Garry's Mod Vs. Equestria 2: War in the North

"This is it?" I looked upon the large field surrounding the raised platform I had seen earlier. No more than three hundred mares and stallions were in the field training to fight. The rest of them were either too weak to fight, or too young to fight and were given menial tasks like cooking and cleaning. "When you said there were five hundred of you, I assumed you meant five hundred soldiers. Not three hundred soldiers and two hundred useless bodies."

"Two hundred forty three," Shining said.

I looked at him with a raised brow.

"We have two hundred and forty three able bodied fighters. The rest are either cooking, cleaning, or tending to the weapons." He looked up at me, a hopeful gleam in his eyes. "Do you think that's enough to fight?"

I snorted. "Yeah, that's enough to fight. As long as you don't mind being buried in a shoe box." It was true. If there was an army of those crystal beasts out there waiting for these ponies... Well, it would be over quickly. "You'll be slaughtered like pigs. Two of those things gave me a hard time, and if what you said is true, then there's a whole lot more than two of them out there." I shook my head. "Yes, they can fight. But you'll be lucky to last ten minutes against an enemy like those crystally bastards."

Shining hung is head, frowning. "Oh... I see..."

I shook my head again. "If you want them to fight, and win... I might be able to help." I could, but it wouldn't be for free.

He looked back up at me, his eyes wide and hopeful. "You can?! That would be great! I'll do anything, anything at all! Just name it!"

I looked from him to the field of ponies. "I'll train them... But it has to be my way. That means no interruptions, no breaks, no interference from you or anybody else." I scanned the crowd of them, looking for a certain something. I wasn't sure what it was I was looking for, but I knew I'd know what it was when I found it.

Shining agreed wholeheartedly. "Yes, of course! Anything you have to teach us will be invaluable."

I continued scanning the crowd of ponies. Many of them were almost painful to watch. But some of them... Some of them showed potential. Finally, my gaze settled on a pair of ponies dueling; a small pink mare, and an overly-large orange stallion. Every time he swung, she jumped back, then lunged forward to strike at his legs and cause him to stumble. Once stunned, she would give him a good thwack to the head with her wooden sword. She was fast, accurate, and she had a look in her eyes like she enjoyed thwacking him.

I nodded, making my decision. "Let's go see what we have to work with here," I muttered to myself. Leaving behind a puzzled Shining Armor, I began walking through the crowd of training ponies towards the one I had locked in my sights. She was small, even by pony standards. She'd barely clear an average pony's shoulders, in fact. She was a light, pretty pink color, and had a tail and mane of sandy gold. Her eyes though... They were a vivid green, piercing, and narrowed dangerously. They shone like a blazing fire was lit inside of her. Fittingly enough, her mark was a blazing green patch of fire. As I approached her, the ponies I passed either stopped what they were doing to gape, or backed away with their heads low and their eyes to the ground. They formed a path straight to her. Some had looks of worry on their faces, others of flat out fear.

She didn't even notice me as I approached she was so intensely focused on walloping the stallion dueling with her. It wasn't until the eyes of the stallion locked on me and widened did she stop, a questioning look on her face.

I stopped, not two feet from her. "What's your name?" I asked her, my sudden question breaking her concentration making her jump.

She turned quickly to face me, her eyes widening and the wooden sword falling from her agape mouth. "M- m- my... My name?" she said.

I narrowed my eyes at the little mare. "Did I stutter?" I growled at her. "What's your name?"

"Ember," she answered, still staring wide eyed at me.

I frowned at that. "Your name's Ember? That seems a bit... generic."

"W- well," she stuttered, "My full name's Emerald Blaze, but my friends call me Ember," she explained, still openly staring at me.

I leaned down close to her. "I'm not your friend, Emerald Blaze. I'm the one that you'll be having nightmare's about for the rest of your life, and the one that's going to turn your sorry ass into a real soldier." I scowled at her, looking her up and down. "That's not going to be easy with you being so small and flimsy, but with enough training, you might be able to lift a real sword." I sneered at her then. "Eventually."

The fire was lit. Her eyes narrowed again and she glared at me as if she'd like to thwack me with that wooden sword. "Excuse me?!" she yelled, taking a threatening step towards me. "Nopony talks to me like that! Not my friends, not my family, and by the Sun and Moon, especially not you!" She took another step, bumping her nose against mine. "Do you understand me?!"

