Today was going to be terrible. Sir Craven had already made up his mind. He had been forced to wake up in the middle of the night, hop on a train, and get shipped off to some filthy border town. He sighed, and took a look at his reflection in the window. Grey coat, chocolate colored mane, hazel eyes...He didn't look too bad, despite having just rolled out of bed. He turned his attention back to the interior of the train car, and began to tune back into reality. He gradually became aware of a faint buzzing noise, then recalled the other annoyance that was making his morning so awful. The pony beside him at not stopped talking the entire ride.
She was a unicorn, and a fairly young one at that. Perched atop her head was a white fedora, which almost hid her short black mane. Her coat was bright turquoise, a sharp contrast to her dark mane, and a cutie mark of a feather and ink scribble rested on her flank. Her eyes were blue, and still contained the elusive spark of youth. Just in front of her was a pad of paper, quill, and bottle of ink, all suspended in midair with telekinetic magic.
“Sir Craven?” She said, poking him with her quill to get his attention, “I have a few more questions for you, if you don't mind.”
“Fine.” Craven sighed, futilely rub the sleep from his eyes, “What did you need Miss...Inkblot was it?”
“Inkwell. You were close.” The unicorn replied as she dipped her quill into the ink, then set it to the paper. “I've noticed most of the other Generals are unicorns, but you're an earthpony, so what...”
“You want to know what made me so special, right?”
Inkwell nodded in response.
“The truth is, nothing makes me special. There are generals of all kinds. I just happen to be one of the only earthponies in this car.”
“I noticed you have a horseshoe with wings for a cutie mark.” The unicorn mused as she rapidly scrawled on her notepad. “Care to explain how you got it?”
“I'm light on my hooves, and I run fast.” Craven bluntly replied.
“Now, you said you were in the Solar Guard?” There was more scribbling as Inkwell spoke. “Have you met Celestia before? And if so, what was she like?”
“Listen...Inkspell?”
“Inkwell.”
“Right.” The general sighed, rubbing his forehead with his hooves, “Look, I'm tired. Do you really need me to answer all your questions right this second?”
“Well, I suppose I could wait.” She fidgeted as she spoke, “But I must interview you later! This could be the biggest story in years, and the Canterlot Tribune needs to be the first to have it!”
“I promise I'll give you the full story when we get to Damarescus.” Craven said, leaning back in his seat. He closed his eyes, and began to drift off into sleep.
The squealing of metal on metal suddenly jolted him into consciousness again. The train ground to a halt, and the ponies within began to file out. The general huffed, rose to his hooves and exited the car, with Inkwell following close behind. The city of Damarescus lay before them in all its splendor. The town had a sort of rustic charm to it, unlike the cosmopolitan and sterile Canterlot. The buildings were made from adobe bricks, and were fortified with wooden beams. Nearly every building lining the main road was a storefront of some sort, and each had its wares proudly displayed for potential customers to see. Intricately woven cloth awnings dangled above the cobblestone pathway, blocking out the blazing heat of the sun above. The enclosed main street eventually gave way to a wide open town square. Craven couldn't help but notice that the stones here had been arranged in a specific pattern of colors. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that it was the cutie mark of Celestia emblazoned on the pavement. On any normal day, the square would be bustling with ponies. Today however, the entire town had been silenced.
The residents of Damarescus had barricaded themselves in their homes in preparation for the upcoming battle. The only ponies who occupied the town square were the Damarescus Militia. There weren't many of them, maybe a few hundred at best, but that was all they would need. The Lunar and Solar Guard, under the command of Luna herself had just arrived. It appeared that they had arrived just in time, as the pegasi had already begun to fight one another in a swirling melee in the sky. Unicorns on the ground fired off bolts of magical energy at the airborne attackers, attempting to aid their comrades.
