Chapter 19
Chapter 19
The Stone Arch Gateway's doors swung open, stone grating on stone in the night on one side, and the daylight on the other. A single figure stepped through and looked around. Seeing nothing, he sighed in relief and motioned with his right hand for the rest of his group to come through. When all thirty two had assembled on the other side the doors swung shut once more and the scout again breathed a relieved sigh. With this many armed and armored men and women here with him, even if they were attacked they'd not be overcome, right?
Wrong. Dead wrong.
The fight really had been over before it had begun, as with Lady Yishna's people no longer living in the ruined (razed, now) castle of the royal sisters Luna's soldiers were free to move about in the woods as they saw fit, and when you lined your soldiers up behind the Stone Arch Gateway, whether it was open or closed, you could not see behind it, and the Humans had not thought to check.
Luna peeked out from behind the door, grinned in a fashion similar to her darker self, Nightmare Moon, and put the lot of them asleep with a single spell. They crumpled limply to the ground like rag dolls, some of them already snoring. Luna smirked, and hooted like an Snowy Owl. As if from nowhere, fifteen armored Unicorns and just as many Earth Ponies materialized and began stripping them of their armor and weapons, and even their clothing and rations, and then finally tied their wrists and ankles together. While their new captives snoozed away the night their belongings were carted back to Luna's military camp.
Luna snorted at the simplicity of their little guerrilla tactic. There is no way this should have been this easy. By now they should have suspected that the castle had been retaken after having received no word from them or those they've sent through for over two months. If they suspected something was wrong, they would not have sent such an unaware bunch through, and if they did not know, then they would not have sent so many. This does not make sense. Perhaps they were sending another whole hunting party from another town to our world?
Luna stroked her chin while staring at the p.o.w. group. She was missing something, and she knew it.
“You highness!” One of her soldiers, a lightly-armored Pegasus addressed her, saluting. Luna turned her head away from the prisoners and nodded at the soldier. “The prisoners' belongings are well on their way back to camp. What shall we do with the prisoners themselves?” Luna returned her gaze to the Humans and thought for a few minutes while the soldier waited patiently. Finally, Luna commanded that they be taken back to the camp and that cages were to be constructed to contain them. She had given this command before, though her soldiers had disapproved the decision.
“Humans or not, my sister would not approve of slaughtering a defeated enemy, and neither do I.” This had not been the first time she had said that to her advisors, and she doubted that it would be the last. The soldier saluted again, and turned around one hundred eighty degrees and left to gather others to carry out his princess' orders.
__ __ __ __ __
Soon after the prisoners were removed Luna's main forces once more began to exit the area, and left only a smaller group to watch the Gateway just in case it should open again, as they had the last several times. When Luna was out of sight and had been for more than fifteen minutes, a rush of soft whistling sounds filled the area around the Gateway, followed by several thuds as the Ponies left on guard fell down dead to it. A few brief chuckles sounded followed by a stern command for silence. Silence fell once more, as commanded, and then soft, almost silent footsteps followed, and the bodies were dragged away further into the forest until they were a quarter of a mile from the Gateway, and then the near-silent specters began traveling back to Gateway once more, erasing their tracks and hiding the trails of blood as best they could.
When their task was done, the weary Unicorn that was concealing them dropped her spell and no less than ten Humans carrying crossbows were revealed. Lyra panted from the efforts of casting the multiple spells in quick succession and then the continued strain of maintaining them for close to an hour. Legs wobbling, she sagged to the ground and rested.
“It seems that the king was right about you after all, little prey.” the rough voice of the stealth group sort-of complimented. “Still, we are only getting started. Now that your princess has taken close to six score of our soldiers, we have a chance to deal her gate-guarding army some real damage.”
“But she took all their armor and weapons away!” Lyra objected, confused. “More importantly, she's having them caged. How do you expect to free them?”
“That is none of your concern.” Another Human, this one a woman, stated firmly. “All you need to worry about is being able to conceal us again when we arrive on the outskirts of their camp, and making sure we don't trip any sort of alarms or magical traps.”
“Right.” The first speaker agreed, and made a motion to the others. “Let's move. We don't have long until sunrise here. I want us to be in place before then.”
