Chapter Fifteen
Rest, Recuperation and Research
Everfree Forest, Equestria
Luna breathed softly. The minor headache induced by the gateway’s magical influence was impeding her concentration. She pressed both forehooves to the stone blockade still in place in front of the event horizon and lent in, resting her ear on the cold stone. Luna called on her earth pony powers, magic abilities that were intrinsic and so not drained by the gateway. She could feel the stone; hear through it as an extension of her. The sensation was dull at first, but in fairness stone responded slower than the softer earth or flora. Gradually the dull throb began to attune itself and the sensations began to clarify. Each individual block which made up the blockade had its own distinct sensations, cut off from each other by the cement between them.
The confusing myriad of information levelled out and Luna began to feel vicariously through the granite. Familiar vibrations became sound and her heart gave a brief flutter at the thought she was hearing sounds from another world.
Gruff, incomprehensible voices could be heard alongside the sharp metallic clang of metal striking stone. The tribesmen from the human’s world were trying to break through, chipping away at the bricks. Feeling the tribesmen’s tools hacking away at the stone that she was using to sense through was uncomfortable but at least she knew they were only through seven blocks. They had no hope of cracking the blockade before the spell collapsed. Of course the downside was that they seemed intent on breaking through, and with the rate of the spell’s degradation being so fast then it appeared that the Empire soldiers were either stuck in Equestria or would be forced to fight their way home.
‘Those poor humans, I do not envy their position at all.’
Turning back towards her rudimentary workstation she glanced sideways at the token guard presence left by the Empire commander. Five Halberdiers were sat by a fire and paying her no heed. The mild throb receded when she exited the magical sink hole, the ethereal effect of her mane returned along with her magic.
She approached her desk, flicking switches on the rudimentary machines set up on and around it. Getting used to modern technology had been difficult at first but considering her pedigree she had soon mastered their use. Tapping her horn to an input device she added a stream of data into the machine causing it to whir as it processed the new information.
With a short huff of impatience Luna sat down to wait for the results to be processed. She may have been researching ground-breaking spells unseen by anypony in Equestria but waiting was boring no matter what the context.
At least in this way she might achieve something worthwhile. It struck her as funny that her greatest contribution to society so far was likely going to be mapping an alien’s spell. In the past, before her rebellion, Luna had earned the respect of her subjects through actions. Defeating Discord the first time and the many other battles to protect the fledgling pony realm were celebrated much more so than her pursuit of knowledge at the time. Her inability to do much of either so far was infuriating.
Then again though, pony society today was vastly different to how she remembered it all those years ago. Pretty much all its militarism was gone and the classes were all but broken. In her day the nobility earned their prestige and power, the knights of Equestria were world renowned. Now though, she had returned to the world to find just three thousand Royal Guards in a population of millions and the Canterlot nobility were a bunch of self-serving, self-entitled snobs. She was a relic, an unnecessary complication for the modern world.
Her dejected sigh was cut short by the spritely beeping of the machine, signifying it had run through the inputs. Returning to her workstation she ripped off the print-out with her telekinesis. Luna smiled brightly at the results; she had a return on every inquiry. Even though these machines were state-of-the-art technomancy, they were still extremely simple in terms of intelligence. The slightest mistake or random error could cause results to be corrupted. She skimmed each line, reading off the results with tangible anticipation.
Time before gateway collapse: 126 hours.
Spell signature: Unknown source, extreme high energy spell.
Spell type: Unknown.
- Secondary inquiry. Spell type closest resemblance: Type 3 teleport, type 3 locator, type 3 consumption.
Spell matrix: See pages to follow.
Spell origin: Planet designate Old World. Planet designate Equestria, Canterlot, Canterlot Palace.
Spell recastable?: No.
- Secondary inquiry. Recreateable with modification?: Yes.
Luna audibly gasped at the readings, she had had her suspicions but nothing came close to the results. Remaining time was about what she predicted at a little over five days. The spells signature also as she doubted the machine would recognise alien spells. The rest of the results though, they blew her away.
