//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: Storm of Swords // Story: Stick War: Equestrian Shores // by SwimmingDalek98 //------------------------------// Stick War: Equestrian Shores Chapter 1: Storm of Swords *Kra-KOOM* "Retract the sails! Secure the lines! Get the civilians under the deck!" Fierce winds whipped around in the air as the Inamortan soldiers ran about, shoving women and children past the doors and down into the lower levels of the ships. Waves of water splashed into the air, and came crashing down on the soldiers. An old and decrepit Inamortan stood at the bow of the ship, with a Gandalf hat atop his head, and a large wooden staff in hand. Upon several other ships, various other old men stood as well, waving their wands while arcane force channels through their bodies. "We are the Magikill, and today, we summon unity!" "Aeroleus Marcantorious!" The Magikill wave their wands, and a sudden burst of wind flies out, knocking several hats into the air, and fly into the sea or onto the decks. The waves of arcane wind moderately calm the ghastly winds, giving the soldiers on deck enough time to secure themselves on safety lines. The Magikill all shamble back below deck, having wasted all of their magic. Soldiers run about wildly, screaming orders at each other. Speartons grab at the lines for the sails, and tug with all their might, pulling the death traps inwards. Orpheus stumbles out of his quarters, and looks around. His mind suddenly races with brilliance. "You, there! Yes, you! Tell all the Archidon to bring their bows and any rope you can spare! NOW!" The soldier scampers off, and Orpheus turns, "You! Get me anything really heavy! Quickly!" "Emperor, what's the plan?" "I want the ends of those ropes secured to these weights! No time for questions!" Swordwrath set to work, and Orpheus turns to the Archidons, "Aim your arrows, and fire to the next ship! Try not to hit anyone, while you're at it." The Archidon all began to aim, and Orpheus quickly ran to one of the archers, and tied a note to the arrow, "Now, FIRE!" The Archidons angled their shots, and the arrows landed on the boat next to them. On the adjacent boat, Prime Minister Basilio looked at the arrows that had been lodged into the deck of his boat. He noticed a letter attached to one arrow, and pulled it off. He unrolled it: TIE ROPE TO WEIGHTS. TIE OTHER ENDS TO ARROWS. FIRE AT NEXT SHIP. ATTACH LETTER. PULL ROPES. HOPE TO THE GODS*THIS WORKS. "Pull! Pull! Pull!" The soldiers of Orpheus' ship pulled on the ropes until the ships were barely seven feet from each other. Orpheus looked at his soldiers. "I said Pull!" "Sir, the ships can't get any closer!" "The hell they can't! I could drop a giant between these ships!" "How close do you want them, sir?" "Close as you and yer misses in bed!" "Wh-what?" "PULL!" And so, the men pulled. The ships were now tied tightly together, their sides touching and crashing against each other. The same happened with all the other ships, and they were now all connected as one long ship, with the powerful winds now unable to affect them in the slightest. Orpheus smiled, 'Wow. As far as most half-assed plans go, this went better than expected.' "Milord! Now how do we maneuver our ships?" 'Crap.' "Well, uh... send the message across! Have all available oarsmen go to both ships on the far ends! We'll all row from there! GO, NOW!" The message was sent across the fifty ships containing the fallen empire. Oarsmen ran, jumped, and leapt from boat to boat, and finally landed on each ending ship. They grabbed the oars, and began to row, the large line of ships being like a Spearton in shielding position against children's rocks. The waves pushed, but alas, the line was barely affected. "ROW! Row! ROW! ROW! Come on, you lot! Medusa's sea storm only goes so far out!" Orpheus himself stared at the long line of clouds. Indeed, Medusa had insured that no ship would be able to escape the dead land. Her clouds of plague and illness also created demonic storms. They killed hundreds of fish, and marine wildlife was piling onto Inamortan shores as the Order Empire's last remnants swam away. Orpheus looked out at the surrounding waters, satisfied with the progress of his Indy Ploy (make it up half-assed as you go along). He turned, and opened the doors to the lower levels. He walked down to the crowd huddled below, bellowing with all the strength in his old bones, "Bring this news to those below! We