Falling Into the Unknown

I walked through the camp, feeling my rifle and backpack slapping against me with every step. Ponies walked around me, most ignoring me. I didn’t really mind: The camp had served its purpose.

We were attacking today.

The early morning sun was rising quickly in the east, bathing the tents in bright rays of sunlight. Virtually everybody in the camp knew about the attack at this point, so it did not surprise me when I saw many of them repairing armor and weapons. Thanks to a series of suggestions by me (and every other Batpony and Solar guard with any sort of experience), training had been boosted. Quite a few of them grumbled, from what I had heard, but it seemed to have an effect.

I was now a whopping fifty percent certain we were going to live, instead of the mere ten percent that I had estimated. When I told this to Amber, she seemed to find it very amusing.

“Of course half of them don’t know anything about combat.” The dark blue mare had said. “None of them have seen anything worse than a forty-year-old thief who would have been easier to catch than a Parasprite in Las Pegasus.”

That, of course, only served to confuse me more.

“Why would it be easy to catch a Para-whatever in the obvious Las Vegas ripoff?” I asked.

“Because we have wings, you dunderhead.” She said in annoyance.

And that was the extent of the conversation we shared yesterday.

We (as in Azure, Amber, and I) had all agreed to meet at the southern edge of the camp today, before we had to engage in the assault. There was no telling if all of us would be together during the attack, so a meeting was almost mandatory.

I walked away from the edge of camp, towards the two ponies in golden armor standing on a small rise in the field. The two of them turned towards me as I moved, allowing me to see that it was Azure and Amber, the disguise enchantments in their helmets taken out.

“Hey guys.” I said, walking up to them and looking south, towards the distant tan of the ‘Badlands’ in the distance. It was almost featureless, although large shapes loomed in the distance, probably mesas and the like.

“Hi, Tyler.” Amber said, looking out again into the distance.

“So… Are we together in the assault?” I asked.

“I don’t know… The attack has almost no organization.” Azure said. “We don’t know enough about the hive to know, so we are simply going to surround it and go in. Everypony will be doing their best, and that’s what counts.”

“How many guards do we have assembled?” Amber asked her brother.

“Over six thousand.” The pegasus answered. “And there will be around ten thousand Changelings inside to face us. We won’t have surprise, nor will we have knowledge of the terrain, and we’ll be lucky if any of us survive.”

“Relax, Azure. We’ll make it.” I said.

“I have my doubts.” Azure replied.

“Come on: I’m supposed to be the one who is depressed half the time.” I said. “You’ll make it through this, Azure, because you’ve got a better head on your shoulders than half the other guards in this camp.”

“I guess…” Azure mumbled.

“Good!” I said, patting him on the back. “Are you ready to kick some ass?”

“Yeah.” Azure said, a bit more eagerly now.

“Attention!” An amplified voice shouted from the center of the camp. “All guards should gather at the landing field. The attack will commence within twenty minutes, so get your flanks armored up and down here.”

I turned towards the camp, and spotted ponies moving about, donning armor and picking up weapons. All of the ones who had already finished doing the above were headed for an area to the west of the camp: The landing field, where the chariots were parked for the non-pegasi.

Without a word, Azure, Amber, and I all ran towards that area of the camp, seeking to get there as quickly as possible. We soon joined a growing crowd that was looking towards several figures on a small stand, all dressed in bright golden armor.

I assumed the generals.

When the majority of the camp, thousands of ponies, had crowded on the field, the one in the front cleared his throat before speaking.

“We are about the begin the final effort to defeat the Changeling threat. For those of you expecting an easy run, I have one piece of advice: Don’t.” The pony scanned the crowd, looking out at the gathered guards. “For better or for worse, what we do here today will determine the fate of our land, our home. Let Celestia’s light guide you in this fight, and good luck.”

With that, ponies started to run to the chariots, many of the pegasi tying themselves to the fronts while unicorns hopped on the backs. I clambered onto one of them with half a dozen unicorns, who all looked at me with blank stares. Ignoring them, I could see that the force numbered well above six thousand, with hundreds of chariots and thousands of pegasi scattered all over the field.

I quickly lost track of Azure and Amber as they went to an entirely different area of the crowd, and simply settled down in the chariot, leaning on the edge. When the time finally came, shouts rang out from the front, and individual pegasi started to lift off, as well as many chariots. With a shake, ours lifted into the air, powered by the two pegasi in front, who strained to get it into the air.

The massive swarm of guards, for that was the only word I could find to describe it, banked to what I assumed was the south, towards the Badlands. Looking forwards, I could see the shapes of small mountains and mesas ahead as we journeyed south, towards the being that I most wanted dead.

We were going for Chrysalis.