//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: Code Geass: Lelouch of Equestria // by Dawn Flower //------------------------------// Chapter 2 Lelouch continued walking towards the town in front of him, with Gilda on his back. When he had almost reached the town, he was able to get a much better look at it up close. The town was actually much bigger than it looked from a distance, and was much more likely a city. The whole city was built into the side of a cliff, with the buildings carved from stone. The rock was clear cut and polished, creating the image of an ancient city, carved from the mountain itself. The city consisted of many different levels, built one on top of another, going up the side of the mountain. There looked to be at least seven levels to the city. The lowest level was surrounded by a high wall, which encircled the whole city. Lelouch entered through the main gate, and stepped into the city. Just inside the front gate was the city’s main courtyard. The courtyard split off in several different directions, into the city streets. The city streets were wide enough to fit several stalls, selling various different foods and accessories, on the sides of the streets, while the local griffons gathered in the streets to meet up and talk. The streets were very busy today, and there were many griffons inside the city, walking around in the streets. As soon as Lelouch entered through the city’s main gate, suddenly every griffon in the area stopped what they were doing and turned to look at him. The entire courtyard was now deathly silent. Many of them looked at him suspiciously. Here, they saw the only pony within a hundred miles of here, simply walk into the city, carrying a wounded griffon, who they all recognised as a famous freedom fighter, on his back. Lelouch quickly grasped just how suspicious this sight looked, and smiled nervously. Suddenly, the row of griffons began to disperse, revealing a very large griffon, about twice as big as Gilda, sitting down on a stool, in the corner of the street. He looked old enough, had pitch black feathers on his torso, and white feathers on his head. He wore a set of combat barding around his body, and had an eye patch over his left eye. He then stood up from his stool, and made his way over to Lelouch. As he walked over, he drew a large assault rifle that was slung around his wings. “Well, well, well.” He spoke in a very gruff tone of voice. “What have we got here?” Before Lelouch could respond, Gilda suddenly spoke up, as she hopped off of his back. “It’s alright, Black-Hawk. He’s cool.” As she landed, she winced slightly from the pain of her injury, and placed a claw on her shoulder. Turning to face the female griffon, he quickly gave Gilda a look over. “Gilda, you’re injured. What happened?” “Had a run in with a few pegasus guards. Nothing to worry about.” Gilda responded. “Don’t worry; they’re all taken care of.” With a quick glance at Lelouch, she then turned back to Black-Hawk and leaned in close to him. She raised a claw to her mouth as she whispered something into his ear. “And between you and me, I think it might have been our new friend here who pulled it off.” After Gilda had pulled away again, Black-Hawk looked back to Lelouch and looked at him more closely. “So, pony; what’s your situation?” Lelouch recovered from his earlier embarrassment and simply smiled back at him. “My name is Lelouch Vi Britannia. I’m just an ordinary pony who hates Equestria.” Black-Hawk was legitimately surprised to hear this. “And why’s that? Equestria’s your country, isn’t it? Why would you oppose them?” Lelouch stifled a bit before responding. “Just because it’s my country, doesn’t mean that I approve of what they’re doing. It’s also not like that would make me immune to the bad things that happen because of this war.” He smiled back at him, recalling his personal experiences of the things that he had lost because of the war between Britannia and Japan, even though he was the Prince of Britannia. Black-Hawk was beginning to feel a bit uncomfortable with how calm Lelouch was acting. “Well, we normally don’t allow ponies in Gryphallia.” He paused for a moment before continuing, perhaps trying to instil some fear in him. “But seeing is how you saved Gilda, I guess we can give you a free pass… for now. If you really hate Equestria, then you can stay here for as long as you can.” He then holstered his rifle again and made a fist in front of Lelouch’s face. “But we’re going to be keeping an eye on you. Got it?” “Got it.” Lelouch responded immediately, in a straight and calm tone of voice. After several seconds of just standing in that pose, Black-Hawk finally lowered his fist. “Alright then.” He then turned around to address the large crowd of griffons, who had all stopped what they were doing and gathered around when they saw Lelouch. “Alright, nothing to see