Again sorry about the long wait, but this chapter will still need to be more refined later on. Hopefully you will like what me and Legofan did and I will see you all tomorrow.
The moon's delicate light was shining down in Celestia's room. She was pacing back and forth at the window, trying to get her mind off of the tragedy that had taken place. Not too long ago ash she had received word of the destruction of Baltimare.
That was three cities she had so dearly loved and vowed to protect, destroyed instantly by this thing that had risen up from the ground and had laid waste to her innocent ponies.
Nothing like this had ever happen before in her lifetime of ruling. Over the last thousand year's, nothing apocalyptic had ever really happened; only a few minor chaotic instances but nothing catastrophic. So why? Out of all hers years as princess why now? Why did this have to happen?
Her mind was in a state of panic. For what reason was that thing here for? Did it want to annihilate everything in Equestria? Or enslave pony kind?
All of that was interrupted when somepony knocked on her door. She turned towards it saying, "Come in."
The door opened and Lightwing walked in, followed by Silverleaf. "Hello there Silverleaf. I'm glad that you made it back from Manehatten."
"I'm glad to see you too, your Highness. I thought for sure that I would've been fried to nothing but ashes when that machine attacked," Silverleaf said, bowing down to the princess after she walked in through the door.
Celestia was looking over Silverleaf, noticing the absence of a particular pony that was often found at her side. "Silverleaf, you wouldn't happen to know where Nethercraft is, would you? I thought for sure he would've been with you," Celestia asked.
Silverleaf's expression saddened as she lowered her head to the ground and closed her blue eyes. "I'm sorry to say, your Majesty...but Nether didn't make it."
Celestia froze and stared at Silverleaf, shocked by what she had said. Nether had been a reliable friend and one of the greatest scientist of the time. To hear that he had been vaporized by the machine angered and made her heart feel heavy with sorrow. "I will miss that crazy fool. He was a smart pony and a very good friend."
Silverleaf walked up to Celestia, Then presented her with a journal of notes, which Celestia took and began to quickly study. It was still in good condition, with it's gray and dark blue covering still kept clean, even after all these years of research and studying.
"Nether said that if anything were to happen to him, I was to be placed in charge, and that it would belong to the pony who took his position. But... but I'm not sure I'm ready for such a task. I'm not even close to Nether's intellectual genius," Silverleaf said as she sat down and again looked towards the ground.
Celestia stared at the mare for a few more moments before giving the journal back to her. "Don't worry, Silverleaf; just because you say you’re not ready doesn't mean you actually aren't. I have the utmost faith that you'll be a great scientist just like Nether was."
Silverleaf smiled at the Princess's compliment and bowed to her before heading out the door. Lightwing walked over to where Silverleaf stood only a few moments ago. "Ahem," he started, clearing his throat, "Excuse me your Highness, but I would like to inform you that Sunstream has fully recovered from the shock. He'll be ready to head back into command next morning."
"Good. Have you anything else to report?"
"The machine has come to a complete stop two miles west from Baltimare and at the foot of the mountains."
"What's it doing there?"
"Intel says they're not sure; it's just standing there doing nothing."
"Curious," she mused. "Have you ordered the halt of all trains?"
"Yes, your Highness," he answered. "Train stations have diverted their routes away from the three cities." He hesitated for a second, then asked, "Should we attack it your Highness?"
Celestia had been debating whether to or not with herself, and had decided on not confronting it. However, with the machine seemingly inactive, the moment seemed too perfect to launch a counter offensive.
"Lightwing, send Sunstream's battalion and Shining's squad over behind the machine. I want them to attack the machine right away. Hopefully the shield will crack from all the punishment that it will receive." She briefly considered the geography of the machine's location. "I want Sunstream and Shining's soldiers to secure the cover and height advantage provided by the mountains."
"Yes, your Highness." With that. He hurried out the door to send word to command. Celestia stood there for a moment before crawling onto her bed. She took off her regalia and, using her magic, tossed it all on the nightstand beside her. She let out a frustrated sigh as she tried to fall asleep. It came to her quickly, but her mind couldn't stop wandering, thoughts of the mechanical monstrosities path of destruction plaguing her dreams. She thought of the coming days, and how much hope her subjects had of surviving these beasts.