She double checked the results. The spell was an amalgamation of three, type three spells. Raising the sun or moon were merely type two, that was an amazing amount of power. Secondly it was adaptable. The machine was still busy with the spell matrix but according to the readings a pony could cast it. Of course the only ponies capable would be her and her sister. Even then they would likely be working together and that’s assuming it was merely as simple as modifying the spell, it could take months to figure out. Thirdly, and most disconcertingly, the palace was listed as an origin point for the spell. She felt safe in assuming that Celestia had not partaken so that left just one other creature capable of such a feat.
“Discord” she growled.
But that didn’t make any sense. Discord did not want to kill anypony. He was dangerous to be sure,but releasing the servants of dark gods on the world? And doing it while imprisoned in stone?
Without knowing it, Luna fell onto her rump in awe of her discoveries. She paused there for a minute, her mouth open slightly in a way that, had she been bothered, would have looked quite unbecoming for a princess. She shut her mouth, lips forming a thin line across her muzzle. Rising to her hooves Luna calmly stalked out of the clearing, earning a passing glance from the Empire guards but little more.
After making sure she was in a secluded space, far enough from both the gateway’s aura of interference and the guards she lit up her horn and began to cast a communication spell. Quickly compiling a brief mental report she released the spell sending the recording to her sister over in Canterlot.
Luna settled down and waited for a reply. She expected to wait at least ten minutes for a confirmation message. Sending her own message, upon acceptance by Celestia, instantly transferred the information into her mind. Such a method was uncomfortable and left the recipient somewhat dazed for a minute or so but in return for the ability to transmit messages almost instantly it was worth it in important cases.
Barely ten minutes later her horn lit up, signalling Celestia had sent a reply. Luna could sense the reply was lengthy and braced herself before accepting.
Information flooded her mind. The feeling could be described as a hundred voices calling out at once with different elements of the message. It being Celestia’s voice meant the sound was not all that unpleasant but the mind having to fit a hundred words of speech into a mere two seconds very much was.
For the second time in barely fifteen minutes Luna was once more left speechless. Celestia’s reply boded ill, very much so. Not only had Chrysalis escaped to the Griffon Kingdom, but it appeared she had supplanted herself within the leadership as well. Luna felt herself becoming wrapped in impotent rage. She did not even register Celestia’s reply on her findings; they were inconsequential compared to the implications of events unfolding elsewhere.
Luna glanced back to the clearing, her eyes narrowing as she thought. She had virtually everything she needed from the gateway, right now she wanted to be at the heart of things. Taking wing she glided back into the clearing and gathered up the equipment in her magic. She was still partially under the confusing influence of the message spell but with a little focus and a flash of azure light she left the clearing and the Everfree Forest.
Ponyville, Equestria
“But there are more important things to be doing right now Pieter.”
“Like what exactly? Training? Brooding? That is all you have been doing for the last four days following the fight at the castle. Focusing on the tasks at hand, contemplating your lost soldiers, you need to get away from that camp Forlorn it will be the death of you as a soldier.”
Forlorn sighed dejectedly. He knew Pieter was right. The human always spoke from experience on such things, it was infuriating at times. Looking away from his human friend he took in the town around him. The sun was beginning to dip below the horizon and the sky was cast in a beautiful scarlet glow. The princesses spoilt their subjects at times. On either side of the two figures lay cheerful, brightly coloured houses, a stark contrast to the solid looking, old, stone houses of Trottingham back home.
There were few ponies on the streets at this time of day. The ones that were viewed them with interest. Without his armour Forlorn was back to his brown mane and two tone blue coat. The unusual half Trottingham, half Equestria Major coat earned him a few second glances but it was common knowledge that there were Trottingham guard units stationed with the humans. Likewise Pieter gained more than a few stares but the onlookers were generally very good-natured, offering praise and waving at the pair as they passed.
“I guess you’re right Pieter. This past week has been tough. I’ve never seen real combat before, never lost ponies before, hay I’ve never killed before.”
“A week for firsts.”
“It would seem so yeah. Where abouts is this library by the way?”
“Right in front of you Forlorn.” Pieter gestured directly ahead with a flick of his hand. He was dressed in his usual grey tunic and trousers but with a black traveling cloak to accompany it, unusually for him however he carried only a single dagger rather than the myriad of blades he was usually armed with.