are nearly out of Medusa's storm! Sanctuary is not that far away!" The crowd whoops and cries out in glee, and they scream down to their brothers and sisters below the deck, "Sanctuary! We shall find Sanctuary!" Orpheus smiled, and began to walk up the steps. The first thing he saw when he looked up was a wave of water. The Emperor was knocked to the ground, and sharply called, "What the bloody hell's going on up there?" He clambered up the steps, and saw that the winds were whipping around again. The Magikill's powerful unified wind-stopping spell had ceased function. He looked down to the crowd, "Get the Magikill up here, quickly! We need their wind spell!" "Milord, the Magikill are all puckered out!" "Well, fu-" *BROOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUNG "Uh... what was that?" Orpheus looked up, and his question was answered. A titanic wave of water, a humongous menace composed of water, the hand of the gods, stood tall, touching the clouds generated by Medusa's dark magic. Orpheus snarled, "Get those Magikill up here, NOW!" A low rumble snaps a single pony awake. She looks around, seeing only her own chambers. She shakes her head, her physics-defying glittery hair moving about in conjunction. The pony stands up, and stretches the wings on her back, and feels a sudden sense of pure dread. No, fear. Not the kind that one feels from any shapes in the shadows when you're a tiny foal, but fear, like everything around you is after you, and you're all alone. She drops to her knees, and looks up, glaring. "Who's there? Show yourself!" Nothing appears, yet still, the dread envelops her. Suddenly, she hears a cackling, that of an aged mare, but with something... different. "Hee-hee-hee... HAHAHAHAHA!" The raspy, aged voice echoes in the tall white pony's mind, and she feels something grasping her right hind leg. There, a snake is slowly coiling itself around the mare, ascending and extending mysteriously. She tries to knock it off, but its will is iron, and its body, an unending coil of steel. The beast keeps on climbing, further and further, until its massive jaws finally are mere inches from the mare's face. Its cold, forked tongue snaked out and pressed against her cheek. The mare growled, and upon trying to struggle, its long body tightened, and she could feel her ribs' betrayal, as they did not break, but instead tried to squeeze her own lungs and flesh. The beast seemingly grinned, and began to squeeze the poor mare's body harder. She struggled for breath, collapsing on the elegant rug underneath. It hissed, mouth growing wider and wider, fangs hinging into place, ready to swallow her whole. Everything became dark, so, so dark... "Princess? Princess Celestia? WAKE UP!" Suddenly, the tall white mare is awakened. A guard in golden armor is patting her face, trying to rouse her from sleep. She glances around. There's no giant snake. She calms herself, and turns to the guard, "Yes. Everything's fine. I just... I'm just a little tired, is all." She ushered the guard out of her room, and noticed the large amounts of scrolls to read through. The Princess sighed, and walked to the hours of work to be done. Twilight smiled as she trotted into Ponyville, and nervously smiled as her neighbors stared in amazement at her. Instantly, several of them dropped to a bow. Twilight rolled her eyes, and trotted along, trying her best to ignore the staring or the bowing. She entered the old Books and Branches library she had occupied for her stay in Ponyville, and headed up the stairs, collapsing on her bed, tired out. She wiggled and squirmed into the sheets, attempting to get as comfortable as possible before her lack of energy made her lose consciousness. A small, purple and green, bipedal, wingless dragon walked over to the side of her bed and patted her on the head, and fell asleep alongside her. "Aeroleus Marcantorious!" The unfamiliar term flashed into Twilight's mind, and a sudden burst of magic energy drew her from her sleep. She looked up, and her horn glowed, scanning for the signature, knowing full well it was no dream. It was indeed present. Faint, very far away, but still present. She stood up, and opened the new wings on her back. A sudden burst of wind scattering her belongings into the air symbolized the speed of her departure, still locking onto the powerful magic source. Halfway to Mare Angeles, the closest area to her destination, a sudden multicolor blur passed her by and