A Symbol of Hope: Empire Divided
1 The Shadows on the Move
What of the lands beyond Equestria? Of course it is reasonably known of the lands next to Equestria and even quite a few know of the lands just a little further. However, the world is much bigger than that. Many ponies would say that the further one gets from Celestia's domain, the more foreign and even alien the world around them gets. All these lands have unique cultures and histories of the species that inhabit their own slice of the world, each one having many stories to tell if they are eager.
It has been 970 years since Nightmare Moon was first defeated and sent to the moon for her treachery. That nearly millennia old event affected nations far beyond the knowledge of the existence of the sisters. Many kilometers to the north west is an empire that was effected deeply by this event, a great day of celebration for a distant day of victory that has since well turned sour in the memories of many. Very few could have imagined that the consequences of that day were still far from over. The possibility of this was far from their minds as they prepared the last additions to an armada of festival foods and beers.
The fatherland of this empire is a large forest. A forest so thick that sunlight hardly reaches the ground does things to the mind. One begins to see movement, the beams reaching down become sentient, the senses heighten to a muddled mess, and the shadows begin to lunge. This is worse in the Black Mane Forest. They say sunlight shuffles when nobody looks at it, moving every which way only to stop once eyes gaze upon it again. The sunlit air is rumored to be filled with whispers of malevolence. Anybody who reaches into the treetops and over the canopy vanishes from existence. The sight of the sun commonly induces the emotions of discomfort, occasionally fear, and rarely panic, but mostly paranoia. The Sun burns with a powerful hate to those who inhabit the forest, so powerful that even the griffins have adopted the same nocturnal lifestyle as those exotic creatures. Maybe this is why they call it the Tyrant Sun, those odd creatures? At least, it helps to explain as to why they embrace the night so vehemently.
These creatures of the night call themselves Diomedes. They don't know why they do, it's been their name for as long as recorded history. A story lost like many others in the void of their past. Why are they there? Why are they the way they are? All they know are baseless and contradicting stories leaving fewer and fewer to care as the centuries continued. They've been the Diomedes for as long as they've lived in the forest, and the forest has been toxic for as long as they have lived in it. Every leaf, every branch, every blade of grass, every particle of moss filled with death that will kill ponies and other sentient creatures like them. Luckily, other animals are the exception, allowing Diomedes to live off the flesh of non-sentient animals along with a select very few crops that help sustain a large, hungry population. The reasons as to why also a complete mystery.
Eichenwächter, or Oak Watcher, very briefly thought of these and other distracting topics as he patrolled the night, looking for suspicious activity. He kept his hooves silent, watching out to not step on any branches or thick foliage. He had to remain as quiet as possible to not attract attention, whether it be an aggressive herbivore, a hungry carnivore, or an unknown enemy looking for a preemptive strike. His mission was dangerous as he was far from any form of allies in a light patrol for "Slightly suspicious activity nearby." There was no wars in the Central Kingdom at the moment, but the Diomedes naturally hunger power as a griffin hungers golds and a dragon hungers material. Rebellion and treachery are a common theme in the Diomedic Empire, forever cursing peace to be short lived breathers that rarely spanned a decade. However, these issues were usually swiftly sorted out and almost never saw a year through.
Oak Watcher had seen it countless times and he felt that this would be no different. 'So what if nearby kingdoms went silent? The telephone lines probably just got cut by a tree or some dumb bird and now the messengers have a bad time not getting devoured.' He thought to himself cynically. 'Even if there was another coup, it would be poorly planned and easy to crush, just like every single one before it.' The fact that he was assigned to a light patrol to look for nothing but clues confirmed this to himself in his mind.
His train of thought was derailed as he heard faint talking in the distance, muddled behind the leaves and trunks. His long ears faced the origin of the noise, though he couldn't make out what they were saying. He could, however, make it out to be a larger group of ponies. It was an odd location, far away from any trade routes and settlement construction, yet it didn't rule out the possibility of it being a large pack from a nearby hunter's guild decided to build a camp expecting to have a prolonged hunt. Still, Oak Watcher considered it more important to be as safe as possible rather than let his guard down. He located a rather tall and branched out tree before using his unique Diomedic hooves, curving and tapering to a single sharp point in the front, to quietly bind himself to the bark. He easily ascended the tall poisonous tree, his hollow bones that usually were characteristic of flying species cutting down much of the weight that would otherwise have made his current task difficult. Once he got to the canopy, he began to step from branch to branch, never needing to jump if he was patient enough to bridge the gaps with a long stretching hoof. This allowed him to remain silent as he traversed the canopy, a skill picked up on only by several years of service. He could see the glows of fires reflecting through the thick vegetation. With much self-control, he was able to get a good vantage point to a sight he would've wished he'd never seen.
