The Equichronicus

by InkBlotBolivar

Chapter 6

It read in every headline of Equestria, detailing the events of the attack on the once peaceful town. No pony in Equestria was without tears for the event, and fewer still were among those that did not show for the procession that followed.

Upon returning from the lands of the buffalo, the Princesses declared a day of mourning for the victims of Appleloosa and a procession to be held in their memory; their own minds were still heavy with guilt over failing the town and its ponies. At twilight, ponies from all over Equestria gathered in Ponyville and Canterlot to observe a service to the town and their people. The only lights seen, were on the river descending from the mountains.

Hundreds of paper lanterns, each with a name imprinted on its side and lit with a magical flame, were carried across the river on hundreds of small wooden boats. From the crowd of onlookers in Canterlot, the sounds of a small orchestra could be heard playing a melancholy song in the honor of the town. As the fleet made its way to across the river, the onlookers feared that the lanterns would be lost to the fall and churning rapids. They were all silenced when the first lantern detached from its vessel and slowly glided down the cliff to the town of Ponyville, where they were met with hundreds of tearful and amazed eyes from the ponie below.

Watching the spectacle, the Princesses stood atop the gates of Canterlot. They too were overcome with grief over the loss of Appleloosa, more so than the other ponies. Celestia blamed herself over her decision to let Discord live so long ago, and how it had led to the town’s destruction. Luna felt that she had been too blinded by rage to realize that Discord may have just been playing with them the whole time; they both had retained that same attitude since they returned. As the Princesses gazed to the lights of the lanterns, a dread feeling began to set itself into Celestia’s mind.

Due to her shock of the events of Appeloosa, Celestia had yet to completely comprehend the consequences of the attack until this moment. Discord had been set free, and while somewhat weakened, it would only be a matter of time until he attempted to set the world ablaze once more. His partner, the skeletal magic user called Hydia, had been incapacitated but they had yet to retrieve her remains; Chief Thunderhooves had spoken on the issue before the princesses left him in the care of his people. And if Discord’s chaotic powers were somehow affecting the already dead, there was no telling what other monstrosities he could unleash upon Equestria.

“How much longer sister?” spoke Luna, a terrified tone in her voice, “How long until more towns share the same fate as Appeloosa…?”

Luna’s question brought a shred of fury to Celestia’s mind. ‘I could not imagine how many more would fall if he succeeds,’ thought Celestia, ‘but that is something that I will die before I see him do.’

Placing a hoof of reassurance on Luna, Celestia finally responded to her sister’s question. “No more towns will share Appleloosa’s fate,” responded Celestia, in a serious tone, “We will make sure that the ponies that we have guided for so long have a future.”

The melancholic haze that hung over Luna and Celestia faded the night of the procession. In what would seem like a night for finality for the people of Appleloosa, the Princesses began to plan for Equestria’s defense.

A team of pegasi, led by the now Spirit of the Storm Rainbow Dash, were sent to the remains of Appleloosa the following day. They were to retrieve the bones of Hydia and deliver them to the Princesses as quickly as possible, lest the witch return to life somehow. Celestia and Luna had deemed the town inhospitable due to the amount of chaotic influence that still coated the town’s buildings and grounds. They reported back within the evening, with the bones of Hydia in an obsidian lockbox. Rainbow Dash reported to the Princesses a missing tree that did not seem like it had been incinerated but ripped right out of the ground.

While a strange occurrence, the Princesses decided to put Rainbow Dash’s report aside for another moment, and moved to the second step of their plan for the defense of Equestria and their search for Discord.

With the help of Celestia’s newest ascendant, her former student Twilight Sparkle, the alicorns created a special sigil for the crystals. The sigils within the towers could be used to create a powerful shield, a spell developed by Omniknight Shining Armor, to ward off incoming harm temporarily and create a permanent magical field of vision that could detect anything around the environment, even if it was hidden. But it was not just the towers that were changed in the pursuit to find Discord.

The Princesses had expected the ponies of Equestria to have a deep seeded resentment for Discord after what he did to Appeloosa, but did not expect the extent of their fervor. Hundreds of ponies, of every race, raced to join the garrisons that formed the backbone of the towers, all signing up for training and equipment for a job that could potentially put them into direct conflict with the Element of Chaos himself. Those that could not enlist, became blacksmiths, scribes, and architects to support the garrisons and to improve the towers themselves. The Princesses were almost overwhelmed by how fast and effectively their subjects could muster to the defense of their homeland.

