Chapter 6
In which our heroes get jumped.
Dusk sat on a small hill that rose up in a clearing in the Everfree Forest. Behind him, at the top of this hill, stood Steele's house. The young stallion was currently inside his home, retrieving an heirloom he received from his parents, along with a few other things that he wanted to keep. Dusk didn't really care however, as he was far more interested in the training dummy that stood before him. The frame, and the armor it supported, was covered in nicks and dings from where Steele had been practicing on it. Judging from the look of some of the hits, Steele had been doing this for several years. Several of the dents in the armor had varying degrees of rust around the edges, telling that they had been made some time ago. The rotted hits in the wood were much older though, telling Dusk that the armor had either been changed out at least once, or had only been added recently altogether. The Decanus studied the older hits, and compared them to the more recent, fresher strike marks. Some seemed only a few days old, and they were much more precise and powerful than their predecessors. Dusk smirked, 'Not bad. He's certainly got potential.'
"Heya there Dusky, whatcha doin'?" He turned to see Stella trotting over to him from the house. Steele and Starswirl were in the background, walking to the forge and discussing something. Ember and Noctis were sitting in front of the home, the mare showing off a bit of her fire magic.
"Taking a look at this dummy here. Looks like Steele had been using it as target practice. Judging from the difference between the old and new marks, he's made quite a bit of progress from when this was first set up. No idea how long ago that was though." Stella came and sat beside him, giving the dummy a once-over with her own eyes. She leaned in a bit, studying a small group of marks a bit more closely.
"Hey Dusk, is it just me or do these look a bit different? Like the weapon was smaller?" Dusk leaned in as well, and sure enough the nicks in question were quite clearly made by a different blade. Probably not even a full sword judging from how shallow they were.
"No, you're right. These are definitely not marks from Steele's sword. New as well. I wonder what-"
"Get down!" Dusk suddenly found himself being tackled to the ground by Noctis. A small metal object went flying just overhead, taking a couple of loose hairs from the Praetorian's mane as they fell before embedding itself in the hillside behind them. Stella jumped off to the side, and tapped her hoof to a small jewel in her breastplate. From that jewel she pulled the same spear that she had used in the fight against the bugs a few days prior, though its glow was currently absent. Dusk and Noctis stood, readying their own weapons. Dusk simply pulled his sword from its scabbard on his back, but Noctis tapped the jewel in his own breastplate, drawing a massive flail from within. Several bugs revealed themselves, slinking out of the bushes and trees they were hiding in. As Steele and Starswirl joined them, Dusk noticed that these creatures were far different from the ones they had fought yesterday.
There was fourteen of them in total, and each one was armed to the teeth. Several weapons could be seen with each of them, and while most just had varying sizes and shapes of knives, a few bore larger weapons such as clubs and warhammers. They wore masks of bone, the skulls of some large horned creature, and they all had several talons around their necks. One of them stood out from the others, as it also bore a crown of bright blue feathers on its head, and boasted several more talons on its necklace than the others. This one stepped forward, and much to the surprise of the ponies, began to speak.
"Good day to you, ponies of Equestria," it began in a polite, but raspy voice. "We are Kosti Jedu, an elite fighting unit from the Changeling hive. We have come to claim your lands, burn your homes, and slaughter you all to the last larvae. It is nothing personal, I assure you, but Our mother is greedy, and We like to keep her satisfied. If you could be so kind as to die, We would much appreciate it!" The creature, now known to the ponies as a 'Changeling' lunged, fangs bared and knives drawn. His compatriots followed after, and the two sides clashed in a flurry of steel and magic.
