Embarkation

All is fine in Equestria.

"Good evening! Thank you for coming. We're so glad to have you here."

"The pleasure is all mine. Thank you."

The rough woolen covers stirred, and a muffled groan escaped from underneath. A white unicorn with an electric blue mane slowly opened his eyes, taking in the droning, bluish darkness in his cabin.

It just would not work. Three hours of finely tuned boring talk shows, and still he only pretended, closing his eyes at best, not getting a minute of sleep.

"So... let's begin at the beginning, shall we? What can you tell us? What exactly is going on out there?"

"Well, have you not heard the news? It was the front page in every single publication."

His hoof reached for the idly blabbering radio, only to pause halfway and go limp. Frazzled voices kept him company each sleepless night. Maybe this one was live, too. It was probably early evening back in Equestria, which he confirmed by glancing at the half-dozen clocks on the far wall, each one showing a different time zone.

"To be honest, Mr. Normative, I didn't pay much attention. The journalists who go to these places tend to be... very passionate. Soon as they find a toothpick out of place, they call it an 'atrocity'."

"I see. But let's clear the air, shall we? For all the shock we're feigning, nothing the reports said was anywhere beyond our expectations. If anything, the only surprise was that it took this long to happen."

As the talk show went on, he looked over to the other three items on his nightstand, a weak smile appearing on his face.

“Morning…”

Shining Armor rolled his eyes and sighed, head pounding.

“Night, dear,” he said to the first one. “Night, Twily,” he said to the second. His smile faded when his eyes landed on the third. Saying nothing, he merely sighed again and rolled out of bed.

Somewhere by the wall was the clothing rack, and he reached inside for one of his coats. Without thinking, he took out the first one to meet his hoof and slipped his limbs into it, his skin tingling from the warm embrace. Moments later, the thickness, texture, and pinpricks of color he could see revealed that it was his ceremonial outfit: an obnoxious red and gold mess of fabric and decorations. His legs tensed up, and he groaned in frustration, but after all the trouble of putting it on, he did not have it in him to take the thing off.

"Oh? So is the Frozen North really as bad as they say it is?”

“No, don’t get me wrong. Things are never quite as simple. As a matter of fact, there are so many variables to take into account that even the most passionate journalist could not describe a fraction of it in a single article. Or maybe even a dozen. You see, the problem is…”

He trudged out of his cabin, closing the door behind him. Beyond the railing up ahead, the deep, grudgy void just before dawn greeted him. Faint shapes of clouds loomed overhead, and his eyes narrowed as they had to adjust to the lanterns dangling from the mast. Their light exposed the thick, shallow fog circling the vessel. Salty vapor touched his face, and he braced himself as the gentle swaying of the floor intensified for a moment. In the distance, he could hear the low drone of the other ships’ engines.

The surrounding deck was virtually desolated, with only a few patrols strolling nearby. A pair of earth ponies in thick, well-padded barding sat next to a barrel, a steaming kettle on top of it. Shining’s nostrils flared as he caught a faint whiff of coffee, a bright orange glow opposing the onsetting, droning darkness.

Both ponies immediately got up and snapped to attention as he passed next to them. He waved them off and kept moving, ignoring the weird looks they gave due to the flashy outfit. One of the stairwells took him to the lower deck. As he walked past the cabins, he could faintly hear the loud snores coming from inside. Such an early hour had only the least fortunate of the detail shuffling around. Barely a dozen thickly clothed ponies — some in uniform, others in civvies — were strewn about along the way, the former lazily saluting to him and grumbling something under their breaths.

The corridor eventually split, leading back to either side of the deck. Shining chose the starboard path, his eyes checking off all the milestones that he had already memorized. A short section came up where the railing was just a loose metal chain strung up between the support beams. The captain smirked when he noticed a familiar bright red sign on the opposite bulkhead, the words “KEEP BALANCE” written on it in bold, white letters.

He kept dragging his hooves ahead, eventually coming up to a green arrow with a cross in the middle, pointing to one of the doors. Pushing it open, he stifled a dredging yawn.

Medical office. The latest hotspot for troubled souls and upset stomachs.

The opening led into a cramped waiting room, the white paint on the walls having turned a dull gray a long time ago. The stallion walked past the empty benches and opened the door opposite the entrance, a label on it reading “CHIEF M.O.”

A puce coated pegasus with a messy bun of dark pink hair looked up from his desk and gave a wide smile. “‘Morning’, Shiny. Duty calls this early nowadays?” He looked down at the captain’s chest and gave a low whistle. “And in your royal clothing, no less...”

Shining Armor responded with a stern frown. “You are forgetting the chain of command, lieutenant.”

The medic sighed and got up, lazily taking up a straight stance, wrinkly uniform vest seizing up. “Officer on deck!” he said in a slightly raised voice. “Lieutenant Setterline, reporting as ordered! How may I assist you, sir?”

The captain held his ground and said nothing for a few tense seconds, keeping up his serious look. Then an odd cough broke the silence, and both their faces began to crack up. Finally, they both let out a hearty chuckle and bumped their forehooves together. The medic, hazy through the night shift, fixed up his glasses as they had slumped a bit.

“Wow,” Setterline said. “You must really be in trouble if you’re pulling this old stunt now. The pills not working?”

“Yeah…” Shining rubbed the back of his head. “Can’t sleep any better than last time…”

“Don’t worry about it. You’re not alone. Insomnia is the number one complaint among the crew so far.” Setter looked out the window with a frown. “They say it comes with this place. No sunlight for over a week… It can drive a pony crazy.”

“Any bad cases?” the captain asked.

“Nothing too serious. Gave ‘em pills, same as you.”

“That bad for them, too?” Shining hummed and looked away. “Sure it’s nothing serious? If we got so many on pills now...”

The doctor waved it off. “Hey, this stuff may as well be rock candy. Most of them just need something that looks like drugs, and they sleep like babies.”

“Great. If you keep giving it away as candy, we’re gonna run out.”

“Just be glad while that’s our biggest problem. And don’t worry.” Setter chuckled again. “There’s plenty more where that came from.”

“About that…” Shining leaned closer and whispered. “Think you could give me something… a bit stronger, maybe?”

The doctor leaned back and grinned, crossing his hooves. “Captain, I’m sure you know that’s against regulations.” He rubbed the side of his face, hoof rustling against his sideburns. “Then again… I do have this supply of extra-strong tranquilizers that were ‘misdirected’ to me. I’m sure my commanding officer wouldn’t hesitate to do the right thing. Confiscate them as soon as they found out and dispose of them.” As he spoke, he was already reaching for one of the nearby cabinets.

Shining Armor chuckled. “You crazy foal. You thought of everything, didn’t you?”

The doctor nodded and handed over a box of pills. “I pride myself on my foresight.”

The muffled sound of rushing water seeped through the walls, and one of the doors outside the cabin opened, a pony climbing out and fumbling with the rear half of his suit. He let out a low groan and stumbled away, his face a looking a bit green.

“You mentioned ‘#1 complaints’...” Shining said and looked back at his friend. “Any other trouble?”

“Nah,” Setter replied. “Most are just seasick, like that poor fellow.” He nodded his head at the departing stallion. “That, and we had one incident with a grunt’s hoof meeting a rusty nail.”

“Oh…” The captain blinked. “Infection?”

“Nope. He’s one of the shiners.” Setterline shrugged. “Barely left a scratch. More of a cosmetic problem, if anything. He told me he wanted to look spotless, ‘pride of his homeland’ and all that, but it wasn’t healing up like he said it should.”

Shining Armor scowled for a fraction of a second. “I see…”

“I swear, those guys just love to show off what they’re made of. Literally. With all the pride they have in their looks, I just hope they’re the same way about fighting.”

“I guess we’ll find out…”

“Expecting to see us resort to that?” the doctor said. An odd bitterness entered his tone.

“No.” Shining held up his hooves defensively. “That’s… not what I meant, just… You know…”

“Yeah, I got ya.” The doctor sighed. “Anyway… I cleaned out the metal fragments, and the cut vanished in a second.” He gave an odd chuckle. “Those guys are quite something. An army with them on their side would have quite an edge, wouldn’t it?”

“Got that right…”

The two chatted away for a while, the doctor even offering a cup of lukewarm coffee to his superior. Shining gratefully accepted, his smile and laughs never betraying the nausea pounding his skull from the inside. Once his cup was empty, the captain excused himself and left the compartment. The soothing lights and white walls of the infirmary gave way to the grays upon grays outside. His limbs shivered as an icy gust of wind bit into them, and he regretted once again not having changed his clothes after he had put the red one on.

Two days to go, he thought.

He leaned against the railing just outside his quarters, staring at the invincible fog that enveloped their little fleet. His pulse was still rumbling in his ears from the run he had made back and forth across the entire ship. It kept him warm, and the rush he got was a refreshing change from the pulsing ache since he woke up, though he knew it would not last forever.

All around him, a steady drone was coming to life as the crew emerged from their cabins, calling to each other while tending to their duties. A large throng built up at the center as the troops lined before the mess hall. At first, the colors and voices all blurred together before him, and he longed to just shut it out. Then, among the grays and tans of the ponies buried under protective clothing, he caught several glimpses of bright, shimmering figures moving about. Another bit of color to the deck to add to his unplanned ceremonial appearance.

Hoofsteps rang out on the deck as somepony approached him from behind. Instead of a series of dull thuds like the ones a pony would make, each step made a more distinct noise, akin to rock banging against wood.

“Captain?”

Shining Armor hung his head slightly and closed his eyes. “At ease, lieutenant,” he said without looking.

The crystal pony nodded, and her stance relaxed slightly. “Everything okay, sir?”

“I’m doing okay…” His hooves shuffled, and he stared out over the edge once more. “Just… didn’t sleep well.”

She stepped up beside him and tried to follow his gaze, but there were no distinct shapes to make out in the thick fog. Occasionally, the silhouette of one of the other ships was visible, but her commander was not looking at either of them.

“Sir, are you sure you’re—”

“It’s fine Bonnie.” Shining Armor chuckled. “Give it a rest already.”

“Yes, sir.” Boninite — or “Bonnie”, as her superior liked to call her — lifted a bright orange forehoof to take off her helmet and shake her cyan mane free. The captain’s ears twitched when he heard the faint jingling sound her motions made — one of the subtle details a pony could recognize after having spent enough time among them.

“Anything to report?” he said.

“All ponies are accounted for,” Bonnie replied. “Nothing out of the ordinary… Just a few seasick ones.”

Shining nodded. “Morale?”

“So far so good. Mild homesickness at worst.”

“Hmm…” Shining glanced at her and smirked. “Do the radiance levels confirm that?”

Bonnie smiled back. “You do know they can fake that, right?”

“Yes. Downwards. They can’t push it above their threshold.”

Bonnie nodded. “Everypony is in good shape. Wouldn’t make sense to pull a trick like that anyway. I mean… I doubt you could provide a lot of decent R&R for them in that place.”

“I would if I could.” Shining sighed again. “No brushes between the groups?”

“None so far.” She chuckled. “Relax. They’re getting along just fine.”

A voice rose above the commotion on the lower deck. An officer was busy scolding a handful of grunts for not having polished their gear before putting it on. One of the soldiers made a show of yawning and not paying attention, to which the officer responded with a swift smack to his head, after which he sentenced the whole group to cleaning duty.

“Let’s hope it stays that way…” Shining muttered. His eyes tracked the dark brown outfit of the wannabe perfectionist below.

“Hmm?” The crystal mare looked at him. She followed his gaze and noticed the strict officer. "Oh, him again."

"It's okay, I'll handle it." Shining stretched a little and gestured at the shining figures spread throughout the chow line. “Worry about them instead. You really think they’re ready for this?”

“Ready?” Bonnie chuckled. “I’d say they’re eager. They may not look it, but I know it for a fact.”

Shining huffed. “I wish I shared your enthusiasm…”

"You signed up for this, sir. We're just following your lead."

A smile tugged on the captain's lips, and he straightened himself a little. "Right you are," Shining said. "Well, I'll take your word for it."

“Hey, don’t you dare brush us off, your highness.” Bonnie poked him in the side lightly and chuckled again. “We’ve been babysat by Equestria too often. Now it’s our turn to shine.”

“Is that why you brought all those toys in the cargo?” He nodded his head at the ship to their right, which just managed to pop out of the fog for a minute.

The mare blinked and cocked her head to the side. “What toys?”

“Nevermind…”

“What? Is it our ‘payload’ again?” She shrugged. “Look, sir, I already checked the rosters and everything. Nopony knows what that stuff is. Maybe something the civvies forgot to unload, or—”

“I said never mind, lieutenant.” Shining’s voice took on a more bitter tone now.

“Yes, sir…” Bonnie sighed and turned her gaze back to the fog. Neither of them said another word.

A large, dark blob consumed the sky up ahead. It hung there for an hour, as though it were hesitating, before it made its advance toward the ship. The captain shook his head. The winds picked up, and a few cold droplets splashed against his face. A blaring signal went off, and everypony still exposed on the deck scrambled to get indoors.

Shining Armor waited for the last one to vanish from his sight. The roar of the sea and the wind was almost deafening now, and his limbs strained to keep him attached to the railing. Shivering from the cold spray, he stumbled back into his cabin, locked the door tightly, and slumped down on the bed. The radio was still going.

“...and that’s why their lower classes aren’t exactly easy to reason with either. If you already have lands really difficult to cultivate, you’re going to find tense people. And the moment you take away the very foundation of their existence, they have nothing to lose. Farmers turn into warriors overnight.”

The ship lurched slightly, nudging him against the bulkhead, and he could feel the wave they just rammed in his own guts. He buried his face in his forelegs and let out a low groan. Upon feeling the expensive fabric against his face, he quickly took the bright suit off and pulled the bucket next to his bed a bit closer.

“I see. Well, as a final comment on the subject… What do you have to say about the rumors of an Equestrian intervention in the works?”

“I’d say it would be a foolish move. Sometimes it’s best to let a fire burn down instead of trying to put it out and burning yourself.”

“Really? But… what about all the—”

“They made their choice. Look, I’m merely stating the logical thing to do. I’m not an expert on ethical dilemmas. Sure, we should endeavor to help, but there’s no telling what else we might set off.”

“I’m pretty sure there’s no harm in just trying to get everypony to stop fighting.”

“Is it? Listen: that place was never a city built around ‘friendship and harmony’. The oldest stones put in place were walls erected by the settlers to defend them from nomad raids. Of the dozens of governments it had, most of which were oligarchies or straight up dictators, barely a fraction ever relinquished power peacefully. A leader in that place could seldom expect to die of natural causes.”

There was a long pause.

“...wow…”

“Indeed. That’s why I don’t think we should send anyone. So if our government is indeed planning a move, they should reconsider.”

“Too late now,” Shining muttered.

A deep signal blared, making the floor vibrate, and a voice rang out on the loudspeakers. He poked his head out of the cabin and looked to the horizon up ahead. The fog was breaking up, replaced by a thick, yet much more translucent curtain of rain. Beyond it, he could make out a thin, dark strip between the mercury ocean and the blackened steel sky.

“And if they won’t?”

The stallion grumbled and returned to the bed in his cabin. He buried his head under the covers, but the voices from the radio kept faintly seeping through the fabric.

“I can’t say. But if there is one thing to expect in Gueldergrad, it’s things not working the way we want them to.”

Only trade routes remain toward the Baranzovo Sea, mostly used by cargo liners and freighters.

Seawall

View Online

The liners 'Scylla', 'Humpback', and 'Atoll' are privately owned merchant vessels. All three frequently deliver goods along the coast of the Frozen North.

"Officer on deck!" the sergeant barked. All the grunts nearby halted in their duties and snapped to attention.

"At ease, as you were..." Shining Armor blurted out as he stumbled past them. He never even looked up, his eyes focused on his coat – a less blatant, well-padded winter outfit this time – as his foreleg fumbled with the zipper, which would not go up the rest of the way. He tried to use his magic again, but through the mire of his headache and insomnia, his horn could only fizzle and spit a few sparks at best. Eventually, he gave up and just left his coat half-open, despite the wind biting at his exposed hide.

The metal deck rang under his hooves as he trotted hastily toward the bridge. Along the way, he glanced over the railing at the horizon, where the dark mass in the distance grew steadily. If he focused hard enough, he could even make out a couple of snow-capped peaks further inland. Alas, there was no time for sightseeing.

He ran up another flight of stairs and hurried along the upper levels. At the door to the bridge, a pair of guards in full armor locked their heels and saluted by holding their spears high. He hastily returned the salute as he walked past them, the bulky metal slab locking into place behind him.

The interior was dimly lit, half the lights either broken or missing. Most of the illumination came through the dirty and cracked windows that lined the front and sides of the chamber. The walls along the opposite half were taken up by various aging machines: gauges to show engine status, weather monitoring, the radio, and, unsurprisingly, a large coffee machine. At the center of the chamber was the wheel, currently operated by a dark brown mule in a wrinkly shirt. Bold letters adorned the polished wood: “HUMPBACK”

A flash of blue and orange cut through the dominant grays and blacks in his vision, and he noticed a familiar crystal pony standing in front of the windows. She spun around when the door opened, her eyes widening in surprise. “Captain!” she blurted out and saluted, which made her superior roll his eyes.

“At ease…” Shining Armor sighed and slapped himself with a foreleg to stay conscious.

“Sir…” she began. “You really don’t have to be here. Get some rest, we’re still over fifty miles—”

“It’s all right,” he replied. “Couldn’t sleep anyway. Don’t want to now.”

“Yes sir.”

The captain chewed on his lip as he walked up beside her, staring out the windows at the land they sluggishly approached. The mere ten minutes he had spent outside left his face numb. His teeth kept biting into his lip and cheek, not so much to calm his nerves but to make sure they were still there.

“Um… Sir? Everything okay? You look...”

“Tired? Yes…” He sighed. “Took some pills before bed… I think they’re still working…”

She nodded, and her hooves shuffled a bit, but she said no more.

“Anything to report?” he went on.

Bonnie smirked. “Nothing new since last time.”

“Good. Have all officers prepare their units for deployment. We’ll start looking for a place to land.”

“Understood.” She saluted again and marched out of the room, giving him one last, worried glance before the door closed behind her. Shining was left to chew on his numb lips and shake the cold out of his legs on his own.

“I’ll never get used to this…” he muttered and took out his binoculars.

“One… two… four. That’s four facilities on this patch...” He kept talking to himself, occasionally peering out the window with the binoculars before going back to the map laid out on the table next to him. A bright aura emitted by a quartet of crystals enveloped it, allowing him to zoom, enhance, and highlight certain areas on the image. He noticed a familiar snowflake insignia embedded into each floating gem and smirked a little.

His gaze wandered outside again. The weather had not improved, but it almost looked tolerable compared to the sight of the coast. The impressions he had from books, the press, and even military reports could not be compared to seeing the place with his own two eyes. Even as the mild frost damage burned his skin, and the bleak descriptions of the region swirled about in his head and made him shiver, he could not help but let out a low whistle of approval.

“Yeah, ‘t ain’t a good vacation place, y’know,” the mule navigator spoke up. “Cap’n.”

“I had figured, thank you,” Shining Armor replied with a huff. “The weather here is… unruly.”

“‘s not just th’weather, Cap’n. You’d a’seen that by now. Won’t wanna get stuck here for long, if y’ get me...”

“Well, it’s a short mission.” The captain’s eyes never left his map as he spoke. “We get in, we take whoever wants to leave, we settle any issues that rise along the way, we get out. What makes you worry so much?”

“Yeah, well, I can sorta see the way y’look at it.” The ship lurched a little as he turned the wheel, gently steering the vessel until it ran parallel with the coast. “Been shipping y’military folks a few bits now. ‘s fine if it’s our conninent… but this?” He shook his head. “Nah, Cap’n… This a crap place. So jus’ saying.”

Shining Armor huffed again. “And what are you saying, exactly? If you got something on your mind, I’m all ears.” He turned around and fixed the loudmouth with a stern look. The civilian had nothing to fear – he was not under the soldiers’ jurisdiction – but the gaze still made him recoil slightly.

“I’m, ah… geeeh…” The navigator tore himself from his panel and stared at the stallion with two sunken in, droopy eyes. “...’s my smoke break, actually. You got a butt?”

“Ugh… trading it for words of wisdom?” Shining Armor rubbed his forehead. “I don’t smoke. Go ask your buddies.”

“Eh, fine, hav’t yer way.”

The captain frowned and watched the mule waddle out of the room. A gust of cold wind got in as he opened the door, sending shivers down the pony’s spine.

He blinked. “Wait a moment… why was I talking to you, anyway? Where’s the captain?”

The mule paused and turned around, scratching his head, and his hoof pointed at the floor where Shining Armor stood.

“Not me,” Shining went on and rolled his eyes. “The captain of this ship. Whatshisname… Driftwood?”

All he got in response was low muttering about “cider barrels”. The mule shrugged and stepped outside, a more quiet crew member taking his place, which left Shining alone with his thoughts. He shook his head, teeth grinding at the image of the aged, fat stallion who, on a good day, could be seen at the helm with a wide grin on his face and an aura of alcohol around him.

But right now, he had other problems. Like the one looming mere miles from their vessel.

Novy Rubezh was definitely something else. He found it difficult to dismiss the morbid curiosity it brought up in him. Out the glass, his eyes found the fifth large industrial complex along the coast, with signs of there being more further inland. Thick pillars of smoke rose toward the heavens, varying between gray, black, and pure white. Twisted metal monstrosities spread their tendrils into the sides of the mountains, no doubt to consume their insides and carry them to the main building for digestion. If he looked closely enough, he could even make out the occasional tiny wheeled figure move among the vast mechanisms. Using their size as a reference, the vastness of the facility sent a shiver down his spine.

The structures were massive and, as far as he could tell, working at full steam. But not all the details spoke of a pristine “industrial deity”. A thick layer of dirt and soot coated almost every surface, even those nowhere near the tall smokestacks. The metal giants attached to the brick bodies all had large stains of rust leaking from their seams. Even the roads that led to the facilities were in terrible shape, though obviously due to constant, heavy use. It looked less like a beast billowing fumes, and more like a decaying body that was slowly being gutted by scavengers.

Once his face managed to thaw out somewhat, Shining glanced at the device to his right. A pair of thick, black cylinders stood upon a long, rotating stand, the longer half of the eyepieces pointing out the windows. While his binoculars were military-grade, they still could not compare to the power of the optics a freight liner required. And with the crew pretty much ignoring him at this point, there was no harm in “confiscating” it for a while.

“Alright…” he said to the device. “Give me what you’ve got.” Resting his hooves on the sides, he placed his eyes against the circular slots and aimed the device at their target. It took a bit of fumbling with the controls to find the right setting, followed by careful adjustment of the angle, but eventually he brought up a clear image of the coast. His jaw dropped as soon as the view focused.

“...huh.”

At first he thought his insomnia caught up to him again, and he stepped away from the device to rub his eyes. A second look, however, erased all doubt: strewn somewhere between a facility in the mountains and another near the coast was a small settlement, the shapes of the houses puny compared to the brick and metal giants around them.

Furthermore, they were completely desolate.

Remembering what he had read about the locals, he recognized the village as a small workers’ settlement – a “khutor” in the local language. Blue, yellow, and red fragments of carpentry stood out in the overwhelming white. The sight of actual colors in the endless sea of grays should have been soothing to his eyes, but somehow they just seemed unnatural, like bright body paint on decaying wooden corpses.

Besides, that was not what worried him most. Things were way too still. Not that he expected a crowd, especially with the snow leaving the place half-buried, but he still thought there should have been some signs of life, what with all the busy industrial areas nearby.

The optics turned inch by inch as he scanned the village. No lights were on. No attempts were made to clear the snow. Empty dog kennels. No smoke coming out of any of the chimneys. Give it a week, and the whole place would be rooftops peeking out of piles of snow if things went on this way. Or maybe even nothing at all, judging by how a good chunk of them had already collapsed from the elements.

While recent decades have seen heavy urbanization for goats... the words of the article flowed up from his memories again. A great number of rural settlements remain, some of them dating back entire centuries. Although they are aesthetically unique, in terms of origins, they are in fact very similar to how earth pony settlements formed around the—

Shining felt an odd pain in his chest. He leaned away from the bulky device, shook his head to banish his thoughts and memories, and looked into the thing again. “‘Coast is clear’ my flank...” he grumbled to himself. His hoof tapped the side to zoom out, and he went back to inspecting the lands near the shore.

Winds. Those would definitely be a problem. Winds so furious and dense that any tree he knew would have been torn apart, although the pine forests that dominated the local flora seemed unperturbed. A glance at the mountains allowed him to catch the start of a fresh avalanche. Humongous creatures stomped among the peaks, most likely a coastal yeti tribe. But, worst of all, he found more abandoned khutors.

Shining Armor counted ten, and each made his gut sink a little bit lower. The final and largest one was even close to resembling a small town, which made it even more unnerving when he found it to be completely empty.

At the center of the town was a large billboard, a smiling equine face plastered all over it. It looked like a stallion, but it was difficult to make out the details; the sign was covered in cuts, tears, and even signs of attempted burning. The support beams had given out, and it now leaned against the wall of an unfinished office building.

“The hay…” he muttered. The kid at the wheel gave him an odd look, but did not say anything.

The captain quickly rubbed his eyes and slapped himself again before taking a second look. It was no illusion: a dense array of black, vine-like threads could be seen wrapped around the sign, making the ensemble look like a tree with its roots exposed. From there, the threads dispersed throughout the settlement and out into the pines surrounding it. Shining now recognized them as the same lines he had seen going through many a forest along the coast.

“Hmm…” He turned the binoculars a bit further eastward, and his hoof came up to slap his forehead. “Oh, heh-heh… of course. Power lines. And if this bit here is correct...” He quickly checked if the pylons that led into the distance were going in the same direction as the one indicated by the map. “Yep, we’re here…”

The captain stepped back and walked over to the radio operator. Switching to the PA system, he spoke into the mic attached to the console.

“All officers, report to the bridge.”

With that done, Shining Armor smiled and returned to the windows to retrieve his equipment. Something about what he saw kept nagging at him the whole time, and eventually he peeked into the binoculars again, aiming them back toward the woods.

Weird… he thought. Since when do they hang the power lines on the branches?

His ears perked up at the sound of metal grinding on metal. Another gust of cold wind entered the room, followed by a series of hoofsteps. His little session was officially over, it seemed.

“Eh, cap’n?” the mule slurred. “I ain’t, like, all sure if yer allowed to use all that.”

“Oh, right,” the captain answered with a chuckle. “Sorry about that, heh-heh...” He rubbed his eyes as they slowly adjusted back to normal vision. “I think I’ve seen enough anyway.”

“‘s no problem, though, if it’s real needed an’ all. I can go back on ma’ break, take th’time y’need, but I…uh… Well, y’break somethin and it’s on me, so… I ‘unno…”

Shining smirked at him. “I understand. Tell you what: next time, I’ll discuss it with your captain.”

“Riiight,” the navigator responded with a smirk of his own. “Got me there…” He returned to his post back at the helm. “Need me out for your meeting and all that?” he asked fleetingly.

“No, it’s alright,” the captain said. “I trust you can keep your mouth shut?”

“Eh,” the mule shrugged. He then took a moment to cough profusely, while his eyes wandered over the collection of butts in the ashtray next to him.

“Good.” Shining laughed playfully. “Because otherwise we’d have to throw you overboard.”

“Eh,” the mule repeated and coughed again.

“Are all units prepared for deployment?”

The officers hummed and nodded in response. Shining Armor smiled. “All right. Then let’s discuss the plan one more time. Now the intel is pretty hazy on the area, so we had to find a good landing spot ourselves.”

He unfolded the map on the table before him. “We confirmed with our… uh...” Trailing off, he glanced at the ship’s captain. A plump, bearded stallion in a white uniform stared back at him with a vapid smile, while Shining tried to come up with an appropriate word. “...sailing advisors that, uh… this will be our ideal landing spot.”

His hoof pointed out a highlighted strip on the line between the green and the blue areas of the map. The officers leaned a bit closer, struggling not to crush each other in the now cramped space.

“Steep shores, which means the ships can anchor close,” Shining went on. “Good terrain inland, and we’d be less than ten klicks from the city. But keep in mind, my little fillies: no shelter all the way until we reach Gueldergrad, and weather reports are as bad as it gets, so we’ll need to hustle. Got it?”

The group stepped back and nodded once more.

“Very well. Any questions?” the captain said. Nopony answered. “Excellent.”

One of the crew members waved at the fat stallion, and he stepped forward, clearing his throat. “Captain Shining Armor,” he said, his voice thick from alcohol and forced humility. “We are approaching the drop point.”

The unicorn nodded. “Understood. Relay the signal to the other ships.” He folded up the map and motioned for his troops to leave. “Captain.” He nodded to his civilian counterpart, who did not respond as he approached the window to take a look at the shore with the ship’s optics. Shining rolled his eyes and headed for the door.

“Wait!” Driftwood called out. “What the— Sir? You might want to take a look at this.”

Shining Armor gave a deep sigh and turned back. “What is it?”

The ship's captain stepped away from the binoculars and motioned for him to take a look. “Due east of the landing point. Over that hill. You see it? Smoke.”

Shining peeked into the device. “Hmm… I don’t— Oh, there it is...” His jaw dropped. “Wait… that’s not…”

“Not factory smoke, I know," Driftwood said. “And there was no smoke there the last time we sailed here.”

“What… campfires then?”

“Campfires?” Bonnie stepped back into the chamber, the other officers following suit. “Sir? You mean… there could be refugees there?”

“Refugees?” another lieutenant asked. “Maybe they’re just goats.”

“And what if they’re ponies? Intel said things were getting bad in the city.”

“Should we check it out?”

Everyone stopped talking and looked at Shining Armor. A shudder passed through his right foreleg, and he took a deep breath.

Forgive them, they know not what they do, he thought. Make do with what you have. It’s your duty, after all.

“Steer us due east, captain,” he said. “Let’s take a look.”

The plump stallion nodded and barked the orders at his subordinates. The ship lurched as they throttled up the engines, and the coastline to their left moved past a little faster. At this point, it was close enough for them to see its features without special tools. Several shouts rang out when the thin pillars of smoke rising beyond their original landing point came into view again, but a nearby hill on a small peninsula obscured the source.

It took ten minutes to circle around the obstruction, and the commanding staff of the Humpback got their first look at their point of curiosity. Shining Armor looked through his own binoculars once more, discerning the outlines of several large buildings that resembled warehouses. Lining the shore below them were various concrete structures: u-shaped dry docks filled with debris, unfinished piers, and even a large metal crane that hung precariously over the water.

“I don’ need t’tell ya: no way we land there,” the mule navigator spoke up. He earned himself a frown from his captain, but ignored it. “That wall’ll crush us the first tide that comes around.”

He pointed at the dark surface of the massive seawall that lined almost the entire section of the coast. At certain points, it was further strengthened by countless large concrete blocks dumped into the water, the waves crashing against them and breaking up in the process.

“I’ll have to agree,” Driftwood grumbled. “Our only chance would be the port, but that thing is in no shape for us to use. The piers aren’t finished, and that crane looks ready to crumble the first time we’d start it up. And that’s just what’s on the coast. No idea about the rest...” His head nodded at the structures further inland.

Shining did not answer. He turned his gaze back to the warehouses, where he noticed the smoke was rising from. A few tiny, quadrupedal figures trudged back and forth between the buildings, oblivious to the large ship approaching them.

“Those are ponies, no question,” Setterline remarked. “Can’t see any weapons. And the way this place looks…” He lifted his binoculars to his eyes again. “If we have ponies to help here, we’ll have our work cut out for us.”

“Sir?” Bonnie said and turned to her commander. “I’m not too sure about this either. Even if we make it ashore, we have no idea what’s waiting for us there.”

“We can always just circle around from the drop point after we land, right?” another officer suggested.

Driftwood nodded hastily. “I think it’s settled then. I’ll radio the Scylla and Atoll to begin deployment. We’ll turn back and—”

“Belay that,” Shining Armor said. He tapped his hoof on the window, pointing at the ill-fated port. “This is where we land.”

The chamber went deathly silent, all eyes trained on the blue-maned stallion. Shining did not bat an eyelid this time, merely kept looking through his binoculars.

“Radio it in, captain. All units, wait for my orders.”

Bonnie was the first to come to her senses. “But sir, we—”

A raspy voice rose from the crowd. “Lieutenant! Are you about to question a direct order?”

Bonnie shot him a look. “You’re not talking to grunts here, warhawk. Keep it to yourself.”

“The captain made his decision,” the stallion in the dark brown outfit snarled. “That’s final.”

“This isn’t a question of loyalty or protocol,” Setter shot back. “This is a meeting. We’re supposed to—”

“Enough!” Shining Armor raised his voice. Bonnie tried to speak again, but his stern look kept her words in her throat. “And you don’t speak for me, warhawk.” He turned to the other officer. “You take it through the chain of command. In this case, through me.”

The stallion said no more. Shining smiled and glanced at the port again.

“No turning back now. This is where we begin.”

The exodus led by High Strung across the Baranzovo Sea was the first ever direct influx of pony population in Novy Rubezh.

Pioneers

View Online

The first settlers of Novy Rubezh were formerly nomadic capricorns forced to move north by minotaur hordes. The harsh environment helped deter most raids.

“Basalt Five.”

Shining Armor hugged the metal bars and held fast, the freezing winds howling into his ears and penetrating his forehead. The liner thrashed violently underneath as the local blizzard tore into it. Sprays of ice cold water from the ocean were flung up by the storm to barrage him constantly.

“Basalt Five, this is Humpback.” A slight tremor entered his voice. His limbs tensed up as he struggled to hide it. “Do you copy? Respond, Basalt Five.”

No amount of clothing could save his hide from this. It was the kind of weather that either saw you grow fur or lose limbs. Shining gritted his teeth and held fast nonetheless.

“Come in, Basalt Five!”

Even with the higher altitude, the receiver was still awash with static. He pressed the earpiece against his head more firmly and muttered curses. Occasionally, the noise picked up a little in tandem with the wind, but no equine voices came through.

“Captain!” Bonnie shouted over the wind. She winced as the mast lurched again from another powerful wave hitting the ship. “You need to get down from there! Let me d—”

“Wait!” Shining held up a hoof. “Basalt Five?”

The unpleasant glowy orb in his exposed ear finally gave signs of life, giving him more to listen to than the sorrow of the wind:

“...lt Five reporting.”

He breathed a sigh of relief. “Everything okay over there?”

“We...n the green. Read...nd clear, sir.”

“Affirmative. What do you have to report?” Shining tried to keep his voice calm, feeling an urge to yell out just to hear himself at the very least.

“Not mu... yet, sir. Still a ...ys off. Activity near p...ea is a little...orth. Can see light...ces, yes, two to three, could be...ions. ...ould be bad. C...ing fifteen wh...ly, ...ating contact,” the device fuzzed out.

“Basalt Five, I can barely read you. Any hostiles?”

“Missed th… Repe… ...ur last?”

The captain huffed and placed the mic a bit closer to his mouth. “Dancefloor situation?”

“No tango.”

“That’s a shame...” Shining tried to chuckle from his own joke, but his face had effectively frozen solid. On the bright side, the agony of the frost was replaced by just a mild sting all over. “Copy that, Basalt Five. Confirm area is ready for deployment.”

A powerful wave of noise overcame the voice, making them nearly impossible to hear.

"Uhhh... we might be… h...ing trou... Movem... below, in the pine... Hang on, the whiskeys are… might have to m..."

“Basalt Five? Basalt five, do you copy?”

The voice spoke a bit louder, but it still could not break through properly. "... Wha... ...or crying out l… ...piece is… Sarge...tions?"

“Basalt Five, I say again: confirm if area is secure!”

He winced from a sudden popping sound in his ears, followed by the voice coming through with crystal clarity. “Yes, sir! Green light!” There was even a slight buzz as the volume actually peaked in the headphones.

Shining paused for a moment, his jaw hanging open. “R-roger that, Basalt Five. Uh…” Static overtook the incoming transmission once more. There was an odd “edge” to the noise that made his ears tingle, but he shook his head and focused on the task at hand. “Proceed with recon toward city limits. Report back in two hours. Over.”

There was another burst of static and distorted speech, but before long, the earpiece popped again. The voice that came through felt oddly monotonous, accompanied by the same buzz as before. “Read you loud and clear, sir.”

Shining Armor stood silently under the hail, tortured by icy projectiles and stark gusts of wind blowing through his mane. It was barbarously difficult to even remain in place, but he stood there nonetheless, waiting for several minutes. The sound of the last message echoed in his ears, and he longed for the voice to return and bring relief, but no further transmissions came through.

A grim frown tried to form on his face, but he could barely move it. No matter, he thought. Cursing under his breath, he looked down and nodded to his second-in-command, and the two of them carefully climbed down from the tall mast. If this weather is the worst Novy Rubezh can do, then we’ll take it head on.

Once safely off the mast, they stumbled their way across the empty deck, holding fast as the howling blizzard kept torturing them, although Bonnie seemed a lot less bothered, not requiring much in the way of protective clothing. Nopony else ventured outside, the deep groaning of the ship being the only lifelike sign to accompany them toward the mess hall.

“So how was it?” Bonnie asked as soon as the door closed behind them. “Get a better reception from up there?”

Shining nodded. “Broke through the storm, yes. The team is okay. They gave the go-ahead.”

“Understood.” She paused for a moment. “Sir, you really shouldn’t take risks like this. You’re the one leading this entire mission. If something happens to you… Well, you know...”

“Yeah…” He sighed and gave a small chuckle. “But I got it done, right?”

Bonnie smiled. “That you did. Next time, though, I should do it. I’m made of tougher stuff, after all.” Her hoof tapped her chest proudly, the tough crystal making a sharp clink.

Shining chuckled again and shook his head. “Look, I sent those guys out into this storm.” He nodded his head at the window. “If they have to face it, I’m not gonna let them do it alone.”

“All right.”

They said no more for a while and just looked around, an eerie silence settling on the chamber. Usually, they would find it bustling with activity, but now the only other occupants were the long tables with the benches stacked on top. The floor shimmered from having been recently mopped up. A yellow sign stood in front of them, the words “WET FLOOR” crossed out, replaced underneath by “ICE RINK” in crude letters.

Shining Armor rolled his eyes and marched across the room, Bonnie following close behind. They went behind the counter at the far end, and the captain started up the coffee machine while his subordinate got a pair of mugs.

“Think we’ll run into trouble, sir?”

“Not sure.”

Bonnie gathered some milk and sugar. “I still think the original landing area would be better.”

Shining did not reply, merely gave her a smug smile.

The crystal mare blinked. “What?”

“‘What’ yourself, Lieutenant,” Shining replied. “Why the lack of confidence and vigor? This is our chance to make our country proud.”

Bonnie huffed. “It’s my job as your XO. Besides, if things go bad, I’ll be the one in the frying pan, so I'd rather be sure the heat is off first.”

“Mmhmm…”

The captain placed the carafe under the machine as the water inside roiled loudly. They stayed silent and watched the black liquid ooze out of the opening and fill the container.

“But, to be honest…” Bonnie spoke up. She paused and took the mug of steaming coffee Shining offered her. “Yeah, I’m excited. It will be good to do something that feels worthy of our efforts. Something that makes a difference.”

“Good.” Shining sipped from his own mug. “I’m glad. We need that kind of spirit.”

“Yeah…” The mare took a sip as well, and the two of them sat down on a pair of stools next to the counter. “But still: let’s play it safe.”

The captain frowned a little. “We’ve been ‘playing it safe’ for too long. Equestria can’t sweet-talk its way out of every single battle. It’s time we showed some strength.”

“Don’t tell me this whole thing is a media stunt.”

“I don’t care what the media says. What we do isn’t just symbolic. If we get this port up and running, we’ll have a decent foothold in the region. On top of that, it might help the locals see us in a better light.”

“Yes, sir.”

There was another lengthy pause. “You think we can trust the captain to play along?” she went on.

“No.” Shining took another sip. “His own liver can’t trust him.”

Bonnie chuckled. “So… what? We just throw him overboard?”

The stallion shrugged. “His crew is decent. They can keep him in line, and they’re cooperative enough. No need for anything drastic. Everypony is on edge as it is.”

He looked out the window again, where the Atoll could be seen battling the waves alongside them, the Scylla a bit further back. His foreleg twitched, and he gave a deep sigh.

“I’m more worried about what we don’t know.”

“There’s plenty of that, sir,” Bonnie said. “We haven’t even landed.”

The captain shook his head. “No, I mean... about us.” He nodded his head at the Atoll. “The stuff we’re carrying. This whole mission.”

His companion raised an eyebrow. “You’re still worried about our ‘package’, right?”

“Yeah. It feels like we’re carrying a Pandora’s box… and somepony is expecting us to open it.”

“Sir?”

Shining waved it off. “Never mind.”

The PA gave a loud whine, and the deep voice of the radio operator boomed throughout the chamber. “Captain Shining Armor. Please report to the bridge.”

“Well…” He got up and finished off his coffee in one gulp. “Duty calls…”

“Hold fast!”

Shining threw himself against the railing and gripped it tightly. The deck beneath his hooves groaned, and his gut twisted from the sudden lurch. Although the Humpback anchored herself firmly to the shore by the unfinished dock, the hailstorm still tossed her around like a toy model. It made his job all the more difficult with the stabbing cold and the thick winter gear already weighing him down.

“All right!” He spoke into the mic of his headset, his voice slightly muffled under a full hood. “Hatch is down! Quartz One and Two: take position. All other units stand by. Tread lightly, or else it’s a nice, cool swim, got that?”

“Yes, sir!” Eight distinct voices shot back into his ear in unison, followed by individual transmissions coming one after another. “Quartz One, initiating materialization.”

“Quartz Two, standing by.”

His eyes squinted as he watched his troops at work. Ten unicorns wearing heavy gear stepped forth to face the great white storm, lining up at the edge of the deck to look over the crumbling pier.

"Captain,” he spoke into the mic, “tell the Scylla and Atoll that we're clear. Hold positions until we make the repairs."

"Yes, sir," a shaky voice replied. There was a short pause. "Sir, are you sure we'll be safe here? The storm is picking up, and we just barely made it in withou—"

Shining huffed. “We’ve been over this, captain. Relay the message. Out.” He picked up a moment of the captain arguing with a familiar raspy voice in the background before the transmission cut off, and his gaze wandered over the scene before him.

The docks themselves, while protected by the seawall, were an utter, discombobulated mess. They were robust enough to survive drafts and waves of much higher intensity than any other ports Shining knew, but they were in no condition for them to land there. Not from a ship. Separate earth and crystal pony teams could have descended via zip-line, while pegasi had the obvious aerial advantage, but the real problem was the cargo.

“This is Quartz One. Halfway there, captain!”

“Quartz Two, initiating!”

“Good!” Shining replied. “Keep it up. We still have at least two more to set up, so make sure you got the routine down. Everyone else, final checkup before deployment!”

Their operation was too low-profile to warrant unicorn teams that could just teleport everything ashore. Still, their engineers were worth bragging about, both for their ingenuity and their tenacity. Using such complex magic among conditions like these was beyond difficult - Shining himself had trouble just using his telekinesis with the cold and the constant swaying. His ponies conjuring the so-called “hard light” and backtracking structural damage was something else.

“Quartz One. Pier stabilized,” said one of the two construction officers. There was a slight strain in their voice. “Awaiting your orders.”

“Good job,” the captain said. “Basalt Three, you’re on point! Basic area recon, damage report; Celestite One provides overhead cover if anyone tries anything funny.”

“Affirmative.”

A pegasus squad took off from the deck and headed for the glaring white above, while a heavily armored earth pony squad marched off the ramp and onto the hastily repaired pier. Bright patches of corporeal light wavered under their hooves where the engineers could not reverse the damage, or where the structure was simply unfinished.

“Celestite Four, establish a perimeter around the pier. Quartz Two, investigate the local camp. See if you can provide assistance.” He paused and chuckled. “And be very polite.”

“On it, sir.”

“Quartz One and Onyx Omega, you’re with me to set up our HQ. Ruby Alpha, you take the rear.”

“Got it,” Setterline replied, speaking for Ruby Alpha. Bonnie’s voice came next as she confirmed the order for the Onyx team.

