Eclipse Of The Sun

In total, about a quarter of the city had been reduced to burnt ruins, with everything else showing slight signs of damage even from a distance. The blockade loomed in the background, and a few of their ships had landed on the beach, likely having dropped off troops to attack. Most of the Lunar ships that had been destroyed were still in the docks, but a couple near the western portion appeared to have survived.

Night ordered his platoon to stop, left stunned as he looked upon the destruction. His fellow guards exchanged a few words of confusion and anger, waiting for Night to lead them forward. When did this happen? he wondered.

"Alright everypony, let's move into the city and find out what's going on here," Night said, stepping forward. The other Lunars followed him closely, a few preparing their weapons as they got closer to the first set of buildings in the city, not knowing what to expect. There were signs of a large battle all around them, with Lunar and Celestial bodies strewn about, and what appeared to be ballista bolts embedded in the ground. Aside from the corpses, the city seemed abandoned, at least in this area.

"I need a Pegasus to scout around, or we're going to be wandering all night," Night said. One of the Pegasi in the platoon nodded and took off, getting above the buildings. The platoon remained where it was, completely silent.

The scout flew back down. "Sir, there's a Lunar fortification about a hundred yards to the east, and a Celestial patrol approaching us fifty yards from the west. It's not a fighting force, but chances are they are scouting ahead for another group," he said. "We should get to the other Lunars before we are discovered."

Night nodded. "Right. Lead the way, you're the one who found them," he responded. The Pegasus got just above the buildings again and called out directions until they reached the outer gates of the stronghold the other Lunars had made. It looked hastily built, and like the rest of the structures around them, had plenty of damage and burn marks, complete with a bolt or two sticking out of the sides.

Night approached the gates and called out. "Hello? Anypony in there?" his voice echoed into the night sky. After a few moments, a Pegasus wielding a drawn bow appeared at the top of the wall. He looked down at the platoon, noted that it was both a Lunar group and commanded by Night, and quickly lowered his bow.

"Somepony open the damn gate! General Night is waiting!" he shouted, looking down again. The gate swung open after a few seconds, allowing the platoon to enter before quickly closing behind them. The pony that had first sighted them descended from the battlements to greet the general. "My apologies, sir, but we weren't expecting you. We thought some Celestials had gotten cocky after they took over a third of the city." he explained.

"So that's what happened here?" Night responded, looking around.

"Unfortunately. I guess Celestia decided she wanted to get back at us after what you did to her forces in Amalthea. Those damned ships set their bolts on fire before launching them, and then sent a few others to land some troops. We couldn't fight the flames and their forces at the same time, so we retreated and built up our defenses here. We only recently managed to push them back into the western parts of the city, and I'm sure they have a camp set up by now."

"What were the casualties?"

"At least two hundred dead, maybe more. Most of us were wounded in some way, either from the fire or from the battle itself. A few ships also tried to ram the Celestials when they began attacking, with limited success," said the Pegasus.

Night scratched his chin. "And what of the townsponies? The streets were empty when we arrived," he responded.

"Most left for Io the day we were blockaded, but there are a few in the area further east of here, in the less-damaged portions of the city. So far we've managed to keep the Celestials from getting there, but a second assault like the first one will probably take the rest of the city."

The main force of guards in the makeshift stronghold had begun to approach the gates, watching Night and waiting for his command. "I understand... One of my Pegasi happened to spot a Celestial patrol moving in this direction, has that sort of thing been a common occurrence since the initial attack?"

"Not especially, but if I had to guess I'd say they are preparing to attack again. Did you have some kind of plan to fight off their ships?"

"I was thinking that we have our ships in Io come in from behind, armed with whatever we can put on them in the next couple of nights and have them assault any kind of weakness in the blockade; we will need to watch their line carefully for any such point. Our ships will have to force open a hole, and a boat holding our emissary will slip through. After that, our surviving ships will do whatever they can to delay any kind of attack until the Zebrican navy arrives."

"It could take as long as a month to cross the ocean, and without dedicated warships I don't think we can hold out that long. Eventually, whoever is in charge of that fleet will decide that he's had enough of our harassing and go to find and destroy Io, and then finish us off here," the guard responded.

Well, never mind then... Night thought. "I didn't think about that, actually. You're right. Silver doesn't arrive for another day, so maybe by then we will have something to work with."

The Pegasus nodded. He turned around to order his ponies back to their posts, but stopped and faced Night again. "Oh, since you are probably going to be here a while, I might as well introduce myself. I'm Colonel Typhoon - our previous colonel died during the initial assault, and I had to take his place midway through," he said. Night nodded before turning to his own platoon and told them to find something useful to do for the time being.

