Chapters "Push forward! Show them no mercy!"
"They are falling back! Hack them down before they can regroup!"
The sounds of rebellion echoed around Blackest Night as his fellow Lunars fought against the Celestial Guards they called allies no more than a week ago. Corpses of friends, foes, and anypony too stupid to flee littered the ground, their blood soaking the dirt. Night swung a blade at a Celestial that had fallen behind the others, cutting into the bones of his hind legs. The pony let out a scream that was cut short when Night drove the point of his sword into his back, ending his life.
So far, everything was going smoothly; any Celestial with half a brain was retreating, the Lunars had captured at least two dozen structures and their goal of breaking into Canterlot Castle and seizing the Elements of Harmony before Celestia could use them against Nightmare Moon was within reach. Timed with Princess Luna's transformation and the following confusion, the Lunar Guard had caught Celestia's forces at a time of weakness, allowing them a strong grip on several other key areas.
"Look! The tyrant is defeated!" shouted a nearby Lunar. Heads angled upwards to see Princess Celestia spasm from a beam of Nightmare Moon's magic. The white Alicorn lost control and fell, landing somewhere within the castle.
"Charge! Breach the walls, and we will have Celestia's head!" Night yelled, and everypony began to let out their own war cries as they broke into a gallop, only a hundred yards or so from the front doors. A few remaining Celestials, in a combination of bravery and stupidity, challenged the oncoming horde. A few were Unicorns whose magic ended the lives of several ponies, but ultimately it did nothing to stop them. They knew their last stand was hopeless and that anything they did only served to delay the advance for a few seconds, but they chose to keep fighting.
Night rushed at one of them, screaming Luna's name at the top of his lungs as he brought his sword down. His weapon was deflected by the Celestial who then tried to counterattack, and Night swore he saw sparks when the blades collided. The Celestial pushed forward in an attempt to unbalance Night, but he shifted to the side and caused the pony to fall flat on his face. Night then kicked him over and used all of his force to push the weapon into the Celestial's chest, albeit very slowly on account of the pony's struggling. He pulled the blade out only when he was sure his opponent was dead before taking on another Celestial who put up an even tougher fight. The guards fell one at a time, each one bringing a Lunar or two as company, but they now had their backs against the wall. A few seconds later, every Celestial was dead or dying, and the Lunars were beating down the doors.
The door collapsed, revealing the moderately damaged inside of the castle, but instead of finding Celestia's body on the ground, Night saw that the stand for the Elements had been revealed and Celestia was attempting to take off with them. Night shouted to his allies to shoot her down, but they had already drawn their bows and cast their spells to stop her. However, at the last second, Celestia created a ward using the Elements magic, stopping any incoming attack. She flew through the gaping hole in the roof, followed by arrows and magical bolts.
The Lunars watched as Celestia continued flying until she was in a position to attack Nightmare Moon. They both fired their spells at the same time, the beams colliding in a flash of light. At first they were evenly matched, but Celestia tapped into the power of the Elements and focused it at Nightmare, forcing her magic back until the beam completely overtook her. The magic almost seemed to absorb Nightmare Moon's body as it traveled, not just across the sky but all the way to the moon itself, striking the surface. As soon as it did, Nightmare's silhouette appeared on it, taking up its entirety.
The combatants surrounding Blackest Night suddenly lost the courage that had brought them all into the situation. Seeing the reason they fought suddenly banished to the moon had stolen their morale and given it to the Celestials, who had begun to regroup and form an effective counter-assault. They emerged from ruins outside and began to surround the castle, ready for revenge. Night ignored any emotions he had and called out to the failing group. "We must hold the castle. Anypony with a bow or a horn needs to get the high ground, and the rest of us need to guard the entrances!"
His allies, although unnerved, listened and executed his orders perfectly, either going to the roof or a tower, or stacking up near the main doors or one of the many holes in the stone walls. The Celestials began to advance, paying no mind to the archers and mages firing away at them; a few even entered with fresh burns or arrows imbedded in their armor.
Night parried a blow from an angry-looking Pegasus, lunging forward in an attempt to run him through. His opponent shoved the counterattack away before spinning around and lashing out with a powerful hind kick, knocking the sword from Night’s grip. He tried to recover it with magic, but another Celestial grabbed his horn and forced him down, punching him in the gut until he stopped struggling. Through the haze he heard the Lunars beginning to retreat, overwhelmed at this point. A third pony kicked Night in the head, and he blacked out.
Night felt like he was floating underwater, slowly drifting aimlessly in an infinite black void. He couldn’t recall what he was doing before or why he was here, but he liked the feeling of peace he had as a result. Suddenly, it felt like something was tugging on his body, pulling every which way. It was somewhat amusing until the tugs became stronger, almost feeling like a rope had been tied to each limb and he was being pulled apart. It began to hurt, and when the pain began to be too much-
Cold water crashed down on Night’s face, immediately delivering him from unconsciousness. He jumped up, wide-eyed and gasping for air, trying to figure out what was going on. He was surrounded by iron bars and stone, his legs were shackled, and a golden-clad guard was standing nearby with a set of keys and a bucket. “Get up,” he said. “Princess Celestia wants to see you.”
Night slowly rose to his hooves, shaking off as much water as he could before approaching the gate. His head was pounding and it felt like he had cracked a rib or two, but he ignored it as best he could. It would have to wait. The guard unlocked the gate and allowed Night out, and then slowly removed the shackles and shoved him forward. The Unicorn allowed his escort to lead him out of the dungeon and into the main hall.
It was a vast scene of destruction. Several bodies still littered the floor and the Celestials treated their wounded wherever they lay. Blood pooled on the floor, weapons were strewn about and there were even some other captured Lunars sitting against a wall, numerous guards watching them, weapons drawn. Blackest Night ignored their confused stares as they watched their impromptu leader being taken away. Two more guards opened the doors to a hallway that led to what he recognized as Celestia’s own quarters. The two other guards joined Night and his first escort, proceeding in silence until they arrived at the final threshold, allowing him to enter on his own.
Celestia sat at a small table, an empty spot directly across from it. She appeared rather tired, her mane unkempt and a few feathers sticking out of her wings but aside from that didn’t seem to be waging any moral wars with herself over the banishment of her sister. “Ah, Night, you are here. Please, have a seat,” she said. Night cautiously trotted over and sat down, unsure of what to expect.
She looked him over, checking out every injury, minor or major. “My apologies for how my guards treated you, they can be a little rough at times. Here, use this.” she continued, levitating a small towel to him. Night reluctantly took it and dried off where he needed to. Only reason she’s being nice is because she’s going to drop something huge on me before I go, and I’m a little afraid of what it’ll be, he thought.
“We haven’t talked in some time, with you always having to look out after my sister and such when she decided she didn’t want anything to do with me… Tell me, what was she like before all this happened?” the Alicorn asked, tilting her head slightly. And there it is…
“She was scared, Celestia. She was having nightmares – ironic, I know – about what she might do some day, and she was depressed. She felt worthless, because nopony, not even you, would pay attention to anything she did unless it was bad. I was the one exception.”
The Princess almost looked dumbfounded. “She could have just told me-“
“No, she couldn’t have. You wouldn’t have listened.”
Celestia waited for nearly a minute before saying anything else. “I’m assuming you two got pretty close then, correct?”
“Of course we did. I was the only pony she would allow around her. If you remember, when she started locking herself in the closet to cry, I was the only one who could get inside to coax her out.” And when the nightmares became too much, she asked me to be the one to comfort her when she slept, but this isn’t the time for that story.
“Yes, I remember those times. I know there are better situations to ask this sort of question, but, there were – and still are – rumors circulating around that you may have had relations of a certain type with Luna, and I’d like to put them to rest now that she is no longer here.”
Night had to think for a moment before he responded. “I will only tell you what I’ve told everypony else who had the guts to ask me that question – that we were too close to just be friends. Do with that information what you will. Now, are we done with this little interrogation?”
“I’m sorry, but that wasn’t why I brought you here. You see, you committed high treason – which, as you may know is a death sentence - by gathering up the Lunar Guard and rallying them against me, and at the same time caused numerous deaths and destroyed several homes, but I would like to offer you a second chance; now that I know you were close to Luna, it is easy to say that your actions were born out of simple anger and grief, not a true intent to topple my rule. I would like to offer you a position as personal guard within the Celestial ranks. Should you accept you will be given a full pardon and we shall resume attacks against the Lunar fortifications, but if you refuse, you will be forced to talk them into surrendering so that we may imprison them for a trial.”
The Unicorn practically had to raise a hoof to stop his jaw from dropping. “So, you’re… asking me to betray not only the Princess I am sworn to, but the guards who I have served most of my life with by working for you? Is this some kind of joke?” he responded.
“I do not joke about a thing like this, Night. I am offering you a second chance, despite how much I think you don’t deserve it. In my opinion, I think the choice between serving me and redeeming yourself or dying among the savages you led into a rebellion should be a fairly easy one.”
“Those ‘savages’ can at least tell the difference between a ruler and a tyrant.”
Celestia jumped to her hooves, wings beginning to unfurl at the aspect of being called such a word. “I did what I had to, Night. Nightmare Moon gave me no choice but to banish her.”
Blackest Night stood up as well, and while he didn’t at all feel like he was as intimidating as the Alicorn in front of him, he still tried to act big. “You had plenty of choices before she turned, such as actually caring about her. All she wanted was your attention, and you ended up provoking her by attempting to make it natural for her to be seen even less. Even in the fight, you could have easily trapped her, or stripped her of any magical powers, or even pacify her until a solution could be made – and don’t try to tell me such spells don’t exist, I’ve seen them being used before – but instead you took no action, so that you could justify anything you did if you were struck. In the end, Nightmare Moon didn’t give you no choice; rather, you gave yourself no choice.
“In fact, since you’ve ditched peaceful solutions and punishments in favor of banishing all who dare to oppose you, why don’t you just banish me and the rest of the Lunars the same way you did your sister?”
In the next fraction of a second, Night contemplated the idea that he may have crossed the line more than he needed to as Celestia lunged at him, grabbing him by the throat with her hooves and slamming him into a wall. He was now several feet off the ground, with the Alicorn’s face less than an inch from his own. They stared into each other’s eyes, the lack of distance allowing them to tell practically every emotion flickering within. Out of the corner of his eye, Night saw the guards that had escorted him here enter the room, watching the scene play out.
Suddenly, almost without her realizing it, Celestia began to choke Night, her emotions taking over. At first he struggled a little, but an idea popped into his head, and he stopped resisting. Go ahead, kill me; martyr me. Show me and the rest of the world who you are behind closed doors, and it will not matter if I am alive.
However, either catching on or coming to her sentences, the princess released Night, who upon landing, rubbed his throat and coughed a bit. Celestia turned around, seemingly ashamed of what she had almost done. She looked down. “Guards, escort this pony to the Lunar fortifications.”
“Yes, your majesty.” They said, helping Night to his hooves in a manner than almost resembled care. They reached the makeshift gates after a few minutes of walking, both parties unsure of what to think of what they had witnessed. Night shook free of the Celestials and entered alone.
“You’re late.”
“I know, I know. I at least tried to arrive on time, and that ought to count for something.”
Night turned around. “Whatever. As you could tell from the letter, things aren’t going very well.”
“Yeah, I got the idea when I saw that all the barracks had been turned into a miniature fortress, half of Canterlot was destroyed and heard your marefriend got banished.”
The Unicorn rolled his eyes. “Now’s not the time. We ‘betrayed’ Equestria, and now the Lunar Guard faces destruction.”
Silver sat down nearby, listening intently. Anything even remotely involving politics could catch his attention better than coins. “So, what is your grand scheme to prevent this?”
“The Griffons are known to have various transport routes that have to go around the eastern mountains, and as a result take much longer than a single path directly through them. However, they haven’t yet been able to go through successfully, as the air is too thin for sustained flight above the mountains and the cold at night is fatal without shelter or heat. My idea was that we ask them to provide building materials so we can put together a settlement halfway through the pass; that way, we can give their fliers a place to stop for the night and have the energy to continue flying the rest of the way.”
“They’d appreciate faster supply runs, but it wouldn’t be long before they started asking you to build other things for them. Griffons can get rather demanding at times, you know.”
“It’s that, or death at the hooves of a tyrant. I need you to go to Gryphus, and do everything necessary to convince their king to help. In the meantime, I will tell everypony to gather what they can carry and prepare to flee the city.” Night said, looking out a nearby window. The sun was setting.
He heard Silver say something in response, but the Unicorn wasn’t paying attention. He focused on the glowing orb as it fell beneath the horizon, the light dimming at a rate that was just fast enough to be noticeable. Celestia had been mistaken; Night truly did want to see her fall. She called him a traitor to her country, but she betrayed her own blood to increase her power. She had inadvertently given Night a reason to oppose her, and given him a way to rally ponies against her. This setting sun only marked the beginning of her end.
Luna, if only you could see what we've done now. All the strife we've been through... all in your name. Everything in this valley and on the snow-capped peaks and on the shores in the south - while made by us to assist the Griffons - was truly created for you, so that you may return and have a home you are welcome in.
Into this range we brought not only your loyal guards, but ponies from all walks of life who disagreed with Celestia's rule, allowing us to be something more than runaway fighters. For a time, the Griffon supply runners were our lifeline until we found a way to thaw out the frozen dirt without the constant use of magic. After that, the only thing we needed from them was materials to continue building for them.
Don't get me wrong, we didn't enslave ourselves to their needs. We are close partners as of now, as we found the stone under these mountains is rich with all sorts of minerals. We trade with them for timber, which has allowed us to build our own ships and begin relations with the Zebras. This of course has resulted in some strange situations in Equestria where they are actually refining our ores and then sending the finished product back to the Zebrica, who bought and sent the material in the first place. I wonder if they know they are actually helping us to a degree.
Our existence alongside Equestria is an uneasy one, with admittedly both sides trying to indirectly - for lack of a better word - annoy the other. They could stop and confiscate cargo on a ship that got too close to their ports, and we might scan every inch of a rulebook in search of some reason to incarcerate one of their captains, even if its only for a day or two. It seems harmless and all, but I know that eventually one of us will cross the line; my only fear is by how much. Hostilities grow as we do.
We have been here for a decade, waiting for the day that Celestia realizes she was wrong, or until you can break free of the spell keeping you imprisoned. We have grown strong in your stead, to the point that Equestrians have begun to fear us, having not expected us to even survive in this cold. We feared them from the beginning, but after they simply ignored us we lost that fear and that may prove to be their downfall.
...I do not know if you can even hear what I am telling you. The moon is so far away, it is taking everything I have to try to reach you to the point I doubt my magic has that kind of range; and that is assuming you aren't still Nightmare Moon. Luna, if you can hear me...
I miss you.
Icy wind whipped past Blackest Night as he forced himself against it. The cold bit at the ends of his ears and nose, which were no doubt going to suffer frostbite unless he got inside within the next couple of minutes. Winter had come earlier than usual this year, but thankfully no drastic measures had to be taken.
He risked losing even more feeling in his ears to look up at the night sky. Even after seeing it every night for ten years, it was still incredible to look at; with the entirety of the city being lightless - the moon was perfectly capable of providing what was needed - every star Luna had ever created to fill the night sky was perfectly visible. That, and during the times Night had gone far north and seen the Aurora Borealis, he had insisted that everypony capable of the trip should see the lights at least once. The view of the city from the top of a mountain was quite nice as well, and the multitude of watchtowers surrounding the walls made this a relatively easy matter.
The Unicorn realized he had lost feeling in far more than the tips of his ears and quickly trotted to his destination, a rather sunken-in looking building near the center of the town, alternatively known as his home. He walked down a few stairs, and using a small heat spell to melt the snow gathered around it, quickly entered and closed the door behind him, shutting out the cold. He removed his scarf and jacket, hanging them on a nearby rack and returned to lock the door.
For the leader of the ponies settled in these mountains, his house was extremely modest. It had been built halfway into the ground with roughly a yard of gravel beneath it to prevent the frozen ground from thawing out and shifting. It had a few windows and a skylight, but as of now they had been partially blocked by snowdrifts. There was a currently unlit fireplace on the center of the left wall, a few cabinets with a small oven functioning as a kitchen and a small dining table with a few chairs nearby. His room was on the right, the doorway near a corner behind the table. All it had was a small bed with a nightstand and a chest containing his sword and some armor, which were the only exquisite things he really owned.
Night lit the fireplace with a spell, and while the sudden light initially hurt his eyes, he appreciated feeling warm again. He sat there for a moment, allowing the heat to restore feeling wherever he had lost it to the cold. As he relaxed, somepony knocked on his door. "Who is it?" he called, unwilling to leave his spot.
"It's me, Silver! Can I come in before my wings freeze off?"
Night smirked, purposely going as slow as possible to the door. When he opened it, Silver practically jumped over him to get inside. "You know I don't have thick fur like the rest of you, and I can't wear anything that is worth something in the snow if I expect to fly somewhere-"
"I let you in, didn't I?"
"After you spent half an hour walking to the door, yes. Anyways, I've got some mail for you. A letter that King Halfbeak wanted me to deliver to you personally after our most recent meeting," Silver said, pulling the letter out of a pocket and handing it to Night. The Unicorn used his magic to break the wax seal, opening the parcel. He quickly read over the writing as Silver took off his snow gear.
"It says that he would like to meet me at the entrance to Ablution Pass tomorrow for a 'private meeting' of some sort, doesn't say exactly." Night said, summarizing the letter. Silver cast him a confused glance.
"The hoofhills? Now why in the world would he want to meet out in there? Has he given up on using his personal quarters, or even a saferoom?"
Blackest Night shrugged. "Guess so. If the rumors are true, he's been dealing with a bit of espionage from what he believes to be Equestria. Maybe he doesn't want them eavesdropping, but I don't think this is the best way to prevent it."
"No, those rumors are false. Like I said, I was just there but I heard no mention of spies or anything similar."
"Maybe he's just old and paranoid, it's always a possibility."
" 'Old'? Night, have you looked in the mirror lately? He's not the only one with gray hair around here."
"Have you? If I remember correctly you got touches of gray in your mane first, not me!"
Silver couldn't help but laugh. "Yeah, well, politics will do that to a pony," he said, flashing a hoof in front of his face.
"Politics my flank! If that was true, I'd be so gray I could walk into a quarry and be listed as 'missing in action'. Besides, I'm hardly fifteen, unlike you."
Neither ponies could resist a slight chuckle. It was good to talk to a close friend every now and then. Night never had many to begin with, leaving Silver as one of his few options. "Well, since I'm not nocturnal like the rest of your lot I'd best be headed off for now. Do tell what you and Halfbeak discuss, I'm curious as to what he would drag you all the way out there for. Good night and all that," the Pegasus said, donning his winter clothes again and exiting the house.
Night locked the door behind him before returning to his place by the fire. Writing and sending a letter to the officer in charge of the barracks about needing two guards for a day shift, he sat by and allowed it to burn for another hour or so before deciding he needed some form of rest if he was going to be up during the day. The nocturnality of him and most other Lunars made meeting anypony from a diurnal nation a bit odd, requiring a nap a few hours in advance to ensure they didn't start nodding off later, which is precisely what Night trotted off to do after extinguishing the flames. He entered his room and sat on the edge of his bed, pulling a small box out of his nightstand, a ritual of his performed every time he was about to go to sleep.
He opened the box via magic, revealing a jet-black ring covered with intricate lines and imprinted with the phases of the moon, each symbol made of silver. Night inspected the ring from every possible angle, looking for any sign of damage. Once satisfied, he lowered the item into his hooves, holding it gently and looking up to where the moon might have been. The ring itself had taken two months of pay - both from his normal payroll and every odd job he could find - to have made, being entirely custom. He silently thought about how Luna may have reacted to seeing it; after continuing to think, he decided it would have been completely worth it, if not requiring more work to be close to equal.
He kissed the ring and placed it back inside the box, which he put in his nightstand. He curled up on his bed, drawing the covers almost over his head. He let out one last sigh before closing his eyes, falling asleep after a few minutes of solitary lamentation and silent thought.
"I thought Griffons were supposed to be punctual." Avalanche complained. His snow-white coat - while matching his name - was in stark contrast to Night's pure black fur and Aphelion's only slightly lighter coat.
"Only when they think it will benefit them." Night responded, looking around. He had to admit that it was a little odd; even Griffons didn't show up two hours late.
"Could just be weather delays," said Aphelion, Night's second in command for this excursion. "You know how it can be in Gryphus, with them not having weather control and all."
Avalanche sighed. "I suppose you're right. Still feels weird, though."
I have to admit, I agree, and being so damn close to the Equestrian border isn't helping. If those birds don't get here first, we may be contending to a Celestial patrol, Night thought. And I know those ponies would just love an opportunity to get back at us for real.
"We'll give them one more hour. After that, we'll head back through the pass and I will send a letter to King Halfbeak asking what the hay was going on that made him not show up." Night said.
Thankfully the hoofhills of the Lunar Mountains were nowhere near as cold as the range itself, partially because of the lack of snow in the area. If the opposite was true, the ponies would have left after the first hour of waiting. They passed time with whatever they could think of, from random tricks to jokes to simply discussing the finer points of life. They were just about to start heading back when they heard a voice call at them from a distance. They all turned around, briefly hoping that Halfbeak had finally arrived, but all that hope was lost when they saw the glint of sun shining on polished gold armor.
Six glints, in fact. All of which were approaching from the north. "Sir, we can get away from them if we move now," Avalanche said.
"No. We will stay. They will just follow us - this size of a patrol always has a Pegasus in it - or tell Princess Celestia they saw suspicious Lunar activity on their border and something needs to be done. Besides, I want to find out how pompous they can really get when we've actually possibly done something wrong.
"Stop, in the name of Her Majesty Princess Celestia!" one of them shouted. Yep, this is gonna be real fun ...
"You're the only ones moving!" Aphelion called back.
"Sir, I really think you should reconsider leaving before they get too close-"
"Both of you, be quiet. Nopony is going anywhere, Avalanche." Night said. Just his luck they had to encounter a border patrol the day Halfbeak became eccentric with his meeting grounds,
They waited for the border patrol to arrive at their location. It consisted of two Pegasi, Unicorns and Earth Ponies, each clad in their normal golden armor and equipped with swords. Not too much of a threat, but they also outnumbered Night and his crew two to one. As if to add to those odds, the three Lunars were wearing much lighter leather armor to make traversing the mountain pass easier.
"So, will you three enlighten us on why you are on Equestrian territory?" Said a rather burly looking Earth Pony, no doubt their leader.
"We were requested by King Halfbeak to meet here, just outside Ablution Pass, which you can see just behind us. However, he has not yet arrived for almost three hours, and thus we have waited on land that is ours ; it seems your pride has caused you to forget that a mile of the hoofhills are our territory as well, and seeing as I can still read the bloody sign from here, it is you that's on our territory."
"Oh my! I did not realize we were in the presence of the one and only Blackest Night, leader of the traitors who killed my comrades and tried to capture Princess Celestia!" the pony said, turning around. His allies looked surprised for a split second, before turning to glare at Night, gripping - but not drawing - their weapons.
The Earth Pony continued. "You know, you were automatically wrong the second you started blabbering about owning the mile of hoofhill. Because, you see, those very hoofhills were claimed by Princess Celestia no more than a week ago. Check and mate, traitor. Now, get off our land before your pals here have to drag your bleeding corpse off."
Night's eyes widened. "Why in the name of the moon were we not informed about this?! We cannot be expected to follow new rules if we did not know them!"
A Celestial Unicorn stepped up beside his leader. "Aw, we sent you a letter, but it must not have arrived. Now, I guess we can give you all of one minute to get the buck out of here, turncoat!" he spat.
Blackest Night was not intending to let these ponies walk away with a victory, not so soon. He began using telepathy to talk to his two allies.
He soon heard Aphelion's response in his own head, but had to read Avalanches mind to know his response.
Night flared his nostrils.
No response. Avalanche seemed uneasy, looking from side to side as if contemplating flying away.
"Time's up," said their leader. "And you're still here."
"Yep."
"Well, everypony, we gave them fair warning. We gave them a chance to leave with their pride, did we not? Now they won't even leave with their lives," the Celestial said, his fellow guards drawing their swords. Night's ponies did the same, taking up a much more defensive stance.
The Earth Pony smiled, lowering the tip of his weapon until it was pointed at Blackest Night's heart. "Charge!"
The six Celestials surged forward, weapons raised. At the very last second, the Lunar guards split up and stepped to the side, attempting to trip their opponents. Aphelion and Night succeeded, hacking the forelegs of the second Earth Pony and a Unicorn before severing their spinal cords. Avalanche had clotheslined an enemy Pegasus, but missed the killing blow and instead taking off one of his wings in a spray of blood. The surviving Celestials backed off, shocked at how quickly they had lost their advantage. It was now an even fight, with the Pegasus writhing in pain and covered in his own blood not counting as a combatant. His screaming almost drowned out the curses the Celestials were shouting.
It was the Lunars turn. They advanced slowly, spreading out and forcing their foes to only be able to concentrate on one at a time. The remaining active Pegasus and Unicorn looked concerned, but their leader looked flat-out pissed, which was a good sign - angry ponies make stupid mistakes.
Night began to slowly advance, switching his sword from his hooves to his magical grip, twirling it in the air, Their Unicorn turned to face him instead, but before he could make a move Avalanche flew at him, the Pegasus's sword hilted into the Celestial's body thanks to a gap in his armor. He let out a choked scream and fell, clutching at the wound and trying to get the blade out. Avalanche twisted the sword and tried to pull it out, but before he could the Earth Pony turned and swung, placing a massive gash on their ally's already-bloody coat.
Aphelion and Night knew they had to act, before the Earth Pony could kill their friend. Night swung his sword high thanks to his magic, catching his enemy on the back, putting a small gash in the armor. Aphelion ditched his sword and fired a bolt of lightning at the enemy Pegasus, causing him to spasm briefly and fall on the dirt, twitching.
The Earth Pony jumped at the pain of the sudden would, lashing out at Night this time. He hardly dodged the blow, feeling the blade bite into his skin. Night parried a second blow and completely disarmed his opponent with another spell, much to the latter's surprise. the Unicorn then disabled the pony with another blow to the back, then kicked him over and stabbed him in the gut, the blade pinning him to the dirt.
The Earth Pony cringed, doing his best to resist screaming from the pain. Night wiggled the sword around, just to make sure he wouldn't get back up, likely dicing up some more organs in the process. "You're a... bastard..." the pony said, wincing again. "A... cheating bastard..."
Night attempted to pull the blade out, only for his downed foe to use his remaining strength to grab Night by the neck when he got close enough, pulling the surprised Unicorn in until their muzzles were less than an inch apart. "So, you damned cheater, did it feel good?"
"What are you talking about?" Night responded, still trying to wrench the blade free. It was completely stuck.
"Did it feel good when you bucked the princess? We all know you were doing her," he said, beginning to leak blood from his nose and mouth, smiling when he saw the Unicorn's face twist into one of anger. Night felt something inside him snap.
Swords have a good amount of give in them, and can usually bend quite a bit before snapping. However, they do not allow for ninety degrees of give, which Night quickly exposed by snapping the hilt off the sword, leaving a few metal shards sticking out of the grip. He moved the new weapon to his hooves, where he was able to jam the hilt into the Earth Pony's neck, causing him to make a sickening gargle as the shattered blade ripped his tissue apart. Blood spurted from the horrific wound as Night continued to twist the object deeper. More blood sprayed out, a metallic tang invading his senses as the fluid got in his nose and mouth.
Blackest Night allowed all of his built up emotions - whatever they may be - to release, taking it out on the pony under him. He kept on stabbing it until he started hitting dirt that was soaked with blood and covered in shattered bone, and even then almost refused to stop. Something yanked Night off his target, causing him to drop the hilt. He almost lashed out at whatever interrupted him until he saw that it was Aphelion, a look of horror etched on his face.
"Dammit, Night! You killed him, alright! You... You took off his bucking head with that many stabs!" he shouted, shoving Night back on the ground. Night felt himself beginning to calm down. His throat felt sore - was he screaming during that display? - and his eyes were watery, but he couldn't tell if he had been crying or if it was more blood. He spat some of the dark red liquid on the dirt.
"I... I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me..." the Unicorn said, putting his hooves over his head. "I just... he insulted just about everything I hold dear..." He was shaking almost uncontrollably.
Aphelion let out quite possibly one of the longest and most exasperated sighs known to ponykind. "Avalanche is doing fine, wound looks worse than it is, but I need help carrying him back. You know, the only Celestial survivor is that Pegasus over there, and he sure as hay isn't in any condition to move." He pointed at the pony, who was curled up in a fetal position, shaking. Losing a wing was said to be just as bad as losing a horn, and now he had seen both. Night regained control over himself and stood, thankful that somepony had calmed him down.
"Leave them. Their commanders will realize they are missing and send a party to investigate, if that one doesn't drag himself off to the nearest town first." Night responded, slowly standing up. He walked over to Avalanche, who was still laying on the ground. Aphelion quickly got on his other side and together they lifted the wounded Pegasus onto their backs, beginning the hike back through Ablution Pass.
The sound of gentle clicking woke Night from his sleep. He squinted his eyes against the light that did manage to get through his blinds, trying to find whatever was the source of what had brought him out of his rest. When he found nothing he dismissed it as such and closed his eyes again, only to hear somepony speak in a hushed voice.
"Be careful, he's dangerous."
That was enough to send Night almost flying out of his bed and to his supply chest. He opened it and fumbled around with the contents, trying to figure out what would be the most effective. No time to put on armor, and I still haven't gotten the replacement for my sword... Damn!
The Unicorn settled for an empty glass bottle, magic and his own skill in hoof-to-hoof combat. He stood up against the wall of his room, bottle in one hoof, other hoof raised and a spell being readied. He could hear two sets of hooves on his floor, slowly approaching his bedroom door. One of them inched open the door, trying to make as little sound as possible, still thinking their quarry was asleep. Night gripped the bottle tighter, waiting for the pony's head to appear in front of him
The figure, revealed to be a Unicorn wearing a very light piece of armor with a few symbols stitched into the sides peeked through, his face becoming very confused when he saw the empty bed. "Uh, Cygnus? He ain't-"
Night interrupted him by bringing the bottle down onto his skull as hard as he could, shattering the bottle and clubbing the infiltrator to the ground. The pony let out a low growl and tried to lunge up from his position, but Night used the sharp bits on the broken bottle to stab him through the side. He threw the wounded assassin into a wall and swung at the second pony - Cygnus - who was backpedaling to buy time for a spell.
