The Gods Among Us: A Gleaming Blade

Four… five… no, eight… Or was it seven? General Shining Armor stood almost crouched over the table in the middle of what he had heard some call “The Dragon’s Lair” because of all the smoke. He stumped his cigarette in the ashtray. It was full. Again. Looking at it for a moment, he decided to just dump its contents in the already overflowing garbage can under the table.

Where was he? Oh right, scouting missions. He had sent out… without really seeing the numbers of the forms before him, he estimated about seven groups. Close enough to the truth. Sargent Cladus was the last one to leave with his small team of misfits.

Pushing the forms for scouting missions aside, he took up the list of provisions they had received. Nothing out of the ordinary, but his personal consumption of cigarettes looked like it would soon extent beyond his salary. While reviewing the rations they had been given, he lit another and inhaled, letting the ever so slight respite from the stress be his heaven and sanctuary.

Enough food for two more weeks. Good, good. Same with the water. No drink this time to let the soldiers relax. He’d have to let them share what was left of his own then. Probably better that way. Drinking wasn’t something he could make time to do anyway. He hadn’t taken more than a sip or three in the last month.

“General?” Lieutenant Golden Pear’s voice came from behind him. He didn’t reply, just continued to look at the form for supplies for a few more seconds, before he put it down and let out a sigh.

“Yes?”

“Are you sure it is wise to send so many soldiers out on scouting detail?”

“This again?” Shining didn’t even bother to turn around to address him. He just turned his attention to the map and the latest known locations for the enemy. Besides Appleloosa, there was almost no figures that marked their enemy and too few that marked their own. “We need the information. End of story. And we can’t defend this camp if it is attacked anyway. We’re at the Deathbed, Lieutenant. Welcome to The Fucking Frontlines; enjoy your stay in our understaffed and undersupplied own little waiting room before we ascend into hell itself.”

“I… yes sir,” Golden Pear apparently left the tent. Good, his whining about not having enough troops at the camp was getting at his nerves. Bad enough that he was always going after the sergeants and confirming their orders with him every time they did something without his orders. After the first four or so times, he should have been able to see a pattern.

Luckily there were no more reports or forms he had to look at this very moment, affording him a few minutes without someone needing something from him. Heaven. It truly was. He dumped down in a chair and looked at the map he had hung on the tent wall. Like every time before when his eyes fell on it, they landed on the area just represented by a glacier. The Frozen North.

In a way it was fitting. He was at The Fucking Frontlines, a name well earned, while Twilight had been sent with her friends to The Frozen North. He had no idea how many times he had sent letters to the Princesses to tell him where his sister was, but the answer was always the same; they ignored him.

He took another inhale of the cigarette. He had almost forgotten that he already had one lit, so he had reached towards his pocket to get a new one, only to almost set fire to an empty scroll in the process.

The comment he had passed to sergeant Cladus came to mind. Why had he mentioned to him that his sister was missing? It was none of his business. Then again, who hadn’t picked up on that fact already? The bearers of the Elements of Harmony being missing in times of war was hard to not miss.

In his moments of clarity, there was something that bothered him about that. It seemed like too much of a coincidence that the attack had come so soon after. Were they up against an enemy that knew about that? If so, they were screwed worse than he’d like to imagine.

He felt his eyes grow weary. Time to get up from the chair then. He took one final inhale of the cigarette before he let it fall to the ground and stomped on it until he was sure it was put out.

“General!”

At the same time as some new recruit he had no idea who was ran into the tent, someone blew in a horn loud enough for him to hear it. This had to happen now? Fuck. Shining Armor drew his blade and halfway ran to the tent’s exit.

“Go, get to the gates! Make the bastards pay for every inch they thread inside them!”

The moment he stepped outside the tent, the tip of a spear almost skewered him, but lieutenant Golden Pear cut it off. Only the wooden tip hit against his chestplate. Moments later the spearman found his throat sliced by a dagger formed of magic, deep yellow in color.

