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On the outskirts of Trottingham, the hustle and bustle of tourists and hawkers was worlds away. It was here that an alabaster unicorn with a very tidy, yet still sublimely styled, black mane was sat on a chair reading a book. The Trottingham Library had a lovely café on the side of the building, and it was here that the unicorn was enjoying his read. Every so often his horn would glow and a page would turn, or a china cup of hot tea would levitate up to his mouth for him to take a dainty sip; he was the very picture of refinement. The book in question however, was not. It looked like any other hardback, but if anypony got close enough they would be read the stencilled red letters across the front: “One Hundred and Fifty Ways to Kill a Pony by Vlad Tepony”.
An earth pony guard of the Celestial bloodline trotted around the corner of the street and towards the café. He scanned the area as he walked, whilst simultaneously trying his best to appear nonchalant. With a sigh of relief, he spotted the unicorn, and trotted over to him. “Eag…” he began but suddenly found his mouth sealed shut.
“Mr. Arrow,” the unicorn said very sharply without looking away from his book; his horn glaring a bright white. “I trust that you’re here on our mutual friend’s behalf. I’ve been waiting for the first instalment.” His horn then dulled again and the guard’s mouth snapped open with a large inhalation.
“Mr. Arrow,” the guard sputtered. “I am indeed here on behalf of our mutual friend,” he repeated a little unsurely. He then leant in very closely and whispered, “You do mean Brig…” he began before finding his mouth sealed shut again.
“Our mutual friend,” “Arrow” repeated even more sharply with a withering glare. An irritated sigh passed his lips as he placed the book face down on the table. The guard caught a glimpse of the title, and audibly gulped behind his sealed lips. He tried to mumble something and his eyes looked apologetic, sickeningly so to the unicorn. “Arrow” released him once more and tried his best not to throw him to the floor in disgust. “Just give me the message then get out of my sight,” he said coldly.
“Our… uh… m-mutual friend t-told me to deliver t-this.” The guardspony reached into his saddlebags and pulled out a big bag of gold and a sealed envelope. The unicorn eyed the gold hungrily, but mumbled a curse under his breath. “D-did I do something wrong?” the guard squeaked, shaking visibly.
“That is too much gold for one contract. That means our mutual friend must be asking more than what we agreed upon previously,” the unicorn replied matter-of-factly, but he couldn’t pull his eyes away from the huge bag of gold on the table.
“I’m just the messenger,” the guardspony said defensively, as he backed up slightly in case of a sharp rebuttal.
The unicorn sighed. Hired help is all well and good, but Sabre could at least have had the good graces to teach this guard a little something about the game of cloak and dagger. His horn glowed once more as the sealed envelope lifted itself into the air, and tore itself open. Inside there was a yellowed piece of parchment bearing four names. The unicorn’s eyes widened as he read the four names; each earning an increasingly perplexed look from the unicorn. He looked back up at the guardspony, and pushed the bag of bits back over to his side of the table. “There is no way in the name of all that is Celestial that I would take this job.”
The guardspony, despite already being bright white, went pale. “Are you sure?” he asked with another nervous squeak, with desperation in his eyes.
“Have you seen the list? There is no way that I could possibly…” the unicorn began angrily, but swallowed his rage down. “…attain these products.”
“But… but… our mutual friend! She… he… they need these problems-products! They need these products urgently!” The guardspony was practically begging now.
“Well then, they can come here and talk to me themselves. There is no way I am taking that contract,” the unicorn announced, his voice taking on a darker edge.
“P-p-please!” the guard blurted out, all pretence of professionalism gone.
“No! Why don’t you take a look for yourself and formulate your own response!” the unicorn shouted before sliding the letter over the table to the guard.
“I’m afraid that won’t be necessary,” a new voice pitched in.
The unicorn clenched his teeth at the new voice and said without turning, “This is none of your business, Velvet. Just because you can't get your own contracts, doesn't mean you can steal mine!"
"Hmmph," the sleek black pegasi replied snidely, "there's no need to act so high and mighty, Eagle Eye."
Eagle Eye stood up and turned to face Velvet, "I'm acting professional. Maybe you should try it sometime."
"A professional never refuses a contract when there's money on hoof."
