//------------------------------// // The Call of Zebrica // Story: Secondo: Shores of Zebrica // by Lil Penpusher //------------------------------// Over one thousand years ago, six heroes of Equestria rose to fight a perceived great evil. Together, under the firm and overarching leadership of the great wizard Starswirl, they opted for the most radical option and banished the three monsters to oblivion. But no cage holds forever. One year ago, the Kingdom of Hippogriffia was forever shaken. Taking initial root in the Kingdom's internal strife between seaponies and hippogriffs, as well as the political extremists battling it out in public, the cage meant to hold for an eternity weakened, and eventually, shattered. One year ago, the Kingdom of the Hippogriffs and Seaponies came to an end. The Queen was among the first taken captive, and slowly but surely, all resistance, headed by the princess herself, eroded and was snuffed out. All hope for the old order, for friendship and harmony appeared lost when even the friends overseas in Equestria refused to aid them. The world was growing hostile and hungry for war, and even the nation of ponies could feel something knocking on their door, it seemed. There would be no great liberation, no 'triumph over evil' as they likely would have called it. There would be no repeat of last time. Aria hovered a short distance above ground within the throne room atop Mount Aris, within the newly refurbished royal palace. She hunched over a large map seeming to depict the former Kingdom of Hippogriffia, as well as the other realms of North Zebrica close-by. Her eyes darted up and over towards the doors when they were thrown open to immediately reveal a stern-faced Adagio dragging along a defeated Sonata by her right fin. "But it's lunchtime!" the youngest of the sirens yelped helplessly. "Sonata, for the last time, we have a whole kingdom to feed on; how exactly are you hungry!?" Adagio complained, the frown on her face giving Aria the impression that her elder would rather be anywhere but here. "Duh! But the cooks here make great tac-" "Don't you even dare say it!" Adagio snapped, flicking around to face the teal-scaled siren and meeting her with a fierce glare as she held her close to her own snout. "...great burgers too..." Sonata finished quietly. Aria crossed her two hooved fins and gave both of them an equally bored glare. The yellow, older siren began to tower over Sonata and looked like she was going to explode on her any moment as she grabbed the youngest member of the trio on her shoulders. "Ahem," the purple sea creature vocalised. "Whenever you're done, Adagio, maybe we could turn our attention to our actual enemies?" Sonata held her breath as her elder grumbled aloud before letting go of her. "Fine," countered Adagio as Sonata sighed in relief. "So long as you actually prepared everything as I asked you to." All of them turned towards the map unfurled across four medium-sized tables. Aria, for her part, rolled her eyes and answered with a frown. "As far as I recall, you wanted to just run in with a few hippogriffs as cannon fodder. A formalised battle plan was my idea." "An idea I approved." "You are so the worst, Adagio," Aria remarked with contempt. "Why, thank you! I'm looking at my inspiration, actually." Aria squinted and glared, but Adagio only grinned smugly back at her. "So, um," Sonata interrupted gently, "why are we here again?" Two very audible sighs were uttered. Adagio facehoofed, whereas Aria stared at Sonata motionlessly for a few seconds as the young siren shrugged sheepishly "Because, Sonata," Aria reminded the siren, "we are going to get our revenge, so we're going to move out and claim what is ours." "Ooooooh~! Right! That!" The teal creature nodded and smiled before suddenly deadpanning herself. "Claim what now?" "Our Revenge, obviously!" Adagio burst at a her sidekick, who almost seemed to shrink in size as she lowered herself all the way to the floor at her elder's outrage. "Well, actually I meant North Zebrica in this context," Aria corrected matter-of-factly, as dry in her humor as ever. Adagio looked at her, appeared to take a deep breath as she placed a calming hoof on her chest, and exhaled. "That's what I said, right?" "Right!" Sonata quickly agreed. "See?" If Aria could have deadpanned any harder than she already had, she probably would have then. She did her best to not engage with Adagio's stupid superiority complex for the moment as her face lacked any sign of emotion. She looked down to the map. "Whatever. As you can see, we aren't exactly alone in these parts, so our wish to turn to the continent won't be a painless affair." Adagio chuckled, amused at the way Aria had spoken. "A few cattle of ours are hardly worthy of consideration." "They are when we need to teach them how to hold, fire, and operate a gun to fight," Aria countered. She