//------------------------------// // Ch. 2: Dale In Flames // Story: The Legend of Steele Breaker: Book One-The Twisted Queen // by duvagr007 //------------------------------// Chapter 2 In which we meet our foe. Princess Luna sat upon her throne, idly twirling her crown around in her magic. Night court had been rather slow, as it always seemed to be these past few months. She looked around the Royal Throne Room, taking in the grandeur of it all. Large, marble columns rose up along either side of a long hall, with a roof that stretched up higher than the forest that surrounded them. The great glass ceiling gave a perfect view into her night sky. A small smile spread across her muzzle as she looked at one of her favorite constellations. Tracing it out in her mind's eye, a great bear began to take shape. She closed her eyes, and imagined herself up there among the stars, playing with her constellations. A small sigh escaped her mouth, and her eyes opened again. She turned her gaze downward to her two most loyal guards, Noctis and Stella. Noctis was a rather large thestral stallion, certainly much larger than his comrades. His deep indigo coat contrasted starkly with his white mane, and his broad, powerful shoulders filled out his polished steel armor nicely. Stella was much the opposite, though she shared his darker coat, it was closer to purple. Her blue mane gave a nice compliment, and her small frame (even by thestral standards) meant her armor actually had to be custom made. Both of them stood straight and unblinking, spears at the ready and eyes forward, ready to defend their princess with their lives. At the other end of the long throne room sat two more guards, though Luna could not remember their names. They stood on either side of a massive wooden door, the main entrance into the throne room. The door itself was inlaid with an intertwining dance of silver and gold, diamond and ruby, a precious metal and stone to represent each herself and her sister. Luna sighed again, for the umpteenth time that night. She placed her crown back upon her head, and pulled a stack of books out from behind her throne. Looking at her collection, she selected one she had not yet read, and opened it up to the first page. It seemed to be some form of romance novel, as only a few pages in there were already very cheesy lines and gooey dialogue. Disgusting. She read on with gusto, eager to see what sort of calamities might befall this 'Stricken Heart' stallion. Her desires would be denied however, as just as it seemed things were taking a turn for the worse, the doors burst open. In came one of her night guards, galloping at full speed towards her throne. He had a panicked look in his eyes, and he nearly collapsed when he reached the base of the dais. He quite gracefully turned his collapse into a kneeling bow. "My Princess! There's been an attack!" Luna's eyes widened a bit at this. It seemed something interesting had finally happened during Night Court, though it wasn't quite what she had hoped for. "Catch your breath, and rise. Tell Us, what have you seen?" Luna stood, and walked gracefully down the steps of the dais, her regalia clinking softly against the marble surface. The stallion did as he was commanded and stood, though he did not meet her eye. Luna rolled hers, and knelt her front hooves to be at eye level with the guard. His eyes flitted away. "It's the town of Dale your highness, it's under attack. We could not make out much detail from our post, but there was smoke, and the glow of flame illuminating the area. It... it was green, Princess. An unnatural, evil green. We could make out the forms of some kinds of creatures flitting about the sky. They moved like insects, darting this way and that at random. Fast too." Luna stood at this, unsure of what this could mean. She had heard of no such creature in her four-hundred years of rule. A new race from the East perhaps? Nopony had yet to explore past the mountain ranges on the far borders of the Gryphon Tribes. It was of little consequence where these creatures were from however, as they were attacking her ponies. Something they would soon regret. "Stella, Noctis, with Us. You, guard, what is your name?" "Decanus Chroma Dusk your highness." Dusk threw a hoof across his chest in salute. "Thank you for bringing this to Our attention Decanus. Report to your Centurion, and have him ready his cohort. We must mobilize rapidly. Dismissed, now go!" "Yes Princess!" And with one more salute, Chroma Dusk ran off to the barracks to alert his superior on the situation. Luna began walking towards the main hall door, Stella and Noctis in tow. "My sister must be alerted to the situation.... Stella, you are the faster flyer. Go to her chambers, rouse her from her slumber. She may wish to bring her own forces into this." The Thestral mare spread her leathery wings, and with nothing but a nod, shot into the sky. A sky shaking boom could be heard a moment later as she shattered the sound barrier. A few moments later, a deep, bellowing horn sounded through the night. A signal to alert the soldiers on patrol to immediately report the their Centurions in the barracks. "Your highness, should