//------------------------------// // Adiutrix // Story: Legio VII: Invictus // by Silbern //------------------------------// Luna was amidst the turmoil as ponies were galloping around, often with a stack of papers and reports. Most of the reports were fragmented while others were just outright hysterical. The best that she could get without having her own hooves on the ground was that a disease was breaking out. Those reports came in about an hour ago and then the line for the Manehatten headquarters went quiet. Luna tapped her hoof with impatience as her gaze lifted to see the clock. The next report was already twenty minutes late and to top off this whole debacle, Celestia had vanished after Lucius was sighted in Neapolis. Her sister leaving was also a small blessing as she had to deal with the Mare. For a Mare that was over one thousand years old, Luna was unsure how she survived without a stallion or a man in Celestia's case. Luna had to deal with a love sick foal while Lucius was gone and for once she honestly wished the Man was back so Celestia had some one else to pester. Luna gave her head a quick shake as another report finally came through. The war room grew quiet as Luna hit her hoof on the desk to demand silence. Her eyes ran over the report which caused her to grimace. The report was vague but it reinforced her bad feeling. “Captain, prep my airship. Send a message to Princess Celestia to inform her of the situation,” Captain Trueshot nodded and saluted as the Princess made haste for the door and out. After a moment he turned to the report that was left on the desk. “The disease is spreading too fast. Vaccines ineffective. They are breaching the building now. Tell my Husband that I'm sorry,” Truseshot read out as the entire room fell into a sombre quiet. Celestia awoke before Lucius and so began to take this moment to her advantage. She quickly gathered most of Lucius washables and left the room as quietly as she could but the tunic and such in her magical grasp soon made her gag. Quickly she made her way to her own private bathroom that before their nap she forcefully made the Man take a dunk. Now all she had to do was clean the clothes which she took a quiet happiness in. Her soft humming tune was heard from within the room as she worked away. This happy moment disturbed by a loud knock on the door. “Your Highness, a letter has arrived for you,” The Princess gave a out a very quiet sigh before pulling the door open and levitating the letter inside. Without losing much momentum on her original task, she opened the letter and began to read. Quickly, the clothes that she was washing, was becoming less and less urgent. Deciding that the contents were now priority number one, she flung the wet clothes on a nearby line before making all due haste to the bridge. “Helmspony, change course. Manehatten, full ahead,” “Aye, aye, Princess,” Celestia gazed out into the distance through the bridge view ports. “Navigation, time till arrival?” The Unicorn that was scrambling over his maps was quickly doing some calculations after giving the helmsman directions. “Estimated time of arrival is around six hours, Princess,” Celestia then beckoned for the communications officer. “Send Princess Luna that we are en route with the ETA. I have Lucius and will begin to aid upon arrival,” “Yes, Princess,” She exhaled slowly as she missed that only a moment ago she was simply worried about a simple cloak and tunic. Lucius groaned as he felt himself slowly turn in the soft and almost inescapable bed. It was as if his form was sinking through clouds that the gods themselves designed for mortal comfort. His grin enlarged as he spared himself a moment or two more before reaching over to scoop his Fiancee into his arms. He needed to make it up to her knowing full well that neither Woman nor Mare was a fun thing to deal with when angry. His arms stretched out only to feel an empty space which caused him to open one eyelid slowly. His arms didn't lie as he observed that indeed the bed had only one occupant. A groan escaped his lips knowing full well that his time in bed was coming to a close as he pulled the sheets away from his form. The first thing he noticed was his clothes hanging from a nearby rack. With a smile on his lips he begun to get dressed as well as donning his armour. After all was done, he opened the door to find himself almost bowled over by passing sailors who only gave a shout of apology before continuing on. Immediately knowing that this was beyond normal, he gathered his shield and made his way to the bridge. Celestia turned her head as she witnessed Lucius step onto the bridge. He noticed a faint smile but it quickly dissipated as she focused on something in the distance. “Sleep well?” Lucius stood beside her to inspect what she was observing in the distance. All he could make out was smoke in the distance but that was usually nothing good. “Yes,” The Centurion answered before leaning closer to her. “Although I was missing something that I like to wake up to,” Celestia let a small smile escape before smacking the human with her wing. Lucius ignored the smack with his own small grin. “We are going to Manehatten. If the reports are telling the truth, it would seem that the next attack is being placed into action,” Celestia explained as she glanced at a clock. “We should be there in another forty-five minutes. I assume you will be ready?” Lucius placed the edge of his shield on the ground to rest his hands on it. “I am ready now. Do we have any reinforcements or are we to tackle this problem ourselves?” “My Sister is already there dealing with the 'beachhead'. Apparently it is some sort of disease but the reports are very scarce of information. The local militia should be assembling but it will be hard to determine how many exactly we will have at our disposal,” Lucius turned and placed a hand on Celestia's neck. “Wait. We are facing against disease? Is it even a wise decision for us to be entering such an area?” “If it takes my life to defeat this evil, than so be it,” Celestia admitted as she gazed out the window towards the billowing smoke. “This evil is our fault, Lucius. Why should so many others suffer because of us?” Lucius wanted to point out that it was more his burden to bare but choose that perhaps bringing up that old discussion was unwise. Instead, he began to stroke her side in the best attempt at comfort that he could think of. “We will do everything that we can to stop this but I refuse to believe that this calamity is our fault. We need to concentrate on the battle ahead, don't let that imposed guilt clutter your vision,” Celestia sat there for a moment to let his words sink in before nodding as a small smile managed to bubble to the surface. She leaned against her Human suitor and as she felt his arm reach around to pull her