Legends of Equestria: HeroSoul

Xetesk, three weeks previous.

Dawn had made her way to the battlements of inner Xetesk, after the initial fighting at the gates between the Archmage, accompanied by his possy against the Garonin aliens had been such a slaughter, the defence had been put into the hooves of the remaining mages of the city college, barrage after barrage of fire and ice were being thrown over the stones walls as the Garonins attacked the countless citizens too slow to make it behind safety. A lot of the walls were damaged and there were already dozens of holes the aliens were pouring through, not to add to the fact that the mages were slowly draining themselves of magic, including Dawn, who was in the mist of the fighting, she had seen the aliens destructive power first hoof, but she still felt it her duty to avenge as many of her friends from Manehatten as best she could, even if it was a futile effort, which at this point, seemed to be the case. No matter how much magic and spells the pony defenders threw at the enemy, they kept coming, their numbers seemed to be increasing, a couple of those machines could be seen tearing apart buildings and landscape in and around the small city. Xetesk was one of the few cities in Equestria built to withstand a siege like this. With most races in Equestria being flyers, the prospect of walls and choke points had long been forgotten, as well as, until recent years, the prospect of war. But times had changed and now came the end of the world, the huge stone walls and tight buildings meant it was hard for a large army to get around unless they knew the terrain, luckily, the defenders did. Unluckily, the aliens didn't care and destroyed as they went.

Dawn looked down at the bombarding Garonin and the brave ponies trying to fight back at the latest opening in the wall, slowly, in a futile attempt to conserve magic, she conjured up a fire orb from her studies and dropped the thing on the enemy, the ball exploded and four of the enemy went down, only for their numbers to be soon recovered by the sheer amount in their charge, ponies either side of Dawn were dropping like flies, screaming out as the red lasers flew all over the field, Dawn was saddened by the battlefield before her, pony numbers were dropping rapidly and the Garonin looked no where close to running out of troops, they just. Kept. Coming.

"Hold them back until the reserve can prepare their spell!" Dawn heard somepony shout, she turned but everypony was so focused on the battle it could have been anyone, another explosion ran out and a piece of the wall next to the mare flew up in fire and blood. The charcoal mare was thrown back and hit her head on something on the muddy ground below.

She wasn't sure how long the mare had been knocked out for, but she knew she was being dragged, by somepony definitely. She looked up, groaning and saw a stallion of orange dragging her with magic, staying close to her and watching her.

"What happened?" Dawn asked, the sounds of battle still raging.

"My leg!" Somepony shouted, only to be silenced by a gunshot. Dawn shuddered at that.

"Wall collapsed, we're falling back behind the reserves." The stallion replied, his voice was boring and dull, but stern. Dawn just nodded, the stallion dropped her and helped her up with his hoof. "I would suggest falling back behind the line." The stallion added, pointing behind her at a long line of about forty pony unicorns, all conjuring some spell together.

"I want to fight." Dawn grunted. The stallion looked down at the battle.

"Everyone down there is about to die, I suggest running now so you don't have to see this. Get to Canterlot, warn the Princesses, save Equestria." The stallion grunted. Dawn looked at the remaining ponies down the hill and saw how little numbers were left compared to the alien horde, many of the Garonin had gotten their knives out, which likewise glowed red with laser, cutting straight through flesh and bone.

"What do you mean?" Dawn asked, the stallion shook his head but said nothing. For a time.

"Get behind the mage line and you'll see, don't say I didn't warn you though." The stallion grunted, Dawn nodded and ran behind the mage line.

"Are you all ready!" The stallion shouted to the mages, a couple unsure 'yes's' came from the crowd. "I know what this will mean for those ponies down there, but we can't let these monsters take Xetesk, our great city! Prepare FlameGlobe!" The stallion shouted, the mages began to cast heavily, their horns glowing brighter and a small red, flaming orb began to form above the stallion, it spun around and slowly got bigger, faster and faster it spun, and faster it grew.

"Prepare to fire!" The stallion shouted, a couple of horns were going out and the flame orb began to change colour to blue sparks began to form around the orb and the stallion began to falter in his own magic. Dawn's horn began to cast on it's own and she pulled back to stop being affected by the spell. The spell was corrupt, somepony had cast the spell wrong, or more, a few ponies had. Dawn seemed to notice before anyone else, and turned and ran. The spell was getting worse, brighter and bigger as every second passed, a couple cried came from unicorns casting, none could move, being forced into the black hole of the spell. with forty plus mages casting, it would easily consume the city within minutes. Dawn kept running and tried desperately to find an exit of some kind, nothing was coming up, she had no way to defend herself from such a blast and began to hyperventilate as panic took over her. In the end she found a stairwell and ran up it, the wall was one of the tallest in the city and had nothing but hard ground below, Dawn's horn began to glow and the orb had completely covered the mages, burning into the ground, the fighting seemed to have ended, but it might have been magic corruption causing fractures in the sound barrier, making it seem silent, except for the sparks and hums of the exploding spell.

"Come on Dawn, you have survived worse." Like Manehatten for example, closing her eyes and standing on the walls of the city, Dawn Star jumped. The blinding pain in her left leg was gone before she could fully register it, She made her way away from the city, crawling, too hurt to even cry out, staying conscious long enough to feel safe, but when the bomb went off, she was far from safe. Dawn passed out as searing heat hit her.

