Chapter 4
It Begins
--
Frizel yawned and rolled over. She kept her eyes closed but felt unable to sleep; there was a strange tension in the air. She stood up decidedly unable to go back to sleep. She adjusted her socks and left her tent. Several ponies already seemed up and about. She noticed Free Thought studying her from beside the fire pit.
“What are you looking at?” She demanded. He shook himself.
“Sorry…I’m tired, zoned out.” He muttered. She shook her head and moved to the pit. Tigrean sighed.
“Do you have to scare him like that?” He asked with a hint of annoyance. “It’s safe to assume that we’re all stressed and getting mad at each other for things like this isn’t going to help.”
“Don’t tell me what to do!” Frizel snapped. Tigrean bristled.
“I’m not telling you what to do. I’m just saying that it won’t help!” Harrow stepped in between the two.
“Calm down. Both of you.” He glared a Frizel, and the Tigrean. Neither pony could hold his gaze.
“Fine.” She muttered to herself.
“Now apologize.”
“What?” Tigrean exclaimed. “I won’t be treated like a foal making a mistake!” Harrow looked at him again. “…Sorry.”
“Sorry.” Frizel said. Harrow nodded.
“Good. We can’t have ponies fighting, especially now.”
“Why?” Free Thought asked.
“We’ll have to wait for the others to get up. Speaking of which…I should probably get the group together; Frizel I need you to get Crystal Shine from her tent.” Frizel nodded.
“I know the way.” She said, and cantered to Crystal Shine’s tent.
--
“Hey, uh, Commander? Are you in here?” She asked poking her head inside, Crystal Shine was in the corner.
“I’ll be out in a minute.” She said her voice wavering slightly. Frizel stepped inside slowly.
“Is something wrong?” She asked curiously, she stepped closer. Crystal Shine turned slowly, her eyes were red and her face was wet.
“I’m fine.” It was a lame attempt at putting it off.
“Tell me what’s wrong.” Frizel demanded. Crystal Shine laughed slightly.
“I never would have thought you’d be asking me what’s wrong.” She joked but let out a choked sob. “I’m just remembering the ponies that used to be here.” Frizel tried to think of something to say, but Crystal Shine went on. “And especially my Dirk…he…he was special.”
“Wait…was he…?” Crystal Shine nodded and swallowed.
“I loved him. We were going to… we were going to have a family afterwards.” She closed her eyes. “I miss him. I really do. I’d give anything to have him back.” Frizel reluctantly hugged her.
“I’m sorry.” She whispered. She felt Crystal Shine shake her head.
“Don’t be.” Crystal Shine stood up. “I…I must avenge him, all of them. Forgive me, I shouldn’t be allowing my personal life to get in the way. We have to go, there isn’t much time.”
“Time? Time for what?” Crystal Shine quickly rubbed her eyes and rushed out of the tent.
--
Soladversarius laughed maliciously, they were right on the doorstep of the Princesses themselves. Canterlot. He brought his army to a halt.
“Alright everyone, we’re here!” There was a cheer from the crowd. “But be careful when we enter. I don’t want anypony hurt; only fight those that fight back. Griffons will fly ahead and clear the citizens out; I’ll lead the rest through the streets. We’ll meet up at the front of the castle. Ettakai, you will lead the griffons, go now.” Ettakai nodded and let out a harsh caw, the griffons cawed in return and flew up into the air. A beam of blue magical light shot up from the castle, it split in the sky causing a wall of magic to form a bubble around the city, locking them out. Ettakai looked to Soladversarius.
“Wait for it.” He said confidently, almost as soon as it had started the beam disappeared, and the bubble of magic soon followed. ‘That would be Brauchitsch; good to see he managed to keep his cover. Go, Ettakai, we’ll meet at the castle.” Ettakai let out another call and several hundred griffons flew into the city. Soladversarius set off at a brisk pace, his army following behind him.
--
“Good morning ponies, I hope you all slept well?” Crystal Shine asked; her eyes showed no signs of sadness. Frizel took a seat next to Allko. There was a murmur of ‘yes’ from the gathering. “Good, because I have some bad news. Our spy within the enemy’s camp has been found, and most likely dealt with. And so we can assume that the enemy has assumed that we know about their plans, they have acted upon this and have moved towards Canterlot.”
“Shouldn’t we go after them then?” Saren interjected. Crystal Shine held up a hoof for silence. “Sorry.”