Several hours later Lyra and her pack of people came to a standstill and held their breath as a pair of Earth Ponies that wore light armor marched by. When the patrolling Ponies were a fair distance away once more the hidden pack slowly released their held breaths and began breathing normally again. When the patrol was out of earshot Lyra informed them it was safe to move again and they continued.
Five times they had to stop while Lyra either led them around or over a trap, and once more they stopped at the rough outer ring of tents while she ever-so-carefully disabled a simple Dispell spell that would have rendered them visible for all to see. Turning to where the nearest pair of footprints in the well-trampled grass (as magic could not conceal everything), she cautioned that it was likely that there were other spells of like kind within the camp.
“We will have to make due, then.” The 'prints' changed position slightly so that they faced other footprints. “Alright. You all know your tasks. Get to them, and then find a place to hide until nightfall. When the night princess leaves the camp for her nightly patrol go to designated areas and wait for the signal. Once given, be ready to fight.” No sounds of confirmation were made, but the sets of boot prints that had once been behind Lyra split away from the group and entered the camp, leaving her alone with the leader.
“And me?” she asked, a little nervous. She had done many things since defecting to the side of the Humans, but assisting in a direct assault was not among them. Though skilled in a few areas of magic, she wasn't much of a fighter, as her failure to capture Lighthand and Applejack could attested to.
“You will find a place to hide, and wait for midday. When it comes, drop your invisibility spell and rest. If we haven't completed out first objectives by the next night, then chances are that we've been caught anyway, in which case return to Gaea and inform the nearby barracks. The generals will handle the rest.”
“And if you succeed?” The Human smirked, but being invisible, Lyra could not see this.
“If we succeed, then this army of Princess Luna will have been decimated, and we'll all be gone before she can return.”
__ __ __ __ __
Celestia sat upon her throne, looking at and listening intently to a messenger-Pegasus that had arrived several minutes before from Cloudsdale. He was a very dark blue, and his mane and tail, though mostly gray, had a shock of yellow that ran through both. His Cutie Mark was a surfboard made of clouds that rode on a wave made of lightning bolts. Many of his feathers were bent out of place, and his mane had several hairs that, no matter how much gel or combing was applied, refused to align with the rest, and stuck out instead as if he'd just been struck by a bolt of lightning.
Apparently Pinkimena's Flying Fortress idea had been extremely effective, and the Gryphons were growing ever-more cautious of the attacks they mounted on the city. Their most recent had been from below, with the intent of popping up through the 'ground' and surprising the citizens, but that had gone rather badly for them when the majority of their forces popped up in the Rainbow Factory and a vat of Rainbow Juice was punctured during their attempt to take it and their whole group were nearly drowned in Rainbow Juice.
Most of Cloudsdale's clouds were now rainbow colored as a result of that incident, and the factory had needed to be thoroughly inspected for further damages and cleaned, but there had been few injuries overall for the Pegasi.
“And as we speak our city is having solid floor panels added to the ground until this war is over to prevent that from happening again. Our mayor says that we may have to restructure half of the entire city before we can finish that project, though. There are also plans to leave just one section unprotected so as to be able to lure any future attempts at city-insertion into a trap, or to use it as a deployment zone for our own troops to ambush our invaders from behind.” Celestia nodded.
“I am pleased to hear that your city is doing well overall, Storm Runner. What about the citizens themselves? What is their mood?” Storm runner opened his mouth again to answer, but Celestia raised a hoof, stopping and puzzling him before he could speak. “And please be completely honest. I will not become angry if the citizens are unhappy.” He nodded, but looked uncomfortable.
“Well, while the majority of the city fights, go about their daily business or live with little to no complaint, there are growing numbers of soldier and citizen alike that are beginning to resent the fact that only recently has your family gotten directly involved in the fighting, princess, especially after rumor got around at how quickly your uncle ended the siege of Manehatten. Some are saying that we are only still at war because you find it amusing.” Storm Runner shuffled a little in place. “In truth, your majesty, I was wondering a bit about that myself...” Celestia raised an eyebrow and Storm Runner, in a panicked voice, quickly continued, saying that it was not over whether she found the war to be amusing, which he knew that she did not, but rather why they had not gotten involved (other than Luna, who had joined in directly more than a decade ago). Celestia answered his question by first beginning with a question.
