Siege of the Crystal Empire

by Mystic Mind

Chapter 4: Stellar Shine

(4: Stellar Shine)

From high upon the walls of the Crystal Empire, Stellar Shine watched the battle unfold with great intent. As much as his heart yearned to be in the thick of battle, he was never one to disobey orders. Rules were rules, after all. However, that did not mean he was to simply stand there, mindlessly gazing over the action while the soldiers fought. To the untrained eye, the aquamarine unicorn appeared to stand like a statue, his limbs barely moving, even when ushering commands to the rangers spread out along the wall. Were it not for the wind blowing the short fringe of his light green mane, it wouldn't be a stretch for other ponies to assume their first officer had been replaced by a stone replica to take his place.

However, just because he was steadfast in obeisance, it didn’t mean he’d follow them to the last letter. Nopony had officially assigned Stellar to direct the archers to their targets, but by the same token, nopony had objected, either. Scanning the ranks of ponies below, he could already tell that something wasn't right. From what he could see through the storm, not a single Phantom Stallion had yet to be killed. By contrast, at least a dozen Canterlot Guardsponies, along with half as many Crystal Pony warriors had been grievously injured, if not outright slain. The lights from the ponies on the ground were bright enough to act as a beacon, helping the ranged warriors in using their magic to accurately aim their bows and send a hail of arrows down upon the enemy.

“Release!” Stellar bellowed, letting loose. Most of them whizzed through the air and met their mark, yet still not a single pony appeared to fall. What the buck is going on here? He thought to himself, a sentiment which was reflected in the eyes of his soldiers. His mind raced with strategic thoughts, each action being analysed and evaluated for their potential risks and benefits. He needed a way to turn the tide, while still remaining a hair's whisper within the boundaries of his orders. He’d exploit every nook and cranny of command for the sake of the Empire.

When the flare was launched, Stellar's mind clicked into place. This was the moment he had been waiting for. The time to show the Empire just what the shooting star of his cutie mark represented. “Officer Far Seer!” he called, his voice deep and smooth as silk.

“Yes, sir?” a smaller, red unicorn in leather armour replied, galloping towards Stellar.

“Scouting mission, report.”

“Weather makes it unclear, sir,” Far Seer replied, his cutie mark of a magnifying glass surrounded by a constellation, making him the perfect scout pony. “But as far as we know, the front lines stretch for approximately fifty meters each way.”

“Good. Everypony, listen up! Be ready to teleport on my command!"

“Sir, yes, sir!” the company of unicorns announced in response.

“Excellent. We shall spread ourselves across the length of the front line, single file behind the close combat soldiers. On my mark! Three, two, one, charge!”

In a flash of magic, every unicorn upon the walls teleported through the weather-resistant arcane bubble, landing on the snowy battlefield below. As each one returned to the physical plane, their horns burst into life, unleashing a barrage of magic missiles which rained down upon the Phantom Stallions. Stellar was the last pony to cast a spell, charging his magic at the tip of his horn until it had formed into a single rotating mass of mystical energy.

“Invaders of the Empire!” Stellar cried, his voice alone filling the hearts of everypony around him with fresh hope for a glorious victory. “Feel the fury of Tartatus itself descend upon you!” With one more charge, Stellar shot his magical airburst over the heads of his unicorns, splitting above the Phantom Stallions and cascading down as a barrage of shooting stars.

A haze of loose snow and ice whipped up in the wind, briefly obscuring the enemy. Yet Stellar did not allow himself the luxury of smiling just yet. He had to confirm that his company's attacks had indeed done their job first. When the weather finally cleared enough for the Empire's defenders to see the results, Stellar's eyes went wide with shock.

The army of Phantom Stallions stood, unscathed. Not only that, but their armour revealed a bright purple gem embedded in the centre of their breastplates, sucking in all of the magic which had just been thrown at them, their eyes shining with an evil gleam. Stellar looked towards Shining Armour, and by his expression, it was evident that they both knew their army was now in dire peril. Shining began to cast his shield spell once more, but his reaction was too slow.

Their metal horns glowing, the Phantom Stallions fired. In seconds, everything that the unicorn regiment had just attacked with was thrown back in their faces; those who weren’t protected by Shining Armour’s shield becoming incinerated to ashes by the blast.

