Chapters Akira Imamura. Samurai, and a good one. He wore the usual light armor of the samurai and carried the daisho, twin swords of the samurai. He also carried the nodachi, a very long sword, longer than a man is tall. The first sword, the wakizashi, was a short daggerlike version of the katana. The katana came next, a long two handed sword, the hilt having space for three hands. The nodachi was so large that the handle had room for five hands and followed the curve of the blade.
His armor was made of hardened leather bands, sewn together with leather thongs. The shoulder guards were rectangular and hugged his upper arm, they were made of hard leather strips that resembled the scales of a snakes belly. The skirt of the armor was made of the same rectangles of overlapping hardened leather strips. His gauntlets were made of iron plates tied down to his forearms by leather cord laced through them, and a small hand guard on each one. His greaves were iron plates that his sandals were laced into. His helmet was a cap of Iron, from which three bands of iron hung down to skirt the back and sides of his head, leaving his face open. Two deer antlers adorned his helmet, and to protect his face was the menpo. His menpo was a mask made of iron, on that was carved a monstrous skeletal face upon which was fixed a hideous scowl.
Akira was currently on an assignment from his master, the daimyo Kamakura, to investigate enemy activity in the forests north of the castle where he was stationed. There was suspected to be ninja in those woods, and he was sent to eliminate them.
Drawing close to the suspected area Akira drew his wakizashi, as the long katana and even longer nodachi would have been useless in such a confined space. He began to creep forward with care, always aware of where he was, and what was around him. He never saw any ninja, but that didn't mean that they weren't there. He never found any ninja, he did find something though, he never knew what it was, but it caught him by surprise. He never saw it, he just knew it had to have been a demon. The next thing he knew he woke up in a grassland, not where he once was.
Luna stood at the front line, as always. She had her rectangular shield braced just like every soldier there, her spear braced outward to face the line of enemies that outnumbered them ten to one. She could only hope for a miracle when the enemy line began to advance.
The archers behind her wall of shields began raining clouds of arrows down from the sky onto the advancing enemy and taking a toll on their numbers while they approached the line. The enemy line had been reduced to half its numbers by the time they arrived at the line, at which point the archers stopped firing on them and resumed the ready position. The line began stabbing like animals while keeping the wall of shields strong, causing more damage than was being taken. After that line had finished, the next advanced, this time with arrows to back them up.
The second to last rows made a roof with their shields while also making sure to focus on the advancing enemy, also under arrow fire. After the line reached the defenders, the firing of arrows stopped and the second wave suffered the fate of the first. Then the defenders began to advance themselves.
They advanced in tortoise formation to keep safe from arrows and the front. The archers follow, and began firing on the enemy archers. They were told to fire at will, and thus kept a continuous flow of arrows coming down, things were looking good for Luna and her batponies, until enemy reinforcements arrived to hit them from the side.
They reacted quickly, but not quickly enough. They suffered casualties, and several of them. The battle turned into a slaughter, where the enemy carved them up without mercy. Luna was certain they had lost, that her children were finally to meet their end. No one predicted what had happened next.
A stranger, in strange armor and carrying three strange swords, the longest being in his hands, showed up. Seeing that Luna's force needed assistance he chose to side with them, to even the odds as best he could, and even the odds he did.
The stranger carved through the enemy ranks with feline grace and practiced ease. Luna saw him stab, gut then decapitate one enemy in less than four seconds, then stabbing another and cutting a third in twine. The stranger wore a helm of iron upon which sat a deers antlers, and a hideous mask covered his face.
The strangers prowess and brutal efficiency rallied the outnumbered ponies to him. Their fear disappeared in an instant, replaced with rage. They began to slaughter all of the enemy they managed to catch, those that ran were shot with arrows. The frightening warrior with the strange swords was not only effective in close combat but also over a distance. The last of the enemy, including their commander, fled. The stranger took up a bow from a fallen archer and began to fire precise shots into the enemy numbers.
Each shot was precise and accurate, the first to fall was the enemy commander. Only about five actually escaped, likely never to trouble them again.
Luna approached the stranger, "Thank you good sir. You have saved my troops from certain doom, come with us, we have much to discuss.
Blueblood, prince of Equestria and general in the Equestrian army recieved the news three days later. A new enemy had arisen amongst the ranks of their opponent. He cursed Luna's name, he cursed the batponies. There wouldn't even be a war if they had just stayed in their place, accepted their role in the gutters. He began fighting against them despite his aunts pleas for a peaceful solution. The bat-filth had to be put into place, or eradicated.
Akira followed the strange looking woman and her troops into a mountain pass where they set camp. The pass was lined on either side by nearly vertical cliff faces, leaving only two places from which they could be attacked, and they had set it up so that the archers would sleep sandwiched between the close combat units, so both fronts were covered. The command tent was located in the middle of the camp, like always. Akira had been taken there to answer questions, and ask them.
The interior was simple, a central support pole held the roof of the tent up with for corner poles to keep the tent up, four ropes connected each corner pole to the central one and were staked to the ground outside. Inside there wasn't much, just a folding table with maps adorning it. The strange woman had joined him in the tent, to ask him some questions. he bowed respectfully, as was the custom of his people, when she entered. She sat on a low stool and told him to take a seat, and was surprised when he simply knelt on the spot, his hands resting on his thighs and his shoulders thrown back.
"What is your name stranger?" She asked him.
"Akira Imamura." He responded. "And what is yours, if I may ask?"
"I am Princess Luna of the Bat Clans." she told him.
Hearing this he quickly prostrated himself. "My apologies majesty. Had I known I would have shown the proper respect."
"No apologies necessary Akira." She told him with a dismissive wave of her hand. "I would ask you to remove your helmet, there need not be any secrets between us."
He complied by first loosening his mask then taking his helmet off and setting on the ground in front of him.
She looked at him, half surprised at his appearance. She knew that he would be different when she saw that his faceplate was flat instead of conclave to make room for a muzzle, still she couldn't help but be a little surprised. He had no fur, and his muzzle was absolutely minuscule, the skin about his eyes was rather stretched giving them the appearance of being smaller than normal. His hair was pitch black and tied back in a bun at the back of his head. His skin was a light tan color and very well taken care of with no visible scars.
"What are you Akira?" She asked.
"I am Samurai." He replied. "A warrior of my kind."
"I see. How did you come here, and why did you help us?"
"That's simple enough." He told her. "It started when I was sent into the forests north of where I dwelled to hunt ninja, honorless and cowardly fighters, they are little more than backstabbers and assassins. I came across a demon instead, and the next thing I knew I woke up on a field, not far from where you and the others were fighting. When I came to that place I saw that you were badly outmatched, and decided to try evening the odds. I can see that it worked."
"Indeed it did. The Solarim will be mourning the loss of many warriors tonight." She said proudly, "and all of it is thanks to your efforts."
"You honor me princess, now if I may, I would like to ask a few questions of my own."
"If I can answer them I will." She says.
"Where am I?"
"You are in the nation of Equestria, which is torn in two by a civil war." She tells him.
"What is this war being fought over?"
"Equality." She tells him glumly. "The Batponies have never recieved fair treatment, meaning that they were beaten, starved, wrongfully imprisoned, kidnapped, raped and murdered either out of anger, blind hatred, superstition or leisure."
This gave Akira something to think about. He hadn't ever heard of such cruelty, not even to conquered peoples. "Do you have room for another soldier?"
"I wanted to ask you about something similar. I saw how you fought out there and it was... well... impressive to say the least. I was hoping that you could help train some new soldiers to fight like you do. Will you do this?"
Akira thought for a moment, he had never been much of a good teacher. "I could, but I've never been much good and instructing."
"We'll need to get you back to The Deep before we can begin anything so you will have time." She says to him.
"However, training like this could take years. I've been training since the moment I could stand to do what I do."
"We can work with that, we need anything we can get in this war." She tells him. "Perhaps you could teach me to start, to get some practice in teaching?"
"I don't see a problem, I will have to know what kind of weapon you prefer to use. A polearm, a sword, a slashing or stabbing weapon, a short or long weapon, ranged or no, that kind of thing."
"I can tell you that later, but for now get some sleep. I'll have a tent given to you."
"My thanks princess." He says.
"I need to speak with the officers about our next strategy, you may go."
Blueblood strode through the halls towards the princess' chambers. He came in and found Princess Celestia at her desk writing what appeared to be a letter to her student. He didn't much care about what was going on there but still he took the letter from the desk and read its contents to be sure that no sensitive information was being passed. There was none.
Princess Celestia glared up at him. She looked as she always did, a fine white dress trimmed with gold that covered her entire body save for her neck, head and hands. The only thing that wasn't normal were the manacles about her wrists. These were iron, and engraved upon them were runes to restrict magic of any kind aside from what Blueblood allowed. That was how Princess Celestia was still able to keep the day cycle going without being able to quell Blueblood's revolution. She knew he intended to keep her like this until he died, and likely beyond.
She didn't approve of the war, even if it was fought for good reason, on one side anyway. She approved of Blueblood's rise to power even less, despite her intent to end the war peacefully by any means. She had no idea that her sister was fighting on the front lines, she never allowed it before in the few wars she had been in, and never thought her sister would do anything of the sort.
Blueblood replaced the letter on the desk. "Did you summon a demon to spite me?"
Author's Note
dumb I know, its just to hold over from my writers block.
Mobile training with a samurai
Luna had discussed the next course of action with her commanders, and they were to retreat back to The Deep, capital city of the Darklands. It was a good month and a half march until they reached it, so they had to be well prepared, and it would also give Luna time to learn from Akira. She spoke with him when she visited his tent and they agreed to train in the evenings after camp had been set, and that was what she intended to do that evening. After they had marched north for the entire day and made camp when it came close to dusk.
She found him kneeling outside his tent facing away from the sunset. She approached him carefully, he noticed her long before he gave it away. He looked at her at the last second, giving her a light start.
"I assume you have come to train." It wasn't a question.
"I have, what do you have planned?"
"First, you need to learn how to fight without weapons, then we will move on to those later." He tells her, surprising.
She didn't question it, she assumed that he knew what he was doing. "Very well, I'm assuming we will start with the basics."
"Indeed, basic strikes and blocks with your hands and a few kicks as well." He tells her.
"So lets begin."
And so they did. Beginning with blocks and dodges, she paid close attention to what he taught. She followed his movements closely and did her best to correct mistakes he pointed out. She wasn't as good as she had hoped and went to bed sore that night. And same with the next day, and the next. Slowly she got faster, stronger and more flexible in her movements. The actual training wasn't very eventful, just the same thing as it always was, stretch, exercise, blocks, hands, feet, combine. Luna learned her most effective kicks and worked those a bit harder than the rest to improve them, but still working on those that she wasn't so good at to keep them ready for use if the time came.
