A Matter of Rules of War

by dramatic_spoon

Setting up the Players

The Badlands of Equestria

Perched atop a cliff, laid an old, grey castle. The flora surrounding the castle have grown wild and vine crept the sides of the building. Much of the castle is decrepit and crumbling, save the western portion. In contrast, these walls are well cared for and several ponies patrol around it.

“SPIKE! SPIKE WHERE ARE YOU?!?!” a shrill voice echoed through the castle.
Within one of the castle’s rooms, a purple unicorn mare looked up from her tome.

“Confound and damn that baby dragon, where is he…” the mare grumbled,
“SPIKE!”

“I heard you.”

The door to the room opened as a small dragon shambled in. His left arm is crudely sewn on and his right arm is replaced by a clockwork contraption, gears ticking and turning. His entire body is also an unusual shade of grey. He continued into the room and stopped in front of her.

“Has the report arrived yet?” the Unicorn demanded.

“No, it has-”

The dragon sputtered for a moment and coughed out a sickly green flame. A rolled wad of parchment lands on the floor. It’s quickly gripped by the unicorn’s magical aura, and unrolled.

“Oh goodie it’s arrived!”

The unicorn’s smile faded, as she continued to look over the parchment. Eventually, her look of distaste faded to one of fury.

“Twilight? Is something wrong?” The dragon, Spike, inquired.

“Something wrong? SOMETHING WRONG?” she telekinetically flung the report to the side. “That...that stupid griffin said she could not obtain what I asked for! This is what I get for relying on them.
Urgh….
Have we gotten news from the other one?”

“Not ye-”
Spike sputtered again, coughing out another wad of parchment.
“…I need to work on my timing.”

Twilight levitated the paper toward her and unrolled it. Her previously upset look changed to one of joy.

“Excellent! I knew I could trust her.” She rolled up the parchment, beaming. “Spike, send some of them out to prepare the docks. I will be there shortly.
Now out.”

The dragon quickly found himself surrounded by her aura and levitated out the door.
As the doors slam shut, Spike found himself crashing to the ground, damaging his clockwork arm. The dragon sat back up, inspecting the gears of his arm.

“Even if I can’t feel pain, it would be nice for you to put me down gently” he grumbled.

SOME TIME LATER

Twilight and Spike stood on the docks waiting. Behind them were several other ponies. On closer inspection, the other ponies show various signs of rot and decay. Various stitches of uneven length hold their mismatched body parts together, as coats of different colors clash with one another.
One of the rotting stitchworks swayed with the sea breeze, bits of flesh and hair falling off.

Twilight looked that the dragon, who returned to inspecting his arm gears.

“Where is she? She’s never late; she’s not supposed to be late.” Twilight began to pace back and forth.

“Salt water makes my gears rust.” The dragon grumbled, ignoring the unicorn.

“SPIKE! Where is she?” the unicorn turned her attention to him. “What if she drowned or if she crashed or if she-”

Twilight is cut off by a loud whistle and the crash of waves. A massive Submarine appeared on the surface of the water. It pulled up to the dock, giving all present a better view of it. Modeled after a whale, the ship possessed several coiling tentacles, allowing it to freely maneuver objects. A massive glass porthole replaced the area where it’s eye would be. Standing in the porthole, a brown spotted colt stared out. He waved to Spike and Twilight, and trotted out of view.

Pausing by the dock, the metallic leviathan rumbled as a door unsealed itself.
The door slammed into the dock, snapping several planks. Two unicorn ponies quickly exit, both levitating crude matchlock rifles. As they scan the area to make sure everything is safe, a single unicorn mare exited the ship, and walked onto the dock. Her aquamarine coat is singed and burnt in some spots. Much of her aquamarine mane is tied back, keeping out of her face. Strapped to her back is a strange device with six mechanical tentacles, similar to the ones on the submarine. A cutlass and two matchlock revolvers were kept at her side.
The unicorn smiled and approached Twilight.

“Miss Sparkle.”

“Captain Heartstrings. I assume you have what I asked for?”

“Miss Sparkle, I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t.” Captain Heartstrings turned her head back towards the ship, “BOYS! Get that out here, the less time it spends in there, the less cleaning we have to do.”

“Cleaning?” Twilight’s eyebrow rose at the word, “I asked for it to be whole and undamaged.”

“You’ll have to pardon the sea.” Captain Heartstrings apologetically smiled, “T’was a bit rougher than we would have liked. Had to stay low. Admiral Bonbon is out on the hunt again.”

“Ah. The Equestrian Navy.” Twilight nodded, “As long as it’s not too damaged….”

“One of the legs broke off in transport. Still have it.” Captain Heartstrings shook her head, “Sea Swirl didn’t tie it down well. Speaking of it….”
Captain Heartstrings turned her head back to the ship “WHAT’S TAKING SO LONG!!!?!?!”

A unicorn mare trotted out of the ship and saluted, “it’s...a little harder to move than we expected, captain.”

