//------------------------------// // Chapter Thirty-Three: Skirmishing // Story: STAR WARS / FiM: Realms of the Heavens // by Tathem_Relag //------------------------------// Ponyville Town Hall 9:08 P.M. “Don’t panic, everypony,” Twilight tried to reassure the nervous crowd. “We have the Royal Sisters and the Magic of Friendship protecting us. The humans won’t be able to win any more than Tirek could.” Normally, this would be more than enough to assuage the ponies’ fears. They had great faith in their Princesses. The citizens of Ponyville in particular had total certainty that their resident heroes would always be able to protect them. But they remembered the terrible slaughter the Imperial stormtroopers had inflicted on the Royal Guard three weeks ago. Sure, the forces of good had won in the end – that was inevitable. Good was inherently stronger than evil. But the awful cost the humans had taken! Over seven hundred ponies dead. Over eight-and-a-half hundred wounded, almost a tenth of whom were maimed for life. This was already nothing like any threat they had ever seen before. They couldn’t even imagine the humans winning, but the invaders were a terrifying threat. The Princesses were the most powerful beings in the world, but the return of Nightmare Moon and the Siege of Canterlot had proven that they weren’t invincible. Might the humans kill one of them? The humans’ very first actions displayed their willingness to hurt innocents; how many civilians would die? “I know you’re all scared, but you’ve got to stay strong. I promise you, I won’t let these humans do anything to –” She was cut off by a familiar shriek, one she remembered from the middle of the night over a month ago. The shriek of TIEs. Three dozen black dots flew overhead, and above them, four vast gray slabs darkened the sky. Twilight exchanged a silent glance with Rainbow Dash. With some twenty pegasi, they took off to engage the attackers. As they ascended, Twilight did some mental calculations based on the rate at which the large objects increased in size. She came to the horrifying conclusion that they were bigger than the Crystal Castle. She recalled the Royal Sisters saying something to that effect after their first battle with the humans, but seeing it herself made her realize just how advanced the humans were. Working together, all the Princesses might be able to hold an object that size off the ground and not burn out. But the humans had four of them, and a few more calculations revealed that they were moving at nearly Wonderbolt speeds. Only a few of the pegasi, all Wonderbolt cadets, managed to make progress towards them; the rest were left behind. As the TIEs came into detail, hundreds of red beams lanced downwards from large craft. The pegasi were forced to make evasive maneuvers, driven away from the TIEs. The humans’ accuracy at this range was astonishing. They must be using telescopes, Twilight thought. This far away, we should just look like specks to them. The beams, missing their intended targets, smashed into Ponyville, tearing apart homes and businesses in huge balls of fire. Twilight’s heart sank and her stomach churned as she watched the devastation below. I was in the middle of promising to protect them. How many of them are dead? A near miss scorched her mane and drew her attention back to the human craft. The TIEs split into pairs and flew off in all directions. Twilight noticed that these TIEs didn’t look like the ones she had seen that very first night. These had a doubled body and bent wings. She recalled seeing some of them during the tour of the human base. What had Malen called them? ‘Bombers’? Glowing blue spheres emerged from two of the TIEs and plummeted towards the ground. Twilight and Rainbow Dash pushed themselves to the breaking point in a desperate attempt to intercept the human attack, but they were slowed by the need to dodge the constant hail of fire. They were still almost a mile away when the spheres hit the ground near the railroad tracks connecting Ponyville and Canterlot. Searing flashes momentarily blinded them, and they were buffeted by a scorching wind. When they had blinked the spots out of their eyes, looming columns of smoke were rising from overlapping craters where the tracks used to be. More spheres fell on other rail lines, obliterating them in bursts of light. Staring at the aftermath of the humans’ weapons, it took the ponies a few moments to notice that the red beams had stopped. Looking back to the large human craft, they saw the vessels turning to the northwest of Ponyville. Turning towards Cloudsdale. Location: Everfree Imperial Garrison Local Time: 21:14 The Imperial force’s four leaders stood on one side of the command room’s holotable. On the other side, three nonhumans flickered one by one into existence. The first was a bizarre cross between an avian and a feline with a bald head and milky left eye. The second was a heavy-lidded canine that rather reminded Aerin of a Geelan that had been starved to the brink of death – a memory that brought a faint smile to his lips. The last was a tall monstrosity that looked like some mad scientist had crossed Celestia with a Tethan hunting fly and then shot his creation with a scattergun. “Good evening, gentlebeings,” Gavrisom said. “My apologies for contacting you at such a late hour, but matters are pressing. First things first, however; let’s get introductions out of the