Black Bluff was a fortress town built into the very bluffs it was named for. Glaciers from a long forgotten age had carved the lowlands before it, leaving the town vertically unassailable from the north and west.
Two weeks had passed since they had left Mechiburg, and Twilight was all too happy to stretch her legs upon departing the train. Everyone but Rainbow Dash was busy unloading the supplies, leaving the two of them to wait for the liaison officer to greet them.
The pair shared idle chatter as they walked off the wooden platform to make way for cargo haulers.
“Rainbow Dash!” came a cheerful mare’s voice from the ticket booth. The pair watched as an air corps lieutenant exited the booth and bound over. Her massive grin faltered once the dark blue thestral saw Rainbow’s rank and she skidded to a halt to salute. “Captain Rainbow Dash!”
Wearing a smirk, Rainbow returned the gesture. “Lieutenant Amber, always good to see you.” She turned to the pegacorn. “Lieutenant Amber here saved my tail more than once during the siege last year. Shoved me off a cloud right before an Equestrian could cut me down.” Turning back to her fellow thestral, Rainbow waved a wing at Twilight. “This is Lady Twilight Sparkle of Talon Point.”
Wearing a grateful smile of her own, Twilight inclined her head a bit, as was custom for a civilian noble. “So you’re Amber. Rainbow has spoken well of you.”
“And of you as well,” Amber replied with a more complete bow of her head. “Says she has you to blame for forcing a commission on her.”
A playful grin from Twilight led to her giving the captain a side glance. Rainbow reddened a bit from embarrassment. “Perhaps, but she wears it well, does she not?”
“No doubt in my mind,” Amber stated while hiding her mirth. “Who knows, she might make Air Marshal one day. Once you retire, Lady Rainbow Dash has a nice ring to it. “What do you think sounds better: House Rainbow or House Dash?”
The very idea made the thestral sick to her stomach. “Okay!” Rainbow cried out to stop that line of thought. “Amber, the commodore-governor is waiting for us, yes?”
“As much as I would like to hear more, that he is,” Amber gestured to the walls. “Follow me please.”
The pair fell in behind Amber. Rainbow gave a smug Twilight a withering glare. “It’s bad enough you dragged my tail into officership. But a noble? No way, no how. You do that and I’ll find some way to plant a cloud mansion right in front of your bedroom window so you have to listen to my snoring.”
Running a comb over her electrically frazzled mane, Twilight was the very image of innocence. “I might have been part of the impetus, but I certainly am not the one who bestowed your rank. Besides, those epaulettes look rather fetching on you.”
Grumbling and unwilling to play Twilight’s game, Rainbow focused on the path before them. The fortress had seen better days. Singed and partially melted lightning rods covered every building. Some places had obvious repair work done from artillery strikes, while other damage still waited for attention.
The atmosphere in camp was more relaxed than how Rainbow remembered it. There was no real hustle or eyes locked to the skies waiting for the next attack any more. If anything, there was a sense of relief. “Amber, did the Royal Army give up the ghost?”
“Not entirely.” Amber directed them not to a building, but towards the western battlements. A number of soldiers stood watch, but one stuck out due to his feathered hat and was currently leaning out over the edge. “We broke the siege a few months after you shipped out, and most of General Reed’s army was cut to ribbons. Now he just watches us to see if we end up launching a counter offensive from here. It’s far too late in the season to do much of anything except build up for the spring.”
“There’s still a whole month isn’t there?” Twilight did some mental math. “Aside for the river, flatland is the perfect terrain to launch a counterattack with those cumbersome warengines. Unless we’re in such a bad state all we can do is defend.”
Amber shot the noble a troubled look, but said nothing until she had guided them to a ramp meant for moving artillery pieces up to the walls. “All I can say is that the Commodore made the call to hold tight when Reed fell back.” Her tone was that of a tired soldier who aches for the winter to pause the war.
Shaking her head and scowling off into the distance, Twilight was left disappointed. “Shining would be livid if he was your general. In war, momentum is everything. A weaker force can bully a stronger one if they keep them off balance. You’re wasting time and lives.”
Amber’s concern morphed into a harsh glare at the turncoat. They were now in earshot of her commander so she decided to pass the buck to him. “I’m sure he’ll be more than happy to listen.” Her words brought the attention of a mountain of an earth stallion who wore the silver uniform of the army like he was born with it. His brown coat and ruddy mane barely peeked out from under his uniform cap. His right ear had a bullet sized hole in it and his jaw was crooked to the left from an old injury.
“Commodore-governor Azure Grain, Captain Rainbow Dash and Lady Twilight Sparkle have arrived.” Amber saluted him and stepped away when he returned the gesture.
