//------------------------------// // The Third Sister Ch. 9 Making Plans // Story: The Shadows Saga // by Tagshadow //------------------------------// Quick Thrust stood quietly digesting all of the information given to him. “A traitor to all of ponykind, not just to Equestria. Such a monster does not deserve to live.” Applejack nodded in agreement. “Ah’m sure that everypony in town would love to see him put under the dirt but while he’s got that army ah don’t think that there’s anything anypony can do about it.” She said sadly. Quick Thrust shook his head angrily. “I’ll show him. If he threw all the ponies in Equestria at me it wouldn’t slow me down a second. There were good ponies in the division that didn’t deserve to die, along with General Iron, he was a good pony and leader back when I served.” “These aren’t ponies though, these are shadows.” Tor explained. Quick Thrust raised an eyebrow. “Are you saying that there’s a difference?” He asked. “Yes just give me a second.” Silver, please tell me there is a difference. He thought. I think it would be better for me to project. He said quickly Tor closed his eyes and braced himself. He began to feel the sickening sensation of his mind being pulled into his horn. There is a big difference between the shadows and regular ponies. Shadows are much stronger to begin with, they are faster and when killed they would turn into a puddle. They stay as a puddle for a little while but then they can revert to the form of a pony. The biggest difference is that they don’t fear anything; they will attack without thought no matter how many you’ve killed. Silver explained. Tor felt his mind snap back to normal sending a brief pain throughout his body; he massaged his head with a hoof. “You see?” Twilight asked almost pleadingly. “There’s no way that you would be able to win.” Quick Thrust picked his spear and twirled it around in his mouth. “I’m well aware of that, but if I could get to him first it wouldn’t matter.” He answered quietly. With a heavy sigh he dropped the spear to the ground and looked away. “But if I got to him there would be nopony around to look after Zoom.” Pinkie put a hoof around his shoulder comfortingly. “Don’t worry about it, the good guys always win in the end!” She said. Quick Thrust shook his head and his eyes began to cloud over with the fog of time. “No, it’s seldom they ever do in real life.” Rainbow Dash coughed loudly. “We’re getting away from the main point of the conversation!” She said frustratedly. “We need a plan for dealing with Tac and the shadows.” “Well let’s all go back to the library so we can brainstorm some ideas.” Twilight suggested. “Why don’t you guys head back, we’ll call a meeting when we have a strategy.” She added to the other members of the militia, without a second’s thought they all went in different directions silently. ---- They all sat in the library thinking about anything that could be done. “Perhaps we should just surrender.” Fluttershy offered weakly. Twilight shook her head. “For the third time Fluttershy, we can’t because there’s a fairly good chance that will end up with us being killed.” She explained patiently. Tor could hear that said patience was wearing thin. Quick Thrust snorted. “From the sounds of things, the only thing that we can hope to do is something I’ve heard of, called a blitzkrieg.” He said. Every pony in the room gave him a strange look. “Blitzkrieg? What the heck is that?” Spike asked scratching his head in confusion. “Blitzkrieg was used as a pre-emptive strike where the attackers attack with the speed of lightning hopefully to bring about a quick victory.” Quick Thrust explained. “Well that sounds like it’ll work.” Applejack said. “But how in the hay are we supposed to use this… blizkrieg thing to our advantage?” “I think I know, and it’s pronounced ‘Blitzkrieg’.” Twilight corrected her getting a slightly annoyed look from Applejack. “Correct me if I’m wrong, Quick Thrust but we could lure Tac and his shadows into the square tomorrow and then ambush them in a quick attack that would surprise them, then we could get to Tac.” She guessed. Quick Thrust nodded approvingly. “That’s just what I was thinking.” “So all we have to do now is find out the finer details, right?” Tor asked. “Ah guess so.” Applejack answered. “But all we have to do is get Tac right? Tor, why don’t you just shoot him with Torais?” Rainbow Dash asked pointing to Torais with her hoof. “Yeah I could make that shot.” Tor agreed. “But what would happen to the shadows?” “I suspect that without a leader the shadows would fall into chaos, how ironic.” Quick Thrust said with a small chuckle. The entire room fell into silence. “Do we even stand a chance?” Rarity asked, she had been fairly quiet the entire time. The eerie question hung in the air like a death sentence. Everypony in the room knew that this could be the end. “We have to believe that things will be okay, fear is a way of the body telling you things are getting to hard. This is a time when we have to put fear aside and go on bravely.” Tor said. Still nopony said anything. “It’s very seldom the good guys win in real life.” Quick Thrust whispered. “Well then what am I supposed to say?” Tor demanded. “Would you rather I lie and say it’ll be fine if we take out Tac?!” Everypony in the room looked at Tor. ---- They stood now, in front of the entire town knowing they brought news that meant the end of Ponyville. Tor stood in front of the others, acting as a spokespony, he already knew how to answer the inevitable questions. “Well what are we supposed to do?” Called one pony from the back of the crowd. “We’re