Night Patrol 2: Awakening

by Foxgear

The First Son

Night Patrol 2 Chapter 42
By Foxgear

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Luna observed the horror playing out before her, the screams of dying ponies, the stench of burned flesh, the anguished cries of those who lost their friends. It was all familiar, she’s heard it a thousand times, and like many times before, it was her standing on high over her enemies as they screamed for the mercy they never gave. She peered over the guard rail of the ship, spying a group of younger soldiers firing their horn at the bottom of the Centurion. The cannons roared, smoke filled the air, and when it cleared, they were all gone.

Now, as before she did not reveal in the massacre, nor did she let compassion sway her. She observed the destruction, baring all the sins that came with it.

“We’re almost halfway there!” One of the soldiers declared.

Indeed, they in the western half of the city deep the heart of the urban center. On the east side, their sister ship lay not far behind, and in the center, enshrined in a secondary FOB was Celestia. Laying down a scathing barrage of artillery magic.

Now it’s essential to note Celestia wasn’t spamming her spells like a mad mare. Really with her concussion casting complex high tier spells such as Radiant Stargate in succession would virtually be impossible. Especially after how loopy her sister had become when Doctor BlueCross’s drugs kicked in.

So, to work around this problem, Scarlet, that devious genius of a mare, come up with a solution. Celestia was still drugged out. The last update stated as such, but they managed to at least make it appear she wasn’t. How?

Well, Scarlet was the one casting the spell. Celestia was currently acting like an over-glorified battery for the red unicorn who siphoned the Sun Princess’s magic and used it for her own devices. Several squads of unicorn mages pitched in to help cast the spells, lowering the toll casting such magic would usually have.

The cherry on top was another unicorn under glamor was acting as Celestia, impersonating the princess by standing at the top the earth wall and appearing to cast spell after spell without tiring. It was quite the propaganda production.

“I can’t believe it actually worked,” Luna muttered as she pulled her hood down more and walked away from the edge of the ship.

When they first started the plan to bombard their way through the city, things didn’t start off so hopeful. The East and West flank met heavy resistance; their progress slow as maple syrup harvesting. The fake Celestia had yet to take the stage then, and the center of the city was hardly touched safe for the stray tank cannon blast. The enemy seemed ready to dig in deep.

Then the first Radiant Stargate Cannon was cast, and the false Celestia stood boldly atop the wall, her hair waving majestically like a war goddess had come down from the heavens. The effect was immediate. Enemy forces from the flanks dwindled, the appearance of Celestia making the enemy congest in the middle, leaving their sides open. Their fear of the Sun Princess’s dominance overrode any sense of strategy.

(Still, this is a very high-risk operation.)

To keep the enemy from reinforcing either of the sides, Luna had to stay out of the limelight for as long as possible. Once the enemy knew of her position, they would seek to reinforce it. That would leave only one path of least resistance. An obvious one that a cooler headed commander would see and dam up like beavers in a river. Gridlocking the battlefield.

“Princess, we have a message from Sergeant Bulwark, he’s asking for orders.”

She tapped her gemcom, switching Bulwark to a private channel. On her HUD map, she saw his position as well as everypony else of rank. Platinum was with him, as was Fleetfoot, with Gloves highlighted in yellow, meaning he was out of action, but not dead. AppleJazz was also there.

“You are to stay on standby Bulwark, your mission is to protect FOB-Alpha with the other officers present. Your position is acting as our medical facility at the moment. You must be their protection, now that we can’t spare soldiers to guard them.”

A gruff, “Affirmative.” Was his reply.

It hard to tell if he was upset or not about being left out of the action. Luna didn’t know Bulwark very well. He reminded her of P-Rex, the giant pony that gave his life in the Griffon War. That might just because Bulwark is the biggest pony in Night Patrol now with P-Rex gone. He wasn’t quite a match in size, but he was close.

“I hope that’s the right decision,” Luna mumbled under breath.

It felt so wrong to be second-guessing herself when it came to commanding the Night Patrollers, but there were a good number of them she legitly didn’t remember or know very well. So many Rinin had left to see the world after being recused from the factory, she barely had a day to even know their names before they left, and then a lot of them came back after she was sealed away. A lot of the familiar faces weren’t here, which made her wonder why they took the risk of sealing themselves in stone with Sixes.

“You look, troubled, Princess.” A feminine voice said. Luna had to look around before landing on the black Rinin mare with the orange braided falling out from under her helmet. It was Essex.

“Oh, no, I’m fine. I was just contemplating if it was wise to have Bulwark stay at FOB-Alpha, he strikes me as the warrior type, and I know how much they love battle.”

Essex tilted her head, her eyes hidden behind her visor. “Is Platinum at FOB-Alpha?”

Luna nodded, “Yes, she is.”

“Then he’s fine. If Platinum is close by, then he could be in hell tortured by demons and be happy as a clam. So long as nothing bad was happening to Platinum.” The Rinin shook her head. “I still can’t believe she lets him mount her. I saw his…umm lower head by accident once and couldn’t even imagine…” Essex paused, remembering who she was talking too. “Well, it’s not my place to question what a wife sees in her husband.”

Luna blinked her brain, doing a hard reboot. (Those two are married?) A part of her thought she knew that, but if that was true, then she shouldn’t be so surprised. (I really need to take the time to reacquaint myself with my ponies. This is disgraceful! They showed so much loyalty and dedication, and I can’t even remember such a simple detail about two of my own officers?)

