Blood and Banners.

by MintLynx

Rating: mature
Tags: Drama, Dark
Length: 10917

The story of a knight, living in a world divide and prone to war, serving under a banner and an obligation.

High Middle Ages, centuries before the Collapse and eventual formation of the three tribes of Earth, Unicorn, and Pegasus ponies. The land lies divided between many kingdoms, most ruled by a single one of the three races. The Kingdom of Grossadler is a rare and unique exception, not only home to Unicorn, Pegasus, and Earth Pony alike, but also under a social system without favoritism toward any of the three races. Despite this the kingdom is not without it's wars and conflicts, and one knight of it's banner will end up entering a war against an enemy with a new magic unlike anything ever before seen in the known world. A threat not only to his own banner, but to all banners of the known world.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2015-12-18 05:40:01 UTC

I: Battle and Siege

Upon expansive and green fields, with patches of flowers scattered throughout it, were lines of hundreds of ponies clothed in arming doublets and metal helms. Front lines consisting of hundreds of earth ponies armed with polearms length of two ponies ahead of them, each brandishing a vicious spike extending from the haft of every single polearm. Shield wagons were in front of the polearm wielders as a means of missile defense. Among the formations of these ponies were earth pony soldiers armed with mouth gripped swords half the length of the affixed pole weapons on their fellow soldiers. Behind the formations of earth ponies were formations of unicorns, longbows levitated in their basic gripping magic. Double bladed swords at the sides  in case of attacks nose to nose. Such a sight was unusual of the age seeing earth ponies and unicorns share a battlefield as fellow soldiers, only kingdoms like this, Das Großadlersriech (The Great Eagle Kingdom) brought two or even three races of pony onto the battlefield. In the reality of the known worlds the three races of ponies lived in division, division based on whether you had horn, wing, or unrivaled physical strength. In such division was where the majority of kingdoms rose from the tribes of old and came to power, one such kingdom was the very kingdom we ponies of Germaniegh stood on battlefield against. This kingdom was the Kingdom of Unihorn, a powerful kingdom ruled by unicorns and fed by earth ponies. In this divided land many a kingdom would come to arms against each other, leading to long wars with many ponies slain and villages ravaged. Our kingdom stood in dispute toward the power of the piece of land we stood on, against the Unihornians, thus come war upon these fields and many a corpse to turn it red.

I walked among my fellow class of soldiers, not considered mere solders but rather elites of our kingdom clad in mail and covered in decorative caparisons. As ordered we galloped away from our formation and in a path aiming to get behind the enemy formation, the infantry moved forward led by the polearm wielders as they pushed the shield wagons. Soon me and my fellow soldiers in mail and caparison could see the enemy formations, lines of Unicorns who were quickly drawing and shooting sending a hailstorm of arrows. The shield wagons quickly became porcupined with multiple arrows sticking out from them, the advance was soon turned into a charge. As the infantry began to close distance with the Unihornians the sounds of cracks of lightning could be heard. I looked to the enemy formation as we galloped past, sure enough I caught eye of the source. A unicorn mare dressed in a decorative robe with a pointed hat stood behind the formation of Unihornians, there were others like her and all cast magical strikes upon the advancing infantry. Mages, one of the most feared and dangerous combatants to ever walk a battlefield. The Grossadler unicorn archers sent their own hail of arrows at the enemy archers and mages. The robed unicorns cast domes over themselves as arrows deflected and bounced off them, I yelled to my fellow soldiers in mail and caparison. "Streik der Magiers! Hinterrücks!" (Strike the Magician! From Behind!) my word was spread through our group of 400 horned and earth pony knights as we turned to charge at the enemy from behind. I charged lance strapped to my side and aimed at a mage, sword gripped in teeth, and dagger wrapped in tail.

My eyes remained affixed to my target as I charged, intending to send the immense impaling force to the mage's unhelmeted skull for a swift and painless death. The other knights galloped behind me aiming for other mages as well as the infantry. The sounds of hooves battering the ground behind them caught the mages' attention as they turned at us, horns glowing and then shooting fire, ice, and lightning at us. The one I was approaching threw shards of ice at me as I ducked down, the projectiles sliced through my caparison and sheared at my mail. Unfortunately this attempt at attack took up the time that could be used for a defensive magic, lance aimed to the head and galloping at full speed.  The unicorn cast a dome spell right as my lance reached her face, a fair one under a long flowing mane and having eyes of emerald. That face was not to last long as the spear tip of my lance cracked her horn at it's base before entering the skull, I hit the dome face first as this occurred feeling dizzy and disoriented for a few seconds after the dome dissipated. Weight could be felt on my lance from the now limp body of the mage. She retained her last expression before death, a wide eyed expression of shock not obscured by the blood flowing over her face from the breach of the skull. I yanked with my full body's force pulling the red dripping spearhead of my lance from her skull and with it more blood and bits from inside her head. Blood spattered upon the small banner affixed to my lance, I looked around and saw my fellow knights charging forward leaving dead corpses of the mages behind. I joined their charge to the enemy soldiers, by now they were already fighting our infantry in brutal close combat.

The Unihornians used their swords similarly to how unicorns used pole weapons, mainly to keep distance from the earth ponies. No unicorn could ever survive if an earth pony got their hooves on them, from that comes death by a broken neck. The Unihornians knew very well of this which was why they attempted to use range as much as possible. Sadly for them this would not protect from the line of mail clad soldiers with blood tipped lances who charged at them from behind. I used my tail to manipulate my lance to aim upward a little, aiming for another humane strike to the head. We closed in and like serpents striking upon unsuspecting rabbits our bloodied lance heads impaled into countless Unihornian soldiers, tearing through purple colored arming doublets turning them red. My lance entered the back of the neck of one of the soldiers, breaking the neck bone in two. The force cracked the haft of my lance and bent the tip downward, my lance was not going to last another die Pfählung Ladung (Impalement Charge). The other knights' lances hit their mark though the lances strapped to the sides of earth ponies were more devastating than the levitated lances of our unicorns. Some of the unfortunate Unihornians had a lance head go into their flanks and stick out from their chests, a well armored knight such as I could only imagine the pain of dying from having a lance rip through your body. Our fighting continued as the formations of the Unihornians began to break and some soldiers even attempted routing.

