Chapter 1: Drafted
Chapter 1: Drafted
Trixie Lulamoon’s hooves slashed through the puddle of alley water as she galloped without heed to where she was going. She just knew she had to run! She’d managed to remain hidden for a couple of days, but now that she was found her only chance to was run until she lost her pursuers. Her star adorned light violet magician’s cape fluttered behind her and her pointed hat had nearly fallen off her head multiple times in her wild flight from her pursuers. The light in the alley was dim as the Canterlot evening was quickly turning into full on dusk, causing Trixie to trip and stumble over a garbage can and go sprawling to the cold cobblestone ground.
“Auugh…ow…so insufferable! The Great and Powerful Trixie should not have to be fleeing for her life! Again!”
“I heard her! She’s down this way!” came a deep masculine voice followed by the sound of jingling chain and the hoof falls of many ponies galloping down the alley behind her.
Trixie’s eyes went wide with fear as she forced herself back to her hooves and resumed her desperate escape, skidding as she scrambled to make an abrupt turn at a bend in the alley. However her haste was unnecessary, as just dozen yards further and the alley ended in a wall, leaving her trapped.
“No!” Trixie looked around, trying one of the doors to the buildings around her, only to find them all locked. She cursed her foul luck. The sound of heavy metal shod hooves approaching her sent a chill of panic into her and Trixie quickly channeled magic into her horn. Beneath her hat her unicorn horn became wreathed in a light violet glow as she cast her spell. Her magic was weakened, having been used often the past two days of her attempts to keep hidden, and she prayed it held out for just little longer to get her out of this situation. Her horn ached with strain as she wove a spell of invisibility around herself, her form shimmering into nothingness as light bent around her.
A few seconds later four ponies entered the dead end of the alley. They were grim looking ponies, three earth ponies clad in thick metal barding and chainmail, stern helmets covering most of their faces. The armor was so thick it was difficult to discern the coat colors of these ponies, all of them just metal clad clones of each other to Trixie’s eyes. The fourth pony, however, was a stark red unicorn mare with a short cropped brown mane, wearing a form fitting leather coat. The unicorn glared down the alley with stone gray eyes, then cast that glare at the lead earth pony.
“Legionnaire, did you not say you saw the Chosen run down this alley?”
“I did Sergeant, on my honor I swear it to you. She must be hiding.”
“Hmph, we shall see. You two, “the red mare jabbed a hoof at the earth ponies on either side of the one she questioned, “Secure the alley entrance at once.”
As the two followed their orders Trixie watched with her breath held in her throat as the red unicorn mare stalked down the alley towards her. Trixie was focusing all of her concentration on the invisibility spell she’d cast, not daring to move or breathe, lest she give herself away or lose concentration and drop the spell. The pain in her horn only continued to intensify. Normally a spell like this was no problem for Trixie, but after two days of continuous use of magic to dodge these patrolling ponies Trixie was at the limit of her magical endurance.
Her heart was hammering in her chest as the red unicorn got closer and closer. Trixie knew she’d need to step aside, but would that small movement expose her position? She was barely holding the invisibility spell and even a little movement would create faint shimmer in the air. Did she dare risk it? Soon she wouldn’t have a choice; the mare was almost about to bump into her.
Just as the red mare was about to brush shoulders with Trixie she risked taking a quick step to the side. There was a clinking noise as Trixie, to her horror, realized her hoof had brushed against a stray bottle that’d been discarded in the alley. Before Trixie could react to her error the red mare rounded on Trixie’s position and her horn glowed a bright gray that matched her eyes. Trixie felt the raw impact as her body was slammed back against the wall from a burst of magical telekinesis, the air getting knocked out of her lungs and her invisibility dropping instantly.
The red mare smirked, “Clever, Chosen, but this chase is over. You should not have fled the draft. The Legion shall take its due from the Heartland, no matter how its little ponies may kick and scream. Of course how such a little slip of a unicorn like you could serve the Legion as anything other than fodder is beyond me, but if you manage to take a wolven bolter shot in place of a true Legionnaire you’d have served your purpose.”