Rainbow Dash dropped her salute as well. “Glad to see you in good health, sir.”
Ignoring the aristocrat for the moment, Azure nodded with a fatherly expression. “And the same to you. How’s the leg?”
“Good as new!” Rainbow’s rear right leg kicked the air. “And ready for more.”
A thin smile crossed his lips, only for it to fade after seeing the simmering anger Amber was silently directing Twilight’s way. “A pity you’re not here to supplement the garrison. I’d rather not throw your life away returning the spy back to her ilk.”
Incensed, Twilight chose not to rise to the bait, and maintained her calm poise. “I may have been born in Canterlot, but I chose Lunaria. My ilk stand before me, crass as they are.”
Rainbow was no less irritated, but rank stilled her tongue for now. Azure Grain took a cigarette out of a case from a pocket and put one in his mouth before returning the case. “You are no Lunarian.”
“Sir,” Rainbow butt in, her temper getting the better of her, her military bearing threatened to slip. “I must respectfully disagree.”
Twilight rested a restraining wing on Rainbow’s chest as she gave Azure an iron glare. “Faire Haven, Taught Cable, Diamond Heart, Flame Weaver, they and more are all immortalized on the memorial wall of heroes in Tranquility. They and many more came to Lunaria after the Sisters left us. I fail to see what I have done to warrant such distrust from a nation founded on defecting from Equestria.”
At first, Azure remained silently scrutinizing the pegacorn. “You name heroes of Lunaria as if you are worthy to stand beside them. The memorial wall is reserved for those who died in battle wearing the silver and black. The captain spoke of you enough for me to know you are a coward who hides in the new world.”
So he’s one of those. Twilight had heard such things before from both sides. “Civilians may not be the ones dying in battle, but who are the ones making sure you have replacement uniforms and rifles? Who is it that offers recovering soldiers the sweet taste of home before returning to the front? Who rations so you can have full bellies? Provided you can keep the trains safe at least.”
“Are you claiming credit for all that?” Azure inquired, not sounding accusatory just yet.
“I have done my part,” Twilight stated with firm conviction. “Merchant’s Creed two hundred and twenty three: Never over-”
“Enough!” Azure commanded, silencing Twilight. He grabbed a brass lighter out of his pocket and lit the cigarette. He ignored her annoyed huffs as he took a much needed drag on his cigarette. “I haven’t heard a Merchant’s Creed in ten years and I don’t want to hear one now.” Dismissing the irritating noble from his sight for the moment, he focused on Rainbow, someone he could tolerate. “I received a cable that you would be carrying orders for me.”
Rainbow fished around her satchel and produced a letter with a wax seal bearing the imperial crest. “Here, sir.” Gone was her cordial mood at seeing old comrades. She kept it strictly formal.
Taking a second puff from the cigarette, Azure Grain took the letter and carefully inspected the wax seal before cracking it open. His mood darkened as he read. More than once he glanced at Twilight out of growing distrust. When he was done, he used the lighter to burn the letter and then dropped the ruined parchment on the ground.
“And there’s the rub,” he fumed while scuffing the ashes of the letter he burned. “You expect me to believe the Emperor would send you of all ponies on a rescue mission that he can’t trust his soldiers with? We’ve already had success raiding enslavement centers. What makes you special?”
The letter didn’t mention Luna? Twilight glanced at Rainbow who wore an equally uneasy look. Eclipse must be holding that information close to the chest. “You saw the seal. If the letter made no mention of who is being rescued, then I can not say either.”
Azure’s gaze went to Rainbow Dash with a silent order. The mare firmly shook her head. “I must concur. When we return, you can find out then.”
“When?” he scoffed darkly. “You act as if she isn’t leading you into an ambush. Isn’t that what you do, Twilight Sparkle? Trade lives for asylum? Slaves, soldiers, there’s no difference to you.”
Gritting her teeth enough to make her gums hurt, Rainbow shot forward to punch him, only for Twilight to act quickly and push her aside, making Rainbow’s strike miss his face by inches. “Stop!“ she warned her friend as Rainbow scrambled back to her hooves. “We don’t have time for a court-martial.”
Azure was taken aback by Rainbow’s attempted assault with Amber more stunned that Twilight stopped her. For her part, Rainbow ignored the dull pain in her side from Twilight’s hasty shove to glare at Azure Grain. “By the will of the emperor, the Ninety Second will need your assistance, Commodore.”
Recovering, Azure tried to save face by looking down his nose at both of them. “Your faith is misplaced, Captain.”
“I look forward to proving you wrong.” Rainbow Dash dusted herself off. She didn’t want to at first, but she saluted his rank more than him to be dismissed. He did not return it just yet.