Trying to get an overview of the situation, Shining ran through the tents, cutting down anyone bearing the symbol of a sword engulfed in magic. This far into the camp there had yet to form a strong force. Only a matter of time, to be sure.

He took to the right when he had run seven or so rows of tents down, towards one of the watchtowers. The sound of battle ringed in his ears from the left; screams and shouts, the clashing of metal and wood, and the trampling of feet.

The “watchtower”, being a simple wooden structure barely tall enough to give a view of the entire camp, came up before him. Two of the bastards were looting the body of one of theirs.

Cadence, give me strength…

He tried to best to concentrate, but the spell turned out much weaker than he had hoped. Instead of killing the them, it only knocked one of them over. The other one charged at him, foolishly and laughing, yelling that without his magic, a Horn like him was useless.

“I am not useless!” Shining whispered into the Brute’s ear. He had almost literally thrown himself on his blade in his arrogance. His friend crawled and tried to get up, but before he could, the general had freed his blade from the corpse and ran over.

“Get. Out. Of. My. Way!” each word was delivered with a kick to the face or neck. Before the sentence was over, he was struggling to breathe. His nose and jaw were both broken. A final kick and his either blacked out or died from the blunt force trauma. If he didn’t, he’d be choked on his own blood in no time.

Shining ran up the makeshift stairs, heart racing and his breath heavy. It was lost. A glance over the camp said as much. They were outnumbered and the invaders had formed a shieldwall to hold their position inside the gate. His own men were trying, but they were being pushed back. The ones who broke through their own lines regrouped further into the camp, getting ready to hit the defenders from the back.

The sword dropped from his hand and his leg gave in under him. The battle was lost and he was so very, very tired. It was time to catch up on the lost sleep. And if he was lucky, he never needed to wake up again. Twisting himself around so he laid on his back, he put his hands behind his head and closed his eyes.

Forgive me, Cadence, I won’t give you a child after all…

A thundering sound broke through the air, forcing Shining Armor’s adrenaline production into high gear. Looking at the skies, a robed figure descended towards them, summoning storm clouds as it did.

“Be gone, intruders, or face my wrath! Let none of the Equestrians fall by sword today! Leave, or perish!”

Shining got to his feet and looked out over the camp. A silence had fallen over the camp. The defenders were slowly backing away from the invaders, who just stood there, staring at the figure in the skies.

When no one seemed to move, three bolts of lightning hit the ground between them, lighting a fire. Someone blew a horn, sharper and shorter than the one he had heard earlier. The invaders were retreating.

**

“Princess Luna,” Shining Armor kneeled before her when she landed. He had made his way into the center of the camp to receive her. “Thank you, without your help…”

She threw back her hood. Her hair was like a piece of the midnight sky flowing around her. He could see dark rings under her eyes as well. He was not the only one who had slept little then.

“Rise, Shining Armor,” she began, reaching out a hand to help him back on his feet. When he took it, she pulled him into a hug. She sounded like she was about to break out in tears. “You don’t need to bow to me, you’re family. I’m just glad you’re safe.”

Luna eventually let go of him, with a short smile. She tried to be happy, it seemed, but it came through that the only thing she had to be happy for was that he hadn’t died on this day. Or so he thought. Luna had always been the one who was hardest to read. But as soon as he gave her a halfhearted smile back, her expression became more serious.

“Your letter told of approaching danger, but I hadn’t imagined this,” she obviously referred to the attack on the camp. “How did they learn your location?”

“Wait, what letter?” Shining blurted out and his eyes narrowed. Around them the people had started to do what they could to clean up the mess left. The ones who were not tending to, or among, the wounded that was. Muffled cries of pain had started to be a thing in the air. “I didn’t send a letter about danger. Only about my sister.”

Luna’s mouth was left partially opened for a moment or two. With a nervous glance around, she waved for Shining to follow her as she turned around and started to walk in the direction of the Dragon’s Lair. Following her, Shining couldn’t help but feel his hair stand up in the back of his neck. If these were the questions he had to deal with this time, what would happen when the invaders pushed further into their lands?