Chapter Twenty-Seven
Golden Age
'Changing times, an uncertain future. Equestrian royalty received today two test firearms from the Griffons, and the Griffon Minister of Defense met with Equestrian researchers to teach the ways of the gun. Minotaur scientists are also scheduled to meet with the Princesses to exchange the knowledge of shipbuilding for schooling on the arcane arts. A light in the darkness came in the form of an alliance agreement with the Griffon Republic and the Minotaur Empire, in which several secrets and sciences were traded amongst the unified nations. Complete story on page 2.'
High Lord Aldurmaax slowed himself, landing on a mountain top, artificially flattened thousands of years ago by his kind to build a shrine to De’mah ‘Tokam. Seven pillars burned with magical purple fires, an intricate symbol etched into the cobblestone floor. The Covenant ship, Zealous Faith, looming overhead. Aldurmaax looked to the horizon, watching. The humans were coming, their treachery palpable in the morning air.
“Do you stand ready, Aldurmaax?” N’por ‘Tumai inquired, his voice broadcast from the command room of the mighty cruiser. Aldurmaax stayed his tongue, recalling his duty. He had visited all the garrisons to ensure they were ready to fight. Equestrian traitors stood with Covenant weapons, dragon whelps and adults flew at alert, and the Faith soared proudly, its hull repaired in full. By all accounts, they were ready to meet the humans and their allies in battle.
But Aldurmaax sat with unease.
“Yes, my lord. We are ready to crush the humans” the High Lord responded. He took to the skies with a beat of his mighty wings, his pitch scales a stark contrast to the rising sun’s light. He sailed to the south, headed for Equestrian soil. The humans were coming, and he wanted to face them himself.
It was time to take the war to the Dragon homelands, and erase the Covenant from Equestria. Legions of Griffons, Minotaurs, and UNSC Marines stood ready to take the fight to the enemy’s heart, and the Kabato was ready to hit the enemy ship. She was flanked by RaptorTooth Five, and supplemented by several dragons still loyal to the Equestrians. Pony soldiers, freshly trained on the use of guns, stood at arms with Griffon-supplied rifles. The plan was in place, the terrain scouted, the guns cocked and sights wetted.
But still did Captain Kuyaki wait.
“Tell me, Captain, why do we continue to stand at the threshold of the door, when the enemy awaits inside?” Chancellor Steelbeak asked over the radio, the Griffon leader standing aboard RaptorTooth. The honor of crowd control and killing Aldurmaax had been delegated to the Griffons, who were eager to see their new weapon go up against the dragon that had ruled wyrm for over a thousand years.
“My apologies, we will go now. Helm, all power ahead” Captain Kuyaki commanded, the Kabato gliding forward, streaming across the sky. RaptorTooth Five followed, the mighty airship keeping pace with ease. The morning sun blazed in the sky, the warm orb casting its rays of life, unknowing or uncaring to the bloodshed that raged upon the surface of its favorite subject.
Turning the intership comm on and patching it into the RaptorTooth’s own system Adam prepared himself, clearing his throat before speaking. “Warriors, Marines; never before have so many stood as one, their ranks hailing from many countries, cultures, and even worlds. But never before have they faced such an enemy. Each species will go up against a kind of enemy they have never seen, but our numbers and strategy will see us victorious. By this time tomorrow Equestria, and indeed all of this world, will stand free from the Covenant threat. Fight bravely, never relent, and our enemies will know defeat this day.”
As the Kabato and RaptorTooth crested the first mountain a Covenant base came into view, the garrison one of many they would destroy this day. Like roaches to the light several dragons scattered from the base, heading straight for the two warships. This garrison was small, and as such ground forces would not be fielded against it. Kuyaki’s plan had the small bases being destroyed outright, and large bases softened before being taken by ground forces.
The dragons neared, and the RaptorTooth opened fire, its nearly two dozen machine guns thundering in the still air. Thousands of rounds of Griffon bullets streamed into the midst of the dragons, many of the beasts falling quickly. As a few broke through the barrage the Kabato jumped in, Excalibur targeting them himself and dropping them with the 70mm cannons. The contingent of dragons already dealt with the Kabato carpeted the Covenant garrison with missiles, the structures blasted apart with ease.
“One down, a few more to go!” Adam announced. “Excalibur, have ground teams ready to go.” The Kabato proceeded on, encountering a few more of the small training garrisons, where Equestrian separatists were ready to meet them, only to fall to death from above. This went on for an hour, with the RaptorTooth performing admirably, until they encountered their first major enemy base, the large installation sprawling across a field.
“Hit the base with ten Archer pods and get the ground teams onto the Pelicans, Excalibur” Kuyaki ordered. Again several dragons presented themselves, taking to the air. This time they were all adults, and their ranks were bolstered by the unmistakable High Lord Aldurmaax. His size, coupled with his bellowing in dragon tongue, were dead giveaways to his presence. The High Lord came straight for the Kabato, and Adam realized he made a mistake. The Pelicans left the hangar of the Kabato, flying straight down to the enemy base, and were right in the path of Aldurmaax. They couldn’t risk firing on him, for fear of hitting the Pelicans, so Aldurmaax was free to attack the aircraft, magical fire melting engines and flooding cabins with flame.
