//------------------------------// // Songs of Fire // Story: Imperial Revision // by The Sound of Loneliness //------------------------------// “You hear of ancient Pillars And legions of the ancient world. While others speak of knightly griffons And grander warriors of old. In all the world before us There’s no one to compare to the tow-row-row-row- and the tow-row-row to the faithful Lunar Guards! And when we are commanded we’ll see Her will is done! Our Captain will salute us and wave us to move out. And when the siege is over, we do the town repairs. The ponies cry ‘Huzzah, friends! Here come the Lunar Guards! Here come the Guards, my friends, they know no doubt or fear.’ May Empress and her Captain live happy all their years To the tow-row-row-row and the tow-row-row of the faithful Lunar Guard.” “Laaaaaame! Ours was better!” The cry was answered by both whistles and booos. “Ar-ti-lle-ry! Ar-ti-lle-ry!” the whistlers started chanting. “Ey-ey-ey-ey-ey-ey-ey!” Blackhoof shouted the group down. “You had your turn already! We won’t be getting the winner until we hear the marines and airbornes!” “And armor!” “And armor!” Blackhoof parroted. “Since when do fish sing?” someone from the artillery crowd asked, receiving approving laughs. “Always could, never heard of whales?” someone else responded. “Whales? Damn, never thought mares could be so honest about their weight!” “Ey-ey-ey-ey! Stop fighting everyone!” Blackhoof waved his hooves to get everyone’s attention again. “We are here singing, not throwing crap around! Alright, Cleartide, get ready next!” Blackhoof then stood back from the microphone, letting another group of stallions start assembling. “Dammit, another one of your bright ideas,” he loudly whispered to the white marked stallion behind their improvised stage. “What, no fan of music?” he asked back sarcastically. “It’s real great that you got someone to lend us the equipment and somehow get Torque Bender on board with this, but the hay are we doing this for? They weren’t all assembled here to drink tea and sing, you know?” “Always the doubter,” the stallion sighed. “Look, how do you think I got all of them together so fast and why nobody ever said anything? They are sitting here with nothing to do until their transport comes flying. When soldiers have nothing to do, ‘accidents’ start happening. Better we make them entertain themselves than if they find something to do on their own. You still remember that story Rockslide keeps telling about how he was spinning a grenade by its ring out of boredom? Imagine what Rainbow could do with this many bored ponies walking around?” “Ah, damn. Guess you are right. By the way, where is she?” “I hear one of hers talking about getting their MAs pre-flight checked. There’s like… a dozen of them here so EAW have a ton of work now.” “When was that?” “Around four hours ago.” “Huh, should be done by now. I wonder why they were told to prep all of their vehicles at once? Sounds like an op prep.” “Yeah, only that we aren’t exactly on a frontline. We aren’t invading anyone from over here.” “Then… why?” “Well, guess we’d have to wait and see. Ain’t no much time left, all these troopers ain’t here for nothing. This isn’t a regular rotation, too many branches and equipment in one place.” “I really hope you are wrong on this one. I don’t like to think on exactly who they are going to be fighting over here. Anyway, the marines are about to finish.” As Blackhoof went back to the stage to invite the next competitors, a shadow slipped the other way. Daybreaker nervously paced, glancing at the moon to make sure it isn’t being lowered yet. “Cree,” Philomena quietly cried at her from the top of a hangar. Daybreaker was hiding behind. “You stupid bird!” Daybreaker blurted in frustration. “Nightmare will lynch me if she finds out I let anything happen to her! Was this your plan from the start?!” Philomena paid her absolutely no mind while calmly preening her wing. “I swear, if anything happens to Luna, we are going to check exactly how fireproof you are!” the mare hissed. “Day, would you stop fighting poor Philomena already?” Luna called to her from somewhere nearby, as hard to see as ever. “Oh, Luna, thank sister’s moon, you are back!” Daybreaker sighed. “We have to return! We only have a few minutes left! Come, I’ll weave the teleport spell!” “Wait, Day,” Luna’s alarmed voice made Daybreaker pause. “Philomena was right, something is amiss here. These soldiers aren’t just singing. They are fueling up their vehicles and arming weapons, they are preparing for war! I’ve seen the Imperial Guard unicorns drawing a large teleportation circle across the airstrip!” Daybreaker took a deep breath, “Luna, whatever they are doing, they wouldn’t be doing it if Nightmare didn’t want it. We can go back and ask her.” “No, Day! Not yet! We have to stop this! Let’s sabotage the circle. They can’t leave without it!” “Do you mean to say that you intend to interfere with Nightmare’s