Trixie was somewhat glad this mare liked to talk. Admittedly it was a trait Trixie shared with her, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to take advantage of it. She used the few seconds the mare had used to speak so derisively towards Trixie to regain her breath and her magical focus.
“The Great and Powerful Trixie is not fodder!” she growled, “And she is not going to be carted off to fight in some pointless war for a Prince she’s never heard of!”
Light poured from her horn and in an instant the alleyway was filled with harmless yet incredibly bright and loud fireworks; one of Trixie’s signature spells. She braced herself, closing her eyes as she’d set them off. The Legionnaires had not been prepared. The red unicorn magi had been trained to repel magical attacks like fireballs or bolts of lightning, but something like a relatively harmless burst of sound and light was unexpected.
As the Legionnaires all had to shield their eyes, stunned against the cacophony of sound and light, Trixie barreled past them, going back the way she’d come. She hoped she might catch the two ponies who’d been sent to the entrance off guard as well, but to her dismay those two were waiting for her just around the bend, thoroughly blocking her exit.
Trixie charged her horn with another spell of fireworks, about to unleash it on the grim faced Legionnaires before her, but just as the spell was leaving her horn she felt a weight drop on her back, grinding her into the ground. The cold hard cobbles scratched up her face and knees, and from the coppery taste in her mouth followed by the sharp pain on her tongue she thought she’d bit herself. The warm weight on her back shifted, wrenching Trixies hooves behind her back, and Trixie felt a cold metal device slipping onto her horn.
Trixie was rolled over to find a beige pegasus mare with a long, wavy white mane and green eyes leaning over her. The pegasus wore black leather barding lined with metal studs, a small crossbow clipped to her chest.
“Well, you’ve led us a merry chase these past couple of days, Trixie Lulamoon,” the pegasus mare said as Trixie tried to cast another spell, but found her magic being…blocked.
“Oh, don’t bother. That device on your horn sends a steady stream of anti-magic into your horn. No more spells for you.”
The red unicorn mare arrived from the back of the alley, looking extremely pissed if the veins on her forehead were any indication. She fixed Trixie with a near murderous glare, coming over and smacking Trixie across the face hard enough to rattle teeth.
“Hey, that’s enough of that, Sergeant,” said the beige pegasus, “No roughing up the prisoner.”
“Yes ma’am,” said the unicorn, saluting with a hoof pounding to her chest, “Shall we take her off your hooves?”
“Oh, I’ll deliver her to the processing station myself, I think.”
Trixie, still squirming slightly despite the daze the hoof strike had left her in managed to shout an indignant, “You can’t do this! Trixie hasn’t done anything wrong! You have no right!”
The red unicorn laughed darkly but the beige pegasus simply replied in a calm, even tone, “We have every right, by the command of both our Prince Terrato, and your Princesses Celestia and Luna. The Legion and the Heartland has joined, and you Chosen must accept the draft. It’s as simple as that, Trixie Lulamoon. Your name was drawn, and now, like it or not, you’re either going to be a part of the Legion, or you’ll face the penalty for desertion. For us from the Barrier Lands that would be death. You Heartlanders get treated a bit more lightly, but I somehow doubt you’d find life in a dungeon all that agreeable either.”
Trixie’s teeth ground together and there were tears in her eyes, both of fear and frustration, as the beige pegasus hauled her to her hooves and in short order the other Legionnaires placed manacles around her legs that would allow her to walk, but prevent her from running.
“Captain Windstriker, will there be anything else?” asked the red unicorn.
“No, Sergeant Hot Coals, you may return to your duties elsewhere,” said Windstriker.
With a last scornful look towards Trixie, Hot Iron ordered her troops to form up and they marched back out to the streets, presumably to resume patrolling Canterlot for any trouble. Trixie was left with Captain Windstriker, who nudged Trixie with a hoof and nodded towards the street.
“Come along then. If you don’t give me any more trouble I’ll make sure you’re not roughed up too badly at the station.”
