Chapter 18: Shadows
By Octavia Melody
I stood upright and stared at the fire. It was my turn to watch. I did not know what time it was. I looked to the sky to see the brilliant stars and moon. I tried to remember when the last time I admired the constellations. The little bright dots in the sky that formed the Draconequus, or the Pegasus, or even the Three Sirens. If there was no snoring from Vinyl or Derpy, I would have described this moment as peaceful. I rested in this state for some time, until I heard the sound of hooves.
I looked at our horses. They were fast asleep next to a large tree. The sound persisted, so I knew it wasn't one of our steeds. I started to glance in random directions. The geography of the ridge echoed the sounds. I drew my dagger. It was not more diamond dogs. They certainly wouldn't ride horses. The sounds steadily approached. Then it stopped abruptly.
I stared off into the darkness. The noise of someone dismounting was heard. I took a defensive position and addressed the shadows.
"Who's there? Show yourself!"
"Calm down. We mean no harm, m'lady." A voice uttered.
The voice was close enough that I could tell what direction it came from. My head turned and I saw black figure at the edge of the fire's light. The figure was tall and lean. From the light I could tell that he was hooded. He had a long thin blade on his hip and several small devices tied around his waist. He slowly walked forward. Two others appeared behind him.
"Your fire attracted us miss. We have been traveling all night and are in desperate need of rest. It is alright if we stay for a bit?" He asked in a smooth but polite voice.
"That depends on who you are." I answered.
"Fine." He removed his black hood to show a handsome young face. He had dark blue hair and grey eyes. He smiled before he bowed. "I am Descent of the Shadowbolt operatives. We work for Empress Luna. This is my comrade Nightingale and this is Haze." He pointed to a lean woman and a burly man.
"What are Imperial agents doing in the Rock Ridge?" I questioned as I returned my dagger to its sash.
"Well, citizen, we cannot answer that. It's secret." Descent responded. "Now, can we rest here or not?"
"Yes, you may."
"Thank you m'lady."
The Shadowbolts tied their horses to a nearby tree and sat by the fire. The others had already awakened from the conversation. Though Spike still slept soundly. Twilight rubbed her eyes and looked over at me. The only response I gave her was a shrug. I looked back at the agents to see them praying. I could not hear what they saying, but the prayer did not last long and their leader addressed us.
"It is kind of you to let us stay." Descent said in his polite voice.
"You guys seem pretty armed for travelers." Nightingale observed. He eyes were focused on Twilight's pistols.
"Pays to be prepared." Vinyl said hastily. I saw that she was sitting on her musket in a attempt to hide it.
"Nightingale is right, you seem more armed than a Zebran bandit." Descent remarked.
"Well, in the Equestrian wilds, one may never know what they could run into." Twilight told the Shadowbolt in an innocent tone. A tone I had never heard from the Bearer before.
"This is true." Descent nodded in agreement. "However, the type of weaponry you use is quite rare and new."
"Uhh....We.....got them in a bet." Vinyl stammered.
All three of the Shadowbolts raised their brows in unison.
"There have been unsavory rebels in the south..." Descent started.
"Yes, Descent, they been attacking Appleloosa." Nightingale stroked her chin.
"Probably lost against the General and ran off." Haze finished in a deep and gruff voice.
"How dare you accuse us of being rebels." I yelled.
Descent smiled. "We never did."
I instantly realized my mistake. The Shadowbolts did not move in any way. They simply sat there and inspected us with sly smiles. After this silent standoff, Descent reached and pulled out a pistol. The pistol was not like ours, but was comprised of four barrels that seemed to be able to rotate. He pointed the firearm at me and chuckled.
"You've never seen one of these have you? Empress Luna has an amazing mind. She can take anything and vastly improve it. Don't know why you rebels despise our lady when she can innovate like this."
The other Shadowbolts drew their own pistols. They soon stood up and aimed their firearms threateningly at us. We could do nothing but show them our hands.
"The current mission be damned." Nightingale began. "We have some rebels that need Luna's Justice."
