Around midnight, the whole company had reached the outskirts of Shilvan and as they stopped, Steeltrix began to think of a way to get inside the walls. Then, he noticed that the walls had been breached in many locations and that hasty defense works had been put up inside the breaches.
And as he looked at it, he could see-
BOOOMMM!!!!
The sound rocked him as the sky was alight by fire arrows and more and he could clearly see now the army that lay siege to Shilvan.
"Quickly! Fall back to the woods before we are spotted!" He shouted as everyone began to wisely fall back from the open. And when he looked back, illuminated from the fires, was a banner with a single symbol he knew all too well.
A white snowflake.
As the dawn of a new day slowly rose over the remains of Shilvan, it cast upon the city a scene of death and destruction. Bodies lay strewn across its walls and around the town itself. Tattered banners still attached to poles meekly flapped in the breeze as the sun uncovered their snowflake symbol to all. As smoke columns raised from the city remains, Steeltrix and IronBlood led their anxious warriors into the open field as he scanned the town walls for trouble.
They had waited basically all night for the fighting to stop but as he looked around, he got an eerie feeling that fighting was still going on.
Suddenly, as they began to pass some houses, the gates of the city burst open and they all scattered behind the buildings as people fled the city with all haste. Steeltrix poked his head out as he motioned for them to keep moving on and as they gradually approached the gates, all Steeltrix could hear was the crackling of fire.
They came to the gates and as they slowly walked through it, one of the warrior ponies said, “Where’s the Shadow warriors? Where are the Northern ponies? They can't have just killed each other off."
And that's when IronBlood stopped at a four-way cobble road and as Steeltrix stopped as well, he saw what his brother was staring at.
Bodies of Shadow warriors and Northern warriors lay piled in the road, stacked up on each other's corpses while weapons and shields, not to mention banners, were all scattered around. Crossbow bolts stuck up from bodies and the surrounding buildings and as they looked onward at the carnage, Steeltrix let his head drop before he said, “Come, and let us claim the city... Afterwards, we can bury the bodies and bless them for the next life."
The group kept going onward as a warrior holding a folded up banner came forward to where a large pole was, a tattered banner of SoulStorm still flying from the poles top.
With help, the banner was taken and the new banner put up but no one cheered. It was an easy victory and though most were thankful that they had not needed to fight, they all felt sorry for those who died to defend and take this town.
And thus, taking up shovels and spades, they all began to bury the bodies outside the fort, using sticks and planks of wood to mark the graves of the warriors while Steeltrix and IronBlood hanged the banners of both armies over a grave stone they had made for the dead buried there. Then, they re-entered the town and closed the gates behind them as they began to try and salvage what they could. Several buildings had been damaged by fires but the majority of them were still untouched and as they began to put out the fires with the water available, they also began to stock up on food, weapons, and materials, everything that would be needed to keep the town going.
But as they worked, Steeltrix knew this wouldn't be a town without people.
All he hoped is that people would show up, preferably without being armed and armored for war.
Celestia watched as the pony messenger walked away from her and Luna, having delivered the message that Steeltrix had sent from Shilvan. As she read it, she knew that though taking Shilvan without opposition was good, she knew they would need to find a solution for its deficient of people living there, not to mention bolster its defenses. Though the Northern ponies were still here, training who they could to be Warriors, Steeltrix still had the bulk of their forces holding down Shilvan.
But what worried her was the fact that the Northern ponies had been besieging it. Such an action meant that they were most likely one of the few armies still fighting against SoulStorm.
But as she placed a small, wooden painted pony figure on Shilvan with their flag, she wondered if she could try and reach out to those armies and ask them if they would join them to defeat SoulStorm.
Suddenly, she heard Luna come running in and she looked at her sister as Luna said, “We got an army approaching us. The Northern ponies are trying to rally what Warriors they have while I've sent someone with our flag to raise it over the roof of a building. Do you think they are Shadow warriors?"