“Yes, quite right, it’s none of our business.” Luna breezed past her insecurities and focused on the battlefield.

Well, she tried. Things were in a bit of a lull. They were steadily pushing further towards Sombra’s castle, they were encountering resistance, but not enough she needed to be involved. Heck Sombra’s children weren’t even… Luna did another hard reboot.

Stealing a spyglass from an artillery spotter pony, Luna took the risk of flying up to the crow’s nest. Vaguely she noted Essex following her as she looked through magnifying device searching fruitlessly for signs of the two sons of Sombra.

“My senses are dull.” She admitted aloud, Essex looked confused for her, while Luna ground her teeth. “I’m a fool!”

“Princess?”

Luna didn’t respond. Instead, she tapped her gemcom, opening channels to all officers. “Attention, I need verification of the presence of Sombra’s sons, Scath and Schatten, or any pony resembling them. Can any pony spot them on the battlefield?”

The gemcom rumbled, various voices reported their findings.

“This is Colonel Castle Bridge, no sightings.”

“General Cobalt, no reports from FOB-Bravo.

“Aye, Master Chief Sergeant Lucky Shamrock reporting nothin’ yet on the bleedin’ bastards.”

“Sham! Ya know how ta speak proper! So, do it ya, bampot!”

“Aye, Aye, mah Loue.”

Essex claw palmed, muttering, “Glaikit Guidman.”

Luna’s anxiety about Sombra’s sons was broken for second as she tried to recall her Clydesdale vocabulary. Only to shake her head and dismiss it. If what they were saying was urgent, then they wouldn’t be speaking in Clydesdale.

“Find them!” She ordered getting the conversation back on track. “Actively search for them! Their lack of presence is troubling.”

“Couldn’t they just be lying low recovering and waiting for you to make a move, Princess?” Essex spoke to her directly, but her words spread across the linked com channel.

“That is a sound argument.” Cobalt interjected. “Very logical. They did take a lot of damage from the fight with you and Princess Celestia.”

Luna hummed, thinking. They had a point, but this still didn’t feel right. Wouldn’t one of their siblings’ sub in or something? Scath was the second son and Schatten the fourth.

“What son was the one Topaz fought?” She asked the chat.

“The third,” Answered Bulwark, his tone deadly. “Ombre was his name.”

Essex leaned in and whispered so the others didn’t hear, “He must have hurt Platinum if Bulwark remembers his name.”

Luna nodded her understanding, thankful for the insights. She was kind of jealous that Essex just knew all of these little quirks, but once she had time, she would know everypony like a friend again.

“Schatten is the fourth son, Scath is the second, so there is at least one more son we know of for sure, the first son of Sombra,” Luna announced to the group chat. It was troubling that the mysterious first son hasn’t shown up next. Given how things used to be back Sombra’s day, the first son was the successor, and most likely is the strongest. Why is he absent from the battle?

“Is Sombra keeping his heir in the rear to keep him safe?” Luna wondered aloud. No pony could answer.

(That doesn’t seem right, Sombra was certainly never afraid to take the field. Then again, Sombra hasn’t appeared either.)

“Ya know,” Essex said. “It must have taken a long time to make an army this big and train them all, those magic cannons too. Must have taken years, right?” She said with a slight accent.

Luna frowned her brow at the Rinin, “Of course it took… years… years… yes, how many years I wonder? Is it possible Sombra is too old to take the field? She kept thinking of the Sombra she fought in the First Crystal war, a pony just below middle age in the prime of his life.

How many have passed for the Dark King? Ten, twenty, fifty? Pony's lives were usually a blip in her life. One day she was attending a baby shower. Next, she was attending that baby’s funeral after what only seemed like a few years to her, but had actually been an entire lifetime.

“I’ve been a fool again,” Luna admitted aloud. “We came here thinking we knew our enemy like the back of our hooves, but we have no idea.”

The Princess of the Night shook her head sadly, blaming this lack of foresight on rustiness or dulled instincts would be the height of irresponsibility.

“Know thyself and know thy enemy, and thou will not fear the results of a hundred battles.” She quoted a long since gone pony from even before her youth. “We do not know our enemy.”

With a healthy dose of anxiety, Luna flew into the sky, it was dangerous, but she had to see things from a different angle. She overlooked everything. Her forces clearly distinguished from the enemy. Next, she reversed her thinking, putting herself in the shoes of her enemy, putting up a hard resistance against an invading force. She looked at her own troops. On the gemcom map, everything looked so clustered together that it almost looked like a massive blob of light on the illuminated grid. Inspecting with her own eyes, she saw the truth. They were spread thin with significant gaps of space between the different units of the army. Their force wasn’t as large as it should be. When sieging a city, the old rule was to bring double to even three times as many troops stationed in the enemy stronghold

Modern weapons such as the hoof blaster, tanks, and Airships allowed a much smaller army to take on a much larger force. But how large? And could they do it when everypony was spread across such a large area?

The answer was no. Not a chance in Tartarus.

“Everypony regroup!” Luna gave the order in a moment of panic; it was evident by Cobalt’s question.
“Regroup, where?” The General asked.

Luna chewed her lip. Her choices were FOB A and B. If they grouped at Alpha they might as well prepare their retreat if she chooses Bravo, they’d have to settle down for the long fight with the possibility of being surrounded from behind.