“All right. Get moving...” Shining Armor roughed out as he set hoof into the icy storm outside. “...and let’s get this mess fixed,” he muttered to himself.

For the first time in over a month, the captain was able to step off the accursed ship. Wrapped under an onion’s worth of layers, he felt an unpleasant five to seven degrees of cold at worst, though the local weather still made itself known through its insistence on blowing him off the newly repaired, glowing pier. As he struggled to keep his balance, he barely had time to get a good look at his surroundings, especially with the snow piling up on his goggles. Thankfully, the earpiece kept him up to speed.

“Captain, this is Basalt Three. Got visual on ponies. Civilians. No hostile action. Orders?”

“Quartz Two to command. Local housing extremely poor, inhabited to capacity. Will begin restoration on your order.”

“Basalt Three,” Shining grumbled. He struggled to speak in a level tone as the wind kept shoving him around. “You are cleared to approach. See if anyone requires immediate medical attention. Quartz Two, stand by, hook up with C-Four. Wait until we get a closer look.”

Static washed into his ears as another squad reported in, their broadcast far more noisy. “Command, this is Celest... Four!” a mare’s voice came through. “Local contact. Can’t under… a word they’re s...ng. Might need an interpreter. We’re northwest from the dock, largest ...ture, two big pipes on the front wall.”

“Confirmed. Uh… None of them speak Equestrian?” Shining exhaled into the comm as the dangerous walk ended, and his legs were firmly planted in the snowy earth.

“Uuuhhh…” the mare began. Agitated voices could be heard in the background. “...nothing constructive, sir.”

“What’s that supposed to mean, Sergeant?” The captain paused to clean out his goggles.

“Well, they definitely know a lot of Equestrian swear words, sir. They’re… either too displeased to use anything else... or that is all there is.”

“Displeased? What’s going on over there, Celestite Four? Or was it the scouts?” Shining scowled under the full facial cover. The visual non-spectacle of the port was agitating enough. He did not need any further problems.

“Nothing, sir. I just don’t think the natives like… us."

The stallion sighed and kept marching, the crystallites and the medical crew in tow – “Onyx” and “Ruby” respectively. He opened his mouth to respond, but his words got caught in his throat when the thick vapor cleared for a moment, and he caught a glimpse of the scenery.

He sincerely thought, even after what the oculars had shown him, that this sort of thing was restricted to gritty comics only, but as it turned out, crushing bleakness would indeed be the style of choice for Novy Rubezh. The coastline was an endless mess of grays upon grays covered in a thin layer of white snow. Most of it was bare concrete, with the occasional bit of steel or piles of stone thrown in. The piers stretched into the dark water like so many bony limbs, their unfinished tips looking as though they had been cut off. Off to the side, the crane groaned and swayed in the howling wind as one of the engineer teams carefully approached it. Further in, there was a sharp, yet traversable leap in altitude between the shore itself and the mainland. A half dozen warehouses lined up along this blunt edge, their thick metal bodies painted in browns and reds, towering over the concrete roots that held back the waves.

Static buzzed in his earpiece again. “Basalt Three reporting. Health conditions look... dismal.”

Shining blinked and shook his head, stumbling further in as he came back to his senses. “Uh… copy that, Basalt Three. How bad is it?”

“We've got at least three different ailments running wild among them. Gonna have to quarantine this entire block. Few broken legs, some infected cuts, hypothermia... and malnutrition in general.”

He paused. “Is that all?”

A sigh came over the comms, and the voice droned on. “That’s for the pony-populated buildings, sir. C-One and Q-Two are looking into the natives. Things aren’t hot.”

“Understood, Sergeant,” Shining said. “Ruby Alpha, next of rank will lead the squad to help the wounded. Lieutenant, you’re with me.”

“Affirmative, Captain. Coddie, take the rest and run them through. Clean and quick, all right?” Setterline gestured at the warehouses, and one of the pouch-ridden medics led the way for the rest toward them. “I’m guessing I’m our interpreter for today?”

The stallion in command nodded. “Tomorrow and beyond, Lieutenant,” he said. The nod was followed by a huff. “Can’t believe that they sent us in without at least two trained interpreters...”

“Yeah, we should file a complaint when we’re done,” Setter replied. He went off the airwaves, sticking closer to the captain as him and the crystallites advanced through the port. “If I do well, does that add a bonus to my pay?”

Shining jabbed him in the side. “If you do well, I’m maybe not sanctioning you for being a cocky bastard.” He tried to use a playful tone, but most of his voice got lost in the thick cloth wrapped around his snout.

The medical officer chuckled either way. “Hurrah for priorities. Alright…” He cleared his throat and took a deep breath. “R. Rrr. R-r-r. R… Rrrrrr!”

After a short climb, they found themselves marching among the large structures that dominated the area. Gray and reddish walls lined the way to either side, most of the windows broken and missing, and the insides dark. The wind occasionally stampeded down the passage, forcing the group to halt and brace themselves.

“Rrr. Rrrr! R...Ko-rrro-lev-ska-ja… Strrr… Gah, dammit. RRR, RRR. Straja. No, no, what the hell am I doing, that’s not how it sounds…”

As they passed a few of the smaller buildings wedged in-between the warehouses — some of them collapsed from the storms or half-buried in snow— Bonnie finally spoke up for the first time since they came ashore.

“Captain…” she began. “Forgive me, sir, but… What the hay is Setterline doing?” Her head turned back and forth slowly, eyes keeping track of their surroundings the whole time. The wind gave an eerie howl among the walls and exposed framework, and every once in a while some noise from nearby would keep the team on edge.

“Practicing my rolled consonants,” Setter replied. “Damn, it’s been a while since I spoke Capric.”

“Oh...” The crystal mare sighed and laughed a little. “I thought you were choking on something…”

Their journey through the port came to an abrupt end when they turned a corner, following the other team’s fading hoofprints. In front of the large building with the pipes was a long line in the snow, a loose net of barbed wire strung along it. Staring Shining right in the goggles was a sign with a sharply outlined equine head, the words “FUCK OFF” scribbled underneath. Beyond it, a group of quadrupedal figures could faintly be seen, and a few agitated voices broke through the roar of the wind.

Setterline gave a low whistle at the honest display of hospitality. “Wow…” He poked the sign with his forehoof. “C-Four weren’t kidding.”

The Atoll, the Scylla and the Humpback are long-lasting cargo ships. Of all of them, only the Scylla had previously carried passengers on an official voyage.

Joint Operation

View Online

The region had emptied and been resettled multiple times by several different ethnicities, but the dominant population has always been the Caprics.

“There. Through the breach.” Shining pointed at a segment where the wire had been cut and pulled apart, fading hoofprints visible in the snow. “Looks like this was Celestite Four’s way through.”

“Maybe the locals just didn’t like that they messed with their fence?” Bonnie suggested. She gestured to her ponies, leading them through first on the captain’s silent command.

“Let’s hope so,” Shining said. Once they got close enough, he called out to the now distinguishable shapes of armored ponies, which were half-encircled by lankier shapes with curved horns. “Setterline, can you tell what the goats there are yelling at our troops?”

“Just about...” The medic cocked his head to the side while stumbling through the tall snow. “They’re… oh damn.”

“What? Something bad?”

“Nah, just…” Setter winced when a particularly loud yell rang out from the crowd. “Okay, cap, I’ll warn you now. If they say a lot of stuff and I just give a few words, then I’m not pulling your leg. These ruminants are pretty liberal with their swearing.”

“Alright. Be a gentlecolt then, Setter. We’ve got a lady here with us,” Shining said matter-of-factly. It took a few moments before the rest of his followers started snickering, even if nervously and briefly so.

“Multiple, actually,” Bonnie remarked. She gave a nervous chuckle of her own, but it quickly faded once the hateful gaze of the locals landed on them. Taking a deep breath, she marched slightly ahead of the group with her fellow crystallites.

“All according to plan then, sir?” she asked quietly over the radio.

“Yes,” Shining said. “We need to make a good impression.”

“Well, I got my prettiest ones up front…” Her head nodded at the ponies marching beside her. “Let’s just hope it still counts after C-Four already said hello.”

“Captain? Is that you?” the shaky voice rustled in Shining’s ear again. It was Celestite Four’s leader. The captain searched through the ranks and noticed the pony furthest from the surrounding capric crowd wave her hoof in the air.

“Yes,” Shining said. “We’ll take it from here.”

The mare nodded. “Very well, sir.” She gestured at the slowly tightening circle of ponies. Shining noticed them taking up defensive stances, the hooves of the front row tightening around their halberds, while the rest reached for their crossbows.

“This isn’t looking good,” Bonnie said over the whistling wind. Celestite Four’s troops pulled back a little, while her own shimmering ponies took their places. They all wore nothing beyond official insignias and helmets – as well as their weapons – and each of them made sure to put on unintimidating expressions. Their eyes met those of the crowd wherever they could to express that both sides were living, breathing, and feeling creatures.

The agitated voices lowered somewhat, a few of them giving way to murmuring and stares in awe, but the situation was far from defused.

“I can see that much…” Shining muttered. “Setter, tell them to calm down. Ask them what their problem is and how we can fix it.”

“Please be the fence,” the crystallite officer whispered to herself.

The radio crackled again. “This is Quartz Two. Captain… you need to take a look at this.”

The odd tone of his subordinate made his legs tense up a little. “I’ll be there in a minute. Hang tight.”

A gulp came through the airwaves. “Yes, sir…”

Moments after he ended the conversation, Setter jabbed him in the side and turned him away to speak in a hushed tone. “Sir, this isn’t working. These guys are way beyond sweet-talking.”

“And the crystal ponies?”

“Some of the goats like the shiny show, but I think they’ve got bigger problems than our PR attempt.”

“I see…” Shining frowned and turned to look at the crowd. “Hmm… I read that they have respect for strength. Think they’d listen to an inspiring monologue?”

Setter shrugged. “I guess so.”

“Good.” Shining stepped forward and took a deep breath.

His friend blinked. “Wait… you know they don’t speak Equestrian, right?”

“Ugh… I know. Look, just translate it for me, okay?”

Setter nodded. “Gotcha.”

Shining cleared his throat. “This is the Equestrian Royal Guard,” he boomed. The medic next to him repeated his words in the complex tongue of the locals. “Please remain calm. We come in peace and promise of friendship. We are here to assist you. Just remain—”

Somewhere into Setter’s rendition of “We are here to assist you”, one of the dozen locals surrounding C-4 just about exploded. It was a mess of voices before, all of the Capric chatter mixing into a unified sound of concern – now, this particular male stuck out his hoof toward the encircled ponies, and the rest went relatively silent.

“What’s his problem?” Shining Armor whispered to Setterline. The goat was going on a tangent. The captain did not know much of the Capric language, but he could tell the guy was not trying to make peace. His gaze wandered to the goat's outfit, which was rather striking among the others as well. Tattered white suit, blue shirt underneath, a gilded chain hanging on the neck, beard cut short.

“Captain,” Setter began. “That guy… he looks like—”

“I know. Botva.” Shining all but spat that word out. “I recognized the ‘fashion choices’ from one of the articles in the Canterlot Messenger.”

“Perfect… we’re dealing with the local mafia now?” The medic turned interpreter raised a hoof in an attempt to get the goat to stop for a moment, but he ignored it. With a sigh and a shrug, Setter turned back to Shining. “Well, to dilute his… choice of words… He said we should ‘go right back where we came from and take the cocks—’” He stopped and knocked himself on the helmet, to which Shining raised an eyebrow.

“Not so literal, I know…” he went on. “‘Take the miscreants that settled in the docks and get our tattooed flanks off their land.’ They’re in enough of a pickle without us, apparently.”

The rest of the goats stared in shock as the suited one kept yelling at the ponies, visibly motioning for them to back off. Eventually, he switched to the crystallites. Judging by how his expression and tone changed, a predatory grin tugging on his lips, Shining could understand why Setter did not translate much of what he went on to say.

“Aren’t these goats here to get evacuated as well?” the captain nudged the interpreter forward down the conversation. “Why would they be in this harbor if they weren’t? What’s the problem?”

Before either of them could think of a retort, the crowd came back to life when another member stepped forward, the squad locked off in the middle all but forgotten by that point. This time, though, the voice was directed at the first speaker. A nan with a headscarf articulated generously as she engaged in a shout-fight with the bill in the suit.

“Setter,” Shining said. He bumped his friend’s side when he would not respond. “Lieutenant! What are they saying?”

“Uh… it… looks like they’re debating the same thing,” the pegasus said. “From the sound of it, they’ve been doing that for a while.”

The two goats yelled at each other, the male one pointing at the road leading uphill and out of the dock area, while the female one gestured at the ponies. For a while, the ponies and the other goats just stared silently, but soon the elder’s voice compelled the others to join her and speak up against the flashy one.

“He’s… saying they know what happens if they side with us,” Setter went on. “And that they’ll be very sorry.”

Whatever the bill was threatening them with, the rest of the goats were unfazed. A couple of them actually broke away from the crowd and stumbled toward the armed ponies, babbling and pleading with desperate looks in their eyes. In response, the bill cursed at them, spat on the ground, and shoved the nan out of his way, upon which the others pounced on him.

Just a split second before their hooves could come down on his skull, a bright flash and a loud bang resounded through the air, making them freeze while the pony squads merged and sprang into action. Two Celestite soldiers pinned the big-mouthed goat to the snowy ground, while the rest forced the angry crowd back a bit.

“Alright! Everyone calm down!” Shining yelled over the ruckus. Sparks popped from his horn from the spell he used moments ago. “No more fighting! We’ll take it from here.”

Setter quickly repeated the same to the temporarily shocked crowd. Moments later, one of them let out a small cheer, and the rest quickly joined in, applauding the ponies as they dragged the bill away, keeping his face pressed against the snow and dirt.

It turned out, however, that not even a flashbang and a soldier holding him down could keep the bill’s mouth shut. He just chuckled and mumbled something, his head nodding at the nan opposite of him, then at the other goats. Finally, he turned at the medic and captain, and just stared with a grin of partly gilded teeth, hissing out a few words before going silent and just laughing to himself.

The odd tone made a shiver run down Shining’s back. He waited for his friend to translate, only to find him staring at the thug with an odd look on his face.

“Well?” Shining asked.

“He, uh…” Setter cleared his throat. “He says everyone is an idiot. That his friends had the situation under control, and he’s an idiot too for going here. Now his friends – or, well, “brothers” – are going to come and they’ll all regret having been born. And we can just go… do unsavory things with our mouths.”

“Okay… And that lady?”

“Says that he’s the reason they’re all in this mess, that they’ve lost their homes because of his kind, and that now they have to rely on…” Setter sighed deeply. “...on insert-as-many-negative-adjectives-as-you-want ponies to keep their lives.”

He followed up with a short chuckle. “Don’t worry though. She doesn’t hate us, not especially anyway. It’s just how they talk…”

“Glad to hear that,” Shining grumbled to himself. He took a deep breath through the layers obstructing his face. “All right. Everyone stay calm and pay attention. The rest of our unit is on its way. Once we get the port fixed, we can work on helping you. For now, return to your homes.”

The medic repeated the orders, but even before he was done, tensions sparked again among the relatively calm goats. The two officers just stared in confusion, until Shining’s ear twitched when he picked up a faint noise in the distance. At first he ignored it, thinking it was just the wind making something rattle, but it persisted and followed a clear beat.

As the dull, metallic clanging drew a bit closer, the voice of the caprics rose and drowned it out. Before the situation got into an outright brawl, Shining boomed out another order:

“I said stay calm! Do not waste time arguing who does what, keep a cool head, and everything will be fine!”

Setter rattled it off as fast as he could, but the crowd was no longer listening.

“Goddesses dammit…” the captain muttered. He waved his hoof, and the Celestite squad formed a line up front, the Onyx crystallites gathering behind them, getting into a combat stance. The crowd was roiling by then, but they barely paid the squads any heed. They whimpered, shouted at, tugged on, and shoved each other non-stop, many of them twisting their heads left and right, as though some predator were lurking about nearby.

“What the hay is going on?” Shining asked his interpreter. “Did you slip up or something?”

“I have no idea,” Setter replied. “They keep rambling about… something. They’re saying ‘here they come’.”

The unicorn blinked. “Wait… you don’t think—”

“Yeah. Probably.”

Shining was about to open his mouth and speak to them again when a sharp crack rang out in the distance. A collective gasp ran through the crowd, and a couple of them gave panicked screams. Moments later, the pony squads tensed up as the goats burst into motion, only to watch as they scurried back into the large building and scattered among their little hovels.

The captain gave a long sigh and tapped his communicator through his helmet. “Quartz Two, what is your location?”

“Patch behind the big goat building, sir,” came the reply. “Have you managed to sort it out? Because there’s—”

“That’s affirmative, lieutenant,” he closed his eyes for a moment. “Hang tight, we’re coming to you.”

“...understood, sir. Quartz Two, out.”

The channel went silent, leaving Shining Armor to his thoughts. His gaze wandered around the scenery, taking note of the slightly mangled fence to their rear.

If these goats decide to rush us… it’s either a quick brawl, or we get pushed all the way back into the sea...

“What’s the plan, sir?” Bonnie said, a slight pressure in her voice.

Shining nodded his head at the building. “Make sure they stay here. And keep your eyes north,” Shining announced. He then turned to Setter. “If they try to come out, make them stay inside for the time being.”

The medic frowned a little. “Look, Captain, I don’t think this is the best—”

“Objection noted, Lieutenant,” the stallion cut his subordinate off. He addressed the other squad next. “Set up a perimeter! Nopony in or out unless I give the word!”

As the troops moved out accordingly, Shining set off toward Quartz Two’s position, only to pause after just a couple of steps.

“Setterline?”

“Sir?”

“That goat… he said something. That last thing before they took him away.”

“Yeah.”

“What was it?”

Setter gulped. “He said, if I’m literal, that ‘they’ll bury you all’.”

There was a short pause, and Shining gave a nervous chuckle. “Think he was still talking about us?”

Nopony joined the laughter this time.

The path around the large building was not nearly as desolate as the aisles between the warehouses that led them here. Various piles of junk, unused machinery, and even some office furniture littered the passage, showing where the locals dumped the contents of the building to make room for their living quarters.

Shining eventually turned a corner and found himself at the edge of a large courtyard. A stallion of a shorter build in light armor stood at the center of it, head slightly bowed, while the rest of the squad milled about, inspecting the smaller buildings and the thin concrete fence surrounding them. Puzzled by the relative calmness of the situation, the captain slowly marched up to the loner.

“What do you have for me?” Shining asked the engineer. There was no saluting this time, not with potential threats nearby.

“Take a look, sir,” the soldier said in a grim tone. Shining blinked and followed his gaze, only to find a row of rectangular patches in the dirt, the ground freshly disturbed in each one.

“What? Were they trying to hide something here?” He frowned. “Why would they go for such an obvious pattern? Why not—” His eyes widened under the goggles. “No…”

The lieutenant gave a curt nod. “Sixteen so far. No markings. They didn’t want anyone else to know these are here.”

A chill ran down the captain’s spine when he noticed a sharp size difference between some of the disturbances in the soil. Several pairs had one or two smaller ones in between.

“The digging looks hasty and a bit clumsy,” the engineer went on. “Someone wanted to be done quick… but they weren’t exactly professionals.”

“Or maybe they weren’t in the best mood,” Shining said through gritted teeth. “Maybe they were hiding something personal.”

“Yes, sir.”

They stood silently for a while. A small rumbling came from one of the shacks when a squad member opened the door, only to watch the entire doorway collapse.

“You know much about digging?” Shining asked. His eyes never left the ground before him.

“My father was an earth pony,” the other unicorn said. “He owned a farm.”

“I see.”

A minute passed in silence, until the lookout positioned further ahead suddenly galloped back to their position. “Sir…” he blurted out between gasps for breath. “We have a situation.”

Shining gave a low grunt. “They’re coming, aren’t they?”

“Yes, sir.”

Shining cursed silently and looked around. He had a total of five engineers at his disposal, with his ships still forced to stand by, and all the other squads making sure their positions could not be flanked. The troops around him were still soldiers, though he loathed to have to use them in the front line when they were meant to be support units. They did not even carry weapons beyond their emergency sidearms, although the various tools they used, while not meant for combat, could make for an imposing spectacle. In particular, their shoulder-mounted projectors – heavy metal casings built around the crystals that amplified their magic – could easily be improvised as ranged weaponry, and if things got really ugly, their hoofheld tools could be used for melee.

It never goes smoothly, does it? he thought.

Sighing, the captain motioned for the lieutenant, and the two of them followed the soldier back to his vantage point at the edge of the port. They lay on their bellies on top of a pile of debris that was once a small garage, and the lookout retrieved his binoculars, bringing them to his eyes.

“Movement up north,” he said and pointed with his hoof. “Counting at least a dozen.”

“Goats?” Shining asked. He took out his own binoculars and followed the other pony’s gaze. The wind blew up clouds of snow, distorting the view. Just a few hundred meters away, he made out a handful of blurry quadrupedal silhouettes, the shape of some sort of vehicle behind them.

The soldier nodded. “Goats. Loaded, dressed to kill, and heading right for us.”

Shining Armor frowned and did not speak for a few moments. He would have laughed at that second detail, which referred to the goats’ flashy outfits, some of which had all sorts of blatant and mismatched colors. The joke, however, lost its appeal due to how every single one of the approaching figures was armed to the teeth.

Goats like to get confrontational, huh? he thought. What an understatement...

“All right. Keep watching them,” he said and turned to the lieutenant. “Set up defensive positions. Don’t engage unless provoked.”

“Yes, sir,” they replied in unison.

The lookout stayed behind, while the two officers climbed down from the pile and trotted back to the courtyard.

“Radio silence, as of this moment,” Shining said. “I’m going to get some reinforcements.”

“Understood,” the squad leader replied. The captain was the first to salute this time, and he galloped off as soon as his subordinate returned it. Along the way, he heard the beeping in his earpiece as the code for radio silence was transmitted.

While it may have been excessive, this was all part of the mandatory safety precautions. The timing of the group’s arrival was just too convenient. And in a potentially hostile area, the commanding officer could not risk revealing themselves, which would make them a prime target. On top of that, a scouting squad was still out there, their condition unknown. If the enemy got hold of their equipment, they could listen in on the ponies’ radio traffic.

Thus, the captain opted to drop radio altogether, at least until they could make sure the airwaves were secure. As for himself, his outfit was not much different from the rest of his troops, and if the facade was convincing enough, then he was currently just a mere “runner”, carrying messages between the officers of two squads. Still a valuable target, but not nearly as much as a CO.

In no time at all, he made it back around the massive building to where Onyx was stationed. Bonnie’s head sprang up at the sound of his galloping. She turned around and waited for him to get close before speaking quietly. “Radio silence? What’s going on, Captain?” There was no saluting at this point.

“The loud guy’s friends are coming,” Shining said. “Armed and dressed kinda funny, so my bet is that they’re the local mob.” He nodded his head at some of the civilians loitering near the entrance. “Looks like these poor souls owe the big wigs money, or something like that. It’s typical in Capric culture.”

Bonnie nodded. “So what do we do, sir?”

“Bring your squad immediately. Forget the civilians. We’ll worry about them later. Besides, it’s not like we’re supposed to run a prison here.”

“Understood.”

Just as the squad moved away from the entrance and formed up again, a loud bang in the distance rattled their surroundings, followed by a series of sharp cracks and what sounded like electric buzzing. The noise came from the direction of Quartz Two, which made Shining’s blood run cold. Forgetting about subtlety, he barked an order at Onyx and galloped toward the source of the commotion.

He was halfway past the structure when he noticed a bit of smoke rise above the piles of junk that blocked his view. Cursing under his breath, heart pounding in his throat, he weaved as fast as he could among the obstacles, the squad of crystallites hot on his heels.

Another sharp crack rang out just as he turned around the corner. Oh, thank heavens... he thought. His pulse managed to calm somewhat as he paused at the edge of the courtyard and took in the scene. Eight goats in extravagant multi-colored clothes lay on the ground, curled up and twitching, the fabric smoldering a bit on some of them. Non-lethal shock spells. Glad the engies can still keep a cool head...

Chuckling from the immense relief, he glanced behind his back for a moment, watching Onyx as they caught up to him, along with a few curious locals. He breathed deeply, the blood still rushing in his head, and was about to plan the next step when he heard Setter’s voice.

“Dammit! Get me a kit, on the double!”

“In the back…” somepony said in a shaky voice. “Screw us, just go to the back and you’ll see… oh, screw all this...”

Shining finally cleared his head enough to realize that the voice belonged to one of the engineers. His gaze returned to the courtyard, where he found the pony lying in the snow, babbling constantly while the medic ran up to him. He had a large dent in his armor, bits of the thick lining underneath torn right off, and the snow beneath him was painted bright red.

Shining glanced at the goat thugs’ weapons, their bulky wooden stocks charred by the shock spells. The designs ranged widely; some of the barrels were shorter and larger, sometimes doubled, while others were long and thin with more elaborate sights and larger boxes for ammunition. He noticed the mechanisms bleeding smoke faintly, while the building behind him had several fresh holes torn in it.

Panicked voices came from the other end of the courtyard, and when Shining turned to look, he saw the remaining thugs limp away as fast as they could into the open field ahead, their weapons either broken or tossed away. Gritting his teeth, the captain ran after them, barking an order as he went.

“Onyx, advance and engage! Don’t let any of them get away!”

The escaping goats yelped as the shimmering troops caught up to them. The ones bringing up the rear tried to buck at the ponies or turn around and headbutt them, but for all their flash and bulky looks, they were blundering children compared to soldiers. The first guard to reach them swung the flat of his halberd's blade at the nearest goat, the blow knocking him off his hooves to land in a heap, motionless. Those next to him panicked, giving the guard time to dispatch a second thug. A third tried to rush him, only to get an armored hoof slammed into his chin from below.

Those thugs that managed to get further away fumbled with their guns and fired wildly into the fray, the recoil making the bulky weapons jerk around in their grip. Several of them lost their balance and got knocked on their flanks, giving their pursuers time to catch up. A guard further back stopped and aimed his horn, firing several bursts of lightning at the shooters. They bleated and thrashed, dropping their weapons and falling over to start convulsing on the ground.

Shining kept his head low, his heart skipping a beat as he heard a sharp hiss mere inches from his head, and he managed to grab the legs of the nearest goat with his telekinesis. The bill thrashed non-stop as the magical pull dragged him back and lifted him into the air. In his fury, he tried to spit at the captain, which earned him a swift punch to the face, breaking several of his gold-plated teeth.

“Round them up!” Shining yelled. He dropped the goat, letting him groan and cradle his face. “We want them alive!” A series of loud bangs came from his right, and he hissed as something glanced off the plating on his side, denting it and setting off a sharp pain. He wheeled around just in time to see a goat charging at him, raising his rifle above his head like a club once he got close enough. Shining barely had time to react, using one foreleg to block while he rammed into the thug to prevent a second strike. The crazed goat thrashed and kicked as hard as he could, one particularly strong headbutt almost knocking the captain off balance. He growled in frustration and shoved his opponent away, and just as the bill tried to bring his weapon to bear, he bleated in surprise as the battered body of his fellow gangster hurtled right at him.

Moments after the pair landed in a heap, an engine rumbled in the distance. Shining cursed again when he turned and saw the truck that brought the thugs speeding away, while the last of the goats screamed after it, moments before a blast of magic knocked them to the ground. His mouth hung open, the order to pursue on the tip of his tongue, but eventually he just let it go. There was enough to deal with already, and he could not spare any troops just yet.

Sighing, he grabbed the thugs with his magical grip and dragged them back to the courtyard, the rest of the squad in tow. Upon seeing the defeated criminals at the ponies' mercy, the civilians who had gathered nearby erupted into cheers. They ran up and hugged some of the troops, danced around them, yelled and laughed at the prisoners, and eventually had to be forced back to maintain order, though that did not dampen their spirits in the slightest.

Shining Armor smiled and waved back at them briefly. He dropped his prisoners off and told Bonnie to hold them for questioning, after which he went back to Setter and the wounded engineer.

“Is it bad?” he asked the medic. Behind them, half the crystallites set up a perimeter, while the other half rounded up the mobsters and marched them further into the port, the civilians tagging along cheerfully.

“Bad? Bad?!” the engineer yelled. “We just fought on a damn graveyard!” He collapsed into a coughing fit, Setterline trying to hold him steady. “I got shot while— ugh! Beating a goat senseless while standing on buried kids! Kids and their parents and—” The unicorn groaned in pain and lay back, breathing heavily.

“I don’t think he’s going to be field-worthy for a day or so, Captain,” Setter remarked. His hooves firmly pressed against the injury to stall the bleeding. “I gave him sedatives, but I can’t really patch up the wound right here. We need to take him somewhere warm and stable.”

Shining nodded. “And them?” He gestured at the thugs limping away.

“They’ll live…” The medic took out a fresh strip of gauze. “I’d say they’re more trouble than they’re worth, but they’ll be fine.” He shook his head dismissively.

Shining said no more. He got up, watched the last of the mafia members get taken away, and walked up to the graves to take one last look. Moments later, his ears twitched when the soldiers around him gasped, and something rammed into his side. Barely flinching, he turned to look and found an old goat in a ragged outfit by his side, shoving and kicking at him as hard as he could while yelling profusely. A pair of crystallites quickly marched up and grabbed him, trying to drag him away while he kept thrashing and screaming.

“Wait!” Shining said. The soldiers froze, the goat doing the same in surprise. “Let him go.”

Without hesitating, they dropped the old lunatic, who immediately went for the captain again. This time he just tried shoving him aside, and Shining obliged by side-stepping. As soon as he did, the goat fell on his knees in front of one of the patches in the ground, shaking and babbling something the pony could not understand. The tears streaming down the goat’s face, however, told him more than enough.

Several foreign voices joined the first one, and a glance at the building made Shining realize that he had drawn a small crowd. The rest of the goats that had sneaked out before now stared at him, and more were peeking from the windows. They were not the same ones as the cheerful group, and the expressions they wore did not bode well.

“Setter!” He waved at the lieutenant, who was busy telling a pair of Onyx soldiers to carry the wounded engineer back to the docks. “Translate for me, will ya?”

“Yeah, gimme a minute…” Setter replied and ran up to him. “Gotta calm some nerves again, right?”

Shining cleared his throat and turned to the crowd. “Listen to me: everything will be okay now. Those maniacs can never hurt you again. We’ve secured the area and will start working on repairs soon. Do not worry. We have everything under control.”

Just as his friend tried to gauge the success of his speech, a deep blare rang out in the distance, sending a chill down Shining Armor’s spine. Ignoring the crowd and a very confused Onyx squad, he sprinted back to where he had a clear view of the docks, where he noticed the signal lights on the Humpback flashing non-stop.

“Goddesses dammit…” he muttered and took out his binoculars. “What now?”

“What the…” Bonnie came to a halt beside him and cocked her head, having noticed the lights as well. “Is that guy crazy?”

“Humpback, this is Shining Armor!” the captain yelled into his headset. Radio silence was useless at this point. “What the hay is going on over there? Why are you—”

“It’s the Atoll, sir!” Captain Driftwood replied.

“What?”

“The Atoll! They’re moving off-position!”

Shining’s eyes widened, and he visibly jerked, his heart skipping a beat. “Where? How? Who gave the order?!”

“We don’t know!” The signal was bad, but the desperation was still clear in the sailor’s voice. “They’re not responding!”

“Send a team out to them! I want to know what the hell is going on!” Shining yelled. Static consumed the transmission. “Humpback? Humpback, can you hear me?”

He waited for a while, but all he received was static. “Dammit!” He stomped his leg on the thick snow and lifted his binoculars again. Just on the horizon, he found one of his ships’ silhouettes as it moved further and further to his right. Less than a minute later, it disappeared behind the headland that the ships had to maneuver around on the way here.

The channel became filled with the voices of his subordinates, all of them confused and waiting for instructions. Bonnie nudged him in the side. Behind him, the goats started yelling again.

“What the hay is going on here?” Shining muttered.

Above all, ponykind values peace, prosperity, friendship, and harmony.

Aground

View Online

Capric society is deeply religious. The majority of the population worships Zemlya, the goddess of the earth, in return for being blessed with fertile ground in the harsh North.

“Basalt One, report back to the docks immediately!”

“Yes sir, on our way!”

Shining Armor galloped down the snowy slope that led to the recently repaired piers, his eyes fixed on the ship anchored next to it. The slightest motion it made sent a jolt through him, his mind constantly painting the image of the ship casting off and leaving them behind.

“All squads, disembark from the Humpback!” he shouted into his headset. “Combat readiness, on the double!”

A confused voice replied. “Sir, what about the cargo? We—”

“I don’t care, Lieutenant. I need more troops on the ground right now!”

“Yes sir!”

There was a burst of static in his earpiece, and another voice joined in. “...nally...think I got it now. Captain Shining Armor, this is—”

Shining's eyes went wide. “Humpback?” he said. “What the hay is going on? Why weren’t you responding?”

There was a yelp and some rattling on the other end, which sounded like a pony being shoved away from the console. Moments later, he heard the civilian captain’s frantic voice.

“Sir, please, I can explain everything!”

“What are you—”

“I have no idea how it happened, I swear. But we haven’t moved! We’re not going anywhere! Please don’t—”

Shining huffed. “Calm down, captain. Just… just tell me what happened. I gave strict orders that nopony should—”

“I don’t know! We relayed what you said word for word, then all of a sudden we lost comms!”

“And the Atoll?”

“They left on their own. We never signaled them or anything, and they never talked to us.”

“Not even light signals?”

“No, sir… They just weighed anchor and circled around that headland.”

“All right. Hold position for now…” Shining paused for a moment. “And tell the Scylla to make their approach.”

“Sir?”

“That ship needs to be in this dock in the next hour,” the stallion said evenly. “You have your orders.”

“Um… The sea is still pretty rough out here. I’m not sure they can—”

“I’m not risking two mutinies here, captain,” he growled. “I want my troops on the shore, is that clear?”

A bit of whimpering came through, and the shaky voice returned. “Understood…”

”Relay my orders. Out.”

Shining removed his hoof from his headset and gave a deep sigh. To his left, the ponies of Basalt One could be seen approaching in the distance, carefully climbing down the icy slope, avoiding flight due to the intense winds. They all had their weapons out, and they kept giving the Humpback suspicious glances, no doubt having heard the conversation over the radio.

Shining’s ear twitched when he heard murmuring and hoofsteps from behind, followed by a nudge against his flank. He turned around and found himself face-to-face with a half-dozen goats. They all smiled at him eagerly, their backs laden with huge loads of luggage and assorted junk.

“The hay?” he muttered.

One of them babbled something in the local tongue and held his hoof out, while the others nodded approvingly.

Bonnie chuckled. “I think they like you.”

“Or maybe they know I’m in charge.” Shining turned to the civvies, one of whom kept babbling while she pointed to their bags, then at the Humpback moments later.

The unicorn held up a hoof to silence her. “Look…” he said. “We can’t take you out of here just yet.” He took a step toward them and waved at the building they came from. “Go back now. Go on. Shoo!”

The goats did not move, merely stared at him in confusion. Shining groaned and tapped his headset again. “Setterline, report to the docks. I need you to translate for me.”

“On my way, Captain.”

While the doe kept babbling at him, the recon team he had summoned finally arrived. The officer leading the group, Lieutenant Osprey, snapped off a quick salute. “Basalt One, reporting for orders.”

Shining turned toward the ocean and pointed to the tall headland to the right, bulging out from the coast and blocking their view of the shore beyond. A group of smaller buildings dotted its surface, no doubt the remains of an unfinished housing project. He even noticed what looked like a tourist center of some sort near the foot of the hill, just a short walk from where any civilian ships would have docked.

“Lieutenant, get your troops up to that peak and give me eyes toward west. Report back what you find. Last I heard, that’s where the Atoll went. We need to find them.”

“Roger that, sir.” The officer gestured to his troops, and they broke into a gallop toward their destination. The lead medic arrived a few moments later.

“All right, I’m here,” Setter grunted. “What’s the message?”

Shining repeated his words, and the pegasus translated it to the small herd. At first, the goats just stared in confusion. Then a few of them started bleating in mixed tones, some of them angry, others just desperate.

“Huh… weird…” Setter remarked.

Shining glanced at him. “What?”

“That old guy…” The medic nodded his head at one of the rambling goats. “He keeps saying ‘I told you so’ to them.”

The goat in question paced back and forth among his kind, waving his hooves at them while speaking in an odd tone, as though he were under a trance.

“Any idea what he’s talking about?” Shining said.

The medic scratched his head. “He keeps quoting some kind of scripture. It’s pretty vague.”

Shining scoffed. “Religious types. Great... Anything specific?”

“Mostly gibberish. ‘Horses of Doom’ and all that. Ask me, it’s just a way of saying they hate us because we’re ponies too, like some of their previous ‘guests’.”

“Yeah…” The captain looked away. “They must have had some brushes before we got here.”

The ground vibrated slightly as a column of soldiers from the Humpback marched past, stepping in rhythm. Upon seeing them, the crowd collectively gasped and scurried away. Shining noticed a group of kids huddle around their mother, hiding among her legs while she gave the ponies concerned looks.

He nudged his subordinate. “Bonnie, tell them to take their helmets off.” His hoof pointed at the column. “Loose formation.”

The mare blinked. “Sir?”

“Do it.”

Bonnie quickly trotted up to the leader of the detachment and relayed the orders. The soldiers were equally confused, but did not object. Soon enough, the column broke up as everyone looked for spots to set down their gear.

“What about protection?” Bonnie said once she returned.

“This isn’t a combat zone.” Shining nodded his head at the nearby civvies. “Enough with the ‘military parade’. We’re scaring these people to death.”

Before Bonnie could say anything else, he walked up to one of the nearby troops, who had just settled down and unearthed a candy bar from her saddlebag. Shining dug into his own bag and retrieved a thermos of coffee, which he then traded with the soldier for the chocolate treat. He had planned to save the coffee for later, but recent events left him in no mood for it.

After the exchange, he walked up to the doe and kneeled in front of her to see her children, who shrank among her hooves even more. He said nothing and held the candy out for them. The kids whimpered and hugged the mother’s leg, and she cooed at them to try and calm them down.

“Shhhh! It’s okay.” Shining gave a friendly smile. “I won’t bite. Come on, just take it.”

One of the kids poked his head out hesitantly and grabbed the wrapper with his teeth. Shining smiled even wider and let go. The child quickly pulled back and took the candy into his hooves, the others huddling around him. Moments later, they erupted into giggling and fidgeting as they fell upon the chocolate, munching away on every little piece they could grab.

The doe looked up, tears streaming down her face. She smiled and said something, her voice barely a whimper.

“You’re welcome,” Shining replied.

He winced when a loud voice broke through the airwaves. “...dammit! I said knock it off! Captain, this is Ruby! We’re… having some trouble with the locals, sir.”

“Dammit. Just what we needed…” he muttered to himself. “Affirmative, Ruby. Is it the goats?”

“No, sir. It’s the ponies.” Muffled yelling could be heard in the background. “One of my medics tried to hand out some pills, and this crazy stallion and his kid attacked her.”

“You’ve got to be—” Shining blurted out into the comm before shutting his eyes tight and continuing. “Any injuries? Can you handle it?”

“Nothing major, sir," the officer replied. "The med— Well, the kid just tried to bite through her parka, so no, I don’t think we can."

“I’ll be right over, keep them from trying anything stupid,” Shining answered in a restrained voice. He gestured at Bonnie to form up some troops and keep the goat quadrant under control.

As he made his way toward Ruby's position, he could not help but think whether his presence would help at all. A kid willing to bite military officers that came to rescue them probably would not be swayed by a candy bar. Then again, neither would the mutinous ship, or the cataclysmic weather, or the presence of organized crime. Despite all that, said candy had proven to be the most effective asset he had employed on the mission so far.

Along the way, he noticed a small group of ponies and guards shouting at each other, almost nose-to-nose. He guessed it was the aftermath of the incident he had heard over the radio. A mare and her colt were shouting at one of the guards, whose limbs shook as he tried to restrain himself. Moments later, the shouting intensified when another pony stumbled into the fray, looking heavily inebriated. He brayed obscenities at the guards and tried to shove them. They shoved him back, the mare and the kid shouted at him to leave them alone, he attacked them instead, the guards restrained him, and the other two turned against the soldiers again, revealing the stallion to be the father.

Shaking his head, the captain moved on from the fray. Just as he got near the more densely built up sector of the docks, he came upon another loud argument. Despite the wind and the layers of cloth over his ears, the odd tension was clearly audible in every word the locals spoke. It was the sound of fear, anger, and even a hint of deception all mingling together.

A couple of Celestite guards crossed the alley between the buildings on either side. They paused to salute Shining, and though their firm stance tried to hide it, the captain could see tension growing among his own troops as well.

“At ease, as you were,” he told them and returned the salute. His head nodded toward the source of the heated argument. “What’s going on over there.”

The guards looked at each other. “You’ll… want to see for yourself, sir,” one of them replied.

“And the lieutenant?”

“She’s the one being shouted at.”

Frowning, the captain sent the guards off with a nod and kept going, eventually coming up to a smaller warehouse with most of the openings boarded up, faint light seeping from the entrance. The moment he stepped in, a wave of thick and warm air hit him, tainted by a putrid scent. The dimly-lit chamber had roughly a dozen sickly ponies strewn about, most of them huddled together in the corners. A thick layer of dirt coated the floor, and numerous piles of junk and debris made it hard to move around.

In one of the corners, just under a dirty oil lamp, he found the source of the argument. A high-pitched, raspy voice fought using lengthy tirades against a pony who was soft and to the point.

“...yeah, right, ‘cause we definitely want to plug ourselves into your plow all over again,” the former barked. “Where do we run to get away from you, huh? Where? Should we just take a ride into Tartarus itself? Or will you follow us there too?”

“If you could just calm down for a second…” the Ruby leader said. She knelt beside a cot made from rags and rotting wood, a thin and rather ill-looking stallion lying on it.

“Calm down? Calm down?! We’ve got you government goons walking all over the place here, and this was our last escape from you! We calm down, and you drag us all to square one, and that’s that.” The stallion paused and squirmed a little on his cot. “Don’t even try it, lady. I can see the syringe.”

“You have frostbite,” the medic replied nonchalantly. Her tone and expression seemed far more calm than anything Shining could have forced upon himself at this point.

“Tell me something I don’t freaking know!”

Shining Armor watched the stallion curiously. His own little corner was a lot better furnished and stocked compared to the others, and everypony around was suspiciously quiet throughout his monologues, few of them daring to even look at him.

Must be an important figure… in one way or another… He prayed silently that he would not end up with another Botva-like thug and walked up to the duo. After dismissing the medic, he knelt next to the bed to take her place. “You alright?” he said to the stallion. “Can you talk?”

“Can you eat sh—” The pony got interrupted by a coughing fit. He took a deep breath and tried again, but Shining held up a hoof to put an end to his obscenities.

“Nice to meet you too.” The captain did his best to look amicable, specifically timing his motions so that they would not look threatening. “Look, whatever you may be thinking, I assure you that we’re here to help. Now, can you tell us anything interesting? What happened here?”

Here’s hoping all those ridiculous lessons in the academy can pay off… he thought. Judging by the patient’s expression, the techniques meant for pacifying foreign civilians just bounced off ponies in a bad mood.

“Shit on a popsicle happened,” was the brief answer.

Shining twitched and gritted his teeth. “Anything else?”

“Go blow yourself.”

“You do know that this isn’t getting you anywhere, right?” Shining kept his voice even, but his eyes bored right into the pale-coated pony. “If you aren’t going to cooperate with us, I’ll just have to go find someone else. I’m sure there’s lots of other cold and sick ponies here who would love to be the first to get a hot meal and a roof over their heads.”

They stared at each other for a while, a tense silence between them. At the other end of the room, the medic sat down to treat a pair of young colts. The mention of food made their ears perk up, and they quickly peeked around the mare at the arguing duo. The stallion on the bed glanced back at them and bit his lip when he noticed the desperation on their faces. He hung his head and succumbed to another coughing fit before speaking again.