The answer, she came to determine, was none.
~~~
It was early the next morning, and the sun shone down through the windows of the barracks as ponies were walking around, getting their gear and weapons. Shining had been assigned to help Sunstream out with the attack on the machine. To say he was nervous was an understatement. Last night was rough for him; he kept tossing and turning in his bed. He had heard about how dangerous this machine was and was worried for what was to come today. Luckily enough, they had a survivor from the attack on Manehatten.
Said hero figure was sitting on a chair in his office staring at his helmet when Shining entered and approached. now considering what he had gone through in Manehatten. "Well, look who it is!" He noticed that something was off with him. Hey, why the sad look there?"
Sunstream looked over towards Shining. "I...I don't know? I guess I'm still afraid from my last encounter with that accursed machine." Sunstream replied grimly, looking back to his helmet with a expression of anger and pain.
"Hey look...I know that what happened in Manehatten wasn't your fault. You knew you couldn't fight off that machine by yourself."
"But I should've been there to protect the civilians. Yet I just ran right by them all, and left them to be vaporized when it was my duty as a guard was to protect them."
"Don't get yourself down about this. You had a choice and you chose it, but don't feel bad about it. Besides, you're here, and now so you can get a little payback for all the lives this machine's been taking." Shining addressed with a grin.
Sunstream looked over to Shining and nodded. He put his helmet back on and walked out the door. Shining did the same and walked out behind him. They walked together, going through the courtyard and into one of the castle's few massive war rooms, which had had limited use in the past.There the rest of the troops along with Celestia were waiting for them.
Sunstream stopped in front of them all with Shining on top of the balcony above their soldiers. "Listen up everypony...I know how this all must look. But no matter what happens I want you all to know that I was proud to serve with you and as your commander."
Shining was confused by what Sunstream had said; what was he trying to say? Nonetheless, he looked over to Princess Celestia and nodded to her. She nodded back and a yellow aura began to surround her horn.
"Everypony! Get ready for teleportation!" Soon they were all glowing as they felt themselves being transported to the mountain. Then the world glowed before them and soon they reached the mountain and saw their target was a thousand feet below them.
~~~
Shining and Sunstream watched their soldiers were getting everything set up and ready from their elevated view. Soldiers hammered away at ballistae and other siege machines, preparing them to fire upon the machine below them.
"You think we're ready?" Sunstream asked, Looking over to Shining with a somber expression.
"Of course Sunstream. Don't worry, we'll make sure that we bring down this machine before it causes any more harm."
Shining’s reassurance caused a thin smile to reform on Sunstream's lips and they went back to work supervising the troops. They had only brought about three hundred soldiers with them, for Celestia was only able to transport that many. The other two hundred were awaiting word for the confirmed report that they had arrived.
Half an hour later, the rest arrived, and quickly for they consisted of mostly pegasi troops. Shining and Sunstream went into the command tent where Shining laid out the map of their current area on the table before them. The rest of their sergeants and lieutenants gathered around them.
"Okay, so we're here. That thing is down there and not expecting an attack, so what me and Sunstream were thinking is that we give our pegasi a chance to get close enough to the machine before we start firing our arrows and magic at it." Shining stated, moving his hoof to the area he was indicating. "We will begin fire on our command. We need to hit it hard and fast, and hopefully with enough pressure against their shields we'll break it and do some real damage." He paused for a moment, letting the plans idea sink in. "So, any questions?"
"Yeah, I got one: do you really expect my pegasi squad to just do a suicide run on that thing. How long do you think we'll last against that machine?" one of the lieutenants of the pegasi squad said.
"Listen, I know how this all sounds, but if we get your sq-"
"No, you listen here, Shining Armor: you may be captain of the guard, but what do you expect my troops to do against a shield that's impenetrable. My troops'll be slaughtered; have you considered that in your plan?"
"I was wondering when you'd speak up, Silverflight,” Sunstream announced. “I know how all of this sounds, but do you think that this is easy for Shining as it is for any of us? I saw what that thing did in Manehatten- in fact I'm the only one with knowledge of what this thing's capable of. So tell me this Silver: what do you expect us to do against that machine there, just fire at with arrows and magic and hope that it will work?"