“Hmph, as if Trixie could give you so-called Legionaries any trouble with this thing on my horn,” muttered Trixie dejectedly, hanging her head.
Canterlot was much the same grand and beautiful city that Trixie had always admired, but somehow its pristine streets and vast, striking towers felt… tainted to her now. The simple knowledge that these monstrous ponies of the Legion were occupying the city made everything somehow look duller and less friendly to Trixie’s eyes. At every corner there were hard eyed ponies in armor, watching the passing citizenry with their iron gazes. Where once the streets were always filled with amiable chatter from happy ponies shopping or enjoying the many outdoor cafes, now there were few who took to the streets, and those who did only did so to quickly trot from one place to another, often looking at the ground rather than risk locking eyes with any of the Legion who patrolled.
The whole world seemed turned upside down to Trixie Lulamoon. Just a short while ago, less than a month really, and Trixie had been living her normal exciting life of attempting to show the world what a fantastic and amazing magician she was. Aside from a brief… hiccup in the township of Ponyville a little ways back Trixie had been nailing her performances across Equestria, in her mind bringing delight to hundreds! After the Ponyville affair, and an unfortunate encounter with an Ursa Minor and a certain purple unicorn who will remain nameless, Trixie had run into a bit of a snag with her magician career. Apparently someponies thought she was a fraud! Just because she exaggerated a teensy little bit about some of her past deeds! It was called an act for a reason, wasn’t it!? Well, she’d gotten good at dodging tomatoes at any rate, and she was confident she’d be able to get her show back up to speed no time!
That was until the Legion came. Trixie still had a hard time believing it all! According to the Princess herself, from Celestia’s own mouth, the land of Equestria had for countless centuries been separated from a series of border regions called the Barrier Lands, a realm where the ponies there were ruled by Celestia and Luna’s brother, Prince Terrato. More than that, these ponies largely formed a massive army known as the Legion that battled daily against ferocious beasts that surrounded Equestria practically on all sides! It was all just too fantastic to be believed, yet the proof walked the streets beside Trixie!
More than that, recent events, to which Trixie knew very little, had caused Princess Celestia to lower the barrier between Equestria and the Barrier Lands and… and invite the Legion in to turn everypony’s lives into a nightmare! Or at least that’s how Trixie viewed it. The Legion was allowed to draft citizens of Equestria, which they called the Chosen, to force them to fight in their war! It was ridiculous! Ludicrous! A violation of every Equestrian citizens rights as free ponies!
Yet the Princesses were allowing it. Legion soldiers were scouring every settlement, town, and city to gather up ponies whose names were drawn in the draft. Thousands of Equestrian ponies, the vast majority of whom had never picked up a weapon or even dreamed of doing anything violent in their lives were going to be forced into the ranks of the Legion to leave their homes and battle horrific beasts in distant lands.
And Trixie Lulamoon was among those drafted.
Of course she’d tried to run. Who wouldn’t? She had no desire at all to fight anypony, or anything! She certainly didn’t want to die in some forsaken land far from home! Not that Trixie had a home anymore, per se. Hoofington hadn’t been home for a long time, and her home had just been the open road wherever she’d decided to take her show. But it was the principle of the thing! Why should Trixie have to risk her neck in a war that had nothing to do with her!? Why should anypony?
“By Terrato’s broken horn do you have to keep giving me the stink eye?” asked Captain Windstriker with a laugh, “You’d think I’d killed your parents or something. You’re the one that decided to run.”
“Why not?” asked Trixie, “Your war has nothing to do with Trixie!”
Windstriker sighed, and Trixie, for a moment, thought she saw a look of genuine sympathy pass over the pegasus mare’s face, “It has everything to do with you. You and every Chosen who’s lived in Equestria. You’ve lived your whole lives protected by us. The Legion has bled for centuries to keep this land safe. Do you honestly believe it’s fair that you Chosen get to live in peace while we in the Barrier Lands suffer and die every day on the fangs and claws of those who’d kill you without a second thought were the Legion not there to stop them?”
