The first thing Vivid heard as she neared the front was crying. The care tent was along the road and furthest from the battle.
It struck her as a sort of cry that she hadn't heard before, that of grown mares and stallions weeping from pain. Nothing to be done for it, but to give them whatever temporary comfort could be given, and let them be.
She got off the wagon among the smell of dust and blood, and lit her horn to get a view of the camp.
The care tent was large enough to fit a dozen wagons, with an entrance on each of the four sides. A dozen unicorn healers with jars of poultice and alcohol made their rounds among four times as many injured.
A hill blocked the view of the front itself but as she expanded her vision outwards she could spy the clouds compacted into fortifications above it, to keep the Griffins and dragons from flying over.
There were many tents around, and the only circular one was her destination.
Bundles of sage and mint hung from the awning to block out the smell of the care tent, and a thick rough carpet was plenty enough to clean the hooves of those who entered.
"Report," a slightly built stallion behind a desk said quickly.
"Vivid Colour, reporting," she replied, well aware that she wasn't familiar enough with military etiquette to impress anyone.
"Reporting to whom?" The stallion replied, looking back down to his desk and shuffling the papers.
Vivid could pick out her own name and information in the indentations on the paper, thanks to her magic, but he clearly wanted to confirm it.
"One star general of the UOD, Mage of the Archway, and..."
She hesitated.
"Consort to her royal Highness, Princess Luna," the stallion finished. "I suppose you don't know who I am?"
Vivid shook her head, deciding not to give an excuse for her ignorance.
"I am five star general Humble Pie. You will report directly to me since I'm not going to be sending a blind pony into battle directly, Archway Mage or not. I'll be using you for special missions and such. You're the one that made the distant speaking spell?"
She nodded, burying any reaction she had to his name or declarations.
"Well thanks for that. It's been a great tool. Now, as a unicorn who can do all sorts of things the enemy might not expect, the first thing I want you to do is use your little spell to listen in on the enemy. Find out what they're planning. They've fallen back and seem to be waiting the last few days."
"Of course, sir," Vivid nodded. "I'll need an object to focus on."
"We'll have you hold a rock and get to know it before we launch it over there," he says quickly. "Anything else you need?"
Vivid pondered the question. She wanted to do something that would matter, but knew this pony would be better at strategy than her.
"No, sir. I'm just happy to help."
He nodded, and directed her to her bunk. She would be sharing a tent with another officer but she wasn't there when Vivid settled in and laid out her own blanket on the cot.
In the distance, far off and away some drums started and the fur on the back of her neck stood on end, making her shiver before stepping outside to sense ponies rushing by. She waved a hoof until one stopped.
"Y-yes ma'am?" The soldier asked quickly, saluting.
"What's going on. I just got here," Vivid said by way of explanation.
"They drum when they attack sometimes," the young mare said, eyes flicking to look back towards the front. "But the last few days they just drum but... Don't. We have to be ready in case they do."
"You can go," Vivid said, nodding as the mare ran off to do her job.
So there was an amount of psychological warfare being used, she decided grimly. This did not bode well for a straightforward combat where superior tactics would save the day.
Deception and spywork may be needed.
She tossed her bag on her cot, put on her cloak and circlet, and headed back to the tent she'd first arrived at, determined to get started immediately.
"Do you have that stone for me yet?" Vivid asked as she ducked into the tent to find the general speaking with several other officers, all of who looked to her with similar expressions of aggravation with being interrupted.
Vivid paused. "I'm sorry, I can come back."
"No, Mrs. Colour, come in. I have something for you to use. Just so all of you know, I'm utilizing her skill at remote viewing to gather some information," General Pie explained as he held up an ordinary looking stone.
"Seems cowardly. The sort of thing that a unicorn would specialize in," a pegasus mare said, all full of scorn.
But none of the other unicorns in the room, at least half a dozen, paid her any mind.
"Once you've prepared, we will launch this along with some larger stones on a catapult. We hope it will go far enough for you to listen to them."
"Thank you, sir," Vivid said as she took the stone and sat off to the side, magically studying the rock so that she could magically identify it at a significant range.