She began to work on throws too come the end of the month, as well as disarms against an armed opponent whilst unarmed. It was also around that time that she began to work with weapons. She found that he had carved two wooden swords for training, their shape and size perfectly matched the second longest sword he had, worn at the hip. He told her that this would be the main weapon used by his warrior kind, the katana.
Again, they began with basics, simple cuts and chops as well as how to kick with a weapon in hand. Whilst they were sparring with their swords, she spun low to throw a right hook kick at his feet, followed up with a katana slash to finish him off, she won that match.
"Well done princess. Perhaps you are ready for other weapons too." He tells her.
He picked up two sticks he had found on the way that were nearly as long as he was tall. They both were mostly straight except for at one end where they curved off like the katana blade.
"This is the general shape of a naginata, a slashing and stabbing polearm. It is favored by women in my home for its reach and versatility."
Therefore more training was added to the already long list. Luna had by this time perfected lowering the moon amidst a training session and often stayed up late to train. The naginata was different and required more space, and that's what it was supposed to do, create space in a battle. She was also told of other weapons that could be used, the Nagamaki for example. The nagamaki was a sword with a blade as long as that of the katana, and the handle was just as long as the blade and followed its curve. Unlike with the naginata where the hand positions could change during wielding, the hands would stay in a fixed place on the hilt.
Another weapon that he told her was entirely anti-armor was the kanabo, a heavy war club wielded in two hands that could be either studded with, encased in or made entirely out of iron. He also told her of the stories behind the weapons, that kanabo were used by most oni, or demons. He told her that it took perfect balance and strength to wield such a weapon. When she heard of this weapon relief flooded into her, she noticed that most of the weapons she was learning to use were mostly slashing and cutting weapons, which wouldn't work on the plate and mail armor of the nobles whom she and her armies opposed.
She focused on mastery of the daisho and naginata, which she was best at. He began sparring with her very intensely, not pulling any strikes and not slowing down at all. She didn't mind, despite the many bruises she often went to bed with, she knew that she needed to learn to go against great speed. She would always start a fight with her naginata stick, and might or might not finish with it.
Luna also learned of the armor used by the samurai, she learned of its construction and its pros and cons. The main pros were flexibility and lightness as well as decent protection from most glancing blows and a few direct ones. The cons were that it still weighed one down and it wasn't as strong as many other armors in her area. Akira explained the purpose and functions of the mask he wore. He told her that there were several kinds of masks worn by samurai. His mask, the menpo, only covered the nose down to the chin whereas the somen would cover the entire face. He told her that both of these were shaped to be as hideous as possible to scare one's opponent, the other masks wouldn't do this as well as they didn't cover
She was steadily learning, and eager to have the weapons forged so that she might use them on the enemy.
Akira had seen impressive places before. He had been to many beautiful and imposing castles back in Japan. He had defended the walls of some from rival warlords and their armies. But never before had he feasted his eyes upon such a glory as The Deep, Capital city of the Bat Clans.
He saw only the front gates at this time, as they were still at least five leagues away, and they made up an enormous part of the mountainside. It was set into an large mountain range, and the largest mountain at the front of the range was where the gates were located. He saw that it was carved out of the mountain itself, the gates were two heavy ebony doors, reinforced tenfold with iron and reaching about a quarter Ri in height. (Ri were traditional Japanese units of measurement. Just above two miles.)
The gates were set into solid stone walls that were completely smooth from the ground to the battlements. And behind the battlements was what appeared to be another wall, and another after that. The first wall was tallest from base to top, the next two were only about one Ri in height from the top of the previous wall. Upon these battlements he saw very large artillary, particularly trebuchets and ballistae. The ballistae had six arms each, adding to the force it would put behind each bolt fired. The trebuchets were unlike anything he had ever seen in Japan, it consisted of a base with two A-frames holding a long arm between them. On the shorter end of the arm was a counterweight, to put force behind the shot to be flung from the sling on the other end.
As he and the small militia he was marching with, headed by Luna, approached the gates they began to open. He saw as they entered that the gates weren’t just two doors reinforced with iron, there were five sets of gates each pair getting heavier and thicker as they went in. He saw quite quickly why they called it The Deep once he was inside. The entire city spanned endless Ri in all directions, up and down too. It wasn’t very decorative, no statues and no signs of showing wealth anywhere, but if he had to choose a place to live it would be here.
The city was made of polished stone, with excessively large braziers everywhere to light the place, as well as what appeared to be a system of mirrors set to send light throughout the city even if the braziers were down. The gargantuan pillars that held up the hollowed out mountain had rings of fire lit in troughs around the pillar itself at steady intervals giving the entire entry chamber light.
The entry chamber itself was also fortified. On all sides of the room were more battlements upon which were set only ballistae and large cauldrons for boiling oil. There were three gates, one on each wall, and all of them harder to breach than the last set of gates just to get there. He also noted that there was no apparent way to get to the main battlements outside from that chamber, to make sure that they could still be held even if the main gates were breached. So the entry chamber was also a place to crowd enemy soldiers and slaughter them without mercy, smart. He would hate to be someone besieging this city.
He was let through with some degree of suspicion, one he could easily excuse. When they left the entry hall through the door right across from the main gates, Akira could only gaze upon the city with awe. What he saw was an enormous cavern filled with carved buildings and roads built up above the ground to let them travel through. A great aqueduct went through the city and left water in large pools at steady intervals where all of the citizens were fetching water as though from a well.
After marching for a bit longer they passed the forges, and heavens above they were a sight to behold. The furnaces were large and octogonal, about two Ri high and half as wide with excessive amounts of fire and black smoke rising from each one. He could hear the large hammers falling with tremendous force, and several times he’d see a large iron block fall down from carved inlets to strike a piece of metal, then be raised back up again slowly while a smith took the metal and did finer shaping. There were hundreds of these for farther than he could see.
“Impressive is it not?” Luna said from behind him.
“Very.” Was his only answer.
Farther up he also saw several billows sucking smoke in and blowing it out through large pipes that lead out of the mountain, or to another place for a different use. The billows, just like everything else there, was excessively large and was run on hydropower. Or rather, a waterwheel.
He followed Luna and her troops into what appeared to be barracks. He couldn’t tell by looking at it from the outside, but once inside he found that it was filled with stone bunks carved into the wall. Three bunks per space, four spaces per room. And in each room on either side of the doorway were three armor stands, six in all.
The stone bunks weren’t solid rock, only their frame. They each had a simple mattress, pillow and blanket neatly set upon the bunk. That way if ever they were needed they could be used and no one would sleep uncomfortably. Luna told him that he would be staying there for a few nights while she looked for an open home for him to live in. She left him there, and he began to remove his armor and place it on a stand. Once the armor was off he put his daisho into his belt, or rather obi, and left the building to stare out at the colossal city. He hadn’t even seen the main keep yet, and he already knew that one would need an army vast beyond imagining to take this city.
Blueblood marched through the halls of the castle of Canterlot to the dungeons. He walked down the dim set of stone steps that led to the cells which had not once been used until the war started, now it was used to hold prisoners of war. He found the torturers and asked them if they had gotten anything.
"No sir. These animals simply don't let up anything." The torturer said grimly. "They just laugh at us when we try. We've even cut the wings off some. Removed the eyes of others. We've started slowly removing each part of their limbs, muscle by muscle and bone by bone and still nothing. If they're willing to go through this than this will be a long war."
"I don't care how you do it, JUST GET ME THAT INFORMATION OR ELSE YOU WILL BE THE ONE IN THEIR PLACE!" Blueblood shrieks.
"Perhaps you'd like to try." The torturer replied. "Can't you just break into their minds?"
"You don't understand how that works you imbecile! If what you say is true it will be much HARDER to break into their minds than it would be to just BEAT IT OUT OF THEM! If they are so determined as to be so defiant than breaking into their minds would be near impossible. SO GO IN THERE, PICK UP YOUR TOOLS AND GET ME THAT INFORMATION! I NEED TO KNOW WHERE THEIR CAPITAL CITY IS, AND HOW WE CAN TAKE IT!"
"You can't." Came a raspy voice from one cell.
Blueblood looked to the cell where it came to see a very large batpony stallion in the cell. "What do you mean we can't take your pathetic capital, filth?!"
"I mean you can't take it." He says plainly. "You lack the numbers, you lack the training and you lack the strategical competence. You cannot take The Deep."
"Bring him out here." Blueblood said to his torturers.
The two masked stallions opened the cell and pulled its occupant out to force him into a kneeling position in front of Blueblood. Blueblood crouched down to see the bat stallion's face, to see a very strong and scarred face. The stallion had a scar running down his left eye and leaving it dead.
"Tell me what I need to know filth." Blueblood sneers. "And I might just spare your life."
The stallion chuckled darkly. "Like you would have spared me had there been no war? Please. Everyone knows that if we loose this war our kind we be extinct, but better extinct than under the regime of the equestrians, who had made our kind suffer needlessly. We will win, or we will die, there are no other options. So stop asking questions, to which you will recieve no answers. I have told you all I will, you cannot take our capital city. My home is safe, my friends and family are safe, my kind is safe, from you."
With that the stallion only chuckled darkly as he had before, and said no more, despite Blueblood having him flogged, beaten and tortured in every way imaginable. They got little more than grunts. The stallion was thrown back into the cell and Blueblood left for Celestia's chambers, perhaps she would know something.
He marched through the halls, passing guards and servants along the way. The many windows showing major events in equestrian history, the crystal empire, the minotaur war, the year without a summer, the dark ages you name it. He finally reached Celestia's chambers and barged in without knocking like he usually did.
"What do you want Blueblood?" Celestia demanded from her balcony.
"Information," he replies with an equal amount of venom. "Tell me where your sister is hiding, and if you do not know tell me what I can do to counter her. You know her best, and that makes you an advantage. Tell me what I want to know."
"I may not support the war Blueblood, but I would most certainly support Luna's side if I had to choose one or the other." She says. "I won't help you Blueblood, not if my life depended on it."
"We will win this war Celestia." He says to her with a hiss. "And after it is over your sister will be hung. Of course, you could spare her that fate if you just give us what we want."
"She's smarter than you are Nephew, if she was losing this war she would find a way for her and her people to escape to a place you would never find them. And if you did find them she would die on the battlefield, not on the executioners stage. She won't allow herself to be captured, and her people will not allow her to surrender. You won't win, you aren't able to."
Blueblood smacked Celestia to the ground after she said this. "Very well, when we capture your whore of a sister you will watch her while she hangs from the noose. I will make sure of it."
So he turned and left. Celestia stood and approached her desk, she opened the drawer and opened its hidden compartment, she took her next letter to twilight from it and put a second letter with it. One adressed to her sister. She put these in an envelope and gave it to her phenix. She watched her bird fly away to give the smuggled information to twilight, as well as a letter asking for news from the front.
