Shroud of darkness

by LeTriggs

Chapter 12

Outer Haven

3 Days earlier

Carrotcake struggled to pull himself up the steep cliff at the rear of the now larger group. His struggle wasn't made easier as he carried Pound and Pumpkin with him, Cupcake had offered to take them whilst they climbed but he knew she wouldn't be able to make it up with them weighing her down. Even though she would never admit it she was exhausted not just from the journey they had been undertaking but that she was trying to look after each and every pony that was in the group. Cupcake struggled to pull herself over the top of the ridge to which Carrot pushed her from behind getting her over and onto the flat ground on the other side. His hoof landed on a loose pile of stones causing him to trip and start sliding down the cliff face awakening the babies, a hoof grabbed his own halting his descent and dragged over the ridge and onto the safety of the flat ground. Cupcake ran over and took the babies trying to calm them down hugging them both tightly, Carrot sat on his haunches wheezing as he spoke.

"Thanks.....Macintosh." The large pony looked at him with his usual apathetic expression nodded then turned heading towards Luna who was looking over a map with Spike next to her. He looked at the ponies as he walked through Applebloom was with Scootaloo and her mother who looked the same as her daughter the only difference being her grey coat, she had been many times in the past mistaken for Derpy who sat next to her being heralded along with himself, Spike and the late Doctor Whooves as hero's. He thought back to the brown pony's gruesome demise by the creatures that had attacked his home. He shook his head from the thought and kept looking round the group, Trixie who had met up with them the previous day was next to Cheerilee using her cloak as a blanket for a few of the young ponies that needed sheltering from the cold. Spitfire was changing the bandage on her leg revealing the wound she had received from a group of bandits before she had joined the group. Nothing made sense to Big Mac anymore, those that were once mean and full of hatred were now kind to a fault and those that were kind and willing to help any had now become murderers that butchered any that they came across.

"This can't be right why would she think that that place is safe?" Luna threw down the map in frustration still looking at it transfixed whilst a quizative Spike looked at the point she was staring at. within a circle of mountains stood one that was larger than any other on the continent that had a circle placed around it indicating the location of Haven.

"What is it Princess? I thought your sister told you where to go."

"Yes Spike but where she has told me to go, something bad happened there a long time ago."

"What do you mean something bad?" Big Mac interrupted his voice filled with contempt that he had been giving her ever since she had met up with the remnants of Ponyville.

"I don't want to talk about." She hung her head in shame to which Big Mac ignored.

"Well whatever happened ya best get over it quick, can't be far now this gotta be the mountains round it. We can probably get there by sun down." Luna looked up into his eyes in shock which he replied with the look of pure contempt he kept shooting her. They stood staring each other down for awhile, he was one of the few ponies that was able to meet her gaze head on due to his size and he used it to his advantage to shock her.

"Fine then lets get going then." She picked up the box and threw it over her head tucking the map into it and making sure the helmet she carried as well was secure whilst Big Mac addressed the rest of the group.

"We aint far now c'mon we can get to this place by sun down so let's keep goin." The ponies that made up the group slowly lifted themselves up and gathered their things before setting off towards their destination.

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The group approached the foot of the large mountain just as the sun was setting behind the ring of mountains they had crossed earlier that day. The sight would ordinarily be that of beauty, the sun glistened off the snow covered mountains and ground making it sparkle, the light wisps of snow moving in the wind along with the few bits of grass that poked through the ground reaching up to get the precious sunlight they needed to survive. It would have been the most beautiful sight any of them had seen, if not for the situation they were currently in. They approached the large cave entrance that Luna had led them to to which she stopped remembering her previous time in this place.