Trixie shook her head, nickering in denial, “It’s not our fault where we’re born. Fair or not it doesn’t mean you have the right to drag ponies from their homes and force them to fight!”
“You think so? What would you have us do, then? Politely ask for volunteers?”
“Trixie… doesn’t know,” she admitted.
Trixie had nothing else she could say. She was desperate, and scared. The manacles on her legs felt like they weighed ten times as much as they actually did, her every step feeling like she was walking towards a gallows.
They neared a sizable three story building that had once been a hotel but was now reappointed as a Legion military station for this sector of Canterlot. A flag had been placed over the main entryway and the doors were flanked by guards. Before they entered Windstriker paused, glancing at Trixie with a calm gaze, “I’ll admit, a part of me sympathizes with you Chosen. But the Legion needs you, if both the Heartland and the Barrier Lands are to survive. Like it or not Equestria is in the fight. You can either waste time complaining about it or you can accept things as they are and make the best of it.”
“Why do you even care?” asked Trixie, but Windstriker just shook her head as she led Trixie into the station.
There were Legion ponies scurrying about inside, mostly going about official business, and Captain Windstriker was not challenged more than once as she entered with Trixie in tow. There was some paperwork filed, and a brief bit of formal questioning, but in short order Trixie was led into the station’s basement which had been renovated into a makeshift prison. That struck Trixie as odd, actually, because Canterlot did have a prison or two of its own in the rare event actual crime occurred in the streets. Why was she being brought here? Shouldn’t this mare have just given Trixie over to be thrown in one of the larger prisons?
Windstriker led Trixie not into one of the cells but into a side room that looked like it’d once been a large broom closet but was now a small office with a desk and a couple of sitting cushions. Trixie, looking confused, took a seat at Windstriker’s gesture.
“You’re probably wondering why you’re either not in a cell right now or being beaten to within an inch or your life by Legion soldiers looking to kill some time,” Windstriker began, sitting behind a desk that Trixie had to assume belonged to the Captain. Beige hooves folding in front of her snout on the desk, Windstriker looked at Trixie squarely, “The answer is simple. You’d be wasted in a cell. You evaded our patrols for two days before we caught up to you, and you display some impressive illusion spells; a branch of magic few Legion unicorns are all that practiced in. So here’s the deal, accept the draft willingly.”
Trixie waited while Windstriker paused, and she blinked a few times before saying, “That’s it?”
“That’s it?”
Trixie coughed, “Normally when one offers a deal one tends to list a benefit to the party in question.”
“The benefit is that you don’t spend the rest of your life behind bars, or find your fate at the end of a noose,” Windstriker said bluntly, “I’m only speaking to you because I have an eye for talent, and think you have something to offer the Legion. Normally you’d already be facing the lash for running. I can smooth that out, however, and see you sent to join one of the draftee columns marching to the Barrier Lands before the day is out. No punishment for running. No lashes. But you serve; willingly.That’s my offer. Promise to me that you’ll willingly fight for the Legion, and I make your transfer fast, smooth, and without further inquiry or incident.”
Trixie stared at the pegasus before her, feeling as if the walls were closing in upon her. A bleakness rose in her chest, and she truly realized then that there wasn’t any way out for her. This was her reality, and there was no escaping it. Not yet, at any rate. If she refused she’d be jailed, beaten, perhaps executed. But if she accepted? Maybe somewhere down the road she could find a chance to get away. What other options did she have, really?
With a sinking heart Trixie nodded her head, lowering her eyes to hide her tears.
“So… so be it. Trixie accepts.”
“Good. One last question, though. What’s with the third pony reference?”
“Hmm?”
“You know, ‘Trixie this’, and ‘Trixie that’? That part of some regional dialect?” asked Windstriker with a raised eyebrow, “I’ve been working with many of you Chosen since coming to the Heartland and I haven’t heard another pony talk like that.”
