Revival

by mild hotsauce

Ch7: gates

Ch7: Gates

After the little incident in the morning, things started winding down as much as it can when you have the deadric lord of madness in town. Several deadra and shades tried to assault the town, but the Mazken and Aureals drove them back with almost no casualties. Celestia, Luna, the six elements, Sheogorath and a panting blue pony all sat on bales of hay in Applejacks barn waiting to see what the armor would look like on Lance, wondering what armor could possibly look like if it were made from ore made of madness.

Several minutes of what appeared to be metal banging against metal, Lance finally stepped out from where he was getting dressed. The main color of the metal was black, with some shadowy gold highlights that depicted faces on the armor that either looked like they were laughing, or were in extreme pain. He had plates going down whatever tail he had left, and the helmet was designed to make the spikes on his head more pronounced, or just plain deadly. Along with the sword called Umbra, Lance also had a madness long sword and shield.

“Well, what do you think?” he asked, voice muffled by the heavy metal he was trying to speak through.

Of course, Rarity was the first to speak up, “well, the color scheme and designs could do with a bit more work, it’s too drab to be walking around in and…” she looked around and saw everyone in the room giving her a quizzical look. “Or it could be just fine.”

“We like it; it reminds us of the old days in which knights clad in armors of heavy make would slay dragons and other manners of beasts to try to win the hearts of me and my sister. As we recall, there was a certain Pegasus that you just couldn’t stop drooling over Celestia.”

“Okay Luna, nopony needs to hear about things that happened almost one and a half thousand years ago. Back on the topic of the armor, it does look durable, but where did you get that sword?” Celestia was eying Umbra with a stern look, trying to figure out if it was just her, or did the blade seem hungry.

“Yes Lance, where did you get Umbra, Clavicus was looking for her, and he also just wouldn’t shut up about Barbas, I mean he’s just like a kid, all he does is complain. Yet, I would rather listen to him blabber on all day about nothing important than be in a party with Molag Bal, he just seems to suck the joy right out of everything.”

Pinkie brightened up at the word party, but before she could mention anything, a purple hoof was shoved into her mouth. “Not now Pinkie, Equestria is in danger, remember?” the pink pony’s mood dampened a bit, and she nodded, but then she remembered she could throw a ‘just saved Equestria from complete destruction party’ when this is all over.

“Well, I got it from Grognack, the strongest listener from the dark Brotherhood, killed him with his own backup weapon. I honestly didn’t expect him to have it, if you want, you could take it back to Clavicus so he can stop crying about it.”

“sure, I could do that, but only if I could hold the deadric gathering on this plane of oblivion, I would love to see Molag’s face when he appears in a world where is out of his element.” Lance handed the sword and sheath to Sheogorath, and felt like some heavy weight was lifted from his shoulders, but he also felt like he lost something important, he shrugged it off.

“What makes you think I would agree to that?” Celestia asks.

“Because we get to throw one of the biggest parties ever silly.” Pinkie threw in.

“Exactly!” Sheogorath’s statement was accompanied by an excited bark. “Anyway, here is that amulet that I told you about, you’ll need it later. Ah have to go now, need to make sure Haskill didn’t burn down the palace again. Now that I think about it, how did he set stone on fire? Gaaah, ah hate thinkin, when I do, stuff starts makin sense!”

“I know right, thinking is for smart ponies like Twilight!” Twilight raised an eyebrow at Pinkie pie, trying to figure out if that was a compliment, or an insult.

“Oh, before I forget, I found your amulet Lance. You won’t believe where it was, it took my champion a good week to try and find the Grummite that ate it for lunch.” He tosses the amulet that has the same appearance to the one emperor Martin Septim wore during the Oblivion crisis. “Well, off we go, I leave the troops here in your hands, err, hooves. You should really fix that, hands are much more effective.” He got up and walked out of the barn, Screw Loose stood up, barked, and trotted after the mad god.

“That girl aint right.” Applejack said.