In a few weeks, the whole of Equestria seemed to be rallying to the call of service, for better or for worse. In what would have taken several months for the preparations for a countrywide defense, took less than one month through the dedication of its ponies. Within one month, the towers of the Aegis now stood taller and more powerful than before, their garrisons better equipped and their morale boosted from the vengeful fervor of finding Discord and putting him to the sword. Their call to arms however, would answered faster than even the Princesses could have predicted in place once forgotten by history.

A bright ring of blue lights could be seen coming from the direction of the Crystal Empire. In the northern border of the city, Princess Cadence and the Omniknight Shining Armor stood alongside the two northern towers of the city in the middle of what was becoming a terrible snowstorm. A report had been sent from the survivor of a pegasus scouting force about an anomaly in the northern mountains to Princess Cadence. A comet had crashed in the Crystal Mountains, and had caused a massive upheaval of windigoes to appear, all seeming to converge over the remains. Whatever was in the comet, caused the windigoes to begin to attack each other, as if they were vultures competing for the last scraps of a carcass. When only one remained, it approached the comet and that’s when the pegasi began to panic.

The last thing the survivor mentioned, before leaving for the infirmary, was the sudden drop in temperature, even colder than the winds of the icy mountains themselves, which had frozen the wings of his squadron, and then the squadron itself, stiff in a matter of seconds and the spectral fingers that began to come off of the comet’s crash site. Whatever this anomaly was, a biting chill on the wind began to signal its descent down the mountainside.

As the rulers of the Crystal Empire stood ready to defend the city alongside the garrison of the towers, many of them shook from the cold, but one of them felt another form of shaking unease within his mind.

“Nearly a month ago, I would never have thought I would ever use this thing.” spoke Shining Armor resting a large war hammer to his side. “Aren’t you worried of what may become of Equestria if more attacks follow?”

Princess Cadence looked to her husband’s eyes and said, “It also pains me that harm may come alongside such struggles. Dear, I also fear for Equestria’s future, but we have to stand to defend our home, otherwise there might not be a future for Equestria.”

Shining Armor gave Princess Cadence a saddened but reassuring smile. He knew that it was inevitable now. In spite of all of his training and trials he endured to attain his station as Omniknight, his spirit of battle remained that of a shield and not a blade. ‘Some Omniknight I am,’ thought Shining Armor, ‘a battle in the horizon and I am already regretful for fighting before getting to the battlefield.’

His own thoughts were pushed aside as a massive blast of ice seemed to fly from the snowstorm and impact the citadel of the Crystal Empire. The city’s ponies, who had been previously ordered to stay inside to weather out the storm, peeked out to see the massive spire of the citadel freeze over and crack beneath the ice that now encased it. Many returned back to their homes, while others attempted to leave the city, for fear that the citadel may collapse and fall upon their homes.

Looking for the source of the ice blast, the city’s defenders sought out their target, but found none as the snowstorm began to increase in size and force. “Turn on the sigils!” ordered Shining Armor to the unicorns of the towers. As the unicorns complied with his command, Shining Armor could begin to make out the outline of something floating towards their position as the aura of the tower’s crystal began to affect his pupils.

Another ice blast was shot out of the storm, this time colliding with the Crystal Empire’s stadium, freezing it instantly and spreading its frozen taint to the area surrounding it. Panic ensued in the city, as hundreds of ponies left their homes for fear of being the next ones frozen alongside their city. Cadence, sensing the panic of her subjects, left Shining Armor in charge of the defense of the city as she left to calm down her followers and attempt to evacuate the ponies from the city in a calm manner.

Shining Armor said goodbye to Candence with a light kiss on her cheek, and returned his gaze to the figure moving from the snowstorm; the features on it were now clearer to him and his garrison. The floating figure now moved within eyesight, and they saw it for all of its horror. A chained, skeletal bird, with eyes as red as rubies, loose flippers instead of wings, and a chunk of ice that seemed to cling to its feet; clothed in a regal, but tattered, blue and black robe and wore a crown frozen to its skull.

It then spoke in a horribly hoarse, and yet regal, voice, “It has been so long since I gazed upon the Crystal Empire. It is a shame that its inhabitants are still not fond of the weather, their resistance to a change in temperature is still rather pathetic.”

“Who are you, were you the one shooting those blasts?” spoke Shining Armor in a stern tone, he did not wish to upset this thing lest it decided to attack again. His suspicions were disproven when another comet of ice was shot from the snowstorm.

“In order, I am the great king Pheidon Charlatan,” he answered in a regal tone, with an unknown pony stifling a giggle from the tower, “and my associate is the one preparing the icy, white carpet for my return.” He pointed his deathly, skinny flipper to a pair of glowing, blue eyes in the middle of the storm, and the eyes now stared at the defenders.

Out of the snowstorm floated another figure, a ghostly, malformed figure. Its body was coated- no, it was made out of ice shards, from its large, equine head to several shards that floated lazily beneath the base of its chest, but its enormous hands and fingers were as ethereal as the bodies of the windigos.

“Now, little unicorn with the hammer, order your troops to step aside,” spoke Charlatan haughtily, “and I’ll let you and them enjoy the festivities for my glorious return.”

“I’m sorry, but we’re not interested.” replied Shining Armor, reading his war hammer, “The Crystal Mountains are already coated with enough snow for the ponies of the Crystal Empire, so take your ice somewhere else. And if you really want to get into this city, you’ll have to go through not just me, but all of the ponies within these towers.” A fight was now inevitable as Shining Armor heard the shouts of the garrison, waiting for an excuse to attack the two would be invaders.

Charlatan shook his head from side to side, looked to his companion, who proceeded to nod in agreement. “Very well then,” spoke Charlatan in a frigid tone, right before he began to gather cold energy into his right flipper. Shining Armor gave the order of attack to the towers, but the cold was causing the tower’s crystals to take longer to charge. Buying the towers some time, Shining Armor gave the order to charge, casting his signature shielding spell on the garrison troops to protect them from any physical harm.

In a white coated charge of lances and swords, the ponies of the towers and the Omniknight of the Royal Guard sallied forth to meet the would-be invaders. Then in a flash of white, the energy gathered on Charlatan’s flipper was released in a ball of condensed ice and frost straight at Shining Armor. The Omniknight barely had enough time to put on a magical shield on himself, when the orb of energy hit him full blast.

Shining Armor felt his extremities growing stiff and numb from the wave of cold energy that impacted his body, but felt no pain from the actual impact. As he continued to charge, albeit more slowly, Shining Armor saw a sadistic grin somehow make its way across Charlatan’s beak; then the screams began. He turned his head to see that half the garrison now lay dead on the snow, the life snuffed from their bodies as if they had laid in the cold for a thousand years. He then saw that the orb of cold energy had not stopped once it impacted him, but seemed to be bouncing around to the ponies of the garrison like a killer rubber ball.

“Spread out!” shouted Shining Armor, having recovered from the effects of the frigid attack. The remainder of the garrison split, but the ball of ice energy was still headed for a one of the garrison ponies. Activating another shield of magical energy, Shining Armor saved the guard’s life from the deathly energies of the cold, which then dissipated finding no more bodies to impact. The figure of the once windigo seemed to back away from its ally, almost as if it was retreating.

As Shining Armor finally reached the skeletal bird, who waved off a spell that seemed to do nothing, he motioned for the rest of the garrison to cut off the escape of the other monster. With a swing of his war hammer, Shining Armor attacked the skeletal bird, only to be met with a resistant coating ice around the bird’s body. Another smirk began to crawl across Charlatan’s beak as Shining Armor felt a familiar feeling of cold creeping into his body; the magical shield had worn off.

“My turn.” Spoke the bird in an almost bemused tone, and exploded a shard of frost across the dumbstruck unicorn’s face. With the magical shield now worn off, the full force of the blast drove a wedge of pain into the Omniknight’s head, his eyes blurring from the agony across his temples, and his body thrown to the ground from the blast.

He attempted to get up, only to be forced down by another blast of chilling frost. He tried again, only to be met with another blast of ice, again, and again from the encroaching floating corpse. “A commendable effort for a pony,” spoke Charlatan in an overpowering voice, “but it is time for me and my compatriot to bring this conflict to an end.”

A blast of freezing wind seemed to disperse the snow around the now frozen battlefield. Shining Armor could feel his body go numb, the heat and strength of his body now almost completely gone, as he saw around the once windigo the bodies of the remaining garrison, frozen like statues where they stood. The monster turned to face the exhausted Omniknight and began to carve a sigil of ice in the air between it and Shining Armor.

Upon its completion, whatever numbness Shining Armor had was replaced with an agonizing, freezing pain throughout his body. He could feel the flood of blood begin to slow in his veins, as a terrible, seeping cold began to works its way throughout his body, as if attempting to freeze him from the inside out.

“Out of all the unicorns I have seen, you have to be the most foolhardy, but commendably resilient,” spoke Charlatan, mockingly congratulating the dying unicorn, “shame that it accomplished little. Do not worry though, the icy husk you leave behind will serve as a wonderful decoration for my throne room alongside your allies.” He readied his flippers to gather the cold energies once again, charging the cold to release another orb of frost.

‘I’m sorry Cadence…’ thought Shining Armor between the slow spasms his body let out, ‘I failed the Crystal Empire, and Equestria…’ At that moment, a slow pulsing ring began to form around the form of Shining Armor. Seeing this, Charlatan hurried the gathering energies into his flippers, and finished the orb as the pulses quickened. Charlatan motioned to release it, when the pulses of the rings began to envelop Shining Armor’s body in a white light.