Trixie sighed, her thoughts going back to an apartment in Hoofington, and the visage of a kind faced but tired mare. She shook her head, “No. Trixie just likes to talk this way. It… means a lot to Trixie. It’s a personal matter.”
“I see. Well, fair warning ahead of time, you’ll want to ditch that mode of speech, otherwise you’ll end up in trouble with your commanding officers.”
“Trixie will… consider it.”
Windstriker shrugged her wings and brought out some papers from a drawer in her desk, “Suit yourself. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you. Now then, these are your draft papers. Sign them and you’ll officially become a member of the Legion. Lucky you, Equestrians get a deal that means they only have to serve for four years. For us in the Barrier Lands it’s a life commitment. Try to remember that. To us, to serve the Legion is life. I want you to respect what it means to sign your name on that line.”
A quill was placed before Trixie, and with a trembling in her hooves she steadied the papers that were slid over to her, and with her magic she raised the quill and dipped it in an offered inkwell. With a moment of hesitance, realizing that she might never see Canterlot again… that indeed she might never see Equestria again, Trixie lowered the quill and signed on the dotted line.
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Five days later…
Trixie had never imagined mountains so large. She’d seen a number of mountainous regions in her time, including of course the huge mountain Canterlot had been built upon, but the sheer, raw size of the mountain range that dominated the Western Barrier Lands left Trixie utterly speechless when she’d first beheld it. Like a sheer, jagged wall of forest covered stone teeth the mountain range marched from the north horizon to the south. There were six monolithic peaks that could be seen piercing the cloud cover, so huge that despite the fact that hundreds of miles separated each piece, these volcanoes were still visible. The Six Talons, they were called. Each supposedly home to a clan of the ursans, the huge bear-like monsters that inhabited the mountains region and were the present threat to the Barrier Lands in the west.
Ursans, the monsters Trixie would be called upon to fight alongside her ‘fellow’ Legionnaires. From what she’d heard she and the other draftees from the Heartland were being sent to a place in the northern region of the Western Barrier Lands, where the ursans were generally inactive. After some time spent in this quiet posting they would then, gradually, be sent to more dangerous areas. Regardless, it meant eventually Trixie would have to fight for her life. She was not looking forward to this.
She still didn’t feel right, wearing the plain leather coat upon her body that was her standard issue armor as a recruit. It was surprisingly good protection against the cold winter air. Though the ground wasn’t covered with snow it was slightly frosted from the chill of the previous night.
Once training was finished the recruits would be given more specialized equipment depending on which branch of the Legion they’d be serving in, but for now the thick leather coats sufficed for the hundred or so Equestrian draftees being marched down the rocky road between sharp foothills, their destination a place ominously called Beartrap Fortress. Tall pine trees grew thickly along either side of the road, taller than many trees Trixie had seen in Equestria. The branches swayed and creaked a steady wind that blew in from the west.
A platoon of thirty Legion troops accompanied the band of recruits, the Legionnaires tense as they led the Equestrians along the winding road. Trixie noticed each Legion pony was alert, and rarely chatted amongst themselves. Unlike her fellow Equestrians, many of whom quietly whispered to each other as to avoid getting yelled at by the Legion ponies.
“D-do you think they’ll expect us to… to fight right away?” a pony next to Trixie asked her. Trixie looked over at this pony, taking in the sight of her. She was a pegasus mare, with a white coat that was stained a bit brown from the dust of the road. She had a vibrant lime green and neon pink mane and tail, and her pleasant face was marked with a few faint freckles. Her green eyes were tense and fearful, but also tinged with a light of hope. She was wearing the same basic leather armored coat Trixie wore, but where Trixie was unarmed save for a simple dagger that’d been issued to her, this mare wore a short spear on her back that the mare seemed quite uncomfortable with.
Trixie, not sure what else to do, shrugged.
“Trixie doesn't know for certain. This fortress is supposed to be quiet. Trixie has only heard we may fight rare bandits or raids, but mostly this will be training until they think we’re ready to fight.”
