//------------------------------// // War Meeting: Preparations // Story: Phantom War V: Dawning of Darkness // by Danny Eclipse //------------------------------// I called in a war meeting in Canterlot to discuss our current situation. Me, Soundwave, Meta, and Chrysalis had arrived to Canterlot. Meta and Chrysalis had Changeling Guards with them while I was with Soundwave alone. Normally I would feel unsafe but Soundwave was not an ordinary robot on the street. We were walking down a street until I felt something. My eyes widen and I jumped into the air. On cue, there was a blaster bolt and we began to take cover. “Sniper!” Soundwave deploy the mini-con from his chest, it was known as Laserbeak. Laserbeak took to go behind us and I tried to get a visual on the assassin. I was almost hit by a sniper blast and I retreated. However, we soon heard blaster fire and we saw the assassin fall to the ground. We took off to meet them and I grabbed him, revealing a blue bat pony. His coat was blue, his mane and tail was light and dark blue. He had slit yellow eyes. His CM was a star leaving a trail of color. I grabbed him, my eyes glowing blood red in rage. “Who are you!?” I demanded. The Assassin replies, scaried out of his mind “I-I’m Shooting Star!” “Why did you attack us!?” Star replied, still scared “I was h-hired by Lord Harkon to assassinate you and any political leaders who were with you!” I threw him to the ground and used Ecto-Energy Constructions to tie up Shooting Star and I used Ectoplasmic Goo to gag him from talking. Using my telekinesis, I begin to levitate Star from the ground and he followed behind me. Laserbeak returned to Soundwave’s chest. We continue to walk towards the Castle. We entered the Royal Counsel Room. Everyone looked at me with a blank expression, wondering why we were late. “Sorry we are late; we were almost assassinated today by this assassin.” I used my telekinesis to levitate Star to the table and dropped him on it. He was still tied up and gagged and the other royalty looked at Star was shock expressions. “You recognize this scum?” I asked to Luna. Luna replied “Shooting Star was a former night guard. His skills were impressive until he made an attempted murder on a guard for harassing civilians. There was no evidence and the harassed ponies reported that they were just chatting with him about a problem. Shooting Star left after the harassing guard was able to walk away as innocent. We later discovered that the guard was indeed harassing mares but we were too late when we discovered that the guard died. We couldn’t find the assassin but I thought it was Shooting Star as payback for lying.” “Shooting Star here was hired by an old enemy of mine to try to kill me for returning back from the mists.” Celestia asked “Who is this enemy you speak of?” “Lord Harkon.” Celestia and Luna gasped in shock when they heard the name. Celestia had an expression of pure rage while Luna had the expression of both anger and fear. Cadance and the others were confused why the name of “Lord Harkon” caused the chain reaction. Charming said “I’ve been wanting to hear who this ‘Lord Harkon’ is. Why is he a big deal to you?” Celestia replied “Lord Harkon was an old friend of mine and Luna’s. Luna held some love for Harkon because he loved the night a lot.” Luna began to tell a tale “Harkon ruled as a mighty king and his domain was said to be vast and powerful. As the years passed and death approached, Harkon began to fear his own mortality. So, he made a deal with the devil and made a pact with Molag Bal and sacrificed a thousand innocents in his name.” Charming asked “Molag Bal…wasn’t he the King of Rape, the Harvester of Souls, and the Lord of Brutality?” Celestia replied “Indeed, he was. You see, Molag Bal was a daedric prince but he was later banished to his own plane.” Luna continue her tale “Anyways…Molag Bal granted him immortality by turning him and his family into pure-blooded vamponies, giving birth to the Volkihar bloodline. It was at this point Harkon and Valerica's marriage began to break down, as they both became drunk with their newfound powers.” Twilight asked “Who’s Valerica?” “His long betrayal wife.” I replied coldly. Cadance asked “Wait! Valerica betrayed Harkon?” “From what I heard from Clockwork, Harkon uncovered an ancient prophecy written by a Draconequus called the "Tyranny of the Sun". Harkon learned that if it were fulfilled, it would blot out the sun and plunge the world in eternal darkness thus allowing his kin to flourish. Fancying himself as vamponic royalty, he found such a concept seductive and fiercely sought to fulfill the prophecy. To enact the prophecy he required the ancient artifact called Auriel's Bow and the blood of a Daughter of Coldharbour, namely his own daughter, Serana. While he was never close with Serana, his relationship with her deteriorated as he became more and more obsessed with fulfilling the prophecy. Ultimately, it reached the point that he was even willing to sacrifice her to achieve his goal. His immortality gave him the revelation that such bonds are fleeting, momentary and never endure. His mantra became "Power takes precedence" and he would not allow anything to stand in his path for domination. He was a heartless pony, if you ask me.” Cadance asked “What does this have to do with Valerica?” “I’m getting there. Anyway, Valerica saw the change in Harkon's behavior and disagreed with his goal. She believed that if eternal night fell, it would bring too much attention upon vampires and ultimately would lead to their extinction. As Harkon became obsessed with power, Valerica became obsessed with seeing him fail. In an attempt to stop him fulfilling the prophecy, Valerica fled Castle Volkihar with two Elder Scrolls that contained parts of the prophecy. She sealed Serana and one of the scrolls in Dimhollow Crypt for her protection and escaped to the Soul Cairn with the