The Black Company in Equestria

I awoke under a fir tree, a shaft of morning sunlight hitting me in the face. I rolled over and sat up, wincing. The previous night's fighting had left me with sore muscles and a general feeling of having been run through a mill. My stomach growled, as if to remind me of more pressing concerns. I set about rousing the others. No rest for the weary, even in paradise.

Our conference was brief and hurried. Lamb wanted to contact the Captain as soon as possible with the information we had gathered. Jackal assured him that he should be able to make contact with his sorcerous colleagues with little difficulty, with the caveat that Grayborn would be able to sense his location when he sent the message. It was decided that Lamb, Jackal, Egg, and Marsuf would hike back to the cave entrance to make contact with Company command and scout out enemy activity. Since Grayborn already knew we were on this side of the gate, Jackal would not give away our position if he sent his message from near the gate. Flick and Jacky Boy, our two best shots, were tasked with getting food. That left Priest and myself, whom Lamb ordered to follow the dirt road leading away from the cave and find Grayborn's camp. Finding the camp would give us some idea of his remaining strength. Before he left, Jacky Boy asked Lamb if he and Flick should hunt for eight or only six, given that Priest and myself were almost sure to encounter Grayborn's men on our expedition. I retaliated with wild speculation about the nature and quantity of supplies doubtless stored in Grayborn's encampment.

We accompanied Lamb and the others as far as the gate. Crouching in the trees above the cave's mouth, we saw that our escape had not gone unnoticed. Teams of men were constructing wooden barricades around the entrance to the cave, while others were erecting a watchtower nearby. Several carts of cut lumber were being unloaded. I watched as an empty cart set off back down the road, the driver idly flicking his whip at the teams of ponies pulling the cart. I squinted. I couldn't be sure from this distance, but some of the ponies appeared to have been painted in a variety of bright colors. It was difficult to tell for sure as the sunlight was still fairly horizontal.

Lamb poked me in the side. “Jackal's about to work his magic.” he whispered. “You and Priest move out.”

We backtracked along the ridge line until we were out of sight of the activity around the gate. From there, we headed towards the forest which hopefully concealed Grayborn's base of operations in this world. After a nerve-wracking dash across the open meadow, we reached the treeline. A few moments later, we sighted Grayborn's camp.

The belt of trees was only about thirty feet wide. From its concealing shadow, Priest and I looked across a wide shallow valley teeming with activity. Immediately before us, tilled fields lapped the edges of the forest that surrounded the valley. One of the fields near us was being plowed by several teams working in parallel. I frowned as I studied the scene more closely. The men working the plows didn't look like soldiers, but like ordinary peasants. Their attitude and dress was identical to the farmers I had seen back in Al-Tarish. Yoked to the plows were more teams of the strangely colorful ponies. Now I was curious. There didn't seem to be any pattern to the colors, as ponies in the same teams had different colored coats. Perhaps the farmers colored the ponies to denote ownership? I made a mental note to inform Jackal about them. Multicolored ponies were the kind of oddity that would interest a wizard. Matters were further confused when Priest spotted a cavalry patrol mounted on ordinary horses moving between fields. If Grayborn had horses, why use the ponies? Perhaps they were native to this world? Curious, but irrelevant to our current situation. We moved on.

Beyond the fields, a fair sized river flowed through the center of the valley. Situated on the near bank was Grayborn's camp. Perhaps it would be more accurate to call it a town, as it was surrounded by a timber wall and mostly composed of permanent structures. Many were under construction. The road leading from the gate wound through the middle of it, eventually dwindling away outside the south gate, where a few small piers jutted into the river. The town itself was a wide, sprawling thing mainly composed of wooden buildings, although I spotted a central stone fort under construction. Outside the wall, tents and other temporary shelters were clustered together. Apparently Grayborn's town was already outgrowing its wall. While I was appalled at the sheer size of it, I was also relieved at the place's lack of defenses. Once the Company got here, taking the place would be laughably easy. A few siege engines firing incendiaries from the valley rim would turn the place into an inferno. That was, of course, assuming I lived to see it.

