Elijah’s homestead was a monolithic tower that stretched high up into the sky. The very tip, the zenith of the tower was fashioned with stone touches that resembled claws and wings, and the spire above was topped with the desiccated skull of a dragon.
The thralls below could not see this cynosure. It was fogged by the emissions of factories. What they crafted in these production lines was not spoken of much.
Within this bedizened tower fretted a frantic sky-blue-coated stallion. The look on his face was that of regret. He was elated. His cheeks were high and the corners of his mouth were twitching he’d been smiling for so long. He turned as a rainbow of floating pastel light gracefully tiptoed into the room.
“You are doing well I trust?”
Celestia asked. She too was glowing with joy.
“Why wouldn’t I be, my sister? Salem’s subjects have adapted well to my stringent laws. They enjoy the franchised eateries I create, the innovative inventions I provide. Some saw fit to join my legions.”
“Riveting, I’m sure. What about Salem, is he still living and breathing?”
“I believe so. Last our informants told us he was dossing in the attic of the tavern. What a tragedy. My spies in the guard report no further action has been taken against Master Quicksilver. Should we not dispose of him?”
Celestia giggled and fluttered almost sweetly to the window and stood up against its sill.
“Ellie, there’s some sort of armed escort happening down there. Are they troublemakers?”
Elijah made a tiger’s growl and joined her at the window ledge. He stared aimlessly out of the window, pointing at different points of interest before self-censoring and saying nothing. He muscled into the side of his sister and pinched her wing, reinforcing his role as the annoying baby brother.
“What?”
“Those prisoners, who are they?”
“I don’t take prisoners. They just prove to be trouble, can be later used as leverage or as a bargaining tool. They are just vagabonds from that cancerous state next door.”
Celestia pulled to the heavy iron shutter on the window frame. She gave her brother a soul-rending glare and wondered over to a snooker table in the centre of the room. Only, it wasn’t for the sport at all. It was a miniaturised battlefront complete with artilleries, balustrades, defensible positions and so on. He had taken great care assembling the project. The tiny figurines were all painted by his hoof and their corresponding raiment.
There was something hidden under a black cloak. Celestia moved her hoof to uncover the thing that intrigued her but was promptly intercepted by a blast of Elijah’s magic. She pulled her hoof back and snivelled slightly. It really stung.
“And we are no longer yearlings. I don’t like being called Ellie anymore. More to the point, I won’t ever be libelled like that again.”
“You seem to have forgotten your position in the pecking order. I’m the mastermind; I’m the brains and orchestrator. You are just my pawn. I needed a face the people could hate and I couldn’t think of a better substitute. You are the poster child for this takeover. You’ve already made a reputation for yourself with the guerrilla invasions of the formers monarchies of the north and your sortie in the heartlands has been most unsanctioned.”
“But sister, all these acts have been in the interests of the family, for prosperity, and the future. I have secured more lands, annexed tiny villages and random hamlets, and I have brought them into line with your plans.”
Celestia levitated one of the shimmering soldiers to her snout, her horn brimming with light pink beauty. She inspected the way the plating curved and undulated around the brawly physique of the figurine.
“Your army, I wish to see it.”
“You’ve seen it before. There have been no major developments.”
Elijah challenged. He pinched the silvery soldier away from his sister’s nostrils and placed it back into the battalion at the top of the miniature fen. He grabbed a tiny brush from beneath the table and swept the dander from the soldier she had held.
“Colts and their toys, you’ll never grow up. I want to see your infantrymen, every last one. Long gone are the days of knights and chevaliers. Show me what you got.”
Elijah knew he couldn’t win. His older sister could talk the hind legs off of a donkey. She was psychologically unsound and a narcissist, but she also the greatest logical mind in all of Equestria.
He bent his forelegs and bowed before her. He then transported them both to the dried up estuary now frozen a bleak, no space for foals to play hide and seek. With another pulse of his horn the rut was warm with the millions of bodies of plate armoured stallions. They stood unshaking in the blizzard breeze. Even Celestia fidgeted as the cold chewed at her very bones.