Suddenly I faintly heard a cry from among our knights "Ritter! Unihorn Ritter!" (Knights! Unihorn Knights!). I ran away from the fighting armies and looked around till I caught sight of a large group of unicorns in colorful and highly decorative caparisons charging towards us with lances  levitated beside them. I called out to my fellow soldiers in mail in warning and many of us quickly moved to face the charging Unihornian knights. We braced for when they closed the distance, and did they soon as Knights clashed with knights. A few of my fellow mail clad soldiers were unlucky enough to be caught by surprise, suffering a severe or even fatal wound as the lance tore through the mail and linen armor. I was able to quickly react and move to the side dodging the spear tip of the levitated lance while moving my own lance to where the unsuspecting knight would have his own running force send my own lance into his chest. My lance's haft cracked and broke with the force leaving part of the lance still stuck in my adversary, the blow was significant but did not kill. Levitating back the lance my opponent tried to move back from me, some blood in his mouth an a clear cringe of pain on his caparison covered face. Fortunately for my foe I was quick enough to move to his side, sword in teeth and point aimed for his eye. With the full force of my body weight I stabbed hitting my mark, the tapered point of my longsword entering his eye sending a spurt of blood onto my blade. The blade flexed a bit as it breached the eye socket and entered his head, with the drop of his lance and fading of his magic he fell, blade sliding out from his burst eye. My other fellow soldiers in mail were engaged in fighting against the Unihornian Knights. Before I could assist I was attacked by a Unihornian knight levitating a polearm with a head consisting of axe and hammer with a tapered spike extending from the haft. Quickly moving my body and head using skillful hoofwork to use I deflected the deadly strikes from the weapon. With my lance broken I was restricted to my longsword putting me at a disadvantage. Despite my disadvantage I still kept from being slain, then suddenly in a quick thrust from the unicorn's weapon the spike pierced the mail on my shoulder. Pain came as  felt the linen get pierced as well as my skin, fortunately the riveted rings of my mail prevented the spike from reaching the bones jointing foreleg to body. Reacting quickly and utilizing chance I wrapped a foreleg around the haft of the weapon to pin it to my neck, in gaining control of the weapon I swung the haft of my opponents weapon at his face with all my face, striking him in the chanfron on his head at the horn shaped piece protecting his glowing  horn. He cringed in pain as the magic grip over his weapon faded, with the angle of my strike I was able to hit behind his horn protection. Seizing the opportunity I dropped his weapon thus regaining back my foreleg to run, and dashed at him wrapping a foreleg around one of his and using my strength to throw him to the ground. Afterwards my hoof came down upon his head in a stomp. After that I moved and with my dagger wrapped in tail, plunged the blade into his eye, coating it in blood and bloodying the tip of my tail. Pulling it out I went to face my next opponent, another Unihornian mail clad soldier come to try slaying me, only to take a stabbing lance to the side of his neck from one of my fellow mail clad soldiers.

The rest of the Grossadler Knights slew and wounded the remaining Unihornian Knights, many of their own laying dead or wounded. Soldiers of Unihorn fled across the fields, even from a far distance I could see the looks of panic and deep fear in their expressions. Very few of the Unihornians were left standing and able to run, as they fled toward the city of Emeralda. Grossadler soldiers and Knights alike cheered and yelled out in victory. I did not, I opened my mouth releasing my sword to hang from the reins that attacked it to my chanfron, breathing in deeply only to catch the strong scent of blood and sweat. My shoulder still hurt from the wound I had received, the fighting was over, for now. Our battle was far from over, Emeralda was what our king was after, and we would be the ones to claim it for him. Before our march to Emerelda we were permitted some time to rest, while the other soldiers rested I looked over the bloodies death ridden battlefield. It was mostly quiet excluding the conversations some soldiers and knights had between each other as well as the occasional  moans and cries of the wounded. As I looked over the battlefield I saw what seemed to be hundreds of dead ponies covering the ground and bleeding from the wounds. As I walked forth I saw one of the bodies' chest rise and fall, a Unihornian soldier whose arming doublet was as soaked in blood as the dead around him, I approached and heard a slight gasp from him. He said in the common Equine, a recurring language of this time

"P-p-please don't take me p-p-prisoner...I-I-I fear t-t-the dungeons....".

Many Grossadler ponies would not understand his speech, I however during the time of my life in which I was becoming a knight took the scholarly opportunity to learn the language. Many others, particularly nobles, also took to learning common equine as the language was becoming greatly commonplace for many kingdoms of all three races. I responded to him as I approached, the accent of my home language clear but soft

"You look not to survive to be carried to the dungeon, you bleed like a river."

The pony replied. "C-c-c-can't y-y-you convince your u-u-unicorns to heal me?? Then let me s-s-sneak away??" Blood was coughed out from his mouth.

I replied  in a solemn honesty. "I am but a lower nobility, most of my power is to take lives on the battlefield, for now I can at least end your pain."

The pony replied, weakly trying to plead. "Please.....p-please.......I-I-I don't want to d-die" he coughed more filling his mouth with his blood.

I cringed, the pain and fear he must have felt was imitated in my mind.  By the youth of his voice he was obviously a young stallion, likely unaware that fate would leave him here, chest struck and blood painting the grass red with his waning life. I moved my tail to him, dagger wrapped in it and ready to plunge it into his eye socket for a quick death. His eye quickly darted to the pointed blade sticking out from my tail, his eye closed and formed a river of tear. He tried to plead but he was by now choking on his blood, I pondered for a moment.

"Könnte sein Leben doch noch verscohnt werden?" (Could his life be spared?) I thought to myself, but I remembered that helping a prisoner of war would bring me disgrace, along with the name of the family I had back home. T'was the only reason I remained in this path, the need to not disgrace my family name, parents and siblings alike. Suddenly my pondering was interrupted as I saw a levitated sword enter the Unihornian's eye, I looked to see one of my fellow knights pull the sword out.

"Warum nur dastehen? Er war nict anders als die Anderen, die ihr getötet habt ." (why just stand there? Not like he was different from the others you have killed.) Asked one of my fellow mail clad soldiers, one that I knew.

Knight Blatthorn von Eisenschwanz. A unicorn knight who was among the few of my mail clad soldiers I had befriended. He was less prideful than most of the others clad in mail, more of an eccentric personality with a value towards honor I could see clearly. He knew, to an extent, my feelings toward the bloodshed we were obligated as knights to partake in. Despite knowing it, his views were not akin to my own. I did not respond to his question not really having the answer to give, I just looked away to the bodies of the dead knights. The caparisons of the Unihornians were beautifully woven, clearly made with a high skill and artistic inspiration. Cruelly ironic was that rather than fitting symbols and images of war there were pictures of the night sky, flowers, as well as beautiful patterns. Such beautifully made caparisons made only to be seen in war and to probably be torn by a foe's blade or ruined by shed blood. I spoke not directly to Blatthorn, but rather in a vocal thought.

