//------------------------------// // Chapter 9 - Human/Pony: The Red Moot // Story: World of Ponies: The Pony-Human War // by ShadowWalking18 //------------------------------// Castus Castus watched as Arvak poured the molten liquid into the caste. The glowing liquid filled his memories with a spark, as he remembered age old days of his...Karsus'......father. Smithing was an art of creation onto itself, to turn something into something else. In this case, a simple knife. Castus glanced down at the cloth on the ground near the Moots new, and recently built smithery. It was merely a large tent, and primitive furnace to melt the ore. To prevent fires, the smithery was built away from the Moot on the outskirts. On the cloth, were an assortment of items that Arvak had made already. They were all knives, all simple blades and hilt. In the short term, nothing new. All the clans had knives of some form, but all of those were made from stone or obsidian. These knives were made from bronze, or iron. Castus couldn't help but chuckle at the historical gap he was leaping. The clans were going through the bronze age and into the iron age all at the same time. His anthropological side couldn't help but find this funny. It took the people on earth thousands of years, and here he was doing it for his people in a few months. A few months of bloodshed and pain since the war first started. His warriors had taken and burned hundreds of Equestrian supply caravans, all through winter and into the spring. Yet even though the snows should have started to at least fade a bit, they only seemed to continue. Sometimes....he thought he could hear a moan in the wind. It made him shiver. He looked back at the knives, siding one against his finger tip and felt the blade cut his finger. He wove a small strand of the wind to heal the minor cut. Real metal weapons, these would give his soldiers a combat advantage against the metal arms and armor of the Equestrians. He knew his history, and he knew that metal versus obsidian...didn't end well for the obsidian. If his people wanted to stand a chance they needed metal weapons. The weapons would be easier to make, and even with the raided ore from the caravans and the pouches that the teams found up in the mountains nearby, they had plenty of ore to make metal arrow heads, spear heads, knives and even swords. But armor would be more difficult, and require more skilled blacksmiths and other items they lacked. Still, his hunters didn't need heavy armor. The light leather and hide would serve well for now....though he wondered if they could make chain mail.... There were a lot of new opportunities now with smithing. It had taken months to teach and set up the smithery, tons of trial and error. As well, the number of people able to act as blacksmiths wasn't high at the moment, with only Arvak and a few others; and they weren't even that good. "How many arrow heads have you made so far?" Castus asked. "Not enough...but enough to fill several quivers Fire Man." Arvak said, still working the forge with the other smiths. Castus sighed and stood, "Keep up the work. I want to eventually have all my hunters armed with metal tipped arrows." Arvak and the smiths nodded, and Castus nodded back as he began walking back to the Moot. As he entered into the Moot, Marcus met up and walked beside him as they made their way to the Huntmaster Tent. "How are the metal arrows coming?" Marcus asked. "Well enough..." Castus sighed, "But we still don't have the quota I would prefer. Until then, only allow our most elite of hunters to have metal arrow heads. I want our best shots with them to avoid waste." Marcus nodded, and the two continued on silent to the tent. Once there, Castus talked once more with the Huntmasters, seeing how the clans supplies were doing, with the addition of the vegetables and grains that his people had gotten from the caravans, vegetable stew was becoming something of a popular dish amongst the clans so much so that they were short on the stuff. The grains were another matter, as Castus had managed to teach many of the clan wives how to make bread. But unlike the stews, bread was more of an acquired taste. But Castus liked it, and many tried it simply because of that. The elderly in particular seemed to enjoy it, as it was easier to chew, and as well a number of bakers had started adding meat or fruits to their bread. And of course the new metal weapons were a big thing amongst the hunters. Everyone wanted a spear of metal, or a sword and some had even found to enjoy the swinging of the large heavy hammers and axes they had found. One hunter in particular, a giant named Mar wielded two large axes in both his hands. Everytime Castus saw the man he couldn't help but be reminded of a Nordic berserker. Outside that it was basic things like birth rates, health problems if any and the simple stuff. But after this...the war talks began. It took some time to sort out the next raid team, but once the final decision was made, Castus found himself once more walking through a waygate to war. BlueBlood Blueblood groaned, as he tried to get out of bed. He found it was difficult to wake up and get active in the last few months. He couldn't explain it, he just felt...drained a lot more often now. Though as he glanced at the mare sleeping beside him, he could understand why. 