going to try a blitzkrieg. That means we’re going to ambush them when they come into the square, I’ll go for Tac. After that the shadows should dissipate.” Tor explained. Lies, he wasn’t leading them to a quick victory, he was leading them to a slow death. “And how is this supposed to work when there’s only, like, two dozen ponies in the militia?” “That’s where we have to improvise, we are bringing all members of the community that can fight into the militia. That means you need to be ready to fight with whatever you’ve got.” The crowd was silent. “As a final precaution, all the ponies who live on the outskirts of town should find someone that they can stay with closer to the square. We don’t know what Tac plans to do but I don’t want him picking off anypony who by themselves.” “Is that everything?” The mayor asked from the front of the crowd. “That should be everything for now, everypony find something that you can use to fight, find someplace near here that you can stay, and make sure you keep an eye out for trouble.” Tor finished. ---- Tor sat in the living room staring blankly into space. The dark night was quiet giving the town an air of unease, tenseness that had never before taken hold of the town like it did now. There’s nothing to worry about. Silver said comfortingly. Really? I’ve basically told everypony in town that there’s nothing to be afraid of when there is everything to be afraid of; I am a horrible pony. Tor thought angrily. His concentration was broken by the sound of a knock on the door. Getting up he quickly opened it. “Fluttershy… what are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be asleep?” He asked, surprised. Fluttershy kicked at the ground with a hoof nervously. “I don’t have a place to stay, the others are all full and you’re the only other pony I know…” She whispered. Tor stepped aside. “Come in, you should have come here sooner. You can use Tag’s bed seeing as he isn’t here. Have you had anything to eat?” Tor said and closed the door behind Fluttershy who nodded. “Yes.” She said; the uncomfortable silence was filled with the sound of Fluttershy’s stomach growling. “…no.” “Fluttershy, going without food is not good, especially when the town is in a crisis like this.” Tor said sternly. “Follow me.” He led her into the kitchen and sat her at the table. “Allow me.” He looked over the current food in the fridge and ended up throwing together a simple daisy sandwich. He sat across from her where Tag usually sat and watched her eat. “Do you have to watch me eat?” She asked. Tor shook his head and looked away, out the window. “Sorry, I’ve just been down about having to lie to the town. But what was I supposed to say, what could we have said?” He demanded, he raised his voice causing Fluttershy to cringe; he sighed heavily. “Sorry… again.” “It’s okay, I don’t think I would handle the same amount of pressure the way you do.” Fluttershy said comfortingly. “No, it’s not okay. Princess Celestia and Tag, not to mention the others, entrusted me to keep Ponyville safe but here I am leading them to what is quite possible the end. I don’t really think I’m taking things too well.” “You’re still here.” Fluttershy pointed out. “If I had left I wouldn’t have anywhere to go to.” Tor said. “I don’t know if Thunder would take me back as a member of the guard and I don’t know anypony anywhere else.” Tor said miserably. “What would Tag say if he say you right now? How do you think Princess Celestia or Thunder would react of they say you like this?” Fluttershy asked. Tor froze. “But…” “But nothing. You should be acting more mature. Of course things aren’t going to turn out perfectly but you should also know that losing yourself to fear is the first step of losing.” She said. Tor was silent for a long time while Fluttershy finished her sandwich. “Are you done?” Tor asked finally. Fluttershy nodded. “Let me show you to your room.” He led her up the stairs and into Tag’s room. “Goodnight.” Fluttershy said and closed the door softly. “Goodnight.” Tor said to the door. ---- Tag jolted and struggled around. He found himself lying in his hammock. Looking around he could see gray sunlight filtering through into the sleeping area. What happened? He asked rolling out of the hammock. I do believe you fell asleep after staying at the oar too long. Book said. I remember telling you to take a break. Sorry about that… Tag thought grinning sheepishly. He trotted up to the deck and looked around, there were only a few ponies around, Tag saw Lop and trotted over. “What’s going on?” He asked. “Well, we were waiting for you to wake up before we sent a landing party up to Heaven’s End. I suppose that now you’re up we should get the Captain.” Lop explained. Tag followed him to the captain’s quarters and down the stairs. McCutchen sat in the corner with his eyes closed, taking a nap. “Captain?” Tag asked. McCutchen’s eyes opened instantly and he stood up, his face was grim. “Good to see you’re up. Try not to overdo it in the future. But now that you’re here we can set up our party.” “But who’s going to be on the party, Captain?” Lop asked. McCutchen thought for a moment. “Tag and I will go of course, then Brook would want to go. We’ll need Pilot to navigate. That’s four. Do you want to come along?” He asked looking at Lop. Lop’s face grew uneasy at the idea. “Can’t say I’d jump at the opportunity, but I don’t see why not.” He said. “Well that settles it then, I’ll tell Brook and Pilot to get ready. Tag I think you should tell Lop the truth about the mission.” McCutchen said and hurried out of the room. Lop turned to Tag. “The truth?” He asked.