"For Faust's sake, Velvet! A professional knows when to bucking quit!" Eagle Eye bellowed; his left eyebrow began to tick wildly as he attempted to keep his professional façade.
Velvet smirked widely as she strolled right past Eagle Eye, flicking her tail to the side as she did to brush against Eagle's face. "So you're one of Sabre's agents?" She cast a glance back at Eagle as she said it to see his reaction.
The guard stared at her blankly, before blinking twice and shaking his head. "Guardsman Shine at your service, Ma'am." He opted for with a snappy salute.
"Very good. Now why don't you let me have a little peak at that piece of paper," she said softly as she swiped the paper from in front of him.
"Hey! You can't literally take my contracts!" Eagle shouted as he strode forwards to snatch it back off of her.
Velvet kicked off into the air,sticking her tongue out petulantly as she did so.
"Oh no you don't," Eagle muttered angrily as he enveloped the letter in his magical field and yanked it off of her. "Hah!"
"Meh, I'd finished with it anyway," Velvet replied in a blasé manner.
"Well, then you know why I won't take it," Eagle replied as he narrowed his eyes at the pegasus, who was now flying around.
"I don't see why not. They're still ponies," she replied as she flew right over his head.
"They're Elements of Harmony. They've saved Equestria twice. It's one thing to knock off a aged general whose past his prime, and quite another to eliminate half of a band of heroes."
"Business is business," she replied boredly as she flipped into a corkscrew.
"If you keep thinking like that, then you might as well take one of the many, many contracts against Celestia!" Eagle barked angrily.
"No, because I'm not suicidal. There's minimal risk in attacking a trio of young mares. An immortal goddess on the other hoof, there's, understandably, an element of risk involved." Velvet went into a loop-de-loop for seemingly no reason.
"Killing the mares would be suicidal. Think about it: if they weren't around, who'll stop Discord if he returns!"
"Meh, somepony's bound to do it," Velvet shrugged nonchalantly upside-down.
"It's a distinct lack of forethought like that that caused Discord to return in the first place!"
"Look, brother. You worry too much about these things. Money is money. Everything won't stop, just because you killed a few mares," Velvet replied in a manner which she felt was heart-felt.
Eagle Eye heard it as another of her self-important rants. "Look, little sister. You can't kill everypony. Corrupt officials, old administrators, hard-line judges: all valid targets. Heroes, however, are off the table. There is a good reason for this, and there will continue to be for as long as there are heroes. Without them, there would be chaos, and the rules that govern us all would be moot."
"Screw the rules, I have money!" Velvet said with a sharp laugh. Velvet swooped down and grabbed the bag before shooting off into the distance.
"Buck! Now I'm going to have to stop her," Eagle shouted angrily, before galloping after the rapidly disappearing pegasus.
The guardspony remained sat at the table through the entire conversation; too awkward to make a noise or even move. The bag of bits had vanished from in front of him. "They took the bits, so they took the contract, right?" he asked aloud. Looking around he saw nopony there. "Must have done," he mumbled to himself as he stood up. Replacing his saddlebags, he began to trot back into town.
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General Gracchus and the unicorn guards continued their march along the twisted paths of Trottingham forest. Gracchus had a sense of respect for a pony who could keep their mouth shut on a tense mission, but these two were being ridiculous. Not a single word had been spoken since the two pegasi had flown off to scout the camp. Gracchus had to keep up appearances though, so he couldn't engage either of them in conversation. Still, the oppressive silence was wearing on him. To make matters worse, the shadows of the trees stretched with the afternoon sun along the path, twisting into dark and horrible shapes. This mission was his chance at redeeming himself, so he was going to give it his all; no matter the cost.
A sharp scream snapped him back to the realm of the living as a white comet hurtled to the ground with its red tail. The white comet then leapt to its feet and drew a short-sword.
"Tertius?" Gracchus asked.
"No time... to talk. The zombies..." Tertius coughed a viscous, red liquid onto the floor before continuing, "they're coming."
"Zombies?" one of the unicorns finally spoke up. The tone of his voice explained everything.
"Run, you foals!" Tertius shouted, blood flying from his open mouth. He span around and began searching the sky for his pursuers. The three ponies gasped in collective shock as they saw a buzzsaw blade embedded in his flank.
