//------------------------------// // A Dark Path // Story: The Knight // by TheStoveHater //------------------------------// "We must move slowly and with the utmost secrecy... We underestimated our enemy before, but we shall not repeat that mistake." Hey! I didn't underestimate them at all! I corrected, we were currently hiding ourselves underneath a large tree, the roots easily covering us. Being cautious, I had suggested we detach our limbs to make our self easier to hide, each piece moving independently of the rest, propelled by more bursts of magic. Apparently my other half had rather enjoyed our little hopping trick I came up with, and agreed with only a single growl. My other half whispered angrily to the dark forest surrounding us. "We are using the Royal We knave. As far as we are concerned thou art but an observer, a bothersome one at that..." Quietly we peeked out and watched as our arm shot forward like a large five legged spider, using our fingers to climb into the roots of a nearby tree. I roll my eyes mentally and sigh dramatically. Oh suuuure, take my advice when you need it and pretend you had the idea to begin with. I guess I'll just relax... And sing~ "No! No singing! Thou shalt stay quiet!" My other side growled, carefully guiding our torso along the ground behind our arm, hiding it underneath a tree nearby, wiggling its way along like a massive earthworm. "If thou insist on singing it shall only give our position away!" I'm not in control here, so I can't give our position away, dummy. I muttered, starting to hum softly as my other half finally guided our helmet forward, ahead of the other portions of our body to scout ahead. "No, thou are not, but if thee continue to make noises I shall inevitably scream in rage and attack the nearest living creature." My other half looked about cautiously, his eyes having disappeared and taken mine with them, but I could still feel him looking around, my metaphorical eyes following his wherever they went. Can we at least have the eyes back? I asked in what was most definitely not a whine, I missed having something of my own to control... "No! We just said we shall not take those Moon Damned Companions for granted once more. No doubt they have scouts scouring this forest top to bottom as we speak, hence why we must remain vigilant, silent and inconspicuous as possible!" My other half whispered angrily, once again moving our arm forward the two feet to the next tree. Well you're only doing one of those at best... I muttered sullenly, mentally sitting back to watch. _____________________________________________________ "Er... Captain..." "... What, Maps." "Ah, well... Snafu fainted..." "Well wake him up!" Sub-Sonic, a Captain of one of the most elite military branches of Equestria, was not happy. She was currently staring off into the distant forest, gritting her teeth in an effort to not screech at the top of her lungs. "At least I'm not alone in my embarrassment." She muttered quietly, grinding her teeth together. Why was she so angry and embarrassed you might ask? Well, she just sent the one object she was sent to get, flying Celestia knows where into a sun forsaken forest. This object, a large metal helmet clearly not made with ponies in mind, had started off as a harmless, if incredibly loud and annoying, chunk of what might be blackened steel, but had suddenly turned into an extremely fast, potentially deadly, opponent. That helmet had to weigh at least 20 pounds, judging by its weight on her spear, and had it come crashing down like a Hearth's Warming firework onto say, her head, she would would have been out like Private Snafu back there. Speaking of Snafu... With a grunt Sub turned away from the forest and moved towards the rest of her squad, all clustered around Brown Snafu in a loose circle, Maps was quietly poking Snafus cheek with a wing, frowning. "Isn't he supposed to be the Medic?" "He's in training Maps... You can't really blame him can you?" Lucky said with a shrug, having plopped herself down next to the young Private. "Besides, we all got a little scared at least once during our first mission right?" Lucky said with a chuckle, lightly poking Snafu's other cheek with a hoof, remembering the time she had screamed like a little filly during her first encounter with a live Manticore. Sub sighed and pulled Brown Snafu's helmet off, his mane turning an emerald green and his coat turning mud brown as the enchantments faded. "Alright... Maps, you signal for reinforcements, the only Ponies anywhere nearby is Alfalfa squad, and they're going