“Where? I can’t see a sign and all these buildings look kind of similar.”
“It is the tree directly before you my friend.”
Forlorn suddenly noticed the library’s unique appearance. The many windows, prominent balcony and the large telescope made his mistake embarrassingly obvious.
“Wow, now that’s awesome.”
“Indeed.”
Circling clockwise around the tree they approached the front door. Already they could hear the sounds of chatter and music within. It was supposed to be a low-key event. A party at a time such as this with many of the Canterbury survivors still residing within Ponyville was distasteful to the ponies, with the possible exception of Pinkie Pie of course.
Pieter wrapped his knuckles on the door. He stepped back and leaned against the tree bark in a nonchalant manner while Forlorn did his best to look presentable.
The sound of hoofsteps reached both of theirs ears and before long the door swung open to reveal Twilight Sparkle smiling up at the pair.
“Good evening Twilight” said Pieter, pushing off from the library wall and matching the unicorn’s smile.
“Hello Pieter, hello Forlorn. It’s been a while Forlorn, how are you?”
“I’m fine thank you, and yourself?” he replied as both he and Pieter entered the library.
Twilight’s reply was cut off by a flying pink blur. Pinkie Pie pulled both of the males into a bone crushing hug, babbling a cheerful greeting to the pair. She was soon joined by the other four Element bearers in greeting the new arrivals, although they refrained from joining the forced group hug.
After exchanging pleasantries the two new arrivals were shown around the library. Pinkie Pie had put in quite the effort for her friends. Brightly coloured balloons were tied in bundles and spaced around the bookcases. Streamers and banners hung from the upper levels, many were generic banners simply stating congratulations but one particularly gaudy example read ‘congratulations on beating dark god meanie pants’. Across the room a table had been set up with plenty of food and drink on offer. Pieter barely even registered the lack of meat, the table was so laden in cakes and other such treats that he did not even notice.
After being shown around the library both soldiers joined the others in the standard Pinkie Pie party shenanigans, Pieter with significantly more enthusiasm than Forlorn. While the general theme to a Pinkie Pie party was somewhat juvenile compared to what Pieter could say he was usually used to, Pieter was one to embrace the more childish side within him. The fact that he found the idea of playing pin the tail on the pony with magical alien ponies on a different planet only added to the surreal amusement he felt.
“Dis reary ishn’t fair!” growled Pieter through his teeth, but with a fake tail clenched in it he did not have much choice. His complaint went without sympathy however and the sound of pony voices laughing at him from behind enforced the fact.
“Silly Pieter, if we have to use our mouths then so do you!” Pinkie Pie bounced around the blindfolded human before slapping him on the lower back to set him off.
Pushed forward by Pinkie’s prompt, Pieter ambled forwards towards his target. With his hands held behind his back he was very aware that he would meet the wall face first so he tentatively edged forward under the guidance of the ponies behind him. A chorus of shouts signalled for him to stop and he came to a halt. Leaning his head in he placed the tail on the wall, hoping it was on target.
The jeering laughter was immediate evidence of his failure. Pieter pulled off the blindfold, smiling broadly. The tail was pinned to the wall at least . . . but it was an arm’s length above the pony’s flanks. He had forgotten to adjust for his height. Feigning anger, he whirled around to face the group and levelled an accusing finger at Pinkie Pie.
“This game is racist!”
Pieter quickly broke out laughing at the collection of stunned expressions he earned. The joke got a laugh out of Pinkie, Rainbow Dash and Forlorn, although the latter with little enthusiasm. Fluttershy, Twilight, Rarity and Applejack however were not so impressed.
‘Well Forlorn, you suggested I have a go at the game so it would appear some vengeance is in order. Besides you look like you need to loosen up’ Pieter mused. Handing over the blindfold to Pinkie and walking over to the drinks table. Making sure the others were focused on the game first, he pulled out his hip flask and emptied the contents into the punch bowl. Nonchalantly covering the gesture by picking up a cupcake and taking a bite he returned to the game just in time to see Forlorn placing the tail perfectly on the target.
“Not bad” Pieter remarked coyly, drawing a smirk from his counterpart.