Somewhere North, Present Day

After the fight with the Garonin everyone was much more alert and prepared for a fight then before, Aeb was constantly checking his fucking gun again and Steven was looking all over the horizon, surprisingly he actually spotted a very fortified looking town in the distance, I didn't believe it for a while, but when huge stone walls and towers came into view, my heart skipped a couple beats. A fucking town, finally something different in this barren wasteland of the North. I could see some snow begin closer to the town and according to our giant serpent, the snow cover extended further beyond this town, so yeah, snow and ice and cold. but honestly, it was better than whatever the fuck kind of weather this was. The sun had risen, slowly, much slower than usually, and a lot less bright as well, the destroyed moon was still out but I couldn't bring myself to look at it anymore, Princess Luna was dead, Twilight was dead, all of my friends from so many years ago were dead. Most likely, I wanted to see their bodies to prove the fact that had been burning at the back of my mind, but at the same time, dreaded seeing their corpses. They would have reached the Dweller lands within a week, maybe less if they were fast. It had been months, what the hell had happened for Luna's death to take so long. The more I thought about possible answers, the more I didn't want to know the answers. The only worry, and fear i had, was due to the attack on Paradise, What of the pony dead? What would become of Luna, would she survive in death? Or get sent to the Gap? To drift alone, forever.

"Luna is in the Gap." I muttered finally, after a long think, it wasn't meant for anyone, unluckily for me, it was Derpy who heard that.

"What?" She asked. I jumped, not expecting an answer. I figured I had spilled enough lies to her thus far. She wasn't prepared for fighting, not like this. But she had seen enough war, even against my efforts to protect her. Her and Tage. My poor girl.

"Luna is dead. The moon exploding like that yesterday was the sign for a Princess passing. Luna has been killed." I muttered. Derpy looked shocked, and stopped. The others did for a second, only for a second, everyone wanted to get to that town as fast as possible. They all began to move again, except Derpy, Dari and myself.

"Without a Princess, the link between the Solar and Lunar elements, the Sun and Moon, are broken. Because the link was in place for thousands of years, tens of thousands, the Moon couldn't handle the efforts of not having that magical link, it was destroyed, as Luna's essence was destroyed. And as you can see, The Sun is weakened, Celestia will be in a lot of pain, and mourning, not as much as the Queen though." The Ex-Siren explained, I didn't know the exact lore as to why the moon had been destroyed, until now I suppose. So hats off to Dari. And poor Faust, I forgot her role in Luna and Celestia's lives for a second, she must have been linked with them when they were born, she would be broken, shit.

"So, the moon exploding, means that Luna never. Never-" Derpy stopped herself saying it, Dari did instead.

"Princess Luna, as of yesterday, is no more, her soul is trapped in the Gap to drift forever, in torment and pain."

"The moon would have exploded anyway though right?" I asked, trying to figure this out, not that it mattered, a fucking Princess was dead, best princess too.

"That is hard to say. Possibly, but there is no doubt, especially with current events, Luna never made it to Paradise." Dari muttered, saddened. I nodded and the three of us began to walk towards the town together. Derpy never said a word. None of us did.

"It's fucking empty!" I heard Spectra shout, I couldn't see him, but I could see Steven inside the town, his head over the thick walls. Aeb was on top of the walls, looking down on us.

"What's happening?" I asked. Aeb didn't look very happy, none of us did to be fair. He looked inside the fort and I walked in, Dari and Dee close behind. As Spectra had shouted, the town looked deserted, houses were dotted all over the place, many with boarded up windows and missing doors. Cracks were forming in the cobbled path and any torches that were once used to light the town, were long out. Bits of glass and rubble littered the pavements near the homes. What really perplexed me was the amount of siege weapons inside the town, three giant crossbows sat on top of a hill, aiming down towards the gates and catapults lined the top of the walls, all armed and looking very usable. There seemed to be a large castle in the centre of the town, with likewise contraptions. The oddest part possibly was how the town, or city, seemed to be slightly, bigger, than pony creations. Like tall enough for, well, humans. Which was very strange. I walked through the open gates, spotting two large wooden cogs with chains attached toward two large, reinforced doors. Spectra was screaming how nobody was here and the others were just looking around casually. I spotted a wooden rectangle next to a broken sign. After picking it up and blowing on it, I read it aloud.

"Fort Last Stand." It read.

"Well, that sounds ominous, we should probably rest here, if its abandoned, which it seems so. We might not have any trouble sleeping here." Heart Breaker grunted, as much as I hated to be in a place that we were so obviously going to have to fight in, eventually. I had to agree with Heart, who knew how long it would be until we reached another town, let alone until we reached Serpin.

"Alright. One night, we should rest at the castle, Aeb, Shadow, close the gates. Spectra, Heart. Check to see if the crossbows and catapults look to work, and yes, you can test ONE." I ordered, the four named ponies nodded and ran off into town. "Steven, Nick, Professor, move the food and supplies up to the castle, and find a well that isn't dried up, if there are any, to refill out water. Dari, Derpy, go into the castle with Steven and try to find some rooms that look fairly liveable." I ordered, again nods and they ran off, except Derpy.

"What will you do?" She asked, naturally.

"I'm going to keep watch, when the fighting begins, stay close to me, do exactly what I say." I replied, sternly. Derpy looked confused suddenly.

"You expect a fight?" She asked. I gave her a 'done face' look.

"You're not?" I asked. Derpy looked around and just nodded. "I've been doing this longer than you honey, trust me on this okay? Just, stay safe. If I look to be leading you into danger, fall back. I can't lose you again." I grunted. Derpy thought about it, then nodded quickly and ran to the castle. Just as the large gates closed, Aeb and Shadow ran to me.

"Now what Haze?" Aeb asked. I looked around.

"Try to find anything that will reinforce that gate. And expect trouble." I muttered, the Changeling and Everfree pony both nodded and began to break the barricades on the houses off. I began to walk towards a stairwell up onto the walls to spot for the enemy, who I was looking for I don't know, but I knew something was coming.