He had found an encampment, but nothing like he imagined it would be. An organized series of tents with draped munition caches, weapons, and fuel. Diomedes larger and bulkier than him wearing camouflaged uniforms with steel helmets slung on their belts sat around the fires laid about, cleaning, maintaining, and polishing automatic rifles as they talked of wars recently fought. 'Northerners? This far into the Central Kingdom?' Oak Watcher thought to himself. 'This is madness. They're hundreds of kilometers from home. What are they planning, those treacherous, barbaric bastards? I ha-'
Before he could finish his thoughts, he felt a deep hole sink into his chest as the air around him became bitingly cold. This sudden change wouldn't have concerned Oak Watcher greatly if it wasn't for the clear change in the behavior of the grenadiers below him. They hushed their nostalgic stories and huddled over closer to their weapons, acting as if a slave master had came brandishing a whip. With deep hoofsteps, the unimaginable entered his perception of reality. A gigantic Diomede with a long flowing mane and fur that was so pitch black that the light around him seemed to suffocate. The only features that really contrasted this were his top set of pearl-white teeth that peaked out of his mouth like wicked sabers and eyes that, iris, sclera, and all, burned like fresh coals. The sight of this creature made Oak Watcher feel as if his heart had stopped, time slowing down at this otherworldly sight that seemed to poison the air with irrational fear. Staring in utter horror, Oak watched as a bright coal from that fire pit of an eye rolled up to him, the rest of the head craning over to stare at him. Oak's heart began to race as he saw this, panicking as he took a step back only for his hoof to meet open air. Before he could realize, Oak was falling from the canopy above and into the middle of the encampment, everyone staring at him as he brought his head up. The lids to the creature's eyes closed as he brought a hoof to his face with an audible clap. Oak breathed heavily, expecting a killing blow from it, only to be befuddled as it turned around and walked away to another part of the encampment.
For what seemed like an eternity, all except the fires were utterly quiet. However, this was soon interrupted by the metallic rocking of magazines being loaded into the wells of automatic rifles, their catches clicking to secure it. With no hesitation, Oak Watcher quickly scrambled to his hooves and bolted out of the encampment, hearing the bolts make the gut-wrenching sound of live rounds being chambered. Oak Watcher began darting in sporadic patterns, trying to keep his path unpredictable and possibly throw off pursuers, if he was lucky. His body would bend to a degree that most pony bodies would break to, allowing his sharp hooves to dig effectively into the ground for both an immediate stop and an immediate sprint. Following him was a symphony of gunfire, most not even heading in his direction, but the occasional crack would find its way too close for comfort.
As the gunfire grew more and more distant, he began to slow from a sprint to a gallop, then a gallop to a trot as he began looking for a suitable place to hide. He first spotted a large bush, a good place to hide from first glance. Lots of space in there, perfect for avoiding inspecting eyes. However, he resisted the urge as it was the first place he noticed, it would also be the first to be noticed and therefore the primary suspect. No, he continued his hasty search for shelter from the coming storm. He noticed a large and thick branch from atop with plenty of leaves on it. He began to approach the trunk of the tree before realizing that the branch would be a prime target for grenadier that had taken to travelling on the branches in hope of spotting him from above. However, as he inspected the tree closer, he noticed that just under some grass was a small hole to the roots of tree that he just might be able to fit into. He took a deep breath and gave a quick prayer to the Fair Moon that a poisonous animal hadn't taken up residence inside.
Oak closed his eyes and lowered his head into the hole, just barely being able to fit in as it was. He folded his front legs in and let his back legs propel himself halfway inside, already having to painfully curl up inside. Taking another deep breath, he painfully uncurled his front legs inside and dragged himself inch by inch the rest of the way inside, packed in tightly like a canned sausage. He wanted to gasp for air inside, but he focused on keeping his breathing quiet and shallow as he heard distant galloping coming towards him.
