The Hidden Adventure

by viscolorus

Chapter 13: Survival

Dusk bit back the pain in his left shoulder as he shot a magic bolt. The entire force was being pushed back by the seemingly infinite amount of monsters. Many of the troops were already injured and some even had to receive emergency treatment in make-shift tents. The monsters continued to attack them, slashing, beating and biting the few front-line ponies they had left. Shining Armor was at the head of the force, scoring multiple clean hits on the larger beasts at the cost of his own safety.

Dusk cursed as he took another magic blast to the side. It all had been going fine until ‘they’ showed up, a group of ponies armored in crimson. They helped the monsters by firing magic from behind as well as swooping down, attacking Dusk’s forces from the rear. For some odd reason, the monsters did not seem to notice the red armor clad ponies, let alone attack them.

“Captain!” Dusk yelled, shooting one of the enemy pegasi out of the sky, “We need to fall back!”

“We can’t afford to!” Shining Armor yelled back, breathing heavily, “We need to wait for reinforcements!”

Suddenly, some of the enemy earth ponies blindsided Shining Armor, bashing him brutally. Shining Armor grunted and shot at them but they merely dodged behind the safety of the monsters.

“He won’t last,” Dusk thought to himself, “I’ll just have to use it!”

“Unicorns! Pull the injured towards the tent!” Dusk commanded, “All front line ponies fall back and take Shining Armor with you!”

The soldiers obeyed him, doing as they were told. Dusk charged forward, running into the monsters and crimson ponies. When he was right in front of them, he focused his magic into his horn, causing it to glow a bright red.

“Lieutenant! You need to fall back too!” One of the soldiers shouted.

Dusk ignored him, allowing his magic to overwhelm himself. Soon, his horn was glowing four different shades of red in a spiral pattern. He ignored the pain inflicted by the weapons crimson ponies and the monsters, remaining in front of them. Suddenly, Dusk released his energy, causing a huge explosion of magic. The blast shot up vertically and expanded radially, disintegrating everything within it. The unicorns at the tent set up a barrier, shielding them and the rest of the soldiers from the blast. After it had subsided a massive crater was left, all inside it were the unmoving bodies of monsters, ponies in red armor and Dusk.

“Retrieve the lieutenant!” One of the soldiers yelled, rallying the rest of the troops to surge into crater. The enemy had a similar idea, sending waves of monsters and ponies in as well. The soldier clashed with them, managing to hold them off long enough to retrieve Dusk’s body. Afterward, they fell back to the tent where they used their height advantage to keep the enemy at bay.

Suddenly, a few of the crimson unicorns began casting a spell together, causing a ball of energy to glow above them. They then released it, firing a massive magic missile at the tent. The soldiers were blasted back, leaving them exposed to the attacks from the monsters. The hydra advanced, brutally striking at the weakened ponies.

“It’s over…” One of the soldiers whispered as a manticore lunged at him. Screams of terror filled the air as the monsters and ponies alike relentlessly attacked the soldiers, blood spraying high into the air. Out of nowhere, a massive ball of light fell from the skies, crashing straight down onto the battle field, blowing all the enemies away. In its wake, the light formed a soft glowing disc that covered the battlefield, healing the ponies in it. A majestic white alicorn descended onto it.

“What is the meaning of this?” Princess Celestia asked, her voice filled with anger. The monsters and enemy ponies stood up dizzily, recovering from the blast. They glared at her, running to attack when they were interrupted by an azure streak slicing through their ranks. Three mass military transport chariots landed around the princess, soldiers flooding out of them. One of them ran forth and slammed his hooves into the ground. The ground split and cracked, opening up and swallowing the enemy ponies and monsters within range. The monsters charged forth, earning punishment in the form of magic bolts from the unicorn guards. The swift pegasi flew through the enemy ranks, attacking the frailer units at the back. The earth ponies engaged the enemy ponies, bashing them back.

Storm darted through the sky, his armor glinting in the moonlight. He dived down, slashing the hydra’s heads. The tall beast screeched in pain and retaliated by lashing out at the pegasi. Storm expertly ducked under its heads, managing to score a few clean cuts on some of them. The other pegasi harassed the hydra with their lighter attacks, remaining out of its range.

“Alright! Now we go in for the kill!” Storm yelled, diving towards the hydra’s body. Many of the other pegasi followed him but not all reached the base of the hydra’s necks. Storm plunged his hoof claws deep into it, followed by the others. Blood cascaded out, spraying everywhere and dousing Storm and the others in the crimson stuff. They continued shoving their claws deeper and deeper, cutting through the neck bone. The hydra’s heads all fell off landing on the others monsters and ponies.

“We did it!” Storm exclaimed triumphantly, pumping a hoof into the air. The other soldiers chorused with shouts of joy, charging forth with their raised morale.

“Wait!” Princess Celestia yelled, flying towards the beheaded beast, “Get away!”

The hydra’s headless neck suddenly sprouted heads, much more than it had previously. The new head proceeded to then bite the surrounding ponies, avoiding the red ones.

“Curses!” Princess Celestia swore, charging her horn. She focused her magic into her horn, causing to glow from a soft yellow to a blinding white. The hydra was immediately drawn to the source of the light lashing out at the sun princess. Storm flew to intercept its heads, lacerating them in an attempt to draw their attention away. The hydra decided to go after the flying nuisance, snapping its jaws at Storm. This gave Princess Celestia the time she needed; she released a huge blast of burning light into the hydra, incinerating all of its necks and cauterizing the base of it.

