Chapter three - The Wolf of the Amber Plains
~Diamo's PoV~
I shuddered, not because I am cold. No, because right now I am in the capital of the Diamond Dog Empire, The Aetherium Halls... which currently is under siege by the new Equestria, thankfully due to that we only have to protect from the sky and from the front of the city due to it being built into a crescent-shaped mountain range.
Walking around I see another guard who nods to me and I reply in kind and continue to walk forwards only straying from my path when a piece of building is in my path, glancing around I see what I am looking for, The Monastery, we diamond dogs don’t have gods... well so to speak, practically every diamond dog worships an ancient diamond dog from an era before Equestria came into being, the Great Warrior, apparently he was the last of a species of diamond dogs known as the Wolves of the Amber Plains, which is where the Diamond Dog Empire resides.
Sighing I walk over to The Monastery, and thinking to myself, ‘The Monastery is the only building furthest from the walls, in fact, the palace is quite a ways in front of it,’ shaking my head as I near the doors, ‘in there is the armor of the Great Warrior.’
Upon reaching the doors I push one of them open and walk inside then I turn around and hold the door so I could softly close it so as not to make any sound, I then turn around and walk to the pedestal on which the armor of the Great Warrior kneels as if it were kneeling down before a king.
Sighing to myself I look around to see many other diamond dogs praying to the Great Warrior to grant us victory, at this I shake my head, I never believed in the Great Warrior as an immortal being but instead I see him as an unrivaled warrior during his time, and now for the first time I am going to do something I swore myself away from, I am going to pray to the Great Warrior for victory.
Getting down onto my knees in front of the pedestal I put my paws together and begin to pray, ‘Please, if you are immortal just please, give us your strength so we can defeat our enemy... I am only asking for help because our empire is about to fall... please, just... please help us.’ I could feel tears run down my face, we need the Wolves of the Amber Plains to win but they just keep going... we need the strength of the Great Warrior.
Suddenly a shadow rose over me which caused me to look up at the armor of the Great Warrior, but instead of kneeling like it has been for a long time it is standing, a blue glow seeps out from certain chinks in the armor and once in a while what appears to be a blue flame comes out from the gap between the helmet and chest plate.
My eyes go wide as I realize one thing, the Great Warrior has returned. He looks down at me then walks around me and walks out The Monastery leaving those of us stupefied and staring at the door which he had left through.
Quickly I jump to my feet releasing myself from the daze I was in I run out of the Monastery to see the enemy launched a volley of ballista bolts at us, looking around trying to find anyone who was foolish enough to say out on the streets I spotted the Great Warrior standing there, then blue flames suddenly sprung to life around his arms which he raised toward the sky then he said, “Three golden knights to defend them, the two jewels of the Dragon to channel our sight, the heaven’s shield to protect us, nine wards of aetherium to stop the blow, twenty unrelenting crows to reveal them, twelve emerald stars to guide us, five unbending Heroes under the moon stained with blood, defend our people golden knights, use the heaven’s shield and put the nine wards of aetherium on it, use the jewels of the Dragon and the crows to see where to stop the blows, and the Heroes channel the wrath of the moon to form the walls behind them. Oath of wards, Suk’dro, number fifteen.” When he finished chanting a barrier formed around the city and stopped the barrage of ballista bolts, but it didn’t stop there, the barrier re-launched all of the ballista bolts back at the enemy army along with hundreds of bolts of magic.
Staring in shock I fell to my knees, all the legends of the Great Warrior were never over exaggerated... no, they were under exaggerated. The legends say the Great Warrior could use magic and they he held the strength of a thousand diamond dogs, but magical wise they never said he could do anything like this! Legends that are passed down orally at some point they start to become more exaggerated and less believable... the legend either became under exaggerated over time or somehow the Great Warrior became even more powerful.
Then the Great Warrior started walking again and I followed, when we arrived at the wall I looked at him to see him turn around towards a crowd and looked over them then a deep but humble and yet strangely loud voice came from him that said, “I have heard your pains about what has been happening, if I could have awoken earlier I would have struck at them before they were able to swing a blow at us.
But we will make a new path, many may think our empire will fall but I shall make this day a moment that will show the world that our empire can not be toppled as easily as those Draconian Empire, Equestria, and Gryphon Nation, our home is within the mountains and the deep.
The dragons, griffins, and pegasi can have their skies, the earth ponies, unicorns, and yaks can have the crest of the world, the dragons can have their volcanoes, the thestrals can have their moon and caves, the other races can have the overworld but if they think they can take the world beneath the crest of the world they are wrong, we are born under the crest of the world, we were raised as the keepers of the deep, where earth and stone lays is where we are most at home.
But we try to avoid war not because we are weak, but that we prefer the peace we earned after eras of war. I would have preferred to awaken to join you in a time of peace but once again we must fight against those who wish to destroy us, come brothers and sisters! Join me with your weapons raised above your head, and with your armor donned.”
Blinking I felt happiness and joy, along with a burning fire of revenge, smiling I raised my bow over my head and gave my best battle howl, after mine I heard hundreds of howls join mine, and the great warrior joined our symphony, for the first time for the last two months me and the other guards have been emotionally recharged, our morale is at its peak.
~General Shatter Wall PoV~
I stared at the city that has a blue shield surrounding it like a foal, multiple questions raced through my mind, but one question remained dominant in my mind, I turned towards Captain Kumo, and then I said, “I thought you said diamond dogs can not use magic.”
He looked at me with the same stupor I currently felt reflecting on his face, “We can’t, except for one species of my kind that has been dead for eras long before the rise of Celestia... they were known as The Wolves of the Amber Plains or as they referred to themselves as, the Broken Wolves, they were able to harvest Aetherium easily and then utilize it for casting spells, the last one alive was known as The Great Warrior.”