Inside, he cautiously peered into the outside world from inside. He had only limited vision from behind everything, the roots and the grass. The world was calm for what seemed like an eternity, only to be shattered by rustling branches and galloping hooves. Soon a large stallion walked into view, looking around with a stern glare. The enemy grenadier stood up on his hind legs and pressed his rifle against his shoulder, firing into the bush that Oak originally planed to hide in. Giving a silent sigh, he watched as the Northerner saturated the bush with assault rifle fire before returning to a quadrupedal stance, looking up as Oak felt the thud of another Diomede jumping on top of the tree.
"Any signs of him here?" The one on the tree asked.
"No, there's a possibility that he continued down further. We must hurry and stop him before he alerts the loyalists." The soldier on the ground said.
With a nod to each other, the grenadier galloped away, followed by the one on the tree jumping off with an audible scrape. Oak kept waiting, and waiting, and waiting until he was sure the enemy had passed. Crawling out with popping joints, Oak took a deep breath for the first time in what seemed forever.
Oak looked to his left, towards where the others ran. While it seemed reasonable to escape that way to further himself from the camp, he was already behind those searching for him and would most likely only bring himself to them anyways. Instead, he would have to run back towards the camp in an attempt to circumvent the search parties. He turned his head back to the original path he took.
Just then, another Northern grenadier pounced on Oak, sending the scout tumbling to the ground with a loud thud. Oak, in a panic, scrambled to get up only to have his back leg caught, sending him to the ground again as his attacker crawled up to pin his victim to the ground. Before the grenadier could do that however, Oak spun onto his back and swung his sharp hoof at the face of the attacker, leaving a large gash on his jaw. The grenadier growled in response, bearing his dagger-like teeth as he reared up with his hooves raised, smashing down at the forest floor a blink after the scout rolled to avoid the likely fatal blow. The aggressor responded to this evasion by diving down at the scout with his mouth open, intending to bite down on the enemy. Oak, quick to respond, intercepted the attack and bit down on the nose of the Northerner, the grenadier following with a reactionary jab at the barrel of the scout before stepping back to quickly assess the damage to his snout.
Oak quickly stood back up, hoping to use the lull as a means of escape. However, before he broke for it, he saw the grenadier grabbing his automatic rifle, perhaps abandoning an initial plan for a glorious maw kill or wanting to capture Oak alive. Either way, Oak knew that he wouldn't be able to run from it, instead pouncing the larger Northerner instead. Unsheathing his knife strapped to his belt, the Central Diomede lunged the archaic weapon meant more for survival towards the Northerner, just barely being able to sink the tip of the blade into the eye of obviously younger grenadier before his hoof stopped him. The aggressor then let out a scream, covering his damaged eye right after Oak pulled it out, stepping back. As the grenadier rolled and screamed on the ground, his now bloody hooves still clasped over his eye, Oak picked up his rifle and decided to run instead of staying to finish of the poor, young traitor.
Now taking off in whichever direction he was facing, he was disoriented in the thick, dark forest with a rifle hanging on his neck. He sprinted even faster now, faster than he ever had before, hoping that he would be able to evade any party responding to the screaming before he suddenly slammed into a black shape, falling onto the ground with a thud. Rubbing his head and looking back up, Oak's heart sunk upon realizing that it was the giant black Diomede before him, the air being just as bitingly cold as before. The scout leaned back, scampering away to build distance between him and the monstrosity who's eyes seemingly burned like the pits of Hel itself. As the giant began to take long steps towards Oak faster than he could crawl away, he lifted the rifle and began firing at the demon. As the sounds of automatic fire filled the forest air, the bullets only sparked and bounced off of him, standing there with seemingly no reaction at all to the rifle fire.
Soon the rifle only clicked, having expended all the rounds in its magazine. Oak, frozen in fear, could only watch as the demon approached him quickly, the black creature raising his hoof and sending it down, filling the briefly silent forest air with one last crack, ending Oak's existence in a single blow.
Then, the air was silent and still once more.
Author's Note
Hey guys, I decided to get back to this concept of a fimfiction series about my species, the Diomedes, that I started about five years ago. I deleted that story because I recognized I wasn't up to par with the task and had much to work on. Since then, just about everything has changed about the character, the species, and the concept behind it all.
I'm glad to get started again and I hope you'll all be along for the ride. Symbol Trace may not have appeared just yet in the story, but she will be in the first true chapter to the story. I wish everyone to enjoy this adventure of unforgiving war and cosmic horror.
Also, just a little pic to help you get an idea of what the hooves of these Diomedes look like:
