//------------------------------// // Chapter 19 // Story: Sins of the Mother // by Duffman18 //------------------------------// Fancy Pants looked quickly between his contact and the hood-covered face of the human standing before him in the alley. “What is this?” he demanded. “An offer,” replied the human. “Nothing more, nothing less.” His contact nodded at him. “He contacted us a few days ago. Apparently he’s not too fond of their emperor and was willing to give us some help.” Fancy Pants could barely believe what he was hearing. “And you just believed him?! What kind of operation are we running here?” “Excuse me.” The two ponies froze at the interruption, both realizing that they had completely forgotten about the human in their midst during their argument. The cloaked human inclined his head toward Fancy Pants. “I understand your concern for I have felt the same way in the past. However, while you have fought only against humanity in this battle, I have had to fight against my own people. An experience that while I am loathe to repeat find that I must.” The two ponies looked at each other and nodded, before turning back to the human. “If what you’re saying is true,” Fancy ventured, “then I can at least hear you out. What exactly has brought you here?” While he couldn’t see his face beneath the robe’s cowl, Fancy could practically hear the man’s smile as he spoke. “What has brought me here is nothing less than giving you the very thing you have all longed for since this occupation began: The chance to fight back.” ---- The diamond dogs walked through the dark tunnels, navigating them with a practiced ease that their new companions quite clearly lacked. The humans behind them were clearly unused to the underground world that the diamond dogs had quite literally carved out for themselves, sticking close to the walls and straining their eyes for any source of illumination they could find. However, while they may have lacked the diamond dogs’ experience with the tunnels, it was clear that they possessed a military discipline that the diamond dogs lacked in turn. The grenadiers were a stoic, unyielding lot to a man. Their uniforms eschewed the formal colors of other army divisions and were a simple, rough grey that matched the stone walls around them almost perfectly. Each man wore at least two bandoliers lined with grenades and additional ammo for the sidearms they wore on their hips. Their main weapons however, they either held upright in their arms or carried strapped across their backs. The weapons were long, thin tubes with rounded barrels at the end. While the dogs did not know exactly what these weapons would do, they were sure that they help spell the end for their enemies. The group moved silently for another few moments before the tunnels began to widen. The dogs held their arms out to stop the humans before beginning to speak in a low voice. “Alright. Currently we are under one of the grand gathering halls of the Emerald tribe. If the information our scouts gathered is accurate there is to be a great mustering of their forces before launching another attack on our borders. If we are going to hit them hard, it has to be now. Your leaders said you would know what to do from here. What is the plan?” One of the grenadiers stepped forward from the ranks. He offered a brief salute to the dogs’ leader before presenting the plan. “Lieutenant Graesin, at your service. Before I tell you the plan I need to know how much time we have before they begin to leave the Hall.” “Hmm. The length of time varies depending on what type of gathering they are holding and even war preparations are different from tribe to tribe. But from what we’ve gathered they have only just begun their gathering so we should have at least an hour before they have concluded.” Graesin nodded, before turning back to his men. “Alright you heard the dog, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd squads get to moving those barrels into place. The rest of you follow the guides up to the overwatch points. I want everything in place within half-an-hour am I understood?” A chorus of affirmatives filled the tunnel before the men started setting to their tasks at an almost frenetic pace. The leader of the dogs with them looked on with a confused expression on his face. “So what exactly are you going to do lieutenant?” Graesin smiled before moving over to one of the barrels his men were bringing in and laying his hand over the top of it. “It’s actually quite simple my friend. We’re going to bring the very earth crashing down around them.” ---- Luna and Celestia sat at court in the renovated mayoral building of Manehatten. While they were at war, both knew how important appearances were to keeping up morale. And considering the setbacks they had been receiving as of late, morale had become an increasingly important resource. The prototype was not yet ready for launch as there were still some issues with the design that if not fixed would reduce its effectiveness so much as to be useless in a fight. Thankfully, the engineers assured the sisters that they should be able to iron out these problems within a relatively short span of time. As they went through