//------------------------------// // Chapter 39 - Battle of the Crystal Empire // Story: The Lunar Chalice // by Spirals95 //------------------------------// Chapter 39 The golem horde was visible on the horizon now, dark metal soldiers slowly plodding forward through the snow that came up to their knees, if their joints could even be called knees. Shining Armor gazed at the line of troops through a pair of antique binoculars he had been given as a gift by one of his closest companions in basic training. For its age, they were extremely well built, and the purple glowing eyes of each monster were visible clearly even through the gray haze of the harsh weather conditions outside the now extended thermal shielding. “Where's the zebra?” he muttered to himself, still eager to take down his wife's 'nemesis'. Many of the Crystal Guards around him did not have his current obsession with nabbing the zebra, and were instead busy making final preparations. The ground had just started to thaw from its former state of permafrost, and earth ponies were furiously digging a large trench, as only a few exposed rocks provided cover in the wasteland. The energy cannons of their foes would beat them down quickly without a way for them to stay hidden until they could get within range of their new spears. Shining put down his binoculars to participate in the conversation with the other occupants of his segment of the trench, namely Spike upon PAL's shoulders, Limpwing, and Arbiter. “I'm not sure how comfortable I am with a young guy like Spike being out here in battle,” Limpwing said, “the kid might get himself hurt.” “How dare you!” criticized a nearby guard mare with her spear slung over her back, “Spike the Brave and Glorious will lead us to victory, he's invincible!” Limpwing had a snappy response for the zealot prepared, but the robot carrying the mare's idol on his shoulder interrupted her. “I assure you Miss Limpwing, I have enough armor plating for the both of us,” PAL retorted. “Neither of you guys have a weapon,” she answered, raising an eyebrow. “Not to brag or anything, but I am a dragon,” Spike teased, looking at the back of his fingernails in a haughty manner, “I do have some pretty strong fire breath. Plus, PAL's got fists of steel... literally.” “Your friend PAL is soooo noble and strong!” fawned the crystal pony, eyes twinkling, “I hope I can do even half as well as you in this battle. I mean, I've only ever been in a boxing match before, so I can't even compare!” PAL blinked and addressed Shining Armor, “The point is, we're capable of taking care of ourselves.” “I hope so, Twiley is going to kill me when she gets back for letting Spike get into a fight,” Shining said back. “We'll be fine,” insisted Spike. “Sure,” Limpwing added, rolling her eyes, “when you two guys get chopped up into teeny tiny bits, I'll make sure to gather em all up, ok?” “Ch..chopped up?” Spike gulped. “Hey, all I'm saying is, Sombra's looking for pony slaves,” smirked the crafty pegasus, “he doesn't have a use for you two, so if we lose, you're both going on his fireplace mantle. Just saying.“ Arbiter couldn't help but chuckle at Limpwing's joke, “You're so tasteless, Limpwing! I like that.” “Laugh while you can, Arby, before you lose to a mare in a golem wrecking contest,” she winked, “I can taste that prize already!” “Would you two cut it out?” Shining Armor growled, his armor rattling from his movements, “This is a battlefield, and ponies are going to get hurt today. I expect you to take it seriously.” Arbiter's good eye met his gaze with equal power, “Take it seriously? I'm going to destroy each and every one of those golems by my sword, make no mistake. An enemy of the Crystal Empire is an enemy of Equestria.” “And we all very well know how you feel about enemies of Equestria,” PAL said rather heatedly with crossed metal arms and glowing orange eyes. The stallion answered flatly, “I have no business with you, robot.” Despite the fact that they were all on the same side, the tension between most of the team present was palpable. Adding to this was the simple fact that they were going to be weathering a brutal attack within just a few minutes, as Shining Armor looked through his binoculars again and estimated that they were all outnumbered ten to one. The rest of the Crystal Empire's militia entered the trench on both sides of the Crystal Guard, clad in armor and stocked with the spears given to them by the Crystal Heart. They lined up as trained, keeping their weapons pointed forward at the slowly advancing line of dark armor. Talking loudly and perhaps regretting their decision to try and stand against King