Azure looked away to think for a long moment. “I will do as my emperor commands. I pray that you survive whatever ambush she has waiting for you.” He returned her salute. “Lieutenant. Make sure her soldiers are fed and well rested. Let Misty know to give our sun-loving friends a show.”
Meanwhile at Canterlot Castle, Sunset Shimmer was sitting down on a windswept balcony overlooking the city below. Kept still with her magic were a few stacks of paper and some ink pots and pens. The feeling of the skies brought her a semblance of peace that the casualty reports robbed her of. She was currently going through the latest supply and tax concerns that demanded her attention.
The scratch of pen on parchment was joined by the muffled city sounds below and the distant sound of bird call from migratory flocks. For all the work involved, she quite enjoyed it all. People counted on her, and those of the palace had long since overlooked her age for the talent she brought to the administration of the nation. It was a fulfillment that nothing could match for her. The challenges it brought, the satisfaction of an issue well solved, were it not for the headache of the war, she’d be quite happy with things.
The clip of hooves on marble pulled her attention back to her officer proper. Without even seeing Cadance there, she knew it had been the alicorn, as none of her attendants would dare enter unannounced.
Putting on a polite smile, Sunset Shimmer climbed to her hooves. “Your Holiness, to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?” The title she used was more of a polite habit as any real reverence had faded years ago. To most, alicorns were distant beings propped up by the churches to mythic stature. Yet to those who lived and worked close to Cadance, that magic of faith and mysticism had all but evaporated in the wake of her political ineptness. If anything, Sunset believed they’d be better off with a dog wearing the crown.
Yet the mare coming towards her looked stern, grim even, as Cadence stepped out into the balcony. “Sunset Shimmer, I must thank you for the work you’ve put in in my absence.”
At least she’s always been polite, nauseatingly so at times, but credit where it is due. It helped that it appealed to Sunset’s ego. So she nodded a bit. “It was my pleasure.” Which was no lie. Sunset loved the power her position granted her, a single whim of hers moved mountains, and while the public may adore Cadence, those in power knew Sunset was the one who got things done. “When next you see him, give Shining Armor my regards.”
“I’ll do that.” A note of reservation colored Cadence’s reply. She tried to pass it off by looking out over the clear skies above. The vast blue called to her, and her wings itched to taste the wind, but she had business to do.
“Please, join me for coffee.”
Cadence looked back at the magical thermos she saw on the way through Sunset’s office along with a spare mug.
No sooner did the monarch see it, the items were taken into Sunset’s emerald magic and floated over. “How do you take it?”
“There wasn’t much in the way of cream and sugar at the front, I’m so tired of taking it black. Please, two cubes and some milk would be lovely.” Cadence watched as more items were taken off the desk, and Sunset whipped up a cup with ease. Once finished, Cadence gave thanks and sipped a bit, humming in delight. “Seems you run the capital as well as you make a cup. Perhaps you could be a barista when you retire.”
Laughing, Sunset refreshed her own cup. “That is still a long way off. So, I take it you want a report on what’s happened in your absence?” For all the good you’ll do with it.
“Perhaps another time,” Cadence leaned against the marble balcony railing. It was another commoner habit that Sunset and the late Queen Corona never managed to correct. “I have a different matter to discuss.”
“A ceasefire perhaps?” Sunset guessed. No doubt the carnage finally got to her, and the pregnancy is just an excuse to return. “We’ve made excellent inroads into Lunara, and success breeds war fervor faster than casualties can drain it.” Provided we keep his peers’ failures out of the papers.
Shaking her head, Cadence downed some more coffee. “No, I need you to arrange a meeting between myself and those most invested in enstripement. Merchants, the mages involved in the process, those who employ stripes the most, and the like.”
Sipping her coffee, Sunset’s mind began to churn. “That will take a lot of time due to the war, but I can arrange it. I take it you’re planning to address some grievances as to why your husband has brought in so few prisoners?”
“In part.”
When Cadence didn’t elaborate, Sunset grew suspicious. Still, it was not proper, even in private, to press a queen for answers she was deliberately not forthcoming with. At least that’s how it was with Corona, Cadence had proven to be less strict. “I doubt you talked General Armor into changing his strategies. Perhaps it would be best to let me handle their displeasure in a smaller setting.”
Steeling herself, Cadence put her hoof down. “No. I need to talk to them to end enstripement.”
She’s joking right? Sunset allowed a silence to form as she watched the alicorn with mild interest. Cadence began to sweat a bit, just enough for Sunset to notice before the unicorn spoke again. “It seems the Lunarians were more successful in convincing you than you were of them.”
