Canterlot in Flames, Chapter 7

So, I am going to publish Canterlot in Flames, Chapter 7: Drums in the deep, here shortly. Likely sometime tonight, since it's the middle of the day and I am pretty sure not all of my subscribers are out of school yet like I am.

So, a few things about this chapter.

So, before I go into the real deep and gritty stuff, "Drums in the deep" refers both to the sound artillery makes when you hear it fired from a distance, (aka, Distant Thunder) and the chapter in J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring in which the goblins attack the Fellowship.

Now onto the serious stuff.

Drums in the deep is the first real taste of urban combat for this story, and as such it's the darkest I've published so far (Chapter 8 will be perhaps slightly better, slightly worse in this regard.), to do this I've drawn from my background as a shameless history nerd.

First off, when I was thinking of what Canterlot would look like during this chapter, and the chapter that follows, I wanted to draw upon a really destructive urban enviroment, and so I settled on the city pictured below.

That is 1940's London, (St Paul's Cathedral is pictured undamaged in the background), during the German bombing, known as "The Blitz", the objective of which was to force the Capital of England to surrender, and thus allow the Germans to invade England. The Blitz lasted from September 7th, 1940, until May 21st 1941. Of the 16 British cities attacked during the Blitz by German HE-111, Bf-109, and Ju-88 medium bombers, London was attacked 71 times. The primary bomb payload consisted of HE (High Explosive) and Incendiary bombs that caused large areas of London to be wreathed in flames.

In fact, the bells from the end of the last chapter on the guard armories, are a reference to the sirens from the Blitz.

(Civil Air Raid Sirens, as used in WWII London, singling an incoming air raid followed by the "all clear" signal)

Also from WWII, JSS's "Lady Killer" is this gun.

(German 80 cm Schwerer Gustav Railroad Gun)

This gun is fired twice in the chapter, I won't tell you what happens though.

But, setting the scene inside the chapter isn't all about the background, nor the weapons used. It is more about the ponies, and the horrors they're about to face inside the city. To that effect, there is a scene in the chapter I took almost verbatim from a movie I watched a few years ago.

I won't tell you what that scene is, though, but there will be a video linked at the end of the chapter that will be that scene.

Anyway, I think I've rambled enough. For those of you who read the chapter, I thank you profusely! For those who do not, I do not blame you, it took me ages to write it because I hated seeing ponies suffer.

But, sadly, suffer they shall in this chapter.

Until next time,

~Sylvian