Starswirl threw up a magic barrier, protecting himself and the ponies immediately flanking him, these being Dusk and Steele, from an immediate hit from six of the changelings. Three others had lunged at Noctis, including the leader, and another two at Stella. The remaining three took to the sky, zipping through their front line and heading straight for Ember in the back. The crimson mare yelped in surprise, and hurled a massive fireball at the group of bug soaring for her, causing two to disperse, but catching the middle one. It hit the ground hard, skidding to a halt as bits of charred carapace broke off. It moved to stand, but its entire front right leg broke off from the weight, and it collapsed back on the ground as life slowly drained out along with its internal juices. The two that had dodged circled around, coming in at Ember from the sides. She conjured a wall of flame around herself, and then a larger one to trap the bugs inside of, leaving her attackers to circle, and wait for her to run out of magic.
As all of this was going on, the rest of the ponies were dealing with their own groups of the creatures. Stella was moving as though she was performing some kind of dance, gracefully dodging and counterattacking at the two bugs trying to get inside her guard. She was certainly coming off better in the exchange, as the changelings had already sustained several gashes across their bodies, but none were deep enough to be critical. Noctis was doing much better, as he had already completely crushed the head of one of his adversaries, and caved in the barrel of another, leaving only the leader as a real threat. The one with the crushed body had backed off a ways to nurse his wounds, pouring green magic over itself to try and repair its chitin. Steele and Dusk were working together, standing back to back and fending off four of the things, as Starswirl was busy firing of a flurry of arcane bolts at the final two.
The fight was stalemate for some time, neither side able to gain a decisive advantage as the afternoon sun slowly lowered itself below the treeline. Steele and dusk were both growing exhausted, though they had scored several hits on their assailants. Ember was beginning to run out of magic, and though Starswirl had landed a couple of hits with his own arcane torrent, the bugs still pressed after him. After several minutes of fighting, the clearing grew dark, and the two thestrals smirked to themselves. Stellas spear began to glow as before, and the spikes on Noctis's flail began to do so as well. Suddenly they were both much faster and stronger, Stella quickly dispatching one of her opponents, and leaving a huge gash in the shell of the other. Noctis finally managed to land a blow, though their leader had dodged with the swing in order to mitigate the impact somewhat. One of the creatures surrounding Dusk and Steele lost focus at the sudden surge of strength from the two thestrals, and was put down by a decisive thrust from Steele's sword going through it's gaping maw. Now faced with only three, the two stallions began to go on the offensive. They critically wounded another, causing it to back away and begin to heal like its comrade.
The two fighting Starswirl were beginning to run out of stamina and patience, growing sloppy in their evasive maneuvers. One caught an arcane bolt right between the eyes, exploding the bone helm on its head, and momentarily blinding it. This caused it to jump into it's compatriot, sending the both of them slamming onto the ground. Starswirl, seeing his opportunity, fired a much more deliberate and powerful arcane bolt at the two that detonated on impact in spectacular fashion, the purple of the arcane explosion being joined by a bright green mist. Stella batted her remaining opponent to the ground with the butt of her spear as Starswirl's magic missile flew through the air, and stabbed it's prone body through the skull before it could rise. Her own foes dealt with, she charged the two changelings that were currently healing themselves.
Ember, for her part, had been doing a wonderful job keeping the two after her trapped and unable to assist their compatriots. Her magic was faltering however, and the outer ring of flame fell, letting the two escape onto the battlefield. One immediately joined the two that were fighting Dusk and Steele. Catching the Decanus by surprise, the creature buried a knife in Dusk's rib cage, and he fell to the Earth with a pained shout.
"Dusk!" Steele swung out with his blade at the newcomer to their isolated fray, but his sword found only air as the creature jumped back. In his desperate retaliation, Steele had opened himself up to an attack from the other two, and a large red gash formed along his right flank. He too cried out in pain, and stumbled back a bit as his leg threatened to collapse from under him. The three changelings slowly circled their prey, licking their razor teeth in anticipation of the kill.
