Pawns

by Corah Il Cappo

Gambit

The world went silent. Luna felt as though she were awake, but she saw only blackness. There was nothing she could see. Nothing she could hear. Nothing she could feel. Her body was afloat in an endless sea of emptiness. Was this what it was like to be dead? To drift listlessly through the inky darkness? It was certainly much different than she had expected. Perhaps this was just the beginning of her journey into the afterlife. Maybe it was like passing though a long tunnel, where the end would be her eternal reward...or punishment. Luna tried to reflect on her life, attempting to recall the good and the bad she had done. Her head swam as she tried to dig through her memories. Try as she might, Luna could not bring anything to recollection.

So this was death. An abyss stretching as far as the eye could see. As much as Luna hated to admit it, she felt rather comfortable this way. Sure, she had died in an embarrassing way, but who cared? Sure, she had lost the war against Sand Shrine, but what did it matter now? Now there was no stress, no pain, no worry. All there was now was peace, quiet, and relaxation. Maybe being dead wasn't so bad after all...

Suddenly, Luna felt a piercing pain invade her cheek. The pain felt real. She was still alive. Again the pain rippled through her face. The princess felt the blood circulating through her veins. She felt the air passing through her nose and into her lungs. She felt strength begin to radiate through her body, and tried her best to focus it. Another shock of pain. Although it hurt, this pain felt almost comforting. It let her know that there was still life left in her. Where there is life, there is pain, and vice versa. She focused her returning strength into her eyelids, and with a bit of effort, forced them to open. She now saw that she was sprawled out on the wooden floor of the train, with her three comrades crowding around her.

"See!" Dream Sickle shouted as she placed an arm around Craven and shook him. "I told you it would work! I told you!"

"What...What did you do to me?" Luna stammered, trying to catch her breath.

"I slapped you!" The pegasus chuckled, "I knew if I whacked you enough times you'd eventually come to!"

Well, that explained the pain. Luna drew a deep breath and closed her eyes. Her wounds from the previous day and night still stung, sending little shudders of pain rippling through her body. However, the pain only strengthened her resolve. She released her breath, opened her eyes, and stood up. Logic dictated that the pain should have forced her to lie down, but she openly and brazenly defied it. Now was the time for action, not for rest.

"Sickle." Luna said, her voice lower than usual. "Before ye fell into slumber, thou hadst mentioned a message for me."

"Oh! Right! Of course, Princess!" Dream slapped her own forehead, "Ugh, I can be such a ditz sometimes!"

"That can be seen plainly."

"I was supposed to tell you that Sand Shrine is headed for Dodge Junction next. I think he wants you to meet him there or something."

"Your assumption is correct." Luna looked out the window at the desert whizzing by, "This line shalt take us to Dodge Junction, and there I shalt face Sand Shrine once more."

"No offense Princess, but the last time you fought Shrine you kinda got taken out...badly."

"This is true. But thou art not seeing things through the eyes of a goddess. Sand Shrine may have won the battle but by my word he shall not win the war."

*****

Several miles behind them, a very disgruntled Nightshade was plodding along beside the train tracks. She had come so close. She had brought a goddess to her knees, she should be proud. However, she had failed to strike the final blow. She had dragged her enemy to the chopping block, raised the axe, and then missed on the downward swing. Part of her would have preferred that the goddess strike her dead than to live with the tantalizing knowledge of how close she had come. Nightshade could feel her blood simmering beneath her skin, both from rage and from the desert heat. A cold sweat sprang up and drenched her flesh as a realization dawned upon her. Sand Shrine had expected her to be his right hoof general. Now she had set off on a wild, blood crazed, quest to slay an alicorn. Shrine would have her head on a platter for this if he found out. That is, if he ever found out. Nightshade smirked. She was miles away from Damarescus by now. There was no way that Shrine could-

"Nightshade." The single word fell upon her ears with the force of a hurricane. The unicorn whipped around to see her superior standing only a few yards away. She swallowed the heavy lump in her throat and smiled at him.

"Hello Sand Shrine." She replied, trotting to where her god stood. "What brings you to this neck of the Expanse?"

"Don't patronize me you pathetic whelp. I can see what you're doing."

"Is that so?"

"Yes. I can see that you are in the process of hunting down Luna, a quarry you are ill equipped to bring down."

"Alright, you caught me." Nightshade chuckled, "I'm putting in some overtime work to kill your mortal enemy. Remind me again why you're upset?"

"I never said I was upset." Sand Shrine replied in his typical monotone, "I am however disappointed."

"Because she's not dead, right?"

"Precisely."

"Well she will be. I just ran into a little bit of trouble."

