//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1: The Captain of Light Tower 
// Story: Lords of Equestria 
// by ZatGeneral 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 1: The Captain of Light Tower




        The marching was long and hard. It had been four days since Steel Lance left his home of Castle Honeywine. It was a strange feeling for him, being surrounded by dense forest and the echoing chirping of birds. He had grown up with gentle rolling hills and endless fields of wheat, grapes and other crops that keep the other realms of Castillia from starving. He reflected on his life further and wondered about how far he’d come in life. His father, a retired General of Castillia, was stripped of his knighthood after speaking out against a greater lord. His father was further punished for “stealing” glory of another lord in battle by having his castle and lands given to a house of stewards.  As if that wasn’t enough, Lance’s father married a peasant mare, completely breaking his family’s noble history. Adding to this, his younger sister, Twinkle Star, started to develope a strange disease that deformed her. Other noble houses took that as a sign of House Steel Wing’s folly and as a form of punishment from the Gods. Despite all these terrible things, Steel Lance himself was granted a knighthood by Lady Golden Grove of Castle Honeywine. Steel Lance saw his new knighthood as a chance to redeem both his father’s honor and the name of his family.

        A voice from behind snapped Steel Lance out of his reminiscing. “Sir?” called out one of the knights.

Steel Lance looked back at his band of knights, if one could give them such a title. 

        “Is something wrong, Sir?”

        “I’ll tell you what’s wrong, we’re lost!” cried out another.

        Steel Lance chuckled a little. “You know, most of us can fly, Iron Plow.”

        “And it’s impossible to miss Castle Light Tower from above the tree lines.”

        “Bah, you Pegasi take all the fun out of being lost.”

        Steel Lance couldn’t help but laugh a little along with his band. “You find ‘being lost’ funny?”

        “No, but that’s how all the heroes in the old tales find their blessed or magical items.”

        Everypony in the band laughed at Iron Plow’s strange excuse. “Do you really think a bunch of peasants pretending to be knights will ever be in one of your heroic ballads?”

        Steel Lance chuckled, but he knew that there was truth behind that remark. As a knight he resolved disputes between Castle Honeywine and the other Castles. The Champion of Honeywine they called him as he won joust after joust, displaying his prowess worthy of a noble house. Through his hard work and determination, he was noticed by somepony in the Castillian military. An upstart, but a knight worthy of some recognition, even if his jousts were minor. He wondered how many other knights were in his position. Who else is trying to redeem their family’s name? Who else was trying to raise their families above the status of peasantry? Who else had a better opportunity than his pitiful quest? Although he was given the status of Captain of the Guard of Castle Light Tower, it is a position of little worth according to other knights. Castle Light Tower is one of the most secure castles in the kingdom, watching over the west coast of Castillia for signs of invasion. 

        “Wait! Look! Above the trees!” 

        Steel Lance looked up, seeing a glow that reminded him of the sun slipping behind a sea of wheat. It was only midday though, the light barely skimming the tops of the trees, could not be the sun. “Almost there! We’re only two miles from Light Tower. Just a little bit more lads!”

        As the band made their way to Light Tower, the soft glow of its beacon slowly grew to an enormous tower. What looked like solid walls turned out to be row upon row of battlements, parapets and murder holes. The dense forest and the sounds that came with it soon gave way to the crashing of waves and the deep calls of seabirds. The massive walls of Castle Light Tower obscured the horizon. Its grey stone was only made darker because the shadows casted by the midday sun. From what he could see, Steel Lance could count eight towers along the curtain walls. There had to be more hidden from view by the skyscraping keep. The knights stared up in awe. Even though many of them were Pegasi, the sheer height of the walls would still be a damper to them during a siege. 

        “I always thought the tales of Light Tower were exaggerated... Now I see those exaggerations don’t do the castle justice.” said one of the knights.

        “One could probably garrison at least two hundred thousand soldiers in here.”