“We will go after them, but we have to deal with their camp first, it has been left alone and most likely has some valuable information. We will head there first and follow up.” There was a blue flash of light, everypony looked in its direction, a large blue bubble had formed around Canterlot. “It would appear that they’ve arrived, we must hurry then, we’ll leave right after this meeting. We’ll attack the camp, and from there we will go straight for Canterlot and assist in breaking the siege. Are there any questions?” Nopony said anything. “Good, get your weapons in order, we leave as soon as you’re all ready.” Crystal Shine turned around quickly and trotted into her tent to ready herself. At the foot of her sleeping bag was a pack-like harness. It was a golden coloured metal; Crystal Shine slipped it on. The ties went around her front hooves strapping the central circle to her back. From the circle a hinged bar of metal attached to the front of each of her wings, from each bar of razor sharp metal a feather-like blade extended. It turned both of her wings into many-bladed weapons. She stretched, the bars bent with her joints perfectly. She folded her wings onto her back and cantered out of the tent and in front of the Ponies of War. Before she could launch into a speech another flash of light lit up the area. The blue bubble had disappeared. Harrow glanced over at Crystal Shine.
“I do believe we’re running out of time.” He called over to her.
“We should head out immediately then.” She decided. “Ponies! Despite the fact that Canterlot is in trouble we will still attack their camp, from there we will head to Canterlot. I realize this is a rather large…jump considering we only started yesterday but I believe we’ll be able to do this. Stick together if we get into a fight, never let yourself become surrounded. We shall head out, make sure you’re ready; this is only the beginning. Ponies of War, march!” The entire company set out towards the forest at the far edge of the plains. Harrow fell in step beside Crystal Shine.
Tag watched the two of them curiously; they seemed to be discussing something. He shook his head; Free Thought was walking beside him.
“You think you’re ready for this?” Tag asked curiously. Free Thought put a hoof on his tomahawk, which was holstered on his neck.
“No.” He admitted.
“Don’t worry, there’s enough of us that if anything does happen, we’ll be fine.” Tag reassured him. Free Thought didn’t look all that convinced.
“…How are you so optimistic?” He asked.
“Experience I guess…” Tag said suddenly sounding a little depressed.
“Is something wrong?”
“Sorry, just remembered something. But do what Crystal Shine said we should, stick together; I’ll take care of you. Just… just like old times….” Free Thought waved o hoof in front of Tag’s face, but he was deeply lost in thought, or memory. Free Thought followed his gaze.
Saren adjusted the quiver of arrows on her side uneasily.
“Not the easiest thing to be an archer when there’s so few of us.” She was surprised to hear Armoured Command’s voice behind her.
“I suppose so…I just hope that I can be of use…” She sighed unhappily.
“You’re presence on the battlefield is enough to change its tides.” She cast a glance back at him; his face was as serious as it ever was.
“That sounds rather surprising coming from you.” She said giving him a look.
“Is that because I’ve scared you?” He asked. Saren nodded slowly. “Well I won’t apologize, but understand that until you prove yourself either a coward or a warrior I’ll be on your side.” Saren gulped.
“Thank you?” She said uncertainly.
“Just make sure you shoot the enemy with that thing.” He added with a slight growl.
Saren gulped and looked at her hooves and they continued on.
Ardennes watched Saren’s head drop and felt a hoof on her shoulder, looking to her right she could see Tigrean giving her a comforting look.
“Am I safe in assuming that you’re worried?” He asked. She nodded reluctantly
“Yeah…yeah I am, I mean; we’ve only been here one day! I can’t be the only one that thinks that we’re unprepared for this.” Tigrean nodded.
“You’re not alone, I can’t help but worry myself but…I believe that Crystal Shine knows what she’s doing…”
“But we’re all so young, and if Soladversarius has an army we won’t stand a chance!”
“Calm down. I doubt getting your tail in a twist will help anything. All we can do is try to help them if they need it.” Ardennes let out an exasperated sigh.
“I’m too young to be acting like a mother.” Tigrean snorted.
“What was that?” Terrabyte asked throwing her head around. Matheniel shifted his was scythe nervously.
“I think it was just one of the ponies talking.” He reassured her, although it was more for himself. Terrabyte laughed nervously.
“Sure it was.” They trotted silently for a moment. “Are you afraid?”
“Are you?”
“Yes.” Terrabyte confessed as she readjusted her gauntlets.
“I am too, and I’m sure the others must be as well.” He reassured her.