Priest and I worked our way across the valley towards the river, staying within the belt of trees. As we neared the river, we spotted a small group of soldiers exiting the town. They were following the path along the river bank.

Priest nudged me. “Should we take a prisoner?”

“Not a bad idea.” I whispered, readying my bow. “Maybe he'll even have some food on him.”

We waited in the bushes as the soldiers drew nearer.

I was sighting down my crossbow at the closest soldier when there was a sudden uproar in the town. Out of the near gate dashed one of the strange ponies, followed closely by a young filly. A snapped chain trailed from the hind leg of the larger pony. A mob of soldiers and workers were chasing them but falling behind with every stride. The soldiers we were stalking spread out in a line, the nearest not ten feet from our hiding place. They uncoiled weighted ropes from their packs and waited on the ponies, who were still running desperately towards us. Apparently these men had trained for this situation.

I flashed Priest a hand signal. He nodded in return, shouldering his crossbow and picking his target. We waited while the two ponies drew closer. They were still running along the riverbank path, a rapidly approaching cavalry patrol keeping them from cutting across the fields. We waited until they were only a few dozen yards away, then sprang our ambush. The soldiers' focus on the approaching ponies bought us a few moments delay before they realized two of their comrades were down with bolts protruding from their backs. Even then, their response was confused. Two of them immediately dropped their ropes and charged us, drawing their swords. The other two, after a moment's hesitation, turned back to the ponies. Whirling their ropes around their heads, they launched them at the lead pony. I didn't see what happened immediately after that because I was busy ducking a wild sword swing and then shattering the swordsman's nose back into his skull with the butt of my crossbow. A short, wild fight later, I was standing over four dead warriors while Priest arced a long shot at the retreating horsemen.

I turned back towards the two ponies. The larger one was lying motionless on its side, the ropes tangled around its legs and head. The smaller one was standing beside it, tugging at a rope end. I approached it cautiously. It dropped the rope and stared up at me. As our gaze met, I realized I was staring into the eyes of a unicorn filly. Its small nub of a horn poked through a matted gray mane. I glanced over at the other pony. Sure enough, it too had a horn growing from its forehead. The filly noticed my shift of attention. Its eyes narrowed.

“Get away from my momma!” it shouted in a childish voice, launching itself at me.

Have you ever been headbutted in the balls by a unicorn? It hurts.

“Marus!” I dimly heard Priest shouting as I doubled over. “Hey, get away from him you crazy pony!”

“Don't you hurt momma!” the little thing shouted back.

“Holy gods! Marus, that pony's talking!”

“I know.” I groaned. “Help me up. Gotta get—ow—them out of here.

“What the hell for?”

“Because Grayborn wants them.” I wheezed through gritted teeth.

“Fine, but this is the craziest godsdamned thing I've ever—hey, easy little pony. We're not going to hurt you. Relax, we want to help you.”

“You're a human!” The unicorn was defiant. “Humans hurt ponies!”

“We're not with the others.” Priest said. “We want to help you.”

“You look like all the others!”

“We just killed the soldiers trying to catch you.” My voice was starting to settle back into its normal range. “If we wanted to hurt you, we'd have done it. We can help you escape if you trust us.”

It was clear the filly had not considered that possibility. “But-”

The mother unicorn stirred and moaned. “Bright-”

“Momma! Momma, are you okay?”

“I'll be...okay...sweetie.” The unicorn feebly tried to struggle to her feet, but the ropes wrapped around her legs kept her immobile.

Moving in what I hoped was a nonthreatening manner, I knelt beside the unicorn and started untangling the ropes.

“Marus.” Priest's voice rose in warning. “Cavalry's coming.”

I glanced back at the town. A large party of horsemen was charging out of the gate towards us.