        “I’d say its big enough to house half a million soldiers with their families.”

        “How many other soldiers are there now, Sir Lance?”

        Steel Lance put his hand to his chin, stroking his coat a little. “It must be crowded. We might have to share beds.” he chuckled. 

        “I don’t mind that sir! As long as I don’t share a bed with Sir Melon there anyway.”

        Laughter once again filled the ranks of Steel Lance’s knights.
        Sir Melon, a hulking Earth Pony, let out his signature deep laugh before speaking. “You still sore after that bandit camp incident?”

        “That was an accident!” 

        The castle grew closer and closer. Steel Lance knew he had to make a good first impression to the Lord. “Alright lads! Form up! Two by two, now!”

        Despite his band being nothing but armed and armored peasants, they showed discipline and bravery compared to stallions of noble birth. Steel Lance’s knights formed a column two stallions wide and forty deep. Together, they marched across a narrow bridge that crossed a pony made trench. Once across, the massive gates of Castle Light Tower stood open like the gaping maw of a hydra. Its great portcullis, like a hydra's teeth. 

        The knights marched into the castle, expecting to see commotion and the smell of a hundred cooking pots. However, they were greeted with silence and the smell of damp gravel. It seemed as if the castle was abandoned.  There was not a soul in sight, much less the smell of cooking fires.

        “Where is everypony?”

        “I thought for sure there’d be other soldiers here...”

        Steel Lance’s gaze scanned the bailey, looking for signs of habitation. “Well... We were supposed to replace another company of knights. Maybe they left already.”

        “A company I can understand... but the entire castle’s garrison, Sir Lance?”

        “I worry as well. Where are the other soldiers? I don’t see any along the walls.”

        Steel Lance could see the unrest growing in his stallions. Before he could say anything, the sound of marching echoed from around the Castle’s keep. “There they are!” he shouted with enthusiasm. 

        From around the keep of Castle Light Tower, came a company of five hundred heavily armored knights. They seemed happy. Happy at the fact that they were leaving the defense of Light Tower to lesser stallions. 
        
        The leader of the column spoke to Steel Lance as if he was addressing a peasant. “Are you lot the replacements?”

        Steel Lance couldn’t help but cringe that the lord didn’t address him as “Sir”. “Aye, we are-” Steel Lance paused for a brief moment. “I’m afraid you have me at a disadvantage.”
        “Ah yes. I should not have expected a... lesser knight such as yourself to know the greater houses. I am Lord Land Caster,” spoke Land Caster while giving a slight bow. “I am grateful that you and your... soldiers... offered to liberate me and my knights from this most dishonorable of duties.”

        Me and my knights? Steel Lance thought to himself, Have you no shame? No humility? The arrogance of Land Caster angered Steel Lance. “May I ask, my lord, but what is so dishonorable about defending the kingdom from the Fengarians?”

Land Caster did nothing but scoff. “You mean fighting off the barbarians squatting on those desolate rocks they call islands? We beat them so badly in the last war they won’t be back for another hundred years my poor lad. And to my knowledge, it has not been a hundred years.” 

“But what of the chance they’ve recovered? What if they attack now?”

“There is no chance of them attacking, my dear lad.”

Steel Lance let out a small sigh. “Is there anything else I should know about this castle and its lord?”

Land Caster looked upon Steel Lance as a buffoon now. He scoffed at Steel Lance’s lack of knowledge of the noble houses. “Do not worry of House Tower. Those slimy individuals that call themselves a “noble” house never crawl out of the keep.”

“And what of the other lords who garrison this castle?”

Lord Land Caster was outright laughing at this point. “My dear boy, you are the garrison.”

In an instant, Steel Lance’s building anger was replaced with concern. “What?” shouted Steel Lance. “How can we maintain a garrison with only eighty stallions?”

Once again, Land Caster scoffed. “That’s your problem. You wanted the ‘honor’ of holding Castle Light Tower, and you shall have it.” Land Caster smirked while marching his knights out of the castle.  

