Unity: A Tale of Arcadia

by Kieva Lynn

Book Five: Chapter Three

Tess watched in fear as the triple threat of Orcs, Gumm-Gumms, and Windigos converged towards where she stood with Durban and Gillas. "This may be our end." Gillas whispered.

"Aye." Durban agreed, "But at least we'll take some of them down with us!"

"Then what are we waiting for?" Tess asked. She took aim at the closest Orc, and then let out a yelp as an explosion suddenly went off in the midst of the approaching soldiers, followed by another. Orcs and Gumm-Gumms roared in shock and anger, and then broke ranks and fled for cover when they realized the blasts were getting through their armor and hurting them. Then blasts of energy began lancing into the sky from the town wall, vaporizing the Windigos. The ice spirits turned and made a suicidal run on the source of the blasts, but none of them made it.

"Look there!" Durban shouted, and pointed to the top of the wall where Sheriff Tucker was operating the heat ray blasting the Windigos and several others were running along the sides of the walls, following behind the retreating Orcs and Gumm-Gumms, continuing to throw explosives and lightning jars.

"Let's go, hurry!" Tess cheered, and the trio ran for the wall.

"It's a good thing you landed where you did." Tucker said when they reached him.

"Yeah... Thanks." Tess took the respite to catch her breath, and as she did so those who had been chasing the ground troops away returned.

"We need to go, right now." Bert said, "They'll be back quick and we're too low on ordinance to hold them off for long."

"Should we head for the closest Shelter?" Trixie asked.

"I can't just hide." Tess said. "I've got to do something. With the ship grounded, I'm going back to the park, see what I can do there."

"Haven't you heard?" Beth said. Tess shook her head no and asked what. "The ring. It's here. And the big enemy is here too. That's what Gandalf and the others are fighting now."

"Then we have no choice but to go." Gillas said. "A foe of this magnitude will require everything we can bring to bear against it."

"Then I guess that means we're all going." Trixie said.

"Right. So let's move out..."

Eqqus. The central focus of the battle fell on Canterlot itself. The evacuated city was quickly overrun, leaving the Castle besieged. On the ground, Orcs and Gumm-Gumms tried to break through the magically shielded main gates, and in the skies above Pegasai fought Changeling Drones trying to enter through the many elevated doorways. Luna was in the thick of this latter battle, shielding as many of her guards as she could while they got their attacks in. Celestia was on a wide balcony overlooking the main castle gate, along with a cadre of Unicorn and Human troops, working together in an attempt to drive back the attackers on the ground.

"Hold firm!" Celestia cried out, "Reinforcements are in route from Manehattan!"

"Some of them are already here!" Luna's amplified voice called down, and a moment later Celestia heard the roar of a warplane passing overhead, the rattle of it's guns, and Changelings began falling in large numbers to the ground below.

The troops let out a cheer as Luna descended to stand next to her sister. "'Tis too bad these others are too close to the Castle for that. Still a welcome turn of events."

"Very welcome." Celestia agreed. "General, what is the E.T.A. on those coming from Manehattan?"

"Just under two hours Princess." Morton answered.

"Then there is-" Luna was interrupted by the cries of a Unicorn mage galloping as fast as his hooves would carry him out of the Castle. "What is it Arcane WInd? What is wrong?" She asked.

"Word from Unity Princesses! The true enemy is attacking there. And there is more... The last word..." The mage looked directly to Celestia. "I... I'm so sorry Princess... The report is that Lady Sparkle..." He could say no more, but the expression in his eyes spoke volumes.

Celestia's eyes went briefly wide, then closed as tears began to flow, Luna stepping in close, wrapping a wing over her back. "No!" The Sun Princess exclaimed in the Royal Canterlot Voice, simultaneously teleporting away from Luna, into the air directly above the attacking ground forces, while charging her horn so bright none could look. The surge of magic was raw, primal, and hotter than the surface of the Sun. Troops along the balcony retreated from the edge as banners caught fire from the radiant heat, and as soon as everyone was clear Luna put up a magic shield to protect them.

When it was over, Celestia descended, weeping and spent, to the ledge where Luna held her again. She made no effort to break the contact this time. Below, amazingly, the enemy's armor had still held up against the purely magical attack, the Orcs and Gumm-Gumms still alive. Alive, but not a threat. The armor took the attack; The stone beneath them did not, and the entire force was now flailing to escape from molten rock.

"Luna..." Celestia whispered, "Our forces here should now be clear long enough for the reinforcements to get here. Please, we should go and aid Unity..."

"Perhaps sister, but-" Luna was cut of by the sound of a new enemy portal opening just beyond the bridge that connected Canterlot City to the Castle. "But, I think we're not finished here just yet."

The portal started out no bigger than the ones which had delivered the now trapped soldiers, but it grew much larger, nearly a hundred feet in diameter. And through it came a horror like nothing any human or pony present had ever seen, an abomination of mismatched and melted looking body parts, constantly shifting form, walking out of the portal on a odd numbered set of mismatched legs, tentacles tipped with fang filled mouths darting about at everything in sight, and so big it needed the entire enormous portal to fit through.

"They've got kaiju." Morton grumbled. "Because of course they do..."

"So who is it we're going to see Master Merlin?" Morgan was alongside her teacher as they made their way through the dense forests outside of town. They had been attacked twice, by the beasts that called this world home, in the ten minutes since leaving Unity, but in both cases the creatures had fled in a hurry when faced with the Wizard's magic.

"We have three stops to make, actually, and we need to do it quickly." Merlin said. "In any case, we're heading for the Longstop first, to speak with the Goblins."

"Goblins!?"