"Guardsponies, draw weapons and assume a circle around Tertius," Gracchus ordered, his old voice hardening into his military officer shout.
On instinct the two guardsponies pulled their spears from their backs with their magic, and galloped in front of Tertius. Gracchus drew his old poleaxe from his back and stood up on his rear legs, grasping the axe with his hooves. He walked up to the injured pegasus who was still staring upwards with his sword in his mouth. "Son, you've lost a lot of blood. Unluckily for you, neither of these unicorns are medics. I can pull the saw blade out, but that'll probably make you just bleed-out faster. Keep your head down, and we'll try our best to cover you."
"No offence... old timer, but I think... I can handle this a lot better... than... you can," Tertius coughed out, a pained grin on his face.
"Hah! I like your attitude," Gracchus said with a wide smile.
"They're here!" One of the unicorns shouted.
Gracchus and Tertius turned to face the two unicorns. Up in the sky five very haggard looking, grey pegasi shrieked at the guards. Three of the monstrosities flapped their patchy wings, and bore straight down into the two unicorn guards. The guards kept focused and stabbed straight upwards with their spears, impaling the first two. The third one veered away from the sticks and shot at the injured pony. Tertius saw the attacker and struct out with his blade at the last moment. A precise slash took the beasts head clean off, and the headless pony barrelled into the floor.
"That's one to me," Tertius coughed. He turned to smile at Gracchus, only to receive a bath of red as another sickly pegasus was cleaved clean in half by the aged officer.
"One-one, squirt," Gracchus replied gruffly.
The fifth pegasus seemed to be waiting for something. A distant rumble suddenly caught the guardsponies' attention. Gracchus peered down the path that led towards the camp. The shadows were somehow even thicker down there, but something was moving, something big.
"Line formation! Large group of enemies inbound from the west!" Gracchus barked. The two unicorns instantly turned about face. Gracchus strode forwards, followed by the limping white pegasus, as they assumed the same formation.
The mob were closer now; individual figures were recognisable. The zombies were in various states of disrepair, ranging from missing patches of fur to removed extremities. The four ponies brought forwards their weapons and assumed a defensive stance.
"Not how I pictured going out, but it's a lot better than never waking up one morning," Gracchus grunted roughly as he brandished his poleaxe.
"Gallus... he's fetching help. With any luck... they'll be here soon," Tertius replied, as he hefted his sword with his rapidly diminishing strength.
"Well, hear that boys? Looks like we might actually get out of this in one piece; if you fight hard enough, that is," Gracchus announced with a gruff laugh.
The mob were mere metres away now. The final pegasus took the chance to try and dive-bomb the distracted general. Gracchus's ears perked up at the sound of beating wings, and he spun around, poleaxe at the ready. The pegasus was already committed to the charge, and flew straight into the poleaxe, literally. The pegasus's face split open, spraying grey goo and blood all over the remaining ponies backs. Gracchus shook the axe, and the corpse fell to the ground with a sickening splat.
Gracchus turned back to see the front of the mob were literally right in front of them. The unicorns stabbed out with their spears, aiming for the head like they were told in training. Gracchus slung his axe as he spun, the great weapon tearing into the crowd just before they hit. Blood and limbs flew everywhere, but the insatiable crowd bore down on the quartet of guardsponies. Hooves met steel as Tertius swung wildly, parrying any hits he could see coming.
"Fall back, but keep in formation!" Gracchus bellowed. The four gave ground; inch by bloody inch. The unicorns flung their spears into the crowd and pulled out their short swords simultaneously; the two of them acting as one with their grey magic. The two of them proved formidable allies, as they cut down foes with controlled, timed attacks. Tertius was doing surprisingly well for an injured, frantic pegasus. He focused on splitting their hooves as they went in to attack, hampering their offensive potential, while also saving his own skin.
"It's not working. The ones..." one of the unicorns shouted, before lunging forwards with his sword at another flood form.
"...we hit just stand back up again. There has..." the other unicorn continued before being forced to parry hits from a particularly enraged flood form.
"...to be a way to keep them down..." the first unicorn took back over; unsolicited for a few precious seconds.
"...permanently," they finished in unison.
"Some... of them... are... staying down," Tertius mumbled feverishly; his voice barely audible over the clanging of swords.