Princess Celestia not wish to get her tin soldiers involved, do you think a single cohort will be enough?" Noctis looked at his princess with concern on his face. "Truthfully my friend, We have no idea. However, we do not wish to throw everything at nothing, nor would it be wise to go full force against a potentially highly skilled opponent. We wish to gauge this new enemy's strength so as to better confront it in the future. All of the night watch are from the tenth cohort, so we shall see how they fare against this enemy." Noctis nodded slowly in understanding. He and Luna now stood outside, staring out into the forest where a soft green glow could just be seen through the gaps in the trees. Behind him, he could hear the marching of near 500 ponies of the Tenth Nocturnal Cohort. At it's lead was the Pilus Prior known as Silver Spear. Noctis turned his head to look at them, their steel armor shining brightly in the moonlight. Silver Spear halted his stallions, then approached Luna. "Your Highness," he said, saluting. "The Tenth Cohort has assembled as you requested. We are ready to march and defend Dale at your word." The Pilus's eyes met Noctis's, and both of the stallions nodded in acknowledgement of one another. "You have it. Keep those citizens safe Pilus." Silver Spear bowed his head slightly, then turned to face his cohort. "Stallions! You've been informed of our duty tonight by your Centurions! Move out at their discretion! Go!" A resounding 'Hoo-ah!' came from the cohort, and they trudged off in the direction of Dale. Hopefully they would arrive in time. __________ Steele and Gauntlet were running down the path into town at full speed, which for Gauntlet was rather slow. He wasn't far behind however, his old age and armor being balanced out with surging adrenaline. Trees whizzed past them as they jumped over roots and overgrowth. They could hear ponies screaming down the road, and the heat of the flames was reaching them even now. As they grew closer to the edge of the trees, they even began to see ponies running in the other direction. Most were simply screaming their heads off, but some got a few words of warning in as they ran from the blaze. "Run for your lives!" "They're monsters! Monsters!!" "They killed my husband!" Steele nearly turned tail and joined them, but he knew he had to do what he could to help. Fighting back his fear, he carried on through the trees. He and Gauntlet came skidding to a halt as they finally made it to the edge of town. What Steele saw nearly made him lose whatever remained within his stomach. The bodies of ponies littered the streets, stallions, mares, and foals alike. Some looked as though they had merely been beaten or stabbed, but a few unfortunate souls suffered far worse. Decapitation and disembowelment were among the more gruesome deaths. The smell of death and blood hit Steele's nose like a charging minotaur. He looked around, trying to find any of the creatures that had done this, when a scream to the right drew his and Gauntlet's attention. There was an older mare being chased by some sort of... bug pony. It was about the same size as a full grown stallion, but very slender. It was solid black save for a bit of dark blue on its back. It had large fangs inside its maw, and legs that didn't look like they'd support much weight with all the holes they possessed. It was buzzing closely behind the mare using wings that seemed far to small for this thing to be able to fly. Steele brought up his sword, and mentally prepared himself to rush in and save this mare, but Gauntlet held a hoof across his chest. "No! I'll get this one, you go and save that marefriend of yours!" Gauntlet gave his nephew no time to respond as he charged in and tackled the creature out of the air. Steele went to protest, as Ember was not his marefriend, but decided now was not the best time. He merely did as his uncle suggested, and took off into the burning town. Steele looked around at all of the chaos as he ran, dodging over dead ponies as he did so. Nearly the entire town was bathed in green flame, though it did not seem to be consuming any of the buildings. It simply spread around, giving off an eerie green light. As he ran, two of the creatures from before slammed into the ground in front of him. Their alien mouths open wide, a loud hiss emanating from both of them. Now that they weren't moving so fast, Steele could get a better look at them. On top of the bug like appearance, they also possessed horns, which likely meant they were capable of some kind of magic. Instead of eyes, they had large, soulless lenses of a light blue color. Despite not having any sort of pupils to speak of, Steele could tell they were staring right at him. He brought his sword up, and got himself ready for his very first real fight. The creature on the left lunged at him, and he rolled to the right, swinging his sword out as he did so. He felt it connect with something, so he followed through, and pained scream came from the creature as Steele came up to his feet from the roll. He looked, and saw that he had left a rather large gash down the thing's side, green ooze pouring from the wound. Smirking, Steele