“That’s the spatial awareness of a pegasus for you my friend. Years of formation flying will do that for you” replied Forlorn.
“That is all well and good but perhaps then an activity from the Old World is in order?”
“Oooooooh cultural!” shouted Pinkie, bounding over once more to stand beside Forlorn in a gesture of encouragement. “I always wondered how aliens partied.”
Pieter stepped back, raising his voice to catch the attention of the seven ponies in the room. “Right then, now I have a game we play in my home town of Grunberg. A favourite of the taverns and shamelessly stolen from the Dwarfs, quaffing! Now ours is slightly different from straight drinking in that the drinker has no option to stop. They drink because the elector holds the mug above them. The elector in this case is me. Forlorn, you are up my friend.”
“Urgh, I never should have volunteered that first day in the forest” responded Forlorn.
“Be grateful we do not have enough of us for Blood Bowl ha.”
Leading the group over to the table he hefted the punch bowl up and waited expectantly for his fellow captain.
“Do I have to?” moaned Forlorn.
“Come on soldier buck, do it for Equestria!” Rainbow Dash flew up behind Pieter to encourage the wary stallion.
“Fine.”
Pieter approached with the bowl held before him, smiling menacingly. Tilting it forward he began to pour the spiked punch. Forlorn gulped the liquid down, the strong berry taste doing well to mask the alcohol.
Forlorn got halfway through the punch before his throat refused to swallow any more. His brown eyes grew wide for a split second upon realisation. To the sound of much laughter the purple punch poured over his face, splashing down his back and coating his wings. Left spluttering and gasping, Forlorn wiped his eyes clear to see the rest of the gathering laughing heartily at him, even Fluttershy managed a gentle giggle.
Scowling up at his human friend Forlorn shook himself off. He gave his wings and coat a quick once over, mildly annoyed that the alcohol laced juice had left him sticky and smelling strongly of berries as well as another scent he did not recognise.
“A good effort Forlorn” said Pieter approvingly, drawing another annoyed glare from the stallion and prompting further laughter.
“Eurgh, thanks I guess. That punch has quite the kick to it Miss Pie.” Forlorn stifled a burp and forced out a weak smile though his heart was evidently not in it.
“Hey Captain Wind, if you want you can use my bathroom to quickly clean yourself off?” offered Twilight,
“Thank you miss.” Twilight lead the pegasus guard away, leaving the others behind to carry on.
The rest of the night passed by calmly, quickly winding down upon Forlorn’s return, who had a slightly dazed look but much cleaner coat. They had gathered around the fireplace swapping stories from their past adventures. Rainbow Dash was finishing an enthusiastically exaggerated retelling of the story of the defeat of Discord, taken mostly from Twilight’s account, when the clock chimed, informing everyone that it had just turned eleven o’clock.
“And so then we blasted him with the Elements. Oh you should have seen his face, priceless!” She ended the story to a smattering of appreciation from the others. A melancholy silence followed as each of the ponies was left reflecting on their past experiences.
“Things were less real back then. Nopony died” Fluttershy said softly, her ears pinned back.
Rarity immediately moved to sit beside her friend, resting a comforting hoof on the pegasus’ back. The rest of the group looked on in sympathy, catching each other’s eyes or nodding in assent.
Pieter, remembering the purpose of the pseudo party, spoke up to fill the silence. “Hey, er, how are you all coping with it by the way? I mean the past few days have been something that I am used to, relatively speaking, but this is not the kind of situation that your culture prepares you for.”
Immediately recognising Pieter’s intention, Twilight backed the human up. “Yeah I mean, I know I talked with you before Pieter but I’ve hardly seen some of you girls. I’d like to know how everypony is. I was worried about you girls.”
The others ponies glanced around at each other, unsure of how to proceed or who should go first. Forlorn merely looked down at his hooves rather than around at the others who he had only known for a few days. Then again during training Gale had always told him that it was important to discuss any combat experiences with your squad in order to put events in context. But he was a captain and six of the ponies here were civilians, and mares, and then there was Pieter. Pieter was a man who experienced such events with disturbing regularity by his accounts and they had fought together.
‘So surely this is the kind of thing Summer Gale suggested? If not precisely the example he gave.’
