//------------------------------// // Bynn The Breaker // Story: Who Knows Where // by WindigogoGadget //------------------------------// It was going to be a mostly uneventful day for the crystal ponies, who were, for the most part, trying to keep up with their old lives in a strange new world after the events of King Sombra and their entire disappearance from the plane of existence, one of many things they'd prefer to forget. Princess Cadence and Shining Armor on the other hand rarely got a chance to themselves as of late, dealing with law, crystal ponies, ways of successfully maintaining the economy of a place where not so much as a single bit flowed in and out for millennia, lest they collapse. They had very little to sell to the modern Equestrian market, outside of recently being a popular tourist site for ponies, though the visits weren't going to last long, and if any of King Sombras's magical presence remained and triggered, it could stain the Crystal Empire's fickle reputation in the eyes of Equestria's nobility. The Princess Of Love sighed and prepared for another day in the newly remodeled court, prepared to settle matters both as royalty and alongside a jury of crystal ponies, today's matter was the possibility of farming in the Frozen North. It was going to be a long day. The kid was currently being hurdled through the air, taking the chance to do a a few summersaults. For the most part, he was always mature, to the point where if nobody had noticed his height and the softness of his facial features, they would have just assumed he was another Caelondian. Another Caelondian who had taken another term on the Rippling Walls, ten years of labor, building, breaking, defending the walls. Not a past he wanted to drift back to, despite the fact he'd grown up in the military instead of a proper childhood. Maybe ill land somewhere soft this time... He thought, maybe it was just for the amusement of the gods, if any still watched over humanity, that he would always land somewhere hard, or in one particular case he would blame entirely on having prayed to Roathus one day, landed just inches away from a few soft pillows in the Sundown Path. That had left him feeling surprisingly angry for the duration of his time there. Such thoughts were cleared and replaced with the hard feeling of slamming his face into the hard crystal road. The afternoon was lazy as the day grew to a close, the sudden slam in the ground alerted what few crystal ponies were nearby, the darkness falling shortly after. Some thought Nightmare Moon returned for a moment, with the loud noise and the sudden coming of night, but in reality, it seemed like a small minotaur boy had just gone and fallen out of the sky, and few were mixed between worry of a potential omen and concern over the boy. At least until it suddenly got up, seemingly not showing any worse for wear with its strange armor made from a simple metal chest plate and shoulder-pad, with the most unusual being his red scarf tied into a bandana and the gear he had strapped to his back, tied with rope. White hair draped from its head in lazy, short locks. Its presence was intimidating despite its short stature, even more so when it got up. Understandably, they fled to find the guards while on the verge of hysteria. He groaned inwardly as he got up, the architecture reminding him of the Tazal Terminals in terms of color scheme, blue crystal architecture, shining glumly and faintly in the moonlight. Seeing towns was always a bit of a soft-point for him, considering... Kid just hopes it won't turn out like last time, not much point in fretting the past One of these days he might break his nose, but thankfully today was not today, despite his lack of a graceful fall he was none-the-less worse for wear and got to moving, normally he'd walk to wherever the land remained and if it was the right way the ground would form up underneath his feet. This time it just meant relying on the Star Of Caelondia strapped to his back, the city crest was, to his knowledge, just a form of identification until Rucks had pointed out it contained enough power to point the way to the cores, with similar power to the Bastions. How it worked, or why it worked was beyond him, and it wasn't all that important to him. Right now what mattered was getting the shard back, hopefully in time for a warm meal and to keep the engines running. For how long he couldn't say, Rucks was always fickle on the details and never spoke about it often unless prompted, which to his fault, he never asked. Marching forward in a steady pace, the gear he carried clanked softly, and his gait was un-impeded by the heavy head of his hammer, or the mortar and its artillery shells, not the mention his saving grace, the indestructible shield. A heavy thing that would never leave his grip no matter what was thrown at it. He followed the tug of the energy, it waned and waxed depending on the direction he headed, which at this point was almost about to just be him waltzing into the center of an ornate castle made of gems. But, as fate had it, a pick-up job was never so easy. Kid spies something stranger still. Is that a survivor? Instead of the usual Gasfella and beasts that roamed his world, this time he had to fight some type of armored-up horse, all of which coordinated around him intelligently, covering each other's backs, and surrounding him with spears. This was certainly new. The tactics were unlike the Ura, who seemed to just be desperate to fight him off with what able bodies they had. No ma'am, just some ponies, clad in armor and weapons. Rather than the black, red-hinted stone used in Ura spears, these were clean, metal