In this critical moment that needed a split-second decision, Luna hesitated. They were so close! To regroup at Alpha would make all their progress null and void, but they could be locked in with no escape at Bravo!

Before Luna could make a choice, it was made for her. An explosive blast of magical energy came from the outside the shield, blowing up the southern wall of FOB-Alpha. A white-clad army emerged from the snowy wastelands and overran the base.

“All ponies at FOB-Alpha, retreat to Bravo!” She shouted, flying to FOB-A. Essex flew up beside her, acting as her wing pony. From the other Airship, a green blur flew parallel to them.

“Shamrock…” She began.

“Highlander can handle this! I gotta get to her quick!”

“Who are you talking about?” Luna demanded.

Essex answered, “He’s going to save Platinum. I am too if yer wondering.” She wore a profoundly concerned expression. “I could never look him in the face again if I don’t.”

Luna blinked, confused, “Who? What’s your connection to Platinum?”

“She’s family,” Essex answered, flying ahead. Luna hastened her speed after the Rinin, confused, angry, and disappointed at her self.

“Mother’s mane, how could I have let this happen?”

---

FOB-Alpha

---

Bulwark faced south. The cry of enemy battle horns drawing the entire base’s attention. He acted fast, but he didn’t run towards the enemy. Instead, he scooped up his wife and the VIPs nearby on his back and took off running. Platinum provided cover with her horn. Without her prosthetics, there was little more she could do. As they raced past the rows of medic tents, she caught sight of Fleetfoot dragging Gloves outside.

“Bully! Over there!”

The Minotaur rinin followed his wife’s command and skidded up beside the two ponies. He tossed Gloves on his back and took off running again. Fleetfoot flew beside him.

“What are we going to do?” The pegasus screamed. Enemy forces were flooding around the base. The southern wall was completely gone. There was no chance to organize a counter-attack or even defend. It was everypony for themselves. Every able-bodied pony was running, following in Bulwark’s wake.

“We need to get to Bravo, it's our only chance,” Bulwark told her. It would take a few minutes to get there, but the ponies at Bravo Base should have time to organize a proper defense. As they scaled the north wall, the two tanks they left at the base rotated their torrents backward and fired into the coming horde.

“Go!” Their crew leaders shouted over the coms. “We’ll slow them down a bit.” The rapid-fire gem blasters lit up with red bolts of magic that peppered the enemy ranks. The enemy fired back with their own green colored blasts and shields. The cannons fired, wiping out entire enemy units in one blow. The tankers weren’t holding back, using the High Explosive shells without restraint.

Bulwark reached the top of the wall and braced his legs, skidding down the slope of the earth wall. From either side, more enemy troops emerged, Platinum fired in one direction, and he spewed fire in the other. Fleetfoot fired both her hoof blasters in both directions, they weren’t even putting a dent in the swarm. Once he reached the base of the wall, Bulwark gave up attacking and just ran. He regretted wearing just heavy armor. A speed demon he was not, and armor only slowed him down more, but the locks were so elaborate to even attempt to undo them in this situation would be suicide.

A shadow flew overhead, followed by a series of explosions. Bulwark didn’t dare look, but Platinum’s gasp and cheerful shout explained everything, “AppleJazz!”

“I’ll keep them busy.” Jazz said, strafing through the enemy ranks with her wing blasters. A few more pegasuses joined her, but they were woefully outnumbered. Twenty against an entire army. Unlike the Equinox, they’d been fighting, the new arrivals revealed green crystalized insectoid wings and swarmed the sky like locus.

Behind them, the short cut screams of Equinox made a horrifying chorus as the tanks ran them over by the dozen. The boom of cannon fire and PUPUPUPU of the rapid-fire gem blasters filled the air. AppleJazz let loose a barrage of missiles and switched to her wing blades.

“Bully!”

“We can’t help her!” He shouted something landed in his path. Bulwark swerved out of the way, but the object confused him, it was a breaking wheel. An old torture device in the shape of wagon wheel made of heavy torn, this one had an extra nasty feature in the form of ax heads traveling around the wheel, in the center laid a broken black jewel. “Oh, no.” He realized as the second wheel fell from the sky, the ax head split his shoulder pad, and cut deep into his shoulder, bring their frantic run to a dead stop.

“Bulwark!” His wife screamed, crawling up his back to cast healing magic on the gaping wound.

The two breaking wheels spun and flew through the sky to their master. A deep sinister chuckle filled the air. The ground seemed to tremble as another black pony came into Bulwark’s view. This one was big, but not absurdly, he was probably twice the size of Rawhide, he wore little armor showing off his bulging muscles. His mane and horn were white.

“Greetings, welcome to the Obsidian Empire.” The Pony’s voice was a deep baritone, filled with confidence and authority. He posed before them tall and proud. “I’m Erebus, the first son, and heir to the throne.”

The Obsidian army kept running past them, leaving the first son to lord over them.

Form the sky, a scream of “Bastard!” Come from AppleJazz as she came roaring in from the air. White magic grabbed her out of the air and slammed her to the ground without mercy.

Erebus dragged the earth mare before him, delirious and bleeding from the nose and other places. He didn’t flirt with her, speak ill of her or ridicule her, Erebus merely held her down and brought forth on his breaking wheels. The disk weapon began to spin like saw blade and lower toward the mare.

