//------------------------------//
// Veni, Vidi, Vici 
// Story: The Mixer Chronicles 
// by Mixer 
//------------------------------//


The Mixer Chronicles

Book Twenty Six:
Veni, Vidi, Vici












It was a month or so since Octavia’s recital, and things had been beyond boring for me.
Everypony else I knew seemed to be enjoying things. Soulless and Rainbow Dash were going out to some form of date at least twice a week, and Luna and Sombra started going on dates too. 
The rest of the Lunar guard seemed to be content with things being all quiet, while Discord seemed to be in a dry spell for any form of prank or trick to liven up the place.
Silverwing was also going through some physical therapy, and treatment sessions to get her ability to fly back, and Crystal seemed to be growing up a bit, because she now started to go out on her own, and learning more about castle life.
Everypony was content, except for me. I was caught in what was seeming to be a never ending loop of monotony with not so much as a stray cloud to cause trouble.
But as is often the case, it was merely the calm before the storm.
The sun was just starting to get high in the sky when a messenger hawk flew into the castle, carrying a torn note.
The tired bird landed on my armor, and I magically took the note from its leg.
There were only a few words on the note, and there was a blood spatter on it.
They came too fast...
Send help. 
Haakim
I took the note to Celestia, and she read it over.
“This is troubling,” she said.
“What are we going to do about it? This doesn’t seem like it could be the minotaurs,” I said.
“Mobilize the Lunar Guard, we will bring what might we can to bear on this new menace,” Celestia said.
“Just the Lunar Guard?” I asked.
She had gotten up from her throne, and cast a look back at me, “No, all of the guard.”

By the time it was noon, all of the royal guard, the Lunar Guard, the Wonderbolts, even the Elements of Harmony were all prepared to move out.
Soulless had joined us and was going to be working with me, under the new title of Midnight’s Edge.
I even called in a favor, and Vinyl brought the party blimp to act as artillery and as a transport.

I met Luna, Celestia, Sombra, and the Element bearers in the throne room.
“Wow Princess, I’ve never seen you in armor,” Twilight said.
Celestia was wearing a splendid gold armor set, while I made Luna’s crystal armor, and Sombra had donned his old 	armor and helmet from before he came to Canterlot.
“I have taken the liberty of ordering armor for you six as well,” I said, passing out packages.
“Rainbow Dash and Twilight, you have the heavy armor, Pinkie, you and Applejack have the light armor, and Fluttershy and Rarity, you two have the medium armor,” I said.
“Why are we wearing armor?” Twilight asked.
“Because, even you will be going into battle,” Celestia said.
“Battle?” Fluttershy asked nervously.
“Yes, but you will stay with the Lunar Guard,” Luna said.
“The airship is all prepped and ready to go,” I said.
“Then we shall depart immediately,” Celestia said.
“Wait, what about Discord?” I asked.
“I will be able to call on him if we need him,” Celestia said.
“Ok,” I said.
We hurried off to the hangar where the Lunar guard had geared up.
“Clockwork, are you coming too?”I asked the unicorn as he directed the dock crew in armor.
“Yes, who knows when we might need to make emergency repairs,” he said.
“Well, I guess that’s true,” I said.
“All ready,” a dock crew member said to Clockwork.
“Good, let’s go,” he said, leading us onto the airship.
I took the helm and steered the airship out of the hangar, seeing a full hundred or so royal guards, and the Wonderbolts already waiting for us, along with Vinyl’s party blimp.
I was shocked to see that Silverwing and her squad were also flying around the gathered guards.
Celestia was also among the royal guards, a rather imposing figure.
Luna took off from the airship to meet her sister.
The taskforce that we had started to take on a formation, with Celestia and Luna leading the group, followed by the Wonderbolts and Silverwing’s squad on either side. The two airships were in the center of the formation, with the royal guards spread out on either side.
Soulless was in the cabin with me, watching as the swarm of pegasi flew along side us.
“Oh, and here are your glasses back,” I said to him, handing them his way. “It can get quite bright in Saddle Arabia.”
“Thanks,” he said, donning them.
“By the way, what’s that pendant for?” I asked.
“Illusionary armor, it makes me look like I’m covered in heavy armor,” he said.