Sombra, the ponies fell into a hushed tone when Princess Cadance descended from the sky in her white kimono, flanked by Celestia and Luna. “We are ready for the assault!” Princess Luna declared, loud enough for all to hear, but not quite with the strength of the Royal Voice expected of her. The rest of the Crystal Guard raised their spears and “Your Majesty, you know how I feel about you entering combat, especially unarmored,” Arbiter said, the mindstone on his sword beginning to spark to life, “it's highly dangerous, especially unarmored.” “I appreciate your concern for my well-being, but I love all my little ponies, even the Crystal Empire's. They need my help, and I will be taking a stand with you,” she answered, looking down upon him, “can I have your trust, Arbiter?” “I will protect you as always no matter what your decision is, your Highness,” he answered, bowing. While they were settling matters, Cadance squinted out into the distance, “Wait... something's going on. The golems have stopped.” “What?” Shining Armor blurted, raising his binoculars back to his vigilant eyes, “Why?” The horde of enchanted constructs had indeed halted in their march just at the edge of the thermal barrier, their cannon arms raised up as if ready to attack, but their heads and legs unmoving like statues. “This is just to freak us out,” Limpwing said, shaking her head and rolling her eyes, “they're trying to scare us by making us stare at their numbers. Just wait for them to charge like we were going to. Stick to the plan.” “I hope you're right about that,” PAL said, analyzing the tactic and running the numbers through his processors, “if they are planning something, we need to act.” “We wait until they attack,” Shining Armor insisted, “then we'll fight them from cover, like we planned. Once they're within charging range, we get out and push them back. They won't have their range advantage with their magic cannons anymore.” “Yes sir,” agreed the Crystal Guard members around him. From the other side of the battlefield, Rosseth had halted his troops just outside of the heat shield, snow whipping around at high speeds. “They're planning on sitting in that trench until the range on your guns doesn't matter anymore, captain,” he told the green-eyed golem, “but that doesn't matter. There's at least four golems here for every pony trying to defend that city. Cycle your damaged troops to the back of your squads to minimize casualties while advancing. Once you reach the trench, force them into the city so that Techorse's missile can enslave them all in one strike.” The elite golem nodded its helmeted head at the hybrid and raised its right hand forward, starting the slow march of the troops into the walls of the barrier. Whereas before the automatons had been afraid of being vaporized by the strength of the energy, now they walked right through the field without fear. The field yielded to their bodies like a soap bubble, and heavy metal footpads stomped on rocky ground before the Crystal Empire. Rosseth watched them push towards their destiny with a bit of pride, but a lot more guilt. Undoing the top part of his black robe, he let the Storm Amulet dangle out from around his neck. “One more clone,” he said to himself, a blue ray from the jewelry building another doppelganger in front of him. Rosseth poked his copy in the chest with his hoof sternly, “Go with the golems and convince those idiots that you are me. Do not get hit and ruin my cover.” Nodding, it chased after the golems at a full gallop. The real Rosseth moved his brown eyes over the Crystal Palace, staring at the light the Heart was producing at its core. “Lighthearted, this is for you...” “Here they come!” shouted Shining Armor, securing his helmet and pulling up his loaded crossbow. A subtle rumble could be heard in the distance as the golem army picked up into a full sprint through the thermal barrier. Thousands of units charged forward through the wasteland standing between them and the Crystal Empire's city limits, eyes glowing and weapons raised to fire. Arbiter drew his blade, hovering it in front of him with the arcane force of his nephew's mindstone. Limpwing pulled her set of kunai out from under her good wing, and fastened the flight goggles she was fond of over her eyes just in case a stray projectile decided to try and blind her. The Princesses all charged up their horns with the most powerful magic energies they could muster, and took careful aim across the wasteland. Lastly, PAL raised his metal fists up to chest level, and put them together, cracking his metallic knuckles loudly enough for everyone else in the trench to hear. From his vision, he scanned over the advancing army and made note of the soft points he had memorized form his time spent performing the autopsy on the downed example of their kind. The robot could hear Spike's little heart beating in his left audio sensor, clearly a bit more nervous than what the Crystal Ponies would like to believe. “The Crystal Ponies are counting on us,” he said to ease his fears, “they adore you for this. Let's give them a good show!