“No,” Bulwark shook the others off and tried to charge, but his injuries were too significant. “Jazz! Runaway!”

He and the others could only watch as the breaking wheel lowered about to turn AppleJazz into mincemeat when a miracle happened. An energy blast struck the weapon, it stopped short of gouging Jazz’s neck, Erebus didn’t even look mad as he turned to the source.

Gloves was awake, his demonic claw smoking. He stalked silently towards the first son. Bulwark noticed his left claw began to crack, broken lava-like skin grew over his blue coat.

“Gloves…” he said warily. “Gloves, what are you doing!”

“What I need to do!” Glove’s left foreleg exploded matching his right, his coat cracked open, Glove’s entire body changed to a to match his forelegs giving him a demonic appearance. He roared, sinister red energy radiating off his body as crystal red spikes grew from his body. Standing bipedal, Gloves roared once again.

“Monster Squad B: Codename: Archfiend!”

Gloves puffed up his chest, small explosions erupted from his cracked lava-like coat. Red energy gathered in his claws, he roared as if in pain as the power built, and blasted red-colored beams at Erebus.

The first Son of Sombra blocked with his breaking wheels, smiling with amusement. The energy attacks ended, and the demonic rinin came flying from above with another blast in his claws. He tossed up one of his wheels, the spinning weapon tanked the attack, with the other he sent it arching upward. Gloves blasted it with one claw but dropped to the ground when he realized he couldn’t stop it. The demon Rinin landed behind him, doing the obvious.

“This is getting less interesting. Can’t you do something else?” Erebus yawned, blocking the attack with his wheels. He hasn’t even had to move an inch yet.

Gloves snarled, building up energy, but he didn’t fire it. Instead, he charged and slammed his claws at the intercepting breaking wheel. Between the raging red power and the spinning wheel, neither came out of on top. The rinin’s attack managed to blast the breaking wheel back, stopping its momentum, but Gloves was holding his claw with a look of pain.

“This is why the one-trick pony dies.” Erebus apathetically yawned, sending both breaking wheels at Gloves. In the corner of his eye, he spied Bulwark trying to get up. He blasted the oversized Rinin with his horn, the single-legged unicorn screamed in anguish as she crawled to him.

“Bully!” She screamed.

Letting his weapons auto-attack, Erebus stalked closer to the Rinin and Unicorn. Vaguely he noticed the others the rinin had been carrying were running off ahead to the next base. He paid them little mind; it was only a matter of time until they were captured.

“My, my, what tragedy is this play?” He inquired, the unicorn glared at him with such fire he was impressed. “Aren’t you high spirited. I’m going to guess this big lug isn’t a sibling so… lover? Yes, I can see it. This is perfect.”

“What are you…” Platinum’s question as cut off as Erebus grabbed her in his magic and brought her face to face with Bulwark. The dark Prince dropped her on the ground and pulled her leg, so it was fully extended.

“Since you have no problem laying with a one-legged mare, I figure you’ll have no issue laying a with a none legged one! But what method to sever it? Cut? Bash? Oh, how about rip?”

Bulwark’s shrunk into tiny pinpricks of rage. “Fuck you!” He fought against his pain and injuries, but Erebus’s magic held him down. The dark prince grinding his muzzle into the earth.

Erebus shook his head, “That wasn’t an option. Fine, I’ll let the lady go first. Right horn or left horn?” His magic wrapped around Bulwark’s bull horns, Platinum in tears shook her head.

“No, no, no!”

“Right, it is then.” A twist and snap! Pierced through the noise of battle, followed by Bulwark’s bull-like bellow of pain. Erebus tossed the broken horn away with disinterest. “Now ‘Bully’ your wife’s leg or maybe one of her ears? Or perhaps a horn for a horn?”

“Take mine!” Bulwark gasped, fighting through the pain. “My horn, my ears, whatever! Just don’t hurt her!”

Erebus frowned. “So, you’re that type of pony. Noble, but not very interesting… wait, wait, wait. I know how to spin this! Somepony bring me a prisoner!”

“Right here, sir!” A white-clad Equinox led a mixed group of chained Equestrian soldiers to the group. Two unicorns, one pegasus, and two earth ponies.”

Erebus nodded with delight, “Good, good. Now since you’re willing to take the torture for your lover, you must instead torture your friends in her stead. Something fun, yes, I want you to burn…”

Before he could even finish his sentence, Bulwark incinerated the entire group. Stunning all of the Obsidian forces by his sheer brutality, even Erebus was taken aback, but a smile quickly spread across his lips. The subdued sobs of Platinum like a melody to his ears. He gazed upon the tearful mare, her single leg covering her eyes.

“Amazing, you knew he would do it, didn’t you, mare?” Platinum just continued to cry. “This! This is why I love, love! Everypony thinks it’s some beautiful emotion, but it’s it truly the darkest and most evil emotion of pony kind! Look, my friends, look at what love drove this pony to do. For his love, he killed five comrades without a second thought! This is true entertainment! Yet, I wonder, can this mare except the barbarism displayed by her lover? I would like to see, please feel free to comfort each other.”