I stared into her eyes. They were like blazing infernos of green. Anger and pride, both of equal amounts fueled that fire that threatened to burn me. "If you think you're soldier material, meet me in the sparring circle. I'll give you ten minutes."

She glared even harder. "I'll be there in two."

We were standing in the small dirt circle that I had seen when I first walked through the gates. It was nothing more than a patch of dirt with a rickety fence around it, but it would serve my purposes well enough. The entire training field was watching, along with probably the rest of the castle's occupants. Word seemed to travel fast in that place.

She was wearing a thick padded jerkin, with matching leggings and headgear. Her weapon was a wooden longsword made of a hard, dark oak, holding it in her teeth. Her expression was fierce, and she was standing ready, her legs wide and her head low.

I was wearing a black, long-sleeved T-shirt, brownish pants, and brown work boots--everything the LEET playermodel from CS:S wears, minus the glasses and ear piece. I was using a dark oaken longsword as well, though in comparison it was more of a dagger for me. I was smiling lazily and standing sidelong. "Are you ready to fight?" I asked.

She snorted, making clouds in the dust. "Sure. Are you ready to lose?" she threatened around the sword.

I raised a brow. "After this, want to go back to your place? I could show you how to really use a sword, if you know what I mean." I chuckled as I saw the rage behind her eyes. "By sword I mean my penis."

With a savage growl, she charged at me. She moved fast. Faster than she did with the stallion in the field. She was upon me almost instantly, drawing back her sword for a swing at my legs.

I saw the swing coming before she even made it. With ease, I stopped her sword with my own, making a loud clank of wood striking wood. "That's all you have?" I asked, twisting my blade away from hers and rapping the flat of it sharply against the top of her head. "I thought I was going to lose?"

She snarled in anger, striking at me again and again, but every time her blade was deflected by my own and she would receive a thump to the head. She swung low, she swung high, she swung hard and soft, fast and slow, but every time I stopped her with a simple flick of my wrist. After nearly ten minutes, she roared in anger and threw her sword away and tried to tackle me.

I followed suit, dropping my sword and countering her tackle by grabbing her by the front hooves, holding her still--until I was kicked in the stomach and dropped her, that is. All I saw was a blur of pink, then I felt a hoof connect with my face and I was sent tumbling backwards. I rolled for a few seconds before hitting the fence. I pushed myself up, casually brushing off the dirt that coated my clothes. "If I wanted a kiss, I would have just gone to your mother." Then I saw something that made me think I had just said the wrong thing.

Her body tensed, and her eyes were focused on me with murderous intent. She rushed me, to my eyes little more than a pink blur that sounded like furious screaming. She rammed her shoulder into me, slamming me back into the fence, but luckily I was able to dodge the hoof that came after, as it had the force to shatter the wooden boards where my head had just been.

I was back on my feet, dodging and countering attacks left and right and front and center. I was wrong: this mare was small, yes, however she was anything but flimsy. I blocked most of her attacks, but some still got through and I was beginning to feel them. By then I had already learned all I needed to know, and it was time to end the fight.

I slapped away her hooves, jumping back to give myself room. I had half a second, but that was more than enough. I pulled back my right hand and balled it into a fist so hard my knuckles cracked. Then, kicking off the ground I dashed forward, at the same time throwing my fist forward as hard as I could. I almost felt bad for the little mare.

She saw it coming. I know she had to have her eyes were so wide. But she couldn't move quick enough to get out of the way. Her head snapped back at a sickening angle and her body flew backwards, smashed straight through the fence of the sparring ring, and plowed right into the crowd, knocking a dozen ponies over with her momentum. She lay there on the ground, unmoving.

I righted myself from the hunched position I was in after the punch, cracking my back and neck loudly. "Thick skulled, that one..." I muttered as I made my way to where she lay. The crystal ponies--as I learned they were called--moved from my path to Emerald's body, silently staring with eyes full of shock, and some of fear. I stood over her body, a frown on my face. "I know you can hear me," I said accusingly. "Get up."

She groaned, barely stirring.

I scowled at her. I reached down and grabbed her shoulder. "I said, get-" then I was grabbed and karate thrown over her own body, and face first into the ground. I rolled once and stopped on my back with her standing over me with a smirk on her face.

"Got anything smart to say now?" she teased.

I stared into her emerald eyes and saw the raging fire no longer, but a victorious light shining. "Congratulations," I said, "you're my new second in command.