“But look at them…they look so confident.” Terrabyte sighed unhappily.
“Well maybe we should ask somepony then. Hey! Tag!” Tag looked up from his conversation with Free Thought.
“Yes?”
“Tell me something, are you afraid?” Tag tilted his head.
“Pardon?”
“You heard me, are you afraid?”
“Of course I am! But there’s something my…brother told me a long time ago; fear is important, it lets us know when we’re getting ahead of ourselves. But we should never let it prevent us from doing what we know is right. Trust me when I say that fighting is scary, but it needs to be done, and we need to be the ones to do it.” Matheniel looked back at Terrabyte.
“Nothing to worry about.” She didn’t look entirely convinced.
Allko looked back at Tag as he talked. He nervously adjusted his horn blade with a hoof.
“How does that thing even stay on?” He heard the question from his left. Phantom watched his with one eye.
“My horn blade?” He asked. Phantom nodded.
“Well the gems are attracted to the flow of magic that comes from a unicorn’s horn.”
“But you don’t have a horn.” Phantom pointed out.
“I was getting to that. But to avoid explaining the entirety of how magic works, there is still magic flowing from my horn, and so the gems are still attracted to my forehead…of course it isn’t the greatest fit but…I can’t really be too picky.”
“If it doesn’t fit then why would you even use it?”
“I…guess I just needed to feel it on my head.” Phantom gave him a look.
“Right, well I just hope it stays on for the battle.”
“Well there is a much larger output of energy from my horn because the tip outlet is broken, so the gems are much more attracted to the horn causing it to actually be tighter. But of course because the outlet is large it is also taking more magic out of my-“
“I get it.” Phantom interrupted.
“Sorry.” Allko looked away.
“It’s fine, it’s just that magical studies were never my strong suit.”
“At the risk of sounding vain I suppose we can’t all be geniuses.”
“That was incredibly vain to say.” Phantom chuckled.
“Yes, well I couldn’t think of a better way to put it.” Allko sighed.
“Well let’s just focus on the battle.”
“We can’t seriously be doing this.” Harrow said.
“We are.” Crystal Shine said simply.
“But-“
“Don’t question my judgment, however strange it may seem.” She gave him a harsh look; he surprisingly backed down.
“Sorry commander.” He mumbled.
“It’s fine, and if things get out of hoof, look after them. The first battle of a war is always the most important.”
“Yes commander.”
“Now come on, we should be going faster than this.” He doubled her pace.
--
Soladversarius was growing ever closer to his goal, he flew up and perched himself upon the head of the fountain statue. Looking around he could see Ettakai in front of the large castle doors. Ettakai flew to the base of the fountain and saluted.
“Sir, we as scared as many citizens out of the streets as we could; only just arrived. What are your orders, sir?”
“Stay here, make sure nopony follows us inside, we’ll go in and split up from there.” He turned to his army. “Listen up! The griffons will stay out here and guard our rear. When we get in there, I want us to split up into two groups; one will clear out the halls, cut down any that put up any resistance. Remember that the safe phrase is ‘flowing river’. I shall take a small amount of soldiers directly to the throne room where I’ll deal with the princesses.” He spat out the last word. “Breaker, take all but five, I won’t need any more than that.” A large, bright red pony with a short-cut mane nodded. He trotted forward and called out five names in a deep voice.
“The rest of you are with me. Sir, I assume you’ll lead?” He asked looking back at Soladversarius. He shook his head.
“You lead, we’ll follow and go straight for the room.” Breaker nodded and stepped in front of the door. He knocked on the tall, thick wooden doors; there was no answer. He pushed, the door didn’t move. He threw his weight against it and it still did not move.
“I believe it’s safe to assume they’ve blocked the front door.” He called back. Soladversarius thought for a moment.
“Okay then, change of plan! Griffons and pegasi will follow me up to the windows, we’ll enter there and split into two groups, one will head down and open the doors for the rest, the other group which I’ll lead will go for the throne room.” Every pegasus flew up and the griffons formed up beside them, all were behind Soladversarius as he flew into the air. He drew his scythe and waved it dramatically at the windows. “CHARGE!” Soladversarius flew like an arrow; he heard the powerful beat of wings behind him. His shoulder connected with a stained glass window, he felt hardly any resistance as he sailed through and into the hallway. He took a quick look at his surroundings as more windows shattered; the hallway was empty. Soladversarius nodded to the griffons.
