"Where the hell is my Violet-damned sidearm?!"
I was woken up at six o' clock the next morning by the Herald shouting angrily from his room a few doors down from mine. Grumbling to myself about how little sleep I'd had, I left my room and went down to see how he was feeling.
"We had to take it from you, Herald," Thompson said. "You were drunk, and we were worried that you were going to hurt yourself."
"And the fact that you were looking down the barrel to check if the thing was loaded only made us want to get it away from you faster," Smith added. "We were only following protocol, Sir."
Geo sighed. "Well, I can't fault you for doing your jobs," he replied. "As you can see, I am completely sober; now give it back." I knocked on the door and entered the room to see Smith handing Geo his sidearm. He looked it over for a moment, then sighed. "Here's the problem, gentlemen; the damn thing is jammed!"
"Jammed?" Smith parroted. "It wasn't us, Sir, honest!"
"I know it wasn't either of you, Private," he replied. "It must have jammed while I was killing that arrogant Dog and his guards."
"The one who wanted your help waging war on us?" I asked. Smith and Thompson finally noticed me standing there and saluted.
Geo nodded. "The very one," he said. "I'll fix it later; in the meantime, I really could do with a shower. I smell terrible."
"You do," I replied. "Berry warned you that whiskey would be too much for you, Herald; I just hope you've learned your lesson."
"I have," Geo said. "I'll only drink half a bottle next time. Anyway, if you'll excuse me, I will go and clean myself up."
He went into the bathroom and shut the door behind him; I nodded to Smith and Thompson and went to wash up myself, but not before I heard Geo loudly comparing the castle's showers to the ones he was used to back home in the Apocalypse.
Twenty minutes later, the four of us were in the kitchen having some breakfast. Geo, Smith and Thompson were eating their rations – which looked and smelled terrible – while I had made myself a nice big batch of pancakes with syrup and whipped cream.
"Well, Princess, thank you very much for your hospitality," Geo said, using his finger to dig the last remnants of his breakfast from the foil sachet. "I need to get back to base and—"
Suddenly, the door opened to reveal a panicked-looking Royal Guard, who ran over to me as fast as his legs would carry him.
"Princess Twilight, thank Celestia you're here!" His voice conveyed a deep sense of both urgency and fear. "We've got a serious problem over in Town Square; the Apocalyptian soldiers have captured a Diamond Dog scout and are beating him mercilessly!"
Geo, Smith and Thompson all laughed.
"Good lads," Geo said. "Come on, you two, we need to go and make sure they don't kill him before we get some information."
With that, the three of them quickly left. I groaned and rubbed my temples with my forehooves; I was getting a headache, and it wasn't even nine o' clock in the morning yet.
"Um, should we be worried, Princess?" the guard said. "I only ask because the other soldiers seemed hell-bent on inflicting as much pain as they could on the prisoner. They don't even care that they are beating him in front of the local civilian population."
I sighed. "I'm sorry to say that violence is the Apocalyptian answer to everything, soldier," I replied. "Come on, we'd better put a stop to this; I hope that you're used to being teleported..."
"Teleported?" the guard seemed confused. "Why do you say—"
Before he could finish, I had charged up a teleportation spell and taken the two of us to Town Square. The guard wobbled slightly on his hooves, then sat down to regain his composure. I looked around, happy to see no sign of the Herald.
"Good, we got here first," I said. "Now, let's find the—"
"Mercy, please!"
"Shut up!"
I finally laid eyes upon the Diamond Dog prisoner; he was indeed being mercilessly beaten by three Apocalyptian soldiers, right in the middle of Town Square. Each of the soldiers was taking it in turns to either kick him, punch him, or bash him in the face with the butt of their weapon. Parents taking their foals to school covered their children's eyes, but they couldn't cover their ears.
"Not so tough now, are you?" the first soldier snarled, delivering a kick to the Dog's face. "You Violet-damned scumbag!"
The second soldier punched him. "How stupid do you think we are, you filthy little mongrel?" he said. "Did you honestly think for one second that we wouldn't be able to see you hiding in that tree?"
"No more, please!" The Dog whimpered pitifully. "I surrendered!"
The third soldier responded to his plea by spitting on him, at which point I decided that I had seen – and heard – enough.
