Author's Note

Heads up, the Chimerae look like these guys: http://dump.pawism.com/post/44305795582. All credit goes to whoever drew these. Oh, and bonus points to those that can guess the insparation to the fight between Triton and Saburo

Testament to Water

Chapter 3: Testament to Water.

“When the warring kingdoms fight, when the blood of an innocent is spilled on the throne, the gods will awaken, fates will be rewritten, otherworldly kingdoms join the fray, Siegfried and Rajinto will clash and the dark lords rise…”

-Star Swirl the Bearded’s final words before he died.

Smoke and flames, that is all Vinyl smelled and tasted.

She slowly opened her eyes, and slowly got up on all fours, pain flaring on the side of her head and her side. She suddenly remembered what happened.

Her eyes went wide as she realized that she had an arrow stuck in her head, and her side.

Keeping herself calm, she carefully put her hoof on the shaft of the arrow that was lodged in her head. She took a deep breath, then ripped the arrow out of her head.

She gritted her teeth in pain and looked at the arrow. It wasn’t barbed, and she didn’t find any brain matter on it. She thanked the Dawn Dragon for her lucky miracle, and proceeded to take the arrow out of her side. As soon as the painful ordeal was over, Vinyl took a good look at her surroundings.

The gate was blasted apart, probably by some sort of magic spell, and there were bodies everywhere. Rebels and guards were strewn across the streets beyond the gates, and the space from the gate and the palace. Guts, blood spatter and pools of blood, it was all over the place. Vinyl was horrified by the sheer brutality of the aftermath. Tartarus, even the battles she has fought in were a lot less bloody than this.

Vinyl even saw the citizens that weren’t part of this riot stumbling around Canterlot, looking and mourning for their dead loved ones that either were part of the guard, or part of the riot.

Vinyl looked around and spotted a Equestrian flag, the Sun and the Moon were torn and was splattered with dried blood. It was in the hooves of a dead royal guard.

Vinyl looked at him with a sad smile and nodded to the dead guard, acknowledging that he died defending the flag. She trotted over to the ash covered body and pried the flag from the corpse, saying, “sorry friend, but I need this more than you do.” Vinyl tore the flag in two. She stood on her hind legs and used the two pieces of the flag as bandages for her side and head. She got back on all fours again and retrieved her naginata, and made her way to the palace to look for survivors.

/[[]]\

“You don’t feel my pain!”

“I am sorry this all happened-”

“Bullshit! If you didn’t convince my husband to come over here for you stupid diplomatic solutions, He and MY daughter would still be alive. It’s your fault, every bit of it!” Lyra yelled at the princess of the Sun.

Celestia took a deep breath and said, “It was the rioters’ fault. They listened to the two hooded stallions and decided to follow them.”

Lyra yelled, “you knew that there were some anti-Serpony terror groups just waiting to get their hooves on me and my family, my whole world, and you knew that they would come to kill my sweet quetzal…”

“Please, Lyra. I knew the dangers of bringing her here, but I had no choice. I had to know how powerful she was going to be so I could take precautions and build some trust with her. If she was left unchecked, she could've gone down the path of evil. We don’t need another Sombra.”

“So you never thought of us as allies, only a threat?! after we reclaimed the throne for you?! Maybe I should extend you the same courtesy,” Lyra turned away from Celestia, and observed the dead Serpony warrior bodies on the floor. She said, “I want to find the group that did this. I will search every home, every nook and cranny. I want to kill the leader myself. I want to watch the life flee from their eyes, and feel their blood splattering my coat. I want justice.”

Celestia then asked, “justice, or revenge?”

Lyra then bucked the princess across the floor, causing both Luna and Twilight to jump and incapacitate the new threat. However, Lyra decided to not let them do that and spun Chillrend in an arc that sent both princesses flying into the wall.

“I’m coming with an army, and I will purge Equestria of its Serpony-hating filth, and you can’t stop me,” Lyra said in a dark tone.

“Not long ago, you were a Equestrian! You hated the Serponies like most of the population did!” Luna shouted as she got up.