got ready to finish it off when something heavy and hard impacted his side. Like a fool, he had forgotten about the other one. The force of the impact knocked Steele onto his back and caused him to drop his sword, the bug quickly jumping on top of him, trying to finish the job. Wrestling with it hoof to... well, hoof for lack of a better word, he searched the ground with his magic, trying to find his dropped weapon. The bug atop him kept trying to get inside his guard, snarling all the while, saliva spewing onto Steele's face. Finally finding his blade, a new problem in a long list came up: the other one was holding it in its mouth. Steele began to tug, but it's grip was too strong. The one on top of him landed a blow on Steele's head, breaking his concentration. This gave the other enough time to jump into the air and plunge the blade straight towards Steele. Steele wasn't sure what took hold of him in that moment, but his body reacted to the situation all on its own. He rolled his belly towards the creature with his sword, bringing the other with him, and kicked out with his back legs, sending the bug on top careening into the other, impaling itself on his blade. This caused the one with the sword to drop it, the force of the impact shattering its fangs. Steele rolled to his hooves, and grabbed his weapon off the ground with his magic. He slowly walked over to the two bugs, the first one trying to push its dead comrade off of itself. It looked at the stallion and hissed, a promise to kill him once it was free. Steele didn't give it the chance, plunging his sword into its skull. He pulled the blade from the bug, and looked down at what he had done. This time he did lose his dinner from the night prior. After the adrenaline wore off, the thought of killing was very unsettling, even if it was a life or death battle. Wiping his mouth and giving the bodies one final sideways glance, he took off back on the hunt for his friend. Steele hung a right, and then a left onto the street Ember lived on. She likely wasn't at home, but he figured it was as good a place as any to start. Her house came into view, and Steele was glad to see that it had not yet been consumed by flames. As he grew closer however, something happened he did not expect. A large explosion shook the home, proper red flame vomiting into the night sky above. What remained of the structure collapsed in on itself, now burning brightly. Steele quickened his pace, praying to the Sisters that his friend was still alive. Sliding on the loose dirt as he made a sharp turn, Steele then lunged into the burning building. He placed his sword in front of him, using the pommel to know away burning debris in his path. "Ember," he called out, hoping against hope that he'd get a response. "Hello!? Ember! Ember are you here?!" No luck. He lowered his sword, looking about the collapsed and burning home, praying that he might spot something through the smoke and ash. He coughed a bit, and was about to head out out when he heard a faint noise over the roar of the flames. "Steele?" His head snapped to the origin of the sound, and he pushed through flame and debris as he walked to where it had came from. "Ember? Ember is that you!?" "Steele?" There, he saw her! She was pinned under a fallen support, her hind leg having gotten caught under its weight as it fell. Otherwise she looked fine, a few scratches and scrapes here and there, but alive. He set his sword down, and knelt beside his friend. "Oh Luna... Ember, are you okay?" She looked up at him, one eye stuck shut from some blood caking her coat, and gave him a weak smile. "I'm- *cough* I'm fine. Just a couple scratches. They'll heal. Now, get this beam off of me, would ya?" Steele chuckled a bit at his friend's resilience, and stepped back. Grabbing the offending wood in his magic, he began to heave with all of his mental fortitude. Not one much for powerful magic, he was only able to lift it slightly, but it was enough for Ember to pull her leg free. Steele dropped the beam, allowing it to hit the ground with a solid thud. He rushed to Ember's side as she began to stand, but collapsed back down again when she tried to stand on the leg that had been pinned down. "Whoa, easy now Ember. That leg of your is probably sprained, if not broken. Here, lean into me, and we'll get out of this building." She looked at him, and nodded. Standing more slowly this time, she pressed her weight into him, shakily standing on three hooves. After a moment of her getting her balance, they began to slowly move out of the burning building, Steele doing his best to steer them away from the flames and keep Ember on her hooves. After what seemed like an eternity, they finally made it out into the street, Ember almost instantly falling to the ground once they were safe. "Oh wow... I thought I was going to die in there. Steele, if you hadn't come along I-" He shushed her with a hoof to her mouth, and lay on the ground beside her. "Don't think about that now. The important thing is you're safe, and I'm here to make sure it stays that way. Now then, let's rest here a bit, and then work out what to do next, okay?" She looked at him, the fear