"The question is: what's special about them?" Gracchus grumbled loudly as he planted his poleaxe into another over-zealous, infected, earth pony.
Tertius's vision swam; every so often a hoof or head would push through the murky background, and he would send his sword flying to meet it. Every muscle in his body ached with the effort of just keeping upright. The amount of blood he'd lost already entitled him to a long dirt nap, but his body refused to give in. He knew the other three needed him to hold the line. Another black hoof pushed through and his sword sang as it sliced through the air; ending its merry arc in the thick cartilage of a hoof. Once again, the putrescent flesh gave way to the blade, and released its thick red and yellow payload. The beast stumbled back into the haze, only to be replaced by another eager candidate, also baying for his blood.
"It definitely isn't the head," one of the unicorns said as he dodged a strike from a pony with its head hanging in two useless fleshy halves; its rotting brain could clearly be seen inside, equally beaten up.
"It definately isn't the limbs," the other unicorn shouted; he kicked a still-flopping corpse with no legs back into the angry mob.
"It's their bucking chests! Look at their chests!" Gracchus bellowed to his comrades. "As Celestia as my witness; why is nothing ever easy?" he added quietly to himself. "Keep delaying them. Aiming for their chests with those dinky swords is a recipe for disaster. The best we can do is hold the line, so that's what we'll do!" Gracchus shouted, despite the power of his voice, there was a softer side to it; a side that reminded them that they were all together. "We hold the line, as we've always held the line. We are the celestial guard, and it is our job; neigh, our duty, to show these creatures of darkest night that we are not intimidated. That we do not give in. That we...
A scream suddenly punctuated his speech. Swinging to the side Gracchus watched in slow motion as one of the unicorns helmets skittered along the ground; its rough metal leaving a trail of sparks and an empty ringing sound. The unicorn himself lay on the floor, a horned beast straddling his chest. His brother twisted away from the crowd in a mad push, lunging his blade into the desecrated unicorn atop his twin.
"Look out!" Gracchus shouted, but a particularly hardy duo of ponies kept him on his hooves.
The mob didn't hesitate; a trio of disgusting creatures pushed through the gap the two ponies left and surrounded the pair. One of the monstrosities leapt onto the exposed flank of the distracted guardspony, and hit with an ungodly cracking sound. The unicorn buckled, joining his twin on the floor.
Tertius continued swatting at hooves, but his vision grew blearier. He couldn't keep this up for much longer, his legs were losing feeling. Off to his side a high pitched noise like a whistle rang out, followed by a line of bright red.
"What in Celestia's name is that?" Gracchus cried somewhere off to Tertius's side; his voice distorted as if underwater.
"Unacceptable! Simply unacceptable!" a new voice cried.
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A grey pegasus rocketed through the skies; the traditional purple armour of the Lunar Guard adorning his body. The pegasus leathery wings flapped up and down as they propelled the pegasus through the air. This is not going to be easy. I have to convince Celestia that one of her own trusted officers has turned traitor, and to make matters worse she's a hero. Why is there no official protocol on this? This must have happened before! Houston ran through it all in his head. He was being asked to prove the impossible with no evidence beyond the words of a recently reconciled Princess.
All things considered, it was a nice day. There was a small but pleasant breeze carrying him towards the distant settlement of Trottingham. There was a smattering of clouds in the sky, and no sign of more sever weather. It'd been a long time since he'd flown in the heat of the sun. The celestial body's warm touch was a nice change from the cold fingers of the moon; not to say the moon didn't have its own charms. If the sun was the loving mother, then the moon was the caring father; always pushing the ponies to work faster and better, whilst keeping its smiling visage of encouragement hanging in the air above them.
Gazing down, Houston watched the world fly by. Normally he'd be snapping from sight to sight like a hawk as he chased down bandits and monsters. Now though, he was free to enjoy the sprawling earth beneath him. Ponies toiling away in the tidy fields below. Trottingham was the largest producer of cereal crop in all of Equestria, and it was clear to see how from up in the sky; it was like a veritable ocean of green gently waving in the wind. Houston had forgotten how beautiful a simple field could be in the warm light. Farmers moved to and fro like fish in the ocean; darting in and out with watering cans.
