//------------------------------// // Chapter 7 // Story: Sins of the Mother // by Duffman18 //------------------------------// The forced march took its toll on the earth pony and unicorn regiments of the guard. Even the pegasi were not immune as the princesses urged them to greater and greater speeds in an attempt to reach Manehatten before the enemy could establish itself too strongly. Eventually the army was finally allowed to rest about 20 miles from the city. They would spend the night in a makeshift camp so they would be fully rested for the relief effort the next day. The camp was established on a flat plain and the ponies had to make do without camp fires so as to maintain the element of surprise. While all of the guards were ready to fight and die if necessary for the princesses and Equestria, the Changeling Invasion was the first example of real combat any of them had ever experienced. One thousand years of peace and prosperity had softened the Equestrians. Before the attack on Canterlot it had not been such a problem, but now. . . Now some of the guards had to wonder: Was the peace they had enjoyed really been worth them losing their ability to defend themselves. Their princess had lost to bugs! But at any rate, now was the time for action. The time for contemplation and revision of their military policies could come later, when they were safe again. The night passed and the sun began to peek over the horizon. And with the sun, rose the Royal Guards. Earth pony and unicorn formations organized themselves into a solid line as pegasi units took to the skies. Their armor gleamed in the sun. Hovering before their forces were Celestia and Luna, looking over the ruined city of Manehatten. The flames had long since died out, but many of the buildings had been destroyed and many of those still standing had large pieces of them crumbling away or massive rents torn in them. The scene of devastation brought back old, painful memories to the princesses of the war against these same beings all those years ago. But while the ruined cityscape was terrible enough, there was something else that drew the princesses’ attention. Extending out from the city was a mile long series of trenches dug into the earth. Within these trenches were hundreds of human soldiers, all either standing ready or rising from their beds. They were armed with strange weapons that neither Celestia nor Luna had ever seen or heard or before. The weapons were about 4 feet in length or longer and seemed to wood fused with metal. Further back, beyond the system of trenches, laid large walls. They stood high and seemed to be constructed out of materials salvaged from the wreckage of the city. The humans were dug in and had fortified their position well given how little time had passed between their arrival and the princesses’ response. At any rate, their army easily matched the number of royal guards and those were only the ones they could see from their vantage point. “Warriors of Equestria!” Bellowed Celestia, her booming voice carrying over the whole of their forces. “Not 20 miles away lies a city laid low and your fellow Equestrians bound in chains. This battle will be fierce, but both I and my sister have faith that you will win the day! Forward royal guardsponies, for Equestria!” With a roar of assent, the assembled guards lifted aloft crossbows and swords and began their charge at the trenches. On the front lines of the trenches stood Captain Vladimir, a tired man whom chafed under the burden of command. He had been appointed as a captain not long ago and had been put in charge of the trench network guarding the city. But what was the point, he wondered? For days he had stood here, overseeing the construction and defense of the trenches and not a single one of the southern daemons had appeared. Not even a scout had been spotted and he had to wonder if they had taken an important city after all. The size would make it seem like it was, but you would think that if it was so important than the daemon queens would be sending their best troops after them. Oh well, he thought to himself, boredom is preferable to death. And at that very moment that thought crossed his mind a great cry was heard over the ridge and a thundering of hooves was heard. Over the ridge poured hundreds of the foul creatures they had come to kill. The creatures were clad in golden armor and wielded swords and crossbows. Some flew, some charged forward, and the rest. . . The rest were the worst of them all: Creatures sporting a horn from their forehead, glowing with their unholy magic. But the worst was yet to come. Flying along with the aerial forces were not one, but both of the daemon queens! Fear gripped him as he struggled to get his breathing under control. “Troops!” he roared. “The enemy comes! Riflemen to firing positions! Mortar crews set up and cannons aim for the sky! Load shrapnel shells!” Soldiers began moving to carry out his orders as they moved their artillery pieces into position to fill the sky with fire. The enemy drew ever closer, but the riflemen were able to get into position in time. “All guns, fire!” The rifles mounted on the walls rang out with over a hundred simultaneous cracks and white smoke filled the air. The first ranks of the royal guard were scythed down with ease, bullet holes perforating their golden armor. While the majority of the guards behind them continued to charge, many looked on in horror at the fate of their comrades or tried to avoid galloping over their fallen friends. These reactions rippled through their ranks causing a slight loss of cohesion throughout. As the riflemen manning the trenches began to desperately reload while their comrades in arms launched another fusillade of bullets flying towards the oncoming forces. Another rank of soldiers fell before their assault, but they were drawing ever closer to the first trench line with frightening speed. In the sky the situation was similar, though perhaps slightly more desperate. Mortars and cannons fired salvos of shrapnel