slowly fading from her eyes. Nodding slightly, she rested her head on his shoulder, sobbing softly. He placed a hoof around her, doing his best to comfort her. Another part of the house fell behind them, sending embers into the sky. Steele looked around, trying to keep an eye out for any more of those creatures. He heard something off to the south, his ears perking and pointing in that direction. He turned his head to try and see where the sound was coming from, and he nearly started crying as well. Though these would be tears of joy, rather than fear and pain. It was the Lunar Legion! They had come to defend the town it seemed, and several of them were moving in he and Ember's direction. "Hey," Steele called out, waving his free hoof to get their attention. Ember picked her head up to see what was going on, and her mood brightened almost instantly. "Over here!" One of the stallions pulled ahead of the others, quickly closing the gap between them and the two friends collapsed on the ground. "Hail citizen. We are soldiers of the Tenth Nocturnal Cohort, First Century. My name is Decanus Chroma Dusk. Are you injured?" The Decanus reached out a hoof to Steele, one which he gladly accepted, and pulled him up. "Oh Sisters are we glad to see you stallions. My name's Steele, and I'm fine, but my friend Ember has hurt her leg. She can't walk. Is there something you can do to help her?" Dusk looked at Ember, and then to the leg Steele had pointed out. Kneeling, he looked the leg over, feeling it out with his hooves. As he moved down, Ember gave a slight wince when the Decanus touched a particularly tender spot. "Ma'am, Ember was it?" She nodded, and Chroma continued. "I'm going to get a better feel for what's wrong with your leg, but it will hurt. If it's dire, it will need to be treated immediately with what we can provide here. Or, should you wish to wait for the doctors to arrive, they can give a proper diagnosis with far less pain, but it may not be in time to save your leg if it's bad enough. What do you want to do?" He looked at Ember, a very serious expression on his face. She bit her bottom lip in thought, deciding on what to do. Steele knelt beside her, and touched her shoulder. "Hey, you'll be okay Ember. Here, squeeze my hoof, it'll help with the pain." He offered his hoof, and she took it in hers. Looking back at the Decanus, she nodded. "Alright, do it," she said. Her breath hitched in her chest as she braced for the pain to come. The soldier slowly grabbed the tender spot, and pressed in, feeling out the leg bones inside. Ember winced hard, and grit her teeth in pain. She gave Steele's hoof a death grip, causing the stallion to wince slightly as well. After a moment, Dusk looked back at them, a sullen look on his face. "Well," he began. "I've got some good news for you, and some bad news. The bad news is that your leg is broken, but the good news is that it's a clean break. I can set it back right and splint it, but it's going to hurt like Tartarus. If I don't do this now, you may never walk properly again." Ember nodded quickly, simply wanting this whole thing to be over with. Dusk nodded in return. "Alright, on the count of three. Brace yourself. One!" He snapped the leg back into place, and Ember cried out into the night. She nearly crushed Steele's hoof with how tightly she was gripping it, causing the stallion to exclaim out in surprise. Steele looked at the soldier, a mix of confusion and anger on his face. "I thought you said on the count of three!?" Chroma Dusk barely even glanced at Steele, simply preferring to ignore him and splint Ember's leg instead. Once the Decanus had finished, he looked over at Steele, his face completely expressionless. "It hurts less if it's sudden," was all the explanation he offered before rising to his hooves. "Alright you two, best stick with us." Dusk looked behind him, the other stallions that he was with finally catching up. There was only four of them in total, something Steele thought was rather odd. "Hey, isn't there usually eight of you in a group? Where's the other four?" One of the other stallions spoke up, answering Steele's question. "We ran into some of those things earlier... the rest of the Contubernium didn't make it. Those bugs are ruthless." The Decanus looked at his soldier, eyes narrow. "Best keep your mouth shut soldier, lest you say something that ought not be said." The one who had spoken up recoiled slightly, and nodded in acknowledgement of the order. "Now then, let's get a move on. The Second Century was meant to be setting up a forward command center in the southern part of town. Streak," the stallion from earlier looked up, a knowing look of resignation on his face. "Take point, get us back to the camp. Ma'am, can you stand?" Ember tried to rise, slowly putting weight on her rear leg. After a moment, she winced and brought it back up, shaking her head. Steele moved in, standing beside her again like before. She once again settled her weight against him, and Steele gave the Decanus a nod. Returning the gesture, the soldier known as Streak began to lead them southward, heading in the direction of the Cohort's camp. As they walked, Steele