After spending a short time explaining what I meant and why I had fought her in the first place, I had begun to explain what I had in mind for her and all the other ponies I would train. "After I'm done with you, you'll be one of the most deadly forces on the planet; You're going to be the ones who start the battle, and the ones who end it," I explained. "If you want to fight something that can take out a whole city in a matter of minutes, you need to be ready for a fight to the death. Evil entities usually don't show mercy, and living through a single attack is a feat that is severely under appreciated. Going through this training will see you through your first battle, and many more after that. And if you want to beat whatever the hell that thing out there is, you're going to need to survive a few battles."

At first, she was hesitant. "So I'd be leading everypony into battle?" she asked. "That's... a lot of responsibility..."

Then I told her that besides Shining Armor and myself, she could make anyone do anything she wanted with her position.

She had smiled so widely that all of her teeth were showing. Though "smiling" may not have been the correct term. "Demented grin" would have fit her expression far better. "I'll do it," she said, though how she said it... "Everypony! As new leader of the Crystal Army, I command all of you to call me... uhm... Oh, I know!" She cleared her throat. "I command all of you to call me 'Commander Emerald Blaze, Leader of the Crystal Ponies and the Most Amazing Pony That Ever Lived'!" She then began cackling like a lunatic, and I could have sword I heard the crash of thunder somewhere.

As I looked upon the madmare cackling away like a... well, like a madmare, and the horrified faces of every pony on the field, I couldn't help but think... that I couldn't have possibly picked a better pony to lead them. I noticed a presence come up next to me. "She's a good fit, don't you agree?"

Shining coughed awkwardly as he shuffled his hooves. "Erm... I know I said you could train them however you wanted... but..." Another cough, louder this time. "Don't you think she's a little... off?"

I thought about it. I thought about her being "off" as I watched her grab a stallion by the neck and throttle him for some unknown reason, then stand on his unconscious body and strike a pose. I cracked a smile as I heard her victorious cackles of joy. "I think she's perfect."

The rest of the day was spent helping my new second, Emerald Blaze, and every other pony that could lift a sword train. When I told them what their first task was, they laughed it off as if I were joking. I wasn't.

"First things first! You need to be able to last long enough in a battle to be able to kill something!" I shouted from the large platform in the center of the training field. "I want each and every one of you to to kit up in full armor with a sword and shield and give me fifty laps around the castle!"

They actually laughed at me. They laughed... at me. They... laughed... at me!

It was at that point that I summoned my large broadsword again. "Those who won't run don't need legs!" I snarled at them. "And those that laugh at their instructor don't need tongues!" I leaned over the railing, practically foaming at the mouth, my left eye twitching violently. "You will RUN, or you will BE MY DINNER!!!!" I raged at them. "SO RUN!!!!!!" I bellowed, throwing my broadsword at the nearest pony and nearly taking his head off. "GO NOW!!!!!"

They ran. They ran fast.

With an angry and a somewhat bestial growl, I turned away from the sprinting ponies, and to the cowering ones that were on the platform with me. "Now for you lot." There were five of them: Emerald Blaze, Shining, Sergeant "Bitch-Face" Snow, A stallion named Twitchy, and a mare that goes by Stone Hammer.

The stallion was a short, lanky, yellow little freak with only half a face thanks to the evil death cloud. True to his name, if he wasn't twitching, he was either spasming or writhing on the ground complaining about the pain in his face. He looked more at home in a bathtub full of meth and heroin than on the front lines, but Emerald said he had what it took. He had wild eyes, and was quick to shout what he thought about a situation, rather than use a normal tone. I didn't like him.

The mare was definitely a fighter. A short coat of coarse, dark greyish-red fur; a cropped mane of charcoal black; a tail cut short, not by a barber, but a blade; eyes like the fires of a forge; and a body built like a mountain. She was, by far, the largest mare I'd ever seen in my time in Equestria. She had worked in a forge before the death cloud nearly took her, and I could easily tell by the muscles hinting just beneath her coat. She was loud, mean, overconfident, and had a way of staring down smaller ponies--especially stallions. She was also fascinated with fire, and all things that burned. I could honestly say that I liked her the second I laid eyes on her.

I nodded my approval at the group assembled before me; they were indeed some of the most capable looking ponies I had seen--especially Shining and Stone. "While they're busy, it's time I taught you how to use a blade." I saw Snow open her mouth but cut her off. "Properly, use a blade." With a flick of my wrist I summoned up my broadsword, along with five of the wooden practice swords from the grounds.