Twilight was on a study rampage of a completely different level than ever she has been. She didn't know anything about the batponies and what little she found in the library wasn't very helpful. The thing is, batponies had always been looked down upon by all other races, and thus there was very little information on them. The only thing that was actually mentioned was their racial inferiority and basic anatomical information, nothing useful. In a way, that was good.
Twilight had, shamefully, believed the rumors of the batponies. But when Celestia had contacted her about what had happened in Canterlot, the big riot entirely consisted of batponies, she finally realized how wrong she had been. Ever since then she has been working as an informant to a thestral courier, giving him intel that came from Celestia in encrypted letters.
Twilight heard the burp from spike and the pop of a letter materializing out of his fire. She took the letter and found a second one attatched, too complex to encrypt, something big must have happened. She took the letter addressed to Luna and tucked it into her dress folds. Then she left the castle and walked out into the Everfree. There she met the courier, at the usual place beneath the old castle.
She went below into the castle dungeons, that was where she usually met him. She didn't know why but the idea of meeting a stallion in the dungeons made her face grow red, especially this stallion. He was a rather large stallion, almost a full head taller than her and twice as broad. He had several scars over his dark green coat and pale blue eyes, serpentine as all batponies eyes were. His mane was a darker green than his coat and cut short to make him more aerodynamic. He had to be fast after all.
He was waiting unseen in the dim light of the dungeons. And waited until Twilight was within arms reach before jumping out to scare her. She recoiled with a small scream, earning a hearty chuckle from Cedar, the courier.
"Don't do that to me." Twilight said swatting him on his bare chest.
"Aw, but your so cute when you're scared." He says with mock complaint.
He wore just a pair of woolen pants tucked into leather boots and a leather belt to hold them up with a belt bag on his right hip. His chest was practically ripping with muscle and the scars only added to his appearance. All of this plus his comment made twilight blush. She handed him the letter addressed to Luna, surprising Cedar.
"A solid letter? Not the usual translation from a cipher?" He asks taking it from her and looking it over. "It must be something big, be it for better or worse."
"It has to be, else she would have encrypted it like she usually does." Twilight says. "What news from the front?"
"It's going relatively well." He says. "It's almost a stalemate, we just barely have the upper hand because of our strategy vs their horde tactics. But their numbers are worrying. We might be able to force Blueblood to the bargaining table, but then again, his obvious stubbornness isn't helping much."
"Has there been any word from Luna herself?" Twilight asks.
"Yes actually." Cedar says. "The absolutely strangest thing has happened. A very weird looking stallion showed up when Luna and her small militia were outmatched and turned the tide of the battle. He wore a strange armor, and had the face of a demon. He carried three different swords, all of them strange to us. Princess Luna has asked him to train some new soldiers to fight like he does."
"And how does this, 'creature', fight?" Twilight asks.
"Very swift, very deadly. He seems to move without stopping at all, and his cuts are very effective. He doesn't stop for anything unless every last enemy he sees is dead. I've even heard Princess Luna has asked him to give her the same training. Last I heard she was rather good at it."
Twilight looks up at him rather confused. She shrugged it off. "Anything to be sent to Princess Celestia?"
"Just another letter from Princess Luna." He says handing over an envelope of folded parchment.
The envelope was sealed with a wax seal that bore Luna's mark. A rose with a crescent moon above it and four stars on four sides of the seal.
"Thank you Cedar." Twilight says taking it from him and putting into the folds of her dress.
"Your face is flushed again." Cedar informs her.
"NO ITS NOT!" She says her face growing red.
"Well it wasn't, but it is now." He says with a teasing singsong voice.
She could only stutter. He knew exactly which buttons to push and when to embarrass her. She sometimes wished that he'd stop, but then again, he was so good at it. And some part of her liked it, the way he knew exactly how she would react to certain things.
She turned an even darker shade of red when he wrapped an arm about her shoulders and pulled her into his side. "Why are you so nervous. We've known each other for almost two years now."
"I know, you just won't stop teasing me." She says.
"Are you complaining?" He asks, teasing her again.
"N-no, I'm saying I wouldn't be so 'nervous' if you would stop teasing me in such a way." She says.
"You like it when I do." He says, knowingly.
She pulled away to look him square in the face. "Shut up," She said, just before pulling him into a kiss.
Twilight returned home a few hours later, sore in her nether regions. She had an enormous blush on her face and was thankful for the dark night. Wow, just wow he was good. She more or less waddled into her home and undressed before getting into bed. This was an active day. She closed her eyes and slept, dreaming of that evenings 'events'.
Ranger Rainbow and Swift Arrow.
Rainbow Dash, once a member of the esteemed wonderbolts, now an Equestrian ranger and traitor to the Equestrians. She acted as a scout and hunter for the Equestrians, and always smuggled the same information to the Bat Clans as well as Equestrian troop details.
Rainbow dash wore minimal clothing to allow for swiftness and flexibility. She had what was essentially a leather sports bra and light shorts held up with a belt. At her waist was a pair of daggers to be used in close combat. She wore a pair of soft leather boots and her main held back with a simple cord. Slung across her back was a quiver of arrows and a longbow.
She was overlooking a large forest on the front, searching for Bat Clan troops and possible advantages. She Moved throught the forest speedily and stealthily. After a while she stopped near a hillside cave, and rested for a short while. He said to meet him there in a months time.
She turned after hearing silent movement behind her, and found him standing there. She stood and smiled as she turned to face him. “Swift Arrow, it’s been almost a month.”
“It has indeed Rainbow.” He says pulling his hood down.
Swift Arrow was a batpony ranger, and Rainbow’s contact. She and him always met somewhere every month to exchange information, it started because Twilight had asked Rainbow to do this. Rainbow trusted Twilight, and went into this with some degree of reluctance, but eventually she grew used to it and was rather glad for it.
Swift Arrow was dressed quite unlike her. He wore a dark green hooded cloak over a simple leather jerkin and dark green woolen pants tucked into leather boots. At his hip and back he had a short sword and dagger. On his back was a quiver of arrows fletched with owl feathers and a longbow. His dark purple wings were allowed out by small cuts in the back of his jerkin and cloak.
Rainbow approached him and pulled him into a hug. “I trust you have been well.”
“I have been.” He says in response. “Have you been well?”
“I have. The war seems to be going well. The Equestrians are almost out of morale, there has been much talk of defections or desertion. They don’t like being in a war they’re loosing.”
“And I thought you were on the Equestrian side.” He teases.
“You know what I am Swift.” She says sternly. “I thought that our cause was just in the beginning. Then my eyes were opened and my allegiance changed.”
“I know.” He says. “Am I not aloud to joke?”
“No, not at all.” She says rolling her eyes.
Thunder sounded above making them look up. “Come on, lets stay in the cave toninght.”
Swift followed Rainbow into the hillside cave and they set up their bedrolls. He pulled a small portion of a fallen tree into the cave for them to sit on. They got a fire going and began to cook their rations.
“The war has escalated.” Rainbow says. “Training has been intensified, new troops are being brought in every month and the field hospitals have been increasing in size. They may have you outnumbered by a good margin but they have been taking heavy losses.”
“It’s not too different on our end either.” Swift says. “We’ve been taking some serious casualties and their numbers are daunting. Our injured are sent back to the cities for care and more soldiers are always needed. But their has been word of a stranger, carrying strange weapons and wearing strange armor who has been brought to the capital. He is a fierce warrior and won us a seemingly hopeless battle. His skill is... astounding.”
“Have you met this warrior?” She inquired.
“No, but I have seen him training with Princess Luna. I doubt he will go down easily.” He says pulling his piece of salted pork off the fire and biting into it.
Rainbow dash never understood how these batponies could stomach eating meat, but she didn’t really question it. She pulled her small pot of vegetable soup off the fire and began to put it in a bowl. She began to eat it slowly, trying to imagine what such a warrior would look like.
“Can you describe him?” She asks.
“I only saw him once, but I think so.” He put a finger to his chin trying to remember. “Ah, yes. His chest plate is actually very similar to the armor used by our legionaries. It’s made of bands of what appeared to be hardened and treated leather wrapped around his chest and held on by plated shoulder straps. For his shoulder guards, they are rectangular plates made of hardened leather strips that hug his arm. His bracers and greaves are steel and cover his forearms and calves completely. His helmet looks to be a cap of steel with three steel bands that skirt the back and sides of the head. On it are two antlers that make him look larger than he really is. But the scariest part is the mask. A steel mask that covered his nose, cheeks and chin carved to look like a hideous monstrosity.”
Rainbow tried to picture it. “I think I have an idea as to what you’re talking about.”
“His weapons are just curved swords, each one bigger than the rest. The biggest one is almost as tall as he is.”
“That could do some serious damage.” Rainbow said to him.
The two finished their food and began to prepare for bed. Swift Arrow took his cloak off and set it against the top of his bedroll as a pillow. He removed his jerkin and boots then moved to lie down, only to stop at the sight of Rainbow. She had removed everythig, and stood bare for him to behold. He tried to avert his eye, and it was rather clear that’s what he was doing.
“Aww, is this your first time seeing a mare naked?” She teases getting closer to him, making sure he wouldn’t look away. “It’s time we had ‘the talk’ pal. These things are called boobies!” She exclaimed rather enthusiastically while giving them a squeeze.
And that was how Rainbow ended up bent over the log they had in the cave for half the night.
Akira stood behind and beside Luna in front of a moderate group of new trainees. These were the ones he was supposed to train, and he had a good feeling about it. He saw several very muscular men and others who weren't so bulky. This was good, he had planned for differences and to train them accordingly. The bulky and muscular ones he would probably train to use the kanabo, a heavy oaken club studded with or encased in iron.
He had plans, big plans.
Big Macintosh Apple, he had defected to the Bat Clans soon after the war started, and was joined by Fluttershy and a few others. He stood in line with the other trainees, and stared at the warrior who had quickly become legend. His armor was simple and looked rather light, but no less strong for it. His helmet was fearsome, it was a metal cap with skirting plates that covered the sides of the head, but what was fearsome about it was the antlers on it. The antlers made him look bigger than he was, and it was a very intimidating factor. More intimidating still was the mask. He had on his face a mask of the same metal painted red and shaped to be a hideous scowl on a monstrous face, that coupled with the antlers would make him think twice about fighting this guy.
Big Mac let his gaze return to the princess who was addressing the trainees, at her hip was a pair of swords identical to those carried at the other warrior's hip. He didn't know if he had an extra pair or had another pair forged for her, but he just knew that they both had to be really good with them.
The first thing they did for the training was actually an assessment. They were told to jog as far as they could along a main road until they couldn't go any further. Big Mac jogged for quite a distance, his farming years having given him extensive stamina. He and the more burly men tended to go farther than most of the smaller guy because they were also mostly consisted of farmers or blacksmiths. The samurai marked something down on a piece of parchment he was holding.