tapped her own head then. "Remember, Adagio? These aren't knights and peasants coming at us with swords and pitchforks anymore." "Oh please," Adagio uttered dismissively, waving a hoof back and forth to disspell the thought. "I haven't been hearing you talk about anything but this military of ours for a few months now, so I can only assume it is beyond unbeatable by now." Aria was usually good at reading emotions - as most sirens were naturally - but Adagio was a bit of an enigma at times. The siren had put on some kind of crooked grin, making the purple creature wonder if her older counterpart was actually being serious with her statement or making another hilarious jab at her for being the only one in the trio to actually do meaningful work. So it felt, anyway. "Getting enthralled officers to strategise has been... difficult. It turns out that, similar to our scientists, the creatures directly under our spell are not the brightest creative minds. Regardless, our forces are at a capable level now." "Bah, the thought of relying on pathetic mortals still fills me with-" "-Jealousy?" Aria interrupted. "Anger!" Adagio countered loudly. "How is it that I am the only one who realises that the mortal races are lessers and little more than a means to the end?" "Well, if we gave them the necessary tools and utilities, we would get a lot more out of them than before, right?" Sonata argued. "Talk for yourself," Aria disagreed, quickly averting her eyes from the individual she so often came to heads with over the most simple of things. "I agree with you, Adagio. They are tools, which is why we need to make sure we have lots of them, have them be ready and trained, and have them be in the right place at the right time." "Oh please," the siren leader dismissed arrogantly, "listen to yourself! You're becoming more of a Sonata by the day, growing soft on those creatures." "Thanks! I think?" the teal siren commented. "What I'm saying is that we are wasting time dedicating all of this time, effort, and resources to these... things. They are already under our spell, what else is there we need?" The elder placed her hoofs up against her hips and stared down Aria, who, to say the least, was... unimpressed. As she usually seemed, visually. "Maybe you should quit singing and start as a mime instead, Adagio, because it really feels like I'm talking to a brick wall right now." "Oh, from the one who does her best impression of a broken record every day? Spare me the lecture." Aria growled, met shortly after by Adagio's own. "Not like I have much of a choice, do I? Your head is so dense, I'm surprised you can even fly, let alone stand upright." "Maybe Lunch wouldn't have been a bad idea, you know..." Sonata quietly remarked as even she recognised the spiking tension in the room. "Could you stop being you for just a minute, Sonata?" Adagio grunted. "What do you do all-day anyway? Eat junk food in your room?" Aria smirked and let out a chuckle. "It's starting to show, you know." "Heeey! No I don't!" the youngest returned, pointing a hoof at her next eldest siren. "Ok, a little bit maybe, but that's still not true!" "I guess finding a hobby is hard when 'eating' is a personality trait?" the purple siren continued, equally as mean and condescending in tone. "What do you know about hobbies?" Sonata quickly rebuffed, putting on a frown of her own now. "More than you," replied a perfectly self-assured Aria. "Do not!" "Do too." "UUUGH, your voices are going to haunt me in my dreams tonight," Adagio loudly complained, holding a hoof to her forehead. "For the first time, I can agree with you today," Aria admitted. "I would really rather be anyplace but here, but if I walk out now, I won't hear the end of it from you until I really do hear you in my dreams." Aria couldn't help but smirk at what she perceived to be a compliment of sorts. "Would you just get to the point before my head explodes?" Sonata raised a hoof and opened her mouth to speak, but shut it as soon as Adagio next to her raised her own hoof straight at her. "Don't. even. think about it." The blue siren stood silently with mouth agape for a second before once again shrinking a little. "Ehehe," she chuckled, growing quieter and quieter until, at last, Adagio took her eyes off her. "So, as I was saying?" the lead singer reiterated to Aria. "Well, as I was intending to say from the start, our forces are now capable enough to act. Luckily for us, our first two targets aren't exactly big hurdles." The two other sirens watched her move a hoof over the map, pointing towards the closest mainland continental nation to Hippogriffia - now relabeled on the map as 'Sirenalia' - a realm labeled on the map as Zumidia. "Zumidia? Huh. I think I heard of them before," Sonata spoke up. "To say they're a young nation is putting it mildly. They were under hippogriff occupation until we took over, at which point