//------------------------------// // Ready, Aim, FIRE! // Story: I'm a Lich and I know it! // by Dream Seeker //------------------------------// Shining Armor stood proudly in front of his offensive army, which consisted of four Regiments of two-thousand-forty-eight ponies each, further divided into sixteen Battalions, sixty-four companies, two-hundred-fifty-six Platoons, and finally, a grand total of one-thousand-twenty-four Squads, or eight-thousand-one-hundred-ninety-two ponies in total. Finally, they were ready to go to war. The defensive army, which was arranged similarly, was preparing for a mighty attack that might follow Shining Armor's invasion. After all, a city was least defended when it was on the offensive. "Today, we launch our campaign against Calypsion. We fight the users of Dark Magic not out of hatred, not out of vengeance, we will fight this war for love. Love for our friends, our families, our way of life! We stand on the brink of destruction, with evil seeking to enter our very homes and corrupt this love. They have taken my very own wife, Princess Cadence, the ruler of our Empire. They seek to destroy our spirits. Do not give them what they want! Stand strong and proud against the darkness. Fight with me for a better future. For friends. FOR FAMILY. FOR LOVE!" The army cheered in response to Shining Armor's speech, and he put on a determined smile for moral. He couldn't let them see the turmoil in his head. I wish I could believe my own speeches as much as my army does. I fight for love... But I fear I fight for hatred and vengeance as well. Shining Armor took a deep, soothing breath. Soon, he would destroy Calypsion, rescue Cadence from her prison and free both Twily and Princess Celestia from their mind-controlling captors. All would be well. He just had to lead his army through it, first. Calypsion would fall, and all would be well. Triple Threat stood on a podium, a ragtag assortment of dark creatures below. A dark grin crossed all three faces. "We have heard reports that Shining Armor has already begun leading his army to Calypsion, leaving the Empire weak. However, we cannot all flood to capture the Crystal Empire- If we did, surely Shining Armor has a secret way in and contingencies to deal with such an event. Therefore, get into two groups: Those who wish to attack Shining Armor's army when they reach Calypsion, and those who wish to attack his base." Triple Threat's army divided itself according to the individuals' talents. Life Seeker joined the team against Shining Armor's army, for the chance to slay him and gain control of the Crystal Empire. Roughly five thousand individuals made up the total army, with close to half heading for each goal as they set off. "Hostiles incoming!" a cry rose from the ramparts, and Winter looked at Sombra, trembling. "Sombra, they're attacking us! I'm worried. If they get in, they could hurt my friends." Sombra smiled. "Don't worry. Calypsion may only have a population of a few thousand, but our wall is reinforced by the magic of Windigos, self-repairing thanks to the Timberwolves, and sealed with the goo of Changelings. They're not getting in. What I'm more worried about is the Equestrians on our side of the wall- they'll undoubtably preach peace, even as war is waged against us. I'm afraid that fighting may earn us enemies in the Equestrian population, and there really isn't another option. I'm even more afraid that somepony is going to do something stupid trying to make peace, and get themselves hurt." "Is that supposed to make me feel better?" Winter grumbled, now afraid for new reasons. "Oops, sorry," Sombra laughed. "Just don't think about it. I'll deal with them, it's my job. You should go train your magic." "Don't the guards need help on the wall?" "If the guards needed help, they'd ask for it. Now, I've got to go fix this mess before it begins. Stay safe, Winter!" Sombra waved as he left. Go and train, or go to the walls... Train, or the walls... Train, walls... There was barely a choice in Winter's mind. She was going to the walls. She would show Sombra that she could help them! Shining Sea, Bright Spark, and Snowflake were having lunch together, but none of them seemed to be enjoying it very much. It wasn't anything wrong with the quality of their meals, but Snowflake missed her mother, and all three of them were worrying about the upcoming war. "I wanna help out," Bright Spark spoke. "Ponies awe getting huwt. I wanna help." "I do, too. I want to make my mom proud of