Lost Magic And Betrayal

by Politicalunrest2400

Interlude: Letters from the front line

My beloved princess,

I write to you now so that ye may know I am yet alive. However princess, I write not of our victory or growing strength, but of things that are grievous to us, indeed most grievous to the heart and mind of any caring pony.

For behold, I was witness unto a sore battle between the forces of one of the great Chaos Lords and the great Betrayers forces for dominance of the citizens of this region. The slaughter was great my princess, and many on both sides died in great droves. So fierce was the battle however that the citizens who had been cowering in their homes had started to become targets, as soon as Queen Crystalis’s forces knew they would be defeated, in a petty attempt to deprive the Betrayer of their labor began a slaughter among them.

It is here that we few defenders of old equestra being still loyal to the thrones in Canterlot and having as per your instructions kept ourselves hidden among the populous, set out to defend these who were helpless, compelled by our conscience. We entered into sore battle against the forces of the fallen queen of the changelings, in which we did not conquer. Behold my princess, our captains Pontificus, Resolute-stone, and Gladius have fallen to the teeth and claws of the enemy during the crazed melee, having spent their lives at great cost to the enemy.
It was only the timely, and oddly convenient timeing of a counter attack by the Betrayers forces that lead to our eventual salvation from the seemingly infinite numbers of the enemy.

After the battles end, the ponies of this region were left to their own care as the forces of the Betrayer, satisfied at having denied the Queen of Excess and her minions the pleasures of butchering and tourchering the inhabitants of the town, left.

Behold my princess I have been laboring with these towns people for many days, attempting to rip from their minds the cloud of doubt and anger that the Betrayer has laid over them. I have had to speak to them with much sharpness, which has only brought their wrath upon myself and those I labor with; for when I use no such sharpness in my toung they harden their hearts against my words.

For so exceedingly do they anger, that I think they have lost all fear of death, and all love of life. Behold my princess, they have lost their love one unto another, and it seemeth to me that they thirst for blood and revenge continually. Notwithstanding their hardness in their hearts we defenders of old equestra will continue our diligent work, seeking out those who will fight against the evils of the Betrayer and her pet Chaos Lords.

Now my beloved princess of the night, I write to you concerning some of the sufferings of the ponies in this region. Behold I have learned that far to the north a great battle took place between the traitor royal guard, and the forces of Princess Cadence in the Crystal Empire. While the Crystal Empire yet stands resolute against the evils that surround it on all sides, many mares, fillys and colts were taken captive from the watch keep known as the Gem-Tower along the southern border of the Empire.

Behold my princess my scouts have reported many disturbing things from the incident. The warriors of the betrayer having slain these captives’ fathers and brothers, even now feed them upon their fallen loved ones cooked flesh, offering no other food for sustenance. And no water do they offer them for life, save a little.

Notwithstanding these horrors and abominations, it does not exceed that of the Chaos lords. For behold in the western plains the terrible Chrisalis, under the pretense of replenishing her hives numbers, though she need no pretense for her power in that region is absolute and unchallenged, have taken many of the mares of that region. After depriving these fair mares of that which is most precious, their chastity and virtue, her minions did murder them in a most cruel manor. Torturing their bodies even until death, they feasted upon their flesh, which at times was carved off of their forms as these mares yet screamed having been cooked alive upon a spiket above the enemy’s many cook-fires…”

Luna looked away from the parchment, tears streaming down her face, teeth set in anger and determination. Collecting herself, having recovered from the revoltion of what she had read, and she knew that what her faithful servant wrote to her was but a fraction of the crimes that now befell her once peaceful Equestra; she forced herself to continue to read.

“…Oh my beloved princess, how can a nation so lost, and which delights in such abomination (as many of the towns people have started worshiping these chaos lords as gods), ever find redemption? How can it be that we one day return to the peaceful life that now seems like a lost dream, wisps of smoke and vapor melting before the noon sun? How is it that we can expect to live past this, that the sword of justice which is yet poised above our heads wielded by the hand of judgment might be stayed? I do not know princess, but we have not given up, and neither shall we.

Behold my princess I would stop such abominations, but the army which is with me is weak, made of the elderly and young with few skilled warriors. Besides this, betwixt us and the Crystal Empire there is yet the remnants of the Changeling army which did battle here, and behold princess it is nearly three times our size despite their extensive losses.

It is my belief that the best course of action that we can take, is to once again dissipate into the populous, and hide among them. Gather power and strength for the time of your and princess Celestia’s return, that we might be of some use.

My only hope dear Luna, is that the charts, maps, troop displacement and disposition information, and intelligence we have gathered, and which you will find attached to this letter, will find you well. That you will be able to use this knowledge in some way to counter this evil which spreads through our land as a wave from the ocean upon the sands of the shore.

Your dearest and most faithful servant
Captain Tigers-blood.

Luna turned the parchment over, and found another personal note.

PS: My Dearest Luna, the shade of my heart during the burning day. I miss you with every fiber of my being. While we are apart, until the end of this conflict, let my love for you light your way in the darkness that now pervades your precious night. Know this… no darkness will take away this Knight from you, as I will one day return the victorious hunter, and again we can continue our courtship as though these horrible events never took place.

Luna put the parchment down gently on the pile she had finished reading. Sighing she picked up some of the charts and maps. Most of it she already knew, but a few details, some perhaps key pieces of information, could be useful in identifying places that pinpoint strikes would do the most good. She put them in another pile of trusted intelligence information that her commanders would have to sort through with her later when the sun went down and they woke from their slumber.

Luna picked up the letter once more, flipping it over to the personal message on the back. “My precious hunter… tread lightly, for you are not the only predator in the forest.” She whispered to herself, before putting it down once more, picking up another letter, this one from the commander of the resistance in the lands of the Chaos Lord Terick, opened it, and began to read.