the familiar, tedious routine, the two saw Captain Armor moving to their sides as quickly as possible without disrupting Court. When he finally reached them, Celestia bent her head down towards him while Luna continued to receive petitioners. “Shining Armor, what is it?” Shining looked almost nervous to tell her for a moment, and that truly alerted Celestia to how urgent this news must be. “Captain, please, whatever it is its obviously important. What is it?” Shining hesitated again for another second before holding out his hoof to her and turning over to her some sort of handout. The pamphlet contained a logo that she recognized from many years ago. It was the symbols of the three tribes of Equestria as they once were: The verdant fields bathed in the sun’s rays that represented the Earth Pony Republic, the Unicorn outline on a blue, star-spangled field that represented the old Unicorn Monarchy, and the Pegasus with wings outstretched of the Pegasi Junta. The three symbols were connected by a triangle and were emblazoned on a crimson field. Beneath the symbol were the words: “The Future of Equestria.” Besides the cover image there was little else to be seen but some general statements about the current government of Equestria and reforms that should be made. Turning back to Shining Armor, she levitated the pamphlet into his outstretched hoof. “Forgive me if I don’t see the urgency in this captain. There are always ponies who do not quite agree with how things are run or what issues are given precedence over others.” Shining Armor shot a quick glance over to the assembled crowds petitioning Luna, some of whom were now glancing over at him and the princess, before answering her. “Princess . . . we are in the middle of a war unlike anything we have faced in recent memory. Our enemies are vast in number, skilled in warfare, and possessed of advanced technology. We have already lost our capital and are borders are shrinking. On top of this, we are now dealing with dissent from within. Right now we have to stay united and things like this,” he said indicating the pamphlet, “Just fray an already tenuous morale.” Celestia gazed at him frowning. He certainly had some good points. The humans were a truly powerful threat and at this point any internal division could potentially cost the Equestrians dearly. And as she considered this she believed that she knew what he wanted from her. “So,” she said slowly, looking directly into Shining’s eyes. “What exactly are you proposing captain?” Shining Armor gazed right back at her and he visibly steeled himself. “Princess, this pamphlet has yet to spread too far. If we were to take action now, we could curtail its distribution and potentially find and detain its creators.” Celestia sighed heavily. She had suspected that he would recommend that. And the worst part was that where once she would have immediately dismissed the idea out of hoof . . . now she was seriously considering giving the order. Equestria had always prided itself on doing everything in their power to make its citizens’ lives better and to give them the freedom to live their lives in happiness. But with this war it was clear that, at the very least for the duration of the conflict, some lesser evils would have to be tolerated. With a heavy sigh, she faced Shining Armor. “Very well Captain. Curtail the distribution to the best of your abilities without jeopardizing our defenses. As of now this pamphlet, and any other like it, are considered sedition and those responsible for its publication are to be brought to me or Luna. But please, I wish nothing to be done to these ponies other than that they be brought before us. While necessary, I wish to make this as painless as possible.” Following a swift salute, Shining Armor took his leave already planning how many guards he could afford to put on this assignment. ---- Silent Storm strode through the streets of Fillydelphia, an arrogant swagger in his step as he now wore his full army uniform. Ponies parted in waves before him, with many looking at him with a glimmer of hope shining in their eyes. All this he looked on with contempt. If all it took was a pony in uniform to impress these fools than they were already as good as dead. While they saw the uniform as meaning he was a valiant defender of Equestria, he had been through the training of the new recruits. And he knew that that was far from the truth. Even when the recruits had been pronounced ready to take up arms, they still lacked the discipline and ability of fully trained and experienced military soldiers, and Silent doubted that they would be able to learn the lessons they needed to before they died in battle. Shaking his head clear of these thoughts, Storm turned his thoughts back to his objective for today. For weeks now, the Equestrians had been training troops and fortifying the city as best they could. And if the reports from his fellow infiltrators were anything to go by than the situation was the same in the other cities still under Equestrian control. But lately something had changed. There weren’t any major indicators, but to an agent trained to notice what another would overlook there were definite signs of . . . something big underway. The first clue had been the shift schedule of the various work groups operating across the city. They had been working in fairly regular shifts for an estimated eight hours each day before being relieved by a fresh group. Following the end of their shift the workers would go home, eat and rest, or otherwise relax. However, the bars had been surprisingly clear of off-duty workers for some time and he found that he saw less and less of the workers in his section of the city returning home or working on some project. While strange, he had first chalked it up to the majority of the work in this section being finished ahead of schedule. Naturally the workers would have been reassigned to areas in greater need of their talents. However it became clear that this was not the case about a week following this reduction in worker presence. There were also less projects going on than was normal. Before, every bit of scaffolding was covered with workers and the streets were filled with the sounds of their work. Now? Scaffolding went up and no workers manned it, streets cracked from accidents or the strain of the various convoys that came through the city remained that way. It was clear to Storm that some project was draining both workers and resources. The only question now was what exactly it was. Thankfully, he thought he had finally narrowed down the general location of where this project was taking place. In one of the older districts of the city, there was a small string of old, outdated warehouses. While originally scheduled to be torn down and replaced with more up to date versions the war had caused resources and attention to be focuses on other, more immediately important areas of the city. Now, however, interest in these areas seemed to have been renewed as workers and materials were being moved in and out in large numbers almost every hour of every day. The Equestrians may be blind to such things, but he wasn’t. If there were any location in the city that would likely house this strange project of theirs than it would be here. He stuck to the shadows, knowing full well from previous observations that there were rooftop sentries and Pegasi air groups patrolling the skies. Creeping through the streets, he could see patrols of unicorns and earth ponies marching in lockstep throughout the area. Knowing what they would do next, he quickly ducked into a side alley and waited for them to pass as unicorns cast illumination spells into the darkened alleyways. When they had finally passed, Storm came out from the cramped side passage wincing slightly as he extricated himself from the tight space. He repeated this process numerous times, dodging patrol after patrol until he reached the closest entrance to the heavily guarded warehouse. Standing at attention outside were two burly earth ponies with grim expressions seemingly set in stone. Grabbing at some rubble around him, Storm hurled a piece of a broken brick at the wall near where he was concealed. As the slight crack of stone hitting stone resounded through the air, the two ponies instantly tensed up, their eyes moving in every direction as they attempted to identify the source of the noise. After a moment, the two guards looked at each other and one moved towards the source of the noise, eyes still scanning every outcropping and darkened entryway. As the guard passed near Storm, the disguised changeling lashed out with a fierce attack that caught the guard completely unawares. Storm gripped the earth pony with his magic and dragged him into the hiding spot that he had just been occupying. ---- Stone Heart stood frowning off towards where his fellow guard had wandered off to. His partner should have reported something to him by now. And even if he had found something after all, there should have been the sounds of a struggle or exertion on his part. After taking another few seconds to debate, he decided that should his friend not come back within another minute he would sound the alarm. Sure it may turn out to be nothing, but when at war it was best not to take chances. Just as he was turning to sound the alarm, the telltale sound of clanking armor alerted him to his friend’s return. “Shield! Where the hell were you? I was about to sound the alarm.” Shield Bearer grinned sheepishly at him from beneath the helmet. “Apologies, Stone. I ended up going a little farther down those alleys than I meant to. But you’re right, I should have alerted you to it first.” So placated, Stone Heart moved on to the next order of business. “So did you find anything out there?” A weary sigh escaped Shield’s lips as he moved back into position beside the doors. “Of course not. It was probably just some loose brick or something that fell.” “Makes sense I suppose. We are in the older parts of the city. It stands to reason that the buildings around here wouldn’t be holding together too well.” As he gave voice to that, Stone Heart felt a hoof connect with his head, sending him sprawling onto the ground and throwing his world into darkness. Silent Storm, still in disguise, quickly moved the fallen guard into the same alley as his comrade. His eyes narrowing in concentration, Storm