Finally, the town crested into view. Trottingham was one of the oldest towns in Equestria, and it showed. Tall grey, granite towers dominated the skyline, rather than the unblemished marble of Canterlot, or the glass high-rises of Manehattan. Gothic architecture mixed in with the more simple thatched cottages below. The entire town was encircled by an aged, but well-maintained, wall with four gatehouses. Despite the destruction of the keep during the Lunar wars, the town still retained its ancient guard. In fact, a single envoy seemed to be flying towards him.
"Ho there! Loyal servant of Luna, we bid you welcome!" the green pegasus at the front shouted to Houston.The pegasus was clearly a Trottingham Trooper as he was clad in the traditional armour. The Trottingham guard armour was based off ancient earth pony armour, rather than the pegasi themed armour of the Canterlot Guard divisions. As such, the pegasus wore a concave, open faced helmet known as the Morion or "Kettle Helmet". His armour comprised of a steel breastplate that extended around his entire body with two gaps for the wings. On his exposed flank was a small green tree.
"Ho there guardspony! Doth the Princess of the sun reside within thy walls?" Houston asked, adopting the customary speech of the guard.
The green pegasus stopped just in front of the guard, and held out his hoof. "Indeed she does. Well met," he announced eagerly.
"Verily," Houston replied; his hoof meeting the guards in a shake.
"I am guardspony Fir, and I was instructed to keep an eye out for you."
"Is that so?"
"Marshal Marius wants to meet you beforehoof."
"Well then, let us now waste any time."
"If you'd follow me then," Fir stated as he turned.
Houston followed the guardspony over the town walls. Below he could see a mix of Celestial guardsponies as well as the Trottingham Troopers patrolling the ancient walls. "Security seems tighter than usual," Houston commented offhoof.
"There have been developments. I'm not sure how much I can tell you. Marius should be able to tell you everything you need to know."
After a few more minutes, the duo arrived at the town hall. The large stone building was built like a church. A large bell-tower stuck out of the top and gargoyles seemed to sit on every surface. Landing on a balcony where the bell tower met the actual building, Fir opened a double door and ushered Houston in.
A large officer sat inside. The walls were coated in military relics. Maces, battleaxes, flails; all matter of earth pony weaponry. Two doorways sat off to either side of the room, both guarded by two white earth pony guards. In the centre of the room sat a large bureau, and behind it sat an orange unicorn in Celestial armour. The unicorn had a trim black moustache on his lips, along with a sharp sneer.
"You're not Marius! Who are you?"
"Well done, Houston. Marius is a bit busy getting assassinated, but you already knew that, didn't you? Sabre sent word that the Lunar Guard were attempting to thwart our plans. Such a shame too, we were thinking about cutting you in," the unicorn said with a feigned sigh. His horn lit up as he levitated a tumbler of amber liquid up to his mouth. "Oh, I'm sorry; how rude of me. Drink?" he offered with false sincerity.
"I can't believe you'd forsake the Princesses," Houston snarled angrily.
"Tut, tut, tut. Inside voice, Houston," the unicorn replied.
"Who even are you?"
"Colonel Dealer, at your service," he replied with a curt nod.
"Double Dealer? I should have guessed."
"I must admit, it was pretty obvious. I mean, it's all in the name. Anyway, we can't have you blabbing to Celestia, or worse: saving Marius; so we're going to have to kill you," Dealer said; his lips pouted in mock sadness.
"You can't kill the head of the Lunar Guard!" Fir shouted in confusion.
"Why not?"
"Because... because... he's a... we're all..." Fir babbled.
"Exactly. One hundred bits to the pony who delivers the killing blow," Dealer said as he leaned back in his chair.
"Hang on you guys!" Fir shouted.
The four guardsponies charged forwards towards Houston.
Houston sighed, and spread his wings out wide. As the ponies prepared to pummel him into the ground, Houston tapped a hoof against the ground, and blades sequestered in his wings suddenly shot out. With a spin from Houston, the four ponies flew backwards covered in deep lacerations. With a cry of rage, one of them leapt to her hooves and charged Houston. With a light hop and a flutter of his wing, Houston sent the guardspony flying into the wall with a deep cut on her back.
"Oh, Mr. Fir. You were asked to disarm the offending member," Dealer sighed.
"Come on then, Dealer. I'll take you on," Houston shouted.