Once each of them had one I began. "Shining, Bitch-Face," I started, receiving an angry growl, "I know you can use a blade, but we won't be fighting ponies. We're fighting big crystal monster things that don't go down when you stab them. And I'd bet you anything that they're magical as well." I got a murmur of agreement from them. "You know how to fight just fine, so I'm not going to teach you that. I'm going to teach you how to cheat."

There was a chorus of disagreement at that.

I let them voice their concerns before I continue. "I know how much you little ponies love your innocence and happiness, but in war there's neither of those things. In war it's not who's strongest, or who's nicest, or who has better equipment who wins. It's who's smartest that wins." I let that soak in before I continued. "In every book I've read, and in every movie I've seen, the villain always gets away because he's smarter than the hero, and he's ruthless. So if you think a giant evil entity hell bent on ending your lives is going to play fair then you've already lost this fight."

The five of them said nothing.

"Right then, I'm going to teach you everything in the book, and everything that isn't in case you ever run into somebody else who knows the book. Lesson one: Underhanded tactics. If a plan fails and you're in a corner, this will save your life." I brought my broadsword in front of me, tip down, and leaned on the hilt. "Before we start, do you have any questions?" I asked them.

Shining stepped forward with a nod. "Yes, how will we-" but he got no farther, a sharp pain in his throat cutting off the flow of words. His eyes flitted downwards and locked on the tip of my sword pressing into his throat.

"Rule number seven," I said, "If your target is talking, he isn't focused."

He pulled back slightly with a wince. "What's rule number one?"

"If something can go wrong, it usually will," I told him.

"But what if I've thought of everything?" Snow asked in a mocking voice.

"Rule number two: you've never thought of everything."

She scoffed and shook her head, mumbling something that--if I wasn't mistaken--was quiet insulting.

I looked back to Shining. "Shining, come at me like I'm an enemy. I want to see how you fight." I brought my broadsword up in a protective stance. "Don't hold back."

With a nod, he ignited his horn, holding his practice sword aloft in his magical aura and pointed the tip at me. "Are you sure you don't want me to hold back?" he asked with a frown.

I scowled at him. "Did I tell you to hold back?"

"No," he replied.

My scowl deepened. "Then don't hold back."

He shrugged and charged at me. Just before reaching me he sidestepped, bringing his wooden sword in at me from my left side. Even blocked with the flat of my blade I could feel the power behind it. He would be deadly on a battlefield.

I blocked his first attack easily, but he feigned another swipe and lunged directly at me when I moved to block. I just barely managed, but I parried, knocking his sword to the side. That was the opening I needed for that particular demonstration.

With his sword to my right, I pushed forward and right into him, stumbling him. I quickly grabbed the hilt of his wooden sword and, with the pommel of my broadsword, bashed him in the head right where the horn connected. Then with his wooden practice sword I thwacked him on the head once more. "Congratulations, you just got killed. Because of your death the troops were demoralized, the battle was lost, and over two hundred were killed. A week later, they were slaughtered trying to defend themselves from a counterattack, and the war was lost."

He groaned and rubbed his head, looking at me with disdain. "Was hitting me really necessary?" he complained.

"Pain is the best teacher, shadowed closely by experience." I tossed him his sword and he caught it in his magic. "Now, I'm going to come at you, and I want you to find a way to either trip me up or disarm me without getting too close." I held my broadsword in my hands, tightening my grip until my knuckles cracked. "And no, I'm not going to be holding back."

His eyes widened. "But you have a real sword!"

I nodded slowly. "Yes, so you'd better find a way to disarm me, hadn't you?" I said sarcastically. I crouched low. "Blink!" I shouted at him, causing him to blink. Then I was sprinting forward with the tip of my sword pointed directly at his chest. I only just missed.

He actually managed to tuck and roll, avoiding my blade by the ends of his hair. He brought his wooden practice sword up to block my own, but realized too late that that was a bad idea. My sword went straight through his, and almost through him. With a cry of surprise he jumped back and lit his horn.

I heard a tinkling above my head as I raised my blade. I looked up to see a light purple aura around the end of my sword. I looked back at him. "Magic doesn't affect me, or anything that I make. Just to let you know."

His eyes went to my sword, to me, then back to my sword. "Horse apples." Then he was punted like a football across the platform, landing with a loud thud and an even louder grunt of pain.

With a snort of laughter I began walking towards him. "Give up?" I asked.

"Do you?" he countered.

I raised an eyebrow. "Why would I give up?" I chuckled. "I'm not the one on the ground."