But once she was settled, the ongoing conversation resumed.
"If we make a direct charge in the air and draw them off the ground, then the ground forces can charge and take their encampment," the brash pegasus from before said, standing tall and with gleaming armor covering every inch of her.
"We would lose half our force in such a charge," a unicorn said grimly. "It wouldn't be worth it unless we won the war then and there. What have the spotters seen?"
An earth pony sighed, shaking her head. "Honestly, all we know at this point is that there is transportation of great objects by large cart. Heavy enough that they require two large dragons to pull the smallest of the carts. Our speculation is some sort of weapon or supplies. Something heavier than water and under tighter guard."
"Well, speculation is still better than nothing," General Pie mumbled. "The chance of it being supplies is good, they are holding back, so it may be dense rations. Dragons eat gemstones right?"
The mumbling and nodding seemed to indicate that most present believed that dragons ate gemstones.
"So for now we operate on the assumption that these are shipments of rations to supply the overextended dragon forces," General Pie declares. "We aren't making a charge, but I'd like to instead I'd like to push firmly on our Eastern flank. Being closer to the water and with neither of our enemies liking the water, we can take the beach and start to encircle them."
Plans and diagrams were created, and they were all dispatched, until the General and Vivid were the only ones left in the tent. Vivid stood and walked over to him, offering the rock back.
"I'm ready."
"And you'll be able to do this?" Pie asked, sounding more tired than Vivid had heard from him as of yet. "Listen in on those close to the rock?"
Vivid nodded. "I've done much further range before. This should be easy for me."
He set the rock down and rubbed his eyes. "Then maybe we can finally have answers instead of conjecture. This is a nightmare, Mrs. Colour. Neither dragons nor griffons fight like ponies. Our military was built on fighting other equines, and now... It's not going to go well, I can tell you that."
With those ominous words, the general dismissed Vivid to rest after her travel, and she slept.
When she woke, as the sun was going down, she could hear the snap and whoosh of catapults being fired, flinging rock towards the opposing forces. That meant that she was about to become more useful.
Getting up and dressing quickly, it wasn't until she spoke that Vivid realized there was another occupant in her tent.
"Gonna say hi?" The feminine voice asked, with a faint tone of annoyance.
"Oh! I'm blind, sorry, let me..."
Vivid lit her horn and gained the view of a heavily built Pegasus mare sitting on the other cot, looking like she was getting to bed rather than waking up.
"Oh! Your blind," the mare blushed quite heavily and hung her head. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize that someone who was blind would be sent to war."
"Well, I volunteered, since my magic can be a useful tool," Vivid said as she held out a hoof. "Vivid Colour, at your service."
"Lieutenant Sparks," the mare replied, shaking the offered hoof. "I'm day crew so you won't see me much."
"Well, I will try not to make much noise getting up or going to bed, for your sake."
"I appreciate that. But I'm usually the bad one, I snore," Sparks sighed.
Vivid grinned. "Then we will get along fine. My... Well, my mate says I snore as well."
"Your mate?" Sparks asked quickly. "What does that mean?"
"Um... Well, I'm her consort," Vivid admitted, mumbling mostly.
"Ooooh, your partner likes to act like a princess, huh? I know how that is," Sparks laughed. "Fell, my husband, quite the dramatic sort."
"Um... Yes," Vivid nodded quickly. "That's... Yes. Anyhow, she says I snore so I doubt we will cause trouble for eachother," she said with a little smile.
"Good. Well, I'll see you when you come back. Don't die," Sparks said cheerfully.
Vivid stopped, thought about the oddly pertinent farewell, and just left without commenting on it.
Back to the General's tent, Vivid continued to struggle with Sparks' parting words, it was a dark sort of humor she wasn't familiar with.
"Vivid, you're up, good. The stone should be in place now, as we made certain it was at the top of the pile being launched," General Pie said as soon as she walked in, breaking her concentration. "Can you begin listening in now?"
Vivid nodded, finding a place to sit near a pare desk. "I'll need paper to write anything down," she said softly.