here. Move along.” Some citizens still stayed where they were, but one stern look from Black-Hawk was enough to send them scurrying off again. After the Black-Hawk had left, and the large crowd started to disperse, Gilda turned to face Lelouch. “Listen.” Lelouch turned to face her, but she hesitated before continuing, like it was something difficult for her to say. “Thanks for your help back there.” Lelouch just smiled back at her. “It’s no problem; really.” Gilda just huffed in response. “Whatever. Listen, I gave my okay to the griffons around here for you to stay, so my debt to you is paid; got it?” “Got it.” Lelouch responded. Gilda kept her eyes on him for a few more seconds, and then turned her head back around in front of her. “Good. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve gotta go get this damn injury treated. So long.” Gilda then unfurled her wings and took to the sky. “Goodbye.” Lelouch responded. Then just like that, Gilda was gone. When Lelouch was on his own again, he walked straight ahead, towards the street that lead up to the upper levels of the city. When he reached the edge of the courtyard, he turned to the left and saw a griffon just leaning against the wall. As Lelouch approached him, the griffon looked up to meet his gaze. “Listen.” Lelouch said. He then activated his Geass. “I want information.” --- After a few hours of gathering information from several different griffons, Lelouch now had a fair understanding of this new world. Apparently, since griffons didn’t have magic like ponies do, they have instead progressed in science and technology, and have developed many different types of weapons. However, despite this advantage, they still ended up losing most of the time due to the pony’s magic. After Lelouch had gathered enough information, he went off to explore the rest of the city. He needed to be as familiar with this new world as possible, and he needed to know what resources were available to him. He started off on the first level and started working his way up through the city, taking note of the different stores and griffons that he saw. The entrance to each level had a well-fortified gate, to make defence easy, and the griffons patrolling the sky made an aerial assault difficult. The third level also had two giant AA-Cannons positioned on two high towers, big enough to attack large groups of enemies outside the city. With defences like this, it was no wonder why Equestria still hadn’t conquered it. As Lelouch made his way through the city, he also passed by many griffon soldiers. A lot of them didn’t look as intimidating or experienced as Gilda or Black-Hawk, who he deduced were the leaders, or at least high ranking members of the Talons. The soldiers wore combat barding, and wielded some form of firearm, but the civilians were as naked as he was. The soldiers also all had headsets, for keeping in radio contact with each other. He saw many different griffons in the city, putting the city’s population roughly in the thousands; but from what he gathered, the soldiers only made up a small number of the population. Gryphallia’s biggest weakness was its lack of soldiers. They had a well-fortified city, and advanced technology and weapons at their disposal, but large numbers would eventually overtake them. If the Talons were going to survive, they would need more bodies or better tactics. When Lelouch had finished examining the city for its military strengths and weaknesses, he decided to check out the city’s stores and find out what kind of technology they had here, and how similar it was to the technology on Earth. Griffons didn’t seem to have any advanced computer systems, or anything like Knightmares, but they had very advanced weapons, like firearms, and they had radio frequencies, for staying contact with each other over long distances. After Lelouch had finished researching the city, he decided to stop and take a short rest. By this point, he was currently on the city’s fourth level. Lelouch rested himself against the wall of a store to rest. However, suddenly, he felt the whole city shake. He wavered a bit, but he remained standing on four hooves. When he steadied himself, he shook his head and jolted himself awake, and looked around. There were griffons scrambling around in the streets, and others were flying overhead. “What’s going on?” Then there was another loud shake, and Lelouch stumbled a bit. He then heard panicked screams coming from all around him. He then faced forward, at where the city’s entrance would be on a lower level. “I need to get a better view of what’s happening.” He then tilted his head up and saw the highest level of the city. It jutted out at the top, giving a good view of the whole city below. With a set destination in mind, he then lowered his head again and let out a long sigh. “This is going to involve a lot of running.” --- Gilda