My Little Fire Emblem – Uprising Generation

With her crown recovered, Twilight sets out with renewed determination. Passing through the ancient forest Dra'ma brings them close to Crystalis' border. As they near the town of Seramany, Twilight's fears are assuaged by the lack of troops. But never seen before terrors crawl in the shadow of the trees.

Chapter 4: Ancient Horrors

The princess' party halted for a briefing.

"We're approaching Seramany, at the border of Solaria and Crystalis." Flash informed "once we cross, we'll be in Crystalis territory and Rearvall is not far from there."

"That is..." Twilight reminded "IF we can cross the border without any trouble..." After her sentence, Twilight saw something peculiar "hey! Look over there!" Her hoof's direction pointed towards a horde of unworldly monsters, there were animated corpses of ponies and large floating eyeballs.

"Those strange figures." Twilight fearfully asked "What... What are they? Are they even... Ponies?"

"I don't know either." Flash answered "I've never seen them before." He too, was scared but curious.

In a village across the bridge, a unicorn light priestess and mage were conversing with each other.

"What have we done to cause such trials that stand before us? What's happening?" The light priestess started "Why are these abominations walking the plains when the Sacred Stones are protecting us?" The mage stayed silent.

"Twinkleshine" the light priestess continued "stay in the village, it's dangerous outside these walls. Please" she begged.

"They're revenants are they?" The mage known as Twinkleshine asked and continued "they were the vanguard of the Demon Centaur during the days of darkness. The book about the Dark History of Equestria describes these creatures in Chapter 26, paragraph 13, section 26."

"You know them?" The light priestess asked surprised of her traveller's knowledge

"Well duh!!! I'm a prodigy you know. Everything that I can see or hear, I can almost recall." She harshly replied as if the light priestess' question was an insult. "From the book, these revenants attack with their razor sharp hoofs and teeth. It's very painful don't you think?"

"Well of course..." The light priestess agreed "Be that as it may, I need to help the travellers coming through here. You should stay in the safety of the village."

"Okay then" Twinkleshine agreed "I don't mind staying here and it does seem the smarter choice." And the light priestess left the village with quick hooves. Twinkleshine then said to herself "Magic is far more powerful than any monster's claws. Not even the thickest hide and strongest armor can withstand the power of magic. I did study some swords, but magic is my forte, and is worthy for only me. I could defend this village perfectly if it was assaulted by monsters." She took a moment to pause then continued "Oh yes! As there are three different schools of magic, they are governed by the trinity of magic; just like the weapon triangle! Light beats dark, dark beats anima and anima beats light!"

The light priestess crossed the bridge and approached the Princess and her soldiers.

"Travellers!" The light priestess called out "you must listen to me! The ancient forest of Dra'ma is very dangerous! You need to head south and pass this place before the fiends surround you!"

"Who are you?" Twilight asked after the unicorn's warning

"My name's Minuette, but everyone calls me Colgate. I've been assigned to head into the forest and take care of these, um... fiends. However, the numbers are growing and growing and I don't think I could stand to them alone. I'd advise you to leave while you have the chance." She advised

"Fiends?" Twilight was still interested in the monsters "don't tell me they are the very same fiends that served the ancient Demon Centaur? That can't be true. I've only read of them in legends and fairy tales." Twilight wondered in horror

"I know" Colgate sympathised "I thought so too when I first heard of them. And yet they are here right now. This place is filled with them. I wonder how far they have spread... I don't think they're just in Solaria anymore."

"But..." Twilight continued "why are they here? And how?" Until Flash immediately pulled out his sword

"Be careful Your Highness!" He alerted "Something doth approaches!" As one of the floating eyeballs saw the group of ponies that are alive and floated towards them.

"Please" Colgate asked as she trotted towards the eye. "Allow me to deal with the monster" she pulled out a light tome with her levitating magic and chanted "evil shade! May the blessed light drive you from this land!" And swung one of her hoofs from right to left bringing a strike of lightning. For a second attack, Colgate started to release some sparks of light and prayed for a split second before releasing the lighting spell again critically blasting the eye and reducing it to ash and dust.