The clanging of iron against iron filled the air as the pegasi dueled. Their metal tipped wings hacked and slashed at one another as they circled. In the high speed aerial combat, it took very little to score a kill. A quick cut to a wing, a kick to the spine, or a punch to the chest was all it took to shatter bones, and send the opposition hurtling to the ground below. In the midst of the whirling dogfight, two pegasi sized each other up. One was of the Damarescus Militia, the other was of Sand Shrine's invaders. With a burst of speed, they broke from their turns and flew headlong towards each other. At the last second, the invader rolled left, narrowly avoiding the razor sharp blades on his enemies wingtips. He hurled his weight sideways, crushing his foe's wing against his body. There was an audible snap, and within seconds the militiaman had fallen, slamming into the cobblestone just a few feet in front of Inkwell, who jumped back in both fear and disgust.
“Remember that interview I promised?” Craven said, looking down at the mangled corpse.
“Of course.” Inkwell replied, her paper and quill at the ready.
“It's gonna have to wait.”
Craven strode to the center of the square, where a small squad of Earthponies stood, watching the sky battle unfold. One of them, a crimson earhpony with a white and red streaked mane, bore the marking of an officer on his armor. The general gave him a tap on the shoulder to catch his attention, and the stallion turned to face him.
“Yes?”
“You're the commander of the militia, yes?” Craven eyed the pony with a disapproving glance.
“Commanding officer Red Glare at your service!” The officer saluted and flashed his new commander a smile. Craven did not return the gesture.
“Commander Glare, do you head the entire militia yourself?”
“Nah, just the earthponies. We gotta unicorn and pegasus general too.”
“And where are the other two?”
“The unicorn general, Elegance, is at the southern wall, observing the enemy, and the pegasus general, Dream Sickle, is...” He paused for a moment, scanning the skies above. “Actually, I'm not sure where she is.”
“You mean to tell me that those ponies are in battle without a leader?” Craven raised an eyebrow.
“She's probably around here somewhere.” Red Glare commented, trotting about the town square in search of the general. He noticed a pair of dark orange hooves sticking out from beneath a bale of hay. The sound of soft snoring could be heard as he poked, and prodded the legs. A second later, the rest of the pony emerged from the hay bale. She shook some of the loose straw from her white and orange striped mane, yawned, and smiled at the general.
“Hey there!” She said, giving her wings a flap and landing beside her superior. “My name's Dream Sickle! What brings you to...”
“No time for smalltalk.” Craven cut her off, then pointed to the aerial battle above, “Are those your soldiers?”
“Yep! They're doing great aren't they?”
“No, they're not. They're in a state of mass panic up there, since nopony is leading them.”
“Oh!” Dream playfully slapped her own forehead, “I'm supposed to be up there with them! Duh!” Without another word, she took off into the sky and joined her troops in combat.
Craven rubbed his temples at the incompetence that surrounded him. These ponies were supposed to be the town militia? He sighed. Thank the goddesses that the professionals had shown up. Otherwise, this city would have been doomed from the start. He sighed, something he had been doing a lot of lately, and followed behind Red Glare. Perhaps this “Elegance” would be somewhat more intelligent.
Inkwell strode close behind the two earthponies, her eyes whipping back and forth between her notebook and her surroundings, as she hastily scribbled down descriptions of everything she could take in. Her special talent had always been writing. To her, words were everything, and everything was words. Her notebook was filled with snippets of her interview with Craven, descriptions of the town square and the streets of Damarescus, complete with some messy sketches of them, and a brief play by play of the aerial battle. With her help, the Canterlot Tribune would have the story of the century! She'd be famous for a story like this!
By this time, the trio had reached the wall, which, in reality wasn't much of a wall at all. Rather than a thick, stone barrier like that of Canterlot, Damarescus was surrounded by a barricade of cedar and rope. On the inside of the “wall” ran a wooden walkway, which was reached by climbing a rather rickety staircase. Craven took notice of the dry wood the wall was made from, and reasoned that a single stray fire spell could send it up in flames. This did not bode well for them. They reached the top of the steps, and all three ponies gasped at what they saw.
