think they’re both infatuated with one another Lu-Lu.” Celestia said giggling.
“They would go together perfectly, there both stubborn.” Luna giggled.
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A large blue dome covered the entire capital, as the centre of the city had a beam of magic shooting up casting the dome, at the start of the beam was Krustallos in bright shining golden armour. His horn was glowing and casting the shield up, surrounding him in a circle were a dozen unicorns who were casting their respective magic onto him giving him power.
“INCOMING!” A soldier cried.
A large ball of shadows launched downwards onto the dome slamming into it hard followed by four other balls, the attacks happened soon after Sombra’s army had surrounded the capital. At first the soldiers were sent in but couldn’t get through the dome Krustallos erected over the city, for the past few hours something had been throwing large balls of shadows at the dome in an attempt to break it, Krustallos had guessed it was the summoned creature throwing the shadows. From time to time the shadows were accompanied by other projectiles such as ballistas and stone, although none had succeeded in breaking down the dome.
Krustallos and the unicorns winced with each hit trying their best to keep the shield up; the unicorns took turns in shifts to give the Emperor extra power and had been doing so since the previous day. Krustallos on the other hand had been awake since casting the shield and hadn’t rested once, the soldiers could see he was beginning to strain under the pressure and at one point advised him to allow the unicorns to take over. He had refused to do so stating that as the ruler it was his job to protect his subjects, what had bothered Krustallos more though was the tactics at which Sombra was using. He had fought alongside the King in the past and knew all of his tactics; this however was not one of them. It was like a game of cat and mouse, with the capital being the mouse and Sombra being the cat, but this wasn’t Sombra’s doing. Krustallos came to the conclusion that whatever it was Sombra had summoned, this was its doing.
He cursed the creature, although simple the tactic it was highly effective. Surround the enemy and then slowly wear them down using only basic attacks in a constant barrage, and it was beginning to show. There had been a couple of times when Krustallos could feel his power being almost drained; he thanked his ancestors the power of the crystal heart was still going strong. It was a symbol of his right to rule handed down to him from his father who received it from his father, a magical crystal in the shape of a heart that usually sat in the throne room above the thrones however, Krustallos had removed it and given it to his wife to keep it safe in the Crystal Cavern. Krustallos and Amemond, being the rulers where the only ones who could tap into its extraordinary power, although not the Elements, it was still a powerful relic. And the last line of defence for the Empire, if the worst would come to bear, Krustallos would destroy the heart and absorb its power and use his body to channel it and destroy Sombra’s army but sacrificing himself in the process.
He looked up gritting his teeth watching the balls of shadows slam into the dome causing a few cracks which healed over as quickly as they formed.
“Is this all King Sombra has?” A soldier nearby laughed. “He is truly weaker than I thought!”
Krustallos grunted with annoyance, he recognised the soldier who said it. It was a new recruit, only been in the army for just under four years and hadn’t seen any true combat.
“Quiet private!” Fleet Wing barked and he landed on the ground. “Sombra hasn’t even begun trying yet!”
“W-what do you mean sir?” The soldier said slightly shaken.
Fleet Wing looked at Krustallos then towards the dome and growled slightly.
“He’s toying with us…were trapped and he knows it, he’s taking his time to wipe us out.”
The soldier’s eyes widened as he tried to think of a way to disprove the Captain and convince himself this was the full force of Sombra’s army that was attacking them, not just a small part of it.
“T-that can’t be t-true sir! We out number them we could j-just-“he was cut off by a stern look Fleet Wing gave him.
“Whilst we do usually out number them…they have cut us off from our other outposts and towns where the other forces of the army reside, leaving us highly outnumbered ourselves. They also have the advantage of being able to flank us, that and we still don’t even know how strong his forces are. For all we know that creature he summoned wasn’t the only thing he summoned, the balls of shadow are proof of that.”
The soldier remained silent until Fleet Wing ordered him to assist one of the ballista units, he watched the soldier run off before turning back to Krustallos.
“My Lord…I hate to admit it but, we can’t hold out like this forever, without the other outposts and towns soldiers aiding ours we only have around two hundred forces in the city.”
“I k-know Captain.” Krustallos grunted. “It was l-lucky that Ink Quill was able to send f-for reinforcements before Sombra put that b-blasted spell over us preventing any form of communications being sent.”
Fleet Wing nodded in agreement, literally just after Ink Quill had sent a scroll to Princess Celestia and Luna there was a major shockwave that tore through the city. Although no one was hurt from it when Krustallos asked Ink Quill to send another scroll, the scroll would not teleport and neither would any scroll that was destined to be sent to other outposts or towns calling for immediate aid, the spell had cut off any communication from the outside world.
