Chapters There was a fire. So many brilliant flames, burning radiantly throughout the area, like a hungry beast devouring its prey. The flames burning with the intensity of the sun as they flickered and wavered in the air grew through the area. The flames working to consume all things in the city.
The sounds of metal striking metal could be faintly heard, and two figures are briefly seen within the flames, clashing and separating repeatedly. One figure holding a long blade, forged with the highest quality metal, crafted masterfully with intricate patterns flowing through an around the blade. Some holding meaning, others holding power. The second figure held a long and sturdy halberd, old and battle ridden was this weapon. Having seen many battles and survived, this weapon held experience and great power within.
Ever still these blades clashed, over and over again, in a shower of sparks that lit the land. Their true beauty is revealed through battle, more so then they could ever be outside of it. The cries of the weapons being heard every time they strike each other, sounding out like an army preparing for battle. A battle of wills and metal being fought here, each trying to overcome the other.
Yet even still, the wielders of these weapons danced through their battlefield. One of ponies, the other of humans. Each holding their weapons with great skill and ferocity, each having everything to gain from this class, and everything to lose if they fail. So, the two continued their unrelenting clash, unburdened by the destruction around them. Undaunted by the pain in their bodies. Aiming for the kill with every thrust, every stab, and every slash, these two warriors battle. They parried, they defended, and they attacked.
In the wake of their clash, they left death and flames. The pony radiating the true power of the sun, burning away at everything she came in contact with. Every clash and every swing and slash of this power sent flames hurtling out around the two, and yet every still they fought. Undistracted by the screams and death around them.
The battlefield by the point could be barely considered a millionth of its former beauty. A glorious city of which ponies of royal, common, and rich blood dwelled in luxury and happiness. With brilliant structures of marble, and ornate and intricate designs of homes and shops. The crowning jewel of the city being the glorious castle at the very tip, home to the very pony battling against this mysterious human. The very pony who was destroying her own home in this battle.
Evermore they clashed, determined to destroy the other. Annihilate everything they had built, break every bound they have forged and push them into the deepest pit of misery they could. For truly they hated each other, for what they had done, for what they believed in, and what they killed for.
The two figures seemed to be a blur of gold and black as they moved through their surroundings, the untrained eye unable to tell exactly who was taking the lead in this battle. As the two pushes against each other, forcing one back a step, only to be pushed back themselves by ten.
Then in one giant clash, of which released a shock wave of those destructive flames, the two separated from each other. Jumping away to gain distance as they stood opposed. Each panting and tired from their long clash, their bodies sore and hurt, sweaty and broken.
The pony adorned brilliant golden regalia, her hooves being secured in strong golden shoes, her head adorning a helmet with beautiful designs etched into it, making it almost seem like a crown. Her body was adorned with heavy golden armor, defending her from her enemies attacks, even if it had started to break away from their clash, revealing white fur under it. This pony was much taller than others, with wings coming out from her armor and a horn from her helmet. Indeed, this was no ordinary pony, for this was Princess Celestia. The most "benevolent" pony around. Her body wounded, her emotions unstable, and her kingdom in tatters. It was as if one was looking at a famous painting that was besmirched with mud. Her glaring with a deep hatred at her foe.
Link to artist. )
The figure across from her, however, was a complete opposite. The human wore a dark as night cloak over his form hiding almost every distinct feature about him. His hood forced off his head long ago from the wing and the power of their clash, a broken helmet resting on his face. Some of the left mouth area and the right area broken and knocked away during their battle, revealing a frowning face and a light blue eye staring back into hers. Some black hairs being seen just above his lip, a light after shave seeming to have been left on his face before the battle. One of their eyes glowing slightly behind the mask it seems, but that seems to be more an effect of the mask than anything. The rest of his form was decorated with light armor defending his body, it being heavier in certain more important areas of his body. Black gloves protecting his hand, but they had started to wear down from the constant movement of the blade in his hands. Several smaller blades being revealed on a belt hidden by most of his cloak held tightly and securely, yet seemingly easily removed. His outfit was in tatters from their battle, several holes in his cloak and armor, revealing pink skin hidden below it. Soft ragged breaths were coming from behind the mask as he stands there, glaring down his opponent.
While these two had been the most flamboyant and flashy battle, they were not the only ones fighting. In fact, several other ponies could be seen fighting other ponies, griffons were also fighting ponies, and even some young dragons and diamond dogs were thrown around here and there. Each fighting to overcome the other, the streets being decorated with blood and bodies at this point. They fought as hard as they could to overpower the others, fighting for what they believe them spurring on their strength making them fight harder, faster, and smarter. None, however, fought with quite the skill or grace their leaders did.
