//------------------------------// // Chapter 9 - Army Ponies: Iron Hide's Heroes // Story: Reforging a Broken Blade // by ElkinFencer10 //------------------------------// Razor Blade awoke the next morning before Celestia had raised the sun to insistent nudging against his side. "Ughn....Five more minutes...." he grumbled as he rolled over and cocooned himself in his blanket. "Grr. Stubborn...." Who's that...? It's a mare's voice....Oh well. Sleep.... A moment later, a plate of eggs levitated in front of the half-asleep stallion's nose, enveloped in a purple glow. Razor's nose twitched. *twitch* *sniff, sniff, sniff* *twitch, twitch* His eyes shot open and he sat up faster than should have been possible. The image that greeted him left him torn as to how to feel. On the one hoof, there was the heavenly image of fried eggs; on the other hoof, directly behind the glorious food was the rather terrifying image of a rather pissed off unicorn mare. "Really? You're about to leave me for gods know how long, maybe getting yourself killed, and you'll wake up for food but just grunt and roll over when it's me?" He grinned sheepishly. Maybe if I'm cute enough, she won't kill me.... "Well, the scent of eggs is more encouraging than a horn in my kidneys..." Twilight sighed, shaking her head. "You're lucky you're so adorable. Now come and eat. I got up early and made you breakfast so we could eat together before your battalion leaves at dawn." His grinned turned from sheepishly look-how-cute-I-am-please-don't-kill-me to one of genuine happiness. "You don't have to tell me twice. A wonderful breakfast with the most beautiful mare in Equestria? Yes, please." Razor practically shoved his face into the plate of eggs as soon as he got to the table. "Trying to flatter your way back into my good graces, huh?" Twilight tried to look unamused; she failed miserably, betrayed by her smirk. As she sat down, Twilight's countenance turned serious. "I expect you to write to me whenever you can. I'll be spending most of my time in Canterlot while Flemeth trains me, so I had better get letters." Razor looked up from the egg-carnage with a glob of yellow yolk slowly dripping from his snout. Twilight couldn't help but give a quick giggle. "Oh, don't be ridiculous, Twilight. Of course I'll write! I'll write letters about my daring exploits and near-death experiences!" "You'd better not have any of the latter." Twilight said, her tone suddenly quite stern. "I'll try to minimize those, but honestly, they really do make the best stories. In all seriousness, though, there is one favor that I need you to do for me, if you don't mind," Razor said. "What is it?" "I need you to have Spike get something from my house have Derpy bring it to me when she brings mail to my battalion. It's a long wooden box with a padlock on it," Razor said. Twilight was a bit puzzled by his cryptic request. "Okay. What's in the box? Why is it so important?" "It's my sword," Razor explained. "It was blessed by Queen Galaxia and enchanted by Star Swirl the Bearded. It's made from mithril, a very rare and very strong metal that's only found incredibly deep underground. It was forged by my ancestors over a thousand years ago, and it's been in my family since then." "What kind of blessing and enchantment does it have?" Twilight asked. She'd heard about weapon and armor enchantments, but it was pretty rare. "The blessing was just asking the gods to protect the wielder and grant him or her luck in battle. The enchantment is to allow it to cut more easily and effectively and to allow it to block stronger attacks more easily. It also makes the blade feel lighter so that it can be wielded with more fluidity and control." "Wow, that's amazing! I'll definitely have Spike send that to your battalion right away," Twilight said, more than a little in awe at the enchantment he'd described. Weapon enchantments of any kind required a high level of magical power; to have three enchantments would require a level of power Twilight could barely imagine. Then again, she thought, he did say that it was Star Swirl the Beareded who enchanted the sword. "Thanks, love." Razor said as the looked out the window. He could see the first few rays of sunlight creeping over the horizon. "It's about dawn. I guess I had better get down to the city gates so I can march out with the battalion." He and Twilight walked to massive gates of the walled city, each relishing what they knew would be their last minutes together for far too long. "Alright, ya buncha fillies, here's the plan. We're gonna be doing a forced march east to Stalliongrad and then north to Trottingham, right on the border with the Crystal Empire. We'll camp outside of Trottingham tonight before pushing north into the Crystal Empire and making for the Crystal City," Iron Hide announced to his troops after they had gathered at the city gates. "From what our pegasus intel has managed to gathered, their initial invasion force was huge compared to what the Crystal Empire has managed to train, even with the limited force that Germaneigh had stationed there to help with the training, but between our force and the 23rd Earth, we should be able to fight off the lot of 'em. If they send reinforcements, then we'll be in some trouble, but we've seen no signs of movement on the border, so there shouldn't be much to worry about there." As he looked out at his battalion, Iron Hide felt both pride and confidence. With the exception of Razor Blade, the newcomer, he had known these mares and stallions for months at shortest, a decade at longest. He knew them; he trusted them. Even though they'd just met the day before, he had a good feeling about Razor Blade. He had more than proved his ability to fight the day before, and his confidence would serve him well, provided that he managed to keep it from spilling into arrogance. He knew that they were fighting for a just cause, and seeing so many brave ponies facing a powerful enemy with their heads held high made him proud to be an Equestrian. "Alright, you louts, get a move on! Those gryphons aren't going to cut their own throats, though I'd love to see that," Iron Hide called