"A little bit?" Shrine said, raising an eyebrow. "She nearly had your head, and she was already exhausted from her battle with me. You don't understand what you are dealing with Nightshade. This isn't an earthpony or a unicorn that will keel over with a single blade stroke. Alicorns can absorb more damage than you could possibly dish out, and then return it with twice the speed and power that you did. You're no longer fighting mortals here Nightshade."

"Yeah, yeah." The unicorn replied nonchalantly, "I can handle it."

"No you can't. You're being arrogant. You cannot face Luna alone."

"Does that mean you're coming with me?"

"No." The alicorn's horn began to glow. "But I will give you a little gift."

Sand Shrine extended a hoof and the desert sand began to churn at his command. A large, circular section of the desert began to sink, as though the sand was falling into an unseen hole. Soon, a massive cavity had been opened amid the sand. Nightshade stood beside the edge of this aperture, staring down into complete blackness. She could see nothing, but could hear a faint thumping noise coming from within. The din grew louder and louder until the unicorn could clearly make out the sound of approaching hoofbeats.

A small squadron of reanimated dead came galloping from the cave. They stopped abruptly, frozen perfectly in formation.

"I'm placing these under your command Nightshade." Sand Shrine said, "Your mind is now linked with theirs. They will respond to any command you give them. Be it mental or verbal. Use them wisely."

"I will. I will." Nightshade replied, waving a hoof at him, "Go on now, get going! You've got a city to level, don't you?"

"That I do." Shrine spread his wings. "But it won't take long. I expect to have the attack underway by sunset, just in time for Luna to catch up to me. Now if you'll excuse me, I must be off."

And with that, Sand Shine gave a single flap of his massive wings and lifted off into the desert sky.

"Not if I can reach her first." Nightshade mused.

*****

Luna sat in the moving boxcar mentally preparing herself for combat. With her magic, she had woven together a small, ethereal chessboard, and stared at it intently, moving pieces on occasion. She had noticed that Shrine was slow to react to her replication technique. If he hadn't tried to stab it, he might never have known that it was an illusion. That was something she could easily exploit. Perhaps if she swarmed him with copies of herself she could tire him out until he was a more manageable opponent. Of course, her Lunar Apparition spell required heavy concentration, and would require her to remain hidden from sight, something that was difficult to do in these barren lands. Plus, Sand Shrine wasn't stupid. He would realize they were only replicas and conserve his energy accordingly. No, that strategy would never work.

Luna reset the board.

There had to be a weakness in Shrine's strategy. He thought he was unbeatable, but Luna knew that there must be some flaw to his battle plan. There was always a flaw to exploit. Perhaps that was the answer all along. The old saying about pride coming before the fall could prove devastatingly accurate. Perhaps Luna could goad him into a battle that seemed like an easy win on the surface, using herself as bait. When he clamped down on her, her trap would in turn clamp down on him. Then, she could overwhelm him with superior numbers. He would fall in the same manner as Vitae had before him, swarmed over by hundreds of the enemy. Of course, for that, she would need an army. Dodge Junction did not have the horsepower she would need for a plan like that, and she had no time to return to Equestria Proper for reinforcements.

Luna reset the board.

The strength of Sand Shrine's strategy rested on his formlessness. He was able to switch seamlessly between flesh and sand, making him nearly impossible to hit with any attack. That was what Luna needed to overcome. But how does one damage sand? It shifts and deforms under pressure, then reforms with ease. The only time when sand was hard was when it was glass, but Luna knew no fire magic. That was the domain of her sister and Sand Shrine himself. She could theoretically heat the sand with lightning, but spells of that caliber were difficult to focus for any period of time. Besides, glass was simply a weapon Shrine would turn against her if she created it. Negrev itself was made of the stuff.

Luna reset the board...

*****

"Sheriff! You better get out here!"

The earthpony galloped into the hard packed dirt streets. Although known to most as simply "Sheriff", his real name was Bronze Badge. He was a plain pony, with a light copper coat, a weather forged face, and a mane dyed silver by age. His eyes were a steely blue, almost grey, and appeared somewhat glossed over. His name had been called by his nephew, a white skinned, black maned pony named Shard. Shard stood in the middle of the street, at the forefront of a small gathering of ponies, staring up into the sky. Bronze followed his nephew's gaze, and saw a massive, swirling dust cloud was rumbling towards the town.

"We've all seen sandstorms before, Shard." The sheriff retorted, "We'll do what we always do when a storm like this rolls in. Everypony get-"

"Uncle Badge?" Shard's voice was quiet, almost a whisper. "Look closer."

Bronze rolled his eyes, but turned them back to the incoming cloud. Within the rolling dust storm, he could make out figures. Grim silhouettes that appeared to be marching to an unheard beat. His jaw went slack at the sight.

"Gods..." Bronze said in disbelief. "Go. Go gather the town guard." The sheriff motioned with his hoof, never taking his eyes away from the sky.

"Anything else uncle?"