“Storm Runner, do you know how it was that my uncle ended that siege?”
“W-well, I would assume he used magic, mostly.” His statement came out sounding more like a question than a statement.
“Yes, of course.” She nodded slightly. “Perhaps I am beginning at the wrong point. As you know, everyony's name has something to do with their personality or occupation, or at the very least, their Cutie Mark does.” Storm nodded. This was common knowledge. Nopony was really sure why this was, as how could a parent know what kind of Pony their child was going to be eight to ten to thirty years into the future? “And, as you know, every Alicorn has only one part to their name. I am Celestia, my sister is Luna, my uncle is Thanatos, my mother was Elpis, mine and Luna's niece is Candence and my father Mantle. Our names all have meanings too. My name means something close to 'heavens' or 'heavenly'. My sister's name means 'moon'. My father's name means 'symbol of leadership'. My mother's name means 'hope', and princess Mi Amore Cadenza, means, loosely translated, 'I love music'.
“All of these have a meaning that can be viewed as something positive, and their talents in magic reflect this, but my uncle is different from the rest of our family. Thanatos' name translates into 'death'; he ended the siege quickly because destruction and combat magic are his specialty.”
This new knowledge made Storm Runner feel a little nervous. Very rare was it that a Pony of any breed received such a name.
“Well,” he began, laughing a little nervously. “at least he's on our side, right?” Celestia sighed and looked away toward a window through which a gentle night time breeze was blowing.
“That is perhaps the only good thing. Real war for any period of time is terrible, and death is death no matter what race suffers the most of it. Hopefully my uncle's involvement will hasten the end of it.” Celestia turned her face back to Storm Runner and smiled. “But in the meantime, please stay for a few days and rest.” She took a more obvious look at his wings. “You look as if you've been through a few storms on your way here.”
“Just one, and nothing I couldn't handle!” He smirked and stuck his chest out a little, trying to look studly only succeeding in making the princess suppress a giggle.
If he wasn't so roughed up-looking he could pull off the look, but as he is now he just looks silly!
“All the same, I insist.” Storm Runner bowed.
“You know best, your highness.”
As Storm Runner left, his words echoed in Celestia's mind and she sighed, once more looking out the window, this time up at the moon.
Do I really? Luna and I turned Sombra to shadows and banished him instead of destroying him, and then he freed himself and returned to torment the Crystal Empire again. I once banished my own sister to one thousand years of solitary confinement because I didn't realize just how much her lack of affection from our subjects got to her. I placed Discord in the royal gardens completely unguarded because I mistakenly believed that my entire kingdom was united in near-harmony. I disbanded the majority of Equestria's standing army until the only forces we had left were the Ponies that patrol the streets as peacekeepers, which left us vulnerable to the Changeling race, and now we've been at war with the Human race for more than fifteen years because I thought I might be able to do as my father hoped and make them see that peace is a better way than war. Celestia grimaced and stamped a hoof on the marble tiling.
If I really knew what was best, I'd have dropped a mountain on top of that Stone Arch Gateway after my father disappeared into their world and didn't come back! Celestia frowned. But I didn't, and now, here we are. She, or her sister would have done or be doing that now, but with Twilight having made progress towards peace where the royal sisters themselves had failed Celestia felt inclined to give her a little more time yet to see if others of their race could be convinced to coexist as well. If nothing else, I should at least inform those Humans of what I intend to do before I do it to give them a chance to go home first.
The rest of her day passed without much of note beyond a few updates and notices from several areas of their kingdom. Most of the news was neither good nor bad, but simply information to mentally file away for later use. It was not until Celestia had retired to her personal quarters for the night that something rather unexpected happened. She discovered an uninvited guest lounging on her bed and waiting patiently for her.
“You!” Celestia snarled, narrowing her eyes and charging up her horn for an attack. “What are you doing here and how did you get past my guards?!” The intruder yawned and rolled onto her back, idly staring up at the canopy above Celestia's bed and not looking the least bit intimidated. One thing she did look though, was a tad scrawny.
“I got in in similar fashion to how I infiltrated your castle the first time, Celestia. You Ponies are so used to your eyes and ears telling you everything you need to know, after all.” The intruder explained, her tone bored.
