Mares of War

by LeafLock

Prologue: A Bad Day

"War must be, while we defend our lives against a destroyer who would devour all; but I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend."

-J. R. R. TOLKIEN, The Two Towers

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Prologue:

The moon sat full and heavy in night sky. An eerie glow filtered through the twisted boughs of the Everfree Forest, casting ominous shadows on the ancient temple concealed in its deep recesses. The ruined pyramid had for the past few months seen the comings and goings of intelligent life for the first time in millennia. Hooded ponies shuffled quietly across the frigid floor, its stone cut perfectly smooth by slave-ponies long dead. In the colossal chamber at the heart of ziggurat, "the Sanctuary" as some had come to call it, the cloaked figures gathered, speaking in hushed tones. Easily large enough to hold a crowd of a thousand ponies, the chamber felt vast and cavernous to the two dozen or so equines who currently occupied the monumental hall. They found themselves dwarfed by the titanic granite pillars that held the ceiling in place. Marble sculptures of ancient ponies in lavish armor lined the walls. Light came from large braziers, raging in several places around the room. The near silence of the chamber was shattered by a voice.

“The time has come.”

As the assembly gathered in the center of the room, one dropped his worn hood to address the rest. The congregation knew him simply as Sanguine. His mane was unkempt, and he bore many scars beneath the crimson war paint on his wrinkled face. His eyes were milky white with cataracts, and his gait was slow to ease the pain of movement in his gnarled old bones. The horn atop his head was lined with stress cracks from decades of advanced magic use. To an outsider, he might be pitied, well advanced in years and seemingly overcome by the burden of deteriorating health. When he spoke however, his voice carried with it a weight of dominance. An authority unquestioned by those present. He was their leader, keeper of their secrets, and it was by his command that they had assembled here in the deepest hours of the night.

"My friends, tonight our brotherhood fulfills its ancient purpose. Tonight, we take the first steps towards achieving a world free of weakness. A world in which we, the chosen few, shall rise up and lead our misguided people from the sad, pathetic stagnation of "peace", and onward to a glorious new dawn! So begins our journey down the road to restore the pride of our race! The pact we make tonight shall ensure the return of our savior, and the dominance of pony-kind over all of Equis!"

The cloaked crowd cheered as they stomped their hooves.

Their leader cried with passion, "Brothers, let it begin!"

His disciples commenced chanting around a large circular rune on the floor, their horns glowing softly beneath their hoods. They spoke in a tongue not used in Equestria for over one thousand years. It had been passed down to them through ancient rites and rituals for generations, always in secret. If it were ever to be discovered that their sect still thrived in the shadows, they would assuredly be banished to some celestial body by those wretched princesses. Sanguine watched in wicked glee as his followers completed their ritual. The room stood still for but a moment, then the glyph swirled with light. Electricity sparked through the air as a sphere of light began to coalesce above the magic circle. As the energy flowing through the room began to die down, an image began to take shape in the floating orb, and soon one could discern a figure in its depths. The creature was utterly alien to the cultists. Bipedal, and extremely pale, she was clad in an eloquent carapace the color of bone. Her eyes were icy, calculating, and pierced Sanguine to his marrow.

The leader of the cult stepped forward and briefly knelt on his foreleg. "Queen Myrrah, all goes as planned."

"Very good. My soldiers have nearly completed the first device. I am told that we can expect it to be operational within a few days."

"Excellent news my liege. We shall begin preparations at once. "

"I shall leave you to it, then."

"Your highness, if I may," Sanguine spoke with hesitation. He hated to cower before anypony, but even he had learned to respect the brutality of this monarch. "We would like your assurances that, once the gate has been opened, your forces will uphold your end of the bargain."

"You think me to be a liar, Sanguine?"

"No, my lady, not at all. However, our Order has been preparing for this opportunity for centuries. The chance to free our Lord weighs heavily on the minds of us all. Failure is not an option for us."

Myrrah eyed him coldly. "Very well. You have my word as the Supreme Ruler of the Locust Horde, Queen of the Hollow, and True Empress of Sera, that my children shall assist you in recovering your master."

"Thank you, my lady. You are most gracious."

"Farewell, Sanguine. I shall expect your report the moment preparations are complete."

"Of course, my lady."

The sphere faded away as the cultists allowed the magic to dissipate. Sanguine allowed himself a brief smile. With the help of Myrrah’s Locust, The Cult of Discord would soon step forth from the shadows, and there wasn't a force in all of Equis that could stop their plans.

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Sergeant Marcus Fenix was having a bad day.

For someone who had been shot at on nearly a daily basis for almost his entire life, this was saying something. Colonel Hoffman had been running him ragged for weeks. Ever since the battle of Jacinto, Hoffman’s growing distrust of Chairman Prescott had translated into Marcus’ team, Delta Squad, personally inspecting anything that Hoffman had questions about. Abandoned facilities, old laboratories, military warehouses, anyplace Prescott might have hidden any dirty little secrets, Hoffman had made it Delta’s exclusive duty to investigate. Now, this alone was fairly lax duty, especially since the Locust hadn’t been seen nor heard from since humanity’s last great city, Jacinto, had been dropped into the Locust Hollow, along with a few trillion gallons of sea water.