"Stop this at once!" I shouted. "What gives you the right to treat this prisoner in such a horrendous fashion?" The soldiers went to reply, but I cut them off. "Oh, no; don't even think about saying 'This is how we do things back home,' because I shouldn't have to remind you that EQUESTRIA IS NOT YOUR HOME!"
"She's right, you know." I glanced over my shoulder to see Geo, Thompson and Smith approaching. "I made a promise to the Princesses that we wouldn't cause them any trouble. Now, I appreciate your efforts, but you must understand that the Equestrians – and especially the foals – do not need to see this. Stand down, and let me deal with the prisoner."
The soldiers stepped back from the prisoner and saluted. "As you wish, Herald," one said. "We leave his fate to you."
Geo approached the prisoner and, to my surprise, helped him to his feet. "Now then," he said gently. "I stopped the beatings, but I want something from you in return. Do you understand?"
The Dog sniffled and nodded. "Yes, anything," he replied. "No more hurt, no more pain. I will help you, I swear."
"Good." Geo patted him. "I want to know two things: one, what you were doing here and two, where your friends are hiding."
"I was sent by the Alpha to see how many pony soldiers were here," the prisoner replied. "I did not expect to see humans."
Diamond Dog clans are led by an 'Alpha,' the dominant male, who is responsible for making sure that the clan has enough land to suit its needs; to achieve this, they also act as military tacticians, and will take great pleasure in leading from the front in battle.
"What is the Alpha planning?" Geo demanded.
"He is leading our clan to where the Great One last fell." the Dog seemed relieved at Geo's response. "There, we will meet all of the other clans and try to finish what the Great One started."
"Ah, this mysterious 'Great One' that I've heard so much about." Geo sighed. "Who is he, exactly? Furthermore, how in the hell are you supposed to bring him back to your old camp? In case you forgot, little pup, that's my territory now."
The Dog bristled at being called a 'pup.' "The Great One is the master to all and the slave to none," he said. "We worship him, and we will do all we can to bring him back into the world, so that he can have his revenge on the four-legs. He did not fall at our forest camp, he fell somewhere else; that place was just our rally point."
"You're going to 'bring the Great One back?'" I asked. "As in, resurrect him? Surely such magic would be beyond a Diamond—"
The Dog spat at my hooves. "To Tartarus with you, Princess Twilight!" he snapped. "When he returns, you will die first!"
"Huh?" I was perplexed. "What are you talking about?"
When the Dog didn't reply, Geo slapped him in the face. "Answer the damn question, mongrel," he snarled. "Or I will introduce you to a level of pain and suffering that you never knew existed."
I was shocked at this sudden change in his attitude, but it seemed to work; the Dog soon replied, although he seemed to care little about the threat Geo had just issued.
"You are too late to stop us now, human," he said. "Our mighty army already advances on the land of crystal, and our preparations for carrying out the ritual are almost complete."
"The 'land of crystal?'" I parroted. "Wait... the Crystal Empire?!"
The Dog nodded. "The Crystal Heart is the last piece of the puzzle; with it, we will have all the magic we need to perform the ritual to bring back the Great One. By the time their army returns from its wasted journey to Equestria, the whole Empire – including the Heart – will be ours, and our master will walk free once more."
"You hope." Geo lifted the Dog up so that he could look him in the eyes. "Your pathetic ritual will fail before it even begins, and your army will be consumed by the might of the Apocalypse."
Once again, the Dog didn't falter in the face of Geo's threats; it was though his bravado had suddenly returned when he needed it most. "We do not fear you any more!" he replied. "We will succeed, and the Great One will tear you apart! You cannot stop the coming storm, human, and you are a fool to think that you can—"
He was cut off as Geo threw him the ground with enough force to knock him out. "We'll see about that, pup," he snarled, signalling to his men to take the prisoner away. "Twilight, send word to Celestia and Luna; they need to recall the Equestrian army and send it to reinforce the Crystal Empire. Despite our lack of numbers, my men and I will provide whatever support we can."
"All right," I replied. "But something about this doesn't quite add up. It's almost like there was more the Dog wasn't telling us."
Geo shrugged. "As long as we stop the ritual, who cares?" he said. "Now, let's get to work; the longer we wait, the closer those bastards get to successfully performing the damn thing." He turned around and started walking away from me. "Radio man, front and centre!" He shouted. "I need a message sent back to base, ASAP!"
I looked forlornly at the ground. "Well then." I swallowed nervously. "It looks like there's going to be a war after all..."