"So schöne schabracke......Sieh' sie dir nur an, schöne hergestellt und gewebt von ponies mit talent. Dennoch, heir auf  dem schlachtfield, liegen sie auf ihrem Leichnahm, wie ein Schwan in einem Sumpf." (Such beautiful Caparisons....... look at them, beautifully crafted and woven by ponies of great skill and talent. Yet here they are laying upon a corpse ridden battlefield, it is like a swan in a swamp.)

Blatthorn was silent as he looked to the caparisons that covered the dead knights laying before us, soon responding.

"Sie sehen wirklich schöne aus, ich habe ger gerüchte gehört, wie legendär diese Unihornian Künstler sind, klar sind diese Geschichten keine Mythen. Wenigsten, wurden die Künstler für ihr Handwerk, von den Rittern, die diese trugen , als sie ehrenvoll starben, honoriert, sie starben tapfer für ihre Königin, um eine ihrer Städte zu verteidigen ." (They do look beautiful, I've heard rumors of how legendary the Unihornian artists are, clearly these stories are no mere myths. At least the artists were honored that their work was worn by knights who died honorably, fighting bravely for their queen to defend one of her cities.)

"Eine Stadt, die wir bald belagern werden, wir verden Chaos und Blutvergießen bringen, wenn wir an diesen Wänden ankommen ." (........A city we will soon lay siege to, bring chaos and bloodshed as we arrive upon the walls......)"

I knew sieges, and I knew how much bloodshed they could bring. Having taken part in about four in my time as a mail clad soldier. As for what I thought of Blatthorn's response it reflected something we agreed on, that being that there was no 'heroism for us and villainy in the enemy' but rather it was two sides fighting for their banner and ruler. He saw honor in both his fellow knights and the knights whom he faced in battle as enemies. As for myself I didn't know what to think of the concepts of honor and chivalry. As the sun began to sink into the distant horizon our group set up camp near the battlefield, I was able to have the minor wound to my shoulder from the previous polearm strike treated. The twilight faded upon the horizon and I entered my tent and lay upon the bed sheet in my mail and caparison, soon falling asleep. My rest was not to be peaceful nor was my mind, as a nightmare came to it.

I was on a battlefield, skies grey with clouds as an unnaturally long lance was strapped to my side. It stretched as far as distance my eye could see, and upon it were impaled many ponies. Earth ponies, unicorns, a few pegasi, all were impaled many through the barrel but some through the flank from behind. All groaned and cried in agony as their life bled from where the lance went through them. My caparison was torn and bloody as was much of the mail underneath, the lances from the dying mail clad soldiers had banners from Unihorn, Prance, The Kingdom of the Cloud, and of The Kingdom of the Golden Field. I stood there in horror, then looked to my tail to see a dagger wrapped in it's raven black curls. I cut at the leather holding the lance onto my side frantically till the large pole of death dropped. The groans and cries of pain continued as I approached each pony, stabbing the dagger into the eye of each of them. The weapon was soon dripping with blood as I carried on, suddenly to my horror I saw that impaled upon the lance were common ponies, ponies who were not soldiers nor armed.

"Nein! Ich erschlug niemanden! Niemals hätte meine Klinge, weder noch meine Lanze jemals einen Zivilisten erschlagen, aber jemanden, der bewaffnet war! Wie hätte ich die Ereignisse vereitelt haben sollen, welche Soldaten taten! Ich kann sie nicht stoppen. Ich habe keine Kontrolle über sie, sie würden nicht auf mich hören, sie würden wahrscheinlich mich auslachen, denken, dass ich schwach wäre, und das Lästern würde von meiner Familie kommen. Ich werde kein Hohn über meine Familie bringen! Ist der Ruhm meiner eigenen Familie wertvoller, als das von anderen?!." (No! I never slew them! Never has my blade nor lance ever struck any but one who is armed!!! How could I stop what many of the other soldiers did to them! I can't just stop them, I've no command over them they wouldn't listen to me. They'd possibly mock me..think I'm weak..and with my mockery would come it to my family name. I won't bring ridicule to my family name! But other families...is my own family's name worth the lives of other families!?)

I grabbed the chanfron on my face and tore it off, letting it fall and splash upon a puddle of blood. I looked down to the chanfron and saw my reflection in the shiny metal, my face and mane soaked in blood. I shed tears which washed the blood down my cheeks to drip from the sides of my jaw. Suddenly I heard a voice say

"Adlerauge, wach auf!" (Adlerauge, wake up!)

I awoke suddenly, breathing heavily and looking around. Blatthorn was at the entrance of my tent as was sunlight. Getting up I looked to him, and he said.

"Wir packen ein, wir werden in Richting Emeralda, bist do okay." (We are packing up, going to head to Emeralda, are you alright?)

        "Einfach ein Albtraum." (Just a nightmare.)

I got up and stretched then walked out of my tent. Soldiers were taking down the tents and putting them on carts, as soldiers came to my tent I chose to assist them in carrying the tent before mobilizing with the other mail clad soldiers. When camp was packed up we all mobilized and got ready to head to Emeralda, which was not but a half a day's trot. The army moved in formation as did we mail clad soldiers move separate as cavalry, walking with us was the vassal who led this army, Lanzenkopf von Ostenfluss. Lanzenkopf was a pragmatic strategist and shrewd leader, being a knight who earned his way up nobility to be a vassal of our king, Stahlrück XVIII. Lanzenkopf's army was among the most famous in our nation particularly for our strong cavalry force of around 400 knights both unicorn and earth pony among the 500 mostly earth pony force of infantry and polearm ponies. Cavalry being a separate force of typically more heavily armed and armored soldiers who moved as a group freely on the battlefield outside the formations so that we could lay attack upon enemy forces typically via charges to the flank or rear of enemy formations, so we were likely going to stand at the back of the forced in the coming seige. A siege fight didn't grant us freedom to gallop across a wide open battlefield and flank enemy formations, rather it forced any put into it be mostly being pelted with arrows and or put into crowded close combat. We as highly trained soldiers in mail were of a higher value than the common soldier, one dead knight was equal to 100 dead soldiers as Lanzenkopf himself said. Lanzenkopf overall treated common solders mostly as strength in numbers replaceable units, and was likely not going to care much about casualties as long as the enemy had more casualties.