'Geez, this mare has an appetite. I swear it just got more and more insatiable as time went on.' He thought. He wondered if this was a lucky thing...or if he should start running now. Blueblood never the less let his eyes wander over the sleeping form of his lover, and he felt a desire to leap back into bed and take her in every perverse way in pony society. However as he checked the custom made clock he had delivered to him, he saw that he would unfortunately not have time to indulge himself if he wanted to avoid Stonewall bothering him about military schedule. Still he suppose he couldn't fault the stallion. With the number of raids, many of them ending in the violent slaughter of the entire team and even the guard patrols sent to escort them, even Blueblood felt rather stressed in ending these humans quickly. And with this nearly unending winter that seemed to defy even their best weather teams made it all the worse. Frankly though he found all of it agitating. Soldiers being forced to half rations, or eating at the tubers and roots dug up from the snow. Some had blankets that were more patches then the original fabric. Even Blueblood found himself suffering, having lost tons of ordered stuff in the raids. He was down to his last bottle of Canterlot Exquisite Shampoo, and it was half empty. As he finished dressing and making his way to the command tent, Blueblood hoped that something good was coming. Stonewall Stonewall tapped his hoof against the table of the command tent as he waited for Blueblood to arrive. Gleaming Light, and his assistant Arcane Light, stood before him. Gleaming Light held a number of scrolls and looked confident and collected. Arcane Light however looked nervous, a small bespectacled unicorn with a slight stutter. 'Though if the grade marks are anything, he has a skill of magic like that of a Sentinal.' Stonewall thought. He hoped that whatever great news that these two had was worth it. He was finding himself in a foul mood. Waiting on Blueblood to arrive was only making him more ill tempered. If it wasn't this accursed winter, that seemed intent on not only linger but fight against any attempt at Weather Control. It was the raids on supplies, already he had several dozens of ponies who had minor forms of frostbite, and the massacres of guard patrols and caravan drivers that were the biggest agitator. He had never considered himself a violent pony, but if he had to send another report concerning casualties and letters of condolence to the families.... "Well let us get this meeting done with." Blueblood said, as he pushed through the tent flap to enter. 'Finally.' Stonewall thought as he looked at the prince. Stonewall frowned. The prince looked as gaudy as ever, his customary armor gleaming with an overly cleaned sparkle. But the prince looked...exhausted. It wasn't overly noticeable, but his years of experience gave him a deeper intuition on these things. From the word among the camp, Stonewall had an idea of the reason. 'Ah to be young again.' Stonewall thought with a smirk. "Ah Prince Blueblood. I am glad you have arrived. Well gentlemen, shall we begin." Stonewall asked, looking at the two mages. "Of course sir." Gleaming Light said as he shifted through the scrolls "As you know, I and my mages have been trying to devise a spell that can track the strange human magic, sadly we have been unable to do so." Gleaming Light said. "Yes, yes we know of this." Blueblood said, blowing back a strand of his mane, "So what else is new?" "Yes well...we haven't had any success thus far. But my apprentice Arcane Light here has managed to succeed." Gleaming Light said as he turned to the young unicorn. Arcane Light gulped, fidgeted with his glasses, "Uh..y-yes um...w-well it was over the past few months that I m-made a breakthrough in the p-p-process." Arcane Light began placing scrolls down onto the table, pointing out at runes and incantations that all frankly went over Stonewalls head, and he only half listened to the process. He was glad when Arcane Light finally reached the end of his explanation. "-and s-so w-with this equation, the spell s-should allow us to trace the tiniest trace of residue. With this, we could then initiate a t-teleportation to t-their b-base of o-operations." Arcane Light completed. "Finally!" Blueblood exclaimed with a clap of his hooves, "How soon can preperations be made?" "W-well, I-it is still experimental. B-but a-an hour at the m-most your grace." Arcane Light said. "Splendid. Begin at once, Stonewall, let us gather the troops. We will lead a strike force and finish off the brutes with one fell blow." Blueblood said, turning and heading out the tent. Stonewall blinked, and dismissed the battle casters before following after the hot blooded prince. "Prince Blueblood. We should first properly plan our next move. Not just go rushing in." Stonewall said, as he caught up with the prince. "Nonsense. This is the opportunity we have all been waiting for. We can finally end this war and put down these filthy humans as they animals they are for their crimes against Equestria and her citizens. With our superior weapons and magic we will break them like a twig." Blueblood said. "Prince Blueblood, I still believe we should-" Stonewall began, but was cut off as Blueblood began speaking to soldiers around him. "Soldiers of Equestria! I bring you great news!" Blueblood called, gaining the attention of all those around. 