“That’s a rather unfair way to see it.” Cadence down the last of her coffee, ignoring the burn on the way down. “But you can not deny the facts. If enstripement has done anything right, it’s condensed all of Lunaria’s primary reasons to resist unity into a single issue.”
Unimpressed, but still bound by social habits, Sunset offered the coffee pot to refill her queen’s cup. “To be blunt, a foal could understand that.”
Feeling slighted, Cadence staved off the refill for the moment. Any other queen before her would have reprimanded Sunset or worse, but she couldn’t bring herself to do anything more than match insult with insult. “Then that same child can see her enstripment has not worked to further reunification. Instead it’s a rallying cry against us.”
Glad she learned something over there. Sunset nodded in agreement. “A fair assessment. I have always seen enstripement as a measure of last resort. We tried everything else before and after the Sisters disappeared, short of mass slaughter.” Sufficiently mollified, Cadence presented her cup once more, and Sunset filled it to her liking. “I still think talking to the ponies in question is a waste of time, and dangerous to boot.”
Sipping the drink and finding it to her liking, Cadence tried to sound confident. “Am I not the alicorn here? This is a matter of faith first is it not? I am Celestia’s will, I can appeal to their equinity.”
“You actually said it aloud and yet don’t see the problem?” Sunset actually felt pity for Cadence, and shook her head. I can hardly call her an idiot if this is how she was raised to think. If Corona had delegated her training to me, I’d of made her actually capable of something. With no hope for Cadence’s endeavor, Sunset sought to preserve the queen’s life at the very least. “You have no will of your own. In the eyes of many, you only serve as a mouthpiece for Celestia. Even then, only because the church has declared you so,” Sunset warned firmly, making Cadence wince. “The church has spent the last six hundred years justifying enstripement. If you suddenly declare it immoral, you have no friends to call upon to keep the church in line, let alone the merchants and businesses you would be ruining. With Shining Armor and his armies preoccupied, these very same ponies would find it painfully easy to usurp your rule.” Frail as it is. “Even if we ignore the church in this matter, you are trying to ask these people to give up their livelihoods. Many will try to kill you rather than change.”
Cadence had seen death by spell and shell, it didn’t bother her as much anymore. “They can find new ways of life. I won’t know until I’ve tried.”
Feeling the need for a stronger drink than coffee, Sunset resisted the urge to raid her stash of liquor and opted to look out over the balcony. The city below was peaceful with the comfortingly common noise of activity. In her mind, all she saw in its future were riots in the streets. “I’m obliged to tell you this is a horrible idea.”
Putting her cup down on the railing, Cadence was early to ask her next question. “Why? Do you support enstripement?
Sunset’s absent gaze out over the city lazily returned to her coffee cup. When she spoke again, there was real lethargy in her words, as if she was being dragged back into an old fight. “I like to think of myself as a realist, Cadenza.” Using her formal name was a test by Sunset, to see what she could get away with. She continued before Cadence could react to it one way or another. “I have eyes in Lunaria, and I’ve heard plenty of the potential of their… industrial revolution for lack of a better word. It scares me.
“What makes it worse is that this should have scared my predecessor and Corona. Instead they took the easy path and invested more heavily into magic manufacturing, but there are only so many unicorns who can mold armor, or fabricate ingots for more mundane craftsmares to use. You do not need to be talented to work in a Lunarian factory. To add insult to injury, stripes, who’d be the perfect workers for such a place, can’t because the machines would free them.” Sunset placed a hoof on her forehead to try and ward off a headache, dearly wishing for that hard drink now. “To do what your proposing would require peace first. But in doing so, Lunaria will have time to recover and advance. This is why we can not stop this war, at least not until we can push them off the continent. Maybe if we wait until then, the Lunarians will be content to stay across the pond and we can work on claiming all Celestia wanted was the mainland. That way enstripment can die out naturally as there would be no more influx of prisoners.”
“Even I know that would never work,” Cadence retorted. “These same merchants are I’ll only fund pirates and raiders to harvest more. That is why an outright ban has to be done.”
Sighing, Sunset sipped her cooling coffee, too stressed to bother heating it. “A mare can dream, right?”
Seizing the moment, Cadence closed in on Sunset, desperate excitement speeding her words. “Then help me! What - what if we made it part of the peace treaty? It would take a long time for Lunaria to justify a new war. Especially since we’d be doing this from a position of strength. This would give us plenty of time to begin our own factories and achieve parity!”
Sunset chewed on her cheek, and looked away to think. “Let’s say I do more than what is demanded of me, we still have the issue of the church. You’ll never win them over on this, and trying to force the issue is impossible with the inquisition at the archbishop’s beck and call.”
Seeing some measure of success, Cadence grinned. “I’ll see what I can do about the archbishop. You just get a list of major stripe users together and plan a summit with them and one red stripe of theirs each. I’m sure they’ll be more receptive if I give them time to adjust their businesses.”