me when I get to see her again..." Shining Sea thought about that for a moment. "Maybe it is possible for us to help without getting involved in the fighting. What about keeping everypony happy? Let's go see what we can do." Bright Spark and Snowflake just grinned, exchanging an excited glance. Shining Sea smiled as well, glad to have found a distraction from the worrying recent events for the children as well as for herself. Twilight and her friends walked alongside Celestia towards the gate, Twilight holding a white flag in her grasp. When they arrived, they encountered Sombra, who looked up as they came. "You're ten minutes later than I expected." "We would have been earlier, but I simply had to improve the flag of truce!" Rarity spoke, causing Sombra to glance at the flag. It wasn't simply a white cloth, as was standard for a flag of truce, but was made of white high-quality silk with the word 'truce' embroidered along it with golden thread. Sombra barely resisted rolling his eyes. "I'm afraid I cannot allow you to leave," Sombra spoke. "Yeah? Whatcha gonna do to stop us?" Rainbow Dash flew angrily into his face. Sombra didn't flinch. "If you attempt to make peace with them, you are liable to be severely injured. It is my duty to prevent you from being injured within Calypsion's territory." "Sombra. We need to do this. If there's any chance that we can stop this, prevent undue injuries..." Celestia said gently. Sombra looked down and sighed. "I knew you were going to say that. I will allow you to attempt this... Under one condition: Only you and Twilight may leave. You're immortal, your friends are not. Do not risk lives we can't afford to lose." After a long moment of silence, Celestia conceded, and left through the gate with Twilight, waving the flag of truce as they left. Sombra quickly stepped onto the ramparts of the wall to watch. Shining Armor and what must be several of his highest ranking military officers approached, Shining Armor's horn lit, creating a mobile shield to protect him. While he couldn't quite see what was going on, Sombra could guess, and by Shining Armor's lack of reaction to Twilight's speech he guessed there was a sound damper in place as well. Crazy pony probably thinks there are ways to mind-control a pony using sound. I wouldn't be surprised if he blocked light as well, Sombra chuckled to himself. Twilight looked frantic, finally lighting up her horn in an attempt to get through to her brother. It was then that things went wrong. The moment her horn lit, the ground beneath them exploded, doing nothing to Shining Armor, but Twilight and Celestia were injured and thrown back. Several dozen mages began to fire on them, one bolt hitting dangerously close and destroying the flag of truce in the process. Twilight and Celestia spread their wings in an attempt to take off, retreating after their failed parley, but both fell to the ground. Must be a magical dampener, Sombra realized. Then, Sombra noticed attackers from behind Shining's army, and all tartarus broke lose. Immediately, the army formed into practiced walls, half facing inward and half facing outward, and Shining retreated to his army, but not before levitating Twilight and Celestia back with him. Sombra cursed as he realized that now he'd have to launch a rescue mission. "Plan Shield!" Sombra yelled to his own militia, and they responded by bolstering the walls with their individual talents as Shining Armor's army began to fire volley after volley of magical bolts at it. Sombra lit his horn and added protection of his own: Magical crystals on the outside of the wall that would reflect the spells back towards the attacking army. Meanwhile, behind Shining Armor's army, the unknown factor had begun a charge, led by a very familiar three-headed pony. A stray bolt of energy whizzed by Sombra's face, and he frowned and destroyed it with his own magic before it could fall dangerously into Calypsion's civilian population. It would really help if we had enough magic-users to create a shield spell, or have a Crystal Heart-type artifact to protect us. Looks like that project's not going to make much progress at the moment. We also still have to rescue Cadence as soon as possible... Sombra sighed. He had a lot of work to do. First thing's first, I've got to make a raiding party to take back Celestia and Twilight. With that, Sombra set off, with a clear goal in mind. Little did he know, Winter had watched the capture herself and was already planning a rescue mission...