Erebus let Platinum go but kept Bulwark subdued. If the rinin’s head hadn’t been pressed into the ground unable to turn, that fire could have easily been aimed at him. While waiting for Platinum to crawl to her lover, Erebus spared a glance at Gloves. The demonic rinin was still fighting. More red energy was misting of his body, but it was clear he was slowing down.

“Must be some sort of berserker form.” The formerly blue rinin was so focused on fighting his weapons that he didn’t even attempt any other tactic other than a full-frontal assault. He had expected more, really.

A soldier spoke, “Milord.”

Erebus turned his attention back to the couple, surprised to see Platinum hugging her lover’s neck and kissing him deeply. From here, he could hear her honeyed words as they broke for air.

“It’s ok, I still love you. I love you. I love you so much. I know anything means anything, even if it’s bad. I forgive you. Don’t worry, I forgive you.”

Erebus remained amazed by the couple, a bit envious if he were to say so. (Is this true love? Heartful and warm, yet dark and twisted? I wish I had a mare like that. I would steal her, but I’m so impressed, I would hate to separate this rare treasure of the world.)

“I like you two.” He said suddenly, much to the surprise of everypony. “Segundo spread the word, these two are not to be killed if they are, the ponies responsible will have their rectums pulled out through their mouths. Understood?”

Segundo, the second in command under Erebus, bowed statically. “Of course, I’ll spread those exact words.”

“Good now, where to safely keep these two?” He pondered, only for a blast to hit him in the back. Erebus saw red and whipped around and then literally saw red, Gloves was practically on top of him! Two full charged claw blasts ready. The dark prince felt for his breaking wheels, but Gloves blasted him in the muzzle, blinding him as the demonic energy singed his white hair when his vision cleared, he saw his own weapons flying at him!

“Whoa!” He stopped the breaking wheels, his own ax head just inches from his own face! He couldn’t help but chuckle! “Amazing! Was that on purpose or a fluke? I wonder.”

Turning his head, Erebus saw Gloves trying to lift Bulwark and Platinum. The mare he had over his shoulder, but Bulwark, even if the minotaur rinin wasn’t held down by Erebus’s magic, the smaller Rinin wasn’t carrying him anywhere.

Erebus clapped for the demonic rinin’s efforts. “I am impressed, but no. You’re not taking them.”

“Gloves, if you don’t drop me and get Platinum out of here, I’m going to kill you!” Bulwark bellowed darkly.

“I believe you, but I’m not leaving you to die!” Gloves grumbled in reply with herculean amounts of determination, the blazing red Rinin squatted and lifted with his knees managing to lift the one-ton pony exactly one inch before collapsing.

The Dark prince continued to clap, genuinely impressed by the feat of strength Gloves displayed. “The strength! I have not seen such a display since the strong circus pony lifted five mares above his head. You rinin, what marvels you are.”

“My lord, I know your having fun, but we should press our advantage. Lord Sombra would scold you if he saw you overindulging.” Segundo advised, earning a displeased look from his lord and future king.

“Is Tercero not doing just that?” Erebus demonstrated his point by looking at his third in command, who was leading the charge on the Equestrian second dirt fort. “He seems to be doing a fine job. Being a ruler means delegating right, my friend?”

Segundo sighed, “If you say so, my lord.”

Erebus patted the haggard Equinox on the back. “Cheer up, you’re my right hoof pony, my oldest friend, and soon to be my closest advisor! Revel in the thrill of battle with me! Enjoy it!”

Segundo’s lips curled up for a moment. “There, I smiled. Can we please say on track, sir? You can’t become king if you lose this battle. While I’m ‘advising you,’ please refrain from letting the enemy hit you on purpose.”

“Why I never! Are you saying I let that fiery little Rinin hit from behind on purpose?”

“Yes, you did.”

The Dark Prince pouted. “It barely tickled, don’t worry about it.”

“He could have killed you!”

“And that’s what makes this so much fun.”

“Where does this… this… insane behavior even come from Erebus!”

The Prince smiled with pride, “My mother, Red Rum.”

Segundo shuttered at the mere mention of the name. Of all of Sombra’s wife’s that he took after their journey into the void, that mare was truly and utterly disturbed. She had been a red-haired beauty with a sparkling midnight blue coat that shimmered like silk with tiny demonic pinprick eyes that held not an ounce of sanity. She was the only mother that wasn’t forced to serve as a maid to their child, no instead she was locked away in a quarter section of the castle and left alone. Her mad cackles were heard for years, and some say they still heard them, even though the mare in question has long since passed.

She had been a mare obsessed with death, drank poison regularly, and even fed it to her son. Her fur had become toxic to the touch. It was said to melt a pony’s hoof off if one touched her for more then a minute. Whenever there was a rebellious wave in the captured populace of the Crystal Ponies. Just the mere mention of letting that mare out was enough to quell any rebellion.

For a short period before her death, Erebus was under her study, Sombra reluctantly agreed to his first lover’s demand to teach the child. It was after she finished Erebus ‘education’ that she took her own life. No pony, safe for maybe Erebus knew why, and he wouldn't tell.

(She also killed the mother of Lord Scath, Lord Ombre, and Lord Schatten before taking her life. Lady Zil’s mother died later, but some say Red Rum was still the cause. Thankfully Lady Cien’s and Lady Skaggi’s mothers didn’t have to deal with her.)