The city had been damaged beyond anything that had hit it before, and the death count was higher than any battle that had been fought under the sun princesses reign. Though there were very few battles in that time in the first place, that didn't change the facts here.
As the battle continued, the leaders out for the kill, six special ponies screaming and arguing with each other, purple captain against a dark knight, princess of love against queens, and finally revolution against the state. This battle had long since been in the making since the very first moment the human graced the land. Since the first blood was spilled, so to speak.
How could it have gotten to this point I hear you may ask? Well, that's a long, long, long story. But if you choose to listen, if you're ready to unlock the secrets of what became of a small human child, of how a princess became a tyrant, of how loyalty broke, and of a clash between ideals, then stay. Pull up a chair, and listen. For we have much to discuss and so little time to do so. Beware, however, for if you continue, you may not like what you discover.
Still here? Good, then it's time to weave a tale as old as time, but perhaps different from others? Who's to tell. Now, let's begin, four years ago. When the Revolution began.
Two years earlier.
It was dark, night had fallen the land not long ago, shadowing the world and hiding those who did not wish to be seen. Crickets were chirping softly with their interesting sound, as ponies and other creatures slept under the starry sky. Not a whisper to be heard, nor a sight to be seen when the city was like this. Well, not unless you knew where to look.
One such place is a little building at the edge of the city, where a dark figure was standing looking over the city in front of it. It stood there a while, simply gazing over the city and learning its layout. Soon however the figure let out a soft sigh, a gruff and aged voice being briefly heard, sounding male as the figure touched its mask in an expression of tiredness and exasperation. Soon the figure just shrugged his shoulders and rolled his head around a few times, causing several pops and cracks to sound out from him before he takes a few steps forward off the edge of the building. The figure disappearing into the shadows of the ally below.
He would be seen every now and then as he moves through the allies, heading to his destination with the skill of an assassin, avoiding guard movements and any ponies that were still awake. Hiding when he needed to, and even when he didn't, just to make sure he wasn't spotted. Soon he arrived at a large mansion within the city and stood out in front of the gates surrounding it, staring up at his target.
He waited there for several moments until he heard the smallest sound of approaching hooves, at which point the figure moved and hid with his body pressed up close to the wall. He waited for the sound to pass him, before he quickly jumped up and pulled himself over the edge of the gate, and landing with the faintest of noises. He glanced around quickly, making sure the coast was clear before he quickly made his way across the courtyard.
His footsteps were light and quiet as he ran across the yard, quickly making it to the mansion, where he jumped onto a small statue and used three more as steps before he vaulted over to a window ledge and held on. His body dangling above the ground at the second story as he waits several moments to make sure his movement was not here, and after several moments of quiet he pulled himself up and into the mansion.
The human figure looked around the empty room he had entered, looking over the king-sized bed and the expensive assortment of random items inside. He briefly takes a moment to go over a mental map, before nodding to himself as he quickly and quietly made his way out of the room and down the hallways. Right, right, left, forward. Stop.
The human quickly moved into a room as he was several guards approaching around the next turn. The human now finding himself in a supply closet, listening to the clip-clop of hooves slowly making their way past the room and down the hall. He sighs softly as the sound fades and he slides in a small black painted knife back onto his belt, before opening the door and continuing on his way.
After making his way through the large mansion and managing to luckily not have to use any of his numerous blades, he finally made it to his target. He quietly opened two large double doors, slinking in as he quietly closed the large doors with a soft thump. The room he had entered was a large library and on the opposite side of which he entered was a reading area with a fire crackling in front of three large chairs. One of which, happened to be occupied.
The cloaked man slinked forward silent as a mouse, moving up behind the occupied chair. The man soon standing behind the chair, looking over at the pony who sat in the chair. A well-dressed fellow with a business suit on and a monocle covering one of his eyes. He had a blue mane and tail and was currently reading a book, seemingly unaware of the man standing threateningly over him. The man standing there for several moments, before lifting a hand, and seemed to be reaching out for the pony in the chair.
Just as he was about to grab the pony, he moved his hand to rest on the chair, and then walked by it to another chair which stood angular to the chair the pony was in. The movement was so fluent that the pony hadn't noticed the figure sitting in the chair for several moments before he looked up and his eyes worried and he looked almost ready to shout. Then he calmed as he saw who it was and instead gained a frown.