took some of his magic and formed it into near-perfect replicas of the two unconscious guards. “Right,” he said, moving towards the warehouse doors. “The illusions will only last so long and I intend to be in and out long before then.” Slipping through the doors, his ears were immediately assaulted by the noises of some great industry taking place further in. Quietly traversing the darkened hallways, Storm made his way towards the entrance to what had been the main storage area for the warehouse. A brief look through this entryway made his jaw drop open in astonishment. A veritable horde of ponies were congregated in the area, each working away on some aspect of the great project before them. A colossal airship took up almost all of the storage space that the warehouse provided. The sides had crudely welded plates of sheet metal which protected the otherwise wooden hull. Three great sails dominated the deck, reminding Storm of the ships that traveled the seas. The one strange part of the ship was that it appeared to be one ship but expanded, as if the Equestrians had simply taken a pre-existing airship and built more around it. But it was what it was armed with that took Storm’s breath away. All along the lower deck were cannons. While clearly outclassed by the Human artillery pieces, these old models still looked extremely dangerous. Complementing these were a small number of ballistae on the upper deck along with what appeared to be gemstones placed at intervals along the deck. Storm quickly backed out of the makeshift factory and began moving back towards the entrance, traversing the maze of hallways with a practiced ease. If the Equestrians were beginning to build ships like these, then the war effort would be in serious trouble. He had to escape and warn his queen and their human allies. Storm stepped outside only to have a bolt of indigo magic smash into the stone next to his head. Before him stood a full contingent of royal guards with the two earth ponies he had knocked out beside them. A score of pegasi hovered above them, preventing him from escaping through the air. The guard leading them was one he recognized well: Shining Armor. “Imposter!” roared out Shining. “Reveal who you are and surrender yourself into our custody. Do this and I promise that you will not be harmed.” Storm looked cautiously at each guard in turn while he considered his next course of action. Looking up at Shining Armor, Storm bared his newly revealed fangs. “Never.” A scowl appeared on Shining’s face. “Very well then. Then you leave me no . . .” He didn’t get the chance to finish his sentence as Storm slammed into him with magically augmented speed. The rest of the guards’ eyes widened in shock as they saw their captain brought to the ground by the now revealed changeling. Storm glanced down at Armor briefly before giving him one last blow to the face, knocking him unconscious. Rising to his hooves, Storm reviewed the makeshift plan forming in his head. “Step one: Take down the leader, demoralize those left. Step two: Cripple those immediately around you to prevent them stopping your flight. Step three: Sunburst spell on the pegasi to prevent them stopping you from taking to the skies. Step four: Lose them in the alleys and take a new form.” Satisfied, Storm went to work. The earth ponies on his right and left were recovering and so they were his first targets. There was a small opening between the chest armor and the helmet that left the neck of the guardsponies exposed. Aiming for that space, Storm used his wings to provide more lift as he impaled the earth pony through the neck with his jagged horn. Removing his horn Storm wheeled around and launched himself at the guard on his right. Tendrils of green magic, snaking their way around his muscles, gave him a brief burst of enhanced speed. The other pony moved to defend himself, but Storm magically-enhanced speed sealed his fate. He met the same fate as his opposite as Storm’s horn took him in the neck. Arterial sprays of blood were now coming from both fallen ponies as Storm took to the skies, knowing that the rest of the guards would be too much for him. Drawing once more on his magic he closed his eyes as a burst of green light exploded in the midst of the pegasi, blinding them as he buzzed past. With the first three steps of the plan complete, Storm was sure he could lose them in the city. And he needed to as well; he could feel the strain on his body from the speed boosts and knew he soon wouldn’t be able to move. Angling down towards the twisting alleys, Storm raced away from the guards pursuing him. Just as he was about to reach the ground, he felt a sharp pain explode on his back. The sudden and unexpected pain threw off his balance and with the exhaustion already beginning to take hold of his body; he lost control and crashed hard into the streets. Storm tried to rise to his hooves and failed, pain shooting through his whole body. His carapace was cracked in a multitude of places and green blood was pooling on the streets beneath him. He could just hear the flapping of wings and the trotting of hooves getting ever closer. It was clear that he was going to be captured. Storm