Silver stayed silent after what Sunstream said. "Good, I thought so. If anyone else has something to say about Shining's plan being faulty, speak up. No? Alright then, let's get this show on the road."
Soldiers got to their positions, manning the fifty siege machines they brought along and the ten lookout towers that some of the magic unit occupied, giving them a better angle when they would begin fire upon the machine. The others moved over to the other soldiers manning the siege machines so that they could reload them faster. The pegasi got into their flight position and waited for the horn to sound.
Shining walked up onto the platform that oversaw the whole mountain top. For the time they got, they were able to put together many of their siege weapons, although there were a few open areas in their barrier of metal and wood they put up, he thought that the alien machine wouldn’t be able to reach them.
"Attention soldiers, I know how this day looks, but be assured that whatever happens today that you'll not be forgotten. Equestria will forever be proud of your service today when we take down that monster."
The soldiers hoorahed and got themselves ready.
The horn sounded and the pegasi flew off down towards the Tripod.
~~~
It wasn't suspecting an attack by the locals so soon. Another horn sounded and the ballistae began their assault on the machine. Beams of energy courtesy of the magic units accompanied the ballistaes' shots.
The ballistaes’ shots bounced harmlessly off the shield, and the magic only caused a rippling effect. The Tripod turned it’s attention towards the mountain, thus overlooking the incoming pegasi bombing-run. Upon making contact with the machine's shields, the weapons detonated, producing loud explosions and large pillars of smoke.
Despite their best efforts, though, the shield seemed to be holding firmly.
Ignoring the barrage overhead, the Tripod focused itself on the magic units pummeling its shield. Its arms sprouted out from its sides so it could fire back, but to no avail, as the mountainside and the ponies' sheer height advantage kept them safe. While the machine's attack didn't cause any damage, the force from it shook the mountain, causing the troops atop it to stumble and topple as they attempted to load another volley of bolts into their ballistae.
Satisfied with the hindrance it had caused to the grounded soldiers, the machine focused itself on the pesky pegasi that continued to rain explosives onto it from above. It trained its weapons to the sky, but the nimble pegasi were mostly able to dodge its energy rays unscathed.
"It's having trouble; seems we got it this in the bag," Sunstream noted, looking down at the overwhelmed machine.
Standing next to Sunstream was one of his unicorn lieutenants, one who had the particular honor of being the head of a special group of soldiers he called the Scanners, whose sole purpose on the battlefield was to monitor the energy expenditures of their foes.
Said foes were typically other magic users, but the machine and its shields, they found, could be scanned for damage, though not as precisely as their standard opponents. "How's the shield looking?" Sunstream asked the lieutenant.
"It's hard to say. Since it began firing back, the energy supplied to the shield has dropped some, but we can't determine if it's because of damage or because of resource reallocation."
"I see," said Sunstream. "I suppose that there's nothing else to do except to press on and hope for the-"
A roar from the machine cut him off. He gave it a nasty glare for its rudeness, which instantly turned to morbid curiosity as he noticed the machine behaving in a manner which he had not seen before. Steam hissed from vents on its sides as metal like rod objects slowly extended out from the vents that had opened from its sides. Then, small hatches opened up on the rods. Metallic orbs shot out of them and towards the mass of pegasi bombarding the Tripod. Without warning, the orbs exploded, and thousands of pieces of shrapnel flew in all directions, shredding whatever it came into contact with. Including the pegasi.
Shining and Sunstream looked on in horror as half of their pegasi dropped to the earth, riddled with puncture wounds from which blood generously poured and stained the ground beneath them. Many were still alive when they hit the ground, writhing in pain as their blood soon poured out from their wounds. "Quickly, call them back Sunstream!" Shining yelled, shaking Sunstream back and forth. He obeyed, and sounded the horn for retreat.
What was left of the pegasi hastily complied and returned to their fortified position, and the Tripod's gaze followed them. While the Tripod couldn't climb the mountain and deal with its attackers directly, it still had some tricks to deal with them.
Steam shot out from the back of it's head and a new weapon popped out, looking like a massive metal crate, the inside of which was split into thirty smaller cells. Bellowing its terrifying roar, the Tripod, from its new weapon, unleashed its payload, a mass of missiles that rocketed towards the mountain and detonated nearly a hundred feet below the ponies' position, excavating several tons of rock in their wake.