Since then, those tragic events, a strange power manifested in the Dark Prince. Only Segundo Erebus’s closest friend knew about it. The power unknown bordered on the fantastic, and he dare not ask about it. The Dark Prince knew a disturbing amount knowledge of things he shouldn’t know, things no pony could know.

Erebus suddenly turned towards the castle. “Hmm… so father and Cien are engaging in some fun with some intruders. They’re in the playground. Perfect. See Segundo, there is nothing to worry about. Father is slacking off too.” He chuckled.

“How do you know that, my lord?”

“Oh, I just know.” The dark prince said mysteriously. “As I know, Princess Luna and two others will show up in 3…2…1…now.” Erebus’s breaking wheels suddenly came to life and blocked the incoming star blades from Princess Luna. He didn’t even turn away from his conversation to greet the princess. “See?”

“Amazing, sir, but could you please be less nonchalant about this?” Segundo said with panic.

He sighed, “I guess. Run along, I’ll be fine.”

---

Luna clenched her teeth; her star blades sparked up a storm against the sturdier breaking wheels. It was taking all she had to reinforce her own weapons with magic to keep Sombra’s newest offspring from grinding them down into metal sand.

(I don’t know what’s more irritating, the fact he’s uses a similar weapon, is this powerful, or the fact he’s not even looking at me!)

She hasn’t faced a being this arrogant since Discord. “Face me, cretin!” Luna fired a magic blast, but the wheels intercepted the attack automatically while continuing to keep her own weapons occupied.

(What enchantment does that?) Pulling her blades back. Luna gained some distance and relaunched her star blades, controlling them to fly in a very intricate pattern. One was intercepted, but the other slipped by a hair’s breadth and went for Sombra’s son’s neck. Only for the most outrageous thing to happen, her star blade, the one gifted to her by King Kusanagi, made by the finest metalworkers in all of Nippon flew apart! The pivot pin went flying, and the two halves of the weapons veered off in different directions.

“Out of the way, Princess!” Came Essex’s strained warning, the rinin mare came flying in fast, her chest puffed up to wild proportions as liquid fire spilled from her teeth. Hot Lava flew from Essex’s mouth, the free Breaking Wheel intercepted the attack, becoming covered in molten rock and falling to the ground with a hard thud. “Ha!”

The hardened rock shook, and the breaking wheel broke free, flying back to its master.

Essex glared at the weapons while taking up a guard position next to Luna, the two mares eyed their enemy warily. The pony next to the dark Prince saluted and ran off, and he finally turned to face them.

“Good day, your highness nice day for a war, no?” Erebus greeted with a disarming smile, not that Luna or Essex dropped their guard. “I’m Erebus, the first son of Sombra and heir to the throne. My aid informed me that you had already fought all of my brothers, yes?”

Luna kept her guard up, but took the chance to speak politely with the Dark Prince, his strange power needed investigating, and maybe he was arrogant enough to be forthcoming about it. Most villains got caught up in their own power and explained it in stupidly good detail, making countering it easy. The number of idiots that did that was as many as the feathers on her wings.

“I’m sure you already know this, but I’m Princess Luna Selene Solaris of Equestria, my companion is Essex. To answer your question, I’ve faced your brothers Scath and Schatten, the third, Ombre? Was defeated by one of my commanders before my arrival.”

“Hmm, I’ll have to tease him mercilessly about that later. He always did think with his dick more than his brain, probably got jumped while chasing down mares. Speaking of mares, I see you’ve brought quite a few to the battlefield. Is this common practice in Equestria, or are your stallions just weak? It must be hard for you and Celestia to find mates.” He grinned smugly. “We could end this war now, you know? Why must we fight? A union between our two nations would be quite the powerhouse.”

Luna rolled her eyes, knowing where this was going, “Let me guess, then world domination?”

“Actually no,” Retorted Erebus. “That would be pointless. Spreading the empire far and wide is fine, but if we don’t plant our roots deep and gain the support of the occupied populace, rebellion tends to creep up. Maybe my grandchildren can take over the next nation or my siblings and raise an army and go take land for their own, but I will be stopping at Equestria.”

Luna opened and closed her mouth several times, her brain taking a second to process what the dark prince was saying and was objectively horrified. (Crap, he is not actually insane?)

“I can see my answer shocked you, princess. To be honest, I’m only going through with this plan because of father, but if you were to accept my proposal, I will claim my birthright right here and now and bring his head to you. You could end this war with two words, Princess.”

The offer was too good. Way too good. It seemed so simple, and it’s not like something like this has never happened in history before. Hell, Celestia had agreed to such a marriage once in the era of city-states. Of course, that fell apart once Celestia’s husband died, but it bought a good few decades of peace.

“Princess,” Essex’s tone could freeze the fires of hell. Luna spared a glance at the rinin who had her hackles raised, and her ire was directed at her. “If ya agree to this, I’ll kill ya here.”

Maybe it was because she didn’t know Essex, but the statement came at a surprise and with a lot of emotion and genuine wrath. It made Luna think she had ripped Essex’s pet or something in half.

Whatever the cause for Essex's threat to her life, it cleared Luna’s mind. “How could I ever trust such an offer? Do you take me for a fool?”

Erebus laughed, “Of course not. I would be more than willing for you to place a double-edged curse on me to prove how serious I am.”

Essex cocked her head, “Double what now?”

