Equestria Divided Tales

by Grenazers

House of Whitegold: Arqueteers

"Ready," a brown unicorn with black hair said quietly to a row of nine other ponies armed with firearms.

The unicorn then raised his arquebus and looked down at its iron sight. "Aim," the rest of the ponies did so on his command.

"FIRE!" he shouted and pulled the trigger, resulting in his rifle firing. The sounds of other guns discharging can be heard some the sides. The projectiles, fired from the guns raced across the field and hit their targets. A pack diamond dogs that was camping, were ripped apart by the pony's guns.

Each dog that was hit, either got shot in the chest or had their limbs shot off. Only a few of them died quickly from head shots. With them taken down, the group of ponies made their way to dog's camp , find any survivors and interrogate them.

The one ahead of the group is the same brown unicorn from before. His name is Ace Fortune, and he is a Arqueteers. The Arqueteers are wealthy unicorns who joined the Whitegold's army, each one having their own reason for signing up. Using the guns called arquebus, these unicorns are trained to be expert marksmen and have proven their worth on the battlefield.

Besides him, there are three other Arqueteers in their group, They are: Starry Light, White Crimson, and Velvet Soul. The rest is just mercenaries, the leader is a Crimson pegasus stallion named Lance Charge. Serving as his second-in-command, is a blue earth mare named Terra Quake.

Now the reason why they are here, is of the order of the head of the house, Mistress Rarity. Apparently a bunch of diamond dogs ambushed a caravan and stolen some gems. While this may seem trivial to a pony by her stature, the reason for this mission is more than just to back their treasure, but to send a message to those vile dogs. And by message she meant leaving no survivors.

Originally this mission was only for the mercs but, by her order she assigned four of their own forces on this mission, making this a joint operation. Officially, they joined up because the Mistress believes that they might acquire the extra fire power on this mission. The real reason is to make sure those mercenaries didn't try to steal the gems.

The group finally reached the dogs campsite, upon entering the site they came across the bodies of the dogs they just shot at. A few had their heads blown open, pieces of their skull and brain littered around their exposed head. The others lost their limbs and eventually bled to death, Ace frown at the scene. He feared that they may have over killed these dogs, leaving no survivors.

"Hey, this one is alive!" somepony shouted. The rest of the group stopped their search and gather around a wounded dog.

Lance Charge trotted up to the fallen dog, pointing his arquebus at him. "Alright dog, listen up," he said, gaining the dog's attention. "This is how it will go down," using his wings, Lance aim his gun at the dog's kneecap. "Tell us where we can find your lair, and you won't be moving around on a wheelchair."

Hearing the red pegasus's threat, the dog started panicking. "No! Please don't hurt Angus," the dog begged. This resulted in Lance pointing his weapon away from his knee. "The lair you seek is not far from here, just a bit northwest from here."

Getting his answer, the mercenary leader holstered his weapon and trotted away from the dog. Before he could go any further, the brown unicorn stopped him. "Mr. Charge, I hope you do remember of our objective?"

"Please Ace, the dog is already dying. No point in wasting bullets." the merc replied to the brown Arqueteers. Ace turned around and glared at the dog, he was quite right, the wounds were very serious. If not properly treated, he die from the infection.

Raising his gun, Ace took aim and fired. In seconds, a big bloody hole popped in the dog's head. "Wow, brutal." One of the mercs commented the brown unicorn's action. The other mercs were surprised by the Unicorn, executing the dog. However, the other three Arqueteers knew the cause behind Fortune's sudden action.

The brown unicorn has a hatred for these beast, long ago after Equestria was divided, he and his family moved to Manehattan to escape the rising conflict in Canterlot. While traveling, his family was stopped by a bunch of diamond dogs. They demanded all their possession, in exchange for their lives.

Once his family gave the dogs all their stuff, the bastard turn back on his deal and ordered his men to slaughter the ponies. Ace watched as his family were killed right in front of him. Before they could get to him, the dogs were sudden;y attacked by guards from Manehattan.

The guards easily dispatched the pack and only found one survivor, a lone brown unicorn, stained with the blood of his family. The guards then took him to their city and was taken in, by his relatives. News spread across the city, most of them involved the city's newest resident.

So it came to no surprised that the young unicorn joined the army, after hearing about the small battles with the Diamond Dogs.

The group trotted north west and came across a large hole with a few guards outside. "Well it looks like that mutt was telling the truth," White Crimson spoke.

"Course he did, them dogs got no loyalty but, to themselves." Velvet soul explained to her companion. "Those dogs would happily betray their friends, if it benefits them."

While those two talked, Ace Fortune and Lance Charge got together and talk strategy.

