//------------------------------// // A Little Game Called Revenge: Part I // Story: The Veins Run Deeper // by Thunderblast //------------------------------// "As the officer in command of the Hollow Shades Guard, I demand an explanation for this gathering!" Norealis addressed, stood between his guards, and the two squadrons of Legion soldiers in a threatening standoff. "Who is your commanding officer, and just where is he?!" "Major Skywatcher, and he has temporarily left to tend to other matters," responded one of the soldiers, eyes coldly locked with Norealis'. "This is absurd! Making a scene in my town, terrifying our citizens. Should the Major return, I shall have a word with him over this behavior!" Norealis stomped a hoof on the icy cobble. Having heard the argument from a short distance, Skywatcher—tailed by his son—raced to the standoff to quell it, catching either sides' attention. "Lower your weapons," Skywatcher sternly said, the soldiers following as ordered. He then focused to the thestral-like unicorn. "What is the meaning of this?" The angered lieutenant colonel approached the taller stallion, fangs bared slightly. "Major, I am ashamed of your actions, more so the unnecessary actions of your ponies. An explanation would be much appreciated." "Stand down, we mean no harm to you or your village," Skywatcher coolly replied. "Tell that to the tens of citizens who have boarded up their homes and hid in their basements, Major," Norealis responded, placing strong emphasis on the title. "It is already quite unacceptable having lost two of my own just weeks ago!" "We are here on account of them, as well as one other who has turned up missing on the same day." Night stepped forth. "There is strong evidence to believe ponies in this area are in grave danger." Norealis turned to Night, easing slightly, then blinking upon the sight of the soot across his armor. "And just what happened to you?" "Our train was attacked. Derailed, even, not far from town. We have numerous casualties that followed us here, all but two are accounted for," Night replied stoically. Norealis cocked his head. "Two? How are you so certain?" "They were my own, sir. My best assumption is they are displaced. I am confident they are still very much alive." "And what about two of mine?" He cocked his head more. "Not so certain about them, now are you?" "That is why we are here," Night said, the rest of his fellow guards rounding the corner behind them in a group. "We are getting them back." Norealis fell into a chuckling fit, which forced a frown on Night's muzzle. "All of this is absurd! For the sake of everything good in this world, why must you pretend to know more than myself?" "Because, we do," Skywatcher replied, taking a folder handed to him by one soldier, smacking it into Norealis' chest. Reluctantly, the curve-horned pony opened the file flap, eyes running across the information inside. Steadily he began to read more in-depth, eyes raising to Night and Sky. "He is here?" Night responded with a soft nod of his head. "Unfortunately so." "What does he want with our village?" "Nothing more than an army, which he already has. They attacked us after taking your guards, and two of mine, they also broke into the train. At least, some of them. We overpowered them, and... he... destroyed the train." "What kind of power are we discussing here, Captain?" Norealis raised his voice for all to hear. "The kind we need all the help we can get to shut down, before he can take any more from us both, from us all," Night took a step forward. Norealis went silent, his dark lavender eyes locked with the bright gold of Night's. Just by this simple look, he made out the truth had been spoken. "Where are they?" he simply asked. As Night opened his maw to speak, ponies screaming in a panic and stampeding down the town's streets startled the three groups. "There's your answer, Lieutenant Colonel. Get to it!" Night hastily ordered, rushing to a small crate on a flat push-trolley. "What about the citizens, Captain?!" "Get them to the outpost, too late for an evacuation!" He replied from a short distance, rushing to open the wood crate. Nodding once, Norealis snapped to his guards. "Apples, gather the civilians on the streets, bring them to the bunker. Butter, round up ponies in their homes. Cache, barricade the north and west sectors, two minutes or less. Get moving!" "Those are horrid squadron names, Lieutenant Colonel," Harmonic Percussion frankly added. From the trolley, Night whipped around, facing his own guards. "Zodiacs, help Apples, fend off Topaz's troops when they attack!" Red Knight shifted to the panicking ponies in the streets, eyes darting between them. "There's so many of them... how on earth do we tell the good ones from the bad ones?!" "If they're charging at you with a weapon, they're bad!" shouted Zipline, unfolding his bow's wings with a forward thrust, leaping into the air and taking a position atop the clock tower for an extended view below, his eyes scanning about like a hawk on a tree branch. With their orders clear, guards and Legion soldiers scrambled in all directions to their respective positions. Civilians