shells into the encroaching pegasi. The explosions tore through the weak, golden armor they bore and scores of pegasi fell from the sky, many dead before they hit the ground. However they only got another salvo in before the Princesses joined the battle. Joining their powers, a shield appeared around the pegasi units, unicorns on the ground striving to do the same with their earth pony companions. Vladimir saw the glowing field in the sky and the one forming over the advancing forces and knew what he had to do. “Fall back! All forces displace and fall back to the third line of defense. Mortars! Bombard the abandoned trenches. Switch to quick lime! Make them bleed for every inch!” The bedraggled human forces quickly began to move, climbing the ladders to go over or running through the trenches themselves to reach the third line of defense. The third line was the final series of trenches before the Equestrians could breach the walls. Vladimir knew that with magic being used against them, the only way they would win was overwhelming their enemy. The cannons would continue to rake the skies, but the mortars would bombard the enemy as they traversed the empty trenches. The bulk of the human forces had reached the second line of defense when the Equestrians finally reached the trenches. Some tried to leap over the gap separating the trenches in order to keep up their momentum while the bulk of their forces plunged into the trenches, bunching up their units and slowing their advance to a crawl as they tried to negotiate the narrow trench lines. And the mortars began to fire. Their shells exploded within the mass of royal guards, releasing choking white mists of quicklime. The guards coughing and choking on the burning chemicals as their eyes watered, their armor began to hiss, and their flesh began to burn. This stymied the advance even more than the trenches already had. It took time, but the royal guard was finally able to reach the third line of defense. . . . . . Where they were immediately met with the resounding cracks of human rifle fire. The royal guard had no countermeasure to the human weapons. Rifle shots continued to pierce their armor and massive holes were rent into the oncoming guards. The quicklime bombardment was soon forced to stop lest they hit their own men. But finally, the guard had reached the human defensive lines. The pegasi were flying directly into the city where more mortars and cannon fire met them. Princess Celestia however had decided what had to be done in order to secure an Equestrian victory. Horn blazing with immense power, the princess began targeting the human gun emplacements. Mortar crews were consumed in the white-hot blazes and the gunnery crews manning the cannons were either killed by the magical bombardment or their own ammunition being lit aflame and exploding. But even as the human forces began to take casualties they continued to fight. Vladimir knew the winged creatures had breached the city, but that was not his jurisdiction. His demesne was the trenches and already the trenches were choked with Equestrian dead. Scores of guardsponies trampled by their own in the advance or felled by rifle and mortar fire lay in the dirt, their blood slowly turning the trench floors into a muddy mess. Vladimir smiled at the signs of his success, but noticed something else as well: Where before the advance was stymied it was now picking up momentum. What was causing it, he wondered? The trenches shouldn’t allow for movement likes this, they’re too . . . by Magnus. The bodies. The many bodies that now littered the trenches were providing a macabre bridge over which the advancing forces could cross. The narrow, choked layout of the trenches could no longer slow them down. And they were coming ever closer. “Fix bayonets!” he roared. “Meet the enemy with shot and steel. Let no one say we died as cowards. For we will die drenched in the blood of our enemies! FOR MAGNUS!” “FOR MAGNUS!” The defenders roared, affixing bayonets or drawing swords. They steadied themselves, their weapons grasped tightly in white-knuckled hands as the daemons charged them. And just as the Equestrians were upon them, they cut loose. Bayonets, gleaming grey in the smoke-chocked sunlight, lashed out and swords and sabers soon followed. Once again guards died in scores as the frenzied human defenders made their last stand. Arrows flew over the heads of the guard and impaled the lightly armored defenders as earth ponies charged them with swords and unicorns flung spells at them with a reckless abandon. The pain of the magic was unbearable as the defenders died in droves as the magical bombardment took its toll on their bodies. Swords pierced through them and their guns were crushed, burned, or dropped into the mud swirling about their feet. The battle was fierce and Vladimir drove them to keep fighting, even when all seemed lost. But eventually, numbers and the advantage of magic won out over the zealous human defenders. Vladimir died when four earth ponies attacked him at once. He killed two and wounded a third before the fourth killed him, the banner of his regiment clutched fiercely in his left hand. Following this the remainder of the human defenders was wiped out. The trench network was taken, the gun and mortar emplacements destroyed by Celestia and Luna, and the last defenders fell before the now victorious Equestrians. No quarter was given as the humans fought too fiercely to allow the Equestrians to even offer it. ---- Celestia and Luna presided over the victory parade in Manehatten. The battle had been fierce and the Royal Guard had lost over one thousand ponies, more than half of their original force. This was a figure that was unimaginable to many ponies and Celestia and Luna felt the agony of having caused this massacre through their past mistakes. However they were both immensely relieved when they found the thousands of ponies in the prison camps relatively unharmed. The admittedly harsh living conditions had taken their toll on them and a few dozen had