Lyra looked the princess in the eye and said, “Equestria is not my home, it will never be. My allegiance is with the Serponies and the lands of the Forbidden Jungle. This kingdom means nothing to me.”

She sheathed Chillrend and walked out of the throne room, using her magic to carry her family’s bodies with her for burial.

As soon as she left, Vinyl staggered into the room.

All three princesses’ eyes widened when they saw her. They thought she was dead.

“Vinyl!” Twilight cried as she nearly tackled the former D.J. Vinyl let out a small chuckle and said, “So, what did I miss?”

-TTT-

A few days later…

Aether Aegis enjoyed reading.

His favorite place to relax was the Cloudsdale archives, and because of his lineage, he had practically unrestricted access to the most ancient of scrolls, books and scriptures.

He spent most of his time reading about war strategies and ancient weapons of war. He even copied the blueprints so the blacksmiths can start creating the weapons and armor worn and used by the hoplites.

He was in the middle of reading about the Battle of The Burn when he heard the sound of a pony’s hooves coming toward him. He looked up to see a mailmare with a letter in her hoof. The letter had the official seal of the Canterlot throne.

“The princesses of Canterlot told be that this is where I’ll find you,” she said. She trotted over to him, handed him the letter, and then trotted towards the door. As soon as she was gone, Aether opened the letter. It read:

Dear Aether Aegis,

We have seen your papers and have seen what you

plan to do, so we have decided to authorize your plans

to build a branch of hoplite soldiers for the use of war.

To be honest, we need them now, more than ever before.

We are facing an invasion by the Serponies, and our spy network

has us believing the the army of the Serponies is mobilizing, and

plan to exact misplaced vengeance on all of Equestria.

We have faith in you and in your plan, don’t let us down.

sincerely,

Celestia and Luna.

Aether Aegis grinned. He has got his wish.

He had already began training his hoplites, despite the fact that he needed permission to do so. He had already fully trained about three hundred pegasi in the art of hoplite warfare, and he is getting in more recruits that are eager to live the legends.

Aether then frowned in thought, because he wanted his hoplites to emulate the hoplites of old. So far he has produced the weapons and the armor, trained the soldiers exactly like they did in the ancient days, so what now.

Now, he needed a patron deity. The old hoplites had Aether, (the god) as their patron, but he is sleeping, and will be one of the last gods to awaken.

He thought long and hard, then he grinned and said, “Boreas.”

Boreas, the Lord of the North, god of the north winds. If Aether can get his blessing for his hoplites, they will undoubtedly get some kind of icy favors.

Aether put the book away and trotted out of the Archives, and continued towards the Cloudsdale Grand Temple.

The Cloudsdale Grand Temple was the main place of worship for all the patron deities of the Pegasi race. It was filled day and night by those that have discovered the benefits of religion. So, self proclaimed priests and priestesses prayed daily to ask their god on how to align themselves to their patron, and to spread the faith

So far, only the gods of the four cardinal directions and some minor immortals have awakened and have already contacted mortals, telling them the perks of becoming their disciples.

Aether entered the temple, the sound of clergy chanting Bitin filled the air and the ears of Aether Aegis.

He made his way through the temple, looking for a symbol of the god he seeks.

“There,” He said as he spotted an arch that had an engraved snowflake near its top.

He went through the arch, and the arch opened up to reveal a courtyard that had its ground covered in snow. clergy in pale blue and white robes shuffled around it, praying or talking or worshipping the statue of Boreas that dominated the courtyard.

Soon, a priest that had a more decorative robe got up, finished with his praying.

Seeing his chance, Aether made his way to the priest.

“Are you the High Priest of Boreas?” he said.

The priest blinked when he saw Aether coming towards him, and said with a bow, “welcome, proud descendant. What do you need of such a humble priest?”

Aether cut to the chase, “I plan to get Boreas’s blessing for my force of hoplites.”

The priest nodded and directed him towards the statute. He then began to sing in Bitin. The other priests chanted with him “Deum de terra aquilonis, audi vocem meam!” over and over.