"Just remember you asked for this." Dealer stood from his chair and strode around his desk. Lighting his horn, he drew his rapier and twirled it around tauntingly.
"You ready to face a real guard?" Houston growled.
"How precious, you still think you can win," Dealer sniggered.
Houston growled again, then charged headlong at the pompous unicorn. Dealer laughed once more and, with a flash of his horn, appeared behind Houston. Dealer lunged forwards and thrust the rapier into Houston's leg eliciting a cry of rage. Houston spun around and threw out his wing but Dealer had already teleported back behind his desk. The force of the spin put pressure on his now injured leg, causing Houston to sink to his knees briefly.
"Tut, tu, Houston. Now is not the time for rest," Dealer laughed again.
"You want to play it that way? I can play it that way," Houston grunted, dragging himself back to his hooves.
"Well, far be it from me to deny a guest such a simple request."
Another glow and a pair of hand axes tore themselves from the wall and shot towards the pegasus. Houston eyes flashed briefly with fear, but the resounding surge of adrenaline leant him the energy for a powerful flap of his wings; with a hop, he jumped the two axes that both smashed into the floor. Before he had a chance to catch his breath, he instinctively rolled over in the air to avoid a broadsword.
"Why must you make everything so difficult?" Dealer said with another mock sigh. He replaced his rapier into its sheath to strengthen his magical telekinesis. Seven swords of varying designs and sizes pulled themselves from the wall and catapulted them towards the pegasus.
Houston dove to the floor and ended in a forward roll as three of the blades struck where he just was. A sharp sensation of pain in his flank told him that one of them had met its mark, but he leapt up to the ceiling regardless and wrenched off a round shield. The fifth tore into his left wing as it unfurled, causing a shower of blood. Houston brought the shield to bear and caught the fifth and sixth with its wooden solidity. Unable to account for the large slice in his left wing, Houston fell to the ground.
Dealer's eyebrow ticked angrily now as his playful smile degenerated into an unpleasant scowl. "I don't have the patience for this, Mr. Houston. I have important business to attend to, so could you do me a favour? By bucking dying!" the last words burst from his mouth along with a javelin.
Houston grabbed a metal kite shield and brought it around to deflect the javelin. Sure enough, the offending projectile found itself flying into the back of the badly-wounded guard from earlier. With a gurgle, the female guardspony tried to rise, only to fall back down for the last time.
"Now you've gone and bloody well done it! You've gone and killed a member of the Celestial Guard. Marius will want your head, if he's still breathing. Tell you what: you surrender and we won't kill you.
With a pained, but still strong, voice; Houston announced, "I wasn't born yesterday. Why don't you stop flinging horse apples, and come face me like a stallion."
"It may surprise you to know that I wasn't born yesterday either. Minions!" he shouted confidently.
The three guards that still drew breath climbed back to their hooves and encircled the now injured pegasus.
"Fir?" Dealer called; his eyes searching the room for any sign of the guardspony. "He better not have got cold hooves." he mumbled angrily. He then turned his gaze to the injured pegasus. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to depart slightly earlier than planned. Nopony can call be a terrible host though, I'm sure the staff will be more than happy to accommodate for you," he said with a final snark, although his heart clearly wasn't it, and teleported away.
"You killed Spit Shine," one of them said stupidly.
"In self-defence. If any of you have a single shred of honour, you will leave this room now," the pegasus barked in response. Staring into the three angry faces told him that the appeal had fallen on death ears. "Fine then, let's dance."
"Fir! You do not abandon your superiors like that!" Dealer shouted as he caught sight of the green pegasus zooming across the sky. With another sigh, the unicorn drew his rapier magically again, and teleported to the next building. Bull-frogging from building to building had him rapidly catching up on the fleeing pegasus.
"Enough is enough, Dealer! It's one thing to temporarily arrest a pony, but killing them? You went too far."
"Nonsense, it's you who didn't go far enough," Dealer retorted as he sent his blade flying with a flick of his hoof. Fir hopped above the blade at the last second earning a deeper frown from the unicorn. Dealer simply rematerialised his blade and teleported to the next building before flinging it again. Once more, Fir dodged at the last second. "Why don't you come here, and we'll discuss this like gentleponies?" Dealer suggested, hoping to at least distract the opposing guard.