The city of Emerelda came into view, a large city surrounded by a wall constructed of stone. Even from the distance I could see how decoratively the walls were sculpted, it was unlike anything I had ever seen in a city or castle wall. Lines of unicorn archers were at the tops of the walls clearly ready to rain arrows upon the coming invaders. Lanzenkopf surveyed the city and thought over how he would claim it, likely hoping that he would be granted lord of the great city of Emeralda once we took it. The archers were mobilized and put into formation and the soldiers were readied to charge, us behind them to follow. The polearm ponies were at the front heading for the gates to the city, our approach was met with hundreds of arrows being sent our way. Our archers stood in a line drawing their levitated bows and sending their own arrows at the Unihornians at the wall, the soldiers moved to the gate under cover of the archers as we followed at the back. A large iron gate stood in front of a wooden gate between us and the soldiers waiting on the other side. The polearm ponies used their combined strength to try to lift the gate over their heads, being earth ponies they were quick in doing so, shoving three arrow ridden shield wagons under the gate to keep it up. The Unihornians levitated pole weapons through the wooden gate to try to keep the oncoming soldiers at bay. Thus polearms strapped to earth ponies' sides clashed with ones levitated in the magic of the Unihornians standing behind. Many of the enemies' pole weapons were grabbed by our polearm ponies and broken with their strength, while their own weapons struck through the wooden gate and stabbed at the enemies behind. This struggle went on for what felt like hours till the polearm ponies were able to reach the gate and use the strength of their forelegs to start breaking the wooden gate apart, many of them were killed while trying to break the gate forcing them to move back. Ultimately they used the axe heads on their pole weapons to strike at the gate to break gaps into it, eventually leaving the lower parts of the gate broken and collapsed. Now the crowded fight for the city was to begin as both sides crowded at the gates to fight each other.

Metal clanging, voices yelling in both germane and common equine, these were what I heard as I stood among the crowd of mail clad soldiers standing behind the main soldiers. They called out in curse toward the unicorns who our front lines now were locked in cramp combat. The close quarters would soon turn in the favor of our solders, who being comprised of earth ponies were able to grab their enemies weapons and move at the now disarmed enemies. Unihornians would end up taking their own blades to the eye or neck and thus their defensive lines crumbled and our forced advanced into the city. We all entered the city, every pony in the army with the exception of the unicorn archers. As we mail clad soldiers walked we walked over corpses of unicorns with their blades in their eyes or necks. The ones unfortunate enough to not receive a merciful blade into the eye pooled blood from their mouths staining our metal shoes. Fighting was all over the city as the forces within clashed with our invading forces. As I looked around in alert for incoming arrows or the rare chance of spells and saw the beautiful architecture of many of the homes and constructs, some unicorns peeked outside their windows as they hid in fear. Some would see me glance to them and quickly withdraw from the windows, fearful of the pony in yellow and black caparison who looked to them. Soon we came to join a fight with a large group of Unihornian soldiers. I entered with the other knights and surprised a Unihornian,  grabbing and pulling him from his line to the ground. Fear was in his eyes as I turned my head to aim the short false blade on my longsword, a short stiff and tapered blade extending opposite from the long main blade. Throwing my head down I plunged the short but lethal blade into his eye, raising my head and moving to the side as one of the two points of a Unicorn sword thrust straight for my eye. I locked the weapon in a bind with my own and pushed forward, suddenly an axe of a levitated polearm came down upon the back of the Unicorn's neck as a crack was heard and he dropped. The double bladed sword clattered onto the stone street as did many others, their resistance was dwindling as Unihornians were slain. We moved on heading for the castle that lay central within Emeralda, as we galloped in approach the beauty of its architecture came to my attention. A large, decorative, yet strong looking castle it was we neared it and joined the forces who came to besiege it.

Unihornians stood at the walls shooting arrows to try to keep the invading forces at bay, they did seeing as they didn't have opposing archers shooting at them. With Lanzenkopf's orders that was to change as our unicorn archers came and opened fire upon them. Some of the enemies horns glow and envelop arrows in magic. These unicorns had spells to envelop their arrows in flames, ice, and lightning as they fired. Casualties on our side were inevitable, I saw many of our own be struck with the vicious magic coated arrows and suffer their effects. One such arrow struck the side of my chanfron, denting it and making the metal feel cold as ice in a lake. The metal was forged well enough that an arrow wouldn't pierce it, and thus it saved me from death. Ice spread upon the part of the caparison on my face making it feel even more cold. A metal gate halted our advance into the castle, though only for a time as our soldiers soon lifted it to allow us to pour into the castle. We all ended up in crowded fighting with the Unihornians who tried to defend from us, many from both sides being slain and dropping only to be walked onto by the next fighting soldier. Their resistance against us was not to last as their lines broke and many of the unicorns retreated. We all advanced forward when suddenly fire came down from the towers above, we had run into an apparent trap set by mages within the castle. We quickly went for the exit as balls of flames like miniature suns came down and exploded upon the ponies below.

After being driven out we remained at the walls of the castle, Lanzenkopf was not pleased with what occurred, he gathered us knights in his talk with us.

"Das lief schrecklich, verfluchte Magier verstecken sich in diesen Türmen, wissend, dass Magie nichts bringt, um sich von einen richtigen Kampft zu schützen! Ich werde nicht meinen Sieg, wegen ein paar Bastarde mit brännenden Shädeln, verlieren!"(That went terribly, cursed magicians hiding up on those towers, knowing magic won't protect them from an actual fight! I'm not losing my victory to a few bastard who spurt flames from their heads!) Said Lanzenkopf clearly displeased, then he started to think as he stared up to the towers of the castle before us, forming his plan of attack.

I was staring up at the castle as well, admiring the architectural beauty of it, the skillfully carved walls of stone portraying images of the sun, stars, and unicorns. I was thankful that catapults were not needed for this seige. At least the hard work of these unicorns could be preserved even after the banner of Unihorn would be taken down. I imagined what must have been going through the heads of the unicorn mages up in the towers, must have been at least some bit of fear in that the city had fallen and this castle was the last of the resistance against the siege. Soon Lanzenkopf came to us with his plan, saying to us with a clear grin.

"Ritter von Großadler, ich habe einen Plan, welcher es euch erlauben wird, die Köpfe dieser Magier, hoch in den Türmen, zu nehmen, hört mir gut zu Hengste!"(Knights of Grossadler, I have a plan that will allow you to take the heads of those magicians up in the towers, listen to me well stallions.)

We all looked to him and were silent, awaiting his plan and the orders that were to follow.