“Storm!” The sun princess yelled, “You should know that you need to burn the base in order to prevent more heads from regenerating!”

Storm smiled sheepishly and laughed nervously, flying backwards away from Princess Celestia slowly.

“Anyways, we have to exterminate these monsters and rebels now!” Princess Celestia said, charging up another sun bolt.
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Cliff charged forth with the other earth ponies in a wedge formation. The hydra had just been felled and they took advantage of the situation to attack the enemy. He slammed his shoulder into one of the timberwolves, splintering it into pieces. He pressed on, breaking through the enemy ranks as easily as a hot knife passing through butter. Soon, the enemy earth ponies came forth to intercept them. Cliff smacked one of them upside the head, causing him to fly backwards. The ponies clashed, bashing each other over their heads with their hooves. Cliff managed to break through, battered, but still able to fight.

Suddenly, a manticore, came from nowhere and swiped at him. Cliff barely dodged the attack by barrel rolling to his right. He bared his teeth and blew at the monster. The beast let out a roar in response, lunging at him. Cliff used his hooves to block the attack. He followed through by sweeping his hind hooves under the manticore, tripping it over. He rolled the monster onto its back and bashed its exposed torso into a pulp. He was shot off the lifeless body of the manticore by a magic blast. Cliff gritted his teeth together as his body was racked with pain. He turned to see the guilty unicorn get slashed up by a familiar white pegasus.

“Thanks,” Cliff said briskly, as he regrouped the other earth ponies.

“No problem,” Storm replied, zooming off to attack other enemies, “Let’s wrap this up!”

Dusk awoke in a tent. He sat up and looked around him. Around him were many other ponies that were badly injured, possibly from the fight. His eyes widened. The fight. How could he be sitting here when the others could still be fighting? He tried to get to his hooves only to be rooted to his mattress by pain.

“I see you’re better,” He heard a familiar voice say. He turned and saw Storm leaning on the cloth wall of the tent reading a book.
“I heard you ‘exploded’,” Storm said, smirking.

“Shut up,” Dusk replied, “I was trying to protect the rest of them.”

“I know, I know,” Storm said, turning a page, “Man this book is good.”

“What is it?” Dusk asked.

“Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone,” Storm replied, his eyes still glued to the book, “It has a really drawing plot.”

Dusk rolled his eyes. He had read the book a long time ago. It had superb storytelling and description but the plot was so predictable and straightforward. Still, those were the qualities that would trap somepony like Storm.

“So, what happened?” Dusk asked indifferently, “After I blacked out.”

“Well, essentially, Princess Celestia rode in like a boss, kicked some plot and healed all those injured,” Storm summed up. He paused for a bit before continuing.

“Though there was nothing she could do about the dead.”

Dusk hung his head. How could he be so stupid! He knew he should have protected them better. He should have formed a barrier instead of charging out like an idiot.

“Don’t blame yourself,” Storm said, not looking up from his book, “You did what you could.”

“I should’ve done more,” Dusk cursed, slamming a hoof into the dirt next to his mattress, “I could’ve saved them. I should’ve-”

“You should stop beating yourself up,” A radiant voice said. Dusk looked up and saw Princess Celestia standing in the entrance to the tent. She had two saddlebags on as well as a bandaged wing.

“Hey your majesty,” Storm greeted, waving a hoof, “Please convince your lieutenant that he’s not at fault here.”

“I know,” The sun princess said. She walked over to the gray unicorn who was currently biting his lip, blood leaking out of his mouth. She knelt down next to him and placed her good wing over the gray unicorn.

“Dusk, I know you feel responsible for these deaths,” She comforted soothingly, “But you are not. You did all you could, and there was nothing wrong with what you did. Do you understand that?”

Dusk nodded bitterly. His face was a picture of sadness, guilt and regret.

“If anything, I’m the one at fault,” Princess Celesta said, “I shouldn’t have sent both of you out without sufficient troops.

“But your majesty!” Dusk protested, “You assigned the right number of guards. There was no way you could’ve foreseen the ambush.”

“By the way your highness,” Storm said, closing his book, “Who were those red armored ponies? I asked Cliff and he said he’s never seen their sigil before, even in the armorer’s trade.”

“I don’t know, I’m afraid,” Princess Celestia replied, shaking her head sadly, “I’ve tried interrogating some of them, but they are either a really loyal bunch or just tough to crack. They won’t even reveal their group name or own name for that matter.”

“Can I see the sigil your highness?” Dusk asked.

Princess Celestia nodded. She reached into one of her saddle bags and pulled out one of the sigils on the armor.

Dusk took a good long look at it. It was red in color and circular in shape and had the side profile a pony’s head etched into it. Behind the pony was a dragon head in black. Dusk gulped hard, how could he have not noticed this before?

“Dusk? Is something wrong?” Princess Celestia asked in a concerned tone.

“N-No your highness,” Dusk replied, “I’m fine.”

Comments

[Wolfinsheepsclothing]

what with all the downvotes?

[SageBrony07]

3924282 I don't know. I love this story. I am betting Oracle knows about this new group of ponies though. I can't wait for the next chapter.