"We can't haul them back to Canterlot, Nightingale." Descent said. "We have to make it to Baltimare and...."
"Shush!" Nightingale hissed at her comrade.
"Then I guess we shoot them." Haze lazily suggested.
Descent shook his hand. "No Haze! Our lady would not like that. Justice can only be served through her. We cannot take that power into our own hands."
"We can say they attacked first." Nightingale said casually.
"Ha, do you think that will get by our lady?" Descent asked in an annoyed tone.
Nightingale growled. "We could try. These rebels can't be allowed to roam. We must show the people that we are still in charge."
"How would killing some innocent travelers accomplish that?" I asked.
"Shut up you!" The Shadowbolts shouted at me in unison.
"We gotta decide quick. I don't like these guys." Haze sluggishly persisted.
The Shadowbolts paused. I could see that they were all in deep thought. Their odd pistols were still aimed at us, but not as tense as before. I looked over at Vinyl and Derpy, who looked rather afraid. I glanced over at Twilight. The Bearer possessed a grumpy and annoyed expression. She did not seem to be scared, but just tired. Suddenly the Shadowbolts' horses began neighing frantically.
We all turned our heads and saw Spike untying all the Shadowbolts' horses and sending them off galloping. Nightingale cursed loudly and pointed her pistol at the boy. Before she could fire, all of the agents' firearms were pulled from their grasp by Twilight's magic and then promptly turned to aim at them. The Shadowbolts were now in a helpless position.
"I hope you didn't intend to harm him." Twilight spoke through gritted teeth.
"How....How is she doing that?" Nightingale questioned.
"Haha, looks who's got the pistols now." Vinyl jeered.
"You'll pay rebels. Each one of you." Descent threatened us.
There was a short pause. Finally Twilight addressed the agents. "What is your mission?"
"We won't tell you that!" Nightingale spat.
"Yes you will. Otherwise you'll die by your own weapons." Twilight told them.
"Kill us if you want. We'll never betray our lady." Descent responded.
Vinyl chuckled. "This mission must be somethin' else if ya willing to die with it."
"Of course it is scum! Our lady only sends us on the most important missions."
Twilight smiled. "Then I guess Empress Luna is going to deeply miss you."
"Fine. You win." Descent said in a defeated tone. "We are heading to Baltimare to secure the government there. The bloody pirates have taken over the town. Those criminals are trying to set up a "Freedom Town" or something like that. We are going to defend the Empire by killing their insane leader and establishing Governor Mare as the head of Baltimare so that she can let the Sisters rule there again."
Twilight chuckled and looked up. "Oh Rainbow, what have you gotten yourself into? Taking on the Empire like this." She lowered her head and faced the agents. "Thank you very much for this information. However, if I let you proceed, you will try to harm my friend. Let the afterlife be kind to you."
The Shadowbolts panicked. "Wai...."
Bang!
Twilight fired the pistols simultaneously. The agents slumped over and were dead. I saw Derpy wince and Vinyl giggle. Twilight then levitated the Shadowbolt pistols towards us, giving Derpy, me, and herself one of them. The device was surprisingly heavy. Spike ran over with a wide smile on his face. The Bearer of Magic smiled at him.
"Thanks Spike."
"Oh, it was nothing." The boy boasted casually.
"Bearer, what shall we do with the bodies?" I asked as I gestured at the dead agents.
"Check their corpses for any documents. Then chuck them into the woods." Twilight ordered.
I walked over to them. Their shocked expressions were frozen. I slid my hand over their eyes to close them. I reached into the pockets of their black cloaks. I finally found a piece of rolled up parchment in Descent's cloak. I angled myself to receive light from the fire and read the words.
ORDERS
The "Spectrum" of the Ragnarok , Captain Rainbow Dash, has been the head of an uprising in Baltimare. She has turned the town into an independent state from the Empire. This cannot be. Take thy best agents and head over there. Discreetly kill the captain and establish Governor Mare as the head of Baltimare. Do NOT kill anyone else. Do NOT reveal yourselves. If thou are caught by the separatists, die with Our honor.