The second test they had was of strength, they had four different logs that they were told to lift in order from lightest to heaviest. The smaller guys could only lift the first two logs and maybe the third every few times, only the biggest of men could lift the last log. Once all of them were through the samurai marked on his parchment again, them told them to move through to the next test.
The next test was one of flexibility. They were all told to run through a very difficult obstacle course, one that the smaller men excelled at if it could be called excelling. In truth all of them struggled, the bigger men more than the rest. Big Mac was one of the last through the course. He almost fell to his knees in exhaustion when he was through. The samurai marked on his paper again, then had them line up again in a different order.
The order was based on who did better where. Big Mac and the other more burly stallions were put together in one of four groups. They were organized by being called light, medium-light, medium-heavy and heavy. After this they were told to remember their place and dismissed. Big Mac and the others were free to return home at the end of this. So Mac began the short walk to his home.
Big Mac opened the door to his home and found that Fluttershy had already put dinner on the table. She was none too happy about him joining the army but she supported him nonetheless. Mac all but collapsed into his chair in exhaustion when he got there.
"That bad huh?" Fluttershy asks coming up behind him and wrapping her arms around him from behind, putting her head right next to his.
"Not bad Shy, just exhaustin." He says back looking at her. And he was met with a peck on the lips.
He saw a grin on her face, and met it with his own.
"Well lets just hope it gets easier from here on in." She says.
It didn't get easier. If anything it got harder. Big Mac and the other stronger stallions were given enourmous logs with handles, called kanabo. The weapons were almost as tall as they were and heavy as all he'd get out. He was told he would be fighting with it when he was done.
The guys in the medium-heavy got katana, curved swords that were identical to that the samurai carried. The people given them looked at them curiously, they weren't quite sure what to think. The medium-lights were given big polearms with curved blades at one end, naginata they were called. The lights were given bows with shorter version of the katana called the wakizashi for close combat.
Big Mac and those given the kanabo were brought to a separate room, same case for the rest except for the ones given katana. He didn't know how the others would be trained, but he knew that this would not be easy.
Day after day he would come home sore and sweaty, and over a few months he got even bulkier than he was to begin with. He was given armor to train in once he had managed to use the kanabo with relative ease, which just made it harder because the armor was quite heavy. His armor, and all those of his fellow kanabojutsu trainees, wasn't unlike that of the samurai's armor.
It was made of heavy steel plates that covered his entire body, but instead of a full helmet he was given a large mask of steel that covered his entire face instead of half. His mask looked just plain demonic, with a hideous face with enormous tusks and fangs that came from the mouth of the mask. It was called a somen, a full face mask. After that his already impressive strength was only growing, as was his flexibility, and he became a formidable warrior, just like everyone else who was under the samurai's watch.
Akira sat kneeling in front of a cherry tree outside the city on the side of the mountain. He looked out on the great mountain range, the forests and peaks, seeing the peace to be found there. A cherry blossom petal fell in front of him and he looked up at the tree, and spied something he never expected to see. He stood up and looked at it intently.
He heard footsteps from behind him and turned to see Luna come up behind him, smiling gently. He nodded at her, a smile on his own face, and looked back up at it. Luna came up next to him and tried to see what it was he was looking at.
"What are you so intent at seeing?" She asked once she gave up looking.
"That," He says gesturing at the trees branches, "The perfect cherry blossom. Back home, one could spend their entire life looking for one, and it would not be a wasted life."
Luna looked at him amused. "You samurai are so difficult to understand. One minute you're teaching ponies how to kill others and the next you're talking about flowers. It's strange."
"Where I come from it would be strange to say such things." He says looking back at her, "Strange is such a fickle thing is it not?"
"I suppose so." Luna said sighing, My goodness he would be able to outwit Celestia if he wanted to!
Akira looked down from the tree and knelt as he was before and looked out upon the mountains. Luna knelt next to him, in a more ladylike fashion. He had his legs apart and sturdy with his hands resting firmly on his thighs, she knelt with her legs together and her hands neatly folded in her lap.
"I want to know, what are you doing so far outside the city?" She asks.
"I would ask the same of you." He states. "I came out here to seek tranquility, calm."
"I am no stranger to that." Luna told him, "Oddly enough this is the exact place I come to when I feel overwhelmed and need a place to breathe."
Akira nodded. Luna noticed a small piece of parchment in front of him as well as a paintbrush and an inkwell. "What are those for?"
He looked down at them, "Ah, I came here with the intent of writing a poem. However nothing has come to mind yet."
Luna nodded, "I didn't know you were a poet."
"All samurai study poetry among other things." He says. "A haiku is the most common form of poetry where I come from. And all samurai study this, and more."
"So a warrior and a romantic eh?" She teases, earning a chuckle from him.
Luna stood and bowed to him, as was his custom, and he was her teacher. "I wish you the best of luck with your poetry."
Akira watched her leave, then his mind suddenly hit a stroke of sensational inspiration. He began to write his poem.
Akira was wondering through the central city at random. His mind, once clear, was now plagued with an issue that he felt should have had an obvious answer. He paced endlessly, his poem in his hand. What was he thinking!? He wasn't supposed to write such things! Especially not in something so important and heartfelt!
He was so irked that he barely noticed one of the guards come up behind him. It was one of his own students. He tapped Akira on the shoulder to get his attention. Akira looked up at him, and the two exchanged bows.
"Sensei, you look troubled." He says. "What puts you on such an edge?"
"Nothing too serious." He says reassuringly. "I just need to decide something of a personal matter."
Akira did not realize he had dropped the poem when he turned to face his trainee. The trainee picked the piece of paper up and read it. He looked beyond shocked, but then smiled up at his sensei. He shook his head in an exasperated way.
"Sensei, if this is what troubles you, it shouldn't. She'll love it." He says giving the poem back to Akira.
"You don't know whom it is this is intended." Akira says taking it back.
"I'm pretty sure I do," came the reply as he glanced up at a balcony on which Princess Luna paced.
Akira held back a blush, knowing he had been caught.
"Why are you so troubled about this?" The guard asks.
"Because such things are not for me to think. It is forbidden!" Akira says forcefully.
"Maybe where you come from, but not here." He says back. "Go to her, the most she can say is no."
"That is all that would be said." Akira says trying to get out of this predicament. "She would never accept such a thing from me!"
"And why not?" He challenged.
"Because I am not worthy of someone of such status. I am just a samurai from another land. She is the monarch of an entire empire. How could I possibly approach someone like her?" Akira demands.
"The same way you would any other mare." He says plainly. "Go up to her, give her the poem, and go about your daily business. She will give you her answer when she decides."
"Nonsense! She is far to great of a woman for me to approach! The sheer audacity it would take would be so great that the gods themselves would smite me for it!"
"Not true, if anything you would impress your gods beyond anything anyone ever has before."
"You don't know my gods, they are very strict on what is supposed to happen and to whom it happens too."
"Either way, from what you have told me of your ways, it is you duty as SAMURAi, to present this to her." He says. "I thought that fear was something you did not know. Yet here I find you scared of telling a mare you love her, I wonder what your samurai senseis would think." He says with finality.
Akira couldn't say anything to this, because his student was right. It WAS his duty to tell her, to give her the poem, to let her know what his opinion of her was. He took several deep breaths, before he finally decided to dive into the deep end, and hope for the best. He turned and left for Luna's chambers, hoping beyond hope that this would go well.
Up in the main keep of the great underground city, Luna paced along the balcony of her chambers. The balcony, and her chambers, weren’t very elaborate. The balcony upon which she expressed her frustration through the movement of feet across carved stone. The balcony was circular and roomy but not large, the railing was of carved stone (just like every other structure in the city) and the supports of it were simple pillar like constructs of circular design. The railing was about waist height for her, maybe a bit higher, and carved smooth.
HEr chambers weren’t too lavish. She had a simple but large bed set against the wall to the right of the door, set directly across from the balcony. On the other side of the bed was a dresser with tree items of clothing in it. One was a formal dress for occasion that almost never came along, and which she hated anyway. The second item of clothing was what would be worn beneath her armor (Samurai armor), meaning a pair of loose pants that would tuck into the greaves and two overcloths, jacket like wraparound shirts that tied at the hip, starting with the shitagi. The shitagi was an ankle length undershirt that would usually go over only the undergarments.
The third item of clothing was her everyday attire, a simple V-neck dress that resembled the shitagi in many ways. Other than that she only had her armor, which was on a stand in the far corner of the room along with her daisho and naginata.
She paced back and forth across the stone surface of her balcony and the thoughts that plagued her would not let up. Certain thoughts she wasn’t sure she wanted, but not entirely unwanted either. She continued to think and pace until voices reached her ears. She approached the railing and looked down into the gardens to see Akira and one of his trainees having a... heated discussion.
She couldn’t hear anything clearly, but they were clearly disagreeing. She leaned in further and tried to make out their words, no success. She just watched for a time, trying to keep her previous thoughts from coming back. After a time she lost interest in what was happening below and her mind betrayed her to defect to the previous thoughts. Her mind was filled with images of Akira up close, sometimes with armor, but mostly without, and sometimes with a weapon in hand, usually something else entirely. Often she saw him bare-chested, and could vividly picture his sculpted and hardened muscles, and she could only imagine how firm they would feel. Her heat wasn’t helping these thoughts leave.
After a few minutes it looked like Akira had finally been silenced, which grabbed her attention. She watched as Akira was no longer speaking and instead seemed to think. After another minute Akira nodded to his trainee and dismissed him. Then he appeared to breathe deeply, then began walking towards the castle. Odd.
Luna walked into her room and began to disrobe. Once she was only in her underwear she laid in her bed and tried to get sleep, only her mind wouldn’t let her. Images continued to creep into her mind despite her wishes, or at least her conscious wishes, of increasingly kinkier things involving a certain samurai. She couldn’t stop picturing things that made her grow red in the cheeks, and wet in a place lower. It wasn’t too long before her hand found her way down there to scratch the itch. She was almost disappointed when there was a knock on the door.
She managed to lower the heat level in her face and put a bathrobe on before she answered, and her blush threatened to blow up again when she found Akira waiting outside her door. In his hand was a piece of paper, she guessed it was the subject of his previous conversation. He bowed respectfully and handed her the paper, then he left her there.
She didn’t quite know how to react, but after a minute she closed the door, took off her bathrobe and began to read. The first time she read through she could hardly believe it, so she read again, same thing. She sat on her bedside, tears flowing from her eyes, and her heart bursting with immeasurable joy.
He did share her feelings, and she could not be happier about it. She kept rereading the poem he had written for the next ten minutes, the words effect on her endured. Her joy never dissipated, and she couldn’t stop even more perverted thoughts from going through her head, stupid heat. She laid down and tried to sleep.