had just gotten back from her treatment, and plopped herself down on her cot in the Talons barracks. She lay spread out on her cot, with her claws behind her head. She had several bandages over her shoulder, but aside from a little stinging pain, she felt fine. As she lay down, she turned her head to the side and saw Black-Hawk approach her. He then sat down on the cot opposite hers. He unslung his assault rifle from around his wing, stuck it into the floor, and rested his claws on it like a walking stick, while he sat down. “Hey, G. How are ya feelin'?” Gilda kept her eyes on his, but then she turned away from him a few seconds later. “Oh, you know; the usual. A few scrapes and scratches; nothing I can’t handle.” She spoke as sarcastically as possible, with a smug grin on her face. Black-Hawk didn’t respond in kind, and kept things as professional as possible. He moved to address her again, though his eyes seemed to wander as he spoke. “So…” He began. “What’s the deal with that pony you brought here? Did he really defeat several pegasus guards on his own? I doubt that even we could do that and not have a single scratch on us.” Gilda peaked up at him from the side. Her face was completely blank. “No. According to him, they all killed themselves.” Black-Hawk moved to speak, but Gilda cut him off. “Ridiculous, I know. But I saw the bodies, and judging from the positions they were in, it really did look like they killed themselves.” Gilda then sat up on her caught. “And it’s not like he could have moved them into that position; there wasn’t any blood near him when I woke up.” She then turned to face Black-Hawk. “Like you said, even we couldn’t do that without a scratch.” She then faced forward again. “Besides, he doesn’t look like the type that could fight them head on. He’s smart maybe, but not a warrior. He couldn’t even walk from the field into town without getting winded. He just doesn’t have it in him to do what we do.” As Gilda finished speaking, she then thought more about Lelouch. “Although, there was something about his eyes. There was something in them; like he’s killed before.” Suddenly, there was a loud noise, and the whole room shook. Black-Hawk looked up, and Gilda jolted upright on her cot. “What was that?” Black-Hawk inquired. Gilda narrowed her eyes; then jumped up out of her cot and rushed over to the window. Out the window, she could see most of the city and the surrounding field. Her eyes widened at the site in front of her. Just outside the city walls, there was an entire army of ponies, easily numbering at least six hundred. They were all lined up in huge squares of about a hundred troops each, in two long columns in the large field. There were also several large machines, which the unicorns used for augmenting their spells into powerful, long-ranged attacks. “Damn it.” Gilda did the griffon equivalent of biting her lip upon seeing this sight in front of her. “Gilda, what is it?” Black-Hawk said, standing up behind her. Gilda clenched her fist hard and turned around to face Black-Hawk. “Get ready for combat. It looks like the ponies are finally ready to make their move.” She then returned to her cot, and reached underneath to pull out a large box. She opened the box and pulled out a large machine rifle. She then slung the rifle over her wing, grabbed her pistol from the nearby cupboard and slid it into her holster. With one more quick glance at Black-Hawk, she then made her way over to the door. Back-Hawk smiled back at her and pounded his claw into his other fist. “Right.” He then picked up his assault rifle, and joined Gilda over by the door. The two of them then headed out the door and flew into the air. --- Lelouch had reached the sixth level of the city by the time he was starting to feel tired. Being a pony now did make it easier for him to run, but he did still tire out. He stopped for a moment to catch his breath, and he placed his hoof against a wall to rest. While he was resting, he looked over to his right, and he saw a griffon soldier, cowering against a wall, as shots fired overhead. Lelouch suddenly had an idea. He quickly galloped over to where the griffon soldier was hiding. “Hey.” Lelouch called out to him. As soon as the griffon turned to look at him, Lelouch activated his Geass. “Give me your headset.” The griffon’s eyes glowed red as the Geass took effect. He then nodded his head in compliance. “Right, here you go.” He then unhooked his headset and threw it to Lelouch. Lelouch grabbed it out of the air, and quickly affixed it to his head. He then turned back the way he was facing before, and continued running up to the top level of the city. After Lelouch had left, the Geass wore off and the griffon didn’t remember anything. “Huh, what just happened?” He said, as he looked around in a confused manner. In his confusion, he placed his claw against his head, and he