“ The young dragon nodded and clenched his fist tightly, “Right. I've got your back, PAL!” Now within firing range, a deadly and unanticipated hail of purple energy shells flew through the sky at head level, whizzing past the trench and slamming into the ground, sending plumes of dust into the air on impact. This unfortunate flaw in the battle plan kept the Crystal Ponies' heads in the trenches, which meant they would not be able to time their counter assault properly. None of the royalty had expected that the golems would be able to coordinate their fire this well, but Midnight's new system was something they wouldn't have anticipated. Either way, the confusion of battle and the heavy magic attacks directed at the ponies were going to make things ugly. “We're pinned down!” cried a nearby Crystal Guard, “We won't be able to do the spear charge!” “This is way more firepower than expected,” grunted Arbiter when the dirt in front of him exploded in his face, forcing him to wipe it clean with his cape, “I suppose we're in for a short, brutal melee instead.” Knowing that they needed to charge out of the trench to have any hope of smashing the initial assault, Shining Armor knew he had to buy some time for the golems to get closer while allowing his troops to see where the enemy was. The unicorn's horn sparked to life, and he shoved his friends out of the way quickly. To the amazement of his peers and the horror of his wife, he pushed up out of the safety of cover and sent up a massive wall of magenta colored shielding nearly half a kilometer wide. It was one of the largest and most impressive force field spells he had ever attempted, and it provided temporary cover for every last pony in his army. Each shot from the enemy impacted the defensive barrier, exploding and making the surface ripple like stones hitting a pond. Clearly from the cracks rapidly forming in the wall of magic the defense wasn't going to last very long, but Shining Armor's intent was to buy more time to get the enemy that much closer. “Once my shield drops, charge them!” he shouted over the sharp sounds of magic exploding and energy cannons firing. Noticing that their shots weren't penetrating the barrier, the green eyed commander of the enemy army stopped and pointed with his left hand at the unicorn projecting the barrier. Understanding the nonverbal command, a platoon of golems stopped their mindless charge and converged their shots on the point just in front of Shining Armor, hoping that as soon as the shield was destroyed their projectiles would claim him. But Princess Luna picked up on their plan just as the shield began to fail, and pointed her horn at Shining Armor, sending out a narrow ray of black colored energy towards his body. The captain cried out and went limp, his shield exploding loudly into a million fragments of fuchsia magic like a glass window. Luna's spell reached him in time, teleporting him back into the safety of the trench with a burst of light as a dozen magical bolts hit his position and turned the area into a smoldering crater. “Good job, Shining,” the Princess of the Moon said to the exhausted unicorn now below her hooves, “now rest! We shall handle them from here!” Cadance dashed over to attend to her husband, “Shining! Are you ok?!” A pattern of magenta veins was strewn across his smoking horn, and his eyes were nearly rolled back into his head. All of his magic had been emptied out to buy his ponies time. “I'm... fine,” he panted, barely able to move, “I need to help... fight back.” Shining passed out cold in his wife's hooves, scaring her half to death, “SHINING!” Looking back at the Crystal Palace, she got Celestia's attention, “Auntie, I've... I've got to get him to safety! I'm sorry.” “Go!” Celestia answered sharply, “Take care of Shining Armor, we will handle the invaders!” Cadance enlisted the aid of a medic to help her carry Shining's unconscious self out of the area. As soon as she left the trench, dodging the stray shots, the Crystal Ponies began to lose morale, “The Princess is retreating?!" “Shining Armor is out like a light!" “What do we do?!” Spike could see the panic and fear in their eyes. If they didn't calm down and participate in the