Akira sat beneath the same cherry tree he had the previous day. His mind was irked beyond anything he had experienced before, none of the twenty three meditation techniques his zen master had taught him worked, not for this. His mind kept returning to the events of the previous evening.
What was I thinking!? his mind shouted. You did your duty, you gave her the poem as you were expected to. But who am I to give her such a thing!? Your own student explained this last night, you are a samurai, you had every right, if not obligation, to give it to her.
He was so lost in thought he didn’t notice the mare walk up behind him, kneel down next to him and wait to catch his attention. It took a second but he looked up at her soon enough. She was smiling at him, practically glowing.
“When you gave that poem to me, I wondered why you would choose me out of all the mares you have met. Then I realized that why isn’t as important the fact that you did. You don’t know how truly happy that made me Akira,” She says, tears building in her eyes. “Thank you.”
He couldn’t hold back the smile that came to his face. She pulled him into a hug, they leaned against the trunk of the cherry tree, in the branches of which a late flower bloomed, a perfect blossom.
“Do you have to go?” Fluttershy asked, tears streaming from her eyes as she clung to Big Mac.
“I do Shy,” He says hugging her back. “I have to go. I know how ya feel but I have to go, if I don’t I won’t be of any use to the resistance. I’m no blacksmith and there are no farms here for me to work on. I won’t leave my comrades while they throw themselves at the enemy while I hang back.”
“I don’t want to loose you Mac.” Fluttershy said with a cracking voice.
Big Mac, being almost eight times larger than Fluttershy now, sat down on a nearby chair and pulled her in close. He just held her to him while she cried in worry. He knew what she meant, he wasn’t sure if he would make it back, but he sure as hell would try. He hugged Fluttershy tighter.
“Please, come back to me.” She cries, “Promise me you’ll come back.”
He sighs. “I can’t promise that Shy, what I can promise is that only death itself will stop me. I will do everything I can to get back to you, I always will.”
Fluttershy couldn’t say anything, her quiet sobs being the only thing coming from her mouth. After a few minutes she got off of him and let him up. He walked out of the house, grabbed his kanabo before leaving the building. He walked about ten feet, then turned back to look at her. Fluttershy was watching from the doorway, tears running freely down her face. He gave her a sad smile, then continued walking to the gates, where the rest were to gather.
After Mac had left, Fluttershy walked back into the house and slumped into one of the chairs. Burying her face in her hands she continued to sob. She prayed, more than ever she had before. After some time she saw one of her hawk friends come in. She, being Fluttershy, understood most all animals save the stray mythical being of yore.
“Weep not my friend.” The hawk says. “Your husband is much more capable than most.”
“Please, just watch him, and help him if you can.” She says through her tears.
“I will keep watch over your husband, friend.” The hawk says. “I will protect him as best I can”
So the hawk flew off to join Mac and the others on their march.
Big Mac stood with the other samurai behind the lines of the usual legionaries. The strategy appeared simple, the legionaries would have a shield wall behind the samurai, but then why were the samurai in the back? Big Mac didn’t know the plan, but he knew that they were to first engage an enemy army that was coming deep into their territory in search of their capital.
Big Mac was in the front of the samurai ranks, which had been placed in no particular order, there were all forms of the samurai on the front line except for the lights, as they were primarily archers. He had his kanabo over his shoulder for the march as there was no real way to sheathe the heavy club. The medium-heavies had sheathes for their katana and the medium-lights held their naginata like the legionaries held their spears.
Princess Luna and the samurai Akira stood at the front of the lines. The princess ordered them to march, the gates to the massive city opened to let them out. Mac had always wondered how the hell they opened in the first place because of their gargantuan size. Though he supposed he shouldn’t ponder it, they worked after all, and he had another problem to worry about.
He marched with the others for quite some time before they came across the army they were to fight. The legionaries formed the usual shield wall up front, but those in back formed a ramp, making it obvious to those behind what it was they were supposed to do. When the Equestrian line met theirs the samurai ran atop the ramp of shields and leapt into the frey over the shield wall.
Mac instantly raised his kanabo over his head and brought it down as he landed, nearly splitting the poor guy he hit in half. Then he began to do what his training taught him, to swing his kanabo without mercy, his immense strength helped him keep from being thrown off from the weight of the weapon. He sent the equestrians flying with each blow that landed. One managed to get behind him however and raised his sword to strike at Mac’s exposed back. Before he could, a hawk flew down and attacked his face, alerting Mac to the danger. He swung his kanabo at the mans feet and knocked him to his back, then crushed the mans head with his weapon.
This brutality, as well as effectiveness, frightened the equestrian soldiers beyond anything. The samurai left no survivors, and the last left alive was not like the rest, he wore steel plate armor with chain mail underneath, and he was left facing Mac. Mac struck the ground with his kanabo as an attempt at intimidation, the ground shook slightly, and the armored stallion seemed to have a moment of fear. This moment was used by Mac.
Mac attacked the stallion and swung his kanabo overhead to crush the stallion, it was dodged and followed up with a swing at his neck by the stallions sword. Reacting quickly Mac brought his weapon up and caught the blade, he responded by bashing his opponent. The stallion was thrown off balance, and Mac thrust his kanabo into the stallions gut, making him fall to his hands and knees. Mac stepped beside the stallion clutching his gut, and brought the kanabo down on the stallions back with a sickening crunch.
He pulled the kanabo out of the enorous dent in the dead stallions armor. He put the bloody weapon over his shoulder and surveyed the field, so many dead enemies, it made him feel an odd regret. He returned to the rest and they proceeded to march a bit longer, before setting up camp in a forest some ways away.
Applejack walked through the town on her way to Twilights castle. She came into the main meeting room where she and the rest usually met up. The moonlight streamed through the windows at the top of the room and illuminated the otherwise dark room. The map table had changed to accommodate the increased range of the war, and that way they could tell where what things were when. So they could keep their own tabs on the war. Twilight was already there, so was rarity and pinkie pie.
Applejack took her seat around the table and gave it a once over, she saw several changes. The eastern front was weak on the Equestrian side with little known about the Thestral numbers. They had been pushed back six strongholds and thirteen villages in a week and a half. The central front was apparently evenly matched, the Equestrians had lost ground but did damage and prevented any further advance from the Thestrals for the time being. The western front was a little bit different, the Equestrians didn’t loose as much ground but were obviously under threat of attack at any second. The front seemed to be in favor of the Thestrals for now.
“This looks grim.” Came rainbow’s voice, startling Applejack.
“Don’t do that to me.” She says. “Ah miss the Rainbow that’d burst into a room shouting and announcin herself.”
Rainbow dash, who was right behind Applejack, laughed. “What can I say, I think I like scaring you.”
It was just then that Rainbow herself yelped in surprise. “And I Like scaring you.”
“Can it Swift.” She said. The stallions chuckling could be heard throughout the room.
“Calm down you two.” Cedar said coming in from another door. “We’re here to discuss a plan of action, not have fun with one another.” He grinned at Twilight. “That comes later.”
This made Twilight’s face burn with embarrassment. AJ and Rainbow caught onto this near instantly, they grinned at each other. AJ leaned her elbows on the table and raised her eyebrow at the two of them. Rainbow folded her arms across her chest and grinned.
“Is there somethin we should know about?” AJ asks.
Twilight couldn’t hold back the blush that reached her neck. “N-no. There’s nothing you need to find out about.”
“You sure about that Twi?” Rainbow Dash says.
“Oh please Dashie.” Swift says from the shadows, unseen. “You know very well that you can’t say anything .”
“Shut up you.” She says, the response was him laughing again.
“Anyway.” Cedar interrupts. “We need a planned course of action. I think the time is upon us.”
“Are you sure.” Rainbow asks.
Cedar was referring to a plan they had already cooked up but had yet to put into action. Now was indeed a good opportunity to do it, but they weren’t sure they were ready. The townspeople knew, everyone knew what the plan was but they didn’t know when. They all were ready for it at a moments notice, and they all had what they needed. The woodsmen had the stored logs ready, and the other resources were just waiting to be used. But they needed help.
“I’m certain.” Cedar says. “I will bring word to Princess Luna, and ask for help. The rest of you stay here and get the townspeople ready. Swift Arrow, Rainbow Dash, you two act as scouts and make sure there are no major enemy movements around us. Twilight, you handle the planning and organization on the operations. Applejack, you and your family need to move as much food stores as you can into the town as soon as possible. Pinkie... I don’t know what you can do, help Rarity make the armor or something.”
The group nodded in agreement. So Cedar left the building, but not before Rainbow Dash noticed that he wore a katana on his right hip now, now that she thought about it, so did Swift. She decided to ask him about it once they left. So the group dispersed to do their jobs, and Cedar left for The Deep to inform Princess Luna of the plan, and to ask for reinforcements.
Three days later, Princess Luna was overlooking a map in the command tent when Cedar came in and bowed. Akira looked at him as he came in.
“Princess Luna, I have news.” He says. “The small town of ponyvill is planning a revolt, all the citizens are in on it, but we will need reinforcements and an experienced military commander if we hope to keep it alive. I came here to ask you to send someone to help us.”
Luna thought for a second, after a moment of surprise of course, and looked at Akira afterwards. “What do you think Akira? Can you go and help them?”
“I can.” He replied without hesitation. “You need only ask it of me.”
Luna nodded. “Take two companions to help you. It’s better to be safe than sorry.”
Akira nodded and left the tent with the courier. He selected Big Mac and a katana user named Quicksilver. The three of them followed Cedar across the border and behind enemy lines to the town of ponyvill. This would prove interesting.
The townspeople were abuzz, they were all very tense for the arrival of their help. Twilight was organizing the construction of a palisade. Rarity was sewing armor by compacting wool between two sets of cloth, giving it flexibility while protecting the wearer to a degree. Pinkie pie was helping Applejack and her family move food into the city hall for storage. Rainbow Dash and Swift Arrow came back just then with reports.
“There is no enemy whatsoever to the west or south.” Rainbow says.
“None to the north or east either. But the help we’ve been expecting will arrive soon.”
At that moment Cedar approached Twilight and hugged her. “I see things have been going well.”
“Indeed they ha...” She didn’t finish when she saw Akira in his armor. She had to bite back a scream.
Applejack came over to meet him, that was when Big Mac spoke up. “AJ?”
They looked at him as he removed his Somen, revealing his identity.
“Brother?” She asks, just before pulling him into a hug. “What’re you doin out here?”
“I came with Akira to help y’all with your revolt.” He says. “It’s good to see you again sis.”