Soon, a funnel of wind and cold descended from the sky and swirled around. The group of priests trotted back and the swirl of northern wind lifted Aether off the ground. He had only a second to look back at the priest before he was shot skyward, into the storm clouds.

Then, he blacked out.

When Aether woke up, he could feel the cold caress of the north wind on his cheeks. he got up slowly and turned around slowly, taking in all the details of his whereabouts. He stood in the middle of a courtyard made of ice on a cloud. The fountain was an ice sculpture, the flowers were made of ice crystals and an icy wall that resembled a hedge encircled the courtyard. At the end of the courtyard was an opening that had a entire castle made of northern blizzard-clouds floating five-hundred feet away.

Aether stared at the Castle of the North Winds until he heard a “hello” coming from behind him.

He turned to see a pegasus mare. She had a pure white coat, like pure snow. Her long mane was the multitude of the colors of the aurora borealis, and the ends of the mane ended up in luscious, fat curls that made it seem that the best hair curler in the world belonged to this mare. Her tail was the same color as her mane, but it moved and slithered in the non-existing current like an airborne ribbon. She had two different colored eyes. one was icy blue and the other was icy green. Two giant snowflakes slowly floated around her like will-o-wisps.

“Whoa…”

The mare tilted her head and asked, “are you a mortal? It has been a while since a mortal has entered this part of the skies.”

Aether continued to stare at the mare, causing her to blush. She took a sudden interest in the ice beneath her hooves.

Aether finally snapped out of his trance and said, “Yes, I am. I seek the Lord of the North Wind.”

The mare frowned, “you want to see Lord Boreas?”

“Indeed. I am looking for a patron for my hoplites.”

“Then follow me. He is this way,” she said as she spread her wings and flew towards the Castle of the North Winds. Aether did the same and in a few seconds, was next to the mare. The gates opened up ahead and the two flew into them.

When Aether landed, he noticed that it was a hallway that led to the icy doors of the throne room, with no courtyard, and no security force.

“either Boreas is confident in his abilities, or he is an arrogant prick,” Aether thought to himself. The mare led the way.

“I wonder… who is she?”

The two stopped in front of the gates, and the mare yelled “open sesame!”

The icy doors slowly creaked open, and a blast of cold erupted from the doors, causing Aether to get pushed back. He gritted his teeth and managed to not get blasted on his rear

When the wind died, Aether and the mare, (who wasn’t affected by the wind), entered the throne room. Inside were Pegasi-style pillars carved and made from ice. The castle floor was hidden by a series of rugs made from the various animals and monsters of the north. There wasn’t a roof in the throne room. Instead, there was the night sky. in the sky was the largest gathering of stars Aether has ever seen. Also adorning the sky was the aurora borealis, magnificent ribbons of color that swayed and changed shape and color. Between two northern spruces, a single pegasus stallion with a crown made of polar bear bone was sitting on a throne carved out of ice.

Aether knew immediately who the stallion was, and immediately bowed.

“Lord Boreas,” Aether said.

The stallion spread his massive wings, and flapped them once, sending cold, biting winds towards Aether Aegis. He withstood the gust, bit knew that Boreas displayed a fraction of his power, a power Aether would not dare question if he wanted Boreas’s blessing.

“My High Priest has convinced me that I should grant an audience with you. You should be grateful, because I don’t let any mortals see me on such a short notice,” Boreas said.

“I am terribly sorry, Lord Boreas. I have come to ask if you will hear my request,” Aether said as he got up.

The god rolled his eyes, “of course I know of your request. You want me to be your hoplite’s patron deity.”

Aether asked calmly, “then… may I have my answer?”

“Yes, my answer is no.”

Aether kept himself calm, and checked his bearings. He saw that glint in Boreas’s eyes. The god wanted him to beg for sponsorship. Aether figured that he will have to bargain with the Lord of the North.

Aether called his game, “I won’t beg. I need your backing and blessing.”

Boreas narrowed his eyes, “that may be so, but how are you gonna get it without begging for it?”

“An offer. If I offer something in return, will you bless my hoplites?” Aether asked.

Boreas laughed, “you have nothing to offer me, descendant.”

“I do. it’s called my soul.”