“It was going fine,” he said. “We came here, took our shit off the ship, got to the city all in one piece. Our main guy, High Strung, he was in charge of the diplomacy and stuff, so all we knew was that we can all kinda live there. He was reliable, knew what he was doing, better than anyone else anyway. Ran for elections while we were here, actually. His mug’s still on the billboards here and there.”

“And what happened then?”

“I was getting there. Shit seemed okay at the time, maybe even too okay. Didn’t complain though. City was kinda rough, but shit, that’s why we came here. And then…”

Shining waited patiently, glancing to his side at the medic from time to time. Since he broke the ice, maybe she could help extract some more by resuming the local's treatment. The stallion on the bed just rolled his eyes and breathed heavily, at a loss.

“Then… well… shit went down. That’s about that.”

Shining frowned. “No it isn’t. Keep talking.”

“I… well... I can’t tell stuff I don’t know, you know? I’m not a storyteller.” The pony glared and forced his stiff hoof to point at his flank. “According to my butt-mark, I’m a freaking plumber. And you assholes don’t expect us to go beyond what the butt-mark tells us, do you?”

“Things don’t just happen.” The captain gestured at the walls around them. “For all your talk about how much we suck, you certainly didn’t mind settling in right next to the port, right after that broadcast went out. You knew we'd come, and you came here to get rescued. What drove you out of the city?”

“I guess you’re gonna be disappointed, because things do happen just like that. One day we woke up, and there were explosions all throughout the streets, a huge-ass blizzard hit, High Strung went missing, and those ruminant bastards chased us out of our homes, guns fucking blazing. Shit doesn’t always make sense, does it?”

“We’ll see about that,” Shining said under his breath and cleared his throat. “What happened then? How long have you been here for?”

The pale pony grinned with the half of his face that was still able to move. He stared back at Shining, taking quick breaths between coughing fits.

“Want us to admit that we ran to mommy?” he spat. “Well screw you. We’ve been in the wild for over a month. Went from place to place. Ended up here. No going any further.” He looked at the bit of snowy landscape visible through the doorway. “It was fine, too, before those bleaters showed up.”

So the ponies are the original settlers here, Shining thought. It explained why their half of the port was more run down than that of the goats, and why the two were so cut off from each other. The ponies here wanted to prove a point: 'no non-ponies allowed'. The goats just wanted to settle in.

“And how did you end up here?” he asked. “Did they chase you that far away from the city?” Whatever forced them out of Gueldergrad, he doubted it was just a simple hiccup on the ponies’ part.

The stallion shrugged. “Nah, I think they had shit of their own to deal with. A civil war of some kind, I guess. I don’t know. There was definitely a lot of these dicks shooting each other and yelling stuff through the snow. We just… well… kinda skipped places.”

“Skipped places,” Shining repeated in a bemused tone.

“Ugh… okay… we tried these villages on the way here, but the goats wouldn’t let us stay. They just don’t like us. Ruminant racist pricks.”

Great. Love and tolerance in every corner... Shining slowly got back to his hooves. “Okay, that will do for now.” He looked over the pony, who was coughing violently again. With a nod, he signaled the medic the return and give the patient some much needed treatment.

The captain stomped his hind legs on the ground to alleviate the palpable cold in his flank. He quietly left the crumbling structure, making a mental note along the way to never sit down on bare ground again out here.

Outside, he was greeted by the same shoddy conditions, but on a larger scale. Engineers stared in disbelief at the buildings, face-hoofing at times. Some refugees chatted with the troops, the conversations not much different from what Shining himself just went through.

Those goats… he thought. They met us with a “no ponies” sign, even though we don’t speak the same language. But compared to this… that was a warm welcome..

Stepping out onto a small hill that let him view most of the port, he stared at the lonely Humpback anchored to the pier, while the Scylla floated in the distance. Behind him, he could almost feel the desperate ponies and goats breathing down his neck.

With a huff, he tapped his headset and called for his squad leaders to gather at his position.

“—Sergeant, the black and red one just called my grandmother’s mother a whore. What do I even say to that?”

“Don’t say anything, just hold her down and let the medics do their thing.”

“Affirmative.”

Shining Armor sighed and begrudgingly turned the volume down on his radio, which filtered out the regular chatter. This was definitely not the best ambience for looking over the plan of the docks. Based on what his engineers could put together on short notice, they would have to repurpose two large warehouses to accommodate the two groups of refugees. Not a major challenge on its own, but they were also supposed to fix the port for their ships, and they currently lacked a third of their strength.

“Quartz One and Two, begin repairs of the dock. Quartz Three and Four, disembark and get to work on the housing job. We’ve got lives depending on us.”

The officers confirmed his orders in quick succession and fanned out. Shining addressed his regular troops next, moving them to the perimeter of the port to keep any further unwanted visitors far away from the construction workers. Looking over the docks, he noticed Bonnie politely asking a few curious goats to move back, while a column of heavily-laden engineers climbed off the Humpback, followed by another group of crystallites and regular soldiers.

A strange hiss broke through the faint droning of the radio in his ears.

“...ing Armor, this is the Atoll, come in.”

His heart skipped a beat, and his hoof frantically turned the volume up as far as the knob went. “Atoll? Is that you? What the hay is going on?”

“...on course, as or… sir. Heading west. Got visuals on the city. We see a good position just arou… Coast is clear. Any further…”

“Say again, Atoll, you’re breaking up.”

“...epeat your last, Cap…”

Static engulfed the rest of the transmission.

“Dammit!” Shining waved furiously at some technicians nearby. They quickly got up from the power station they have been inspecting and ran up to him. “Look,” he said, “we need to fix the comms once and for all. Set up a proper radio relay. I want clear transmissions to the Atoll two hours ago.”

“Yes sir!” The ponies gathered their tools and galloped off, searching for a suitable place to set up.

A few minutes later, Bonnie returned from the docks, having directed most of the fresh troops to their new positions. “I heard it too,” she said. “Looks like we’ve found our ship?”

“More or less,” Shining grumbled. “If they can see the city, they must be a ways off.” His hoof pointed to a darker patch on the map. “All the way around these mountains. If we want to go after them, we’d have to circle around. And that means…” His hoof wandered over a large red square, the word “GUELDERGRAD” underneath it.

“Why not just send a ship?” Bonnie asked.

“Not until we’ve got everything we need on solid ground. I’m not taking any chances. Besides…” He paused to yawn and rub his eyes. “I already tried sending the Scylla to make radio contact at least. They said there’s some kind of reef blocking them.”

The mare blinked. “A reef? But… we never ran into anything like that on the way here. And how did the Atoll—”

“It doesn’t matter for now,” Shining said. “Too much time would be wasted if we went on a pointless chase. From what I’ve heard, they’re planning to land. We’ll just link up with them after we’ve reached the city.”

“Understood,” Bonnie said.

“Good.” Shining turned to her and gave a weak smile. “Get your shiners ready. We’re about to go for a little walk.”

The mare chuckled and gave a quick salute before walking off. Shining yawned again, folded up his map, and looked toward the west where the Atoll vanished behind the headland. Among the various empty structures, he noticed the legs of a half-finished billboard, one of them knocked over by the powerful winds. On the ground next to them was the sign, the familiar outline of an equine head upon it.

Shining could not tell why, but the very sight of it made him cringe. Whoever that pony was supposed to be, Shining wanted to say nasty things to him, maybe followed by a few hard punches to the face.

His hooves twitched, and he shook his head to banish the thoughts. No matter what happened out here, violence isn’t the answer, he thought. Not anymore.

The standard-issue guard plate armor can withstand most conventional melee attacks. With enchantments, it can even resist high-velocity projectiles.

Assembly

View Online

Novy Rubezh had not seen war in over a century.

Shining trotted back toward the complex near the docks, where the meeting with all squad leaders was meant to take place in a few minutes. Along the way, he paused when he came upon a familiar scene, although the characters were in different shape than previously. A squad of guards stood in a rough semi-circle beside the path that lead back to the docks. The rambling drunkard was now cowering on the ground, curled up as the officer of the squad stood over him with a stern expression.

“You’ve been warned several times,” he said. “None of them raised a hoof against you first. They offered help. In response, you assaulted a member of the Royal Guard.”

The stallion could just whimper and moan in response. His limbs shook as they clutched his head, and Shining noticed a few bloody stains on the snow beside the figure.

“Since you claimed not to be citizens of Equestria any longer, this means you’ve assaulted soldiers of a foreign nation,” the officer went on. The agony of the pony before him did not seem to faze him at all. “Certain officials would interpret that as an act of war against us. I’m sure that’s not what you want, is it?”

Some of the bystanders turned away, taken aback by the words. The officer stepped back and watched the stallion squirm on the ground for a while. Without moving his gaze, he gave a deep sigh and raised his head slightly.

“Corporal Sunshine,” he barked. Shining froze in mid-stride as he approached them.

“Sir?” A bulky stallion emerged from the rest of the squad, his comrades watching with nervous expressions.

“Why did you break ranks and attack this civilian?”

The soldier gulped. “Sir, he… you saw what he did!” He pointed to a large, foul-smelling stain on his chestplate, pockmarked by wet chunks. “He tried to attack me, so I—”

“You were ordered to stand your ground and hold formation.”

“Sir, I—”

“You’re a taller than average stallion in full plate armor, armed with a spear, and in possession of the best training the Royal Guard has to offer.”

“Sir, I just—”

“Yet you chose to attack an unarmed and delirious civilian.”

The guard’s voice got caught in his throat, and he said no more.

The officer sighed again. “You will take the injured pony to the medics, clean off your armor, and do everything you can to remind everypony here what we stand for. Is that clear?”

“Yes sir,” the soldier growled.

Shining watched the stallion help the drunkard up and drag him away, after which the captain waved at the squad leader and gestured to the docks. The lieutenant nodded, told his squad where to set up camp, and galloped off to the meeting position. After a short pause, Shining trotted after him. Along the way, he overheard one of the squad members grumble to himself as they gathered their equipment.

“That damn son of a cock. Who does he think he is?”

“Quiet,” one of his friends replied. “We got off easy, if you ask me.”

“The bastard treats us like worms, yet we’re expected to look like we’re the ‘glorious Royal Guard’ or whatever?”

“It doesn’t matter. We’re soldiers. He could have ordered us to do a lot worse.”

A third one chuckled and joined in. “What? Extra cleaning duty?”

The second guard shrugged. “No idea. I’d rather not even imagine.”

Everypony calmly left the scene. Just before they did, the guard who spoke last paused next to the bloodstains left on the snow. With a few well-placed kicks from his hind legs, he shoveled some snow onto the stains, burying them under the rest of the endless white.

Shining approached the gathering of officers, which was centered around a flagpole set up by the troops disembarking from the Humpback. “All right, boys and girls, this is the situation...” He opened his map on a small crate next to the flagpole. “We have the port more or less secured. All civilians are accounted for, the prisoners are secured, and the engineer teams are already working on repairs.” He glanced to his right at a pair of officers with yellow helmet insignias. “Status?”

“All teams are committed to the effort, sir,” the mare on the right said. “I estimate the docks will be ready for use within two hours.”

“Excellent. Any trouble so far?”

“Structural integrity is uncertain. We’d have to take our time to rule out any accidents.” She glanced at a wall of dark clouds in the distance, the winds making them morph and glide rapidly. “But with this weather, time is already against us.”

Shining nodded. “Then I suggest we favor speed. Make sure your ponies are extra careful.”

“Yes, sir.”

The captain turned to his left next. “Recon teams?”

Lieutenant Osprey stepped forward and cleared his throat. Despite his height and bulk, his motions barely made any noise, mostly thanks to the light barding he wore instead of plate mail. “All have reported back, except for Basalt Five. No hostile activity in our immediate surroundings.”

“Good. Have them prepare for a second flight. We’ll be close behind.”

“Understood.”

Shining turned his attention back to the map. “As soon as the first ship is ready for offloading cargo, I’ll want a standard column at the ready.” He pointed at the path leading from the port to the main road that led to the city. “Have them assemble along here. Engineers will make sure the path is clear for heavy loads.”

He then traced several arcs from the edges of the port, each one moving parallel to the main road. “We’ll send out squads to scout ahead and secure key positions. Forward units make the path, while the column brings supplies and reinforcement.” He glanced at the engineers again. “We meet again in two hours to discuss the next move. Any questions?”

Bonnie raised a hoof. “What about the Atoll, sir?”

Shining huffed and folded up his map. “We’ll figure it out once we can make contact again. So far, all we know is that they didn’t try to bail on us.”

“Understood.”

Another officer raised his hoof. “Sir… didn’t the Atoll carry some… ‘sensitive cargo’?”

A murmuring spread through the circle around the captain. “I’ve heard rumors…” somepony else muttered. “Those crates had a lot of warning signs on them. All locked tight and—”

“That’s classified information, Lieutenant Rosewood,” Shining said, cutting them off. He fixed the stallion with a stern gaze, but eventually just shrugged. “But to be honest, even I don’t know. Every time I asked Command, they wouldn’t say a word. For all I know, it’s a logistics error.”

“Sir, if that’s the case—”

“We have more important things to do, Lieutenant. Focus on your current orders. Understood?”

All the guards nodded.

“Good. Dismissed.”

Just before the group disbanded completely, Shining pointed to a tall grey stallion near the back of the crowd, who was just about to turn away and leave.

“Lieutenant Brand,” he called out.

The officer froze and turned around, snapping to attention. “Sir!”

Shining calmly walked up to him. “I noticed you and your squad had a little… ‘incident’ earlier today.”

“Yes, sir.”

“I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that it must never happen again.”

“Yes, sir. I’ll make sure my subordinates understand.”

Shining frowned a little. “You are meant to lead by example, not pointless discipline, warhawk.” His subordinate winced at how he emphasized that word. “This isn’t a parade. Clean uniforms and good saluting won’t do us any good out here. We need to help those in need, and that’s not going to happen if your soldiers are on edge all the time.”

There was a short pause. “I understand, sir.”

“Good.” The captain sighed. “I’m going to need your squad as one of the forward units. Who knows what’s waiting for us out in that snow.” He gave a weak smile. “But I’m sure you’ll know how to handle it.”

Brand returned the smile, teeth flashing at the edges of his long, slightly curved snout. “You can count on me, sir.”

The officers parted ways, and Shining made his way along the port’s coastline to inspect the deployment. In the distance, he could see that the engineers were still hard at work, which meant the heavy cargo still could not be loaded off the ships and moved around.

Along the way, he passed a couple of squads who had just disembarked from the Humpback. One of the soldiers picked up his bags to start unpacking, upon which he gave a loud groan, stomped his hooves, and tossed his gear aside.

“Damn it all to hell!” he growled. “I got snow in my fucking bags and everything!”

One of his friends turned to him. “You alright?” he asked.

“No, I’m not.” The first guard kicked at the snow angrily. “Why doesn’t Celestia herself come down to this frozen shithole instead of us?” His accent was pure Appleloosan. If Shining closed his eyes, he could almost see the pony adjusting his Stetson to shield his face from the burning sun.

“Hey! Don’t you dare talk like that!” the guard’s friend shouted.

“Screw you!” the first guard replied. “She should bring her precious sun down and thaw this place. I’m sick of it.”

Another guard nearby chuckled. “I bet that would mean we’d all drown. Hope you kids know how to swim.”

“It doesn’t even work that way, you idiot!” the second one poked his friend in the side. “Weather control only works in Equestria because we’ve been doing it since day one. Land like this? Never seen pony magic ever? Try a weather spell here, and you’ll see the End of Days.”

The first guard kept grumbling to himself, but did not say any more to the others. Shining sighed and upped his pace a little, leaving the bickering troops behind.

“Captain? This is Quartz Four. I think we’re ready, sir.”

“Understood. I’m on my way.”

Shining lowered his hoof from the device on his ear. The crystals embedded into the tiny speaker buzzed and flickered for a moment, giving him a tiny zap each time he turned it off after speaking through it. It was a necessary annoyance, as he could not afford to carry around a whole radio set, and the more compact device had to compensate by using much more energy right next to his skull. He was glad they would finally work around this problem.

He galloped off from the docks, heading for the high ground near the warehouses. A tall antenna had been set up at the tallest point, the steel mast stretching far above all the structures in the port. As he got closer, he noticed pair of technicians working at its base. Careful not to slip on the snow, Shining made his way up the slope and ran straight up to them.

“What do you have for me?” he said.

The shorter one put down her tools and gestured at the antenna. “Got the relay installed, sir,” she replied. “About to hook it up to the generator.” Her hoof then pointed to a large metal device sitting next to the base of the antenna. It gave a low hum, and the glow of the gemstones inside could be seen through the seams, their light wavering once the techs coupled the devices.

“All right. Good job, everypony.” Shining took deep breaths after the run. He looked around and noticed the thick layer of snow piled up among the long unused warehouses, the wind adding more to it every hour.

We’re going to need cleaning crews here, or this antenna’s gonna be broadcasting from six feet under...

He paused at that thought and blinked, turning back to the technicians. “Wait… Why do you need me here again?”

The mare wiped her brow and looked up. “We’ll need you to give everyone else the new frequency through the command channel.”

“Why not just link straight to the command channel?”

“Safety reasons, sir. We’ll need a backup channel in case anyone figures out a way to tune into the relay.”

Shining nodded. “Understood. Do it.”

There was a loud click, followed by a low drone as the generator powered up the circuits. A burst of static came from the speaker, followed by garbled sounds. Shining’s ear twitched when a soft voice broke through the noise, singing to a melody that played in the background.

“...And if I ever sail home
I’ll take a rose with its thorns
Carve your name in its leaves
And taste the love that it gives.”

The soldiers milling about nearby all paused and looked around in confusion. The female voice, accompanied by strings, gently streamed out of the speakers, and those who were not close enough could hear it coming from their own radios as well.

“I’ll toss it into the sea
Where my darling shall be
Tell her with my old song
That the wait isn’t long...”

Everypony was puzzled by the music. Some of them cringed at the sappy melody and lyrics, while others dropped everything to pay attention. It took almost half a minute before Shining himself came back to his senses. He turned to the technician again, who looked up at him oddly. His partner had turned away, hiding his face behind a panel on the generator.

“Must be… one of the stations back home, sir…” the techie mumbled. “The antenna’s pretty sensitive, and the signal can bounce off the upper—”

Shining held up a hoof, cutting him off. “Turn that off, sergeant,” he said. “We need an empty channel.”

The technician nodded and quickly fumbled with the controls. The music disappeared in a wash of static, and he gave the captain the new frequency. He quickly transmitted it over the command channel to all units, after which he switched over as well. The static was soon replaced by the radio traffic of the squads, which now came through with much greater clarity. He listened for a while, just to see how much it improved the communication among his troops.

“...aptain,” a voice broke through weakly, “this is Bas… ...ive transmitting — ...post, “Krasnogor?” We have… ...be quick. Do you read?”

Shining’s blood ran cold. He quickly told the other squads to pipe down and spoke directly to the faint voice. “Basalt Five? Report!”

“We ...ve to be qui— There is a prob… some ...sive interf— nothing we can identify. Doesn’t seem ...rmal. Do you read?”

“I can barely read you, Basalt Five. What’s your exact position?” The captain waved his hoof at the technicians, who quickly tuned in while checking the array, trying to home in on the signal.

“Say aga… What is going on there?! ...ain!”

“Basalt Five? What the hay is going on over there? Do you need help?” He lifted the microphone from his mouth for a moment, and spoke to the techs. “Why can’t I hear them properly?”

“Signal is extremely weak, sir,” the mare replied. “Either their radio is damaged, or there’s some sort of interference.”

Her partner frowned. “From what, exactly? The weather is normal, and we haven’t picked up anything that could disturb the signals in this region.”

“Oh f... I think we… ...st the— Cap... hear us - we’re … ASAP.”

“Basalt Five, respond!” Shining’s heart pounded in his chest. Despite the interfering noise, he could tell that the voice on the other end was very agitated. He waited for a few seconds, praying that the static would be broken by the officer once more. His wish was granted, and he cringed when the noise cut out completely, and the voice came through again, the same sharp “edge” resonating in it as the last time he had spoken to the squad.

“Command. We have a problem. Come—” The monotone voice cut away as well, and the low hum of static returned.

“Dammit!” Shining turned to the technicians again. “Did you find out where they are?”

The mare looked up from the console and shook her head. “Signal was too weak and distorted. Lots of echoes. Can only give you a vague direction.”

“Wonderful…” The captain tapped his headset. “All units, we have a Broken Wing on our hooves. Squads Celestite, Onyx, Ruby, and Javelin, prepare for immediate deployment.”

The officers in charge of the squads signaled back to confirm the order. Shining turned his radio off and galloped down to the docks, eyes trained on the engineers who were hard at work making it operational again. He bit into his lip, grumbling to himself. “Come on, hurry up.”

As he walked among the busy workers, his tension clearly showing in his gait, he picked up an odd noise being carried by the wind. Looking around, he noticed one of the stallions using his magic to weld a few extra girders to the large crane’s supports. His horn glowed bright yellow from the intense heat of the spell, while the pony just hummed a jolly tune to himself. The others nearby gave him odd looks and tried to ignore it, but he would not let up. As he kept working, the humming got louder and louder, and eventually he started to sing out loud.

“Wake now, my dear, we’ll rise with the sun
Sing for the warmth she gives everyone
With her in the sky, the earth we must roam
Find a good place to make our new home...”

A mare nearby chuckled, and after a bit of hesitation, she joined in. More laughter spread among the bystanders, but the singing was contagious all the same. Before long, the entire squad was singing the tune together, just loud enough to hear each other. And by the time they got to the third verse, a younger stallion took a deep breath and raised his voice enough for everypony to hear.

“Lost we were both, until you I found
Like two little doves, trapped on the cold ground
Wings now alive, we make our own nest
Praise the old sun and lay down to rest...”

Under his mask, Shining smiled and could barely hold back his laughter as the engineer teams joined in one by one. The bulkier earth ponies that worked with heavy tools gave the bass, while the mares let their voices ride high, forming a magnificent choir.

Even the pony stationed at the top of the crane could not resist. He kept to just humming while he made sure the machine could turn safely, and when they got to the end of the next verse, he proudly stood up in his cockpit and held his hooves into the air, gleefully holding the final note. As if the sky itself wanted to join in, the clouds above parted for a moment, letting a ray of sunshine break through.

A sharp crack cut the repertoire short, followed by a deep metallic groan. Panicked shouts came from all over the docks as the crane lurched in the wind and slowly toppled over. The workers nearby scattered as fast as they could, getting out of the way mere moments before impact. A loud roar shook the air, followed by the shrill sound of metal grinding on metal and rock as the crane disintegrated.

Everypony stood frozen in shock for several seconds, staring at the pile of debris on top of the unfinished pier. They collectively breathed a sigh of relief when the stallion who operated the crane emerged from the wreck, waving his hooves to show he was unharmed. A pair of his colleagues escorted him to the medics just to be safe, while the rest of the engineers slowly went back to work, now in dead silence. The cloud cover overhead closed up as well, shrouding the land in gray once more.

A pegasus wearing a medical officer’s uniform descended onto the dock. “Heard you call in the codeword. What’s going on?” Setter asked. He followed the captain’s gaze and found it to be focused on the wreckage nearby. “Damn…”

“Basalt Five,” Shining replied without looking away. “They’re in trouble.”

A small group of unicorns and pegasi set about removing the wreckage piece by piece. A couple of earth ponies joined in as well, helping the others move the pieces too heavy to safely move by air or levitation.

Setterline blinked and turned back to his friend. “What did they say?”

“Transmission was cut short, but it sounded like they were in combat.”

“So we’re going in early to help them?”

“Yes.”

“I see.” Setter glanced around and stepped a bit closer, lowering his voice. “You do realize this could be a trap?”

Shining frowned as he glanced at the medic. “Don’t be ridiculous. How?”

“They’re scouts, who aren’t supposed to engage. Maybe someone attacked them and trapped them somehow to lure us in.”

“There’s no organized military within a hundred miles of this region, Setter.” The captain finally tore his gaze away from the crane and turned to face the other officer. “If they were around, we’d know about them.”

“And do you intend to start a war with them if there were?” his friend asked.

Shining gritted his teeth. “Right now, all I want is my ponies to be safe. They could be wounded, unable to move, and in danger. I’m not going to just sit and wait.” His eyes narrowed. “So are you with me or not?”

Setter gave a tiny snort and looked away. “Ну, авось тогда, хрен знает...”

“What was that?”

“Nothing. Just practicing my consonants…”

One of the engineers ran up to Shining and snapped off a quick salute. “Damage report, sir. No one’s hurt. Docks lightly damaged.” He sighed. “The crane is gone. No chance of repair.”

The captain glanced back at the last pieces of the wreckage, just as a pair of pegasi carried it away. “Will it be a big setback?” he asked.

“We can manage, sir. I’ll appoint a team of unicorns to levitate our gear off the ships.”

“Good, that will do.” Shining nodded and turned to leave, only to pause and glance back. “Lieutenant?”

The officer looked up from his clipboard. “Captain?”

“As soon as you’re done unloading, any of our food reserves that we can spare… I want you to give it to the locals here. We don’t want them to starve.”

The pony gave a smile and saluted. “Roger that, sir.”

Shining turned to Setter. “Let’s go. I’ll lead Celestite One. Bonnie is on our left flank with Onyx, and the warhawk is on our right with the regulars. Your team is our support.”

The medic nodded, and they galloped back up the hill toward the outskirts of the port, where the rest of the teams were gathering. The wind picked up again, howling between the structures and rattling the roof tiles that had come loose due to neglect. In the distance, the Scylla’s horn blared as it made its approach, while its sister ship opened its large cargo bay doors, allowing the unicorns on board to move the first of the crates onto the fixed docks. Within one day, the derelict port had turned into an area bustling with activity. Shining permitted himself a tiny smile under his mask.

Equestria is here.

For several hours after they departed from the port, Shining Armor’s squad just marched silently through the thick snow. The captain checked his map repeatedly, keeping track of their movements in his head at all times. The three forward teams moved in a wide pattern, the ones on the flanks moving in a wide arc that trailed outward. This left individual squads more vulnerable, but also harder to detect, and the element of surprise was key if they needed to fight their way to the city.

Shining glanced up at the gray sky, just as one of the Basalt squads soared above their heads. He had assigned two of the scouting teams to keep constant overwatch while the ground troops advanced, but neither was allowed to linger, as they could be seen from miles away. Stay in one spot for too long, or show any reaction to the squads below, and they would give away everyone’s positions.

None of the guards would speak. An occasional cough or grunt would break the silence, but otherwise they would just put one hoof in front of the other. The calm radio chatter between his squads made a constant drone in Shining’s ears, and he found it oddly soothing in this lifeless, silent wasteland.

The pony on point reached the peak of a hill they were approaching. He held up his hoof, and the rest of the squad halted. After taking one more look just to be safe, he gestured for the captain to come closer. “Up ahead,” he said in a low voice and pointed with his forehoof. “Just on the horizon. They look like farmhouses.”

Shining took cover behind a large boulder and peeked over the top, looking through his binoculars. “Hmm…” Just under a mile away, he spotted a group of four houses, two of them almost completely buried in the snow. The other two were in no better shape, the wooden walls all but collapsed from the teeth of time. But despite the harrowing conditions, he could see smoke rising from their chimneys. “Okay, let’s go take a look.”

The squad moved in loose formation, creating a rough wedge shape as they advanced upon the hamlet in the distance. Once they got close enough, Shining raised his hoof to bring them to a halt. He raised his head, took a deep breath, and called out.

“Hey! Есть там кто?” He waved his forelegs, pointing out himself and his companions. “Мы свои!”

The struggle with the pronunciation made him cringe, but he prayed that any locals would still be able to understand what he said. A few tense moments passed in silence, and the squad tensed up when they heard hoofsteps in the snow, followed by a raspy voice calling out from one of the yards. An old-looking goat emerged from behind the rickety fence.

The guards readied their spears and lit their horns, but Shining held up his hoof. “No, no! Stand down!” he said. “Stay in formation. I’ll talk to them.”

He waited a little to see if anyone would accompany the old goat, after which he slowly approached the houses. “Мы свои,” he said again, repeating it a few more times as he got closer and closer.

The goat sighed. “Pony.” He turned to call back over his shoulder. “Просто кони какие-то.”

The other guards tensed up and aimed their spears again, but Shining glanced back and waved his hoof to calm them down. He came to a halt a few paces away and looked into the eyes of the elder.

“Pony,” the goat said. “Why you here?”

The captain blinked. “You speak Equestrian?”

“Little.” The goat nodded his head to a nearby dirt road, and Shining noticed that it led toward the city. “Trade with pony in gorod. Learn some words.”

“I see.” Shining took a deep breath. “We’re from Equestria. I’m captain Shining Armor of the Royal Guard. We’re here to help.”

“You look for other pony?” the goat asked.

Shining blinked. “Huh?”

“See pony yesterday. Wings. No speak. Fly to vostok.” He pointed toward east.

“They must have been the scouts,” the captain muttered to himself. “Have you seen anything suspicious?” he asked the goat.

It was the elder’s turn to look confused. Shining sighed and tried again. “See anything bad?”

The goat shook his head. “They stay far. No talk. See us, they fly away.”

“Then we better catch up to them,” Shining muttered to himself again. He looked back and nodded to the others, who slowly approached.

“Everything all right, sir?” the lieutenant from the squad asked.

“Looks like we found the trail of Basalt Five,” Shining replied. “We better hurry. City’s not far now.”

“Значит, вот он… конец пришел.”

The stallions blinked and turned to the old goat, who gave a deep sigh and shook his head at them with a somber expression on his face.

The captain leaned a bit closer. “What did you say?”

“Every sign here,” the goat said in an ominous tone. “Just as in scripture. Wings come first. Then Zemlya rise and burn all.”

“Sir, what’s he talking about?” the guard asked. He gripped his spear tightly and chewed on his tongue while he looked at the elder.

“We already see it,” the goat went on. “Her hair everywhere. Head rise from earth next.”

There was a short squeak from a hinge, followed by a loud bang from the other side of the house as the door flew open. Everypony froze and readied their weapons again, looking around in confusion as a gravelly female voice called out, making the old goat wince.

“Эй, ты, хрен старый! Харе с этими лошаками болтать, хули они тебе сдались. Внутрь, быстро, и им скажи чтоб перли отсюда! Приперлись, твари, теперь вообще всем звездец. Еще отморозишь себе все перед концом света.”

Hoofsteps approached from around the corner, and a doe soon emerged, waddling on her old legs while she glared furiously at whom the ponies assumed was her husband.

“What’s wrong with her?” Shining asked.

Ignoring the various weapons that pointed at her, she walked up and tugged on the old goat’s foreleg, who kept staring at them blankly. “You ponies, go!” she spat at them. “Go away, blya!”

The captain noticed how the others held their spears and quickly told them to stand down. He then turned back to the couple, only to find that the old doe had already dragged her husband back inside the house. The door slammed shut moments later.

The guards stared at the house in confusion. One by one, they turned to look at Shining, who sighed and pointed to the dirt road.

“Get back in formation,” he said. “There’s our trail. Let’s move.”

“Captain, this is Onyx Omega,” Bonnie’s voice came over the radio. “We found something. Just off the main road. Need backup as soon as possible.”

“Understood, we’re on our way,” Shining replied. “Ruby Alpha is coming too.” His gaze turned to the sky. “Basalt Two, give us the path to Onyx. Basalt Three, maintain overwatch.”

“Our orders, sir?” Brand joined in.

“Keep heading for the city. Take our position and scout ahead.”

“Understood.”

Shining and his squad double timed it toward Bonnie’s position, with the pegasi of Basalt Two showing the path for them in the sky. Glancing back, he could see the medics and guards in Setter’s team galloping in the same direction. The two teams reached the position within ten minutes, where they found Onyx lined up along the side of a small hill that kept them hidden from whatever lay beyond.

The crystallites were all clad in pure white outfits, which both masked their shimmering features and made for good camouflage in this snow-covered wasteland. Bonnie was on top of the hill, waving her hooves at the captain. He quickly marched up to join him, the other officers following close behind.

“Okay…” Shining said. “What did you find?”

Bonnie crept up to the top of the hill, her own glowy features still visible, and she pointed with her foreleg. “They look like old camping shacks, or… something,” she said. “But those guys in there are clearly not civilians.”

Shining readied his binoculars. He followed Bonnie’s hoof and found a collection of wooden structures. They broke up into a few groups along the sides of several uprising slopes, akin to several flights of stairs. Smaller buildings lay along the curves, and the bigger ones, noticeably lit up, were on plain ground.

Each building in the compound was a simple box made of logs, roughly the size of a small apartment, with tiny windows lining every wall. Smoke rose from the chimneys of all but one, and he could see a few quadrupedal figures moving between the buildings from time to time.

“Military?” he asked.

“No, sir. I’d say they look like the ones we bumped into earlier today.”

“Great…” Shining’s gaze wandered to a blue lump near the leftmost side of the compound, and he gave a huff. “Yeah, it’s them. I even recognize that truck.”

“We could just sneak past them.” Bonnie said. “In this weather, I doubt they’d want to move a muscle, let alone scout around.”

“Whatever we do, we ask the captain for the final word,” Brand said over the radio.

Setterline gritted his teeth. “Why bother asking?” he said in a low voice. “We’re taking them out.”

Shining raised an eyebrow at him. What the hay is your problem? he thought. This isn’t like you.

“Why is that, Setter?” he asked.

“They’re responsible for all those graves we found.”

Bonnie shook her head. “Sir, if we attack, there’s a good chance they’ll raise an alarm. We still have no idea what’s going on in the city.” She frowned at Setter. “And they’re entrenched this time. You’ve seen what their guns do. We back them into a corner, they’re going to fight.”

“I think we’d have a better chance against them than the unarmed civilians did,” the medic growled. “We promised to help these people, and now we—"

Shining stomped with his foreleg. “Okay, that’s enough! Both of you!”

Both officers fell silent. Setter hung his head. “I apologize. Won’t happen again, sir.”

The captain sighed. “Look, whatever happens, we need to act fast. Our scouts could be in danger, and we still have to secure the city… and find the Atoll, for that matter.”

There was a long pause, and all eyes were trained on him. Bonnie’s foreleg fidgeted slightly, while Setter kept up a demanding glare. Behind them, the white ghosts of Onyx stood motionless amidst the cold winds.

“What are your orders, sir?” Brand asked, breaking the awkward silence.

An oil drum sat near the corner of the compound, the rusty container filled with twigs and broken planks that fueled a steady fire. A pair of goats emerged from the nearest shack and sat down on a log next to the drum. They pulled their coats on a little tighter and moved as close as they could to the flames.

“Вот ну какого мы тут хуя стоим, на?” the larger one said. He ran a hoof over his beard, making it clink against the small bell that hung from his neck. His hooves were decorated with gold bracelets, and when he bared his teeth, several of his incisors were replaced with the metal as well. The scars and bumps on his face gave hints about how he lost said teeth. “Пацантре, вон, лохов бушуют, а мы как козлы отпущения, на, реально.”

“Да харе ныть, бля. Вот что тебе все не так, а?” the other replied. Thick golden rings decorated his modest horns, and a matching golden ring hung from one of his earlobes. His thick coat was left slightly open at the neck, where one could just barely make out a piece of his purple track suit. “Стоим, бля - не так. Шмаляем уродов - не так. Жлобов шибаем - не так. Принцесса, бля, недоделанная.”

The bigger thug tossed a few twigs into the fire and lit himself a cigarette on the flames. “Не, ну а тебе-то что, на?” He took a long drag and blew the smoke out his nostrils while giving his partner a smug grin. “Ты бы сортиры драил как сучара последняя, если бы я б тебя за собой сюда не потащил. Вот тебе-то все все время так. Сидишь, на, и рад землю жевать, пока всякие жлобы корнями давятся.”

“Ой, вот ну будто тебе-то лучше, бля.” The second thug glared at his partner, while his hooves searched his coat pockets. “Все тебе мало. Ты, бля, не в боевике, тут все так не работает. Хули ты с себя героя строишь? Герой, бля - жопа с дырой.”

He retrieved a small flask, opened it with his teeth, and took a hearty swig. A low groan left him moments later, and after a bit of shoving and cursing, his companion convinced him to give a taste.

“Я, на, не герой, я - прогрессивный, на!” He chugged a good dose of the clear fluid and belched loudly. After a good, long snort, he gobbed a mouthful of snot off to the side. “Это ты - жопа с дырой, балбесище. Вот будешь этих рогоебов, который нашу шайку, на, ведут, слушать как пес последний, и точно с дырой будет.”

The smaller goat jabbed him in the side. “Ага, а у тебя ее, бля, тогда не будет уже, жопы этой. Пушо сострелят нахер, и на стену повесят. И все тебе мало будет, глубже, бля, надо, глубже, будто нефть ищешь, нах.”

“Да пошел ты.” The one with the scarred face tossed the flask back to his companion. As he did, his gaze got caught on something over his friend’s shoulder. “Это еще, бля, что?” he muttered, tilting his head to the side.

A pair of white forelegs wrapped around the other mobster’s neck. He only had enough time to give a choked gasp before he got yanked back and thrown to the ground. An armored equine stood above him, who quickly drove his forehoof into the goat’s temple, knocking him out.

The large thug got up and opened his mouth to shout, only to give a painful yelp when something smashed into his joints from behind. He fell to the ground, limbs squirming, and he caught a mere glimpse of his assailant before the spear shaft in their grip came down on his head.

Shining Armor quickly checked the goat in front of him to make sure he was out of action. Confused voices seeped out of the cabin next to him, along with hoofsteps. Turning around, he waved a foreleg at the rest of his squad and dove for cover.

“Now!” he yelled. “Flash ‘em out!”

The leading unicorn charged up a spell and aimed his horn at the window of the building. A white ball of energy shot out from his forehead and flew in through the window. Moments later, there was a bright flash and a powerful bang, and the windows of the cabin all burst outward violently. The occupants howled in panic, a few of them stumbling out the open doorway, as the door had been blown off its hinges. The mobsters clutched at their ears and their eyes, mumbling curses. They could barely compose themselves before the earth ponies of Celestite One charged in and forced them to the ground.

By then, every occupied house in the compound was alerted. The door opened on the cabin adjacent to Shining’s position, and a pair of thugs got out, just before another ball of energy flew in to pulverize the interior. The goats dropped to the ground and fumbled with their weapons, trying to aim them at the attackers. A heartbeat later, they screamed as a trio of pegasi swooped in, tossing them against the wall of the next cabin, which had been reduced to all but a pile of debris by the elements. A couple more disoriented goats stumbled out of the second cabin, but a well-placed bolt of magic was enough to put down each one.

Shining turned his attention to the far end of the compound. Due to the slope it sat on, the buildings on that side were on a higher vantage, allowing those within to get a clear shot at his squads. The occupants yelled at each other and struggled to get the windows open. A few of them opted to simply break the glass so they could stick their crude weapons out through the holes.

“Cover!” Shining yelled. His ponies took shelter behind whatever they could find. Moments later, a series of sharp hisses and cracks tore up the air around them. He could hear the wood splinter and crackle from the impacts. As soon as the barrage ended, a pair of unicorns poked their heads out to fire a volley of their own. Since they had little time to aim, their spells missed the windows and merely scorched the walls of the cabin.

Seeing his comrades get pinned down, a younger earth pony galloped forth, trying to make a rush for the building. The goats fired another salvo, and the pony cried out, dropping like a sack and moaning in pain. Shining cursed and dove out of his cover. “Stay down!” he shouted at the others. His horn lit up, and he quickly projected a shield around himself and his fallen subordinate. The goats fired again, and he hissed, feeling the power of the impacts through his shield. The projectiles could not break through, but it took a great deal of effort to absorb their energy.

He grabbed the wounded guard’s forelegs and dragged him back behind the first cabin. A dull red streak trailed behind the fallen pony.

Shining tapped his headset. “Onyx!” he shouted. “I need that building on top cleared out!”

“Hang tight, we’re on our way!” Bonnie replied.

The goats in the house paused in their firing all of a sudden, and Shining heard them shout in awe and confusion when a strange figure stepped into their view, emitting a blue glow. The crystal pony had tossed away his white outfit and now stood proudly between the houses, which were all riddled with bullet holes. He took a deep breath and calmly advanced upon the slope.

The goats hesitated for a while before they fired again. Shining’s jaw dropped as he watched the bullets strike the pony’s body. Each time, his “skin” wavered slightly around the point of impact, and the glow of his body flared. As he got further up the slope, he increased his pace more and more, while the glow got brighter as well. The goats yelled at each other and fired desperately, but no matter how many shots landed, they did not even slow the guard down. Once he reached the same level as the house, he simply charged straight at its nearest wall.

The goats inside cried out in panic and dove out of the way. Moments later, there was a loud crashing noise as the guard plowed through the wall, making a large hole. The occupants were either knocked down or stunned by debris, and the few who recovered found themselves face to face with a bulky stallion made of glowing crystal. Rather than try to rationalize the sight, they decided to charge at it.

The first goat gave a loud bleat and reared up just as he got within a few feet of the guard, trying to aim a kick with one of his hind legs at the pony’s face. The kick landed spectacularly, and there was a dull crack, after which the goat fell to the ground, whimpering and cradling his leg. A large crack adorned his hooves, and his leg was bent in an odd way. The guard, on the other hand, had not moved an inch.

Shining reached the top of the slope just in time to see the second goat try to beat up the shiner with a broken plank. The pony sidestepped a few times, and when a blow finally landed, the plank shattered harmlessly on his side. He returned the favor with a punch that sent the goat flying out a nearby window. The last thug made a grab for his weapon on the floor, but by the time he reached it, the guard was right on top of him. The two bodies tore through the far wall and tumbled in the snow outside. The crystal pony landed on top of his opponent, who let out a groan and went limp.

A low rumble came from below, and Shining ran up to the edge of the hill to take a look. He gasped in surprise and quickly tapped his headset, while his horn lit up.

“Bonnie!” he yelled into the mic. “The truck! Don’t let them get away!”

“On it!”

The driver of the truck frantically steered on the snow-covered yard, and he narrowly avoided the sizzling purple bolts that came from above. He stomped on the accelerator as soon as the tires were on the nearby dirt path, and the bulky engine roared, billowing a cloud of smoke from the exhaust pipe. The goats inside breathed a sigh of relief, only to bleat in surprise when a shiny figure appeared in their path. Their eyes narrowed, and the driver gasped at the last moment, braking and trying to steer out of the way.

The pony, however, did not try to dodge. Instead, he planted his hooves firmly in the ground and went into a low stance. The guard and the vehicle collided with a loud bang, and the engine block disappeared into the belly of the truck, just after the driver and his companion were tossed out through the front window. They landed in a heap a few yards away, while the wreckage of their ride came to a complete halt where it met its obstacle.

After a bit of fidgeting, the guard managed to remove himself from the crater he had made in the truck. There was no visible damage to his body, he merely glowed a bit brighter than usual.

Shining grinned at the sight. “Secure the area!” he shouted to the others. “Ruby, tend to the wounded. Celestite, check the houses for any stragglers.”

“Understood, captain!”

He chuckled and flicked off the radio before continuing to himself. “And break out the cider. I think we have our first victory…”

The Royal Guard are Equestria’s only military organization, dedicated primarily to police and peacekeeping duties.

Occupation

View Online

The standard issue weapons of a Royal Guard are the spear, shield, sword, armored shoes, and the mounted crossbow.

Red lines formed on the snowy paths as the prisoners were marched through the compound, many of them limping or clutching minor wounds. They cast a few bitter glances at the guards they passed, but otherwise kept their snouts pointed at the ground. Behind them, the rest of the ponies streamed into the shacks, spears held at the ready as they searched every corner.

Few stragglers remained, and most of the goats had already been rounded up, staring silently as the ponies emptied every building one by one. Shouts rang out, followed by a loud crash, making everyone tense up for a moment. One of the doors burst open, and a mobster tumbled out, his yellow tracksuit all torn up. A pair of guards stepped out after him and shoved him after the others to join the line.

Shining Armor grinned as he watched his troops work. There was an odd beauty to how the bulky armored figures could perform such fluid movements, swiftly clearing out each shack and herding the prisoners. Despite there being less than half as many ponies in the compound as there were goats, the rag-tag group of caprics were easily rounded up and kept under hoof by the well trained guards.