“Double-edged curse, it’s an old rune, one Celestia, and I used a lot back in the more chaotic days before Equestria,” Luna explained. “To keep two nations or tribes from warring we’d usually broker a union with marriage, to ensure they wouldn’t go back on the treaty, we placed a seal that if either pony under the curse broke the terms, then both would die.” Luna felt Essex’s judgment burn into the back of her skull, but ignored her. “Basically, you agree to let me place a seal on you with the terms that if you killed your father and end the war, I swear to marry you.”

He nodded.

“You can’t be serious.”

“I am.”

(What angle is he playing here? That curse can’t be altered once it’s placed, and tampering results in death. So why would he want… it… oh…I see now)

It was Luna’s turn to smirk. “I see now. I know what you’re really after.”

“And what’s that?” Erebus answered curiously.

“Immortality, if you’re bound to a double edge cursed seal with the conditions, married until death, as long as I don’t get assassinated, you get to live for as long as I do. The drawback is if you're killed, it sucks for me, but if you word the curse right, you can avoid a natural death for hundreds if not thousands of years.”

“An interesting theory Princess, but you hardly have any proof.”

“History is my proof Erebus, I’ve seen Fathers and mothers kill their own offspring in pursuit of immortality, children killing parents too, it’s a sad cycle.”

The dark prince merely smiled wistfully, shaking his head, “So you’ve seen through me. Experience is truly a frightening thing, but you’ve missed a few things.”

“Like what?”

“That proposal wasn’t mine; it was my father's.”

“WHAT! That’s impossible! Sombra would never…”

“Age is a funny thing, princess. What is life to an old, ill pony whose days are numbered? Wouldn’t that pony want to do something for his offspring? Something that would ensure his bloodline forever?”

“That’s… that’s…ok, I can see Sombra doing that, just for himself.”

Erebus looked at her sadly. “The pony you knew is gone. My father has as he says ‘ripened with age’ that being said, it’s not like the plan is a failure even if you reject me. I mean, all it means is I will have to kill every pony here, but you and Celestia, cut off your legs, horn, and tongue, place the curse and be done with it. And as an added bonus, I can stay single too. Really the marriage offer was just us being kind. Speaking of your sister, has she recovered from her concussion yet? I would like to exchange witty barbs with her before cutting out her tongue.”

(How the hell does he know about Celestia’s injury! No pony beside a few officers and some on Spitfire’s crew should know that. A traitor is impossible! No pony even knew Sombra existed until we told them he did!)

“I can see your surprise, so it is true.”

“How?” Growled Luna, spinning her star blade. “You couldn’t have read my mind!”

“I need nothing so complex. My mother told me is all. Oh, wait, sorry it was Aunt Lily, it’s so hard to keep track of them sometimes.”

The look on Luna’s face was confusion. Nothing about Erebus was adding up, his strange weapons, his knowledge about current events. It made her uneasy. Was there an assassin watching Celestia waiting for a chance to strike?

“Essex, go back to base and guard my sister.”

“She should stay, she won’t be able to do anything anyway.” Erebus chimed in. “I can tell what your thinking, don’t worry, your sister is safe. Aunt Lily can’t hurt her. She can only report on what she sees. Ah, Celestia is muttering something, hard to tell what, though.”

Luna lashed out with her remaining star blade, firing barrage of magic blasts and taking flight. The breaking wheels responded automatically, deflecting her weapon and blocking her blasts. She fired another three, with Essex acting as her wing pony. The female rinin breathed lava, which fell like flaming rain. Erebus threw up an umbrella shield, and his wheels took off after them.

Essex yelled, “Fuck off!” Shooting fireballs to try and stop the breaking wheels. The circler weapons plowed through the flames, so she spat lava, but they broke through that too before it could harden. As a last resort, Essex fired her hoof blaster, firing until the barrels turned red and then engaged in high-speed maneuvers to avoid being crushed between the two iron wheels.

With the weapons occupied, Luna dived for Erebus, the dark princess had yet to move, but his eyes were on her. (Does he really not need to even look at his weapons to control them?)

Enchanting her star blade with magic. Luna let fly the four-bladed gun and observed it. Teal light energy protruded from the spinning edges, capable of cutting through most shields and flesh like a hot knife through butter.

The First son remained still, unconcerned about the incoming attack, the star blade come within two feet of him, aiming for his neck. Then it was smacked to the ground, like volleyball. The star blade bounced harmlessly away, coming to a haunt in the blackened earth.

With narrowed eyes, Luna flashed her horn and muttered a soft chant. “Show me things that can not be seen, reveal all truths to me, Sight Beyond Sight!” The Night Princess’s eyes glowed with magic, changing her view of the world. She looked upon the dark prince and found him embraced by a pony shaped specter, a ghost. More specifically, it was a mare, a tall ghostly unicorn clung to the prince nuzzling him lovingly with a smile that would make children cry. An aura of black magic surrounded her.

“What is that!” Luna cried, pointing at the Prince.

Erebus, as if he could see her, patted the mare’s head with affection. “So, you can see mother, it’s rude not to introduce yourself.”

“Mother… but she shouldn’t be here! She’s dead, ghosts can’t stay that long in this plan of existence unless bound! Did you soul bind your own mother?”

He shook his head. “No, of course not. She bound herself to me, as well as the sister wives of my brothers. She used the Grim Reapers Ritual to become a guardian spirit. She is quite a loving mother, wanting to protect me even after dying or rather killing herself to protect me.”