"Pick a goddess and pray. We're going to need all the help we can get."

*****

Sand Shrine gazed on the tiny town in the distance. It was a quiet little western train stop, full of rickety wooden structures with flat tin rooftops. Unlike Damarescus, it had no wall. There was nowhere for the inhabitants to hide here. It was almost too easy. In the streets below, he could see a small smattering of ponies, no more than a few hundred strong, mustering against his forces. They were outnumbered, but Shine knew better than to underestimate them. Great things came in small packages. On occasion, this maxim applied to the army, as smaller, more specialized groups of soldiers seemed to operate better than any big, bulky army. Would the old saying hold true today? Maybe, maybe not. Better to be safe than sorry.

Shrine himself was positioned several miles away from Dodge Junction. He stood square in the center of the train tracks, awaiting the arrival of his favorite princess. Here, he would remain. Luna hungered for a rematch with him, that much was obvious. However, she also sought to defend her subjects from harm. Shrine wished to force a choice upon her. Would she attempt to regain her dignity by fighting him, or would she leave Shrine behind to defend Dodge Junction? The presence of the other survivors would also be a factor. None of them were strong enough to stand on their own against an above average unicorn, much less an alicorn. Would Luna abandon them to die at his hooves? Or worse, Nightshade's hooves, provided she was still trailing their carriage.

No matter her choice, Luna would lose. If she stood her ground and dueled Sand Shrine, then the citizens of Dodge Junction would see that she had abandoned them in their hour of need. If she left and saved the city, then those who had survived Damarescus would be mercilessly butchered because of her choice. Neither option benefitted Luna, but both would benefit Sand Shrine. That was the beauty of a properly executed gambit. The illusion of choice.

Turning back to where his troops had gathered, Sand Shrine surveyed the battlefield. Dodge Junction was situated on the edge of the Saddleback mountain range, at the mouth of a narrow canyon that ran the length of the range. It was within this canyon that the railways tracks had been laid. A small avalanche was all that was needed to render the tracks useless, and as this was the only rail to the Gelding Expanse, it would delay any reinforcements from Canterlot. He had positioned his earthponies on the ground in an obvious position, a flat, sandy plain just in front of the town. They would serve as the bait in his trap. In the rocky, crag covered mountains just to the left of the plain was where he had concealed his unicorns and pegasi. Once the ponies in Dodge Junction took that bait and attacked the earthponies, the earthponies would feign a retreat in the direction of the mountains. When the citizen-soldiers inevitably followed, the trap would be sprung. The pegasi would swoop down into the midst of the melee; sowing chaos with a lightning strike, while the unicorns would rain spells down like a storm of arrows. The town guard would be slaughtered in the ensuing battle.

With a wave of his hoof, Shrine lifted the sandstorm he had used to cover his army's advance. He turned his back on Dodge Junction, and cast his desert sight spell. Luna and her cohorts were not far. The pieces were in place.

"Take your turn princess." He murmured. "Check."

*****

Inkwell sat in the train cab pouring over the notes she had collected. Dream Sickle had given her a splendid interview about the pegasus battle at Damarescus, and had allowed her to gain a firsthand account of Nightshade's attack on the city. The details had been gruesome, but she had been grateful for them. The Canterlot Tribune needed the full story. She might be trapped in the middle of a war between gods, but she couldn't afford to give up on journalism now. Equestria had a right to know! She might be the only pony with the notes on the Battle of Damarescus, and it would be a great shame to deprive the papers...nay, the histories of something so important!

Suddenly, Inkwell was jolted from her thoughts as the train took a sharp right. This would have been fine, had there actually been a right turn in the track, but there was not. The train let out an earsplitting squeal, as though it were pained by the loss of the tracks, and began to grind to a halt. The car began to lean, and in an instant the entire cabin had fallen flat on its side. The open windows were spattered by sand and pebbles, much of which poured down into the car.

The passengers slowly began to pick themselves up after the crash. Inkwell groaned, shaking her head as she stood.

"Is everyone alright?" She said, smoothing her fallen fedora and placing in back upon her head.

"Yea." Luna replied, massaging the bruised wing she had shielded herself with.

"I'm fine." Craven chimed in, as he removed himself from the corner in which he had hidden.

"Everything's A-Okay here!" Dream Sickle laughed, picking herself up off of the ground. "Let's do that again!"

"Merciful goddesses, no!" Craven shuddered at the thought.

Luna flashed her blade into existence, and proceeded to neatly cut a doorway through which she and her cohorts could exit. Once they stepped outside however, their blood ran cold. Only feet away from them stood Sand Shrine, baring Negrev at the princess.

"Take a look around Luna." He said, motioning towards the town of Dodge Junction, where a brawl between earthpony armies was already brewing. "Which will it be, Princess. The civilians, or me?"