//------------------------------// // Chapter 3. // Story: Litany of Sacrifice // by Reactor //------------------------------// ”To retreat is defeat. Advance! Advance! In our death lies victory.” --Captain Denos, 19th company, 468th regiment Princess Celestia was sitting on top of her massive throne, flanked by her two personal bodyguards standing stoically on both sides of the platform the throne was sitting on. In front of her was a letter enveloped by her trademark golden aura. Her face was adorned with a concentrated frown as she was reading through the letter that had arrived in the morning for the umpteenth time. The letter had a red wax seal of the Gryphon Kingdom. Celestia rolled the scroll in a tight bundle and with a little tug of the ley lines she teleported the scroll into her personal chambers. She rose from her seat and with a grace fit for her position, she started to walk towards a room in the castle that hadn't actively been used for decades. The closer she got to her destination, the busier the halls of the castle became. There were two guards guarding the three meter double doors embedded with two spears crossing each other. Celestia noted that both guards wore a heavier armor of the Canterlot Lancers. As Celestia approached them, they saluted her and opened the way for their princess. The walls of the room were covered with bookshelves filled with scrolls and books. In between the shelves stood glass cabinets, containing armors, weapons, artifacts and so on. In the middle of the room around a large granite table were several important looking ponies immersed in a heated discussion. As the princess entered the room, the ponies became silent and snapped at attention. A white unicorn clad in golden armor stepped forward, followed by a charcoal bat pony wearing slightly lighter purple armor. They both bowed to the princess. ”Your Highness.” They echoed in unison. ”At ease, commanders Shining Armor and Polar Night. Has there been any more reports from the north?” Shining Armor turned back to the table and grabbed a scroll with his magic. ”There has, princess. This arrived only few minutes ago.” He levitated the scroll in front of the princess and let her grab it with her own magic. Celestia read the scroll, and then re-read it again to make sure she got everything in. Shining Armor cleared his throat to get the princess' attention. ”As you Highness read, the gryphons have demanded a meeting to be held at the old oak that was planted between our nations' borders by both the gryphons and ponies as a mark of truce. The latest attack against a gryphon border patrol happened two kilometers north from there.” The captain pointed at one of the many red pins on the map laying on the table. ”No survivors.” If Shining Armor had any sympathy towards the perished gryphons, he did a fine job showing none. ”It saddens me to hear that, captain. The letter stated that the meeting should take place tomorrow at sunset. I will go there and try to ease the tension between our nations. None of my little ponies would do attack the gryphons, I'm sure of it, no matter what the gryphons say. Maybe we could come to an agreement and try to get to the bottom of this together.” Polar Night had been silent so far, but now the bat pony voiced out his protest. ”Princess, with due all respect, we cannot allow you to go without any means of protection. I'm not saying that you're weak and I'm sure you could put up in a fight easily, but the gryphons are cunning creatures. What if it's a trap? We co-” ”I value your honest opinions, Polar Night, but I cannot endanger my subjects. If this turns out to be a trap of some sorts, I can always teleport away.” Shining Armor joined besides his Lunar guard counterpart. ”Polar Night is right. The guard is here for your and your subjects' protection. It is our duty to commit ourselves for protection of others.” Celestia sighed. She was glad and proud of the guardsponies' faithfulness and dedication and she knew they were right; they were for her and her ponies' protection. Coming to a decision she voiced it out, voice filled with gratitude. ”I'm touched by your loyalty, my little ponies. I know the honor of the guard is very important to you and I don't want to prevent you from doing your duty. I will take my personal guards with me. But I must remind you, this is a diplomatic affair. They'll be wearing only the lightest equipment.” ”But your Highness! What if the gryph-” ”That's enough, commander!” Celestia snapped at the bat pony a tad louder than she intended to. ”We're not going to war, but trying to prevent it. Heavier equipment might agitate the gryphons. I am sure you know how impulsive they can be.” The bat pony bowed to the princess. ”As you say, your Highness.” During the discussion with the alicorn and the commanders, rest of the ponies in the room had been silent, not daring to interrupt the conversationalists. ”Inform my guards of the mission at hand. Prepare a troop carriage for them with the strongest flight crew. And remember, only the essential equipment. Back to work, soldiers.” With that Celestia turned around and strode for the door, escorted by a loud ”Yes princess!”. On the northern border of Equestria a lone guardspony sat on top of a wooden watch tower. A scarf around his neck and cup of coffee on his hooves were keeping him warm while the blizzard continued raging all around him. The only sounds he could hear were the howling of wind and creaking of the tower's roof above him. ”Third night in a row. This blizzard could buck off already. And the guys are sleeping soundly through the night while I'm freezing up here. I hope there won't be any more pea soup for dinner tomorrow. Or breakfast. Or lunch. Or supper. It's starting to gush out of my ears already” If he wasn't so concentrated on ranting in his mind, he might have noticed the distant thundering coming from the west. ”I wonder if that waitress working in Bridle & Carriage is still fr-” He was cut off by a slowly approaching rumble. Grabbing his spear he jolted upright, hooves resting on the edge of the tower. The sound got louder and louder when it suddenly halted with a screech that brought chills to the pony's spine. Peering through the blizzard he spotted an unfamiliar shape between the conifers. He saw the object move and as unexperienced as he was considering war machines and warfare in general, he too recognized the shape of a turret and it's twin barrels. That was the last thing he saw before the guns spit fire and the watch tower blew up under him, taking him with it. The machine's V18 growled as it started rolling towards the now alerted outpost. Crushing the feeble wooden fence under its 175 tonne hull, it rolled amongst the ponies that were desperately doing their best to stop the metallic beast. None of the magic projectiles, arrows, spears, swords and whatever the ponies could get on their hooves worked. The machine's battle cannons roared again and the only barrack was blown to splinters. The main gun was accompanied by the bellowing of the guns on the sides and front. Deciding that fleeing was the best option, the highest ranking guardspony in the outpost hollered a retraction order. Fleeing one by one from the hole the fire spitting beast came in from or the main gate, the ponies scattered around the forest with nowhere to go. The metallic beast crushed the fence on the other side of the outpost and rolled into the white night, leaving only death and destruction in its wake, just as it was designed in the depths of Lucius.