“More intimidation tactics, that’s like you,” I said.
He just gave me a thin smile, and walked to the deck.
After a while, I saw Silverwing land with her squadron on the deck, and I handed the wheel off to Phalanx.
“Silverwing, you wings!” I said walking out to meet her.
“Yeah, those sessions really paid off,” she said.
“It feels good to fly with our lead again,” Quicksilver said.
“It just feels good to fly,” Silverwing said.
“Wait, what about Crystal?” I asked.
“I took her to Ponyville before we got ready. She’ll be staying with the Apples until we get back,” she said.
“Alright, that’s a good place for her to be,” I said.
“So what do you think we will be up against?” she asked.
At that question, I noticed that the others also listened intently for my answer.
“I honestly don’t know,” I said.
“You don’t think it was the minotaurs?” Trottson asked.
“No,” I said.
“Why?” Twilight asked.
“I don’t think Haakim would send such an urgent letter about an attack if it were merely minotaurs,” I said. 
“Then what could it be?” Applejack asked.
“I have no idea,” I said.
I returned to the helm after Silverwing and her squad flew off, and realized that we might have come underprepared.
Haakim’s soldiers were hardened, with years of military training, the Royal guard didn’t have nearly the grade of martial training that they did. The other problem was that neither the Wonderbolts, or Silverwing’s squadron had weapons.
Our saving grace was the fact that we had Luna, Celestia, and Sombra.
We flew for the rest of the day, and the guards started to fly in shifts, allowing some of them to rest one one of the airships while the rest flew at the ready.

When morning came, all of the pegasi were flying again, and everypony was tense.
The tense feeling became worse when we saw a flag flying over the city that was clearly not from Saddle Arabia.
It looked similar to the pictures in books about the founding of Equestria when it mentioned the pegasi flag.
I could see a group of lightly armored pegasi rise from the city, and Silverwing and Spitfire were sent to meet them.  
~~~~~~~~~~
“Halt!” one of the pegasi said as the two of them approached. “What is your purpose here, and why have you brought such a force with you?” 
“What are you doing here? this city belongs to the Saddle Arabians,” Spitfire said.
“State your business, or leave,” the pegasus growled.
“We came because the Saddle Arabians called for our help,” Silverwing said.
“Well, this city now belongs to the Multus Empire,” one the head pegasus said.
“Hey, you can’t just invade a city like that!” Spitfire snapped.
Silverwing held her back while the pegasus looked the two of them over.
“Why not? They were just inferior terrenus ponies.  We did them a service by absorbing them into our empire,” the pegasus said.
“Are you saying that ponies that aren’t pegasi are inferior?” Silverwing questioned.
“Of course they are, otherwise they wouldn’t be so weak as to need pegasus protection and guidance,” he said. 
Now it was Spitfire’s turn to hold Silverwing back.
“How dare you? A unicorn is one of the best ponies I know. Without him I wouldn’t be alive,” she shouted.
“Then I take it you must have saved his life before,” the pegasus said.
Actually, what he said was correct, I wouldn’t be alive if Silverwing hadn’t saved me, and she wouldn’t have lived against the organization without me.
“Well...” Silverwing said.
“Than it was nothing more than repaying a debt,” the pegasus dismissed the argument with a wave.
“Of all the stuck up,” Spitfire began.
“Take your force and leave, these ‘Saddle Arabians’, as you call them, are under our jurisdiction,” the pegasus said.
“No,” both of them said.
“Very well then, if you refuse to leave, we will take martial action against you,” the pegasus said.
“Let’s go,” Spitfire said, pulling Silverwing away.
Silverwing pulled herself out of Spitfire’s grip and punched the pegasus across the face.
“You’re going to regret that,” the pegasus said, drawing a sword.
At that moment, the rest of our force saw what was going on and had mobilized.
I however, saw that the desert tribes had formed a battle line a little ways behind us, and flew down on a crystal board to meet them.
Celestia, followed me, after seeing me depart from the airship.
When I reached the line, Malak was waiting for me.
“Armor bearer, we are here to fight with you,” he said.
“What is this?” Celestia asked, flying down by me.
I could see that the desert tribe shrank when Celestia came near.
