A horseshoe to rule them all

by Bronycommander

Chapter 12 Kingdom Of The Spiders

Chapter 12: Kingdom Of The Spiders

“Ugh…” Midnight groaned as he and his fellow knights came too. “What happened?”

They looked around to find themselves at a cave, next to a cave, with Talion slowly smiling at them.

“The Black Hand. He called upon powers we were not prepared for. But we saw to it that it availed him little.”

“Where…where are the foals?” Fletcher asked in alert as he couldn’t see them anywhere.”

“I lost sight of them, but don’t worry. I think I know where they are. Follow me.”

The knights did without hesitation, yet hoped it wasn’t too late.

They sneaked past orcs as they moved through the platforms. It seemed endless, like a maze, but trusted the Ranger, that he knew where to go. And eventually, they came to an exit, littered with bones and spider webs.

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Dinky’s head aced as she came to her sense, trying to move, but her body wouldn’t respond.

“Dinky, wake up!” Sweetie Belle’s voice echoed in her ears and she slowly opened her eyes. He heart almost skipped a beat to see that she and her friends were strapped to the wall in a spider web. The little filly had never seen the CMC so scared, all three fillies looked frantically around.

Then they heard footsteps and looked terrified into its direction. A woman with black hair and dark green eyes, dressed in a black dress walked in. At first, she seemed like any other human. But something wasn’t normal about her. She looked at the foals with a cold look, spiders escorted her, the same they had seen before.

The little animals seemed to deeply trust her. And yet, she was somehow sending out an uneasy feeling for the foals.

Her walk was slow, yet calm, and she seemed to float slightly. Now the foals realized that the dress was very long, reaching to her bare feet, her hair was also unusually long and the eyes had a slim appearance. Overall, she appeared to be thin.

For some reason, Dinky couldn’t help but start screaming with her friends, it felt natural, trying to break free.

It seemed like hours until the woman asked, “Done?” She sounded unimpressed, yet her voice was eerie echoing.

“Don’t hurt us!” Sweetie Belle pleaded, trembling.

“It is not I you should fear, little ones.” The woman said calmly.

“Then why did you kidnap us?!” Apple Bloom exclaimed.

“The horseshoe. It is too dangerous to be allowed to fall into Sauron’s hands.”

“B-but we don’t have it!” Dinky stated, but the woman seemed not fazed by it.

“And what is that?” She pointed to Dinky’s right forehoof and the unicorn looked at it. The horseshoe was attached to it, suiting her perfectly.

What? How? Dinky wondered she couldn’t remember having found and put it on, neither did she felt it before on her hoof.

Yet she could not form a reply as more footsteps sounded and the woman turned around.

Talion and the knights entered, their weapons drawn and the woman said in a calm tone, “I called you here for a reason.”

“You will return them to us. Now.” Talion demanded, pointing his sword at the woman.

She in response, clutched her hand and Dinky heard a groan of pain, seeing Celebrimbor trapped in what she could only describe as a white whirl of mist, causing Talion to lower his sword.

“You are brave, for a man. But it is not your sword that will save him. How much are you willing to sacrifice?” She asked, ignoring the knights completely, they watched with neutral expressions.

“I have given up everything.”

“Not everything. Not yet.” She countered and Dinky noticed that the Ranger was wearing a blue glowing ring on his hand.

“You want the Ring.” Talion concluded.

“You would give me the ring for the wraith.”

“And find myself beside him in your web.”

“I am Shelob and I deal only in truth.” The woman introduced herself. “I wouldn’t give up either.”

She turned around the Wraith groaned again.

“Wait.” Talion said.

“Talion…no.” Celebrimbor pleaded as the ranger took the ring off and collapsed as Shelob took it.

“I’m impressed, Ranger.” She inspected the ring, “He must mean something to you” Then she looked at the wraith. “Go to your puppet before he dies.” She released Celebrimbor and the foals, the latter ran into the knights for comfort.

“You have doomed us, Talion. Her power was vast before and now you have given her mine. I poured my life force into that ring.” The Wraith scolded as Talion managed to stand up.