had already exhausted much of his magic and in his condition he could barely move. Raising his head up towards the sky, he enacted his last resort. Energy burst from his horn and eyes, as his vision became filled with an all-encompassing emerald light. The discoveries he had made, the connections he had forged, and everything he had ever seen and heard poured forth from him in one great explosion of magical power. Changeling infiltrators across the city received all this in fragments, the sounds and images flowing swiftly into their minds. Without anything more they knew what had happened. Silent Storm had been captured and had made the ultimate sacrifice for their people. These changelings quickly began to move, brief messages being exchanged via their isolated hive mind of various escape routes and rendezvous points. The time had come to abandon the city. ---- Shining Armor arrived just behind the pegasi to find the broken body of changeling lying in the streets. They were warily checking its vitals, careful around it after the last time they had been less than prepared around it. After a moment, one of the pegasi rose up from the changeling’s side. “Captain!” he called. “It’s weak, but there’s still a pulse. The changeling is still alive.” Shining nodded sharply. “Get a medic over here. I want this changeling stabilized and in custody as soon as possible, understood?” The pegasus nodded sharply and shot off into the air to get a medic. “As for the rest of you, I doubt this was the only changeling in the city. Get a messenger to the princesses that we found changelings in the city. The rest of you, start patrolling and alert the other guard contingents in the city. Be careful and stick together” “Yes sir!” ---- Lieutenant Graesin surveyed the work of his men. They had been working feverishly for the past 45 minutes to insure that everything was in place. The diamond dogs with them had lent a paw when they were needed, proving to be especially helpful in pointing out weak points in the foundations around them and in the cavern above. Spread out underneath the Gathering Hall there were large clusters of oaken barrels. Long fuses connected each cluster to the central point currently occupied by the Lieutenant and their diamond dog guides. “Time?” One of the dogs consulted a list of observations their scouts above had been making on the progress of the mustering. “Not long now. I’d say we have no more than 10 minutes before they start to leave.” “Right then. Let’s get this show on the road then shall we?” He nodded to a sergeant of the 1st squad who quickly signaled another trooper further down the tunnels. So it went, a line of quiet signaling that ended at a hidden point just above the floor of the Hall. Waiting squads of grenadiers readied their weapons with a practiced ease and took aim. With a muffled thump the ranks of grenadiers opened fire, grenades falling down into the assembled diamond dog ranks. Only seconds later, they detonated. The fire and shrapnel tore through the packed ranks of the diamond dogs dozens falling under the deadly force of the human weapons. The others quickly began scanning the cavern, desperately trying to find the enemies who were striking out at them. It did not take them long to see the grenadiers situated above the floor of the Hall, and large groups of diamond dogs began making a dash towards the wall, where ladders were thrown up by some and others attempted to scale the sheer rock with their claws. The grenadiers fired again into the packed ranks, but knew that they needed to fall back. As they fell back from their firing points, they yelled down to their compatriots below. “Now! Do it now!” And that was all the signal they needed. Below the cavern, the assembled human and diamond dog forces ignited the long fuses simultaneously and afterwards quickly made to leave to the area. The squads from above soon joined them further up the tunnels and the reunited groups dashed as far away as they could. Then they heard it. A few dozen barrels of gunpowder went off at nearly the same time, generating a truly massive explosion that ripped the cavern apart. The foundations beneath the Gathering Hall were obliterated, the floor falling out from the under the Emerald tribe’s warriors’ feet. Dozens, then hundreds of dogs fell to their doom as the floor gave out and the entire cavern rang with the force of the explosion. Great segments of stone were shaken loose from the walls, crushing further numbers of the Emerald Tribe. Graesin smiled broadly, flush with the overwhelming success of the plan. Turning to the stunned diamond dogs beside him, he said “Well I believe that takes care of that problem. For now anyway.” The lead dog nodded. “There are still more of them, and I doubt all of them were killed in your attack, but it will certainly turn the tide of the war back into our favor. And for that you have our thanks.” “And you ours, for leading us through these accursed tunnels. At any rate, it’s time we returned to Canterlot I think. Governor Helmholtz will want to know of what occurred here today.” “Agreed. And I will alert the Crimson Warlord of our success as well. Until we meet again Lieutenant.”