Secrets Behind The Letters

Meanwhile in the Crystal Empire…

“Shining, Cadence! It’s wonderful to see you.” Celestia gallantly stepped into the meeting room where the white unicorn and his wife, Miamore Cadenza, were waiting for her.

“You too, Princess,” Shining Armour said, bowing respectfully while his wife quickly hugged the princess, throwing traditional royal greeting procedure out the window. “Too bad this meeting couldn’t be under better circumstances. Like, non-life-threatening circumstances.”

“Unfortunately, you are correct. Now, there’s no time to spare, so let’s get started. What have you discovered about our enemy?”

“Not a lot, given our limited number of trained scouts and soldiers,” Cadence spoke up, an upset tonality in her voice. “But what we have discovered is… unsettling.”

“What else is new? Tell me, please.”

Shining stepped toward Celestia and levitated a piece of paper over to where they were standing, and held it so they could both read it. “Alright, here is the most current report of information I have. Our early estimations were correct. Sombra has a very large army with him from what we could see, and what we’ve heard from nearby towns. We’re looking at somewhere in the vicinity of ten-thousand soldiers in his army.”

“Ten-thousand? I agree that’s a rather large number, but it should be manageable with the armies throughout Equestria combined. And with my sister and I, and even the Elements of Harmony to help-“

“That won’t work,” Cadence interrupted.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, we shared the same optimism as you,” Cadence shot a worried glance at her husband, “until a few of our scouts got in a skirmish with a few of the, uh, creatures that make up his army.”

“They are physically powerful, extremely fast and agile,” Shining stated. “However, that’s not what worries me. What’s most disturbing is that these creatures seem to be completely impervious to magic of any kind.”

Celestia broke an immediate cold sweat, her eyes loosing focus on the report she was viewing.

“That is, disturbing to hear. And it definitely makes things more complicated. So, Shining, I assume you attempted to attack these creatures with magic, to no avail?” Celestia’s brain was running in circles at this point, trying to figure things out.

“Yes, multiple times. Our magic almost seemed to bounce off of them, like they’re protected by a force-field or something.”

“Do you know what generates their magical resistance? A spell of their own perhaps? Other than dragons, I’ve never heard of creatures being immune to magic.”

“Well, that’s another thing,” Cadence cut in. “These a-aren’t normal creatures.”

“What do you mean?”

Shining Armour and Cadence looked at each other and nodded. “It would be easier to show you,” Shining said, beckoning their guest to follow him out the door. “We recovered the bodies of one of the creatures we killed. It’s in the research lab.”

Celestia was led down a series of corridors and passages until they arrived at the desired location. The door in front of her had a rather large ‘DO NOT ENTER’ sign fixed to it.

“Until we know more about these creatures we’re dealing with, we are taking every precaution,” Shining said, before unlocking the door.

“I-I’ll stay out here,” Cadence whimpered, gingerly backing away from the door. “I don’t like being around that thing more than necessary.”

“Alright, love. We’ll be out in just a minute, I promise.” Shining pushed the door open slowly, allowing Celestia and him entrance.

The room was dominated by a grotesque stench, making Celestia sick to her stomach.

“I apologise, ma’am. I should have warned you. The body is decaying rapidly, and we didn’t initiate any post-mordem preservation techniques, because we didn’t want to risk doing any further damage or contamination to the body.”

Celestia was led over to the body, where it was lying on an examination table in the middle of the room. It’s appearance was that of an earth-pony, above-average in size with a muscular build. Charcoal in color and a wispy black mane. Decay and rotten flesh occupied large portions of its face and legs, giving an eerily disgusting look to the creature.

Celestia’s stomach did a flip at what she saw next. “So, I, um, take it that slightly more, violent, methods were required to deal with this creature?” She was staring directly at the gruesome gash leading from its neck to the center of its chest. Dried blood was caked all around the massive wound, and the severed arteries and rotting muscle tissue were easily visible.

“Unfortunately, yes, your highness. Without being able to use magic, physical damage was the only means by which we could deal with them.”

“I understand. This may seem far-fetched,  but have you  attempted speaking with them? Maybe they’d be willing to listen to reason? I don’t want to resort to killing like this until we’ve exhausted our other options.”

“That’s the thing, they don’t talk. They don’t show any emotion whatsoever, for that matter. They just attack, viciously, as if on instinct. It’s like they have no soul. They’re like some kind of mindless shell. Until you’ve actually seen them alive, it’s hard to understand.”

“I see. Well, what I do understand is that what we’re dealing with is very dangerous.” Celestia began walking toward the exit door, her stomach telling her she had seen enough of the grotesque abomination.

Outside the room, Cadence was patiently waiting for them. “So, what do you think?”

“I think we’ve got a serious situation on our hooves, but I think we can handle it. But it’s going to be at a very high cost I’m afraid. “ Celestia brought back to mind the numbers they were facing, and the grotesque images she had just seen. Not to mention dealing with Sombra himself. “They’ll be very high, indeed. I’m going to return to the palace and inform my sister and our army generals of what you showed me. This is definitely going to put a stamp on our current strategy.”

“Understood, ma’am.”  Shining Armour saluted quickly to Celestia. “I’ll continue to work on learning more about the enemy. If nothing else, perhaps we can find some weakness they possess. That could make the battles we have that much easier.”

“Very good. Now, both of you, please be careful and stay safe.” Celestia was looking at them as a mother would to her children, worry evident on her face. “Let me know if you need anything. That’s an order.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Shining and Cadence replied in unison.

Celestia began walking toward the castle doors to return to the chariot waiting for her. Her visit may have been brief, but she was able to obtain much information. Albeit, the information was unsettling at best.

‘Alright, what do we know? These creatures are emotionless shells of violence, very powerful, and immune to magic. Let’s not forget that part.’ Her mind was racing, processing the information it had received, trying to devise a plan of action.

‘We’ll have to make sure that all of the soldiers, even the volunteers I requested, are outfitted with a weapon. I also need to make sure to take a total count of our numbers once the volunteer signups are through. So much work to do…’

Celestia climbed into the chariot, tripping on the steps.

“You okay, your majesty?” Said one of her guards, assisting her the rest of the way.

“Yes, thank you. My mind was, elsewhere.” Celestia sat down in her seat and resumed her thoughts.

‘I suppose it won’t do any good to get overly worked up over this. We’ll just take it one step at a time.’ Her mind flashed once more to the disturbing sight she just witnessed. She could she the hazed eyes, the decaying innards, the gruesomeness of its severed neck… Chills erupted down her spine.

This was the enemy she needed to protect her country from. This was what they were fighting against. This was what was threatening all of Equestria.

She was afraid.