Legionary Gladius of the fifth legion, Second cohort, sixth century was standing guard outside the camp, waiting for the word to join the rest of the troops in their advance. Gladius was a batpony stallion of a dark red coat and a black mane and pale blue eyes. He wore the standard helm of the legion, a metal cap with hinged cheek plates and an open face, his helm had no tassel or horsehair plume like the higher ranking officers. His armor was a set of steel bands put together and held in place by buckles at the front, one for each band. The shoulder plates consisted of five more bands of metal on each arm, the last two being shorter than the first three and strapped to the arm just above the elbow. He wore hard leather bracers on each hand that stopped just short of the elbow. On his left arm was strapped a large rectangular shield reinforced with iron, and in his right hand was a pilum, a throwing spear with half the shaft being wood, the rest being soft iron the bend on impact. At his waist was a gladius, which as his name suggests, he was rather handy with.
He heard the trumpet call him back to camp and join his century. He jogged through camp, his armor clanking as he went. The camp was abuzz, everyone was moving to find their place in the ranks and did so with practiced efficiency. The centurions were placed at the front left corner of every century, their helmet horshairs going sideways across the helm to show their rank. The Centurion of the first cohort’s first century had a white horsehair instead of a red one, showing he was the highest ranking centurion in the legion. Then in the back was the general, he issued the orders to a trumpeter in the back who would give bugle calls to signal movement of the different centuries.
The trumpeter would signal which century of which cohort would move by first signaling the number of the cohort then of the century, then issue the command. There were ten cohorts in a legion, all but the first cohort had six centuries of a hundred men, the first had five centuries of a hundred fifty men. So each legion was made of six thousand one hundred fifty men. The trumpeter would give one to ten short blasts, then one to six long ones then issue an order, all of which the centurions have memorized and would then issue to the men.
The trumpeter gave the signal to march, with no indication of which cohort or century he was talking to, so the order was issued to the entire legion. They began to step in unison, the legion set along a column with the first cohort centuries at the front and the rest following in order, double filed with their centuries, except for the first cohort first century, they were front and center sandwiched between the second and third centuries of the first cohort. They marched across a large field to where their enemy’s encampment was located. It was a fort that was built well, but not as well as the forts constructed by the legions of the Bat Clans.
The enemy didn’t see them, but they sounded their war horn to challenge them. The trumpeter fired off a long deep note that also signalled the legion to spread out. Every century, except for the first century of the first cohort, turned ninety degrees away from the first cohort first century, that had simply stopped in place, the result was a large line of legionaries across the plain, facing a now rallying but frightened enemy. They had positioned catapults in the forest a few days ago, and bombarded the fort to tell them that their pathetic walls wouldn’t protect them.
The Equestrian militia, which was pretty much all it was, were equipped with varying degrees of quality weapons and armor. They all had roundshileds and spears, some carried swords, axes or daggers as a backup, they had leather or mail armor, the only ones with the good plate armor were their generals and they weren’t too skilled in the first place. They came out to face the legion in vain, readying their weapons, knowing that this would be their last time doing so. Those back in Canterlot may think that the Bat Clans were weak, and unable to win, that they were naturally inferior, but the soldiers on the front knew better.
With no real way out, the Equestrians charged the legion, knowing full well that this would be their final hour. Gladius waited for the command from his centurion to launch his pilum, and when it came all legionaries launched their pila into the air and a cloud of throwing spears came down upon the enemy. Many were killed right then and there, the rest continued their charge. Gladius and his fellow legionaries drew their swords and braced for impact, their rectangular shields made a solid red wall that the equestrians slammed into, right before getting stabbed by the legion’s short swords.
Gladius was on the front line, and never cared when an equestrian was stabbed in front of him, either by his own gladius or his neighbors. His sword was soon coated in blood, and a large pile of enemy soldiers lay in front of the legion. The Equestrians were dumb enough to attack the center of the line, so the other two sides swung in like doors and trapped them inside, killing them off from all sides. The Equestrians fought to the last soldier, and they fought well despite not killing many legionaries if they killed any at all.
Gladius helped with the cleanup, meaning they just dragged all the bodies into a tighter pile and burned them. He held no sympathy for the Equestrians, they were responsible for the torture of his kind, his kin. He hated them, and he would kill every last Equestrian soldier he came across.
He and his century were ordered to search the fort for any resources, aside from the metal and leather they took off the corpses of the Equestrian soldiers. Gladius moved to the back of the fort and with him was his decani (Group of ten soldiers, led by a decanus), He found what was essentially a cellar with a great deal of food stores, and something else. He called another decani in to help with the removal of the resources while he and his decani searched further down. Dug beneath the cellar was a prison, where several mares were held. They appeared to be fed very little and had barely any clothes. All were very dirty, and obviously frightened.
“Get these cells open!” He ordered his decani.
The ten soldiers, Gladius among them, began to work on getting the locks open. It took some time but eventually they opened.
“Get the general over here!” He says to one man.
“Yes sir!” Came the reply.
The soldier left, and nine remained. Gladius came into the cell, the mares shrank from him, fear in their eyes.
“P-please,” One mare stuttered, “d-d-dont h-hurt us. P-please.”
He shushes them, “we aren’t going to hurt you. Please, come with us, we will see you fed and taken care of.”
The mares were skeptical, but the thought of food seemed to trump all worry. The mare who had spoken was the first to get up, she managed to stumble over to him on wobbly legs. She just about fell, only to be caught by Gladius. He put her arm about his shoulders and helped her out.
“Help them.” He tells his decani.
They complied, each helping a mare to their feet and supporting them as they stumbled along. When Gladius made it back outside into the middle of the fort he helped the first mare sit down on a barrel, and saw the general marching over when he stood back up. He snapped to attention and saluted the general holding his arm out away from his body.
“At ease, what happened?”
He put the salute down. “Me and my decani found a small prison beneath the cellar, mares were in the cells, no one else. All of them are weak and look starved. This is one of them.”
The general nodded to Gladius, then crouched in front of the mare. “What is your name?”
“Tulip.” She says simply.
“Alright Tulip,” He says. “We aren’t going to hurt you or your friends. We will get you fed and cleaned up, you are in no danger here.”
Tulip nodded.
“Gladius,” He says. “You will be in charge of taking care of these mares.”
“Sir, no disrespect, but I don’t have the authority to do such a thing. I am only a decanus, only a centurion or higher can carry enough command to feed these mares.”
“Then its a good thing there is a place open for one.” He says with a smile. “You’ve just been promoted, centurion.”
Gladius was speechless for a moment, then managed to stutter. “Th-thank you sir.”
The general nodded. Then marched away, while one of the soldiers near him handed him a new helmet, this one with the sideways horsehair plume of the centurion, but it was white. White was the color of the first cohorts first centurion, the highest centurion ranking there was. But that wasn’t the time to be too proud of himself. He strapped the helmet on and moved back below to help the mares come up. There ended up being fifty three in all. Gladius and many of the legionaries brought them to where the camp was set up and put them near the mess tent. Gladius walked in and said that they needed to prepare a meal for fifty three, they did so at once after he told them what they had found.
The mares were fed and clothed, they were given a few tents for three or four to share and some fur sleeping bags. They were put closest to the center of the camp, each with a soldiers tent next to them in the event of them being attacked. Incidentally Gladius was tented right next to Tulip’s tent. When he was walking to his tent he found Tulip waiting there for him.
“Is something wrong?” He asks.
“No, I wanted to thank you, on behalf of all of us. You... saved us.” She says. “And we couldn’t ever repay you.”
“Why were you there anyway?” He asks.
“It’s a long story.” She says. “To put it bluntly, a law was declared that anyone with potent or recent batpony ancestry was to be denied any jobs whatsoever, and fired from their jobs at the time of the decree. Anyone with potent batpony ancestry who owned a business had their assets seized by the royal guard, and were cast to the street. I was a working mare until that time, my great grandfather was a batpony. So I had to steal to feed myself, as is the case with most mares here. I was caught and arrested, they sent me, along with all the mares you saw, here. And they... they.” Her voice broke and was nearly brought to tears. “They raped us, repeatedly.”
Legionary Scutum of the thirteenth legion, First Cohort, Third Century was beginning to grow impatient. They had been marching through a heavy fog for three days across a mountainous terrain to get to the Equestrian forces fortified in a narrow pass in the mountains. The snow was thick and difficult to walk in, his feet kept warm by the fur lining in his sandals (Roman sandals) and the fur that grew on his feet naturally. He also had the fur padding beneath his Lorica Segmentata (Roman plate armor) Helped keep out the cold from his body, and the wool lining of his helm also helped with that. His own Scutum (The roman shield he was named after) served as a fine windbreaker.
Scutum, the legionary, was a rather large stallion even by northern standards. He was a full head and a half taller than his centurion, and about twice as thick, he was so large that they had to have a set of armor custom made for his proportions. His gladius was also a bit longer than most and his Scutum larger, so he was placed on the front lines. Scutum was so named because of his size, strength and the fact that is was near impossible to move him by force from any direction. He was greatly respected by his comrades for his strength, loyalty and bravery on the field. He was so respected that he had a big promotion in his near future, but first he had to help kill this last batch of Equestian soldiers.
The thirteenth had split into two groups, to go around the mountain and close in on the Equestrians from both sides. This would force them into a stand and virtually obliterate the entire Equestrian force. Any captured would be either A;crucified B;Impaled or C;taken for the gladiator contests in the capital city. They didn’t take slaves for work.
Scutum busied his thoughts as he marched, his mind eventually wandered to the now famous Samurai army Princess Luna had put together. He had heard that the samurai had taken to “Head-hunting”. Rumor was that the Samurai had this running competition between themselves, so that they could see who could collect the most heads. They apparently carried open topped sacks on their back so that they could quickly put a head in it after cutting it off. It was rather gruesome but also quite entertaining for both the legions and Samurai alike, as well as intimidating for the enemy, as their soldiers never knew if their head would be the next one added to a collection.
He grinned as he remembered an actual case of him being witness to such barbarism. He watched as a katana wielding samurai cut the head from an Equestrian soldier and when the head rolled around on the ground he stabbed it, then putting the blade over his shoulder and drew it across to push the head of into a sack on his back. Scutum wasn’t really bothered by it, but didn’t entirely like it either.
He was shaken from his thought when they reached the pass. Inside they saw a camp of Equestrian soldiers, rather large and clearly well equipped. And these weren’t the usual Equestrian soldiers, he couldn’t quite place the difference from that distance but he knew they weren’t the common rabble they usually faced.
He was still thinking when he heard a loud scream, and it sounded feminine. He looked to the place it came from and found several mares tied to posts in the center of the camp, several naked and in the middle of being raped. No one said anything, but the atmosphere around them seemed to raise a good twenty degrees. The legion, as was clear by the expressions and body language of those around him, was angry.
They were given the order to form their battle lines, and they were spotted. Both parties began to form lines, and that was when he saw the difference between these soldiers and the usual militia. These soldiers were uniform, they each carried large roundshields reinforced with iron, pikes of about eight meters long and what appeared to be Cowrinthian helms.