Boreas scoffed, “i’m not an underworld god, I have no use for a soul. You got balls, that’s for sure. But now i’m curious, why did you offer your soul so quickly?”

“Because I want to see my dream fulfilled. I want to see the ponies my ancestors fought for strong and whole again. I want them to easily crush the Serponies when they come roaring for blood.”

Boreas put his hoof to his chin in thought, then got an evil smile. Aether didn’t like the smile, and was thinking on all possible escape routes that he might need to use.

Boreas then said, “i’ll make you an offer. It is the only offer that i’ll make, so are you ready to hear it?”

Aether nodded, “I am prepared.”

Boreas continued, “One. I want your undying loyalty. You will do as I say when I say it. Even if Celestia says something else and tries to order you around, you will only follow my commands.”

Aether nodded.

“The Second condition. I want you to marry my daughter.”

Aether blinked, and the mare turned beet red.

Aether turned to the mare, “wait, he is your father?!”

Boreas said with a hint of pride, “yes she is. She is the minor goddess of snow and ice. Her name is Chione.”

Aether looked at Boreas like he was crazy, “you want me to marry a goddess who is your daughter?! Why are you marrying her off to me? I thought that practice wasn’t used anymore!”

“Gods never change. I don’t care if the practice was abandoned or not. If these conditions are not met, we have no deal.”

Aether looked at Chione. He didn’t feel any special connection with her, or really had an interest with her. She was beautiful, no denying that. But he knew that there was more than that when it came to marrying somepony. He remembered when Cloud would always pester him about getting a marefriend, and he still does to this day.

But it still begs the question. Is it worth an arranged marriage?

Boreas had his full attention on Aether, “so, what is your answer?”

Aether looked at Chione, then to Boreas, then back to Chione. After fifteen more seconds, he turned back to Boreas and said…

“It’s a Deal.”

Boreas smiled. He turned to his daughter and said, “tell your hoofmares that you are leaving, I must speak with Aether alone.”

Chione nodded with a sad smile, then vanished in a swirl of snowflakes.

Boreas trotted to Aether from his throne and stopped within two feet of the descendant. He said, “I could make the usual threats about you hurting my daughter in any way, shape, or form. But I know you will not do anything of the sort. Its not in your nature.”

Aether nodded.

Boreas waved one of his hooves and in a flash of light, a hoplite shield appeared. The shield had a single snowflake as the image on the shield and was cast in a sort of silver. Small icicles hung from the bottom edges of the shield.

“This is Glaegis, one of the four treasures of the the Cardinal Wind gods. Only champions I select can use it. It can repel any attack, may it be magical or physical. Curses cannot harm you, poisons may never fell you, and its aura will turn many weak-willed ponies and monsters and cause them to run from you. As an added bonus, it can project a magical ward around a small army to keep it safe from magical attacks outside of the ward, for a short time.”

Boreas waved his hoof again, causing a full set of hoplite armor (complete with a Dory spear and a Xiphos) to appear in front of them both. Instead of a back-to-front crest of hair, his crest went fromљ side-to-side.

"This set of armor was forged with silver that was blessed by me, that absorbed aurora borealis beams and was heated with blue fire. It is as light as a snowflake, and as hard as Frost Dragon scales. The spear has an northern oak shaft with the same metal that makes up the hoplite armor as the tip. The xiphos has the blade of the same material as well.”

Aether was speechless. He then stood on his hind legs and grabbed the shield. He felt so much power radiating off of Glaegis that he almost dropped the treasure in surprise.

Aether Aegis felt like the most powerful hoplite ever conceived.

“All I give to you is because you agreed to follow my commands faithfully. Once you disobey me, these gifts will vanish from you and you will be stripped of the power that came with being my champion.”

“Then I shall never disobey you, ever,” Aether vowed, kneeling before him.

Boreas said, “I will send you back to Cloudsdale, Chione will join you shortly.”

Aether nodded, and dissolved into a gust of northern wind.

Chione appeared shortly after Aether was gone.

Boreas turned to his daughter, “you do know why i’m doing this, right?