The mountain trembled upon the missiles' impact, and all activity ceased behind the ponies' fortifications. From his position, Shining could see the tons of rock that had just been blasted out from under them. "Rock slide below us, sir!" a nearby lookout declared. And indeed, seconds after the noise from the missiles' explosions had dwindled, the faint and growing sound of crashing rock could be heard.
It's using our position against us.
Shining's military side wanted to applaud the machine for its clever tactic, but with the realization that their position was bound to fall from beneath them, he had other pressing matters to tend to. "Everypony, away from the edge!" he commanded. "Get off the towers and away from edge!" As if on cue, the ground beneath a nearby ballista gave way, and it and it's two-pony crew were dragged down into the avalanche, where they were pulverized by other falling debris.
Shining watched in horror as the other ballistaes began to fall down, some of his soldiers escaped while others didn't. He felt a trembling under his hooves as he realized that the tower was about to fall down with the rock slide. He and Sunstream jumped away from the tower and when they landed on the ground; they ran as fast as their hooves could carry them.
Shining was following behind, when he tripped over on some of the wood from a destroyed ballista. But for those few seconds, he immediately felt the ground give way beneath him. "Shining Armor, NO!" Sunstream yelled out, as he watched his friend disappear in the rock slide.
Sunstream then looked out onto the ground where the tripod stood, as some of the ponies survived the fall, they were unmercifully killed there on the spot by the Tripod. He watched in horror as their plan went from successful to failing. The machine then ceased its fire, happy that it had caused enough to disrupt their failed assault and continued on. Sunstream looked on in anger at the machine, as it slowly walked away. It will pay for this, he thought as he flew down to the ground, hoping to find that at least some of the soldiers had survived the rockfall.
~~~
Sunstream landed on the ground and looked at his surroundings. The debris of some of the towers and ballistaes were sticking up from the rubble. He began to search for anypony, finding that a few had made it out from the rock slide, but there was one pony that he couldn't find anywhere. "Shining Armor!...Shining Armor!"
Only a handful of the soldiers had made it out. Much of the magic unit was destroyed, leaving only a few left and there was only one soldier of the pegasi group left.
He trotted over next to a pile of rubble and found Shining's chest plate that he wore into the battle. Sunstream only knew what this meant. "No...no, No! NOOO!"
He kicked a piece of wood as hard as he could and just fell to the ground in defeat. His best friend and prince of the Crystal Empire was dead, vaporized into nothing. "No...why Shining Armor? Why?" He recalled that after some of the soldiers emerged from the rubble, they were blasted by Tripods energy rays. Shining had been one of those unfortunate ponies.
He looked to the rest of the soldiers and stood up. "Colts and Mares...we lost some very good soldiers today. But especially our important Captain of the Guard, Shining Armor. We shall mourn him and the others we lost back in Canterlot."
Everypony was shocked by the news and many of them wept in silence. "Everypony...get ready for teleportation. We'll arrive about half a mile from Canterlot's gates, but let's break the news to the princesses gently, especially to Princess Cadence and Princess Twilight. "
Everypony nodded. "The remainder of the magic unit. Teleport us back to the front gates." Sunstream announced to the remaining unicorns. They nodded and their horns glowed their own colors. They were enveloped in a white light that transported them back over to Canterlot.
~~~
The gates to Canterlot opened up for the returning group of soldiers that made it back from the fight with the Tripod. Many of the citizens looked on in sadness and fear as they saw how many ponies had returned from the failed attack. By the time they got back, it was dark and the moon was shining down it's faint light across the land.
The soldiers felt no better, especially Sunstream. A attack that he and Shining had orchestrated. One that both of them were so sure that it would've worked; jumped back into their faces and showed them how wrong they truly were. Many of the soldiers had their heads facing the ground, not bothering to look up at any of the citizens.
Sunstream parted off from the rest of the group and headed towards the main castle. To himself, he wondered how would he break the news to the Princesses. The guards that saw them walk in were already showing expressions of sadness; for they did not see Shining Armor return and that put moral at an all time low.
He finally made it to the door of Princess Celestia's room and hesitated. How could he say it? There was no easy way of breaking this to her but what if Twilight or Cadence were in there? It would have been a great deal more difficult trying to speak if they were in there.