A blue beam fired from his horn, which Night narrowly managed to avoid. Night fired his own spell, striking a ward the other Celestial had made just in time. The wounded Unicorn got up off the ground and tried to tackle the Lunar from behind, only to be slammed into the ground. Taking advantage of the temporary distraction, Cygnus drew a needle-like weapon from one of his pockets, and ran the end through Night's side.
The object stung quite a bit, but the more pressing matter was that soon Night began to feel nothing at all where he had been stabbed. The numb sensation spread alarmingly fast, causing him to collapse to the ground, unable to move or feel anything. He tried to cast a spell to purge poisons from his body but before he could even begin, the pony he had wounded earlier grabbed him by the horn and beat his head against the floor, almost rendering him unconscious. When they knew Night was no longer a threat, they began to speak.
"You know, you could have handled that a little better," Cygnus said, sheathing the needle he had stabbed Night with.
"Shut up, alright? You try functioning properly when some scumbag knocks you over the head with a bottle and tries to pin you to a wall with it."
"Is that any way to talk to your mentor? Either way, we've captured the self-proclaimed leader of these traitors, and now we just need to bring him to a secure location and await orders from higher up," Cygnus responded, looking around the house. "You prepare the invisibility spell, and I'll see if I can find any useful information in this dump."
The Unicorn went through various cabinets and boxes in his search, but eventually walked into Night's own room. Night could hear his chest being opened - he didn't care too much, wasn't anything truly valuable - but as soon as he heard the sound of a drawer being pulled out, he panicked. Not because of there being documents about troop movements or trade agreements, but because that was where his unused engagement ring was at. If it hadn't been for the paralysis keeping him in place, he would have ripped Cygnus limb from limb when the Unicorn walked out, spinning that very object with his magic.
"Find anything?" his apprentice asked, horn glowing from the prepared spell.
"Nah, nothing but this pretty little number."
"Looks like some sorta ring."
"Oh, it is. The pony on the floor in front of us was going to propose to somepony. Anyways, I want you to find me a claiming document for spoils of war as soon as we are back in Canterlot, this might be worth enough to compensate for the damage fines I've been dealing with recently."
" 'Damage fines'? What did you do this time?"
Cygnus rolled his eyes. "Oh, don't look at me that way, how in Equestria was I supposed to know Pegasus feathers are highly flammable?" he paused for a moment. "We're wasting time, cast that spell so we can get out of here. And knock that pony out, I don't need the poison wearing off with him still awake."
The other Unicorn looked down at Night, shrugged, and kicked him in the head.
Blackest Night clutched his head, groaning. That bastard Cygnus, I'm gonna gut him as soon as I see him - wait, where am I?
Night opened his eyes and looked around. He was surrounded on all sides by a black void with no discernible floor, ceiling or walls. He stood up, both confused and intrigued. Was this an illusion?
He became so caught up in thought that he almost didn't hear the hoofsteps behind him. Night turned around as soon as he did, unsure of what to expect. However, as soon as he did, he almost had to put a hoof under his chin to keep his jaw from hitting the floor.
"Luna..."
The princess smiled, wrapping her forelegs around the stunned Night. "Yes, it's me... After all these years of solitude I've finally managed to contact you..."
Night returned the hug tenfold, his only thoughts being to comfort the mare he hadn't even been able to look at for a decade. "I've missed you so much, Luna!" he said, tears of joy slowly beginning to well up. "And I'm so, so sorry..."
Luna looked down, confused. "Sorry for what, exactly?"
Night met her gaze. "It was my sworn duty to protect you from anypony who would wish to do you harm, and when that threat came in the form of your sister, I was unable to stop you from being banished. I failed, and you have suffered ten years of isolation as a result."
The Alicorn hugged him again, a hint of sadness in her voice "Oh, Night... you don't need to apologize. I've seen what trials you have been through, all the things you have done to keep the Lunar Guard from being dismantled and buried, and the fact that you remained loyal is more than enough. Nothing could have been done that night to prevent my banishment, so in a sense it was me who failed and forced you to live alone."
Night simply nuzzled into her fur as he thought of a response. "Then, is what I am doing right? Equestria and the Lunars are going to be at war by the end of the week, but is that what you would have me do?"
"I love my sister dearly, but I cannot take this isolation any longer. I have seen some of the two cities with my magic, but I want to be there and see it with my own eyes rather than conjure it in front of me. I want to be with you again, like it was before all this happened. Do whatever you have to in order to end the spell keeping me here, and I truly mean that."
The Unicorn was rather surprised. "Even if that means... killing your sister?"
Luna nodded slowly, laying down next to Night and closing her eyes. She nuzzled the stallion, placing a wing over him. "You know, I almost didn't think it would be possible to do this."
"What, contact me?"
"Sort of; I meant to make my own pocket dimension, and then get your subconscious into it while you were knocked out so we could talk. I know it sounds like a bit of work, but I was getting desperate," she explained, scooting closer to Night.
"Don't worry, Luna. Soon, you will no longer have to be stuck on the moon, just as you wished. I think you really will like it in the city, and we already have a tower built for you, just waiting for you to occupy it, and-"
The princess placed a hoof over Night's mouth, silencing him. "No, I won't occupy it. We will," she said, removing her hoof and pulling the now speechless Unicorn into their first kiss since the night before she had been banished. When they finally broke off from the experience, Luna continued. "My strength grows weak from sustaining this place for so long. You will have to leave soon, as much as I wish we could be alone here for eternity. The spell will end soon."
Night nodded and stood up, helping Luna to her hooves. "What happens then?"
"You will be transferred back into your body, just as you were before I brought you here," she answered. Night could see her beginning to fade away as his subconscious was pulled back into Equestria.
The Alicorn ran over to him one last time. "And... Good luck. You may need it."
"Thank you, Luna."
"Hey, he's finally waking up!"
Night jumped up from the ground, startled. He was locked in some kind of cage, while Cygnus and his apprentice - who had a multitude of bandages where Night had stabbed him - looked on a few feet away. His immediate instinct was to destroy the cage with is magic, but as soon as he tried to cast the spell a splitting pain overtook his horn.
"Magic inhibitor. You won't be casting spells unless I say so. Oh, and don't bother trying to take it off, it's magically bound to your horn," Cygnus said, smiling cruelly.
"What the buck do you want with me?" Night growled, rubbing his horn
"Me? No, you misunderstand. It's not I that wants you, it's Princess Celestia. You killed our guards on our land, and now, you must be punished. That, and, seeing as we are pretty much at war now, we have pretty much won by capturing you."
"And why, if I may ask, didn't you just kill me?"
Cygnus smiled again. "You are our bargaining chip. Celestia has wanted those mountains for a while, and we will give you back to the Lunars as long as they agree to be annexed into Equestria."
"What have the Griffons said about this? In case you've forgotten-"
"The Griffons do not want a war with Equestria, not in it's current state of power. They know full well what's going on, and they backed down as soon as war was mentioned."
Halfbeak, you cowardly fool! Night thought, wanting to give the damned buzzard a lesson or two in loyalty.
There was a brief flash of light as a scroll materialized on a table behind the ponies. The apprentice turned around and grabbed it, quickly breaking the seal. He looked surprised. "Sir, the Lunars have refused the offer, and Celestia has given us permission to execute the prisoner," he said.
Cygnus was equally shocked. "Well, who could have seen that coming? Very well, I'll let you try destruction magics - you need the practice - on him, and I'll go gather my things," he said, leaving the room.
The two ponies started at each other, waiting. The Celestial finally sighed and readied the spell, aiming it directly at Night's chest. An idea popped into his head, just as the pony looked ready to cast.
A line of fire shot out of his horn. Night dodged to the right at the last second, sending the bolt into the wall. The apprentice, instead of trying to recast, continued to use the spell, cutting through the bars of the cage and destroying the lock, and a few seconds later, damaging the hinges. Night seized the opportunity and kicked the iron gate, sending it off its hinges and into the Celestial, pinning him to the wall. Before the pony could cry for help, he landed multiple punches on his face, rendering him unconscious.
Still made some noise, but hopefully that pompous ass doesn't care about this fellow enough to check, he thought, beginning to look for an exit. There was none, save for the door Cygnus had used. He cautiously stepped towards it, waiting to see if he could hear hoofsteps on the other side. Nothing.
Night started sifting through items on the table, looking for something that might help get the ring off his horn. Most of the tools looked like torture devices, none of which were going to be of any practical use. He picked up what appeared to be a bloodied auger - likely from being used to drill holes in bones - and slowly opened the door
A bolt of fire struck the wood, sending charred fragments and embers everywhere. Night jumped back behind the frame as a second bolt collided with the wall opposite the entrance, igniting a small fire. A third bolt crashed against the frame Night was against, prompting him to jump back to avoid being burned.
"Ha! You think I'm going to fall for that one again?!" Cygnus shouted, beginning to advance. Night grabbed some of the charred wood and crushed it under his hooves, covering the floor with piles of ash. Night turned around, preparing to kick up the ash as an impromptu distraction. Cygnus sent one more fireball into the doorframe to ensure Night wasn't behind it, and then stepped through, another spell already primed.
The Lunar scraped his hooves against the floor as he kicked, the air behind him becoming full of ash. Cygnus let out a cry of pain as the searing dust landed on his face and got in his eyes, blinding him. Night lunged forward and sunk the auger into his shoulder. He immediately tried to push Night away and remove the object, but Night twisted it around, causing it to bore through the bone it was stuck in. Cygnus screamed and grabbed something off the table - likely finding it only by luck - and drove the weapon back into Night.
As it turns out, he had found one of the few sharp devices in the room, and Night stumbled back when the blade went surprisingly deep into his skin. He almost instantly noticed a difference in his breathing, and he could taste blood. Lucky bucker must have hit my lung, he thought, getting back up. Cygnus had begun to blindly fire spells around the room, igniting more and more small fires that were quickly spreading and combining. Night grabbed the auger again and tore it out, then aimed for a much weaker area on his target.
Cygnus howled when the auger was forced through his left eye, but now that he was sure of his assailants location, he just barely managed to cast a final spell at point blank range. Night fell back, the searing pain on the edge of the burn incapacitating him. There was no pain in the center, however, and that was far worse. He didn't dare to look, but he could smell the foul stench of burned skin.
Night watched as Cygnus stumbled around the last of his energy drained from the repeated spellcasting. He stopped making noises from his pain and slumped against part of the wall that hadn't been consumed by fire, and then stopped moving altogether, save for the occasional rise and fall of his chest. He made no attempt to flee when the flames began to lick at his fur, and was silent when they spread onto his body, further putting the odor of burnt fur and flesh into the air.
He drug himself out the door, despite the pain from the burn and the knife embedded in his side. Night fiddled with the inhibitor still on his horn, and found that it slid off with ease now that the pony who cast the binding spell was dead. He was about to throw the cursed object into the inferno behind him, only to see that Cygnus had used his own damn ring to render him helpless. The only thing that stopped him from going back, dragging Cygnus out and continuing to assault him was the sudden screaming of his apprentice, who had woken from his knocked out state, under a prison door and likely with fire inches away, if it hadn't already ignited him. Night made haste towards what looked like the exit.
There was a blizzard outside, which Night found out about as soon as he opened the door. Snow, huh? That means these idiots never took me out of the mountains, he thought, halfheartedly smiling. He wouldn't have much time to find his city; it was already becoming pretty hard to breathe, and there was a minuscule amount of blood leaking from his mouth. He used his magic to pull the blade from his side and made an attempt to heal the wound, but the inhibitor had weakened his magic greatly, and the wound remained. He put the ring back on.
He limped onward, trusting his instincts. The conflagration of a shack had to have been close - hopefully no more than a few miles north of the nearest watchtower. He felt his strength ebbing away as he limped, and his mind seemed to be swimming. There was some kind of voice in his head, as well. It seemed to be urging him forward, screaming when he stopped and correcting him when he turned away from his path.
The cold was beginning to numb his senses until he felt nothing more than a dull, aching pain where he had been wounded. His thoughts felt empty, his mind set only on moving forward. The bleeding from his mouth and side had essentially stopped from the cold, but he was moving noticeably slower as well. How long had he been walking? A few minutes? An hour? Several hours?
How far had he walked? Was his true survival instinct taking over and guiding him in circles? Had he even made a straight line once?
The snow covered up his hoofprints, rendering the idea of returning to the likely-collapsed shack to recover a worthless one. His vision was becoming dark around the edges, and his breathing had slowed some more until he practically had to remind himself to breathe.
Night's body suddenly gave out, unable to be pushed any further after the wounds it had suffered. He fell into the snow, and the wind carried the white powder onto his body to begin burying him until spring. The black edges around his vision had advanced until he was seeing half pure white, and half darkness. He blinked slowly, waiting. Waiting.. for what? He couldn't even think of what he was waiting on. He ignored the enraged voice in the back of his head, closing his eyes slowly as the blackness covered them.
NEINN!
Svá kaerr! Munu a þrjóta!
Vaka, Nótt!
"...and to summarize, we plan to infiltrate from the north - near their border with the Griffons - and march south into Amalthea, dealing with whatever forces are garrisoned there. Meanwhile, our ships will sail into Europa and block off their ports, and destroy the city if necessary. I suspect that this will take... no more than a week, from the second we cross their border to the moment the annexation document is signed," Rune said, rather proud of his plan.
"Good, I'm glad to see you are so confident in your abilities compared to the other generals. Go ahead and fill them in, and get your ponies ready to leave. I don't want them declaring Night a martyr until we are lowering their flag," she said, dismissing him and leaving the war room.
Rune let off a huge sigh. In reality he was nowhere near as confident as he had seemed. He had the broad sense of the plan down, but there were so many variables and minor details that could get all those he commanded killed in the first fight. He was, after all, dealing with Blackest Night, the pony who nearly took over Canterlot in a couple hours with a force that had barely been given instruction. Now, he was going to have to lay waste to a city that his followers have had ten years to build and fortify, and as soon as they realized that Equestria doesn't joke around with its enemies, things would only get harder.
The Celestial shook his head, cursing making the move to take this position. His predecessor had ditched for a reason.
Night awoke with a start, expecting to still see the blizzard still raging around him, and his body to still be feeling nothing but intense pain or numbness, but none of those things happened. Instead, he was lying in his bed, left with the huge question of how he ended up there. No way that was some dream.
He looked down, seeing the burn scars on his foreleg, and shuddered a little as he remembered what it felt like in the places where his sense of touch hadn't been destroyed. The stab wound on his other side also had a slightly less visible scar, and some parts of him felt sore. There was also a feeling of being weak and empty, as if part of him was missing. He disregarded it and got out of bed, leaving his room.
The first thing he noticed was a fire going, and Silver sitting in front of it. The Pegasus must have heard him, as he turned around not long after Night entered the living room. "Hey, look who's finally awake!" he said, standing up from his spot at the fire.
"Yeah... Thanks for throwing me under the carriage during negotiations," Night said.
"Listen, we thought you were going to end up dead no matter what, and figured you wouldn't want us handing over everything we've done here."
He frowned. "Whatever. When did the first patrol find me, anyways?"
" 'First patrol'? There wasn't any, you walked into the center of the city and collapsed, that's how we found you."
Wait, what? Night thought, tilting his head in confusion. Something wasn't right; he lost consciousness in the middle of a blizzard, not after walking into Amalthea. The idea that he had been recaptured and that this was some kind of illusion crept into his mind. He subconsciously began to look for minor details that could tell him what was going on, but his search was fruitless.
"That can't be right, all I remember was passing out in the snow," he told Silver, beginning to look more closely at various things around the room. There had to be something wrong, no illusion was perfect.
"Night, I saw you collapse, and I helped carry you back here where the doctors started trying to heal you. I don't know what you're going off about, you were in the city when we found you. You may just have a bit of amnesia, the doctors said you were pretty messed up, mentally and physically. If I remember correctly they said it would be about a week before you had the strength to walk again, but I guess they did a better job than they thought," Silver responded, a slightly worried look on his face.
"Wait... 'one week'? How long was I out?"
"A little over three nights."
Night's jaw dropped. "Three nights?!" he exclaimed. That's more than enough time for Celestia to send a force to attack, and after her failed assassination attempt there's no doubt her guards are already in the mountains, he thought. "Have any of our patrols sighted any kind of attack force?"
"Not yet, but there should be another one arriving within an hour," Silver replied. "In the meantime, I guess you could go get your new sword and armor, the blacksmiths made them while you were being healed."
Night nodded, mentally dismissing the former idea of all of this being a facade after his detailed look around the room once again proved useless. He and Silver stepped out the door and into the city, the moon high above them. Night half-wondered if the Celestials knew he had escaped and killed Cygnus. The attacking force not knowing he was still alive could provide a slight advantage in the first battle.
They neared the blacksmith's shop. The owner greeted them both, inquired about Night's health and then produced his new gear; a full set of highly curved light blue armor, and a rather ornate shortsword.
"The armor looks like the kind Nightmare Moon wore the day Luna transformed into her," Night commented, "except just a little more protective."
"That was intentional. She scared them senseless that day, and with the two of you actually looking somewhat alike, maybe you will do the same, both in name and appearance," the smith said, fiddling with one of the hoofguards. "This sword is also much stronger than your previous one. I know you broke it using your magic, but the same could have easily been done trying to deflect a hammer blow or striking a shield."
He drew the weapon out of its scabbard, revealing an extremely sharp blade inscribed with a few small texts pertaining to either Night, Princess Luna or Amalthea and Europa. The guard was somewhat small but kept the weapon from being rear-heavy, and the pommel had what appeared to be a thick crescent-like shape on it. The scabbard was also decorated to a degree, having the phases of the moon running from where the hilt would touch all the way down to the tip. Night picked up the weapon and swung it a couple of times, ensuring it felt right in his hooves.
Night put the rest of his armor on, to which Silver said, "The resemblance is uncanny, I can already hear the Celestials shouting that Nightmare Moon has returned to avenge you."
He smirked and sheathed the sword before strapping it to his side. Night thanked the smith for his service and left while Silver remained behind for his own reasons. The Unicorn settled on walking around the city to pass time, eventually finding a point on the wall to watch the moon from, tracking its slow movement across the night sky.
Silver eventually found him and took a seat nearby, remaining silent. Night took a deep breath
"I talked to her."
Silver faced him. "Who? Luna?"
Night nodded, still gazing at the stars.
"How? She's hundreds of thousands of miles away and probably trapped by all sorts of spells," he said. "Are you sure you're alright?"
Night faced the Pegasus. "It was real, I know it. After the Celestials knocked me out, my mind got pulled into some alternate dimension. It was an empty void, but she was there, and..."
"And... What?"
"Like I said, we talked. She said that she was proud of what I'd led us to do, and that she desperately wanted to be back on this planet again, even if it meant her sister had to be killed."
"So in other words, she supports the fact we are stepping into a war against the nation she used to be co-ruler of?"
"I would not be wearing any kind of armor right now if she had been against it. Yes, she wants us to do this. Besides, we have no way of knowing how long Celestia plans to keep her trapped; Luna could be set free tomorrow or never, and she hasn't exactly been saying anything about it."
"I suppose it's a good thing to have her approval," Silver said, facing back towards the sky. "Otherwise-"
The sound of wings cut him off. Another Pegasus landed a few feet away,a frantic look on his face. "Sir, I am sorry for interrupting you but I have important news," he said.
Night stood up. "What is it?"
"A Celestial regiment has recently been spotted by the northern watchtower. They are no more than a few miles away and will likely be here within an hour or two, based off our estimates."
The Unicorn was left feeling dazed. An entire regiment... he thought, already worried. Between Amalthea and Europa the Lunar Guard numbered roughly fifteen-hundred - both cities had equal numbers - and there was no time to send for reinforcements. At least there was usually a range in the numbers of a unit size. "About how large was the regiment? Could you tell?"
"We guessed they were around a thousand strong."
"Have you informed any of the other generals?"
"Yes, sir. I told them while looking for you. They should be in the planning room, or at least on their way."
Night nodded. He gave a quick parting word to Silver and followed the other Lunar down a set of stairs before going off to the planning room. He began to think of possible ideas on how to counter the Celestials; his Lunars lacked an advantage in numbers, but they knew the terrain and were defending from a fortified position rather than attacking. If he could get the positioning right, then the Celestials would be beaten, but none would prevent quite a few Lunars from dying.
The second guard stopped at the entrance to the planning room, remaining outside as Night stepped in. Inside the room was a circular table surrounded by three other ponies, each bearing four stars on their shoulders. In the center of the table was a large map of the valley Amalthea was settled in, showing the city itself, the watchtowers and the roughly current location of the Celestial regiment.
They all stopped what they were doing and stood up straight when they noticed Night's presence. He put them at ease and took a close look at the map. "Have any of you come up with a solid plan yet?" he asked.
"No, sir. We've had a few ideas, but nothing complete," said a Pegasus that Night recognized as Swift Breeze, the general of the Pegasi Unit of the Lunar Guard. He looked uneasy.
"Well, what were the ideas? Maybe we could make something out of them," Night responded.
A burly Earth Pony spoke up. "We have a few ballistae we've kept in storage over the winter. We could put those on or behind the walls - or even among the mountains themselves, if we move fast - and use them to pick off as many Celestials as we can before they get to the gates, maybe even target their leadership."
"My spellcasters have a unit among them that excel at long range and area-effect spells. The ballistae could be kept here while those ponies are sent out to slow the regiment down to give the rest of our defenses time to prepare," said General Thunder, an experienced Unicorn.
Swift Breeze spoke up again. "My archers can hide in the clouds to rain arrows on the Celestials, and then change locations before they retaliate; and that's assuming they figure out where they are being shot from."
Night thought for a moment, adding the other general's ideas to his own. He pulled the map within his reach, and using a quick spell, highlighted an area in front of Amalthea's gates, a relatively open spot in the valley. "This is where the regiment will eventually be. I am aware of how their formations are made; their command element is at the very rear, with every other soldier in front of them. If we can hide ponies under the snow..." he said, creating several small dots behind the symbol for the regiment, "then we can ambush them and destroy their chain of command, or at least heavily disrupt it.
"After that, most Swift Breeze's Pegasi will launch either from behind the city walls or the clouds and waste the area around the ambush unit with arrows, and the ambushing force will have to light some kind of flare to mark their position to prevent being hit," Night continued. He made a series of magical lines appearing both from Amalthea and the area above the Celestials, showing their flight plan. "Next, Thunder's spellcasters will attack from the tops of the valleys while our ballistae fire from our walls. For the first few minutes you will need to focus on packing them together by picking off stragglers, but on my command you shall fire directly into them."
More lines appeared on the edges of the valleys, and some small circles popped up within Amalthea. The symbol showing the regiment changed to become more compact. "Finally, Stonehide and I will lead a charge of pikecolts, swordsponies and close-range mages into the Celestials, who at this point should be low on numbers and packed so closely together that only the outside edge can fight effectively. We will try to push them back, with our rear force withdrawing and regrouping with our main force and we will continue pushing until they enter a rout, and we can dispatch Pegasi to pick some more of them off," Night finished. A row of dots materialized at the gates, with arrows showing their path forward, along with the ambush unit's rearward advance to get around the main Celestial force as it moved backwards.
"It is a good plan, but are you sure you should be fighting? I mean, you have been in a comatose state for three days, and you've got those wounds..." Thunder said.
"I'll be fine. I lead this city in Luna's place, and I'll be damned if I don't get up and defend it when we are under threat of destruction. We don't have much time before the Celestials arrive, so this planning is over; go and brief your soldiers, and tell them to immediately go to their locations."
The generals raised a hoof in salutation before leaving. Night took one last look at the map and ended the spell that had created the symbols before leaving himself. He watched the other generals running off to their barracks, then got back up on the wall on top of the gate, staring at the future battleground.
A few minutes later, the city descended into chaos, with ballistae being pushed into positions, orders being barked, townsponies boarding up windows just in case the walls were breached. Squadrons of Pegasi took an almost completely vertical path into the night sky, disappearing inside the darkness after a few moments. The unit to be used for the ambush - all elites by any standard - ran into the snow, disappearing a minute later. Spellcasters pooled their energy for a mass teleport into the mountains, vanishing in a flash of light. The ponies that were going to be apart of the final charge - roughly three hundred or so - lined up near the gates, waiting. Night turned around.
"Fellow Lunars... Tonight, as you all know, the regiment Princes Celestia sent to conquer us has arrived. There is a chance they think I am dead, and that the Lunar Guard is in disarray, and thus believe that this will be a mindless battle ending with the capture of our fair city; now, just imagine the shock and terror they will feel when our resistance shakes the very foundation of those foalish beliefs! Imagine the fear Celestia will bear when she hears that her cowardly plot to assassinate me before the war begins has failed!"
The Lunars below him cheered, holding up their weapons. "They think that they shall destroy us on our own land! They think that we are nothing more than rebellious colts who have made ourselves slaves to the Griffons! Do you know what I think? I think that they are ignorant, blind and mindless foals! They thought these mountains will become part of Equestria? I think we shall make this place their grave !"
They cheered again, even louder this time at Night's words. Night drew his own weapon and raised it towards the stars, continuing still. "We will defeat them! We will destroy them! We will annihilate them, and leave but one to return to tell the story of how Luna's soldiers crushed them! We shall become the the demons that haunt their dreams! We will be the bringers of darkness, washing over the land until there is but black! We will become nightmares !"
The shouting of the Lunars hurt his ears this time, and he had to resist the urge to cover them. He glanced over his shoulder and saw the first sign of the Celestials arrival - the northern watchtower, engulfed in flames and beginning to collapse. The regiment began to pick up speed past their first target, oblivious to what lay in wait.
They were close enough now for Night to be able to make out individual soldiers, and soon after the regiment entered an all out charge, clearly seeing that there were no defenders outside the walls. They passed over the ambush units location, and a second later the group emerged from their cover, decimating the exposed command element in a quick exchange of swordplay and spells; so quick in fact, that barely any other Celestials heard or even noticed the attack until the elite team created a bright flare to signal their position for Breeze's archers.
About two dozen Celestials suddenly dropped to the ground as arrows pierced their armor and bodies, and others barely got off with grazing blows. The Pegasi took up a position above the elites, and the Celestial Pegasi rose to challenge them. At that very moment, the first barrage of spells and ballistae bolts were fired, impacting all around the regiment, forcing them to get closer, just as planned.
The Pegasi began to duel, with several from both sides crashing into the ground after being hit by an arrow. The mass of Celestials stumbled about in confusion, not having anypony among them willing or capable of taking over the regiment. A second barrage struck them, further pushing them together.
Night ordered his group to form up on the outside wall and prepare to charge. He watched as a third, and then a fourth volley continued to kill any Celestial trying to escape the killzone. He used telepathy to contact General Thunder.
Thunder didn't have to send a worded response; the shouts of surprise as magical bolts landed in the very center of their group was more than enough to know he had heard Night's message. The Celestials started to get frantic, with most of their numbers wounded or dying and their entirety surrounded and boxed in. Night joined his battalion on the ground, turning to face them briefly before raising his weapons at the Celestials.
"Lunars! Charge! " he shouted, breaking into a gallop. The ponies around him followed suit, filling the air with the sound of hooves and their own individual war cries. The pikecolts pulled ahead of the main force and leveled their weapons and raised their shields.
The first line of Celestials was completely unprepared, and any who escaped death by skewer were assaulted with swords and magic as the Lunars forced their way into their ranks, pushing them back and splitting them up. Night electrocuted one of the ponies with a spell, his screams drowned out by his soldiers enthusiasm. Another pony turned around at the death of his comrade and raised his weapon, a rather large ax.
Night dodged the blow and hacked the pony's forelegs as he tried to pull the weapon from the ground. He fell back and tried to call for help, only for Night to stab his sword downward into the Celestial's chest, killing him. he felt something ping off his armor and turned to see an archer fumbling with an arrow. A lightning bolt ended his life before he could draw again.
Their opponents were steadily being pushed back. The Unicorn wet his blade with another Celestial's blood, kicking the fatally wounded pony aside and continuing forward. The rear force was withdrawing into the mountains to get around the failing regiment, joining up with Night's main force. After a few more volleys claimed even more lives, a rout began and the air was filled with the shouts of 'Retreat!' and 'Run away!' as the Celestials desperately tried to escape their situation through the same route they had taken, while a few branched off, thinking they would be left alone if they were by themselves.
Night halted the advancing Lunars and called the remaining archers over to him. "Spread out and pick off as many as you can, but do not follow them out of the mountains, understand?" he said. The Pegasi nodded and took off after the fleeing mass of ponies. He sheathed his weapon and sat down a little exhausted. There were dozens of ponies around him, Lunar and Celestial alike, all dead or dying. General Stonehide - partially covered in blood, mostly Celestial - approached him. "Sir, what will you have us do now?" he asked.
"Tell those who can to help gather our casualties. As for the Celestials, prepare a funeral pyre for the dead, and imprison any who are still alive."
Stonehide nodded, turning around and barking orders at the other Lunars. Meanwhile, Night gazed up at the moon, hoping Luna had seen their first victory. Soon; soon you will be free.
"Dammit! Does somepony mind explaining to me what the buck went wrong in that valley?!" Rune screamed, bashing his hoof against the table. The other generals gathered around him flinched, unsure of what to say.
"Sir, we are only just getting in the rest of the report. They said that Lieutenant Colonel Aurora and the rest of the officers under his command were targeted during the initial charge. Without leadership, the rest of the soldiers-"
"So you mean to tell me nopony was able to take control of the situation? What the buck did we try to attack them with, rookies?"
The pony paused for a moment. "Well, actually..."
Rune threw a nearby inkpot at the pony, covering his face and chest with the black liquid. "You. Get out, now," he growled, pointing at the door. "As for the rest of you, we have to find a way to beat the Lunars. Did any of the survivors happen to see their leader that day?"
A Pegasus spoke up. "There were mixed reports. Some of the more - for lack of a better word - scarred ponies said it was Nightmare Moon herself, but the majority seemed to think it was Blackest Night."
Rune closed his eyes, shaking his head slowly. Of all the things... he thought. "Nightmare Moon is still imprisoned, so there's no way she was there. Night should be dead , how in the sun was he there?"
"Nopony seems to know, sir. All they said was that they saw him leading the charge during the final stages of the battle."
The Celestial general felt a bit of fear at the idea of having to go head to head with Blackest Night. Everypony - Celestia included - had assumed he was dead after they sent Cygnus and Mercury after him, but cearly something had gone bad somehwere down the road.
"Alright... We need to think of a way to get them back. Does anypony have any ideas?" Rune asked, sighing.
One of the generals - an Earth Pony - spoke up. "Well, the blockade of Europa was successful. If we could find a way to use that against them, we would have at least a start."