Nocturna Metu
Empress Luna
The message was simple enough, but the large and elaborate handwriting made it slightly difficult to read. The Bearer of Loyalty was certainly not being subtle if the Empress knew of her doing. Our Bearer a pirate? Staging an uprising? Becoming a separate state? This did seem to be right. The Brotherhood should be seeking the Empire as allies not enemies. As I thought this, I walked over to Twilight and handed her the message.
"Rainbow....Rainbow...." The Bearer slowly repeated.
"Bearer, why is the Bearer of Loyalty doing this?" I asked.
"Oh, Octavia, many reasons. The Bearer of Loyalty is one to have far-fetching ideas. Sometimes even more than me. She has always had the dream of having a place ran completely off of Loyalty. No government, no systems, just Loyalty. I believe that is what she is doing now. Do I approve of her actions? No. However, she is pushing back Templar influence in the east and is defending our waters. I couldn't ask more of her."
I pondered this. "How can something be run off of Loyalty?"
"Well, I asked her that too. She said Loyalty shall be placed in the town or state itself. The folk will try and protect, help, and keep the town based off of their Loyalty to their home. I personally doubt human capabilities in this, but we shall wait and see if her plan is successful."
With this, she retired again. I followed the second half of her orders and removed the bodies. Haze was the hardest to move due to his large size. After I was finished, I took my post as watch again. The stars were still shining bright. I silently wished for dawn.
"C'mon! Get going. Dumb horse...." Vinyl tried to urge her steed forward.
Derpy chuckled. "I don't think he's gonna move Vinyl. That grass is just to good."
Vinyl's horse simply stood there with his head to the ground, eating the sweet grass of Saddle Lane. The afternoon sun shined on us through spotty clouds. The powerful winds kept our hoods off. In every direction was tall green grass. There were no trees or even bushes. Though there were small mountains in the west and to the far north was the base of the Canterlot Mountain. I did not pay much attention to the attractive nature that surrounded us. I was inspecting the pistol I had received the previous night.
The contraption was odd. It had the same functions as a normal pistol, but to reload, one simply grabbed the barrels and rotated them. Each barrel was already primed beforehand. Thus, four shots could be quickly emitted, however, one had to ready each barrel individually to reload. It was an ambush weapon and not meant for long engagements. That is, if you didn't possess magic like the Bearer.
My mind then turned to a different subject. How did the Empire get one of our pistols? Did they loot it off of a dead Assassin? Maybe in the West Den? I did not recall Minuette ever using a firearm. How did the Templar create muskets? Why did everyone seem to know how to make a firearm? I have the inventor right next to me....
"Vinyl, I have a question." I said.
Vinyl lifted her head. "Fire away!"
"Did you really invent the pistol?"
"Yeah..."
"Did you? It seems that every single bloody person on this planet knows how to make one. Inventions like this are not discovered and copied so easily. Especially not in just a few years of existence."
"Well...Ya know....times are changing..." She hesitated.
"Vinyl, I can tell you're lying just by your expression. Why did you credit yourself with its invention?"
"Well....I may have been the first to make one in Equestria...."
"Vinyl!"
"Alright Tavi. I took credit for it cause I wanted to help the Brotherhood...."
"Well, you did. My question is why didn't you tell us who the real inventor was?"
"Cause....It was Shadow King Sombra who invented or at least helped design it."
I was confused. "Sombra, he....that was centuries ago. How is it only appearing now?"
"Back then, they didn't think it was black powder and stuff. They thought it was Sombra's "Shadow Magic." Something like that. So his weapons were lost when he died. I suspect the Templar that followed him made similar weapons and cannons. They just never reached Equestria."
"Then how did you find out how to make one? And how do you know that it was Sombra?"