spears, though they lacked the polish and range of Brusher Pikes, and the way they stood told him they were hesitant, and almost out of practice. Maybe just this once he'd hold back, and pull a punch. His hammer was readied, drawn in one swift movement and he broke the stand-off. The shard was needed, so no time was left for pleasantries, just the business end of a Masons specially crafted sledgehammer. The thing was both weapon and tool, and was ornate, yet simple in its design, leaving everything to function and form afterward. He swung around, dug his feet in, and just like that he was a whirlwind of hurt, rolling past the guardsmen who were knocked down, and the rest presumably fled, although two were still up against him. A quick parry of a spears strike was enough to deter one, and the morale of its partner, and the two fled somewhere deeper into the castle. Kid follows the natives in, they'd know the place better than him after all. He rushes in after them, not to chase but just to trail them. It wasn't his concern just yet, he focused more on the shard, and the stairs leading upwards into the castle. He'd find more guards to try and stop him on the way, but he ran past them. It was only thirty minutes after dark when he had settled into his office to deal with the diminishing pile of paperwork and training regiments he had to plan out. Just as Shining Armor hoped, it was an easy day. Until it wasn't, just at that moment a guard rushed into his office unannounced, and completely uncomposed. A yellow crystal earth pony in the standard armor of the guard, cutting off Shining just as he was about to ask what was going on. "The Empire is under attack!" His march continued, suddenly greeted by a squadron of armed ponies with seemingly more spine than the last group. He was somewhere on the second floor of the castle. They didn't allow him to strike first, one of them taking a jab at him from which he rolled out of the way and off to the side, no longer stuck in a choke-point. Kid uses some fancy footwork to get around. Another one takes a jab at him, the spear trying to clip him while he's down when- Clang, Trusty shield saves his hide. He pulled his shield in a fluid movement, twisting to cover his side with the hunk of metal, bearing the motif of a bull. Said shield was placed aside for a moment as he took his hammer out, and swung in a broad strike, knocking down a pony and throwing one to the side, then turning he swung upwards and flowed back into the side of two more guards. They seemed to be far less durable than what he worked with, the majority of them were either out-skilled or outclassed in strength, and didn't have the constitution to keep standing after a single strike. Something about the way things were lining up told him it might end up like the Workman Ward when the core was stuck in a metal cage and had to be waited out against waves of enemies. He dreaded the thought, and even more so thought about where he could find a sky-lift home. It just can't ever be simple, but at least it was easy enough for now. Starts to feel his bruises though. The march onwards continued, following the path the crest told him to take as he rounded a corner into another set of spiral stairs, and being for the most part unable to roll up them, just settled for a run up them. Had he any less stamina and more of a mind to express himself openly he would have complained about the amount of them. Taking this small break from combat he remembered about the little red bottle he had brought with him, taking it out he looked at the label, two blue hinted tear-drops in a heart shape. The second most useful thing from tonics. Removing the cork he took a deep gulp of the stuff and finished it, putting it in a waist pocket as he wasn't one to litter. "Squirt Cider will toughen you right up. Too bad about the musty aftertaste." On the third floor, he turns to the left of the square lobby, leading him to another group of guards. The tug felt stronger, it was getting close, and the ones further up seemed to have increasingly more spine and determination to stop him in his tracks. Swerving and ducking, he clashed against a spear with his hammer and blunted it so, slamming into a pony who thought to delay him. He was going to get that shard sooner or later, so he decided he'd cut the idle fights and skip to the big one, rushing straight ahead despite the shouting of the ponies that slowly turned a bit recognizable. Running up the last flight of stairs he felt the rush of the crest. He spots the shard, heart-shaped, but a shard it is. A blue-tinted forcefield stands in his way. "By Order Of Equestria, Stop right there!" A clear command rang out among the voice as the clatter of hooves paused around him, a white stallion with a blue main and horn, clearly different from the others. Roathus [ROH·thus] - The God of Thirst and Plenty "The Gorging Host grows ever larger yet remains insatiable, His eyes awash in tears." All the gods now after the calamity seems to bear misfortune when prayed to, always sporting an ironic twist against whatever positives they stand for. This particular one was always prayed to by event-hosters wherever food and banquets were involved, no matter how big or small. Whenever this one was invoked by The Kid, he'd find much less to use for himself in the field, but just slightly a little more to bring back on his travels. Brusher - A person, more accurately a huntsman who would go beyond the city walls to explore, document fauna and wildlife, and other various threats and points of interest for Caelondia, it was a dangerous job. Their Pikes and skill with it were the stuff of legends.