“This is Malak, and these are the desert ponies,” I told her.
Malak gave a bow to Celestia, “Sun goddess, with your help we shall win this battle for sure.”
Celestia gave a quizzical look at him.
“Long story,” I said.
“Very well,” she said. “But you must get back to the airship,” celestia told me.
“Yes, princess,” I said, and flew back up to join them.
By now, a large group of armored pegasi had taken to the air, and were approaching our force.
Vinyl took the opportunity to fire the twin bass annons, stunning a large portion of the pegasi, and sending them tumbling down to the ground.
After that, the two forces clashed in the air, and the sounds of battle spread across the sky.
Below on the ground, the Malak and his scorpion riders were charging towards the city walls.
“Soulless!” I called across the deck.
He came running up to me.
“I think that you and I are scheduled to do some city clean up,” I said.
“Sounds good,” he said, grabbing his board.
“Ivy, take the helm!” I called to her.
She rushed back and grabbed the wheel.
“Where are you going?” she asked.
“We’re going to go help Malak attack the city,” I said.
Soulless and I took off towards the city, passing by groups of fighting.
I saw Luna cleaving through pegasi with both blades, while Celestia was firing bolts of magic from a distance. Sombra was also joining in the fighting, using a crystal board and attacking any pegasus foolish enough to try and attack Luna.
Silverwing and Spitfire were flying around the battle, flitting from one fight to the next to minimize their chances of being caught by any pursuers.
As we closed in on the city, the scorpion riders were having their mounts climb directly up the walls, gaining entry into the city.
Behind the walls, other pegasi were waiting for them, and were bewildered when giant scorpions climbed over the walls and started ripping the lines to shreds.
Soulless and I passed over the fighting and went straight to the palace.
When we got there, there were some more heavily armed pegasi with spears.
I created a set of crystals to parry and strike with, while Soulless simply teleported behind one, stabbing him in the neck before his friends knew what happened.
Soulless and I had no problem fighting our way into the palace, and an even easier time finding where the leader of these pegasi were.
Soulless and I busted through a pair of double doors and saw four fully armored pegasi with halberds clustered around a table with an orange pegasus stallion wearing ornate armor with a prominent helmet plume.
“Take care of this trash,” the leader said to his personal guards.
“Well, I think that blade I gave you will come in handy now,” I said to Soulless, reinforcing my armor with crystal. 
Soulless and I each took two guards.
He started his fight off by teleporting in the air, and using the momentum from his fall to drive the thicker blade through the armor of one of the guards, and into his shoulder.
I decided to take a less drastic approach and used their attacks against each other, mostly blocking and parrying each halberd swing to either do nothing, or get them off balance before smacking them to the ground.
There was one down side to my fighting style, they kept getting back up.
Soulless on the other hand had crippled his first opponent, and was trying to penetrate the armor around his neck to deliver a killing blow, while his other opponent tried to jab at him with the halberd.
Soulless was mostly making use of the wounded stallion he was on top of for cover, keeping the other from taking full blown swings at him.
While he was busy trying to bring down the first one, I was still doing my dance with the other two.
One of them brought his halberd down at me and I dodged it, letting it plink on the ground, and pulling it away from him while pushing him away.
I brought up the haft of the halberd to stop the other guard from loping my head off, and the head snapped off my commandeered halberd, falling to the ground with a few inches of the haft sticking out of it.
I then proceeded to use the broken haft as a quarterstaff, beating the first guard in the head, before spinning the other end around to land a hit on the other guard.
Soulless, having finally brought down the first opponent, tried the same trick with the other guard, but he rolled onto his back, tip of the halberd rising to meet him.
Soulless pushed the sharp point to the side with magic, rolling off the guard when he landed.
After a thorough beating about the head and shoulders, the first guard who I disarmed finally decided that it was better to just stay on the ground.
His compatriot was not so complacent, and had enough strength to shatter the haft when I blocked a full force swing with it.
I created a crystal to block the downwards follow up, keeping myself securely in one piece, and chipping his halberd blade.
I made the crystal form around the head of the halberd, turning it into a blunt mass of crystal.
He could barely lift the weapon with it’s new cumbersome head, and I took every advantage of it, giving him a solid uppercut before he could heft the weapon.
