OMAI: The Empire of Storms

by VeganSpyro97

Chapter 17: Embers Glowing

The ponies relished in their victory for only a scant few minutes before they began planning for another. The town had been under the King’s boot so long that the inhabitants had barely needed to be roused into belligerence at all- they had already been belligerent before. All the ponies had needed was to provide the match to light the powder keg, then stand back and watch it blow.

Mere hours after their campaign had begun, and Static was watching a brawl over spilled drinks suddenly turn into an all out war against the guards responsible for the brawler’s misery. They wouldn’t need to drown their misery in grog if they weren’t miserable, and they wouldn’t be miserable if they didn’t have jack-booted thugs breathing down their necks all day. The brawl ended with many guards beaten and only a few patrons caught, the rest having ripped a few swords and spears out of the guards hands and running for the hills, laughing and jeering.

Of course, this only made it harder for the guards to keep up the aura of fear that the Empire relied so heavily upon.

Two more fights broke out within an hour, on opposite ends of town, one resulting in the burning down of a guard post, and the other in more weapons being nicked. The ponies smiles were contagious among the crowds, and hours of time wrenched the city firmly from the order of fear to the exuberant rebellion of free men and women taking up the call to arms.

Static and the others had to work fast, galloping and flying all across town in order to deliver messages, locate different revolutionists and convince them that working together would be more beneficial. Words of unity and courage were thrown liberally, with hints of treasure and promises of the open skies call being answered being given freely.

Momentum was building. Within a day, and the first small cell of rebels had formed under the noses of the city guard.

“We take a few hours to spread word of an attack on city hall, play up the numbers, make it look like more people are already involved.” Static explained, pointing to the courtyard outside city hall. “People are more likely to join us if they think we’re already gaining more traction than we are- yes, I know that’s lying to them, but we need them, and they need to get their heads out of the sand.”

Twilight seemed a little on edge about Static disregarding several key pillars of friendship, but when she confronted Static about it, the pegasus snorted. “Twilight. Grow up. Our moral conundrums will mean nothing if we don’t live to question them.”

Twilight had opened her mouth to object, but found a simple, logical, truth to those words. The Storm King wouldn’t care what they thought about what they were doing, or what he was doing. He’d just try to kill them.

It was an awful, cold truth. But truth nonetheless.

Rarity and Applejack had taken it upon themselves to establish a small base of operations in the tunnels beneath the city, ferrying supplies back and forth and making sure it was all well hidden from patrols and guards.

With their help, and no small amount of charm and guile from Rarity, the small rebellion was soon being supplied by a tiny cadre of sympathetic shopkeepers and merchants. By the end of the first day, the already fermenting pot of unrest and noncompliance was already yielding a potent brew of freedom-fighters. Application to corrupt government coming momentarily.

Tempest spent the time by Static’s side, at first as a guard and guarded mare, but her attention was drawn to Static herself, and how she had taken over leadership of the band, almost without hesitation.

“The real goal won’t be the Town Hall. It’s too well guarded. But from what you’ve told me, the Guards barracks themselves are supposedly quite difficult to penetrate, manned by a full company of guards at all times, ready to respond to any emergency. With a supposedly large crowd of rowdy rebels on their bosses doorstep, d’you think they’d go running out to meet them?”

Tempest nodded along, as did the pirate Captain whose crew had comprised the majority of their little band of misfits. He was a diamond dog with thick grey fur and a scarred face, that was referred to as Genn. “I think so.” The dog replied, his gravelly voice hiding a keen mind. “They usually do. Whenever something happens by their front door, they like to show up in force."

“Excellent. At that time, my team can move in and clear the place out. We get a wagon under the back window here, and have our fliers watching for any guards that might prove a problem. Our heavy lifters go in and empty as much of the armory as they can, and pull that cart all the way back here, quickly dump it all for someone to hide in here, and then keep moving. If we keep the place clear, we could avoid getting caught altogether. We get more traction, more people, and better gear to use while limiting their effectiveness going forwards."

The Captain grinned. "I'll get my boys ready to rile up the locals. You want us armed?"

"Anything you can reasonably conceal. The whole point is to distract, not give them a pitched battle in the streets."

Tempest frowned as a thought struck her. "If the guards are rushing out to deal with a bunch of angry workers, won't they be bringing a lot of their weapons and gear with them?"

Static grinned. "That's the beauty of it. Since there won't seem to be anyone in the crowd with armour or weapons, these boys will come flooding out with the bare minimum, not expecting to need anything more than a few swords and some intimidating armour in order to cow a few scared workers. They'll leave the rest behind, only to find out that there are a few armed rebels after all, and be caught up in dealing with them. You and your men will keep them busy long enough for us to steal everything that isn't nailed down. Food, maps, weapons, you name it."