The mare blinked at Trixie, not looking entirely put at ease, “I hope we get more training. The two weeks they gave us back... back home was barely enough for me to learn how to hold this spear. Huh, weird, I don’t remember seeing you during that training. Are you from another group?”
Trixie realized that indeed her situation was a bit different. Windstriker had pulled strings to send Trixie out with a new band of trained recruits that had gotten a crash course in Legion weaponry and tactics back in Equestria. Trixie’s own lack of training was to be explained away as her having ‘special auxiliary skills’. Illusion magic, to be precise. Windstriker had said the less Trixie said on the matter the better and to just roll with what whomever was in charge decided upon. Trixie smiled sheepishly at the mare.
“Trixie, uh, well Trixie kind of got sent out here immediately after they snagged her. Maybe somepony didn’t file the right paperwork? Seems to Trixie these Legion types aren’t much on the ink and paper end of things.”
The mare laughed. It was forced but it was clear she’d been looking for any excuse to just break the tension, “Heh, yeah, that’s for sure. I’m Blossomforth. So you’re name is Trixie I take it?”
More like Tried Hooves, honestly, Trixie thought to herself blearily, her legs aching beyond belief. She was used to long hauls pulling her wagon, but she’d always had a town to look forward to stay at within a day or two of travel back in Equestria. The march out into the Western Barrier Lands had involved little rest and no beds. Trixie managed a friendly enough smile.
“Yes. Trixie Lulamoon, magician extraordinaire and master of the amazing! Often known as the Great and Powerful Trixie, but just Trixie is acceptable. If you want to add the Great and Powerful though, Trixie certainly would not mind!”
“Hey!” a gruff earth pony Legionnaire shouted, “Keep it down back there!”
Trixie and Blossomforth exchanged looks and lowered their heads. Blossomforth whispered, “It’s nice to meet you Trixie. I hope they’ll keep us together, but from my training so far I think they divide ponies up by race. Pegasi like me get put into Reconnaissance, and I think unicorns end up in the Battlemage division.”
Trixie snorted, “Battlemage? Trixie hopes they don’t expect her to throw any fireballs. The last time Trixie tried to use a fire spell she nearly set her wagon ablaze.”
Blossomforth giggled, then blinked, her head tilting, “Wagon… wait, you’re that magician who was in Ponyville last year, aren’t you?”
Trixie almost froze in her tracks. She hadn’t realized Blossomforth was a Ponyvillian. A pulse of shame and fear washed through her as she looked away from Blossomforth, ears flattening against her head. She missed her hat and cape. She could use something to hide her face with.
“Trixie… may have been in Ponyville at some point, yes. But Trixie assures you that whatever you’ve heard is malicious lies and scandal! Trixie would never put a town in danger! A-and she fought against the Ursa Minor to the best of her mighty ability! Bound the Ursa with ropes and rained lightning down upon it! She would’ve won if that blasted purple one hadn’t interfered!”
Blossomforth stared at Trixie for a few seconds as if Trixie had spontaneously grown a plant from her head, then shook her head as if to clear cobwebs, blinking rapidly, “Um, well, I was just going to say, I liked your show.”
“You… did?” Trixie stared, wide eyed at Blossomforth for a moment, then quickly held her head high, grinning, “But of course you did! It was only the most magnificent magical showcase to ever grace your fair village! My talents are truly without compare.”
Blossomforth hid her laugh with a hoof, eyes closed in mirth, “Modesty isn’t one of those talents I’m seeing.”
Trixie was still trying to figure out if Blossomforth was making fun of her or not when a sharp call rang out from the Legionnaires in the lead of the colum.
“Company, halt!”
The procession stuttered to an uneven stop, most of the drafted Equestrian ponies looking around skittishly as the experienced Legion ponies around them readied weapons and started to look even more alert and tense. Blossomforth lowered her head, fearfully whispering to Trixie, “What do you think is happening? We already had the one break we’re allowed each day, so it can’t be that.”