way. You’re already acquainted with myself, Major General Aerin, Captain Orramas, and High Inquisitor Valerious. In case you don’t know each other – King Gruff of Griffonstone. Chancellor Jim of Dimondia. And Queen Chrysalis of the Changeling Hive.” Gruff leaned away from Chrysalis’s image as if she could attack him over the holocomm. “Are you mad?! She’ll drain us all!” Gavrisom made a placating gesture. “Be at ease, Your Majesty. I assure you, we have her well under control. And remember – war makes strange bedfellows.” A sly smile crossed her face. “Bedfellows, eh? I didn’t know you thought of me that way, Sturm.” He glared at her. “A poorly-chosen expression for unsavory alliances formed out of the necessities of war. And you will refer to me as Governor Gavrisom.” “Come now, Sturm, we’re closer than that, aren’t we?” “Absolutely not. You are a useful tool, nothing more. If you turn on us, or attempt to elevate your position, or even continue to disrespect us, you will be punished most severely.” “Ooh, so that’s what you’re into? Well, I usually prefer to be the one doing the punishing, but if that’s really what you –” Malen cut her off by raising his hand, his thumb and forefinger pinching the air. “If one more innuendo emerges from your throat,” he hissed, “I will rip it out and have it braised for dinner – your dinner.” He turned his hand parallel to the ground, and her legs buckled. When he lowered his arm to his side, she shakily got to her hooves. He cast his yellow eyes around the table, daring anyone else to anger him. Humans and aliens alike shrank back from the barely-restrained bloodlust they saw in his gaze. After almost a minute of nervous silence, Gruff cleared his throat. “I’m sorry, but did you say… ‘war’?” “Yes, I did. Early today, Inquisitor Valerious and General Aerin launched a successful mission to rescue two platoons of our soldiers the ponies were holding for interrogation. Queen Chrysalis and Chancellor Jim are already aware of this, and their forces played vital roles in… Mister Chancellor, please stop trying to touch the holograms and pay attention. This information is incredibly important.” Jim dropped his paw, an embarrassed look on his face. “Thank you. Now, as I was saying, the changelings and diamond dogs were essential to our men’s safe return, for which we thank you. Unfortunately, the ponies have seen fit to declare war over this operation. As our allies, your nations are also now at war with Equestria.” “Wait just a minute!” Gruff protested. “We griffons had nothing to do with your scheme! Why are we being dragged into this?” “You signed the mutual defense agreement. We provided you with your national treasure, a rebuilt capital, and a modernized military, and until now, we have asked for nothing in return. I think it’s quite fair for us to expect you to hold up your end of the treaty. Besides, I thought you wanted to see Equestria humbled?” “Not by war! By economics, and culture! I wanted to watch them squirm as our wealth and influence surpassed their own! I didn’t want to fight them!” “Despite having a population little more than half the size of Equestria’s, you’ve built up your military to be almost as large. Plus, you accepted our weapons. I’d say that sounds like preparing for war.” “In case they attacked us!” “Oh, please. Princess Celestia relies on being viewed as a paragon of undistilled kindness in order to maintain her unquestioned rule. She wouldn’t attack you unless she could come up with a good excuse.” “Then why should we care about your war? She doesn’t have any reason to go after us, so why should we provoke her?” “By the Emperor, you really didn’t understand what you were signing, did you? You’re our ally, and she knows it. That’s all the reason she’ll need, all the reason any leader would ever need. Now, with the bridge between you and Equestria bombed, you don’t need to worry about a land invasion, but –” “The bridge is what?!” “Bombed. Blown to bits. Utterly destroyed. They won’t be able to march an army across to attack you, but you’ll still need to deal with –” “When did this happen?! And how?!” Gavrisom’s eyes were thin slits as he turned to Malen. “Shut him up, would you, Inquisitor?” The Dark Jedi’s lips curled into a thin smile. “Gladly.” He raised his hand again, this time in Gruff’s direction, and the griffon king started gasping for breath. “Thank you, m’lord. Now, Your Majesty, I’ll answer your questions, but I expect not to be interrupted again. The ‘when’ is a few minutes ago, when we destroyed all of Equestria’s railroads. The ‘how’ is with our bombers. And I’ll give you a freebee. The ‘why,’ since you clearly wouldn’t be able to figure it out for yourself, is to cut their supply lines and hamper their troop movements. As I said, the destruction of the bridge means that you won’t be attacked by their army, but their navy and air force are still threats. “More concerning for all of us, however, is their largest ally – the dragons. I anticipate that they will attack the griffons as soon as they learn of the outbreak of war. Our informant within their ranks will alert us to any large-scale deployments, but he’s already a pariah, so we won’t learn of the objectives of any small covert ops teams until they’re already striking. Of course, we’ll know that they’ve been deployed – our radar can’t help but pick up objects that large and irregularly-shaped. “I don’t believe the ponies