Tales of the Abyss: Hymns of Equestria

by Genis94

Inspection Day

It was a day the same as any other. The sun was shining in the sky, birds were chirping happily, and the guards dutifully manned the battlements of Canterlot Castle. Every now and again a rookie would complain about the lack of action in his duties, but the senior officers would scold them for complaining. Shining Armor was absent from the ranks of the guards as he was still on his honeymoon. Filling in for the position was his direct subordinate, Briggs Wall. She was one of the few female officers of the guard, but nopony would mistake that for weakness. She was an expert in tactical combat and swordsmanship, skills that have earned her more commendations than most would have at her age. Her blonde mane waved in the wind as she stood unmoving from the tallest point of the battlements.

Most officers would simply keep to themselves and check in every so often to stay professional. Briggs was far different. She preferred to watch over her men directly, leading them alongside the battlefield instead of from the safety of a command post. While she was often critical to her men when they made mistakes, they had faith in her just as she had faith in them.

Briggs had her mind set on her earlier briefing with Princess Celestia.

--------

"M'am, I must request you tell me what was so important that I had to be torn from my morning inspection."

Celestia let out a deep sigh as she halted her pacing and faced Captain Briggs. No, as she faced Captain of the Guard Briggs. "Straight to the point. That is why I chose you to be second in command for Shining Armor." Celestia motioned for Briggs to follow her as they began pacing the halls of the castle. "You know how dearly I value the safety of the kingdom, correct?"

Briggs did not even require a moment to think of her response. "You care for your subjects with all of your heart and would do anything to protect them. That kind of conviction is the entire reason I enlisted in the guard."

Celestia felt a weak smile tug against her lips as she felt just a little more relaxed. "That is very good to hear. You understand what is at stake. As much as it pains me to say it, Equestria is facing a threat greater than any we have known before."

"What kind of threat are we talking about?" Briggs asked as her interest was piqued.

"A threat from another world entirely. Our current knowledge suggests that there are only three of them, but make no mistake, the power of their leader alone could very well defeat me."

Briggs was dumbfounded by the very idea of a being that could possess such power. She shook away her doubts and looked to her princess with a determined fire in her eyes. "M'am, simply give me my orders and I will carry them out. I would fight to the last breathe if only to keep the kingdom safe."

"You must prepare yourself to face a foe we know next to nothing about. You must be willing to do anything in your power to protect the order of our land. And above all else, you must be ready to make the decisions that others cannot. Are you prepared for such a task?" Celestia asked with the most serious tone she had ever mustered.

Briggs unsheathed the sword from her belt and stood with her forehooves gripping it as it stood by the blade. "I swear upon my family sword that I will never surrender. I will be willing to go to any lengths to protect Equestria. Your enemies are my enemies. Your will is my will. I will follow you into the depths of Tartarus without hesitation."

Celestia nodded in approval. She knew that Briggs was willing, but could any of them truly be ready to face this new foe?

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Luke and the others had finished getting sorted together in the hotel,and were ready to hit the streets. As soon as they hit the pavement, Luke began taking a path that headed straight for the smokestacks he saw earlier. The ponies trotted behind him, all keeping an eye out for anything out of the ordinary.

Luke was not going to wait another minute to begin the search. Master Van had to be stopped. The factory was only a few blocks away at this point, but they felt like miles with the anticipation setting in. Luke continued walking with the ponies by his side, when something moved in his way.

"Why, hello there you handsome thing." A sultry female voice cooed.

Luke shut his eyes and hung his head low. "I know that voice... Please just let it not be them!"

Luke slowly opened his eyes and looked forward. Puzzled as to why there was no one at his eye level, he looked down to see a suspiciously familiar looking pegasus mare. She had a dark pink mane and wore a black pirate hat with a pink trim. Her coat was a vanilla cream color. She looked up at Luke with a face that screamed 'Seduction'.