“Ettakai, you and two others, pick quickly. The others will open the doors.” Ettakai quickly pointed at two other griffons.
“Ghormen, Kunat, with us.” They nodded and flew over.
“The rest of you get to the door quickly, go.” Soladversarius spun and flew in the direction of the throne room.
The castle was a maze of passages, each long red-carpeted hallway forked into two more; all the hallways were decorated with what seemed to be priceless artifacts. Soladversarius paid them no mind as he flew through the halls.
--
Crystal Shine brought the ponies to a halt.
“We’re here.” Frizel looked over Matheniel’s shoulder at the wall of wooden trunks.
“How are we going to get into that?” She asked casting a glance at Crystal Shine.
“I suppose we’ll have to figure that out…why don’t the pegasi fly over the wall and open the door for the rest of us, then we’ll quickly rush in and clear any resistance.” Harrow nodded.
“Simple and effective.” He said.
“All right then, all the pegasi…and Allko line up, we’ll go as soon as possible. The rest of you prepare your weapons, we don’t know what’s on the other side.”
--
“We’re here.” Soladversarius said grimly. Ettakai looked at the nondescript door.
“I thought it would be more…fancy.” He said. The doors were the same as the others, bright red and stood out from the white walls around it.
“Well that’s part of the castle, it acts as a maze, one of their little defenses, but I’ve been here before. I know the way.” Soladversarius explained. “But we should focus, Ettakai, with me on this side, you two on the other.” They stood weapons ready beside the door. “Go.”
--
Crystal Shine looked at her little group of pegasi. It consisted of Matheniel, Armoured Command, Frizel, Allko, and herself.
“Are you all ready?” She asked.
“Yes ma’am.” Armoured Command said, apparently speaking for everypony there.
“Remember to look out for each other once we’re on the other side. Follow my lead.” She launched herself into the air, the others followed almost instantly.
--
Soladversarius shot through the door in a second, the flap of wings told him that the griffons were close behind. Within a second he had taken in the entire room. He could see Celestia sitting on her throne, Luna on hers beside. Both of them looked like they had expected it, and were watching the door with what might have even been anticipation. There weren’t as many guards as Soladversarius was expecting, only four, two on each side. He brought himself to a halt in the middle of the red carpet, talons scraped behind him as his allies took up defensive positions behind him. Soladversarius twirled his scythe around him, the bent blade singing in the air until it was pointed right at Celestia’s throat. She looked at him gently, he mane flowed from her head like the rays of sunlight from the sun; she seemed unfazed by Soladversarius’s show.
“I assume you’re Soladversarius?” She asked. The guards stood at attention of either side of her.
“I am, and I’m here to dethrone you.” He explained simply. Celestia shook her head slowly and looked at him, her eyes showed an odd sadness.
“Why, I’ve been asking myself for so long now. What have I done to you that you would remove me from my place?”
“Surely you remember who I am, who I was?” He demanded taking a threatening step towards the throne. The guards instinctively raised their spears, but Celestia waved them away with a hoof.
“You were Escutcheon, you were a soldier in our glorious army, you fought and bled for Equestria. And when you settled down you kept a watchful eye over your home, friends and family. And they were harshly taken from you by griffons, the very same with whom you ally yourself now. Shouldn’t your hate be directed to them as equally as it is at me?” Soladversarius cast a glance back at his soldiers who were studying him with curious expressions.
“These are not the same griffons that murdered my loved ones, these are loyal followers, friends, some of my most trusted allies. They don’t deserve my rage, it is you, you did nothing to help. All you did to help was put up a stone with writing on it, serving as a reminder. Ponies don’t need to remember, they need action! You did nothing about those monsters that got away from me. You let them roam free to do to others what had been inflicted on me. I have long asked myself why you did nothing to chase them down, to punish them. And I have come to an answer.”
“So you’re going to judge me?” Celestia asked. “Judge us?” She moved her head towards Lune who sat in seemingly uncomfortable silence.
“Yes, I’m here to judge you. Judge, jury, and executioner.” He said simply.
“You wouldn’t be the first, but go ahead.” Celestia said, casting her own judgmental eye over Soladversarius.
“You don’t care.”
“Oh?”
“You don’t care about us. You’re content to just leave us to fend for ourselves, and put in a speech or stone where necessary. I would have sent an army after them!” Celestia rose then, she stood at full height, almost twice as tall as Soladversarius, she stepped forward looking down on him. Her eyes glowed brightly with the sun’s fiery rage.