"Maybe but Steeltrix told me a Northern army had been sieging Shilvan when they arrived. Maybe they are more Northern ponies coming. But nonetheless, we must prepare for the worst." Celestia said as they began to walk out of the room and out of the tavern.
All around them, ponies were erecting barricades while a few Warrior ponies armed with swords and shields were forming ranks before the Northern ponies, all worried but nonetheless ready for war.
She could see in the distance the approaching army and as they met up with their troops, she tried to discern the flag of the army as it came closer.
And as it came closer, she saw it was a white snowflake on a light blue background and she smiled to herself as Luna saw her smile and asked, “What?"
"Luna, how good are you with a crossbow?" Celestia asked her sister as she took a quill, ink, and some parchment from her armor.
Luna watched as Celestia tie her message upon the crossbow bolt she was going to shoot at the enemy army, hopefully not killing any of them when she fired it. She looked at the crossbow as she then looked towards the Northern army, before turning to her sister and asking, “I sure hope this works. Otherwise, we won't last long."
"I know Luna," Celestia said as she handed the crossbow bolt to her sister," but sometimes you gotta have faith and trust to make things happen."
Luna loaded the crossbow as she slowly aimed it high into the sky. Her hoof quivered as she held it and then she merely twitched her boot as it triggered the crossbow arms to launch their ammo skyward. It soared high into the sky as the message stayed tightly with the bolts shaft.
Then, at the apex of its climb, it began to slowly lose momentum and it began to fall with increasing speed and it aimed itself just before the Northern armies advance.
It slashed into the ground right at the feet of one foot soldier and as the whole army stopped, a Warrior came forward and untied the message before retreating to where a Warrior in silver armor stood, holding a battle axe and having a Viking-like helmet on his head.
The General took the message from the Warrior, who wisely steeped back, and the pony scanned the parchment with a wary eye.
That is, until he came upon one specific paragraph that caught his eyes and though he wasn't known to be rash or hasty, he did quickly sense an opportunity arising and he quickly gave out orders so that he could take a firm grasp of this opportunity and utilize it.
Celestia and Luna, meanwhile, tried to see and judge what was going on from where they stood and as Celestia watched, she saw the army continue forward but it seemed to be a bit faster and didn't seem to be an advancement of aggression.
Still, she was merely guessing at what was happening from her perspective.
"They seem to be coming forward still but I have a distinct feeling that they aren't going to be coming towards us in friendship." Luna said as her spear quivered slightly.
"And that's what I hope isn't happening. Otherwise, all we'll just become are trophies of war." Celestia said.
And then, the army stopped only a little ways from the town as it began to spread out and she saw wagons carrying supplies coming forward.
Suddenly, a group of six Warriors came forward, one holding a white flag of truce, began to march from the main group and towards the town, all having their weapons sheathed.
"It looks like they decided to listen to my message. Let's hope they are actually here to be friends and not conquerors." Celestia said as she turned around and began to head towards the tavern.
The North ponies group soon entered the tavern as they were escorted by the a few Warrior ponies and as Celestia and Luna sat at a table, they tried to look dignified for the North ponies.
Each North pony wore steel armor with a snowflake on one flank and their Warrior mark on their other flank. They all were armed with swords and had round shields on their left front legs.
But Celestia took noticed that one had different armor and weapons: his armor was silver and his helm was Viking-like while he had a two-hoofed axe while he also had a sword and a shield on him.
Finally, the North ponies halted as the one in silver armor stepped forward, his body blue and his hair white.
"I am Northern Fiefdom General WolfSlayer, leader of the third North army. I have come under banner of truce for these talks... What has the Central Kingdoms princesses in such a situation that they ask my army to help them with?" Said the pony politely as he lightly bowed.
Celestia said to WolfSlayer, “Let’s just say it's not the sort of situation we find ourselves in every day."