to take at least two hours just to get here at a full gallop. I want them at a canter, but no faster, even Earth Ponies get tired after carrying full War Gear for too long, even if those Earth Ponies are Centurions." Sub said with a frown, staring off into the forest again. With a quick salute Maps took to the sky, the wind from his take off ruffling Snafu's exposed mane. A few seconds later a bright green flare shot into the sky, slowly pulsing, followed closely by two yellow flares. Maps dropped down in front of Sub a second later, saluting. "Contact made, no casualties, no longer engaging, and finally, regroup at pace: canter, message sent Captain!" "Yes, thank you Maps, I'm sure we all appreciate a refresher on the basic use of a flare." Sub said dryly, rolling her eyes before turning towards Snafu. "Alright everypony, get ready to move, we're going into that castle, it was clearly the tin can's destination, so that's where we wait for it." Assembling just behind where Snafu lay, Sub's squad stood at attention, waiting eagerly for what they knew was next. Nodding, Sub-Sonic took a deep breath and put on her meanest 'drill sergeant' face, reaching down she grabbed Snafu's canteen, quickly dumping half of its contents over his face. With a yelp Snafu shot up, shaking his head as the magically chilled water washed over him. "EEP! DON'T BURN ME!" Snafu thrashed around for a moment, forcing everypony around him to step back. He stopped as Sub dumped the other half over his head. "W-wha?" He sat for a moment, before looking up from the ground and noticing his Captain glaring down at him, her blue eyes burning in her helmet, freezing him in place. "This is going on your record Snafu, that is unless you don't GET YOUR FLANK UP AND STAND AT ATTENTION LIKE THE REST OF YOUR SQUAD!" Sub roared, throwing the canteen at him. He managed to duck in time, only to spring back up, his armored hoof flying up to almost give him a black eye. Growling quietly Sub circled the poor Private, she wasn't that angry at him, but lessons had to be learned, and the best way to make them learn was to scare them more than what had made them run, or faint in this case. With another roar Sub waved her group towards the decrepit castle. "FORWARD MARCH! DO YOU UNDERSTAND THE TROUBLE YOU'RE IN PRIVATE!? I SHOULD HAVE YOU SENT TO AN OUTPOST IN STALLIONGRAD FOR THIS!" Honestly, Stalliongrad wasn't that bad, most higher ups just pretended it was Tartarus on Equus, but honestly the only downside was that it was as cold as Celestia's love life... Not that anypony would ever say that outloud of course. Snafu, trembling slightly, marched mechanically forward, leaving his helmet behind as he headed towards the castle, eyes forward and head held high. Sighing softly and shaking her head Sub grabbed his helmet and canteen, her and the rest of the squad quietly following behind at a sedated pace. _________________________________________________________________ The outside of the castle looked... Unsafe was the least offensive word Sub could think to describe the old ruin, frowning as she and the rest of her squad readied their spears outside the threshold. "Move carefully, that rust bucket may not be the only danger in here..." Moving forward slowly with spear in hoof the squad of Pegasus ponies carefully surveyed the entrance of the castle, fanning out slowly and methodically checking each tile of the old castle for traps. Satisfied with their immediate surroundings Sub called for a stop, calling the group back towards her, spears still pointed in the direction of potential enemies. "Alright Fillies, heres the plan, Thunder, Storm, I want you staying at the door, watch for reinforcements and that bucket, if you see it do not engage, come and get the rest of us, the rest of you are coming with me, this castle clearly has something that thing wanted, and we're going to find it first. Maps, I want a sketch of this place as we go, got it?" With a quick salute Maps' dug into his saddlebags for a moment and tugged out a large sketchbook, before perfectly replicating a floor plan of the room they were currently in on the bottom center of the page. Storm and Thunder saluted, quickly taking positions on either side of the door so they could peer outside, but anypony or anything coming towards the door would have to have very good eyesight to even get a glimpse of the two stallions hiding in the shadows just outside of the moons reach. Turning towards the interior of the castle, waving the remaining three ponies to her side, Snafu shakily stood to her