“You dare accuse me of not caring?” She demanded. Soladversarius was taken aback by her sudden outburst but didn’t show it.
“Yes, do I have any reason not to?” He asked. Celestia took another menacing step towards him.
“Do not pretend to know the things I have done for my ponies. Do not PRETEND that I do not care for them. DO NOT PRETEND, THAT YOU COULD DO BETTER!” Her voice continued to rise and rise as she spoke, when she finished her voice was deafening. Luna stood up and beside her sister.
“Sister please calm down…” She said quietly. Celestia blinked, her eyes returned to normal.
“Forgive me Luna, I forget myself. Soladversarius, I have done much to ensure the happiness of my ponies, even at the complete cost of my own happiness. When I…banished Nightmare Moon to the moon, I did that for my ponies, and for a thousand years I suffered loneliness. All these years I’ve suffered the curse of immortality; I’ve seen my best of friends turn to dust before my eyes. You’ve lived through only a portion of what I have. You know nothing, yet you pretend, pretend that you can do better, pretend that you can create utopia when there very definition of the word is nowhere!” She took a breath.
“Just because you’ve suffered for Equestria. Given up everything and suffered eternity doesn’t mean that you’re entitled to rule. You’re judgment is clouding over, there are some things that need to be done, and you don’t see that anymore.”
“I didn’t think you’d be so blind that you couldn’t see yourself that you don’t know what you’re getting yourself into. What happened to you and your family was horrible…it was one of the most tragic events that has occurred since the Elements of Harmony passed away. But what was I to d-“
“DO NOT TALK ABOUT THEM.” Soladversarius shouted with surprising volume. Celestia stopped. “Don’t violate their memory!” He raised his scythe again. “Attack!” Ghormen was the first to jump into the air and was immediately struck in the shoulder by a spear thrown by one of the guards. Soladversarius lunged forward and slashed with his scythe, catching one guard and slicing open his shoulder. Ettakai and Kunat jumped into the air and started flinging spears at the remaining guards. Soladversarius took this as his chance to jump over the distracted guards and get at Celestia; she was not so easily defeated.
Celestia closed her eyes briefly and a bright burst of sunlight flew out of her horn, hitting the scythe and removing it from his grasp. He landed and winced as pain shot up his right foreleg but jumped at Celestia again, coming at her with his hooves. He struck at thin air as she had jumped to the side a second earlier.
“Still don’t want to get your hooves dirty!” Soladversarius baited her. Celestia shook her head.
“I don’t want to fight.” She explained. Soladversarius bared his teeth.
“A ruler must be ready to fight and if necessary die for their ponies!” He said. Celestia’s eyes narrowed.
“If you want me to fight, I’ll fight, but you’ll have to fight both of us!” Soladversarius felt a blast a cool magic behind him that sent him sprawling forward. Quickly getting to his hooves he saw Luna standing beside her sister, her horn enveloped in blue magic.
“Fine, I’ll prove that two can be better than one.” He pounced at Luna and bowled her over; he raised his hoof to strike but before he could Celestia blasted him off with a blast of sun magic. Soladversarius shook his head to clear it, and concentrated.
The battle seemed to slow down as every one in the room looked at Soladversarius. His back was arched; his eyes closed and head hung low in concentration. A black aura started to seep from his closed eyelids. His breathing seemed to stop. His eyes opened, black veins slowly crawled towards his now blood red pupils. More of the aura started to seep from the base of his horn, staining it like smoke until it was as black as death. Then it happened.
Like a flood, more aura surged from the tip of his horn. It flew up into the air taking the horrifying shape of a giant, black hoof. Soladversarius’s body glowed with a dark energy, sweat dripped of off him but his increasingly black eyes were still trained on the Princesses, full of hate. He flinched, the hoof tensed a long, bony appendages sprouted from the top and curled around it, cloth-like rags appeared out of nowhere and draped from the arm as more appendages sprouted until there were five in all.
It moved like lightning, first striking at Luna, too horrified to move Luna went flying as it scratched her with its talons. Celestia shook her head and instantly shot another burst of sun magic at Soladversarius in attempt to stop him. But the disfigured hoof blocked it. Without hesitating the grotesque limb struck Celestia cruelly. She hit the wall with a crack that made Ettakai shudder. She collapsed to the ground like a ragdoll. The decrepit monster slowly dissipated and Soladversarius collapsed to his knees. No one said anything for a moment, then Ettakai spoke.