He staggered backwards letting the useless halberd fall away.
I grabbed the halberd with magic, and swung it like a baseball bat, catching him in the side, and sending him tumbling away with several broken ribs.
Soulless was now on the back of the second opponent, trying to wrestle him to the ground, but finding little to no success as the guard was obviously in top condition, and had the size advantage.
I saw that the leader was growing tired of this and grabbed a crossbow, aiming it at Soulless.
“Look out!” I called.
Soulless pulled the guard’s wing up for protection, but the bolt that fired went through the wing, embedding itself in his shoulder.
“Cowardly unicorns,” the pegasus said, tossing down the crossbow in favor of a blade similar to Soulless’s, except that it was longer, and was made out of a blue substance.
“Oh, so it’s a duel you want is it?” I asked.
“I didn’t think that unicorns had the honor to fight one one one with no magic,” he said.
I dropped my crystal armor, “Then you obviously don’t know me,” I said.
He retracted the blade, “Very well,” he said.
I was not expecting an unarmed duel, but I would fight regardless, because if I didn’t I was putting Soulless’s life on the line, and was going to have a much harder fight.
He came at me first, swinging a hoof to try and catch me in the face.
I dodged out of the way and brought a punch to his gut, which I think hurt me more than him, as I impacted tough muscle under hard armor.
He shrugged it off, and did the same to me, sending me skidding across the floor.
I wasn’t seeing this ending well for me, since this pegasus could hit like Big Mac, and was tougher than Brick.
He charged at me, and while I was on the ground, I rolled to face him, flipping him over me when he got on top of me.
He landed with a thud and both of us scrambled to our hooves.
I could see that Soulless had pulled the bolt from his shoulder, and was in the process of taking one of the potions I had made for him.
The pegasus and I started grappling, and he wrestled me to the ground, extending his blade.
“Do you submit?” he asked.
I looked and saw that Soulless was no longer in the room and figured that he went to go get help.
“Yes,” I said.
“Stand up,” the pegasus commanded.
I complied and stood, while he kept his blade trained on me.
“Now, remove your armor,” he said.
I did so, letting the Lunar Guard armor fall away.
He also yanked off my seed crystal pendant, tossing it to the side, before leading me out of the room at sword point.
When we exited the room, I saw that Soulless had taken care of a group of soldiers that tried to get to the fighting.
Twilight and her friends had also made their way to the city, and were just entering the room at the same time as me and my captor.
“Mixer!” Twilight cried when she saw that I was now a captive.
“It’s alright, let him go,” I said.
“Are you crazy?!” Rainbow Dash questioned.
“No, he won fair and square,” I said.
“How do you call a fight against a pony that much stronger than you fair?” Soulless retorted. 
“Stand aside,” my captor said, holding the blade to my throat, “Or I will kill your friend.”
They all stared at him, shifting uncomfortably.
“And don’t try anything funny,” he said, pointing to Soulless.
We moved across the room, all of my friends watching as the general of the ponies took me prisoner.
When we got outside the doors, a group of soldiers came over to us and my captor gave them the order to retreat.
Next he grabbed my and took off, apparently with little effort. 
“So where are we going?” I asked when the city was far behind us.
“To decide your fate,” he said.
“You mean you aren’t going to decide yourself?” I asked.
“You talk too much,” he said, loosening his grip, allowing me to slide down some.
“I doubt that you would drop me if you went to all the trouble of taking me as a prisoner. Also, I like to know a bit about the pony that’s deciding my life, least of all his name,” I said.
“Torris,” he replied.
“Well, Torris, who is going to decide my fate?” I asked.
“The triumvirate,” he said.
“The triumvirate?” I asked.
“The three leaders of our empire, and I am one of them,” he said.
“Then what are you doing all out here by yourself?” I asked.
He let me drop for a few seconds before swooping down and grabbing me again.
“Next time my hoof slips, I might not catch you, he threatened.
We flew on in silence as we headed toward our destination.

After what seemed like an eternity of flying, we landed in a city, where I was promptly chained, and had a magic inhibitor ring up on.
I was led by Torris and two well armed guards to the palace of the city.
When we reached a circular room, Torris pushed me to the floor, and I heard two other pegasi address him.