"Take notes milady." Flash instructed "magic attacks or healing spells depend on a magic user's magic in replacement for attack. Magical attacks completely ignore physical defence, but the magical resistance of a pony can affect the damage the magic does. A good strategy would be to use magic to attack knights since they have strong defence. On the other hand, it's hard to use magic and harm ponies that have high resistance. Pegasus knights like Derpy here are an example of a soldier that has high resistance. The advantage of using magic is that it can be used to attack up close like a sword or far away like a bow, just like how hand axes and javelins do."

"Got it." Twilight nodded as she recorded everything

"I fear that Colgate may not fight them all by herself, I would strongly suggest that we help her. Your orders?" Flash awaited

"We can begin battle right now, so let's charge!" Twilight declared and the rest of the party wielded their weapons and charged with a battle cry.

"AS YOU WERE!!!" Flash angrily commanded with such volume that it stuck fear into the soldier's hearts including the princess and stopped without any objections. After a few seconds of silence and standing still, Flash calmed down into his normal emotionless and serious self.

"Princess, I know that you like to charge and take out the enemy immediately, but take a look at them. Apart from the floating eye called a Mogall that Colgate purged, what are the other monsters doing?" Flash asked

"Umm... Nothing?" Twilight answered simply

"Exactly. We haven't got their attention yet, but once we do, we are stuck in battle until one side falls. That's why it's best to 'prepare' for our fight."

"Then what do we do in preparations?" Twilight asked

"A couple of things though two stand out the most. One is to select the soldiers for battle. We have too many in our company and although the more the merrier, fighting will get complicated with many numbers and result in unnecessary casualties. It is wise to use a certain number of mares or stallions for the fight. For this battle, 9 should be enough. You should pick soldiers that can give an advantage over the enemy.

Once you have your 9 soldiers, the second important step of preparation is to make sure that they are fully and properly equipped for battle, I'll help with the weapon, armor and item inspection too. That way, it can give them a better chance of victory.

Other than those important two, other things for preparation is to use your mind's eye and see what the enemies are and what they have, as well as to configure the starting formation of our soldiers. Last but not least, a list of support and compatibility between soldiers and friends. I have here, the list of the ponies and who has a support link with who." Flash instructed and giving her a scroll.

"Oh look!" Twilight chuckled "it says I'm compatible with you after all!"

"In that case." Flash replied "consider me not standing anywhere near you. Now select your team and I'll inspect their weapons."

Twilight has selected the team and structured the formation as Flash instructed her to do.

"Big Mac, you're taking point." Twilight commanded

"Eeyup" came Big Mac's reply

"Applejack and Pipsqueak, you'll be the flanks of Big Mac. Make sure you support him." Twilight ordered

"Will do sugarcube." Applejack replied

"On it!" Pipsqueak obeyed

"As for the rest of you, Applejack, Applebloom, Flitter and Derpy. Support the advance party or do anything else without straying from the party." Twilight advised followed by the replies of 'yes madam'.

"By the way." Colgate diverted the Princess attention "one of my companions is in that village to the south. If any of you get there quickly, I pray that you watch over her safety. It is also advisable to stay in the woods if you can,"

"We'll see to the village as fast as we can." Twilight comforted then turned to Flash who was resting and watching from the supply convoy with Bonbon. "Why should we stay in the woods?" She asked

"Forests provide cover against attacks in battle." Flash explained "the trees and branches makes it difficult for enemies to strike. There are also other terrains that can give advantages. To name a few, there are forests, mountains, gates and forts. It can be used to our advantage to avoid risking units."

"Really? Fair enough, we'll stick in the trees then. Everyone set? Let's go!" Twilight commanded and raised her Rapier beginning battle.

"Flitter, visit that village close to us." Twilight pointed out

"Ok" comes Flitter's reply as she trotted off.

"That revenant looks pretty close to the archer. I'll cover her." Colgate mentioned and attacked the revenant landing two hits but was unable to kill it.

"Let's advance!" Twilight commanded and the party began advancing ganging up on one revenant and moving from forest to forest.

The monsters started advancing and a revenant made an attack on Twilight. Thanks to the forest, the revenant hit the tree behind Twilight and she counter-attacked with two true strikes. The revenant that Colgate failed to kill aimed for Flitter. She was unlucky and got hurt by the monster's rotten clawed hoofs and since it was close up, she couldn't counter-attack.