"Right - if we sent an order to Admiral Stargazer to open up on the city, we could force Night to send troops into Europa to reinforce the Lunars there. At the same time, we move a sizeable force near the mountains to draw him out to atack. We could make them look weaker and smaller than they are, and he'd love the idea of claiming another victory enough to attack. The only problem is that he would have fewer numbers to work with and we would have the advantage of actually knowing the land outside the mountains," a Pegasus next to him explained.
"It's equally possible that he won't take the chance. More than likely he's waiting for us to make a fatal blunder on our next move and act when we truly are vulnerable, and that's not a risk we should be taking. What are the defenses like for the settlements nearest the hoofhills, anyways?" Rune responded.
A Unicorn found a map and placed it on the table. "Fort Hoof is the nearest, but it's hardly a fort. The next-closest is Vanhoover, with no defenses at all aside from the guards stationed there."
Well, it could still be worse... not by much, though, he thought. "Tell the leaders of both places to build up what they can, and send the order to Stargazer to attack Europa. We'll just have to wait and see what Night does this time around."
Night was joined by Silver, along with the other three generals he had spoken to before the battle had begun; all five of them were now situated around the same table with a much larger map of Equestria in front of them.
"We did a fine job of defending, everypony. The Celestials were driven back, and the ponies responsible for the pyres say they are still counting enemy corpses past the five-hundred mark, out of regiment's one-thousand, with at least a hundred captured. Compared to our own losses of less than a hundred dead and no more than twice that wounded, we're off to a good start whose repetition will put us in Canterlot by the end of the quarter.
"However, now we have to advance out of where we hold the advantage. There are two towns we could potentially capture; Fort Hoof, only a few miles from Ablution Pass, and Vanhoover, near Equestria's border in the north. I had plans to take them over long before this war began, but something - some of you may not know this, I only found out after the battle - has changed with a Celestial fleet blockading Europa," Night explained. He pointed at two parallel lines around the oceanic part of Europa, representing the hostile ships.
"What do you plan to do now, sir?" Swift Breeze asked, staring at the map.
"I plan to find help. If the Celestials attack Europa, the forces there will be decimated; hoofsoldiers can't defend against a ship armed with ballistae, we don't have any vessels prepared to launch and our land-based weaponry can't punch through the hulls of a capital ship, of which I'm sure there are many. Also, if I send reinforcements, Amalthea will be open to a second - likely successful - second attack," Night responded.
"Where will you go? There aren't that many nations capable of sending aid, and even fewer that may be willing," said Breeze.
"The Griffons have been our allies since the beginning. They backed down when Celestia threatened them, but now that she is taking over a port that both of us use, Halfbeak may be more willing to assist," Silver said, taking a closer look at the map.
"He's right - besides, it's about time those buzzards started helping us again," Night continued. "Now, if we are to launch a full attack, we need to free Europa, and cut off Equestria's own ports. They rely heavily on imports, and after that we can just use attrition tactics until they are unable to fight."
"With no ships, how are we to defeat a fleet?" Stonehide asked.
"I believe some of the ships escaped to a much smaller port further east. The Celestials have no idea it exists, so we could easily convert some of the vessels there. After that, we can send them to attack the blockade from behind, and then give them more suiting weaponry for when they have to travel up the Equestrian coastline and reduce their ports to rubble," Night explained, making a line that went up the coast and ended at a small bay.
"Night, like Silver said the Griffon army is very small, which could still leave us at a disadvantage. Are there any other nations out there who have a larger force, or can offer us a means to compensate?" Stonehide asked again.
Silver spoke up again before Night could respond. "There are the Zebras in the far south, across the Antlertic Ocean. With the amount of chemicals and mixtures they have, I'm sure there's something they could give us that would help."
Night nodded in agreement. "Well, it looks like you have the choice of going to either Gryphus or Zebrica," he said. "Think about it. For now, though, our only plan is to free Europa so that when we do start to push over the border our enemy is already weakened. I will lead a small force - enough will be left here to defend Amalthea in case the remains of the initial force manages to regroup - into Europa to help shore up the defenses there. A full attack would still crush us, but at least we would have more time to evacuate," he said.
He dismissed the other generals, leaving only him and Silver in the room. The Pegasus, after a few more words were exchanged, bid a farewell and left. Now alone, Night began to think. All the possibilities for the upcoming battles flowed through his mind, from Europa to Canterlot. The Lunar Guard was going to need all the help it could get.
Maybe Luna knows a few other groups that might help... maybe a few other ways to go about this, Night thought. He would have to remind himself to ask her the next time he saw her, whenever that may be.
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.
"Land, ho!" cried the pony sitting atop the crow's nest, pointing ahead of the ship. Silver watched as the crew briefly looked up and began to prepare the ship, gathering ropes and clearing the main deck. As they did, Wavebreaker exited his quarters and stood upon the deck, beginning to give out his own orders until everything was right. After a quick glance around the ship, he spread his wings and took of into the morning sky, flying north to the Zebrican port city.
After the commotion died down and he was sure Wavebreaker wasn't returning anytime soon, Dusk emerged from the lower decks and approached Silver. "Well? Find out anything else?" the Pegasus asked.
"Yeah, I finally managed to catch one of the crew who was above deck the day we left in a sober state. He told me about how quite a few ships broke away from the main blockade not too long after we passed them, all headed straight towards Europa. He also mentioned that he saw the same paper-laden Pegasus that we did," the Earth Pony responded, looking around to make sure none of the crew were listening.
"Combine that with the way Wavebreaker acted when we questioned him last week, Stargazer's almost-psychopathic grin after the former whispered in his ear and the fact that we never received anything in response to the letter we sent two days ago... I think it's fairly obvious that our captain is hiding something."
"You bet. I'm calling it right now; either he sold out Blackest Night and had his mariners try to capture him, or he told Stargazer about some weakness in the Lunar fortification that would make overwhelming them easy. Maybe both," Dusk said. "As soon as we are past the threat of being thrown overboard, we need to corner and question him."
"Yeah, he may not let us back on the ship, but I can always convince the Zebras to let us hitch a ride with one of their boats. All we need to do is wait until he is alone and threaten to chop off one of his wings - Night said it worked pretty well last time," Silver responded, smirking.
"You're insane, but I agree. Anyways, how do you think it will go with King Foalami? After what you told me about him, he doesn't seem like the type to pledge his navy and a good portion of his army to our cause for any cost," Dusk questioned.
Silver trotted up to the bow of the ship, watching the Zebrican mainland slowly appear in the distance. "He knows we are close allies with the Griffons, who he is also friends with. By now, he should be aware of the agreement we have, and that refusing to help us would be to end relations."
"You never know with politics, I suppose. Anyways, I'm going to try to get some sleep so I can actually function when we land. Wake me whenever you want to make your move," Dusk replied, turning around and heading below decks.
Silver remained where he was, watching the sun slowly rise above the waters surrounding him. In the distance, a small speck slowly grew larger, steadily taking on the form of Wavebreaker. He had a few documents - likely permissions - in his hooves as he landed. The captain gave a quick dismissal to his crew and returned to his quarters to wait until the vessel was closer. After a few more minutes of waiting, Silver decided to do the same.
After the nonstop motion over the course of three weeks, Silver didn't even realize the ship had begun to dock until he heard the shouts of sailors coming from the outside. Their hooves banged against the decks above as they moved about, tying ropes and moving from the ship to the deck and back again. The noise eventually woke Dusk.
"Ugh... Guess we've landed, then?" the Earth Pony asked. "Feels like I've barely been asleep an hour."
"You got about an hour and a half in, don't worry. The crew will start filtering off soon, so we may have our opportunity relatively soon. You aren't going to be too tired, are you?"
Dusk jumped up, grabbing his massive sword from the side of his bed. "Too tired to figure out exactly what's been going on? Never."
"Good. Now, let's go topside and make sure the entire crew is gone before we do anything."
By the time they stepped onto the deck, roughly half the crew was already off, running rampant around the docks and into the city, shoving aside anypony who dared to get in the way. The rest seemed to be either waiting for the excitement to die down or simply have other things to do before they could disembark. Regardless, the top deck would be empty in less than a minute.
"Looks like now's the time. Let's go," Dusk said, trotting across the deck to Wavebreaker's quarters. Silver nudged open the door, revealing their quarry at his desk, writing some kind of letter.
"How can I help you two?" he asked, looking up slightly.
"Oh, we've only got a couple questions to ask, that's all," Silver responded. When Dusk entered behind him, Wavebreaker suddenly looked slightly concerned, noticing that he was armed.
"Questions about... What, exactly?" the Pegasus said nervously, stepping back from his desk, his wings opening. Oh hay, he's about to try to bolt out of here, Silver thought. Sure enough, the captain backed into the wall and kicked off with his hind legs, immediately trying to escape. Unfortunately for him, Dusk had anticipated his actions and slammed the door in his face. The would-be escape artist bounced off the wood with a dull thump , landing back on the floor. Blood leaked out of his nose, which he had likely broken on impact.
"What the buck! That hurt , you ass!" Wavebreaker cried, backing up on the floor. Dusk stopped him with a single hoof planted firmly on his chest, shaking his head.
"I haven't even started and he's already trying to flee... Unbelievable," the Earth Pony grumbled. "Alright Silver, have at it."
"Thank you. Wavebreaker, I am going to ask you one simple question; what did you really tell Stargazer that got him to let us go free?"
The pinned Pegasus spat out his blood before responding. "I told you, I said I was going to bring back some Zebrican mares for him and his crew!" he said.
"Is that why multiple ships broke away from the blockade and headed for Europa? Try telling the truth this time," Dusk shouted.
"I don't know what you're going off about! Now, if you let me go right now, I might just forget about this little 'incident' and give you passage back to Io, but if not then you can kiss the mainland goodbye!" Wavebreaker spat, using what he thought was his trump card.
"Oh, no, please, anything but that! We're in a port city, idiot. Plenty of ships here that can cross the Antlertic." Dusk said, mocking him. The captain cringed at the remark.
"Once again, what did you tell Stargazer?" Silver asked, stepping a little bit closer. "Tell me, or Dusk gets to amputate a wing."
"Go buck yourself, I'm not falling for that trick-"
Dusk immediately picked up his captive and threw him into a wall. He slammed into the pony from the side, pinning him against it. He used one hoof to pull out Wavebreaker's wing, and with the other he grabbed his sword and made a clumsy downward-hacking motion, cutting roughly a third of the way through his victim's flesh, getting caught on his bone. Wavebreaker let out a cry of pain and tried to shake free, to little avail. Blood spurted from the wound as Dusk wiggled the sword free, pulling back for a second attempt. "Aww, looks like I used the dull edge. Guess that means I get to try again," he growled into the Pegasi's ear. And he said I was insane for suggesting it, Silver thought.
Wavebreaker broke down after that. "Y-You win! I'll tell you everything, just don't hurt me anymore!" he sobbed.
Silver nodded to Dusk for him to let the captain go. Dusk stepped back, allowing Wavebreaker to fall to the floor. The Pegasus looked up. "I told Stargazer that Night was in Europa, and that if he attacked now he had a good chance of capturing or killing him."
"You what ?" Dusk gasped.
"You have to understand, I had no choice! Stargazer would have taken you and sent us right back if I hadn't sold out Night!"
"You're in the bucking black market, there had to have been something else you could have offered!" Silver shouted, taking a step back.
"Listen, there is a bounty on Night's head so large that calling it 'massive' is a horrible understatement. Stargazer's been trying to be the one to get that bounty since it was made, which is why he volunteered to lead the fleet here. There is nothing he wants more than that, do you understand? Selling out Night was the only option I had."
Dusk groaned and rubbed his head with one hoof. "Ugh... How detailed was what you told him?"
"About as detailed as I could, considering I was only inside for less than a few minutes. The overall condition of the Lunars, their armaments, morale, and any weaknesses in the structure. If they really did attack right after we left, then Stargazer could be back in Equestria now, being crowned a hero."
We're really going to need the Zebra's help in this mess, Silver thought. Provided, that is, we haven't already lost.
The pounding of hooves on the ground and the cries of ponies who had been struck by arrows or spells drowned out any kind of thought in Night's mind. The routed Lunars passed abandoned and ruined houses as they galloped through the charred remains of Europa, the Celestials hot on their tails.
The force that had attacked them was ludicrous in size, supported by the majority of the ships in the blockade. First, flaming bolts had rained on any portion of the city still thought to be controlled by the Lunars. Second, the massive troop ships making up a small portion the fleet landed, offloading the rest of their army. They were joined by a few of the normal vessels, though the latter had fewer ponies to offer. And then, they attacked. The Celestials seemed to know exactly where to apply force, and it was only a few chaotic and hellish minutes before the hastily built walls of the fort collapsed, allowing their enemy to swamp them. Night guessed that they lost as many as two hundred in the assault.
The force - or at least the parts that had retained cohesion - was making a mad dash for Io, and failing that get as far away from Celestial-held Europa as possible. Night jumped through the burning ruin of yet another house, the fire licking at his fur. In doing so, he escaped another round of arrows from above, hearing the yells of his comrades as they fell. Come on, just a little more, he thought. Despite the protests of his body, Night pushed himself to gallop faster, ignoring the pain from the wounds he had gathered while defending.
He passed the last section of rubble and entered the open terrain outside the city. The Unicorns with him turned around and opened fire on the Celestial Pegasi responsible for most of the deaths during the rout, bringing down a few and forcing the rest to scatter. Enemy Unicorns were close behind, but by the time they were within range the Lunars had resumed their run, spreading out. After another hour, the Celestials gave up, not wishing to hunt down individual ponies. They gathered the ones they had disabled and drug them back into the smoldering ruins of Europa.
"King Foalami has sent me to inform you of his impending arrival," said the Zebra messenger, turning around and leaving before Silver had a chance to acknowledge him. As soon as he left through the doors, a loud fanfare could be heard outside. Dusk looked over at Silver.
"Good to know he's not anything like Equestrian nobility," the Earth Pony grumbled, shaking his head.
"Hey, at least you aren't the one that's going to be talking to him," Silver responded, standing up. Dusk backed further away from the doors as the trumpets began to slowly die down. The Pegasus rolled his eyes and stayed where he was.
Two Zebras - Foalami's private guards, judging by their decorated armor - entered and made an elaborate display of opening the doors for their master. King Foalami was carried via litter by four other Zebras. Once he reached the center of the building, the bearers lowered themselves to the ground, allowing the king to step off. One of the guards that had opened the doors ran to his side to assist. The king had donned an elaborately patterned and colored robe, and to prevent it from dragging along the floor, two of the litter-bearers stepped away to carry it behind him. The guard that had helped Foalami stepped in front of Silver, one hoof on a small sword.
"Are you the one who wishes to speak with King Foalami the Magnificent?" he said, his heavy accent making him almost incomprehensible.
"Yes, yes I am."
"And who is that one over there?" the guard asked, signaling to Dusk.
"That is one of my associates; he shall not be taking part in the discussions," Silver explained, casting a brief glance at the Earth Pony. "Now, can we begin?"
The Zebra stepped back. "If you wish to speak with our glorious king, then first you must bow before him."
Seems simple and sane enough, the Pegasus thought. He trotted over to where Foalami stood, and bending his forelegs, bowed. "Now, kiss the ground in front of him," ordered the guard. Nevermind...
Silver obliged, hiding his true thoughts about what he was doing. If Night was in my hooves right now, would he subject himself to this? Actually, he probably would, if it meant saving Luna, Silver thought, rising.
The guard forced his head back down, shoving his nose against the ground. "No! You do not rise until his Majesty says you may do so!" he yelled. "Now you must do it all again!"
Silver grudgingly rose again, then bowed and kissed the floor a second time. After what may have well been an hour, King Foalami finally waved his hoof around Silver's head. "You may rise," said the guard. The Pegasus got up, stretching his forelegs. The Zebra king pulled his guard over and whispered something in his ear. The guard nodded, and then faced Silver. "The Majestic King Foalami would like to know what you seek from him," he said.
"My fellow Lunars require assistance in defending our homelands from Equestria," Silver told him. "Our only allies - the Griffons - are as far as I know refusing to help, and we already have some trade relations with your nation."
Foalami pulled his guard aside again, and spoke something else into his ear. "King Foalami the Great wants to know why he should help you," said the guard.
Here we go... the Pegasus thought. "Because, if Equestria takes over our land, then the Griffons will no longer be capable of trading with you on the current level. You see, they were the ones that supplied us as we built in the mountains, and in return we allow them to use our cities and ports for shipping. Without us, King Halfbeak would have to drive up prices to compensate for the heavy taxes he would pay to use Equestrian ports, if Celestia allowed him to cross over at all."
King Foalami and his two guards - the other one finally joining them - spoke in hushed whispers of their foreign language, attempting to decide what to do. After several minutes had passed, the first guard turned around and said, "King Foalami the Powerful wishes to know how he can help."
"We are in need of a dedicated navy to break a blockade at our port, Europa, as we lack our own warships at the moment. We will also need any kind of weapons you may have that will give us an advantage in combat, and training in how to use them effectively."
"King Foalami would like to know how he shall be repaid for any ships or warriors lost in assisting your nation," said the guard. Uh...
"We shall engrave your name at the top of our list of heroes, so that all may know that it was the magnificent Zebra king that helped us win our war," Silver said, hoping it would be enough. It was; Foalami appeared to be smiling.
"King Foalami agrees with these terms, and would like to know when his ships should disembark."
Night opened his eyes, a familiar black void - now dotted with stars - appearing before him. He got to his hooves, knowing Luna would likely be joining him soon. He didn't know exactly how long it had been since their first meeting, but it felt like forever, and the stallion wished to see her again after all that had happened.
Sure enough, a few seconds later he saw the mare striding toward him out of the corner of his eye. Night turned to face her, taking a few slow steps in her direction. When they met, her forelegs and wings pulled him into her embrace, which he returned. "I've missed you, Night," Luna whispered, her grip tightening as she spoke. She gently nuzzled his face, and then they crossed horns, staring into each other's eyes.
"I've missed you too," Night responded, giving the Alicorn a quick kiss on the cheek. She blushed slightly before laying down, pulling Night with her onto the invisible ground underneath them. Luna placed her hooves over his and returned his kiss, and then resumed staring at him. "You know, I've got a surprise planned for you when you return, after all this is over. I think you'll like it," the Unicorn said, smiling slightly. Luna's eyes widened a little.
"Really? What?"
"I can't tell you, that would ruin the part about it being a surprise," Night replied. Luna frowned a little, attempting to make him feel guilty. It almost worked.
"I can act surprised if you want me to, nopony would ever know... it could be our little secret," she said.
"Oh, we've already got enough 'little secrets'," Night replied. The mare used one of her wings to hide her blushing face.
"Alright, fine, point taken," she giggled. "I can wait. I still wish you hadn't mentioned it, however."
"Think of it as something to look forward to when you return," he said, holding one of her hooves. They both rolled over, staring at the stars above them. I wonder what else she will add to this place, Night wondered.
"I tried to make them look just like they do at home. Thankfully, it wasn't too hard despite having not seen them proper for the ten years I've been on the moon, nor does it require a lot of extra magic to sustain," Luna explained, pointing at a few of the brighter stars. She was right; they looked exactly the way they did throughout the mountains. For a second, Night imagined that he wasn't in her pocket dimension but rather somewhere inside the range, and if he looked down he might see the city stretching out beneath him, untouched by strife.
Night rested his head against Luna's chest. "You won't have to do this for much longer. I promised you before that I would bring you back, and I'll promise you again. We beat Celestia's forces from Amalthea's walls, and as soon as Silver returns with the Zebrican Navy, we will tear them from Europa and every city in Equestria that bears your sister's flag."
Luna sighed, kissing Night on the cheek. "Of all your qualities, your dedication is by far the best... Thank you," she whispered. The princess pulled her guard against her, and they laid there a while, silently thinking, be it about the future or each other. After a few more minutes, Night felt himself beginning to slip away, the result of his visit to this dimension coming to a close. Darkness and cold fell over him.
Night awoke to the shouts of guards outside. He quickly got out of bed and donned his armor, still battered from his escape from Europa - even with a month holed up in Io, he had not had time to arrange repairs, with the amount of patrols and scouting operations he personally undertook. It was necessary, however, for having an officer on the field provided a morale boost that was desperately needed after the loss of a major city. Silver really needs to get back here soon, before the Celestials decide they want to march on Amalthea again, or try to find us. If we can't take back Europa, then we've lost, he thought. He stepped out of his quarters and into the cold.
A row of guards saluted him. Night raised a hoof to return their greeting, and continued on. It was after midnight; he briefly wondered if that pocket dimension was starting to warp time. A few other guards - all Pegasi - had just gotten back from their aerial patrol. "Anything to report?" he asked them
"Nothing we haven't already seen or predicted, sir. The Celestials are still building up their defenses in Europa, and I guess they finally got their flag in; we found ours smoldering outside the city. Other than that, the blockade is still there," the guard responded.
Bastards, Night thought. "Keep up the good work. If they decide to start looking for us, we'll have to know," he said, dismissing the guard. Next patrol is in two hours, I'll go with them. He quickly found the commanding officer of the next patrol and told the pony that he would be leading the next mission; the guard nodded and informed the rest.
He passed the time by watching the moonlit skies above him and the reflection of the stars on the relatively calm ocean. There were some ships at the docks - all modified merchant vessels outfitted for combat - and a couple were floating around in the bay, likely for battle training. They would need it when the time came to retake Europa and then take over Equestria's own ports. He had just witnessed what appeared to be a shooting star when a guard from his patrol called out to him. "Sir, we are all set to leave," he said.
Night nodded and descended from his spot, following the pony to a group of four more guards - a second Unicorn and Earth Pony, and two Pegasi. "Alright, let's not be out there to long. The sun will come up pretty soon, and then the Celestials will start working again. The last thing we need to do is be spotted by a larger force," Night said. The guards nodded and followed him out of Io, the sound of snow crunching underhoof being the only noise they made.
They encountered virtually nothing on their path, save for snow and wind. The patrol observed the new walls the Celestials had made, along with what looked like a miniature fortress at the site of the old Lunar stronghold, constructed with materials scavenged from the houses around it. It didn't look like it would hold up to the same assault its predecessor had, but could still take a beating. A few Celestial warships were docked in the port for resupply, while the rest sill guarded the bay, seeming to still be proud of their achievement after their defeat at Amalthea. There were no guards on the walls. I guess they think Europa will be theirs forever, Night thought.
"Let's get out of here before the sun comes up. We don't have more than an hour," Night ordered. They all turned around and broke into a gallop, and the two Pegasi flew a few feet off the ground, occasionally turning around to see if some lone guard had appeared and spotted them. Thankfully, the walls remained empty. When the patrol had retreated to about two or three miles away, they stopped to catch their breath, and then started trotting the rest of the way. The sun started to peek over the horizon, reflecting off the ocean and the snow, and partially blinding the nocturnal ponies until their eyes could adjust.
Eventually, Io drifted into view, the same way they had left it. After several more minutes of trotting in the snow, they were back inside its boundaries. Night dismissed the guards and returned to his quarters, ditching his armor and sitting down for a moment. He found his ring and held it in the air in front of him, and after a bit of reflection on his time with Luna and his other plans, placed the object back into its shelf and sat there, unsure of what to do; while he had galloped a couple miles, he barely felt tired enough to go back to bed - and with it being daytime, there wouldn't be much for him to do outside.
Ultimately, Night figured he could send a letter to Amalthea and ask for a report. He moved towards another shelf and pulled out a quill, an inkpot and some parchment and placed them on his desk. He was just about to put the feather to the paper when a terribly painful feeling washed over him. He collapsed to the ground, writhing in pain so intense that he struggled to breathe. Then, something he thought he would never experience again happened. A disembodied voice screamed into his brain, the same one that he heard after he killed Cygnus and escaped into a blizzard. Its words were in some ancient language, but he could just barely make out Equestrian words, following the main lines like a shadow.
"Rise !" it cried. "Now!"
Night begrudgingly did as he was told, standing up on shaking legs. The things voice was distorted, as if speaking Equestrian was killing it in a painful manner. "Write," it groaned, and the Unicorn found himself practically falling onto his desk, grabbing the quill with his magic. Next, the voice started telling him what to write, and any time the Unicorn resisted, his horn felt like it was being pulled out of his head. A few excruciatingly painful minutes later, he had scratched out a crude letter to Silver:
Silver, you and Dusk need to go to Cervidas and find the Elkine capital. Underneath it - there is an entrance somewhere in the city - you will find an ancient set of massive ruins. Enter them, and somewhere inside you will find an artifact known only as Fróðleikr-slíta. This weapon is extremely powerful, and Luna believes that it can be used as a counter to the Elements of Harmony, Princess Celestia and magic as a whole. I'm sure you can already see the uses for such an artifact. Claim it, and bring it back.
-Night
Saying Luna told him about the weapon was a lie, but parts of what he wrote interested him. A simple sword with the power to defeat the Elements along with any kind of magic was something he would end up needing later on. Regardless, he hated having the voice in his head. It felt wrong. It felt... evil. He didn't like it. "What... are you?" Night struggled to ask, almost whimpering the words. He was still in quite a bit of pain.
The distorted voice choked out a response, but the Unicorn couldn't understand the words. The pain faded from his limbs and head. He let out a sigh of relief, but scowled at the lack of a response. He hoped that the thing's intrusion wasn't going to become a regular occurrence. With a simple spell, he sealed the letter and sent it, then went to bed, no longer wishing to be awake.
"Well, welcome to Cervidas, I guess..." Silver mumbled, stepping off the rowboat and onto the shores of the heavily forested continent. Dusk was close behind, lugging a large rucksack with a weeks worth of rations for the two ponies. They would still have to scavenge, however, seeing as they would be walking through the woods for an estimated four weeks. Their best hope would be encountering an Elkine patrol, but he tried not to get his hopes up, seeing as they typically isolated themselves and were weary of outsiders.
"You know anything about this place?" Dusk asked, trudging forward.
"Not a lot. Four weeks to Yggdrasill - the capital - and it's all forest, all the way," he responded. "That, and the inhabitants are pretty much withdrawn from society, hence why not much is know about them save for their name; the Elkine."
"And Night sent us here why ?"
Silver sighed. "He wants us to retrieve an ancient weapon that can help to win this war. If I remember correctly, it can counter every known form of magic; a necessity considering who and what we're up against," he said.
"He should have made Wavebreaker do it, Luna knows he deserves it."
"Are you kidding? He'd just sell the damn thing to the highest bidder!"
They both laughed a little before staring back into the forest. "Well, I guess we had better get going in there, or the war'll be over before we get back." Silver said. He turned to look at Wavebreaker's ship, sitting half a mile or so off the coast. You'd best be here when we return.
"Looks like this is as far as we're getting today," Silver said, dropping what little remained of his and Dusk's supplies. At this point, they only used what they brought when their scavenging proved unsuccessful. The practically empty sack landed on the forest floor without a sound.
"Yep. It's a shame the canopy blocks out the moonlight, or we'd be even closer to Yggdrasill by now."
"Don't worry, soon you'll be able to return to your nocturnality. In the meantime, help me start a fire so we don't freeze out here," the Pegasus replied, gathering up sticks that had fallen to the ground. They all seemed to be dry enough, so Silver began to pile them near where they would be sleeping. Dusk found some larger branches that would serve as the main fuel, and Silver began to lay out their bedrolls. As soon as enough sticks had been amassed, Dusk pulled out his sword and struck the blade with a stone, sending sparks into the soon-to-be fire. After a couple more attempts, the kindling was ablaze and growing in strength. Silver nursed the fire until it spread to the larger pieces of wood.
The two ponies fell onto their rolls, as uncomfortable as they were. A few dying rays of light pierced the forest canopy, and soon the fire became their only source of light. Dusk pulled out and started to eat the last of his rations. "I suppose the Zebras are about halfway to Europa by now," he said.
"Really? It's been that long?" Silver responded.
"Unless I've lost track of time after not seeing the moon in so long. You could give or take a little."
"Ah. Of course."
The sounds of the forest were dying down, now that the light had faded away. Only the crackling of the fire and the soft steps of the midnight hunters remained. Dusk pulled his sword a little closer, looking around.
"You know, don't you think it's a bit odd that we've still not encountered an Elkine patrol this far into their territory?" Dusk asked.
"I told you, they're very reclusive. Possible explanations include a complete withdraw from outside their city, or they are simply watching us now and decided not to act until we get closer."
"I do feel like I'm being watched at times. Getting stalked isn't my fancy, so I would really rather the former be true."
"Same here. Now that we've been at this a while, are you starting to miss the soldier's life?"
"Oh, you know it. Before I came with you on this little adventure, I had never eaten grass covered in mud, not even in boot camp. Now, I have. Twice."
"It was that, or eat berries. If it hadn't been for the grass, we could be stumbling around in a hallucination or dead, maybe in that order."
"Whatever, I just hope this was all worth it. I mean, we don't really need a likely-cursed artifact to win a war, do we?"
"Night thinks we do, and apparently so does Luna, seeing as she's the one who told him about it. Celestia's smarter and stronger than whatever you get told in training, especially since she has the Elements with her."
Dusk tilted his head, staring at Silver in - hopefully - mock suspicion. "And you know this how?"
"Do you ever read the old books? That's how. Trust me when I say that there is very little holding her back from just incinerating the Lunar Mountains. If she ever decided she no longer wants the land to be part of Equestria or loses interest in fighting honorably, we'd be screwed, and that's putting it lightly.
"She still doesn't see the rest of the Lunars as a threat, either. The only pony she truly fears is Night, believe it or not."
The Earth Pony looked confused. "The all-powerful Princess Celestia fears a single pony rather than the army he leads? Why?"
Silver leaned back. "Because, the kind of hatred Night carries for her deserves to be feared. It's the kind that - as I've said - could intimidate gods and demons alike. You are right - we really don't need this weapon to win, but Night doesn't want to just win; he wants to see Celestia stripped of her power, her kingdom, and succumb to a horribly painful death before his eyes, and he'll do anything to make it happen."
"I knew he hated her, but not that much..."
"Well, that's what happens when you banish the love of somepony's life. He was planning on proposing the night it happened, you know."
"In that case, I don't blame him. Hay, after what he did to a Celestial who insulted him over his relationship with Luna, I'm not even sure I want to know what he's got planned for Celestia."
"Not sure I'd want to be there when it happens. Don't want to lose sleep over the death of the sworn enemy of our little country."