Her black chitinous legs were long and sported holes near the hoofs. Her wings were thing like a Dragonfly's, and also were pockmarked with holes. Even her glowing blue hair had holes in it that stayed in the same basic position regardless of how her hair shifted with the rest of her body.
Queen Chrysalis brought one of her hoofs to her face and seemed to examine it. “As for what I'm doing here? Not fighting you, as you can see.” Chrysalis lowered her hoof to the soft silky sheets of Celestia's bed, and then rolled over once more and shifted her body so that she was facing her enemy. “On the contrary, I'm here to see if you might be willing to agree to a temporary arrangement between our two races. At least, until the Humans have been dealt with and this war is over.”
Celestia let her charged energy dissipate, but her eyes remained narrowed.
“I'll hear what you have to say, but when you're finished, I want you gone.” Chrysalis blinked once to moisten her eyes in the dry air, and nodded.
“We'll see.
“As you know, I invaded your kingdom for the purpose of feeding on the love of your subjects. Long story short, this war is hurting my people more than it is yours. Ponies used to be welcoming of strangers. They'd offer them a place to stay if the newcomers didn't have one, food if they were hungry, or at the very least, a smile in greeting. But after nearly thirty years of war that's changed. Ponies are suspicious of strangers, and the phrase 'love is in the air' that was all too literal at one time, no longer applies, even on your Hearts and Hooves Day. My entire race is starving because there isn't enough love to go around anymore, and it's begun to cause in-fighting amongst the other hives.”
At this, Celestia's eyes widened. She had not known that there had been more than one Changeling hive, although in hindsight she realized that it was foolish to believe otherwise when most of the other races lived in multiple places. “I will be the first to admit I have no particular fondness for your race. However, if working together with your people means a decisive and final victory over the Gryphons and Humans, and that life can get back to normal again for both our races, then I'm willing to side with you until this war is over with.” Chrysalis paused for several minutes, letting her offer sink in. “Well? Are you still sure you want me to leave?”
^ ^ ^ ^ ^
The air was cool and dry, the sun low on the horizon, and clouds lazily drifted slightly in a gentle breeze, only to float back into the place that a weather Pegasus had moved it into earlier. As always, the bark of Twilgiht's library tree was smoother high up on her balcony, and the bustle of the town below seemed hushed like a walk through a graveyard.
My eyes were closed, my breathing steady, and my form relaxed in a sitting position against the wall that was the trunk of the tree, on legs stretched out, with my arms resting on the wood of the balcony. There had not really been much for me to do in town and to be honest I wasn't really in the correct mindset to be doing much anyway, so I had been there most of the day.
The flap of small wings reached my ears followed by a brief tweeting of birds that quickly faded away as, I assumed, they passed me by.
As the birds left I, for the first time since my arrival wondered why I was here. Not the cliché 'what's the meaning of life' stuff, but the literal meaning. What was I doing in a twisted version of the place I came to know and love and eventually call home? Perhaps more importantly, who was it that had grabbed me at the black stone in the Everfree forest and pulled me through? Hands had grabbed me, I knew that much, but there had been no Humans on site when I arrived in this world's version of the Everfree. There had only been myself, Angel Bunny, and Fluttershy, who had been in no condition to to grab me, and lacked hands besides.
“And what was with the symbols carved into it? Why were two of them glowing, and why were they Zecora's Cutie Mark and my family's symbol? Why weren't the other ones glowing? What did the Bloody Hooves see that they were so afraid of?”
Perhaps the question most eating at me though was how to get home. As glad as I was to see some of my friends again, they were only my friends in appearance and personality. The Ponies here didn't really know me, and I suspected that the only reason they interacted with me at all and weren't locking me away or killing me was because I had proved to be not only powerful, but willing to fight effectively against those that looked as I did. In a way, I had gotten what I wanted in being able to see my friends again, but that was as close as I came to getting my wish. I knew Applejack trusted me, and I was pretty sure the other girls that I knew as close friends back home did as well (to a point), and perhaps a handful of the local Ponyville citizens, but them calling me a friend was a bit of a stretch.