When he opened the door, he was lucky neither of them were in Celestia's room except for herself. She looked over to him and smiled. "Hello there Sunstream. I didn't expect you to arrive so early. You took care of the machine then?"
That's what he was afraid she was going to ask. Little did he know that another pony was behind him too. "Hello there Sunstream." The voice greeted. The pony that passed him was Luna, who walked over to her sister's side. Both waited for him to confirm what they had hoped to believe was done.
"I...uh. I'm sorry but, we didn't destroy the machine." He reported, looking back down to the ground.
Both Princesses expressions went from smiling to worry. "What happened?" Celestia asked.
"We got everything set up as soon as we were on top of the mountain. Everypony was ready and at their stations...we even had a good plan that seemed likely that we would come out as the victors. But everything went downhill after, 'that thing', I don't know what it did to half the pegasi, but they all just dropped to the ground suddenly and we were forced to call in a retreat." He stopped before continuing on, his voice was getting hoarse and ragged.
"Then as we ordered the retreat, the machine unleashed this fury of destruction upon the mountain. Firing at it with these...rocket like objects that flew towards the center of the mountain, causing a rock slide. We were forced to retreat, but not many of the soldiers escaped the fall and some were dragged down to where the machine waited. It...it began to slaughter those who tried to escape and completely ruined everything. It was just..."
"Sunstream. Please continue." Luna pleaded.
He looked back up to them. "Sunstream. How many did you bring back?" Celestia asked, worried about how many of her subjects survived her failed attack.
"Only about twenty colts and thirty mares. After the whole incident we gathered up and came back here."
"Where is Shining by the way? Wasn't he with you helping plan all this out?" Luna asked, wondering why Shining wasn't standing at Sunstream's side.
That question is what he was afraid that they would ask. He could see that they were wondering about him. Sunstream answered this, but his voice was ragged as he told them the horrible truth. "I...I'm sorry to say. But he didn't make it."
~~~
Celestia was in utter disbelief of what he said. She couldn't even comprehend the news, even Luna was having a hard time stomaching the information Sunstream had told them.
"W...what do you mean?" Celestia muttered.
Sunstream was having a hard time holding the tears away. "I mean...he's not here anymore. Shining was vaporized and after ponies are vaporized, all that is left are their clothes they wore." He stopped for a moment, trying to regain his composure before he said the last few words.
"What was left of him...was the armor he wore during the attack." Tears were coming out of his eyes as he told them all of this.
Celestia was left speechless. Her heart ached with such a horrible pain. She had to turn away and look back out her balcony. Luna spoke up for her. "Well...this is, so unexpected. Are you sure that it was him?"
He looked towards Luna. This was very hard on him, being a very close friend of Shining. "Because ash was underneath his armor...and even around the chest plate. I was pretty sure of that, don't make me remember that horrible moment."
Luna stared at him. She felt heartbroken for Sunstream, knowing the pain from losing a great friend. She walked up beside him and wrapped her right wing around him. He responded by hugging her back.
Over towards the balcony, Celestia wept in silence for Shining. Another good friend of hers and prince of the Crystal Empire had been killed by the terror that was traveling across Equestria. Anger and pain were all she felt during those few moments to herself.
How could she even break the news to her former student and Cadence. Her niece would be completely devastated, but if Twilight were told about this. That one of her family members was killed in battle, she couldn't imagine the pain and depression Twilight would go through.
"Th-thank you for te...telling us this Sunstream, go and get some rest. You'll definitely need it for tomorrow." Celestia said, her voice cracked as she cried. He nodded and slid out from Luna's wing. He slowly headed out the door and back to his room with his head pointed to the ground.
Luna walked on over to Celestia and saw that tears were coming down freel. "H...how should we tell the others about this?" Luna asked.
"I...I don't know. Just why did this all have to happen? Twilight and Cadence will be completely devastated when they hear about this." Celestia's voice was becoming ragged and hoarse.
Luna walked up to her sister and put her hoof on her right shoulder. "I know how you almost lost me that one time already and just a day ago after I foolishly tried to help out against the machine. There are always sacrifices made...but you're right about Shining Armor. It will be hard to tell them about this."
Celestia looked back out into the night. Hoping that the ponies still out there were safe from this machine.