“It’s a frozen Ursa Minor, of course it’s not going to be easy, now get back to work.”

“Minor?” Twilight’s expression changed from joy to suspicion, “I asked for an Ursa Major, not a Minor.”

“You have to understand, Miss Sparkle, we still had to kill it and get it on board. My ship cannot hold something the size of an Ursa Major. Besides,” Captain Heartstrings smirked, “you never specified it in your initial order.”

“It was a typo! How was I supposed to know that my stupid assistant eardrums rotted past usability that day?”

“Twilight, I’m right here”

“Shut up Spike, I demand…”

“If you are unsatisfied with your product, we shall take it to the next available buyer.” Captain Heartstrings yawned, “after all, she also put in an order.
And she pays better; I only work with you because it’s easier to deliver.”

“…Spike, give them their bits and bring the body to the lab.”

Twilight turned around and trotted off the docks.

“…by the Princess, I hate doing business with her.” Captain Heartstrings grumbled.

“She’s in a bad mood. Her other shipment of parts isn’t coming in today.” Spike rubbed his head.

“Oh, the Conqueror chickened out then?” Captain Heartstrings chuckled, “Typical sky pirates. They think everything is beneath them.”

“No, it was the griffin.” Spike interrupted.

“…never heard of her.”

“I think she’s called…loft captain Gilda or something like that?”

“…Nope.” Lyra turned back to her ship “HURRY UP!”

“It’s out!” a unicorn yelled back.

“Finally.” Captain Heartstrings turned her attention back to the dragon, “So we’ll take our bits and go then.”

“Right.” Spike motioned for one of the stitched up undead ponies to come forward. An earth pony stepped forward, moving with a rolling gait. Stopping in front of Lyra, it dropped a sack and shambled backward. Several tentacles from Captain Heartstring’s contraption wrapped around the sack, opening it. The captain’s horn glowed, as several golden coins levitate out of the bag.
On closer inspection, one side of the coin has a large “1”, while the other is emblazoned with a pair of crossed mismatched horns.

“Excellent.” Captain Heartstrings dropped the coins back into the bag and closed it.
“As usual, a pleasure doing business with you Spike. If she needs anything you know how to contact us.”

--
ELSEWHERE IN THE BADLANDS

Another Castle came into view. In contrast to the previous castle, this one is meticulously cared for and lavishly decorated. Surrounding its walls is a well-cared garden filled with exotic and dangerous looking plants, as well as several fields of crops. Ponies, griffins, zebras, and donkeys patrol the grounds and work in the gardens. Upon closer inspection, many of these workers are badly wounded. A pony working in a cornfield stumbled upon the coils of her own intestines, spilling around her hooves. A griffin working in another field was completely missing both wings and his lower beak. Yet another pony, this one a unicorn, was missing his entire back half.
All around the castle the undead continue in their daily routines. The castle gate rose, and a blue coated unicorn mare exited, flanked by several burly undead earth ponies.

“What is taking that foolish griffin so long? Does she not know that the Great and Powerful Trixie has much better things to do than to wait on her?” the unicorn scoffed.

As she spoke, a massive airship appeared near her castle. A military model airship, it’s heavily armored gondola is bristling with cannons and a griffin crest on the front. As it nears the ground, several ropes are tossed out, followed by griffins and pegasus ponies. The unicorn, Trixie watches as they struggle to anchor the airship.

“Buffoons. I had an area cleared out for them in the back.” Trixie grumbled.

With the ship anchored, the ponies and griffins turn their attention to unloading the gondola. They run back and forth, dragging carts of coffins towards the castle. A single griffin breaks off of the group and landed near Trixie. The griffin is clad in a thick leather coat, a peaked cap decorated with the same seal as her ship is perched atop her head.

“Luftpirat Gilda.” Trixie smiled.

“Pony.” The luftpirat’s expression briefly changed to a smile, before reverting to a frown. “As agreed upon, I have gathered the corpses from the recent war between the Grand Duchy of Gape and the Duchy of Nassauk.
About a hundred and twelve in total.”

“I only asked for eighty.” The Unicorn’s eyebrow rose. “Why the extra thirty?”

“We had to rush.” Luftpirat Gilda shrugged, “we were being shot at by both forces, and the Conqueror was approaching.”

“She was hired by one of the Duchies?”

“No, same as we were, I think. There to loot the battlefield.” Luftpirat Gilda’s frown grew, “Stupid dweeb.”

“Well, I shall pay for them. I need to replace a few anyway, all they all intact?”

“For the most part. About ten of them lost their wings, and another seven are blown in half. We left the backs and kept the fronts, like you asked, though.”

“Seven out of a little more than a hundred…” Trixie bit her lower lip in thought, “fine. Half price for those seven though.”

“Whatever.” Luftpirat Gilda shrugged. The air pirate’s face suddenly brightened, “ah, one more thing.
One of the bodies is a little special.”

“Oh? Tell the Great and Powerful Trixie at once.”