'Damn the impulsive boy.' Stonewall thought as he watched Blueblood speak. The prince kept the speech short, stating that the battle casters had found a way to bring them to the human encampment. Not a false statement, but not the truth either. Stonewall could only groan as he rubbed at his head with his hoof as Blueblood neared the end of his speech. "With this finding, we can at last take action against the barbaric humans and make them pay for their crimes to our fellow Equestrians. We will make them pay for all the suffering we have faced this winter, and pay in kind for every drop of Equestrian blood they have spilled. Together we will crush them beneath our hooves and at least end this engagement once and for all!" Soldiers cheered, raising weapons in salute. "For Equestria!" "Vengeance!" "Within the hour I will lead a cadre of troops to finish the humans. I ask any and all troops ready to take the fight to the enemy to join me. Make preparations where you can. We march to victory!" Blueblood shouted, raising his blade and letting the magic to make the blade glow bright with light. The soldiers cheered, and Stonewall was left to watch as the prince ignored him. Stonewall couldn't help but grumble. 'That boy is going to give me ulcers.' He thought as he followed after the prince and hoped he could keep the impulsive prince from causing too much trouble. Within the hour following, Stonewall, Blueblood and a cadre of two hundred soldiers and a dozen casters stood before Arcane Light and Gleaming Light as the two casters worked the spell. The two had apparently been at work of the spell for awhile. Stonewall watched as the spell finally was completed, and the magic circle beneath the two casters glowed, magical fire light swirling around the two unicorns, their eyes aglow. From what little he had listened of the spell, this one was creating a wide ranged scan of the area. The spell would pick up areas where the barest trace of magical residue from the human's magic was. The Battle Casters figured that, the area with the highest concentration would be where they were based. The two unicorns continued their spell for awhile, before the magical lights turned into a bright gold color. The battle casters gasped as the spell began to fade and their eyes returned to normal. The two took heavy breathes, the exhaustion of the spell apparent. "It is done." Gleaming Light said. Valen Valen looked over the raid, trying to catch is breath. All around lay the rusty remains the ponies armor, brown crumbling edges and hole filled. And his fist held his knife tightly, its blade red with blood. And the pony that had tried to kill him laying on the ground beneath him, eyes wide as the snow around it was covered by blood and the sword the pony had tried to use to kill him. But worse...the pony itself was a woman. Valen found he could not look away from the glazed eyes of the female pony, and he felt sick to his stomach as he finally dropped his knife and turned to retch up his breakfast. He had never killed before. True he had hunted, but the killing of an animal for meat and fur was different then... He felt a hand on his shoulder, and he turned quickly to see the Fire Man before him. He had a grim look on his face, looking at the female pony then to him with a frown. "What happened?" He asked. Valen looked to the pony body, and the attack all played back in his head. The caravan had a larger guard, as many had before them. It had made the raids in recent times more difficult, and dangerous. The Fire Man always seemed more exhausted after these raids, and many hunters had also acquired wounds and injuries from ponies that stayed to fight. Such ponies all wore leather armor, and thus immune to the strange metal eating spell that the Fire Man had worked. As well, some sat on squat, four legged creatures. Valen had seen similar creatures, they called them cleft hoofs. Cleft Hoofs were medium sized creatures, that roamed across the plains. They were normally docile, prone to stampeding and running away from danger, but the males all supported curled ram like horns and were more willing to charge danger. And all these Cleft Hoofs were males, but how had the ponies kept them...docile? And why were they sitting on them like that? Valen had little time to consider these things, when he saw the Cleft Hoofs rear back and bleat in horror, throwing their riders off and sending them to the ground. The ponies hit the ground and didn't get back up. The caravan descended into chaos then as the Cleft Hoofs and Plain Runners started going made. The Cleft Hoofs charged each other, locking horns, ramming into the caravan carts, or chase after frantic ponies whose armor crumbled before them and chased down the roads or into the forest. Then the signal came and Valen started shooting. After that, things became slightly blurry as he had felt his blood pumping. He remembered the charge after the arrows were done, and the ponies fleeing. Some of the hunters had to fight back against ponies who stayed and fight, these still had weapons that the Fire Man had been unable to destroy with his magic. But even these ponies were either knocked unconscious by the hunters clubs, or eventually had to flee, some dragging their unconscious comrades away as they could; though some had been left behind. He remembered his own fight. A pony who had been thrown had gotten up, the pony seemed confused before rushing at him with its sword. Valen tried to knock it