out, signaling the army to begin its march. As they began the mach to Stalliongrad, Razor Blade found himself marching next to an Earth pony named Dead Eye. His coat was a dark grey, and his rust colored mane was cut relatively short - only about a couple inches long. Razor noticed that his cutie mark, just barely visible as it was partially covered by his armor, was a crosshair. The pony kept his eyes fixated on the horizon ahead. "See something you like, pretty boy? You keep staring at me like that, and ponies'll start talking." It took Razor a moment to realize that Dead Eye had spoken to him. He hadn't moved his head or eyes at all and had only barely moved his mouth. "Oh, uh, sorry. Just trying to figure out what your cutie mark means," Razor said, a bit embarrassed. "So, uh, what is your special talent?" Dead Eye finally turned his head, revealing a grotesque scar where his left eye had once been and a scar in the shape of a slash going from the upper right corner of that eye to the bottom left corner. With a smirk, he said, "Nopony in Equestria is a better shot with a crossbow than me. Not even the archers patrolling the city walls of Canterlot can beat me." "Wow. That's a pretty useful talent to have going into a fight with gryphons. So, uh...what happened to your eye?" Razor knew it was probably rude to ask, but with a scar like that, the curiosity was killing him. "Gryphons," Dead Eye said flatly. "Got into a fight with one over a bet back when I was a mercenary. Bastard clawed my eye out." "Holy shit. That's terrible!" Razor felt discomfort in his own left eye. He couldn't help but imagine having it gouged out with a talon. "Haha! You should have seen what I did to him...Let's just say that we won't have to worry about seeing that particular gryphon flying at us. Running, perhaps, but I made damn sure his flying days were over." Dead Eye replied with a sick grin. The rest of the march was carried out in relatively silence, save for the occasional joke. When the battalion eventually got to Trottingham that night, Razor saw a familiar wall-eyed grey pegasus standing in the town square with a long wooden box. Once Iron Hide had dismissed the soldiers for the night, he trotted over to her. "Hey Derpy. Thanks so much for bringing this all the way out here at such short notice," he said. "No problem, Razor! Gotta have your trusty sword, right?" she said with a grin. "Well, I've got to be getting back. Gotta make sure Dinky got her bedtime muffin. Good luck out there!" With that, she took to the air and flew back in the direction of Ponyville. He opened the case and pulled the rapier from its usual home. The blade was long and slender. It was encased in a gold scabbard with ornately carved characters from an archaic and almost dead pegasus language. The guard was an intricate spiral weave of three smooth, perfectly round iron bars. They curved halfway around the handle and extended down to meet at the pommel. He drew the sword to examine the blade. It looked pristine, any scratches from previous fights having long ago been buffed and polished away. The blade was a brilliant shining metal with a slight blue hue to it. Surrounding the blade was the dim green aura of Star Swirl the Bearded's enchantment. Once satisfied that all was as it should be with his prized blade, he secured the scabbard to his body, sheathed the blade, and walked to the makeshift barracks to write Twilight a letter. Great and Power Twilight, So how's your training going with Flemeth? I know you're not a very violent pony, but come on, you've got to admit that it'll be pretty cool to be able to launch a fireball or lighting bolt at Snips and Snails the next time they do something stupid like wake up some terrifying beast in the Everfree Forest (yeah, Pinkie Pie told me all about that whole fiasco). Oh, and marshmallows! You can totally roast marshmallows with your horn! Man, now I wish I were a unicorn... The march today was long, but I met a very...unique...pony named Dead Eye. He's got this GROSS looking scar where his left eye used to be. Apparently he used to be a mercenary and got it clawed out by a gryphon. Gross, right? He says he won the fight, though. He never did say specifically what he did to the griffon, but he gave me the strong impression that he ripped its wings off...Let's not tell Rainbow Dash about that. His cutie mark is a crosshair, symbolizing his talent with a crossbow. I'm definitely sticking close to him when we engage the enemy. I mean, I totally could just fly and have an aerial sword fight, but ain't nopony got time fo' dat. So, moving on from "badass soldier pegasus" to "overly emotional pegasus," I really miss you. I mean, I knew I would - you're kind of the most amazing pony in Equestria - but I REALLY miss you, and it's not even been 24 hours yet. I just want to hurry up and get to the Crystal Empire, beat the gryphon army so badly that their government agrees to an armistice, and get back to Canterlot or Ponyville or wherever you are. Anyway, enough of my being a little emo foal. See? I wrote you a letter before I'd even been gone a full day. Now it's my turn to nag: I EXPECT A LETTER REALLY SOON BLAH BLAH BLAH NAG NAG NAG. In all seriousness, though, be careful learning that battle magic. I know I'm not a unicorn or an alicorn, so I can't really understand how magic works that well, but I know that shooting fire and lighting and whatever from your face can't be the safest thing in the world, so just be careful, okay? It'd be a damn shame for me to fight off a whole army by myself and come back just to find out that you've gotten yourself killed with your own magic. Write soon. I love you, Twilight. Your knight in shining armor (no, I'm not planning anything homoerotic with your brother), Razor Blade He carefully put the letter in an envelope, addressed it to Twilight at Canterlot Castle, and put it in the outgoing mail bag right inside the flap of the barracks tent before getting a quick bite to eat and going to bed. He knew that he'd need all the rest he could get for the march and, depending on how far the gryphon army had made it, possible a big battle tomorrow.