A red each? She really is going to try to appeal to their equinity. What a fool’s ploy. Resigning herself to a turbulent future, Sunset gave in to the need for a stiff drink. “Consider it done, Your Holiness.” And may Celestia save us both.
Later that same day, the Ninety Second was in the midst of final preparations for sneaking across the country. The magic from Twilight’s suit was unable to extend into a chariot. As a result, the boiler had to be chained to her armor at set points, leaving her having to shakily stand on top of it when not in flight.
Pinkie Pie and Applejack were assisting in the final assessment of the attachment points and the chains. When she was satisfied, Applejack slapped one chain. “Fixed and good as ever. Give’er a go, boss.”
Silver had been hovering next to her to give Twilight a stable hoof to hold on to as the other mares worked. When Twilight’s armored wings started humming loudly, Silver squeezed her extended hoof. “You’re doing great.”
Smiling in gratitude, Twilight let her flaring hooves gently take her off the ground. The chains went taut, and rattled a bit as they twisted under the strain, but sure enough, both the mare and the boiler made it off the ground. Twilight grinned in smug satisfaction as she spied a number of stunned faces watching them from afar. “It feels like I’m wearing a lightly loaded saddlebag, as if I were going on a day trip.”
“I hope it stays that way,” Pinkie Pie stated worriedly. “We’re going to be gone for a lot longer than that.”
Silver helped Twilight back to the ground. All told, getting her ready was the fastest task awaiting them. “We’ll be making frequent enough stops though, right? Even if my fair lady can do it all night long, that won’t be the same with those carrying the engine pieces.”
Strained grunting on the other end of the fort’s courtyard revealed First Sergeant Jacks trying to help a quartet of pegasi and thestrals in lifting the Charlie engine. Though half of its weight had been shaved off by taking off what pieces could be easily reattached, that still left a hefty piece of steel that was doing the fliers’ magic no favors.
Applejack let her chain clamp rest on the bare soil. “A pity we couldn’t get one of the other pegacorns who had a suit to come help us.”
“We’ll make it work,” Twilight said to try and keep their spirits up. “Pinkie, why don’t we help distribute the engine pieces. The less strain we put on the other fliers, the more rested they’ll be to take over for the engine crew.”
“God thinking, Sister.”
With SIlver helping Twilight take the chains off her armor, the two sisters went off to help the rest of their escorts. Their confidence soared as the soldiers welcomed their help.
The same could not be said for Azure Grain who watched Rainbow’s company prepare itself from inside his office. “You’re telling me a pegacorn plans to not only fly, but do so with a heavy load and over nine hundred miles?” He shook his head, still wrestling with it all. “Had I not just seen her do it just now I’d call her out as a charlatan.”
Rainbow Dash was lording over a map table as she reinforced what she had been studying the entire train ride over. Forest cover could not be counted on the entire journey, so she would have to be careful in the beginning. General Reed had targeted the richest farmland in the known world, and met with great success due to Shining Armor acting like a magnet for the imperial army in the early months of the war. Vast swaths of flat open land broken only by slow, wide rivers awaited them for the first one hundred and fifty miles before they could reach the Honey Dew Forest. The fear of war and capture drove the farmers and townships off two years prior to the beginning of the war. Those who had stayed were forcefully evacuated, leaving the land abandoned by civilians in the wake of the Royal Armies.
She still felt new to this level of command. Before, she was barely given a map half the time and already had her patrol route or area of operation planned out by her superiors. Now she was having to do that job, and damn it all there was an actual thriller underneath all the anxiety of picking the best routes. She was calling bigger shots now and it made those cloth bars on her uniform unnaturally heavy.
“I still don’t understand her,” Azure Grains mused from across the table. He had placed multiple wooden pieces representing known enemy positions and strengths to allow Rainbow to plan. “Why her?” Rainbow glanced up from her work as he continued to vent his mistrust. “She’s the sister in law to Mi Amore Cadenza in case you forgot. The queen only needs to say the word and all is forgiven.”
“With respect sir, you don’t know her like I do. Twilight will stand with us to the end.” Rainbow Dash had cooled her temper since earlier and was capable of being more respectful in front of the superior officer. “Yes she has family in Equestria, but she has family here now. Businesses, a manor, friends in both high and low places.”
Grimacing in dissatisfaction, Azure leaned against the table. “Which is something a true believer spy can do for the job. What family do you think holds more weight: an alicorn or a common stallion? For all you know, her ‘adopted sister’ is an equestrian spy as well.”
“We have our orders, sir.” Rainbow tried to stay respectful. He was paranoid the last time I was here. And that same paranoia stopped a couple of raids.