Throwing caution to the winds, I grabbed the unicorn and hoisted her up over my shoulder. She was heavy, but not as heavy as some of the brothers I've had to carry to safety over the years.

“Come on!” I shouted. This was mostly directed at Priest, as the filly was already at my heels.

We sprinted back out of the valley towards the hills. We cleared the trees and were running across the meadow when the horsemen loomed into view behind us. I risked a backwards glance. They were gaining fast. Fast enough to catch us before we could reach the broken rocks that meant safety. As I ran, a half-conscious unicorn across my shoulders and sweat pouring down my face, I frantically looked for a way out. Keep running and we'd be cut down from behind. Stand and fight, and we might account for one or two before the rest circled around and speared us. While half my mind ran through the shrinking number of possibilities, the other half was helpfully recalling all the times I saw this exact thing happen to some other poor fools. Anastus' heavy cataphracts shattering the Pretender's line at Issus. Gracchus and his light cavalry massacring the Peltan tribesmen. Ashoka's elephants butchering the Kalls at the Penner River.

Call it the curse of being the Annalist. You know how this is going to end.

Thick black fog boiled up around us. I stepped up the pace, even though my heart felt like it was going to hammer right out of my chest. Something long and sinuous whipped past me at our pursuers. A sudden chorus of screams and shouts broke out behind us. Another minute of frantic running and we burst out of the fog. Lamb, Egg, Jackal, and Marsuf were crouched at the edge of the meadow, waiting for whoever came charging out of the fog first.

“Come on!” Jackal looked a little green around the gills.

“What the hell is that?” Lamb pointed at the unicorn I was carrying.

“Talk about it...later.” I gasped, staggering up to them. “Someone take...this thing.”

I surrendered my semi-conscious burden to Egg, who slung the creature over one massive shoulder. We headed uphill, Marsuf and Lamb covering the rear. The little filly hung back for a second, ears flattening at the sight of more humans, but Priest scooped her up and followed us without breaking stride. I caught one last glimpse of our pursuers as we crested the ridge line, they were doggedly following us but losing ground picking their way through the boulders. We covered our trail and headed south towards our hideout.

We smelled camp before we saw it. Jackal was guiding us through the canyon which he and Marsuf had hastily strewn with traps when the rich scent of roasting meat wafted over us.

“Praise the gods.” Jackal growled, shoving past us. “I won't have to resort to cannibalism after all.”

The rest of us were right behind him. I was famished. Spending a morning hiking, fighting, and running around while lugging a unicorn will do wonders for one's appetite. I was so hungry, in fact, that I missed the puzzled look on the face of the unicorn filly as she sniffed the air.

“Brothers! Come and feast on—what the hell is that?” Jacky Boy shot up from where he had been lounging beside the fire as we marched into camp.

“Egg, why do you have a pony?” Flick pointed with a leg of whatever was roasting over the fire.

“That's my momma!” The filly said, leaping down from Priest's arms. “She's a unicorn like me!”

Flick choked on his meat.

“Interesting...” Lamb managed.

“Must be the natives.” Jackal growled, tearing into a hunk of meat. “Were they Grayborn's captives or allies?”

The filly shivered at the mention of Grayborn's name.

“Captives, I'd guess.” I said. “Grayborn has whole teams of them working the fields.”

“Fields?” Lamb interrupted. “So you found his camp?”

“More like a whole settlement.” Priest replied. “Civilians and everything.”

“Umm, what's that?” The filly pointed a foreleg at the animal roasting over the fire.

I belatedly realized what a monumentally terrible first impression this was for us.

“Goat, I think.” Jacky Boy mumbled around a mouthful.

The filly's eyes went wide as her pupils seemed to shrink to pinpoints.

“Uhh, listen.” I desperately tried to salvage the situation. “We don't eat, you know, talking anim-er ponies. Just regular ones. I mean, we don't eat ponies. At all.”

“Didn't even know there were talking ponies until today.” Priest said.

