Prologue: Crystals Shattered

We, the knights of the Blackstone Legion. We, the knights of Ashfield, have always been defenders of our people. We stay strong, against all invaders.

But sometimes, even we must invade to keep our people alive.

(***)

We Vikings are always seeking glory. To see the gates of Valhalla is the reason on why we fight. To die in battle is the greatest death we can expect in our life.

We raid to stay alive, and to fulfill the will of the gods, because even we get hungry, and so do our people.

(***)

We Samurai have always been experiencing hardship at every corner of our history in exile. We are outnumbered, but strong. We must solidify our place on the Myre, so we must invade to feed and to equip our warriors and people.

We will not go back into exile. Not this time.

(***)

The Crystal Empire is a place of love, compassion, and fellowship. It is here that all love radiates, where all hope stays.

The birds were silent, the ponies were scared. It seemed that they were waiting for some kind of hammer to fall.

Shining Armor stood on a balcony with some of his most trusted soldiers, overlooking the walls and the magical barrier that surrounded the city. But it was not the walls or the barrier that worried him.

No, it was the small iron-clad army that stood outside the barrier, their banners flapping in the silent wind.

At the forefront of the army, was a heavily armored knight, clutching a halberd in his hoof. He gave a signal, and the catapults begun to load.

Shining Armor turned and nodded to his soldiers. They bowed and galloped away to finish their preparations. As Shining turned again towards the army, he heard his wife's hoofsteps behind him.

“How are you doing?” she asked. Shining turned and forced a smile.

“Just fine,” he said. “You need to be in the safe room, with Flurry Heart, and our finest bodyguards.”

“I will stand with you.” Shining shook his head.

“We both know that you don't have a talent for fighting,” he reminded. “Please, ease my worries and go to the safe room.” Cadance sighed, and reluctantly nodded. She turned and began to trot to the safe room.

Shining looked down, then turned and saw the army finish loading their catapults. He activated his magic, reinforcing the magic barrier. His soldiers took up defensive positions. The citizens all fled to the Crystal Tower, the only “safe” place within the city, surrounded by the bulk of the small Crystal Empire army.

Outside the walls and barriers, a battering ram was making slow progress with the main gate. On the other side, Crystal soldiers drew their weapons, ready to fight and die for the sake of the Crystal Empire.

One knight, a Warden, approached the knight with the halberd.

“We await your orders, milord,” he said. The knight with the halberd, a Lawbringer, gave a simple order.

“Break it down,” he uttered. The Warden turned and yelled the same command to the entire army. The army shouted their battle cries, and launched the boulders from their catapults. The boulders soared through the air, only to slam into the magic barrier. Small cracks appeared in the barrier, but they soon faded. The Lawbringer frowned underneath his helmet. He turned to the Warden.

“Concentrate on one spot,” he ordered. “Fire all catapults on that one area.” The Warden nodded and shouted the same commands. The common soldiers began to load the catapults.

Shining felt the barrier weaken as his horn dimmed. Sacrificing some of his strength, he powered his horn again. Once again, the barrier was reinforced, but would not last long.

“If only Cadance was here.” he muttered. He then frowned, realizing that the outcome would be the same.

The Warden gave the word, and the boulders were unleashed from their catapults. The boulders struck the same place all at once, causing cracks to appear as each boulder hit the same spot over and over again.

Shining was sweating now. These boulders packed a lot more power than the Changelings did. Shining knew he couldn't survive another catapult bombardment, but he was determined to keep the barrier up.

Again, the Warden gave the word, but this time ordered the common soldiers to light them on fire.The boulders hurled through the air like earth-born meteors. This time, the boulders smashed the barrier, shattering it like glass.

The boulders kept on going, striking houses and causing them to collapse in fiery explosions.

Shining’s head violently jerked to the left, as if somepony punched him in the face. He held a hoof to his snout, and looked at it.

He was bleeding.

Furious, Shining Armour drew his sword, and bellowed a battlecry. Then, the Crystal Empire was filled with her soldiers yelling, just as the ram finally punched through the main gate.

“Kill all those who fight against us,” the Lawbringer ordered. “Spare the civilians, but I want all of them herded to a specified area after we take the city… Warden!”

The Warden knelt at the hooves of the Lawbringer, “Yes milord?”

“You will lead the vanguard. I want a path cleared for my soldiers.”

The Warden nodded. “It shall be done.” He held up his knightly longsword, and gather the vanguard before him. He then charged at the broken gate as his fellow soldiers followed him, shouting war cries of their own. Together, they rushed through the gate.

The Crystal soldiers held their ground.

The Warden swung his mighty sword, cleaving three Crystal soldiers in two with one swing. He turned and sliced the head of another Crystal soldier off and slammed his armored hoof into another. His soldiers fought furiously, using their swords and shields to cut, slash, bash, and stab as boulders rained around them, destroying buildings and groups of enemy soldiers.

In a few moments, the gate was lost.

The Warden and his company galloped through the streets, cutting down anypony that dared to fight the Blackstone Legion. As the streets began to build up in the gore and blood of Crystal soldiers, Shining Armor and a group of soldiers began to make a stand. The Warden quickly spilled the guts of another Crystal soldier with a horizontal slash, then turned and reversed his grip on his longsword, holding the blade instead of the handle. He swung the sword, impaling the side of a Crystal soldier’s with the crossguard. He pulled it out, and the head leaked brain matter.

The Warden continued to cut his way through, and his group were doing their best to keep up. In no time at all, the Warden and his company of soldiers were nearing the castle.

“Hurry!” the Warden yelled. “The Conquerors might get there first!”

Shining Armor was in front of his most elite group of soldiers. His horn glowed and his eyes burned with anger. These warriors were destroying his city, his citizens. He was going to spill their blood, and stop their invasion in its tracks.

Then two rather intimidating stallions appeared. They had shields on one fore leg, and flails in their other hoof. They were Conquerors, the Iron Legion’s juggernaut knights. They charged at their enemies, the Crystal soldiers.

Shining stood in their way and swung his sword, which was blocked by their shields. One Conqueror’s shield bashed Shining, and then smacked him with his flail on Shining’s left hind leg, breaking it. The same Conqueror then shield bashed him in the face, sending him flying. Shining landed, and nearly blacked out. His hearing was ringing and his field of vision was blurry. When he regained his senses, he looked in horror as he saw the Conquerors smashing the skulls of his panicking soldiers to mush with their flails.

He tried to get up, only to cry out in pain. He looked back, and saw his left hind leg twisted in the wrong way. He could do nothing but watch as the Conquerors killed all his elite soldiers.

The rest of the knight host passed him. Shining was screaming furiously as they brutally killed the palace guards. He was literally dragging himself forward, trying to somehow stop the army from entering the castle. He was sure the safe room was well protected, but after seeing these Conquerors in action, he knew that all it would take was one Conqueror, just one to find the safe room, and that would spell death for his wife and daughter.

That's when he noticed the Warden and a Peacekeeper behind him.

The Warden gave the longsword to the Peacekeeper, then he trotted up to Shining Armor. Shining took one look at him, and spat on his armored hooves. The Warden responded by stomping on his leg, making him scream in agony. The Warden grabbed Shining by his horn with his hoof and began to drag the thrashing royal away from the castle.

“Holden Cross wants to speak to you.” the Warden said. Shining Armour stayed still and silent, viewing the destroyed city with horror-filled eyes, and hoping that they don't find his family.