“Sir!” Bonnie called out as she approached, her squad leaders forming up behind her. “All the goats accounted for, Captain.”

Shining nodded in response. “Well done, Lieutenant. Keep it up.”

“Thank you, sir.” She issued her orders to her subordinates, who left shortly afterward, leaving the captain and his second-in-command on their own. Shining sighed and took one more look around, only to pause when his eyes got caught on the ground before him.

“Hm…” Another grin tugged on his lips, this one a bit more tense. “I guess the future’s coming for us.”

“Sir?” Bonnie turned to look at him. Shining nodded his head at the ground before him, and his foreleg pointed to a discarded breastplate half-buried in the snow. The intricate Equestrian decorations on its surface were drenched in bright red blood, and several large holes were torn in the side, the edges jagged and pointing inward.

“Our armor is going to need some improvements. We won’t last long if everyone we face is so heavily armed.”

Bonnie shrugged. “Perhaps we should upgrade to heavy plate all around?”

“Probably not. Plate is no use here. Not what we have.” Shining nudged the armor component with his hoof again. “See? The rounds punched right through. Setter even mentioned that it just makes extra pieces to dig out of the wounds.”

“So what can we do? Get rid of the armor entirely?”

The captain shook his head. “No. There’s a good chance others in the city still use conventional weapons. But if we run into this again, we’ll need to be prepared.”

“I understand.”

“Hm…” Shining chuckled and nudged her friend lightly. “You and your ponies looked like they can take quite a beating though. We could just put one in each squad, and these fancy boomsticks become useless.”

The mare looked away and sighed. “It’s… not that simple, sir.”

“Oh?”

Bonnie reared up and waved at a bulky stallion in the distance. Upon noticing it, the guard quickly galloped over to them. “Sir!” He snapped to attention and took a firm stance, looking more like a statue than a living equine. “Sergeant Lazurite, reporting.”

Shining returned the salute and smiled, glancing at Bonnie curiously. “At ease,” he said. “You did some great work there, sergeant.”

“Thank you, sir.” The guard did not loosen his stance one inch, though he did start to make eye contact.

“Yes, my crystal ponies can take a beating…” Bonnie said. She paused and pointed to one of the discarded rifles nearby. “But these weapons… they’re a tough one, even for us.” She turned to the stallion she had invited. “Sergeant?”

“Very powerful,” he said. His voice was deep and gentle, yet it still conveyed weight and power no smaller than his appearance did. “The bullets even managed to chip me in a few places. So small, and yet they’re like nothing I’ve felt before.”

Shining glanced over at the wounded guard, whom Setter was busy patching up. “A couple of scratches is still better than how the sergeant here ended up.”

“Yes, sir…” Lazurite replied hesitantly. “But the whole squad had to focus their magic to support me. Without that, I don’t think I’d be here to talk about it.”

“Hmph.” Shining frowned. “I’ve seen your ponies shrug off heavy crossbow bolts back during training. What the hay are we up against?”

Bonnie risked a small chuckle. “Like you said, sir. The future coming right at us.” This only made Shining’s frown deepen.

“Then we better adapt,” he said and turned to the sergeant. “Based on what you felt, how many would have to pool their magic to stand a chance against sustained fire?”

“A squad of four, at the very least,” Lazurite replied. “Can be pushed further if all of my ponies focus on it, though they’d have to be close by. Four should be enough to keep them all safe though.”

Shining hummed, looking away in deep thought. “Thank you, sergeant,” he said. “Dismissed.”

Lazurite saluted again and ran back to his post. Bonnie watched the stallion leave, and her gaze landed on a few of his troops conversing nearby. The one at the head of the group was busy recounting a story in a funny voice, while the others giggled constantly.

“There’s also the issue with morale,” she said.

“Indeed.” Shining sighed. “Any trouble so far?”

“None, sir. We are from the Frozen North. Worst I’ve heard is one soldier complaining he wanted warm, sandy beaches.”

A chuckle burst out of Shining, though he quickly straightened his face. “Stick to the point, Lieutenant.”

Bonnie risked another smile, the chuckle from her commander dissolving some of her tension. “Sorry, sir. My crystal ponies are in good spirits. We are ready and willing to get the job done, no questions asked.”

She glanced at Lazurite in the distance, who was busy herding his squad toward the edge of the compound. Along the way, he attracted the gaze of many of the guards, and even some of the goats as well, who seemed to shrink in terror from his sight. “And after that little stunt,” she went on, “I’d say their pride got a little boost too.”

“I see.” Shining tapped his right forehoof idly. “Well, if they’re that confident, I’d say we should give them a chance to shine.” He smiled at Bonnie. “No pun intended.”

The mare rolled her eyes and returned the smile. “What did you have in mind, sir?”

“We could set up tactical squads. Combine them with other units and have them advance in case of heavy incoming fire.” He nodded at the shiner sergeant in the distance. “Put guards like him in charge. They push forward, while the rest of my ponies can support them at range.”

Bonnie nodded hesitantly. “Yeah, that... sounds reasonable.” She glanced at the cheerful group again. The comedian had just finished his story, earning himself a few pats on the back, and even a playful bonk on the head. The lieutenant took a deep breath, her voice becoming a touch strained. “But sir, with all due respect: my crystal ponies are not meat shields.”

Shining returned the nod. “Of course,” he said and turned to follow her gaze. The guards stopped talking and slowly split up, each one returning to their respective squads. The one who provided the entertainment stopped grinning and approached Setterline’s medical team, helping them carry the wounded pony away on a stretcher.

“You’re better than meat, aren’t you?” the Captain added under his breath.

Bonnie did not react, and only spoke again a few seconds later. “What are your orders, sir?”

“Tell everypony to saddle up. Next stop: Gueldergrad.”

While his forces prepared to mobilize, Shining Armor took a quick tour of the compound to inspect their work. Celestite soldiers were spread thin between guard duty, holding the perimeter, and hauling supplies. Onyx assisted where they could, while the Basalt squads kept an eye on the surrounding woods. Meanwhile, the medics had set up temporarily in one of the shacks to take care of any wounds suffered so far.

Just as he got to the front door, the captain hesitated a little. There was not much time left before they had to leave, but he was hoping for some good news before they did, if only to remove the knot that had formed in his gut. He took a deep breath, stepped through the door, and shook himself to get rid of snow that had amassed all over his coat.

The medics inside were already busy packing up, with their final patient in the middle of getting moved out. Backing away into the cold once again, Shining made way for Setterline, who backpedaled to guide a pair of pegasi outside, the stretcher suspended between them.

“How’s he doing?” Shining asked. He nodded his head at the wounded pony once the procession had fully exited. The pegasi slowly lifted off the ground, using careful wingflaps to ascend smoothly before making their way back toward the coast.

“Took a nasty shot to the abdomen” Setter replied with a sigh. “Thankfully, the projectiles themselves don’t make very messy wounds. Can’t say the same about the armor though. Took two unicorns almost an hour to fish out all the fragments with their magic. Don’t know what a mess we’d have made with just regular tools.”

“I see,” Shining Armor said quietly, letting himself sigh at the revelation. Overpowering technology of the enemy, or inadequate equipment of their own? Neither was an appealing conclusion. The ones up the chain of command would only accept the former, if anything at all.

The stallion shook his head to banish the stray thoughts. “Will he be okay?”

“He’ll be fine. I’m having him airlifted back to the port just to be safe. No telling when we can set up in the city itself.”

“All right.” Shining managed to smile again. “Good work, Setter.”

“Thank you, Captain.” The medic rubbed his eyes and yawned. “Glad I could be of service.” He dragged his hooves in the snow a few times, leaving bright red smears.

Shining looked away, giving a deep sigh as his eyes traced the horizon. The medic joined him, he could see in the corner of his eye, and looked - as much as he could with his glasses catching snowflakes. It was a desolate, rural, snowy picture all around, and not in a way that even the territories by the Crystal Empire would compare. Judging if only by his gestures, Setter was not much more at home in Novy Rubezh either. Dark silhouettes of mountains surrounded them, half-obscured by the thick, grey haze that never seemed to lift in this land. The sun could barely break through this veil, making the already bland environment seem even more barren. In the distance, Shining could just barely make out a group of straight-edged shapes, which he recognized as their destination. Gueldergrad.

How many more will get torn up before we get there? he wondered. Or while we’re there?

The pink pegasus was likely wondering the same thing, the captain guessed. Setter went back to check his saddlebags and recover his tools, having had enough of the view. The fatigued look on his face reminded the unicorn of his own draining spirits for the day, and the desolate, monochrome surroundings did little to help. He briefly considered asking the medic for some kind of pill that could make things less cold and confusing and unclear, but Setter hardly looked like he was in a joking mood.

Yet another reason to move on, Shining thought.

Before either of them had a chance to strike up a conversation, a Celestite soldier from among those on guard duty approached them. He ran up to the medic and held out a tin cup, thick steam rising from the surface of its contents.

“For you, Doctor,” he said with a wide smile. “Fresh coffee, straight off the stove.”

The medic returned the smile and took the cup. “Thank you.”

“No, thank you, Doctor. All of us.” The guard leaned a bit closer and nodded his head at the drink. “We tossed our rations together. Three whole lumps in there.”

“How kind.” Setter took a quick sip and nodded in approval. Shining raised an eyebrow at the scene, and he smiled when he realized the guard and his wounded comrade were from the same unit. The stallion thanked them one last time and galloped off to escort the next group of prisoners.

“What will we do with them?” Setter asked before taking another sip.

“Hm?” Shining blinked and tore his gaze away from the somber column of goats.

“The prisoners. Do we drag them all the way to the city?”

The captain shook his head. “No chance. We get rushed, and it’s just one more thing on our backs that we don’t need. We’re taking them back to the port.”

“Hmf…” The doctor frowned slightly. “Of course.”

“Something on your mind?”

Setter did not reply at first. He gulped down the last of his coffee and huffed, glaring at the goats being marched away. “We should just hand them over to the civilians. Let them deliver justice.”

Shining raised an eyebrow at him. “What? No.” He paused and cleared his throat. “At least… not for now. We’re spread thin, everyone is tense, and the last thing we want is a fight breaking out. Besides, we’re supposed to help them. No shelter, no food… they need that a lot more than vengeance.”

“Justice,” Setter repeated. He huffed and gathered his saddlebags. “But you’re right, I guess. They’ve been through enough.” It was his turn to look away, focusing on the silhouette of the city in the distance. “Let’s try to make sure we don’t cause them any more. We are peacekeepers, not an invasion army.” He snorted and gave a tiny smirk. “At worst, we should be regular morons. Not oxymorons, you know.”

“Yeah. Right.” Shining slowly walked off, issuing orders to his subordinates. In truth, they were on track already, and he just wanted to escape the conversation. It was one more thing he did not want to think about right now.

Basalt Two and Three scouted ahead of Shining armor’s group. They reported no more enemy positions between them and the city. Speed now took priority over stealth, since the squads needed to arrive before the rest of the regiment caught up, lest they all run into fierce resistance while stuck in the open. Every potential threat had to be identified first, and, if possible, neutralized.

Meanwhile, the prisoners were divided into several smaller groups, each one guarded by a squad and an escort of pegasi. This way the ponies had eyes on every goat at all times, and the separation meant they could not start a riot all at once. Shining radioed the officers in the regiment’s main column, and once the last of the goats had been sent on their way back to the coast, he ordered all squads to advance.

Shining Armor went for the opposite of being sneaky with their movement. He ordered his squads to spread out in a wide formation, putting them in plain view while making them resemble the spearhead of an entire army. If anything was waiting for them in the city, this sent them a clear message. They could either lay low, buying the ponies time to get close and seek them out, or engage in the open, which would give them away.

Of course, Shining knew this meant taking a gamble with the lives of the ponies around him. This was exactly why he marched right among them, no further than three ponies behind front row, despite all of his subordinates urging him to reconsider. He did not even exchange his armor, the design of which clearly painted him as an officer. At the same time, he refused to be on a chariot and insisted he walk among his troops, which drew quite a number of odd stares. For all intents and purposes, he was one more Royal Guard among dozens, albeit dressed in more vibrant colors.

The march lasted for well over two hours, and no incident happened along the way. The terrain was no challenge to overcome, but the sight of the vast, oppressing landscape, and the deathly silence took its toll, as did the somber patches of pine groves to either side of their marching ground. Soon enough, despite him ordering silence and strict formations, everypony started grouping up and chatting away idly.

“You know, I’ve always wondered…” Shining’s ears perked up when he heard Bonnie’s voice. He glanced over to his right and saw the mare walking beside a tall grey pegasus. “Why does everyone keep calling you ‘warhawk’? I mean… you’re not actually a warhawk, are you?”

“Huh... “ Shining murmured under his breath. “You two already making small talk?”

“My official position is ‘Political Supervisor and Morale Officer’,” Brand replied evenly. “There’s very little resemblance.”

“Right…” She risked a playful smile. “Maybe it’s just your attitude?”

The pegasus’ expression did not change. He merely adjusted the collar of his brown trenchcoat, which, combined with his lack of armor, made him stand out almost as much as the captain did. “I wouldn’t know. I just follow the rules.”

“Uh-huh…”

The pair walked silently for a while, Bonnie giving odd glances at the guards in Brand’s squad. Unlike the rest of the formation, they marched in perfect unison, heads held high, not once expressing boredom or fatigue. Her eyes narrowed when she noticed a hint of tension on their faces.

“I think I read about them once,” she said hesitantly. “Warhawks.”

Brand nodded. “Some of my ancestors held the role.”

“Really?”

“Back during the era of the Three Tribes, and even during the earliest decades of Equestria, the pegasus military was the only protection ponykind had from its enemies. Recruits were plentiful, but to win battles, one needs good leadership and obedient troops. Newcomers would have no experience, and they were liable to rout. One could toss them into the fire and hope to get decent soldiers from those who survived. But we could not afford to lose ten battles before each victory.”

Bonnie stared at him, grimacing slightly and walking with a bit more tension in her gait as their conversation progressed.

“This is where warhawks came into the picture,” Brand went on. “Their role was inspired by the Apexes in the Griffon military. A member would be assigned to either fresh squads, or to veterans who were suspected to break soon, and their job was to make sure every soldier did their duty.”

“Why not just give the troops better training?” Bonnie asked. She flinched a tiny bit when Brand glanced at her and took a deep breath, though his expression and movements seemed unchanged.

“Soldiers are trained to perform specific tasks in battle. Warhawk training is different. They are there to make sure nopony else forgets their own duty.”

“How?”

“Most of the time, they would lead by example.” He glanced at his troops, some of which risked stealing glances at the two of them. They immediately looked straight ahead, holding their breaths. “While others would cower in the dirt, a warhawk would shrug off any hail of spears or arrows, nor would they fear the claws and teeth of any beast.”

The pegasus tugged on the sleeve on his right foreleg, the fabric seeming to catch on a bulky object underneath. “But if that isn’t enough, they will motivate the troops directly. Reassignment, disciplinary action… and even severe punishment.”

“That sounds… a bit barbaric,” Bonnie remarked.

Brand frowned slightly, which made the crystal mare flinch again. “War is no delicate business, Lieutenant,” he said, his voice gaining a hint of bitterness. “Countless victories were thanks to the efforts of warhawks. Many defeats could have been averted, and many lives could have been saved, had they been there to keep the soldiers in line.”

“I see…”

The two did not speak any more for the rest of the journey. Even so, Shining kept a watchful eye on Brand for a while, particularly when he interacted with the guards in his squad. All it took was a glance or a subtle gesture, and every hint of slack building in the troops ceased to exist. Unlike his fellow officers, the “warhawk” did more than earn respect. He commanded fear.

They had been on the way for three hours. It was past seventeen hundred, seventeen hundred twenty four last he got to check. Tension built inside the unicorn leading the march. The imposing nature of the Frozen North had him convinced that something bad had to go down on an hourly basis, and the landscape seemed to support that theory. All barren, crooked, and desolate, with smoke rising in thick columns on the horizon.

Of course, the frosty wind did not aid in keeping minds calm and sharp either. Soldiers were trained to withstand the elements, but they had their subtle effects nonetheless. While the recruits marched tall and proud, he found himself glancing left and right non-stop, expecting to see something the scouts might have missed. After a while, he genuinely hoped something would indeed happen, if only to help get rid of his anxiety.

Shining shook his head, trying to clear it of the nonsense, and looked around again. But no matter how hard he tried, things still felt off. After some hesitation, knowing that he was close to doing this at least three times before, he held up a hoof, and the guards behind him came to a halt.

His eyes narrowed as he scanned their surroundings. Up to that point, with the exception of the occasional dead trees or large boulders, the ground had been completely bare. Now the ponies found themselves before an entire field of what looked like twigs and branches sticking out of the snow, akin to the dead husks of bushes.

“What’s wrong, sir?” one of the lieutenants asked.

Shining Armor gulped, an eerie sensation forming in his gut. A gentle breeze brushed past him, and he noticed how none of the bushes made any noise or swayed in response.

“I don’t know…” he muttered. “I just…”

A figure rose up from behind a boulder, a pair of the “branches” revealed to be attached to the top of its head. Its body was covered in thick, dirty rags, hiding most of its features. It reared up, holding its forelegs at the sky and crying out at the top of its lungs.

“Bajtársak! Talpra! Eljöttek hát! Végre itt vannak!”

Moments later, the entire procession tensed up as the barren plains burst into motion. The “branches” all rose out of the ground, quadrupedal figures rising out of every nook and cranny in the uneven terrain. They formed a wide semi-circle around the ponies, some of them only a few yards away, others barely within shouting distance.

“Végre! Dicsértessék Zemlya! Áldott legyen a Föld! Csoda történt!”

The others all started to cheer, some of them hugging each other, while others reared up and howled at the sky. Shining blinked in confusion, and his legs twitched when he spotted some of the figures holding weapons. Most were cobbled together from tools or junk, but he noticed a few of the capric rifles as well.

“Sir…” One of the guards took a step back, hefting his spear. “Are we… under attack?”

“I don’t know,” Shining replied. “Setter, what the hay are they saying?”

Setter opened his mouth, but he never got a word out. The figure who kept shouting looked directly at Shining the moment he spoke. A wide grin appeared on its face, and he called to them, this time in perfect Equestrian with barely a hint of an accent.

“So it is true! The agents of the Goddess speak in the tongue of the beings from across the waters. Praise Zemlya! All is as it has been written!”

The captain stared at them, completely baffled. After taking a deep breath, he slowly lowered his spear and held out a hoof. “Greetings!” He even managed to force an awkward smile. “I’m… we’re members of the Royal Guard, on a mission to help the locals of this region. You don’t have to be afraid of us.”

There was an odd moment of silence, after which the throng before him burst into cheers once more. “Thus have they spoken!” the leader exclaimed. “Now is our time, faithful children, to serve for the glory of our Goddess and the rebirth of her creation!”

With that, they fell to their knees and bowed their heads, the sharp tips of their antlers pointing at the air in a lethal swarm. “Take us, Holy Ones,” they murmured. “We offer our lives to the eternal Goddess and her Warriors.”

The guards stared down at them, a few of them glancing at their captain, waiting for his command. Shining looked around and quickly waved his hoof. The rest of his troops lowered their spears and took a loose stance, while he stepped out from among them.

“Thank you for your, uh…” He smiled awkwardly. “For offering to help. We are very grateful. But first… well, who are we speaking to?”

They kept their heads firmly planted on the ground while they spoke. “We are the forgotten children of Zemlya, shaped in her image and a testament to her beauty. ‘Elk’ they named us before, but earth we are, like all of her creations.”

“I see…” Shining glanced back at his subordinates, who all shrugged. “Thank you. For now, we will need you to make way. We are heading for the city, and—”

The moment he mentioned the city, the elks started murmuring and glancing at each other, a few of them lifting their heads. Shining bit his lip, struggling to keep still and show a firm exterior. Eventually, the leader of the herd stood up once more and gave a joyous cry.

“Bless this day! The filthy city shall be cleansed at last!” He waved his hoof at his companions. “Come, children! You have heard the command of the Goddess, for She speaks through her Servants!”

With that, the entire herd got up in unison and shuffled away to either side, forming a clear, wide corridor for the ponies to pass through. The guards continued to just stare in shock, casting a few anxious looks at their leader, who stood alone between the two groups.

Bonnie was the first to return to her wits, and she quickly trotted up to the captain. “Sir… your orders?”

Shining blinked, the mare’s voice snapping him out of his trance. “Form a column,” he said. “Let’s move.”

“We’re marching right through them?”

“We don’t cast stones first, Lieutenant.”

“Understood.” Bonnie turned around, only to pause and glance back. “Pardon me, but…” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “Did you just issue commands to a bunch of—”

“We’ll discuss this later,” Shining replied quietly. “Even I’m not sure what I just did.”

The lieutenant returned to the formation and passed on Shining’s orders. The soldiers all muttered nervously as they rearranged themselves, forming a column six ponies wide, spears and crossbows held at the ready. The captain raised his hoof and waved it forward, and the formation advanced, a wall of elks on either side of them. The latter stood completely still, only their eyes following the ponies’ own, who hesitantly returned their gaze and tensed up even more.

Shining waited for his soldiers to catch up, and he rejoined the column the moment he spotted his pegasus friend. “Great.” He gave a deep sigh. “First it’s the mob, now a bunch of fanatics.”

Setter leaned toward him stealthily and spoke under his breath. “It may be worse. See those scars on them?”

“Huh?” Shining glanced off to where the pegasus pointed, and he spotted an elk looking right back at him. Unlike most of its companions, this elk only had very few rags covering its features. Its right foreleg was constantly trembling, and the fur was missing in several patches, the skin underneath blackened.

“Frostbite,” Setter muttered. “Third degree, at least. I’m just wondering how they’re still standing.”

Shining huffed and looked away, the elk’s gaze sending shivers down his spine. “So they’re having some trouble with the cold. Why are you whispering?”

“Severe cases have been known to do more than just tissue damage. The constant pain, blood clots, and toxins from dying tissue can damage even brain functions, well before the victim is incapacitated.”

“So… you’re saying the cold is affecting their minds?”

“Past tense, Captain.” Setter gave a short chuckle, which made his words all the more unsettling. “It already froze them out of their minds. Just wondering what’s taking their bodies so long.”

As they progressed, Shining spotted the fanatic that spoke for the group once more. He walked beside the column, giving them a hopeful grin that showed decaying teeth. His steps were awkward, but fluid at the same time, as if some external force controlled his motions. It almost looked mechanical, yet disturbingly quick and efficient nonetheless.

Bonnie came up to tap him on his shoulder, and he glanced back, frowning a bit when he noticed the elks were moving again. As soon as the column moved past their part of the “wall”, every member of the herd closed the gap and slowly followed the guards. Another chill went down his spine as he watched them. Every elk had the same unnatural gait as their leader, yet they seemed to be in perfect unison at the same time. If not for the eerie nature of their movements, it could have rivaled the harmony the captain’s own troops had.

Shining huffed again. “Collective insanity? That doesn’t sound plausible.”

The medic gave another chuckle. “It’s not the first time in history. All it takes is one loudmouth, and people can spawn a whole religion.” He looked around, inspecting some of the elks’ faces. “In fact, they may be better off this way. Gives them something to cling to instead of losing it altogether.”

“And now they want to join us.” The captain laughed coldly. “If gods are for us, who can be against us?”

“Hmph…” Setter glanced at him and smiled. “Or rather - with friends like these, who needs enemies?”

Shining rolled his eyes and nudged him, still smirking. “Don’t be like that. We’re here to help people, and we need all the friends we can get.”

“Do the ambassadors of friendship carry weapons?” Setter quipped.

“Hm… Who are you referring to? Us or them?” Shining nodded his head at the elks. Their ranks thinned slowly, so he assumed they must be halfway through by now.

Setter huffed. “I’m not sure myself.”

“Well, we carry no worse than what those in the city might throw at us.” Shining hefted his spear and patted his friend’s back. “Compared to that, these might as well be twigs.”

“Can’t say that antlers beat twigs in that contest, though.” The pegasus tilted his head in disapproval, glancing back at the “march” of the abused.

“If we can’t use the antlers, then at least what they’re attached to.” Shining risked another look at the wall of mangled elks staring back at him. Whatever the rags did not cover all looked hopelessly scarred by the elements. He doubted Setter and his medics could help any of them, let alone all at once. “Honestly, I don’t have high hopes for their combat value either. But denying them a chance to feel useful might be even worse. And who knows? Maybe they can tell us something useful.”

“You know, I’m gonna be spewing rhetoric here, but I’m not very fond of these new developments,” the medic said, taking a breath to calm down. “I hope you know what you’re doing with these.”

Shining raised an eyebrow at him. “What do you mean? Twigs or antlers?”

“Hooves,” Setter answered with a grin, gently shaking Shining’s foreleg off his back. “You’ve got snow melting right through my coat. Damn, this sucks.”

The unicorn chuckled, retrieving his hoof. “Well, sucks for them even more.” By now, barely a handful of elks stood to either side of them. He waved his foreleg, and the guards spread out, assuming their original formation once more. “For now, let’s just say we found them on the street and decided to take them home.”

“Sure. You’re the one explaining it if they wet the carpet though.” The medic flashed him a grin, though not for long, having to cover his mouth up with a hoof when an unpleasant gust of wind blew right against his teeth.

“Lieutenant Setterline.” Shining Armor stared at him sternly for a few moments. To lighten the mood, he then stomped his hoof a few times to get the snow off.

Setter chuckled and sighed again. “I apologize, sir. As you ordered.” He turned to the rest of his staff and gave instructions.

The captain had a small smile left on his snout as he looked over his troops again. The conversation kept lingering in his mind, both worrying and amusing him somewhat. Once the formation had been fully assumed, he gave the order to advance, the elk herd following close behind. The smile froze into his cheek, and Shining only removed it when the muscles began to ache.

The scouting teams, Basalt Two and Three, took up positions just beyond the edge of the buildings. Within the hour, the first company of the main force caught up with them. They had finished their tasks back at the port – there were detailed reports for Shining to examine, and thankfully they had found a good, open area to organize before entering the city proper.

The elks following the group cheered wildly upon seeing additional ponies arrive, and they spoke of “the vast armies of the Goddess”, with Shining barely able to calm them down. After a bit of awkward chatter, he managed to convince them to set up camp outside the city and wait for the ponies to call upon them. It was surprisingly easy to talk them into it, but the challenge was to put up with all the fantasy and rhetoric they attached to every word he spoke to them. Still, for the sake of giving his troops some breathing room, it was worth it, and soon they could all focus their attention on entering the city.

Gueldergrad looked odd. There was no better way to sum it up. Even at the very outskirts, at least the few parts of them that were not eaten up by mountains, it towered with its many uniform designed, blocky apartment buildings. Shining Armor caught more than a few of his soldiers simply staring at it while they waited for his order. It did not look like anything most of them had seen with their own eyes before, and even to a seasoned individual, the sight was simply bewildering.

Tall, almost rectangular buildings stood side by side with structures that clearly predated their neighbors by decades, if not centuries. One style of architecture bled into another, and into another, until they dissolved into an odd industrial mush in which prefab concrete apartment blocks prevailed, if only by sheer numbers. Being a Captain and a member of royalty, Shining had his share of art classes, and the architecture specialist in him cringed in pain every moment he spent looking at the mixture unfold on the streets.

Meanwhile, the soldier and prince in him cringed as he looked at the state the streets themselves were in. Had they been in due repair when his troops got there, it would still have been striking, but instead the city was a neverending display of scars. Chunks were blasted off brick buildings, planks and boards covered the doors and windows of stores, massive cracks climbed up the walls of apartments, smoke and flame trickled out of some openings, and piles of broken glass littered the poorly paved, winding streets. Most of them were empty, save for the occasional wreckage and pile of debris in the way. Twisted, burnt out metal carcasses had to be pushed out of the way, some of them still resembling the odd four wheeled machines mass-made by the caprics.

The ground was a nightmare in and of itself. It was freezing cold by any pony’s standard, but somehow, the snow that fell on the capric capital had turned into an unpleasant, disgusting grey mush after it had been on the asphalt long enough. If the property damage was the wounds adorning the “body”, the gooey snow looked like the vile ooze it “bled”, tainted by the metal, concrete, and smog.

Shining split his forces into three columns, one hundred leading each, while the rest slowly advanced behind them in reserve. “One thousand ponies,” he muttered. His gaze traveled along a line of bullet holes in a nearby wall, some of them accompanied by bloodstains. “One thousand. Three hundred of which I still don’t have. That’s all they gave me to keep the peace in this place.”

“You’re forgetting about the guards you left at the port.” Setterline remarked. “And the wounded. And the crazies. And the—”

The captain sighed. “I know, Setter. Don’t remind me.”

It took almost an hour before they came across any signs of life. A few lanterns winked up ahead, and some of the apartments had light seeping out of the windows as well. A goat would trudge across the street every now and then, covered from head to toe in thick clothing. They merely cast a quick glance at the approaching guards before hastening their steps and disappearing within one of the buildings. Eventually, the street led to a large square, which had been repurposed as a marketplace of sorts. Dirty and rickety stands were strewn about, most of them closed, and some of them showing signs of damage that definitely were not caused by the elements.

Shining halted the column again when he heard hoofsteps approaching. Unlike the soft pattering from before, this was a series of heavy thumps from a group moving in unison. Moments later, a quartet of caprics rounded the far corner, wearing baggy, blue and white vests, most of them rather worn, dirty, and even incomplete. They had batons hanging from their belts, along with what looked like smaller versions of the mobsters’ rifles.

Upon noticing the guards, the goats only paused for a moment before continuing as if nothing were out of the ordinary. One of them approached a stand, which an elder goat was busy locking up. They chatted idly, the young buck giving a smug grin and chuckling, while the elder was clearly agitated by his presence. At one point, the former rapped the stand with his baton, making the old goat gasp and stumble back. The youngster and his companions laughed, spat a few more words at the civilian, and marched away.

“Where do we start?” Bonnie asked.

Shining huffed and shook his head, his eyes still trailing the group as they left the marketplace. “Someone must be in charge here. Either those thugs, or an actual government.”

Setter left the column and approached a few nearby caprics. They glanced warily at the guards, but responded without hesitation. “They said the Duma is just a few blocks away,” the medic replied once he returned. “We need to ask for general secretary Provolozhny.” He took out a piece of paper and quickly jotted it down, handing it to Shining Armor.

“Alright,” the captain replied. He looked around, nodding in approval despite the rather banged-up look of the square, and flicked his headset on. “All squads, set up a perimeter around this area. Ten block radius. Scouting teams are to search that region and make sure this is a safe zone.”

He then turned to the pegasus. “Setter, find a good place and set up a medical facility. Nothing but emergency treatments until we have all the supplies.” Finally, he glanced at the pair of ponies to his right. “Lieutenant Boninite and Lieutenant Brand? You’re coming with me.”

The ponies’ journey took them down a long avenue to another large square with a wide structure at the far end. It was a sight to behold, even despite the numerous scars adorning its surface. Unlike the bland apartments, damage to this structure did far more to ruin its image, and it seemed to have taken a lot more beatings than its closest neighbors. Still, despite the wounds, it still held plenty of its old might and authority.

Shining Armor stepped cautiously on the ornate steps of the wide staircase, which supposedly led to where the current government was holed up. Bonnie and Brand followed suit, each accompanied by a pair of guards from their respective squads, keeping a sharp eye on either side of their ascent. Once they reached the top, however, it no longer seemed all that necessary.

With the knowledge of Capric history in mind, Shining could see how the state of the building was almost poetic. This was Gueldergrad’s central civil command, and by far the most luxurious, exalted and decorated building in the whole city, while the city itself was the crown jewel of Novy Rubezh. Even museums should not have been able to compare. By all means, the contrast should have been massive, even more so now that the streets had been brutalized.

Instead, the halls of the Duma – a fine piece of real estate that the general secretary received for free upon election – were a perfect match for the streets outside. As the group progressed through its corridors and ascended a ruined staircase, the various scenes of destruction became all the more vivid and inventive.

“Permission to speak freely, sir?” Brand asked quietly. His eyes kept scanning the windows to their side, every single one of which was broken, letting the icy wind have free reign inside. Their hooves knocked aside the fragments of bricks and cobblestone, neither of which were part of the Duma’s architecture, but could be found in abundance on the streets and apartments outside.

“Go ahead, Lieutenant,” the captain said without looking. He was busy shaking his head at the portrait of a previous general secretary, or at least what little of it could be seen among the crass drawings all over it. Maturity was never the strong suit of any rioting crowd.

“Should we start looking for bodies, or do we stay sharp for an ambush?”

“We’re looking for the government, Lieutenant.” Shining Armor gave a small sigh. “Or whatever is left of them. Either way, we need to know for sure.”

“Affirmative.” The tall grey pegasus turned to his soldiers. “Stay quiet and watch for any movement.”

The group did not have much luck in finding anyone. The meeting hall and most other public affairs rooms had been reduced to scrap, and some even showed signs of a fire breaking out inside. Many a wall was littered with hastily drawn graffiti or plain words. Shining could not understand any of it, save for a few words he assumed were names when he tried reading them, but he had some good guesses at the contents. Bit by bit, he began to share Brand’s concern. Perhaps the Duma would provide little more than a grim reminder of how their predecessors failed the challenges they would now have to face.

Still, the captain’s spirits did not falter, even if they were not particularly high. The group had been exploring the building for next to an hour by that point. If there was anyone inside, they would have either made their attack, come out in peace, or hid away in fear. The goat mob did not strike Shining as great tacticians, so he doubted they would wait this long to make their move. Then again, that said nothing of any other factions in this city, if there were any.

One of Bonnie’s crystallites suddenly halted and raised a sparkling hoof. Her and the lieutenant exchanged quiet looks, and Bonnie herself turned to face Shining. She made a series of subtle hoof gestures toward the captain, while everyone else went completely silent and still. The shiners had keen senses, so it was best not to disturb them.

“A couple of presences,” the gestures told the unicorn. “Directly below.” It made sense – directly below, in the basement, was where they would have checked last. They just had not gotten there yet. If the crystal ponies only sensed it now, however, then whatever was hiding down there must have been major.

Shining inquired about that with a gesture, but only received a shrug in response. He nodded at the others and set off, quickly moving down the stairs and past the ruined offices back to the entrance of the Duma. Finding another passage off to the side, they soon found themselves in the dilapidated maintenance areas. Shining nearly gagged when one of Bonnie’s ponies opened the comparatively ugly and unremarkable door, and the whole squad was stricken by a wave of foul air. Even Brand’s soldiers – including Brand himself – jerked their heads back slightly.

Communicating with gestures again, now just to avoid having to open their mouths, they advanced through the damp, narrow corridors. They were clearly out of order, quite morbidly so for a maintenance area. The air itself had more dust and mold in it than oxygen. Rusty pipes and valves ran along the walls at almost every turn, of which there were many. Weak electric lightbulbs that hung off thread-thin cords illuminated their path, but threatened to go out every few seconds. Then again, their glow was so weak that the crystal ponies were a more useful light source.

The one that sensed the presence lead the way, lighting it up for convenience’s sake. Thankfully, there was not much debris in the way, so the bulky, armored ponies had no trouble getting through. At least, debris is what Shining assumed it was. As they neared the supposed center of activity, there were more and more and more clumps of dead wires sticking out of the cracked walls. At first, they looked like either damaged wiring or unfinished maintenance work, but later there were large bundles hanging out of the ceiling or the walls. At one point, they were so numerous and tangled that they completely blocked the ponies’ path, forcing the lead shiner to gain some momentum and rip through them. Right after she did, Shining noticed a few strands of barbed wire sticking out of the bundles, no doubt responsible for the brand new scratches on the mare’s armor. One of the stallions in Brand’s squad could not help but wince as he passed through the opening after her.

Shining Armor, on the other hand, gave a satisfied hum. Barbed wire meant that somebody was definitely holed up here, trying to keep others out. Whatever threat that implied, he was still happy to know this would not be a waste of time.

Moments later, they arrived at a more solid obstacle. A large door barred their path – an intricate mechanism covered in gears, more a circular opening than a door, in fact. From behind it, Shining could hear faint noises. It was a shelter – the government’s shelter, most likely. The captain gestured for his soldiers to take up a loose formation and tapped the surface of the metal firmly.

The metal rang in a deep tone, and the voices on the other side went silent. The group waited for a minute before trying again, but the door did not open, nor did they get any response. Sighing and coughing to test the air, Shining spoke up:

“Bonnie, find us a way to open this.” He grimaced, the air tasting bitter on his tongue. “Whoever’s in there won’t need this shelter anymore. Brand, keep an eye out.”

“Understood, Captain. We’re on it,” Bonnie replied. Her own senses appeared to be immune to the noxious air. “You’ll want to stand back, though. We might knock some debris loose.”

Shining nodded and stepped back. “Of course. At your discretion, Lieutenant.” Behind him, Brand had already gotten his two guards to step away. Once they had given her enough space, the orange and blue crystal pony knocked on the huge door. Two lunging headbutts followed.

“Alright… Just like demolition class,” she spoke to her subordinates, albeit the Captain could barely hear her behind the echo. “Keep your necks safe.” It was odd – he was certain they were surrounded by tight, crumbling concrete walls, but the echo was far too metallic, almost artificial in how it kept ringing in his ears. The material of the door had to be something else.

Surprisingly, it did not take more than three coordinated headbutts until a low hiss came from the mechanism, followed by a loud, obnoxious screech as the gears turned and swung the door open. The heavy slab of metal took a while to get out of the way – enough for the ponies to get back in formation, having to look both unthreatening and be ready to face an ambush at the same time.

After half a minute of painfully slow movement, the shelter door revealed a male goat standing behind it. He was relatively big, the top of his head balding, and his beard was bushy, ginger, and very unkempt. There was a bell-shaped tie on one of his horns, and one around his neck, with the latter tied the other way around. He had massive, bruise-like blue spots under his eyes, which stared directly at the ponies, looking oddly clear compared to his disheveled look. An expensive-looking suit adorned his body, covered in various liquids. It apparently was not the first time, judging by some older stains and the dreadful smell that emerged from within the room.

Shining Armor was confused, and even somewhat concerned, until he faintly recognized the face of the goat, despite how swollen it was. The hours he had spent reading through the intelligence reports had him come across a photo of the same face countless times, and he allowed himself a sigh of relief. The mouthful of foul air he inhaled made him regret it soon afterward.

“Are you general secretary Provo… loshniy?”

The goat hung his head and gave a curt nod. “Yes, Provolochniy,” he muttered. “You come to take my head yet?”

“No, sir. We are here on a peacekeeping mission, and we’ll need your…” The unicorn leaned forward slightly to peek beyond the doorway. “...full cooperation.”

The goat mouthed the word with a baffled look on his face. “Peacekeeping? My Equestrian is good, Kapitan, but I don’t know what you mean with that word.” He lifted a hoof, halting the ponies just as they tried to enter, and he looked back over his shoulder, shouting something.

“Вылезайте, народ! Не по нашу душу пришли, слава Земле-то.” Moments after he spoke, his companions revealed themselves, all dressed fancily and disheveled like he was. The lead goat stepped back, letting the ponies get a good look at the interior. Cardboard boxes were strewn about, some acting as makeshift bunks, but most of them were impromptu tables. Empty tins of food littered the floor, and even more frequent were bottles, plastic and glass. The far end of the room contained shelves stocked with supplies, only a fraction of which had been spent so far.

“Here, come in. One horn is better than two,” Provolochniy said with a sigh, showing them to a corner that looked slightly presentable. It even had a proper desk. “Those want us dead. What do you want, though?”

Shining Armor tagged along, followed closely by Brand’s soldiers, who hesitated little despite the torture the shelter was for one’s nose and mouth. Thinking of how to explain things, the Captain glanced at his XO, who simply shrugged. “We are…” he began, “Well, we received reports of trouble in the city, and we are here to restore order.”

The goats paused in the middle of setting up food and drinks, turning to glance at each other. They stared at each other’s similarly swollen, sweaty faces for some time, one of them even having his glasses slip down his nose. Then, one by one, they began to snort and chuckle in cold tones, as one would try to laugh while facing the gallows.

The general secretary himself laughed the most heartily. He slumped into his chair behind an actual desk, grabbed his bottle, poured a generous dose of the clear fluid into his glass, and raised it to the ponies. Shining Armor had to stifle a coughing fit from the fumes emitted by the drink, and that was in a room which already stretched the definition of “foul”.

“Na zdarovje, Kapitan. I wish you the best of luck.” He downed the glass and gave a small grunt, his cheeks reddening slightly. Despite how vile the drink seemed, the goat showed no further reactions, and even the flush went away within a few seconds. Shining blinked, looking over the rest of the goats’ faces for a moment. They all seemed to share a similar set of swollen cheeks and bruised eyes, with Provolochniy firmly in the lead, his face the bluest of them all. Looking more closely, Shining sighed when he noticed a hoof imprint on one of the snouts. It seemed no older than a few days, and the room was in use for much longer than that.

“What do you mean?” he asked. His hoof twitched as he resisted the urge to ask if they let any other “guests” in before the ponies.

The goat snorted. “What do you think we’ve been doing here for the past six years? I had over twenty predecessors, and only three of them lived long enough to resign.” He tapped his hoof on the desk. “This place? This is what they’ve reduced us to. This shelter was meant for if… if… if one of your Princesses went insane again, something of that order. Our Duma… you have probably already seen what they’ve done to it.”

The ponies stared in shock, only Brand and Shining Armor seeming to take it in stride. “Who is behind all this?” the latter asked.

“That... cursed ‘High Strung’,” the goat spat. His hooves made quotation marks in the air, which almost made him lose his balance and fall out of the chair. “Уродище крысомордое, век бы его не видать.”

“And what do they want?”

“I wouldn’t know. Nothing is enough for them. Never has been, not since they moved in, him and his pony ilk.” Provolochniy stifled a hiccup. “No offense, you’re okay. I don’t think you’d qualify them for ponies, anyway.”

Shining grimaced at the thought, but he stayed on track. “Maybe you should have tried negotiating with them?”

He gave another cold laugh. “Negotiate? Another word I don’t understand. Not anymore, anyway.” He nodded his head upwards, to where the streets would have been. “These animals? They don’t negotiate. They don’t listen to anything but bullets and kicks to the face. Before they herded us here, there was a school they attacked. They hung every adult and took all the kids away.”

Bonnie gasped in shock. “They did what?”

A silence came over the ponies. Shining glanced over his shoulder at his companions. Brand’s eyes were fixed on the head of the less-than-acting government of Novy Rubezh, an odd, predatory look in them, while the guards behind him remained stoic, if a bit disturbed. Bonnie and her own ponies frowned in a mix of anger and disgust, but they too remained silent. Shaking his head, the captain eyed the food and drink stocks of the Duma’s shelter, followed by its inhabitants, with their torn suits and drunken odors.

“General secretary…” Shining’s voice faltered for a moment as he fought the urge to gag. “We’ll be moving you out of here. From here on out, you’re under our care and protection. You and the rest of the government. And until we have new orders, or we find that your own armed forces are able to sustain the situation…”

At this point, Provolochniy already bowed his head and sighed. “...we will be in charge of getting Gueldergrad back on its hooves,” Shining went on. “You will help us if you want to prove that Princess Celestia was right to let your people put you in office. The same applies to everyone else.”

The goat shook his head and mumbled. “Так точно, Kapitan.” He even tossed in a left-hoofed salute.

“Come again?” Shining said in a more stern voice. It was more to calm Brand, who had already taken a step toward the drunken goat, than to demand any discipline from the pathetic residents of the shelter.

“Sir, yes sir.” Provolochniy took in a breath and stomped a hoof on the desk, gaining the attention of his colleagues. “Так, ребят!” he brayed while climbing out of his chair. “Поднимайтесь давайте, все, конец халяве. Закрываем контору, укрываем поляну. Вывозят нас. Эй, вы, дети подземелья, вы слушаете вообще? Да я—”

His banter went on even as he stumbled into the tight corridor outside, the others close behind. None of them looked too happy, but the presence of armed foreigners convinced them not to waste much more time.