other. Harkon, enraged by her betrayal, commanded every vampire in his court to look for them, but after centuries of searching, he lost hope. But, to my guess, Harkon still seeks to find Serana and the Elder Scrolls.” I said. Cadance replied “I see…” “Then Harkon met Nightmare Moon. Nightmare Moon found out that there was a Vampony Family that could help her take over and because Nightmare was looking for a way to bring eternal night, Harkon supported her completely. When Nightmare kidnapped…me, she was already a pure blooded Vampony, so she bit me and began to turn me into a pure blooded Vampony as well. However, I was different for some odd reason. When my DNA was fused with Ghost Power to turn me into a Halfa, it did something to the Vampony DNA in me. So, I can walk among the sun without getting hurt by the sunlight. Rainbow was infused with the new Vampony Venom of mine and she is like me. We are a whole different species of Vamponies.” Rainbow shouted with glee “Let’s create a whole different bloodline!” “What do you have in mind?” I asked her, curious on her selected name. Rainbow replied “How about…Lunar Bloodline!” Luna said “I like that name…” “Agreed. Our bloodline is now known as the Lunar Bloodline.” Charming said “So, there are just you two…” “Actually, if you don’t mind mother, can I request that three Bat Ponies from your Night Guard are picked to join our clan. While me and Rainbow are the main royal family, Clan Followers defend the royal family with their life. So, expanding it will help us some.” Luna replied “Alright, I can do that for you.” “Thanks mom. Anyway, we need to worry about the Argonian, Spectral Shadow, and Vampony Empires. They have united as one, if we ever go to war with all three, we will need to unite as one.” Meta reported “The Changeling Empire is willing to fight besides Equestrian Empire and Phantom Consortium. Our mortal enemy is the Spectral Shadow Empire, we will be glad to fight by your side.” Chrysalis asked “The Primals will aid us in this fight?” “Indeed they will. We need to get Dusk a throne here too, you know?” Celestia responded “I can arrange that.” “Anyway, The Phantom Consortium will aid the Equestrian Empire and I’m sure the Minotaur Empire will aid as well.” Charming said “If we are to wage war with those three countries, then we shall. If we engage the Argonians, we will surely lose.” “You forget that you have me as an ally. My empire has already developed ways to fight aquatic battles. We can provide offensive means to fight them while you fight the Argonians for the base.” Charming said “Alright.” “Anyways, there was a Spectral Shadows. They are ghosts, how are you going to fight them?” Charming asked “Uhhh…anti-ghost weaponry?” I remained quiet but nodded back. I hated anti-ghost weapons because I hated weapons that attacked ghosts. “So, we need to work on many different things. How are we going to fight against three different countries and train Jedi and Sith?” Celestia said “You won’t be able to do it. Charming and you will be leading the offence against these empires. We may not need to get Jedi and Sith if we can find an alternative.” “…Fine.” Twilight asked “Now we got that out of the way, how are we going to fight the Vamponies?” Luna suggested “How about the Worgens?” Charming asked “Worgens?” “Oh yes, them…” Luna replied, remembering something “Oh, I forgot, Vamponies hate Worgens.” “Their stench is too much even for my nose to bear. It’s like walking near them and your nose is filled with that disgusting smell.” Luna asked “Tell me this then: How do you suggest we fight them?” I remained quiet. We were going to ask Ivar Bloodfang, leader of the Bloodfang Pack for help. “Can we really trust Ivar? He has attacked one of our cities before and he left after Celestia drove them out, they fled to Silverpine Forest. Can we really trust a feral pack of wolves?” I replied. Celestia said “While I do question his loyalties and pack, we need his pack in this desperate time of need.” I nodded and after the meeting ended, I left to head back to my old house. Meanwhile at Volkihar Keep… Harkon was sitting on his throne in the dining hall. The other Vamponies gathered there, waiting for the next event. Finally, a messenger; Harper, returned with bad news. Harper reported “Lord Harkon, our Draconequus allies have been defeated and enslaved by the Changeling Empire.” Harkon said “That is…disappointing. What of our other allies?” Harper replied “Scales and Doom are awaiting command from you to beginning the war against Equestria. However, our spies report that Equestria has some allies of their own. The Phantom Consortium, Changeling Swarm, and the Minotaur Empire.” Harkon asked “Powerful allies, am I right?” Harper answered “Yes, my Lord.” Harkon asked “Have you located Nightmare Moon or Serana?” Harper reported “No, my lord. All search parties reported negative.” Harkon shouted with anger “Continue the search! I need those Elder Scrolls or the Prophecy will never come true!” Harper shouted and saluted “Yes, my lord!” Harper left and another pony came up to him. His name was Spell Nexus, member of a cult that is loyal to Nightmare Moon. Spell Nexus was a light blue stallion with silver mane and tail, his eyes were light blue as well. His CM was a black circle with a black sun on it and a moon crescent on the center of it. Nexus said coldly “Perhaps we aren’t looking good enough. I had received intelligence report from Professor Bastion Yorsets that he overheard the Princesses talk about a filly who had resemblance to Night Light. However, not many were relative to Night Light so he believes that this ‘Nyx’ is our queen, Nightmare Moon. I’m going to head over to Ponyville to see for myself.” Harkon replied “Alright Nexus. Be careful though, Charming and Twilight won’t allow you close to Nyx.” Nexus said “I know, Lord Harkon. Trust me.” Spell Nexus left to head to Ponyville in a hurry.