"Well....Through the Templar. When I was a scout five years ago, I came upon a Templar engineer. The guy was short and ugly. When he saw me, he told me to take his schematics. He was tired of the Templar and wanted out. I took the schematics and he wanted me to kill him. He said that he couldn't go back to the Order now. I told him no. He couldn't take that as an answer and attacked me. He lost the battle. I then went back to the Den. Lyra and I then built a pistol and I took credit for inventing it. I went later to my former master at the forge and asked him about it. He told me the Sombra story. I doubt if it's completely true, but that ol' man had never failed me before...."
"Damn the Sun!" The Bearer yelled. "Do you know what this means? The Templar could be fully armed with pistols and muskets. If they hid firearms for this many years, they could very well possess futuristic weapons. Like self-reloading pistols, silent muskets, multi-barreled cannons, flying machines, armored vehicles, underwater ships, flamethrowers, and Tartarus knows!"
The Bearer's hair began to become wild as she spoke. Strands of hair shot up in random directions. Her pupils shrunk and her face twitched. She began to wring her hands nervously. Vinyl and I were taken aback by the disturbing display of temporal insanity. Spike sighed and slapped the Bearer across the face.
"Keep it together Twi!" He ordered her.
"What?! Oh....Sorry..." The Bearer apologized.
"We were never ahead in technology..." I uttered.
"That's why this is terrible!" Twilight continued. "The only way we can win is if we win the technology race. The Templar are probably only revealing their lowest weapons. When their usual subtle conquering strategies fail, they will resort to invading the Empire by force."
"Then we must hurry to Canterlot." I said. "The others must know of this."
With that, we urged our steeds to gallop across the flat lands. The lands quickly sped past us. There was no time to waste. The Templar have been beating us at our own game of secrecy. The tides of war must change in our favor soon, otherwise the Order will surely overwhelm the entire Empire.
We pushed on. When evening struck, we were in sight of Canterlot. However, that was not saying much since Canterlot could be seen many miles away. We were still in the green fields. The temperature dropped as we escaped the southern heat. We slowed down as the horses tired from their long trek. Twilight sighed in frustration at this.
"We shall have to spend another night out here. The horses will not have enough strength to scale the mountain right now. We shall make it to the river and call it a night."
In a few hours we arrived at the Canterlot River. It did not seem to have rained in a while, as the waters were low and muddy. The horses did not seem to mind and began to desperately drink up the precious water. We all dismounted and prepared camp. The sun was below the horizon and only the faintly orange sky illuminated the area. Derpy skillfully started a new fire and I went to gather wood for it.
I was at a small patch of woods gathering some small sticks and branches when I heard an odd noise. The noise came from the thick patch. I curiously inspected the woods. The sound emitted again. A childish instinct told me to run back to camp. I quickly dismissed this and gathered more sticks. I turned around and headed back.
Suddenly I was painfully tackled from behind. High-pitched squeaks of victory filled the air. I felt a sharp point on my back. I angrily glanced back to see three small figures staring at me.
"Uh oh. Is this someone we know?" One of them asked.
"Beats me."
"What're you guys doin'? This looks like a Den Master."
The two others gasped. By their voices, I could tell that they were mere children. I grabbed the spear they pointed at me and threw it away. They then stared at me with wide eyes. I recognized one of them as the girl who served Applejack at the Ponyville Summer Sun Celebration. I had never seen the other two.
"What are you doing?" I asked them in an aggravated tone.
"Uh....We are.....We were...." The red haired one stammered.
"It's Pinkie's fault!" The purple haired one croaked.
I blinked at them. "What? Pinkie? What is the Bea-"
I was cut off as I was tackled again. This time the force of the tackle threw me through the air and slammed me into the ground. The attacker pinned me to the ground. I then stared into the eyes of an angry Pinkie Pie, who was breathing hard.
"I told you Octy! I told you not to call me Bearer!" She screamed at me.
"I'm.....I'm sorry!" I panicked.
Her dark expression instantly changed to a friendly one. "Okay." She then lifted herself off of me.
I sat on the ground for some time before speaking again. "Why are you so far from Ponyville?"