stopped in front of her. The figure was a pegasus, a creature similar too Twilight, minus the horn, with a teal body and rainbow colored mane and tail. The figure was none other than good old Rainbow Dash, her friend and Ponyville's head weather monitor. Her cerise eyes burned a hole into her friend, "Where do you think YOU'RE going in such a hurry?" Twilight blasts past her, "No time to explain!" Rainbow's eyes narrow, "What's HER problem?" Twilight's eyes widen as the energy signature increases. It's definitely strange, nothing like any power she's ever seen before. Its very magic composition isn't like any kind of Equestrian magic. Not unicorn, not zebra magic, not even Pinkie power. She stops herself while hovering over Mare Angeles, staring out into the All Blue. The storm clouds in the far distance swell and shrink rapidly, as if whoever's controlling them is having a hard time choosing. Then, she narrowed down her field of sensing, trying to teleport to the location of the powerful spell. Just as she locks on, her jaw widens, unable to comprehend the strange turn the power had made. It seemingly... dispersed... and then collected itself again. Now her head was throbbing, this phenomenon was too much for her to handle. "Twilight, don't do anything foalish." Twilight turns, seeing her mentor standing above her, staring at the teeny tiny clouds in the distance, and the unusual magic user in the far distance. Celestia's eyes narrow, locking onto the source of the power, then she turns to her student, "It's alright. I'm sure that whatever it is won't be a problem. Let's just... try our best to ignore it. This isn't a time to worry, Twilight." She turned, and her wing wrapped around her student, "Let's go home. You can try to see what it is after some well-earned rest." Celestia cast a very narrowed glare at the unknown force in the ocean before flying off, along with her student. "HRAAAAAGH!" A Swordwrath soldier was flung into the air, and landed hard on the deck. He looked up, "Orpheus! You have to get below deck!" His ruler turned, and that man, a father of two, who was a veteran of the horrific Battle of Karrosa**, who thought that after that he would fear nothing, was proven so wrong that day. The glare that Orpheus gave him, was a glare that no mortal stick should ever be capable of. It was filled with anguish, sorrow, and the purest, immortal rage. "Abandon MY men? My brothers? I'd rather be sent to the deepest depths of Tartarus in chains before that happens." Orpheus turns and reaches to his side. He pulls out a small fob watch and opens it. It clicks for but a moment, and he closes it up, "Even if Medusa has poisoned Poseidon's oceans, they shall not deter us. NOW, Magikill! Anubis shall NOT take our souls!" The Magikill all raised their heads, and their eyes glowed brightly. Arcane power flowed through them, and their staffs shot lightning at each other. Energy pulsed through their veins, and their aged forms were rapidly deteriorating. "Fool!" A staff stuck out mere millimeters next to Orpheus' head, and Elder Alberic stood, with his own eyes glowing. Alberic raised his staff high into the air, muttering incantations of old, secret spells and words of power. In the air around the ships, one could see the water flung into the sky halt, and begin to move away. It was all pushed away, and Alberic, whose hat was tilted down, suddenly raised his head, as he and his disciples roared out the powerful spell, "FULMINATE!" A wall of flame appeared in front of the ships, powered by all the energy within the Magikill soldier's bodies. The intense heat pushed away the enchanted waters, making it all be sent into the sky, evaporating into mere vapor. The Magikill dropped to their knees, collapsing from the pressure the spell had cast upon their aged shells. "It's... it's over..." Orpheus found a small smile tugging on his cheek, despite the despair he felt mere moments ago. Suddenly, he raised his hand to his head, "Gah! What in the name of Thor IS that? Is it... The sun! It's Helios' mighty sun! Rise, everyone! It's the sun! Oh, many joys! LOOK, THE SUN HAS GRACED US ONCE MORE! LOOK! IT IS THE LIGHT OF DAY!" Leonidas climbed out of his ship, an the first thing he saw was none other than his mighty emperor on the deck, flopping like a fish out of water, screaming his head off. And then, the blinding light. The light of life. The light of Helios' mighty star. Yes, everything was going to be fine.