aside, but the pony was quick and had cut him across his arm and caused him to drop his club as it continued its attack. Valen dodged the attacks as he could, but the pony's strikes were swift, and the snow slippery. He slipped. The pony lunged at him. His hand pulled his knife as he rolled to dodge the strike, the blade striking into the snow as he felt the wind be cut beside him. He turned back. The knife raised. The pony looking at him in that moment of defenselessness. And he remembered the impact as he drove the knife into the ponies shoulder, and cut across and the blood spurting as he pulled it free. "I...I didn't....she tried..." Valen tried to speak, but the Fire Man silenced him. "Shush....I understand." The Fire Man said, and he looked at the dead pony with a frown and gave a deep sigh. The Fire Man kneeled before the body, and closed the ponies eyes before rising. "Gather the others, we will-Arrgggghhh!" The Fire Man shouted, leaning forward as he clutched at his head. "Fire Man!" Valen shouted. The other hunters rushed forward, worried. The Fire Man began breathing quickly, standing straight and his eyes wild. "The Moot is under attack!" he shouted, that strange tear appearing before him as his words sent a stir through the hunters. 'Mother! Brother!' Valen thought in horror. He and the other hunters all followed the Fire Man through the tear, the caravan forgotten. When they came out to the other side of the tear, they stood among the Moot once more. It was on fire. Blueblood Blueblood aimed his blade and shot another light beam at a retreating human female. The human was struck in the back, and fell dropping a cloth wrapped bundle. He kept a content smile as he slowly walked on, stepping over things that might dirty his hooves or his new cloak. When the battle casters had discovered the location of the human base, Blueblood was eager to begin the assault. Stonewall tried to advice caution, but Blueblood found the old pony to be too cautious. They were only humans. So it was that they established a mass teleportation circle and teleported their attack force a distance from the camp. The humans had not been expecting them, and with the battle casters they had, they were easily able to spread chaos into the human camp as they attacked. They had encountered some resistance, many humans used those same black tipped arrows, but others used slings to hurl rocks at them. Blueblood could only laugh at this pitiful resistance. What were rocks compared to steel and magic? Still Blueblood found killing all of them a waste. He found that a human with some intelligence might be useful as a servant. And he did find some of the females to be pretty enough. And the fight dens might find weapon wielding humans to be real popular showcases. He decided he would only stun some humans and gather them up later. Still even as he went on, striking down another ragged human, he wondered where the real prize was. The human Castus. 'He probably ran off.' Blueblood thought with a smirk. Just then the sky seemed to be filled with fire. Blueblood paused in his stride as he looked up at the swirling vortex of orange red flame, and only just managed to bring up a shield as arrows of fire began raining down. He was lucky, but as he saw three of his troops try to find cover, they were pierced by the flame arrows and their bodies bursting into flame before becoming charred husks in a matter of seconds. All around he saw slivers of fire raining from the vortex above, and he saw more and more of his troops be burnt to ashes. Blueblood could only stare up in shock at the magic, he had never seen a spell like this before . A part of him wanted to run and hide, but he steeled himself as he rose, keeping his shield up. Was this strange spell from Castus? Before he could think more on it, Blueblood found himself flying into the air as the ground beneath him spasmed like a wave does at the beach, folding and flattening. As he flew, he saw other areas of the earth opening, and roots dragging screaming ponies into the cracks only for the cracks to close over them. Blueblood hit the ground with a heavy bang, his armor ringing and making him groan in pain. He tried to get up, but then felt a heavy foot smash against his chest and force him to the ground. He groaned as he looked at the foot, and followed its up to meet the face of his assailant. It was Castus...if the posters were a clear indication. Blueblood had never really seen the human in the flesh, but the cold eyes that glared down at him sent a chill in his spine. "Vermin." Castus said, his voice cold and filled with rage. Blueblood gulped, but then remembered his sword and moved to stab at Castus in the gut. The blade moved toward the unarmored hide that the human wore, and tore through hide, and stopped with a clunk and causing a ringing feeling to rush through his sword and up his hoof. Blueblood could only stare in shock and confusion as he saw Castus place a finger on the blade, and the blade melting into a goopy puddle on the ground. Blueblood looked at the puddle that was once his sword, then he started to shake as he slowly looked at Castus again. And the heel of his foot rushing to his face. Valen Valen ran through the flame burnt ruin of the Moot. All around him he saw bodies of people, cut down as they fought or fled. The worse was seeing the children. He felt a hot burning hatred, and a desire to hurt