Now no longer in any immediate danger, Ember dropped the ring of flame around herself, and took stock of the situation. Stella was currently fighting two wounded changelings over by the treeline across the path, and Noctis was locked in an intense battle with the leader of the bugs trading blow after blow. Though Noctis had been granted with additional speed with the setting of the sun, he was still rather sluggish, and the bug was far more wary than it had been previous. It continually dodge the laborious swings of the flail, but never had an opening it could take advantage of. Starswirl was currently fighting a changeling using his staff, as he no longer had sufficient magic to cast any offensive spells. The blessing he had cast on the seed from earlier in the evening had nearly drained him, and he was suffering for it. Ember decided it best to assist the wizard first, as hoof to hoof combat likely wasn't a specialty of his. She began to gallop in his direction, preparing a fireball as she did so.
"Hang on Starswirl, I'm coming!" The old Stallion glanced at her as he deflected a jab from the changeling.
"No! I'll be fine! Help," he jumped back to avoid a swipe from the bug, and slammed the heavy end of his staff into its face. "Hah! Help Steele!" Ember skidded to a halt, and searched for her friend among the chaos. After a moment, she spotted him. Her breath hitched in her chest at what she saw. Dusk was laying on the ground, blood pooling around him. Steele off to the side, surrounded and bleeding in several locations. She immediately directed the fireball she had been building in their direction. The massive flame roared through the air, and impacted among the combatants. One of the changelings was completely engulfed by fire, and instantly turned into nothing more than a charred and hollow husk. The others were blasted into the air, and landed a ways apart from one another with heavy thuds. She rushed over to Steele and helped him to his hooves.
"Steele, are you alright? Oh my goodness you're losing so much blood what am I saying of course you aren't alright." The stallion glanced at his friend and smirked.
"I'm- gah!" He winced as he went to move, almost collapsing to the ground again. "Fine... I'm totally fine. Just gotta- ngh." He clutched at his side with a hoof, wincing again. "Nope, that's definitely broken."
"Oh Celestia, this is bad." Ember looked over, and the two changelings were standing and collecting themselves. One looked in their direction and hissed. She moved in front of her wounded friend and lit her horn with magic as the creatures advanced towards them. She threw a small fireball in their direction, but it soared harmlessly over their heads. Ember tried to muster another spell, but her magic had been drained. She could barely even keep her horn alight, much less sling fire from it. She turned and grabbed Steele's sword in her mouth in a desperate attempt to fend off the bugs bearing down on them, but it was a hollow gesture. The mare had never swung a sword in her life, and it seemed she would never really get the chance to. The two changelings lunged at the ponies, and Ember turned away to brace for the inevitable.
After a few moments, Ember realized that the impact she was bracing for wasn't coming. She slowly opened her eyes and was met with a smirking Stella. The crimson mare looked off to the treeline and saw a glowing spear impaled through the two bugs, forming a rather gruesome looking shish kebab. Stella leaned in and took the sword from a frightened Ember's mouth, and then gingerly set it on the ground. The fire mage was now shaking uncontrollably as her body began to naturally burn away the accumulated adrenaline. Stella moved into her, calming the mare as best she could.
"Shh, it's alright hun. Take it easy. Why don't we get Steele and Dusk back in one piece yeah? Give you something to work on, ease your nerves. It'll help, trust me." Ember simply nodded, then quickly turned to her friend, assessing his wounds. As she labored over Steele, Stella turned and moved over to Dusk. He had lost quite a lot of blood, but he was still breathing which in Stella's eye's meant he could be saved. Step one was to stop the bleeding. She ran over to her spear, wrenching it from the corpses of the two changelings, and briefly burying it in the dirt to clean it. Quickly trotting back to Dusk, she began to pour energy into her weapon. As she did so, the head glowed ever brighter, heating steadily as it did so, until finally it was as hot as it's white glow suggested.
"Sorry Dusky, but this is gonna hurt." She pressed the flat of the spearhead against Dusk's wound, immediately singeing his fur, and searing the wound closed. Cauterization wasn't exactly pleasant, as the groan of pain from Dusk attested, but it was effective. It was also her last resort, but since she had no bandages, or anything to use as one, she also had no choice.