charge, they'd be doomed. They needed a hero to inspire them again, and Spike remembered that there was still one more hero left standing! The young dragon swallowed and whispered dryly, “Heh heh, yup... I'm gonna lose my scales for this.” Standing up tall on PAL's shoulders, he bellowed in his strongest dragon voice, “I SAY WE KICK THEIR BUTTS FOR HURTING SHINING ARMOR! OVER THE TOOOOOP!” Hearing Spike the Brave and Glorious bellow and point over the trench motivated a war cry from the Crystal Ponies, and PAL rolled his eyeballs before standing up tall and jumping out of cover. The golems watched as the entirety of the Crystal Empire left the safety of their trench and were now rushing at them full force armed with silver colored spears and clad in reflective suits of powerful armor. At the lead of the charge was a robot armored to the core with the strongest materials available, and on his shoulders... an impudent little dragon with a desire to serve the ponies who loved him to pieces. Magic cannon fire traded with crossbow bolts and magic shots from the unicorns in their ranks as the two lines closed for a tough fight. The armored ponies felt their suits absorb the tremendous shots, but some were knocked away from well-placed hits. Their own ranged weapons were not doing very well against the strength of the Shadowsteel armor protecting the golems, but some of them found their marks and destroyed the machines in a brutal spray of sparks. Now the two lines of troops were just feet away from each other. “Here we go!” PAL laughed while at a full sprint, pulling his left fist back. The two armies clashed with the enchanted spears pierced the golems up front and destroying them in the dozens. Battle fists struck Crystal Ponies in the head and sides, breaking their helmets and barrel coverings. But as King Sombra promised, they were left alive for capture. Spears flew, random energy bolts buzzed around, and the confusion of battle led to the two armies spreading and engaging in a spectacular fracas. Jumping over the battle line and spreading her wings, Limpwing opened up with a wide spray of kunai, seven of the knives streaking with perfect accuracy at her enemies. They burrowed into the golem's necks, destroying the connections and ending them. Likewise, Arbiter ran up and slashed brutally at the golem's cannon arms, destroying them with his sword before doing a leap and cutting backwards to remove their heads. “That's six to four, Arbiter,” teased Limpwing with a reminder of the score, “try to keep up!” PAL sent his right fist straight into the cannon arm of a nearby golem, blowing it out of its socket and leaving it limp on the ground. Spike finished off the monster with a quick burst of green fire to the chest, melting a hole right into its power plant and shutting it down. PAL stared at the removed limb, and getting an idea, stomped over to the weapon and bent down. “What are you doing?” Spike asked as his metallic friend looked over the arcane wiring. PAL already had several holes in his armor from weapon strikes, though nothing had quite yet breached his internal components. The quirky robot had picked up a blue and yellow colored conduit gently and crossed the fray ends with his metal fingers, “I've looked at these earlier, I think it may be possible for me to...” As expected, the cannon misfired, shooting out a purple bolt that decapitated a nearby golem. The foe comically searched for its head with its arms before giving up and falling over. Spike looked at PAL and chuckled, the robot stripping the rest of the armor and components away from the cannon until he was left with a makeshift rifle. “They're vulnerable to their own weapons,” PAL said, smirking mechanically. Hearing him shout that, Limpwing got herself an idea and jumped onto the nearest golem, sticking her tongue out at another. The stupid machine raised its cannon to shoot her, only for the pegasus to leap off in time for it to blow off its friends' head. She repeated her trick again before the enemies caught on and started trying to beat her down with their fists and armored legs. Arbiter bisected another armored enemy with Wraithbane and turned to the mare, “ThoseDON'T COUNT!” One of the Crystal Ponies, having earned himself a black eye and bruised leg, found himself surrounded by four of the constructs out in the middle of the fight. His armor had been stripped away by the shots, and now they raised their cannons to finish him off. Two different magical beams of energy, one white and one black, struck forth and penetrated the torsos of the golems. Each of them exploded in a spectacular fashion, spraying metal around the