The following hours were uneventful, for the most part. The Celestial patrol that had been spotted never arrived at the gates of the Lunar fort. The hostile ships continued patrolling Europa's waters, and the Lunars all gave them death stares. Occasionally one might break formation and take potshots at the walls, but none managed to hit, falling short into the bay. Typhoon had the walls in the rear of the fort strengthened in case they were flanked at any point, but thankfully, no such thing happened. The only noteworthy event was the arrival of what appeared to be a Celestial capital ship, which wasn't met with such concern. It was only one more boat to deal with, after all.

However, during the daywatch, Lunar guards spotted what appeared to be some kind of rowboat going towards the blockade. At first, it was dismissed as a few Celestials going back to their own ships, until it floated right up to the suspected capital ship, disappeared from view for a time, and then came back. "Go out and send some guards to capture whoever is on it, and bring them back here for questioning. Silver is arriving in a few hours, and the last thing we need is an informant telling that fleet anything important," Night had ordered upon being told of what happened.

They brought back the pony - another Pegasus - with minimal effort. Tied to a chair, Night approached him and began his interrogation. "Well, first thing's first; who are you, and why were you paying a visit to the Celestial fleet?" he asked.

"Neither of those things are any of your--ack!" the Pegasus tried to respond, only for Night to interrupt with a swift punch to his gut.

"I'm going to ask you again, and you are going to give me a straight answer. Now, who are you and why did you approach the blockade?"

The Pegasus didn't respond. Night struck him again, in the jaw this time. The prisoner spat out a little blood, glaring at his captor. The Unicorn payed him no mind. "Look, as far as I am concerned, you are betraying our nation. You could be telling the Celestials important information about our presence here; who's in charge, what our numbers are, what our condition is - all things they could use. And you're not just endangering the guards - there are still townsponies that the Celestials will imprison if they can take the city. It's worth reminding you that the penalty for what you could be doing is worse than death," Night said.

The pony looked down, unsure of what he should do. After nearly a minute passed and it became clear that he still wasn't going to answer, Night sighed and turned to leave. He faced one of the guards at the door, and with a voice that he knew would just be barely audible to his prisoner, said "Take him to where the townsponies are located and take off one of his wings. If he won't talk, then we can at least make an example of what'll happen if we find anypony else talking to the Celestials."

The Pegasus immediately perked up at the idea of losing a wing. "No, wait!" he cried, struggling against his bonds. Night turned around.

"Finally decided to talk, have you?" he said.

The pony scowled, but nevertheless started to explain himself. "My name is Wavebreaker, and I run the sale of fenced and contraband goods. One of my clients - the captain of the flagship that recently joined the blockade - is expecting a shipment of Zebrican spices that I acquired somewhat recently. What you saw me doing earlier was nothing more than a final agreement on the price," he said.

"Which was...?"

"Seventy-five thousand bits, and the ability to leave the port at will. I have other clients, after all."

One of the guards in the back whistled; Night turned to silence him, then faced Wavebreaker again. "When were you planning to make this trade, and how?"

Wavebreaker leaned back a little. "I own a small clipper that I use most of the time, as well as a galleon for when I've purchased in bulk. I also have my own crew for each vessel," he said.

Well then this might work after all, Night thought. "Well, I've got a trade of my own for you. Normally, anypony admitting to dealing with stolen and illegal goods would be arrested on the spot, but since we need a way to get one of our own out of the city, I'll make an exception. We'll set you free to trade with that Celestial, on one condition - our emissary joins you. Once you leave the port you are to travel directly to Zebrica, drop him off there, and wait until the politics are dealt with. After that you shall bring him to Io, and as soon as we have eliminated the blockade, you may return to Europa. Understand?" he asked.

The bound Pegasus nodded. "Sounds fair enough. You don't plan to arrest me after I do what you say, do you?"

"Only if we catch you doing it again."

"Fine. Now, when's this emissary arriving?" Wavebreaker asked.

"Should be here by nightfall. Don't worry, you'll have plenty of time to get to know him," Night responded. He turned to leave, telling the guards to untie the Pegasus. He stepped out into the glaring sunlight, and with squinted eyes stared at the blockade, imagining the day when a sight similar to this would be seen from the shores of Equestria.

The clipper approached the Celestial blockade at a steady pace, her crew running about inside. Meanwhile, Silver tried to keep himself from losing his lunch each time the vessel hit a wave or tipped in either direction. He had no clue how anypony would enjoy being on the water - maybe all these mariners were just insane.