It was already dark by the time they walked the officials back to the encampment in the marketplace. In the glow of the crystal ponies, the ministers and secretaries of Novy Rubezh stared silently at the bleeding, torn streets of their capital city, sour looks forming on their faces. Shining wondered if that was a result of the grim sights, or just having to bear the cold winds after being dragged out of their comfortable hole once more.

But what puzzled him most was the name Provolochniy had mentioned. “High Strung”. The intel reports mentioned it as well, but details were extremely scarce beyond what the pony did in Equestria, and that was not much to begin with. Why his name would inspire such venom here, he could not imagine.

“Is it from Basalt One? Have they found it already?” the Captain inquired hastily, rushing along with a Celestite guard to their radio setup.

“No, sir.” The guard struggled to breathe in the middle of his sprint. “It’s the ship herself. They’re on air again.”

They rounded a few corners, reaching the corner where the radio crew had set up a makeshift communications center inside an abandoned cafe. Shining quickly relieved the pony on duty, bent over the desk laden with sparkling devices, and spoke into the receiver:

“Atoll, this is captain Shining Armor. Respond.” He breathed deeply after the galop and struggled to keep his voice calm. The lingering aftertaste from the fumes in the government shelter did little to help.

“Sir!” an agitated voice broke through the thin layer of static. “This is lieutenant Coalcutter.”

Shining gritted his teeth. A thousand things wanted to come out of him all at once. Frustration, questions, and orders for the troops he had almost considered lost at this point. Eventually, he calmed himself, grateful that the officer he left in charge of the Atoll was alive and well, and he spoke in an even voice. “Status report. Keep it brief.”

“All crew and equipment accounted for. We’re... anchored off the north coast of the peninsula. No enemy activity.”

Shining let out a breath he had been unconsciously holding. “Any place you can make it to the shore?”

There was a lengthy pause. “Yes, sir. But it might take us a while if we—”

Shining could not help stomping his leg on the radio board, fortunately avoiding any switches. Even so, the voice on the other side trailed off. The captain shook his head, partly at himself.

“Offload everything and everyone, lieutenant. Right now. I want them all here in the next 48 hours.”

“Yes, sir!” There was no hesitation this time, though the captain could still clearly notice tension in the voice.

“You’re going to contact us again at exactly 0800 the next day,” Shining said. “And I will want your civilian captain to explain what the hay happened at the port. That is an order.”

“Um, sir… Our— our captain, she’s—”

“I am aware that she is a civilian – you are ordered to have her report to me.” The unicorn barked. “Is that clear, lieutenant?” He resisted the urge to growl, the memory of the Atoll abandoning them at the harbor still fresh in his mind.

“...” The radio fuzzed.

“Lieutenant? Lieutenant Coalcutter, can you hear me? Respond!”

Nothing but static came as a response, and the green glow of the crystal labeled “signal” had switched to a dark yellow one. Shining Armor gripped his head with his hooves and let out a long groan.

“They had better have a good excuse when I hear from them again,” he muttered to himself.

The journey back from the cafe was a lot slower and less frantic, yet somehow the captain felt a lot more drained by it. Ponies rushed back and forth all around him, hauling supplies, shouting orders, or inspecting the city from on high. Within minutes, he even heard the sounds of tools banging and whining in the distance as some teams got to work on setting up defenses and dwellings. Everything turned into a blur of motion and noise, yet oddly enough it made the desolate city seem a lot more calm.

He gave a deep sigh and trotted down the street leading back to the marketplace. His eyes slipped closed, and he held his breath, letting the drone of activity give him a moment of peace. For a moment, he imagined he was back home, helping the locals work on the Crystal Fair stands. A smile tugged on his lips as he saw vibrant colors under the warm sun. His wife bickered with him about the quality of the catering, and he could not decide whether he should join the jousting tournament first, or—

Shining’s ears perked up when he heard laughter nearby. His eyes snapped open, and he paused, looking around for the source of the noise. Peeking around the corner, he noticed a couple of militia laughing while pointing up at one of the apartments. Following their gaze, the captain noticed a crystal pony mare leaning out of a window. She was busy hanging up some flower pots, while an old doe behind her murmured thanks and blessings non-stop. Further up, some lookouts were setting up on the roof, no doubt the other members of the mare’s squad.

After the last pot was in place, the mare climbed back inside and waved off the old goat, even as she wept happily and tried to pull the pony into a hug. The guard then paused when she noticed the chuckling of the goats on the street. Peeking out again, she gave them an icy glare and shouted at them to get lost. They yelped and looked away, stumbling off.

“How did it go?” Setter asked. Shining’s head jerked a little, as he did not pick up on the medic approaching him from behind.

“Swimmingly,” he grumbled. “This city is in the hooves of a bunch of drunk cowards hiding in a hole.”

“Hmf...” The pegasus smirked. “Not anymore.”

“Nope.”

“And the Atoll?”

“They’re on their way.” Shining huffed and sat on his haunches, his forehooves rubbing his temples. “And there will be some explaining for them to do.”

Setter placed a reassuring hoof on his shoulder. “Don’t be too hard on them. We have no idea what happened just yet.”

“Yeah…”

They watched the crystal mare join her comrades on the roof, who cheered for her “successful mission” playfully. She laughed with them and took over the watch, letting her squadmates lie down and rest. Further down the street, other guards mingled with the locals after taking care of their duties. Despite their cheerful advances, the reception was mostly cold, unless the locals happened to be children, or there was alcohol involved in the interaction.

Setter nudged the captain in the side. “Almost makes you feel at home, doesn’t it?”

“Almost…”

There was a burst of static nearby, making them blink and glance to the side. A radio buzzed to life in an old pub to their left, making the elder goat snoozing next to it jolt awake. He fiddled with the knobs until a male voice broke through, speaking in a sly, almost mesmerizingly warm tone.

“Good welcome, citizens of Gueldergrad. And an especially warm welcome to our newest guests, the famed Royal Guard of Equestria.”

Moments later, the same voice began to echo throughout the streets from a whole array of sources. Hidden loudspeakers, PA systems, and even the average radio placed in a top floor window, the volume turned all the way up. The guards nearby looked around in confusion, a few of them hefting their weapons. Shining Armor stood still, a grim look on his face as he looked up. The streetlights flickered on, and in the distance, he spotted a large billboard, its own lights coming to life and revealing the smug grin on a familiar face, staring right back at him.

“I am High Strung.”

Gueldergrad’s current population is approximately 350,000.

Slow Riot

View Online

Equestria had seen no armed conflicts for the past 1003 years.

Entry 34

March 14, 1003

Another day, another photo. Time well wasted. I did want to catch some shots of the crew and the guards when we set sail, maybe even the ship, but not like this. Didn’t expect to be stuck here for so long, and by now I have to save film for when we get to the city.

If we ever get there.

I guess it’s a good thing not many of these ponies like me taking pictures. Leaves me even less compelled to bother when it always leads to shoving and yelling. The last one said he’d throw me overboard if I did it again. Maybe then I could swim ashore and actually get some work done. Speculating over useless books and reports isn’t enough anymore.

Out of boredom, I tried asking some of the sailors if they knew anything or heard any stories. Most of them said it’s all humbug, but the locals are really superstitious, so I might get something out of them.

We’ll see. I hope we will, anyway. This is getting on my nerves.

Entry 35

March 15, 1003

Word is spreading among the crew. Looks like we’ll finally get off this rust bucket. After so many weeks spent riding huge waves, drowning in fog and staring at a blizzard through the window, I can’t wait to get my hooves on solid ground again. Getting seasick so much that I could barely sit here, writing this damn thing. There’s not a whole lot to document when you’re stuck on a ship, and the best you can do is stare at the coast. And all there is out there is white and black. Mountains and snow. That’s what I’m looking forward to now, setting hooves on land that is mostly snow and pines and goats. Of all the places where this could show up in, it’s in here. Until I get anything solid, there won’t be an awful lot to write. Yet here I am, and I think I’m writing to myself right now.

‘The smokestacks in the distance spewed clouds a few shades darker yesterday.’

Not exactly front page material. Insane asylum though, yeah, that’s for sure, this whole journal.

I managed to talk to the officer in charge of the guards. Lieutenant Coalcutter. Caught me slipping into the bridge with some of the civilian crew. He got angry at first, but I guess he just couldn’t be bothered. Can’t blame him. He looked even worse than my reflection in the morning, and that’s saying a lot.

While there, I overheard him talking to his superior on the radio. The conversation got pretty heated. I hope the bastard on the other end wasn’t too hard on him. Coalcutter is a nice guy, if a bit neurotic. I didn’t get much out of him afterward. He said we got our orders, and we’re offloading everything and everyone starting tomorrow.

He sounded very nervous. Are we in trouble?

Entry 36

March 16, 1003

***

I’m writing on the move. Don’t want to mess up the details by trying to remember later. Gonna keep it short and simple.

The lieutenant rounds everyone up and tells them to grab their stuff. We’re moving out as soon as we get the boats ready. Pegasi teams are already hauling cargo onto the shore.

I talked to Coalcutter after the meeting. Hated to nag him, he didn’t look too happy about it, but he let me hitch a ride on one of the boats. Guess it’s time to say goodbye, Atoll. No offense, but I don’t want to see you again until the journey home.

The shore looks no less bare and lifeless than it did from the ship. There’s a few factories further along the coast to the east, while the mainland is to the south. The troops are forming up and stacking the cargo for other teams to move it inland.

They’re sending squads to scout ahead. I’m tagging along with a small reserve unit. A bunch of ponies from Fillydelphia, I think. Some of them could pass for kids who should still be in school. They’re teasing me, asking me to take photos of their NEVERMIND

fuck these guys

Strange thing happened. I overheard one of the officers mentioning “civilians”. He was on the radio, asking why we need to take detours. Coalcutter just told him to shut up and get moving. When I asked, they said the troops from the other ships “cleared a path,” but some parts are still too risky, so we need to go around them.

My legs are freezing off. Who in their right mind would want to live here? Maybe no one actually does. Almost every village we passed was empty and buried in snow. We passed an old couple going in the opposite direction. They were nice, but didn’t have much to say, except “don’t go to the city”.

Too late now.

I keep seeing smoke in the distance. Sometimes to the left, sometimes to the right. Each time, we go around the other way. No one says anything. At first I thought it must be some villages where goats still live. Fireplaces making smoke and all that. But it was too thick and black. There was too much of it. Can’t help but think of the smoke I saw from the ship. Not a nice thought.

Something is watching us. Every time I look at the horizon, I see figures. Tall, four legs, weird things sticking out of their heads. I’m just a botanist, sure, but they don’t look right to me. Inequine. Sometimes just one, sometimes a dozen. Their movements are like impossible to describe. I prefer when they’re standing still. And boy do they stand still.

Finally, civilization. Gueldergrad’s proud northern district. I’d hate to imagine what hit this place and why. Broken homes wherever you look. The skyline is like a torn up falling apart. More of the black smoke further in. The clouds are glowing orange. I really hope it’s from the streetlights.

We march silently through the streets. Everything is broken. Even the pavement is cracked all over. Smashed and burnt out carts vehicles everywhere. Hoofsteps around the corners, but no sign of who made them. I was expecting cheers, protests, but not dead silence. It’s like we’re walking into a giant corpse. I’m getting creeped out.

Scratch that. I’d prefer silence now. The deeper you go, you’ll find signs of life. Just barely. Eyes peeking at you from every window. Bitter looks from the goats on the streets. They move aside, never saying a word. Kids dance around us, laugh, try to poke us. Their parents drag them away, but more keep coming. The guards stop to play along, but the officer tells us to keep moving.

Every corner has some locals huddled together around a fire. They’re skin and bones, eating stuff that looks worse than anything I’ve ever thrown up.

I tried to talk to them, but they just grumble something and give the cold shoulder. Do they hate us so much, or is there really nothing to say? Can’t be the language barrier. One of them had some really nice things to say about my mother.

We pass through a square. Some kind of residence? I see makeshift walls and roofs. They’re all smashed, knocked over, and on fire. Dark black puddles and stains everywhere. There’s a hanging, metallic smell mixed with burned hair. I have a bad feeling about this. Something bad must have happened not long ago.

I hear someone crying. There’s a doe clutching her child and screaming her throat raw. Her voice mixes with some demented tune playing on the other side of the street. I see a band of a half-dozen overgrown goats, dressed in pitch black, swinging brasiers and lanterns around while they sing. Or moan? I can barely find words. This is getting far too surreal.

A pair of old hags show up. They try to drag the doe inside. Her kid isn’t moving. We pass another smashed hovel, and I see a cloven hoof sticking out.

We’re past the square. A group of angry goats bleat at a few thugs in matching vests. This quarter is so ruined, there’s not even any fire anywhere, and all the lights are broken. Whatever those goats have on their vests, it glows in the dark. Might help if there was any traffic. Now it looks like bullseyes painted on their backs.

I’d laugh if I wasn’t right next to it all. The crowd screams like a pack of rabid timberwolves. There’s a squad of guards holding them back, while their leader tells the militia to keep moving. Probably for their own good.

They knocked over a power pylon of some sort. Can’t imagine what was going on here. The wires dangle right over our heads, and I swear I can hear them buzzing. Now I am laughing. I’d even say I got the chills if I wasn’t already freezing. Looks like the local humbug is infecting me.

The squad leader says they’re setting up camp in this district, and it’s best if I don’t hang around. Gotta follow the camps until I get to the market. The captain will be there.

“We cleared out the last two Botva hideouts in the district. No casualties.”

“Good work. Set up defences and report any movement. I’m sending Granite Three to back you up as soon as they’re done getting off the ship.”

The guard nodded and hurried off, while Shining let out the breath he had been holding the moment the guard turned the corner. “‘Good work’ my flank. I don’t like this one bit,” he muttered.

“What’s wrong?” Setter asked, having dismissed his own subordinates.

“Everything. We’ve been poking the city all day, yet things are quiet. Too quiet.”

As if on cue, the various hidden speakers all over the city buzzed to life again, giving the third broadcast since morning.

“Well, unless you count that,” Shining added. The smug voice that High Strung kept using made him frown and grit his teeth. It was the same speech as the first time, then every time since, listing the horrible sins of the goat leadership, welcoming Equestria’s soldiers, and promises that his cause is just and solely for the benefit of the city. After a few minutes, it turned off.

“But still,” he went on. “You can see how tense these guys are every time we’re around. They’ve got to be plotting something by now. Even now, with Granite and the other squads finally out of the water, we’re spread dangerously thin. No way they don’t see it.”

Setter said nothing. They watched a column of guards hurry down the street toward their objective, an engineer team close behind them, laden with tools and supplies. Shining waited a few more beats before he nudged his friend. “What are you thinking, Setter?”

The medic glanced at the sky, taking note of the dark clouds being herded overhead by icy winds, and turned to meet his gaze. “Can we blame them?” he asked.

Shining gave a deep sigh and shook his head. “No. Not really. I’d be angry too if I had a foreign army trampling all over my home, while a bunch of fanatics torch the countryside.” He huffed. “Why did I ever talk to those loonies? Just hope Coalcutter really did get a clear path now.”

Setter gave a half-hearted smirk. “Maybe we shouldn’t have come here?”

“It wasn’t an easy decision.” Shining nodded slowly. “But we can’t start complaining now. We have to do our jobs and hope for the best.”

“Right.”

The captain managed to smile as well and nudged Setter again. “On that note, any good news for a change?”

“Kind of.” The pegasus kicked at the pavement idly, nudging a small pile of half-melted snow. “We managed to whip one of the hospitals into shape. The goats might be giving us ugly looks, but they don’t mind having a place to get patched up. I’d say we—”

A distant, thunderous boom rang out, and the pavement shuddered under their hooves, making a few glass shards and loose bricks rain from the nearby buildings. Both ponies’ heads snapped up, and Shining’s heart skipped a beat when he looked in the direction of the noise. He had at least three squads in that area, so—

“District twenty-two is under fire!” a voice yelled in his ear. “Unidentified hostiles! Sir, do we engage?”

Shining blinked, wondering why they would even bother to ask. Still, the voice gave him some comfort, as it did not sound like screams of agony or panic. “Negative!” he replied. “We’re on our way. Granite Four and Six, move to D-22 on the double!” He clicked off the device and turned to his friend. “Come on, let’s go!”

Setter quickly grabbed a medkit, and they took off, galloping down the street to the east, braving the mangled asphalt and dodging any of the wreckage that had not been cleared away yet. Above their heads, a squadron of pegasi rushed in toward the fresh column of smoke now rising above the rooftops. They circled around it, keeping to a safe altitude until the rest of the troops caught up.

The district they approached was one of the countless “modern” sections of the city closer to the edge. “Modern” in this case referring to hideous concrete slabs piled onto each other to form tall, cheap apartments, as opposed to the more elegant structures closer to the center, most of which were now reduced to piles of rubble. Gunfire echoed off the walls, becoming louder with each block they passed. Strangely enough, the few civilians they noticed did not seem too hasty about seeking cover.

They slowed down just before reaching the last corner, and Shining carefully peeked around it, the sounds of fighting now dangerously close. To his surprise, the guards assigned to the district seemed completely out of harm’s way, hesitantly peeking over their cover to see what was going on. Further ahead, a large, cube-shaped brick building was crumbling apart under a hail of bullets, along with the occasional explosion from larger projectiles.

One of the guards told the others to stay down, then ran up to him. “Sir, they’re attacking the Militia station!”

Shining took deep breaths, slightly winded by the gallop. “Is anyone hurt?” Behind him, Setter and one of the squads he had ordered turned the corner as well.

“Unknown. There’s still some heavy fighting going on. They look pretty shot up though.”

Shining glanced at Setter and frowned. “Anyone from our own, Corporal,” he said to the guard.

“No, sir.” The stallion glanced over his shoulder at the clouds of dust and smoke, the occasional tracer round zipping through it, leaving a bright trail. Goats bleated as they frantically returned fire or tried to crawl away through the holes blown in the building. Equine figures closed in from the surrounding streets and rooftops, using the roadblocks and wreckage as cover while they kept bombarding the militia. “It’s… strange. We moved our position several times. No matter where we are, they avoid us as far as they can.”

Shining blinked and turned back to the guard. “Come again?”

“We had two squads on the street, caught in the perfect spot for a crossfire ambush. Those freaks on the rooftops never fired a shot. Every bullet was thrown at the militia.” The corporal shrugged. “They seemed very careful not to hit anything pony-shaped.”

“Understood,” Shining replied. Truth be told, that was a lie. Things seemed all the more ridiculous, but he did not have time to discuss it with the guard any longer. “Hold position. Wait for my order.”

He waved at the squad behind him and radioed the pegasi above. The troops on the ground carefully snuck closer to the battle, making sure to stay low and use every bit of cover, despite the lack of any fire in their direction. The moment he had everyone in position, Shining jumped to his hooves and lit his horn, forming a large purple shield in front of the guards. They followed suit, weapons aimed and horns glowing, only to pause moments later, staring in confusion.

“Where the hay did they go?” Setter asked.

“This is Basalt Two. Sir, the attackers are pulling back.”

“What?” Shining’s head snapped up, his eyes locking onto the lead pegasus in the squadron, who was hovering in place while she tracked something in the streets below.

“They’re moving back through District 25. Shall we engage?”

“No. Keep eyes on them and report on every move. Make sure they keep moving away from us. Shining out.” He flicked the radio off and cursed silently. The last thing he wanted to do was to be lured into a trap. If they wanted to play games, they would do it on his ground of choosing.

The guards nearby quickly made their way to the ruined building, searching the wreckage for those caught inside. Setterline ordered his medics to tend to the wounded goats, surprisingly without any disgust on his face. “Gonna get them patched up,” he told the captain while trotting back. “My staff needs experience in treating wounds from these weapons. Every little bit counts.”

“Very well,” Shining said. He looked away and nodded at a half-broken sign depicting High Strung, his smug grin pockmarked with bullet holes. “This is nuts. Fourth time in two days that he puts on a show. They blow up a militia station and have us right where they want us, yet we weren’t even touched. What in Tartarus do you think he’s up to?”

The medic followed his gaze and chuckled coldly. “No idea. Maybe he does want to negotiate?”

“Hmph…” Shining frowned at him. “And what does he offer? Mindless propaganda, while his fanatics blow things up?”

Setter glanced at the surviving militia, still cowering next to the piles of rubble, some already tossing their weapons and uniform away. “If you ask me, he’s taking out the trash.”

“Yeah,” Shining muttered. The speakers nearby started up again, a familiar voice making him grind his teeth together. “And leaving his own instead.”

Now I can’t sleep. Got guards all around me on watch and I can’t sleep. I swear there’s something wrong here. Better yet, no, fuck it. These halfbaked “soldiers”, I saw their snouts drop a mile as we went through the city. I know plants, sure, but I’ve got eyes and I can look at a pony. I might be sleepless and rambling to myself in my journal in the middle of the night - if it is night at all, who knows with the damn weather, won’t stop raining and it freezes as soon as it hits the ground - but I think it’s them who are cracking.

As far as they’re concerned, I’m the dead weight here. The more of this we see, the less they’ll want to keep a stallion whose job is to investigate a brain-plant-whatever-thingy. If I’m sleeping, it's with my back against the wall.

They captured some of the fanatics last night. Caught them sneaking through the alleys to hit another militia barracks. The guards popped out of cover, all geared up for a fight. Shields, fire spells, crossbows, and lances wherever you looked. Those crazies on the ground didn’t even flinch. Their leader just smiled, and they dropped all their weapons. He came forward and said High Strung “sends his regards” and wants us to talk to his “messengers”.

Last I looked, they were carrying guns, not a flag of truce.

Still, kooky ones like these are probably a sensation back home. I’m supposed to work on my research, but this seems too good to pass up. I’m gonna ask the officers if I could interview one of the prisoners.

The walk back to the headquarters was slow and uneventful. The city remained as lifeless as ever, yet Shining’s legs twitched every now and then. He could still see that familiar grin on the leader’s face while Boninite’s troops were leading him away. One moment Shining was excited to finally catch the insurgents off-guard, the next he was the one that felt duped.

He sighed upon nearing the square once more, the same one they first walked through after entering the city. Since it was the closest position to the road back to the port, and currently the area most deeply within the pony-controlled parts of the city, he chose to set up his base of operations here.

The vendors were allowed to stay, despite the wide tents and hastily erected walls now taking up most of the room. The goats seemed nonplussed by the guards marching back and forth constantly, some even trying to make business with any soldier they found off duty. Several of his officers asked to clear the place, but he would not risk provoking the locals any more than he already had.

Fortunately, his own quarters were isolated from this chaos. One of the buildings surrounding the square was an unfinished shopping center with plenty of offices on the upper floors. He passed the guards in front of the revolving doors, almost cracking a smile as he trudged along the dusty red carpet leading to the stairs. A couple of abandoned stores even had advertisements written in Equestrian on their windows. The locals were indeed quick to adapt.

After exchanging his helmet and armor for a simple uniform vest and leggings, he left his private room and moved into the adjacent office. The officers inside stood up from their desks, and he quickly waved them back down before taking a seat at the center. Stacks of papers awaited him, reports that needed to be discussed, decisions had to be made, and orders had to be sent out. The radio set up in the far corner droned constantly as his troops continued to stream into the city.

Minutes stretched into hours, though there was an odd comfort to the tedious work, as it allowed his mind to work on autopilot and not wrestle with the idea of where he was. He glanced up for a moment, giving his eyes a moment of respite. Boninite dismissed a crystal pony who had knocked on the door, and she returned to the captain’s side at the desk. “Onyx reports we’ve established a perimeter at the bridgehead. No contact.”

“Good, good…” Shining leaned back to rub his eyes, and his jaw tensed up as he struggled not to yawn in front of his subordinates. “Send the engineers after them. Set up defenses and make repairs if needed.”

“Yes sir.”

He sighed and leaned over the large map on the desk again, portraying the large city with the individual districts outlined. Scribbled lines, arrows, and circles littered the printed sheet, covering up most of the already inconsistent, oddly bulging circular mess that hugged and crawled onto some of the nearby mountains. His eyes blinked rapidly from the constant and lengthy strain, the white thoroughly stained by red near the edges.

The crystal mare stepped closer. “Everything alright, Captain?”

Shining chuckled. “You worry too much, Bonnie. Anything else?”

Bonnie nodded her head at the door. “Lieutenant Coalcutter is waiting to see you.”

“Understood.” He stepped away from the desk and waved at the rest of his staff, who all got up and left the room. Bonnie was the last to exit, and a thin earth pony in grey armor stepped in afterward.

“Sir!” He snapped to attention. “Coalcutter, reporting as ordered.”

Shining did his best to show a neutral expression as he walked within a few paces of the stallion. “Are your squads in position?”

“Yes, sir. Last ones should arrive within the hour.”

“The cargo?”

“Still moving what we can. The ‘package’ is too heavy, we’ll have to circle back to the port first.”

“Very well. Now…” He moved closer, and the guard visibly tensed up. “Care to explain what happened? Why you sailed around without any orders to do so?”

“S-Sir… with all due respect… we did get an order from you.”

Shining frowned, making Coalcutter struggle not to blink. “What are you talking about?”

“We got a radio transmission on the command channel. Badly distorted, but it was a clear order in your voice that we need to find an alternate landing spot.”

“And you just went along with it?” Shining’s frown deepened. “Why didn’t you respond later, or send out pegasi?”

Coalcutter started to breathe a bit faster. Oddly enough, it was clear that he was less intimidated by his superior, and more by the situation not making any sense. “We tried, sir. The channels were blocked, and the weather was against us. Crew said we were lucky we didn’t end up smashed on the cliffs.”

“Any chance of sabotage, or mutiny?”

“No, sir. The equipment was fine, and the crew followed orders.”

“Obviously not.” The captain sighed. “It doesn’t matter now. Thank you, lieutenant, that will be all.”

“Sir?” The stallion blinked in surprise, no doubt expecting to be a part of an investigation, if there would even be one.

“Return to your squads. We’re pushing further into the city tomorrow, and we’ll need every pony we have. Dismissed.”

Coalcutter hesitated for a few moments, then gave a quick salute before hurrying out the door. Boninite returned, the worried look on her face ever-present.

“Sir?” she began.

“No, I’m not alright.” Shining went back behind the desk and leaned onto it, forehooves rubbing his temples. “You know what this means, right? They’re hacking into our command channels now.”

The mare glanced at the radio in the corner. “‘They’?”

“Someone out there is working against us. Either that High Strung, or someone who’s not just all-talk.” The captain followed her gaze. “They picked the Atoll specifically. For all we know, they might even know about the ‘package’.”

TRANSCRIPTION OF INTERVIEW #3:

Q: “Alright… where do I… yeah, I’ll just leave it here. Hope you don’t mind I’m using one of these.”

A: “Sure.”

Q: “Okay. Give me a name and city of origin first.”

A: “Blaise Fore. Hoofington.”

Q: “Your line of work?”

A: “There or here?”

Q: “How about both?”

A: “Used to do mining jobs. Now I’m a soldier.”

Q: “One of High Strung’s… Legion, was it?”

A: “Yeah. Not a fan of the name, but if it gets the message across…”

Q: “Right, right. So, Blaise… what made you decide to leave Equestria?”

A: “I did it because I like eating. I like not having a starving wife and kids I had to leave with my brother-in-law while I scrape together what little I can.”

Q: “So you felt betrayed by the country?”

A: “That was High Strung’s obsession. I don’t blame Equestria. They didn’t hold a grudge or anything. There’s just so much they can do for ponies down on their luck.”

Q: “Didn’t you try to reach out to the princesses? I heard Twilight Sparkle herself went down after the riots happened.”

A: “By that time, it didn’t matter. The whole point of the movement changed. We were failures, but we didn’t want to be cradled by the government. We’d go out and make our own luck.”

Q: “So you chose Gueldergrad?”

A: “Something else that kook was obsessed about. War-torn place, harsher than Tartarus itself. But it was also an opportunity. We could come here and set things right. Build a future for ourselves without the help of others.”

Q: “And did it work?”

A: “At first we were getting along. Goats don’t mind us that much, and they liked a helping hoof. But then those sons of mules on high started poking their nose into everything. Sent the Militia after us when we didn’t pay ‘rent’, as they called it. So we fought back.”

Q: “That’s how the Legion formed, right?”

A: “If Friendship won’t cut it, then we’ll do it the hard way. These bastards deserve to get kicked out.”

Q: “Right. So… what about the Royal Guard? What does High Strung want from them?”

A: “That’s what we came here to tell you. But apparently the captain doesn’t want to talk to us. What are you, his lackey, or something?”

Q: “I had nothing to do with that. I’m just a reporter for—”

A: “So that’s how it is. We finally try to make our nation proud, and they send the Guard over to lock us up like a bunch of crooks? What next, they’re taking us home for a time out?”

Q: “It’s just a misunderstanding, I’m sure.”

A: “Right. You sound just like those bleating bastards. ‘We burned your house down, but it’s all just a misunderstanding.’ You don’t get it. We’re fixing this place, with or without your help. And if you get in our way, we’ll stand our ground. Equestria was our birthplace, but this is our home now, and we’ll defend it no matter what.”

“No movement, Captain.”

“Thank you, Brand.” Shining Armor leaned against one of the wrecked cars on the road and stretched his forelegs. This close to the edge of the pony-controlled half of the city, a lot of the debris had not been cleared away yet, and some even got piled up on purpose as improvised roadblocks. The large buildings of the city center gave way to smaller apartments, the highest only five stories tall, concrete walls blending with the gray afternoon sky.

“With your permission, sir,” the lieutenant said. “You shouldn’t be here. This isn’t a secured area.”

“It’s not a warzone either,” Shining muttered. “I’ll be fine. Just needed a walk to clear my head.”

He glanced at the officer next to him, who stood firmly without moving a muscle, his hawk-like eyes unblinking as they tracked a couple of goats further down the street. His expression was as stony as ever, so Shining could not really gauge how Brand felt on the inside. Given the cold atmosphere lingering around the warhawk and his entire squad, he was not sure he wanted to either.

Following Brand’s gaze, he watched a middle-aged couple smack their children on their flanks to herd them back into their apartment. They cast a few glances at the guards nearby, but otherwise ignored the ponies’ presence. Still, Brand watched their every move until they were out of sight.

“Think they’re up to something?” Shining asked, half-jokingly.

“I don’t know, sir,” Brand replied. His tone was firm, hinting at suspicion rather than doubt.

Shining smirked, and was about to speak again when the familiar crackling of the speakers rang out all over the district.

“Good afternoon, fellow citizens of the mighty Gueldergrad. I am High Strung, your ever loyal servant and protector.”

“Oh great, not again.” He lifted his foreleg to bury his face in it. Brand did not move a muscle, though the air around him did feel a lot more tense.

“Unfortunately, today’s broadcast carries darker news than what I can usually offer. While the valiant fighters of the Legion continue to root out the corrupt thugs of the old regime, I have extended a welcoming hoof to our guests, urging them over and over again to join our struggle and bring harmony to this place once and for all.”

Rolling his eyes, Shining looked around, hoping to find something to focus on and reduce the speech to background noise. A group of guards were gathered around a unicorn with a rather frustrated look on his face. At first, the captain almost mistook him for an officer, since he was wearing one of their spare winter coats, but the face was unfamiliar.

“Who’s that?” Shining asked.

Brand glanced over as well. “A journalist. ‘Linebreak’, unless he faked the name. Found him talking to the prisoners, so we put him under watch, away from the headquarters.”

“Right… and the coat?”

“He was freezing. Soldier or not, we tend to our own.”

“Yet they have rejected it. My ambassadors are held captive, denied the freedom we promise everyone in the city. It pains me greatly, but the truth is undeniable: our visitors are not here to help. They are aggressors, just like the filth they collaborate with and shelter, while we suffer in the cold.”

A pair of guards emerged from a nearby apartment, one of them balancing something on their back. A hysterical doe barged out after them, showering curses and tossing a few hooffuls of trash. The captain watched as the soldier set down the box, revealing it to be a primitive radio. The doe just kept bleating and thrashing against the other guard, her eyes fixed on the device.

“Care to explain that?” Shining said, his tone now going serious.

“Searched a few houses nearby,” Brand said plainly. “Found at least three local families hiding speakers, and even some leaflets.”

“Suspicions or not, I didn’t give you permission to start harassing the locals, Lieutenant.”

The pegasus met his gaze. “I didn’t even mention the weapons we found, sir.”

“Friends, we all know what the aggressors deserve. Are you about to let someone take away what we have been fighting for? Are we to submit to our old captors when we were about to expel the new ones?”

“Weapons?” Shining tensed up, already on edge from High Strung’s new speech. “Where? How many?”

“No, my dear citizens. With aching hearts, but with firm resolve, if we must fight our brothers, we will do so to our last breath. We have done so before, and we will not hesitate now.”

I wrapped up four interviews in total before the guards tossed me out. I don’t really blame them, there’s not too much useful in here. These guys seem convinced they’re fighting to save the world or something. I guess it can give a bit of insight on that whole “High Strung” mess for any history buffs out there.

Didn’t get anything new about the local “flora” though, or whatever I should call the stuff. Ponies know even less, though they do mention seeing weird things. Power lines climbing up walls like vines. At first it sounded interesting, but this place is an electrician’s nightmare already, so they’re probably just exaggerating.

While the cold doesn’t get any worse, it just stays terrible all the time. My wardrobe won’t hold up at this rate. One of the officers gave me a spare coat they had. I’d be thanking him if he didn’t also assign a guard detail to me for “safety”. It was only a matter of time before they’d want me on a tight leash. They still let me write though, but I now look like some military inspector with the big coat on and these brutes around me.

Broadcast again. That’s the two things you get: cold, and the constant racket. High Strung is the reigning champion in mindless rhetoric compared to his lackeys. Gotta admit, he’s pretty convincing, and his cause sounds noble enough. Too bad all it takes is one look at this scrapheap for any sane pony to give up.

Strange. He’s a lot more aggressive this time. Trying to sound tough and scare us I guess. It’s been quiet all day though. We’re finally getting some sun too, clouds are breaking up. Makes the whole speech feel empty. Locals don’t look too hyped up either.

I’ll try and meet with the captain after all. Promise to burn my tapes or something if he just lets me go out and research the loc

The tail end of High Strung’s speech was cut off by a series of loud shouts from the far end of the street, followed by the sharp hiss and pop of a flare. The underside of the gray clouds was lit up by a bright red dot making an arc over the rooftops, while the street burst to life with dozens of figures emerging from around every corner, each one carrying firearms of various sizes.

The guards scrambled to ready their weapons when one of the figures leading the crowd aimed a long, tube-like device at them. Shining’s eyes widened when he heard a frantic shout, and he turned to see the journalist hold up his forelegs, waving frantically.

“Wait! Stop!” he screamed. “Don’t shoot! Press! Journalist! Don’t—”

The blast and shower of debris made Shining stagger back, and he quickly threw himself behind the wrecked car. Through the ringing in his ears, he could faintly hear the rattling of gunfire and bullets whizzing past.

“Take cover!” he shouted at the top of his lungs.

A cloud of dust and smoke washed over him from the first explosion, and the ground shook as the wall nearby was obliterated by the second. Everything bled together in a cacophony straight from Tartarus. Brand could be heard yelling at his troops to form up, and they crouched behind anything that could withstand the hail of bullets.

A knot formed in Shining’s gut when a sickening noise rose above the gunfire. He turned around and saw the guards caught in the initial blast staggering to their feet, their armor mangled and stained with blood. A figure among them thrashed on the ground desperately, gurgling as his forelegs tried to grab at his throat. A dark red stain formed around his neck, spurts of blood making it larger every second.

The sound he made sent a deep chill through the unicorn’s body. Despite the chaos, he could see and hear everything. The twisted face of the journalist. The sound of him choking on his own blood. His groans as he tried to grab the wound. Around him, goats were bleating and waving from the windows, cheering for the murderous group heading their way.

Shining’s teeth were aching. He did not even realize he had them clenched. Without a word, he lit his horn and burst from his cover, the purple shield he had raised wavering as dozens of bullets glanced off it. He winced from the strain on his horn and held his ground while Brand formed up with his troops behind him.

Something massive slammed into his barrier, and his cry of pain was drowned out by a thunderous boom. His legs shook, digging into the soil as he struggled to stay upright, and he growled as he willed himself to move. The smoke cleared, and he spotted the lead figure fumbling with his shoulder-mounted weapon. The captain sped up to a jog and got within a few yards before he dropped his shield and pounced straight at the attacker.

He heard a cry of surprise, and they tumbled to the ground. He quickly tried to pin the other’s legs down, but the bulky armor on his hooves was meant for bludgeoning, not grappling. Up close, he could see that his opponent was a pony. Dark brown eyes stared up at him, filled with an unnameable hatred. Shining could feel him try to reach for something.

Don’t do it.

His hind leg kept his opponent’s own pinned, and his knee brushed against a device on the insurgent’s hip. The pony was reaching for it.

Don’t do it!

Around them, he could hear his soldiers and the insurgents grunting and crying out in pain, gunfire mixing with the sounds of crossbows and magic discharges.

Don’t make me—

The pony under his hooves bared his teeth, and Shining heard something click. He reared up, and his forelegs locked together, coming down as one, straight onto the pony’s snout. He heard a wet crack, and the body under him jerked. He came down again and again, smashing his armored forehooves into the mangled face until all movement ceased.

The captain gasped for breath and stumbled back, leaving bloody hoofprints, eyes fixed on the remains of the face. Bullets and rockets tore through the air around him. His ears ached as frantic voices screamed into his skull.

“This is Granite Two! Under heavy fire! Sir, what are our orders?”

“Onyx, this is Basalt Two! Be advised, we’re seeing large hostile forces heading your way!”

“Captain, they’re right on top of us! Permission to engage, or we’ll have to withdraw!”

His head felt light. The guard protects ponies. The desperate pleas for orders turned into a scream of white noise in his throbbing skull. What are we doing here? His eyes lost focus, and every inch of him shook as he felt something foul welling up inside him.

Why do you have to leave now, Shiny?

He lifted a hoof to his headset, and the radio went silent as he opened the command channel.

“Take them out.”

The gunfire stuttered and halted. All around, the insurgents were frozen in shock as the massive armored figures rushed toward them, shrugging off bullets and tearing through any unlucky enough to be in their path.

A soldier sprinted ahead and thrust his lance straight into a goat’s chest, the tip ripping through flesh and bone as it came out the other end. The momentum slammed the corpse against one of his comrades, which the same guard proceeded to crush under his hooves. Salvos of red and white hot beams sliced through the air, setting fire to body parts or vaporizing them entirely. Pegasi teams picked off those on the rooftops, either with a hail of bolts or by simply ramming them, sending them hurtling into the carnage below.

Moments after he gave the order, Shining galloped forward, everything around him becoming a blur as he aimed his horn at the nearest figure that did not look like a guard. The purple beam tore right through the goat’s midsection, leaving just enough air in his lungs to give a weak yelp. He dodged as a mare blindly swung her rifle’s butt at his head, and the unicorn grabbed his opponent with one hoof, while the other proceeded to shatter her bones one by one. The pony screamed, dropping as her forelegs were crushed, then went silent when the final blow came down on her throat.

He looked up from the body, taking deep breaths, the deafening roar still in his ears. Faintly, he could hear the insurgents bleating and shouting all around him. Some voices belonged to ponies, howling words that he could understand. In the distance, flares were sent up all over the city. Their bright red glow illuminated dozens of pegasi descending upon crowds below, tracer rounds zipping past them from all around. Fresh columns of smoke rose above the rooftops, and the steady drumming of gunfire and explosions drowned out every other sound.

“The coat.”

Shining could barely hear what Bonnie said. He did not reply. Linebreak’s body was right where he last saw it, splayed out on a pile of rubble. His forelegs were limp, one of them resting against his neck, near the spot where a large shard of metal had pierced his throat. His pale face was twisted into that of pure horror, mouth half-open, eyes wide, as if frozen in an inaudible scream.

“They… I think they mistook him for an officer.” The mare’s voice shook. “With all those guards around him…”

Behind them, guards were busy rounding up every civilian that had not escaped already, along with any insurgents that managed to surrender quickly enough. Many of the armored equines limped or had to be carried by their comrades. By some miracle, or perhaps twist of fate, not one of them had suffered a mortal wound.

Shining Armor slowly knelt next to the corpse. He raised an eyebrow, noticing the corners of white pages sticking out from under the coat Linebreak wore. Holding his breath, the captain reached in and retrieved a wrinkled notebook, the pages stained with dirt and fresh bloodstains.

“Sir?”

He opened it slowly, and his eyes landed on the title of the first page.

Metal Weeds: A Scientific Analysis of Mythical Flora in The Frozen North

Novy Rubezh is the 18th regional autonomy to receive Equestrian aid.

Assault

View Online

Equestria has expanded its territory by 37% over the past five years.

“Captain Shining Armor? They will see you now.”

The stallion looked up, tearing his gaze away from the tiles arranged into mesmerizing patterns, and nodded at the mare standing by the open door. He stood up, adjusted his uniform, and took a deep breath before slowly making his way through the doorway and into the dimly-lit room. The door slid shut behind him as soon as he was through, shrouding everything around him in darkness.

In the dim haze, he could just barely make out a wide table in front of him. A light snapped on above, illuminating a spot in the center of the room, indicating where he was supposed to stand. His eyes narrowed as they struggled to adjust, while also trying to make out some of the blurry shapes in the shadows. He caught motion behind the table – ponies shifting in their seats and rubbing their chins as they stared at him silently.

He swallowed and firmly stood at attention. “Reporting as requested, sirs.”

There was a brief moment of silence, followed by the sound of papers being ruffled, and the figure directly in front of him spoke up. “Ah yes, Shining Armor. Glad you could join us.”

He nodded.

“Very punctual, even with the last minute change in the schedule,” the figure went on. “And if I remember correctly, the Crystal Empire is almost a day’s journey by rail.”

“I came as soon as I got your message, sir,” Shining replied.

“Indeed you did,” the figure said in a bemused tone. “Speaks volumes about your commitment, and we have yet to ask any questions. I do hope you appreciate us taking the time after you went through such lengths to speak to us.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Your application for the mission had been rejected two times already. We had hoped this would communicate our opinion, but you instead threatened to use the princesses as leverage.”

His legs tensed up slightly. “I wanted to be given a fair chance, sir. It didn’t sound like you even looked at my—”

“Your contributions to fending off the changeling attack during your own wedding, as well as the King Sombra crisis,” a new voice said, coming from his right. Shining winced and hesitantly glanced over, barely making out a shape in the shadows. “We all read the newspapers, Shining Armor.”

The center figure glanced at the other speaker, then sighed and looked back at Shining. “The council decides who it will send to do a job on its own terms, Captain. It is not your position to question them. But since you went through all this trouble and forced us to spare time, please enlighten us. Why do you insist on being involved in this… ‘mission’, which may or may not even exist?”

“Sir, I… forgive me, but my motivations aren’t relevant. I am, however, the most qualified. If I’m not chosen, I at least want to know who is.”

“Quid pro quo, Captain. You insisted on an audience. We wish to to know who we are dealing with.”

He took a deep breath. “We’ve all seen the news. The city is in chaos, and we can’t ignore it now that ponies are involved. It’s only a matter of time before the public will demand action. I know there’s already a plan in place, and I believe the right pony should lead it.”

“The news? Captain, even after Novy Rubezh rose to prominence in our foreign affairs, our intelligence reports were two pages long at most. I know of journalists that have conjured up longer stories about the city in the tabloids. Even so, every word tells us it is an unpleasant place, to put it lightly. No offense to your intelligence, but you have no idea what you’re getting into.”

“With all due respect, the Royal Guard isn’t squeamish. Whatever happens, I’m sure we can get the job done, and done right.”

“You may want to differentiate between yourself and the Royal Guard, Captain,” the other voice spoke up again. “So far, you and your troops have a reputation for sitting by while others solve serious incidents for you. Your involvement does not equal to that of the Guard… and the same applies even more to the involvement of your sister.”

Despite every bit of his training for discipline screaming in his head, Shining could no longer stay silent. “Sir, she has nothing to do with this. I just—”

“We need to send experts, not those hoping to clean the dirt off their record by—”

The center figure raised a hoof, making them both fall silent. “Putting aside the flawed rhetoric… we have no doubts regarding your skills, Captain. Aside from these unfortunate ‘incidents,’ your record is indeed impeccable, and we’re certain you would perform well on this mission... were we to send you.”