began panicking when he realised that he wasn’t wearing his headset anymore. “My headset!” --- On the outskirts of the battlefield, at the very back of the pony’s army, several officers had gathered together to coordinate their attacking forces and give orders. They were out in the open, but at this range, they couldn’t be targeted by the griffons AA-Cannons, and any griffon would be shot down before they even got close. A grey unicorn with a brown mane, wearing gold armor, with several stripes on his shoulder, stepped forward. “This is it, Commander Wedge. By tonight, we’ll have complete control of the Beast’s last holdout city, and finally put an end to this country’s little rebellion.” He turned to face a large pegasus pony next to him, who stood about one and a half times the size of the other pegasus guards. He had the same white coat, blue mane, and gold armor as the rest of the pegasus guards, but his huge size, and many medals pinned to his chest made him stand out. “Hold off on the celebrations for now, Diamond Flash.” He spoke in a cold and stern tone of voice. “We need to focus on taking the city first.” His voice and face were completely blank and devoid of all emotion as he spoke. Diamond Flash simply nodded back to him. “Yes, Sir.” Commander Wedge then stepped forward, and a small gemstone that hung around his neck started glowing. It seemed to magically amplify his voice. “All forces! Focus your attacks on the main city gate! Once that’s down, we’ll flood into the walls and take the city! Then victory shall be ours!” He then raised his hoof up in front of his face. “For Equestria!” All of the pony’s forces then all raised their hooves in unison, and shouted out, “For Equestria!” “For Equestria!” “For Equestria!” “For Equestria!” The ground forces then began advancing on the city. --- About ten minutes later, Lelouch reached the top level of the city. When he had reached the top, he walked over to the side so that he could get a better view of the battlefield below. From here, he could see all of the levels of the city beneath him, and the field outside the city. He quickly surveyed the situation from here. The ponies hadn’t breached the front gate yet, but there were several pegasi engaging griffon troops in the air, and some had landed inside the city, keeping the griffons distracted. Most of the griffon’s forces were holding the area behind the front gate for when the ponies broke through, while others were engaging the pegasi in the air. Meanwhile, the ground forces outside the city were trying to force open the front gate, and attacking with long-ranged spells. From here, it also looked like there was a large pink bubble covering the pony's ground forces. After thoroughly surveying the area, Lelouch reached for his headset and activated it. “Hello. Can anybody hear me on this channel?” --- Gilda was currently hovering about a hundred feet above the city, with her machine rifle in her claws, firing at any pegasi that got close to her. Suddenly, she received a radio transmission on her headset. “Hello. Can anybody hear me on this channel?” Gilda clicked her headset to respond. “I hear you. Who is this?” She then turned back down and continued sweeping for enemies. Lelouch hesitated for a moment, trying to decide how he should answer. It then occurred to him. “For now, you can call me Zero. I'm here to coordinate our forces and lead us to victory.” Gilda lowered her rifle and turned her full attention to her headset. “Zero? I don’t recognise that name. What division are you in?” “Look, there’s no time for that now. We need to focus. Currently, the pony’s ground forces are all huddled together in one place. Tell the turrets to focus fire on that area.” Still wondering who this griffon was, Gilda looked down at the pony’s ground forces. She let out a quick sigh before responding again. “It won’t work. Their ground forces are surrounded by a magical shield. Even our biggest cannons won’t be able to get through.” “What?" Lelouch thought. He then turned his attention away from the headset, and looked out over the battlefield again. That pink bubble around the pony’s ground forces must be the shield. “This is bad. They have magic, and I don’t know enough about it to know how to fight it.” He gritted his teeth in annoyance. “Even still… if they have magic, it must be coming from somewhere. If we can get rid of that then we might have a chance.” Lelouch quickly scanned the battlefield again, and then returned his attention to the conversation on his headset. “Listen, how do ponies use their magic?” Gilda emptied another magazine out of her rifle, and was reloading when she heard Lelouch again. As she was reloading, she thought that it was a bit strange that someone wouldn’t know that, but considering the situation, she didn’t dwell on it. “Well, only unicorns are able to project their magic, and