And did I really imagine seeing that fridge photo with a different picture on it for a few seconds? I had checked it again when I had woken up this morning, and it still showed young Twilight and Shining Armor covered in cake. I asked Twilight about it, and she told me a fun little story about one of her birthdays, and how long it took later to get the icing and cake out of their manes. It brought a smile to my face, but while she told it I watched her facial expressions. I told myself while I did that I was being paranoid, but watched her anyway, being careful to continue wearing the small amused smile that had at first come along naturally. Nothing out of the ordinary that would indicate she was making it up.
When I asked if she and Pinkie had ever been to a place called Niagara Falls, she hesitated and gave me a funny look, but shook her head.
“I've seen waterfalls and rainbow falls before, but none of them had names that I know of.” she replied. “Why?” I shrugged.
“No particular reason.”
If this world was an illusion crafted by the dead to test me, it was a very good one.
The door leading to the balcony on which I sat swung open and I opened my eyes again to see who was paying me a visit. The door admitted Twilight Sparkle whom didn't seem to notice me, and trotted to the edge of her balcony and looked over the guardrail at the town below. I watched her for a few seconds, then closed my eyes again and returned to my thoughts. I did not have long to do so however before Twilight apparently discovered my presence.
“Gyaah!” She exclaimed loudly, apparently jumping, as I heard her hoofs land heavier on the balcony's wood that they had when she'd been walking across it. “Don't do that!” I opened my eyes again and frowned at her.
“Don't do what? Come up here for some privacy and sit quietly where I'll be out of the way?”
“Yes- no! You just startled me, is all. I didn't see you there when I came through the door.” I shrugged.
“I have been told many times in the past that when I'm quiet I'm almost invisible. I'd just thought others weren't paying attention.”
“Well, now I'll be saying that too. When you're quiet, you're almost invisible! It makes me glad you're on our side. If you weren't, I'd be dead right now!”
“If I wasn't on your side, I'd have died shortly after arriving here because I'd not have had Fluttershy to vouch for me. How is she, by the way?” Twilight cast another look over the guardrail.
“She'll never be the same, I think.”
“With what she's been through, who would be?” Twilight looked back at me and nodded.
“Right now she's treating those from Luna's army that were injured during a battle in the forest, which takes up most of her time during the day. She refuses to go anywhere near the Hunter-Humans, though. She told me that one day while going through town on her way to the market she recognized the one that attacked her.”
“Oh no.” I rubbed my head with a hand.
“Unfortunately, she's right. When I asked the Hunter in question, and described Fluttershy to him, he confessed to it. I almost blasted him right there.”
“What stopped you?”
“A little logic. If I'd attacked him, I'd hardly have been setting a good example for everypony else.”
“So what did you do?”
“I demanded he apologize to her, at the very least. He promised to do it, but given how afraid of his kind Fluttershy is he might have to write her a letter instead of doing it in person.”
“Whatever way he plans to do it, he'd better do it soon. Gentle souls like Fluttershy have a tendency to make those that like them want to protect their friend like an adult might shield an innocent child from harm. If word gets around before he apologizes and that information isn't spread around you not attacking him might only have delayed his murder. You can guess where that will lead.” A few violent images flashed through my mind, and judging from the look on Twilight's face, she had a few of her own as well. In this case, her worst-case-scenario-creating-brain (if her personality was a near-duplicate of the Twilight I knew) could be absolutely right.
Twilight galloped back into her tree saying in speed-speak that she needed to find “a piece of parchment and and an ink well and a quill and find-” the balcony door slammed shut behind her and I rose from my seat to open the door and help her.
__ __ __ __ __
The mission against Luna's army had been a complete success with no one having been found out early, and step four of their plan was underway. Now the members of their sabotage team were to split up and alert all the hunting groups currently still alive on this world of the change in rulers and what he intended to do. The Gryphons would find out soon enough by talking to their Human allies. If they chose to go along, good. If not, then other strategies would need to be made to deal with the floating city at a later date.