The odd emphasis at the end made Shining frown slightly. “You don’t want to send me.”

For a moment, he could have sworn he caught the figures flashing grins. “That may be putting it too bluntly. But your proposal implies military action, or ‘peacekeeping’ if you prefer. Not something we can do on a whim.”

“And not something we can just send royalty to lead,” the other voice remarked. “Imagine what it might seem like to the rest of the world.”

“But if we accept that, then comes the issue with the region itself. This would not be just a flashy parade through Appleloosa, Captain, but a journey into uncharted and hostile territory. And no matter how highly you view your soldiers, there is a risk of failure, as with any assignment.

“It’s part of the job,” Shining replied firmly.

“Indeed. But if someone had to take the fall, we would prefer that it was not you. You’re an excellent officer, not to mention the leader of an important ally of Equestria.”

“You’re a prince, Shining Armor, if not king,” the other voice added. “Or, emperor, I presume?” A chill ran down Shining Armor’s spine as he could have sworn he heard the council chuckling. “We’ve heard rumors of an heir on the way. But there hasn’t been much progress in solidifying the political structure of the Crystal Empire, has there? And that is just two of the many problems that you and your wife have to be dealing with. Why you would want another piled upon your shoulders so eagerly?”

He gritted his teeth. “I’m worth no more or less than any soldier we’d send into the Frozen North. Many of them have children, many are husbands and wives, and they have relatives. Many should be at home and solving their own lives instead of putting it on the line for others. Why should I get to opt out?”

“This isn’t a matter of chivalry, Captain,” the lead voice said. “Nor is it about heroism, regardless of whose name it would improve in the eyes of the public. We need to send the right pony. One who will follow orders and carry them out. One who can adapt to the situation and make the right decisions for the benefit of all.”

“Then I am your pony. The Guard have been standing aside for too long. How long before everyone thinks Equestria is a pushover? If we don’t show that it’s not just six of our ponies who can get things done, what’s going to stop them from thinking the rest can be treated however they want?”

“And now we come back to those six again?” the voice on the right asked. “The other nations are not clueless, Shining Armor. They are bound to see the relation between you and her. By your logic, the best we can hope for is increasing that number of ‘capable ponies’ to seven. Still think you are the one for the job?”

“I concur.” This time, the lead voice did not come to his aid. “Are you sure there are no personal motives?”

Seconds ticked by in silence, and he realized it was not a rhetorical question. “I… pardon me, if I may…” His legs twitched as an odd, ugly sensation coursed through his nerves. The conversation had led to a trap, and he was letting them spring it. “I owe it to them. To her. At the very least I owe them this much… and the same goes for my country.”

He could almost feel the council’s gaze piercing him, waiting for him to speak the words. He had exposed his neck, and on his call, they could sink their teeth in. “I intend to pay my debt, no matter the cost.”

The figure at the center raised his hoof again, and Shining held his breath. The ponies behind the table turned to each other, murmuring and nodding their heads at him several times. He heard the ruffling of pages, and all eyes fixed on him once more.

“Very well, Shining Armor. The council has acknowledged your proposal. Please wait outside until we make our decision.”

He nodded and turned around, squinting as the receptionist opened the door, allowing light from outside to flood one half of the dimly lit room. There was a clear tension in his gait as he walked outside, and he had trouble breathing properly from a constant, almost painful pressure on his chest. He sat down on the bench and hung his head, giving a deep sigh.

“Why did they say ‘proposal’ though?” he thought. “Wasn’t this what they always wanted?”

Minutes ticked by, and his limbs got more and more restless, needing all of his discipline to remain still. He only got up a few times, walking back and forth along the corridor, after which he would sit back down and stare at the doors. After what felt like hours, it creaked open once more, and the receptionist beckoned him inside.

He took up the same position as before, standing tall as he stared down the ponies lurking in the shadows. The two he had conversed with no longer spoke. Instead, a third figure on the left cleared her throat.

“You are to report to Fillydelphia tomorrow with a guard detail of your choosing. One brigade size. Three transport ships are arranged to carry you to Novy Rubezh. You are to oversee preparations, followed by the operation which will be detailed in full on site. Understood?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

He heard the ruffling of pages. “You are to travel to Gueldergrad, occupy the city, and begin peacekeeping operations until the region is fully stabilized. The safety of the equine population has top priority. Casualties are acceptable, but preferably minimal. Understood?”

“Yes, ma’am.” His voice showed no tension this time. Orders were easier to deal with than politics and negotiation.

The mare glanced to the centre figure and nodded. The stallion looked through his own papers and hummed. “You are aware of standard procedure in case you find… anomalies in your cargo roster?”

Shining blinked and gave a curt nod. “Yes, sir. I must report it immediately.”

“Well, I’m sure we can ignore protocol in case of a small error. No need to clog up the whole bureaucratic system over a simple misprint. Wouldn’t you agree?”

His jaw dropped for a fraction of a second, and he shifted on his legs uncomfortably. The Council’s eyes bored into him.

“Captain?”

Shining Armor blinked, the voices coming through his earpiece fading from his focus, turning into a drone in the background as he stared at the flickering lights of the radio set in front of him. His eyes were reflected in the glass over the frequency dial, staring right back at him.

In those eyes, he could see himself, just like yesterday. A face of rage and desperation staring back at him from a pair of mirrors, mere moments before his hooves came down to crush them.

They had pushed back the insurgents, though at a cost. Dozens of guards were seriously injured, some of them still in critical condition. As for their opponents, while the guards held back to wait for their orders, the insurgents exchanged caution for bravery. With great enthusiasm, they emerged from cover and advanced, and were thus left exposed when the soldiers were finally unleashed.

The Botva were lowlifes that only cared about themselves. If the fight was not against the weak and helpless, they would rout at the first sign of trouble. High Strung’s “Legion”, as they came to be known, was far more committed to its cause. Their efforts were fueled by a selfless goal that they valued above their own lives. But their devotion aside, most of them were still just farmers and laborers willing to put up a fight. None of them could match the strength and skill of trained soldiers, whose only weakness until now had been their restraint.

It was more of a slaughter than an actual battle. The Legion’s bravery only served to keep them from retreating in time, allowing the guards to overrun and cut them down by the dozens. Some officers reported that High Strung himself had to announce to his troops to fall back and dig in.

While Shining knew he had even taken part in the melee itself, he could not remember any part of it. Whenever he thought back, all he could see was a red haze and a loud roar in his ears. His pulse and breathing picked up the pace, and his limbs tensed up, until he shook his head and focused his mind on something else.

“Captain? Sir, do you copy?” He could faintly hear the officer on the other end ask his radio operator if there was something wrong with the channel. “HQ, is anyone there?”

“Uh… roger that,” he blurted out. “Proceed to waypoint Delta. Keep it quiet. Command out.”

Shining huffed and leaned back from the desk, putting down the mic. Shaking his head, he stumbled back to his table and looked over the map of the city, crossing out another one of the circled areas. After the blurry memories of close combat, he recalled having to radio his forces to stand down, lest their rampage spread them across the entire city, where they could be surrounded and wiped out. Even so, the Guard had pushed rather deep into the Legion-held parts of the city yesterday, and he had spent all night making sure they could solidify the new front lines.

His ears twitched as he heard the door across the room click and swing open. Shining stifled a yawn and looked up to see Setterline trudge in, giving a lazy nod at the other officers in the room as he passed by. His eyes followed the faint trail of bloody hoofprints leading back toward Shining’s table, then off to the side where his scorched and battered armor lay in a pile.

“You alright?” he asked.

“Yeah… I’ll live.”

“Good.”

Shining could see the tension in his friend’s gait, and the bitterness in his tone nearly made him wince, especially when the obligatory response slipped out.

“And you?”

Setter hung his head and gave a frustrated sigh. “Never been better.”

Shining narrowed his eyes, following Setter’s gaze down to his legs, where the captain noticed faint bloodstains all over the medic’s hooves. No doubt he was too exhausted to clean himself properly.

“How bad?” Shining asked.

“They’ll all make it,” Setter replied with another sigh. “It seems the Guard are made of tough stuff after all. The shiners in particular. Good thing we got some practice on the bleaters too.”

Shining nodded silently, ears twitching when Setter gave a cold laugh.

“Funny, isn’t it?” he went on. “Having such close anatomies, yet we think we’re so different?” He lifted a hoof to rub his forehead. “Well, if guns are easy to handle, I hope we don’t ever go up against unicorns.”

“What do you mean?”

“Those… Legionnaires, or whatever you call them? They weren’t so lucky… even when fire spells are nice enough to cauterize the wounds they cause. And as it turns out, living in this frozen wasteland doesn’t make you immune to frost magic… or giant rocks flying at you with the speed of a Wonderbolt.”

“Right…” The captain let out the breath he had unconsciously been holding. “Good work. Thank you.”

“A pleasure, sir.” Setterline approached the table and glanced at the maps. “So what next?”

“I’m working on it.” Shining nodded his head at the technicians working with the radio equipment nearby. “Been tracking High Strung’s broadcasts all night, trying to triangulate his position. We need to get to the heart of this insurgency and take it out, before it blows up the entire region.”

Setter nodded. “Uh-huh… What’s left of it.”

Shining’s hooves tensed up, and he struggled to keep his voice calm. “We didn’t start this,” he growled. “The insurgents did.”

“They’re not insurgents. They’re criminals.”

Shining blinked and looked up from the map, staring in shock at his friend.

“They attacked us,” Setter went on, his tone showing disgust. “Without warning. Without any provocation on our part.”

“I… yeah, but… didn’t you say—”

“They’ve been at war with the local government, which was a den of parasites. We can’t judge them for that. But when we arrived, we didn’t shoot first. We may have locked away their messengers, but we didn’t hurt them.”

“Yeah…” Shining looked back at the map, eyes tracing the lines drawn between the various sectors now under the control of his troops, and the areas of the city collectively labeled ‘HOSTILE TERRITORY’. “I can’t even imagine what’s gotten into them. We did everything we could to not come across as a threat. We cleaned out… what, a dozen Botva hideouts?”

“That we did,” Setter replied half-heartedly.

The captain shook his head. “This makes no damn sense. We offered a hoof of friendship the whole time. What do they hope to accomplish by starting a war with us?”

It was Setter’s turn to remain silent. The two of them stared at the map for a while, until eventually Shining leaned back, rubbed his eyes, and gave a long yawn.

“So… what do you think?” he asked.

“We should leave,” Setter replied almost immediately. “As soon as we can.”

Shining’s eyes widened. “Leave? Now? We barely just arrived.”

“Ponies fought against ponies, Shining. They died. The same ponies we came here to protect.”

“We don’t protect those who open fire on us for no reason. My mission is to protect those who these criminals, as you call them, are putting in danger.”

“This ‘just cause’ of ours won’t last.” Setter placed his hoof on Shining’s shoulder. “Look, we can quit while we’re ahead. Just pack up, put everyone who is willing on the boats, and go home. Nopony will think less of us.”

“Don’t you get it?” Shining gritted his teeth and pulled away. “We can’t leave. We’re supposed to be here. If we quit now, this whole region will fall apart. A lot more ponies will die, and who knows what else it might set in motion.”

The medic narrowed his eyes. “So that’s how it is, huh? We’re staying until the bitter end?”

“If that’s what it takes, then yeah. We are.”

“And what end will that be? What kind of victory do you expect here?”

“We find this High Strung bastard and make him answer for his crimes.”

“And our own?”

Shining took a step closer, almost nose to nose with his friend. His gaze looked like it could rip right through the pegasus, yet Setter remained firmly in place. “You’re not the only one with a conscience around here, Lieutenant Setterline,” he growled. “No need to keep reminding me.”

With that, he turned away and approached the comm station again, picking up the headset. Setter grimaced, his clenched teeth showing for a moment, and his limbs trembled slightly before he shook his head and stormed out of the room. Shining pretended not to even notice as he put the headphones over his ears.

“...my warriors continue the struggle, even as their old home, their old friends, come to attack them. The faith of the Legion is stronger than ever. And why should it not be? This is their new home, and the injustice they suffered in Equestria will haunt them no more.”

With an annoyed grunt, Shining removed the headset and turned to the technician next to him. “Corporal? I’m tuned into the command channel, right?”

The stallion blinked and leaned over, checking the dials on the device, and he gave a hesitant nod. “Yes sir.”

“Then what the hay is this?” Shining said. He gave the headset to the technician. “I thought we had this problem fixed already.”

The stallion listened into the earpiece. “Sir?”

“I can still hear him,” Shining said. When the technician just blinked in confusion, the captain’s frown deepened. “High Strung.”

“Oh…” The technician tapped his own headset and fiddled with the knobs on the radio. “I’ll… check it again, sir.”

“Thank you,” Shining muttered. Putting the earpiece back in place, he cleared his throat and pressed the button to speak. “Granite Two and Four, report.”

My attempts to identify this mysterious flora (if it is even a living part of the ecosystem) began with the analysis of local documents, as well as folklore. Cross-referencing these could provide enough clues to determine whether we are talking about a creature of some kind, or some other phenomenon mistaken as that of a life form.
A capric folk tale dating back for centuries speaks of Zhelesad, a goat who was obsessed with planting trees into the frozen, inhospitable lands of the North. After many of his experiments failed, he planted what appeared to be saplings made of metal, and when neither water nor sunlight would make them grow, he fed them his own blood. Their roots began to spread, their trunks grew higher and higher, and their branches reached far and wide. But their hunger grew as fast as their size, and Zhelesad could no longer quench their thirst, as he wanted to see his garden in its full bloom. Goats from nearby villages began to disappear, and many claimed to have seen the crazy gardener stalking them at night, beckoning them to come and visit his ‘masterpiece’. Those who did would never return. In the end, with most of his blood and sanity drained, Zhelesad offered himself as the final meal, just before the family and friends of his victims could reach him to get vengeance. It is said that the trees burrowed straight into the ground right after they devoured him, leaving no trace of the cursed garden, though many who walked through it afterward claimed to hear the whispers of the lunatic and the creaking of metal branches in the wind.
Some evidence suggests that these stories were a form of public outcry in response to the ever increasing rate of industrialization Novy Rubezh went through. Around the time Equestria was still relying on squadrons of ex-military pegasi for weather control, the caprics had already developed elaborate steam machinery fueled by coal to help them survive in the harsh Frozen North. This is difficult to confirm, however, due to the severe shortage of written records, as many of the capric regimes in the region have worked to erase such “rebellious material” from public memory. The story itself is pieced together from multiple fragments that I’ve managed to gather and compare.
The main reason I would consider this worthy of analysis is simple - I doubt the goats were advanced enough to have means of survival outside industrialization, nor were they ignorant enough to oppose it. There has to be more to the origin of this tale. That, or the goats really were stubborn enough to survive without technology for generations, letting them make up cautionary tales about the machines that could turn these cold wastes into gold.

Shining Armor sighed and closed the notebook, then opened it back up to glance at a smudge on the bottom of the page. It was dull brown, yet the faint smell emitting from it did not resemble mud. Looking away, he closed the book and put it back into his saddle bags lying nearby, after which he took a deep breath and made his way toward the double doors ahead. A gentle nudge was enough to make the flimsy construction open up, the rusty hinges giving a sharp squeal.

Stepping inside, he found himself before a loose semicircle of chairs that had been brought over from the adjacent rooms, a pony seated in each one. In the dim light from the windows behind him, he could see that the majority were hunched over, resting their heads on their forelegs or rubbing their eyes, giving long yawns or chatting with each other, not seeming to notice or care about the presence of their commander. Given the dark haze and the scarce movement, as Shining looked at them, he could almost believe the ponies were all asleep.

Or dead...

He frowned slightly and lit his horn, encasing the rope that controlled the blinds in his purple aura. The mechanism gave a soft whine as the canvas lifted, bathing the chamber in the full morning light from outside and making the assembled ponies groan in response. Each one had circles under their eyes and wore expressions of varying degrees of bitterness as they all fell silent, fixing their gaze on the captain.

“Good morning, fillies and gentlecolts,” he began. Despite the almost playful choice of words, there was no humor in his tone. He was well aware that trying to get chummy with his troops after keeping them – and himself – awake all night would not earn him a hint of respect or sympathy. “Before we begin, I’ll need a quick status report from all squad leaders. Do you have everyone and everything in place?”

One by one, the lieutenants gave their brief reports. Everyone was accounted for, every soldier where he had directed them to be, and they were standing by for further orders. Shining then glanced at Bonnie, who was standing to his right and doing her best not to be noticed, despite the ethereal glow emitting from her body.

“Morale?” he asked.

She hesitated for a few moments. “My ponies are… battle ready, sir, and the reports I got from the squad leaders show no insubordination.” Eyes alternating between the grumpy audience and her superior. “Just… everyone’s a bit tense after what happened.”

“Understood, thank you.” Shining turned back to the others. “Sorry to say, but our work from last night is far from done, and we’ll be needing everyone to put in some legwork.” No further complaints came, and everyone sat up straight, eyes and ears peeled. Though they did not seem delighted, there was a job to be done, and doing it well demanded their attention.

The captain focused his magic once more and projected an image of his map in mid-air. The colors provided a clear contrast between the parts of the city controlled by the Guard and the Legion. “As you are all aware, we’ve been attacked on almost every front yesterday.” Bright dots highlighted dozens of spots along the border between the two regions. “The insurgents took heavy losses and got pushed back, allowing us to advance deep into their territories.”

As he spoke, the bright blue region indicating the areas under the Royal Guard’s control expanded, consuming several districts formerly under the red coloration of the Legion’s influence. Within moments, nearly half of the city had been wrestled away from the insurgents, most of the fronts now running along the winding Pergol River that bisected the city. Few of the Guard’s advances have crossed it, and despite the large gains, no one in the room seemed in the mood to celebrate.

“Our progress was virtually uncontested, but it’s not like the Legion was trying to put up a fight. Outside of a few pockets of resistance, they pretty much gave these areas away, pulling out as soon as we pressed our attack.” Shining’s frown deepened. “So far, they haven’t surrendered any vital assets to us… and every territory we gained, our forces just got spread more and more thin.”

The tension in the air was replaced by a more subtle, yet unpleasant weight. Everypony stared at the map, their eyes seeking out the districts held by their own troops, silently wondering whose position the Legion would find the most ideal to strike at. Shining was in no mood to hand out any false hope. “We can’t be sure how strong they really are, but considering the game they’ve played so far, it’s only a matter of time before they hit us again. That leaves us with two options – draw them into an open engagement in force and gain a decisive victory, or find something vital to them and take it out.”

Cut off the head of the snake, and the body dies, he thought.

“Over the last few days, we’ve been using their leader’s transmissions to triangulate their source, tracing it to the old industrial district.” A portion of the map was highlighted, and the image zoomed in to show a specific structure well within the Legion-held territories. “Our forward scouts sent into the area have confirmed that this building plays a central role in their activities. From what we’ve gathered, this is a power plant and hub for the city’s power grid, pretty much responsible for keeping the lights on for most of the city.”

A blurry image of the structure was projected next to the map, showing the bulky concrete giant with a tall metal spire at the center.

“And there’s more,” Shining went on. He pointed at the spire. “Apparently, High Strung and his followers have modified it to have an additional function: radio relay. This tower, as well as any underground cables he has control of, allows him to broadcast into every corner of this city, not to mention the entire region. This is our target.”

One of the officers raised his hoof, and when Shining nodded, he pointed at the picture. “Is he there too?”

The captain shrugged. “We can’t know for sure, though there’s a good chance he will be. Given his image, he’s likely to pick a place that stands out. And even if he won’t show up, we can just turn the lights out on any other assets he has left.”

A few of the officers exchanged glances, not all of which were confident. Shining cleared his throat to turn their attention back to him. “Since we don’t know what exactly we’re up against, we can’t make a direct assault. A deep strike might work, but there’s a high risk of the squads getting cut off, so it’s our backup plan at best.” He highlighted a section of the front between the two factions. “The plan is this: we break through their lines here, pushing as deep as we can. If they slow us down, a small team will infiltrate their territory, make their way to the power plant, and take it out.”

Glowing arrows appeared on the map for emphasis, penetrating the border between the territories to indicate the lines of attack against the Legion’s positions. A closer look revealed each arrow to be labeled according to the Guard sections they represented, which let each officer know where their ponies would have to attack.

“Once we’ve broken through, all forces are to attack on every front,” Shining went on. “You need to keep their forces tied up while we get the job done. Keep the lines organized. I don’t want anyone pushing too far and getting cut off. Questions?”

Coalcutter, having been squirming in his seat nervously until now, almost immediately raised his hoof. “Who will be leading the team?”

Shining raised an eyebrow as he stared at the stallion, and a smile tugged on his lips. “I will.” Intense murmuring was set off among the audience, but he stomped his hoof to keep them quiet. “And Lieutenant Boninite will accompany me… as well as you, Coalcutter.”

The stallion’s eyes widened, and he leaned back in his chair. “Me, sir?”

Shining nodded. “I’ll need a pony on point. Someone who knows Capric and is good with urban environments.”

The lieutenant gulped and returned the nod, breaking eye contact with his superior and fixing his gaze on the floor. “I’ll… do my best, sir.”

“Glad I could count on you.” The captain offered a reassuring smile – a rare display that morning. “Anyone else?”

After a few moments of silence and a motionless audience, Lieutenant Osprey raised his hoof. Tension built in Shining’s limbs, as the officer in charge of the recon teams could have only one current pressing issue on his mind.

“Yes?”

“Any word on Basalt Five?” Osprey asked.

Shining bit his tongue, delaying for a few moments, then shook his head. “Not yet. We’re still trying to contact them, but it’s possible the weather damaged their equipment.”

“Sir… with all due respect, I know Gregale and his squad. They’d have come back by now, through any hail or wind. Maybe the enemy found a way to jam their—”

Shining cut him off. “As soon as we find anything, you’ll be the first to know. For now, focus on your mission.” He kept Osprey silent with a stern look. “Anyone else?”

When nopony replied, he shut off the spell that projected the images in mid-air, then turned around and approached the large windows of the meeting room, staring at the view of the city. Fresh columns of black smoke could be seen rising above the rooftops, along with the flickering of the occasional flames among smoldering ruins. These were the remnants of last night’s violent clash, and the fires had yet to be put out, except few were free and courageous enough to tend to them.

“Dismissed,” he said.

The chairs ground against the concrete floors, as proper tiling never got installed in the half-finished building, and one by one, the exhausted officers filed out of the room. Shining closed his eyes and exhaled, doing his best to not even think about what awaited them. Moments later, he blinked as he heard hoofsteps approaching him instead of leaving out the doors.

Setter came to a halt behind him and cleared his throat. “Captain, I formally request that I accompany you on your mission.”

Shining gave a long sigh and turned around. “I formally request you cut out the formalities. Gonna drive me nuts if I can’t talk normally to anyone.” He rubbed his forehead. “Look… I know you’re not happy about all this, but… we’ll just have to deal with that later. I need your commitment, same as everypony else.”

The medic nodded curtly. “Fair enough. The question still stands though.”

“Right.” Shining lowered his hoof and looked his friend in the eyes. “Why do you want to come?”

“You will need an interpreter. Coalcutter knows some Capric, but just barely.” Setter walked up to the window to gaze at the damaged skyline. In spite of the violence yesterday, on top of decades of destructive conflict, the steel and concrete giants dotting the city wore their old and new scars with pride, and they stubbornly refused to crumble. “And you’ll need a medic too. Both the commander and the executive officer of this entire force are going off on a mission deep behind enemy lines. Someone should be there to keep them alive.”

“I understand.” Shining lit his horn and tugged on the strings to close the blinds, returning the room to the dim haze from before the meeting. “Request denied.”

Setter wheeled around, pausing for a moment with his mouth open as he held back his suddenly rising temper. “Why?” he said in a low voice.

“You said it yourself. Both the second-in-command and I are off on this ‘quest’, and I’d rather not risk the life of the chief MO as well.”

The medic frowned. “I’m not the only one who can handle a scalpel. Think my life is worth more than theirs?”

“If things go south for us, having a medic won’t make a difference.” Shining made his way toward the door. “I need you back here a lot more.”

Setter looked away and nodded slowly. “Very well, sir.”

“Good. Thank you.” The captain paused next to the doorway and held the rusty door open for his friend. “Shall we?”

Without replying, Setterline made his way out of the room. “Cut off the head of the snake,” he remarked along the way, “and you’re still stuck in his pit.”

Shining stared after him, mouth half-open as he struggled to think of what he could reply. Nothing came, and he cursed under his breath as he watched his friend round a corner and disappear from view. The captain used his hind leg to slam the door shut, and he hurried back to the command center, desperate to escape the bitterness that lingered in the dark room.

A pale yellow sun rose sluggishly over the rooftops, the occasional puffs of black smoke dimming it for a moment as the morning breeze kept nudging the tall, dark pillars. An eerie silence hung over the city, with none of the goats emerging from their homes to go about their daily routine, as though some extra sense told them what was about to pass, and that they should stay in the relative safety of the battered structures. Those more observant would realize that no such ethereal power was at work – the goats simply knew when and when not to come out, having experienced war and civil unrest countless times before.

Even so, the stillness of the city was chilling for those who did dare venture outside, especially those who had plans to enact that day. Plans that now felt like they had failed to remain a secret, and everyone around them was onto their scheming. They held their breath, glanced at their watch, and turned their gaze to the icy, steel-colored water of the Pergol River just below, a sickly twin of the sun above forming on its wavering surface. The shadow of the Ledoviy bridge shrunk slowly as the glowing orb ascended, sunlight poking through the numerous holes torn through its deck.

At precisely 7 AM, Oriental Daylight Time, a bolt of purple light shot above the rooftops on the southern bank, and dozens of figures ascended from between the buildings further back. They arranged themselves into a wide formation, at first rising to dizzying heights, then suddenly going into a steep dive, rapidly gaining velocity as they neared the ground. Mere seconds before impact, they pulled up, zooming above the winding river at breakneck speed. A loud boom rang out, and the misty air around the figures exploded outward as they broke the sound barrier, cutting swathes in the surface of the water in their wake.

Large waves crashed against the far bank as the pegasi reached it in the blink of an eye, now passing over the first of the buildings. Their remaining windows shattered violently, the airborne shards glinting in the morning light as they showered onto the streets, and the structures all rattled from the powerful shockwave.

“Pyroclast, start the barrage. Quartz One and Two, stand by.”

A grim voice came through Shining’s earpiece. “Roger that, Captain. Initiating bombardment.”

A low, rising hum started up behind the city blocks lining the south bank, followed by a series of bright flashes, reflecting off the dull clouds overhead. Shining could feel faint tremors pass through the ground, and his ears twitched as haunting shrieks passed above, like a morbid echo of the pegasi teams. He glanced up to see a dozen comets with red tails, trailing black smoke as they hurtled above the river. They crashed into the buildings lining the bank, the hard outer shell of each comet lasting just long enough to tear through the walls before the superheated interior detonated. Several of the buildings had their faces torn off, while others collapsed entirely. A second volley followed, decimating the survivors and taking a toll on the blocks further in.

“All units, green light!”

The engineers were the first to rush to the shore, dozens of regular troops close behind. The front line held their spears and halberds at the ready, while those further back primed their crossbows, the crystalline tips of the bolts emitting a faint light. The two Quartz teams lit their horns in unison, and a pair of glowing pathways appeared on either side of the crumbling bridge. Once the light solidified, the troops double timed it across the river, keeping a generous distance between squads to avoid getting bunched up in case of an ambush. Once on the other side, the ponies fanned out, checking the ruined buildings and the side streets for any presence.

“Clear!” yelled one of the sergeants after inspecting a half-collapsed apartment. Other squad leaders echoed him shortly afterward, and by the time the last squad made it across, the entire bridgehead was declared to be secured. Shining let out a sigh of relief. From the looks of it, all the civilians had the wits to leave after the pegasi made their pass, and thus were not caught in the bombardment.

Or maybe they left even earlier? he thought.

Another flight of pegasi passed overhead at high altitude, and in the distance, they could see the other squadrons making passes along the frontline, followed by a chorus of dull booms. Shining frowned slightly as he recognized the sound of his other artillery squads, but no return fire of any kind. Background noise aside, an eerie silence dominated the district as the Guard formed up.

“Granite One, lead the way,” he said over the radio. “Two through Four trailing behind, Five keeps this bridgehead secure. Basalt Three, eyes open up there.”

“Roger that, Captain.”

The first Granite squad marched down the wide street that continued right off the bridge and through the city, another two trailing behind, while the rest of the troops would advance on their flanks using the parallel streets. As soon as the engineers reported that everyone had made it across the light bridges, they got to work on patching up the Ledoviy, while Shining ordered the rest of the squads to follow Granite’s lead.

The squad up front progressed nearly six blocks without any incident, the eerie silence taking over completely as the bombardment ceased across the city. All Shining could hear was dull hoofsteps, the faint rattling of the Guard’s equipment, and the occasional cough or grunt. The road was littered with broken glass and chunks of debris, adding to the junk and disrepair that had piled up over decades. In almost every corner, the ponies could see tents, hovels, vendor stands, and even fireplaces that had been hastily abandoned, judging by the flames still winking in them. Judging by these signs, the place was certainly alive, though hardly in the manner a normal downtown street should have been. With all the barricades and other obstacles in the way, road traffic alone would be an absolute nightmare.

Despite all that, Shining could not help but notice that, compared to the other streets he had seen so far, this one could almost be considered “clean.” There were no buildings half-collapsed onto the road, no wreckages left to rot in the middle of the street, and there were even signs of obstacles having been recently cleared, almost as if—

Wait…

A sharp whine rang out, echoing off the walls of the surrounding buildings, making the ponies wince and fold their ears.

“Good morning, members of the Royal Guard. I am delighted to welcome you to our humble, yet delightful residences here in Gueldergrad. Please make yourselves at home. My welcoming committee will be with you shortly.”

An ominous, rapidly rising melody began to play through what Shining assumed was a powerful loudspeaker somewhere nearby. With the walls reflecting the sound from all directions, however, there was no way to locate the source.

“Basalt Three,” he whispered into his headset. “Where is that coming fro—”

Without warning, gunfire erupted from almost every window and corner up ahead, less than a block away from where Granite One was standing, almost fully exposed. The lead pony twitched and fell to his knees, blood trickling out of his neck, and his body jerked as additional rounds struck him. His comrades scrambled for cover, two more of them stumbling along the way as the Legion’s bullets hit their mark. There was a sharp whistle, followed by a loud boom as a rocket hit the sidewalk, knocking the survivors off their hooves. One of them did not get back up to follow the others into the safety of a nearby alley.

“Disperse!” Shining roared. “Take cover and return fire!” Gritting his teeth, he lit his horn and eyed the smoke trail left by the rocket, tracing it back to a goat on a balcony who was hastily reloading his launcher. He bleated in surprise as a spot of purple light appeared on the wall next to him. Moments later, a wide, bright orange beam tore across the street from the bridgehead and struck the exact same spot, and the balcony vanished in an explosion that tore a large chunk out of the entire floor of the building.

Meanwhile, the rest of the troops scrambled to follow Shining’s orders, their horns and crossbows spraying the buildings up ahead. The Legion was favored by elevation, however, and the barren street offered little to no cover for the ponies. In the heat of the moment, Granite Two actually tried to advance first, aiming for another alley ahead that could shield them from incoming fire completely.

The moment they began to move, Shining noticed some commotion on a corner up ahead. A half-dozen insurgents dragged what looked like a large cart out of one of the ruined buildings, fiddling with its mechanisms as they set it up. At first, he could not even imagine it to be a weapon, but his blood ran cold when he noticed the silhouette of a large barrel aiming right at the guards rushing for the alley.

“No!” Time seemed to slow as he turned to look at the squad, noticing how a few of the ponies had paused, staring at the large device in confusion. “Granite Two, pull back right now!”

The staccato of gunfire was drowned out by a slow, powerful thudding that made the air itself vibrate. Shining watched in horror as the large calibre rounds tore into the guards, throwing up plumes of dust as they tore hoof-sized holes out of concrete, steel, and flesh alike. One particularly unfortunate stallion’s head disappeared in a cloud of red vapor. Another cried out and fell over as he ran, his front leg torn in half. He continued to wail desperately as he tried to crawl the rest of the way into the alley.

“Celestia help us...” The captain quickly lit his horn again and pointed it at the gun emplacement. His heart pounded in his ears as he watched them turn the barrel, pointing it at the next exposed clump of ponies. A macabre beat joined the music coming from the speakers, making his skin crawl as the rhythm of the two nearly matched, and a choir of screaming guards answered.

“Tephra, why aren’t you firing? We need that gun taken out!”

“We can’t get a good shot from here, Captain. Would have to redeploy.”

“Fuck!” He leaped behind the nearest pile of junk and debris, as the gun crew had apparently noticed what he was up to and lined up on him. The loud thudding rang out again, and he curled up tight as he felt the heavy rounds rip through his cover like so many wads of paper.

The guards responded with a hail of magic and crossbow fire, briefly drowning the corner in small, multicolored explosions and smoke, but the crew were well entrenched, and the bulky device was too massive to be taken out by small arms. Every squad that fired on it merely painted itself as the next target and soon had to duck for cover.

“Captain, that gun is chewing us up!” Granite Two yelled over the radio. “What are our orders?”

“Hold position!” Shining used the brief respite to scramble for better cover. He rammed through the door of the nearest apartment and tumbled inside, mere moments before the heavy weapon tore up the doorway. “Onyx Omega, now’s your time to shine.” Before he could cringe at the accidental pun, he gathered all of his frustration into his next words. “I need that gun dead!”

“Yes sir. Beginning tactical advance.”

As the smoke and dust settled near the doorway, he could see a group of guards emerge from cover and slowly march down the street in a wedge formation, their steps appearing quite weighty, almost sluggish. The gun immediately turned to open up on them, but while the heavy rounds hit their mark, none of the troops fell, or even faltered. Large holes were torn in their cloaks, revealing their brightly glowing bodies underneath, the light pulsing faintly to an identical rhythm between them. Shining watched in fascination as a round struck Sergeant Lazurite’s chest, making him pause briefly at the tip of the spearhead, a fresh scar across his shoulder where the bullet glanced off.

The goats operating the cannon yelled to their comrades, and the insurgents throughout the street opened up on the squad as well. Dozens of smaller bullets pinged off their bodies, and Shining noticed them wince and stumble a few times, their glow beginning to waver. Cursing under his breath, he lit his horn and ran out from his cover, projecting a large shield over their heads while he ran from cover to cover behind them. His head throbbed as his magic struggled to absorb the hail of gunfire, and despite the added protection, the tactical squad could not advance much faster, having to move in perfect unison and focus their power to avoid being ripped apart.

“Obsidian!” Shining yelled into his mic. ”We need air support! Give us some room to breathe!” He bit his tongue as one of the crystal ponies grunted, a direct hit carving a small chunk out of his neck. In spite of the wound, the crystallite carried on without pause, and Shining had to will himself to look away from the dull blue rock that landed amongst the rubble, its glow having faded.

“Roger that. We’re making our pass.” Groups of pegasi approached from the bridgehead, flying low over the rooftops and readying their crossbows. Their barding was more robust than the light armor of the Basalt scout squads, and their armaments were more extensive, composed of assault crossbows, hoofclaws, and explosives. The added weight meant they could not fly nearly as fast, making them somewhat more vulnerable, but they had the ordnance to carry out powerful strafing runs.

“Everypony stay low!” Shining yelled at the other squads, while Onyx pushed forward relentlessly. The gun up ahead paused, having to reload after firing non-stop at the adversary that seemed to shrug them off. Obsidian swooped in low, unleashing a hail of bolts at the windows looking over the street from either side.

The Legion’s gunfire died down, only to be taken over from elsewhere the moment Obsidian pulled up from between the buildings. Tracer rounds zoomed up from either side of the street and zipped past the pegasi. Two of them jerked oddly and dropped out of the sky, while the rest quickly broke off to engage the new threats.

“This is Basalt Three. I’m seeing multiple guns set up on the rooftops. Coordinates are…”

The cleverly placed gunners waited for Obsidian to enter the gauntlet before opening up from both sides, filling the air above the street with bullets. Their positions were over a block away, so the ground troops could not hope to reach them without scattering. Like the squads caught in the open below, it was the pegasi’s turn to be left with no cover, yet they could not withdraw while those on the ground needed their aid.

“Obsidian Four, pull up! That approach is too hot. Almost lost another bird back there.”

“Dammit! Basalt, are you going to mark them for the arty or what?”

“This is Pyroclast, roger that Basalt Three. All flight teams, be advised: incoming high-explosive ordnance. Clear the air above sectors...”

The rest of his voice was drowned out by the screeching comets trailing overhead once more, this time aiming for the areas surrounding the street. While the emplacements had managed to surprise the pegasi, they have also exposed their positions, and the rooftops provided little cover.

“Yes!” Shining grinned, feeling a victorious rush in his veins. A pair of unicorns joined him from either side, their horns projecting additional energy into his shield, which helped relieve the strain and allowed them to advance faster. Moments later, he froze, ears twitching as a sharp whistling noise joined the chorus played by Pyroclast’s shells. He looked up, just in time to see a pair of projectiles the size of his foreleg hurtle from the sky.

“Cover!” he cried out and threw himself to the ground. The rounds exploded less than a dozen yards away, the shockwave rattling his teeth, and the entire world disappeared under a dull whine in his ears. Chunks of asphalt and metal rained down, glancing off his armor, and clouds of dust obscured his vision.

“Where the hay is that coming from?” he yelled. His own voice sounded muffled in his head, until at last the ringing in his ears started to fade. The smoke from the explosions filled his lungs and gave him a coughing fit. “Basalt Three, report!”

“Captain, we’re seeing two mortar teams beyond the crossroads,” the scout leader replied after a brief delay. “They’re focused right on you.”

“That puts them beyond our extreme range,” the leader of Pyroclast said. “Shall we redeploy?”

“No, keep pounding that anti-air!” Shining crawled forward, refocusing himself on shielding Onyx from overhead fire. The mortal shells hit again, forcing the rest of the squads to lag behind. One of the two unicorns assisting him did not get back up. “Obsidian, as soon as you have a clear approach, take out those mortars!”

“Yes sir!”

The pegasi overhead made several passes, opting to use dives rather than strafing runs, as the latter made them easier targets. They switched to using their grenades as makeshift bombs, raining them down on the Legion’s positions. One squad even risked moving through the crossfire to engage the mortar teams, giving the captain a brief window to catch up with Onyx.

Shining dropped into a crouch behind a dumpster, drew his sword, and turned to the leader of the squad. “Sergeant! On my mark!”

Lazurite nodded. “Yes Captain.” He glanced back at the other shiners. “Tactical Squad, make ready!“

More fiery shells rained down around the street, silencing all but a few of the remaining guns. The pegasi overhead made a sharp turn, returning to formation before swooping in through the street. They flew level with the windows, where the insurgents could not fire back without a risk of hitting each other. Bolts and grenades were hurled into the buildings, those inside responding with panicked bleating and whinnies as they ran for cover. The team further ahead made another pass, and a bright flash over the rooftops showed them scoring a direct hit, setting off the mortar ammunition.

“Mark!”

The crystal ponies broke into a gallop, closing the last few dozen yards, their bodies no longer giving off the bright glow from before. The large gun tried to swivel around, but it could not hope to track them at such a short range. The lead shiner leaped among the horrified gunners, and those that could not back away quickly enough were crushed under his hooves. The others were cut down as they tried to scramble away, Shining himself firing a purple beam to take out the last one. The guard who took a hit to the neck roared furiously as he smashed the gun with his armored hooves, not stopping until the barrel itself was reduced to a twisted wreck.

All around, the guards managed to break through the suppressive fire and engage the enemy positions along the street, often close enough to enter melee. Shining watched as the ponies of Granite Two roared furiously, their leader running the nearest insurgent through with his spear and pinning him against a wall. The weapon broke in two, and the sergeant drew his sword, hacking apart two more goats before the rest quickly threw down their weapons, bleating for mercy.

The gunfire was slowly dying down as the rest of the insurgents pulled back. Both Pyroclast and Obsidian kept pushing them with merciless volleys, allowing the ground troops to keep advancing. Shining Armor ordered them to secure the area, and the squads set up positions on every corner, covering the advance for Tephra and those who were still waiting on the far bank. The engineers, having finished plugging the holes of the bridge, were now busy clearing the wreckage off the road to make room for larger equipment to be brought through.

“Where’s that damn racket coming from?” he yelled. His head turned left and right as the music kept playing dramatically, even though the fighting in the street had more or less died down. The noise felt like High Strung himself was mocking them, igniting fire in his veins as it brought back the image of his troops getting cut down. Holding his sword with his magic, he went from corner to corner, often leading attacks into the buildings personally while shouting for the guard to keep searching.

Eventually, he rounded a corner and froze, ears twitching as the noise suddenly became a lot clearer. Looking up, he spotted a rusty framework on top of an apartment complex. Thick bundles of wires dangled along the object’s sides, all leading to a quartet of speakers pointing toward the cardinal directions. Before his troops could react, he ran straight inside, shoving aside a pair of goats in tattered, stitched clothes that were huddled together on the ground floor corridor. They bleated after him, then screamed in terror as gunfire erupted in the stairwell.

Shining hurried up the stairs, not stopping for a moment, even as he heard the sound of ponies and goats shouting and running above. More gunfire came, pinging off the walls and whizzing past his ear as the insurgents fired down the stairwell. Moments later, there was a panicked yell, followed by an explosion that shook the whole building. A few of the voices above had been silenced, and a cloud of dust and debris filled the floors above, giving the captain the cover he needed to advance. The first enemy he ran into was a goat in brown overalls, coughing as he tried to get back up and aim his rifle. He screamed in pain as the sword nearly hacked off his forelegs, then gurgled when it pierced his lungs.

“This is the Royal Guard!” Shining roared. “Drop your weapons!”

The pony voices became more panicked, but there was no indication of wanting to give up. Instead, he had to drop to the floor as a hail of bullets tore through the walls, one of them managing to graze his cheek. The insurgents bickered and moved around, and Shining heard clicking and clattering noises as they fumbled with their weapons. Meanwhile, heavy hoofsteps and familiar voices came from the ground floor, while the music above continued to taunt him. The captain gritted his teeth and sprinted further up the stairs, prompting another volley that tore up the wall in his wake.

Sweat drenched his coat, and his lungs burned by the time he reached the final flight, the music getting louder with each step he took, his anger growing along with it. The stairs led to a narrow passage that ended with a metal door, which he rammed through without hesitation. An icy wind blew into his face, making his teeth chatter as he could almost feel his sweat freezing on his skin, except where the blood trickling from his cheek thawed it out. He looked around, heart pounding, his bloodstained sword twitching slightly in his grip.

The roof was unoccupied, while the irritating music was now painfully loud. He trudged over to the contraption he had seen from below, legs stiff from the effort, and paused for a moment to inspect it. While it was clearly a new addition, it was anything but hastily built, every scavenged piece of equipment and material used with the precision of a true craftsman. If it were not a reminder of his hated enemy, Shining could almost have marveled at it. Instead, he lifted his sword and slashed at the cables that extended like roots from the base of the speakers.

To his shock, while there was a great shower of sparks and a cloud of smoke that burned his nostrils, the noise seemed completely unfazed. He roared in frustration and hacked at the other cables, not stopping while a single one was intact, yet the music continued to play. Eventually, he dropped his sword and rammed his forelegs against the base, the metal groaning and creaking in protest. He punched and shoved repeatedly, then turned around and bucked as hard as he could. The concrete supports crackled and eventually gave away, letting the tower topple over the edge and plummet to the street. On its way down, Shining could have sworn the music was still playing, echoing between the walls before it was drowned in a tremendous boom.

Gasping for breath, the captain collapsed against the edge of the roof, his limbs still shaking from the exertion. He waited a minute for the dizzying rush to clear from his head, then lifted it slowly, taking a look at the streets below. Squads rushed from building to building, checking them for any insurgents that tried to hide or set up an ambush. Many of them paused to stare back at him, no doubt having noticed him wrestle the speakers off the roof. Shining waved at them lazily to carry on.