they apparently declared independence. They seem to have crowned a child called Zamni as their King, meaning a regency council is ruling instead of him. We don't know too much about them but... I would presume said council does not have the kid's best interests in mind." "Which is important because...?" Adagio wondered. "Because it means they have probably been too deadlocked internally to look beyond. Specifically, their military seems pathetic. I'm not usually the optimistic one but, even I think the conquest would be a formality." "If it is, then why did you call this meeting? We should be-" "Because that's not all, and you would know if you allowed me to finish Adagio." Adagio shot a glare at the purple siren but kept her mouth shut. "There is one major issue with Zumidia, and one that relates to all our operations. For Zumidia, the primary issue lies not in their own nation but in Colthage to the northeast. Zumidia used to be a region of the Republic there, and they seem keen on reintegrating them. Chances are that if we invade and take too long, Colthage will do so, as well, and we'll either have to partition the land or, more likely, will end up fighting Colthage right away, also." "Oh, I don't know; fighting mortals doesn't seem half bad. Is that not what you planned for?" Adagio questioned. "And besides, if they really did want the region, wouldn't they attack us sooner or later anyway? I would rather get rid of the vermin sooner rather than later." "They probably would and will do that. But any bit of time they leave us is worth gold. Even now, our armies are more capable than theirs, which is mostly just bands of mercenaries." She points to the coast north of Colthage, which borders the north-most islands of Hippogriffia. The map reads 'Alaudian Sea' in bold text. "The tricky part will be the sea, but the old hippogriff navy should be up to the task. Still, we should expect a much more even fight there with them. In the meantime, the main goal will be to cut them in half on land." She again points, this time at the city of Colthage itself and the big bay area in which it resides. "If we can crush and strike through their initial defences, we can try and cut off their armies by blocking the roads and railways from and to Colthage near the bay before moving in on the city itself." The two other sirens looked a little... confused. Sonata shook her head as if waking from a trance. "Um, sorry but, what?" she humbly asked. "That sounds... awfully complicated and fancy for something that should simply say 'decimate them'," Adagio added. "I have been trying to catch up on what this world considers 'modern' in the military sense so that you don't have to." She gave both of them a very judging glare. There were some seconds when no one said anything, resulting in Aria crossing her hooves. "You're welcome." "Don't fool yourself. You have been swarming over this stuff evidently, so don't try and frame it as something either of us forced you to do." The traditionally nonchalant siren simply let out a 'hmph' and turned her attention back towards the map. "We will be sending in one Army into Zumidia at first, with a small marine battalion attacking Trotgourait, their tiny, coastal capital. If we are particularly lucky, their ignorant regency will simply surrender or flee, and resistance will all but disappear." Her purple hoof moved across the map like it was some sort of chess board. It moved from the city of Trotgourait towards the eastern lands of Zumidia, which bordered Colthage. "Regardless, our goal is to take the east as fast as possible to intimidate Colthage from a quick intervention and to prepare for our counter-attack against them when and if they do attack. Zumidia itself will not be an issue, as I said." For what it was worth, the leader of the trio seemed awfully disinterested in what were their war plans. That very concept seemed rather baffling, still, but she at least looked down and followed along Aria's somewhat pointless gestures. "What about the mortals living there? The population?" Aria nodded. "Well, I can't take good care of dealing with them since I'm focusing on the military side of things. I will entrust the occupation to Sonata, as such." "Well, if I must- WHAT!?" Adagio blurted out. She looked at Aria with disbelief, then turned and looked at a Sonata that seemed surprised but likewise happy, then looked at Aria for a second time as if the purple siren had sprouted a second head. "Did you just..." "Yes. Again, I'm too busy to do it. And you? Well, you are probably going to be handling the political end of things as our 'leader', oh great one," Aria joked. "Neither you nor I have enough time on our hooves, and I don't want to leave the matter left unattended for obvious reasons. So Sonata has to do it." "Our very first conquest, our very first step closer towards our vengeance since we've