in a panic halted when the armored ponies called for them, beginning to file into stampeding lines toward the bunker situated at the guard outpost. Some raced door to door, knocking, then shouting a brief message inside that drew ponies from their homes, having hidden in fear or completely unaware of the present situation. Much like his fellow markspony, Stormfire placed himself in a taller tree, overlooking the edge of town nearest the forest, a small crossbow strapped to his right hoof. He removed one arrow from the pouch across his shoulder, quickly loading it, with a second bow folded against his back. From their vantage point on the ground, all seemed clear. The majority of the stampeding civilians now piled themselves into the outpost across town, quite nearly clearing the cobble streets entirely. "They wouldn't panic without a reason. Where are they?" Thunderblast mumbled just barely audibly, scanning the path both ahead and beside him, as well as the skies above, gripping his sword blade just a bit tighter. "They are close, we should see them at any moment. Just remain vigilant," Valiant responded, his own sword in a magic aura. Within a moment's notice, Thunder dodged just to the side, an arrow falling from just above a house roof, impaling at an angle into the dirt between cobble stones. Atop the clock tower, out of the corner of his eye, Zipline caught movement. He snapped his gaze in that direction, spotting numerous clothed figures splitting at an intersection in a small clearing between trees. Neither of these figures flew, likely aware of the aerial cover from two positions. The white pegasus drew his hoof back, tugging the bow's string and the arrow with it, blankly aiming for the path in which the enemies advanced down. He allowed numerous seconds to pass, shifting just to the left of center, then releasing the string. The arrow itself changed direction to a sudden gust, disappearing beneath the edge of the treeline. Emerging from the cover of trees, one pony collapsed abruptly on the ground, struck by Zipline's arrow. A second figure at its side galloped past the wounded one, Zipline taking aim for them as well. Behind him, many, many more. His eyes opened wide, raising his voice for those below to hear. "They're coming in groups, splitting up, I can't hit all of them!" he called, grabbing the attention of the Zodiacs. In his tree, Stormfire waited, aiming downward. Hooded ponies armed with swords and knives rushed past his tree, not initially noticing him. By the moment one caught his abnormally-large silhouette almost motionless on the branch, it was too late. The arrow shot from his crossbow split into three, striking the small group simultaneously, the three dropping to the cobble instantly. Quickly, Storm reloaded, standing by for the next wave to pass. "Thaaaat's right... keep it coming," he mumbled, ear swiveling to fast-approaching hoofsteps. Breath steady, Storm took aim for the ground, keeping his focus on these hoofsteps, the source surely to appear at any second. One thestral sneaking around his tree to catch him from behind, making little to no noise with snow muffling his hooves on the nearby rooftop. The very moment the pony pounced into the air to tackle Storm down, an arrow struck him from the side, knocking him off course and crashing through the branches beside Storm, startling him. He rapidly snapped to the bat pony, impaled in his side by an arrow, then shifted his attention to the clock tower, where Zipline nodded once to him from afar. *** In the center of town, a select few of the Zodiacs broke formation, spreading out to smaller alleyways and streets as opposing thestral ponies of all sizes stormed into the village. The guards of Hollow Shades and the two squadrons of Fang Legion knights formed a final barricade, partially doing so to protect Night Shadow while he prepared himself. Even with both Stormfire and Zipline keeping watch from above, halting only some in their tracks before they can reach the barricade, many more slipped past their watchful eye. For the moment, no enemies took to the skies with crossbows, a temporarily relief for Zipline after last time. On the contrary, many did roof-jump between structures, a strategy to catch the central defending group from a new angle. Some of which made it no further than the first roof, an end put to them by Zipline's near-impeccable aim from many years of prior training with similar weaponry. Deadlier weaponry. With only a moment's notice, bat ponies dropped before stallions and mares of the three groups. Thunderblast engaged first, lunging with a steel sword, swinging and colliding with another, steel ear-piercingly screeching as they ground into each other, one attempting to overpower their opponent, with Thunder on the winning side. Swooping from a rooftop, a mare slashed at Thunder in aid of the one he wrestled with as a distraction. He narrowly ducked, the blade coming within inches of his ear, yet his focus remaining locked with his current opponent who gave a powerful thrust, one that forced two steps backwards to counter the movement. Coming around for another attempt, the