The ponies were led by a grizzled unicorn who introduced himself as General Eisenhorn. His coat was a dark grey, dulled by dirt and flecks of blood. He wore a purple cloak, denoting his position as head of the Canterlot Arcanum as well as half the forces responsible for defending Canterlot and the surrounding area. Twilight knew him only by reputation as his duties often kept him busy dealing with dangerous criminals, making sure the scheduled weather would not have unforeseen consequences, and to a lesser extent, making sure magical secrets remained secret. What struck Twilight about his cloak, however, was the fact that it was tattered and ripped in many places. He also wore an eye-patch that looked quite new. She could see quite plainly that he had only a small portion of the number of ponies who had marched from Canterlot.
“Where are your troops?” she asked, though the answer was clearly written on the injured soldiers, many of whom were being carried to the medical tent.
“We were ambushed and betrayed. At least five hundred, about ten percent of my men, turned on us about an hour after we split off from General Donner. They seemed like normal ponies, but their teeth were jagged. Their eyes, too, seemed narrower. The worst part was how they seemed to be nothing more than husks for Devourers. All told, roughly twenty five hundred real ponies lost their lives. Of my elite unicorn squad, roughly one hundred are still capable of fighting. Another fifty will probably survive. We have another three hundred and fifty wounded soldiers with us, though I doubt more than a hundred of them will see the dawn. The rest of the troops were to burn the bodies while we went on ahead. They will follow behind us, catching up when possible. I have a constant relay of scouts coming and going.”
Twilight closed her eyes. Nothing could have prepared her for this madness. Nopony knew that their foe had such capabilities, and she worried about what else they might not know. Not for the first time, she wished Celestia could be there to guide them.
“Come with us to the war tent, so we can discuss the details of what happened.” She pondered what they should do. Their forces were far less than they should have been. She had an idea, though. It was only the beginning of a plan, but it seemed as good a place to start as any. She decided that she would bring it up at the end of the meeting. Most of the meeting was fairly straightforward with only a few minor disagreements.
“I agree, we no longer have the capability to drive them out from the area around Trottingham. All civilians have left the city, and the guards should be able to hold out for months. I will have a messenger sent to let them know about the potential for spies. We should also send out messengers to any small towns telling them to go to the nearest city. Our troops can’t be spread thin if we want to win. Fillydelphia and Istanbull haven’t reported any sign of attacks yet; I recommend sending civilians there.” Ploddington’s ability to keep a cool head in such dire circumstances calmed Twilight down a little.
“Now that that’s settled,” Twilight announced after seeing everypony nodding in agreement. “General Eisenhorn, you are the only one here who has actually fought these things. Please tell us what you’ve discovered about them.”
He nodded. “Their general appearance is not so different from a large worm with legs. The main differences are the fact that they are several times larger than a pony, their maws are disproportionately large and filled with razor sharp teeth, and they can spit acid. I can personally attest to its ability to dissolve eyes. They are covered in an extremely hard carapace, but underneath that, they’re extremely vulnerable. Most puzzling is that they seem to be protected by some kind of magic; it doesn’t have any noticeable effect on physical or magical trauma, nor can it prevent anything from harming their fleshy bodies. The only thing it seems to do is prevent us from manipulating their bodies or minds with magic. It differs from a regular magical shield in one crucial way. We can batter and overpower a normal magical shield. With the Devourers, whenever we try to touch or attack the shield, our magic seems to just slide off. Fighting them is quite difficult since they can only be knocked off balance by extremely powerful forces due to their size and number of legs. They are also quite agile, making it dangerous for an earth or pegasus pony to get within striking distance. Even when they are hit, the carapace usually absorbs the blow. I recommend issuing rocks, lumps of metal, and javelins to every unicorn in the army. Thrown with enough force, the first blow will shatter a significant chunk of carapace. A follow up javelin or sharp rock ought to rip through their fleshy skin. Most hits to the skin are likely to cause massive bleeding and at least some nervous system damage. I also recommend building catapults and onagers so that non-unicorns don’t have to risk getting in close to score hits. Hooking spears to a pony’s armor will also allow them to greatly increase their effective range.”
Twilight made a note to see Rarity about modifying armor straps to accommodate spears as well. “Thank you, General. There is only one thing we have left to discuss then: what should we do with our forces since Trottingham is out of the question. I think we should search for the princesses. With them, we could strike a devastating blow into enemy lines.”
Bullhead bluntly rejected the idea. He believed that their time would be best spent striking at the enemy immediately, before clear battle lines could be drawn. Ploddington wanted to spend time shoring up the defences of the remaining cities and not going on the offensive until the strengths of both sides could be better ascertained. Starbright agreed with Bullhead’s idea, and Scrubbrush wanted to send most of their forces back to the cities while small strike teams conducted hit and run attacks on the enemy. Just as Twilight was beginning to think that this discussion was going to be the kind that dragged on for hours without solution, Eisenhorn cleared his throat, drawing everypoiny’s attention.
“I agree with Lady Sparkle. We do not have the power to meet them in open battle, nor do I think we can properly damage them with small scale strikes. If we just sit behind city walls, we will eventually be overrun unless starvation takes us first. I spoke to Princess Celestia before she and her sister left. She said that they were going to deal a blow that would cripple the enemy. She said that her sister had discovered the location of the enemy’s ‘heart’ and that if they failed to destroy it, this war would quickly be over, and not in our favor. I think I know where they went, though I do not know why they have not returned. We would not be able to bring an army there, but a few of us would be perfectly capable of sneaking in. That is why I suggest sending our troops to defend the cities while I lead a small group to assassinate the enemy leader.”
They all knew he spoke the truth, though several would have been loathe to admit it. The next subject for debate was how large the force should be and who all should go. Eisenhorn insisted that only powerful unicorns should be allowed to go with the only exceptions being a couple of pegasi to serve as emergency messengers. Bullhead’s protests were silenced only when the general pulled rank. Twilight was determined to go as well. She knew that she could make him accept her decision to join the expedition, but she decided instead to make him accept her based on something more logical than her rank, which she still felt uncomfortable using.
“This mission will be extremely dangerous; there is a good chance we won’t survive. You haven’t even gone through basic training. On top of that, the army is going to need somepony to organize everything. I can’t stop you from coming with us, but I don’t think it’s a good idea.” Twilight noted that he held no tone of condescension in his voice, nor did she think he was acting. Even if he didn’t think that she was up to the task, at least he wasn’t simply brushing her off for superficial reasons. Twilight herself wasn’t even sure that she should go.
“For what it’s worth, sir, in the past day alone, Twilight has proved to be an excellent commander, and she’s probably one of the best magic users in the army, possibly excluding some of your best ponies.” Twilight smiled a bit when Starbright came to her defence.
Just as Twilight was preparing to make her own case as to why she should be on the team, there was an uproar from outside. There was a scream shortly followed by the sound of somepony slamming into the ground. After that, noise seemed to erupt all over the camp. They all jumped to their feet in time to watch one of Twilight’s guards, one of the pegasi, slam into the table with a sickening crunch. The cuts on her body told everyone present exactly what had attacked her. They all rushed outside, mentally preparing for battle.