“Torris, what is this?” an older grey pegasus in similar armor demanded.
“Arax, there was an army, led by two alicorns, and I managed to capture this unicorn. He seemed to be important to them,” Torris said.
“Hmm, he doesn’t look like much, but I guess I can’t expect much out of you Torris,” a beautiful white mare chided.
“Sophia, you would not have fared so well had you been up against their weapon,” Torris said.
“What weapon?” Arax asked.
“It was on an airship, and it fired twin beams of sound that took out half a battalion,” the stallion said, flaring his wings in annoyance.
“If you don’t mind, I’d like to hear the part about what you’re going to do with me,” I said.
Arax stood over me, glaring down from under his helmet.
“And what insolence is this that you think you can openly address us?” he demanded. “Do you have no respect for your betters?”
“I have respect for you, but there’s no point in letting fear stay my tongue,” I said.
“Words worthy of a pegasus,” Arax said, moving away.
“Which does bring up what we do with him,” Sophia said.
“I think we should just kill him and be done with it,” Torris said.
“And that is why we don’t let you make the decisions yourself,” Sophia snorted.
“I think we should keep him, he may provide us information on the foe we now face,” Arax said.
“A threat that you brought upon us through your carelessness,” Sophia said.
“You would do well to know your place as the youngest of us,” Torris bit back.
“And you would do well to be mindful of your place,” Arax said. “Now, what do you think Sophia?”
She took a walk around me, examining me.
“I think we should keep him. If he is as important as you say he is to these ponies, then he could do well as a bargaining chip, should we wish to negotiate,” she said finally.
“Then it is decided, he shall stay alive,” Arax boomed. “Now, as your punishment for being so reckless, you will take your legion, or what’s left of it, and rout out the last of the minotaur savages.”
Torris grumbled as he left the chamber.
“Now, I need to prepare my own holding for an attack. You will take stewardship of the prisoner,” Arax said, leaving the room.
“Goody, I get to keep you all to myself,” she said, picking me up off the ground.
“You don’t seem like the others,” I said.
“Do you mean me being a mare?” she questioned, giving me a sly look.
“I mean, that you don’t seem so, biased,” I said.
“Well, unlike my cohorts, and the rest of this empire, I realize the value of earth ponies and unicorns,” she said, loosening the chains that held me in place.
“Well, since you’re so kind, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Mixer,” I said.
“Well Mixer, follow me, and we shall see what kind of accommodations I can arrange for you,” she said. 
I followed her to one of the rooms in the palace and was locked in, with some megar amenities.
There was a bed, a basin, and a small window set into the wall.
“I’ll have a meal sent for you before dark,” I heard her say through the door.
I set down on the bed and began contemplating my situation.
--
Torris was fuming after being shamed by Arax.
“I will prove to them how capable I am,” he said under his breath as he led the tattered remains of his forces to attack the city that had previously been his. Unknown to him, Soulless had been waiting for just such a chance to get revenge on the one who took his friend.
The battle, rather the massacre, that ensued left Torris bloody and beaten, at the mercy of Soulless.
“Wait!” Luna said, as Soulless prepared to kill Torris.
“Why should I?” Soulless questioned, holding a weak Torris up with one hoof, his blade poised to strike.
“Because, he may know where Mixer is,” she said.
Soulless lowered his blade, and dropped the pegasus in disgust.
Luna picked up the pegasus with magic and brought his face in close to hers.
“Tell us where our friend is,” she growled.
“Heh, see if I tell you anything half breed,” he said, coughing up a little blood.
“What did you call her?” Sombra growled, grabbing the pegasus.
“Half breed,” Torris said, spitting out some blood onto Sombra.
Luna had to hold his hoof back with magic to keep Sombra from decking the pegasus.
“No amount of insults will help you now, nor will it change the fact that you are now at our mercy,” Luna said.
“Then what are you waiting for? Finish me off,” Torris said.
“Gladly,” Soulless said.
“Not yet,” Luna said barring his way.
“Maybe Soulless can, persuade, or guest to tell us what we want,” Celestia said.
“Ivy, how much do you think you can heal this guy?” Soulless asked.
“Well, since we have medical supplies, I could patch him up pretty well,” she said.
“Good,” Soulless grinned.