mare drew her dagger back, Thunder turning his head to face her while still in a struggle. He spread his wing last-second, smacking the mare, with his hind hoof kicking into her shoulder, the dagger flying out of her grip. The mare stumbled to the ground, only to regain her stance no more than a moment after and charging the grey pegasus with not a weapon in her hoof. He quickly noted the mare back up, shoving the sword-wielding pony with a powerful counter-thrust, whipping his body and blocking a punch with his left hoof, proceeding to swipe his sword only after she drew away. To his right, the thestral mare with the sword jumped to all fours, swinging rapidly, sword handle between her teeth—a rather poor choice of swordsmanship. Thunder grabbed the unarmed mare's hoof mid-punch, twisting it and lifting her narrowly off the ground, spinning her briefly while her twisted hoof unwound itself. Releasing her, he lowered his sword in his right hoof, using the left to grab hold of the swinging enemy blade which partially cut into him, albeit shallowly. Still gripping the blade with a tiny portion of his blood on the tip, Thunder shoved inward, forcing the mare's head to the side while she clenched her teeth, then yanked, ripping the sword entirely from her maw and driving his slightly-bloodied hoof into her jaw, knocking the bat pony straight through a window just feet from where he stood. The second mare, groaning painfully and rolling upright, set her eyes on the dropped sword beside Thunder, lunging to grab it, only to be halted by a stray hoof driving into her face, incapacitating her almost immediately. With one unconscious, and the other lying in a painful glass puddle inside a building, Thunder snapped his attention to the next attacker lunging from above. *** Night scrambled with the crowbar in his hoof, straining and grunting even minutes later to pry open the wood crate while chaos exploded in all directions. From the roof of the small shop beside him, a pair of equal-sized stallions landed beside one another, steadily approaching Night from in front. His eyes opened wide, removing the crowbar from the lid of the crate and swinging it into the cheek of one pony, knocking him into the other, only to stand back up quickly. He took another powerful swing, just barely grazing one of the stallions' noses as he lurched backwards, his partner remaining on the ground in a daze. A larger Legion stallion dealt the final blow, tackling the other to the ground atop the second downed attacker and wrestling with him. "Go, I've got him!" the soldier shouted between grunts, socking the bat pony in the jaw. As told, Night returned to the crate, swinging upwards as high as his forehooves could go, slamming the crowbar into the wooden planks. He repeated the process to simply break it open rather than pry the lid off properly. At long last, following minutes of numerous attempts, Night tossed the crowbar aside. Hastily, he began digging broken thin wood slabs out, tossing one at an advancing bat pony in the mean time to buy himself an extra minute. He dove his hooves into the box, yanking out a dark-blue-and-purple square-shaped object, pressing the single button in center. Much like magic, the object began to unfold itself. Even though the danger was real, some of the village's civilians—having not sheltered themselves, or ended up reemerging—joined in on the fight with their own weapons, ranging from swords, butcher knives, and even pots and pans. From the ground up, small hordes of bat ponies began scaling the walls of the clock tower with the aid of their wings—though mainly using only their hooves to rapidly climb towards Zipline, only just acknowledging them when one leaped up to tackle him. Strapped in a leather sheathe, Zipline leaped up and reached over his shoulder, sliding out a sharpened-tip thick-blade sword, dropping his bow temporarily to deal with the attackers attempting to ambush him. The first to lunge met with the steel of his sword merely seconds after reaching the top of the brick structure. It drove into his shoulder, sticking with him, only to slip out as the momentum threw the pony crashing through a wooden rooftop below. Two more—mare and stallion bat ponies—pulled themselves onto the spire-shaped roof from either side of the white pegasus. He determined his targets: the shorter mare, and the evenly-sized stallion. Split-secondly, Zipline whirled his sword sideways at the stallion, whipping his body to face at him, simultaneously bucking his hinds into the mare's chest as the flat-side of his blade smacked the stallion, sending them sailing off of the roof at the exact same time. Immediately shifting his focus to the ground, he snatched up his bow and drew the string back, striking a distant bat pony rushing for the guard outpost with no more than a second wasted to properly aim. "Not on my watch, you don't," he muttered beneath his breath, swinging around last-minute and cracking another pony's head with the end of his bow, knocking him down. Down below, the few unicorns within the group shot off tiny orbs of magic energy that whisked past and struck many