"Macintosh you come with me the rest of you wait here while we check it's clear." She dropped her various items at Spike's feet and then moved cautiously into the cave. The cave echoed the howling wind making it sound like a wolf cry but it was warmer than the outside, they moved through the cave in silence not wanting to talk to each other spiralling up through the heart of the mountain. Ahead of them they saw something that made them both slow their pace to a crawl, there was a flickering light ahead of them making Luna's cautiousness of the mountain all the more justified. They rounded the corner entering a large chamber with one large tunnel on the other side and many other small ones dotted around that supposedly led into other parts of the mountain.

"HALT!" The pair froze at the command feeling multiple sets of eyes upon them. From each of the smaller tunnels within the room ponies had appeared from the shadows pointing weapons at them, each one had their identity hidden by black cloaks that helped them blend into the darkness. From the large tunnel ahead of them a singular pony emerged from the shadows unarmed obviously being the one that had spoken the order. He looked the pair up and down then raised a hoof up to which the others lowered their weapons and moved back through their respective tunnels, he then signalled to Luna who turned to Big Mac. He nodded to her not needing to be asked what to do and set off back the way they came to gather the rest of the group waiting at the bottom of the mountain.

The hooded pony then turned and began heading through the opposite tunnel to which Luna followed spurred on by her curiosity of the hooded group. They entered yet another chamber which contained sets of tables and chairs which the rest of the group had moved into. Many of the ponies had removed their cloaks which Luna noticed one thing about them that was the same, each of their cutie marks had scars over them crossing them out. They began talking in hushed whispers as Luna and their leader passed them and kept staring until they moved into yet another tunnel that led into a small room which only contained a table, a set of chairs and a map of the world with a spider-web of string moving over it held in place by pins stuck into different locations. The pony removed his cloak revealing himself, His coat was a pure white he had golden eyes that showed up even stronger against his colouration, he had no mane or tail to speak of and just like the others his flank had the scar over it likely self inflicted as some part of ritual. He sat down at the table and indicated for Luna to sit across from him.

"I guess that you would like to know who we are?" Luna nodded keeping her silence still utterly baffled by this strange little group hiding out in this place in the middle of nowhere outside of any country.

"We are the followers of the star, an ancient group created not long after your coup. Our group first came together after the captain of the guard at the time disappeared."

"Wait you know Stargazer!?" Luna almost knocked the chair over in her excitement.

"No we do not know him he has not been sighted for almost two hundred years now. One of our tasks set down is to gather all information around the world of him to try our best to document his life." He stood up and moved over to the map following one of the lines until it reached a pin not connecting anywhere else.

"This was where he was last seen, in the town of Canterbury where it was said at the time the place was being ravaged by a mighty Ursa to which a pony with both wing and horn set out to destroy to which they never returned and the village was left alone. But of course you must know the story."

"Yes I do. Celestia said that she erected a statue in the town commemorating the one that did it and that she made it to look like him. I had planned on seeing the statue but."

"The order was made by the generals of the Equestrian military just before he left." The pony interrupted her clearly annoyed at her reminiscing and carried on with his explanation.

"The generals were asked to meet with him in secret, he informed them of his plan to leave and that there needed to be those that could act outside of the law to keep the world safe. He told them that one day the darkness would return and that our order would be needed to wage war against it. Since then the order has stood ready for what would happen but now." The pony leant forwards towards Luna his eyes narrowing as he whispered.

"Within the initial attacks our group was decimated. we originally had ten groups containing fifteen ponies in each city and now we are the last left. This war is over before it even began." The pony sat back in his chair and let out a long sigh.

"Is that any way for a leader to talk!" His attention snapped back to Luna shocked by the sudden outburst.

"You can't let yourself be beaten, You haven't been out there you haven't seen what has happened. If you were truly brought into this group to fight a war then you need to fight."

"But how are we"

"We need to fight! Not for land, not for wealth, But for our freedom and for our very lives. If we cannot fight as a true army then we need to fight in other ways. Not as an army. Not as soldiers. But as Ponies. We need to become more than followers, we need to be everyone. We need to be resistance.