Trixie was equally curious. They usually only stopped once in the middle of the day for a brief ten minutes to eat and relieve themselves, or at least that had been the pattern for the past five days of marching. She had no idea why they were being ordered to stop now. Looking ahead she saw a pair of pegasus Legion ponies fluttering down to the Legionnaire in charge; an earth pony Sergeant by the name of Counter Charge. Counter Charge’s dusky blue fur was contrasted by flaring yellow mane, cut short like so many ponies kept their manes in the Legion. Trixie feared she might be forced into cutting her own carefully tended mane, but that was a low priority on her list of worries as she watched the two pegasi quickly converse with Counter Charge.
Counter Charge spoke rapidly to a few gathered Legion ponies near her, and Trixie watched those ponies rapidly form a vanguard at the head of the column, weapons drawn. Meanwhile Counter Charge turned to the hundred or so Equestrian recruits and spoke in a loud voice that carried across to all of them.
“Recruits, Beartrap Fortress is a few more miles ahead of us,” Counter Charge said, her voice grim and filled with steel hardness, “However our scouts have spotted a raiding party of ursans in the hills northwest of our position.”
There was a note in Counter Charge’s voice that Trixie recognized as barely concealed worry and disbelief. Trixie could tell the presence of ursans in the area had caught the Legion ponies by surprise. Which made sense, if this northern area was supposed to be generally quiet and safe compared to other areas on the front. But Counter Charge was hiding her worry well, keeping a calm and measured tone as she continued to explain the situation.
“We are double marching to the fortress. If our luck holds we can get past the ursans before they know we’re here. If not, we will have to fight our way through. Stick together. Keep moving. Understood?”
For even the fearful Equestrians the proper response had been drilled into them in the two weeks of their training, save for Trixie who looked around a bit confused as those around here said, “Sir yes sir!”
Weapons were readied and the column began to move at a swift pace down the road. Blossomforth was trembling as she reached with her mouth to pulled over the spear to her front and gingerly held it as she began to use her wings to hover along the ground. Blossomforth’s hooves were trembling, the spear shaking in her grip. Trixie watched her with a worried frown, “Can you really use that thing?”
Blossomforth gave Trixie a gulping, nervous glance, “I… I hope so.”
It was the pegasi that were armed with spears, whereas Trixie noticed the earth ponies in the column were given one of two weapon types; huge harnesses mounted with heavy crossbows, or long bladed swords Trixie had heard the Legion ponies call ‘claymores’. Unicorns had daggers like she did, and before long the Legion ponies were corralling the Equestrians into formations of like tribe. Earth ponies formed either the exterior of the rectangular formation the group took, these armed with the claymores, or loaded their heavy crossbows and formed a firing line behind their sword armed brethrine.
Meanwhile unicorns were pushed towards center in groupings of three, formed up behind the crossbow armed earth ponies.
Pegasi were in between these groups, set up in small squadrons of five who could take to the air quickly to provide aerial support with their spears to whichever part of the line needed it.
This was all done in minutes and even the inexperienced Equestrians took to the task quickly. Part of this was simple drill, but Trixie understood a part of it was simple Equestrian cooperation. The ponies of Equestria were naturals at working together to common cause, and terrified or not, these recruits instinctively took to a herd mentality that allowed them to quickly find their place in the formation.
Trixie found herself teamed with a pair of unicorns, one an Equestrian and the other clearly a Legion unicorn. The Equestrian was a skittish, thin stallion who Trixie suspected was also from Canterlot, as he held himself with an air of disgust at all the dirt around him, and he kept brushing a hoof over his green mane as if trying to smooth it out. The Legion unicorn was a stout, short gray mare with a tied back brown mane and fierce, icy blue eyes.
Against her better judgment she leaned towards the Legion unicorn and asked, “What do we do if we’re attacked?”
The mare looked at Trixie as if Trixie were an especially slow and annoying foal, “Aim for the eyes. You can’t form a proper array with me without training, so just target what I target, and remember, the eyes. An ursans hide is too thick for weak spells to do anything to them.”