“Alright, we got some things to do. Does everyone know their jobs for the upcoming battle?” Lance announced to the group. Everypony in the room nodded. Due to her nature, Fluttershy will stay back and help the wounded, Pinkie Pie and Rarity will help her with any supply needs she has. That left the other three, Luna, Celestia, Swift, and me. The other three elements will be leading medium sized groups of soldiers consisting of royal guard, and either Mazken or Aureal, depending on their objectives, which are a few of the many strategically, placed gates in the city. Luna will accompany Swift and a squad of Aureal into the Great Gate to neutralize the threat of the dremora devastator. Celestia and Lance will lead the frontal assault, the other groups will break off the main force when they enter through the front gates. “Get some final preparations done, Swift will go and close the gate around the outskirts of Ponyville, and don’t worry about your families, some soldiers are staying behind to protect the town.” With a couple nods of recognition, the elements left to take care of any last minute details, while the two princesses stayed.

Celestia was the first to voice her concern, “this doesn’t seem real, what will happen if the attack is not successful?”

“It helps to not think about the negatives before battle, but most likely the end of your realm.” He replied solemnly. “But it is not going to come to that, we will win.”

Luna was just as optimistic as he is, “Really sister, what could go wrong with the battle? Considering the number and strength of our forces, these deadra don’t stand a chance.”

“I wish I could share your enthusiasm Luna.” Celestia was only in this situation once before, but the enemy wasn’t in control of the capitol, and most certainly didn’t have forces massing near every city in Equestria.

“Considering what Sheogorath gave us, we probably have better chances for a victory than Cyrodiil did when it was invaded.” The princesses gave him blank looks. “It was where the Oblivion crisis took place, mostly, and where Dagon himself appeared to defeat the Empire that stood in his way. He failed, obviously. Enough of that, you two should get some rest.” They nodded and walked out. He took a look at the amulet he clutched in his hand: a flawlessly cut ruby in a diamond shape, embedded in a gold amulet of the same shape, strung onto a gold chain. On the back was an inscription that he didn’t recognize, it was similar to the dragon language, but the characters were off in shape, and probably didn’t have the same meaning. He left for the boutique; he would need the rest for the battle ahead.
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Sithis and Mehrunes Dagon stood on the balcony, staring over the army gathering outside the city gates. Dagon had his four enchanted war axes slung on his back, each capable of cleaving small mountains in half if he took his larger form, and Sithis was glowing from the amount of energy he took from the Grand Black Soul Gem. They both were ready for battle, best be prepared, even if they knew that the mortal army would never make it past the first few Oblivion Gates.

“You seem really calm Sithis; I would think that even you would have an adrenaline rush before a battle like this.”

“Yes, but it pays to keep a cool head, so to speak. It helps me think of ways to adapt to a situation it things quickly change, in which I mean that if he does seem to break the thing that keeps your gates bound here, I won’t be affected, unlike you who draws all your power from it.”

“Don’t worry, the thing is virtually indestructible, nothing short of the wrath from the nine could possibly break it.”

“that’s what you think Dagon, just remember to keep your axes away from it, soul gems and deadric weapons don’t mix all too well when they make forceful contact with each other.”

“You just worry about your part of the battle, I’ll worry about mine.” With that, the four armed deadra walked back into the castle, intent on meeting the enemy head on. Sithis was cautious, ever since Sheogorath showed up unannounced and was able to tinker with the soul gem; he had to resort to leaving the battle himself, letting his shades fight for him. The Dread Father could be called many things, but careless and foolish are definitely not among them, like many deadra referred to the prince of chaos and destruction as. It wasn’t direct interference per say, it was a loophole in the rule that the mad god had exploited. ‘who would have thought that he could find so many loopholes, if anyone could have found as many as he did, it would have either been Boethia or Azura, not that blubbering fool.’ He thought to himself, he too left the balcony, and proceeded to go with his part of the plan, sneaking open gates to the void behind the enemy, to capture/ kill them from behind, capture because he wanted to torture them before death so he can get more fun out of being here. He faced the soul gem, and started up a spell…
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Everything seemed quiet to Fire-Lance, barring the sound that the Oblivion gates make when they are active. He shifted in his position, uncomfortable with standing the whole time, he would ride a horse into battle, but that would just be degrading to whoever had that job. With one last look at the people and ponies behind him, he donned his helmet, readied his sword, and signaled the charge. It couldn’t have gone any better than how he played it out in his head, as soon as the first few soldiers under his command started forward, deadra poured from the gates up front. Swift and a few of her choosing quickly moved forward and entered the three gates up front, while the rest of the army dealt with the deadra already out.