Chione nodded rather glumly. Boreas trotted up to his daughter and hugged her. She returned the hug and a single tear slipped down her cheek.

“Don’t worry, my daughter. I am confident that you will grow to love him, and he will grow to love you.”

“But father, I have many doubts about myself. I have been courted and cheated on so many times by the other gods. What makes him different? How can you be sure that i’ll be happy? How can you be sure that he is different than the gods that showed interest in me, then broke my heart so many times?”

Boreas smiled and said, “because he is mortal. Pegasi mortals are so monogamous it’s not even funny, and they view cheating as one of the most disgusting things anypony can do, even if their patron gods are some of the worst cheaters in the history of the cosmos.”

Chione kissed her father on the cheek and said, “i’ll be back soon.”

Boreas smiled, “I’ll be waiting.”

Chione dissolved into snowflakes and vanished, leaving Boreas lost in thoughts, all alone.

(жфж)

Twenty war canoes headed for a coastal village in the South Luna Ocean, intent on raiding and plundering and killing anypony in their way.

Leading them was a decorative warrior, who was barely older than the Mane Six.

His name was Triton Teeth, and he was leading a raiding party to sack town for much needed medicines and other supplies that his Chimerae couldn’t make themselves.

He gazed at the horizon as the village came into view. He knew that the village will have a presence of Applekotojin soldiers protecting it, and fighting through them was the only way they could get their loot. He turned to his other Chimerae and gave the order to go ramming speed. The Chimerae warriors complied, and began to paddle furiously towards their destination.

Soon, when they about two hundred feet from the shore, they heard a roar of a war horn.

Triton could see Applekotojin archers galloping around the shore and getting their yumi out. Spear fighters taking up positions and readying formations.

Triton yelled, “prepare your weapons! They know we are coming!”

As they were instructed, the Chimerae warriors got out their Taiaha and their Leiomano, their Pololu and javelins and throwing axes made of shark teeth and wood. Triton hefted his giant fishing hook made of whalebone and with a cord of rope attached to it, and the rope wrapped around Triton’s body like the Chains of Hades.

The archers let their arrows from their yumi fly, killing several oarsmares. Some warriors were hit as well, resulting in their deaths, or them falling overboard.

They did not have time to drag their comrades back onto the war canoes, for they must keep rowing.

The archers let their arrows fly again, but by this time, the Chimerae raiders had landed their war canoes and leapt unto the beach. The warriors gave a loud battle roar and got into “wedge formation, with a few raiders galloping at the archers, letting their javelins fly into the hearts of the archers. The wedge formation struck at the spear fighters, repeatedly thrusting into the bodies of the Applekotojin. The spear fighters slashed with their naginatas, but were unprepared for the ferocity of the raiders and their surprisingly disciplined fighting formation. Soon, a force of samurai arrived and joined the battle, making the fight roughly even. Afterwards, the wedge broke, and the battle turned chaotic. In the chaos, one-on-one duels occurred, and they weren’t pretty.

Triton entered the fray, swinging his giant, serrated fish hook, taking the lives and heads of many that stood in his way. One foolish samurai pony got in his way, and slashed at his belly. Triton blocked the blow and slashed the stallion in the face with his claws. He then cut the samurai’s legs out from underneath him and bucked him to the ground, where he proceeded to stomp on the samurai’s unarmored head, killing him instantly. Another samurai swung his katana and missed as Triton dodged and swung the fish hook into the unlucky pony’s jaw, causing the point of the hook to stick out of the pony’s mouth, hooking him like a fish. He lifted the struggling pony into the air, then turned around and smashed the bleeding pony into the ground, breaking his jaw and neck, and causing blood to pool out of the hole beneath the samurai’s jaw. Triton withdrew the giant hook and left the bleeding, twitching body in the sand.

He then noticed the gates.

The Applekotojin soldiers had built a makeshift wooden wall. Archers were raining down arrows upon Triton’s brethren. The gates were wooden as well, and only seven feet high. However, his warriors will get killed if they even attempt to climb the walls.

Triton called out to a warrior that had just killed an enemy spear fighter. “ Throw me your Pololu!”