“Pierce my heart, sir, what was that?” He asked. Soladversarius looked over at him, and then back to the unconscious form of Princess Celestia.
“Advanced magic.” He puffed. “It was one of the first things they taught me in my training. That doesn’t matter now, go find Breaker and move the princesses to the dungeon. Once we’ve finished here we’ll send out the others.”
--
Crystal Shine was the first to hit the ground; she looked around quickly, taking in the entire area. The camp seemed to be empty. The large wooden door that was the entrance of the camp was held in place by several large wooden bars. She felt the others touch down immediately behind her.
“Armoured Command, get the door.” She ordered, he nodded and grabbed the first bar. It moved with almost no resistance. Crystal Shine stepped forward slowly to take a closer look at the camp.
“Did they really abandon it?” Allko wondered as he trotted up beside Crystal Shine.
“No, they’re here!” Frizel called. “I can feel them watching!”
“There.” Matheniel pointed with his war scythe. A black pony calmly trotted into the clearing. He stretched yellow wings made of metal, fairly similar to the ones on Crystal Shine’s harness.
“Am I safe in assuming that you’re in charge?” He asked. Crystal Shine nodded.
“I am.”
“Then I assume you know that I can’t let you leave.”
“Well of course you can try to stop us, but I doubt it will do any good with only you against all of us.” Crystal Shine stretched her own wings out.
“It’s stuck!” Armoured Command called out, Crystal Shine looked back for a second to seem him pushing against a wooden pole that had caught in the dirt. When she looked back at the other pony she could see that suddenly a group of ponies and griffons had appeared around him. The black pony grinned.
“Kill them.”
--
Free Thought tensed at the sound of sudden violence on the other side of the wall. Harrow looked at the door angrily.
“Celestia condemn it!” He shouted and kicked the door angrily. Tag put a hoof on his shoulder.
“Calm down, anger isn’t going to get us on the other side.” He said. Harrow shook his head.
“Are they going to be okay?” Saren asked worriedly.
“I would think so, Crystal Shine is a very capable leader I’m sure.” Tigrean said. Before anypony could say anything else the door shifted.
“Ready your weapons!” Harrow hissed and kicked the door open again. Right in the doorway they could all see Armoured Command standing there, there was a javelin protruding from his flank.
“Get it out.” He growled. Tag rushed forward and yanked it out with his mouth; Armoured Command grimaced but said nothing before spinning around and charging back to the writhing mass of fur and feathers. Harrow charged forward followed by Tag, Phantom and Tigrean. Ardennes stopped for a moment, the others hadn’t moved.
“We should get a move on.” She called back to them. Free Thought looked at her with wide eyes.
“But…”
“Didn’t you volunteer to stay?” She asked. “Didn’t you volunteer to fight?”
“But…”
“Didn’t you think this would happen?” Free Thought shook his head and smiled nervously before charging into the fray, Saren soon followed after a quick nod at Ardennes. Terrabyte remained paralyzed with fear.
“Come on…”
“I can’t!” She squeaked. “I can’t fight them alone!” Ardennes grabbed her shoulder with a hoof.
“You’re not alone, we’ll make sure you make it through.” Without waiting for her to say anything Ardennes drew her own sword and charged in.
Saren quickly surveyed the battlefield from her position outside the throng of bodies, the first thing that drew her attention was Allko; he was pinned by a griffon. Saren quickly notched an arrow, just as Crystal Shine had showed her, aimed, and fired. She watched the arrow fly, she watched it get closer and closer, then she watched it sail over the griffon. Allko felt the griffon’s assault give up momentarily and took his chance; he drove his hornblade deep into the griffon’s throat and felt him go limp.
Ardennes ran and jumped onto the back of an enemy stallion. Her opponent immediately started bucking in an attempt to get her off but she held on desperately. He threw one hoof back and managed to grab one of hers, in a rather surprising feat of strength pulled her onto the ground, dazed her eyes focused on the tip of his spear in her face. Right before the stallion could thrust he stopped, then fell onto Ardennes. Free Thought helped her up and shivered as he removed his tomahawk from the stallion’s head. Ardennes nodded to him.
“Thanks.” He was still looking at the stallion.
Armoured Command froze as more pain bolted from his flank; he dropped his claymore.