Standing on the balcony, face set and staring into the desert, was Princess Luna. The princess did not regard them, but instead continued to speak with the white coated blonde maned unicorn at her side. His cutie mark appeared to be a silver chalice, indicating high class. Craven reasoned that this must be Sir Elegance, though at this point he could care less for the unicorn. He simply stared in awe at the imposing dark alicorn who stood only a few feet from him. The general suddenly remembered his manners, and knelt down before the princess.
“My liege...” Craven stammered, as the motioned for Glare and Inkwell to bow. They hastily followed suit as Luna cast her steely gaze over them.
“Rise.” The alicorn commanded, turning her eyes back to the desert that lay before her. “And save thy breath General. Look ye yonder, and behold thy enemy.”
Craven did as he was commanded, and stared into the ocean of sand. He could see an assembly of ponies gathering in the distance. There weren't many of them, even counting the line of reinforcements that trailed behind them. His troops could easily take them. What concerned him however, was the alicorn the ponies rallied behind. The combined might of his entire army would be wasted trying to fight an alicorn. They were Equestria's gods. For a pony to fight one would be suicidal.
Craven turned to the princess who stood by his side. “Well Princess Luna, what are my orders?”
“Simple.” Luna replied, her stare never wavering, “Ye can plainly see that thy enemy is outnumbered. Launcheth thy attack.”
“But Princess, they're lead by an alicorn. You of all ponies should know that it would be futile to fight him. I certainly can't face him, and no amount of soldiers would be able to take him down. We'll have to wait for him to come to us. Maybe we can whittle his forces down before they reach the walls, then focus our attack on him alone. Maybe with sheer numbers we can overwhelm him.”
“Thou speaketh the truth. That alicorn goes by the name of Sand Shrine, and he would cut thee down without mercy nor regret. But thou hast forgotten to whom you speaketh. Thou shalt not need to engage Sand Shrine, for I shall take that task for myself. I shall gamble myself to draw him away from thee and thy army. Without it's leader, our enemies shall fall into utter chaos. For a soldier of thy caliber, they shall be as lambs before the wolf.”
Luna spread her massive wings and prepared to take off. “Thou shalt receive a signal from me once Sand Shrine hath been diverted. Then, thou art to attack full force. Understood?”
“Yes princess.” Craven was vaguely aware of a loud scratching noise from behind him. He turned his head to see Inkwell hastily scrawling on her notepad, trying to copy the princess' speech. The general ignored her, and bid Luna good luck as she lifted into the air and glided towards the enemy lines. The unicorn who has been by her side now turned to Craven.
“You must be General Craven.” The unicorn said, taking a step towards his superior.
“I am.” Craven replied. “And you're Sir Elegance I presume?”
“That I am. My orders general?”
“You heard the princess. Gather your unicorns for an offensive. I'm putting you in charge of this attack, seeing as you're the only one around here intelligent enough to handle such a responsibility.” Craven turned an eye to the sky, and watched as Dream Sickle cleaved straight through a pegasus with her bladed wings. Sand Shrines airborne battalion had begun to falter. The sky would soon be theirs. “Once we've taken out the rest of the pegasi, I'll send them in to assist you.”
“What about the earthponies?” Elegance questioned.
“They'll be divided between myself and commander Glare. I'll keep my troops within the city walls, ready to reinforce you if needed.”
“I'd be willing to leave some of my unicorns behind as well.”
“Thank you commander.” Craven said, giving the unicorn a reassuring nod.
Elegance fired off a blinding beam of light from his horn. The shaft of illumination shot high into the sky, and even in broad daylight was plainly visible. Ponies from all over the square suddenly dropped what they had been doing and raced to the wall to answer the summons of their commander. Craven couldn't help but smile. Unicorn magic made the job a great deal simpler.
“Alright everypony.” Elegance shouted, casting his gaze over the gathering crowd. “When we get the signal from Princess Luna, we're going to throw open the gates and charge. We're taking no prisoners. Show them no mercy.”
There was a flash as Elegance called his blade. A second later, a long, glowing saber hovered in front of him. It appeared to be made of silver, just like the chalice he bore as a cutie mark. It was lightly curved, and razor sharp. A pale white aura pulsed over the weapon, causing it to shimmer and gleam without the aid of the sunlight. The unicorn smiled, and whispered the name of his blade. “Sterling.”
The commander levitated Sterling above his head, and was answered with the multicolored flashes of unicorn blades being summoned below. He gave his blade a whirl, as the crowd of warrior ponies cheered. They were prepared. Now, all they had to do was wait.
*****
The distance between Luna and her enemies was fairly short. At the speed she was traveling, she closed the gap in only a few seconds. Of course, Sand Shrine and his soldiers were quick to react. A torrent of magical projectiles and sand missiles began to scream through the air around her as she deftly dodged each attack. The princess quickly wrapped herself in a thin bubble of magical energy to protect herself in case of a lucky shot, and then prepped an attack spell as she dove towards Sand Shrine.
Luna flew downwards so quickly that it appeared that it was her intent to ram the other alicorn. Of course, she had something far better planned. As she closed, a glass shard suddenly shattered her defensive spell, and another followed closely behind. The princess rolled to avoid the crystalline dagger, then unleashed an arcing blast of lightning from her horn. Her foe dodged the bolt, but wasn't quick enough to dodge the high speed punch she threw at him as she pulled out of her dive.
Sand Shrine staggered back from the blow, but shook it off with ease. He watched as Luna soared over his troops, raining down bolts of electricity and slaying ponies as she flew. If the alicorn felt any pain over the death of his soldiers, he certainly didn't show it. Instead, he turned calmly to an dirt brown earthpony who stood at his side.
“Terra Cotta.” The alicorn stated the pony's name with his characteristic monotone.
“Yes my God-King?” Terra Cotta knelt in reverence. It was a pointless gesture really. A simple nod would have sufficed. Shrine did enjoy the title of “God-King” though. It carried such a powerful weight behind it.
“I'm going to deal with an unexpected guest.” Sand Shrine said as he spread his wings. “Until I return, you're in command. Remember, your job is to divert and distract. Casualties are not an issue.”
“Yes my liege.”
With a single flap, Shrine launched himself skyward and began to pursue his prey. Luna was flying low and incredibly fast, not exactly the best strategy for aerial combat. That didn't seem to be her goal anyways. It seemed as though she wanted to single him out a duel. He would play along with it for now. The pieces had already fallen into place, and they had landed precisely where he had anticipated. This battle was already won. Check and Mate.
Luna touched down on the loose sand, and skidded to a stop. She turned to face her opponent, firing off a swarm of lighting bolts as he barreled towards her. The desert alicorn easily dove beneath her barrage, obscuring himself in a thick cloud of dust as he landed. Luna's eyes stung as the sand whipped around her. She coughed and choked on the filthy air, as more and more of the desert covering found its way into her mouth. She prepared to spit out the grit, but was suddenly struck in the stomach with incredible force. With the air knocked out of her, Luna attempted to draw a breath, only to suck in more sand. She squinted into the sandstorm around her, trying to locate her enemy, only to take another blow, this time to the back of the head. She fell to the ground, her ears ringing.
As suddenly as it was summoned, the sandstorm lifted. Sand Shrine stood, surrounded by a hail of glass shards, all of which were aimed for Luna. The princess began to stand, only for a tendril of sand to wrap itself around her neck and throw her to the ground again. The desert alicorn trotted closer, staring down at her.
“This is a rather pleasant surprise.” Sand Shrine said, tightening his grip around her throat, “I didn't expect Celestia to send her lap dog after me so soon.”
“Insolent fool.” Luna spat, glaring up at her enemy. “Thou art speaking to an alicorn of royal blood, not some miserable cur.”
“Go ahead and keep pretending.” The glass shards rustled as Shrine inched them closer to the princess. “You and I both know that you're nothing compared to her. She is the sun, and you are the moon. The sun is the source of all light in the world. All that the moon can do is reflect the light that the sun puts out.”
The shards were practically touching Luna now. She tried to force herself away from them, but to no avail. She was trapped where she lay, forced to hear what the desert alicorn had to say.
“You're nothing but a reflection Luna. A mere shadow of your sister, destined to be forever out shined by her. Celestia survived when she fought me, but I know you've seen her condition. That's what you came here for, no? To seek revenge for what I did to your sister?” Sand Shrine let out a dry and emotionless laugh, “Celestia was more powerful than you will ever be, and I crushed her with ease. In fact, if it weren't for her teleportation spell, she would be dead. Yet, you, who Celestia could have crushed on a whim, think that you can defeat me?”
Luna hung her head. Sand Shrine knew he had struck something within her, as he had expected he would. Everypony, even the alicorns, had some sense of inferiority. All it took was the right words to bring it to the surface. As much as he would have loved to continue with his verbal beating, he had a war to wage. It was time to end this. Shrine plunged every single one of his glass daggers into Luna's flesh. It would take a few seconds for her to die. He had aimed the shots for her lungs, which should cause massive internal bleeding. She would drown in her own blood. At least, that's what should have happened. His blades seemed to pass directly through Luna. It was as if they had been thrown through thin air. Whatever this was, it was not Luna.
A sudden crack of thunder from behind caused Sand Shrine to whirl around. The skies above him had been blanketed with a thick layer of black storm clouds. He did not react. He simply stared intently into the gathering darkness. Lighting began to rain down, striking the area around him at random. Shrine quickly wove his spell, and his flesh faded into sand. The streaks of electricity stuck only the desert, completely missing their intended target. The storm subsided, and the alicorn reassembled himself. He snorted contemptuously, then prepared another hail of shards. He scanned the clouds above, and caught a glimpse of movement within them. His shards shot forth into the blackness, yet struck nothing. Something was not right here.
Suddenly, a glint of silvery light appeared in the corner of Sand Shrine's left eye. He leapt back, as a blast of lightning streaked past him. The alicorn attempted to face his attacker, only to be met with a second bolt. This time, he could not dodge. He had no time to dissolve into sand. The electricity struck him directly in the chest, and coursed through his body. Shrine was pushed backwards, pain flooding his nerves. Then, as soon as it had began, it ceased. Luna, the real Luna, stood only a few feet away from him, horn glowing brightly.
“Thou hast always been simple to fool.” She spoke in a voice that rose above the thunderous storm she had summoned. “That storm I hath summoned serves as a beacon to my waiting forces in Damarescus. They shall be upon thine army within the moment.”
Sand Shrine gave a dry laugh in response. The sound of laughter without emotion churned Luna's stomach. It was unnatural. It was wrong. It was an abomination.
“You've always struggled with the game of chess.” The desert alicorn replied without raising his voice. “More specifically, the concept of a gambit. However, I excelled at it. Where I gave up a pawn, I took a knight. Where I gave up a rook, I took your queen. You see only what's presented to you. You lack foresight, the key element of chess. I presented to you only part of my force. I've gambled a pawn, and placed you in check.”
His horn ignited, and Negrev instantly flashed into existence.
“Your move.”
*****
Inkwell had climbed atop the wall, watching in awe as the gates were thrown open, and the ponies within began to rush out. She worked her quill furiously across the page, trying to annotate the scene that was unfolding before her.
“Force headed by commanders Red Glare and Sir Elegance. Earthpony and Unicorn respectively. Commander Dream Sickle, pegasus, following closely. Earthponies lead the charge.” She glanced up, then turned her attention back to her notes. “Enemy group does not counterattack. Victory seems inevitable.”