"Wouldn't you like to know." Pinkie giggled. "Well, in truth, I'm teaching these Disciples how to survive in the wild." She gestured to the three girls. "I thought I would take them in the Everfree, but then I did not. That place gives you the creeps. Well, I'm sure you know that. Buuuuut, these three needed to be taught, so I thought out here by the river would be great."
The three Disciples hesitantly waved at me. My eyes darted between Pinkie and the girls. My mind was trying to fully process the situation. I realized that Pinkie was not wearing her usual teacher robes, but a thick leather wandering jacket and trousers. These were covered in dirt and leaves in an attempt at camouflage. Then, I felt an aching pain in my back.
"Why did they attack me?" I asked Pinkie.
She laughed. "I told them too silly!"
"Why?"
"Needed practice. Can't have a better shot at a Den Master ever again." She said matter-of-fact way.
"They tackled me!" I complained loudly.
"No, no, no Octy, I tackled you. They threw a rock at you." She beamed.
My cheeks flared and I stared at the Disciples. "By the Sun, I'll have your hides!"
The three girls yelped in fear and ran off towards the camp.
"Aw...Don't be so down Octy. They were just having fun. Something you need to try some time."
I only grumbled in response. Pinkie grabbed my arm and lifted me off the ground. She then proceeded to skip towards the camp we made. I gathered the sticks I had dropped. As I picked them up, I saw a large rock by the pile, this was obviously the Disciples' weapon. I cursed to myself and headed toward the camp.
"So......Since you are here in the valley, that means you either whooped Silverstar's butt or he whooped yours."
"Pinkie, it's the latter."
"Of course it is Twi. Never doubted you. How did it go?"
"Heh, worse than you can imagine."
"Try me."
"Maybe later. By the way, Why do you have the Disciples out here? Isn't that Cheerilee's job.
"Yeah! Buuuut.....She can't do everything. So I chip in every here and then."
"I guess that's reasonable..."
The Bearer and Pinkie's talk continued in the background. The stars were out again. My attention shifted from the two Bearers to the Disciples and Vinyl. The little girls, who introduced themselves as Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo, were enthusiastic and talkative. Vinyl awed them with her tales of adventure and glory. I was not surprised that the children took great interest in the stories of their elders slaughtering valiant soldiers and haughty nobles. Vinyl then told them about last night and the Shadowbolts.
"Bearer Rainbow Dash is a pirate? Wow! I want to be just like her!" Scootaloo said.
"All the way in Blatimare eh?" Apple Bloom pondered. "Ya know, my big brother Big Mac went over there two years ago. Never came back."
"I'm sure he's fine." Vinyl told the Disciple.
"Yeah, he is. Nothing can knock down that giant." Apple Bloom said proudly.
"Hey, well my sister is doing great in Canterlot." Sweetie Belle beamed.
Vinyl lifted a brow. "Canterlot? Well, I may know her. What's her name?"
"She's Rarity, the Bearer of Generosity."
"Well, that's fantastic." I said sarcastically.
Sweetie Belle was oblivious to my meaning. "Yeah I know! She sent me a letter the other day that she is making new friends in high places over there. It's great!"
"What friends?" My sour mood lifted slightly as the news intrigued me.
"She says nobles and stuff. Don't really know who, but it must be stupendous if she writes about it."
My mind trailed off at this. Rarity making allies with nobles? The Bearer of Kindness was missing, the West Den was in ruins, Minuette was swinging at the gallows, and she was attending parties. I sighed and covered my face. I hoped that Twilight would speak with her upon our arrival at the capital. These depressing thoughts made me seek refuge in my small tent.
The sounds of chatter continued as I sat in the darkness of my tent. My mind focused on Canterlot. My home was just a half-day trip up the mountain. I could not imagine how the city was in this time. The entire Empire seemed at complete war with itself. Baltimare was an independent state. Pirates were controlling the waters. Appleloosa had been conquered by the Brotherhood. Cloudsdale was controlling itself. New weapons were being imported and constructed in mass quantities. The stress of the Sisters must be at an all-time high. And the odd thing is, the Brotherhood, the protectors of the Empire, had caused most of it.
~