succumbed to disease or had been killed for disruptive behavior. However, thousands of lives were saved that day and the noble sacrifice of the Royal Guards would not be forgotten. However, there was one thing that continued to bother Celestia. Namely, that it had been too easy. While their magic had given them the edge in the war two thousand years ago, the human technology was incredibly advanced. Their cannons could spit death upon even the pegasi and the strange tubes she had seen them using had launched burning mist at her ponies. Not to mention the strange weapons that the humans in the trenches had been using. But even with the forces stationed in the city, she and her sister had overwhelmed them with only two thousand royal guards. In the past the army that had conquered the human lands had numbered almost five times that! So how could this few humans, their advanced technology notwithstanding, not only raze Manehatten but occupy a city where a few thousand ponies still lived. Something just didn’t add up and when she voiced her concerns to Luna, she agreed. “I had been pondering this myself. It just doesn’t make any sense Tia. What are we missing?” Celestia shook her head. “I don’t know, I really don’t know.” “Your majesties!” Turning towards the source of the shout, Luna and Celestia saw a group of Royal Guards bearing aloft a large standard. “We found this clutched in the hands of what we believe was their commander in the trenches. It’s the standard of their forces. Since victory is ours, we thought it best if we present you the defeated’s standard. Celestia and Luna both nodded and the guard levitated the banner to them. The two princesses were impressed with the obvious work put into the banner. It was beautiful in image and meaning. The standard showed a great eagle soaring above a pile of broken chains on a crimson background. The eagle was gold and the stitching made it seem as though it was glowing with inner light. Below the glowing eagle, the chains were pitch black as night and seemed to have barbs of some kind on them. In the space between the eagle and the chains was a flowing line of script that designated the name and number of the regiment that bore it. The script read: “152nd Penal Regiment, “The Liberated.” “The Liberated,” mused Luna. “Interesting. That would indicate that they were freed from something. Perhaps through their military service?” Celestia nodded absentmindedly as she read the name of the regiment over again. “Perhaps Luna, perhaps. Hmm, the 152nd penal regiment.” Suddenly a bolt of realization struck Celestia as terror filled her heart. “A penal regiment Luna! Not the standard army!” Luna looked at her with the same look of horrified realization on her face that Celestia had worn not a moment ago. “A trap,” she murmured. “It was all a trap.” Celestia shook her head emphatically. “No Luna,” she said as she gazed into the distance. “Not a trap: A distraction.” ---- Days earlier. . . The ponies of Ponyville milled about nervously. Just yesterday, they had seen the largest concentration of Royal Guards in recent history being led by both princesses towards the general direction of Manehatten. Even with the return of Nightmare Moon, Discord, and the Changeling Invasion the princesses had not led the royal guard into battle, especially not in such large numbers. Being who they were, the good citizens of Ponyville immediately began to gossip and spread rumors about just what was happening. These rumors ran the gambit from the return of Nightmare Moon, Discord breaking free, the Changelings coming back for a second try of conquest, and even war with the griffons. Nopony knew for sure what was going on, but they knew one thing: Whatever it was it was serious. How did they know this? The Elements of Harmony were missing and many said they had seen them leave for Canterlot quite some time ago. If it required the attention of the Elements of Harmony than the situation must be some sort of major threat to Equestria. The whole day ponies thought they could feel the ground vibrating, but they either chalked it up to nerves or thought the vibrations were coming from Celestia’s Royal Guards marching to the east. It was about midday and many of the ponies were enjoying lunch when a strange whistling sound filled the air. It got louder and louder and louder until Sugercube Corner exploded into a mess of debris and choking dust. Ponies began screaming in fear as more and more explosions occurred throughout Ponyville. A dozen buildings were destroyed before the source of the devastation was revealed. Marching in tight ranks, their armor shining in the sunlight and their uniforms freshly pressed and cleaned. Dozens upon dozens of cannons and mortars followed behind what looked like an endless mass of flesh and steel. Thousands of humans marched into the shaken Ponyville and began repeating the process they had begun in Manehatten. Any who resisted were slaughtered and the rest were rounded up and placed into a makeshift prison camp. The camp was centered on the schoolhouse, with great walls topped with barbed wire raised around it. Within an hour, humanity had seized full control of the town. Leading these forces was none other than the Emperor himself. Resplendent in his gleaming golden armor, he walked side by side with Grandmaster Empiricus of the Blessed who had brought a thousand of his brothers and sisters with him, clad in the same pitch black armor. They took the town hall as a base of operations. Room was made to accommodate the Emperor and his war council as maps of the surrounding areas were snapped up and added to their preexisting knowledge of the area. Before joining his war council in the Town Hall, the Emperor looked at the mountain city of Canterlot in the distance and a cold smile grew on his face as he saw the solid wall of cannons being stationed just outside of Ponyville facing Canterlot. “Soon,” he whispered. “Tomorrow will see the beginning of the end for the daemon queens. Tomorrow will see the Siege of Canterlot.”