The two ponies sat there in the night, the forest now pitch black save for their small fire. 'Well, as much as I'd love to continue discussing the mental health of my closest friend, we need to get some rest or we'll be unable to continue in the morning," Silver said. Dusk nodded in agreement and laid his head on the ground. Judging by his snoring a few minutes later, he had no trouble sleeping despite the discomfort the ground caused.
Silver had a little more trouble; no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't seem to be able to close his eyes for more than a few minutes, let alone fall asleep. Something was watching him, and if it was just an Elkine lying in wait, it wouldn't have felt so intense. The Pegasus did his best to ignore the feeling, and to his surprise, it went away after an eternity. Just as he was about to fall asleep, however, it returned, twice as strong as before, and... closer. He dared to open his eyes, and then immediately regretted his decision.
No more than a yard away was a massive black creature, shaped like a pony. Large black spines covered its back and protruded from its joints. A long, almost serpentine tail swung behind it, occasionally touching the fire. It stepped closer, lowering its horned head until it was less than a foot from Silver's face. Its body reeked of death, and the creatures hoarse, almost wheezing breath carried the metallic tang of fresh blood.
Silver remained where he was, petrified by fear. The being seemed to sense his extreme discomfort and let out a sickening laugh that was more akin to a death rattle, and then lowered its head back down to Silver's face, as if waiting for something. Then, with a feeling of intrusion on his thoughts, he realized that the thing was trying to read his mind.
As a former political affiliate to the Princesses, he knew how to shield his thoughts from others to prevent vital information from falling into the wrong hooves, but he never thought he would need it until now. In his mind, he conjured up a massive stone wall, hiding his knowledge behind it. He felt a slight pain in his mind as the being forced itself against the image, prodding the surface for a possible weakness. When it found none, it set about trying to make one.
The beast began to thrash against his wall, roaring in fury. Silver's head began to throb, the effort of keeping the thing back beginning to take its toll. Cracks started appearing in his wall, growing in size with the continued assault. He slowly felt himself beginning to lose as the wall started to crumble, and his mind exploded into agony when it was finally breached, the creature tearing at his thoughts. Every thought that had ever entered Silver's mind - no matter how minute - was seized and examined until it was satisfied with the mental violation it was inflicting upon the Pegasus, who had been reduced to a shivering wreck.
Finally, after what seemed like ages, the torture stopped and Silver no longer felt the presence in his mind. His eyes barely opened, just in time to see the thing that had turned his brain inside out fading into the shadows. Dusk was still asleep, oblivious to what had happened - likely for the best, for if he had intervened the same attack could have been forced upon him.
The Pegasus never did fall asleep.
"Ramming speed! Let's show these Celestial bastards what they get for destroying our port!" Admiral Stormwind shouted to his crew. Immediately, his ship - the Night Stalker , as he had named her - had full masts and Pegasi making as much wind asv they could, sending the flagship forward at an impressive pace. A large ram was attached to the end of an underwater protrusion at the bow, lined with spikes to cause as much damage to an enemy hull as possible.
Their first victim - a frigate - was reduced to splinters against the ram and hull of the vastly larger battleship. Its destroyed hull rolled over the waves and quickly sunk, all but a few of the sleeping crew trapped inside.
Shouts rang out ordering the opening of the gun ports. The large, heavy weapons - cannons, as they were named by the Zebras - poked their barrels out, waiting until a Celestial ship got within their range. It didn't take long as they passed the bow and stern of two separate hostile battleships. The weapons spat fire at both of them, their ammunition ripping their hulls apart.
Meanwhile, other vessels serving the Lunars began to fire, decimating the blockade. The Celestial crews were just beginning to awaken, now that it was evident that the Lunars were right on top of them in spite of their watchponies; Lunar ships had been painted a solid black with equally dark masts, and had moved slow enough to not create a wake and barely a sound. This, combined with the clouds that covered the moon's light, kept the fleet unseen. Now, the Pegasi that had propelled the fleet at the very last moment removed the clouds, revealing to their enemies a massive combined fleet of Zebrican and Lunar ships.
Stormwind's vessel pulled up alongside another Celestial frigate and turned it into smoldering wreckage. All around the bay, Equestrian boats were beginning to sink without having fired a shot, the crews barely having reached their weapons. Some made feeble attempts to use their ballistae as they sank, but were quickly abandoned. Others - those who were on the edge of the blockade had been given enough time to react and were starting to make their way towards the fighting, their white hulls standing out against the night.
Friendly ships turned to intercept them, and there were casualties on both sides - the Celestials had launched a barrage of fire-tipped bolts just as the Zebras let loose a cannon volley. An unlucky ship or two lost their masts, leaving them sitting ducks despite their firepower. Some very unlucky vessels had the fire reach their powder stores, sinking them in a violent explosion.
The Lunar admiral looked towards the port. No doubt the second part of the attack was taking place, with Lunar forces descending upon sleeping or distracted Celestials. A few small flashes of light here and there confirmed his thoughts.
Time to finish off this plague, the admiral thought. He ordered his crew to look for what might be the Celestial flagship, and make an immediate course for it. Many of the surviving vessels were highly decorated with both weaponry and the markings of the Equestrian flag, but none so much as the one of the ships slowly making their way out of Europa, sending wave after wave of burning spears at Zebrican and Lunar combatants. The crew quickly turned to make a pass at the ship, guns reloaded.
It didn't take long to get into position. Just before the Celestial flagship - the name Solstice splashed across its hull - could unload, a sound like thunder rang out from the Lunar guns, tearing through the vessel and unfortunate crew members. Only a couple ballistae managed to return fire, the rest destroyed or without anypony to use them.
Some Pegasi from the Night Stalker leaped to the enemy ship, intent on killing or capturing survivors, and the few Unicorns on Stormwind's side used their magic in support. The pass was almost completed when the Lunars returned to their vessel, a wounded Celestial in tow. The pony may have had the markings of an admiral, but his uniform was so tattered that Stormwind could hardly tell in the night.
The prisoner began struggling as he was brought towards the Lunar admiral. "We found him on the other end of the ship, dagger in hoof; he played dead, and then nearly gutted one of the others," said a fellow sailor, shaking the Celestial quite roughly.
"Lunar scum!" he shrieked. "Unhoof me at once!"
"What is your name and rank?" Stormwind asked, inching closer to the pony, and placed a hoof on his blade in case he managed to shake free.
"I am Fleet Admiral Stargazer of the Royal Equestrian Navy," he proclaimed loudly, just enough for the Lunar crewponies to hear that they had the leader of the bastards who nearly destroyed Europa and its citizens.
"Oh, then General Night's going to have a lot to talk to you about!" Stormwind said cheerfully. He knew how much the Unicorn wanted a high ranking Celestial officer. "Take him below deck so we can start heading into the port."
The Lunars obeyed, dragging a much more frantic Stargazer with them. The battle was now nothing ore than a simple mop-up of the remaining Celestials who hadn't surrendered at this point. A few of their ships were still docked, and would be dealt with later. As they pulled up to an empty dock, Stormwind was able to see the results of the Lunar army's attack. Celestial corpses littered the ground, having fallen from well-aimed arrows and blades. The Night Stalker docked, and its crew pulled their prisoner off the ship.
"I see your side of the battle went well!" Stormwind called out to some patrolling Lunar Pegasi. They were kicking the dead Celestials to ensure that none of them were playing dead.
"Damn if it wasn't much of a fight. We must have killed a third of them in their sleep, the disrespectful little whelps. After they started waking up, they didn't last much longer; most of them tried to start fires to cover their escape. Didn't work too well," he said, poking a dead Unicorn with the tip of his sword.
"Win's a win. Shame on them for not having a night-watch," Stormwind responded.
"What in the name of the moon..." Dusk whispered, staring blankly ahead. Silver looked up at him confused. He quickened his pace to reach the Earth Pony's place at the top of the hill and soon found what he had seen.
Yggdrasill - or at least, what was left of it - lay in ruins. Every last structure had been flattened, and the forest surrounding the city appeared to be dying. Even the massive tree that was the namesake of the place looked withered, some of its massive branches having fallen to the ground below.
"What could even cause such destruction?" Silver asked, almost dazed at the sight.
"I have no clue, but it could still be here. We should probably get the buck out of here before it returns."
"Something tells me this wasn't the result of some massive native creature. I think it was magical." Maybe even connected to that thing that attacked my mind two weeks ago, if we're unlucky, Silver thought.
"I wasn't aware the Elkine could use magic."
"They've been isolated for many years now, a lot could happen in that time," the Pegasus responded. "Anyways, we came here for a reason, and whether the city is a ghost town or not, we still need to complete it. Now, lets go before it gets too dark to see our hooves in front of our faces."
The two ponies descended the hill into the destruction they had found below, and found that it was even more extensive than they had seen earlier. In some places, there were fissures, ranging from small to large enough to take in a house, appearing to all branch out from the center of Yggdrasill. Under most of the piles of rubble, they spotted skeletons of the Elkine, stripped of all flesh, some crushed in two and others lying out in the open.
"It must have been this way for a while," Dusk commented, carefully stepping over the bones.
"Sure looks that way. Never seen bones this white before."
The duo aimlessly wandered the ruined city, trying to find some indication of where their target location might be. Several hours passed, and the sun began to set. They quickly found a few pieces of wood and set up camp in one of the few buildings not enitrely destroyed. They also scavenged some supplies from their immediate area, having been living off the land for so long now. Weary from the destruction and untold deaths they had discovered, both soon fell asleep.
The following morning, they assembled their borrowed items into a series of unlit torches and gathered some surprisingly well-preserved food from what was left of a nearby storehouse, and while it wasn't enough to last the return trip, it would still get them a good ways back to the shore.
"So, where should we be looking for the entrance to an ancient ruin at?" Dusk asked.
"Night's letter said it's somewhere in the city, and my bet is at the base of the tree," Silver replied, pointing at Yggdrasill. "If not there, then maybe under one of these buildings, which in that case we're going to be here a lot longer than expected."
"I'd rather not be here any longer at all. Let's just find a way to the tree, pray to Luna that the entrance is there, get the sword and then get the buck out of this mass grave."
"Agreed."
Silver took off, beating his wings until he was high enough to see any possible path from where they were currently to Yggdrasill. He then looked at Yggdrasill itself, trying to make out any sort of difference of color among the bark, but at this angle he spotted none. He looked down and called out directions to Dusk, leading him through houses and across fissures and occasionally over small ravines. Every now and then, the Earth Pony let out some remark on his path or about his findings on the ground that Silver was too high up to see, including a new-found acrophobia after seeing - or, in some cases not seeing - how deep some of the fractures went.
A couple hours passed without significant happenings, and eventually the two ponies were at the base of Yggdrasill, on the complete opposite side of where Silver had tried to examine the tree. The Pegasus descended.
"Looks like we found our ruins," Dusk remarked, staring at a stone-lined entrance carved into the bark, about twice as high and maybe three or four times as wide as a normal pony. Its surface was covered in what looked to be soot, and massive burn marks on the ground confirmed that some kind of fire had erupted within. The inside of the tunnel was pitch black, having been burned even more severely by the concentrated heat.
"We'd best not take too long down there," Silver, said, grabbing one of their torches and lighting it with Dusk's assistance. They slowly stepped into the abyss in front of them and began their trek down the scorched staircase; and it was one hell of a staircase.
Torch after torch lost its flame as they journeyed downwards, and their supply was soon reduced to almost nothing. They were soon so deep underground that they could no longer see the light at the entrance, which could have been in part to night falling while they walked. "How in the world could something that goes so deep even have been constructed?" Dusk asked, lighting yet another torch with sparks from his sword.
"Who knows? It probably took years to even get to where we are at now, let alone to the end of the stairs, and even longer to make the temple or whatever it is at the bottom of this place," Silver responded. "How many torches do we have left?"
"Two, after this one. We will have to turn back if we run out, I may be able to see in the dark but even in this I'm blind."
"Same here, but I somehow doubt this place can get much deeper. I mean, we're probably miles underground alre-" Silver stopped mid-sentence when he stepped on a cracked piece of stone that immediately fell out from beneath him, causing the Pegasus to fall forward. With a grunt, Dusk grabbed him awkwardly by the hind legs, keeping him from continuing. The torch he had been holding fell and rolled on the stairs, just before it disappeared from sight entirely.
"What the hay..." Dusk whispered, and after making sure Silver wouldn't slide any further, stuck his head forward, just in time to see the torch falling into an endlessly deep pit. Eventually, the light faded out entirely, leaving the Earth Pony to back away from the pit very carefully.
"What, what happened?" Silver asked, slowly rising.
"Oh, nothing, you just nearly stepped into quite possibly the largest hole in existence," Dusk replied. "One that we can't really get over."
"A hole? Maybe you can't get over it, but I can. Light me another torch and give it and the extra to me. I'll continue ahead and you return to the surface, or stay here; your choice." Silver said.
"I'll be heading back up, but if you haven't shown up there with me a couple of days after I reach the surface, I can only assume you died down here, however cold that sounds," the pony said, pulling out the last two torches and lighting one of them after a few strikes of his sword against his flint. "There. They won't last long," Dusk continued. "Good luck."
Silver took the torches and placed the extra in his bag. Nodding to Dusk, he stretched his wings as much as he could in the tunnel and took off, slowly gliding over the pit. He soon found, however, that it was much larger than expected, almost as if the stairs had been interrupted by one of the bottomless ravines on the surface.
After a couple more minutes of flight, the Pegasus decided to see if it was a better idea to just descend entirely rather than continue to search for the other end of the stairs. He began to spiral downwards, slowly at first but steadily gaining speed until the musky underground air was whipping past him, his torch's flame waving and flickering madly.
Only when an impenetrable black fog fell upon him did Silver think of slowing down. Hard stone flew upwards to meet him as the pony landed, tripping and falling over. He lost his grip on the torch he had carried, and saw it roll forward into the black, beginning to lose its fire. Silver quickly recovered and galloped forward, picking it and his extra up with shaking hooves.
The dying flame was just enough to ignite the lifeless stick in his other hoof. He dropped the extinguished torch and gripped the other, holding it up and burning off the fog that surrounded him. AS he did, a vast work of stone was revealed, easily larger than the city he was underneath. Silver began stepping slowly towards it, cautious. Is this it? he wondered.
The ruins wasn't just in front of him, as he soon found. They were all around him, some crushed under massive piles of rock and dirt that had likely been the rest of the stairs a few years ago. Some of the still-standing buildings appeared to be homes of some sort, covered in thick soot and scorch marks, not unlike the tunnel he had entered through. What the hay could have caused a fire that could do this much?
Unlike on the surface, there were no bones of previous inhabitants; just the barely-standing walls of homes and other buildings. Silver continued to explore on hoof until he located an ancient brazier at what could have been the very center of the city. He approached it, hoping for the chance that he could light something inside. He briefly few up, just to see that the thing was empty, save for the tiniest pile of ash and a hole at the bottom. Silver shook his head and landed, continuing onward.
Need to find that damn sword soon, this torch won't last as long as I'd like, he thought, looking at the slowing failing light. Before long, it would just be embers too small to provide visibility in the darkness of the cavern, and he would be forced to resurface, assuming he could find an exit.
After some more hastened exploring, he finally found what looked like a temple, differing in shape from the other buildings as it had not only a massive exterior and entrance but multiple oblique spikes. He found himself vaguely reminded of the creature that entered his mind two or so weeks ago.
"Alright, let's go in and get this whole adventure over with," he said to encourage himself. He trotted inside, going along a linear path until he found a new set of stairs. He went down them without hesitation, until the dying light of his torch illuminated various scrawling on the walls that appeared to be either a history of the Elkine, or, if they didn't inhabit the underground, the species that did. At one point, he found a picture that displayed various figures being forced downward at swordpoint, immediately followed by a cavern underneath a tree and a city. So, the Elkine did live here, just not like the ones on the surface...
As his torch grew ever weaker, Silver ignored the remainder of the images, but every now and then, something would catch his eye. A series of pictures depicted some kind of transformation from a common Elkine to something from a nightmare, only slightly less menacing. An unexpected gust of chilling air struck him head-on, putting out his torch to the point that only a few weak embers remained. Before long, he would be plunged into complete darkness and likely end up trapped, so the Pegasus made it a point that he needed to hurry.
Eventually, he found what he thought he might be looking for; the tunnel opened up something that was more than likely a cavern. Silver stumbled around a little, still moving forward until he found a brazier of sorts, and unlike the original one, this had something that looked like wood at the bottom. He plunged the remains of his torch into it, causing a small flame that was barely enough to light a room appear in the bottom. He then noticed what looked like a lever or some form of switch, and pulled on it. There was a faint hissing noise, and then the pony had to jump back as a sizable pillar of fire erupted from the center of the brazier, briefly reaching the ceiling before retreating to something more natural. He felt a faint rumbling beneath his hooves, but thought nothing of it
Silver noticed something shiny, courtesy of the fire. A sword sat impaled into the earth a few feet away, a stone on what looked like the pommel - from this distance - glinting madly. The Pegasus rushed over to it, beginning attempts to free the weapon and return to the surface. He wrapped his hooves around the hilt and pulled with all his might, but to almost no avail; it had maybe budged half an inch, if at all.
He tried again and again, each time doing little or nothing to free the weapon, until he pulled again with his remaining strength, even using his wings help. The sword twitched, one, twice, and then came free all together, nearly sending Silver flying into the ceiling. He gazed at the object he and Dusk had journeyed over mountains and through the largest forest known to ponykind to retrieve. It was slightly larger than a normal shortsword, and the blade was pure black, boasting serrated edges and intricate carvings. The hilt was ornate and had similar engravings, and the pommel appeared to be some kind of dark but highly reflective stone.
This thing had damn well better be worth all the trouble we went through to get it, he thought, putting the weapon in the bag that he'd been carrying, silently hoping the thing wouldn't cut through the fabric. Now, how the buck do I get out of here?
Silver turned back and left through the same tunnel he had entered through, and was surprised to see that most of it had been it up by some other source. He thought nothing of it until he reached the outside of the temple, upon which he saw dozens of braziers - just like the one inside - spewing out fire. There was, however, a noticeable difference; they all produced a low rumble, and every now and then one of them would briefly increase in intensity, roiling and exploding upwards before receding, and each sudden expansion seemed to get more and more violent.
The air felt heavy with smoke and some foul odor, and the Pegasus sometimes found himself struggling to breathe. He did his best to take off, trying to find a point where he could breathe normally. As he did, one of the braziers - he didn't know where exactly, just that it was below him - exploded into a massive pillar of heat and light, the very air around it becoming so immensely torrid that it burst into flames as well, racing to other pillars of flame and repeating the process. Silver could see the ruins of other buildings crumbling under the heat and force of the explosions, and even the temple he had visited earlier fell onto itself.
So this is how the city was destroyed... and now it's happening again, the pony thought, flying higher and higher in an attempt to escape the rising flames. The place was consumed entirely, but the flames were not yet satisfied. They clawed their way through the air, intent on reaching the surface. Sections of rock and dirt began to loosen up and fall, just as they had done before. Through this, an opening to the early morning sky was created. Silver pushed himself further to escape, exiting just in time to see multiple of Yggdrasill's remaining homes fall into the fiery abyss. The massive, dying tree at the center began to shift, slowly lowering before falling straight down. Fire shot up the ancient trunk, the blistering heat utterly annihilating the wood.
The previously seen fissures and cracks widened before falling downwards as fire shot through them. The flames attached to Yggdrasill spread to whatever they could find, be it homes, dying grass or even other parts of the forest. Suddenly, a thought seeped into Silver's mind. "Dusk!" the Pegasus shouted, looking around. The Earth Pony had, after all, said he would be waiting for him.
The Earth Pony was nowhere to be seen. Silver took it upon himself to fly through the smoke and burning sky to look, anywhere the pony may have been; by the base of the tree, in one of the homes, on the edge of the city clearing, but all were ultimately failed endeavors.
The remains of the city slowly started to fall into the pit, each section of earth smaller than the last, until the majority of the area had sunken inward and suffocated the fire, or at least stop it from being visible to the surface. Silver looked for a spot to land, just a little ways into the forest, still untouched by the fire. He set down and gave himself time to think; maybe, just maybe Dusk had started heading back early, or had gone into the forest for some reason or another. He had no means of contacting the Lunar, however, and thus no way to confirm the idea of his death or escape. His only option now - save for trying to individually search a forest that covered an entire continent - was to return to Wavebreaker and his ship, and hope that the Earth Pony miraculously showed up.
The Pegasus turned around to look at the smoldering remains what could have very well been his friend's grave. Then, he took off in what he prayed was the right direction.
"So... this is it," Night said, looking at the bag holding the sword that Silver had recovered.
"And all its ancient glory," the Pegasus replied. Night opened the bag and gripped the hilt, and then drew the weapon from the bag. He held the sword close, inspecting the blade. Like his previous sword, it had quite a few engravings and inscriptions - however, unlike his own sword this one had several serrations, was made of some sort of black metal and was also somewhat larger. The Unicorn swung it a few times, just to test the balance.
"And so begins the unraveling of Equestria," Night muttered, placing the sword back on the table.
"Provided that thing's as powerful as Luna said. Otherwise, it'll make for a fancy decoration."
Night smirked. "How's Dusk? You mentioned him earlier, something about how he might be bedridden for a couple more days?" he asked.
"Oh, yeah. Well, after what was left of Cervidas went up in flames, I couldn't find him anywhere, so I started flying back to the ship. When I got there I convinced Wavebreaker to wait a few more days, and send a search party out if he could supply it. We were just about to leave when out of the blue, we see him standing just on the edge of the forest, right before he passes out."
The two ponies exited the room, heading towards where Dusk was being kept, while Silver continued to talk. "When we pulled him on board, he was really messed up. Burned, starved, cut up, twisted joints - you name it, he had it. On top of it all, he wouldn't wake up, just like when you walked into Amalthea, all unresponsive and whatnot.
"Now, we got you out of bed in three days, but that was because we had three of the best healers in the mountains on you every night; Dusk, on the other hand, had a single Earth Pony doctor who couldn't do much more than hoof-feed medicine until we got here. He's been drifting in and out of consciousness for the last couple days, but he hasn't spoken. I figure now that we've got real doctors with him, he might be able to tell us a little about what happened."
Night opened the door to the infirmary with a spell, allowing the two ponies inside. Silver then led them through a short hallway to a small room with a single bed, occupied by a very weak looking Dusk, a couple of his personal belongings either next to him or against the wall. The Earth Pony raised his head upon hearing hoofsteps nearby. "Hey," he said, his voice barely a whisper.
"Glad to see you're finally talking again," Silver replied, pulling up a chair. "I'd imagine you've got a lot to say after having your mouth shut for three weeks."
"Yeah... I've been doing-" the pony grunted as he shifted around in his bed, attempting to sit up a little more. "-some thinking as well."
"About what?"
"About how I made it from some random place in Cervidas to the coast in the condition you found me in. It doesn't seem possible, you know?"
Night spoke up. "I had third degree burns and a punctured lung, which should have kept me from walking and lasting more than a few minutes, and yet I ended up in the center of Amalthea."
"That doesn't make much more sense," Dusk responded.
"There has to be some explanation then," Silver said. "If you don't mind, can you tell me what happened after Cervidas?"
"Of course not, I figured that if we both survived that hellhole you'd want to know how I did it," Dusk said. He leaned back in his bed. "I, uh, don't remember a lot of the details, but here goes: Some time after I got back on the surface, Yggdrasill starts to fall apart - fire shooting up out of cracks, ground splitting apart, like some sort of apocalypse. Not knowing how far the destruction would go, I ran as far away from the city as I could," Dusk said, pausing to catch his breath. He continued a few seconds later.
"When I thought I was safe, I stopped and calmed down a bit, and then realized how lost I was. I tried walking back to Yggdrasill to use it as a landmark, but by the time I managed to get there it was just a giant, smoldering hole in the ground. Even when I did finally get to what looked like the hill we had used to scope out the city, I was too tired to continue. I rested for a day and scavenged for food, but a lot of the stuff around the city was dead or dying." Dusk took another break.
"Don't push yourself," Night said.
"It's fine," Dusk replied. "Anyways, After that I started back in the direction I thought we had come from, but I got sidetracked looking for decent food and ended up lost. I started wandering the forest, looking for some reliable way to tell my direction, when I start to hear water. The idea that I might be able to follow it downstream to the ocean pops into my mind, and I take off towards it - hadn't had such great luck with everything else, figured that it had finally changed for once." Dusk snorted. "It didn't, because as soon as I found the source of the water I tripped on something and fell twenty feet down a hill, which got me messed up pretty bad.
"I couldn't really walk straight after that, wasn't sure if it was from how many times I hit my head or if I broke something, but all I could do was continue forward. Eventually, my body gave out, and I could do nothing but pray to Luna and wait for death to come. I finally close my eyes, and when I open them again I'm in Wavebreaker's ship."
"Like I said, similar to what happened to you," Silver said, looking at Night. The Unicorn nodded.
"Silver, may I speak to Dusk in private for a moment, if you don't mind?" Night asked. Silver nodded and exited the room.
The Unicorn turned back towards Dusk and spoke. "When you knew you were nearing the end, did you ever hear..." Night looked around, to make sure Silver wasn't eavesdropping, and then leaned closer. "Did you ever hear a voice?"
"No, sir - should I have?"
"No. Maybe, I'm not sure. I did, at least. At first I thought it was just my instincts telling me to keep going, but then I woke up again and it was still talking to me, so I listened," he said. Night looked around once more; nopony was supposed to know that he was hearing things - the last thing the Lunars needed to know was that their leader had voices in his head. "The voice is what told me to send you to Cervidas, in order to find the sword."
"Has it said anything else?"
"No." Night said, sighing. "Anyways, is there anything else you can tell me about Cervidas? Anything odd?"
"Well, other than the fact that the whole city was dead, there was this one night, when we were about halfway to Yggdrasill. Something really big snuck up on us while we were sleeping, and did something to Silver - I didn't dare intervene, the thing's hooves were so big it would have flattened my skull the second I moved, and it was standing on my sword either way. Silver seemed a little different for a time afterwards, like he had been traumatized or something, but I never asked about it. At some point I guess he got over it, because by the time we got to Yggdrasill he seemed perfectly fine," Dusk explained.
"Is that all?"
"Yes, sir."
Night nodded. "Okay. Well, you'd best get some rest. Come to me if you remember anything else, or if you start to hear voices. In the meantime, I will look into getting you a promotion for your work, as well as attend to a recently captured Celestial Fleet Admiral. I'll leave you with Silver for now," he said, exiting the room.
"Sir, I bring grave news," said the messenger, bowing his head. Rune looked up from the map, having just finished marking Fort Hoof and Vanhoover as 'Lunar'.
"What has happened?" the general asked.
"We have just received formal declarations of war from the Griffons and the Zebras, along with unconfirmed reports of Detrot being captured and hostile fleet sightings near Baltimare. Princess Celestia has also called for a meeting with you."
Rune sighed, finding and striking Detrot as no longer Equestrian. When Fort Hoof and Vanhoover were attacked, they too were unconfirmed for some time on account of the distinct lack of survivors, leaving Canterlot in the dark for much longer than they would have liked. The fact that the same thing was happening to yet another city was disconcerting, to say the least. "Alright. Where will this meeting be taking place?" Rune asked.
"In her personal quarters," the pony replied. Rune paused before nodding and continued out the door. Celestia only called ponies to her room if things had really gone haywire
The throne room was silent, save for the tapping of hooves against the stone floor, echoing off the walls. Rune passed a series of guards on his way to Celestia's quarters. Upon arrival, two more guards opened the doors for him, allowing the general entrance. They closed and locked behind him.
Princess Celestia sat at a small table, appearing deep in thought. Rune approached slowly, bowing when he was close. "You... wished to speak with me?" he said softly.
The Alicorn snapped out of her trance. "Ah, yes. Please, have a seat," she said quietly, tapping a spot in front of her with a hoof. Rune sat down, waiting. The mare looked at him slowly. "I'm assuming you were informed about the Griffons and Zebras?" she asked.
"Yes, princess. The guard who fetched me gave me the basics."
"Good. Did he also tell you about Detrot and Baltimare?"
"He mentioned Detrot, but not Baltimare. Have the Lunars attacked it too?"
Celestia shook her head. "At least, not yet. Their fleet was sighted, however, just on the edge of the horizon, waiting. The commander in charge sent me a letter immediately."
Rune looked down. "Are there any defenses in the city?"
"Nothing that can defend from a naval attack. We weren't prepared to lose all but a fifth of our navy at Europa."
"Right..."
Silence. Celestia broke it after a moment. "What do you wish for our army to do?" she asked.
"Do you have a map?"
The princess created one from magic alone, spanning the table. It showed the front lines, blue for Lunar and yellow for Celestial, along with squares of varying sizes representing each part of the army and it's strength. Rune drew in a breath.
"Seeing as most of our forces are in Derbyshire, that should be where we form a defense. All along this line," the general said, tracing a line in the map, "we should fortify with whatever we can. Things like trenches, walls, redoubts, whatever - if it hinders the Lunars, then we make it.
"With the addition of the Griffons comes the addition of attrition warfare. We have very small stockpiles of arms and armor, as we have never had need for such things. If we lose those stockpiles and become unable to arm and armor our troops, then we lose, no questions asked. Derbyshire has three thousand and the rest of our cities have less than eight hundred total. I think we should pull a thousand out of Derbyshire and everypony out of any city that doesn't have an armory, and redistribute them among those who do."
Celestia spoke up. "We'd be leaving countless cities defenseless, and thousands of innocent ponies at the mercy of the Lunars. If those cities fall, morale will dip even lower."
"They aren't defenseless - they'd be behind the Derbyshire Line. Besides, we should only be seeing raids among strategically important cities, cities that we can't afford to lose."
"Very well. And what of the naval portion of the war?"
"Wouldn't Stargazer normally handle this?"
"His flagship was sunk at Europa, and we aren't sure what became of him."
"Ah... Well, all I can say is to take any sort of defense in the city and aim it at the Lunars. Ten ships aren't going to do a whole lot on their own, especially with the weaponry the Zebras just brought to the table."
Celestia nodded. "Have a Unicorn disperse your orders, when you are ready. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go reaffirm relations with Saddle Arabia before they turn on us as well."
Stargazer looked around him, tied up in his chair. It was incredibly dark, lit by a single lantern next to a door. There didn't appear to be any windows, and thanks to the virtually nonexistent lighting, he had no idea how big or small the place was.
Memories began to slowly return to him, all unpleasant. The destruction of his ship and subsequent capture at Europa, the two weeks of mild torture and conditioning, the feeling of being drenched in water and then having every hair on his body frozen during prior attempts to interrogate the Celestial - he shivered, cold at the thought.