As they were tending to their wounded compatriots, Starswirl finally managed to land a good hit on the bug he was fighting, the heavy end of his staff connecting with a solid knock on its head, the changeling collapsing to the ground in a heap. Realizing now that, despite their condition, he was still outnumbered, the leader began to back off.
"Hmm, very formidable," it began, still slowly backing off. "Yes, it seems you were slightly underestimated. A mistake we shall not make again. I thank you for this... enlightening experience. Fare thee well." It pulled a throwing knife from its leg, and threw it into the one that Starswirl had managed to knock out. Then, it lit its horn and conjured a bright flash, momentarily blinding the group. When they could see again, the leader was gone. Noctis snorted, and dropped his flail to the ground.
"Well, that certainly was an unpleasant experience." Noctis looked around and took stock of everypony's status. Besides Dusk, they all seemed more or less in one piece, though Steele seemed a bit roughed up. The large stallion trotted over to his downed subordinate, and inspected the wound on his side. He brought his head in close so he could see a bit better, and gave a tentative sniff. Burnt flesh. He looked to Stella, and she nodded in conformation as she dispelled her spear. Noctis, satisfied with his compatriot's actions, stepped back and sat down to rest himself.
Steele slowly rose to his hooves, making sure to keep his weight off of his left side as much as possible. Ember did what she could to support him, which mostly was just her acting as a safeguard o keep her friend from falling to the right. They slowly moved to the Legionaires, and were soon joined by Starswirl. For a time, the slightly labored breathing of Dusk was the only sound shared among the group, before finally Steele spoke up.
"We should do something." He paused and winced slightly. Speaking was difficult on account of his ribs. "I don't know what. We have to stop them. Whatever... ngh... whatever that takes. I'll go by myself if I have to." Noctis turned to him, admiring his bravery, but disappointed somewhat by his foolishness.
"While I can certainly agree something must be done, we are by no means equipped to face an entire army. You certainly aren't fit to do it on your own. You can barely walk, and Dusk has a stab wound in his side. We will return to the castle so that we may bring a large force, provisions, and the blessings of our princesses. This will also allow you and Dusk here some time to recover." Starswirl looked to Noctis, a sly look on his face.
"Why, Noctis, that almost sounds like you are letting Steele come along, despite his being technically a civilian. Growing soft are we?" Noctis snorted at the old stallion, shooting him a glare.
"Hardly. The boy is of age, so once he is healed he will join the Lunar Legion. I shall put in a recommendation for him myself, and we should be able to get you in at rank Decanus. I'll see to it you're put under Dusk as well, provided he lives. Which, speaking of, we should get him back. His wound is closed, but he will still require the magic of our doctors. You as well Steele. Need you back up in top form in two weeks."
"Wait, two weeks?!" He yelped in pain at his own outburst, momentarily forgetting about his broken ribs. "And what do you mean 'under' Dusk? Isn't he a Decanus too?" Noctis smirked.
"Not anymore he isn't."
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Steele was currently laying in the bed of the Royal Castle's guest suite, staring at the ceiling and wondering just what the next few years of his life held for him. It had been a week since the attack at his old home, and much to his surprise he was almost completely healed. Every now and again, especially when he ran or talked for long periods, his ribs would still twinge a bit, but they were completely mended together now. It seemed he grossly underestimated the healing capabilities of modern-day healers. He remember back when he was eleven he had broken a leg, and had been out of commission for nearly two months. Of course, it's also possible that it was because they didn't really have the money to afford a skilled unicorn doctor. A pegasus mare had set the break, and he was simply put in a cast.
Dusk was also making a rather speedy recovery, and was out and about tending to some lighter duties. True to his word, Noctis had promoted the unicorn as soon as he woke up, and gotten Steele into the Lunar legion under him as a subordinate. Dusk's new rank of Thesserarius now had him as third in command of a Lunar Century, specifically the one that Noctis himself had taken command of. This was to be the cohort that went out and faced the new threat of the changelings. While a bit un-traditional, Luna had permitted her Praetorians to take charge of a cohort directly. This being the recently reformed Tenth, it was the very same that had come to Dale's aide on the night of the first attack. Though it now contained almost exclusively fresh new recruits. Only the officers had any prior service experience save Steele.