Further away, he saw bright flashes and columns of smoke, along with the noises of the battle raging on. The radio chatter in his ear told him that the Legion was putting up an impressive fight, even as they crumbled on practically all fronts. His eyes lost focus and began to wander, until he closed them and turned away from the edge, shaking his head and trying to convince himself he was just seeing things. In the distance, one of High Strung’s speeches started up again, spewing forth from dozens of speaker towers spread across the city.

Due to their limited population, the Crystal Empire’s military focuses on training elite units. Regular troops are supplemented by Equestria.

High Strung

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The Royal Guard has little experience in urban warfare. Their official doctrine is to improvise and attempt to minimize losses.

After giving himself a minute to catch his breath and collect his thoughts, Shining retreated from the edge of the roof and returned to the stairwell. He sluggishly made his way down, pausing to wave off the salute from the squad that followed him into the building. They rounded up the three insurgents that survived – two ponies with scorched manes, and a goat with a broken foreleg. All of them gave him bitter looks as he passed by. The goats on the ground floor were gone, and dozens more were quietly filing out of their homes as the guards continued their search. Tiny white specks drifted in the air, wavering in the breeze, and by the time he made it back around the corner, a thin sheet of snow had formed on the pavement.

A pair of medics rushed past him as he made his way back to the crossroads. They had a stretcher between them, carrying a stallion that howled in pain as he clutched his belly. A third one trailed behind them and paused when he noticed the wound on Shining’s face. The medic’s eyes widened, but Shining waved him off before he could say a word.

“I’m fine,” he blurted out. The charge he had made recently still left him short of breath. “Just go. Help the others.”

The medics took the wounded guard into a hastily established triage station within a hollowed-out cafe. More voices of agony came from within, and Shining made sure to avert his gaze as he passed by. A dull ache formed in his chest as he looked down the street leading back to the bridge, where he found the decimated Granite squads gathering around their wounded and dead.

“Captain, this is Onyx Omega,” Bonnie said over the radio. “We’ve cleared the last of the gun nests. The road should be clear.”

“Understood,” Shining replied. “Tell everypony to saddle up. We’re moving out. Meet me at the next waypoint in ten minutes.”

“Yes, sir.” There was clear tension in her voice. Shining huffed and lit his horn, adjusting his headset to switch to a private channel.

“You have something to tell me, Lieutenant?” he asked.

Bonnie hesitated for a few seconds. “How do we expect to advance like this, sir? I hate to admit it, but… this Legion is putting up a hell of a fight.”

Shining glanced around for a moment, making sure nopony was near. “If you ask me, this was the peaceful neighborhood. Only gets worse from here.”

“The crystal pony squads can only take so much punishment,” she replied. “They said these guns are pushing their limits. Maybe we should use more thorough bombardment.”

The captain lowered his voice even more. “We’ve got civilians living in the districts ahead. I’m not risking that much collateral damage.”

There was another lengthy pause, followed by Bonnie almost whispering. “Understood.”

“Just stick to the plan. Meet you at the waypoint. Out.”

Shining turned off the headset. A series of loud cracks rang out to his left, akin to rapid thunderstrokes. He turned his head, staring at the corner where the large capric gun had been set up. Despite the bitterness he felt from the losses inflicted by the weapon, he had to admit they gave it an excellent firing position, granting the insurgents both defilade and a good field of fire across the entire street.

It was so good, in fact, that Granite Four – the Granite section’s Hailstorm squad – had decided to set up in the same spot. A trio of guards – all of them unicorns – lay against a pile of rubble that they used as cover. One of them had a pair of binoculars to watch for any movement, while the other, considerably larger stallion kept his glowing horn aimed down the street. The third did not even poke his head out, his glowing horn pointing at the second guard.

The squad leader lifted his binoculars to inspect the blocks ahead. “Eleven o’clock,” he said. The large stallion next to him went into a low stance, his entire spine seeming to line up with his horn. The magic aura around it glowed brighter for a moment before discharging over a dozen times in quick succession, letting out the thunderous noise once more. Bolts of energy raced down the street, slamming into walls and pavement, where they set off miniature explosions and tore head-sized chunks out of solid concrete. The squad eyed the clouds of dust and smoke for any movement, and they fired a second volley when a pair of equines emerged from their torn-up piece of cover and tried to race across the street.

Tapping his headset, Shining cleared his throat and spoke into his mic. “All units in District Fifteen, assemble on the first waypoint and prepare to move out!”

The squad leaders replied one by one to confirm, and within seconds, the first of the armored ponies galloped back to the crossroads, forming up on each corner around the banner of the infantry section they belonged to. Shining grimaced slightly as he noticed the holes in many of the squads, as well as the wear on the ponies who survived. The sergeant in charge of one particularly battered unit turned to look at him, and once the guard got his squads in order, he immediately ran toward Shining.

“Sir!” He stopped a few feet before the captain and snapped to attention. “Sergeant Falchion, Granite Two. Permission to lead the advance.”

Shining stared at him silently for a few moments. “Again?” he asked. Taking off his helmet, he rubbed at his sweat-soaked mane and glanced at the squad in question. The guards stood firmly, despite the blood and soot staining their armor, not to mention the various holes and the cuts and bruises underneath.

“Yes, sir!” Falchion did not even blink, staring firmly at his superior. Shining noticed that his hooves were restless, however, tensing up every time the captain spoke up.

Shining looked back up at him. “You do realize you’re at least halfway understrength? And where’s the lieutenant?”

“Dead,” the sergeant replied through gritted teeth. “Along with many others. And I want to be the first in line to make those savages pay for every single pony we’ve lost.”

“I understand.” Shining sighed. “But we can’t make another attack like this. The insurgents clearly won’t fight us in the open. And if we do, we’ll just get chewed up.”

Falchion opened his mouth, looking ready to protest, but the frown on the captain’s face made him hesitate. “Yes sir…” he muttered. Turning around, he trudged back to his squads, glancing at the bodies of his fallen soldiers along the way. The medics carried them off the road, lined them up in the ground floor hallway of one of the apartment complexes, and used a large tarp to cover them up.

“Basalt Two,” Shining spoke into his radio again. “Move into a holding pattern above the districts ahead. I want to know what’s waiting for us.”

He turned toward the corner on his left, where Diorite – a troop section from the Scylla – had formed up. “Diorite, I’ll need your Hailstorms to lead the way. Cover the advance. Obsidian, on their word, you’ll do a strafing run to give them time to set up. Granite will follow in reserve. Pyroclast and Tephra, move as close to the crossroads as you can and be sure to find good positions. We’ll be marking plenty of targets for you soon enough.”

The replies came in, but Shining Armor was no longer paying attention. Glancing back at the triage station, he noticed a group of pegasi wearing medic armbands land near the entrance. The guards stationed there saluted to the leader, whose face was obscured by a thick scarf. Shining narrowed his eyes, tightness forming in his chest as he tried to make out the stallion’s features. He removed his helmet and scarf just before stepping inside, revealing a beige coat and brown mane underneath.

Shining exhaled slowly and looked away, trudging after the squads that marched down the street. The latest broadcast of High Strung came to an end, and an eerie silence settled on the city.

Coalcutter raised his hoof, and Shining froze. Crouching low, the lieutenant snuck to the corner ahead and peeked around it. After a few moments, he gestured again, and his companions moved to catch up.

Shining tensed up as the icy winds bit into his sides again, and he fiddled with his cloak to pull it tighter. The old fabric reeked of filth and various chemicals, making him reluctant to breathe through the pieces covering his face. The thick layers of fabric concealed the light armor him and Coalcutter wore underneath, which were infused with magic to make them more resilient to bullets. Though it proved effective during tests, the spell could only absorb a few impacts before it shattered, and few unicorns had the skill and energy reserves to cast it.

Bonnie had laughed herself sick as her companions struggled with their confiscated outfits, but the joke soon ended up on her. Since her body was her “armor”, she did not need extra plating, and was instead wrapped from head to hooves in dirty, dark colored rags that were riddled with stitches, layered over her until her glow was completely hidden. The redundant wrappings made her gait sluggish, and it muffled her grumbling each time the others glanced at her and chuckled.

The end result was a trio of impoverished citizens of Gueldergrad, wandering down the streets on the east side of the river. It made them blend in perfectly with the dozens of goats and ponies they saw along the way, driven from their homes by the conflict raging throughout the city, all wearing similar outfits consisting of whatever fabrics they could scrape together from the ruins. Behind them, explosions and the rattling of gunfire echoed faintly among the walls, while the radio chatter among Shining’s troops whispered into his earpiece.

Although his troops had made it to the waypoint, the attack soon ground to a halt. The Legion did not set up any more bottlenecks like the one near the bridge, having opted for a fighting retreat instead. Gun nests were set up in ambush, chipping away at his squads, then pulling back right before the ponies could overrun them. Casualties mounted, and Shining eventually called off the advance and ordered his troops to hold the line. He then assembled his squad, and – amidst a charge feigned by Diorite One and Three – they slipped behind enemy lines.

The radio chatter consisted mostly of calm exchanges between squad leaders, requests for the pegasi overhead to do sweeps, and the occasional call for artillery support. His ears twitched, and he tensed up a little as a much louder and more agitated voice joined in, calling for immediate backup. The detonations in the background nearly drowned out what he was saying, and Shining’s mouth had already opened before he caught himself. Biting his tongue, he turned the volume in his earpiece further down.

He sighed and looked up from the snowy asphalt, fixing his gaze on his companions. Coalcutter was on point, Boninite a few paces behind, while Shining brought up the rear even further back. To keep up the ruse, they occasionally wandered off to sift through the trash or peek into the abandoned buildings nearby, as they were scavenging for supplies. Bonnie made her sluggish movements look even more clumsy, and her groans of frustration turned into feigned moans of agony. Setting aside the disguise tormenting her, he could tell that Bonnie was uncomfortable on a deeper level.

Coalcutter was the biggest surprise so far. The normally reserved, soft-spoken, and even quite slim-looking pony proved himself to be anything but a wimp once out in the field. His motions were cold and calculated, and his expression – what little of it could be seen under his mask – was all but emotionless. He rarely spoke, relying on hoof signals to report what he saw and to let them know when to move, or when to stop and be silent. Shining felt an odd urge to smile as he watched Coalcutter’s performance, and he could not resist asking about it.

“The mines teach you to tread lightly,” Coalcutter said. They stopped at an old abandoned factory to perform another fake scavenging session. “One guy I know thought it was smart to run for the surface when he found a diamond. Poor soul was trapped for two days when the passage caved in.”

His ears perked up as indistinct shouting came from around the block. Shining and Bonnie crouched low as he raised his hoof, and they retreated into the hollow garage space of the factory, while Coalcutter crawled forward to check on the commotion. The two holed up next to some scattered barrels and boxes, sticking to the shadows while they watched the snowy streets outside.

Bonnie fiddled with her mask and crept a bit closer. “Sir?”

“Yes, Lieutenant?” Shining kept his eyes on the wide door.

“With all due respect… why are we doing this?”

The captain frowned slightly. “This really isn’t a good time.”

“I thought about asking earlier, but I figured you had enough to deal with.”

“Well, you’ve been briefed like everyone else. We’re here to—”

“No, I mean… why are we…” She circled her hoof, gesturing at the two of them. “...doing this?”

Shining blinked and looked over. “Oh… the mission?”

Bonnie nodded. “It’s a little… unorthodox, sending both ponies at the top of the chain of command to do this.”

Shining gave a deep sigh. “You talked to Setter, didn’t you?”

“Did you two have an argument?”

“Hmf…” Shining sat down and checked under his cloak to make sure his equipment was still there. He even started testing the straps, despite knowing they were all secure.

Bonnie sat back on her haunches and raised her hooves defensively. “He didn’t mention it, but I didn’t need to ask.”

“You’re here because you’re the best ponies for the job,” Shining grumbled, not looking up. “So is he, but I told him to stay.”

“Why?”

“I told him I needed him more back there.” He fitted his cloak back over his gear and sighed again. “But, to be honest, I do wish I brought him along. He’s a fine officer, our best medic, and a good friend. I need all three, and I’m not gonna be making new ones anytime soon. But this mission… it doesn’t align with his principles.”

“Sir?”

“He believes we should not be here. That we should turn back. I believe… I know we can’t do that.” More noise came from outside, making the duo tense up for a moment. “We have to end this conflict once and for all. And this mission is dangerous enough already. Would do more harm than good to have someone tag along who doesn’t agree with you.”

“I see.” Bonnie looked away. “You think this will be the way to do it, sir?”

“I’m not sure. But we’re here because I bet everything on this plan, and I want to see it through. If we succeed, the fighting ends, and our job here is done.”

“And if we don’t?”

Shining chuckled coldly. “I don’t intend to survive if that happens. After what it cost us today, that’s the way I want it to be. Setter can take over from there.”

“But sir… according to the chain of command, if you’re gone, I take charge, then it’s Lieutenant—”

“I know. But they’ll listen to him. This mission will be the test that decides which one of us was right. If I’m wrong, he’s the one who should lead my ponies. I’m sure they’ll understand.”

“Yes sir…”

They sat in silence, staring at the falling snow, and even the explosions in the distance died down for a few moments. “Heh…” Shining pulled back his hood to scratch his mane. “I just hope Brand won’t make things difficult. If the worst happens, I mean.”

It was Bonnie’s turn to chuckle. “Hey, give him a break. He’s an excellent officer. Brave, determined, and loyal.”

The captain shook his head. “Yeah, to a fault. Did you know he volunteered to put his squads into the speartip?”

“And you refused him that honor?” Bonnie said sarcastically.

“Naturally.” Shining’s smile faded all of a sudden, and his tone went grim. “I wouldn’t want to see him get so many ponies slaughtered just to ‘prove their worth’.”

Coalcutter peeked around the edge of the smashed garage door, and he waved his hoof silently. The two inside got up and followed his lead, making their way deeper into the east side of the city. A sharp whine rang out overhead as the speakers came to life, signaling the start of another broadcast.

“My fellow citizens. We all grew up in a fantasy world. Every day, we were told about the wonders of friendship and harmony. We lived in houses decorated with symbols of love, we celebrated holidays devoted to such ideals, and we bowed to royalty that embodied them. But when those who preach friendship and harmony came to our homes to punish us, accusing us of ‘disobedience’, is it time to abandon such ideals?”

The lieutenant raised his hoof again, and they crouched behind a couple of wrecked carts. Up ahead, a group of goats and ponies galloped across the street, all wearing tan overalls with blue patches on the shoulders. The goats carried rifles and various smaller tools, while the ponies mounted heavy weapons on their backs, and some even pulled carts. Shining frowned as he noticed a pair of them pulling a cannon similar to the one encountered near the bridge.

“No. Never. We should not throw away something pure because others attempt to taint it. But we shall defend our homes nonetheless. Though it pains us greatly to resort to fighting, we shall not give our lives when we have yet to build and prosper.”

“Power station is close,” Coalcutter said. He pointed to the intact pylons nearby, the power lines all properly fixed and seeming to converge toward a point further ahead. Shining poked his head out, only to duck again when another wave of hooves rumbling came from up ahead. Another column of insurgents rounded the corner, this time heading right for the team’s position. Shining curled up as much as he could, hiding among the wreckage and trash, while he reached stealthily for his crossbow and fitted it onto his right foreleg. It gave a faint hum as the mechanism drew the string back, and he hid the glowing orange tip of the bolt under his cloak.

The weapon was the closest the Royal Guard had to firearms, since they had yet to make big advancements in the field that the Caprics had apparently perfected. Equestrian-made rifles were either bulky and overpowered, or far too complex and fragile for use by the average soldier. And since unicorns specialized in ranged combat, it was their job to engage targets at mid to long ranges. In fact, the Hailstorm squads took much inspiration from the mechanisms of automatic firearms, with one unicorn acting as the “gun”, while the other was the “loader”.

Still, recent experiences had shown that every guard unit’s equipment needed to have some level of ranged weaponry. Thus, the crossbow was introduced as a compromise. It could be fastened to and detached from a foreleg easily, its internal motors could wind the string back after each shot, and the soldier had a variety of different bolts at their disposal. The standard bolt with the orange tip exploded on impact, while the silver bolts used the charge in the crystal to propel themselves to extreme speeds, allowing the solid core to penetrate armor. Optionally, one could also load stun bolts, flares, smoke rounds, and various other utilities.

Glancing to his side, Shining saw his companions curl up in their own little crevices, as if cowering due to the approaching insurgents. He lowered his head, pretending to be deeply interested in the pile of filth at his hooves. His foreleg with the crossbow attached to it twitched a little. If a fight broke out, he would have to rely on it instead of firing from his horn directly. Revealing themselves as guards would only make them a nuisance. Revealing himself as Shining Armor would make him a huge target.

“When we came here, we found a city in turmoil. The Caprics, though clever and industrious, had to endure the vile corruption of their leaders. All their great works became hollow shells, or worse: palaces for those who could prosper, while others toiled in poverty. We tried to follow in their hoofsteps and hope that hard work could form a bond, while the ideals of friendship could help cleanse the taint.”

He held his breath as the column drew near, the rumbling of their hoofsteps drowning out High Strung’s speech. He caught a glimpse of the insurgents’ faces before averting his gaze again. Most of them were goats, much less repulsive than those he had seen in the slums, while the gloomy expressions were replaced by grim determination. He stole a few more glances, and an unpleasant knot formed in his gut each time he saw a pony among the figures. There was no sign of fear or hesitation in their eyes, just the same commitment as that of the Caprics. Biting his lip, he looked to his right, keeping tabs on any nearby escape routes in case things turned ugly.

The Legion paid them no mind as they galloped past the wrecked carts, and within a minute or so, they rounded a corner again and disappeared from sight. The trio emerged from their cover, and Shining saw his companions stealthily stow away their own crossbows. He tapped the side of his own weapon, and the motor gave a brief whirr as it gently released the string. The limbs of the crossbow folded in on the stock, and he tucked it back under his outfit.

“Let’s go,” he whispered.

The street they followed suddenly tilted downward, and there was an abrupt change in scenery as well. Rather than surrounding them with blocky apartments and filthy, abandoned industrial complexes tightly squeezed together, the city opened up along the team’s path, leading them through great parks, colorful plazas, and even a long avenue lined with trees. What once must have been a serene view to countless visitors now felt eerie to Shining as he glanced between the dead, blackened husks, their branches intertwined like bony fingers over his head.

“The honest ones were indeed quick to embrace us. But others felt that their power was challenged, or saw us as nothing more than fresh cadavers to feast on. Still, we tried to embrace them as well, for true friendship knows no prejudice. We sent them envoys, which they humiliated and murdered in front of our eyes. Such vermin deserve no mercy, let alone the blessing of friendship. And having rejected our kindness, they learned quickly to fear our wrath.”

“Isn’t he ever going to shut up?” Shining muttered. Even the sounds of fighting had all but faded into the breeze, leaving them with just the sound of the snow crunching under their hooves, the branches rustling and creaking, and the echoes of the broadcast all over the city.

“At least he’s keeping us company,” Bonnie said. “This has to be one of the nicest places in town, and that’s saying something. So where is everyone?”

They rounded another corner, and Shining raised an eyebrow as Coalcutter came to a sudden halt, yet did not signal any kind of threat. Following his gaze, the captain looked up, and a sickening jolt went through his stomach.

“Sweet Celestia…”

A goat swayed in the breeze above the team. He wore an elegant police uniform, a far cry from the ragged militia they encountered before. Snow collected on his head and the side facing the wind, and his neck twisted in a sharp angle where the cable had been fastened around it. His jaw was slack, letting his frozen tongue hang out. While he did not move, his eyes were wide open, still expressing his last moments of horror as he stared down at the street from his nearly upturned head that rested on his right shoulder. The blood that coated his bushy ginger moustache had turned into macabre red icicles. A forage cap lay a few feet away, half-buried in snow.

Lining either side of the street behind him, almost every lamppost had at least one body attached to it in such a manner. Some had been tied to the post itself instead of hanging from it, and they had several holes torn in their bodies, the blood frozen over the wounds. While most of them were goats, including several wearing regular police uniforms, a few ponies had been strung up as well, all wearing the same expression of that last moment of mortal terror.

Halfway through the street, one of the bodies had a wide sign tied to its forelegs, giving the grotesque impression of the corpse holding it up for the world to see. The text "Смерть душегубцам, ворам и изменникам." had been painted on it in bold red letters.

“What’s it say?” Shining said.

Coalcutter hesitated for a few moments. “Death to all murderers, thieves, and traitors,” he replied.

A sharp cry in the distance made them all tense up and, to Shining’s dismay, they all huddled together reflexively, eyes darting back and forth. Not that he could blame his companions, as the voice felt like claws were being dragged up and down his spine, and even his own instincts responded by urging him to seek the nearest friendly companion.

“RAJTA GYERMEKEIM! HALÁL AZ ÁTKOZOTTAKRA!”

More of the horrid screams rang out, followed by panicked bleating and gunfire. The bleating soon turned into cries of agony, while the crazed war cry was chanted over and over again.

“What the hay is going on?”

They rounded a corner, only to run almost headfirst into a group of elks coming the other way. Shining’s companions primed their crossbows, but he lifted his hoof to halt them. The elks blinked in confusion, looking over the team until their eyes landed on Shining Armor, and they started cheering in unison.

“Itt vannak! A hősies szent harcosok köztünk vannak!”

Shining winced. “Shhh!” He waved his hooves. “Cut it out! You’ll give us away!”

In response, the elks fell to their knees and bowed their heads. The one closest to the team crawled forward a bit and spoke up. “Blessed warriors, we are your humble servants. What is your bidding?”

Shining groaned and hung his head, muttering curses under his breath. Bonnie stifled a chuckle, lifting a hoof to her face, even though her mask already hid her smile. Coalcutter, on the other hand, took a few steps back, the strange, jittery movements of the elks making him flinch repeatedly.

“Oh for the love of… get up!” Shining took the hoof of the nearest elk and pulled him to his feet. “You’re making a scene.”

Another elk got back to its feet. Its disjointed movements reminiscent of the primitive flip book cartoons Shining had seen during his school days, except here the pages were not turning fast enough. Coalcutter took another step back. “What is your bidding, Great Ones?” the elk asked in a raspy voice.

“For the last time, we don’t need anything! Why don’t you just go back and…” Shining Armor trailed off. The sounds of heavy fighting still raged behind them, and the horrid screams of the elks became less and less frequent. “Hmm…”

“Sir?” Coalcutter inched a bit closer, whispering shakily. “Orders?”

“Stand by.” Shining looked over the elk posse in front of him. It consisted of almost two dozen half-frozen fanatics, armed to the teeth with various crude melee weapons, firearms, and their own antlers. “Actually, we uh… we could use you... as a distraction.”

The elks all raised their heads, eyes wide with excitement. “Tell every soldier you have in the city,” Shining went on. “Keep the Legion busy for as long as you can while we carry out our... divine mission.”

The lead warrior turned around and threw his hooves into the air, making the whole squad step back. “Zemlya herself has blessed us this day!” he cried. “Come, brothers and sisters! We will help her warriors carry out their war against the heathen filth!”

With that, the elks all got up and shouted various blessings and vows before they continued their march down the street. Bonnie stared in horror and turned to Shining, only to blink in shock when she found him with an amused smirk on his face. “Sir!” she said. “Sir, this… this is insane. You’re not actually asking them to—”

“There’s an entire army between us and High Strung,” Shining replied. “We can’t spend all day dodging patrols, and if it goes on like this, we’re gonna get caught.”

“These elks are lunatics! They won’t spare anyone if we let them loose!”

“Especially themselves,” Coalcutter remarked.

The herd rounded the corner and broke into a gallop. Moments later, more of the bloodcurdling screams and war cries rang out, and the street erupted into gunfire. Both of Shining’s subordinates winced and turned around to look at him.

“We better keep moving,” he said. “Use every minute they bought us.”

The ponies' surroundings changed progressively as they hastily made their way through them. There was still little in the way of architectural consistency, but the streets appeared to widen and straighten out, now featuring clearly visible alleyways between the tightly packed buildings.

What used to be rows of trees cut through the pavement, some of them having toppled over and onto the houses, while others were missing outright. The remnants of majestic decorations hung from shop windows, and their interior now offered nothing but piles of snow on the empty stalls. Wrecked civilian vehicles wore thick coats of snow in their old parking spots. Most were little more than metal carcasses, reduced to the bones after being stripped for parts. Bonnie stopped next to one of them at one point, the other two joining her after a brief delay. Shining spoke for all of them when he sighed upon seeing a vaguely body-shaped dent on the roof of the car. He then gestured further down the street and trailed after the crystal mare, who shook her head and continued onward.

The grim sight acted as a landmark for the increasingly apparent change in their surroundings. The wrecks and ruins they passed were no longer as viciously war-torn. Rubble and trash was replaced by even piles of snow, gradually thinning out over the course of a few blocks. The low rumbling of the heating system came from beneath their hooves, adding to the ambience of the desolate district. Aside from preventing the formation of ice on the untrodden pavement, it seemed to have little purpose, as no citizens were around to make use of it. The team had left the war zone, and their journey now led through a ghost town.

Shining himself was far from comforted by this. The presence of locals could be a risk, as their allegiances were murky at best, but at least one could deduce from their behavior if any potential threats were nearby. Their complete absence, especially in such an untouched district, meant there was some kind of hazard keeping them away. This made the captain all the more wary of his surroundings, and he took extra care each time they passed near a building that seemed to show signs of life.

“That building up ahead…” He glanced at Coalcutter and pointed to a badly damaged apartment block. Unlike the other buildings nearby, the rubble from the entrance had been cleared away, the boards over the windows looked fresh, and there was even an intact stovepipe leading out of one of the rooms on the upper floors. “Maybe someone had settled in over there. Have a look.”

“Yes, sir.”

Coalcutter approached the entrance carefully, using his disguise to make himself look like a drunk wanderer stumbling in the wind. Shining and Bonnie kept a generous distance as they followed him, while he peeked in through the doorway.

“What a squalid mess…” Coalcutter muttered. He glanced over his shoulder. “I think this is abandoned.” While he spoke, he lifted a hoof and waved it twice toward the ruins. His companions readied their crossbows in response, and he slowly moved into the half-collapsed hallway.

Shining tapped Bonnie’s shoulder. “Bonnie, you’re up.” She nodded and raised a hoof to her chin, and her sparkling body shook slightly. Some of her radiance now seeped through her outfit, but just before it could stand out in the grit and snow-covered street, she disappeared through the doorway. Coalcutter snuck back out and took cover near the entrance, letting her explore the interior.

“Clear,” she said over the radio after a few minutes. “Stairwell is smashed above the second floor. No way further up.”

Shining lowered his crossbow. “Nopony home?”

“Doesn’t look like it.” She emerged from one of the intact balconies on the first floor, but kept whispering over the radio. “Not for the last few days, at least.”

“Hm… then why leave all the signs?”

“I’m not sure. If his fanatics were here, they’d have…” Bonnie paused, shaking her head. Her body went almost shadowy for a moment, shifted to a flat texture, and finally balanced out again. “Let’s stick to our mission, sir. I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

“We’ll be tearing out the root of this damn travesty soon enough,” Shining said. “For now, I’m concerned about locals. Had enough surprises for one day.” He glanced at a nearby shop with its windows blasted out, and his eyes narrowed as he peered into the pitch blackness within. A thick web of barbed wire criss-crossed between the shelves, and a few pieces of various junk dangled from the barbs. He grimaced and slowly walked on, waiting for the others to catch up. “Can’t believe how careless these bleaters are.”

“Few who live in the North seem concerned for their own well being,” Bonnie said. The street narrowed significantly, and most routes of escape had either collapsed or been blocked intentionally. Coalcutter lagged behind, making sure they were safe from the rear until they were out of the bottleneck.

“I mean their military. Have you seen what kind of gear they’re leaving around for anypony to pick up?” Shining frowned as he spotted an alley that was blockaded from the street by a thick mesh of barbed wire. “All this wire, the guns, and even the comms equipment. It’s like they turned the city into a fortress and just disappeared.”

“There’s a good chance those fanatics have at least a few ex-mils among them.”

“Well, this equipment has no business being free for the taking, military or not.”

Shining’s ears twitched when he heard Coalcutter’s rapid hoofsteps behind him, as well as the stallion’s puffy breath. He turned around and met the Lieutenant’s eyes while pointing quickly to a pile of burnt out rubber tires, which blocked off a dank alleyway nearby. Coalcutter raised his hoof just before Shining could speak.

“Is anyone else hearing this?” he asked quietly.

Shining raised an eyebrow, and he fiddled with his mask to expose one of his ears. It twitched from the cold wind biting into it, but at least he managed to hear with slightly greater clarity. He filtered through rumbling of the sewers below them, the hum of the incapacitated power lines overhead, and the distant bangs and faraway yelling. He tilted his head and blinked.

“Hearing what, Lieutenant?”

“The music,” Coalcutter said. A look of alarm settled on his face when the others just stared at him in confusion.

“What… you mean like back at the bridge?” Shining grumbled, his ear flicking. “They really want to get on our nerves, don’t they?”

Bonnie tapped her headset. “Radio’s silent,” Bonnie said. “It’s definitely not feedback.”

“No, I’m…” Coalcutter glanced over his shoulder. “I’m pretty sure it’s... bells.”

Everyone went silent for a moment. Shining turned his gaze back to where they came from, staring at the dilapidated entrance to the narrow street, over the red brick buildings and the few surviving trees along the wider road. The rubble and junk in this part of the city no longer showed destruction, merely generations’ worth of decay. The sights no longer set off paranoia, just depression.

“Bells?” he asked.

“Yes, sir.”

Shining turned back to the others. “I can’t hear a thing. Bonnie?”

“Hmmm…” Bonnie exposed one of her ears as well. “Nothing. Where did you hear it first?”

Coalcutter pointed back to the street they had left behind. “That house, with the dog kennel.”

“Think it might be a trap?” Shining said.

“I… honestly don’t know, sir. You should hear for yourself.”

“Very well.”

They slowly made their way back, exiting the bottleneck one by one until they made sure the coast was clear. Coalcutter took the lead, and they headed for a fence haphazardly assembled from rusty sheet metal of various shapes and colors. Bonnie was the first to step through a massive hole in the rickety barrier, making sure there was no trap in the blatant opening. Her companions followed close behind, and they approached the small house hesitantly, as its rotting wooden beams looked ready to crumble at any moment. Facing the house, they formed up near a more intact section of the fence, which hid them from any eyes on the street.

Shining opened his mouth, wanting to ask Coalcutter about the specifics of the noise when he heard something. It was faint, and he almost dismissed it as just the wind moving things around, but it was too regular. Five distorted, glassy notes, the last one sustained for a few seconds, followed by the next five.

“Yeah,” Coalcutter said with a nod. “That sounds like music to me. The caprics have a thing for using bells, so it might just be locals?”

“I’m not sure,” Bonnie replied. She nodded her head at the street. “Look around. This street is Oblivion Avenue. No signs of fire or violence, just really basic scavenging… at best. Nobody’s lived here for a while, nobody’s trying to live here now.” She peeked over the fence for a moment. “Whoever’s ringing came here for some other reason... and now they want our attention.” She glanced at herself, noticing that her glow had gotten a little brighter. “Sorry. I’ll try and keep myself in check.”

Shining waved it off. “We’ll get over it. And you’re right, this is definitely for us.” He glanced at the stallion by his side. “Coalcutter, you’re finding new ways to surprise me.”

“Sir?”

“Have none of you caught the tune yet?” Shining quietly whistled, echoing the notes of the faint melody. “This is the Equestrian anthem. Someone is talking to us.” He circled the house slowly and stopped halfway when the melody got clearer. He looked up and pointed to a little nook between the roof and the walls of the house, where a tiny box had been tucked away.

His companions joined him at his sides, staring up at the box. Moments later, Coalcutter blinked and turned to look at the street on the far side of the adjacent house, parallel with the street they just left. “Sir, I… I think I hear another one.”

“A trail of crumbs, huh?” Shining smirked. “Bonnie, you’re on point. Follow the noise. Coalcutter, watch our rear. It’s a straight shot from here to the station, so we’re meant to come back through here.”

“Affirmative,” Bonnie said. After a bit of searching, they found another conspicuous, pony-sized hole and entered the next yard. The mare entered first, followed by Shining and Coalcutter. They reached the next street and discovered a second source of the melody, this time perched on a crude wooden lamppost. The wires all dangled limply from the post, save for a single thread emerging from the noisy box. Following the wire with his gaze, Shining noticed that it was part of an intact line that led down the street.

“Bonnie, follow that line,” Shining said. “Coalcutter, hang back for a moment.”

“Got it.”

Coalcutter went into a low crouch near the post and watched them advance. The street stretched a long way down, rotting wooden shacks dominating one side, shoddy brick structures on the other. Copious amounts of steam bled from the sewer grates dotting the pavement, which both concealed their movement, but also blocked their vision at the same time. The melody followed them, however, a new source popping up ahead each time the last one became too faint, acting as a guide. Shining grimaced, a knot forming in his gut. The warm steam mixed with a putrid scent, making the cold, sludgy city feel like a humid, rotting swamp. Breathing through his mouth, he marched on and quietly hummed the melody to himself.

They reached an intersection, and the next source of the ringing guided them onto the perpendicular street. It was almost impossible to see through the thick steam, and the pavement under their hooves actually felt hotter than before. What little snow managed to coat the rest of the city stood no chance here, and the barren stretch of road across the hut-covered hill was pockmarked with dirty puddles. In more displays of Capric carelessness, the power lines connecting the pylons crisscrossed all over the place, some of them limply snaking along the cracked and flooded asphalt roads, others tangled into knots and cords above the ponies’ heads. Some of the lines were haphazard replacements made of recycled metals, and others were not electrical wires at all. Several bundles of barbed wire blossomed on the four pylons looming over the team, presumably to ward off scavengers, but oddly enough, Shining saw a few strips of it stretch between the towers as well.

“Got another source,” Coalcutter said. “Ground level.” He nodded at a small hut that was all but drowning in the steam.

“Good work,” Shining replied. “Let’s scout it out.”

The ringing continued even as they stepped onto the mire that used to be a paved path through the yard, all the way to the front porch. It was less than twenty meters long, but halfway across, visibility reduced to almost nothing, save for the grey sky and all but the tallest buildings around them. The fog created by the malfunctioning sewers almost felt like the city itself were alive, desperately trying to hide its embarrassing features.

Bonnie halted all of a sudden, which prompted both Shining and Coalcutter to drop to a low crouch and carefully form up a few yards to either side of her. They readied their weapons and did their best to scan their surroundings through the thick haze.

“What is it?” Shining whispered.

“There’s someone in front of us.” Bonnie replied. “Three, maybe four. They’re just standing there.” She reached for her crossbow. “I think they’re looking our way, but… they don’t...”

Coalcutter glanced at her, while his crossbow swept the area in front of him slowly. “Hostile?” he said.

“Not sure. I don’t think they see us. But they… These aren’t equine.”

Shining frowned. “Bonnie, cover us. Coalcutter, move ahead.”

The lieutenant barely managed to take a step when, just a dozen yards ahead, a smudgy shape became visible through the steam. Shining squinted as he saw an outstretched limb wave in their direction. He held up a hoof and lit his horn, while his subordinates dropped back into a crouch, and Bonnie’s coat flickered for a moment.

“Ils sont arrivés!” They all tensed up from the distant voice, which seemed to echo all around them. “Maintenez votre feu!”

Shining blinked, and the glow on his horn winked out. “Griffons?” he muttered.

Coalcutter’s movements became much more tense and rapid as he kept trying to find a coherent shape to aim at. “Sir… orders?”

Shining stood up and took a deep breath. “Garde Royal!” he shouted. “Nous sommes amis!”

There was a brief pause, though with the tension in the air, it felt like it lasted minutes. “Bienvenue. Réduire vos armes.”

The steam shifted slightly, thinning around them as it seemed to pull away, and they spotted additional vague silhouettes surrounding them from all sides, objects held in their limbs that were pointed right at the team.

“Sir!” Bonnie moved a bit closer to the captain, the exposed parts of her body lighting up, while she aimed her crossbow at the nearest shape.

Shining looked around and sighed. “Lower your weapons.”

“What?”

Coalcutter said nothing, but his breathing was noticeably faster. His weapon alternated between the potential targets, and he looked for even the slightest sign of hostile action, yet none of them moved.

“Listen to your capitaine,” came a slightly accented, low female voice from up ahead. The air shifted, and they heard slow, rhythmic wing swipes, creating a gust that dissipated some of the thick, scented steam around them. Through the thinning mist, the ponies noticed a tall, imposing, winged figure, standing on its hind legs with its clawed hands in the air. “If we wanted to attack, you would be dead by now.” She smirked. “Lower your weapons. You aren’t among enemies.”

Shining held his breath for a few moments. “Identify yourself,” he said. His voice was calm, almost casual, despite being outgunned from every direction.

The griffon sighed, her curved beak clicking faintly. She lowered one of her arms and brushed back some of her dark grey plumage from her head. More griffon shapes came into focus through the mist behind her, numbering around half a dozen now. They stood under the rickety roof of the hut in a loose formation, though each one had their weapon out.

“We are from the Protection des Frontières Groupe,” the female griffon said. “Equestria sent you, the Griffon Empire sent us. And we’ve been here for longer. We need to talk, Capitaine.”

“Griffon commandos,” Shining muttered.

The two parties stared at each other, Coalcutter still keeping a twitchy foreleg near the crossbow hanging from his side, while Bonnie’s glow faded. Shining frowned a little as the griffon’s bloodshot, pale grey eyes locked with his own for a few moments, after which she blinked and looked away. Her talons touched the ground, and she hung her beak with a sigh, lifting one claw to give a brief wave. The griffons around them all lowered their weapons as well, letting them hang by their sides.

“What are you doing here?” Shining asked.

“Rest assured, there is nothing we can do to this place to make it any worse, Capitaine.” The griffon’s beak curled into a smirk, and Shining’s forelegs twitched in response. “But you can. Come in.” She nodded her head at the entrance of the hut behind her. “We’ll offer what’s left of our hospitality.”

“Captain…” Coalcutter began.

Shining Armor raised a hoof to cut him off. “Alright,” he said and glanced at his subordinates. “At ease.” He then turned back to the griffon. “Let’s make this quick. We have a mission to carry out.”

“That you do,” she said. Turning around, she made her way toward the entrance, her matted tail drawing mud from the ground. Shining was the first to follow, with Coalcutter and Bonnie trailing behind hesitantly. The soldiers all nodded and stepped back as they passed, some of them even giving friendly smiles. Shining nearly recoiled when he saw one particularly large griffon with an eagle head and night black plumage, his imposing figure looming over the ponies. He chuckled, while Shining frowned, gritting his teeth as he heard the griffon follow them into the hut.

The hut itself turned out to be just a hollow shell, while the griffon hideout was a series of cellars, starting with a concealed hatch in one of the unremarkable corners of the hovel. It led to a long corridor, several chambers and additional paths branching off from it on either side.

“How long have you been tracking us?” Shining asked as he climbed down. Bonnie silently refused a helping claw from the large griffon, and she kept an eye on him the whole time, only looking away once Coalcutter reached the bottom as well.

The female griffon chuckled and led the group down the hallway. “You are quick to catch on. We’ve had eyes on you before you entered this district, but we only activated the signal after you searched our outpost.”

Shining hummed in response. Peeking into some of the chambers, he saw furniture and other household equipment that had been salvaged from nearby homes in an attempt to create a semblance of a liveable space. The air was quite warm, and after the chill of upper Gueldergrad, it felt almost uncomfortably hot. The malfunctioning sewers were inadvertently taking care of what the city’s non-magical heating was supposed to.

“Signal?” he asked.

“Yes. We’ve set up the devices throughout this district, using them as guidance for each other and a deterrent for outsiders.” The griffon led them into a larger chamber at the end of the corridor. There was a wide table in the center with a stool on its left side. Several desks stood side by side along the far wall, laden with comms equipment, paperwork, and several devices Shining could not identify. “The locals are superstitious. They seem to fear the sound of bells especially. Even those who have the Legion giving them discipline.”

Shining cleared his throat loudly. “Speaking of the Legion…” he began. The griffon nodded and gestured to the stool. The captain plopped onto it, while the griffon sat on a mattress against the wall on the right. Next to it were a couple of photos and other personal items, and the opposite wall even had a salvaged mirror hanging above a sink improvised from a washbowl and a redirected water pipe. Bonnie and Coalcutter stepped in as well, moving to stand on either side of Shining. The large griffon followed close behind, moving into the corner nearest to his own leader.

Shining stretched and flexed his limbs, sighing in relief from having freedom of movement after he had untangled himself from the heavy winter clothing. Tension formed in his gut briefly as he looked around in the room and glanced between its occupants. In the back of his mind, he could almost hear the ruffling of pages, old bureaucrats chuckling in the darkness, the overhead light burning his eyes...

He cleared his throat and looked at the griffon leader. “So… Griffon special service,” he said. “I see Novy Rubezh picks carefully who gets to hear about their emergency first.”

The griffon said nothing, merely leaned back on the dirty, creaking mattress and stared at the cracked ceiling for a while. Her silvery beak and head feathers stood out in the dim light of the candles set up on the desks, showing her let out a long sigh. “Are you alright?” Shining asked.

“No, we’re not. None of us are, Capitaine.” The harrier turned her head slowly to stare at him, her eyes glinting in the light. Shining tilted his head to the side slightly as he returned the gaze.

“Look… if you’re in trouble, we could help,” he suggested. “Our encampments aren’t that far. We’d share supplies, but we packed light. I’ll contact the brigade. You’d just need to hold on for a few days, and we’ll have you out of here.”

The griffon nodded and sighed again. “Yes, you could help. Let’s just… not get ahead of ourselves. I’d rather you listened to us first. On which note…” She cleared her throat and sat up straight, holding out her claw. “Agent Marie Delacroix, commandante of Team Nine, PFG.” she said.

Shining blinked and held out his forehoof, almost reflexively, and they exchanged a very weak shake. “Shining Armor, Captain of the Equestrian Royal Guard, currently in charge of 12th Brigade.”

“Griffon spies?” Bonnie said with a brief chuckle. “Is this a declaration of war, or some bad joke?”

“Lieutenant Boninite, my executive officer.” Shining frowned at her, but eventually smiled and shook his head. “As you can see, she speaks her mind.”

Coalcutter remained silent, occasionally casting wary glances at the griffon by Marie’s side. The hulking avian leaned against the wall and crossed his arms, possibly just to flaunt his muscles, judging by how they bulged and the arrogant smirk he gave them. “And this is Lieutenant Coalcutter,” Shining went on. He nodded his head at the stallion. “You can thank his fine hearing for bringing us together.”

In the dim light of the candles, Shining could just barely catch a couple more griffons enter the room with sluggish, lackluster movements, taking their seats at the desks. Bonnie was the only other source of light, and Shining noticed the griffon who sat close to her made some small talk. While his XO did her best to look uplifting and cheerful, the avians seemed to treat her as more of a passing curiosity. In the dark, he watched the other two griffons occupy themselves with menial tasks, fiddling with pebbles on the floor and scribbling on the pages, in between inspections of the equipment. Still, he felt an air of excitement from the otherwise lifeless group.

“Good.” Marie said with a slow nod. “You’ll… meet the others once we’re done, I think.” Shining raised an eyebrow at her, as she never introduced any of her subordinates by name.

“So…” He coughed and tapped one of his hooves. “Yes. The situation. I’m sure there’s something we can do to help you. I mean…” He gestured at the dismal conditions around them. “This is hardly a good place to work from.”

Marie kept her eyes firmly on Shining. “I’m… not sure how to say this,” she said. “The more time we spent here, scraping by… we forgot about the simplest things. You are our last resort.”

Shining raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“It hasn’t been easy. We’ve lost a lot.” Marie finally hung her head and gave a deep sigh, nodding toward the corridor. “There’s a tally by the clothes rack, you may have seen it.”

“Is that how long you’ve been hiding down here?” Shining asked.

Marie looked up again, glancing at his subordinates. They all stared at Shining, and she finally let out a quiet laugh.