The line of Equestrians then did something that wasn’t unlike what their legions did. They locked shields and lowered their spears. The legion was suddenly faced by a wall of shields with a literal forest of spears protruding from it (Macedonian phalanx). The legion in response marched forward, and after they got close enough each legionary launched their pila and drew their gladius. The two clouds of throwing spears did a small number on the shield wall, but didn’t do too much damage. The legion continued to close in, and when they reached the end of the spears they began to move back and forth. Stabbing into their ranks was not one row but five rows of spearheads that began stabbing, only for the end to be a wall of shields that was near impenetrable from the front.
The legion suffered many losses, in exchenge for very few. Scutum had be caught on the arm by a spear once or twice and wasn’t too happy about it, he managed to make it to the line and began stabbing over the shields and managed to kill a few, but not enough to make a difference. That was when the second half of the legion arrived. They launched their pila and began to stab into the back of the Equestrian formation, which was quickly destroyed afterwards. Nearly a fourth of the legion was killed, and the legions general had much to think about after that.
One of the enemy soldiers survived and was crucified on the spot of the battle, his armor and weapons taken for inspection. His armor wasn’t unlike that of the lorica segmentata used by the legionaries, it was a leather breastplate that was treated and hardened with two leather plates to act as shoulder guards. His greaves and bracers were of iron and as was his helm. His shield was of thick wood with a hard leather covering and iron reinforcements for a rim and across the middle.
The legion moved to the middle of the enemy camp to where they found the mares. They were obviously frightened, and quite worried about what would come afterwards. They were cut loose and given some clothing, this included the armor from the enemy soldiers. This proved it, the Equestrians were sending convicted criminals and those with batpony ancestry up to the front for their “sentences”, which was clearly satisfying the Equestrian soldiers. They head about this from the fifth legion in the east, and were horrified to see that it wasn’t a one-time thing.
The mares stayed close to legionaries, as though afraid more Equestrians would show up and start defiling them again. Scutum was one such lucky legionary, a particularly attractive mare who was obviously one of the more used of the rest. She stayed with him, and he didn’t complain. She conversed with him a lot, and he was glad for the company.
“Where are you from miss...” He says.
“Breeze,” She tells him. “I’m Soft Breeze from Ponyvill. Where are you from?”
“I am from Maul,” He says, “A region in the northernmost reaches of the Bat-Clans territory. It’s so named because of the once violent way of life. When the legions came and brought order to the place the name no longer fit, because you weren’t getting mauled or doing any mauling. The legions brought public order, public health, accessible water, sanitation you name it, they did a lot for the ponies in the region. But the history is reflected in its inhabitants, we tend to be on the larger spectrum of things.”
“I can see that.” She says earning a light laugh from the legionary.
“It’s almost time for mess, I hope you have a strong stomach because that chow is nasty.” He says getting up and offering her a hand.
She giggles a little at his words and accepts his hand while standing. “It can’t be any nastier than what we were fed by those... Soldiers. At least this isn’t a bodily fluid you’re feeding us.”
This got his attention. “That’s what they gave you to eat?!”
“Yes sadly.” She says. “And we can’t thank you enough for getting us out of that.”
“I cant see why anyone would want to put someone through that.” He growls.
“Hey, we’re fine now aren’t we. And we have you to thank for that.” She says. “The past is in the past. Now lets get some food.”
He didn’t really want to let it go, but he pushed it aside for the time being. They walked into the mess tent and got themselves some quality legion slop, made from what he could only guess was a mixture of beans, protein powder, rat crap and mud. The stuff was disgusting but it was still nutritious, and it kept them going. He conversed with Soft Breeze a bit while they ate, and afterwards he got up and offered to see her to her tent.
“I don’t have one.” She says. “There wasn’t enough. I was hoping I could stay with you.”
He wasn’t sure how to answer, but he nodded and replied with, “Of course you can. My tent mate was killed in the battle so I would be lonely without the company.”
She smiled at him, then thanked him again and accompanied him into his tent. No shenanigans took place, only sleeping.
Centurion Scorpio of the eight legion, first cohort, third century stood in front of the city gates. The Equestrians had marshaled a force to take the border city of Millwood, so named because of the many lumber mills in the city. The force was twice their size and contained three units of two hundred fifty six men for their phalanx infantry. They had developed a very effective way of countering this, they had put up a second wall around the first one, between the two they had dug pits filled with spikes and pitch for burning. The two walls were connected by drawbridges that could be drawn up from the inner wall. They also had a main drawbridge for entering the city so that they would have a difficult time taking the walls, meaning that the main drawbridge was pretty much their only choice.
The legions had developed a unit that used spears instead of the gladius to counter the effectiveness of the enemy spears range even more than their scuti already did. The legionaries would put these units behind the drawbridge, there the back of the phalanx was exposed to the archers on the wall, their ranks would be reduced from behind while they were held at bay by the spear wielding legionaries, thus rendering their phalanx useless in attacks. The legionaries behind the spearwall would use their pila (throwing spears) against the front of the formation and rendering their movements hindered by shafts hanging from their shields or killing them.
Centurion Scorpio had his long spear held in the waiting position, same with the rest of his men. The archers atop the wall began to fire outward, the enemy had been spotted. Scorpio couldn’t see anything, but he heard the gate of the front wall shake when a ram struck it. The gate continued to boom upon contact with the ram, and the three cross beams strained to keep it closed, until they failed. The doors swung inward and the phalanx infantry dropped the ram and began to march towards his century.
He gave the order to lower their spears and ready their shields. Their scuti (Large square shields) had a little cut slot in the upper right hand corner to hold the spear and make it easier on their arms. The phalanx met the shield wall, and the legions archers began to shoot into their back. The phalanx didn’t last very long, their men continued to replace the ones who fell in front of them, but it was not enough. The superior training, equipment, discipline and conviction of the legionaries proved too much for them. The legions marched out of the city and met the rest of the Equestrian force, which ran after some time back to their camp.
The legion did not stop there, they emmediately rallied to march after them. They march to where their camp was spotted, and found it nearly struck. They marched on, the Equestrians fled, disorganized and disheartened they did not care where they ran to, only that they got away. The legion chased them down, and each group was taken prisoner and either crucified or impaled on the main road.
When they returned to where the Equestrian camp was, they found what had become infamous knowledge amongst the legions, the slaves. The mares who had been either convicted criminals or descended from batponies to be sent to the front to relieve the Equestrians soldiers frustrations. The mares were freed and taken to the city, where they were given shelter and food. The legion moved on.
They marched southward, over the frozen mountains and into what was the remnants of the Crystal Empire, now a crystal fortress meant to keep the legions at bay, it was time for it to fall. Unlike the legions, the Equestrians didn’t put their wall foundations forty feet below the ground to prevent tunneling. That was how the legion was to get in.
Thanks to almost all of the legion consisting of batponies, they were able to tunnel easily in the dark. The night fell and Scorpio lead his century into the night, and to the wall. They began to dig, in one row ten ponies wide they dug under the wall, and eventually coming up behind the wall. That was when the rest of the legion came in. They marched down the city streets long before the Equestrian force could martial, and they were defeated quite easily.
Scorpio was assigned to city patrol that night, and his men had brought some liberated mares with them. He was walking along the front of the castle, when he saw a young stallion painting something on the front of the castle. He gestured for his men to stay put and approached the stallion alone. He grabbed the stallions shoulder, making him turn around suddenly his eyes wide with surprise and fear.
“What’s this then?” He asks, then looks at the graffiti. “THESTRALES EUNT DOMUS?! Ponies call “Thestrales they go the house”?!”
The stallion stammered. “It s-says Thestrals g-go home.”
“No it doesn’t.” Scorpio says after a brief pause. “What’s Latin for Thestral?” When no answer came he shook the stallion roughly saying. “Come on.”
Panicked the stallion answered. “Thestralus?”
“Goes like?”
“Alus?”
“Vocative plural of Alus is?”
“Ali?” The stallion guessed.
Taking the paintbrush from the stallion Scorpio corrected his first error. “Thestrali. EUNT, what is EUNT?”
“Uh, go.”
“Conjugate the verb to go.” Scorpio said impatiently.
“Ire, Ero, Is, It, Imis, Itis, Eunt.” He says rapidly and desperately saying the conjugations.
“So eunt is?”
“Third person plural... present indicative. They go!” The stallion says.
“Ah, but “Go Home” Is an order, so you must use the...?” He says twisting the stallion’s ear painfully.
“The Imparative!” He says with a higher pitched voice through the pain.
“Which is?”
“I, I!”
“How many thestrals?”
“Plural! Plural! Ite! Ite!” He almost screams.
“Ite,” Scorpio says correcting the second mistake. “Domus, nominative, “Go home” is motion towards isn’t it boy?”
“Dative?” He says, the result was getting a sword pressed to his throat. “No, No not dative! Not dative! The accusative, accusative sir, “Domum” sir, “Ad domum”!”
“Accept when “Domus” takes the?”
“The locative sir!”
“Which is?”
“Domum!!!”
“Domum,” Scorpio says finally releasing the poor guy from his grasp and correcting his final mistake. “Understand?”
“Yes sir!”
“Good, now write that a hundred times.”
“Yes sir, thank you sir, hail Luna and everything sir!” The stallion said through his relieved pants.
“Hail Luna! If its not done by morning, I’ll cut your balls off.” He says before returning to his patrol.
“Yes sir!”
The next morning, the stallion had finished his sentences and called to the guards at the bottom of the ladder. “Finished!”
“Right,” One of them said. “Now don’t do it again.”
Author's Note
I took that last scene directly from one of my favorite movies, if you can guess what it is tell us in the comments.
Blueblood marched through the halls of the castle towards the central conference room. He was told that two diplomats waited for him, he expected them to be from the Bat Clans to either demand or offer a surrender. His armored bootsteps echoed down the hallway as he marched in a hurried fashion. Behind him were eight nobles, all wearing the edvanced plate armor of the day and carrying poleaxes with longswords at their hips. He struck the doors to the conference room and found two diplomats there, but one was a griffin and the other a Minotaur. He stopped in front of them and they bowed respectfully once he did.
“King Blueblood,” The griffin says. “I am Owl Feather, and I have come to speak on behalf of my king. This is Stonehand, he has come to speak on behalf of his. We both wish to discuss relations between our nations.”
“I see.” Blueblood says. “What is it you wish to discuss?”
“Both of our kings have come to the conclusion that you losing this war would be very bad for us, so we have come to offer our aid, in exchange for some of the conquered territory.” Stonehand says. “Mine for farmland, his for mining resources. If this agreed to you will five units of each of our warriors to fight with you against these Bat Clans.”