they do it with their horns.” After hearing this, Lelouch turned his attention back to the battlefield again. With this new information, he started scanning the battlefield for unicorns. He then noticed a particularly large group of unicorns huddled together, just outside of the shielded area. They seemed to be concentrating hard. Lelouch’s eyes suddenly widened in realization. He quickly touched his headset again, and started speaking into it. “AA-Cannons, focus your fire on the unicorns in Section A-17. They’re the source of the shield's power. Without them, the rest of their forces are vulnerable to attack.” A griffon stationed at one of the AA-Cannons on the third level rogered that order. “Roger.” He then gestured to the griffon on the other AA-Gun across from him, and they both turned their cannons to face the large unicorn group. They then started unloading their shells on the group. The unicorns at the front of the group were immediately blown away and scattered by the explosive ordinance. As soon as their files were disrupted, the pink shield covering most of their ground forces started dissipating. The unicorns who survived all staggered about, trying to figure out what was going on, and try to get back into position with the others. Lelouch gave a devilish smile as he saw the shield fall away and noticed the ponies act surprised. He then reached for his headset again. “Alright, we’ve got the enemy knocked off balance. All forces focus your attacks on the main force outside the gates. Hit the enemy while they’re distracted. Don’t give them the chance to recover and regroup.” “Got it.” Gilda said, tapping her headset. She then turned around and gestured to a group of griffons behind her. “Let’s move.” She then turned back around, and they all flew down towards the battlefield, hovering in the sky, between the city’s main courtyard and the main wall. The griffons now started diverting most of their forces to attack the pony forces outside the gate. Lelouch looked down at the fighting below, and tried to predict his enemy’s counter-strategy. “Alright, let’s see now. If their commander is smart, he’ll either pull his forces back, or divide his troops and spread around the city to try and box us in. Whichever plan he goes with, I’ll be ready.” --- Diamond Flash swallowed hard as he saw their shield disappear. “Commander Wedge; our shields are down. What should we do next?” Wedge gritted his teeth angrily. “If they think they can intimidate us that easily, then they have another thing coming!” He sounded incredibly angry and annoyed as he spoke. “If they want to fight my men up close, then that’s exactly what I’ll give them!” The gemstone around his neck started glowing, indicating that he was about to issue orders with his magically augmented voice. “All forces; divert all forces now and increase your attacks on the front gate with all of your strength! Move into the city, and kill all in your path!” With that order, the ponies focused their long-ranged, offensive spells on the front gate. With just a few direct hits, the front gate exploded inwards, creating an opening into the city. Once the way was open, pony forces started swarming into the city en masse. --- Lelouch started laughing when he saw the pony’s next move. “Well now; that was an even stupider plan then I was expecting.” He then raised his hoof to his headset. “All forces; spread out and attack the advancing ground forces from all directions to keep them boxed in.” He then raised his head up. “Aerial team; stay on top of the pegasi. Don’t let any of them split off or support their ground troops.” “Roger that.” Gilda tapped at her headset. She then turned around and gestured to the griffons flying behind her. “With me; let’s go.” She then turned back around and darted off towards the ground. Lelouch watched the fighting below from the top of the city. He wore a devilish grin on his face. “This is even easier than I thought.” He then turned his head to the side and saw something very interesting, which made him smile even more. He then tapped his headset again. “Hey, do you still read me?” Gilda unloaded another magazine at the scrambling ground forces. She then tapped her headset again. “Yeah, I read you. What is it?” “Turn to your right. Do you see that big stone tower there?” Gilda turned her head to the right, and she did indeed see a big stone tower. “Yeah, I see it. What of it? Lelouch smirked. “A few well-aimed shots would be enough to bring it down. We’d lose the tower, but we’d completely cut off their retreat. Get what I’m saying?” Gilda smiled devilishly in response. “Yeah, I get what you’re saying.” She then reloaded her rifle, and started shooting at the base of the stone tower. After several bullets had beaten away at the already worn down foundation, the tower started to dip and sway, and eventually fell down. The debris