advancing thestrals that delivered a stunning electric shock upon contact. "Hold the line!" shouted Sharpblade above the fighting around him, charging up his horn. The others surrounding him took steps back, him ducking his head to aim his horn, blasting the cobble path with a powerful magical beam that send a good ten or so bat ponies flying hundreds of feet in the air, disappearing into the distance along with their detached weapons. Sharp, having been weakened by the mass output of energy in the spell, collapsed to the ground with a pained grunt and huffed rapidly through his nostrils, body shaking like a leaf. Rushing up from behind, the dark-brown earth pony medic accompanying them gently drew Sharp from the barricade as Valiant and Harmonic replaced him in the position. Sharp gently waved a hoof at the large stallion, gently trying to wriggle free while still heaving for a breath. "I-I'm fine, let me up!" "Easy, tiger," Rescue responded, laying Sharp flat on the ground. From his saddle pack, he brought out a small vial of a purple liquid, popping open the cap and gently pressing it to the grey unicorn's lips. "Drink this, your energy will regenerate quicker, but only briefly." Sharp took tiny sips of the fluid, yanking his mouth from the vial and coughing, hacking up some spit onto the ground and responding with disgust in his voice. "That tastes awful, what the hell is that?!" Rescue popped the cork back into the vial, tucking it back away and turning back to Sharp. "The magic about it, is that the bad taste itself is what rejuvenates you." "So, nothing about it regenerates me?!" Rescue just slightly grinned. "Precisely." As Sharp shifted up onto his elbows, his eyes opened wide. "Duck." He shot up a beam toward Rescue, whom narrowly ducked as the beam grazed a follicle of his blond mane, knocking a spear-wielding bat pony about to attack them clear out of the sky. Rescue snapped behind him, just catching the pony as she fell to the ground, blackened entirely by Sharp's magic and utterly stunned, her weapon dissolving into ashes and blowing off in the breeze. Sharp jumped up on all fours, patting Rescue roughly on the shoulder, still in some shock. "Get to it, medic," he said, rushing off to his previous position along the barrier. At the other barricade on a separate street, Lodestar, Scarlet Iris, and Skye Racer clashed with more enemy bat ponies that seemed to keep coming with no end in sight, like an endless train. Scarlet and Skye fought with their swords, while Lodestar went with more hoof-to-hoof combat, knocking the smaller of assailants down with one or two strong hits. Together, they managed to hold their positions for this long, but each were steadily growing tired after a solid ten minutes of fighting. "T-they just keep coming!" Skye panted, ducking beneath a sword as it swung above him, thrusting his own, his target lurching backward to dodge. From above, two armored mares, one dark blue, the other purple, dropped beside them, taking on more to ease the burden. Lodestar briefly snapped his gaze to the mares, nodding once. "Better late than never," Halfmoon said, swinging her body in a circle, socking a pony in her cheek. "Got lost, took a wrong turn at Alderneigh," Eventide added sarcastically, rearing on her hinds and tackling down a stallion. "Your timing could not be better," Scarlet replied with a smile, briefly unoccupied, only to be knocked down by a charging pony. Her eyes rolled in a state of confusion, only coming to her senses moments after Lodestar drove a solid punch into her attacker's muzzle, twisting his head and immediately rendering him unconscious, before pulling her up. "You alright?" he asked, checking over her for any injuries. "Better than ever, Sergeant," Scarlet grinned, mentally laughing it off. "Behind you!" The dark cyan stallion snapped his head back, shifting his weight onto his forehooves, then rearing heavily into a stallion about his size—if not larger—and knocking the wind out of him. Whipping himself around, he dealt a second blow to finish him off. "Oooh, strong stallion," Scarlet teased, nudging his shoulder and picking up her sword off the ground. All Lodestar could do was visibly blush at the compliment, rolling his eyes, then focus on his next target. *** "Zodiacs, guards, soldiers!" Skywatcher shouted, grabbing nearly everypony's attention once the fight—at long last—seemed to lighten up. "Draw them away from the town, we cannot let them hurt anypony!" Night leaped up into the air, landing heavily with a strong shake of the ground that startled some. His hooves dug into the cobble, shattering some of the stones beneath them. Covering almost every inch of his body, glowing blue with the veins of a liquid powering the suit, he wore an altered version of the Battle Armor Mark III, utilized by the infantry of Fang Legion—the unfolding object within the crate. The armor itself even extended to the leading edge of his wings, providing a shield for them as well from base to wing tip. "Let them follow me to the outskirts," he said, staring through the glass goggles attached as part of the helmet with just his muzzle bare. "Captain, would