"Would you be able to help out a beautiful young mare?" She asked, batting her eyelashes for added effect.

Luke just frowned and said. "Why are the only things that remind me of home bad?"

Twilight was polite enough to scoot between the two and offer a response. "I'm so sorry, miss. We're on an important errand and we need to be going."

The pegasus was not easily dissuaded. "Surely he can spare a moment for little ol' me?"She asked as she began pacing around the human.

Before anypony could react, Luke reached out his hand and grabbed the pegasus' wing.

"Luke! What are you-?" Twilight began asking.

Luke lifted up the wing of the pegasus to reveal a coin purse. "Nice try, lady. I fell for this trick once, I'm sure as hell not falling for it again."

The pegasus snorted angrily and dropped the purse to rip herself free of the human's grip. She quickly took to the air and landed on a nearby building. Two more pegasi stepped forward to her side. One was a short and portly pegasus with a brown beard and a green top hat with a playing card stuck into it as though it were stabbed into the side. The other was a pegasus slightly taller than the mare and was rather slender, aside from his disproportionate stomach. he wore an eyepatch over one eye, had a pirate hat of his own, and had on a linen collar.

The slender stallion spoke up. "You're gonna regret this! Nobody crosses the Dark Wings!"

After shouting their vendetta, the three pegasi took flight.

Twilight was severely confused. "What... just happened?"

Luke sighed in annoyance. "They even have the same name. This day just gets better and better." Luke turned to face the group. "Let's just all forget that we ever saw them."

Fluttershy raised a hoof to gain Luke's attention. "B-but what about how they said they would get revenge?"

"Trust me. That's not gonna happen. Now start forgetting them." Luke assured the meek pegasus.

Shrugging to each other, the ponies agreed to simply forget about the strange trio, and continued on their way to the factory.

--------

The factory floor was quite lively as workers manned their stations and parts were carted off to different areas. Luke was impressed by the level of technology ponies had. A rather aged stallion began trotting over to the group. He had a slate grey coat and a snow white mane and mustache.

"I'm gonna have to ask all of you to leave. Unless you're on official business, the factory is off limits to non employees." He told the group.

Twilight stepped forward and levitated a letter to the stallion. "We're on official business for Princess Celestia herself. We need to inspect the factory and ask a few questions.

The stallion quickly read the letter and gulped when he saw the royal seal."N-not a problem! I-I can escort you through the facility. My name is Black Furnace." He began telling them as he directed them through the factory.

The group walked along the catwalks for the duration of their tour. The many processes for preparing the steel, testing engines, and forging cogs was shown and explained to the travelers. Twilight found herself scribbling down notes on all of the intricacies of the factory, occasionally narrowing her eyes when she found a lack of organization. Once Black Furnace finished his tour, Luke found himself both relieved and disappointed.

"There isn't a single thing missing from here. I wonder how Asch's end of the search is going."

As if on cue, an aura enveloped Luke and he could hear his original's voice in his head.

"Can you hear me, replica?" Asch asked.

"Yeah. There's no sign of Van in Baltimare." Luke sadly admitted. "How's your end of the search going?"

"We found nothing in our factory." Asch said in his constantly serious tone.

Luke's shoulders slumped in defeat. "Great. Now we don't have any leads as to where Van is. What are we supposed to do-?"

"No, you don't understand. There's nothing in the factory." Asch repeated.

Author's Note:

I hope all of you are ready, because it's about to go down! There will be a chapter written from Asch's point of view, but then I'm going to give you one big ol' chapter of epicness. Van's plot is about to be thrown into motion.

Comments

[Dirty Bit]

I can't help but feel that the mare known as Briggs Wall is a subtle FMA Brotherhood reference. As for Asch's side of the story, I wonder how he'll cope with the Doctor's antics

[Genis94]

1899532 Correct! Briggs is my little reference to Olivier Mira Armstrong.

[read all the stories]

The Dark Wings are awesome characters.