Fir hesitated briefly which was all Dealer needed as he lined up the shot. A sudden smash knocked him flying off the rooftop as a pegasus collided with him.
"Miss me?" Houston shouted at the tumbling unicorn.
Dealer appeared behind him and brought the rapier down to collide with the tiled roof. Looking down briefly in confusion; he exposed himself to a storm of slicing blades as Houston scored bloody streaks down his back. Dealer spun around; his eyes bulging with unconstrained rage as he brought his rapier around.
Fir spun around to see Dealer wailing on Houston with his sword. Houston was barely holding his own against the flurry of flourishes that Dealer constantly flung out. Steeling his nerves and pulling out his lance; Fir did what he'd only dreamed of. The simple but solid iron weapon trailed a small green flag that blew fiercely with the speed of Fir's charge. Using all the momentum he could muster, the plucky green pegasus barrelled into the orange unicorn with a loud thud. The unicorn cried out as the sharp head slammed into his chest. The weapon travelled all the way through his golden armour and back.
Dealer looked down in shock as he saw the lance erupt from his chest. His concentration shattered; the rapier he was holding clattered to the ground with a weak thud. Dealer tried to pull the weapon through with two weak yanks, but the act proved futile. "In... the name... of the rebellion..." he managed to cough when the stark realisation slammed into him as hard as the lance. "... long live.... Sabre... long live... the Republic." With that said, his legs buckled and his limp form fell to the ground.
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Marius wandered the battlements. It'd been a long time since he'd had the pleasure to call his troops into action. He watched with a smile as furtive guards patrolled the walls; all of them willing to die in defence of their queen. The elderly white earth pony pumped up his chest as he strode forwards again. His brilliant ruby red armour shone with the light of the sun. As he marched past, guards stopped whatever they were doing and saluted him with a hoof or wing. He couldn't even remember the last time the guard had ever needed to act like a proper guard. The Lunar Riots two years ago had even been resolved non-violently. To some degree, it sickened the old pony that violence was now something for the border towns where the guard had next to no influence. Peace made ponies soft; if the Griffon Empire ever decided to attack, they would have a field day with the Equestrian military. Despite the constant drilling and surprise inspections that Marius continually threw at them, he believed they were nothing without experience. This might just be the perfect opportunity to finally see proper action, and Marius relished the chance.
On a nearby tower, two figures lay hunched on the rooftop.
"See him, brother?" the black figure whispered.
"Of course I do. We'll bump this poor foal off, and that's it; okay?" the white figure whispered back. He lifted his bow with his magic, and idly tested the string.
"I know, I know. Don't give me the heroes speech again," Velvet replied with a roll of her eyes.
"Okay, we need to time this perfectly,"
"You can count on me."
"This arrow is enchanted; the second that it hits the flagstone, you need to shoot past it. The arrow should weaken the flagstone enough for you to knock it down easily. If it hits him in the head, we have what would appear to be an accident."
"I know, I know. Can we just get on with it?"
"Ready... set... go!" he shouted as he shot the arrow forwards.
Velvet launched with a silent kick. Making sure to go slightly slower than the arrow, she hurtled through the air above the wall. Sure enough, the arrow hit the mortar and glowed orange. With an extra burst of speed, Velvet shot past the stone knocking it from its precarious perch and straight towards the ground.
"Marius!" a green pegasus cried, causing the old pony to stop at the crucial moment. The stone flew towards the old pony, and his life flashed before his eyes.
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Love the chapter title. Best one yet.
At one point, you confused hear with here. Don't recall where that was. Ctrl+F, I guess...
Also, you over-estimate the cutting power of a sword slightly. You can not cleave a body in half with a sword. Let alone a pony body.
A lot of tissue to get in the way. A deep sword wound would not go more than eight inches (20cm) deep, and that's if it were a knife-sharp sword (Swords are less sharp than knives so they can stand up to more abuse) swung with two hands. Organs are rather like a nylon bag coated with canola oil.
There were a few instances of "swinging wildly." Even a frantic swing is pretty closed. Outside of anime, no one would ever swing a sword in a way that exposes the chest too long. Attacks are typically a sharp movement moving the hands maybe a foot and a half.