  There was commotion among Steel Lances soldiers. May were muttering about how they had no chance to fully man the walls. Others were disappointed that they would not get to prove themselves in battle.

Steel Lance himself was sorely disappointed. He had hoped to joust and duel a few of the other nobles that also garrisoned the castle. He had hoped to earn respect. Instead, he’d spend countless hours doing little but sparring with his own soldiers and patrolling the empty walls by himself. Then, it dawned on him.
“It’s okay, lads!” shouted Steel Lance with enthusiasm. 

“Okay? How is manning a castle built to house half a million soldiers ‘okay’ sir?”

“Think about it. From what Lord Land Caster said, the Tower family rarely leaves their keep. If we stay to the barracks, the towers, the walls and the halls, we effectively have a castle all to ourselves.”

Worry and disappointment were soon replaced by excitement and curiosity. Indeed, the former peasants never had the opportunity to explore a castle like Light Tower. 

“Alright! Everypony scatter! Find the important areas of the castle! Kitchen, barracks, battlements! Report back here at sundown!” Steel Lance ordered. He watched as his soldiers scattered around. They scaled up the walls, walked and ran into the great halls of the castles, and moved around the bailey. 

Steel Lance himself climbed the steps leading to the crenelations overlooking the coast. It was early in the afternoon. The sun was moving west. He imagined it must have been difficult to climb these stone steps during the evening hours as shadow would have made the stone dark. After a few minutes of climbing, he looked out towards the Great Western Ocean. The ocean went by many names throughout history, but it didn’t matter to Steel Lance who looked upon its sapphire blue waters with wonder. The smell of salt and spray was a new stimulus to him. At the moment, this was heaven. 

He further scanned the wall, noticing a strange device mounted on a wooden block and fitted on a parapet where a ballista should be. It looked like a ludicrously thin bell. He walked over to the device knocking on it lightly. It was made of casted iron judging by the mould lines that roughly cut the “bell” in half. There were strange runes inscribed along the lip of the “bell”. Steel Lance wondered what this strange device was. There were several barrels and a small stone cup beside the bell in a lean-to. Next to the bell were small circular stones no bigger than a mare’s fist.

“It’s called a cannon,” a regal voice from behind explained, “Or at least that’s what the Fengarian’s called them.”

Steel Lance turned to meet the eyes of a well dressed Griffon. His armor was finely gilded with gold and topaz that glowed as brightly as Castle Light Tower’s beacon.  “Sir Guirbaden, heir to Light Tower, at your service,”  he said with a regal calm, “I hear you are my new Captain of the guard?”

Steel Lance bowed. “Sir Steel Lance of Honeywine, my lord.” He was surprised that a lord such as Guirbaden treated him with any amount of respect . “But... err... what did you say this device was again?”

“It’s a Fengarian ‘cannon’. It hurls a stone ball farther, faster and harder then any Castillian catapult.”

Steel Lance looked at the “cannon” again. “How?” he asked inquisitively, “How can a bell such as this hurl a stone at all? 

Guirbaden pointed at the barrels and the cup. “Tilt the mouth of the cannon towards the sky. Open a barrel and take two cups of flashpowder and pour it into the cannon’s mouth. Take the brush from behind the barrel and push it into the cannon’s mouth until you can go no further. Tilt the cannon at your target, then take a pinch of flashpowder and place it in the little dent towards the rear of the cannon. Place a stone into the cannon and push it in with the brush.”

Steel Lance seemed confused. But Lord Guirbaden seemed insistent on making him do this strange task. After Lord Guirbaden repeated himself a few times, Steel Lance finally completed the task.

“Now what?”

“Do you have a flint, good sir?” 