"Ich habe einen Plan, der euch 'näher und persönlich' mit diesen Magier werden könnt. Höret und höret genau meine noblen Ritter, ihr werdet das Schloss betreten, während unsere Soldaten Ablenkung mit ihrem Feuer schaffen werden. Ich weiß gewieß, dass Magier praktisch nutzlos, im Schnauze um Schnauze Kampf, sind, es wird euch möglich sein, sie bloßzustellen bevor ihre Köpfe nehmen könnt. Vielleicht schneidet eines ihrer Köpfe auf und erhängt sie vor'm Balcon." (I have a plan that will let you get 'up close and personal' with those cowardly magicians. Listen and listen close my noble knights, you are going to enter the castle while our soldiers provide you distraction from their fire. I know very well that a magician is typically useless in snout to snout fighting, you might even be able to humiliate them before taking their heads. Maybe slice one of them open and hand them from the balcony.)

I imagined the brutal and horrific sight of that happening, cringing visibly even under my caparison covered chanfron. The other knights nodded and Lanzenkopf nodded and grinned.

"Bereitet euch vor ihr Hängste, ihr werdet bald rennen müssen." (Alright then, ready yourselves stallions for you will soon need to run.)

Lanzenkopf was an earth pony I had grown bitter toward, he was among the best of the strategists but was by far the least considerate of the lives of his common soldiers. This distraction based tactic was expected of him, any other vassal might have tried a less casualty prone tactic. I decided to free my tongue and voice my opinion on his tactic.

"Wenn ich sprechen darf, Herr Lanzenkopf. Ich sage, dass diese Tactic nicht die Beste, geschweigdenn die Nötigste. Denkst du nicht wir haben gewonnen? Diese Stadt ist unsere und die letzten Gegner sind in ihrem Schluss eingesperrt, wir könnten einfach immer hier warten und ein Auge auf sie werfen. SIcherlich, würden sie nicht so dumm sein und die Stadt selbst zurück zu erobern." (If I might speak sir Lanzenkopf might I say that this tactic might not be the best nor the most necessary. Would you not think we have already won? The city is ours and the last enemies are trapped in the castle, we could always just wait here and keep watch on them. They surely wouldn't be so foolish as to try to take back the city themselves.)

Some other knights talked among each other, voicing concerns akin to my own. Lanzenkopf was not pleased with my words as he replied.

"Hinterfragst du etwa meine Taktiken? Hast du irgendwelche Erfahrungen mit Führen einer Armee, oder ausführen von Schlachtfeld Taktiken?." (Do you question my tactics? Have you any experience leading an army or utilizing battlefield tactics?)

"Sie haben Effizienz im Kampf mit Ihren Taktiken, in der Vergangenheit, bewießen. Ich habe einfach Etwas vorgeschlagen, dass weniger Probleme auf unserer Seite auslösen könnte." (You have shown effectiveness in battle with your tactics in the past, but I was simply suggesting something that might lead to fewer casualties on our side.)

Some of the other knights nodded in agreement. Lanzenkopf said back at me.

"Unsere Soldaten sind für unseren König am kämpfen sterben für den König sollte nichts neues sein für sie. Wir werden unseren Plan durchziehen, aber deine Besorgnisse mit unseren Problemen: Ich werde unsere Soldaten sofort von dem Schloss zurückziehen lassen, sobald eine Gruppe unserer Soldaten ihre Kammern betreten hat. Du und elf weitere Soldaten werdet die Fordertür jenseits unserer Soldaten stürmen, ist das deutlichund klar?" (Our soldiers are fighting for the king, dying for the king should be nothing new to them. We are going to win this and it will be worth the few casualties we may take. We are carrying through with my plan, but in your concerns with casualties I'll have our soldiers retreat from the castle immediately once a group of our knights have entered its chambers. You and eleven other knights will charge for the front doors past our group of soldiers, is that sufficient and clear?)

I nodded, clearly he wasn't going to wait like I suggested, at least he would be giving some consideration of casualties. He mobilized the soldiers and separated me and eleven others to join the group that would enter. We mobilized at the opened gates and awaited Lanzenkopf's signal, which was to be a blast of a horn. He looked up to the towers and readied the horn, after a few minutes he blew the horn and we all charged in running as quickly as our legs could carry us. The rumbling sound of magical fire approaching could be heard we were quickly dispersed by the falling fireballs. Thankfully we all saw the blasts coming and the majority of the soldiers along with all twelve of us were not burned asunder. Soon we reached the large wooden doors that led to the castle interior and I yelled to some soldiers. "Fallt jetzt zurück!." (Fall back now!). Some heard me and quickly fled to the gates, the other soldiers following. I noticed that compared to our first attempt at the castle there was far fewer soldiers who were sent in, only about four lives were lost in fire as the soldiers retreated. We now had a door to enter which was evidently locked from inside, the earth pony knights kicked at the door aiming to split the wood and grant an opening for us to enter.  Since the door was under a stone arch we had a place to take cover under, though it seemed the mages above hadn't noticed us. Luckily the door wasn't made extremely thick and we were able to crack the intricately carved wood and soon break an opening. I looked through it to make sure none were inside waiting to thwart our entrance. I did not expect to see what I saw when I looked into the gap.

Soldiers and guards, Unihornian, laying all over the stone floor of the chamber inside. Blood pooled from all of their bodies as they lay motionless, apparently dead. I looked to the knights showing my wide eyed response.

"Was ist es? Was hast du gesehen?" (What is it? What did you see?)

I replied to him after a moment silent. "Soldaten und Wächter, alle liegen sie auf dem Flur und ertrinken in ihrem Blut." (Soldiers and guards, all laying upon the floor and pooling blood.)

"Was!? Ist das dein ernst???" (What!? Are you serious???)

Another knight asked. "Haben die Magier sie getötet? Welcher Akt der Verzweiflung bringt einen von diesen dazu, einer von deinen Wächtern zu töten!?" (Did the magicians kill them? What desperation leads one to kill your remaining guards!?)

"Vielleicht verägerten sie die Magier mit der vorgeschlagenen Aufgabe?" (Maybe they angered the mages by suggesting surrender?)

"Wenn dass, das der Fall ist, dann schätze ich, dass alle weißen Unihornians tot sind in diesem Schloss." (If that's the case then I guess all the wise Unihornians in this castle are dead.)

And so we all entered the chamber through the gap in the door, my fellow soldiers in mail gasped as they entered and looked around to see the massacre before them. I looked to see the hallway ahead of us, lined with banners depicting the horn and stars that made up the design of the banner of Unihorn. Multiple entrances to staircases could be seen in the walls, eight in total. As we walked forward to the staircases there suddenly came a mass of flame purple and black manifested above us, drawing our attention and inciting our combative stances.  From the flame a shape in the form of a unicorn mare's body appeared and a mare's voice emitted from it.