The Omniknight found himself inside one of the towers, Cadence standing over him. Before a word left his mouth, Cadence lifted her horn and released a bright light that enveloped the nearly dead unicorn. He felt the feeling return to his extremities, and heat returned to his body as Cadence’s magic coated him in a healing embrace. With his strength returned, Shining Armor stood up only to be knocked down by a sobbing Cadence.

“Don’t ever do that again!” shouted Cadence in between sobs. “I had just finished evacuating the city, and I find you on face down in the snow freezing to death. Do you know what I would do if I were to lose you?!” Shining Armor could feel Cadence’s strong embrace even behind the plates of his armor.

“I’m sorry,” Shining Armor gasped out, which Cadence took notice of and loosened her grip, “I tried to buy as much time for the towers and your evacuation efforts, but I fear that the anomaly those pegasi found was stronger than we had anticipated, and more numerous. I’m sorry I made you worry Cadence, but I fear I may have failed.”

Cadence helped her husband up, and spoke to him in a reassuring tone. “On the contrary dear, you have made all the difference. Princess Celestia sent a contingent of the royal guard here once the signal went off. They would not have arrived here if the towers had not been intact to give the signal; you saved this city Shining Armor.”

The look of worry on Shining Armor’s face was replaced with a smile of determination. Running out of the tower with Cadence in tow, Shining Armor could see the figures of their adversaries surrounded and under attack by the elite royal guard and the towers’ barraging blasts of magic. While royal guard were doing better than the garrison that was sent out to attack them previously, Charlatan and his ally were still managing a powerful defense.

Cadence flew to their aid, raining a powerful ray of energy from the sky at the skeletal bird, who then turned his attention to the airborne alicorn, releasing the orb of frost he had readied for Shining Armor. Shining Armor created the magical shield over Cadence, who only suffered the slowing effects of the attack and was far enough away to not transfer the orb to anypony else.

Shining Armor charged once again at Charlatan, shouting to the royal guards to change their attention to the other monster. Cadence released a wave of searing light that seemed to melt away the shield of cold that Charlatan had put on himself previously. With a swing of his hammer, Shining Armor blindsided the skeletal bird, knocking him from his floating stance and onto the snowy ground. Charlatan released a shard of ice on the two approaching ponies, slowing them down but with most of the damage recovered by Cadence’s healing spell.

“Kaldr!” shouted the hoarse Charlatan, “Help me! I order you to help me this instant!” The ethereal, icy being known as Kaldr, began to retreat from the battlefield, creating more snowstorms to cover its escape from the royal guards.

It then spoke in a haunting tone as it left, “I answer only to the harbinger, not someone like you. Face the consequences for your failures of this assignment.” A look of total despair was painted on the face of Charlatan, he had lost and now he was being left for dead.

As Shining Armor reached the body of the weakened Charlatan, he pressed his hammer onto the evil bird’s head as the Omniknight chanted a word of power. Then, a radiant beam of light flowed through Shining Armor’s body, and spread throughout the body of Charlatan, embracing the monster in an evil searing light. Releasing his hammer from this his body, Charlatan’s body lay motionless, the light not gone from his eyes but motionless nonetheless.

“Get restraints,” ordered Shining Armor, “make sure they’re obsidian, and make sure they’re big enough for him.” The royal guards replied and returned to the city to retrieve them.

As the rulers of the Crystal Empire looked at the body of the monster that had attempted to take over their city, Cadence now felt a bit of unease in her own mind. She then peered to the battlefield, now a frozen wasteland, and the littered bodies of the towers' garrisons and felt her unease grow.

“I fear that you were right dear,” spoke a mournful Cadence, “these sort of conflicts cause more harm than good. If something like this were to escalate...” Shining Armor placed a hoof on Cadence, attempting to console her.

“We cannot hold fear for what is yet to happen,” now it was Shining Armor’s turn to speak of the future, “and while I feel that the pain we endure may be unavoidable, it is to ensure the future of our people.” He smiled at Cadence, which she returned. “This was isolated, for all we know Discord could not have even been involved. This anomaly could be the only one to occu-”

Shining Armor’s platitude was stopped short when a massive beam of blue light could be seen in the horizon, in the direction of Ponyville. As the rulers of the Crystal Empire looked on with horror at the blue light, another blue beam of light in the direction of the Port of Baltimare appeared in the south east. And another appeared, this one south in the direction of Dodge Junction. A cold wave of realization began to sweep over the two rulers.