A bonetrotter, which is the skeleton of a dead pony that can move around, made its attack towards Twilight. Though Twilight hid behind a branch, the bonetrotter cut through the branch in a single swing without any hesitation, hurting Twilight in the process. Enraged, Twilight struck back twice. The damage to her wasn't that bad, but Twilight had got the meaning that the walking dead are real enough to kill.

A mogall went to attack Colgate and it's evil eye managed to hit, doing minimum damage as light beats dark in the trinity of magic. Without hesitation, Colgate retaliated leaving the mogall in it's critical state. Another mogall went after Colgate but she dodged it's attack this time. Colgate left the second mogall critically wounded too.

The bonetrotter and revenant were respectively finished off by Derpy and Applebloom, while Flitter and Colgate took care of the mogalls and revenant.

"By the way princess," Pipsqueak asked "why did you pull Lieutenant Sentry out of the team?"

"He's too strong you see." Twilight replied "I thought I'd let ponies like you that need the the experience to have a go at them."

"Is it also because he refuses to have a support conversation with you?" Pipsqueak asked again.

"Why would you think that?" Twilight blushed

"Pardon me sugarcube" Applejack piped in "but it does look like you have a small crush on the paladin."

"Oh please!" Twilight laughed it off "it's not for revenge of not liking me!" While inside, she knew it was true.

The surviving mogall attacked Flitter up close, now Flitter was in big trouble now. As the commotion was going on, three mares rode to the top of a hillside and watched the commotion.

"Oh, my!" An pink alicorn gasped "those travellers are besieged by the ancients of evil!"

"Oh yeah! That's absolutely right Miss Cadence!" A white unicorn with a neon mane wearing purple shaded glasses replied. She had a technological air around her

"I will not let this happen!" The princess vowed "let's do this! We'll go down these cliffs and run to their aid!"

"Hold on your highness!" A grey pony with a stylish black mane spoke before they could charge "we go down these cliffs and we'll be running to our own demise." The grey earth pony had a classical air around her. "Perhaps we should find a safer path instead? One that has a gentle slope down?"

"Ah... Okay then, let's just hurry." Cadence blushed "I don't want any of these wicked beasts running amok!" And the three went to find a safer path down the mountain.

Flitter took out the mogall and Cloudchaser went to the village nearby instead. There she learnt about how dead trees and snags can become sturdy bridges and an iron axe was given as a present to whack the snag down. Applejack was the next to take point

"Take this!" Pipsqueak yelled as he drove his lance into a bonetrotter twice and killing it. Colgate focused on another bonetrotter and killed it too without any injuries to herself. After getting the info from Cloudchaser, Applebloom started whacking the snag and Twilight joined in too bringing the snag down into a handy bridge. Derpy flew above the river and made a successful attack on the bonetrotter without getting any scratches.

Revenants and a bonetrotter ganged up on Pipsqueak with no avail and got themselves killed by Pipsqueak's counter-attacks. Undead reinforcements came behind the party adding more numbers of enemies to kill and ambushing the party. Derpy went to visit the village that Colgate talked about and met Twinkleshine who was staring at her.

"What?" Derpy wondered why this unicorn was staring at her

"Your fur shows no sign of putrefaction. So it seems that you are not a revenant." Twinkleshine finally spoke

"I'm sorry, what?" Derpy asked, offended that she was called a revenant

"You've got a problem with your eyes though." Twinkleshine continued "I think you may have suffered a disorder when you were young but since this is a personal matter to you, I'll leave it there."

"Uhh..." Derpy started losing her patience and getting irritated

"I have decided to join you in battle then." Twinkleshine continued and introduced herself "I'm Twinkleshine. A mage of superior wisdom and rare ability. I have read about these revenants and they are no match for me and my magic. I am superior after all."

"O-okay then!" Derpy agreed although her head was full of complication from Twinkleshine's arrogance and ego. However, Twinkleshine does back her facts up by burning the bonetrotter close to her. Applejack cleared the main bridge for the others to cross. Applebloom stayed behind to assist Flitter, Cloudchaser and Colgate against the monster reinforcements. Pipsqueak spun a javelin before before throwing it across the river and critically hitting a Revenant and reducing it to dust.