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The military convoy moved through the blizzard in a staggered group up the mountain road. Their numbers had dwindled significantly from when they were in the caves. Almost all those that had been injured had died whilst a small number had died from the cold whilst they walked through the frozen wastes in the far south of Equestria. Most of them had gone in their sleep or in pain screaming and begging for their lives except for one. Iron-hoof looked to the back of the group to see Fleur walking with Henderson by her side, he had ordered the private to keep an eye on her after Fancy pants had died. His death stuck in the captain's mind the most, he was calm unlike the others that were awake he asked for Fleur so he could say his tearful goodbyes after which he just stopped. With the others there was an indication that they were dead like the life could be seen leaving their body but him, he just merely stopped. His eyes were still open staring at the old pony when he died. It was something he wouldn't be able to get out of his head for a long time, those eyes that would never blink again, never convey that warmth which he gave off whenever he had entered a room.

"Urmmm Captain?" Iron-hoof's mind was brought to the present at the sound of Steel's voice.

"What is it Leftenant?"

"How far until we get to this Windhelm Fortress? We can't stay out here much longer or we're all gonna freeze to death." The pair at the front of the convoy looked back at the rest. It was true they wouldn't last long in this storm, Octavia pushed herself harder and collapsed onto the ground, A passing soldier helped lift her to her hooves and let her use him for balance. Iron-hoof pulled out the map he kept consulting and pin pointed their location on it.

"According to this it's just up this ridge it should be at most an hours hike." Steel turned to the rest of the haggered convoy and addressed them.

"Pick up the pace ponies! Not far now the quicker we get there the quicker we get out of the cold!" The soldiers seemed to speed up spurred on subcontiously from the command whilst the few civilians had to push themselves harder being helped to move by some of the more stronger soldiers.

As they reached the end of the road climbing up the mountain rising above the snow storm that had ravaged them they saw the most glorious thing they could hope for. The ancient fortress loomed atop the flat mountain still as impressive as it had been when it was first built. They approached the main gate to which Iron-hoof ordered two of the pegasus to open the gate from the other side which they did in a matter of seconds. allowing the others to enter into the courtyard. The place was completely empty letting the sound of their steps echo around them as they made contact with the ground. Iron-hoof made a beeline for the entrance to the fortress where the doors were already open allowing the group to hurry inside out of the cold.

"You lot take the civvies and find somewhere to rest yourselves. You three look for some form of pantry and see what the food situation is like. The rest of you search this place from top to bottom to see if anything has decided to use this place for shelter aside from us. The soldiers each saluted him then began rushing in different directions to get their tasks completed. Steel stayed by the captain's side and followed him through into a large chamber containing a pentagonal table, Iron-hoof lit the gem in the middle of the table casting its glow around them.

"This will be the command centre from now on. We're gonna need to come up with a way of contacting anyone who is alive out there. There should be a radio around here somewhere that still works." One of the ponies that he had sent to search the building came rushing into the room clearly panicked by something.

"You need to come see this!"

Comments

[Fluttrick]

and it's pretty hardcore, though I haven't read to the latest chapter, pretty epic that something is stronger than Celestia.

[Fluttrick]

oh yeah, Chapstick is my other user, accidentally made 2.

[LeTriggs]

143459

haha thankyou it's always nice to hear someone appreciates my work i would have uploaded the chapter on monday as i plan on releasing them each week but i couldnt be arsed to write anything till today

[videocrazy]

You should seriously consider having someone edit this, or at least run it through a grammar checker (if you have access to one). Your story is riddled with grammatical errors, particularly the run-on sentences and lack of commas.

Incidentally "a lot", not "allot". Spellcheck won't pick it up since "allot" is a word, but it's wrong for the situations you're using it for.

[LeTriggs]

172531 ah yes i do suffer from grammar errors and would give it to pre-readers but as im new to this don't know any if you can suggest me some then that would be amazing as i could do with some editing.

[videocrazy]

172660
I'm afraid I don't know any personally, but you might find some by asking around forums.