closer, she felt more sure of herself. Lucius was right and the fact that she let that bother her as much as it did was a little disturbing. She was Princess Celestia for pony's sake. “You are right, my love,” Celestia gave the unprotected side of Lucius face a quick kiss before standing and moving towards the door. “I must prepare for our encounter. XO, you have the bridge,” “Yes, Ma'am,” A pony wearing a naval hat saluted before turning back to over look the bridge crew. Lucius gave her a nod before turning back to look over the horizon to see the smoke filled distance drawing closer by the minute. Luna twirled in place as her twin swords cut through the ponies before her. Her chest heaved with every pained breath she could manage. Her gilded lunar armour now streaked with a mixture of blood, puss and other bodily fluid she didn't even want to think about. Another form manage to crawl over the rampart and with the swiftness of light, her blade cut upwards to hear a gurgling as the body fell below with a sickening thump. Since she landed with her personal regiment, she was at battle. The dockyard, or at least as much as she could initially secure, was at a non-stop pace of frantic movement. Evacuation was a nightmare that was almost impossible to contain. The Bridges were shut down completely to halt anything from entering or leaving the area which was currently Luna's only saving grace. She could monitor the flow of fleeing citizens while ensuring nothing infected leaves the island. “Princess!” A call came from below the ramparts as Luna sliced through what she could only assume was a Mare. The Princess gathered this moment to look down as a Lunar guard beside her stabbed forth with his spear to skewer another attacker. “HMS Solar will be here in five minutes!” Luna nodded as she took flight to gather more intelligence on the surrounding defences. She also took this moment to clear her head of the day's actions. The three ways into the harbour had two story tall ramparts and were holding for now. Though as grisly as it seemed, the dead enemy were starting to create effective ramps to scale the wall. To this, she had to use Unicorn's that were taught in fire magic to burn the outside of the perimeter. To top it all off, she still has yet to see the actual attacker in the flesh, so to speak. There were moments that she doubted that there was an evil “God” behind any of this until she gazed upon her sickly subjects. Beyond the wall were thousands of them. If the insane creature behind all of this truly wanted this city then Luna couldn't stop them. Her magic reservoir was already running on low as it pained her to use the most basic spell. She watched as another boat departed full to the brim with survivors. Every time a vessel leaves there is added but only a few more drops of hope to an otherwise bleak view. The assault upon Canterlot was but mere child's play when comparing the pure violence and terror that they sowed. “Princess Luna! We have it!” Luna turned once more as she sheathed her twin scimitars. Below her, a pony and human in white lab coats waved enthusiastically. A spark ignited within Luna which caused her form to drop with great speed and land with the grace to match any Pegasi. “Report, Doctors,” Luna ordered. An older male Human ran a hand through his hair as he produced a vial. “We believe this is the counter agent,” “The results from the infected ponies show that this is something never before seen in our history but we were wrong. This is defiantly some thing bio engineered but the level of sophistication is on a level so much beyond us that it is frightening and informative on equal measures!” The Mare pony explained rapidly as she flipped through a clipboard. “Ms. Grace here is correct. This is a combination of Smallpox and Potomac Horse Fever! Whoever created this has somehow combined the two together! That is why we initially thought it was something new all together but with this we manage to create something that might just work,” The Mare nodded towards her partner before looking up to the Princess again. “Your Highness, I must warn you though. There is something in this infection that is magical by origin. I believe whoever is responsible for this has magical sway over whoever is infected. This kind of sickness shouldn't have the infected attacking us like this,” Luna nodded as she levitated the vial before her eyes. Inside the tube was a blue substance that seemed to have the same properties of blood minus the colour. “Is the person who invented this sickness plagued with it as well?” Luna asked as she placed the back into the safe case provided by the doctor. “If my theory is correct, than I would almost say it is certain,” “Than, if I inject this into the carrier would this solve our problem?” The two Doctors looked at each other before gazing back at the armoured Princess. “If the Illness is what is keeping the link between the victims and the carrier than it would. If we kill or remove the agitator, than the infected ponies should stop their aggressive behaviour,” The mare spoke up as she removed the glass. “We are making more for when we can safely start mass producing the cure,” Luna nodded as she made sure the possible end to this madness was safely stored in a pack before thanking the two and their team. Princess turned on the spot to head towards the end of the dock as another messenger flew towards her. “Princess, the Kanadians are here to provide help. They brought doctors and as much supplies as they could manage. Should we start ferrying them over now?” Luna couldn't help but grin. Things were starting to finally turn. After several hours of killing her own kin or watching them be killed, she finally could see the end. As she thought this she noticed the sister of her own grand flagship starting its decent. The HMS Solar reflected the last of the day's light and Luna smiled. With her beloved sister at her side, they will surely break this wave of terror. They will stomp on the forces of chaos and hate to bring the torch of hope back to it's people. Luna did her sacred duty and with the small amount of magic she had left, she began to raise the full moon over the land to bath it in her light. Luna breathed in deep as the moonlight seemed to light a fire within her but as she opened her eyes once more she noticed the light from HMS Solar didn't die down. In fact it seemed to be growing stronger. Luna had to squint her eyes before she noticed that the airship wasn't slowing down. An explosion rocked the airship as a billow of smoke joined the already damaged city. The Nocturnal Princess watched in new found terror as the Solar passed overhead and deeper into the city. In a crash that shook the very ground where she stood, Luna was mute in shock. The HMS Solar had crashed into the heart of the plagued city.