Blueblood thought for a minute, how much land did they want and how much could he keep. He hated giving up land, but he wasn’t so dumb as to not see that he was losing the war at that time. If he decided to give up land in exchange for help he stood a much better chance at winning, but neither did he want to give up all the land conquered.
“If I agree to this, how much land to I need to give to each of you?”
“My king wants five hundred acres of farmland.” Stonehand tells him. “And the griffins want three or four mining facilities that are rich in recourses.”
“It can be done,” Blueblood says.
“My king also wishes to know what you want to do with any enemy civilians captured.” Owl Feather inquires.
Blueblood hadn’t actually thought about it, but now that it came up he emmediately knew what to do with them. “The stallions will be enslaved for work, the mares enslaved for pleasure. If you wish to have a share then that can easily be arranged.”
“Sounds like we have a deal.” Owl Feather says.
Blueblood and the diplomats signed the necessary paperwork and the diplomats left with their copies. Blueblood left to demand Celestia’s involvement in the war for the third time that day, and when he came in he saw he quickly hide an envelope in her dress. He approached her and swiftly removed it before reading it through, the contents angered him, and who it was addressed to even more so.
“I should have guessed.” He says. “You’ve been feeding them information. No longer. Guards!”
They came into the room and awaited his orders.
“This whore has been feeding information to the enemy, if she believes herself one of them she will find out what we do to them. Take her to the dungeons, where we keep those monstrosities.”
The guards saw the letter, and emmediately placed Celestia in irons before dragging her down to The Pit, where they kept and tortured Batponies. Celestia would never forget what she witnessed down there.
Luna stood against the map table of the command tent in the middle of the camp. Her generals were with her and they were discussing their next move in the strategy. Luna was looking over the map at the locations of the legions, and looked at ponyvill where a figurine of a samurai stood, indicating that it was garrisoned mainly by samurai, namely Akira. Luna had read over the reports and had learned that he had chosen Big Mac as one of his companions, and that Fluttershy had joined the medical corps and was to be detached to Ponyvill with a squad of professionals to assist with any medical needs.
Luna looked up when a scout entered the tent. “Princess, a group of neutral warriors rides to us on what appear to be bears and carrying the flag of truce. They wish to speak with you.”
“Take me to them.” Luna says grabbing her naginata, putting on her helmet and tightening her menpo.
Luna followed the scout to the forts walls. The fort they had set up was in a league of its own concerning temporary defense. It was surrounded on all sides by three separate palisades, each getting higher as they went in and separated by spike filled trenches. Set at even intervals were towers at each wall, the innermost towers had two levels, the bottom one for a ballista and the top for archers, the ones on the first and second wall only had archer platforms. Each wall had a gate, getting progressively thicker as they went in. Luna ordered these gates to open, and when they did sure enough a group of warriors riding on the backs of bearlike creatures rode in.
The warriors were bulky, with large horns and dangerous looking weapons. The one in the lead wore a shirt of mail that came down to his knees and split down the middle use below the crotch to allow free leg movement, over that he had a vest of scaled armor. On his head was a cap of steel with eye and nose guards with cheekplates coming down from the eye guards. There was a skirt of mail that came down on all sides of his head much like that of a samurai helmet.
In his left had was a large wooden roundshield and at his hip was a straight double edged sword the likes of which she had never seen before.
In his right hand he held a broad bladed spear, on which was a white flag.
“Am I to assume you are in command here?” The man asks, receiving a nod from Luna.
“I am Jarl Ironbeard. I have come to speak on behalf of my people, the Oxen. We wish to offer our help in this war, in exchange for farmland.” He says. “My people are strong but they cannot live without food, and food is scarce where we come from.”
“I would be happy to assist you and your people Jarl Ironbeard.” Luna tells him. “What assistance can you offer me?”
“I have very good land warriors, as do you. But you lack a navy, something my people thrive with.” He tells her. “I will give you a navy and any land warriors you need that I can provide, for three hundred acres of fertile land to grow the food my people need.”
Luna thought about this. “Come with me, I must consult my generals for this decision.”
The jarl dismounted his beast and left his spear with his men. Then he followed Luna to the command tent, walking in he saw twelve generals, all of which were a good two heads smaller than he. They looked at him, then to Luna.
“Princess, who is this?” One of them asked.
“Princess?” The jarl says bowing to her. “Forgive me, I had no idea that I stood in the presence of a royal.”
“No need for bowing jarl.” Luna tells him. “You lead your people, I lead mine, we are equal. But inform my generals of your offer.”
“I offer the assistance of my people for farmland, three hundred acres to be precise. We will give you a navy, and possibly cavalry if you so need. My people are strong, it to stay that way they need food, which is scarce in my homeland.”
The generals looked stunned for a moment, then turned to one another. “This is a good opportunity, a navy will give us an edge we haven’t had for the entirety of this war, we can catch the Equestrians off guard.”
“But three hundred acres is a lot to give up.”
“Not really if you consider how much is to be conquered, and considering most of our main cities are underground we can afford to give them more.”
“A fair point, and whatever cavalry is I can guess the Equestrians don’t have it.”
“Cavalry is a unit of warriors mounted on war-beasts.” Jarl Ironbeard cuts in. “We have War-Bears that we ride, they give us speed and good contact power. A charge could easily break a line of unprepared warriors, even prepared ones can get broken up by a good charge.”
This set the generals to another few minutes of discussion. But ultimately the decision was made by Luna.
“Jarl Ironbeard, your terms are more than acceptable. I look forward to seeing your warriors in action.”
The Siege of Ponyvill pt1
Akira had overseen the construction of defenses around Ponyville. Which essentially consisted of a trench and wall behind it made of the dirt pulled from the ditch. The trench was filled with sharpened stakes to kill anyone who would fall in. There was one way into the town and that was a path of raised earth to let the ponies of the town in and out with a wooden gate to defend the position.
Akira had also overseen the basic training of the fighting militia of Ponyvill. He had the local metalworker make simple steel heads for the yari spear.
It’s handling wasn’t too different from that of the naginata. He taught them all basic fighting techniques using the yari as well as unarmed combat in the case that they lost their weapon. The two rangers, Rainbow Dash and Swift Arrow, taught two small units of archers how to properly fire a bow. These archers would be trained to fire as a unit, not as individuals, that way they would send a cloud of arrows into the sky to rain down on the enemy. They were drilled numerous times, only stopping to eat and sleep.
Akira was practicing his forms with his Nodachi when he heard the battle horn from the wall. Akira ran quickly through the town to see what the threat was, and saw a large Equestrian horde camped some ways away. Akira ordered the stallion who blew the horn to get all of the militia out and all of those who did not train to get into the town hall.
“Tell them to be ready for the “Bowling Ball” tactic.” He says to the man.
Akira had come up with this tactic himself, but not the name. He explained it to some of the ponies there and they drew the similarity between it and bowling, which was apparently a sport there in Equestria. He himself got down off the dirt-mound-wall and waited for all of the militia and his two samurai companions to gather together at the gate. Akira nodded to the two rangers who got on top of two houses to see over the wall, each behind their designated archer unit. Akira stood in front of his yari wielding units and prepared for the attack.
They didn’t have to wait long. Rainbow shouted “They’re coming!” Only a few seconds before they heard the booming sound of a ram being slammed against a fortified gate. They waited for it to succeed, and when they heard the reinforcement bar crack Mac got ready. When it did crack and the gate burst open Mac charged into the enemy horde, holding his kanabo across his chest. He hit the unaware enemy horde, which could only approach double file because of how narrow the bridge was, and either crushed them beneath him or threw them over the edge into the pit of spikes. Akira and Quicksilver followed emmediately by the yari wielders charged in after him.
After they made it across the forty foot bridge Akira and quicksilver split into two different directions followed each by a number of their yari wielding militia. The Ponyvill militia weren’t all too effective, after all, it was hard taking a life, but they did better as time went on and the Equestrian forces faltered in the face of such sudden and fearsome resistance. The Equestrian force was routed.
But not all of them were dealt with. There was still an enormous camp filled with Equestrian forces, which was not a good thing. Akira and the others returned to the town, repaired the gate as quickly as possible and remained on alert. Akira returned to his personal training, where several of the townsponies discreetly observed him from their homes. While he didn’t show off, he didn’t try any of the more complex movements, he was still quick with his obviously heavy sword, and clearly quite skilled. Twilight also came out to watch him for a time, before approaching him to speak.
“Akira?” She asks.
“Yes?” He responds. “What do you need?”
“I wanted to ask you, why did you side with us?”
Akira hesitated, he wasn’t entirely sure why. “Because my instinct told me to. I saw that your people needed help, and I helped. I saw that they were suffering, I sought to end that. There is little more to it than that, I went with my gut.”
“I guess,” She says not entirely convinced. “Thanks.”
“No problem.”
Akira was about to return to training when Quicksilver came up. “Sensei, another force is approaching.”
“Tell the militia to prepare for the next wave, they know which drill to take up next.”
“Yes sensei.” She says before running off towards the gate.
“Sensei?” Twilight asks.
“It means ‘teacher’, I trained all of the samurai in the Clans army, therefore I am their ‘Sensei’ or ‘teacher’.” Akira explains, “But before you bombard me with questions I must go see that this works.”
So leaving the lavender colored mare behind, Akira returned to the gate. The tactic was a boxing tactic, they had the yari spearmen lined up on either side of the gate facing towards each other and a third line facing towards the gate. Behind the first two lines were archers to fire on those coming over the bridge. Akira, Mac and Quicksilver were in the space surrounded by the spearmen and the gate, they would fight the horde like idividual warriors.
Before long the gate was once again set upon by a ram, the booming of the contact echoed across the cool nigh air. The crack of the bracebeam holding the gate closed was heard by all, and so was when the gate burst open for the second time that night. In flooded numerous enemies, only for them to be repeatedly stabbed by the yari on both sides of them or to face three very deadly warriors, all three of which had little problem killing them. The bodies piled, and the enemy fell back, all but one. He was another knight, one with the heavy plate armor used by the Equestrian nobles.
He carried a poleax, (Or halberd.) he had a sword at his hip and a feathered tassel at the top of his helm. Over his chestpeice was a sleeveless longcoat bearing a golden scale on a grey background, he was a noble. Mac, being the only one with a weapon that ignores armor, faced him.
The noble didn’t wait, he trust the spear tip of his halberd at Mac’s chest. Mac redirected the blow to miss him, and pull the stallion foreward. He struck the stallion with the pommel of his kanabo, and kicked the stallions left knee in. The sickening crunch of bones shattering filled the air and several of the militia grimaced at the sight. Mac then dropped his kanabo and picked the stallion up. The stallion was facing the air as he was held over Mac’s head, and very quickly Mac brought him down on his armored knee, breaking the poor guy’s spinal column. Thus the first of many battles was won.
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Immortality (Cloppy, but not straight up clop)
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