He chuckled back at me. "And I'm not the one with a sword at my neck."

I felt the wooden point jab me then, right in the back of my neck. For a second I stood there, thinking how I could have let that happen. Then, when I couldn't come up with an answer, I laughed. "Good one," I said between laughs. "There may be some hope for you yet!"

Then I became serious. "Now I want all five of you to find a way to fight me and beat me in the same way," I said as I watched Shining rise to his hooves. "The day isn't over yet, and it's time you got your whacks and lumps." There was a groan from Emerald and Twitchy, a chuckle from Shining and Stone, and something that resembled a cat's low pitched snarl from Snow.

I nodded my head, thinking to myself, I definitely found the right ponies to turn into trained killers.

For the next six hours the six of us on the platform practiced without pause. Sometimes one at a time, sometimes in multiples, and sometimes all at once. We practiced disarming an opponent, distracting an opponent, and how one is able to use an opponent's strengths against them, such were the lessons on redirection and redistribution of force and momentum. It was good fun, giving the ponies a proper thrashing. Every time they made a mistake I was quick to correct them with a thwack to the head, or a boot to the ass. It felt oddly satisfying to hurt them--more so than usual. I chalked it up to repressed anger from the last time I was here and forgot about it. It was a long day and I had muscles aching in places that I wasn't sure I even had. I had been given a spot in the wooden tower where Shining and Snow slept, along with a few others that were deemed worthy of having their own rooms instead of sharing a barracks with the other ponies. On the first floor was reception, second floor was where everybody slept, and the third floor was the war room, as well as a small personal armory and bathroom.

I had already used the bathroom--which annoyed Snow because she had nearly thrown up from the smell I left behind--showered, eaten a snack, and was in my sleeping attire. My sleeping attire consisted of a pair of loose boxer shorts and nothing else. So having finished everything I needed to do before sleeping, I was lying in my very undersized cot, my arms and legs hanging over the sides and end respectively, slowly falling asleep. Today was a good day, I thought with a lazy smile on my face as I remembered bloodying Snow's nose with Twitchy's sword.

I stretched and rolled onto my side. I'm still going to kill her after this, I thought, the haze of darkness clouding my tired mind. I'm gonna kill her in the most horrible way possible... I let out a yawn, pulling the mostly-worthless blanket up to my chin. And after that, I'm gonna enslave the entire pony race. Right after I kill that bitch Celestia and her whorish sister Luna.

Another stretch and another yawn. Then... I'll... I stretched again, popping my back into place. "Then once I have Equestria under my thumb I'll torch this entire planet, and make sure that nothing survives!" With a chuckle and a scratch at my chin scruff I reached to my end table that was next to my chair--my amazingly comfy chair--and picked up my book. The cover was faded, and I could barely read it. "Damn thing need a wash," I grumbled, squinting my eyes to attempt to make out the words. "Eh... The something something Dark... something... Not very helpful, but whatever," I said with a shrug and opened the book where I had left off previously.

I was at a part in the book where the young princess was quarreling with her mother over her rights to power. She had discovered that she could do things. Terrible things. Brilliant things, but terrible.

I read with a hunger, consuming the knowledge on the pages, eating up the story within the leather-bound cover. I read for what felt like hours, tearing through the book, hundreds of pages read, and I still craved more of the story. I was at a point in the story where there was a terrible disaster. The family was split up, there was fire, screaming. Somebody was dead.

I read no more, as the knock at the door interrupted the story and broke me of my thrall. "Who the hell could that be...? And at this hour?"

Another knock, louder this time.

I put the book down and pulled myself up out of my chair. With an annoyed grumble I made my way to the door. "I'm coming!" I called to whoever was behind it. "Patience is a virtue y'know!"

As I reached the door I stuck out my hand to grasp the knob... but didn't. Something stopped me. A feeling in the back of my mind, screaming a warning. There was something wrong. I didn't know what, but there was something wrong.

Cautiously, I pressed my hand against the door. It was warm to the touch, and I could feel a gentle rumbling, like a thunderstorm on the horizon. "Who's there?" I called out. I got no reply. "Answer me or I'm not opening the door!" I warned whoever it was.

I thought I heard something, just barely louder than the whisper of wind. Curious, I pressed myself to the door, my ear pressed against the center, straining to hear whatever it was. "Hello?" I called. "Is somebody there?"

Then, smoother than silk, and more burning than ice, "Let me in."