"Well, here stand knights of Adleria sent by their king to conquer another city for him. Seems the one who commands you thought he could sneak you into here without us noticing. Unfortunately that is not the case, and your little seige for your king's power is not going to hinder our plans."

A knight beside me responded. "Surrender now Magician! The army of Grossadler has this city and your little spells won't stop us from bringing this city under the Great Eagle's Banner, and free the Landponies of your unjust dominion over them!"

The mare laughed. "Typical self righteous Adlerite, you think your better just because you sympathize with a race built for nothing but physical labor. Unicorns have great power and potential over all the other races, our magic can do far more than just let us fly or make us physically strong. Has our mages not shown what we can do on the battlefield alone?"

The knight responded. "We impaled your Magicians upon our lances and spilled their blood! You have lost the day, surrender now-"

Suddenly a stream of purple shot from the horn of the mare and between the eyes of the knight. He was still as a statue and wide eyed as his eyes glowed purple, he then looked around and looking in front he showed an expression of horror.

"Nein! Was machst du mir meiner Tochter! Fass' sie nicht an!!!." (No! What are you doing to my daughter! Don't touch her!!!) He charged forward only to run straight into the spike of a polearm that was magically levitated toward his neck. It rammed hard piercing his mail and doublet as made clear by his coughing up blood.

"Nien!" (No!) He said coughing his own blood as it filled his mouth from the wound to his throat. "Helleblum!" He choked on his blood and dropped to the floor

The unicorn mare looked to the rest of us as we watched in shock, another fellow knight yelled. "Schlag den Magier!" (Strike the magician!) and six of the knights whipped their tails tossing their daggers straight at her. The mare caught them all in levitation and sent them back clattering against the floor.

"The banners of this world will fall in flames and blood. A new world ruled by the holders of the true power, magic, will rise and grow to become stronger than any kingdom that has ever existed. The ascension of Unicorndom will be upon us, all who oppose will be eradicated via a new magic more powerful than any of you can imagine. Behold my power!"

A sphere of purple magic formed on her horn and expanded quickly causing everything to flash purple. I shut my eyes and felt as if a strong but brief wind blew past me. After that I opened them again to see all the other fellow mail clad soldiers standing still as statues before looking around in panic and fear as the mare laughed. Her horn emitted a bright green light that suddenly appeared on the knight below her, who lay bleeding on the ground from the polearm to his neck. He suddenly trembled and began to rise, then looked back to us eyes black as a moonless night and mouth filled with blood that spilled out from it as he rose. He walked to one of the knights among us and suddenly stabbed the dagger in his tail repeatedly into the throat of the fearful knight till he coughed blood, showing no expression. The mare's horn then glowed green again and suddenly all the bodies of the soldiers and guards began to rise. I looked around  as this occurred thinking  "Waren sie nicht tot?" (Were they not dead?). The bodies rose onto their hooves eyes black like the knights eyes, I looked back to see him killing knights one by one who seemed to be too driven into their fear by the spell to defend themselves. The risen soldiers and guards soon started to attack us as well. I reacted quickly as the black eyed ponies attacked, fighting to try to survive and defend my fellow knights. Success on the former was far greater than on the latter, the enemies attacked viciously and I needed every amount of skill in parrying along with the strength of my mail to get slaughtered. I stabbed the false blade of my sword into the eye of one of them, only for a black substance much thicker than blood to coat it and get onto the side of my facial part of my caparison. I pulled it out only for the unicorn to keep attacking me, I said in my head "Wie ist das möglich!? Was für eine Art der Magie ist das!?"(How is that possible!? What kind of magic is this!?). I quickly fought the group of unicorns with longsword in mouth and dagger in tail, they all had necks torn wide open in a lethal wound.

"Wie laufen sie denn!? Hat sie, sie von den Toten erweckt!? Dass kann selbst mit Magie nicht möglich sein!" (How do they walk!? Did she raise them from death!? That can't be possible even through magic!) I said in my head as I fought off the foes I faced.

I got near one and wrapped a foreleg around his neck using proper grappling technique, I then twisted and bent the neck giving off an audible snap. Black substance flowed from the wound on his neck as he went limp, dropping him I knew how I was going to deal with the rest of them. Using my weapons mainly for parrying I went to them one by one and immobilized them in order to deliver the snap of the neck. After a short time fighting the black eyed unicorns suddenly stopped and stepped back from me. I looked around as they did and saw the unicorn mare, eyes wide in a look of shock as she stared to me. Choosing to speak I said to her

"What have you done with these ponies!? What have you done to my fellow soldiers in mail!? I have stories of what magic is capable of and seen mages on a battlefield but never what seems to be-.."

"Silence! How was your mind not taken by my spell!? All of your friends fell but you didn't! That, is what is impossible, especially for an Earth Pony!"

Thinking about it I found that it was an appropriate question and great source of confusion. Not until now had I realized that every other knight was under the spell while I was untouched. Responding I told the mare.

"I know not why, and with your mention of it I too am confused at how this magic you have has me untouched. While we are not trying to slay each other might I be granted an understanding  of what you have mentioned. You speak as if with prophecy and carry a magic none of us have ever seen or heard of."

The mare stared into my eyes and looked me over. She lowered to the ground and dispelled the flames revealing a decorative red robe over her. She was grey in her coat color with a mane of silver and purple, the purple magic in her eyes dispelled to reveal violet eyes. She then smiled and said

"You aren't as enthusiastic in war as the other 'mail clad soldiers' as you call them are. You seem that war didn't become such a reality, as in your mind you wonder if any cause is worth building on a pile of corpses. Interesting, you also don't seem to look upon yourself with honor either. You seem to be willing to listen to what my intentions are and judge for yourself what you shall judge me as. Well then earth pony, 'Adlerauge' as your Adlerite name is, I will tell you of what mine and many other's intentions are. We have discovered a magic from deep in the earth, one that takes form only in Black, purple,green, and blood red. This magic has a power unlike anything we have ever seen, it has a power greater than any known magic to ever exist. But there are other mages who fear it's power and thus oppose it. How foolish of them, guess they won't join the cause for Unicorndom's Ascension. No matter, we are gaining a following and soon we will grow strong enough that no king's army will stand a chance against us. And every earthbound and skybound pony will bow to the unicorns as we assert our power over all ponykind. The strength of your race will be useless against our great power, as will the flight of the other race. So you see 'Adlerauge', even your great nation who self righteously claims pride for being equal toward all three races, will meet it's end. As for you, you'll make an interesting experiment with your immunity to my manipulation spell."