“It’s General Lothar von Trotter.” Luftpirat Gilda’s smile widened, “you might remember that name for his actions in the last War between the Griffin states.”

“Ah, the Butcher of Darmspatz.” Trixie’s own grin widened, “that would be an excellent addition to my collection. How much do you want?”

“Seven hundred and twenty-five bits.”

“Deal.” Trixie held out a hoof. Luftpirat Gilda took the hoof, and the two shook.

“I also have a little information that might be of use to you in your little ‘war’”, The Air pirate added. “Free of charge.”

“Go on.”

“I was contacted by the Sticher, Twilight Sparkle, about obtaining the corpse of an Ursa.”

“Major or Minor?” the unicorn inquired.

“No idea, she didn’t specify.” Luftpirat Gilda shrugged, “Naturally, I had to decline, Ursa aren’t found in the griffon lands. However, seeing that the Conqueror was also in Griffin lands, it leaves only one other candidate.”

“…The Science-Pirate Heartstrings.” Trixie concluded. “From what I know, there’s no way her submersible could hold a full sized Ursa Major. Perhaps she could hold an Ursa Minor….
This information is very useful for me, Luftpirat.”

“Don’t misunderstand it.” The griffin scowled, “you just pay better than she does.”

“Of course.”

---

PONYVILLE TRAIN STATION

Three ponies continue down the platform towards their train. The first pony is a large, red coated stallion with a cutie mark of the shape of a large green apple. Rather than the soft clinks of hooves on the platform, every other step he takes ended with the loud clack of metal on metal; His mechanical left foreleg whirls and clicks as the gears in it turn.

“I reckon this is our train.” The stallion paused to let his companions catch up.

A white coated unicorn mare was the first of his companions to catch up. Her purple mane was tied back out of her face. On her back is a heavy saddlebag, its contents clank against one another with each step. Her cutie mark is a pair of crossed wrenches.

“Where’s Time Turner? I thought he was with you.” The stallion craned his neck to look around.

“He stopped to get something from a fruit cart.” The mare scoffed, “honestly, it’s not like there won’t be any food on the train.”

Another earth stallion with a brown coat and mane trotted up behind the two of them. His cutie mark is in the shape of an hourglass. Even as he approaches the other two ponies, he continued to mutter.

“Pears.
I hate pears, why are pears the only things left?” He looked up at his companions, “Oh, sorry, sorry. Is it time to go?”

“Eeyup.” The red stallion nodded. “Ladies first, Miss Rarity.”

“Why thank you, Big Macintosh.”

The unicorn, Rarity, steps into the train. The other earth stallion, Time Turner, followed her, stopping just before entering the train. The stallion flashed a grin at Big Macintosh.

“Shall we?”

“Eeyup.”

The two stallions boarded the train. After a whistle blow, the train left the station.

Comments

[dramatic_spoon]

I had written this, because I was discussing another alternate universe with several other bronies.

The name of the game in this one was the progress of technology and science in ways that canon Equestria, or some of the other alternate universes, did not use.

While I would usually post the counterpart to "Mare in the Moon" first, this was a little note in the proposal that people loved, so I decided to do it first.

sense the over all feel of the series was going to be magitek, and mad science, why not include a few background ponies as homages to classic pulp/turn of the century Sci-fi.
so Lyra Heartstrings has become Heartstrings the Science Pirate, and Gilda has become a tilt of the hat to a rather obscure 1900s German Dime novel series.
You probably figured out who the Conqueror is already.

Von Trotter is a griffonized version of General Lothar Von Trotha, who was in charge of German forces during the Boxer Rebellion in China, and responsible for the wars with the Herero, Namaqua, and Maji Maji people in Germany's African colonies.

More soon, I hope.

[TacticalRainboom]

I'll get to this... maybe.

I just wanted to comment on the wonderful sexual innuendo of the pic.

[Tast]

Ok, I have to go to bed, but you ARE in my read later. I'll get there sooner or later~

[SunsetyDays]

Clever idea. Hopefully Regidar doesn't ninja me, though.

[dramatic_spoon]

1684686

It's really testing the waters.

I had this part of the idea more fleshed out than the counter part to "Mare in the moon/Friendship is magic" sense I had some trouble figuring out who the Elements would be.
I didn't want to use all the canon elements and wanted to avoid some of the more popular choices of Trixie, Ditzy/Derpy, Lyra, Bonbon and so on, so this was easier to flesh out sense it used the ones that I did have set, and gave me time to figure out the others.

However, I do intend to write the counterpart to "Mare in the moon/Friendship is magic", once this is finished.

[The Wake]

This story has a really heavy alternate universe, so make sure you tell about it with great detail.

I am interested about how this story goes. Keep going on.

[dramatic_spoon]

1684638

I'm not sure who that is.

1687101

It will.
I don't want to go into too much detail about the one big change until the last part of this.
we have to keep some things a secret.

[Nolongerposting]

So far I've only read the first chapter but it seams to have good potential and I'm planning on reading more.

[NobodieZ]

Interesting start.