“Yeah that makes sense actually. During training my sergeant told us to share our experiences, helps a pony deal with it or something.” Forlorn looked around at the others. Getting an appreciative glance from both Pieter and Twilight he felt spurred to continue. “I guess if everypony is a bit hesitant then I could go. I know you don’t all know me that well, but we went through a lot together.”
“Go for it Forlorn, I’ve gotten to know you fairly well at training, you’re pretty awesome” said Rainbow, offering him a supportive smile.
“Thanks. For me, I could cope with Canterbury. It was awful, it was a sight that I could never forget but I just felt numbed by it. They were the corpses of ponies, no doubt good ponies, but I didn’t know any of them. But then there was the battle at the castle. “I saw Proud Stand, Toffee Twist, Parry Trotter, Stratus and August Fall’s corpses. I saw them die. Ponies under my command. Ponies that I trained with and lived with. I was their commanding officer, I could never be their friend but I don’t really have many anyway. I felt like watching them fight and die was betraying them, so I lost it and abandoned my post to help them. I still couldn’t save them.”
“It’s not easy” followed up Pieter. “I lost my first command, all forty men.” The sombre silence that followed left Pieter to continue. “My very first command, the Grunberg seventh infantry. Thing is I joined up with half of my friends, Henry and Kaslain were in that regiment. We had the usual reports, beastmen raiding parties had been attacking outposts along the Drakwald Forest. Nothing big because they cannot breach the defences, but enough to warrant a culling. Thing was the reports put the enemy at around sixty strong and largely consisted of just ungor. No problem for even semi-trained state troops. So they sent me with forty Halberdiers. As I am sure you all can guess, the problem was much worse than that. We marched into that forest and we became game, stupid blind deer in the sights of a hunter.”
Pieter had to stop briefly, taking an unusually morose attitude. He continued nonetheless. “We were ambushed. The reports had only seen splinters, the outcasts of the real threat. A full three hundred beastmen attacked us, a mixture of ungors, gors and centigors. Imagine the first as a spindly human with corrupted body and the face of a goat or dog or something similar. The second much larger, taller than me, with large bovine heads and giant curved horns. Centigors are similar to gors, except the lower body of a horse and the torso of a beastman. After that they just get bigger and more corrupted. Some of them mutate, they grow extra limbs, extra horns, extra eyes. They came at us quietly and we had no idea until the first man fell, then everything devolved into an orgy of noise and horror.
“I fought my way out, we were a fresh regiment and I being a noble and trained huntsman was better armed and trained than my troops. What followed was some of the most terrifying days of my life. They herded me into the forest. It was like some sick ironic joke, we keep cattle for just such a purpose and there I was on the receiving end. Three more days passed, their drums would sound whenever one of them caught my scent and I knew I had to flee for my life each time they did. After a few more days I began to get used to it, I hunted them back. It became a game, I was the wolf and them the hounds, skirmishes happened so often I could no longer tell when one ended and another began.”
“I spent almost two weeks in that forest. Funny thing is I began to enjoy it, getting revenge for Henry and Kaslain, I had never felt so alive, never felt so close to Sigmar.”
“He’s your god isn’t he?” asked Twilight.
Broken from his reverie he spared the unicorn a brief nod of assent before quickly finishing. “Well I eventually made it out, using the moss to navigate and find my way north, the only survivor. I could barely look at my friends after that, took a long time to get over what I thought was my failure. That is the thing though, I did not fail, I know there was nothing I could conceivably do and it is the same for you Forlorn.”
“Thanks Pieter, it’s good to know I’m not alone.”
“No problem my friend. By the way, would you happen to be feeling a little dazed?” replied Pieter.
“Actually yeah, think I may be coming down with something. Or maybe the food was a bit off.”
Pieter pulled out his flask, dangling it in front of his fellow soldier and stifling a laugh.
“Wait, did you?” began Forlorn, his question quickly answered by the enthusiastic nodding of the human next to him. In a cry of faux rage Forlorn leapt on Pieter, using his wings to propel him faster than Pieter would have expected. The two of them rolled across the library floor like a couple of youths before coming to a halt with Forlorn perched on top of a still laughing Pieter.