left, Stroke to her right, and Maps just behind her, ready to record each step in his large sketchbook. Sub took her first steps forward into the dim castle, her eyes better than most at seeing in the dark. As they went further in, Maps sketched quietly behind them while the other three checked for traps along the walls and floor. Finally they reached the end of the room, where two large, and in disrepair, thrones stood, to the left sat an archway collapsed in by stone, while the right looked fairly clear, although covered in shadows. Walking through the clear entrance Sub stepped forward into the even darker hallway, her pupils expanding slowly, allowing her to see farther ahead than anypony, albeit in shades of grey. Looking to her squad she frowned and paused, reaching back she grabbed a flare from inside Map's saddlebags and lit it, although she would be sacrificing her night vision, it cast just enough light to give the rest of her squad light to see their immediate surroundings, but beyond that everything was bathed in dim shadows that flickered with the light... "U-uhm... M-maybe we shoulda stayed near the front M-ma'am?" Snafu muttered, his spear held in a very tight grip, causing it to shake slightly as he glanced nervously around. "Near the front huh? Good ideal Private, here" With a smirk Sub-Sonic turned and held out flare for the now wide eyed Private, before pushing him forward in her place. "Alright Private, time for you to earn your pay!" Although Sub didn't expect the poor Private to actually accept, he grasped the flare in a shaky wing before gulping softly and moving forward. Raising an eyebrow Captain Sub nodded and allowed herself a small, semi proud smile, this was definitely going on his record. Sub refocused on their surroundings, spying a few crumbled stone pillars and the occasional collapsed doorway, but certainly nothing a magic helmet might be interested in. She was pulled from her examinations when she heard a small 'Eep!' and turned back towards the front. Snafu was standing, trembling with his spear pointed forward, the flare laying on the floor in front of him, pointing at something in the darkness. Frowning Sub moved forward and pointed her spear slightly to the right of where Snafu was pointed, glaring into the darkness, carefully both Maps and Stroke moved up, all four of them peering closely into the darkness, waiting for whatever was to come... "What did you see Private...?" Sub asked after a moment, the light from the flare sputtering and flickering as it lay on the floor. "... W-wall...!" Snafu manages to get out, his voice squeaking and body shaking as he stares out into the darkness, his eyes fixed on something only he can see... Captain Sub blinks and frowns, picking up the flare and holding it out, at first she can't make anything out, but as she gets closer she sees the stones of a wall emerge from the darkness, its not until the wall is illuminated entirely does she see what made the Private so terrified. Standing just in front of the wall is a strange set of armor, rusted with age and holding a large sword point down, but the helmet... The helmet was a near identical replica of the one they were chasing, but this armor didn't look blackened, nor did it glow or speak, it appeared lifeless... Carefully Sub readied her spear and took aim, with a quick flap she shoved her spear forward, she was almost surprised when the armor didn't react at all, and instead simple clattered to the ground in a rusty mess before her, her spear having gone right through the chest piece. Sighing Sub carefully pulls the spear from the broken armor and stands up straight, frowning. "Alright, back in line Private, if a wall is going to... Scare... You?" Blinking she stopped, the flare lay upon the ground, sputtering and flickering weakly before plunging the room into darkness once more. Waiting a moment Sub let her eyes adjust, before looking around. The first thing she noticed was that she now sat in a dead end, the way she had came was walled off, and to her right was another wall, however, to her left... Readying her spear once more Sub-Sonic peered into the darkness, seeing several huddled shapes, some tall and angular, while others were small and bulky scattered in indistinct lumps around the room, past fifty hooves or so she couldn't see a thing, but if what she could see was anything to go by, it was cluttered... Sub stared into the darkness ahead and paused, before taking a deep, slow, breath, and standing up straight, hefting her spear she slowly advanced into the dim hallway...