Elijah conjured a conical cosy and shuffled it nicely onto his sister’s horn. She smiled but again only briefly. Emotions were baggage, and this Empress always travelled light.
“Soldieries of the Celestial Empire, salute.”
In a mechanical cacophony the throngs of hardy stallion picked up their gauntleted hooves and pressed them to their forelocks.
“Impressive. How have you trained them so well?”
“Hold on, let me show you something far more stupendous.”
Celestia pulled a confused smile but she kept her mouth shut. She was excited to see what the rhythmically excellent stallions would do next.
“Inhume the frontrunners!”
As if a switch had been flicked, the larger stallions at the back made silent progress through the inferior ranks until their blades could smell reward. In one rehearsed motion, the frontline stallions were assassinated.
Celestia clapped. She smiled only on one side of her face however. She must have not been completely won over by the theatrics. She shut her eyes for but a second and when they reopened one of the stoic lieutenants was staring her in the face, his body steamed and his coat cleaned in the vortex of pale pinkish magic.
She took his hoof, the size of two of hers, in her forelegs and tapped the metal exterior.
“Are they all machines?”
“In some ways yes, in other ways, they are as equine as you and me.”
“I’ve been deporting and transferring trainloads of prisoners to you so that you had numbers to work with. Are these robots, and if so, what has become of my inmates?”
“They are flesh and they have beating hearts. They are the culmination of your scientific advancements in steam and hydraulic precision. The plating can intelligently shift to bolster spears, bolts and shrapnel. Sadly, they are entirely redundant.”
Celestia let go of the cold metallic hoof and took the helmet off of the stallion. His mane was hogged and his coat was a cobalt blue.
She circled the stallion, checking his undercarriage, his hooves, the angle of his ears, and his undercarriage again. She sniffed his face, then licked it and then chewed at his short mane.
“Oh my, where did you get this stud?”
“He’s a mercenary. He just agreed to wear the necessary bard and shaffron.”
“If you don’t need your army anymore, can I keep this one?”
“His credentials lead me to believe he is an effective bodyguard and sentry. Are you hiring for your personal guard?”
“Something along those lines, yes. Does he have to wear all the armour?”
Elijah shook his head and spat dryly as if an acrid flavour had entered his mouth and insulted his tongue. He ushered the fine specimen out of the way, out of the range of sister’s leering eye.
“Your promiscuity aside sister, I hope you are satisfied with my end of the agreement. These stallions will do anything you tell them. Soon, I shall have them take up posts and patrols in that dragon infested sewer. I will take every last shred of evidence that Salem ever ruled there. I will vanquish all the non-equine filth of this coil. I’ll be celebrated in museums long after I am dead and gone!”
Celestia had been mouthing the words to tease her older brother as he preached his head off. She continued to mimic him even when he turned and basely stared at her. She blew a kiss to the cobalt stallion and bit her lip.
“What’s his name?”
Elijah collected the doffed helmet and tossed it to the respective soldier.
“His handler was adamant, said he was only to be addressed as the executioner.”
“I love a bit of mystery. Though, some things are a little more poignant than others. Do you know if he’s clipped?”
“Why would I know that? Look, we aren’t discussing this. You must be failing miserably in the bedroom if you have to prey on my brainwashed soldiers. Can you go and brood somewhere where I can’t see or hear you? Thank you.”
Celestia truly had no love for her brother. She openly mocked him in front of his millennial army. The gumption, the chutzpah that this mare possessed was inspiring. She however, passively bowed repeatedly, minor shallow bows meant for dignitaries to prevent strenuous injuries. She opened her wings and soared up into the cloudy azure of the afternoon.
Elijah tracked her through the ascent until the star of her making made his eyes water. He turned and winced for the sting and turned back to his hundredweight of metal things.
“To war, if we must, we shall ride. For now, you are all on leave but you are not to procrastinate when the drums do thrum. Our battle cry will be legendary. Be prepared, my mechanical marvels, for soon I will have my excuse.”