Damn Lunars and their love of the cold, he thought. I guess I'm lucky they didn't try electricity. He still remembered the screams of other ponies not so fortunate, or simply those who didn't know enough.
He had been lucky, at least so far. The Lunars knew how important some of the information he had was, and the admiral used it to his advantage every second he got, such as threatening to get himself killed in exchange for news on the war. He regretted it once he heard about the loss of Vanhoover and Fort Hoof, and eventually they got sick of hearing it, which was probably why he was here, tied to a chair in some dark room.
The door opened, completely silent. A Unicorn as black as the surrounding walls entered, shutting the door. Something like a sword was strapped to the pony's side. "Ah, you're awake," he said. Stargazer recognized the voice as Blackest Night.
"What do you want?" Stargazer hissed, attempting to make sure he knew where Night was at all times, which became impossible once the Lunar extinguished the one light in the room. All he could rely on now was the tapping of hooves on the floor, which wasn't much easier.
"I want to know about any plans Celestia has made to attack or defend."
"I know nothing about the army's plans, and even if I did I'd never tell the likes of you-"
Stargazer was interrupted as a hoof bashed into the back of his head, disorientating him briefly. He leaned back into his seat when the pain and shock subsided. "I am going to make one thing perfectly clear: After what you inflicted upon our city, I have decided that you should never see Equestria again, and if you continue to refuse my questions then I shall ensure that you will never see the outside of this room ," Night growled, malice in his voice. "Now, what do you know about Celestia's plans?"
"I've been locked up in these mountains for nearly two weeks. We never anticipated that marching on Amalthea would be as devastating as it was. Any new plans are only known by the current generals."
"I know Celestia is overconfident, but surely her generals made some sort of contingency. Speaking of which, who's at the head of her army these days? Comet?" Night asked. It sounded like he was less than a foot from Stargazer's face.
"No, General Rune. After we never got a report from Cygnus, Comet guessed that you were still alive and abandoned his position."
"Good to know I carry that sort of reputation in Equestria." The Unicorn was to his right, now. "There is another thing I must know. When your forces attacked Europa, you seemed to know exactly what do do, where to go, even to the point that you knew precisely where I was in the holdout. How?"
"We just attacked where we knew the Lunars were."
"I could hear them shouting my name; 'Night's in there! Come on, we have to find him!'"
Stargazer closed his eyes. Wavebreaker was a crook anyways. "It was Wavebreaker. After my guards searched his ship and found a couple Lunars in one of the rooms, he tried to play it off like they were deserters seeking a new life. I told him that I was to take any Lunars into custody if I was given the opportunity, but the Pegasus was very adamant that they would be going with him. He offered to give me information on your presence in Europa if I left them alone; I agreed, figuring you were more valuable than two deserters."
Night was silent. "They weren't trying to abandon, though, were they?" Stargazer continued.
"No. Emissaries, to convince the Zebras to help us with the war effort. A close friend of mine, and a soldier assigned to protect him," Night said. "We did the same thing with the Griffons, only that didn't result in a city being captured and nearly razed."
Looks like I really can't ever go back to Equestria, the Celestial thought, hanging his head. He prayed to Celestia that none of his crew - provided any had even survived - would try to sell him out in return for an early retirement. "What are you going to do now?" he asked sheepishly. He hadn't provided much information in the first place, and Night had brought a sword with him.
"Well, you didn't have much to offer, but since I only had to crack you across the head once to find that out rather than multiple times like your contemporaries, I believe I can find a decent use for you. I will think about it while I deal with Wavebreaker," Night replied. Stargazer heard the Unicorn's hooves on the ground in front of him, quickly blocked out by what he presumed was the door when it closed behind the pony. Stargazer, without any other choice, remained in his chair, contemplating what his new life under Lunar rule would be like.
Night didn't take long locating Wavebreaker's docked ship. He and two other guards he had ordered along climbed up the entryway onto the top deck, sighting a few sailors likely placed on a watch in case any looters found the ship to be a worthy target, considering the state of the city. The sailors all turned and looked at him, surprised to see the Unicorn and his entourage on board their ship.
"Is there, uh, anything we can help you with, sir?" one of them asked.
"I have received outside information that labels Captain Wavebreaker as a traitor to the Lunars, and I would like to know where I can find him," Night responded coolly. The sailors all looked at each other, confused.
"I promise you my only conflict is with Wavebreaker, none of his crew, whether they knew about this or not," Night continued.
"He's in his quarters, but if we may ask, what did he do?" questioned a second sailor.
"He is responsible for giving away vital information regarding my location in Europa as well as details about the weaknesses of our stronghold there. As a result, we were unable to defend as effectively as we could have, and in the end we were forced from Europa, allowing it to be taken and nearly resulting in my capture. While Wavebreaker did succeed in the mission I gave, it was a pyrrhic one to the point that it can - to a degree - be called an outright failure. Such a thing needs to have an example made out of it, as to ensure it does not happen again.
"Now, where are his quarters?" Night finished. The sailors pointed at Wavebreaker's door, backing away. Night nodded to his guards, who slowly walked over and opened it, allowing them in one at a time.
Wavebreaker sat at his desk, busy writing something - probably answers to trade requests. The Pegasus looked up and seemed to already know what Night and two heavily armed and armored soldiers were doing in his quarters, but opened his mouth just to be sure, his hoof moving to a drawer nearby.
"What can I help you with?" he asked, playing innocent.
Night slowly advanced to the desk, his guards not far behind. "Stargazer told me everything," he said, calm.
Wavebreaker squinted his eyes. "Why that little..." he growled. His hoof stopped moving, finding whatever it was looking for. "I helped you, motherbucker. I did everything you asked, exactly as you asked it - Europa would still be held by the Celestials if I hadn't!"
"You have a point, but it destroyed the city and nearly got me captured. Not only did you tell the Celestials that I was in here, but you gave them every last detail about our stronghold; we had a chance at defending, right up until that point. You helped me, but at a cost so great it was hardly help. Guards, get him."
The two ponies on Night's side drew their weapons and advanced. Wavebreaker pulled out the object he had been fumbling around with - some hollow metal rod attached to a wooden handle - and pointed it at Night, knowing he had nothing more to lose. He struggled with a small switch on the underside of the device, but before he could activate it the two guards dived at him, knocking the presumed weapon away. The Pegasus was able to wriggle free and attempted to fly past Night, only for the Unicorn to draw his sword and make a quick slash, hacking off one of Wavebreaker's wings.
The momentum continued to carry the airborne pony, and he crashed into the door, cursing and crying out in pain, flapping his remaining wing feebly. Night kicked him over and cast a fire spell to perform a crude cauterization of the wound, in order to keep Wavebreaker from bleeding out before his trial. The two soldiers picked the incapacitated pony up by his forelegs and began to drag him out, while Night retrieved and pocketed the weapon Wavebreaker had pulled on him.
Only two of the five sailors originally on deck were remaining, and both of them stared at their former captain as he was dragged away. Night approached them. "Do either of you know where the first mate is?" he asked. One of them nodded. "Tell him he's now captain of this ship, and may do with it what he wishes." The same sailor nodded and followed Night and his soldiers off the ship, turning into a different section of what was left of the city.
Wavebreaker didn't struggle much, likely going into shock. Night again opened a door, this time to a small prison cell. The guards tossed the crippled Pegasus inside, and Night told one of them to go get a doctor. When said doctor arrived, Night told him, "Just give him enough attention to survive until tomorrow night. Get one of my guards if you need anything."
Wavebreaker looked around, his head throbbing. He was on a wooden platform, surrounded by the remains of Europa and dozens of Lunar soldiers, all watching him intently.
His stump of a wing sat pitifully on his back, the blackened and bloody flesh and fur covered in a thin layer of bandages. The doctor said something about how he was only supposed to last to the next night, and he meant it; the only thing he did was look for other life threatening injuries, comment on the burn and then apply the wraps, leaving the Pegasus still in extreme pain for the majority of the day.
Something pushed him from behind. Wavebreaker turned around to see who was shoving him, finding himself staring into the eyes of none other than Blackest Night. The Unicorn began to speak to the crowd, but Wavebreaker didn't care what he was saying enough to listen, and the pain kept him from focusing in the first place.
The guards shouted in response, probably a cheer of some sort. Night forced Wavebreaker to his knees - his head striking the inside of some container - and drew his sword. The Pegasus watched out of the corner of his eye as the Unicorn drew his sword and gripped it with both hooves, making a slow swing down towards the pony's neck. He repeated the swing a second time, but on the third, he felt the sword bite into the back of his neck for an instant, before all sensation ceased.
The guards surrounding the makeshift platform cheered at the death of Wavebreaker. The decapitated corpse slumped over to the side, the head in a box. Night looked at his sword, covered in a mix of dried blood from the previous night and fresh blood from the current one, and swore to himself that the serrations were larger. He wiped the flat of the blade across Wavebreaker's fur and sheathed it, motioning for a couple guards on the platform to bring the remains to a pyre.
It wasn't just the sword that was different, either. Night began to think on knowledge he hadn't previously held, things he couldn't possibly have known under normal circumstances. Memories that weren't his own crawled through his head. The Unicorn held a hoof to his skull for a moment, attempting to block everything that wasn't his out of his mind, but as soon as he tried, the voice protested.
"The mind of the dead is your own," it growled, except unlike every other time it spoke, it was in a slightly comprehensible manner. "Do not deny this gift."
"What do you mean?" Night replied, struggling against the torrent of another pony's knowledge. There was no response, so Night kept walking towards his quarters. Visions of a young stallion's life plagued his mind, blocking out his own thoughts. By the time he arrived, he was reliving what must have been Wavebreaker's meeting with Stargazer. He could see Stargazer's surprise, and he felt dull shock at seeing Silver and Dusk hiding in a room. Night heard himself repeating what Wavebreaker must've said to the Celestial admiral; "Look, if you leave them alone I can give you some pretty good information," he had said.
"Information? About what?" the Celestial responded.
"About Europa. About Night. He's in there, I saw him."
Stargazer's expression remained, but his curiosity was piqued. "Go on."
Night struggled to open his door as the memory clouded his vision along with his head - one second he was bumping into a wall, the next he was looking at Stargazer and back to Silver and Dusk. He finally pushed his door open and fell inside, quickly picking himself back up and attempting to close it, nearly tripping back outside in the process. He saw every mile of the journey to Europa, including two confrontations between Silver and the captain.
The Unicorn threw his sword to the ground and collapsed against a wall, blankly staring at the weapon as his mind fell apart. Guards, get him." He listened to himself give the command, the words echoing in his head.
A hoof that had to be Wavebreaker's gripped an object in a drawer, only to be knocked to the ground by two guards. Night watched as he struggled against his captors and suddenly flew directly at himself from the night before, only for a searing pain to rip through his body and send him crashing into a wall. He soon felt himself being picked up by the same two guards and dragged off to some dungeon. The Lunar blinked absentmindedly, pain still clinging to his side.
Finally, he saw the plethora of guards watching as he was placed onto an improvised platform. A voice - his own - spoke, but he felt too much pain to concentrate. The guards cheered, and after a moment, it all ended - the pain, Wavebreaker's thoughts, the flood of memories, everything. Night was left to stare at the sword and its glowing pommelstone, burning brightly against the darkness of his room. He felt like his very being had been torn asunder and then rebuilt with parts from that of another pony. It left him feeling weak, even weaker than when he had escaped Cygnus and collapsed in the snow.
Eventually, the feeling of weakness and exhaustion pulled Night into an uneasy rest, offering a temporary freedom from having the knowledge of two minds in one.
Night looked around him, realizing that he was staring at a midnight sky and surrounded by trees rather than the walls of his quarters in Europa. This place gains more additions each time I return, the Unicorn thought. He started looking around, expecting Luna to appear at any second.
He heard the gentle plodding of her hooves on the grass as she approached a moment later. Night turned around and the mare was upon him, ensnaring the Unicorn in her embrace. He smiled and returned the hug. The two broke contact and nuzzled briefly before looking into each other's eyes. Luna spoke first, her voice soft.
"How have you been?"
"I've been fine. A little stress here and there, but fine overall. What about you?"
"Mm, alone and busy, mostly. But that's nothing new."
"It won't have to be like that for much longer..."
The Alicorn pecked him on the cheek. "All because of you," she said, grinning. They both looked up at that stars for a moment.
Night commented, "I see you've added on to this place... It looks nice."
"Oh, you haven't even seen half of it," Luna replied excitedly, standing up. "Come on, follow me and I'll show you more." Night got up and turned, seeing that the mare was already trotting off. He followed, keeping pace beside her. She looked at him, a sly grin on her face. "Try to keep up," she said, suddenly breaking into a gallop.
Night shook his head and chased after the Alicorn, dodging around trees and ducking under any especially low hanging branches. Considering he was facing off against a tireless goddess, he held his own, managing to never stray more than a few feet behind Luna at all times - her much longer stride didn't make it easy, however. The forest soon thinned into a wide open plain, allowing both ponies to concentrate on running rather than avoiding trees. Together they raced alongside snaking river, jumping over the smaller tributaries. After that they both began up the steady incline of a rather large hill, at which point Luna slowed down a little, but whether it was out of mercy or legitimate tiredness was unknown to the Unicorn, though he leaned towards the former.
The two ponies galloped alongside each other for the last leg of the race, eventually reaching the top of the hill. They both sat down as Night stared in awe at what Luna had created. Beyond the hill was another massive forest, which itself enveloped a mountain range comparable to the Lunar ones. The river they had encountered earlier wound around the hill and went off to a lake that was visible from the hilltop, along with a few smaller streams that fed into it. To Night's left was a continuation of the gently rolling plains, while to his right the hills formed into uplands that partially surrounded the forest below.
"What do you think?" Luna asked, looking at Night and smiling.
"It's amazing, even more so than the view from one of our mountains at night," he replied. "How far have you made it?"
"Roughly the size of Equestria, if it were a big circle. There is more behind us," the mare said, nodding behind her, "but this part is my favorite because of the view."
"Do you plan on making it any bigger?"
"Probably not, just more detail if anything - some places are still pretty bland, but I intend to change that before the next time you are here." Luna looked down at the landscape below them. "Care to get a closer look?"
"I wouldn't mind seeing those mountains up close, maybe we could even scale them and see what the view is from the top," Night suggested.
"Hmm..." Luna murmured, looking at the Unicorn. Night was about to ask her if something was wrong when the mare turned and broke into another gallop, happily shouting "Race you to the bottom!" as her hooves beat down the grass. Night sighed and gave chase, not fairing any better since the first time. The downward slope of the hill allowed him to move a little faster provided he could keep his balance, but it still wasn't enough for him to actually overtake the princess.
The terrain eventually leveled out, giving Night a chance to refocus on speed over not tumbling down a hill, managing to gain a few feet on Luna in the process. As they approached the edge of the forest, the Unicorn was able to at least tie with Luna, leaning against a tree and breathing much more heavily than earlier. Luna sat down next to him - both ponies were now a little short of breath. After a few moments of returning to normal, they both rose and continued deeper into the forest.
"You mentioned being stressed earlier," Luna said. "What caused that?"
"Just dealing with some lowlife traitor and finding myself questioning the alignment of other ponies as a result, which is frankly something I wish I'd never have to contend to," Night said. The princess nodded.
"What did you do to the pony?"
"Public execution. As far as I know, he was the first one to offer knowledge to the Celestials, and an example needed to be made before somepony else thought about it."
"I'm sorry you had to deal with such things," Luna replied, her head low. The had begun to scale one of the more gentle mountains, but it was still higher than the hill they were on earlier.
"He was involved with the black market, another week and he probably would have ended up dead regardless, and likely in a much more painful way."
Luna was silent for a moment. She never was too much into killing and death outside of literature. "What did he tell them?"
"Weaknesses in the holdout that the Lunars had made after the initial assault, along with letting them know that I was still in the city. We had a chance at defending until that happened," Night said, looking around a bit. They were almost a quarter of the way to the top, still going at the same meandering pace. "...But enough about that," he continued. "The war belongs in the real world, not in the one place we are able to talk to each other."
The mare bumped into him playfully before speaking. "How has Silver been? I don't think I've remembered to ask about him once," she said.
"He's been alright. Just got back from Cervidas so he might be completely sick of the ocean, but he'll get over it sooner or later."
"My, what did you send him all the way to Cervidas for?"
"Well, it started out as an emissary trip to Zebrica to get the Zebras on our side, and after that was done I was informed that there was something at Yggdrasill that would help if Celestia ever dared to use the Elements against us. Silver was already somewhat close to the place, so I sent him a letter with the details. Eventually, after going through hell - almost literally, according to him - he sails back into port and slaps it on my desk."
"I hope you don't make a habit out of sending him to far off and unknown lands. Who was your source? Times may have changed, but from what I remember before I was banished, we knew barely a thing about Cervidas."
Night took a few seconds to respond. "They chose to keep their identity a secret. Everything was sent as a letter, which I basically copied when I sent it to Silver." Surely she doesn't need to know that I was forced to write a letter under the guise that she told me? he thought. I'll tell her another time, when she won't end up occupied with solely my mental health. More worrying about me is the last thing she needs.
Luna had begun to appear tired, possibly from the duration at which the spell binding Night to the dimension was being kept active - that, and they had just performed two races and climbed halfway up a mountain. "I think this should be good, we can start here next time," Night offered.
"I suppose you're right, I'm no longer feeling full of energy like I was earlier. We're still higher than the first hill, which is nice. Let's enjoy the view for a while before I end the spell," the princess said, sitting down on the nearest patch of level ground. Night joined her, feeling her foreleg wrap around him and pull his body into hers. He leaned his head against her chest and held on to one of her hooves, looking out into the crafted landscape from their alternate perspective. From Night's eyes, it slowly began to fade and darken, shifting in and out of existence until everything finally vanished altogether, leaving him drifting alone in a blank void.
"Orders, sir?"
"Take a few soldiers with you and search the city for survivors. Have any Celestial you find brought in for relocation, and report to me when you are done," General Dark said, watching as some Lunars pulled their wounded out of Detrot.
"Yes, sir," Aphelion replied, saluting and turning towards the city. The Unicorn trotted up to the nearest squad and spoke with the leader. "General Breeze wants us to find some survivors, so let's go before they die or escape," he said, pointing back towards the city. The Lunars formed up, gathering up a couple more groups as they went, leaving Aphelion with a sizable force. They entered the city gates, which had been smashed open earlier.
A scene of widespread destruction greeted the ponies. This was where the attack had begun, with the gates blasted apart and a fusillade of magic killing anything in the way. Initially, the Celestials were driven back - their corpses lines the streets - until some townsponies started picking up whatever they could find to fight back in lieu of their military, encouraging their guards to start a counterattack. The sheer number of ponies suddenly charging forced the Lunars to fall back or be overrun, and the retreating elements led their assailants into another barrage of magic, with Pegasi sent to mop up the scattered resistance.
Originally, it wasn't supposed to be a fast-paced assault. A siege was considered, but for the sake of keeping momentum the plan was scrapped and a surrender was offered under the threat of destruction, but as the Celestials fired upon the soldiers attempting to deliver the message, the threat was acted upon. Celestia's soldiers were finally getting the will to fight again, it seemed.
There were already a few other ponies searching around for any more wounded, Lunar or otherwise. Aphelion's group gathered a few more followers as they combed the rubble, bringing back anypony they found that was still alive. It was somewhat sobering work, with so many dead in the same area. Gradually, however, they reached areas that hadn't been hit as hard, and where some ponies had remained, unwilling to abandon their chosen city. The Equestrians there fled upon seeing the Lunar forces moving towards them, slamming the doors on what remained of their homes, and failing that retreated into alleyways to hide.
Aphelion's group soon came upon what appeared to be a noble's house, much larger than the rest, and just as damaged, with several large holes marking the roof and eastern walls. Celestial banners hung from the sides. The Unicorn looked at it for a moment, wondering if anything or pony of importance lay inside.
"Well, sir, do you want us to enter or should we keep going?" asked one of his soldiers.
"We will enter, Pegasi through the top and the rest of us through the front doors. Let's make this fast, we still have some more places to search after this," Aphelion replied. He called out to the other Lunars continuing their mission that he would be taking a few inside, and then turned back to the mansion.
Three Pegasi took off in unison and glided into the damaged roof, and Aphelion ordered his ponies forwards. The five of them stacked up on the door, Aphelion and another Unicorn in the rear. The door was locked; an Earth Pony wheeled around and let out a powerful kick with his hind legs, splintering the wood. The other two Earth Ponies filed past him as he turned around, followed shortly by the Unicorns.
The entry hall had two guards. Startled by the smashing of the door, one was already galloping up the stairs, and the other had drawn his bow. The arrow missed by roughly an inch, and the Celestial was put down with a bolt of lightning for his inaccuracy. He screamed and writhed on the ground, his metal armor doing nothing to protect him. A second shot put the pony out of his misery, leaving small wisps of smoke trailing off his body, the smell of burnt fur fouling up the air. Unfortunately, the second soldier was already withdrawn to the other floors, leaving the Lunars without much time to prepare for Celestial reinforcements.
"Buck it, up the stairs, now!" Aphelion ordered, charging ahead. His soldiers followed, weapons drawn, the other Unicorn preparing a spell. They could hear the Celestial calling for help. The building's floors, it seemed, were unoccupied - the soldiers just encountered must have been ordered to remain for some unearthly reason. Aphelion's group reached the fourth floor just in time to see the pony gallop into a room, slamming and locking the door.
"Break that thing down," Aphelion ordered. An Earth Pony quickly set upon the door, but just as he was about to kick it, shouting could be heard inside, quickly cut short. The Lunar bashed the wood, breaking the door wide open.
On the ground were two ponies, wounded or dead, with arrows sticking out of their neck and back - one had blood pooled around him already, the other - the one Aphelion had just chased up the stairs - was still convulsing a little before somepony else finished him off. The three Lunar Pegasi sent in through the roof stood proudly over their bodies, and a third Celestial looked badly beaten, tied up in a corner and gagged. A desk nearby had dozens of papers strewn about, and a saddlebag partially filled with more documents sat beside it.
"What happened here?" Aphelion asked.
A Pegasus stepped forward. "We found the pony in the corner and his friend tossing some of these papers around, and tried to get them to surrender by drawing our bows on them. The officer tried to escape, so we killed his friend and beat him up for information, but we couldn't get anything out of him. Next thing we know, another Celestial runs up shouting about Lunars, and so we kill him right as he notices us," he explained, nudging the most recently deceased's body with a hoof, just to make sure.
"And the papers?"
"Orders, I think. Lots of information about deployments and unit sizes and whatnot, all above our pay grade."
Aphelion looked down, thinking. "You said they were taking the papers out of the bag and tossing them around, right?"
"It sure looked like it, why?"
Why would the Celestials leave likely vital information about their army for us to find? he thought. The Unicorn turned and approached the tied up Pegasus officer in the corner, and removed the gag in his mouth. "You've heard this all, what were you doing here?" Aphelion asked the Celestial, pointing back at the papers.
"Go to hell," came the immediate reply. Aphelion sighed.
"Your type sure do seem to say that a lot, what is it with Celestials and fire?" the other Unicorn in the room commented.
Aphelion shrugged, and signaled for one of the archers to give the prisoner a good strike in the face, the result of which knocked the pony out, his head landing on the floor with a dull thud. "No time to deal with defiance, get him back to the camp," Aphelion ordered, prompting a couple Earth Ponies to pick the Celestial up and take him out of the room.
"What about these papers? Do you think they are important?" somepony asked.
Aphelion thought some more. "We will bring them back to the camp, but something about it all seems off. They need to be examined, closely, before we act upon whatever they tell us," he said, beginning to pile up the documents. The paper joined what was let inside the saddlebag, which was then given to the remaining Earth Pony. A quarter of an hour later, they arrived at the camp, and Aphelion began looking for General Dark.
Night slowly began to rouse from his state. The Unicorn groaned and sat up a little bit more, looking around from the floor of the room, rubbing his face with his hoof. Passing out propped up against a wall for untold hours had left most of his body feeling rather sore.
He started to get up off the ground and stretching his legs. The sword was still on the ground in front of him. Night reached for it and gripped the handle, feeling his head throb the moment he made contact. The Lunar quickly sheathed and removed his hoof from the weapon, the pain persisting for a few more seconds before fading away. Great, Night thought. Am I going to have to deal with this every time I kill somepony?
The Unicorn walked uneasily to his desk. Two unopened scrolls sat on it. Night cast a quick spell and held the first one open in front of his face, reading the scrawling - it was all details about the capture of Detrot. The assault had begun after the commanding Celestials refused when offered surrender, and attempted to open fire on the Lunars from their walls. The resulting attack on the city had resulted in heavy Celestial losses, with roughly a third of the city completely destroyed after the townsponies rose up to support their failing military. Only a couple hundred Celestials were garrisoned to defend, and nearly eight hundred ponies lived there - the military had suffered complete annihilation, and half the citizens had been killed, either for attacking or by collateral damage, with most of the rest taking some sort of injury.
The deaths of that number of normal townsponies wasn't something Night had been hoping for, though. He quickly sent a follow-up letter to General Dark recommending the use of such force for places without civilians, as the unneeded massacre of innocents was only going to give Equestria a reason to rally up again or give other nations a reason to fight the Lunars instead of standing idle by. Besides, what will Luna rule if we kill off all of Equestria?
He opened the second scroll - a request from General Breeze to rejoin the front lines so that the Lunars may be more swiftly commanded, and that should he decide to rejoin, the army would wait just outside Detrot for his arrival. Night quickly wrote a reply stating that he would be on his way at once, and then used a third scroll to tell Silver that he would be linking up with the army, and then sent the three letters
The Unicorn then rose from his seat and gathered his armor, distributing it evenly among a couple of saddlebags, which he then placed over his back. Both his current sword and the one it replaced were nestled inside the straps of the bags, allowing him to have the option of not experiencing the confusion and pain that occurred after Wavebreaker's execution a second time, and the odd device the deceased Pegasus had attempted to use was strapped on as well. Next came a bedroll tied down over the top, and finally, he pulled his ring from a drawer and slid it down his horn. A quick brushing of his mane a little to the right concealed the object. Just before stepping out, he wrote a quick message to the officer in charge of daytime guard duties, requesting a squad be prepared to move out to Amalthea.
The Lunar left his quarters and looked around the empty streets; Europa would have appeared abandoned if it weren't for the guards stationed here and there - some places were still destroyed, their inhabitants relocated or possibly dead, and until somepony needed to take residence there, they would remain that way. Several minutes passed before Night entered the guardhouse. Inside stood seven ponies - two Pegasi, three Earth Ponies, and two Unicorns. The third Earth Pony was bearing slightly larger bags than the rest, presumably filled with provisions needed for the journey. They all stood and awaited their orders.
A uniformed Pegasus stepped up - he bore the rank of captain on his shoulders. "Will this suffice, sir?" he asked, looking back to the other Lunars.
Night nodded. "What do you plan to do with them?" the captain continued.
"General Breeze has requested my assistance in commanding on the front for the sake of the army, and I have begun to grow bored of sitting around in Europa at any rate," the Unicorn replied.
"I see. Kill some more Celestials for us, then." The Pegasus said, grinning. Night motioned for his soldiers to form up outside.
The soldiers stood in a two-by-three line, with the supply bearer at the back and Night at the front. "Move out!" he barked, trotting forward. The rest followed suit, their hoofs beating on the ground ans they left Europa behind. It was somewhat warm - a sensation that Night was unfamiliar with in regards to the outside. Evidence of spring's arrival was clear, with the lack of snow exposing grass and dirt. The Lunars eventually crested the hill that Night had first seen the span of destruction within Europa, and he had held his group there so that he could look at it again before continuing. It looked the same, for the most part.
The next three days of marching were just that - the scenery of mountains and patches of snow here and there repeated itself constantly. After the uneventful trip, Night and his squad arrived in Amalthea, for a short rest before moving out again. He spent a day in his own home for the first time in a couple months, contemplating on how it was possible for so much dust to built up in an unoccupied home. He later stepped outside again to witness the celebrations for the Lunars who had completed their training with field guns - they were rookies, but the power of the weapon would be an immense help in the war.
The following night the soldiers moved through Ablution Pass, now with a small outpost in place. The passage itself was much stranger than any of the other few entrances to the mountains, and for that was the only one really known to the rest of the continent. Rather than being a simple, natural path through the range, it appeared as if some insane beast had torn and clawed its way through the stone. Some sections were barely wide enough for a pony, others large enough for a small ship, and it was full of sudden turns and angles, and Night wondered how long it had taken the Celestials to move a force of one-thousand through such a place. After awkwardly traipsing through it for some time, Night and his group emerged into the hoofhills of the mountain range, the rolling plains of Equestria stretching for miles.
Not too much more to go, Night thought. He had no intentions of diverting to Mira or Deimos, leaving Detrot essentially straight ahead, albeit at a long distance. The sky ahead was barely tinted with the colors of twilight, and by the time the Lunars stopped for the day, the sun was halfway to it's highest point in the air. This ended up as the last stop made by Night and his soldiers - the next night brought them through General Dark's camp and the remains of Detrot, where he received information on Swift Breeze's current location, and a couple hours later they had arrived at the Pegasi's advance group.
"It's good you are finally here again," Swift Breeze said, both of them slowly trotting west of the camp, a spyglass hanging from a strap around the Pegasi's neck. "We've encountered some sort of Celestial effort to halt the main army's movement just ahead of here."
"What do you mean?" Night asked.
"They have begun construction on what appears to be a long network of redoubts connected by walls, all in varying levels of completion. According to the scouts, it extends most of the way north and south, and is incomplete in those areas.," Breeze explained. "But here... It may as well have been completed a week ago - it looks like the walls of Amalthea. We will be able to see it well from the top of this hill."
They crested it a moment later, revealing what the Celestials had made. Exactly as Breeze had said, a high-standing bricked wall marked with towers and circular fortifications stretched into the distance. Behind it lay what appeared to be a mass of tents and campsites, and even further back sat a large Equestrian city, just barely visible in the night. The Pegasus gave his spyglass to Night, which he used to more closely examine the structure, while the pony continued to speak.
"We've been harassing them as much as we can; shooting at engineers, throwing spells at the towers, setting fire to the wood - whatever we could think of. The soldiers themselves are spread thin along the wall, but after our first few skirmishes a quick reaction force from behind the line started to fight back directly, and we haven't tried much since," Breeze said. Night moved the spyglass around a little, noting where damage had been inflicted upon the wall, as well as were it was merely incomplete.