His pace unfaltering Aldurmaax soon passed the battalion of Pelicans and continued straight towards the Kabato, the RaptorTooth opening fire on him, the Griffon aircraft banking towards the beast to intercept him. The High Lord barked and swatted at the Griffon ship, uncaring of its attack. His Covenant armor deflected the Griffon bullets, and he soared for the Kabato without pause. Excalibur did not hesitate, and opened fire with the point-defense cannons. Banking and rolling Aldurmaax dodged the barrage, diving for the underside of the destroyer. RaptorTooth gave chase, turning fast and accelerating to give chase. Its harassment was more than enough to distract the wyrm, and allow the Kabato to press on.
The Pelicans were coming back, having dropped off the legion of ground troops. The battle was left to the coalition, and the two ships continued on.
N’por ‘Tumai sat patiently, mulling over the coming battle. Four garrisons and one stronghold had been rolled over by the humans, falling not to any skill on the part of the humans, but to their own weakness and incompetence, N’por was sure. The Griffons had constructed an airship to combat Covenant dragons, and were using it to great effect. Aldurmaax had not yet been felled, but still he was unable to destroy the enemy ships, and N’por suspected that honor would fall to him.
Below the Zealous Faith, on the surface, lied a mighty base, the largest Covenant stronghold on Equestria. Scout reports indicated that the humans were blasting small installations from above and fielding ground troops to take the large forts. This could be used to N’por’s advantage, he realized, as he could gull the humans into a trap; allowing them to storm the base before arriving to blindside the human ship and bury the ground forces in thousands of Covenant soldiers.
There was another large base, only slightly smaller than the master installation below the Faith, some miles out, that was next up on the human’s advance. They were sure to proceed past them all, but just when they thought they’d win the day N’por would obliterate them, and with this victory he would destroy or assimilate the rest of the races, and return to the war.
“My Lord,” Aldurmaax declared over the comm on his armor suit, “the humans are sweeping inexorably toward you. We have slowed them, but still yet do they come. The Griffons have this dragon-killer and they are swatting my kin out of the sky like flies!”
“Do not make excuses, Aldurmaax. Fell those humans, or I will give the glory to another” ‘Tumai declared. N’por was beginning to question Aldurmaax’s dedication to the cause; he spent more time aggrandizing N’por than he did killing humans, it seemed. When he did fight he was usually unmatched, but now it would seem he was losing his prowess. “Do not fail, Aldurmaax.”
“Of course, my Lord.”
Aldurmaax would have to be replaced; he was weak now. Really all of the dragons’ culture and customs would be going, so it stood to reason to have Aldurmaax removed. Their own culture could be exploited, even. Aldurmaax had been extremely forthcoming with all manner of information on dragon customs, so N’por knew that whomever killed the current High Lord would become the new leader of the dragons.
But as long as Aldurmaax drew breath, there would be no assimilation of the dragons. So if Aldurmaax would not fall in battle, then N’por would have to kill him himself.
N’por ‘Tumai had no qualms about this.
Twilight Sparkle, her stature reduced, her horn shortened, her wings gone, stood in the foyer of the royal library, where she once lived. The mid-day had come, with the dawn having brought the invasion of the dragon homelands, and no news had come with it. Twilight reasonably believed the humans would win, much to her chagrin. It was not as though she wanted the Covenant to win, though, but her ideal victory of having both species obliterating each other would likely not come to pass.
This was not something for Twilight to dwell on, however. She cared little for the war, which had already destroyed so much, killed so many. It killed her brother, it wounded Spike, and worst of all, it killed Equestria’s ideals. When the war ended Equestria’s golden age would end, falling prey to a future of war, violence, and despair as states warred and Equestrians suffered. Twilight was sure that a new age of destruction was coming, and she seethed over it.
So when she thought of punishing the one responsible for allowing this future, Princess Celestia, it seemed right. By all accounts it was Celestia’s fault that Equestria would soon possess guns, tanks, and warships. Punishing her would be just and logical, and with this punishment Equestria could return to the old ways, which had forged great peace and prosperity for the country.
It's her fault.
Having resigned her status as Princess, Twilight could no longer enter certain places of the palace, but it was nothing a little invisibility spell couldn’t fix. She went as far as she could before casting the spell, vanishing from view. Quietly pushing the door open Twilight entered the guards’ barracks, silently trotting down the aisles of bunks. Nary a guard was in sight, they were all out fighting the war, so the invisibility spell was really unnecessary, but Twilight would take no chances this night.
Reaching the far end of the barracks Twilight passed through another door, finding racks of swords, spears, and crossbows. Old world weapons. The hall was built in a fine cobblestone, illuminated by torchlight, and smelt of oil and wood. At the back of the armory hall lied a crate, furnished in wood and decorated by green paint. The crate was locked, though not for long. With a quick spell the lock gave way, allowing the lid to be lifted. Contained within, the steel reflecting the soft torchlight, were two rows of rifles, freshly delivered by the Griffons. A single-shot, breechloading affair, the guns were simple in construction and use. A crate of ammo lied next to the rifle crate, from which Twilight took five cartridges, the brass cartridge with its nickel-coated bullet a solid weight, instilling confidence. Securing the crates Twilight ensured the weapon and ammo were invisible along with her, and left the barracks.
This afternoon the Griffon Minister of Defense was to host a showcase of one of Chancellor Steelbeak’s pistols, displaying to the Equestrians the viability of small sidearms for secondary defense. The event was to be held in the castle gardens, which the royal library overlooked. There was a magnificent view of the gardens from a large bay window in the arcaneum, a room Twilight spent many days and nights in. Twilight was not invited to the event, of course, but she would be there. Nopony would notice her, nopony would see her.
But the entire world would hear her.