Currently, he was hiding in a spare room on the ship - along with an Earth Pony named Dusk that he had befriended on the trip to Europa - at least until they were cleared to pass. Wavebreaker had informed him that Stargazer - the Celestial admiral - was going to have the ship 'searched' and the spices he ordered taken in what would appear to be a routine inspection. Of course, if he did actually end up finding anything illegal, he would have to confiscate it like the spices, except he wouldn't pay for it. Silver wasn't too familiar with the rules, but he was pretty sure that capturing a Lunar politician was high on Celestia's to-do list.

The Celestial flagship pulled up alongside the clipper as both ships slowed down, and a boarding plank extended across the rather small gap. A few seconds later, a decorated Unicorn crossed over, along with a squad of guards. The latter quickly went below decks, and Silver could hear them forcing open doors and crates until they found what they were really looking for. They called Stargazer and Wavebreaker down to them.

The two captains made a big display of the 'discovery'; Stargazer chastised Wavebreaker for carrying contraband, and Wavebreaker pretended to beg him not to take it. Eventually the latter gave in, and the crates were removed to the Celestial flagship. The guards continued to search for a little bit longer, and it seemed as if Silver and Dusk would remain undetected. However, all of a sudden the door to their room was forced open, and the guards stormed in, pinning the two Lunars to the floor.

"Sir! We found ponies!" one of them shouted. Both captains ran into the room, surprised expressions on their faces.

"Mind explaining this, Wavebreaker?" Stargazer asked, staring at Silver.

"They're, uh, deserters... Deserters that wanted me to bring them to Zebrica on my next trading run," he responded, a worrisome expression on his face.

"Well, either way they're Lunars, and they may know something important. Besides, Celestia has been wanting to capture some Lunars for a while, and this is the perfect opportunity," Stargazer said. "Take them away for questioning."

The Celestials pulled Silver and Dusk off the floor and were just starting to push them out the door when Wavebreaker pulled the admiral aside. The Pegasus whispered a few things into his ear, and he suddenly smiled, almost uncontrollably. "As you were, guards. Leave the Lunars here, we have no need for deserters," he said.

The guards looked at each other, clearly confused, but obeyed their orders and released their captives. The two ponies quickly retreated back to were they had been before being found. After a few more hushed words were shared between the Celestial and Wavebreaker, the admiral cast some kind of spell that teleported the coin payment into the room after ordering his guards to leave. The ponies shook hooves, and Stargazer returned to his own ship, and a Pegasus suddenly took off, carrying some kind of document to each of the other ships, likely telling them not to pursue Wavebreaker.

Wavebreaker let out a long sigh, then returned to the top deck. The Lunars followed him up as the ship started moving again. "He was deadset on taking us in, what'd you tell him that convinced him otherwise?" Dusk asked.

"Uh... I told him that I'd bring him and his sailors some Zebrican mares after I dropped you off," he said, heading for his own quarters. He looked up at the sky, noting some dark gray clouds in the far distance. "Looks like we'll hit at least one storm on our trip. You two might want to get below deck before it hits."

Silver nodded in agreement; he was already beginning to feel his seasickness again.

"Ugh... We've been on this bloody rig for - what, a little over two weeks? I think I'm going to go insane if I don't get some solid ground under my hooves soon," Dusk said, sheathing and unsheathing the sword he had brought. It was a rather massive claymore, easily longer than Dusk was tall.

"Yeah, I can't wait to get off this thing. Anything would be better than this right now," Silver agreed. He half-wondered what was going on in Europa, or at least what he had missed. "Hey, remember how Night said Europa may be attacked again? I wonder if the Celestials ever followed through."

"Wavebreaker is probably in contact with that admiral, maybe he knows," Dusk responded.

"Well, I'm dying of boredom for about the third day straight. I doubt it would hurt to ask."

The two ponies quickly left their room and headed on deck, and after crossing it entered Wavebreaker's room. He appeared to be writing some kind of letter or document. "How can I help you?" he asked upon their entrance.

"We were wondering if you had any kind of contact with Stargazer or Europa, and could maybe tell us if the city was ever attacked again."

The Pegasus seemed to freeze for a second, unsure of how to respond. When he finally did, his words were slow and sounded carefully chosen, rather than simply spitting out an answer. "No, I do not have contact with Europa. I didn't even know the Celestials were going to attack again," he said, unsure of himself.

Um... Silver thought. That was a little weird. "Well, if you do happen to hear anything from there, please tell us. We are running out of things to do here on the ship, despite our best efforts," he said, pretending he hadn't noticed. Wavebreaker relaxed a little as Dusk and Silver turned and left.

"Please tell me I didn't imagine how he reacted to our question," Dusk asked, looking troubled.

"No, I saw it too. Only slightly suspicious. I don't think we should pres him, though. The last thing that needs to happen is him deciding we ask too many questions and kicking us out; this is his ship, after all," Silver responded. His companion nodded, and the two of them returned to their rooms, trying to figure out just what was going on.