“And that’s what I don’t get. Are you under some secret orders to kill her away from the public eye so it can’t be blamed on the Royal Army to cause friction with her family?”
Hissing through her teeth, Rainbow’s temper was getting the better of her. “Sir, do you want to know what my orders are?”
The tone was dangerous. Not in a threat of violence but in a secret that shouldn’t be known. Had Azure been anyone else, and knowing Rainbow was under orders directly from the emperor, they would have backed off. Yet Azure did not keep Black Bluff under Lunarian control by being careful. With a firm expression and that left no room for mirth or jest, Azure Grains nodded. “Tell me.”
He’s calling my bluff? Damn it, well I’ve dug this much of a hole. Might as well go all in. “My orders are to take Twilight where she needs to go to return Luna herself to us, and escort them back to Tranquility. Or do whatever Luna requires of us.”
Wrinkling his brow in disbelief, Azure pulled back to think. “You- you’re serious..?”
“All the way.”
“Mother Moon, of all things.” Azure shook himself. “You’re going to make general one day, Captain, and when you do, I’m going to need a copy of your memoirs.”
“Oh please,” Rainbow groaned like he was jabbing her with a stick. “I have to read so much junk every time I’m given a higher rank, I’ll be deep in the cold, cold ground before I ever write a book.”
Not too far to the west, the Royal Army camp was comparatively lazy to its fortified counterpart. Patrols were still conducted, but there was no expectation of action in the air. The soldiers felt the war in this theater was over for the year, possibly all together should the Lunarians decide they had enough. This sentiment went beyond General Reed himself. After the siege had been broken and the Lunarians proved to be content to stay in their fort, Reed’s army had been redeployed company by company until all he was left with was an understrength regiment of just over two thousand troops including auxiliaries. He was a general-in-waiting until late winter would either see him reinforced or replaced.
A slow flowing tributary from the mountains far to the north carried fresh water through the camp with many soldiers collecting some along the bank. Standing just outside his winter cabin, made from portal imported wood, Reed chewed on some tobacco while his gaze was fixated on his career’s demise: Black Bluff. Azure, you devil, you better hope they send me away, because I’ll drag you out of your den in the spring, come what may.
Stewing in his impotence, Reed turned to sulk back in his cabin when the distant sound of rapid wing beats reached his ear. His last remaining aide was flying straight at him, only to bank and orbit hard to keep from crashing into the cabin.
“General, sir, a message for you from General Shining Armor.” The stallion produced a letter from a satchel and dropped it so Reed would catch it in his magic.
While Reed felt obligated to pluck the letter from the air, jealousy kept him from reading it straight away. What does he want this time?
With his aide close by, Reed didn’t want to look childish so he begrudgingly opened the letter.
General Reed, I hope this message reaches you in both good health and timing. I received information that a train carrying a single company of soldiers and a Charlie engine are being moved to Black Bluff. The peculiarity of this light load makes me uneasy.
I strongly believe the Lunarians are up to something in the region, and are using your lightly defended area to execute it. Find out what they’re up to and stop it if you can, or delay them if all else fails. Do this, and I will ensure you have sufficient force to claim Black Bluff in the spring.
His jealousy evaporated, and Reed’s eyes widened like a predator about to pounce. This was his chance to regain some of his lost honor. A humorless smirk crossed his face. “Finally.” He put the letter back in the envelope and whistled as hard as he could. The aide landed while Reed’s officers scrambled to stop what they were doing and sprint over to his cabin.
It had not taken long for them to arrive, each eager to know what the call was for, yet Reed remained tight lipped over it until all were present. “Boys, we might have just caught our lucky break. I just received word that the Lunatics are plotting something, possibly nothing, but it's worth investigating anyway. I want eyes on Black Bluff at all hours, double the watch if need be. I want Second, Eighth, Tenth, and the Fifteenth companies spread out along possible routes the enemy might use to sneak into the camp. I want the Ninth, Seventh, and Twentieth to pull west to keep an eye out in case portal raiders try to slip by us. The rest is to stay on alert and in reserve the moment contact is made.” He waited just a few moments to make sure they all understood him. “Now make it happen!”
“Yes, Sir!” came the choir of a dozen voices before everyone split off to organize their forces.
Reed retreated into his cabin to retrieve his pistol and saber. Alright, Azure, your move.
A ways south of Black Bluff, Rainbow’s Ninety Second was creeping along the bluffs. She was on point, taking careful steps to avoid rustling the tall grasses that masked her group’s movements.
The waning moon provided more than enough light for her cat-like eyes to make out the lowlands to the west. Her ears bent and twitched at every sound.