“We j-just need to hold out till the reinforcement’s g-get here.” Krustallos continued. “Do we have any m-more Intel on how many there is Captain?”
“Yes my Lord, from initial reports before we were surrounded it appears that at first glance we were wrong on the size of the enemy. A lot of the enemy seem to be literally shadows, the scouts on the walls report that the shadows shift from solid forms of ponies to nothing but shadows. My guess is that the creature I encountered at Layfall is generating them.”
Krustallos nodded as Fleet Wing continued.
“Shock Wave was brought these reports and he concurs that the majority of the enemy, at least the forces that are attacking, are magically enchanted shadows.”
Krustallos closed his eyes in thought at this; Shock Wave was his advisor and head of all magic related items and such within the Crystal Empire. If Shock Wave was certain the shadows were magically created then Krustallos believed him, only thing left to do was to wait.
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Sombra sat on a makeshift throne in his large tent that sat in the centre of a mini town made of other tents which housed Sombra’s real forces, he taped the side of the throne impatiently as he rested his head on his other hoof. He had tasked Malaskaar with his army as well as the army of shadows to take this city quickly much to Malaskaar’s annoyance. However reports from Dark Light who was also on the front lines suggested Malaskaar wasn’t doing as he was commanded, so Sombra sent a messenger to bring Malaskaar before him to explain his actions.
It had been a good three hours since he had sent the messenger and his patience was beginning to wear thin, growling to himself he then slammed his hoof into the throne startling the guards nearby.
“WHERE IN TATURUS IS MALASKAAR!” he roared out.
“I’m here your majesty.” Sombra turned to the tents opening as Malaskaar strode in his face etched with clear annoyance followed by Dark Light. “And may I ask why you have summoned me back to the camp? I was enjoying myself and-“
“SILENCE!” Sombra interrupted him “Would you care to explain to me WHY you are not following orders?”
“I am following orders King Sombra.” Malaskaar replied crossing his arms.
Sombra growled as he gritted his teeth at the mage.
“You haven’t, tell me. If you are following orders then why has it come to my attention you haven’t taken or even properly attempted to take the damn city yet?”
Malaskaar chuckled lightly giving Sombra an amused smirk.
“Because like I said my King, I’m following orders just not yours.”
Sombra felt his eye twitch with annoyance as Malaskaar continued.
“I’m following orders that go beyond you my King…”
Sombra paused as he felt his anger subsiding slightly; he knew Malaskaar was referring to J’skaar.
“Pray tell me then, what has our Dark Lord ordered you to do?” Sombra asked leaning back into his throne.
“Our Lord J’skaar wants the enemy to know fear; he wants them to feel trapped and isolated as the promise of hope and rescue slowly diminishes from their minds.”
To further his point, Malaskaar held his hand up that was cradling a ball of fire. Sombra watched as he slowly closed his hand and extinguished the fire, realising it was a symbol of hope being removed.
“That…and the feeling of taking a soul that is bathed in fear is so…delicious…” Malaskaar grinned as he finished.
“We don’t want them all dead Malaskaar, I can’t rule the dead.” Sombra snorted at him.
“Of course my liege, I wouldn’t dream of it.”
Sombra sighed as he rubbed his head with his hoof and closed his eyes; the room was filled with an eerie silence as Malaskaar waited for Sombra to say something to him. Finally Sombra opened his eyes and looked to him.
“Very well…if it is what he wants, carry on with your attack. But I want that city soon Malaskaar, and preferably before reinforcements from Equestria arrive. I know that they have been alerted to what is going on.”
Malaskaar nodded and bowed to Sombra before turning and taking his leave, Dark Light waited for a moment after Malaskaar left and walked over to Sombra.
“My Lord…is it really the best thing to allow him command? The soldiers are slightly terrified of him and what would happen if they disobeyed him or J’skaar.”
“No…it’s not the best thing, but if he is able to stop the elements of harmony being used against us. Then we will have to bear it for the time being.”
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The city was silent; all the civilians had been ushered into the Crystal Caves with some guards to protect them. All that remained in the city was the remainder of Crystal Army; Krustallos had been keeping the shield over the city up for nearly two days and was close to exhaustion. Fleet Wing could see this and began to get worried, new problems were occurring with every minute that passed. How long can the shield be kept up? Will the reinforcements arrive in time? Did they have enough provisions for the civilians and the soldiers? And how long would they last? He sighed as he looked out over the quiet city, he hated it.