area. “Take that!” whooped Princess Luna, “For being resistant to magic, they're no match for our power, Celestia!” “Let's not get overconfident,” warned Celestia, stepping forward to address the wounded stallion. “You need a doctor,” she told him, “go see Steady Hoof in town.” The stallion slowly nodded, and limped away under the covering fire of the two alicorns. In front of the, the golems were dragging away several Crystal Ponies whose spears and armor they had shattered or removed. Some of them were bleeding, some of them were unconscious, and some of them were in perfect condition and kicking away at their captors. Luna spotted a cart filled with cages that the rear guard had brought in, and the captured ponies were being loaded up. “They're dragging them away for King Sombra,” she shouted, a stray bolt of energy striking her and making her grunt, “we need to push forward!” “Did you just get hit?!” Celestia gasped, concerned for her sister. “What of it?!” she answered, “I got us all into this situation with my careless management of my chalice, and I intend to fight until we're out of it!” Celestia wanted to reassure her sister about her innocence again, but this was hardly the time. Looking up, the Princesses could see that several dozen troops were about to overrun their position, only a few Crystal Ponies remaining with their spears keeping them back. PAL and Spike seemed to be holding their own, but only because their salvaged cannon and Spike's fireballs were keeping them at range. Arbiter and Limpwing were completely surrounded, but anyone who knew those two well enough would be more concerned for the golems... “We're losing,” Celestia whispered, heart racing in her chest. A good shot penetrated PAL's left shoulder, the purple energy burning into the actuator and damaging the motor underneath. Globs of molten armor dripped from the wound, but he was glad it had hit their instead of Spike. “Ack! That did a lot of damage,” he said, returning fire with a bolt of his own and striking the golem dead center, “we need to fall back!” Arbiter blocked a wild kick from one of them in front of him, stabbing back and sending his blade straight through the bipedal warrior. Another tried firing its cannon, but the sword deflected the shot easily with a skillful block. “PAL is right,” he said, “there's too many of them for this kind of open warfare. We need to fall into the city where we have more cover and can conduct ambushes!” “RETREAT!” called Princess Luna, “FALL BACK!” Of the initial force, half of the Crystal Ponies had been beaten up and captured by the golems. But they had paid with a third of their own army, and piles of the destroyed machines littered the battlefield. The green eyed commander raised his cannon and took another shot at PAL, striking him in the back and burning through his defenses to reach a minor power supply. His orange eyes flickered for a moment and he shouted in surprise as his damage sensors went off. In retaliation Spike puckered up and spat out a bouncing green fireball that skipped over to the commander and forced him to block it with his arm, buying the time they needed. PAL's rocket boots fired, and blue jets of flame from his feet carried him and the dragon up and over to the city limits. Likewise, Celestia and Luna helped gather the remaining troops while firing back energy beams to keep the enemies off of them. The remaining Crystal Ponies managed to escape thanks to their efforts, but the city was certain to take horrible damage now that the enemy army was beginning to advance into it. From Sombra and Midnight's point of view, the battle was already over. Sombra smiled proudly, seeing the number of ponies on the display below them stuffed into the cages. The force intended to sneak around behind the Crystal Empire had already done so, Steamcastle coming into range. The holographic model of the castle began to move, the twin cannon turrets at the four corners of the fortress moving to start shelling his troops. Not that it would matter, as the defenders there would be overwhelmed in seconds. “We've almost shut the trap,” Sombra said, baring his fangs, “once that fortification has fallen, the Crystal Ponies will have no place to run.” He turned to the nearby energy cage, “Techorse, initiate the missile's standby mode. Prepare for launch.” “We're not ready for that yet,” Midnight insisted with a sharp hiss, “we still need to take out the Crystal Heart.” “Techorse's missile is designed to take out the Crystal Heart,” Sombra countered, “it will shatter it in a single blast, and place the Crystal Ponies in a state of perpetual fear. The Sisters are also present