"Any idea how long they've been at this?" the Unicorn asked as his gaze passed over the camps, noticing several campfires and small forms moving about in the light.
"I do not know, but if it took no more than a week to make this much progress over such a wide area, then I shudder to think of what they could do to a single city, or over the course of a month," Breeze said.
"There must be hundreds of workers on the full span of this project," Night commented. "It's a flat-out blessing from Luna herself that they haven't completed the wall entirely and moved back to fortify the other cities, and finished those as well. I only hope the Princess never directs them to fight once they have their morale back, or every city will have to be flattened rather than conquered," Night continued.
"The only reason she hasn't already is because it would be impossible to train and equip that many ponies in an effective manner, though the more we advance the less I can imagine sending ponies by the thousands to be slaughtered to be seen as an issue - as long as they are victorious at least once with such a strategy," Breeze responded.
There didn't appear to be any weak points in the wall, to Night's dismay. Going around would still take too long, however, and there would likely be even more ponies to deal with at either end of the wall, and the endeavor would give the civilians time to fall back and build up other cities at an even faster rate. If he broke through, he would keep his army's momentum and have a good shot at capturing Equestrians and Celestials alike, but if there was a large enough force in the city to take the Lunars on without preparation, he might also suffer massive casualties or even a defeat, which could immediately turn the war around. He handed the spyglass back to Swift Breeze.
"I'll not risk taking the city and the wall on without reinforcements or sure knowledge on that Celestial city, as much as I hate stopping our advance," Night said. "I want everypony with combat training pulled from their posts in other cities and brought out to fight - the mountains are not threatened as long as we are in the field, and there is no longer any need for the ponies in the north to stand idle when they could be fighting."
"I shall send the order at once. Anything else?"
"Yes, we must also wait for our land-based cannons to arrive, however long it will take. Those things crushed the Celestials in the water, and surely they can do the same on the ground - with the advances in fortification that Equestria will make in the meantime, they will be necessary. I also want the Griffons to start pushing harder against the Celestials; not just raiding the cities for their armory, but burning crops and food supplies, and even taking over cities for themselves should they please. Our Navy must also keep moving and attacking, and take down Manehattan and any other port we've missed along the way."
"Of course. Anything more?"
"Keep our forces harassing the Celestials on this wall whenever they can, and just this once I'll revoke my previous order to abstain from killing townsponies, but only for the time being. If we can stop other cities from having their defenses built up, then I intend to make it happen. That is all."
Breeze nodded. "I'll return to camp and have all of this sent immediately," he said, leaving Night on the hill.
The Unicorn brought a hoof to his head. The war absolutely needed to end as soon as it started, with the Celestial's will to fight quickly crushed and suppressed until it was too late, but his enemy was too easily motivated by their goddess, or whoever stuck to rallying them. Night spoke a silent apology to Luna, knowing that now - unless he had some other major breakthrough - the only way to defeat Equestria and Celestia's forces was with a slow, painful, bleeding death, that would leave his love on the moon for even longer and possibly result in nothing to rule when she did return.
An impenetrable fog surrounded Stormwind's fleet as they advanced through the ocean, looking for more Celestial ports to capture along the way to Manehattan. Scouts had reported a small city and a shipyard on a peninsula ahead of them. The remains of the Royal Navy would likely be there as well, and this time they would not escape to the next city like they had in Baltimare.
The admiral's brow furrowed as he remembered the last battle. He had nearly lost his landing ships to accurate ballista fire, and instead had to wipe the city out with his cannons from afar and move on. The Pegasus shook his head and started pacing around the deck, his ship gently rocking in the waves. The fleet was approaching a strait near the target city, and their movement would be much slower when they entered.
A Pegasus scout flew onto the deck from the fog and immediately made his way towards Stormwind. "What do you have?" the admiral asked.
"The strait is no more than a mile away. We will be inside it shortly."
"Good. Tell the other ships to get into formation," Stormwind ordered. The pony nodded and flew off.
Sure enough, a few minutes later, Stormwind noticed rocks and other terrain through the fog and darkness. He ordered that some torches be lit along the sides of the ship to give them at least some vision to prevent from running aground, as well as give the other nearby vessels something to follow. The land quickly went from level ground to slightly-wider-than-normal fjord, something that quickly began to bother the Pegasus. His ships would be unable to maneuver or even turn around; if trouble arose, their only hope would lay in their speed.
The only noise was the creaking of wood and splashing of waves against the Night Stalker 's hull. The only other ponies above deck were the two in the crow's nest, himself, and the first mate on the wheel behind him. He began to wonder if the fog had been made by the Celestials in hopes of disorientating the armada.
Suddenly, a blinding yellow light washed over the water and ships, as if the sun itself had instantly swapped places with the moon. The hulking black forms of the Lunar and Zebra ships stood out in stark contrast to the dull gray fog, and Stormwind struggled to understand what exactly was happening, when dozens of flaming spearheads flew out of the fog and struck his ships.
The admiral had his tongue on the command to fire, when a ball of flame soared over his head, striking and exploding in the water. As this happened, more fireballs fell from the sky, some missing, some hitting. "We are under attack! Get everypony to their stations!" Stormwind shouted to his first mate, who he replaced at the wheel.
The Night Stalker took a hit in the rigging, sending yellow tendrils of flame up and down the ropes and through the masts. Another spell struck the hull, and a third landed right on the deck, setting it ablaze. Unicorns specializing in frost spells raced up and combated the flames, but while the ship itself was saved, it was too late for the rigging, and the flagship of the Lunar Armada began to slow.
The Celestial ships opened fire with their ballistae as well, scoring hits with their flaming spears and creating more work for the fire crews. Several Lunar vessels also lost their rigging and masts, and those who didn't were set on fire outright, their hulls falling apart into charred hunks of wood. The powder stores of one ship became a violent explosion, reducing the vessel to half of an outer hull, still entirely on fire, and quickly damning it to the water below.
The thunder-like report of cannonfire filled Stormwind's ears as his ship and others returned fire, but due to the obscure location of the enemy ships, it was unknown if they took any hits. A second barrage of spears marred the Lunar ships, several of which landing on the Night Stalker , quickly sending more flames than the crew could handle throughout the ship. A bolt of magic blew off part of the bow of the flagship, and Stormwind listened as two more ships lost their powder to the fires and exploded.
By now, the assault of magic had been joined by Celestial Pegasi, shooting their bows at crewmembers. The Lunar's own Pegasi took off to intercept them, and the few Unicorns on the warships who could create a strong ward began to shield their individual vessels from magic. The Lunar Marines emerged from the cover that their landing ships provided and intercepted the Celestial attackers with spells or arrows, pushing them back from the more vulnerable ships. With the cannons reloaded and the position of the Royal Navy pinpointed, the third volley of spears was met with a fusillade of iron shot.
Half of the Night Stalker had been enveloped in flame, and Stormwind gave the evacuation order once the ship's fate was certain. The crew began to jump overboard and attempt to swim to allied vessels, and Pegasi flew to help those who risked drowning. The admiral remained behind, running through the lower decks to make sure everypony had escaped before he would even think of leaving himself. The fire had spread there as well, and before long their own gunpowder would go up in flames.
There was nopony left on the ship. Stormwind raced back up to the top deck and was getting a running start for which to take off when a massive explosion from below tossed him into the air. He tried to salvage the attempt at flight, but to no avail; he crashed into the water not too many yards away from the burning flagship. The Pegasus kicked and flapped his wings in the water to keep himself above the surface, and a few seconds later a second explosion tore the Night Stalker in two.
The halves of the ship slowly began to sink, and the battle raged on. The Lunar cannons could not aim high enough to strike the cliff face, and even if they could, the exact location of the Celestial mages was unknown. With the remaining ships now protected by temporary wards, the spellcasters either fired blindly into the fog above - which was beginning to burn away from the fires and spells - or to their right and left. The fourth wave of bolts was the smallest and the last, the remaining ships either destroyed or hiding. Stormwind swam around until he located a functional friendly ship and called for help, and was quickly pulled aboard.
Eventually, the Celestials found that their spells were no longer effective and battle died down, and the light that had revealed the armada faded away. The damages were counted - every ship had taken irreparable damage to their rigging, and eleven had been sunk entirely - four frigates, a battleship, a cruiser, three destroyers, one of the supply ships and the flagship of the fleet. Multiple others had also taken heavy damage to their hull, which would require repairs if they were to continue.
The armada was trapped in the fjord until either the ground war caught up or other ships carrying sufficient repair supplies arrived. The Celestials, however, would undoubtedly return to finish what they started long before any such relief came to the admiral and his crews.
General Rune read the report again, as if somehow he had done so entirely wrong the first time. Lunar Armada ambushed at the Canterbury Strait - minimal Celestial losses - multiple ships sunk, all of them damaged, and the advance of the fleet halted.
It had been just what Equestria needed, both for morale and the hope of gaining the support of the nations who had turned their backs on Equestria when the war started. Until the Lunars could fix the damages caused to their vessels, no other ports would be in danger, and a turning point in the war could be relegated to the land; something that they might have a chance of doing with the strengthening of the cities close to the front.
Derbyshire still had its two thousand soldiers, and there were reports of a thousand or so Lunars just outside the wall, split among three groups. Rune wrote off a quick order to start harassing Night's forces until they either fell back or attacked and thus forced to contend with a regiment twice their size. Pushing them back would allow for more ponies to be sent back to defend against Griffon raids, which had slowly begun to take their toll on various armories - something that could result in the Royal Guard becoming unable to equip fresh soldiers - or even the current ones - effectively.
The lights of Dappleshore were visible in the early dawn. The city was small, but significant - capturing it meant the possibility of cutting off Celestial reinforcements to the front lines, provided the Lunars did their part at Canterbury. It also meant the further advancement of the Griffon border, something that would be welcomed and rewarded when the airborne battalions returned to Gryphus. Ironfeather and his squadron of longbow-wielding Griffons began their steady ascent, to give them good shots on any Unicorns that could disrupt the operations of the infantry also taking part in the attack; magic could make the battles one-sided if the mages were undisturbed.
They had raided this place many times before, as it held an armory. They had burned the crops from the local farms and food reserves as well, and done their best to keep the ponies unwilling or unable to fight. Dappleshore had been put on the defensive after earlier Griffon attacks picked off several of their Pegasi and any mage foolish enough to expose himself, and while the raiders had taken casualties early on, such a thing had become less and less common over time.
Some ponies awake at this hour noticed the Griffons and fled, calling out to the city guard. The squadron took a few shots at the Celestials as they emerged from their barracks and posts, wounding several - their armor was too thick at the angles being used, and so the Griffons aimed for exposed legs with the intention of finishing the soldiers off later. The remaining Pegasi garrisoned in the city took off, and some longbows broke off from the descent to chase them. Ironfeather drew back and fired, striking a pony as he flew up from the streets; he cried out and careened into a nearby wall, crumpling against it and falling back to the ground, motionless.
A few Griffons chasing their opponents suffered hits from Celestial arrows and fell alongside the downed Pegasi, and the survivors had to be covered while they looked for higher ground, lest the infantry make short work of them. A select few of Ironfeather's fallen comrades kept fighting on the ground, much to the surprise of the city guard, and multiple swordsponies took arrows to the throat and face, the closer range allowing for even greater accuracy.
The arrival of the mages signified a change in Griffon strategy - now, instead of being able to lay relatively motionless in the sky while others chased down Pegasi, all of them had to ensure they were only still when out of sight of the mages. Balls of fire lit up the sky as the Celestials tried to shoot down the Griffons, but they rarely scored hits - only the highly trained ones could use the long range beams of energy that were the real threat to the fliers, and they had been either suppressed into permanent cover during the battle or killed long ago, leaving the current mages' efforts relatively harmless.
The main Griffon infantry suddenly made its appearance, flying low over the walls and barreling into the first Celestials they found. The infantry force alone - roughly four hundred strong - outnumbered every Celestial in Dappleshore, and now that the archers were no longer getting harassed by the Pegasi and Unicorns - who had all been killed, wounded or forced to flee - the Celestial resistance collapsed completely, with the remaining soldiers being rounded up in the center of the city.
After that, the next process began: the Griffons began to go from house to house, rounding up every stallion they could find, and forced them to the town square along with the soldiers. The homes themselves were also trashed about - small valuables taken, larger ones destroyed, shelves and dressers rummaged through and tossed about - and the terrorized mares and fillies told, "We might come back." Once they were confident that every male inhabitant was in the center of the city, the Griffons began to pull individual Equestrians out of the mix, and slaughtered him before the crowd, usually with a quick gash to the throat if they were a civilian.
The soldiers, however, received a much more gruesome death depending on which breed of pony they were; Earth Ponies were hacked and slashed at with small serrated knives until they literally could not stand anymore, their muscles shredded and useless. The Pegasi had their wings removed in a similar manner and were left to bleed out, and the Unicorns - of which there were virtually none, most having been killed during the battle or later for fighting the Griffons pulling them from their homes - were held down, and their horns either sawed off or smashed with a sledgehammer reserved exclusively for the occasion.
Ironfeather grabbed a pony from the lot, sinking his talons into the stallion's skin and pulling him along. The Equestrian resisted slightly at first, but three fresh clawmarks across the face stopped such thoughts. He was a Pegasus, and so Ironfeather drew a knife and pushed his charge to the ground and grabbed his wing, forcing it to open. The Pegasus already knew what was going to happen, and tried to struggle and plead for mercy, until his captor screeched for him to shut up and delivered a swift stomp to his chest. The Griffon then placed the edge of his knife to the base of his prisoner's wing and slashed away, the resultant cries from the pony invoking a second kick, and then a third when he still refused to cease his whimpering.
The Griffon butchered the limb until only the bone remained, blood pouring from the wound and pooling at his paws, and he finally bent the wing forward and stomped on it, hearing the joint snap. He looked at the wing for a brief moment before tossing it aside and flipping the stallion over to repeat the process. By the time Ironfeather finished his work, crimson coated his forearms up to his elbows, and his paws left tracks wherever he stepped. The pony had long since gone into shock, eyes wide and jaw agape, and he barely moved until the Griffon forced him on his hooves. The Pegasi's formerly light brown coat was stained with blood, and it dripped from his sides as he was forced to walk towards the piled-up dead. Ironfeather gave one last kick to knock him onto the pile of corpses, where he remained.
The brutalities continued long after the last stallion had been killed. The Griffons did, in fact, return to the homes of the terrified ponies, all of whom begged for mercy from their atrocities. Ironfeather did not participate in the acts themselves, but all he had to hear was the cries of the fractured families inside the homes to know exactly what was going on. Eventually, the officers decided that enough was enough, knowing that if word should escape the conquered cities, other nations would finally try to help Equestria; they especially were concerned over what could happen if it reached the Lunars.
When the last of the Griffons emerged from the various homes reaffixing their belts and cloaks, they all chose the northernmost corner of the city and forced the inhabitants out of it, and then over the course of the day built up a small perimeter through the streets using materials torn off of other homes. Meanwhile, other Griffons patrolled and rounded up all the remaining Unicorn mares and watched the skies for attempted Pegasi escapes - after every magic-user was locked up without the ability to write letters and three Pegasi were killed, the city's silence had been ensured.
As Ironfeather emerged from his stolen home, he noticed multiple Griffons standing on and around the house that the higher-ranking officers had chosen for their headquarters. All of them were dead-silent, heads against the wall. The archer was about to call out to them, when one of the others raised a claw to his beak, and then signaled for Ironfeather to join the group on the roof. He nodded and took off, landing as quietly as he could on the roof, listening intently.
"...just captured this damn city, and now the Lunars ask for help?!" one of the officers cried.
"Nobody said we were giving the place up! We will leave a platoon behind to keep order, and we will return as soon as-"
"We will be vulnerable to counterattack from the south! A platoon - no matter how well trained - cannot hope to fight an army four times its size, which is exactly what the city of Stalliongrad has!"
"If we stay, what am I to tell Blackest Night? He knows of our capabilities - we demonstrated them long before this war - he won't accept a 'we can't make it' excuse. In fact, he might take it right up to Halfbeak himself, and then what?"
"And if we go, and the Celestials retake the city and tell everyone about what we've done, then what?"
Silence followed. "I will request that the First Airborne Battalion starts raiding Canterlot, and we can hope that the Celestials will deem their capital more important than some city in the north." came the eventual reply.
"Hope carries little meaning for me when relying on it risks the war."
"By Gryphus, what do you want from me?! I will have the First Airborne only attack Canterlot, if that's it!"
"I want you to keep our forces here, to repel any attempt at recapture at least until we have removed all evidence of our invasion."
"How, exactly, am I supposed to do that when the field officers practically encourage every member of the infantry to rape and pillage the city long after we've taken it over? We'd have to kill every mare here to ensure it never left the city, and then what would be the point of our fight if we've executed our charges?"
"These ponies scare easily. Just kill a few more and say they tried to escape, and they might never consider it."
"Maybe then will we send support to the Lunars?"
"Maybe, if they haven't solved their own problems by then."
"...Very well. I will have the troops begin their cleanup immediately." At this, the Griffons crowded on the building - now at numbers almost comical - flew from their perches. No sooner did the officer thrust his head from the window to begin repeating everything that the Griffons had already heard.
"Well, what do you make of them?" General Dark questioned. Aphelion shuffled the documents with his hoof.
"The story behind them is questionable, but other than that, I don't see any reason not to believe what they say. It's likely that it was just an act to confuse us," Aphelion replied. Meanwhile, Swift Breeze and Blackest Night looked on.
The black Unicorn spoke up. "If we sit here and remain indecisive, then their ploy has worked. The papers said five-hundred total Celestials in defense of Derbyshire and her walls - we double that, with cannon support no less. We wouldn't even need the Griffons if Stormwind and the marines hadn't gotten trapped in the strait."
"Yes, we will have to divert to Canterbury after this - judging by the letter Stormwind sent, if we don't get there soon, they will surely be sunk and killed," Breeze commented. "We may need those marines later."
"I agree, but if at all possible I want them to continue the plans set out when the fleet left the harbor unless it becomes absolutely necessary for them to be pulled back," replied Night. "As for Derbyshire, the letter is already sent and the Griffons - hopefully - on their way, so we will wait a short time for them, but after that, we attack."
The other generals nodded in agreement, and with their meeting over, they began to leave. The Second Lunar Battalion - led by Stonewall - and the First Artillery Company would be arriving by the end of the week, which would likely also serve as the date for the attack, Griffons or none.
Night fiddled with the device he found on Wavebreaker the night he was arrested. Another soldier who knew a little about Zebrican culture had told the Unicorn about the weapon and how to fire and reload the thing - it was just one variant of a gift usually reserved for Griffons who served in a war under command by the Zebras, and was often referred to by its owners as a 'talon-gun' or 'flintlock', and Night preferred the latter. It was loaded, as the Unicorn had found when he looked down the barrel in foalish curiosity.
He affixed it to his chest, and waited at the top of the hill overlooking Derbyshire, the city lights visible in the night. Not long after his meeting, the Celestials had begun to bombard the hill they knew the Lunar camps to be behind, but so far no serious damage had been incurred; it was a very narrow margin that the Celestials had to hit perfectly to do anything, lest their magic, arrows, and ballista bolts smash into the side of the hill or overshoot the camp entirely. General Stonewall and his ponies had arrived two days later, and the artillery company a day after that with an answer to the Celestial bombardment. Now, there were signs of damage in the wall - it was nowhere near as solid as originally thought - and necessity had produced a type of cannon shell that was hollow and filled with powder, causing a sizable explosion once the fuse burned down provided it was properly made and didn't explode upon firing.
Although he knew the Griffons wouldn't be able to respond unless a courier flew to the Lunars, Night had sent a second letter, just in case by some accident they had not seen the first one. They had not arrived, and the more the scouts reported on the numbers around Derbyshire, the more doubtful he became. Captured intelligence had said five hundred troops total, but there had been five hundred on the wall alone - while the Celestials were not known at this point for their stratagem, it seemed off that nopony would be in the city once the Lunars broke through, which would be easy on account of the two especially large sections of the wall that had been reduced to rubble.
The Unicorn left the hill and began to disperse his orders. The two battalions had evened out their numerical differences, and now both had just under six hundred ponies. They would both charge into the larger holes while the artillery temporarily ceased fire, as it could only reach a little behind the wall, and friendly fire was an unwanted risk. He called the troops to attention, and took his half of the army around the right side of the hill, and Stonewall took the other half. Breeze was to remain high above the battle with a separate squadron and report on any activity inside Derbyshire, and Dark was taking a few mages specializing in long-range attacks back with the cannons.
Night's battalion spread out into a crescent-like shape, with his lighter skirmishing infantry taking point two hundred yards in front of the center, and Stonewall had his do the same. The Celestials either hadn't noticed the Lunar forces - it was a half-moon tonight, and an attentive eye could make out the ponies as they moved - or were waiting for them to get closer. The Lunars kept a fast trotting pace on their advance, and the entry points were three hundred yards ahead. The skirmishers broke into a gallop, charging headlong into the fortifications and meeting their enemy head-on.
The Celestials suddenly opened fire with their spells; they had, in fact, been waiting. Fire quickly lit up the field, but unless the enemy scored a direct hit, the skirmishers were unfazed by a quick jaunt through the heat. Lunar mages fired back with their lightning, forcing the Celestials to keep their heads down, and Pegasi filled the air with their arrows as they chased each other down. The main battalion sped up as the walls suddenly exploded into a display of lights and shouting as the skirmishers met their Celestial equivalent. It would be another few minutes until the battalion arrived and relieved the advance force, and so Night pushed his troops even faster.
By the time he arrived, the skirmishers had begun to fall back, their numbers shockingly low. There wasn't time to question them, however - the Celestials were visible behind the wall, and their numbers were great. It was a terrible chokepoint he was marching into, but the Unicorn was confident, and ordered his soldiers onwards.
Night's company was first in line, followed quickly by the two on his left and right. Three lines of Celestial infantry greeted them - one was nothing but heavily armored Earth Ponies slightly larger than even General Stonewall, and the other two looked like slightly better equipped skirmishers. The Lunars continued amid flames and fallen soldiers. Night drew his older sword, unwilling to use the other, cursed blade just yet. Cannon shells and bolts of lightning flew overhead and landed behind or on the wall, but it seemed most shots were missing, with Dark unwilling to risk striking a fellow Lunar.
One of the heavy infantry swung a longsword at Night; the Unicorn ducked and prepared a spell while trying to stab at what looked like a gap in the Celestial's armor. His sword did nothing, and the heavy troop punched Night away, causing him to lose his concentration and misfire the spell, the lightning arcing high into the air. He rolled as the longsword flew downwards and split the dirt and jumped back on his hooves before kicking his opponent in the forelegs as he tried to pull the weapon up, knocking him away.
The Unicorn prepared another spell, only to be interrupted when a second Celestial charged and forced Night's attention away again. The Celestial died to Night's magic, by the time he turned to resume combat with the heavy soldier, the same pony had retrieved his longsword and was nearly upon the Lunar. He tried to direct the attack to the side rather than taking the brunt of the blow, and once again the sword hit the ground. Night thrust the tip of his sword into the hoof of the Celestial - the only exposed fur he could find - and twisted the blade, only to receive a laugh from his opponent. The Lunar gripped his sword with magic drive the thing further, until the soldier was effectively pinned to the ground by the sword. Night turned around and kicked the pony in the head, and he ceased to move.
All around him, other ponies were fighting and dying, and where one Celestial fell, it seemed two more took his place, fresh from the back lines. The Lunars put up their best, but they couldn't replenish their forces as quickly as their enemy, and were somewhat spent from their gallop long before the fighting began. Now that it was constant, they would become exhausted dangerously quickly. Night barely had time to tear his sword from the ground before three light infantry ganged up on him, and he moved back. A shell landing mere feet away made them all duck, and out of the corner of his eye, Night saw a row of Celestials crushed by the iron shot.
All three struck again and again, mostly clipping armor but sometimes drawing blood. One of them slipped up, and Night managed to hit him back, but took a solid strike on the foreleg in return. He lost his physical grip on the hilt of his blade, and as he cast the spell to pick it up again, the three Celestials lunged forwards, forcing Night to backpedal once more. He drew his other sword.
An unoccupied Lunar ran to Night's assistance, tackling one of the ponies. One of the other Celestial was momentarily distracted, allowing the Unicorn to surprise him by hacking at his face. The third pony attempted to knock Night away, but was headbutted rather harshly, and in his stunned state, also fell to Night's sword. He wondered how long it would be until the blade's magic took effect, and figured that the battle needed to be done before then. He nodded in gratitude as the other Lunar finished off his opponent with a quick jerk of the Celestial's head, snapping his neck.
The battle was not going well. The Lunars had been unable to push past the seemingly endless amount of Celestial troops, and the Celestials had yet to push out, resulting in the Lunars constantly having to throw themselves at their enemy or retreat; anything that would get them out of the chokepoint was being done. The Celestials hadn't used their magic at all, as it would kill far more than just the enemy, but any movement in the line could change that. A second heavy soldier crashed into Night and his ally, roaring and swinging a hammer the size of his own head, cratering the ground when he missed. The second Lunar took a hit in the side and was flung a few feet - with no time to charge, Night drew the flintlock, aimed it at the Celestial's body, and fired.
Fire and smoke erupted from the barrel and mechanism, and the target's neck twitched. At such a close range, Night could see where the soldier's armor had been torn and forced inward, and blood trickled from the wound. The pony choked and clutched his throat for a moment, but gripped his hammer up and turned to Night. Just as the Unicorn prepared to dodge, a bolt of lightning struck the brute in the chest, and he fell.
A Pegasus dived and landed in front of Night, shooting a nearby Celestial as he did. "General Night!" he cried, nearing the Unicorn. "Stonewall has fallen, and his battalion has begun to retreat!"
Night grabbed the pony by the collar and pulled him close. "You tell those bucking cowards that they will not retreat until I give the order, do you understand me!?" he shouted, pushing the Pegasus away as another Celestial attacked. The Unicorn put him down quickly, and another low cannonball slammed into the ramparts, scattering stone everywhere.
"Y-Yes sir!" the Pegasus replied, quickly flying off. The entry point was flooded with the bodies of the wounded and dead, and in spite of their best efforts, the Lunars were failing in their attack. Even as Night shouted and cursed, his own ponies were beginning to run from the fight, exhausted and terrified. Dammit! Luna forgive me, for we have lost this battle and it is my fault!
Despite every casualty the Celestials had taken, their lines remained strong, even in the face of sustained Lunar assault and cannonfire. Night finally succumbed to the fact that he needed to retreat before everypony died, and scaled piece of rubble and shouted, "Lunars! To the rear!" A Celestial had the gall to try and strike the general as he stood upon the stone, and consumed by hate, he lunged down and tackled the pony, sword dropped to the ground. He punched the pony repeatedly as he clawed at the dirt for his sword, and upon gripping it, angled the tip downwards and stabbed the soldier through the neck. Another Celestial, taking advantage of his distraction, raised his sword and prepared to strike, and Night looked up just in time to see the blade falling. He tried to lean back and avoid the blow.
The sword seemed to falter for a second, and the Celestial lurched forwards. The very tip of the sword sliced over Night's right eye, blinding that half of his vision, and he covered his eye with a hoof. His attacker staggered forwards and fell onto the Unicorn, unmoving and extremely heavy, an arrow sticking out the back of his neck.
Dozens of large, black forms soared just above the wall, screeching and calling, and the Celestials suddenly began to panic, confused. Their Pegasi were suddenly falling from the sky, dead, and their mages hadn't fired a shot in warning. Somepony shouted about Griffons, and the infantry - now without the ability to attack airborne targets - broke rank and got split up trying to find cover. Fresh Lunars, realizing their chance at redemption, surged forwards and let out a warcry; "For Luna! " they shouted, "For the Regency! "
Night struggled to push the Celestial corpse away, feeling the first of his victim's thoughts creeping into his mind. There wasn't much time left. A Lunar saw his struggle and rushed to his side, pulling the Unicorn to his hooves. "Are you alright, sir?" he asked, staring at the massive cut running down the general's face. He wiped the blood away - his eye was fine, and the cut was shallow.
"I will be better once that city flies our flag," Night replied, picking up his sword. He looked at the Lunar's side - a Pegasus. "Find the Griffon commander, and direct him to me, would you?"
"Yes sir," the pony replied, taking off. The Griffon infantry had blocked off the path back into the city, and the archers were chasing them off into the night, picking the retreating ponies at every chance - very few of them would escape this battle. Very few Celestials were still inside, making the capture of Derbyshire itself rather trivial. The Pegasus soon returned to Night, with the presumed commander in tow. "Here he is," said the Pegasus.
"General Night, a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I am Major Graytail of the Second Airborne Battalion," the Griffon said, extending his talons. Night reached forward and shook the appendage.
"I don't mean to come off as ungreatful, but it-" the Unicorn suppressed a groan as a second set of thoughts entered his mind. "-took you long enough."
"Don't worry about it. I myself would never refuse a call for help from an ally, unlike my Lieutenant Colonel.
"Thankfully, however, I was able to convince most of the battalion to take flight with me. Steelclaw wanted us to remove all evidence of our presence there, an impossible task that I knew was only to keep us there until the King ordered us forwards. He won't be pleased about it, but frankly if you had been defeated here, nobody would be pleased," Graytail explained.
"What do you-" Another sting hit the Unicorn, like some icy spike driven into his head, but he continued. "What do you mean, 'remove evidence'?"
"It's... touchy. We have a strict policy regarding ponies fighting after their guard surrenders, and that's as far as I'll go into it."
Night was out of time and unwilling to push further at this moment. "If you say so. Take the city, come to me when it's done. I need some time alone."
"As you wish, General."
Night turned and stumbled out the eastern side of the wall as his allies left. The Unicorn found a small niche in the wall, he struggled to remain conscious against the onslaught of memories from four different ponies. The pony vomited into the hole in the wall, nearly collapsing. Not long after, he was consumed by a terrible fit of coughing and heaving that left his lungs burning for air and his throat feeling ragged. Weakened, he staggered a few feet away and fell, his vision fading in and out of focus as thoughts bombarded his mind - he did his best to block them out, a fog falling over his mind. He passed out before the worst of it could begin.
Some time later, Night's eyes opened again and realizing where he was, clambered to his hooves. Hoping to at least get the slightest bit of rest before the Griffon returned, he started the short journey back to the Lunar camp. He needed a drink of something to get the faint taste of blood out of his mouth, and maybe a new alternative sword. That, and reload the flintlock, provided he could find what he needed in the camp, as well as bathe and get his wounds dressed-
On second thought, he may not be getting any rest.