--
Sophia stepped into the room that served as me cell, a guard holding a tray with some food on it.
“I hope that this proves edible,” Sophia said.
“Saddle Arabian cuisine isn’t my favorite, but I can stomach it,” I replied.
She took a seat while I started on the mildly spicy dish.
“So, from what we heard, you can manipulate crystals,” Sophia said.
“And this matters why?” I asked.
She held up a forehoof and extended a blade that looked just like the one Torris had.
I used my magic, and a section in the middle detached itself from the blade, forming a perfect diamond shape.
“Amazing,” she said, as the crystal lengthened into a blade.
“You antagonize Torris, gladly take over watching me, and treat me with more respect than any other pegasus here. To top it all off, you tell me that I can turn your only weapon against you, without so much as batting an eye. What are you getting at?” I asked, narrowing my eyes.
She put her hood up and pushed the blade aside, moving closer to me.
“What am I trying to get at? You are most interesting,” she said, now face to face with me.
I was almost unnerved by how bold she was, almost as if she knew that I wouldn’t have actually attacked her.
“If my prediction is correct, Torris will have gone after your friends for revenge, and been utterly crushed. With him out of the picture, it leaves only Arax and myself to rule the triumvirate. As you can guess, Arax will be next in line for your friends to attack if they come looking for you, leaving only myself,” she said.
“So what, you are using this as an opportunity to take over the empire?” I asked.
“An accurate observation,” she said circling around to my left, “But now the whole picture. You see, our empire is in decline, and the power of the triumvirate to keep order is waning. Once I take leadership, I will begin to make reforms, stabilizing this pegasus centric empire, and lessen the superiority that most pegasi feel over the other races.”
“So, you’re a revolutionary,” I said.
“Yes, but I have to end this peacefully to be able to get back to the empire’s seat in time,” she said.
“So what, you want me to talk to my friends and convince them to let you surrender?” I asked.
“That is about the extent of it,” she said.
I was about to reply, but I hesitated as I felt something jabbing into my side.
I looked down to see that she had the tip of the blade resting against my side.
“You are very slippery,” I said. “But, that is unnecessary, as I was going to agree anyways.”
She retracted the blade, “That’s very kind of you,” she said.
“Then as a sign of good faith, can I be let out of this room?” I asked.
“You can do more than that, I want you to accompany me at all times,” she said.
“Smart, you let me have some freedom, but you keep an eye on me to make sure I cooperate, very shrewd,” I said.
“You’re fairly perceptive yourself,” she said, leading me out of the room.
The guard attempted to stop me, but she waved him off.
“Find him a set of robes will you,” she told the guard.
He saluted and sauntered off.
“So what am I going to do other than follow you around?” I asked.
“You will officially be my adviser in dealing with your friends,” she said.
“You’re making me, your prisoner, and a dangerous pony, your adviser?” I questioned.
“Who better to advise me on how to deal with your people?” she countered.
--
“Alright! Alright, I’ll talk, just make it stop!” Torris hissed through clenched teeth.
“Good,” Soulless said, wiping off his blade.
“My name is Torris, one of three leaders of the Multus Empire. The other two are Sophia and Arax, we each took a city as part of our holding in this land,” he huffed.
“And where did you take Mixer?” Luna asked.
“I took him to the others, but they sent me away before they sent him anywhere. If I had to guess, Arax is holding him,” Torris responded.
“And where is that?” Luna pushed.
“I can show you where,” he said.
Luna gave a motion and her, Soulless, and Ivy left the cell where they had been interrogating Torris.
“We don’t know what to expect when dealing with these pegasi,” Luna said.
“Then we need a plan before we go anywhere,” Ivy said.
“I might be able to help with that,” Malak said, detaching from a nearby wall.
“How?” Luna asked.
“As you may have guessed, my people are experts at moving around undetected. We could send him in with Torris as a shield, then storm the walls while they are distracted,” Malak said.
“Yes, and then the airship could wait just out of range, and move in when you get inside the walls,” Ivy said.
“So what? You expect me to just walk up and knock on the door?” Soulless questioned.
“Yes,” Malak said.
“This Plan better work,” he sighed, shaking his head.
“Well, you can rest for tonight, we will be moving in the morning,” Malak said, and departed.