are aware that you two –” he addressed Chrysalis and Jim “– have also allied to us, giving us a significant advantage of surprise. I intend to keep you hidden until we can make a decisive blow – neither of you has sufficient military might to withstand a committed attack by all of Equestria. Frankly, I anticipate that the griffons will actually be handling the bulk of the fighting. On that note, King Gruff, General Aerin and I concur that your first target… King Gruff?” The griffon’s eyes were bulging, and just as Gavrisom spoke to him, he collapsed. The Imperial governor spun to face Malen. “Inquisitor! Let him go!” “Uh-uh-uh, you didn’t say ‘please,’” Malen replied in a singsong voice. “I won’t have you killing a foreign leader without cause! Release him immediately!” “You didn’t use the magic word.” Gavrisom snarled. “Please, Inquisitor.” “It’s, ‘please, High Inquisitor.” “Gah! Please, High Inquisitor.” “Please do what?” “Please release your telekinetic grip on King Gruff.” “Now, I’m sure I just corrected you on the proper form of address.” “Please, High Inquisitor; release your telekinetic grip on King Gruff!” “Now, now. It’s not polite to shout.” “Please, High Inquisitor; release your telekinetic grip on King Gruff.” “Why, of course, Governor!” He dropped his hand, and an agonized, drawn-out wheeze followed. Malen cocked his head, his mouth in an innocent smile that didn’t nearly reach his gleaming eyes. “You see? Was that really so hard?” Jim glanced between Malen and Gruff, his face a mask of horror. Chrysalis just smiled, happy that someone else was the sadistic Inquisitor’s victim this time. Quiet once again reigned at the holotable as the leaders waited for Gruff to recover from his near-death experience. Once he had mostly regained his breath, he shot Malen his best glare, though he wisely decided not to say anything else. “My apologies for the… overzealousness of the Inquisitor, Your Majesty,” Gavrisom said with a shallow bow, silently cursing both Malen, for his horrid love of inflicting suffering, and himself, for not expecting the Inquisitor to cause as much pain as he could, diplomatic consequences be damned. “As I was saying, I recommend that you quickly mobilize your army and recapture the Griffish Isles. General Aerin?” Aerin nodded. “Thank you, Governor. Our starfleet has their pegasi rather occupied at the moment, so you should be able to cement your control before they can rally any significant response. Most likely, you’ll be facing a fleet out of Manehattan. We don’t have much in the way Maritime Division forces, but we can provide you with a few Aquadons to destroy their Trottingham fleet and hold off their reinforcements. If we sufficiently cripple their navy, we can turn our attention to neutralizing the dragons – unless they have less collective intelligence than a gonk droid, the ponies won’t dare pull forces away from their own cities to attack us without an adequate way to fight you.” Gruff continued to glare, but he gave a curt nod. Gavrisom took over the conversation again. “Excellent. Do you know if Princess Luna can access your dreams?” “What?” Gruff was caught off guard by this seeming non sequitur. “Nooooo… I don’t think so…” “That isn’t good enough. Lieutenant Ilo, are you there?” A hologram of a human appeared beside the griffon king. “Of course, Governor. What do you need?” “Make sure His Majesty and his generals take stims until we can deal with her. I don’t want them to get so much as five minutes of sleep.” “Understood, sir.” “What?!” Gruff screeched. “You want to kill me by exhaustion? I’m not doing it!” “Sacrifices must be made in war, Your Majesty. I, General Aerin, Lieutenant Ilo, this base’s command staff, all COs above the rank of captain, any men on secret missions, and all bridge crews will be doing the same. The stims will keep you alive for two, maybe three weeks. It won’t be pleasant, but then, having Princess Luna rip information out of your mind would, I suspect, be even less so. Don’t worry, we have a plan to deal with her.” “And that is…?” “Restricted information.” “Just who do you think you are?! I’m the king of the griffons! You’re just some random officer.” “You’re the king because we made you the king. Never forget that. Also remember that while I may indeed be ‘just some random officer,’ I’m an officer with a fleet that possesses enough power to melt your planet.” “Are you threatening me?” “Merely reminding you of the power dynamics at play here. Your newfound strength comes entirely from us. Refuse to work with us, and you have nothing. Now, Mister Chancellor. I want you to focus your tunnelers on –” A lieutenant marched up to him. “Sir, report from Captain Cenik. A force of pegasi from Canterlot is heading for Captain Rann’s line. Estimate about a battlegroup’s worth.” “What?! I told him not to attack Cloudsdale!” “He hasn’t, sir, just established the blockade.” “Don’t they understand a hostage situation when they see one?!” “It would appear, sir, that this is retaliation for civilian casualties the ponies took during skirmishing around Ponyville when several of its inhabitants tried to intercept our bombers.” “Ah. That would explain it. This isn’t Celestia showing legitimate concern for her subjects; it’s her taking petty revenge for us breaking a few of her favorite minion’s toys.” Gavrisom rubbed his eyes. “Excuse me, gentlebeings. I need to oversee the first battle of the war.”