With half the population on the front lines and the other half soon to join, Europa was becoming a troubled city. Silver looked around, noting how many of the Lunar guards were now mares, seeing as the original roster got pulled to the front lines. Very few ponies walked the streets outside of the occasional guard patrol, and nearly every damaged home had remained that way since the attack; all too likely was the aspect of the port remaining in this state of ruination until the war ended.
The Pegasus trotted onto the docks and looked at the moon's reflection in the water - there was little else to do, and he intended to leave with Dusk when the Earth Pony was declared fit for duty. Hopefully he might get to talk to Night again, maybe even record some of the events and happenings on the war - it would make for a fine story some day.
Silver heard voices from behind. He turned and saw a group of Celestial laborers approaching, a duet of female guards watching them closely. They paid no mind to the lone Pegasus sitting on the end of the dock. The prisoners all sat down and waited, probably expecting a ship to pull into the harbor at some point or another to begin their work. Pegasi had their wings tied tightly around their waist, and it looked like the Unicorns had some sort of inhibitor over their horns. After a time, he noticed that one of the ponies kept casting glances down the dock, looking away every time Silver turned back around. The Unicorn looked vaguely familiar, but with his scraggly coat and unkempt mane, it was hard to be sure.
There was some murmuring from the group, and a couple other ponies were now staring at Silver, and then looking back to the Unicorn - he must have been the ringleader of the prisoners, perhaps a former officer. There were only two guards, and they were behind the group; the Pegasus wondered if they could respond quickly enough to any incident. The Unicorn stepped forwards, stopping a couple feet from Silver.
"I remember you. Wavebreaker told me that you and your friend were deserters, and I let you go," the Unicorn said, his voice quiet but full of malice. "I'm not making that mistake again."
Silver was about to crack some witty response about how he'll never be able to, when the Unicorn swung a vicious right hook, striking the Pegasus in the jaw. His head jerked to the side and he was thrown off balance, recovering just in time to take another blow from the left, bringing Silver to the ground.
"Hey! What's going on?!" shouted a guard.
"Move out of the way, or it's the gallows for all of you!" said the other, trying to push their way through. Both must have been Earth Ponies, or they might have gotten to Silver's end of the dock by now.
Silver tried to stand, only to have his legs kicked out from below. Stargazer reared back and slammed downward on the wood, but the Pegasus finally composed himself and dodged the strike, and Stargazer's hooves smashed through the dock wood. Silver let out a kick aimed for the Unicorn's head, only to miss - Stargazer ducked - and give the pony the chance to escape the broken wood.
The Unicorn lunged at Silver, who took off just a tad bit too slow, allowing the pony to catch a hoof and unbalance the Pegasus. Silver was slammed down into the wood face-first, and in an instant Stargazer was upon him, a foreleg locked around his neck. The guards had decided it acceptable to hack and slash through the stubborn audience of prisoners, only finding that the ponies were more than willing to fight back even if unarmed; they certainly had the advantage of numbers. Silver was doing everything he could to dislodge Stargazer from his back, from madly flapping his wings - which accomplished little other than thrashing them both around the dock - to throwing his head backwards to elbowing Stargazer in the side repeatedly, but the former admiral had a vice grip.
There was a call for backup from one of the guards, quickly answered by three other Pegasi who shot the prisoners nearest the two Earth Ponies. The rest ceased fighting now that they no longer held a distinct advantage, and Silver and Stargazer were separated amid shouts and more blows. Silver fell forwards, coughing and weak, and he heard sounds of a brief struggle between the Unicorn and the other Pegasi - they passed Silver a few seconds later, an unconscious Stargazer in tow. A couple other Lunars showed up to escort the rebellious prisoners back to their camp, and some dead prisoners - and maybe some still alive - were kicked into the water.
"Hey, are you alright? Aren't you Regent Night's friend?" a Pegasus guard asked, leaning over next to Silver.
"Yes, I am. I'll be fine here in a bit," he replied, standing up on shaking legs. "Just need to get my breath back."
The dark gray mare offered herself as a support. "My name's Private Cloudburst, I'll get you to the infirmary. It may be a short trot, but you took a beating."
"Yeah, I know..."
The two ponies left the dock and took a right curve to the streets, passing the escorted prisoners. They took a turn-filled path through the scarred Europa until they could see the infirmary at the end of the road. The black-tailed mare sometimes made little comments; most where rhetorical in nature, with only one eliciting a response from the beaten stallion.
"You know, I believe that was the first time the prisoners have acted up outside their camp."
"Really?"
"Yeah, we can usually keep their resolve pretty low - they don't get to see then sun and they don't hear anything but bad news from the front. Hay, even if they did start an uprising, what do they do? Europa's already been ruined, and the citizens that came back know the way to Io or Amalthea if they need to bail. It's really just soldiers and shipping supplies here now, and with how little a stockpile of the latter this city had after the attack, destroying them would be a waste of time," Cloudburst explained. "If I was in their hooves, risking my neck to spite some Lunars would be the last thing on my mind."
"The need for revenge will drive a pony mad." Just look at Night...
"True. What exactly did you do to make that one insane, though?"
"I'm part of the reason that every pony we pulled out of the sea is here today," Silver said, walking up the steps to the infirmary. He opened the door and pushed it open enough to allow the mare to enter right behind him. A nurse quickly noticed Silver's face and led the ponies into a small side room, asking that they wait a moment for her to return.
"Oh?" commented the guard, once the nurse had left. "And how'd that come about, if I may ask?"
"Another Lunar and I posed as deserters fleeing to Zebrica on a shady merchant's ship - you may remember him as Wavebreaker, he was executed about a week ago - when we were stopped by the Celestial's flagship for a deal between our captain and the Celestial fleet admiral. The Unicorn that attacked me-" Silver stopped as the nurse returned, carrying a couple rags. "-was the fleet admiral, and he would have taken both of us into custody if not for Wavebreaker informing him that Blackest Night was in Europa.
"Once we were in Zebrica, my friend and I convinced Foalami to help the Lunar cause with his navy, and then you have the Second Battle of Europa," the Pegasus finished, allowing the nurse to hold a cold rag over the right side of his face and wrap the second one loosely around his neck.
"Hold these here for a bit. Are you breathing alright?" the nurse asked.
"Yes."
"Can you see properly when the rag is out of the way?"
Silver moved the cloth off his face. "Yes."
"Good. And what of you? Are you injured somewhere?" the nurse asked, turning towards the guard.
"I'm fine. Just escorting him around," the private replied, nodding to Silver. The nurse nodded and left the room.
Cloudburst decided to remove her helmet for the time being, placing it by her side. She let her white mane fall from where the armor had held it against her neck, ending a few inches past her shoulders. Silver was a little surprised that it all fit under the helmet. The mare kept going, kicking off her hoofguards and loosening her chestpiece, commenting on how she disliked the fit - the stallion caught himself staring, and averted his eyes before she noticed.
The nurse returned with a clipboard, recorded Silver's name, and said that he was good to go but should return if any issues arose. He thanked her, and heard his self-declared escort sigh in frustration, "Just as I was getting comfortable, too!" before putting everything back on. When she was done, Silver held the door open and let her go through first, and repeated his actions at the entrance to the streets. Once they were outside, Cloudburst said, "I guess I can bring you home, if you want. Not much else to do, I'm sure somepony already told the commander what happened."
"If you're okay with it, then so am I," Silver replied. "It's back the way we came, sort of close to the docks."
The ponies began their trot, slower than before. They talked a little more this time as well, their conversation ranging from Luna being worshiped as more than a princess to stopping the change of the seasons in at least part of Equestria to high-speed Pegasus flight until they finally arrived at Silver's doorstep - a moderately dilapidated house, boasting boarded windows facing the bay and two gaping holes in the roof, reportedly from a missed cannon shot.
Silver approached and opened the door. "Well, this is it. Thanks for the walk," he said, looking back at Cloudburst.
"Wait, you mean you're Blackest Night's best friend and he makes you live in this ?!"
"Oh, come on, it's not that bad. My bedroom's dry and warm, and that's all I care about when it comes to houses. I'm only in this thing until I leave Europa - I have a perfectly fine home in Amalthea."
"If that's how you see it. I personally just prefer my houses battle-damage free," Cloudburst said, turning around. "Be sure to put in a good word with Night for me," the mare continued, smiling.
Rune leaned over his map, hooves on his head. He needed sleep. He needed a drink - but he also needed to win, because Equestria's situation grew more dire by the moment. He glanced over the map, which only increased the load on his mind.
The Derbyshire Line was gone, crushed under the hooves and talons of their enemies. Derbyshire itself put up a good fight - the citizens weren't going to fall so easily, not with the numbers they had - but reports said a quarter of the city was destroyed and a third of the defenders slaughtered. Blackest Night's cruelty was probably one of his greatest advantages; as long as he didn't kill all the ponies...
The Celestials held their sense of morality over the Lunars like a carrot over a timberwolf.
Rune's horn bumped the table when he nodded off briefly, the sudden jolt of pain snapping him back to attention. The Unicorn stood up straight for a moment and let out an exasperated sigh. He needed to know the Lunar's weaknesses, not their strengths, but right now he felt like they had none - superior weaponry, better training, control of the skies - and what advantages the Celestials had were slowly dwindling - numerical superiority was lost at Derbyshire, morale was six feet under, and all their supplies were being stolen by Griffon raiders.
Of course, it wasn't going to do any good if he focused on his own weaknesses as well. Come on, think! What do we have that the Lunars don't? The Unicorn pulled out a piece of paper and a quill, and started scribbling everything that came to mind.
Well, Equestria had a hell of a lot more land. Had , at least, in the beginning. Equestria still had many more cities though... Cities. Ponies. Reserves. Potential reserves, at least - most ponies knew of the atrocities committed by their enemy, and a significant number would avoid fighting for that reason, but they could be convinced. Rune wrote down 'Population' under Equestria.
'Experience,' 'Morale,' and 'Weaponry' went under the Lunars. The Unicorn thought about giving them 'Naval' as well - the Lunar Armada may be in shambles, but they at least still had some ships. He gave 'Alicorn' and 'Elements' to Equestria, but unless he could convince Celestia to fight, both might be worthless. The Lunars also got 'Alliance,' a word now unknown to those who previously considered Equestria a friend. Equestria got 'Defense' - even if so far they hadn't been any good at it - followed by 'Trade,' as long as their ports were kept out of enemy hooves then lost supplies could still be restocked to some extent. The Celestial yawned.
Alright, now how do I change all of this?
Rune looked back at his map, and back to 'Morale' on his list, and back to the map again. There was a force in Stalliongrad; not an especially large one, but it would do. Trottingham, or Dappleshore? The first was closer, but the second would prevent Canterbury from being cut off - though with there now being a large Griffon presence to the east instead of the north, and with the regular raids west of Canterlot still proceeding as normal...
Either the Griffons had new recruits, or they just diverted half their force to the Lunar advance and left the northernmost area of Equestria empty. Rune figured he could take the risk; he wrote up a command for the ponies at Stalliongrad to advance northeast and reclaim Trottingham and Dappleshore, and set it on his desk. He made a second order for the soldiers in Hoofington to fill the gap by moving north. Hopefully, the Celestials actually taking something for once would restore their confidence. He marked out 'Morale'.
The Unicorn looked back at his map, specifically to the plains that the remains of the First Regiment were scattered on, with the Lunars chasing them down. There was a village in the middle of the plans - Horseforth. Rune knew it had some local guards, and with the casualties suffered by the First Regiment, there was no guarantee he could contact a living commander, so he wrote up something for the village: a request to find the retreating regiment - if they hadn't been found already - and a warning that the Lunars would be upon them soon - again, if it hadn't already occurred.
Rune yawned again. How late was it, anyways? He had no way to tell. The pony grabbed Canterbury's report on the damages caused to the stalled Lunar Armada - more than half of the ships had been destroyed, or so they figured, and the rest weren't much better off - Rune wondered if Blackest Night planned on saving them, and if so, how . In another week, there might not be any Lunar ships left. He made another letter warning Colonel Hail of a possible Lunar assault from the rear, as well as the recommendation that coastal defenses be turned inland and that some defensive fortifications be prepared.
The advantage offered by the Lunar cannons could at least be nullified if Celestial forces could get close enough to steal one and later find out how to make their own, but just getting close to the cannons would be a feat - though, there were plenty of ships sitting at the bottom of the Canterbury Strait, and probably plenty of the Zebra-made weapon inside, if they could be recovered. The rest of the Lunar Armada would need to sink or leave before any salvage attempt could be made.
The general pondered how much he could do to pad the numbers of the army from his spot in the war room - well, admittedly it wasn't much. Rune started writing up notifications for the other large cities - Cloudsdale, Manehattan, Hoofingston, Fillydelphia, and Canterlot itself - to prepare for a possible influx of recruits, as he intended to convince Princess Celestia to give out a call to arms before her subjects. Maybe the Alicorn would be roused to action by her own speech, if she did it well enough.
At least now he could say he might have truly done something to better Equestria's position, seeing as her so-called allies didn't want to be part of a losing war that could drag on far past Night's death - Halfbeak wouldn't let his beloved tax-free mountain path be taken so easily now that he had invested so much into it, and who knew what promise the Lunars had made to the Zebras to get them to help.
Rune sent his orders, and now thoroughly exhausted, stumbled off to bed.
"My King, I bear news from the war across the sea," the Zebra courier said, crouching so low to the ground that he may as well have been laying down. And yet, his head bowed lower.
King Foalami sighed. It had been so long since the Lunar emissaries came over that he had nearly forgotten about them. He pointed a hoof at the crouched Zebra and raised it slowly - the courier rose with it, as if on a string. With his other hoof, Foalami signaled for Adisa to come to his side. The king whispered into his speaker's ear, and leaned back into his throne.
"King Foalami wishes to know what you know," Adisa said.
The courier looked down. "My King, the ships and crews you gave to the Lunars have taken heavy losses."
The king pulled his speaker close again. "King Foalami wishes to know how heavy the losses are."
"My King, we have lost nearly twenty vessels, with crew and supplies."
King Foalami's eye twitched. He leaned back, and placed a hoof over his forehead in thought. There were not supposed to be so many ships sunk, not with their superior armament, and not with their superior crews. What was to be told to the families of the dead?
He had accepted the one-sided Lunar deal because he was confident in a flawless victory, and the Lunars were allies. Now, reparations would need to be made - some stupid engraved wall that no Zebra would ever see in return for hundreds of Zebras and nearly a quarter of his fleet was no longer something he would agree to as a friend. Foalami grabbed Adisa's foreleg and nearly yanked him over.
"King Foalami declares these losses unacceptable, and demands that you tell the Lunars that they must repay him."
The courier nodded and bowed. "My King, what should they give?"
The king thought a moment. What could he get out of the Lunars, anyways? Too much, and he might actually cripple their ability to fight, or make an enemy of their returning princess. Too little was, well, exactly that. Prisoners of war for use as slaves would be useful, if they could be brought over without the risk of rebellion on board the ships. Maybe a city or two wrestled from Equestria? A colony did sound nice, and now could be his chance to have one. Foalami stroked his chin.
"King Foalami would like no less than two coastal Equestrian cities to add to Zebrica's control," Adisa parroted. "The cities will be left intact, and all inhabitants prevented from leaving. That is all."
The king waved his hoof at the courier, who lowered himself to the ground to leave, practically sliding along the ground. Adisa returned to his original spot a yard away from the throne, and Foalami contemplated what he would do with his future cities.
"We believe that our next move should be to take Canterbury, and finally relieve Stormwind's fleet," Swift Breeze said, a hoof on the peninsula. "The few repair vessels going there will be useless unless we get the armada out of that fjord."
"How many Celestials are there? If their numbers are small enough, I would be more than happy to take a detachment of Griffons down there myself," Graytail replied.
"If you wish. We still need to complete our takeovers of all the Celestial ports, and if General Night allows it-" the Pegasus said, nodding to Night, "-then I'm fairly certain we will all be going down south anyways."
Night nodded, but continued his silent streak. The process brought about by his sword, combined with the battle and his injuries, had just about made him a dead pony walking. Unless he had a very good reason to so much as open his mouth, he would stay quiet - though, with Aphelion continuing to blame every last death in Derbyshire on himself, the Unicorn may have some talking to do after all.
"I agree. At any rate, cutting off Equestria's supplies will likely be the better option. If we force the issue when they are incapable of fighting, they stand even less of a chance," Dark said. "If Celestia has to watch as her ponies starve and her soldiers are sent out to fight unequipped, then she will perhaps be more open to surrender, if only to ease the suffering of her populace."
"Better yet, what if we could make the war unpopular in Equestria? Convince the masses that Celestia doesn't care about them. Spread rumors. Bring up their flaws and previous losses. A little bit of propaganda here, some lies there, until they turn on her, soldiers and civilians alike," suggested Breeze. Graytail nodded.
"And, as you have said, if this all happens while the Celestials barely have the will to fight, then the effect would be massive! Why, we could drop papers full of this stuff on their camps and cities before even showing up, and have them surrendering by the time we arrive!" the Griffon exclaimed, standing over the table. "I'll have some of my brighter soldiers start thinking up ideas for this propaganda - we could even make this a specialist role in our armies!"
Night watched the Griffon carefully. He and his generals had discussed things like propaganda before, but using it against the Celestials never really struck them as a good idea; they also never got so enthusiastic about it. The Unicorn wondered what could be driving the bird to such heights - maybe Halfbeak had demanded fewer losses? Fewer battles? He would ask Graytail if he got the chance. The black pony also looked towards Aphelion, who was still sitting with his head down. The other Unicorn looked away when Night tried to make eye contact.
Swift Breeze turned to his right to face Night. "I agree, this is something to consider. What do you think, sir?"
"If it means less Lunar deaths," Night said, grimacing at the subdued hoarseness of his voice, "then do it. Just make sure it doesn't become a greater priority than fighting when we need to."
The whole table looked at him. "By the moon, are you ill?" Dark asked, leaning forward a bit. Night shook his head.
"No, uh... it's nothing. We know what our plans are, this meeting is dismissed," the Unicorn said, shaking his head and raising his hoof.
"Are you sure the doctor didn't miss anything? You sounded fine earlier," Graytail added.
Night was in no mood to be pried at. He exited the tent and made for his quarters before anymore questions could be asked. His wounds had been treated, but whatever numbing salve the doctor had used felt like it was already wearing off, and the Unicorn desperately wanted to be asleep before he could feel everything again - not to mention that the bandage across his face made him feel clumsy, not being able to see out of one eye and all.
He pushed open the flap to his tent. The Unicorn's armor had been unceremoniously tossed into a heap on the floor while the doctor had treated his wounds, and Night hadn't yet picked it up. He did so now, nudging it into a semi-orderly pattern near the tent entrance. The wretched sword remained at his hooves, having been hidden under the armor. It was sheathed, but there appeared to be a fang-like protrusion jutting out from near the tip of the scabbard, not to mention a much more tapered point coming out of the scabbard tip.
The first couple inches of the scabbard appeared to be split along the edge, as well. Sighing, Night gripped the sheath and his sword, and attempted to pull them apart - no easy task considering he was trying to cut metal, thanks to the tooth sticking out near the tip. Multiple tries with different positions yielded small results, and eventually Night had brought the furthest end of the blade about halfway down. Now, he began to wiggle the weapon around a bit, cutting into the edge of the scabbard until it finally gave way and he wrenched his blade free. The sheath was useless now - he tossed it aside.
Engravings on the blade had changed, too; more detail, to the point of there being smaller engravings atop the larger ones. The pommelstone was doing it's usual trick of glowing obscenely bright, but it appeared that a small amount of metal had grown to shape a partial claw over the miniature sun. He eventually decided that he had stared at the haunted object for long enough, and placed it over his armor, concealing the glow of the stone under his helmet. The Unicorn trotted off to his bedroll, wanting the night to be done with in hopes of feeling a bit better once he woke up.
Silver waited as Dusk finished packing his saddlebags, sometimes lending the Earth Pony a hoof if there was something he couldn't quite reach. The Pegasus already had his own bags packed, which were currently under his wings. He didn't plan on flying, but he hoped that the bags wouldn't interfere with his motion if he needed to.
Dusk looked like he was finished, his bags topped off - he was an Earth Pony, after all - and his longsword strapped to his left flank under one of his bags. "All set?" Silver asked. Dusk nodded.
"The rest of the squad should be at the gates pretty soon. Let's get there before they do."
Silver turned and opened the door for his friend, and then followed him out. It was a calm spring night, and the streets were slightly less abandoned than usual - or so it seemed, until Silver looked a little closer and realized that they were all soldiers. Not long after the Pegasus had been beaten up by Stargazer, the local guards had to finish loading the supply ships themselves because the other Celestial prisoners started to follow his example. Now, with more guards being brought in from Io or conscripted here, the violence would hopefully cease - at least, until those guards were also called to the front lines.
The two ponies kept on their way through the streets, sometimes greeting other guards or the much rarer non-enlisted citizen. No groups of Celestial slaves were out, with their recent behavior keeping them locked up - in their place, some other locals were checking and double-checking the transport vessels and replacement warships, some of which appeared to be made out of scrapped houses and captured Royal Navy ships. Silver wondered if Wavebreaker's ship was among them.
Silver hadn't been to Amalthea in well over a month, and hoped that at least the Lunar capital would have some more liveliness to it. The two ponies arrived at the gatehouse, where they found three other ponies waiting - two young stallions, and a mare from the docks. To pass time, Silver and Dusk started acquainting themselves with the other Lunars, and found that the two stallions had just been conscripted to receive training in the field, and the mare had been one of the dock-guards beating up Celestial slaves the night Silver had been assaulted.
More and more ponies arrived, until they numbered at around ten; five stallions including Dusk, and five mares. According to one of the latter, this was the only unit being sent out tonight with such an even ratio. While there hadn't been an official order allowing mares on the front line, the only way to fill troop requests was with mares, but the higher-ups responsible for unit composition at least tried to stick some stallions in their midst. Not all good news for the stallions, though, as there were several rules in play regarding relationships and whatnot, and it was made clear that each unit would be divided up evenly among the front-line companies.
All they needed now was a commanding officer, likely a lieutenant of some sort. The Lunars waited patiently, and continued waiting for nearly a quarter of an hour before the gatehouse captain walked in through the door, looked around and then walked straight over to Dusk, who had decided to sit next to Silver.
"Are you Dusk Shadows?" he asked.
"Yes, sir."
"I presume this group is waiting for their commander, correct?"
"Yes, sir."
The Pegasus nodded, and waved a Unicorn over. "Congratulations, you've just made First Lieutenant," he said, turning to the Unicorn. "Care to clear the rank on his armor?"
Dusk's eyes widened. "Wait, wha-"
"You're the only pony in this group with real combat experience, and we don't have enough ponies like you to be slapping you all into one group. These new recruits - for the most part - barely know how to march, and we don't have the numbers, time, or resources here in Europa to spend on training them otherwise," the captain explained. The Unicorn's horn glowed, and shortly after, a black rectangle had been burned onto Dusk's armor, mostly covering the previous engraving.
The rest of the ponies had noticed what was happening, and repeatedly looked from Dusk's scorched-on rank to the captain who ordered it in surprise. The Earth Pony finally came to his senses after a few more seconds, and called for his new unit to go outside. They followed, a little hesitant at first and with some minor comments about why the pony who just walked out of the infirmary half an hour ago was now in charge, but they quieted up once outside. Dusk used what he had learned from taking orders previously to get the Lunars into a semi-orderly formation before the captain stepped in and informed the new officer on what he had done right and wrong.
Silver looked down the road while the instructing continued, spotting two guards dragging a limp body between them. Confused, Silver approached them slowly, until he recognized the pony being pulled across the ground despite the numerous lacerations, bruises, and the muzzle and blindfold covering his face - Stargazer.
The Unicorn also had shackles covering his wrists, the chains between his legs appearing to be just long enough to allow for a moderately fast walk, at best. There were also a pair of bars and a length of rope strapped to his side, and the muzzle was attached to a very uncomfortable looking collar. When the ponies dragging their charge reached Dusk's unit - who were now also looking in awe at the wounded form before them - they threw Stargazer forward into the dirt, and when he refused to rise to his hooves, the Unicorn received a swift kick to the ribs.
"Oh, right, I forgot to mention: you're bringing a guest of importance with you to the front. Regent Night requested that any high-ranking officers slated for execution be brought to him. Less fun for us, but he has his reasons. Bastard's a bad influence on the other prisoners anyways.
"Do what you want with him - pack animal, stress reliever, whatever - just make sure hes alive and in one piece when you reach Night's camp," the officer finished, looking at Stargazer with a hint of disgust. The ponies who had carried the prisoner then kicked him from behind, resulting in the Unicorn stumbling forwards and nearly falling down again.
One of the younger mares spoke up. "Who exactly... is he?"
"Formerly Admiral Stargazer, partially responsible for the current state of Europa," the captain answered. "We've had him for a while. Regent Night thought he could find something for him to do - aside from hauling crates - but nopony here could think of a single thing that we could really trust a captured Celestial to do."
The ponies all glared at the disheveled Unicorn, who had gone from looking pissed off at life to cowering and looking away from the other Lunars. A stallion spoke up. "And... The other?" he asked, malice in his voice.
"His head rolled two weeks ago. Wavebreaker, I think." The Pegasus looked to Dusk and Silver. "But, I didn't have much involvement. If you really must know all of their exploits, your new lieutenant and his friend will know."
A powerful gust of wind ripped through Night's tent, uprooting it's stakes and sending the heavy fabric soaring through the sky. Night was blown down onto his side, and his bedroll followed soon after - even his armor, as heavy as it was, rolled along the ground and faded from sight.
The Unicorn stood up against the wind, dazed. Looking around, he found himself completely alone. As far as he could see, the land around him was a wasteland of ash dunes and wind tinted with red light. He looked up, and found the sun - an equally red orb partially concealed behind fast-moving clouds - beginning to set. It vanished from sight mere seconds later, and the field went dark under a starless, moonless sky.
Night tried to gather his thoughts. There's no way this is Luna's dimension, and if it is, then something bad has happened and I need to find her, he thought, slowly plodding forward. The red sun suddenly rose up to his right, beginning its' swift journey over the wastes. The wind blew into the Lunar from his right, causing his mane to whip about wildly, like some purple flame spouting from his neck and head.
He traveled between the dunes whenever he could, which helped in dealing with the wind but every now and then he still had to hike up to the top of one to look for landmarks. There never were any, though - just the same landscape of ever-shifting hills of red. The pony kept going, and as he crested the largest dune yet, a feeling of anxiety washed over him. He hadn't liked it much to begin with, but now he liked it even less. He wanted to turn around, run away even, anything but keep on his course.
Looking around from his hill, he could see no reason for himself to feel this way. The landscape was the same as before, and even had a serene, disconnected beauty to it. He kept scanning the horizon, his body yelling at him to get away, until he noticed something far off between the clouds and blizzard-like winds; a mountain, quickly vanishing and reappearing as the wind blew and the light changed.
"Why do you hesitate?" a voice boomed in Night's ears, reverberating through his mind. The pony grimaced, and his uneasy feeling strengthened. "Come forward."
Night shook his head and continued, heading down the steep hill. It started to blow away soon after. At least now he knew something hadn't happened to Luna, or at least it was less likely. He kept on dragging himself through the wind and ash, mentally keeping track of the direction of the mountain. It would be a while, though - it had looked to be very far away. The blood-red sun would rise and fall many, many times before he arrived.
The pony soon lost track of how many times it completed the cycle, instead just watching his shadow shrink in one direction and grow in the other over and over. At least in this alternate world he only felt mentally exhausted, rather than physically; otherwise, he would have collapsed long ago.
Something caught his eye - odd, considering that the land was the same for endless miles. It was a set of hoofprints in the ash, not far from him. Night blundered over to the tracks and found that they were not uniform, but rather haphazard, as if whoever made them was some staggering drunkard. He followed them - they were leading towards the mountain, anyhow - and found that they cut off abruptly, with only what looked like the imprint of a body. Night felt an evanescent pain ripple through his body, focusing on his foreleg and his chest.
"Do you ever wonder..." rambled the voice. Night watched in shock as more prints appeared in the snow, continuing what the body-print had formerly stopped, "why you survived? How the one you call Dusk escaped?" The hoofprints continued for a while, much more normal than the ones Night had followed, until they left the safety behind the dune and vanished in the wind.
"Do you know the reason?" the voice continued. There was a presence here with the Unicorn, somewhere in the ash and wind. Dark shapes moved in and out of the edges of his vision - Night ignored them, passing it off as tricks played by the dust. The mountain didn't feel any closer, but he knew there was no way he hadn't closed at least some distance.
"No," came Night's reply, once he realized that the question wasn't rhetorical. He had to cough up some ash when it was blown down his throat.
Something that sounded vaguely like laughter echoed around the pony. "You see, you are not the only one to ever be wronged by Celestia. Her disregard for anypony but herself runs far deeper than the so-called historians dare to say."
Please, you are preaching to the converted, the Unicorn thought. He kept on his struggle towards the mountain - surely it had to be closer, right? Perhaps it was just so incomprehensibly huge that he would have to walk for quite some time before it appeared closer.
"She slew a young Griffon who helped her and her sister in their earliest years when they disagreed. She promised that the creatures who remained in Discord's wake would be allowed to hold on to the Everfree, and then purged the forest the following month so she could build a new city instead. She promised that I might be reformed and freed, and then she sent me to Cervidas without so much as a spark of containing magic, dooming the Elkine.
"Now, she banishes her sister and declares war on her followers, and finds it odd that you disagree; then, you, the pony struck most gravely by her evils, the pony leading the great Lunar crusade, dies ." Through the wind, Night felt something breathe down his neck and continue on down his spine. He shivered.
"Or... does he?" Night felt a very faint sensation of pain in his forelegs and chest. The wind around him seemed to carry with it the smell of burnt fur, and he felt cold.
"I had watched Equestria for hundreds of years, waiting for somepony to rise up and challenge the sun itself, but they never did. They loved it too much. Even the Griffons, displeased with the disappearance of their hero, lacked the dedication to wage war on Equestria. A great deal of my remaining power I wasted on those cowards, just to see them sign a treaty or give in to other demands. And so I continued to wait."
The ashen clouds over Night cleared for a brief moment, revealing the crimson sun as it raced across the sky. For a pony who already felt anxious when in normal sunlight, he didn't like being under this type any better. Even darkness in this strange world left him feeling on edge, an occurrence that he had never experienced before.