Lance met with two Valkynaz brandishing long swords and round shields instead of kite shields, which was odd considering their rank. He quickly blocked one slash on his left with the madness shield; some sort of enchantment shattered the sword as soon as it hit the surface of it. ‘Damage weapon, huh, never would have guessed.’ He though, then parried a stab toward his abdomen on the right and severed the dremora’s sword arm. He stabbed the wounded one in the chest, and then used the sharp edges of his shield to cut the throat of the other one. He wasn’t paying attention again, and an arrow slammed into his back plate, archers took positions on the walls of the city. The Mazken took notice, and quickly sent a volley of dark arrows into the deadric fortifications, sending some deadra over the edges of the wall, clutching the arrows embedded in their chests.

After felling three more dremora Kynreeve, a deadroth, and two scamps, Swift and two Aureal jumped out of the three gates and then they abruptly shut. After the structures crumbled, Lance signaled two royal guard unicorns to start pulling the gates open. He motioned to his sister to take the secret way in, which she did. He knew this because three more red lights in the city abruptly went out after the front gate opened up. The pegasi kept the walls clear of archers as the army moved forward, Celestia landed near him, and started helping by using her magic and horn to kill Dremora.

What happened next, completely took Lance by Surprise. The devastator was already halfway out of the Great Gate that was open in front of the castle, and at least twelve others were opened at random parts of the city.

“This may prove a problem, Luna, Swift, get that gate closed now!” his voice may have been muffled by the heavy helmet he wore, but his statement could still be heard. The two in question rushed towards the gate, intent on stopping it before the devastator did any real damage to the army.

Another problem was Celestia’s reaction to every pony that fell during the fight. By the time they got halfway to the main square, a good dozen royal guards, unicorn and pegasi, have been killed. The Mazken and Aureal ranks though, were untouched, mostly, a few scratches on the Mazken and some dented shields in the Aureal ranks.

“Celestia, if it hurts you so much, have the guards fall back, they don’t have to be a part of this.” He exclaimed after bashing a spider deadra on the head and spearing a Churl with his own weapon.

“Sorry… I just… didn’t expect such resistance, but the guards should be fine once the gates start closing.” Her breathing started becoming labored with every few kills; he suspected that this was the only real exercise she had gotten in a few years.

“Take this; it will help with your fatigue.” He passed a green potion to her, which she quickly drank, and then started blasting away with renewed vigor at the deadra. He remembered that Rarity told him that the magic ponies use drains their energy, as in they don’t have Magica pools to tap into when blasting away with spells.

He himself was becoming tired, but that is expected when you are hacking away at seemingly endless waves of deadra. After a good hour, they finally made it to the central square, and then the real fun started. The Great Gate closed, and the Devastator fell, but nor before incinerating a good number of ponies and acquired troops, several other gates closed, signaling the success of the three elements. Shades started making their way out of the shadows of buildings in front of, and behind the attacking force, killing many before they had time to react.

Lance and Celestia were back to back again, keeping the shades at a distance from themselves, Celestia using her magic, and Lance using a crossbow he looted from a dead Mazken archer. Shades and deadra were dangerous foes, but when they work together, they become outright deadly, it was all they could do to keep from being overrun.

Another good hour of going nowhere at all, Dagon decided to show up, with a wide smile on his face. He wasn’t at the height that he tried taking over Cyrodiil in, but he was easily a foot taller than Lance, and his muscles made Grognack look like a mouse. He brandished his four war axes, and laughed menacingly. “You just have no idea what you got yourself into don’t you?”

“What do you mean Dagon?” Lance asked.

“Let’s just say Sithis and I anticipated this.” He held up a sigil stone, which warped in color to show eight figures bound and gagged, lying unconscious before the Dread Father. The elements, Luna, and his sister have been captured, which meant that his forces were cornered in the city. “I am going to enjoy this thoroughly.” He then crushed the stone, and scattered the remains. Six more gates opened up, and deadra started marching out.

Lance took a look at his troops, the six thousand he brought into battle, were whittled down to half of what he was comfortable with. He took out his amulet, ‘I hope you’re right Sheogorath.’ He took off his helmet, put on the necklace, and immediately felt an alien power coarse through him. His blood boiled, and new thoughts formed in his head, he heard the whiper of the dragon tongue, giving him the power that lay dormant in him. ‘Damn, I owe Luna twenty bits.’ He thought to himself.

Dagon then had a shocked look on his face, but then regained composure. He lifted one of his axes and spoke in a voice that would make one of those manticore things cringe in fear, “CHARGE!”