Steel Lance was even more puzzled. Why would he ask for a flint? The flashpowder seemed like a mixture of coarse sand.... How can fire undo stone? Regardless what he though, Steel Lance gave Lord Guirbaden his flint. He watched as Guirbaden placed his armored gauntlet on the cannon, near the dent filled with flashpowder. He struck his gauntlet with the flint and what happened could only be described as magic.

Like thunder and lightning, the cannon roared and spewed forth fire as it lurched back violently. The blast made Steel Lance jump while his heart skipped a beat. 

“Why don’t you look out unto the water good sir?” Said Lord Guirbaden calmly.

Steel Lance was trying to catch his breath as he peered over the battlements. How can he be so calm? What kind of sorcery do the Fengarians possess...? He looked at the flat expanse of ocean before him.

“Wait for it,” said Lord Guirbaden.

Steel Lance watched as a geyser of white water erupted from the ocean. 

“There it is.”

“What was that, Lord Guirbaden?” 

“That plume of water was where the cannon’s stone crashed into the ocean, good sir.”

Commotion began to stir below as well. Many of Steel Lance’s knights heard the cannon’s roaring thunder. A few that were on the walls dashed or flew to Steel Lance.

“What in blazes was that sir?”

All Steel Lance could do was point at the smoking cannon. He was in awe about the power of a Fengarian weapon. His knights turned to inspect the cannon. They prodded it and poked it, trying to uncover its secrets.

“Impressive, is it not? My family captured this along with three others after we pushed the Fengarians out to sea. It was these cannons that allowed the Ponies of the Windy Isles to batter down castles in mere weeks, whereas it took the Lords of Castle Alabaster months to siege other Castles.”

Steel Lance remained silent, still in awe of the cannon.

“But you’re not here to learn about our meager speculations of how to operate such a device. No, you’re here looking for glory. Glory from fighting this devices creators no doubt.”

Steel Lance turned to Lord Guirbaden. “How did you know?” he was unsure if he was still shocked from the cannon or if he was surprised that Lord Guirbaden knew his intentions. 

“That’s what all the other Lords who came before thought as well. I’m sure you became well acquainted with Lord Land Caster. Yes, he too came here looking for glory from fighting the Fengarians and he too found nothing but disappointment.”

“But... this is the castle that is to stave off another Fendarian invasion... why is it so undermanned?” asked Steel Lance quizzically. 

“Well, since we drove the Fengarians from the mainland thirty odd years ago, the King, ever so wise, decided to turn the full might of Castillia’s army against the ponies of the desert and the inhabitants of the savage north. Leaving little to no soldiers defending the western border of our fair kingdom.”

Guirbaden looked over Steel lance to make sure the other knights were not listening. 

“However, that can change.”

Steel Lance was intrigued. “How? It seems the only way the coast will be secured if a threat presents itself.”
“Exactly.”

Steel Lance tilted his head to the right a little, feeling that Lord Guirbaden was hiding something.

“Please walk with me, good sir.” The Griffon slowly turned around, beckoning Steel Lance to follow. Steel Lance walked alongside Lord Guirbaden. It was simple enough as the battlements were wide enough for two carts to ride side by side.

“So, it is recognition you seek? You wish to earn a name for your band of knights and for yourself?”

“More than anything my lord.” 

“Have you considered marriage? Wedding a fair lady of a greater house would boost your recognition for sure.”

Steel Lance jerked a little, his visor fell from its locked position. It was a good thing too, the visor had concealed the fact that he was blushing. “Well... that may be possible in the near future... BUT! But not anytime soon I’m afraid...”

Guirbaden chuckled. “I only tease, good sir. However, when you say ‘the near future’, what do you mean by that?”

“I mean...”

“Oh ho ho! You have a fair mare in mind, yes?”

“Well...” Now Steel Lance was glad that his downed visor was an act of the gods.

Guirbaden chuckled again. “Ah, but you need to increase your reputation as a great knight to please m’lady?”

“WELL-”

“Hup!” interrupted Lord Guirbaden. “I happen to have the solution to both of our problems.”


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