Stella had been placed as the second in command under Noctis, much to her chagrin. Though they technically held the same rank, Noctis was the acting Centurion of the first cohort, while Stella was of the second, giving the stallion seniority on official decisions. The other four were also thestrals, though they had been pulled from similar positions as Dusk's. It was a logistical nightmare, but Luna had managed to get it worked out in only two days.
There was a knock at the door, and Steele rose from his bed to answer it. He opened the oak barrier to reveal a rather cheery Ember, and a tired looking Noctis behind her. Quick to remember his new post, Steele gave a sharp salute to his new superior officer.
"At ease Decanus Breaker." He then smiled slightly. "You learn quick. You'll do well for yourself in the Legion I think. May we enter?"
"Thank you sir, and of course." Steele stepped aside, and the two visitors entered the room. They all moved over to a set of pillows on the floor and took seats. "So, what brings you by?"
"Orders, and a spot of good news, should you take it as such. First and foremost, we've been ordered to move out as soon as we are able by Luna herself. She wishes to deal with this new threat swiftly and decisively, so we will begin our march in two days. If you want details, speak to Thesserarius Dusk, as is his new post. Now, the news I bring is that Starswirl will be joining us, acting as he did a week prior in Dale. A wise counsel, powerful warrior, and liaison to the princesses. Quick decesions are to be left at my discretion, but anything major is to be reported to Luna before any action is taken. This goes doubly for yourself. Before you do anything, you bring it to me. Only do what I say, and when I say it. Nothing more, nothing less." He paused expectantly.
"Understood sir." He shot a quick glance at his friend, who was practically bouncing on her cushion. "Um, you okay there Ember? You seem a bit excited."
"This is because-" Noctis began, but was cut off by the mare in question.
"I get to come with!" She nearly exploded when she said it, which is quite literal given her affinity for fire magic. Steele simply looked to Noctis in confusion.
"Starswirl has made her a personal assistant of sorts, stating that she was 'A mare of exceptional potential for greatness". As such, he has opted to bring her along so that she may learn from him. This is against my better judgement, but the wizard does as he pleases so I really can do nothing to stop him." Noctis glanced at the window, and saw that the sun was beginning its decent. "If you'll excuse me, I must leave. I have other matters to attend to. See Dusk about you armor and any questions you might have. You can typically find him in the barracks, so check there first if you want to find him. I bid you goodnight." With that Noctis rose to his hooves and saw himself out of the room. Ember stood as well, and trotted over to the bed they had been sharing.
"So, you'll be coming along with us huh?" Steel opted to gaze out of the window as they talked, preferring to stay where he was as Ember climbed into the bed.
"Yeah, though to be honest I'm really scared. Not so much of the changelings, but of making a good impression with Starswirl. I mean, this stallion is my idol Steele. What if I disappoint him?" The silver stallion chuckled a bit at his friend. "What?"
"Ember, I think you've already made a rather good impression on him. I mean, why else would he have said what he did, and why bring you along with us? It's quite obvious he's impressed. Just keep being yourself, and it'll all work out. Besides, you're the best fire mage I know." She rolled her eyes, though he couldn't see it.
"Again, I'm the only fire mage you know." He smiled, and breathed a small sigh.
"Yeah." He continued staring out the window in silence for some time, until the sun touched the tops of the trees and he began to grow hungry. He stood, and looked to see Ember fast asleep on the massive bed. He smiled, and began to head for the kitchens to find something to sate his hunger. In a mere two days, his entire life was going to flipped upside down, again, and he was a bit nervous. Especially since he was in charge of nine other ponies besides himself courtesy of his rank as Decanus. It was all rather daunting, but he would give it his all. He had to. For himself, his friends, and his uncle. For his parents. For all of Equestria. He had to give everything he had in order to protect his home.
He would not fail.