“Then we must take it back.” Talion groaned in pain as he became one again with the wraith. “Shelob!”

He charged and was about to strike, but she simply raised her hand. Talion stopped and knelled, to the surprise of the ponies.

“The war you came to fight is not here. The ring is lost” She raised his chin, causing him to look at her. “So look at Minas Ithil and the Dark Lord’s armies that surround it. Look to the Palantir. Sauron will not stop until all of Middle-earth is dominated.”

As Dinky blinked, she saw a city that was almost like Canterlot in structure, as it had High walls and a high tower. It was looking majestic and also well prepared against attacks. Like any attacker would have a hard time.

The sun covered the entire town, giving it an atmosphere of safety. It really reminded her of Canterlot, a majestic place, yet heavily fortified in case of an attack.

Then she realized that reality was different.

Her eyes went small to see that parts of the city were on fire, some walls broken.

Orcs stormed through the broken defenses, fighting with Human soldiers, who bravely stood their ground.

Blinking once more, she found herself in reality again, with Shelob gone.

“Minas Ithil. I must know if Shelob’s vision holds true.” Talion said to Celebrimbor and started to run, the ponies followed him without hesitation.

Getting out of the cave, they came to a ledge overlooking the city. Parts of it were burning, orcs were entering through a bridge, catapults and beasts that looked like a small version of the Graug, carrying a big crossbow-like device on its back, were around the city walls.

“Gondor’s last fortress in Mordor cannot fall.” Talion said at the sight.

“The Palantir is our only concern. We must seize it before it falls into Sauron’s hands.” The Wraith pointed out, “With it, his armies will be unstoppable. The fate of the city matters not.”

“I will not let them get slaughtered like my brothers at the Black Gate.” The ranger protested and looked at his allies. “We must do something. Taking out the Captains should buy the Gondorians some time

“Whatever is necessary to keep the foals safe, Ranger.” Midnight nodded and Dinky heard the Wraith adding,

“And they could lead us to the Palantir. We must find a worm and make him talk.”

“Wait here.” Talion jumped down and spotted a lone Orc in a hut of the Orc camp and sneaked behind him, grabbing him once he was close enough.

“Who leads the search of the Palantir?” Celebrimbor asked.

The ponies saw how the Orc had a fearful expression for a moment before falling lifeless to the ground, with the Ranger making a sign to follow

Dinky and Sweetie belle climbed on Fletcher, he teleported down, while Wolf and Midnight used their wings, caring Scoots and Apple Bloom.

“The leading Captain is in the lower city.” Talion explained and the ponies nodded, sneaking through the camp with him.

However, the exit was guarded by four Orcs, which made it impossible to sneak past, so the Gravewalker stepped forward.

“It's the grave walker!” One of the Orcs exclaimed.

I thought he was dead!” Another remarked surprised.

“He is!” A third one added with a fearful voice.

The Orcs charged at him, but he reacted quickly, killing them with headshots from his bow.

With the way opened, they entered the city and got on the rooftops to stay out of sight following Talion until he pointed to a group of Orcs on the ground. One of them was having scars around the face, one eye was also scarred and white, as if he was blind on it.

“It’s round and it’s blue. They call it the Seeing Stone. You see that, then you come running to me. Do not touch it.” The commander warned, “I’m going to say that again: do not touch it. If it doesn’t kill you, then I will.”

Talion jumped down and stabbed the commander into the back, dazing him. Then he dealt with the other orcs, by making swift, mortal strikes, assisted by Fletcher who fired arrows from above and Midnight and Wolf’s dealing also mortal strikes, the foals kicked whenever they got the chance.

“For Gondor!” A female voice yelled and the Ranger and ponies saw a woman in armor, her eyes blue, the hair blond. Her eyes blazed with rage, hinting she had a deep hate against Orcs and her armor had golden markings, showing she was of high rank. She charged at the commander Orc, just as he recovered. “For the white tree! And all who bled upon it!”

The woman dealt swift strikes, throwing the commander back. Talion did some more strikes from behind, hurting him more, forcing him on one knee. The Orc looked up and the woman sliced him across the throat, killing him.