Not that Marcus was complaining that possibly the deadliest force to ever walk the face of Sera had seemingly vanished overnight without a trace. Especially when said force had spent the last 15 years doing its best to eradicate humanity. These recon missions were almost a cake walk when you didn't have to worry about Drones looking to take your head. Sure, you’d get a random group of Stranded humans cracking the odd pot-shots, but they were fairly tame. Just people looking to survive, not ravenous monsters with an inbred desire to peel the flesh from your bones.

No, Marcus’ foul mood was due to the mission briefing he had received an hour ago. Someone had taken the liberty of breaking into the old Imulsion drilling stations near Aspho Point, and they were running equipment there that had been condemned for almost two decades, shut down ever since the precious fuel had started leaking uncontrollably into the local water table.

Marcus had been there during the Battle of Aspho Fields, and he spent a great deal of time trying to forget it. Just thinking about the drained swampland was enough throw his day into a downward spiral. Too many good men lost on that god damned mission. Sure, it had enabled the Coalition of Ordered Governments to finish their doomsday weapon, an orbital laser called the Hammer of Dawn. Its use had brought an end to the century long Pendulum Wars. But Marcus wasn't convinced it had been worth the trade-off, especially when the very same weapons were later used to commit acts of unforgivable destruction. Marcus did not look forward in the slightest to returning to that miserable place.

It didn’t help that Dominic Santiago, Marcus’ best friend and squad mate had lost his brother Carlos on those bloody fields nearly twenty years ago during that same battle. To make matters worse, Dom hadn’t been on top of his game since they had found his wife Maria a few weeks ago. She had been brutally tortured by the Locust, left a broken husk of her former self, alive in only the most technical of terms. Dom had been forced to...commit an act of mercy. Since then, Dom had become reckless, looking for any excuse to take a risk. Marcus couldn’t help but worry that the memories of Carlos would only make things worse on his friend. As their King Raven helicopter banked toward the drilling platform, Sergeant Fenix addressed his team.

“Alright Delta, our orders are cut and dry. Go in, find out who’s been playing with the COG’s toys, pull the plug, and get out. If we’re dealing with Stranded, let’s do what we can to avoid confrontation.“

“Yeah, we’ll just give them a time out then, shall we?” cracked Damon Baird.

Marcus did his best to ignore the smart-ass. “If we’re dealing with hostiles, well, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

Augustus Cole banged a fist against his chest, psyching himself up. “You know it baby! The Cole Train’s comin’ to clean house!”

Dom sat in silence as the helicopter made it’s final approach.

“Are we gonna have a problem?” Fenix asked his friend.

“I know what I have to do.” Santiago replied, his voice devoid of emotion.

“Dom, if you need to sit this out, Cole, Baird, and I can handle this one.”

“Marcus, I’ll be fine. I just need to focus on the mission right now.”

Marcus had his doubts, but let the matter go for now. He had known Dom since childhood, they had served together for years. He trusted his friend’s judgment, but after this mission he would request some leave for Dom. Hell, he'd request leave for the whole damn team. They hadn’t had more than a moment’s peace since the assault on Ilima almost a month ago. They were all exhausted, both mentally and physically. They just had to get through today.

As their craft touched down, the Gears moved out.

"Control, this is Delta," Marcus said, touching his earpiece, "We have arrived at the facility, proceeding with our investigation."

"Roger that, Delta. Good luck. Control out." replied the voice of Anya Stroud, Delta Squad's liaison, and mission coordinator.

Taking point, Marcus pulled the charge lever on his Lancer assault rifle, and led them down off the helipad to the nearest entrance. A quick glance at the door, and it was obvious that it had been welded shut. Not a problem.

"Jack, rip this door."

The hovering robotic drone dropped out of cloaking mode. Its arms unfolded, and built in plasma cutters began the work of slicing the heavy door open. Moments later, the task was done, and the floating robot disappeared back into stealth mode. As Delta moved into the inner corridors of the drilling facility, it wasn’t long before they noticed signs of activity. Pumps that should be decommissioned were up and running again, and there was a familiar stench in the air. It was a rotten reek that Marcus had come to associate with the Locust.

Though he didn't want to believe that their old enemy had returned so quickly, Sgt. Fenix’s suspicions were confirmed minutes later, when they caught sight of a pair of Grubs attaching strange devices to one of the pumping stations. To Marcus' deepest regret, they lost the element of surprise almost immediately, when one of the ugly bastards happened to glance up at the COG soldiers. Growling in a voice like blended gravel, "Groundwalkers!", the hideous mockery of human form brought a crude rifle to bear.

"ENEMY CONTACT!" Marcus shouted to his squad, snapping off his weapon's safety while sliding into cover.

Sergeant Marcus Fenix was having a bad day. And he had a sneaking suspicion it was about to get much worse.

Comments

[WrathOfGod519]

Well that was pretty epic. I be reading this.

[TheScribbler]

COG Is the Coalition of Ordered Governments.

[ghostlywolf]

finally found a Gears of war story soon i will have every game to my collection and yes i did enjoy this read so far

[Fat Autistic Weeaboo2222]

COAL TRAIN :D FINALLY!

[Paladin Redflare]

FUAAAAAAAARRRRK.

[Crazmnke]

Pretty good so far, almost as if Karin Traviss decided to pitch in.