The plan was simple, but flexible enough that it could handle a few unwanted developments.

Rainbow was the obvious choice for a scout. She flew up through the river-fed mists early in the morning, out of sight from any watchful eyes, and made herself a small cloud, just enough to conceal herself. A few minutes of careful observation and her incredible memory had the layout of the guardhouse complex memorized.

That layout was soon transcribed onto paper for Static and Twilight to figure out their strategy.

**********************************

"'Scuse me, partner. I need to borrow this fer a bit!"

"What are you doing?! That's my wago-" *THWACK!!*

"Sorry mister shark thingy! It's for a good cause!"

*********************************

The crowd was restless outside City Hall. The Governor was doing his best to grandstand, trying to spin recent developments as "ultimately fruitless acts of terrorism". Given that most of these "acts of terrorism had been some ponies singing songs, and a few drunken brawls, which was common around this town, and had inspired a response like this, the crowd was't buying it.

As the fervor of the crowd continued to build, there were harsh cries and demands for Verco to be pulled off the stage, so that the people he "represented" could show him how they really felt about him. There were a few glints of metal among the crowd-none of them weapons, just buckles and other metallic accoutrements that made the governor nervous. A few unseen hand gestures signaled for some reinforcements.

There was clamoring and clanging as the gates of the guard barracks swung open, emitting a stream of armoured brutes, their Storm Empire motifs uncleaned and covered in dust from lack of maintenance, the Armour plates dull and slightly pitted in a few places where battle scars had yet to be hammered out. They clutched spears and swords in hand, but little else. They were dishevelled and a few of them had not had the time to properly cinch the straps on their armour, but they seemed oblivious as they marched forth.

Fifty, then a hundred, then twice that strode out through the gates, forcing their way through the crowd, to stand at the call of their King's puppet. They brandished their weapons at any who dared step out of line, growling through their masks at the upstarts who challenged them.

From their place in the alleyway across the street from the barracks, Static and her friends watched as the guards marched out to deal with the common rabble with bated breath. As soon as the last line of guards was safely out from the gates, Static waved her friends into motion, Dash and Shy quickly flying up between the buildings to take up watch, while Applejack hauled their commandeered wagon around the barracks outer wall, until she was out of sight from the alleyway and the courtyard beyond, tucked closely to the back wall.

The few Jotuns left inside were hardly an issue with Rarity and Twilight's magic. Their armour may deflect magic, but large heavy objects smashing into the backs of heads while a sound dampening spell kept the impacts from alerting other guards circumvented that defense quite nicely. Applejack's hooves would have also sufficed were she not outside.

The element of surprise carried them right to the armoury, with the only guards that posed a problem being right outside the door and not close enough to surprise them without making a scene.

Static took point on this one. Her night based magic flooded the corridor with shadows, blinding the two, while Twilight kept their alarmed yells from being heard. Static's magic wrapped around the pair in oily black tendrils, lifting them off the floor and slamming them together. It took effort to keep the tendrils intact when they were touching the magic-resistant metal armour, but Static's newfound reserve of power was enough to brute force her way through, the two guards slamming together with a crunch, before falling to the floor in a heap.

Static blinked shadows out of her eyes for a moment, then relaxed her hold on the pair, letting the light flood back into the corridor.

She rifled quickly through the guards belt pouches, grinning as she retrieved a thick, metal key from one of them, and swiftly stuffed it into the lock and twisted. A grinding noise followed by a screech elicited winces from the ponies as the thick gate swung open.

Beyond it lay a treasure trove of weaponry and armaments, from axes to polearms, daggers to great big swords, and, of course, a stockpile of firearms. Matchlock rifles rested carefully against the wall, baskets of ammunition placed well away from a locked casket of black powder, which was evident to the ponies through the acrid smell leaking out of it.

"Grab everything you can, and get it over the wall to AJ. Rarity, do you think you can use those runway skills to keep them from being seen?"

Rarity looked extremely put out by the thought. "Darling, getting ponies noticed is what I do. This is…..this is….anathema to everything I stand for!"

"You can whine about it later, Rares. Right now, we just need to get this done."

"I do NOT WHINE!" Rarity hissed. "I complain! And right now I very much feel like complaining!" The alabaster mare grabbed the pegasus and pulled her out of sight as a pair of guards walked past on patrol. "Why not use your magic to do it?"

"Because a massive shadow in the middle of the day isn't conspicuous at all, is it?" Static returned, snidely.