“Right. You see, we come from a different world. We don't have talking ponies, or unicorns, or anything like that.”

Great. The filly had gone from just scared to confused and scared. My silver tongue saves the day again.

The mother unicorn chose that moment to announce her return to full consciousness by vomiting all over herself.

Priest and the filly reached her about the same time. Between the two of them, they got things under control. Priest helped clean her off and confirmed she had suffered nothing worse than a rather nasty concussion, while the filly kept her mother from panicking too badly when she woke up surrounded by strange humans. While they fussed over her, I got the others to hide the meat away for a less touchy time. After ten minutes and one magically aided escape attempt that got Jackal's full and undivided attention, everyone calmed down enough to make introductions. As Annalist, I took the lead in introducing us as brothers of the Black Company, stressing our animosity towards Grayborn and his men.

“My name is Marus. I am the Annalist, or historian, of the Company. To my left here is Lamb, the leader of our squad, Jackal, our resident wizard, Flick, Marsuf, and Jacky Boy. On my right here is Priest, our physician, and Egg.”

“You don't look like an egg.” The filly objected. “Eggs are supposed to be round and white.”

“An ironic nickname,” Egg replied. “referring to my color and height.”

“Oh.” The filly looked puzzled.

“My name's Crystal Glaze.” the mother unicorn said in a shaky voice. “This is my foal, Moonbright.”

“A pleasure to meet you both.” I decided a formal greeting couldn't hurt. “I'm happy we were able to rescue the pair of you.”

“So am I.” The unicorn hung her head. “It was...horrible in there.”

“As I said before, we're Grayborn's enemies. I know you probably don't want to relive it, but if you tell us what happened, we may be able to find a way to stop Grayborn.

The unicorn drew a deep breath. “A-alright. I was there for all of it, not like...some of the others.”

According to Crystal Glaze, it had all started about seven or eight months ago. She and her family were living happily in the town of Canterberry, population: about five hundred ponies. Side note, apparently there are three distinct types of 'ponies': earth ponies, unicorns, and pegasai. Unicorns are the only ones able to do magic and are, at least in Canterberry, a minority.

Anyway, Crystal said that about seven or eight months ago, two ponies encountered a group of humans near the entrance to the cave. The ponies had known about the cave and even explored part of it before, but as far as they had known, there was nothing in there but more cave. Apparently the first meeting between humans and ponies didn't go well, as the ponies fled back to town almost immediately. When they led a large party of ponies back to the spot, the humans were gone. A few days later, humans began pouring out of the cave, led by Grayborn himself. In short order they had captured the town and systematically enslaved or killed its inhabitants.

Hearing Crystal's story, it was easy enough for me to piece together what had happened. Grayborn, cunning wizard that he is, saw the tide turning against him and his fellow wizards back in our world. He decided to turn the caves into a bolt hole should the worst happen. Of course he would have the caves thoroughly explored to ward against surprise attacks. It was the greatest stroke of blind fortune that one passage happened to lead to another world entirely.

“He put the earth ponies to work rebuilding the town and working the fields.”

Crystal's voice was getting shakier as she recounted more recent events.

“They were hobbled during the day, and at night they were all kept in pens. There weren't that many pegasai around when he attacked, and they could fly away and escape. I think they only caught one. I don't know what happened to him. He rounded up the unicorns and put us in cells. We were treated a little better than the rest because he was interested in our magic. We were guarded constantly, but they didn't whip us like...like they did with some of the others. We didn't try to escape, though. H-he said that he would k-kill ten ponies for every one of us that escaped. W-we were too scared to try. We didn't even know what was going on outside. We were kept in the cells a-and every so often, he'd c-come and take another one of us.”

She paused, blinking back tears. Moonbright nuzzled her mother's neck.

“When they c-came for me, I j-just...I just ran. 'Bright and I, we ran f-for the door. I didn't even know where I w-was running to, I j-just wanted out of that p-place.”