The warrior nodded and tossed his spear. Triton caught the spear in his paw and then began to run towards the gate. Dodging arrows and weaving through duels, he reached the gate. He hefted the spear, then, with all his might, he punched a hole through the gate. Triton put the spear on his back, then put his fishing hook through the hole. He uncoiled the rope that was wrapped around his body and called out to two more warriors.

The two warriors joined him and took part of the rope. All three Chimerae pulled as hard as they could.

With an ear-popping snap, the gate was ripped loose from the wall. With roars of triumph, the Chimerae raiders surged into the village. They went into homes and began to plunder, killing any Applekotojin soldiers and civilians in their way. The streets were filled with many screaming and terrified civilian ponies. One unfortunate stallion civilian got in Triton’s way.

He was stabbed through the face with the spear Triton used to help with the gate.

Triton bucked the body aside and continued towards the village church. The civilians here meant nothing to him, only what he wanted mattered.

He trotted up to the church, the screams of civilians and Applekotojin surrounding on all sides.

He arrived in time to see three of his warriors engage one Applekotojin swordmaster samurai. The swordmaster sliced one in half, then stabbed the second warrior through the heart. He then bucked the body off his Spirit Katana and turned around, slashing the head off the third.

The swordmaster then looked at Triton and yelled, “Savage!”

Triton growled, “you are in my way.”

“I don’t care if I am in your way. There is only one reason why a savage like you would come to this church.”

“Get out of my way, or die!” Triton roared.

The swordmaster, whose name is Saburo, pointed the blade of his katana at Triton, “my fortress and village burns, my soldiers are slaughtered, and the civilians are dying, and you expect me to move?!”

Saburo got into his fighting stance, “I would rather die than do that. In fact, I would rather have you die instead.”

Triton grabbed his borrowed spear, anticipating a move.

Saburo yelled, “you opened the gate, now you will pay!”

Both charged and both weapons clashed against each other. Triton grabbed the samurai with his teeth and galloped into the church steps, ramming Saburo into the steps, shattering the wood. He then bucked the samurai in the face, popping an eyeball and causing some teeth to fly. Through the pain, Saburo slashed at Triton, cutting his side. With a roar of pain, Triton jumped away, his spear now shattered from the attack.

Triton got his giant hook out, and twirled it around. He threw the hook at the samurai, the hook smacking Saburo in the face. Saburo regained his senses and charged, his katana blocking another strike from Triton. Saburo then bucked Triton, and following up with an Astra. Saburo slashed at Triton, scoring all five hits the skill allowed slicing his body into ribbons. He then bucked Triton again, and Triton was knocked on his ass quite literally. Triton ignored the five bleeding gashes and pulled his hook back to his paw. He then whirled it around like it was a chain weapon.

Saburo nodded to Triton saying, “I will admit, you are powerful.”

Triton growled in response and sent the fish hook at Saburo. Saburo ducked underneath the weapon, and then got his face punched in by Triton.

As he was still recovering from the blow, Saburo was hooked, (literally) in the gut by Triton. Saburo smashed his Spirit Katana into the hook in a bid to dislodge the weapon from his stomach, making cracks to appear on the hook, and also causing Triton to proceeded to punch Saburo in the face to the point of complete mutilation. Triton then pulled the hook out, bringing Saburo’s guts out with it. Then Triton hooked him in the throat, and pulled out his windpipe and the neck part if the spine. But the hook snapped.

Saburo gurgled on his own blood, then fell to the ground, his intestines and other organs were in a pile next to him.

Triton looked at the shattered giant hook he had. He had this weapon since he inherited it from his father. Now, it was broken.

Triton tossed the broken weapon aside, and entered the church.

He could here his own blood spattering onto the church floor as he approached the altar. He scowled as he saw that the altar was dedicated to the Dawn Dragon of Hoshido.

He then picked up the altar and smashed it against the floor, causing it to shatter. Out of the rubble of the altar was a statue of Oceanus made of a navy blue stone.

Triton grabbed the statute with his teeth and trotted out of the church, about to join his brethren in the pillaging of the village.