that work?" Lodestar questioned, approaching with a small trickle of blood running down his cheek from a cut. "They want me the most, I'm certain of it. The farther they are from civilians, the better. We haven't seen the last of them, that's for su—" "Captain, Major!" a soldier rushed between the groups of ponies, stopping and panting. Night, Skywatcher, and Norealis focused on this one soldier, pausing to catch his breath from running for who knows how long. "We... caught one! He surrendered immediately. He was unarmed, we restrained him to be sure..." "You caught one of them?" Norealis blinked, somewhat dumbfounded with this sudden information. "Where is he?" Night stepped closer, scrutinizing on the soldier thoroughly. The soldier turned behind him, reaching a hoof to his mouth and whistling audibly. Within moments, a pair of Hollow Shades guards approached, a shorter, more skittish-looking bat pony stallion with cuffed hooves between them. Night, removing his helmet, strode closer to the smaller pony, who took a couple of steps back. He almost appeared... frightened? "Careful, Cap, he can still get you with his fangs," Lodestar warned, eyeballing the thestral. Night raised a hoof halfway, signaling for silence as he stopped feet before the pony. "You surrendered. Surely, there must be reasoning behind that decision. Who are you, and what are your intentions?" The pony squeaked quietly, recoiling back, only to bump into a guard cutting him off from behind to prevent escape. He only trembled, making direct eye contact with Night. "M-my name? I-intentions?" he sputtered. "Thir-Thirty Seven." Night blinked twice, cocking his head slightly. "Come again?" "Thirty... S-Seven. Th-that is my name." "That is not a name, quit deceiving me," Night sternly responded. "I-I am telling the truth, all of y-you!" he shuddered. "I-I surrendered... b-because I want nothing to do with this fight!" Angered, Lodestar stomped his hoof into the dirt. "Bull! Why you—of all of your buddies—would you up and throw up the white flag? He's lying, kill him—" Night snapped back at the dark cyan stallion, staring icy daggers at him. "Let me speak to him, Sergeant!" Slowly, Night turned to 'Thirty Seven', blinking slowly. "How can I prove you are telling the truth? How can you prove to be trustworthy?" The smaller pony slowly peeked around Night, setting his gaze on the sapphire unicorn between Sharpblade, Thunderblast, and Midnight Blade. "H-he can..." Eyes turned to Harmonic, staring coolly back. The Europonean-accented unicorn inhaled softly. "I may be of some assistance, Captain. A spell that is a lie detector." "How could you tell the difference?" Night asked. "In the spell, a unicorn's aura changes color, depending on the result. It retains its normal color, assuming the suspect is truthful. Otherwise, the color becomes its exact opposite. It is all I have got," Harmonic replied, coming closer. Night went over the thought in his mind, nodding moments later and stepping away from Thirty Seven. "Have at it, Lieutenant Major." Harmonic nodded once, shifting his gaze to the smaller thestral. Gradually, his ice-blue aura engulfed his horn, and later, Thirty Seven. He closed his eyes, speaking softly. "Do you mean no harm?" Zodiacs, guards, and soldiers stood by, watching for any sort of change in Harmonic's aura. Surely enough, it did change, but not in the way anypony anticipated. It only shifted halfway. "What does that mean?" Skywatcher raised an eyebrow. "He is only partially truthful," Harmonic began. "He may mean no harm to us, but to whom we are fending off." Thirty Seven nervously nodded. As a result, Harmonic's horn shifted back to its normal color, alleviating some tension in the air. "Th-they are horrible. Our leader is horrible, he wishes death and destruction on everypony! I-I don't understand it. He-he taught everypony how to kill. I o-only went along with it so nopony would label me as defective!" "Defective?" Night cocked his head. "What do you mean, defective?" "Useless, pacifist, untrustworthy of them," his ears drooped. "I-I already stood out in the crowd, being this small... this weak..." The longer he went on, and the longer Harmonic's aura retained color, the more Night's remorse for Thirty Seven grew. He was, in fact, being truthful, much of a surprise to most if not all surrounding him. Night took another step forward, easing himself in hopes of gaining the pony's trust. He smiled weakly. "If it helps you feel better at all, your help is greatly appreciated. We could use much more of it." Thirty Seven's ears perked, snapping his gaze up to Night's. "R-really?" Up above in the tower, Zipline stared through a pair of binoculars, keeping his eyes peeled for activity. Sure enough, a second, larger swarm of approaching enemies came within view, flooding into the village like rushing water. "Second wave is coming, this is bigger!" He shouted, ponies tensing below at his words. Slowly, Night nodded to Thirty Seven, tuning out Zipline partially. "I will let you go, but only if you answer this question. All we truly need is for you to tell us this. Where is your leader? Where is Topaz?"