It only took a minute for it to be provided, and then she cast her spell, and began to listen.
*"Hungry."*
^"Yeah, shut up. We know."^
#"But this'll be over soon. Then we can raid the pony camps for food."#
*"Pony food is terrible."*
#"Better than nothing."#
*"I was wondering, once we use them, can we eat them? Cast iron isn't good for me but I can eat it."*
^"Dragons. I don't get how you survive eating things like metal and stone."^
#"Same way you get away with eating raw meat, bird brain."#
^"Call me that again and I'll have you whipped."^
There was a moment of uncomfortable silence, as Vivid continued to write what she heard, marking the voices with symbols to differentiate.
After a bit, there was the sound of creatures moving around, and they resumed their conversation.
^"No. No, you can't eat them. It's cost so much to cast these shells, the launchers themselves will be reused to take the northern reaches as well."^
Vivid frowned, this was the first proof that the enemy wasn't just disputing the Buffalo lands they were currently on, but that they would try to push through Equestria itself.
She could feel General Pie standing over her, watching her write.
"Shells," Pie whispered. "What do they mean by shells... Like bombs? They don't have catapults..."
Vivid tried to tune out the general, focusing on the spell.
#"The North will be a nightmare. Cold. You know us dragons hate the cold. Only reason why the Great War didn't go our way."#
^"Of course," the griffin said sarcastically. "That must have been the only reason."^
*"Hey, my dad fought in the great war," the less confident dragon interrupted sullenly. "If we'd been more prepared for winter, the draconic forces could have reached Griffinstone."*
Vivid sighed softly, a bit annoyed with the mundane history argument, but there was sudden movement on the other side.
*"What was that?"*
^"Sounded like someone nearby. Hello?"^
Vivid cursed in her head as she quickly modified her spell, so that her own sounds wouldn't be sent to the stone, deeply regretting her oversight on not doing so immediately.
After trying to modify the spell for a bit, Vivid ended it, shaking her head.
"Sorry, it... It was a two way spell before, I forgot about that," she admitted. "I'll change it quickly though."
"Thank you," the General said as he examined the paper. "This is talking about a weapon... Not supplies. They're shipping some new sort of weapon," he said softly, frowning.
Vivid got the spell back up, and listened, but nothing was happening. It was all quiet except for the sounds of wagons in the distance.
"I can't hear anything," she sighed. "But I'll keep listening."
"Do so. Could you modify the spell to let us get a look at the place where the rock is?" Pie asked as he took the first few pages of paper and set it aside.
"I'll start building the spell immediately, while listening in as much as possible," Vivid promised.
A hoof touched her shoulder gently. "Thank you for coming to the front," the general said gently. "We needed this insight."
After hours of listening to almost nothing except movement in the distance, she was close to having her new distant viewing spell ready when she received a soft tap on her shoulder, startling her.
She spun around, only to be faced with a face she'd already started to ache for. Luna, smiling gently.
Without hesitation, Vivid lurched out of her chair and buried her face in Luna's spotless fur, arms wrapped around her.
"Oh Vivid, it's only been three nights," Luna whispered as she pulled her close and kissed her neck.
"I know, I know," Vivid whispered. "But it was too long, for three nights. Much too long."
"Well, this coming night will be just as long, even though I'm here," Luna said as she coaxed Vivid's nose up until she could kiss her. "But I've heard you are working hard."
Vivid looked around, the tent was empty. At some point the others had left so they could be alone.
She blushed, and nodded. "My little speaking spell has been useful, but my next spell will be better. I just need a large mirror."
"Well that won't be easy," Luna said, nose pinching as she thought. "I didn't bring anything like that, and there won't be one here normally."
Vivid blinked a few times. "I didn't think about that... Um... Any reflective surface about four hooves by four hooves would work. Do we have anything?"
"Ah!" Luna nodded. "I know what we can do. The carriage I ride in, it has an unnecessarily large window in the front. I will return briefly."
"Wait--" Vivid watched Luna leave in a rush, leaving her alone. "I... We don't have to break your carriage, wait..."