regained our freedom, and you let her do it??" Adagio complained, holding both hooves up against her head in what seemed like a panic. "Relax!" Sonata reassured her with her usual ease and light-hearted manner of speech. "I'll have things tied up and solved no problem!" The two simply remained silent, looking at her with a mix of contempt and disbelief. Adagio's eyes moved to the right, but her head stayed as it were. "You trust her with this?" she asked in a quiet voice. "No. But someone has to do it," was Aria's reply. The young siren's enthusiasm wasn't broken by this exchange, though, happy to finally have been given a proper task at the frontlines! Or, well, behind the frontlines, she supposed. "In any case, that's the first issue I mentioned earlier," Aria continued. "What's the second?" Sonata wondered with a slightly cocked head. "A most peculiar and dangerous realm south of us, Chiropterra." The two sirens watched as their supposed host marked the location on the map. A bunch of mountains, hills, and dense woods south of the Seaquestrian Channel separated Aris Island from the continent. "It is home to a dangerously fanatic cult of so-called 'thestrals' or bat ponies, as well as other pony tribes. They seem to believe Princess Luna is keeping some kind of alter ego trapped inside of herself, and they devote themselves to that non-existent personality. They praise the night and their 'Empress' and will violently strike down any who oppose or insult their faith. Or so Violet Facade's records claim." "So they're praying to... a nopony?" Sonata asked to make sure. "Basically." "Yikes." Adagio, on the other hoof, was more interested, for once. "Mortals praising the immortal to the very death? Ferocity and fanaticism to the brink? Interesting, if not useful." "Perhaps so. If we can overcome them, in time," Aria agreed and warned. "Out of all the forces in North Zebrica, they are perhaps the largest and most capable, despite Colthage's larger size. Their 'legions' are absolutely fierce and tough to overcome, and my best guess is that our entry onto the continent will spur them to action." "Against us? They aren't that stupid, surely?" Adagio boasted. "Not straight anyway, at least. I would assume they will strike at the Republic of Tobuck to their east first, and then... either Warzena to their north or Zarantia to their east." "Which meeeeans we have time, right?" Sonata concluded. "Right...?" "Most likely. Whether it will be enough to pull the final punch on Colthage is another question, but an even fight against the bat ponies will not be easy either." "Aren't you forgetting one teensy weensy, crucial little detail there?" the siren leader remarked. "We are sirens! Fairness is not our style, is it?" The other two looked at one another, then gave Adagio a quick nod. "So what? These castaways have their pretty little cult of delusion? D'awww..." the yellow siren acted out dramatically. "Maybe we'll just have to give their leaders a little bit of a push in the wrong direction." "So, do what we always do then?" Aria remarked with little enthusiasm to be seen. "Wow, Adagio, creative and revolutionary indeed. I would never have thought of that." "Oh, shut it, you. Go ahead and play with your toy soldiers while Sonata gets to look at all the pathetic fools under our command. I will look into cracking open that shell of this 'cult' in the meantime." The unimpressed, nonchalant siren shrugged and sighed. "You do you. It can't much hurt me if I let you try, I suppose." "Woohoo! This will be great!" an excited Sonata cheered, to the relative annoyance of her two partners. "This will be the time we show off to the world, and we're gonna rock their world in style!" Ever a rarity, Aria cracked an all too faint smile. "Time to see if all that preparation and work was worth it, I suppose. This will be my chance to make sure nopony can ever think of banishing us ever again." "Not your chance, Aria. Our chance to inch ever closer to sweet, sweet revenge!" "Yay for revenge!" Sonata cheered on, placing a hoof on the map. "We'll win it together!" A cheesy motto, perhaps, but Adagio entertained it just this once. She couldn't say she wasn't at least a little bit excited to return the favour to ponykind at large for over a thousand years of torment and prison sentence. Aria watched as Adagio added her own hoof on top of Sonata's, causing the latter to beam with a great smile, her eyes practically sparkling. "Ugh, what I do for you folks." A purple hoof joined the other two, resting on top of Adagio's, finally. "I think it's time to get this show on the road, am I right, girls?" the yellow siren suggested with an almost devilish smirk, one which the other two quickly took on as well. A wild, maniacal choir of laughter would begin to sound, bordering almost on mad cackling at times, with each laugh echoing off the walls around them.