After a couple of minutes of planning, both leaders called their groups over. "Alright guys here's the plan," Ace spoke. "First my guys will take out the guards by the entrance with our guns, this will no doubt draw the dogs out, and that's where you come in." he pointed to the mercenaries.

The brown unicorn step aside for the red pegasus to step in. "Right lads, when those dogs start pouring out of their holes, we use these on them." he took out a pair of hoof cannons. "We fire these into them and they'll fall apart."

The rest of the group understood their plan and went into position. Two of the Arqueteers lined up their shots and took out the guards. Just as expected the noise from their weapon alerted the dogs inside, and they were pouring out of the hole like ants.

With them all together, it was perfect opportunity to use the hoof cannons on them. Lighting them up the pair of cannons, aimed at the group of dogs and fired. The attack was effective, the cannons blew the dogs apart, littering the entrance with their blood and guts. Those lucky enough to survive immediately turn tail and ran back into the hole.

The ponies gave chase tot he retreating dogs, they need to pressed their attacks, before they counter back. They entered the hole and galloped down the tunnels. The group stopped when they hit a crossroad, multiple tunnels were opened for them.

Now they could split up and search the tunnels but, that is what the diamond dogs want. They want them to split up, so that they can picked them off one by one. Instead they some new weapons to test out on these dogs, the brown unicorn ordered everypony, to put on their gas mask.

Ace took out a small gray ball and twisted, this got the ball to release some green smoke. The unicorn then proceeds to chuck it into one of the tunnels. Next his companions did the same except tossed them into different tunnels.

The small balls thrown into the tunnels, releases poisonous gas. Out in the open it's not effective but, in tight areas, they become incredibly effective. The deadly gases travel around the dog's tunnel, killing anyone who inhale them.

Soon the tunnels were filled with the bodies of the dogs, making it easy for the pony to traverse the tunnels, without the worries of attack. They eventually came across a large chamber, full of various treasure these mutts have collected. One such treasure includes the stolen gems.

They were about to collect their prizes, when suddenly the walls around them burst, each one having a diamond dog coming out. It was an ambush, these dogs have been waiting for them, Ace didn't know how they survived the gas but, this was no time question.

Taking out their weapons the ponies fought back, firing their guns they took out the first wave of dogs. However, more started coming. With the guns used up, the ponies switched to their secondary weapon. Lance took out his sabre, Terra took out her knives and started slashing and stabbing dogs, left and right. While all the none unicorns took out a melee weapons, the unicorn switch to their secondary weapon, their magic.

Ace quickly dispatched two dogs by blasting them with his horn. The rest of the Arqueteers did the same and blasted the hordes of dogs. The battle went on, and the ponies suffered a few casualties: three mercs were dead, including the unicorn who wasn't as skilled with the magic like the other unicorns in the group. And two injured, one is the merc, Terra and the other is White Crimson.

Eventually the battle ended when the last dog was slain. Ace panted from the battle and looked around at the carnage. Slain bodies covered the rocky floor of the chamber, their blood coloring its gray surface, Out of all the bodies, only three were ponies. They died horribly; one was beheaded, the second skewered, and the third had his head split opened.

Checking who still with them, Ace spotted that none of the Arqueteers where killed, only White Crimson having a large cut on his rear legs. Same thing can't be said for the mercs though, they lost have their group and Lance was tending to the blue mare's injuries.

Not wanting to stay here any longer, Ace ordered everyone to retrieve the gems and get out. Lance was about grab a gem but, Ace stopped him. "No Lance, your services are finished here."

"What? but what about are payment?" the merc leader questioned.

"Look around, these other treasures are yours to have."

Lance was shocked by the unicorns answers. "You serious?" he asks, and received a nod from the unicorn. The red pegasus stared at the treasure in awed and returned to his two last companions. With their objective completed, the Arqueteers left the dog's lair, each carrying a portion of the gems.

Manehattan City Hall

"So I trust that you completed your objective?" Mistress Rarity spoke, looking down at the bowing four unicorns in front of her.

"Yes Mistress, we have." Ace responded, he then signaled the three other unicorns behind him. They all took out portions of the gems they carried. The white unicorn mistress smiled at their accomplishment.

"Congratulation, my little ponies. You did this house's service well." she then levitated all the gems towards her.

"You will of course will be rewarded handsomely and your reputation will be known around the house." She store the gems in a chest and locked it up. "Now then, Ace fortune you are dismissed." she ordered.

The four unicorns did as she said and left, leaving Rarity and her assistant alone. She then levitated the chest to her assistant. "Dime Bell, take these down to the labs, tell the good professor, that Project Golem is good to go."

"It will be done Mistress," the little pink mare said, as she trotted away with the chest full of gems.