I was not going to let myself be captured, she was clearly a mage with very high ambition and a very powerful magic indeed. With this unique and apparently quite powerful magic she was indeed going to be a threat to others especially if there were more like her. I grabbed a polearm from a fallen knight in my tail and quickly threw it at her like  javelin. She grabbed it in her magic and laughed

"You indeed to fight against me? Fool, you won't triumph and neither will your fellow soldiers outside!"

Her horn glowed bright green again and the unicorn guards and soldiers went at me again. I moved away from them trying to keep from getting surrounded. This time they weren't trying to harm me as much as they were trying to immobilize me. My natural strength came to great use as I escaped their attempts to immobilize me while also breaking the necks of many of them. Suddenly I heard the doors into the castle get bashed at, it seemed that maybe Lanzenkopf sent some more knights to assist us. Hoping for some soon help I continued to fight the unicorns and try to avoid being surrounded by them. It was difficult as I was greatly outnumbered, if it wasn't for the fact that their resurrection from death didn't bring any fighting skill they had with it I would have stood no chance. Soon the wooden bar holding the door closed was lifted by an earth pony soldier, one of Grossadler, who slipped into the hole we made in it. His arming doublet was noticeably burned badly as was his face, he looked in my direction and to my horror his eyes were black like the unicorns I fought. As the doors were forced open the bedlam of war could be heard. A large group of apparently dead and resurrected Grossadler soldiers entered heading straight for me. I moved back from the unicorns and looked to the soldiers approaching as I heard the mare laugh.

"I have turned their fallen against them, there will be no escape for you or your fellow Adlerites!"

I was backed into a stone wall as the oncoming resurrected dead of both Grossadler and Unihorn went at me ans began striking me over the head with the hooves while grabbing my caparison in their teeth and tearing it off from my armor. I struggled to escape them but their sheer number made the usefulness of my strength limited. Soon the mail put over me was torn off leaving me in my mail sleeved arming doublet. I still kept a mouth grip on my longsword even with their efforts to remove it, up until some Grossadler soldiers gripped the blade in their mouths. Their cheeks were sliced but ultimately they disarmed me of my sword, I hid the dagger in my tail as they began to drag me through their crowd. I could hear sounds of weapons clashing and Grossadler soldiers yelling as they fought their casualties. I was dragged out before the mare who was grinning wickedly.

"Watch, Knight of Adleria, for your kingdom's army will fall and mine will rise. I can turn all the casualties of your little siege to my bidding."

I looked out to the battle between living and resurrected. The resurrected ponies fought viciously and were not easy to slay as a normal living pony. However as with the ones I faced they lacked one thing, the skills and tactics of a soldier. Soon this began to show as Lanzenkopf directed his army well in response to the vicious attacks. The polearm ponies were at the front and skillfully used their formation tactics and repeatedly stabbed the attacking resurrected. Soon they were able to advance and gain ground within the castle, the mages above did not seem to unleash their fire magic down upon them. Either they were confident in the ability of the resurrected army or did not want their magic to strike the resurrected army. The mare levitated herself over me as she watched the fight carry on.

"How are they holding their lines!? I send their casualties to them and they still prevail! I guess I'm going to have to do this on my own soon. These Adlerites will not defeat us, not when we carry this magic of great power."

Soon the Grossadler soldiers began to reach the door, and the mare's horn glowed in purple. I put together what she did with that spell, she manipulated the minds into some sort vision to drive them mad. I wasn't going to let her do that to the soldiers coming into here, though they carried out much bloodshed here they were still my fellow ponies of Grossadler. I took the dagger hidden in my tail and quickly honed my skill in throwing with the tail to throw it at her. It flew at her and struck into her upper abdomen, her horn ceased it's glow as she screamed out. I quickly followed up my attack by using my tail to pull a sword out of one of the resurrected unicorns' magic and tossed it at her as well. The mare stopped it only as the blade entered her chest, her magic pulled it out frantically sending blood dripping from the wound and staining her robe.

"Gaah! Who threw those at me!?" She looked to me in shock. "Impossible! My resurrected soldiers have you....bound.." The purple in her eyes faded as she levitated back some then dropped to the ground. "Nooooo....." I had evidently hit my mark, the heart. Though mages could naturally heal themselves with magic, a blow to the heart would cause very rapid bleeding that could spell their end. I was suddenly dropped and released as the resurrected ponies seemed to stand and do nothing, the unicorns dropping their weapons from their fading levitation. Seizing the opportunity I got to my hooves and picked up a dropped polearm, an axe headed spike with langets. The mare lay weakened from blood loss and seemed to focus fully on her healing spell as made evident by the yellow glow on her horn. I positioned the weapon held in my tail and aimed for my mark, her head. She began to get up on her forelegs and look up to me to see a spike going straight toward her face. The spike entered her mouth deep enough for the axehead to slice her cheek. Her eyes were wide open in shock as she dropped to the ground with a mouthful of steel and blood. The Grossadler soldiers hacked their way through unresponsive enemies until they reached me, they saw the dead mare and cheered.

"Ein Magier ist erschlagen worden!" (A magician has been struck!)

They cheered for me as they reared up and yelled. Lanzenkopf and many knights walked through the crowd of soldiers to see me and the dead mare. Lanzenkopf smiled in approval.

"Gut gemacht, Ritter! Es sieht so aus, dass die anderen Elf gefallen sinf, aber du hast ülberlebt! Gehe nun zu den anderen, welche sich in diesem Schloss verstecken "(Well done knight, it seems that the eleven other fell but you prevailed. Come now, for there are others who hide in this castle.)

He called to the soldiers to move onward to search for the mages. He then spoke to me asking

"Wie ist dein Name?" (What is your name?)

"Adlerauge" I responded.

"Adlerauge, diese Augen von bleichem Geld wirklich reflektieren, dessen eines mächtigen Adlers." (Adlerauge, those eyes of pale yellow indeed reflect those of the mighty eagle.) He said in compliment, then he spoke in a serious tone.

"Was geschah heir? Ich möchte jedes Detail, was heir passierte, wissen. Die Soldaten, welche in die Flammen fiehlen, standen plötzlich auf und attackierten uns-Augenhölen, die aussahen, als ob sie von schwarzer Tinte gefüllten wären. Kannst du das erklären?"(What happened here? I want to know every detail of what occurred in here. Outside the ones who fell to flames suddenly rose and started attacking us, eye sockets looking as if they were filled with ink. Can you explain?)