She looked up at me, her large eyes swimming with tears.

“That's when we met you.” I said.

She nodded.

Jackal let out a low whistle. “So that's how he was able to levitate boulders and teleport! He learned a way to use your unicorn magic, I'll wager.”

“I-I suppose.” Crystal looked doubtful. “I've never heard of a unicorn teleporting though, except in old mare's tales.”

“No doubt about it.” Jackal warmed to his theory. “When you perform magic, your horn glows. Furthermore, I noticed that when you threw Jacky Boy into the tree earlier, there was a definite aura around him as well.”

The mare blushed. “Yes. Um, sorry about that, by the way.”

“Its fine.” Jacky Boy sulked.

“When we last faced Grayborn,” Jackal continued, oblivious to the interruption, “he attacked us by levitating boulders and then teleported away when cornered. Both actions cast a definite aura about them, identical in appearance to your own. Thus, we may conclude that either Grayborn has coerced a unicorn into aiding him, or more likely, he has learned to perform unicorn magic.”

“So, what's our course of action?” I asked.

Jackal looked thoughtful. “Grayborn is in a powerful position. His army controls the area, not to mention the gate. He is a dangerous wizard, and his unicorn magic makes him doubly so. While he may still be incapacitated thanks to Flick's shot, when he returns he will do so with a vengeance.”

“Alright,” Lamb said, “we've finished our mission to scout the gate. We're cut off, but we can still raise hell from here. While our brothers keep pounding away at Grayborn's army from the front, we'll wreck his supply lines, torch his crops, and ambush his messengers. Every warrior he pulls from the front to stop us is a warrior not fighting our brothers. And,” he looked over at Crystal, “we're going to make freeing ponies a priority.”

Crystal smiled for the first time since I met her. “Thank you so much. It seems like we've been living in some horrible nightmare since he came. I'll do anything I can to help you free my friends.”

Her smile faded. “Although, I don't know what good I'll be. I'm not...I mean, none of us ponies are fighters.”

“I think you are.” I said. “You broke out and escaped. We rescued you in the field, but we couldn't have done it if you hadn't escaped from the town first.”

She still looked doubtful and more than a little apprehensive.

Time for the tried and true Annalist oratory to win her over.

“Look,” I said, getting to my feet, “we may have rescued you, but you friends and neighbors are still prisoners. Grayborn's either going to work them to death keeping his army fed, or torture them to death so he can learn their magic. If they try to escape, he'll probably chase them down and kill them. You're right, you didn't escape on your own. We were there to help. I know you hardly know us, but I'm asking you to trust us. We're professional soldiers. You may not know war, but we do. Believe me when I say that you can help us fight this war. You can't swing a sword, true, but can you roll a boulder or lift a log?”

She nodded hesitantly.

“That's right. And do you want to keep your child out of Grayborn's hands?”

She nodded emphatically, hugging the filly close with one foreleg.

“I know he probably seems like some kind of unstoppable monster to you,” I went on, “but Grayborn's just one wizard. He needs food and water just like the rest of us. He needs soldiers to guard him and do his dirty work. Every warrior we kill weakens him. Every pony we free is one more pony helping us and not growing food or hauling lumber for Grayborn's army. Don't be afraid of him, because we're going to beat him. We've been fighting wizards like Grayborn for years, and we beat every one of them. Grayborn's the last of them because he's the biggest coward. We beat him in the desert, we beat him in the mountains, and we're beating him in the caves. Now we're going to beat him here with your help. This is your land. No one knows it better than you, not us, not Grayborn. With your magic, you can do things that no wizard, not even Grayborn, can do. We're the Black Company. Alone, we can slow Grayborn down. But together, we can end him. Now, do you want to help us stop the man who threatened your child, destroyed your life, and enslaved your people?”

Crystal leaped to her feet, eyes blazing. “Yes!” she shouted.

I held out my hand to her. “Welcome to the war.”