“That is how many agents we’ve lost over the three months we stayed here,” she said with a cold smirk. Shining’s eyes widened, and he opened his mouth to speak, but Marie lifted up a hand to stop him. “Don’t be sorry. You could have arrived earlier, yes… but then I doubt you would have made it here. Now… I’ll…” The griffon looked at Bonnie, who was still talking to the griffon at the desk, while the other had left with a bundle of papers under their wing. “...explain what happened.” Shining Armor simply nodded and crossed his forehooves, listening attentively.

“It is too late for diplomatic talk, so I will be brief and direct,” Marie said. The sliver of an amused smile persisted on her beak. “We were sent here to cause chaos. Incite revolt, create disorder, throw the entire nation into disarray, disrupt all their workings. Then the Griffon Empire would step in, and we would quietly give them the reins. Once we had our agents everywhere that could cause damage, it would be weeks before Equestria could form a response, and Novy Rubezh would already be Imperial territory.”

Shining Armor’s jaw dropped. He closed it immediately, and his brow furrowed as he shook his head. Leaning closer, he placed his forelegs on the desk, making the old wood creak.

“Outraged? I think I see why,” the griffon mused, her head tilted weakly. “Either you are an idealist, or... the ponies that get to be in the newspapers are clueless as to what Equestria herself does behind the scenes.”

“I am an idealist.” Shining huffed, shaking his head again. “Equestria means what it does. We’ve been making the world a better place for years now. I suppose that, being an empire led by a tyrant, you can't even imagine doing something good for another country out of commitment.” Toward the end, he spoke through his teeth, but otherwise kept himself from grimacing despite the distaste he felt, though his breathing picked up a little as well. Bonnie’s glow intensified briefly as she turned her attention back to them, while Coalcutter coughed a few times and shuffled in place.

Marie Delacroix weakly smacked her hands against her cheeks and chuckled. “Oh dear…” She rolled her eyes, and the brute beside her snorted, his smirk widening. “You know, I have no shame in admitting it. Equestria is superior to the Empire. For all the effort we put into our clandestine operations, and with our history regarding social movements…” That word made her shake her head. “You outclass us.”

“The hay are you talking about?” Shining said. His frown deepened at the constant expressions of amusement from the griffons before him.

“Nobody talks about how Equestria wins its conflicts or gains new territory - you’re just making friends. Nobody talks about Equestria’s past sins, because everyone who’s ever sinned either turned into a literal monster or got erased from history.” Marie sat up straight, spread her arms, and gave a wide grin. “And you believe it all.” Moments later, she dropped her arms and plopped back on the mattress with a light thud.

Shining Armor glanced at Bonnie, who simply shrugged in response. He huffed and turned back to their hosts. “Get on with it,” he said, now raising his voice. “All your rhetoric aside, you caused this mess, now we have to clean it up.”

Marie pushed herself back to her haunches, still grinning. “We didn’t cause this mess, Capitaine.”

“But you just said—”

“It was like this when we arrived,” she said, her own voice getting lower. Her claws came up to rest on the table, and she pulled herself closer, staring deeply into his eyes. “I led twenty four agents here, only to find a city in chaos. Civil war. Gang warfare. Everything falling apart. The goats were tearing each other to pieces. Nobody knew, not even our intelligence. We had one goal - Novy Rubezh had to be part of the Empire.”

“And you couldn’t call your own army to deal with this mess?” Shining asked indignantly.

“What would our army do? Come here and fight a bloody war on a thousand fronts? Then you would find out, come here, sparkle and shine, and make it look as if we’d…” Marie chuckled again. “...actually done what we came here to do? Chacun sa merde...” The griffon working at the desk mirthlessly joined her laughter.

Shining slowly tapped his hoof on the table. “So what did you do then?” he asked, struggling to keep an even tone.

“We worked hard, very hard,” Marie whispered passionately, her eyes locked with the captain’s. “We took what we were meant to ruin and infiltrated everywhere to repair it. We enrolled the goats, worked with whoever wanted to work with us, made them something. From negative one to zero. This city was Inferno alive, tearing at everything inside of it. But we did all we could to preserve it, to make it presentable.”

“Then you made the wrong choice. If it was this bad, you should have known better. Evidently, it didn’t work.”

Marie looked away, eyes losing focus, and even her smug smile vanished. “No, it did not.”

“Then why didn’t you just leave? Why stay here? I have… little sympathy for you, but this…” Shining rolled his eyes in disgust, unable to finish his sentence.

“Capitaine… I mentioned how I think Equestria’s methods are superior. You worked for your reputation, and now your reputation works for you.” Marie placed her claws against her chest. “Us? Call it xenophobia or whatever you like, but I know what the rest of the world thinks of us. ‘Sneaking, cheating feathered scoundrels.’”

“If you think you’ve broken the stereotype, you should think again,” Shining retorted. “Assuming I’d believe a word of this.”

“Well, yes.” Marie talked over Shining as he tried to speak again. “Ponies are made of rainbows, and a griffon will stab you in the back. Both are unanimously believed. Neither is true. We need that reputation to stay… at least mostly baseless. Unlike Equestria, we are not so good at simply erasing history at will.”

“That never—”

“So we do it the hard way. We are all dead, Capitaine. Agents of the Protection des Frontières Groupe, we know what we sign up for when we’re sent to places like this. If we fail? This mission does not exist, nor will it ever exist. Nobody ever knows. Nobody can know. Nobody will know. Nobody alive in this world...” Her bloodshot eyes never blinked, and she merely paused to catch her breath. Her head tilted to the side, and she smiled once more. “Now you know why we supported you on the bill against necromancy all those years ago.”

“You’re all going to die so nobody ever finds out about your involvement in this mess. Right…” Shining crossed his hooves and leaned back. “That is, after you tell me you cannot return and that you would not send for your army because of… this. I fail to see the logic here, and frankly, it’s starting to feel like there isn’t any.” He leaned a bit closer, eyes narrowing as he inspected her face. “How long have you not slept for?” he scoffed.

“Three days.” Marie’s smile widened, and Shining had to resist the urge to slam his hoof on the table. “I see you don’t get it yet.”

“No, I guess I don’t,” he replied, voice dripping with sarcasm.

“Then let me make it simple. Our army will not come. Our exterminators? They are already on their way, if not within city limits. They will wipe us out. They will destroy everything. Believe me, there will be not a brick left. There will be Talons, there will be Yeux, there will be Tempêtes. The utter chaos in this place means it can easily be blamed on magical causes. It is, after all, the Frozen North. Nothing will remain. No one will know.” She tapped her claw on the wood for emphasis. “Capitaine, this is not just us. It would have been us if this were a smaller scale coup. But with this?” Her voice croaked as she whispered. “We are all dead. It is inevitable. For all our faults, we can keep a secret, and that secret is coming to get us, Capitaine. It will make us into a secret too, and whatever caused this insanity… will not live to affect the rest of the world.”

Shining stared at her for a while, blinking in disbelief. “...was that a threat?” he finally blurted out.

“A fact. Puff your chest and shout bravado all you want. This is what will happen. You should never, ever have come here. So many ponies will die. This… did not have to happen.” The bird’s head was close to dropping onto the rotted wood of the table. “But now you’re here. Chasing phantoms. Fighting for a big, sparkly, rainbowy nothing. The biggest in all of this land’s history.”

There was another long pause. “I don’t believe you,” Shining said.

Marie gave her usual patronizing look, as though she were speaking to a simpleton. “Do you have any reason to doubt me, Capitaine?”

“You’ve given me plenty.” Shining leaned onto the table again, almost making one of the legs crack. “If you are an intelligence unit, you’d have every reason to deceive me. How do I know you’re not just making up this whole story to scare us away before we learn too much?”

Bonnie stepped in. “Better yet, what if you’re not servants of the Griffon Empire at all? Just some rag-tag mercenaries, or criminals on the run? If anyone’s chasing you, we’d be the muscle you need to keep them away.”

“Lieutenant, stand down.” Shining noticed how the smug look on every griffon’s face vanished. The one at the desk got to his feet and stepped toward the mare, while the brute next to Marie approached from the other side. She raised her claw, making them pause.

“Perhaps you will trust the voices of your own soldiers then,” she said, no sign of amusement in her tone this time. “Guillaume.” She gestured to the comms equipment while looking at the griffon near the desks. He nodded and walked over to one of the devices, flicking it on. The speakers crackled for a few seconds, and Shining’s blood ran cold when a familiar voice emerged from them.

“...this is Basalt Five! Command? Does anypony hear me? Dammit!”

“What the hay?” Without noticing it, Shining reached for his sword, his eyes staring daggers into the griffon leader’s own. “How—”

Marie lifted a claw without looking at him, her eyes fixed on the speakers. “We’ve been monitoring them ever since they got near the city limits. They moved erratically for days, always complaining about their radio.” She smirked. “It seems someone was sending them rather strange orders.”

Bonnie frowned. “You mean you can listen in on our radio signals?”

“No,” Guillaume said. His accent was much thicker, but thankfully intelligible. “They broadcast on an open channel…”

“And so did whoever talked to them,” Marie added.

“Corporal, this is hopeless. We—” A strong wave of static drowned the voice out for a few moments. “I don’t care if it’s the captain or Celestia herself who keeps radioing us. We’re going back before this damn blizzard eats us alive.”

“Yes sir!”

“And fix that damn thing already! Junk or not, we don’t want to get stuck out here without any—”

Shining winced as he heard a loud snapping noise, followed by an odd groan and the sound of a body hitting the floor.

“Sarge? Sarge! Oh fuck… Gregale’s hit!”

“Got contacts! Ten o’ clock!”

“Got one on our six! Shit… they’re all over us!”

“On me! Everyone form up!”

A loud voice with heavy Griffonian accent spoke up. “You are surrounded and have no chance! Drop your weapons!”

“Fuck you!” Shining heard the distinct sound of a crossbow discharging. “Come and get me you birdshi—”

The recording suddenly cut out. Shining blinked, taking a moment to realize he had gotten to his hooves, and that his legs were trembling with anger. He turned to look at Marie, who casually leaned back on her mattress with a sigh. “This happened two days ago. It was all we could pick up,” she said. “Any more, and we would have risked revealing ourselves.”

Shining remained silent for minute, trying to come to terms with what he just heard. His subordinates said nothing either, and an eerie silence filled the shelter. The distant rumbling of the sewers and the occasional faint tremor, followed by a deep boom, were the only signs of a world outside this hole in the ground.

“Sir...” Coalcutter said. Shining blinked in surprise as he turned to look at him. “The Atoll… we experienced something similar. Is it possible that… you know…”

The captain frowned and slowly returned to his seat. “Yes,” he replied in a low voice.

“Some kind of sabotage?” Bonnie asked. “How would anyone even know how to hack our equipment when it’s practically brand new?”

“I can only speculate,” Marie said. “Our military does keep a close eye on Equestrian advancements, but as far as I know, we haven’t gotten this far yet. Besides, our equipment only allows us to listen in. The team sent after us may have stalked your scouts, but I doubt they could achieve something on this level.”

“Are the insurgents really this advanced?”

“They are resourceful, but they have their limits. Beyond that, if it was any faction in this region, we have never found any trace of them.”

“So…” Shining took a few deep breaths. “How about you tell us something useful, Agent.”

Marie shrugged. “I don’t blame you for your persistence,” she said. Sighing, she closed her eyes and lifted a talon. “But there is one thing you should understand. If you expected to clean up organized crime, then you can put that off. No doubt you’ve found some of the remaining street trash. They are no longer a threat. Their organization is in ruin, and they’re too thinly spread to even start a war among each other. Consider it a parting gift, courtesy of the PFG.”

“Mhm.” Shining frowned. “One good thing your lot has done here, and no doubt it involved a stab in the back.”

Marie chuckled weakly and shook her head. “I am too tired to argue otherwise. I see you’re not going to bring this up, so I will. We did want something of you.”

“I hope you know that we’re not really in a bargaining mood,” Shining said, glaring at her. She laughed again in return, which by now made his ears flicker and his spine jitter with irritation. He noticed that everyone else remained silent, and all eyes focused on the two of them. Even the faint rays of light seemed to converge on the center of the room, making him squint. His eyes continued to drill through the griffon, and an uncomfortable weight settled in his gut, even as he tried to keep a straight face.

After a pregnant pause, Marie spoke up again. “You see… call us what you want, and we’ll call our griffon kin from the Kingdom what we want. But us and them have more in common than just our species. A notion of… ‘honor’... it retained meaning, even after we’ve traveled through Inferno itself.” She looked away and smiled, for once not out of condescension, but mirthless revelation. “Or, rather, I suppose that is when we found that very meaning. So as we hid here, striking out against the fanatics, the remnants of the mob, trying to help the locals… we became tired. We cannot wait for the exterminators anymore. Our failure is eating at us while await our death sentence.”

Shining took a deep breath, but stopped himself at the last moment. The knot in his stomach tightened, and he almost gagged when he thought of how he was about to suggest mass suicide. He felt every dull vibration from the sewers in his bones, the tired smiles burned into his vision even when he closed his eyes, and the bitter laughter echoed in his head. Every muscle in his body screamed at him to leave this place.

Marie stared at him curiously, and she nodded. “I know. The others couldn’t take it. Eight of the fifteen that are gone took their own lives. Either did it themselves or wandered off on their own and met… expected results. We held on, until now. You…” She swallowed. “You could help us.”

Shining’s ears perked up, and he adjusted himself in his seat.

“This may be much to ask…” Marie glanced at her subordinates, and her bitter smile vanished altogether. Though Shining could not see it on her face, he could imagine how she felt. “But we are all soldiers here. Our countries don’t exactly find each other too appealing. This is the closest any of us have to an honorable end. Struck down by our foes.” She looked back at Shining. “And not just a nobody. The Captain of the Royal Guard and current regent of the Crystal Empire.”

His jaw dropped. “You’re telling me—”

Marie nodded, smiling again. “—to kill us.”

Shining stared at her silently, his jaw twitching as he kept thinking of and rejecting responses. Bonnie kept turning her head between him and Coalcutter, as though she expected either of them to make a move. The latter held his breath and kept his eyes on the large griffon again, whose superior expression had vanished as well, and he simply fixed his eyes on Shining as they waited for a reply. The captain’s hooves twitched as he noticed Marie’s lips curl back a little more in anticipation.

“No.”

The smirk vanished from her face, and she blinked. “Pardon?”

Shining leaned closer and raised his voice a little. “I said no.”

The griffons looked at each other, shrugging and muttering to themselves. Eventually, Marie hung her head with a deep sigh. “Hm. Typical. True to your ‘values’ even when you’re trampling all over your own crime scene. I suppose it was delusional to expect—”

“I know what you’re up to. Might as well give it a rest. We don’t kill for petty insults.” Shining got up from his seat, making both of his companions tense up. “You want to die as soldiers? Well, I’m not going to make it that easy for you.”

Marie’s eyes traveled across the trio, and she frowned. “What do you want?”

“You’ve been here long enough to know this city. Find us a way to get to High Strung.”

“High Strung?” She chuckled. “You honestly think killing him will help this city?”

“I never said I want to kill him. I just want to bring him to justice. Make him end this pointless war.”

All the griffons in the room gave a cold laugh, and the radio operator chimed in again. “It takes a poney to deny what’s right in front of them.”

Shining firmly slammed his hoof on the table. The laughter stopped, and his piercing gaze made them all drop their sardonic expressions. “You don’t agree with what we stand for?” he said through gritted teeth. “Fine. You don’t even have to. But that’s the price you have to pay if you want to face our firing squad. So what will it be?”

The snow had stopped, and the thin layer of white on the streets quickly dissolved from the heat of the sewers, which continued to function in the adjacent district. The team weaved through it using deserted streets, but by peeking down the other streets they passed, Shining caught several glimpses of bustling activity.

“I have received a letter from one of my fearless Legionnaires, and I trust he will understand if I now share it with you. Ahem… ‘My brother became a member of the Royal Guard before the rest of my family moved here. His unit is one of those we are now fighting against. How could I ever face him in battle?’”

Unlike the war-torn areas they left behind, there was little to no destruction here. Instead, several broken down homes were in the process of being rebuilt. It was a display of cooperation that all but mesmerized him, even when he could only look for a moment or two. Goats wearing hard hats ran back and forth, bleating instructions to earth ponies that took care of heavy lifting and masonry. Unicorns powered complex machines and delivered tools and materials that were constantly being airlifted in and out by flights of pegasi. Those who were not part of the heavy-duty work, mainly the women and children, brought food, hot drinks, helped with cleanup, and even put up decorations.

Further into the district, they spotted the smokestacks of the power plant among the rooftops ahead. The sounds of labor now echoed from all around, almost drowning out the distant noises of battle. Down a street to their left, a unicorn lifted the final stone onto the roof of an apartment, allowing the earth ponies to fit it precisely into its slot. They then stepped back to let a pair of goats inspect the structure, and the nearby crowd gave a loud cheer as the building was declared to be safe for refurbishing.

“This is the question that pains us all the most, for we are all fighting our brothers and sisters, and every death fills our hearts with sorrow. The black banners you may see outside are the symbols of our grief, while the fire and smoke are the testament to our will. We do not blame the Royal Guard, for they have sworn loyalty to their own masters, while we have sworn to pursue our destiny. We will fight just as readily as we will make peace with them, as long as they promise to fight us no longer.”

Shining paused on one of the corners and looked up, spotting a couple of black banners hanging from the windows of a renovated office building. The interior was still hollow, clearly showing that whoever had been working on it now had more urgent matters to attend to.

“A heartwarming sight, is it not?” Marie said, coming up to his side. “Indeed, paradise can be won through hard work. Unfortunately, lifting stones and building homes is not all these people did.”

Shining turned his eyes back to the ground. “Did they make their weapons too?” he muttered.

“Oh, no.” Marie lifted a claw and waved slowly, and a trio of griffons further back emerged from cover and caught up to the leaders. “It surprised us greatly as well. They used Capric military supplies.”

“What?” Shining turned to look at her, eyes wide. “Who in their right mind would leave something like that lying around?”

“A just question. They did not.” Marie glanced at the machine pistol hanging from her side. “High Strung told many lies, but at first, his ponies did try a peaceful approach, just as he said. The corrupt militia arrested, tortured, and killed their envoys. When the news got out, the Legion was formed, and they declared war…” She smirked at Shining. “I believe this was what got Equestria’s attention as well.”

“The broadcast.” Shining frowned. He watched Coalcutter check their surroundings up ahead, and he waited for the lieutenant to signal back before continuing down the street. “So what happened?”

Marie lagged a few steps behind and spoke just loud enough for him to hear. “There are two major weapons caches on the borders of this city. One had been sold to a criminal organization, the other was taken by rogue elements of the military. They offered the Legion a purchase, and many thought High Strung had joined the ranks of criminals, even though he vowed to never make deals with such filth.”

“Hmph.” Shining spat. “Just another promise he didn’t keep?”

“It seemed that way, yes. But it was just them being observant. Greed, as they learned, was a cancer running deep in this city. Both organizations were delighted to support this new ‘gang’ that could keep their partners in the city under pressure. They showed up with an impressive display, hoping to encourage the Legion to buy more. Instead, they were ambushed and killed, and the weapons they hoped to sell were used to take control of the eastern half of the city. In one stroke, High Strung had decimated his enemies and gained unparalleled strength.”

Shining did not reply. He merely picked up the pace, making Coalcutter give him an odd look before he moved on to inspect the next corner. Wherever they went in this district, the speakers overhead delivered High Strung’s monologue at an almost painful volume.

“Many believe me to be a visionary because of all the things I’ve planned and achieved. Some believe me to be a prophet because of things I have foreseen. Others wonder if I arrived from a world beyond, bringing divine gifts to allow mortals to prosper. I promise you that I am none of those things. I am an ordinary citizen of Gueldergrad, the same as any of you. And if you follow in my hoofsteps, you can become just like me.”

A column of insurgents approached from their right, so the group took a detour through a side street, only to pause when they came across another pile of corpses. This time, the Legion had forgone any symbolic display of the bodies and simply left them lined up against the wall of an apartment. Both the wall and the bodies were riddled with bullet holes. The blood had mostly been washed away by the periodically melting snow, but the bodies themselves were well-preserved.

“This was no ambush,” Coalcutter said. He coughed and cleared his throat. “Then they would have had a chance to fight. This was murder.”

Marie nodded as she inspected the carnage. “Ah yes, to be precise, the ‘entrepreneurs’ did try to surrender first,” she said. Glancing at the ponies, she smirked. “Are you surprised?”

Bonnie shot her a glare, but Shining’s eyes remained fixed on the corpses, and his forelegs shook again. “Those gutless savages,” he hissed through clenched teeth.

The large griffon gave a cold laugh as he approached from behind. He hefted a machine gun that was strapped around his midsection and tapped it lightly, making the bullets on the ammo belt jingle. “We are in Gueldergrad, Herr Kommandant,” he said in a deep baritone. His voice immediately drew the attention of all three ponies. “This is the way to survive out here.”

Shining took a deep breath, unholstered his crossbow, and fastened it to his foreleg. “Then it’s about time we put an end to it.”

***

The sun was setting by the time they neared the end of the street. The smokestacks were now in plain view, with just a few lines of rooftops separating them from the group.

“We need to pick up the pace,” Shining said. He nodded his head down the street, which led through a small square before it reached a perpendicular road that led straight to the power station. “I’m taking point.”

“Sir.” Coalcutter nodded and moved to the back of the formation.

“Um…” Bonnie raised her hoof. “I think you better—”

“I don't care what you think,” Shining snapped.

The mare blinked, and before she could reply, her superior got up and swiftly made his way to the corner up ahead. He peeked around it and, without waiting for the others to catch up, waved for them to follow and trotted onward. The griffons seemed surprised by this as well, with Marie and her large companion staring at each other in confusion.

“Sir, wait!” Bonnie struggled to keep her voice down. She rushed after the captain, stopping at the corner and waving after him futilely.

Shining was about halfway across the square when he heard a scream from above, making him freeze. Moments later, all sounds became lost in a dull whine, while his body felt like a dragon had closed its teeth around him. Through the intense agony and pressure, he could faintly feel his face smash against the pavement, followed by debris pattering against his body all over. He screamed, throat aching from the effort, but he could not hear his own voice at all.

Noises came from all around him, only registering as dull tapping and crackling through the roar in his ears. Something hit the ground near his head, making him wince as it sprayed his face with crushed asphalt. Moments later, something grabbed his leg and started dragging him rapidly, making him shout and curse as his face scraped on the rough pavement.

“Verdammt du Hurensohn!” the figure said. Fighting through the sudden stiffness in his neck, Shining turned to look and saw the large griffon cursing through his clenched beak while he dragged the captain by his hind legs. To either side, griffons pressed themselves against any cover they could find and returned fire. A pair of white snakes zoomed past the left side of his vision, which he recognized as smoke bolts.

Shining thrashed weakly, his limbs still rather stiff, and he managed to roll onto his back before going limp again when a round struck his chest. His armor absorbed the impact, but it still knocked the wind out of him. “Gaah!” Out of breath, he only managed to faintly croak the words while his hoof clutched at his chest. “F-Fucking… uugh!”

Once they were finally around the corner, the griffon unceremoniously tossed him behind a nearby trash can and fell to his knees, gasping for breath before stumbling over to retrieve his large gun that lay discarded on the sidewalk. Shining noticed a subtle limp in one of the griffon’s forelegs, and as the gunfire picked up all around, he groaned and pulled himself upright, intent on joining the fray.

He quickly checked himself for wounds, finding that his clothes were torn up in a few places, and some shrapnel had embedded in his skin and drew a bit of blood, but he was otherwise unharmed. The roar in his ears slowly subsided, and the stiffness faded from his limbs, allowing him to prime his crossbow and load it with an explosive bolt. He poked his head out from behind the trash can and spotted over a dozen goats and ponies on the rooftops across the square, unleashing a hail of lead and explosives on those below. The smoke screen Bonnie and Coalcutter had created gave them and the griffons time to seek good cover, but the wind was rapidly clearing it away.

Bullets pinged off the crystal mare’s glowing body as she tried to advance, Coalcutter lagging behind as he tried to provide cover fire. He ducked behind a concrete bench, and he looked up for a split second before curling up as tightly as he could. “Incoming!” he screamed. Bonnie hit the ground, and a heartbeat later, a rocket slammed into the tree behind her, blasting it apart.

Shining coughed a few times before he managed to take a proper breath. “Suppressive fire!” he shouted. Hoping actions would speak louder than words to the griffons, he took aim and pressed the trigger with his left hoof, but his right was unsteady, and the bolt landed several feet below, blasting a large chunk out of the prefab concrete slabs of the apartment. Cursing, he loaded a second bolt and fired again, this time hitting the roof, but the insurgents had already noticed him and simply took cover. While he fumbled with the next bolt, a volley of bullets came straight at him, ripping apart the trash can he crouched behind.

“Shit!” He quickly backpedaled and fired blindly, only to fall on his back and wince as several bullets tore through the air above his snout. Moments later, his ears perked up as he heard a piercing avian screech, followed by a heavy thudding noise that made his blood run cold, at least until he spotted the source. The large griffon’s face twisted into pure rage, beak open in a loud cry, which was completely drowned out by the booming of his weapon as it fired at the insurgents. The rounds kicked up clouds of dust on the rooftops, forcing the insurgents to keep their heads down.

The griffon slowly advanced, alternating his fire between the rooftops ahead to keep the enemy pinned, while the others dashed from cover to cover. Two of them collapsed when a couple of the insurgents’ smaller arms found their mark. They still twitched and attempted to crawl behind cover, not so much crippled by the wounds, but their fatigue after a long and futile mission.

Shining quickly got back to his feet and rejoined the attack, barking orders at Coalcutter and Bonnie, who managed to reach the far end of the square, but were pinned by heavy enemy fire. The captain fired bolt after bolt as he tried to catch up, only to freeze when he heard the large gun go silent. The brutish griffon shouted obscenities in his own tongue while he fumbled with his weapon, and in the corner of his eye, Shining saw the insurgents take aim at him with all manner of large ordnance. In the split-second he had to react, he lit his horn and formed a shield around the avian, and his teeth clenched from the strain as the barrier was subjected to intense abuse from all over. The purple light rippled as bullets bounced off it, often whizzing past dangerously close to the griffon’s nearby comrades, and a pair of rockets eventually forced the attacking group to keep their heads down.

“Ghh… f-fire your damn weapon!” Shining blurted out between labored breaths. “And where in Tartarus are the others?” The griffon cursed even louder and finally managed to snap the mechanism into place. Lifting the gun, he reared up on his hind legs and pulled the trigger, while Shining quickly dispersed the shield on the griffon’s left side, letting him tear into the exposed insurgents. The recoil itself seemed to keep him upright, and his fury on his face was illuminated by the constant muzzle flash.

Bleating and pony voices came from their right, and Shining’s eyes widened as he looked over to see a familiar weapon being set up on the rooftop, its barrel pointing straight at the large griffon. Others kept firing with smaller arms, keeping those around the brute pinned. In their haste to get the big gun working, however, the insurgents paid no mind to their surroundings. It proved to be a fatal mistake - Shining spotted Marie and three of her subordinates swoop down from above, heading straight for the gunners. She unholstered what looked like a pair of bulky, black flare guns, and her wings spread wide to slow her descent right before she slammed onto the roof.

The landing was a bit clumsy, as evidenced by how she needed a few seconds to right herself, but it also managed to disorient her opponents, and even tossed a pair of them over the edge. Before the others could react, she aimed the pistols and fired, twin cones of flame erupting from the barrels. They engulfed the gunners, making them scream and thrash, moments before fire reached the ammunition being loaded into the gun. The resulting detonation wiped out the whole gun crew, while the griffons leaped off at the last moment.

Now relieved of the intense fire on their flank, Shining was able to focus on the remaining insurgents ahead. He let the shield dissipate completely and charged forward, while the other griffons around him emerged from cover and took to the skies. His heart pounded in his throat as he felt bullets whizz past and slam into the ground all around him. An unlucky griffon failed to gain enough speed and altitude before a hail of rounds tore into him, and his body hit the ground right in front of the charging unicorn, making him grimace as he leapt over the corpse and tumbled into the entrance of the apartment. A goat stopped halfway down the stairs, rifle raised, but Shining dropped to a crouch and managed to fire first. The explosion took off the goat’s hind legs, and they fell over, screaming in pain before the captain slammed his armored hoof on their throat. He then paused to reload before rushing up the stairs.

Above, he could faintly hear mixed Capric and Equestrian shouting, and occasionally he could see the silhouette of a griffon rush past the windows and the holes torn in the apartment. Adrenaline still flooding his veins, he sprinted tirelessly all the way to the top, where he was confronted by a pair of ponies this time, one of them carrying a machine gun similar to the large griffon’s, the other laden with boxes of ammunition. The pile of sandbags at the top of the last flight suggested that they intended to set up a gun nest and mow down any who tried to ascend.

“Who the fu—” The first pony’s words were shoved back down his throat by Shining’s hoof, breaking his jaw. He groaned in pain and stumbled back, while the captain grabbed the machine gun, wrestled it from his hooves, and shoved him aside. He then smashed the butt of the weapon against the head of the other pony, the heavy ammo boxes dragging her to the ground the moment she lost her balance. She whimpered and twitched, blood leaking from her head onto the tiled floor.

Those outside remained oblivious to Shining’s advance, as they busied themselves with firing at the griffons circling in the air around them. While the heavier weaponry could not keep up, the avians were too exhausted to outrun the smaller arms, and the eager insurgents managed to pick off a few, sending them hurtling to the ground. Shining aimed his crossbow at the nearest pair and fired, blowing off the right foreleg of one and shredding the side of the other’s face. The others turned around in panic, giving the griffons a chance to swoop in and mow them down, mostly with their guns, though a few of them actually plucked their victims off the roof and let them plummet to the streets below.

Shining paused to make sure the coast was clear, both around the square and the surrounding blocks. There was little beyond the ambient noises of the city, but he could almost feel the tension in the air. Heart still racing, he galloped back down the stairs and returned to his subordinates. “Everything alright?” he asked.

Coalcutter had his back against the wall and gasped for breath, dust coating him all over from all the holes torn in the concrete. He gave a quick nod and patted himself down. “We’re good, sir,” Bonnie said. She sat on her haunches and struggled with her wrappings, checking if they could still conceal her with all the holes torn in them. Eventually, she just pulled them off and tossed them away. “And you?”

“Never better,” Shining muttered. He glanced at the end of the street. “We have to keep moving. No way the Legion missed these fireworks.”

His companions nodded and got up, moving to his sides, keeping their crossbows primed and attached to their forelegs. They paused when Marie landed nearby, along with her surviving agents, and walked up to them. Her large flame-guns still bled smoke in their holsters, which made Shining tense up a little as he thought back to the weapons’ victims. The harrier’s eyes trailed along the trio, and she nodded. “Glad to see you are all in one piece, Capitaine.”

“Thanks.” Shining managed to crack a smile for the first time since they met. “I… I think I owe you one, heh.”

“Avec plaisir.” Marie returned the smile halfheartedly.

“Macht nichts,” the large griffon added, moving up to her side. Shining looked over and noticed that his claw tightly clutched a wound on his shoulder, which bled profusely. He hissed every time he moved an inch and nodded his head back at the far side of the square they had crossed. “Don’t do that again.”

The captain stared at him in a mix of awe and annoyance, though he no longer felt bitter contempt like when they first met. “What’s your name?” he asked, earning himself a few surprised looks.

The griffon stood tall and puffed his chest, though he kept a straight face. “Maximilian Leonhardt.”

“Well… thank you, Maximilian.” After a bit of hesitation, Shining held out his hoof, and the eagle-headed griffon shook it awkwardly. “Once we’re among better circumstances, I’ll make a list of all your names,” Shining said to Marie. He then paused, noticing some of the fallen griffons in the background, and his expression darkened. “Sorry. About your losses.”

“Que pouvaient-ils faire de plus dans la vie?” Marie shrugged and gave a bitter smile. “Their duty is over now. Ours is not.”

Shining Armor nodded. “Agreed. Let’s move.”

They hurried along the last few blocks, this time making sure the coast was clear first, and both Coalcutter and Marie went ahead to peek around the corner before they made their next move. “Looks like this is it,” the former said as they returned. “Saw a couple of insurgents moving around, but I don’t see any strong defenses set up.”

“Understood.” Shining turned to Marie. “My team and I are going inside.”

Her eyes narrowed slightly. “You wish to go in alone?”

“With respect, this is a matter between ponies of Equestria. Let’s keep it that way.”

Marie snorted. “It may be none of our business, but I must warn you, Capitaine. Do not expect a friendly negotiation.”

“Noted.” Shining checked his gear and gestured for Bonnie and Coalcutter to move forward. “I suggest you head back to the square and wait for us. We may need a lift when all this is over.”

“Hmph.” Marie crossed her forelegs. “We are not your steeds to be used for transit.”

“We won’t be riding you,” Shining said, frowning at her. “I’ll call in a squad of pegasi to pick us up. Some extra cover would help a lot though.”

“Very well.”

He got up and slid along the wall as he approached the corner, his companions having disappeared around it already. Just a few feet away, he paused and turned back for a moment. “Hey, uh… about that whole firing squad thing…” His forehoof tapped nervously. “I know we agreed, but… if there’s any way you could, you know… not die? I’m sure we could work something out.”

Marie and her fellow agents chuckled, and for the first time, it felt friendly. “Save your breath, Capitaine,” she said. “You’ve done more than enough for us. We signed up for a mission where failure meant death, and we accepted that cost, so we shall not run away from it. You have given us a chance to act like soldiers, one last time. That is worth more than our lives.”

Shining could only stare at first, but eventually he managed to return the smile. “I understand. Take care.”

“We will.” Marie lifted a talon to her forehead in a half-joking salute. The griffons then turned to head back in the direction of the park. Shining glanced back one last time, and he noticed them gather their fallen comrades and place them side by side, after which they spread out to collect dry branches from the trees.

This is it, he thought. The grinning, smug stallion’s face was clear in his mind’s eye, and he could almost hear his voice, in the flesh, rather than through loudspeakers. We’re coming, you bastard.

He had turned his radio up slightly after the fighting on the square, and while this district seemed relatively calm, everywhere else, his troops reported a massive spike in insurgent resistance. Some sections even spoke of counterattacks. His breathing picked up the pace, and his limbs willed him toward his destination more than ever.

The team ran as fast as they could across the wide street, heading straight for the power station. Most of the surrounding area was bare, with only snow, mounds of dirt and waste, and a few unfinished buildings on either side. The power plant itself had a massive courtyard in front of it, separated from the sidewalk by a chain link fence half-eaten by rust. The main complex was four storeys high and formed a wide U-shape around the courtyard, with the entrance in the middle. Many of the windows were broken, and the walls were dirty and cracked, but the place was otherwise functional and in relatively good shape.

Just as Coalcutter warned, a few insurgents lingered about, seeming confused by the recent gunfire and unsure what to do. A few well-placed stun bolts quickly brought them down, and by the time the others managed to react, Bonnie had smashed through the rickety fence and galloped toward the double doors. Shouting came from all over, and a machine gun opened up from the third floor, which Shining quickly dispatched with an incendiary bolt that engulfed the window and several adjacent ones in flames. More and more guns opened up from either side, but by then all three ponies had made it through the entrance.

Inside, they found themselves in a tight lobby area, a punch clock and an empty reception booth on the right, and a row of empty and broken seats on the left. At the far end, a narrow corridor lit by flickering fluorescent lights led deeper into the plant. The floor was littered with the occasional scraps of paper and leaves the wind brought in, but otherwise the place was decently preserved - on par with the exterior, at the very least. The faint hum of the generators could be heard from beyond the walls ahead, and the drumming of hooves on the upper floors made dust and loose insulation rain from the ceiling.

“Hurry!” Shining said. They rushed down the corridor, Bonnie taking the lead. Coalcutter focused on translating the signs, which Shining used to keep track of their position. They eventually reached a branch in the corridors, and his pulse accelerated when one of the signs pointed toward the ‘tower’. “If he’s still here, we can’t let him slip away.”

“Contact!” Bonnie dropped to a crouch and fired down the corridor on their right, setting off a loud bang, followed by the agony-filled screams of a goat. The light above and several dials on the walls were knocked out by the return volley, and Shining could only get one shot off before he had to pull back around the corner to avoid the next hail of bullets.

“On our six! Get down!” Coalcutter shoved him further back and dropped as well, firing his crossbow in mid-air down the opposite corridor. Shining was about to protest when he felt bullets slam into the wall right above his head, and he saw more armed figures approaching them rapidly. His ears twitched when he heard hooves closing in from the direction his team had come as well.

“They’re all over us!” Bonnie shouted. Her body gave a brief flash each time it repelled an impact, seemingly without any damage, but the strain was clearly written on her face. Shining cursed and moved beside her while lighting his horn, and a purple shield materialized between them and the insurgents. The mare nodded and quickly turned around, rushing down the opposite corridor. Rather than bother fighting her opponents one by one, she simply barreled through them, letting Coalcutter deliver the killing blows, while Shining covered their rear.

“Granite, this is Basalt Two.” His earpiece continued to feed him the transmissions between his units. “Be advised, I’m seeing a lot of activity in your sector.”

“Pyroclast, this is Diorite Three! We’re taking fire and need arty support! Fire for effect! Coordinates are...”

“Go, go, go!” Shining yelled. They passed through several more administrative spaces before coming up to a pair of double doors. Bonnie kicked it open, revealing a large chamber that almost made Shining dizzy from the sudden contrast. A long metal catwalk hung above, while bulbous, humming machinery lined the chamber on either side, each one leaking a few thin jets of steam every now and then. The ponies could only gawk for a few moments before a stallion emerged from behind one of the generators and opened fire.

“Shit!” Shining quickly used his shield to block off the doorway, just in time to absorb a few stray rounds from their pursuers, while Coalcutter and Bonnie fired back at the increasing number of insurgents emerging from the far end of the chamber. The catwalk above creaked, and they looked up to see more gunners galloping toward them.

“Citizens, it seems we have some uninvited guests.” Shining ground his teeth together from the familiar voice as it boomed throughout the building. “I am flattered by your presence, Captain, but it is time to set limits. You cannot expect to just walk into my home and do as you please. I’m afraid I will have to ask my followers to escort you out.”

The ponies huddled together as the Legion closed in around them, Shining having extended his shield to cover them from all sides. More and more gunfire pummeled it, until it cut out abruptly when a scream rang out, making his skin crawl. He turned to see the insurgents in the doorway wheel around and fire desperately before an elk rammed straight into them, goring two of them with its antlers.

“Halál! Halál rájuk! Éljenek a megváltó lovagok!” The catwalk shook as, seemingly out of thin air, elks began to pour onto it from either end, trapping the goats and ponies in the middle. The fanatics’ piercing cries echoed in the chamber, followed by near-deafening gunfire as they opened up. Dead and living alike tumbled off the catwalk, the latter taking a chance with the height rather than the bullets. They screamed as they landed with wet cracks, their legs going limp and twisting into odd angles.

At the far end of the chamber, the Legion’s warriors tried to fire at the nearest elks, but this only seemed to invite the fanatics to leap down, straight at their opponents. Some of them landed without getting back up, while others immediately went on a rampage, seemingly unfazed by dislocated limbs. “Zemlya ellenségei! Nincs kegyelem! Halál mindegyikre!”

“Sir?” Bonnie shouted over the sickening cacophony. “Orders?”

Shining was left stunned by the view, even forgetting to fire his crossbow. His eyes narrowed when he noticed a prominent figure among the insurgents - a tall pony wearing a brown coat and hat, both military in design, all the way down to the decorations and insignia. He barked orders at the surrounding gunners, which gave them enough coordination to actually keep the elks at bay, though they had no hope of pushing them back.

Without a word, Shining loaded his crossbow and charged toward the group, even running past a few insurgents who were still standing, only to have one or more elk land on top of them moments later. He ignored their screams and stopped about twenty yards from the Legion officer, who was still focused on other threats. Shining crouched behind a large pipe, raised his hoof, and fired, aiming for the generator next to the group. The machine erupted with a loud roar, drowning out every other sound, while a cloud of steam engulfed the area. The captain quickly charged in through the searing fog, bumping into survivors that stumbled around or tried to get back up before he finished them off, and eventually he found the officer, groaning and squirming on the floor, blood oozing from a wound in his side.

Shining roughly grabbed him by his collar and pulled him up. An elk approached from nearby, but he held up a hoof, and the fanatic stayed back. “Where is he?” he shouted. Behind him, his companions managed to catch up and now stared in shock through the slowly clearing fog.

“Grfh…” The officer coughed and shook his head. “Whah… who the—” He doubled over when Shining gave him a swift punch to the stomach. “Gahhh! Uuurgh…”

“Don’t try my patience!” Shining growled. “Where the fuck is your boss, High Strung?”

“Y-You won’t… you can’t win. We’ll—Ahh!” The officer screamed as Shining punched him again, this time near his wound.

“You can give me your beliefs along the way. But I’ll only spare you if you talk. Right now.”

“That way!” The stallion lifted a shaking foreleg and pointed to the doors that led further into the complex. “But it’s locked! N-No one is allowed to go in!”

“We’ll see about that.” Shining dropped him, making him groan and twist from the pain. “Bonnie, get that door open!”

She nodded and ran ahead, while Shining followed close behind. He lit his horn and used his telekinesis to drag the officer on the floor, unfazed by any of his protests or sounds of agony. After a few unsuccessful kicks, Bonnie slammed her entire weight against the heavy doors, which finally gave away, revealing a short, dark corridor. Thick bundles of wires ran along the ceiling, several of them having come loose and dangling to the floor like ominous vines.

“All units, be advised. We’ve got reports of massive troop movements from all sectors. Basalt teams have yet to confirm. Repeat, all units...”

“This is Diorite to any available squads, we need immediate air support along D-14! They’ve got heavy weapons on every damn rooftop!”

The transmissions were more and more frequent, not to mention frantic, and Shining could feel his pulse raging in every inch of his body, the pressure mounting with every step he took down the corridor. There was another pair of doors at the far end, and Bonnie rammed against it, but no amount of force she used could pry it open.

“So eager to barge in? By all means, carry on. Perhaps you will finally learn something.”

Shining struggled to breathe. The tight space felt like it was crushing his lungs, and the radio chatter turned into painful white noise in his ears. “Move aside!” he barked. Bonnie barely had a moment to dive out of the way before his horn discharged, releasing a powerful wave of magic that blew the heavy doors right off their hinges.

A plume of dust got kicked up by the blast, but Shining advanced without hesitation, his subordinates hesitantly lagging behind. They entered a tall, circular chamber, though it took a few moments for the dust cloud to settle and give a clear view of finer details. Broken catwalks and bare walls surrounded them, clearly not having seen use for years. Piles of trash, dust, and debris lay everywhere, and a few rays of early moonlight streamed in through a hole in the dirty glass panels on the ceiling.

Is this supposed to be his ‘inner sanctum’? Shining thought. I don’t see any—

His eyes landed on a piece of loose cable at his hooves, and he traced it all the way to the ceiling, while the rest of the dust finally cleared. “What... the hell?”

The frantic transmissions went on non-stop, both Coaclutter and Bonnie kept saying his name, and their prisoner babbled something, but Shining could not hear any of them. Even his own words did not register in his mind as his eyes adjusted to the darkness, allowing him to see with proper clarity.

A whole swarm of mismatched wires filled the center of the chamber, either dangling from the ceiling or emerging from the floor like roots, forming a bizarre, almost plant-like bundle. Amidst all the cables and barbed lines was the distinct shape of a pony. Its body was badly mutilated, but not decaying. Its limbs hung limp by its sides, while its head was tilted back, mouth wide open to accommodate the hoofful of wires lodged in it, while dozens more pierced and wrapped around his body all over, keeping it in the air.

A pair of wide open, lifeless eyes stared up at the sky. The mouth did not move, but a familiar voice rang out all the same, albeit much more faint and distorted.

“Welcome to Gueldergrad, Captain,” the pony from the billboards said.

High Strung, former advertising agent from the city of Vanhoover, was the cause of the unrest that led to the Gueldergrad insurrection.

Wires

by Dark Avenger

Embarkation

Seawall

Pioneers

Joint Operation

Aground

Assembly

Occupation

Slow Riot

Assault

High Strung