“Are you capable of being serious for more than five minutes at a time?”
“Sorry Forlorn, got to saviour each moment.”
The pegasus stepped off of his fellow captain, offering a hoof to help him up and finally giving in to Pieter’s continuous smiling.
“Right then captain, I suggest we head back. We’re up at seven for drills tomorrow and I am damn well going to kick your arse for that little joke of your's during sparring practice.”
“I guess so Forlorn, but I will worry about that threat when the day finally comes in which you last more than a minute in the ring.”
“I beat you yesterday!”
“Hey that was a draw and you know it.”
“You two!” shouted Rainbow Dash, hovering above the pair. “You’re kinda ruining the vibe you know? But could I come along tomorrow? I have the day off and I’m getting real good with hoof to hoof stuff, may actually give one of you a challenge.”
“Sure thing Rainbow. Does ten sound good to you?” replied Forlorn.
“Wait! Rainbow Dash you’re training with the Royal Guard?” asked Rarity incredulously. Her surprise was mirrored by Applejack and Fluttershy, all three of which had barely been seen around Ponyville by their other friends up until the current night and so had no idea.
Rainbow rubbed her neck, not entirely sure how to respond. She landed softly in the rudimentary circle of her friends as the two bickering captains gathered up their belongings, leaving the six mares behind. As they said their goodbyes Twilight mouthed a grateful “thank you” to Pieter. The six friends were all together again for the first time in days, working together to solve each other’s problems, just as good friends should.
Canterlot, Equestria (the following day)
Rest, Recuperation and Research
Luna blinked rapidly to shake the sensation of sleep from her eyes. The noble before her and her sister had been droning on over a simple bureaucratic matter for at least twenty minutes now. When she had first seen the grand hall of the palace she had thought that it would be the focal point of the entire nation. A place that would inspire her, through the devotion by each worthy entrant, to the creation of a greater Equestria. Today though the arched and vaulted ceilings had lost their impact. The porcelain white walls seemed dull and faded. Even the guards that lined the walls, shining and implacable, failed to stir her interest. She was bored.
Suddenly the doors flew open. A stallion pegasus had smashed through them while flying. Skidding to a halt at the bottom of the throne steps the pegasus stopped to quickly catch his breath. Luna immediately recognised the pony as a guard by the ID tags which still swung from his neck. He was a light brown in colour, with a shining white mane and single silver stripe. A simple cloth saddle bag, identifiable as a standard issue guard pack sealed her opinion that this pony was a guard of some sort.
The stallion looked up at both the princesses, his expression forcibly composed as he kneeled before them, using a wing to retrieve a roll of parchment from his bags.
“My princesses, word from the Griffon Kingdom.” The stallion had a strong Fillydelphian accent, he had evidently flown all the way from the city all the way on the Eastern seaboard. Judging by his heaving chest and twitching wings, whatever he had to deliver was obviously important.
The parchment was plucked from his grasp by the golden glow of Celestia’s magic. She unfurled the message quickly and her eyes eagerly read the message, growing wider with each line. After finishing it she simply stared ahead, not speaking, barely breathing.
“Leave us” commanded Luna, gesturing for everypony present to vacate the great hall including the guards that lined the walls. Twenty ponies filed out through the doors, the noblepony casting an irritated look back but saying nothing. “Sister. . . . .”
“My agents, I received word from them.” Celestia broke her stunned silence, turning to look at Luna with genuine fear in her eyes. “The report says that some days ago the queen, Grunhilda Greyfeather, went missing for a day. Since then both hers and the king’s demeanour have changed.”
“Chrysalis?”
“We still have no proof but judging by the rest of this scroll, I would have to say so.”
“There’s more?”
“King Getorix Greyfeather and Khan Rex Goldtooth have been holding private meetings. The griffon king has called for the Marchfeld, a call to arms. Khan Goldtooth has done likewise and is summoning the Mongrel Horde.”
“No . . .”
Celestia could only sigh in response.
“No, no, no. Their peoples would never stand for such a thing! Not over a minor land dispute.”
“It is not always a matter of what the people want, or even what they think. It’s what they are told and believe which matter little sister.”
“What will we do?”
“I don’t know Luna.”