Luna glanced at the breaking wheels, their mysterious revealed to her, it was no rune that moved them, but two poor chained souls, who screamed in agony as they controlled the weapons. The chains of black magic extended to Erebus’s mother, who was controlling them.

(She killed them, just so they could be her slaves in death. What an evil bitch, no wonder Sombra mated with her.)

To the uneducated Dark Magic and Black magic might be the same thing, and they were similar, but Dark Magic was confused for Black magic by almost everypony. Dark Magic wasn’t evil magic. It was magic fueled by dark emotions, negative energy, darkness, shadows, it was natural in every creature.

Black Magic was evil. It was magic used by witches and their ilk and required sacrifice, usually in the form of another. The purer and more innocent, the better. Its uses were varied and numerous, but black magic was nasty and only benefited the user, so long as they keep a steady supply of sacrifices ready.

“Your mother is a witch or was a witch.”

“I am aware.”

“Do you not care for the souls of your ‘aunts’?”

Erebus shrugged, “They’re not my mothers, but they are grateful. Through me, they can protect their own sons, my brothers.”

“How laughable,” Luna sneered. “As if you care for them. My sister and I nearly killed Scath, and Schatten and Ombre lost a leg, and you did nothing!”

An invisible force suddenly punched Luna in the muzzle. In the corner of her eye, she saw a ghost with a faint yellow outline.
“That made Aunt Lily Lemon mad. She’s Ombre’s mother, by the way,” Erebus informed her. His tone was calm, but white magic poured off his bristled black coat in tranquil fury. “And I’m quite displeased myself. Aunt Skyla, Aunt Rosy.”
The two breaking wheels broke off the chase of Essex and changed course for Luna. The Night Princess threw up a shield, but the two metal wheels suddenly teleported right in front of her! Giving her no time to react. One hit her shoulder, her armor flying apart, and the other hit her left foreleg, her boot went flying, but it wasn’t done, it clipped her wing, and Luna suddenly found herself heading towards the ground.

(What the hell?)

“I got you!” Essex cried. The rinin’s teeth bit into her neck, and Luna felt her world spin as she was tossed onto Essex’s back. The world kept spinning as the rinin mare made sharp turns and dives at random. “Are you ok, Princess?”

“No,” She groaned in reply. “Please tell me I still have my leg.”

Essex waited to reply. “Well… it’s not on the ground.”

Luna felt for her foreleg and was relieved to feel it still there, minus the bone sticking out of it. “Gods! How could I be so careless!”

Righteous anger boiled inside her. The Breaking Wheels were on their tail, and Luna had enough of them. She leaped off Essex’s back, her black cloak spreading across the sky like a storm. (TIME TO WAKE UP FREELOADER!)

Deep, deep inside Luna’s mindscape, the cackle of Nightmare Moon rose like an opera pitch. (ABOUT TIME!)

The Dark cloak grew in size, forming two claws of darkness that could fit an adult dragon into their palms. “CRUSH!” Luna screamed her voice distorted with another; her eyes whited out.

The claws of darkness grabbed the spinning wheels and closed its appendages around them, pulled back, and then snapped like a pitcher. The breaking wheels smashed into the ground, but Luna wasn’t done, the dark cloak reshaped its self into a full flat wall, but its target wasn’t Erebus. Black spike grew from the wall and shot out spears of darkness upon the army the dark Princes had brought.

There had to be over ten thousand. Celestia was usually the artillery caster, but Luna wasn’t a worthless one, just not as good. Thousands of black spears ravaged the enemy ranks, cutting out an entire swath from the massive army. She wanted to help the FOB, but they would have to hold out without her.

The dark cloak continued to grow.

“Erebus! Face me if you dare!”

The dark prince casually walked towards his weapons; his casual attitude persisted despite her wrath. Which only served to fuel it more. The dark cloak spread even further swords of darkness, buzz saws, axes, and other weapons manifested and took aim at Erebus, who reached his breaking wheels.

He looked up to her with a smirk. “Checkmate.”

Erebus’s breaking wheels come to life again, turning pure white, the broken crystals shining with purifying light. The wheels flew at Luna, who countered with her cloak, but the darkness gave way to the holy rays, the black void vanished. Luna poured more power into the mantle, but it was no use.

Light beat Dark.

She took a second hit from the one-ton wheels. Pieces of her armor flew everywhere, and she fell towards the ground in slimily slow motion. Essex was trying to get to her, but to no avail, the breaking wheels were keeping her at bay. Luna couldn’t help but smile at her own foolishness.

(To think I still wouldn’t learn this lesson. To give into darkness doesn’t work.)

Inside her mind, Nightmare Moon pouted. (I tried to help!)

(I know.)

She closed her eyes and waited for the pain, but something caught her attention, something coming from up above. A roar, a whinnying roar the shook the air. Luna opened her eyes again to see a black shadow descending rapidly towards her, it’s clawing desperately outstretched.

“LUNA!”

It was inappropriate, or maybe it wasn’t, but tears filled her eyes as she happily cried out, “SIXES!”

---

Chapter Bonus
Stat Card 1

Author's Note:

I kind of hate breaking up this chapter, but the stuff I wrote after the end I decided would work better as the beginning of the next chapter.

If you read this far I hope everyone checks out the Stat card, I thought it would be something fun that some might find interesting.