"For a time, I entertained the thought of using my power to turn Luna against her sister, but she turned on her own and failed long before I was ready. However, you had not escaped my notice. Your mortality and lack of influence that the Elements had on you made you much easier to mold, and better yet, you were in a position of power to lead an entire rebellion against Celestia - you became more enticing than every other choice I had.
"I made my preparations, slowly managing to penetrate the ancient spell splitting my power between these two realms. I had nearly broken free after several years of concentration, but to my misfortune, I found that you had were dying before I was ready. However, to pick another pony to serve me was out of the question - the rest of your kind lacked your level of dedication. I ceased trying to break free entirely, and focused my strength to get a single spell through - I took control of your corpse, and delivered you to your city so that your kin could restore you."
Night had stopped moving, once again on the crest of a dune. All this time, I've been... dead? He waited for the voice to keep talking, but at the same time he wanted to go back to reality. The Unicorn felt sick to his very core. "Now what?" he whispered into the wind, turning so that the ash didn't flood his mouth again.
The voice did not respond for a long time. "Now, you must restore my own power. The blade your friends retrieved serves us both - you glean wisdom and strength from those it kills, and I slowly regain the power I lost when I had to revive you. You shall transform as I originally willed, ascending from the lowliness of the ponies around you; I will return to Equestria, and reclaim the final victory over Celestia."
"And what of Luna?" the Lunar asked, looking around as if he expected the source of the voice to appear to him. The being didn't hold Celestia in very high regard, so it seemed plausible he hated her sister too - if so, then this wasn't going to work out very well.
"What about her?" came the echoing reply. Night winced a little. "She hardly exists now but for history. No, while she may be your nation's motivation... you no longer serve her above all."
Night thought he saw something on the wind - a tall, black figure, just standing there. He blinked and it was gone. "Then who do I serve?" he spat.
"You serve me! " the voice shouted, angered. The wind seemed to pick up with his anger, whipping up over Night's crest and nearly knocking him down. "You serve the chaos that will undo Equestria's bindings - you serve Vesall , Discord's better, the bane of harmony!"
Night's hooves quivered as he grasped at his armor, feebly attempting to cover himself. He had awakened feeling - and looking - starved, and the last thing he needed was more attention. He pulled his chestpiece over his trembling body, noting how loose it felt. Regardless, it would keep other ponies from seeing his disheveled state.
He followed up his hoofguards - unlike the steel on his chest, all four of them fit more snugly than he remembered. Finally came his helmet, which was also loose in several places. The Unicorn looked over himself; the ribs that had stuck out from his sides were now safe from the eyes of his army, and his emaciated facial features were mostly hidden behind parts of his helmet. However, his legs had no coverings, and they looked about as bad as any other part of his body. There wasn't anything he could so about it, though - he'd have to fix that later.
The Unicorn picked up his inert sword, pushing it through a loop that once held his now destroyed scabbard; he wondered if the loop would be cut the next time he drew the blade. The blue-clad stallion shook his head to throw off the fog laying over him, and then staggered out of his tent.
A few of his soldiers were already awake, breaking down their camp and packing up whatever they weren't wearing on the march. Night would to the same once he had finished his walk. He looked around every now and then, noticing just how many of his ponies had injuries from Derbyshire, most of which were far worse than the Unicorn's. Lines of stitches, splints supporting broken bones, patches covering arrow wounds... Night began to wonder about his call to march to Canterbury, and if it was the right decision for his army's health. However, they also couldn't afford to sit still and give the Celestials time to recover, and the Lunar Armada - at least, whatever was left of it at this point - still needed to be saved from the death trap that was the fjords.
Night sat for a moment, looking out into the dawn sky. Celestia's sun burned away the half-hearted darkness that had been made in Luna's absence, lighting up the clouds with a brilliant orange-yellow light. The black pony looked away after a few seconds, unused to the brightness as he was. The Unicorn shook his head - he had never understood why ponies enjoyed watching the sunrise. It hurt his eyes.
He turned his back on the sun and continued his limping stroll on the outskirts of the camp. As he circled, the pony took a detour up to the top of the hill. Proof of the night's battle would be lasting, with the amount of corpses in the fields and at the wall. Derbyshire had suffered equally, judging by the plumes of smoke still rising from various points in the city. Whether they were caused by Griffons or by Celestials would likely never be known to the black Unicorn.
It appeared that the last of the Lunar's own dead were being pulled into their graves. It wasn't normal tradition, but the Lunars simply couldn't spare the resources to bringing their bodies all the way back to their respective home cities. Likewise, they would have to leave the Celestials to rot - if they couldn't give their own dead the proper rites, then the enemy would definitely not receive theirs. Night figured he would at least order that the dead Celestials not be looted as the army passed through.
He watched the fields for another minute or two before making his way back down the hill. The pony still needed coverings for his legs, something that the armorer would hopefully be able to provide. If not, he could send a letter to the next reinforcement group traveling out of the mountains, though that would take longer.
The latter option proved unnecessary. Upon making his request, the armorer stopped what he was doing and gave Night the armor in what was recorded as his size. Plates for his forelegs, mail for his rear. It would be a challenge to march in, but the rest of the army didn't need to see their current leader and think he might be on his last legs. Certainly not so soon after Stonewall's death. At least Luna wouldn't see him like this - she didn't even know about his burn, seeing as he was always in pristine condition when she borught him in to visit.
The walk had seemed to help. Night's body didn't feel like it hurt so much, or perhaps he had gotten used to it by now. He still felt hungry-- no, he realized now that he felt empty , just like the night he had awoken from his coma. He hadn't liked that, either. Vesall, what did you do to me? he demanded, trying to reach out to the ancient being.
...No response. Figured. He had never reacted to any prompts in the past, why would he now? The Unicorn felt a chill run down his spine as he remembered their meeting - even if calling out to that thing by name was undeserving of his time, it still seemed to pull strings within the pony.
"We can't just let them get away with this!" an off-white Pegasus said angrily, stamping his hoof on the cobblestone street. "We have to do something!"
"And just what do you suggest? Nopony in Derbyshire knows where the Griffons ran off to - they could be in the mountains, just waiting for us to come out. Our job here is done, anyways. We're waiting for further orders from Canterlot," came Sunbeam's stern reply. The Celestials surrounding him seemed to disagree, however.
Another pony, a Unicorn, stepped up as well. "If they're in the mountains, then it won't matter if we stay or leave. It sure didn't matter before," he growled, pointing back towards the town center.
The scene was beginning to attract the attention of Dappleshore's remaining citizens. They stared at the arguing soldiers, anxious. Sunbeam remembered how terrified they had been when his company had first arrived, followed shortly by their relief when the survivors realized they were Celestials. He wasn't about to take that relief away from them, certainly not in the name of revenge.
This is getting out of hoof, the Earth Pony thought. More and more calls for action were being made by the Celestials, fueled by the desecrated and half-burned remains of the deceased, and stoked by the terrible abuse the remaining mares had endured. The pony attempted to regain control over his infuriated troops. "Enough! Listen-"
"We'll avenge the dead twice-over! The Griffon settlements must burn!" the off-white Pegasus shouted again, turning towards his comrades.
"They'll do the same to Canterlot and Manehattan if we don't stop them now!"
"We must push back while the Lunars have been stalled!"
Sunbeam had had enough of this insubordination. The Earth Pony shoved his way through the crowd, which loosely followed him through Dappleshore. The townsponies that had been watching the ordeal moved to avoid the angry Celestials, with most returning to their dilapidated homes.
The Earth Pony passed a corner that led to the town square. Some of the Unicorns were attempting to finish what the Griffons had barely started, with limited results. It sounded like they were concerned that their magic could cause an explosion if they didn't spread the flames evenly.
The soldiers trailing him finally quieted down in the presence of the dead soldiers, and a few even broke away. Sunbeam used the chance to hurry through the town square and reach the section of Dappleshore that the Griffons had claimed a their own. The military district had changed hooves twice now - first, taken by the Griffons, and then reclaimed by the company that had come in from Stalliongrad.
Sunbeam entered the officer's building that stood as the center structure of the district and promptly went up the stairs to the top story. The room had yet to be cleaned - the torn remains of Celestial tapestries still hung lopsided, and what appeared to be shattered wooden furniture littered the ground. The stallion shook his head and started looking for some paper, ink, and a quill so he could start his report.
It was a curt letter that told Rune what he needed to know about the city. There was no reason to say anything about the massacre and subsequent raping and pillaging, just that they had occurred. He hadn't allowed his anger to cloud what he said, and likewise didn't want to make anypony with real control over Equestria infuriated into stupidity.
That was, until he received a letter from Shooting Star, who had led his half of the company to Trottingham. Unlike in the Earth Pony's letter, Star went into greater detail. Trottingham had put up more of a fight - it was untouched prior to the attack - and the ponies there had suffered further. In Dappleshore, the executions had at least some semblence of cold efficiency. There, it had been cruel and personal, as if the Griffons were offended by the very existence of ponies.
Like in Sunbeam's city, every last stallion and colt had been found and killed, but there, they were described as being 'played with' first. The white stallion had shuddered as he imagined the possibilities. Mares had not been abused just once - more often than not, it happened three or four times across the occupation. Any resistance still led to them being raped, but unless they were especially liked by the invaders, they were then eviscerated. If the Griffons didn't like how thier victim looked, they were also killed. Anypony who tried to escape was slain as well - there seemed to be a theme to how the Griffons treated those they defeated.
The Griffons had been successful in disposing of the bodies as well. They had forced the few Unicorns allowed to live to immolate the mass of corpses, and then promptly shattered most of their horns with a hammer. Only the ones who had proven to be very adept at hiding for days at a time had survived intact.
Sunbeam had tried to distance himself from the emotion that clouded the thoughts of so many of the ponies under his command. He didn't want anger to cause some poorly-made decision. But now? Now, his blood was boiling. The citizens here had done nothing to deserve what the Griffons had wrought upon them, and nor could they ever. Nopony should have had to endure what the they had, not even a ponies like Luna or Blackest Night, traitors as they were.
Why had they done this? During the Chaos Era, the Griffons had been one of the most noble factions within the known world, defending ponies and settlements that had no chance on their own. They had roamed the world, putting down Discord's vermin wherever they may show their ugly heads, requesting only to trade with whoever they fought for. They had been a beacon of the honor every civilization should have, doing all of this while being one of the poorest nations known to ponykind. Now, they had proven themselves to be as horrible as the monsters they once sought to destroy. Maybe even worse.
The Griffons were lucky to have been absent by the time his soldiers arrived, or the execution order would have already gone out, with Sunbeam personally taking part in flattening their wretched skulls. The Earth Pony sincerely hoped Rune would command his forces to strike back and deliever justice in some form, to avenge those who had suffered and died at the talons of this antithesis to the Celestial Code.
Shooting Star had mentioned that his ponies were equally outraged at the attack, and that there had also been a map of the mountains that the Griffons occupied left behind in Trottingham. The Griffon's written language may have been little more than chickenscratch, but anypony could find a big star on a map.
Shooting Star watched the green fields below him turn into the brownish-gray of the deadlands that separated the Griffon Kingdom from Equestria. It was an ugly scar upon the world, a reminder of the horrors of a past era that would remain for centuries, as neither country wanted to bear the burden of cleansing the lingering curses from the earth.
The Trottingham River had long since been left behind. It was the only source of life in this wasteland, but the Pegasi would not be following it - the river had it's source in the far northeastern ranges, whereas the Celestial's targets were to the north-northwest. Following the river into the mountains would take too long, and the distance through the mountains that the Pegasi would have to cover was far too great.
They would be flying for several days, and would have to hope that the Griffon mining towns they planned to strike first would have some form of food available as the ponies had brought very little of their own. It would be impossible to scavenge in the deadlands, and if there was anything down there, it was probably too dangerous to eat.
Star looked over his shoulder. Nearly seventy other Pegasi had volunteered to come on their raid. After learning of the fates of Trottingham and Dappleshore, General Rune had determined that some action was necessary to prevent the same from happening to any other city, small or large. While their strike would do little to truly hamper the Griffons, it could at least force them to pull forces from the front to defend their home mountains, possibly even stopping their rapid claims to the lands north of Manehattan. At least, that was what they hoped for.
These were brave ponies, all of them. The Celestials had grown tired of being stomped below Lunar hooves and Griffon talons, helpless as they watched their cities being overpowered or destroyed; helpless as their brothers in arms and the ponies they defended were imprisoned and killed. Now, with the Lunar Armada being pushed to he seafloor in Canterbury and Night's army presumably stalled at Derbyshire - they had heard no news from the city, but Star and several others doubted it was a repeat of Trottingham and Dappleshore as it was far larger and well-defended - it had become Equestria's turn to strike. With Celestia's blessing, this would spark a turning point in their war.
They flew over the deadlands, hearing the wind whistle past and their wings beating against it. The Pegasi would sleep amongst the clouds, as they could offer far more comfort than the land below. They continued like this for hours, until the sun finally began to set. Shooting Star straightened his wings and signaled his orders with a few flicks of his wingtips, and then banked off to the right with part of his squadron close behind.
There were clouds in the deadlands, but they were small and thin; a cloud that was going to hold seventy ponies plus their gear would need to be bigger than most houses. Star had ordered his Pegasi to break up and gather clouds. They had split into groups of roughly five apiece, going high and low on their hunt. If necessary, they would make some.
Shooting Star's group flew up next to a relatively small cloud. Two of his soldiers landed on what would become the back, and he and two other ponies took up positions about a third of the way around the cloud. At first, they all flapped their wings to press their charge into a more compact shape, and then the two at the rear began pushing forward. Star and the other two Pegasi sharing his position rolled so that their wings pushed air at the cloud - as fast as the ponies were going, it would deform and fall apart if they didn't.
The Pegasi keeping the cloud in-shape orbited it slowly, as to prevent one or two ponies from flying upside-down for too long. They spotted another group of ponies towing a cloud in the distance, and Star directed them towards the other Celestials. They appeared to spot Star as well, and turned around so they could be met halfway. The fliers doing rolls around the clouds peeled off and allowed the clouds to collide.
The result wasn't much bigger, but it was progress. More and more groups of ponies arrived carrying more material for their temporary resting place, and gradually, they went from a cloud a few feet across to something worthy of a storm. The moon had rose a short distance above the horizon by the time the Pegasi finished their work, as they'd had to make some of their own clouds to add on. The now tired Celestials began to land, keeping their gear on. They were careful to keep a safe distance from the edge of their cloud, and the last few ponies to land ensured they were all packed in rather snugly.
The first Griffon settlement was in sight, standing out in the darkness with dimly lit homes and dirt paths. Star directed his Pegasi to circle around and look for any guards, especially ones at the edge of the town - they would be in a position to easily escape into the night and alert other towns with more guards about the attack. None could be spotted from the Celestial's vantage point, but Shooting Star still ordered a few of his ponies to hover on the perimeter, just in case.
The rest of the Celestials landed within the settlement. Even if there had been guards on the unpaved streets, they would have still been mostly concealed by the dark as the town was virtually unlit. The ponies went around and collected what few sources of light were available - crude torches seemed to be common here - and began to go from building to building, pressing the ends against the thatch that made up most of the roofs. Each house had a few ponies stacked up at the doorstep, weapons ready to strike down any Griffon trying to get out.
It didn't take long. The homes were small and rarely had enough inhabitants to outnumber the stallions laying in wait. They would run out, squawking and screeching, only to be ran through by a Celestial blade. Those that were too fast suddenly had pre-aimed arrows sticking out of their backs. The ponies didn't bother waiting for all of the Griffons to exit their houses, and usually didn't have to - they understood little enough about what was going on that they blindly ran out into the dark, even as the ones they shared the house with were hacked down before their eyes. A few of the more perceptive ones tried escaping through windows, but shattering glass was typically quite loud.
The only place to give trouble was what must have been the guardhouse, as the Griffons coming out had some degree of armor and weaponry of their own, and some ponies ended up injured. The Celestials still outnumbered any resistance, and the whole ordeal was over in half an hour.
Not every Griffon was killed, and so those who were left - several of which were wounded - were pushed at swordpoint towards a mine entrance. Nopony here really knew much about how to reproduce the screeches and chirps of the Griffon tongue, and likewise none of the Griffons seemed to speak any Equestrian. It was unlikely that the Griffons would have complied even if the Pegasi could speak to them, but they could have at least been interrogated about the mountains to make finding other towns easier.
Some tried to escape - a few always did, it seemed - but they were quickly striken down by other Celestials hovering over the area. Those who survived being shot and hitting the ground were tossed back with the others. Star had hoped they would open the mine doors once their backs had been pressd against them, but the buzzards refused; at least, until two of them were pulled from the crowd, Celestial swords pressed against their necks. When the Griffons offered only protesting shrieks instead of opening the doors, the pair were killed.
It took pulling another Griffon from the crowd before the captive inhabitants got the point and began working the door. Once it was open, the ponies wasted no time forcing them inside, jabbing the Griffons as necessary. Again, some attempted to escape, only to receive the biting edge of a sword or an arrow to the back. The same fate befell any buzzard that lashed out at the Celestials.
Another minute passed before the Griffons had been locked within the mines. While they seemed calm - albeit a very angry sort of calm - Star knew the second his soldiers left they would attempt to escape. With that in mind, he ordered a few Pegasi to barricade the doors with whatever they could find. In the meantime, the Pegasus began trying to get a bearing on the next town.
He was helped by a sign on the outskirts of the settlement, and the set of pointed wooden planks aimed in the direction of other towns, the same illegible Griffon scratches on their surface. Star was able to simply match the labelled dots on the map with their indicated direction on the sign to figure out where they needed to go.
With the moon still high, they had plenty of time to keep raiding. Star took off with his forces close behind, and using what he remembered from the map, guided them through the mountains. One could almost forget that they were in the heart of their enemy's homelands as they glode over the rocks below. The landscape was serene and beautiful, even when coated in the blackness of the night. Part of him wanted to do this forever, soaring over stone and dirt, frigid wind buffeting his mane and grazing the skin under his blue fur; but the rest of him knew that he couldn't.
The moon had begun to descend when Shooting Star brought his flight to a halt. He looked around, unable to find his destination. They had been flying for a while - surely they should have seen it by now? Getting lost in these mountains was exactly what he feared. He made his squadron dissapate to search for any evidence of a Griffon village.
They needed to find it soon. Everypony needed to be hidden before the sun rose, as being discovered this far behind enemy lines meant a sure death. Thankfully, one of the Pegasi who had gone off to help search for their target returned from his trip, bearing information about the locale. Star would still have to wait for the rest of the squadron to return however, and by the time they did, the moon had just passed it's peak and begun the slow descent to give way to the sun. They still had time.
The second settlement was much larger than the first, enough so to give Star a very good reason to avoid the place entirely. He wanted to reach Gryphus in full force and cause as much damage as possible, and losing ponies trying to tear down an unimportant Griffon village would be counter-intuitive. However, the stallion felt there was a way to turn it to his favor. The buildings here were of the same thatch as the first village, with the same type of torches and lanterns responsible for keeping the place lit. He had yet to see a Griffon patrol, which meant his ponies could swoop in and start fires as they pleased, and be out of sight long before the buzzards started to wake up. The populace wouldn't be imprisoned, but with a proper perimeter, any who attempted to escape and seek help would be isolated and killed far out of sight. Star wasn't expecting many to try to flee, so he shared his plan and sent it into action.
Half his ponies rose up, giving themselves good vision over the area and the ability to dive down on escaping Griffons. The other half silently descended, grabbing the various torches and a few lanterns, and fires were set on roofs and in front of doors - if they could trap and kill Griffons in their own burning homes, it would mean less work for the interceptors overhead. Star was among the latter, bow drawn, eyes scanning the homes for movement. The ponies burning the houses retreated and hid along the edge of the village, forming a two-part defense around the town.
The settlement, although still enveloped in the night, glowed as if it was the middle of summer. Dark shapes on the ground milled about, and their shrill voices could be heard even by the ponies watching from above. Smaller homes neared collapse as the fire raged, and soon fell into a writhing mass of embers and flame. It appeared that attempts were being made to stem the inferno with water from the central well, but it was a pointless endeavor, considering how many and how big most of the fires were. The Griffons folded, finally sending out to call for aid those who would be the first victims of the waiting ponies.
As soon as each Griffon was out of sight, a couple ponies would swoop in for an attack with their bow, or their shortsword if they missed. Against unexperienced, unarmored, half-asleep Griffons with their backs exposed, these attacks were impossible to fail at unless the Celestial performing it inentionally did so. Maybe five or so tried to seek help, while the rest kept trying - and failing - to put out the flames engulfing the town. Shooting Star gathered his forces and ordered them to move on.
They rested in a cave at the bottom of a valley for the day, with a few of the more stone-furred Pegasi keeping watch near the entrance. As the sun fell, Star's forces moved out again, keeping low in the valley until they could see the twinking light of the stars above them. The Pegasus had already figured out where they were going next - there were no small settlements near them, and the risk of taking casualties kept him from attacking the bigger ones. They would finish their intrusion at full strength.
Once they left the valley, Shooting Star banked towards Gryphus.
Stargazer jerked his head back, testing the strength of the post he had been tied to. It was sturdy, and barely budged even when he put his entire body against it - it probably didn't help that he had barely eaten during the trip from Europa.
The stallion frowned, and laid down. He wished he could go back to the prison camp; the burned out husk of Europa and constant manual labor was preferable to the constant abuse he had suffered on the walk here. At least there was something resembling a roof over his head, and the prisoners were only beated if they disobeyed. Here, though, with these Lunars who had been told his identity and given free reign over his life - as long as they did not end it - things had been much worse.
Being beaten for fun, carrying a pack that weighed at least as much as he did, being forced to humiliate himself with circus tricks for food - they didn't even take off his muzzle! - and now, tied to a post outside a tavern with a "No Pets Allowed" sign. He knew roughly where he was going and the fate that awaited him, and if he couldn't escape then he only wished that nopony else would see him like this.
The disheveled Unicorn looked up as he heard hoofsteps coming from the tavern. A stallion was staggering out, half dressed in the armor of the Lunar guards he had seen patrolling the city. He looked like he was bout to stagger right back inside, but hooves of a second pony encourged him outwards, sending the guard out for good. He fell head over hooves down the three or so steps, landing flat on his face, tail in the air. The tavern door slammed shut behind him - probably unnecessary, considering the thrown-out pony was too inebriated to even stand up.
The Lunar remained there for a moment before trying to pick himself up. He looked like he was on ice, hooves unable to find purchase on the stones beneath him. Stargazer couldn't help but laugh a little through his muzzle. The stallion must have heard him, and looked over his shoulder.
"Whad're you laughin' ad," he mumbled, trying - and failing - again to stand. "Nefer seen a, a Lunah before, huh?"
Stargazer rolled his eyes. He'd seen sailors fresh off year on the sea practice more control with their drinking. Life as a 'Lunah' must have been a hard one.
The Lunar had finally found purchase on the ground, and finally rose to his hooves. "I, I oughdda 'each you to show a bid of some respect," the pony growled, staggering towards Stargazer's prone form. He immediately tripped and fell in front of the Unicorn, giving him more than enough time to stand up and back away. "Why you, you piece uh..." he slurred, barely moving from newfound spot on the ground. "You tripped me!"
The Celestial shook his head, waiting for the Lunar to rise again. After a few seconds he managed to stand, as it was much harder to slip up on solid dirt - it didn't keep him from trying, though. He mumbled some insult, and swung a hard right hook. Stargazer simply moved his head back, and the punch slammed into the stick the Unicorn was tied to with a dull thunk .
The drunkard howled in pain, pulling his foreleg close to his chest. He shouted something - likely a war cry rendered unintelligible by all the alcohol he had consumed - and lunged at Stargazer, who at this time had moved behind the post. The Lunar bounced off the wood - which still hadn't moved - and fell to the ground, knocked out cold. Stargazer stared at his crumpled form for a few seconds before laying back down, somewhat concerned that he might be blamed for causing it and get another beating.
Eventually a couple guards wandered by and looked at the scene. At first the looked ready to kill Stargazer, but upon seeing his ragged state along with the chains and other restraints on his body, decided there was no way he could have beaten another guard. They hauled off the drunkard, who started to come to as he was picked up. An hour or so later, the Celestial's escorts came out of the tavern. One of them briefly pulled off his muzzle - it felt nice to smell something other than his own breath - and tossed a bucket of water by his hooves, along with some bread that was likely taken from a trash heap.
"Eat up. It might be the last you get until we reach the front," the Lunar said uncaringly. The bread was hard to bite into and and tasted like charcoal, but it was something. The water was clean as well, which was a first. Once he had his fill, the muzzle was placed back over Stargazer's face, and he was untied from the post. A rough jerk yanked his head toward the Lunars, and their jounrey resumed.
The Lunars filled their trip with conversation. The silver-furred Pegasus was nearly always talking with his Earth Pony friend, sometimes glancing back at Stargazer. He glared at them when they did. Three of the other stallions in the group sounded like they were talking about how they'd kill their first Celestial, reflecting their incredibly youthful appearance. The mares - it was still a strange sight to see mares wearing armor, he knew the Lunars needed troops and that the populace was dedicated, but even this seemed absurd - sounded like they hoped they wouldn't have to do too much fighting, but a couple seemed eager to be on the front. The remaining stallion kept trying to get in on the mares' exchange, but they butted him away every time he got too close until he finally gave up and fell back to Stargazer's side.
It was midnight when the group reached the edge of the mountains, a rocky maw carved into the side. To the Celestial's surprise, some of the weight he had been carrying was removed and split among the other ponies. What that meant exactly, the Unicorn was unsure, but he didn't question it.
A few minutes later, he found out. The pass they were moving through had some of the most difficult terrain he had ever seen. Narrow curves that a pony could barely fit through, follwoed by clearings the size of a capital ship. The ground was filled with crevices that could break the legs of ponies who stepped into them the wrong way, and loose stones could easily cause sprained ankles if not stepped on with the utmost care. A landslide had blocked their paths at one point, and the Pegasi in the group spent nearly an hour carrying up gear - and eventually, ponies - over to the other side. By the time they emerged into the hoofhills, four hours had passed and everypony was exhausted.
After a short break they resumed walking, and a Pegasus in the group took off to look for a good spot to set up camp. For another couple of hours they kept walking, with most of the group sometimes looking back at the mountains when they weren't staring at the open fields of grass and a forest in the distance. It was likely they had never been outside the ranges before.
They stopped once they reached the forest, taking cover under the wide branches of a tree as the sun began to rise. SOme of the stallions started pulling things off of Stargazer's back - bedrolls and canvas, along with some stakes to hold the latter down. The sun had completely risen above the horizon when the camp was completed.
One of the Lunars trotted over the Stargazer, grabbing his leash and yanking him towards the camp. The Unicorn knew what happened next; like with the post in the Lunar city, he'd spend the day tied to it, and there was even a rod he had been forced to carry that was purpose-built for the task. However, the Lunar was unable to find it.
"Hey, anypony have Stargazer's stick?" he asked, turning towards the others. They started to go through the packs at their hooves, as there was a chance one of them ended up carrying it after they redistributed their gear before entering the pass. However, none found the rod.
"Well, what are we supposed to do, then?" Dusk - he had learned the pony's name during the trip through the pass - questioned, looking around in case somepony had simply not noticed the stick in the grass. "We need to secure him somehow, rod or not."
"Let's break a couple of his legs, that oughtta keep him from running. 'sides, he probably deserves it," said one of the Pegasus mares, smiling. "Works on prisoners at the camp, why not here?"
Stargazer made a note to avoid her, and put a few more feet between her and himself. "We'd have to carry him, or carry the Unicorn that exhausted themselves healing those injuries on the spot," said another stallion, looking towards the prisoner as he moved.
"Just make him heal himself, we're practically carrying him already. Better yet, just kill him and get this over with. That's what will happen to him when we reach General Night anyways, isn't it?" another pony said, hoof on his sword. "We'd be saving him time and effort, I'm sure he'd understand."
"Gee, why don't we just kill you now and save the Celestials the effort?" Dusk said, turning around to face the stallion. "Orders are orders. We bring Stargazer to Night and join up with whatever part of the army he wants us in."
The silver Pegasus faced Dusk. "If you want, I can go back into the pass and look for the rod. It probably fell off somepony's pack while we were pulling each other over the landslide."
"That could take hours, by the time you return we might have already packed up to leave."
"What if we just tied his legs together?" asked one of the stallions. "We may not even need anypony to keep watch over him if the knot is good enough."
"I think that's the best idea we've had so far," Dusk replied. "Somepony, get to it. Test the rope too, make sure he can't move an inch with it on."
Almost as soon as Dusk finished speaking, the mare who had suggested breaking Stargazer's legs was next to him, going through his pack until she pulled out a long piece of rope about half an inch thick. She forced him to the ground by grabbing his horn and pulling down, sending twinges of pain through the stallion's head and down his neck. He grimaced and let out a low grunt when she kicked him in the side to make him roll over.
"Aww, did I hurt the poor little Unicorn?" she sneered, grabbing one of his forelegs and planting a hind leg on his exposed belly. Once she had his other forleg, the mare tied the two of them together uncomfortably tight, smiling when she saw his pained expressions. The same fate befell his hind legs, and then both pairs were tied together at the gaps between his hooves where the rope secured them together. The mare's work was completed, and she shoved him back on his side before stepping on him to return to Dusk.
The prisoner tested the stregnth of the knots. His legs hardly moved, and attempting to do so resulted in a kick from the Pegasus, who had returned from her brief exchange with Dusk - clearly the mare had some experience with tying ponies down and inflicting pain upon them. "Boss said I get to watch you first, Celestial," the mare snarled, inches from his face. He swore he saw fangs in her mouth. "So don't try anything funny, 'cause he also said I get to do whatever I want to you."
Stargazer whimpered.
Cloudburst put the last pieces of her gear by her cot. She would be deployed at sunset, along with almost a dozen other ponies that she had yet to meet. At this rate, Europa will be empty in a couple weeks, she thought, sighing. It was a bustling city before the war, with ships always coming on or out of the port, and the dockyards and streets full of ponies going about their daily lives. Now, only the decrepit hulls of ships picked clean to fix up the armada sat tied in the docks, and most of the inhabitants had left the city, either to avenge it or to start again elsewhere.
The gray mare peeked out of her window. The cloudless sky was painted with the reds and violets of twilight, and if she looked closely enough, they seemed to change hues before her eyes. The mare yawned halfheartedly, reminded of the time. Stepping over her armor and pack, Cloudburst climbed into her cot and pulled over her a pitiful excuse of a blanket, even if she did not yet feel tired enough to sleep. So, instead, she set her thoughts adrift until they finally carried her off into rest.