The revenant backup charged at the back party and one aimed for Applebloom and missed her entirely. In the front party a revenant hit Derpy and with rage, Derpy counter-attacked twice crumbling it to ashes.

The back party dealt with the revenant backup and the front party started to advance towards the grotesque leader of the monsters. An advanced and stronger revenant known as an Entombed.

Without getting hurt, Applejack critically counter-attacked a revenant re-ending its life. A mogall tried to attack Applejack too, but she dodged again.

"Don't mess with the Apple Adjudicator!" Applejack taunted at the monsters

There were only three monsters left. Applejack stood in a forest where she knows the Entombed will attack her. Derpy finished off the Mogall that attacked Applejack, The back party ganged up on the last revenant and the party waited for the enemy to make a move.

The entombed did make a move towards Applejack but hit the tree Applejack was hiding behind. Applejack made her two successful counter-attacks and when it was the party's turn to move once again, Applejack decapitated the entombed with the body dissolving first before the head. The battle was over, Applejack has finished off the enemy leader and with no enemies remaining, the battle was won.

Flash sighed in relief that the Princess and her team managed to win the battle without his help and Bonbon applauded on their victory.

"You've killed all the monsters." Flash informed the princess' victorious party as he stepped out of the convoy. "Still, it's best burn the bones to ash to make sure they won't return."

"I still can't believe what we've been fighting here." Twilight shivered still scared of the monsters they have beaten. "I thought these fiends had been nothing but myth and legend."

"Oh no milady." Flash warned "In fact, these revenants are the least of the dark creatures. But they can still outmatch any normal man. We need to be careful of this enemy."

"Exactly." Twinkleshine agreed to Flash's words of warning and backed it up with evidence "there are more than those revenants, bonetrotters and that entombed..." She made a list of known monsters "there are mauthe wolves, gargoyles, baels, I'd bet any creature of the dark lore could even be walking the plains again. I guess we really are in some trouble, not even my powers can take them on."

"Is this a sign of dark days to come?" Colgate prayed to the heavens

"Just tell me in the name of all things holy" Twilight piped in "what's happening?"

"Princess" Flash advised "It would be wise to return to Lunata and regroup. In recent events, pressing forward now seems very foolish. We cannot face both Crystalis' forces and these monsters."

"Flash" Twilight comforted "I understand what you are trying to say, and I would do nothing more than run for safety. But how about my BBBFF? He is in the same situation as we are. I do know that I may be leading you, me and a group of strong and helpful but innocent ponies into great danger, but... Please try and understand Flash." She held one of Flash legs while he stayed silent for a moment until he spoke

"I understand your highness, and I vow to see you through this safely." He accepted bowing to her. Suddenly, the three mares from before ran up, breaking the moment.

"Aha!" Cadence yelled "foul creatures, beware! I, Cadence, bestow upon you the honour of banishment with my blessed hoofs of love!" Twilight stayed silent, feeling awkward at the mysterious alicorn's demeanour.

"Wait..." Cadence realised "where are the fiends?" She asked Twilight

"Actually..." Twilight answered embarrassed "we just finished..."

"Ah, good news indeed!" Cadence interrupted "The heavens must be rejoicing! But I am a tad... disappointed however. I did come all the way here to show you the splendour of my cherished might."

"Dear me!" Vinyl replied "twas a shame lady Cadence!"

"The most shameful thing milady" Octavia added "is how you dragged us around the countryside."

"Pardon me..." Twilight interrupted "but who are you?"

"Me?" Cadence pointed to herself "Since you asked formally, I shall introduce myself. I am the true light, love and glory of the sacred realm of Fugue..."

"Hold your horses! Lady Cadence, don't say anymore! Don't reveal your true identity." Vinyl interrupted

"Oh! Thanks for reminding me! I can get very careless sometimes!" Cadence chuckled "now I must ride off in anonymity. How beautifully romantic!"

"Um... Ok." Twilight awkwardly understood

"Well then, farewell strangers. Our paths and destiny may cross again. Vinyl and Octavia! Let's roll!" Cadence said farewell as she and her group ran off.

"...What was that all about?" Twilight wondered to herself.