something. To shout and claw at something and hit his fists against it till the rage he felt burning in him stop. The Fire Man had once told him that the ponies probably view them as barbarians, but to him he felt sure it was the ponies who were the barbarians. What monsters killed children!? What had they done to deserve such a thing. They had never killed their hunters save in the most dire need.....as he had. If the ponies were to fight them, they should have fought their hunters. Not go on to butch the women and children. Something in his heart that he couldn't explain just told him it lacked all......honor. He didn't even know what the word meant, but it just seemed to come to mind. At least, as he ran to the area where his clan was camped, that he saw pony bodies littered amongst the dead. He would see that more would join those already slain by the Fire Man. But how had the ponies even found them? Was it some pony magic? He shook his head and focused on his mission. Time enough for such things later when the Fire Man spoke with the Huntmasters, if any of the ones left behind were still alive. For now he had to find his mother and brother. He looked among the tents where his clan had made their camp in the moot. Many had been burnt, but despite the destruction he saw his clan members were gathered amongst the wreckage, trying to salvage what could be found. "Mother! Brother!" Valen shouted, as he ran amongst the survivors. Many only watched him run, while others stared in lost at the charred remains of their tents. "Valen!" He heard his brother call, and Valen turned to see his little brother rushing from the arms of Linda, the clan midwife, and to him. Valen lowered himself and caught his brother in his arms, holding him close as he sobbed in relief. Valen held his brother for a moment, when the sound of footsteps brought his attention to the midwife, who stood before him with a frown. "Valen....your mother....she..." Linda said, trying to find the words. Valen stared at her, and felt his hear sink and he held his brother tighter as he felt new tears stream down his eyes. Stonewall Stonewall fell to the ground as the teleport spell wore off. He was joined by several other wounded soldiers, who like him and all managed to escape with the last of the Battle Casters from the human camp. 'In all my years I've never seen magic like that.' He thought. Their casters didn't even stand a chance. He saw at least two be torn apart by roots that had shot from the ground and tore them limb from limber in the literal sense. Faust, they were all lucky they managed to escape with their lives at all. And from the groans of pain, some would be wearing scars from this venture. And to make matters worse... ...the prince was missing. And probably dead. Stonewall found his emotions on the thought conflicted. One the one hand Equestria had just lost her prince, even if he was a cocky bastard. And at the same time the prince had gone charging off without any real plan and was now paying for it. At least it was over. For now. "General Stonewall!" He heard a solider cry, and Stonewall struggled to his hooves as he turned to the soldier that called him and found himself staring up at the sky with the other soldiers. Above the camp, storm clouds began to gather...and spiral like a hurricane or storm creating an eye. And he was sure he caught the tell tale sign of lightning sparking amongst those dark clouds. "By the sun." Stonewall whispered before shouting, "Move! Move, everyone out of camp!" It was then the first bolt of lightning struck the ground, and his vision went white. Castus Castus felt it was getting harder to breathe, and the cold seemed to bite even harder around him. He was sure he was developing hypothermia. But he ignored it all as he poured himself into the power of the Wind and wove his spell, gathering storm clouds over the areas where the Equestrian camps were. 'I'll kill them all. I'll kill them all.' He thought. The thought gave him strength to ignore the searing pain that his over usage of the Wind was causing him. He knew war was horror. He had the nearly seven hundred years of memories of wars to tell him this. In those memories he had seen the most horrible of crimes committed. Yet seeing his own people cut down as they had been, it sparked an anger in him that he could not smoother. Which was why he now stood upon a jagged peak of the mountain over looking the moot. Its height giving him a distant view of the surrounding lands, and his eyes woven with increased vision from the Wind let him see where the camps were and let him weave his spell to do maximum damage. And as he wove the last bits of weaves and power, and he saw the pillars of lightning strike down upon the equestrian camps he felt that fire finally burn out, and let the world around him come back into focus. And he nearly found himself falling from the mountain as he did. But he wove, with great strain, a waygate and he collapsed through it and onto the ground of the Moot, and the waygate closing behind him. He lay upon the ground, the survivors of his people rushing to him. He thought he saw Marcus at the head, with the other surviving Huntmasters. He tried to say something, but found the darkness around his eyes growing more and he felt that...it would be nice to take a rest. 'But...I still have....so much to do...' He thought. It was a thought lost with his consciousness.