But that was not the worst the phantoms had to offer. With most of the regiment decimated, not even Shining Armour could prevent mass panic setting in. Cutting their losses, the Empire's soldiers charged away from the remaining unicorns, colliding head on with the Phantom Stallions. The ensuing brawl was anything but a clean fight. Discipline and strategy had given way to manic swings, fuelled by desperation and fear. If magic wouldn't win the day, then all they had left was brute force. The Crystal Ponies in particular abandoned their swords, withdrawing instead the heavy maces and war hammers they carried as secondary weapons. Smashing their weapons with wild abandon against the Phantom Stallions, blow after blow crumpling their armour, only to confirm the horror that was inside. Or rather, the lack thereof. Though the damage slowed them down, as long as the swirling mass of magic within the stallions remained, they would continue to fight.

“Shining Armour, sir, look at that,” Stellar said as he galloped towards the Guard Captain, his eyes caught on the earth pony mare who persistently pummelled one stallion into the ground, simultaneously keeping others at a distance with the same arching swings.

“Not now, Officer Shine,” Shining rebuffed between shouts, desperately trying to restore order to his army.

“No sir, you need to see this,” Stellar insisted, stepping in front of Shining and pointing his hoof towards Meteor. “That stallion, it has ceased to move!”

At first, Shining raised a sceptical eyebrow, but upon another careful look, he gasped at the sight. The phantom stallion was in pieces. Though he knew for certain that this battle had been lost, the smallest glimmer of hope was more than enough for Shining to compose himself and fight back harder.

Taking a deep breath, Shining calmed his nerves as best he could. “Officer Shine, we have to get everypony back into the city right away. The walls will hold, but we need covering fire. Can you provide that?”

Stellar saluted his captain, enacting on his orders immediately. “All Unicorn soldiers, return to me!” It took several repetitions for Stellar to melt the hearts of unicorns frozen by fear, but through his persistence, the remaining fraction of his army returned to his side.

“Follow my lead.” Firing a beam of magic at the ground beneath him, Stellar ripped out a huge chunk of ice with his horn, levitating it as far above his head as he could manage before hurling it at the Phantom Stallions.

“Everypony retreat! Get back to the walls, now!” Shining bellowed. While some Crystal Ponies ignored their captain's words—too caught up in their rage against the invaders to abandon the fight—most of the army began their retreat. Stellar Shine and the Unicorn mages continued their bombardment; the destruction carefully calculated by their leader so to give enough surface for all living ponies to retreat, while also blocking the continued advance of the Phantom Stallions. Those still caught in the heat of battle soon met their bloody end at the hooves of the enemy, but thanks to the efforts of Stellar Shine, ever other soldier successfully made a tactical retreat, the few unicorns who fought in close quarters helping to teleport the mass of soldiers back behind the safety of the empire's walls.

All except for one.

The sounds of battle still ringing in his ears, Scouting Officer Far Seer stood surrounded by Phantom Stallions. Stellar could see in his wide eyes the mental damage that these armoured ghosts had done to him. When Seer tried to speak, the freezing gales robbed the words from his mouth. When he tried to move, the muscles in his legs felt like they had turned to lead. He tried to cast a spell, hoping to warm himself up and do something—anything—to get out of this situation. Yet still nothing happened. It was as if the Phantom Stallions had bled him dry of his magic, reducing him from a soldier of the Canterlot Guard to a withered husk; cursed to watch the events of the world unfold around him.

Amidst the swirling snowstorm, its rage building like the rising arcana within Stellar Shine, the First Officer channelled his thoughts down a narrow, white tunnel in his mind to a single destination; how to save his friend from a horrible end.

No.

This was not the end. Stellar wouldn't allow it. More than half of his company was already dead thanks to the Phantom Stallions, they would not be taking another.

“No!” That one word Stellar Shine bellowed contained more power than anything this battlefield had seen before. His cutie mark burst into life, pulsating with a brilliant light which broke Far Seer from his trance. His horn surged with power, summoning a blade of pure arcane magic that reached a height far exceeding the city walls behind him.

“In the name of Princess Cadence and Prince Shining Armour, step away from that colt!” His body burning bright with fury, Stellar Shine swung his blade in a wide-angled arc, smashing through the ranks of Phantom Stallions with a mighty crash.