“Celestia condemn it!” He said through gritted teeth. He looked at a pair of unfamiliar hooves in front of him, another pony was charging at him, spear raised. Armoured Command raised his claymore to deflect it, but the blow never came. Harrow had come from behind Armoured Command and sliced the spear in half with his own large sword, and then the pony’s flank.
“Retreat soldier, you’re in no condition to fight.” He called over.
“I will not retreat! I refuse to be a coward!” Armoured Command shot back.
“That’s an order! Go cover Saren then!” Armoured Command shook his head.
“Fine.” He started over to the mare, with Harrow covering his back.
Crystal Shine and the black pony slowly circled each other; the calmness of their staring contest was out of place in the crowd of roaring combat.
“Glorious weather, isn’t is?” The pony asked. Crystal Shine didn’t change her look.
“That’s a rather odd topic of discussion given the current circumstances.” She observed. The black pony shrugged, still looking at her. His wings glinted maliciously in the light.
“Well I’ve never been one for insults, I’m just a soldier, following orders.”
“Ah, of course, since we’re on odd topics…I might as well ask your name.”
“My name is Pitch-Black, might I have yours?”
“Crystal Shine.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“The pleasure’s all mine.” Crystal Shine said tensely. Pitch-Black crouched.
“Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way…” He pounced, wings stretched as far as they’d go. Crystal Shine acted in mirror. Their wings clashed like swords, metal on metal, sparks flying. Crystal Shine inhaled as pain shot through her right wing, taking a quick look she could see that the metal bar on her harness had snapped and dug into the flesh, landing she spun around to face Pitch-Black again. He grinned.
“Shall we go again?” He stretched his wings. Crystal Shine grimaced as she stretched hers out. He jumped at her before she could make a move, her lightning quick reaction time allowed her to throw her good wing in the way. A loud clang rang out, and several sparks flew. Crystal Shine took the opportunity to push Pitch-Black back with her hooves and get up.
“I suppose it wouldn’t do anything to ask you to surrender?” She asked. Pitch-Black shook his head; his expression was serious.
“My loyalty to Soladversarius is one of my most prized possessions. I won’t give it up so easily.”
“I thought so. A commendable trait.” She had to admit that she really did admire their opponents. Without thinking any further, Crystal Shine jumped forward, galloping at him; he waited for her. When she was in jumping distance, she launched herself into the air. The first strike was easily blocked, Pitch-Black brought his wing to his head and deflected Crystal Shine’s left wing, but he hadn’t expected her right wing. The jagged metal dug into his side, and he cried out; his skin ripped even more as she pulled her wing back out. Pitch-Black stopped for a brief second to regain his breath, and threw a hoof at her; she dodged backwards and spun around, sticking her wings out again, the tips sliced open Pitch-Black’s arms. He collapsed to the ground, still breathing heavily. Crystal Shine watched him as he struggled to get up; blood poured out of his wound and onto the ground, he was dying.
“I still…refuse to surrender.” His eyes seemed to burn with determination as he continued to try and get up. Crystal Shine put one of her hooves on his comfortingly. He seemed to realize what she was trying to tell him. He stopped struggling but the blood continued to flow from his wounds, his eyes looked into hers and hers into his. “You cannot win. Try as you might Soladversarius shall raise the sun and the moon upon your corpse.” There wasn’t any hatred in it; it was a promise. His eyes dulled and grew distant. Crystal Shine closed them with a hoof.
“Peace for those who need it, the fight goes to those that don’t.” She stood up a turned to face the rest of the battle, the other Ponies of War seemed to be chasing off the rest of Soladversarius’ forces, they had actually won.
“Commander!” She heard Harrow’s voice calling her name. “We’ve got wounded!” He reported from the other side of the clearing, Allko was leaning heavily on his shoulder. Crystal Shine galloped over to where her ponies were gathering.
“Do we have any deaths?” She asked anxiously. Harrow shook his head.
“No, but Armoured Command’s leg is pretty bad, Matheniel’s torso is injured too. Aside from Allko the rest just have scratches.” He reported. Crystal Shine nodded only half paying attention.
“What now?” She started as Phantom asked the question. “I mean, Soladversarius has the capitol now, and we won’t be able to do anything about his giant army. We’re just a bunch of strangers just barely getting through our first fight.”
“Just because Soladversarius has taken Canterlot doesn’t mean that the rest of Equestria has fallen, we should take a look through the camp and see if there’s anything that might help.”
“Look where?” Harrow cut in.