She left the tent slowly, finding the General and a few other ponies gathered in a small circle outside, while two royal guards flanked the tent entrance.
"General, sir, you can come back in," Vivid said, embarrassed that they'd evacuated the tent seemingly just to give her a bit of privacy.
"No, Her Highness is taking command of the front and this is the command tent until she sets up a new one, it's alright," he said after spinning to see who was addressing him.
He looked back to the paperwork and finished something as Vivid waited for Luna to come back, but the General seemed to think she was waiting for some other reason.
"You know," he said as he dismissed the rest and turned back to her. "I will not treat you any differently if you continue to act as Consort in addition to your duties to the war,"
Vivid looked up to him quite quickly, mind spinning as she tried to catch up with the line of thinking he'd moved to.
"I didn't think you would. I'm just... concerned with inconvenience," she said before he could start explaining himself.
"Understood," he nodded, stepping a bit closer. "I know you are a hard worker, and I do not think that your presence will cause any inconvenience."
"No, but Luna being here is in part due to me," Vivid sighed. "And thus, being removed from your tent is also due to me."
General Pie took a moment to ponder her concerns before sighing. "Any monarchy is bound to have some inconvenience tied to the rulers. I'm not too concerned, and I don't think you should be either, alright?"
"Fair enough," Vivid nodded in agreement as the general nodded in return and went back to his papers.
Luna returned a moment later with a large piece of glass, and a silver necklace. They went into the tent and Luna cast a spell without hesitation. It dissolved the necklace and spread the silver across the glass, forming a nearly perfect mirror within moments.
"Wonderful," Vivid whispered as she examined it magically.
She couldn't see her reflection very well with her magic sight, but her probing showed that it was appropriately reflective to act as a magical conduit.
Pausing before she launched into using it, Vivid set the mirror aside and nuzzled Luna.
"This will work," Vivid said, to reassure herself as much as reassuring Luna.
"I know it will," the princess said as she returned the affection and kissed Vivid on the forehead. "You made this spell, and I believe in you."
With another nod, Vivid set about casting the spell for the first time, revealing everything around the stone.
It was laying in one of the larger trenches, and the wooden sides looked in poor repair, though still holding. Only two dragon soldiers were in the range of the spell, guarding a bunker-like building that Vivid could just barely see into.
But what she saw was confusing. Shining metal cylinders, tapered to a narrower end, and hollow.
They were stacked in the bunker, maybe six of them visible.
"I don't understand what these are," Vivid finally concluded, as she produced a magical image of the cylinders.
"Cannons," Luna replied without hesitation. "Typically mounted on ships or large carts, to siege castles. Not seen at battles like this where magic and spears are the primary tools."
Vivid let the image of the cannon fall away, and the viewing spell dissipate.
"Then what has changed?" She asked, frowning. "If cannons are not normally used like this, why would they do it now?"
Luna laughed softly, shaking her head. "They must have found a new propellant. Especially with dragons all around, a single spark would detonate any normal cannons powder immediately. Barrels of black powder imported from the East, causing a blast large enough to kill half their troops."
"Well, with half their troops seemingly not dead," Vivid said as she rolled her eyes. "What are they using? What other propellants would serve?"
Luna looked away for a bit, brow furrowed, before she looked around for something she couldn't find.
She left the tent with Vivid following, as Luna gathered various supplies from the medical tent and her own personal alchemy supplies in her wagon.
Two hours of experimentation later, she had a small pile of yellowish white powder.
"And fire won't effect it," Vivid said, speaking for the first time since Luna had set off on her self imposed mission.
"No," Luna said as she held a torch to the pile and it blackened slightly but remained inert. "But magic will. Specifically Swift magic, meaning Pegasus or Griffin."
"Meaning the Griffins can control the use of it," Vivid concluded. "Do we have a pe-"
Luna had swung one of her wings forward and touched a feather to the powder as Vivid spoke, and the flash of energy and a loud bang was enough to leave Vivid stunned as two guards looked into the tent to make sure that their princess was alright.
"It works," Luna said grimly. "And we are about to be bombarded, as soon as their fuel arrives."