Far Seer dropped to the ground, covering his ears with his front hooves and shutting his eyes tight as a deafening explosion boomed overhead, hitting his opponents by a force greater than any storm the empire had seen before. When the dust of the explosion settled, Seer cracked open one eye, and to his amazement, found that he had escaped unharmed.

“Sweet Celestia, that was amazing!” Seer leapt to his hooves, momentarily forgetting about the battle from how awestruck he was at the devastation the first officer had wrought. The first three ranks of Phantom Stallions lay dead on the ground, the steaming husk of broken armour being the only remnants of their existence. They wanted magic so badly? Well, they got it.

Unfortunately, the amount of magic Stellar had expelled came at a heavy price. He was alive, but by the way he lay on the ground with all four legs splayed out to the side, sweating profusely as he began to hyperventilate, it was clear he’d need assistance to get out of here.

Well done, a strange, whispering voice sounded in Stellar's ears. Teetering on the edge of consciousness, his vision blurring and his body feeling light as a feather, it was impossible for Stellar to tell if what he saw next was real or some kind of delirium-induced hallucination. The ranks of Phantom Stallions parted down the middle, making way for the pony that was unmistakably their master. You destroyed my soldiers with magic. That is indeed very impressive.

The pony that stepped forward could only be described as a unicorn stallion in the vaguest sense; the way his pale blue coat hung off his bones, to describe him as malnourished would be a gross understatement. If it wasn't for his waning perception of reality, Stellar would have thought this was a pony on the verge of death. The unicorn was draped in a thick, velvet robe with a gold trim, identical to the livery of the Phantom Stallions. The most distinguishing feature was his horn; longer than Stellar had ever seen in his life, as if he had surrendered the bulk of his muscles to empower his appendage.

Far Seer leapt in front of Stellar, inspired by the same heroism that had just saved his life. With a flick of the skinny unicorn's wrist, Far Seer found himself pinned to the ground. As much of a frightening display of power that this was, what truly sent a shiver down Stellar's spine was not that the unicorn was capable of such strength. No, it was the fact the glow on his horn was faint, using only a minimal amount of magic to throw ponies around like rag dolls. Another flick of the stallion's wrist, and Stellar was in the air.

“Your magic,” the unicorn hissed, licking his lips. “So sweet. Such power. You can be useful for my needs.”

Stellar said nothing. Even if he wanted to, he was too weak to try and speak. He was ready to die.

“Go,” the unicorn rasped, just loud enough for both Unicorns to hear him. “Return to your Princess. Tell her that we will not leave until my thirst is quenched. The more she resists, the stronger I grow. Tell her of Moonshadow, the last disciple of Tirek, who has come to reclaim the power that is rightfully his!”

Lowering the hood of his robe, a third eye opened in the middle of Moonshadow's forehead, staring directly at Stellar Shine. Stellar tried to look away, but the eye, the swirling mass of magic which was its pupil piercing deep into his mind, it would not let him go. All around him, the world faded into a wash of swimming colours, robbing him of his senses bit by bit until he blacked out.

Comments

[The1Ryu]

You spend a lot of time talking about how dedicated Stellar is to following orders, but we never learn what those orders are. Then, confusingly, you tell us that he's not been order to take command where he did. It's a very distracting contradiction.

You've used the word 'fury' to describe unleashing a barrage of magic in almost every chapter, it's best to avoid colloquialisms in your writing, less they confuse those not familiar with them.

You should probably try to keep the reader's as uninformed as the character about the nature of them enemy, it really breaks suspense when the characters' tactics keep failing, but the reader already knows they are going to fail. if the Reader knows shooting the Phantom Stallions with arrow won't hurt them then they gain nothing when the character are surprised by it.

You probably should have had at least one line describing Seer running out into the battlefield because he seems to end up trapped out of nowhere.

Stellar pulling up such power to save his friend Seer, but that's the first moment you mention they are friends. It would be better if there had been a bit of a build up about how they were friends before that moment so it doesn't feel like it comes out of no where.

With a flick of the skinny unicorn's wrist

Again nitpick, but ponies don't have wrists. I also find it odd that you would describe Moonshadow directing his magic like this and then mention his horn which he could used for his subtle flick

I liked the subtle build up to Moonshadow's reveal and the continued teasing of what exactly it is that he is after.