"Not the unpleasant creatures you're familiar with Morgan. A different people with the same name. Though, you have seen them around Unity the past few weeks; the mask wearing merchants?"

"Oh yes of course! I thought I was just mishearing when people called the Goblins."

"Though primarily merchants, they are formidable fighters when they wish to be." Merlin explained. "Their bombs and other combat tactics will be most beneficial... Ahhh, but we're drawing near."

"Near? I thought you said it was several miles... Oh, you've been helping things along with magic, the old fast feet spell."

"Indeed. And here we are."

They emerged from the forest into a ramshackle settlement constructed from basically anything the inhabitants could get their hands on. Goblins were about, but not conducting business. Indeed, they seemed agitated. One of them rushed forward, jumping up and down. "Squoo! Squoo! What is happening!?"

"Unity is under attack, by the enemy we've all been warned of. We require your assistance." Merlin explained.

"Yes! Yes! Many good customers in Unity! Brayflox Alltalks and her kin will hel-" The goblin was cut off by the sudden rumble of an explosion audible even from miles away. "Then again, maybe Gobbies stay back. In reserve, you know..."

"Such is your right to choose of course." Merlin said. "But if we lose the battle in Unity you'll be next on the enemy's chopping block, with no allies."

"That... Does change things..." Turning to her brethren, she loudly cried out "Gobbiefolk!! Prepare for war!"

As the Goblins began running about gathering weapons, Morgan turned to her mentor. "That was mean Master. Threatening them like that."

"What threat? I merely spoke the truth. And now, let us prepare to move on. Sylph Hollow is our next stop-" Another great explosion echoed through the forest "-And I think we'd best not tarry..."

Earth. Shining Armor and Agent Marsh were in a rear guard command post, watching the scenes playing out all over the North American Continent. The enemy was everywhere, attacks underway in New York, Washington, Chicago, Indianapolis, Saint Louis, Phoenix, and Los Angeles. Curiously, though, the primary thrust of the attacks had shifted to the middle of nowhere. "Yellowstone?" Shining asked, "I thought that was just a park."

"It is. I don't see any reason why they are there." Marsh replied.

"Which forces us to now make a judgement call." Shining mused. "Either the cities are a distraction from what they're doing there, and a good one since we can't just abandon all those people..."

"Or Yellowstone is a red herring to draw at least some of our forces out of the cities, giving them the upper hand there." Marsh concluded.

"Sir?" A technician called to Marsh from the computer lab.

" What've you got?"

"Satellite view of Yellowstone sir, coming up on the main screen now."

On the screen they could see a trio of the enemy's airships, hovering in formation around a large structure on the ground.

"What is that?" Marsh whispered.

Another technician spoke, " It kind of looks like a drilling rig..."

Shining chuckled. "If this was Equestria I'd ask if there was any type of ancient forbidden artifacts buried down the-" He stopped at the look on Marsh's face. "What?"

Marsh explained "There's something down there alright... Yellowstone overlies the magma chamber for a massive caldera volcano. The type that only blows every million years or so. It's not due to erupt for a couple hundred thousand years yet, but if they drill into the lava, give it a ready made opening to the surface..."

"But even if they did set off a volcano, it's the middle of nowhere..." Shining said.

One of the technicians looked up from her monitor. "It's not like that Captain. Comparing this thing to a normal volcano is like comparing the size of a man to the size of an ant. If it erupts half the continent will be devastated."

Shining let out a long whistle. "Okay, yeah, that's bad... But does it change our position? We don't even know if they can really pull this off. It could still be a distraction."

"Could be... But the sheer level of the risk is such that we can't ignore it."

"Alright... Let's see where we can pull from without screwing everything up..."

Unity. The Darkness was beginning to experience an emotion new to it's experience: Annoyance. It strode purposefully through the town, seeking out those who dared oppose it, but they wouldn't come into the open for a stand up fight. Instead, everywhere it went, there was an endless stream of sniping attacks from all directions. Gunfire, magic blasts of all kinds, portals opening in the sky and dropping heavy objects directly on it's head. Worse, the common townsfolk were putting up a stiffer fight than anticipated. The soldiers were falling in numbers, and while there were plenty of reserves that could be bought in it had hoped to save them for future campaigns...

And here came another wave: The Trollhunter darted across the street, throwing a pair of enchanted daggers while magic blasts struck from the left and Gandalf appeared atop a pile of rubble, staff glowing blindingly bright, the pure elemental light driving back the shadows the Darkness tried to conceal itself in. Not that there was any real need for concern; Nothing they did could actually hurt the Darkness. Not while it had the Ring. (Not that having the ring had saved Sauron from Isildur's blade, but then that's why it was wearing the thing on Chrysalis' horn; a lot harder to cut off than a finger.)

Then, without warning, the intensity of the attacks increased. The Trollhunters and Bearers had gotten reinforcements. Well armed reinforcements, attacking with guns, bombs, lightning jars, a heat beam of some kind, they were even trying to distract it with illusion magic. This was no more of a threat, less so actually, but it was still irritating. Then, things crossed the line; in a matter of seconds, it was struck first from the left with a blast that snapped its head to the right, then another blow from the right snapping its head back to the left. No sooner had it finished shaking that off than it was struck again, a massive blow to the chin that painfully forced its head back.

"Enough!!" It bellowed, and charging a massive amount of magic in Chrysalis' horn, channeling it through the Ring, unleashing a surge of power that paralyzed everyone in a half mile radius in all directions. "General!" The Darkness called out, and an especially hideous Orc approached.

"Shall we destroy these weaklings?"

"No... Those on the surface are mine. But I sense the foul taint of life below ground as well... They've built shelters. Find them. Slaughter them..."