Shaking my head I then reply, “They must have gone into seclusion and simply hide until now.”
“No,” looking back at Kumo I saw on his face that he was completely positive, “while they were immortal they never hid, they kept track of every Broken Wolf that existed, and a new Broken Wolf only appears when another Broken Wolf is around.”
Then from the city we heard the diamond dogs howling, but it sent shivers straight through me, those sounded like howls of anger and they were not howls of those with a broken resolve, no, those howls sound closer to a war cry, I looked back at the city and I saw the gates open and the magical barrier open, and from the gates came an army of diamond dogs that is being spearheaded by a large diamond dog wearing armor that looked like a diamond dog made a statue of a tall and quite beefy then made armor and put it on the statue then cast a spell to make it come to life.
I turned to look at Kumo and his reaction to seeing this strange diamond dog was worse than mine, he looked like he was just told he had to fight a dragon with nothing but a knife, he then states, “No, that’s impossible, he can’t be alive... he died so long ago... how... how is he here?”
“What is impossible? Who can’t be alive? What?” I felt my confusion coursing through me as well as curiosity, was it, someone, Kumo thought he killed long ago? Kumo never took his eyes away from the heavily armored diamond dog as he replied, “That diamond dog wearing that heavy armor... that one is the reason why the barrier appeared, I saw him long ago but he was asleep then... I thought he was dead...” he sighed, “it appears as if the Great Warrior did simply go to sleep... he is the last of the Broken Wolves, and in all of the diamond dog’s recorded history, he is the greatest and most powerful Broken Wolf to ever exist... and he is thought to be undefeatable.”
I felt a sense of overwhelming dread wash over me as I turned my head back towards the diamond dog that is known as the Great Warrior, then I shouted, “To battle positions! Prepare to stop the enemy force. Ballista, aim for the diamond dog in the heavy armor, whoever kills him will get a promotion and a Lieutenant’s pay.” When I heard shouts of understanding and I saw the soldiers put under my command rush into positions I went to mine and readied my crossbow.
~Three days later~
~Discord’s PoV~
Looking around me I clutch onto my son, smirking to myself at how easily I can fool these Griffins into thinking I am one of them. Sighing I look down at my baby child, he looks like a griffon just like I do, I would have used a disguise were it not that his mother, my wife Celestia begged me to flee with our child. Mirage, I wish I could save our world so you don't have to remember the hardships that are before us, each rebellion fighting against the Tyrant Queen Cryptic Spell has been destroyed, if only Chrome was still alive. Shaking my head I walk to the newsstand and pay the merchant two feathers, or in Equine terms of cash twenty copper bits.
I walk back to my house with Mirage on my back, once I get home I read the title grimly only for my jaw to fall.
Siege on Aetherium Halls Failed
General Shatter Wall's record of successful sieges has been put to an end when he besieged Aetherium Halls, the capital of the Diamond Dog Empire. The scouts of his army say that they had destroyed the Dog's moral when they suddenly a barrier of magic formed around Aetherium Halls which deflected all one hundred and sixty-nine ballista bolts back towards the army which destroyed a large portion of the army, then soon afterwards the Dogs let out bestial howls and opened the gates and rushed at our army, leading this army a Dog wearing heavy armor that no being should be able to wear. The Dogs that joined our cause were shaken upon seeing this warrior and kept calling him, "The Great Warrior" said to be the last of the Broken Wolves.
Once The Great Warrior was the one who killed General Shatter Wall in combat-
I can no longer focus on the newspaper, Chrome, my friend from ten thousand years ago... is still alive, not only that he is as strong as he was when I last saw him, but... how? Is it really him? or is it a dog who is pretending to be Chrome? Laughing and shaking my head I realized one thing if the Diamond Dogs are able to fend off the best General of New Equestria and his army of elites then that is the safest place for a rebel like me.
Picking up my daughter I pull at the cords of chaos magic and suddenly an amazingly beautiful symphony springs to life around me. Grinning to myself I always enjoy the sound of the music made by chaos, one could never describe the wondrous flow of sounds come out of that symphony, every day it is different and unique making it hard to control it.
Luckily enough for me I practiced in the art of controlling chaos magic for thousands of years, I pull the cords and I begin to feel the reality around me warp to my will then pulling on the final cord I no longer find me and my daughter in the guise of griffins but what we truly are.
Looking around I see that I’m in front of the Halls of Valor, the resting place for all the Broken Wolves who died fighting for the weak and innocent, those who showed great honor, virtue, and justice. Those who gave assistance to the weak fought foe what was just, and hunted down evil even when it was hiding. Sighing to myself, ‘These are times when the Broken Wolves are most needed, but since they died out we should look at them and use their beliefs as our inspiration.’
I turn around and walk to the gates of this city, halfway there I see and hear a sight I thought I’d never see, Chrome is alive! Surrounding him pups play and dance while he plays the violin. I could feel the air around me strumming with magic, it was playing a song which I never heard before, he even is dancing to his own music. I stare at him dumbstruck when my child awakens in my arms.
I let her go so she could play with the pups, then I sit down listening in amazement as he plays the song as if he had spent years playing it.
Once the song ended he gives the violin to a dog who it appears the violin belongs to, after he did that he crouches and looks at my daughter then says, "You look like a friend of mine, although you have more of an Equine appearance," my daughter ran back to me and his gave followed her, then he saw me then laughed- something in the past he rarely did then he says, "and then she shows me that beyond all odds the last Draconequus is still alive and has a child!" Then one thing I never thought he would do happened, he walked over to me and hugged me then said, "It is good to see you again."
I couldn't help but break into tears, the impossible has happened and my friend from twenty-thousand years ago is here doing two things that I never knew he would do.