Then, Luna spoke up and said, “We come calling your aid because something terrible is happening to our kingdom... Something that needs to be dealt with before our world is thrown into chaos."
WolfSlayer seemed to merely grin at this statement as he said, “And what is causing this havoc in your kingdom?"
"Discord, the god of Chaos, Lord of all Changelings." The princesses said at the same time.
The smile quickly faded away from WolfSlayer as he said in an uncertain voice, “Discord?"
"Yes... And the worst part is that our father summoned him from his realm... We need every ponies help we can get to stop our father." Luna said.
WolfSlayer seemed almost ready to laugh but then something clicked in his mind and he asked, “What of your father? Had he been tricked or something?"
"I'm afraid that's not the case. When he summoned Discord, he went from the pure white Alicorn we knew to a pony of pure darkness and evil." Celestia said.
WolfSlayer seemed to have two conflicting sides of him and he was almost going to say something when one of his soldiers asked, “If I may, your highness, how many ponies do you have for Warriors?"
"Our main force has its hand full at Shilvan. They are led by our only leaders, Steeltrix and IronBlood. So far, they took it but they have no one there besides them." Celestia said.
"Steeltrix and IronBlood? Aren't they the sons of General Irontrix?" Asked WolfSlayer.
Celestia nodded.
WolfSlayer seemed to think for a moment before he said, “Soldiers, you are dismissed. I will be back shortly."
And as the solders slowly filed out of the tavern, WolfSlayer turned back to the princesses and said, "Ok... Tell me how this all started..."
Steeltrix watched as the day began to turn into night and as he looked around the gate of Shilvan, he kept wondering to himself how this town was going to become populated again. He hadn't seen a single pony for a long time now and he had hoped someone would have come to live in Shilvan again.
Just as he was about to close the gates, IronBlood who stood at the gates other end said, “I see some pony coming up the road."
Steeltrix looked up and saw his brother was feeling the truth but what he didn't expect was that the one pony turned into a few ponies before becoming a large group of ponies. He saw no torches but he knew that if he didn't get their Warriors awoken, they might not be ready for what he believed to be a night attack.
He ran from the gates as IronBlood joined him and together they ran for the nearby tavern that was currently being used as the barracks.
They opened its door and were surprised to find most of the Warriors still awake.
They quickly rallied the Warriors as they silently led them from the tavern and to the gates.
They set up themselves around the gates as Steeltrix watched the group of ponies come nearer and nearer to the walls and he looked to his brother as he looked back to the approaching ponies.
Then, to his surprise, the group stopped some distance from the gates and a pony came forward and said in a low hiss, “Hello? Commander Steeltrix? Commander IronBlood? Any pony there?"
Steeltrix was a bit confused. Commander Steeltrix and IronBlood? Someone must know them but they seem to be not knowing of their titles.
Nonetheless, he called out in a hiss, “Who goes there?"
The ponies looked at each other, almost relieved, as one said, “We are a detachment sent from General WolfSlayer to help you out in your defense of the base. Can we safely approach the gates?"
Steeltrix remembered the name 'WolfSlayer' and as he thought of his answer, his brother answered for him, “As long as you help us with something's, you can come forward. The gates are open."
The group of ponies slowly made their way to the gates as Steeltrix lit a torch and, with IronBlood at his side, they went to greet the Northern ponies.
"How many are with you?" Asked one North pony.
"We have 50 Warriors, all new and untested in combat of any sort." Said Steeltrix.
They led the group into the city and as they began to walk to the tavern, the North pony asked, “So, what is this task you are asking us to do?"
"I won't lie but it's probably foolish for trying." Said Steeltrix with a sigh. "We were going to ask if you can bring some normal town ponies to here so that it isn't so much of a ghost town."
The North pony was surprised but he seemed not worried as he answered, "Ah. Well, we do have some groups of normal folks still loyal to our cause. I must ask, how did you find the princesses?"
"We... Just kinda ran into one another. Nothing else really." IronBlood said.