did his best to keep his head on a swivel, constantly on the lookout for more of the Bug Ponies. Looking down a street, he noticed a group of them surrounding something. Stopping, he called out to the soldiers walking with them. "Hey, Decanus, I see some more of those things down the road here. They're- oh no!" Steele was finally able to see what they were surrounding, and he recognized the form instantly. It was his uncle! There was at least four of the Bugs, maybe five, and they were about to charge in. "Ember, I'm gonna put you down, my uncle is over there. I have to go help him!" Ember slowly lay down, and Steele brought up his sword, ready to rush in to help his uncle. "Oh no you don't citizen. I can't just allow you to go charging headfirst into that kind of fight! Your life is in my hooves now, and I won't have you losing it!" The Decanus was now standing between Steele and his uncle, blocking his path. "Streak, Shade, Crescent, get in there." The other three stallions nodded and took off to assist Steele's uncle in the fight. "Get out of my way! I'm not just going to stand here and watch!" Steele charged the Decanus, trying to muscle past him, but the soldier moved to intercept, stopping Steele in his tracks. Grunting, Steele attempted to push Dusk away from him, but it was no use. He struggled on however, trying his best to get past the Decanus and into the fray. "Steele!" Ember's voice gave him pause, and he slackened his efforts to push past Dusk. He looked back, and saw his friend close to tears. "Please, don't go into that. I don't want to lose you." Steele looked back to his uncle, now fighting side by side with the other soldiers. it seemed pretty even, the bugs were down one, but one of the soldiers seemed badly hurt. "I.... okay. But Dusk, you have to go in there. Make sure my uncle makes it out alive." The Decanus nodded, and turned to rush in with his soldiers. As he ran however,several more changelings came seemingly out of nowhere, killing two of the soldiers. Now, only Gauntlet and the one known as Streak were left standing. Gauntlet went into what Steele could only describe as a frenzy. His body moved like lightning, jumping from bug to bug. Each time he landed, he brought a heavy hoof down on a bug's head, crushing it beneath his weighted leg armor. Streak was doing his best to keep alive, but the onslaught of bugs was too much, and he too fell. "No!" The Decanus quickened his pace, trying to close the distance faster, but he came skidding to a halt when something huge came out from behind one of the buildings. It was another bug, but it was so much different from the others. For starters, it was probably three times the size of a normal stallion. Its body was much thicker and more solid looking than the other bugs, and it had no holes in its legs. its mouth seemed to be locked open, a blue glow emanating from withing. It had no horn that Steele could see, and its eyes were tiny pricks of blue light. The beast let out some sort of low rumbling noise, causing Gauntlet to hit the ground, clutching his ears in pain. It approached Steele's uncle, slowly, deliberately, letting out it's growl all the while. It stood just before the old blacksmith, and brought a colossal hoof into the air. "Oh Celestia... please, no. Uncle!" Steele watched in horror as the monster brought its massive hoof down, crushing Iron Gauntlet into nothing but paste. Steel would have vomited then and there, but his stomach was already empty. The Decanus turned back to face Steele and Ember, and began moving quickly in their direction. "Run!" Steele didn't need to be told twice, and helped Ember to her hooves. She began hobbling alongside him as quickly as she could, which wasn't nearly fast enough. Steele looked back, and the bugs were all heading in their direction. The larger one was moving much slower than the rest, but it was still gaining. At this rate, it would only take a minute before they were dead. The Decanus rounded a corner, and when Steele turned to follow, the Cohort's camp came into view. It was still a ways off, so Dusk charged ahead, shouting at his comrades to come to their aide. The two guards at the camp's entrance shouted behind them into the camp, and ran out to meet them in the road. Steele looked back behind himself and Ember. The bugs were nearly upon them. After a moment, nearly thirty stallions came out of the camp. They charged past Steele and Ember, who were now almost to the walls, and began to fend off the attacking bugs. Dusk came and helped Steele get Ember the rest of the way inside the camp before he went back out to help his comrades in the fight. An older stallion began walking towards the two friends, a warm smile on his face. He was a green color, and wore a cloak and pointed hat, both decorated with stars. The brim of the hat had bells around it, which jingled as he walked. The strangest thing though was that he possessed a long beard that came down from his chin. Ember looked about ready to explode. "Greetings citizens, my name is Starswirl The Bearded, welcome to the base camp of the Tenth Nocturna Cohort." Steele could have sworn he heard a small 'squee' come from Ember.