The closest of these encampments was the Boarborne hunting group which, though through tradition would normally be having every member that was close in either alliance or blood to her slaughtered so as to prevent any attempts at revenge against the new leader, Faltos decided to leave the decision of survival up to them. After all, no other encampment had manged to get inside a Pony settlement without fighting its way both in and out again. To be able to move a force in that could open the gates and let the others swarm in was not something to simply destroy on the whim of tradition. At the moment, the assigned messenger and Jackylin's father were sitting at a wooden table inside a gray tent that normally had several maps of the surrounding area on it. A single large lantern hung above the table from the cross section above their heads where the four corners of the tent were connected by two more poles for extra stability.
A brief but strong wind pushed against one side of the tent, causing the side it struck to bend inward slightly like a ship's sail, which pushed the tent to one side a little. When the wind ceased, the tent moved back, causing the lantern to sway, which made the small shadows on the face of Sampson Darkfist, Jackylin's father, to move as well.
“This offer certainly is interesting and unprecedented given the usual tradition, but what makes you think I'd ever serve the man who arranged for the death of my only child? We rarely saw eye-to-eye, but she was still my daughter.” His voice was calm, but his face hinted at restrained anger.
“Simple. If you don't, not only will we kill everyone here when Lord Faltos' army comes through the Gateway and reaches you, but he'll also give the order to slaughter everyone in Boarborne that also chooses not to serve. Our new king does not wish for unnecessary Human deaths, especially with the invasion about to escalate from raids to all-out war, but treason will not be tolerated. Surely you do not wish the same fate your inept offspring to others. As a figure of influence in this hunting party, you could prevent it.” Sampson's eyes seemed to have fire flicker behind them for a few seconds.
“I may not be as learned as my father, but I've been around long enough to realize that treason is a matter of dates, and the perspective of each individual ruler. For example,” Sampson rose to his feet and the messenger did the same, his almost-instinctive reaction of not wanting to give a potential enemy any sort of advantage over him spurring him to do so. Killing a messenger was not entirely uncommon when the news was unpleasant, and Sampson was already in a poor mood when the messenger had arrived. “two rulers ago, what was considered treason was killing your own kin for the sake of money, and for the most part, that was it aside from what is the standard. He allowed almost anything else. According to my father, five rulers ago it was considered treason to have hair darker than the queen or king's. A very vain woman, she was.” Sampson leaned forward a few inches. “Four rulers ago, it was treason to insult the deceased rulers, regardless of how well or poorly they ruled. Everyone knows the punishment for treason, and I'm inclined in this case to be loyal to that ruler right now.”
Two minutes later Sampson exited the tactics tent with blood running down a clawed hand and went in search for his father, whereupon his discovery of him Sampson relayed the conversation and messenger's demise to him.
“So either we move to some other place or we'll be having a confrontation with Faltos' first invasion force in about five days. We should alert our neighbors and see about getting a volunteer to go home to warn our town.” Sampson nodded.
“I'm willing go home and warn them personally, but is there really anything we can tell them? With Faltos as the new king and him having been so for more than a month he probably already has someone on their way to Boarborne as we speak if they aren't already there. Even if I get there first what is there for me to tell them? He's the king now. If he declares us outcasts there will be nothing to stop the other towns from invading ours and taking everything we own.”
“Faltos is no fool, unfortunately. If he were, he'd already be dead.” Sampson's father replied. “With food still being worth more than good steel he won't want to risk the theft or destruction of our livestock. If he sends anyone to deal with our town it'll be his own men. He'd never trust anyone else. He won't make a move against Boarborne until he's sure he can take it with minimal damage, which will buy us a little time, but not much. Anyone who goes there to warn them will need to be able to move quickly, and handle themselves if they get ambushed.”
“Any one of us here is capable of that. Even you, old man.” Sampson gave his father a fond smile, but Darkfist senior shook his head.
“We'd take too long to arrive on foot in the amount of time that would be practical. I have an idea of whom we could send, though. In the meantime, spread the word that we'll be moving soon.” Sampson nodded.
__ __ __ __ __
Luna and her patrol gaped around themselves at the fallen in the camp. Of the several hundred Earth, Unicorn, and Pegasi that had made up their forces, only about forty were still alive, and of those forty or so, all of them save two seemed to have been poisoned, and were twitching on the ground even with a spell on them to dull their pain. The two had apparently overslept and had not woken up until the combined groans and in some cases even screams of their comrades had finally broken through the fog of the realm of dreams. When they'd discovered that the majority of the sick had half-eaten meals nearby, they decided not to eat or drink anything and instead ran into the forest to find their princess, though at different times since one woke up later than the other.
