Equestria Divided: Faceless Legion

by ArthurGabriel

Chapter 2: Another Happening

Ever since that night, he couldn't sleep. The imagining of seeing the Cult of Laughters atrocities was scary to him. It was already bad enough that he heard them thumping upstairs, he could hear the light cackles and laughs above him. Being stuck in the darkness was already maddening. The fact that his daughter hasn't stirred or move all night was completely bewildering to him. He tried getting some sleep, right beside her and holding the hatchet closely.

What felt like weeks of silence, was only hours of this maddening sensation. Arthur woke up to the sound of constant banging. It became louder and apparent that it was on the basements' door. Aurora lightly groaned and the banging continued. He held his daughter and the hatchet frantically as the door gave in. Its hinges busted as the screws lightly bounced on the floor. He shivered as he heard the light steps down the stairs. Only the shadow of a pony stood before him. They only thing threatening was not knowing what house it belonged to. Then a thud and sharp scrape and a flash of light blinded him for a brief moment. He sighed with relief seeing that it was someone from house of Earthborn.

The Appleloosan ranger named Tin; brown coat, black mane, blue eyes had earned the nickname on the account of being the only ranger wearing anything considered armor, escorted them to traveling caravan. "So...you witnessed the-" Arthur cut him off from finishing his statement.

"Yeah. Well, not entirely. My family and I went out for a picnic earlier. We decided to head back to our village when a storm started blowing in. After that, I, pretty much stayed in my basement the entire time."

Tin looked at him with a bit of disbelief, "that's it? There's gotta be more than that." Arthur shook his head. "Come Arthur, what else happened? Where's the Miss?" Arthur quietly recollected what happened to her.

"I'd...rather not talk about it." Tin nodded, he'd seen Arthurs expression too many time before. He'd seen his expression on lone survivors that suffered at other houses hands, or he saw it on prisoners who knew what was in store for them.

Once Arthur had calmed down, Tin told him that they had received reports of a nearby village being raided and Earthborn forces weren't able to repeal the attack. Tin had told Arthur that House of Stormwing was pushing its forces to the south and west, pushing into both Earthborn and Everfree territory.

The Caravan was small and lightly guarded. It was a mixture of Appleloosan Rangers and conscripted Earthborn, survivors of previous raids. Arthur had heard word that they were making way to New Ponyville, the heaviest fortified city within the Heartland until the train was ready to haul them off in the Frontier where Eartborn maintained most of its control.

The Earthborn Caravan went untouched, and undetected as they went further south. They decided to take shelter in the old town of Ponyville. Most of the town was flooded out and sunk back into the earth. However, most of the towns under-city was safe from the flooding. There was a series of tunnels and underground shelters during the higher times before Equestria divided. They took shelter under the city, away from Stormwings' silent attacks and gazing eyes.

As night fell, they sealed up the doors, good and tight. Even went as far as booby trapping them. For once in the last several days, Arthur was able to find some peace with his daughter. The night continued with its calming silence, until a howl echoed in the darkness. They may have sealed it off, they never thought of inhabitants still living in the under city. Everyone gathered up in one of the larger chambers and waited. As cannoneers readied their shots, a foul wind came about. It smelled of mildew and swamp water. The groans grew louder and louder as a loud thud sounded.

In the distance, they saw yellow eyes and the smell continued becoming more present. A few flies flew in their direction and the groan slowly turned into a roar. As the steps and moans became louder, the cannoneers fired at the Swamp Shambler, later to be revealed in low light, continued advancing towards them. They continued firing their shots at it, with wave after wave of shots, the creature continued advancing towards them. After somepony threw a bomb, it finally fell. Only, more yellow eyes pierced out of the darkness and more low roars sounded off. "Its a herd of Shamblers!" A higher ranking pony shouted as more cannoneers took defensive formation.

Arthur, Aurora and several others retreated to the center of the formation. Cannoneers and Battle Buckers stood at the ready. The Shamblers continued their slow march towards them. Gunshots rang and flashes of light and smoke slowly filled the air. The Shamblers continued absorbing everything that was thrown at them. They eventually fell, one by one in either piles of muck or ash from last minute adjustments to throw fire bombs rather than shrapnel. Although victory belonged to Tin and his cohort, victory, also belonged to Everfree.

The small band of warriors were defenseless. Almost all of their shots and bombs had been used up. The only thing they had left were their buck knifes, lassoes, extra rope, and a few bags of powder. Although they were resourceful, it still wasn't enough. So, they took turns doing the watch, they weren't fully awake and alert. This worried Tin, a lot. After long deliberation, they decided to continue further south towards New Ponyville.

The caravan continued their travel to New Ponyville. They were somewhat safe, for now.