"No need to be rude, darling, I get the point." Rarity bemoaned, lighting up her horn as Twilight started passing off boxes and crates to the others, Celestia stumbling a little under a particularly heavy box. She smiled as Pinkie bounced over to help, offering a little nuzzle before bracing the box on her back. Celestia then took a lighter load and trotted out into the open with her marefriend by her side. Rarity's horn flashed, and the two seemed to vanish from sight. More boxes went past, Static taking her turn and hauling a long box full of spears across the open ground between the barracks and the wall around them. She struggled a little to get the box up the stairs on the inside of the wall, but a little creative positioning let Static lever the thing up the stairs, sliding it up over the edge of each step, until she reached the top.

Carrying the case over to the edge, the bronze coated pegasus peered over the edge, spotting Applejack and the wagon below her. The earth pony had conveniently managed to find some manner of discarded fabric, and piled it haphazardly underneath the wall. "Heads up, AJ. Long one dropping down." Static called down, before she hauled the crate up to the lip of the wall, hoisting it up so she could tip the thing over. She checked the latch on thell lid one more time, then tipped it over the edge and turned back, retracing her steps and keeping her ears open for the sound of her friends moving up past her.

Emerging from the illusion and back inside the armoury, Static took stock of the remaining weapons and armour racks, before grabbing the next box that Twilight offered her.

The repeated journey was rather tense, the girls freezing in place and staring at the patrolling guards every time they passed by, not daring to so much as breathe until the duo of jotuns was gone for a few more minutes.

Finally, Twilight picked up the last box, and carried it out through Rarity's illusion, joining the others on the wall. The armoury had been thoroughly pillaged, the racks bare and the floors uncovered for the first time in months. Twilight shut the door as quietly as she could, and placed an illusion of the room as it had been on the other side, just for good measure. She slipped the pocket back into the satchel Static had found it in, and then left, making sure that everything was properly closed. Then she swiftly flew herself up onto, and then over the wall, joining the others by the wagon.

The crowd outside had not gone far enough to spark a fight, but the guards attention had certainly been on them, rather than on the ponies sneaking around in their armoury.

Their burglary went unnoticed, the ponies took a few minutes to make sure their precious cargo was secure, and, after a few moments of improvised rope-work using the now useless cloth, they tied the pile of crates and boxes down. Sound suppression spell once again cloaking their presence, the group made a swift exit, signalling to Dash and Shy to rejoin them. Shy in turn signaled Genn and his crew of rebels in the crowd, before flapping off to join her friends.

Genn vanished amid the throngs of irritated townsfolk, joined by his companions, one by one.

Within minutes, all the pirates were gone, all of the ponies were gone, and Verco's speech failed to promote any of the unity he asked for.

*********************************

The sheer number of weapons and armour now in their possession was a fantastic step in the right direction. Twilight, Static and Genn were sitting together and

"We need to keep this momentum up. Once word gets out that the barracks were robbed, more people will be willing to join the fight." Static grinned, looking at the growing arsenal of weapons at her hooves.

"These will need some work before we can use them." Genn grunted, examining the armour they had recovered. "Those jotuns are big bastards, even the smallest of these a side or two larger than anything I could wear."

Twilight nodded in acceptance. “We can at least make use of the weapons. Spread them among your crew, captain. And when others come looking for us, be ready to share with them too.”

Genn bobbed his head, and made to stand up. Then he paused. “Are you sure they will come?”

Static’s eyes settled on his, and the diamond dog watched as this strange mare became wreathed in broiling shadows that seemed to swallow her whole. Her bronze fur darkened to a near pitch black, and her teeth sharpened into fangs sharper than his own, before she vanished from sight entirely, leaving only her voice behind. “I can almost guarantee it.”

*******************************

Not one pirate in all of Klugetown slept well that night, plagued by dreams filled with burning ships and shattered homes, the stamping of metal boots and stone, splintered wood and noxious green fumes.

Friends, family, rivals and business partners, all dead and torn apart. The multitudes hewn apart by claws and blades, scattered around throughout smoke filled streets, nestled in the crooks between alleyways and doors like puppets without a puppeteer. All broken and discarded toys thrown away by the monstrous shadows that lingered in the corner of every eye. All of them emblazoned with a mark. Two jagged lines scored into their shoulders, glowing blue.

And always, there was a pony, a mare, standing amid the carnage, with a hoof outstretched, and soundless words on her lips. “You can change this.” Nothing more. Just those words. And those words turned embers into an inferno.

********************************

Author's Note:

Sorry for how long this took!
I wasn't happy with how I originally wrote chapter's 17-19, and scrapped them to start over. Then I got into a stint of not writing at all due to being tired from my actual job. But now, I have a bit of time at last! So here we are!

Comments

[Kevin Lee]

Early first draft:

And always, there was a pony, a mare, standing amid the carnage, with a hoof outstretched, and soundless words on her lips. “You can change this.” Nothing more. Just those words. And those words turned embers into an inferno.
It only got worse when Pinkie broke out the bag of marshmellows...