The reason it was quiet save for movements of soldiers and the low hum of magic being used was the shadow balls had stopped being fired, it confused Fleet Wing and he had ordered all the soldiers to be alert for anything. The ballistas had proven to be of use against the shadows forming around the city walls after Fleet wing ordered them to be heavily enchanted with a light spell that would explode on impact, and for the time being it had worked. After the explosions happened the soldiers reported the shadows became displaced and some vanished, annoyingly though they would regenerate after a while and Fleet Wing suspected it was the creatures doing.
However since the shadow balls had stopped, the soldiers noted that the ballista shots were doing some good as the shadows stopped forming. Leading Fleet Wing to believe the creature was losing its power much like a unicorn would start to lose power after continually using it, he wanted to use this opportunity to send out a scout or two to try and find out where the reinforcements but he wasn’t sure if they could make it before the shadows caught them.
He flew down from the palace balcony and landed near to were Krustallos was who looked up weakly and tried to give him a reassuring smile.
“They will come your highness.” Fleet Wing simply said.
“I know Fleet Wing…I know-“Krustallos stopped suddenly and cried out in pain along with the ring of unicorns around him as a loud boom echoed.
“My lord!” Fleet Wing cried as the soldiers nearby rushed over.
“T-the barrier!” Krustallos cried back looking up.
As he did the guards around him looked up and gasped seeing a large crack in the barrier and a large mass of shadow above it with two red lights glaring down at them, before they could react the shadow reared up and slammed down hard against the barrier cracking it further causing the Emperor and the unicorns around him more pain. The soldiers began to panic as Fleet Wing took a few steps back, Krustallos’s eyes widened in fear.
“No…I-impossible, nothing can b-break the Crystal Hearts power…” he whispered.
The shadow once more reared up and slammed into the barrier obliterating it with a loud crash causing the barrier to phase out, Krustallos fell to the ground along with the other unicorns as the shadow mass disappeared revealing Sombra’s forces charging at the city. Shadow balls once more began to launch and head to the city; the Crystal forces operating the ballistas snapped out of their sudden shock and quickly retaliated with their ballistas and magic beams. As the ballistas shot down the shadow balls one was missed and it crashed into the city market district exploding on impact, but instead of leaving debris it materialised into shadow ponies that immediately began to charge and attack the stunned soldiers nearby.
More and more shadow balls fell onto the city revealing shadow ponies who also engaged in combat with the soldiers who began to snap out of their shocked states, Krustallos shakily got to his legs and along with the unicorns around began to fire magic into the shadows. The cries of ponies rang out all around him as they were slowly pushed back to the palace, he saw the real forces of Sombra behind the shadows advancing and killing soldiers who had managed to avoid the shadows onslaught. He watched in horror as the ballistas one by one came under attack from shadow and pony alike and cursed Sombra’s name, he watched as the soldiers where beginning to be overwhelmed after the shock of the barrier being destroyed so suddenly and the sheer power of the forces attacking them.
“HOLD THEM BACK!” Fleet Wing cried out as he sliced a shadow in half with his sword.
Fleet wing turned round to see a soldier running towards him panting.
“SIR! THE ENEMY COMMANDER IS-"
The soldier was interrupted by a quick clean slice, he had the time to blink and look down to see blood trickling from his neck before he collapsed in a heap to the ground his head falling from his neck. Behind him holding a sword that was dripping with blood was Dark Light who had a dark grin on his face.
“Fleet Wing…it’s good to see you again.” He smirked as he stepped over the body of the soldier.
Fleet Wing didn’t reply with words, he lunged at Dark Light with his sword who blocked it and began to laugh at him.
“Is that anyway to treat an old friend?” Dark Light said with a grin.
“Shut it Dark Light, you’re going to pay for this!” Fleet Wing growled at him.
“Is that so?” A voice said.
Fleet Wing narrowly avoided the second blade that crashed into the ground where he was just standing; he looked up with a grunt to see the bipedal creature standing there next to Dark Light wielding his sword. The creature grinned at Fleet Wing and his blade crackled with a few bolts of lightning.
“You!”
“Ah I remember you…the one from that town, how lovely to see you again. Shame it will be the last time.” Malaskaar replied with a smirk.
As Malaskaar and Dark Light approached Fleet Wing who readied his sword for an attack, a beam of magic shot into Malaskaar sending him back and tumbling to the floor. Fleet Wing used this moment to launch himself once more at Dark Light who was caught off guard and stumbled backwards; Malaskaar rose up growling to see Krustallos standing beside Fleet Wing levitating a sword in front of him.
“I am going to kill you for what you have done demon!” Krustallos roared out.
Malaskaar recognised the unicorn as the Emperor and gave a large almost crazed grin as he dusted himself down and re-summoned his sword gripping it in his hand.
“Then by all means your highness…come and try.”