at this battle, and I do not want their powers interfering.” “Princess Celestia wasn't even able to stop Queen Chrysalis,” Midnight Blaze complained, “she and Luna are strong, but aren't great combatants. They've gotten soft!” King Sombra accepted the answer, “Very well. We will wait until Steamcastle has fallen. In the meantime, only one hour remains until your coronation.” “And once the crown is on my head, I will have Techorse launch the missile,” he chuckled, “there really isn't a better way to celebrate a new Prince than with some fireworks, right?” Techorse called out to his friend again from the energy cage, “Midnight, you know I'm not going to launch the missile, right? I can't do that to the Crystal Ponies!” “I knew you'd resist,” Sombra answered, “which is why I inspected the missile myself and made a few... changes. I can launch it at any time I desire.” Flaming Ivory ignored Techorse and Sombra's usual back and forth yelling, and started looking for a way to dispel the magical cage. He tried a few spells he knew of to unlock doors, but nothing seemed to be working so far. “Hey Midnight,” he called out curiously, “do we really have to be in this cage? It's not like we can do anything to stop you now. Let us out! Or at least put us in the dungeon with the rest of the Crystal Ponies.” Midnight's original mind seemed to come through again as the unicorn dropped his train of thought to let out a stuttered yell at the musician. “What are you going on about? If you don't want to be here, FINE. GO! Now that I know I don't need Techorse to launch the missile, you're just... just... in our way!” The unicorn's horn flashed, and the two ponies inside the cage found themselves ripped through space, teleporting them to the dungeon where several of the Crystal Ponies were being kept. They were in the main holding cell, where Lighthearted and Brass were being detained. They were a bit spooked by the sudden appearance of the two stallions in their barred cage, but they calmed down once they recognized them. “Wow, can't believe that worked,” Flaming Ivory chuckled, “Midnight's definitely in there all right.” “I agree. He chose to put us here like you asked him to...” Techorse said, “when he could have just as easily chosen to hurt us!” “You're both friends of Midnight's?” Lighthearted asked. The two stallion turned to her and the other dozen ponies in the cell block. “That's right, and we're going to save him from King Sombra,” Techorse nodded, “who are you?” “I'm Lighthearted,” she answered, “I've been trying to sabotage King Sombra's operations since the original Crystal Empire. But now... now he has a fiercer way of controlling us. I'm afraid to talk about it.” “What's that?” asked Flaming Ivory. “King Sombra has a guillotine outside,” another Crystal Pony cried with tears in her eyes, “he... he's threatening us with it! And I think it has an enchantment that can sense when we rebel, because it can poof in and lock us into it!” Techorse grew angry, “Arbiter tried that once on me years ago. I guess chopping heads off runs in the family.” “We gotta take that guillotine out, Techorse! Cut the cell bars with your laser cannons and let's go!” Flaming Ivory said, eyes turning orange. Techorse braced his legs, and his saddle opened, the twin guns emerged and fired several blasts at the bars, knocking them out of the cell frame and freeing the Crystal Ponies. “You guys need to get back to the Crystal Empire!” Flaming said to them, “is this everypony?” “There's still more scattered around the castle. We'll go gather them while you deal with the blade.” “Have a safe trip back to the Crystal Empire,” Techorse said, retracting the laser cannons back into his saddle with the sound of moving servos, “and good luck.” The Crystal Ponies left first, heading up the stairs from the dungeon floor. Techorse and Flaming Ivory looked at each other for a brief moment to collect their thoughts and discuss their strategy. “We knock out the enchanted guillotine, and then we go back to Midnight and Sombra,” Techorse said, “I've got to get back to the missile and sabotage it.” The unicorn tilted his head, “You over-fueled it, right?” He nodded, “It's got way too much liquid fuel, and that potion has mixed with it. If I can force the rocket to burn fuel at a faster rate than what it should, the tank will rupture and explode. Hopefully that will be enough to wipe out Sombra's magic.” “But Midnight's a Shadow Pony too! We gotta get him out of that room near the silo first, or he's history!” Flaming Ivory said. “First things first,” Techorse answered, “we need to make sure the Crystal Ponies' heads are safe from Sombra!”