“I think we can assume that Soladversarius has some sort of intelligence office, or some collection of important papers, at the very least those would be helpful.”
“Well I saw a hut that looked like it might’ve belonged to Soladversarius…or at least would have something useful in it.” Allko piped up from Harrow’s shoulder.
“Lead the way then.” Crystal Shine said and made space for Allko to limp along.
--
Allko was gasping for air by the time he had made his way to the shack he mentioned, Harrow gave him a hoof.
“I think there might be a little more damage than we thought, here, I’ll help you find a place to rest.” He guided Allko away, leaving Phantom and Crystal Shine.
“Shall we?” She asked and motioned to the door. Phantom shrugged and pushed open the door.
The inside of the cabin was fairly similar to the outside; made of rough wood and small. A bed was to the side and a small table beside it. On the other side of the room was a larger table made for eating with several chairs around it. On the far side from the door was a nicer looking desk, finished to shine powerfully. Phantom immediately padded over to it.
“If there’s anything in here it would be in the desk.” He stated plainly. Crystal Shine nodded.
“Well let’s get looking then.” The first drawer was empty; Phantom closed it and opened the one below it. He froze, with a small amount of magic he lifted it out of the desk and looked at it.
It was a picture, half burned and completely void of all colours. Crystal Shine watched beside him.
“That’s Soladversarius.” She said pointing at the stallion in the picture; he looked like a happy, powerful pegasus stallion. Beside him was a mare with a long mane in her arm was a foal, couldn’t be more than a month old.
“He has a family?” Phantom asked casting a glance at Crystal Shine, he stopped when he saw the pained expression on her face.
“He had a family. They died in a fire.” She murmured. Phantom looked back at the picture, then put it back in the drawer and closed it slowly. The third drawer yielded a rolled up piece of parchment.
“This might be what we’re looking for.” Phantom said to himself as he spread it on top of the desk, it was a map. Several locations were circled and marked throughout Equestria.
“Those are strongholds.” Crystal Shine explained running a hoof over them, it landed on one with a note. ‘Strike first’.
“They must be places that haven’t fallen to his army.” Phantom thought loudly.
“Then there are soldiers there that are ready to fight!”
“But it says to strike this one first…”
“Then we must send some ponies to assist them, if we can prevent enough of these places from falling…we might be able to build our own army.” Crystal Shine’s eyes sparkled. “There is a chance.”
“Shouldn’t we leave soon then?” Phantom asked. Crystal Shine nodded.
“I would think that Soladversarius is sending troops that way right now, I’m afraid I might have to send some ponies right now. Phantom…I hate to ask you right now but you’re in the best shape it would seem.”
“You want me to go?” He asked, surprised.
“No, I want you to lead. Take a few ponies with you, help this fortress.” She looked back at the map. “Fort Loyalty. Fend off the attack, and ask for any and all aid they can offer.”
“And after that? Do I just bring them back here?” He continued asking questions.
“Yes, maybe at some point we’ll have some sort of army, then we can take back the capitol.”
“I’m not sure I can…”
“Yes, you can, and you will.” She put a hoof on his shoulder and he shifted uncomfortably, his eyes still held some doubt. “For Equestria.” He finally nodded, any doubt left him and he straightened.
“Is there anypony you think I should take?”
“Take either Tag or Frizel, they actually know how to fight, and Armoured Command won’t be doing too much with his leg in that condition, then take anypony else you wish.” Phantom nodded and left quickly. Crystal Shine looked out the window and toward Canterlot worriedly.
--
Soladversarius sat on the throne of the sun; he cast another glance around the room almost giddily. The other griffons that had been with him left either due to their injuries or for fear of his powerful magic.
“I see you’ve managed to win another round.” She was on the throne of the moon. Her hooftips were painted purple.
“Yes, the tyrants never stood a chance.” Soladversarius said happily.
“Shouldn’t you send out some troops to those castles?”
“Surely that can wait for a few moments while I enjoy my victory?”
“You haven’t won yet, the Ponies of War are still in your camp, probably picking apart Pitch-Black’s corpse right now.”
“They can’t do anything against me.” He tried to sound confident, but it was undermined.
“There must be no chance of failure, all loose ends tied up.”
“Fine, I shall call for general Brauchitsch, are you satisfied?”
“For now, never let your guard down, that’s how you lose.”
“Don’t lecture me!”
“I’m not, but don’t think it’s over. It begins now.”