Luna came to a stop by one of the food preparation areas and lit up her horn and cast a spell for detecting toxins on the meals being prepared. Nothing. Nothing in the soups, nothing in the salads, nothing on the ingredients themselves. There was nothing on the serving plates, and nothing on the cutlery either. If anything was poisoned, it wasn't anything present in the areas that were the equivalent of kitchens. Or at least, not in this kitchen, which made no sense with how many casualties there were.
Perhaps this is some sort of disease rather than a poison. But then why are those that went with me to the Gateway still healthy? Luna stepped over the bodies and spilled food leading out of the food prep area and over to the nearest table where many dead lay slumped forward or fallen from the bench they sat upon to lie next to the table and each other with pained expressions on their faces and limbs sometimes interlocked as the dying Ponies sought comfort from one another. Whomever has done this shall pay a thousand-fold!
Again, Luna cast a spell for detecting toxins, but unlike the previous attempt, this time she got a result that led her to three large bowls of water nearly equally spaced in a line down the dining table filled to two different levels. One of the three bowls had been knocked over and its contents splashed into food and soaked into the coats of the Ponies that had been dining near it and had fallen. All three of them held common water, which made no sense given that the standing army's source of water, though stored in several places, held no specific purpose to each storage area. All of them were used for cleaning injuries, cooking, and for drinking, and none of the food in the food prep area had contained any toxins. Unless it is the bowls themselves that have been poisoned!
Luna ordered that the remaining two bowls be emptied of their contents and then also ordered that an unopened barrel of water be brought. When the barrel arrived she scanned it for toxins to be certain there were none to detect within, and then ordered one of the bowls to be refilled, but for none to drink from them. When it was full once more Luna cast her spell one last time, and then sighed and closed her eyes, shaking her head. It was as she'd feared. Indeed, 'twas the water bowls laid out on every dining table for the sake of convenience of those dining that had been tainted. Every soldier in camp would fill a cup from those bowls at some point whether they actually ate at a table or not. Whomever had planned this could not have done a better job. Whomever had done this would also suffer beyond any other in recorded history if princess Luna ever got her hoofs on them!
“Empty out all the serving bowls and dispose of them.” Luna commanded. “Do not drink from any of them, lest you face the same fate as those that lay dead around us.” Luna's remaining soldiers nodded and set to enact her will, while Luna herself began to gather up the dead and carrying them out of the camp with her magic, where she would begin the digging of a mass grave, and the mental construction of how she was going to explain this to not only her sister, but the relatives of every now-dead soldier.
Luna looked over every face as she gently laid each pony to rest beside its fellows, recalled from each one a smile or a joke they'd told in passing to raise either their morale or her own, a salute of pride or perhaps a shown picture of a newborn sibling or child, and felt her heart break. Sobbing and tears pouring from her eyes, Luna sank to her knees front and backside, and mourned.
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Ever since our protagonist got into whatever the human sub-dimension was called, I've really struggled keeping track of all the characters and names. I really feel it accelerated this chapter. I can't keep track of all the factions and individuals doing their own thing. Still a bit disappointed that Lighthand hasn't pulled out the really REALLY cool spells yet but I also understand that there may be limits on the CG budget
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Well, while he has demi-god powers with that staff of his, Jacob isn't a killer by nature. He'll do it if he has to, but only then. Sometimes it comes back to bite him on his backside, like with the child blowing herself up and killing Jackylin and almost himself. If he was feeling ruthless enough, he probably could have ended the war by himself two weeks after he arrived, but then it would not have been much of a story, would it?
Don't worry, this will be coming to a head soon (relatively speaking). Most of the stronger groups in Equestria have united, and Faltos is planning to overrun Mythica with sheer numbers, so now that Luna's Gate Guard have been all but wiped out a Final Showdown is on the horizon.
I love this story but one thing pops into my head every time I read a chapter.
If Jacob could figure out how to open the portal back to HIS Equestria he could funnel entire armies of pissed tech-wielding humans through and seriously fuck up the stupid meat eating humans.
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I totally agree with that statement.