They were reaching the ten mile mark where the bluffs started to curve back east when she came to a stop to listen.
Staying behind the tick foliage, and with ears forward, she waited. First Sergeant Jacks slid up beside her, his long gun kept low so as to not break over the grass. He was wearing yellow tinted glasses that naturally improved his night vision up to a point. He could make out Rainbow’s face up to ten feet away, but beyond that she’d be as imperceivable as a shadow. His whisper came low, as if he was talking under his breath, but being this close meant it was loud and clear for her. “How’s it look, Captain?”
A cattail along the nearby river swayed in the windless air. A faint glint of moonlight from barely a foot away from the cattail caught her attention. It could be just an animal, and they were well outside the expected perimeter of the Equestrian patrols, but she wasn’t with just her soldiers. Twilight and the other cargo carriers were too cumbersome to ever slip by anything.
“I don’t like it.” Her whisper had to be a bit louder for the pegasus. “I thought Azure Grain said the patrols never went past eight miles around the bluffs.”
“No pony could have missed the train coming in,” Jacks commented as he, too, tried to see anything by pulling his glasses up, but he was barely able to make out the opposite bank as it was. “Could just be a precaution against portal raiders. We’ve seen it plenty of times.”
Humming negatively, Rainbow had to agree with the logic. “I was hoping he’d think it was just a resupply.” The cattails moved again and she barely saw something unnaturally straight. Gun barrel, no question. “They’re trying to push us south. They know something is coming. We’ll have to wait for Azure’s distraction.”
“Wonder how they knew to watch for our train,” Jacked mused aloud.
Rainbow barely tilted her head in his direction, and even though it was too dark to make out her face all that much, he could almost feel the cautionary glare she was leveling at him. “Careful.”
He briefly contemplated pulling his glasses back over his eyes, but decided he didn’t want to see her anger quite so clearly. “I ain’t mean any offense, ma’am. I know you believe the whole journal and statues bit, but you’re not going to convince me until I see Luna in the flesh.”
“Then follow my orders and if luck will have us, you’ll get that chance.”
A cheeky grin crossed the sergeant’s face. “That I can do, ma’am.”
Her reply never came as cannon fire erupted a ways north from the fort. The sky lit up in white light as flares were thrown down to ruin the Royal Army’s night vision.
Instead of acting immediately, Rainbow remained low in the grass, waiting for movement. A minute passed. Two minutes.
Ten minutes. She was getting antsy now.
Nearly fifteen minutes expired and Rainbow was starting to wonder if she had seen anything at all. Each second was a gift from Azure and it was starting to feel like she was wasting it.
Suddenly, a pegasus leapt from the obscuring grasses by the river bank and sprinted north. Rainbow made a curt motion for Jacks to remain still. Once the pegasus was out of sight, an earth pony abandoned the same spot, and ran towards the battle. He was halfway up the river when a second pegasus left the grass and came straight up to Rainbow and Jacks’ hiding place.
Getting a knife ready by attaching it to her left wing, Rainbow waited until the instant she saw the pegasus realize someone was there and panicky tried to back away. She pounced on the soldier, first smacking his mouth with a hoof to silence a scream before cutting his throat with the blade.
Unable to do more than gurgle, the pegasus fell from the air to land in a rolling heap along the river bank. Jacks sped past her to investigate the nook they came from, but it turned up empty save for a piece of discarded food. Rainbow jabbed a hoof in Jacks’ direction. “You’re on point, with Lts Feather Dance and Sea Breeze. Get everypony moving on the double!”
“Aye, ma’am!”
Flicking her blade clean, Rainbow sheathed it and sped on to where she had left Twilight and the others. With the quiet call going out, the soldiers began to move, and by the time Rainbow arrived, Twilight was already lifting into the air with a painfully loud hum given the stealth they were trying to achieve. All of the pegasus carriers moved with her as Rainbow went side by side with Twilight. “Just like we practiced, low and careful. Don’t let some stick pointing up cause you to get snagged and crater your face in the dirt.”
Twilight adjusted the resin horn cover she was using as it started to itch. “Right. Low and careful.”
Pinkie Pie was being carried on her sister’s back while Silver flew alongside them.
Moving on, the thestral eyed the other carriers. Unlike regular soldiers, who carried their kit individually, her skirmisher scouts needed to be light and agile so it was left to half her troops to carry everything they’d need. Barely any of them made a sound, save for the four tied up to the Charlie engine.
They better tell me when they start getting worn out. The trip’s too long to let pride get in the way. Leaving that issue for later, Rainbow waited until everyone had moved on before appointing a rear guard. Leaving security to be handled by her sergeants and corporals, Rainbow raced to meet up with Jacks.