landed around the archway around the main gate of the city. The ponies that had fought so hard to get in, just became trapped and cut off from reinforcements. While the ponies inside the city were all reacting to being trapped and cut off, the griffons took advantage of the situation and started gunning them all down. Lelouch watched everything from his perch at the top of the city, and he grinned triumphantly. “This is great.” --- “This is terrible!” Wedge screamed, as he pounded his hoof against the ground, forcefully. “How are we losing?! How is this happening?! We’re getting annihilated out there!" Diamond Flash looked at his commanding officer worriedly. “Commander Wedge.” He started. “Your amulet is still on. Our forces can hear you no…” “I know they can hear me, you moron!” Wedge cut him off, and smacked him in the face, knocking him to the ground. “I’m asking them why they are losing to a bunch of Beasts! They’re pathetic!” The veins on his face were bulging from anger at this point, and his face was turning red. As Diamond Flash got back up to respond, he was suddenly gunned down from above. Several bullets riddled his body at high speeds, and he fell to the ground again, dead. Wedge looked at him in shock. He turned around to see who had done it, but before he could react at all, he felt a large claw grip him by the neck and lift him off the ground. Wedge tried to pull the claw away from his throat, but he just couldn’t. He then opened his eyes to see Black-Hawk staring back at him. “So...” Black-Hawk began. “You actually have the gall to send orders to your men, and then call them out when things don’t go the way you planned?” Black-Hawk then raised Wedge closer to his face, sneering into his eyes. “Let me tell you something, Commander. Soldiers under your command aren’t just pawns in a chess game, for you to use and discard just to further your own plans. Zero understands that much more than you, and so he deployed the right tactics against you. You were so distracted by your own mistakes, and blaming everyone else for them that you never even noticed me sneak up on you and your chain of command. What a disgrace. You’re pathetic.” Black-Hawk then pulled Wedge in closer to him. “You lost.” Wedge tried desperately to escape from Black-Hawk’s grasp, but no matter how much he struggled, he just wasn’t strong enough. “D-Damn you. You filthy Beasts.” Black-Hawk suddenly tightened his grip around Wedge’s neck, making the pegasus gasp for air. “And that’s another thing.” He then raised up his other claw. “We’re Griffons!” He then brought down his claw and stabbed Wedge through the chest with his razor-sharp talons. Black-Hawk then loosened his grip around Wedge’s throat, and his limp body fell to the ground. --- Lelouch continued giving orders to the Talon forces below. “Squad Three, direct your fire at Section T-17. Enemy forces are strongest in that area.” He hung up and surveyed the battlefield again. The ponies in the city were completely helpless and this point, being picked off one by one. Outside the city, the long-ranged spell mechanisms had been destroyed, and their forces were scrambling for orders. “Hey, is this Zero?” Lelouch suddenly got a message on his headset. “Yeah, it’s me. Who’s calling?” “This is Major Black-Hawk; calling to confirm that the pony commander is dead. Repeat, the pony commander is dead.” Lelouch was shocked to hear this news, but then immediately smiled devilishly. “That’s good to hear.” He then changed his frequency to talk to the other griffon forces. “Attention; the enemy commander is down, and the ponies are without leadership. Take this opportunity to strike at them while they’re weak and scattered. Attack with full force! Wipe them all out!” Lelouch heard many affirmative, ‘Yes, Sirs’ and then a hurl of gunfire. As he looked down at the battlefield again, he knew that they had already won. Lelouch’s smile grew even bigger as he continued to take in the sight below him. “That’s it; this fight is done. But this is only the first fight of many to come. If I’m going to win this war, I’m going to have to learn more about Equestria. And it will be better if I learn it right from the horse’s mouth, so to speak.” He smiled at his own unintentional pun, but then quickly lowered it again. “I’m going to have to visit Equestria myself in order to learn and obtain everything that I’ll need to win. I’ll also need to know more about the other countries that are fighting against Equestria, so I’ll to head off soon. However, if the griffons are the only ones with advanced technology, then I’ll have to prepare a few things here before I leave for Equestria.” As Lelouch finished thinking his plans ahead, he then raised his hoof to his mouth in thought. “Also, if history is any indication, then there are two things which I’ll have to do here first before I leave.” To be continued…