But that's for a human. With a pony, if they were using their mouths, first of all ow. My teeth hurt just thinking about it. But that would mean no chance of sharp hand movements. Any attack would expose the neck though, so I'm sure they would have plating to protect the neck that limits the head's ability to bend down too far.
438100 I always come up with the title last. I don't normally upload half chapters, but you volunteered so...
Found that here and corrected it; thanks for pointing that out. Damn homophones
Okay let's talk weaponry. I talk about swords removing limbs, but its the poleaxe that cleaved the body in half. I figured poleaxe's would have the cutting power, they're like axe-spears aren't they? Swords removing limbs might be a little over-exaggerated, but you've played Halo. Those flood forms lose limbs to bullets, so I'm assuming the flood virus severely weakens their structural integrity. That and a little artistic liberty allows for a more visceral feel to the combat, or at least that's what I'm trying to do. Do you actually like these fight scenes? I have included several so far, and I'm not sure I'm particularly good at them. They are kinda important to the story though.
In a close-quarters battle with multiple enemies, controlled strikes would be too slow. I explain Tertius's fighting style in detail, and Gracchus wields a poleaxe, so I'm assuming your referring to the twins? The back of their neck is armoured like in the show, but the throat is still exposed. Swinging wildly is just really a way of trying to get the speed of the fight through. I don't know, though. End of the day you're the weapons expert.
Yeah holding swords with their teeth would probably be pretty bucking painful, especially when they hit something. The guard are trained this way though, so perhaps they have tougher teeth? I mean the unicorns can levitate their swords, perhaps the Pegasi can wield them with their wings? Then Earth ponies would have to do what Gracchus does and fight on their rear legs like a human. Does that make more sense to you?
I guess this story just isn't for me.
450512 Understandable. Personally, this fic is a chore to write. I'm having to comb backwards to find plot-points that haven't been finished yet. I mean Earnest is still stuck in chapter 4 or whatever. I dug a hole and then made it deeper. The only way I can see the light now is by continuing to dig until I reach the other side. Fact is though, I've invested a lot of time into this and I don't want to sink it without some form of closure. I'm sure you can understand that. Thanks for reading up until chapter 11.
Just one final question: was it the fight scenes that put you off? I know my writing isn't fantastic and if you're not feeling them, then they're just superfluous prose.
Plenty going on this chapter, that's needless to say. Few mistakes here and there but I'm not going to bitch about it. These things happen.
Loved the Mass Effect reference in there, made me laugh a little.
Anyway, looking foreword to the next on.
Love Halo and MLP:FiM, so......... I LOVE this story!!!!!!!!!
How does this have 120 favourites but only 80 likes? Why are a 1/3 of the people who favourited this not liking it?
It boggles the mind. 
451777 Had to resist the urge to just carbon-copy Kirrahe's speech. Glad you got the reference anyway. I also have a Mass Effect crossover in my stories list, if you're interested.
455819 Huh, never knew that. Might need to do research on horse physiology (hooray). Thanks for sticking with this thing. I don't know what you seen in it, better Halo crossovers are posted everyday.
462772 Don't sell yourself short. They may be better in different aspects, but they are not this story. No one can make this exact story but you. Uniqueness, that is but one reason why I still read this story.
After all the descriptions of various weapons and armors that really didn't matter (Made it sound more like a wikipedia article, but I guess you can get away with it since it was in the perspective of an elite guard who would probably have to know this) and you do nothing about the wingblade?
Not a bad chapter, but considering the wait, it could be better.
But then again... I haven't really worked on either of my fics for quite some time... So.....
462772 Yeah, I checked out the ME crossover and I gotta say I'm impressed. Thank's for the head's up.
474752 Balance issues. Couldn't have ponies being mown down without Celestia's interference. Then all the humans would have been screwed.
Plus they're Halo Marines; they can barely make it to the next checkpoint let alone survive a mission. 
474874 Double posts are one thing, but the same comment with an hour long gap? Impressive.
475682 Sorry if I sounded a bit infantile there; I just thought it was odd.
475699 A lot of people, English people, had problems hanging with the story due to frequent character changes, multiple plots and other such pitfalls I fell into. I applaud you making it to chapter 11. Thanks for the thumbs up.
477631 Just click on the speech bubble icon in the top right corner of the comment box.