“We won’t be expected to… to use our hooves will we?” asked the stallion, his eyes wide.
“Ugh, just… just follow my lead and stop asking questions, and try not to die. Better yet, don’t get me killed,” the mare said, glowering.
Trixie’s enthusiasm, which had been nonexistent to begin with, was now at an all time low. She mentally ran over her repertoire of spells, trying to decide which ones might actually be useful against these ursans. From what little she had heard these creatures were basically large, bear-like… things. Her track record with things that matched that description was not good. She could try summoning a lightning cloud again. It might be effective than it’d been against the Ursa Minor. If not that, she had her firework spells. It wouldn’t hurt anything, but the flashing lights might distract them.
Trixie realized her legs were shaking as they marched and she clenched her teeth and shook her head in self denial. No, she couldn’t let herself be scared! She was the Great and Powerful Trixie! She had to stand firm, be brave, face the danger with her head held hi-
A roar of raw predatory fury and hunger echoed through the trees.
Trixie felt her heart skip a beat and all the blood drain from her face.
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Hmm, interesting. I shall look into this when more chapters are out. For now, a like and a fav.
5023488
Shouldn't be long on more chapters. I have two more mostly written but am making some changes based on Visiden's advice, and should get them out gradually over the next week or two.
The short description says "viscous".
I believe you mean "viscious", which has a totally different meaning.
5023740
Hah, those silly ursans, with their sticky consistency. 
Thank you kindly, corrected the error.
Will not lie, you had me at Coco, but I mean come on ,who doesn't love that mare?
Hmm, this is very nicely done actually, I look forward to more.
This story needs more attention, STAT!
I understand it's Needed to protect equestria, but the legionaries are absolute assholes and the way they are going about recruitment and collecting recruits isn't endearing the concept of loyalty to any of these draftees.
5041062
This. Plus, I'm typically not a fan of the whole "Equestria has a huge dark secret that undermines everything you see in the show, and the princesses are in on it" genre to begin with. I really like your other stuff, so I'll gives this a try, but the tone of the first chapter makes me think that this one probably won't be for me.
I stumbled upon this today while we were waiting for a carriage. (I am (or was) at a Christmas event and our ride was late.) Took me about an hour to read in total, though I did so in short 5 minute spurts. Haokyruss is right on what he said, so I won't go over that. However, despite this the chapter was fairly well paced, and finely structured.
5041062 The concept of forcing anyone to fight for a cause they don't believe in is tantamount to slavery, in my opinion. The prince is a tyrant and his soldiers are proof of it.
Something I have never really got is why the Legion isn't more gungho about integrating Heartland technology. They have airships, the ability to control the weather, basic computers, and gunpowder just to name a few. All these would give the Legion a huge advantage over their less technologically advanced adversaries. To the point where they might not even need a draft.
One of the things that bother me about this universe is that is too dark. The author has created a world where Equestria will always be fighting and at war. It is surrounded by bloodthirsty monsters that want to eat, kill, or enslave ponies and any attempt at peace is impossible. It is hard to get excited about a world like that. Anyway, this chapter is interesting and Trixie and her antics excite me. It's nice to see an oddball character in this situation. Looking forward to more chapters.
I too love the Upheaval series so I've been meaning to read this for a while. The first thing that strikes me as awesome is how much more "realistic" Trixie's reaction to the war and the draft is. That's not to say no one would ever react like Twilight did but Trixie's situation is more unfair, therefore I relate to her more and I'm more invested in her well being. Not wanting to be forced to fight is perfectly understandable, I also love that she was cunning and versatile enough to evade hardened soldiers for days. Damn right she'd be wasted in a dungeon, Trixie ftw.
The weaponry choices seem interesting. Do they differ from the Northern Legion's equipment because a different enemy necessitates different arms? How do the Earth Ponies weild these Claymores effectively? Why not give the Pegasi crossbows? Why don't the Northern Legion give Unicorn's daggers, that seems like a great idea to me?
Okay this story had my curiosity, now you have my attention.
Time to read more and see where this goes.