I described what had happened, starting with the discovery of the fresh corpses of the guards up to the resurrected ponies capturing me and my slaying of the mage via throwing weapons with my tail. Being a pony with strong an vivid memory I described everything that happened with great detail. Lanzenkopf listened intently to every small detail I spoke to him, upon me concluding my account of the events he whispered to me with a stern stare.

"Sage es keinem, behalte es zwischen uns beiden. Diese anlässlichen Informationen beunruhigen mich zutiefst und es sieht danach aus, dass es sich um eine Bestätigung einer Magier Verschwörung handelt. Das Töten der Magier mag hier gestoppt zu haben aber es könnte sein, dass es sich verbreitet hat. Diese Dokument soll zu King Stalrück den 18. persönlich gelangen. Wenn dieser Kampf endet, werde wir hier rastenn und ich werde eine Nachricht zum König gesendet haben. Halte deine Zunge in Schach verstanden? "(Don't tell this to anyone, keep it between us. This information given concerns me greatly and appears to possibly signify some sort of magician conspiracy. Killing the magicians here may stop it, but it might have expanded beyond the ones here. This should go to King Stahlrück the eighteenth himself. Once this battle ends we are going to garrison here and I'll have message sent to the king. Keep your tongue still about this, understood?)

I nodded and waited with the other knights who stood to guard Lanzenkopf. The rest of the army searched the castle for the mages up on the towers. I was concerned that they would be subjected to the same manipulative magic that the now dead mare used. Some hours passed before soldiers returned reporting that nothing was found but a few noble family members. More soldiers came finding no sign of the mages either. Lanzenkopf then announced.

"Wir werden diese Stadt für eine Zeit lang belagern und diese von Versuchungen im Punkto Übernahmen beschützen. Wir werden inser Camp außerhalb der Stadt aufschlagen und unsere Wächter werden in diese hineinschauen, ist das klar?" (We will be garrisoned here at this city for some time to protect it from any attempts at reconquering. We will set up camp outside the city and have guards to keep watch within it, is that clear?)

The soldiers nodded in acknowledgment. I was relieved as always in the end of a battle, but before I would go to set up camp I would speak to Lanzenkopf. As our soldiers had their camp set up Lanzenkopf was in the part of Emeralda where the earth ponies lived, announcing their freedom from unicorn rule. In Unihorn and the vast majority of other Unicorn and Pegasus kingdoms Earth Ponies were kept as low class farmers and servants. From what I had heard they were given little authority over themselves in comparison to the more dominant race of their kingdom. One thing I did appreciate about Grossadler was it's general equality toward all three races, few other kingdoms were as equal and the ones I knew were all powerful. Mainly the Kingdom of Prance and Grand Duchy of Mareskow, both being of equal power to Grossadler, if only we hadn't before gone to war with Prance over territorial disputes. It was interesting how the simple equality of ponies correlated with a great amount of power within a kingdom, yet other kingdoms didn't see it. Part of what has driven Grossadler and kingdoms like it into war was the incentive to bring equality to the three races in order to realize our potential as a society. When I was a squire in training to become a knight this incentive along with the stories I heard of oppression toward earth ponies made me greatly interested and eager to fight and serve in my eventual knighthood. This was before the brutality of war was revealed to me when I actually saw what war was like. Thoughts such as these ran through my memory withholding mind as I heard Lanzenkopf's speeches to the Earth Pony farmers and servants. Their initial fear of us was turning into a joy upon hearing of the opportunities that Grossadler offered. After his speeches I approached him and asked.

"Sir Lanzenkopf, dürfte ich mit Ihnen sprechen?" (Sir Lanzenkopf, if I might have a word with you?)

He looked to me and approached, making sure the knights guarding him weren't listening he asked in a whisper.

""(Have you managed to learn anything in regards to those magicians?)

""(No, I have not unfortunately, however I do wish to ask what you plan on doing with the wounded prisoners we have. I have a suggestion that could improve this city's perception of us. Would you be inclined to listen?)

He looked to me with intrigue and then smiled some as he said.

""(If we will keep this city under the Great Eagle's Banner then turning it's ponies to its side would be of great benefit. What is it you suggest Sir Adlerauge?)

Being referred to in even a simple formality always seemed to have discomforted me inside, possibly due to a natural humility I generally feel at comfort in. I explained my suggestion to him in detail. I suggested having the prisoners be treated of their wounds, disarmed completely, then allowed to return to any homes they had in Emeralda. He was a bit skeptical and unsure about the plan at first, but then the fact that this act of mercy could very well generate positive perception that could circumvent any risk of rebellion. Ultimately he told me

""(You always seem to go for less blood whenever possible, in this case I see the benefits of showing mercy to the prisoners. In time life for these former Unihornians will be able to go on as normal only with Earth Ponies being respected as equals by the crown itself. You have done well as a knight and in providing some beneficial ideas. Go rest at the camp now for soon the twilight shall fade and nightfall will arrive.)

I returned to camp quite pleased and happy, this was the first time I had really talked with the vassal Lanzenkopf. And it seemed he was willing to listen to some reason and show mercy toward the soldiers we captured. The idea of having the Earth ponies being given a new found freedom also lightened up my mood some. However as I rested in my tent the concern of these mages, what the mare said to me haunted my thoughts.

"The banners of this world will fall in flames and blood. A new world ruled by the holders of the true power, magic, will rise and grow to become stronger than any kingdom that has ever existed. The ascension of Unicorndom will be upon us, all who oppose will be eradicated via a new magic more powerful than any of you can imagine."

I saw for myself what what this 'great power' they had was capable of. I imagined an entire battle's casualties being turned into an army of resurrected soldiers that would only grow with the more dead soldiers they could raise from death. That spell which manipulated the minds of my fellow knights was also of a great threat. In my long history of reading I've read battle accounts of mages and what they have been capable of, raining fire, sending lightning, blasting frost at their enemies, raising the ground and stones of the earth as a weapon were all well documented. But raising ponies from death, manipulating their minds into nightmarish visions to render them defenseless, neither of those had ever been documented. What if there were other powerful and mysterious spells that they had? What is the extent of their power? can they bring down all the banners of this world as they so claim? Or were they just foolish and unrealistic? As much as I wished it was unrealistic my mind put together how their goals were not so unrealistic. I imagined they could very well potentially bring down an army with their nightmarish vision spell then have them slaughtered and resurrected as soldiers of the mages who slew them. What if creating nightmares wasn't the only thing they could do with this 'great power'. What if they could very well take hold over a pony's mind with their magic alone? I thought I was going to have a rest without nightmares with the conclusion of battle and Lanzenkopf's acceptance of my suggestion, however the worries brought by what I saw in that castle were going to very well plague my dreams.