The Ninety Second made good time crossing the gap between the bluffs and the river that carved its edges. They were at home in the dead of night. Even if the pegasi could barely see beyond a few feet, their hearing and night glasses allowed them to easily follow the thestrals leading the way as the company ran through the thick grasses that had claimed the abandoned farmland.
The skirmishers crept along in three lines down the path, with the center line given the widest berth. That was where Twilight and the other heavy carriers resided while the outside lines protected their flanks.
This distant booming of cannon and rockets were muffled to dull crumps by the time a signal for a halt ran up the lines.
Rainbow, who had been a few heads behind point, carefully made her way to the front. There she found her first lieutenant, a thestral stallion with forest green fur had stopped at a cobblestone road. The mage-Corporal was present as well. “Report,” she commanded as she slid beside the stallion while keeping her eyes fixed ahead.
“Look there, ma’am.” Her officer pointed down at the road.
At first she saw nothing, just the white and gray stones of the road, but as she scrutinized it closer, she could see what could first be passed off as scratches from wagon wheels. Little symbols were hastily carved into stones, the imperfections blending them in with the wear and tear of the road.
“Traps,” she whispered worriedly.
“Recent too,” the unicorn mage cautioned. “And with minimal power. Trip alarms I’d wager, not dangerous in of themselves. Five slips whoever set them is still around, since as these things will lose power in a night or two.”
Closing her eyes to think, Rainbow tried to come up with a plan. The slavers are smart. If we tried to disable some of them, it’ll trigger a fail safe alarm. Disarming them will take too long. We can’t spare the time if patrols are still nearby. Flying over it could be possible but if a patrol bothered to put traps here, they’ll be watching for that.
“Everypony down!” one of her second lieutenants cautioned hastily. Everyone froze and crouched down as quietly as possible. Rainbow and the others silently crept backwards to put more of the grass between them and the road, being careful to disturb the grass as little as possible.
The overgrown shrubs on the far side barely moved as five equestrian soldiers slid onto the road with muffled hoofsteps. Four of their number were watching the Lunarian position with guns ready. The fifth was a unicorn who bent down to inspect the road. Her horn glowed a ruddy brown as symbols lit up all over the place.
“How’s it look, Summer,” one of the earth ponies asked nervously. His long gun rattled a bit as its muzzle followed every perceived shadow.
“Nothing yet,” the unicorn said, almost relieved.
A pegasus of the group lowered his weapon. “This is pointless. We should have been sent to fight, not this. I can’t go home without bagging me at least one more moon licker.”
“Save it,” the unicorn fumed as he shoved the pegasus back to their side of the road. “You’ll get your chance come springtime. Come on.”
The unicorn passed back through the tall grass with the jumpy earth soldier eager to follow. Growling his displeasure, the pegasus followed after him.
Once they were gone, Rainbow’s first lieutenant raised his pistol. “Ma’am, you want us to handle these sunburnt idiots?”
“We’re not raiders today.” Rainbow began backing away from the road. “Getting the civilians to the Mirage is our only concern.”
Displeased, but seeing the wisdom in it, the officers followed her lead in guiding the soldiers further south to avoid any further encounters before once more turning west. The wide stretching farmlands gave them ample room to slip by until they could reach their destination.
Weeks later during mid-morning, Rock Salt was setting some fish on a drying line. The village had changed little since the outsiders had departed, save for the removal of all the bones being cast into the waters for nature to make use of.
Wiping some sweat from his brow, he looked over at the ruins of the old manor. The militia had been thorough with their demolition. All that remained was rubble of stone and the occasional planks of wood. It suited him just fine as a reminder that all artificial things fall in the face of the Green Mother.
Such thinking brought his attention back to the scar in his village that marked the warengine’s passage. Maybe I should just leave it be. It’s not like I need the extra housing.
Thirst pulled him to the river and the ancient dock the barge had used before. Gazing out over the land, the swamp closest to the village had changed much. While the river had not retreated back to its original size from ages past, the grounds around it dried enough to safely stand on for miles away from the village. The trees were growing stronger by the day with his efforts, and with them the phantoms that drew people in, faded to a hollow murmur. Perhaps one day, in the twilight of his life, the Mirage will be well on its way to healing without him.
With his thirst slacked, he was about to swim to the next area he wanted to help recover from the generations of dark magic when objects in the sky caught his attention. Leaning over the water to get a better look, they were far too large to be birds.
The glint of metal made his heart sink. Summoning druidic magic to give him an eagle’s eyes, he could see it was a group of ten pegasi and five chariots. All of which were painted white and gold with a familiar symbol upon them. Yet what drew his attention the most was the heretical pink maned yellow pegasus leading the group straight to the village. A pox upon you all.