plan?!” Daybreaker leaned forward so much she almost fell over. “Luna, how can you even say this?!” “I am only saying we should hear Nightmare before it happens! A new war is not a mistake any of us can afford. What if she doesn’t know? Or her orders were misunderstood? She never spoke of any of this!” “Luna, please, do not make a mistake that all of us will regret. It’s almost dawn, we don’t have any time left, please, let’s simply return,” Daybreaker tried to reason calmly. “Hey! Anyone’s there?” Both mares froze as a patrol’s voice came flying. “This is a military facility, we are authorized to use force!” Daybreaker was not going to see that happening. The fiery mare grasped Luna by the neck and began weaving the teleportation spell. “No!” Luna pushed Daybreaker, effortlessly sending her rolling on the ground as if she weighed nothing at all. “Day, I spoke a vow! I...” Luna suddenly cut herself off as the night suddenly became darker, the moon just crossed the horizon. Daybreaker closed her eyes, not prepared to watch the horror that the dawn would unleash. Nothing… no screams, no sounds of panic. Daybreaker opened one of her eyes and found Luna’s vague silhouette still in the darkness of the night, hugging the hangar wall.  The sun simply wasn’t being raised. ...Did Nightmare find out? “Anyone’s here?” the patrolling soldier finally made his way over the angle, weirdly enough he was from the palace guard. “Eh… mornin’, ma’am,” to his credit he didn’t take more than a second to remember his formalities in the face of a Princess lying in the grass around a hangar at a military airbase. Daybreaker swiftly propped herself to prevent this embarrassment from continuing. “I w-wished to know why the Imperial Guards were sent elsewhere,” she excused herself, to the soldier’s bewilderment. “Ehh… Alright, ma’am. Would you like me to call my lieutenant?” Once again his training did not fail him. “Spell it briefly,” Daybreaker commanded. “Well, can’t say much to you myself, Your Highness. Our platoon was voluntold to oversee the operation here. We have representatives from all branches of the army. Even marines are here. The unicorns are drawing something on the strip, no guesses what’s it for. Some wackos threw together an improvised concert to pass the time while me just stuck in patrol. That’s more or less everything. Anything else I can assist you with, Your Highness?” “Wasn’t the sun supposed to be raised?” “Her Majesty wants the taskforce to depart under cover of darkness.” “I wish to see.” “Well, you can have a good enough view from here, Your Highness.” The soldier stepped back from the hangar’s angle, inviting Daybreaker to walk closer. The airstrip was buzzing with activity now, soldiers lining in columns together with their platoon members, driving their supply trucks and armored vehicles behind them. There was a straggler who preferred to jump in the back of one of the trucks. “Rarity!” the voice from the invisible mare next to them dragged Daybreaker from her analysis. The soldier outright jumped. “Who-” he started. “Luna, no!” Daybreaker proved quicker. “They will see you!” “But Rarity...” “Luna, no!” Daybreaker stamped her hoof. “We will return to Nightmare and then she will decide what to do,” Daybreaker deliberately slowly staked every word. She cringed, remembering there was a Guard overhearing, but there was no choice now. “But I vowed to never stand beside and watch! They… they won’t see me. It will be just a moment.” “Luna, no!” Daybreaker protested once again as a remarkably dark shadow slipped from her side. “Wait! I-I’ll come with you! Make them look the other way!” “The quicker I get to Rarity and get her out of that truck, the faster we’ll be gone from here, Day. I’ll move quicker alone through the shadows.” “But what if she is there for a reason?! Luna, I beg you! Don’t do something all of us would regret!” “You won’t,” Luna said and darted away, leaving Daybreaker to stand and watch. Daybreaker leaned against the wall and allowed herself to slide to the ground, no longer caring for grace. “I won’t presume to know anything… But can I help in any way at all?” the soldier asked. “It is out of your hooves now,” Daybreaker hopelessly said. “Gather other Guards and go. And pray that you will still have somewhere to go in a few minutes.” The soldier swallowed in a sudden lump in his throat and moved to follow his orders. Then, there was a high pitched cry. Silence. A round of conflicting orders and arguing: “Arrest the intruder!”, “This is a changeling trick, it has to be!”, “This is treason! You won’t dare to fire on our Empress!” lastly loud and clear: “Fire!” immediately followed by “Cease!” “This is a military facility!”, “Someone kidnapped the Lady!” Then mutual accusations: “You are commiting treason!”, “I’ll see that the General has your head for this!”. The morning sun finally creeped out over the horizon as Daybreaker’s heart sank. All words were now drowned by the thunder of gunfire.