“Why are you here alone?” Talion asked the female soldier.

“My raiding party was trapped in the lower city overnight.”

“How many of you were there?”

“Not enough.” The woman replied and Talion put his sword away.

“Minas Ithil still stands.”

“We’re about to lose the Middle City, Ranger. They’ll be closing the gate if they haven’t already.” She pointed to the large tower. “We need to get up there as fast as we can.

“We’ll be right behind you. “Talion said and she was about to move out. “Wait! What is your name?”

“Idril.”

“Talion. Those are my allies Midnight Blade, White Wolf, Fletcher Fray and their young friends Dinky, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle.” He introduced them and they nodded.

Idril just gave a nod herself. “Don’t fall behind. We’ve lost enough men today.”

Then a loud echoing sound, like a horn was blown. “They’re closing the gate!” The woman exclaimed and they followed her through the city.

On their way, the ranger and ponies helped other Gondorian soldiers to fend off the orcs, so they could get back to the gate too. The humans gave the ponies a surprised look, yet were glad for the help.

“It’s almost like Mondelein…” Fletcher commented at the sight, sounding uncomfortable.

Going up the stairs, they reached an entrance with a portcullis. Idril defeated two Orcs and Talion sliced a third that tried to attack her from behind. She nodded before slicing another Orc that tried to attack the Ranger from behind.

Idril, the other soldiers and the ponies made it through the gate as it was about to close, yet Talion stayed outside. “What are you doing?” She asked in disbelief.

“I won’t be long. Go.” The Ranger replied as more Orcs closed in.

Idril turned to a bland soldier with an eyepatch. “Have the archers provide support.”

“We must help him too!” Dinky exclaimed, sounding worried for him.

“No problem, Dinky.” Fletcher replied and he took aim with the other archers, Midnight and Wolf flew over the walls to support Talion directly.

The eyes of the little unicorns went wide as Talion’s sword became a long blue banner, swinging it to kill several enemies at once. She and Sweetie Belle fired stun spells, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom kicked and punched whenever they could.

Fletcher took notice that the archers had their arrows on fire, effectively killing Orcs quickly and painfully as he fired with them. While not a big fan of fire, he still sometimes used arrows with similar effects.

Thanks to those combined forces, the Orcs were quickly defeated.

Once it was over, the ponies saw Idril walking up to a man with greying hair, looking at a map as she reported, “We lost the Middle City. We made them pay for every inch of ground, but they now hold it.”

“Then our fate will be decided here. Our inner wall is our strongest and we have double their archers” The man concluded. His age suggested he was we experienced and his armor had the same golden markings as Idril, showing he was a high ranking officer, most likely the leader of the defending forces. He was broad in build and face, seemingly very fit despite his age.

“We cannot match the Orcs for their numbers or ferocity.” Idril warned.

“Oh, your people have held back Sauron’s forces before.” The man replied calmly.

“But some things were lost forever.

“Yes. Of course they were. Go to the Great Hall. Secure the relics.” He ordered.

“My place is here.” Idril stated firmly but the man held up a hand.

“Make sure they are taken to Henneth Annûn.”

“Is that an order?” She asked.

“You must understand. We must protect what is most precious at all costs.” He stated and she repeated the words simultaneously. “Yes, that is an order.”

“Then I’ll see it done.” Idril nodded and walked away, yet stopped for a moment. “But I’ll be back on the wall before the next assault.

Talion then walked up to the man, who was surprised. “A Ranger from the Black Gate? I heard you were all dead.”

“You heard the truth.”

“I’ve you come to fight for Minas Ithil, Ranger, report to Captain Baranor.”

“I’ve not come to join your army, General,” Talion stated, “but for the Palantir. And it’s safe-keeping.”

“Protect the city and the Palantir will be safe.” The general explained, “However, our raiding parties are targeting enemy captains on the lower city.”

“You wish to spread terror in their ranks.” The ranger concluded.

“Yes. It’s about time they tasted fear.” The General replied and walked away.

But for the ponies, it made one thing clear:

This was only the beginning.

Author's Note:

Sorry for the wait, I had more important things to do,