"Now what could have possessed you to scare me like that, old friend?" The posh voice of Fancy Pants spoke out to the figure sitting in the chair. Causing them to chuckle as they rested their head on their hand, elbow on the armrest of the chair.
"Just having some fun Fancy, I don't get to have much fun nowadays." He says with a small chuckle, his voice soft and young. Yet muffled slightly by his mask, which caused his eyes to gain a white glow to them, hidden when in the dark.
Fancy gained a frown at this and nodded a few times in agreement, him closing his book and setting it aside on a coffee table. "Yes, I suppose you haven't. Did the guards give you trouble? How have you been anyways? I hope everything is going well" He asks as he leans back into his chair, looking over at his friend with a small smile, and a slight hint of worry.
The masked figure let out another chuckle, this time more mirthful as he lightly drummed his finger on the other armrest. "No trouble at all, and things have been well, I've been careful." He says happily a smile almost heard in his voice before his body suddenly tensed and he slipped into a much more serious. "But you and I both know that's not why I'm here."
Fancy frowns at him as he nods a few times, letting out a small sigh as his face seems to gain a much older and withered appearance. His years of stress being clearly shown now. "Yes, I suppose it isn't. It's almost the thousandth year, isn't it? And you've come to collect on the favor you had asked of me so long ago." He says almost mournfully, like he knew terrible things were going to happen, great things, but oh so terrible.
The human nodded a few times, his expression stern behind the mask as he stares at his friend, in an almost accepting way. He knew his friend had never wanted this task, and he knew it was wrong of him to force it on Fancy, but he had no choice. He needed to finish it, even if he had to break his friendships to do it. "Yes, it's almost time for the long-awaited moon princess to return, for the Sun and moon to be one again. The empire shall return as well, and with it, a new crystal princess shall rise. That's not to mention the pupil She has obviously been breeding to take the role of a princess as well." He says, spitting out the sun and she parts as he seems to glare into the fire before him.
Fancy sighs a little at this and nods in understanding, his withered look growing more as he realizes the number of crimes he's about to commit with this one act. "Are you sure you want to do this, my old friend? It's not too late to mak-"
"It is too late. " The human growls angrily as he glares at his old friend, his voice holding a very old and strong rage in him.
Fancy flinches at this, fear rising in him for a moment before it is quickly replaced with somberness and sadness. "Very well." He says resigned as he stares over at his old friend, his expression serious and hiding the true pain he was feeling inside. "But know that if you start this, you will no longer have my support." He says, hoping his friend would take this last chance to give up on vengeance, more than anything he hoped for this.
His friend is silent for several moments, seeming to hesitate for but a moment, before finally, he gives a firm shake of his head, and Fancy knew he had lost his friend. "No, my choice is made. I can never turn away from what happened, and I need to end it, or at least try. Or I will never find peace." He says softly as he stares into the fire, unable to look at his oldest friends broken and hurt expression. His mind was made, he would walk down this path, and make her pay for what she did.
Fancy is silent for several moments, morning over the loss of his friend before he decided to suck it up for now and help his friend one last time. "Very well." He says softly as he looks at his friend, nodding a few times as he sits there. "I have all the things you asked me to gather, and I've found several volunteers who are trustworthy and agree with your cause. You should be able to trust most of them, and I'm sure you'll figure out what to do with those you can't. Three hundred in total." He says softly as he glances at where his friend kept his hidden blades, already knowing what he would do with them.
The masked man nodded as he learned this information, going over it in his head as he continues to drum his fingers over the armrest. "Thank you, Fancy." He spoke softly, honest gratitude in his voice as he continues to stare into the fire. He then reached into his cloak and pulled out a piece of paper, which he quickly held out to Fancy. Who had flinched when he first saw him reaching into his cloak, before looking curious as he took the paper. "Spread the word to all my supporters to meet me here. This is the last favor I ask of you." The human spoke seriously as he finally turned to his friend, and moved his mask a little to show his mouth to his friend. "Thank you, for everything you have done for me Fancy, I truly mean it." He spoke slowly, knowing this was the last time he would see him as a friend.
Fancy returned to sad look as he nods a few times, straightening his suit a little as he returns the smile solemnly. "Of course my friend, thank you for everything you have done. I will miss you." He says as he puts the paper into his suit, before taking out one of his own. "These are certain individuals who you may wish to look into, they could prove useful." He said as the masked man took the note and took into his coat, his mask now back fully on his face.
"Thank you." He says softly as he stands, and starts to make his way out of the room, leaving his dear friend behind once again.
"...When will it end?" Fancy asked just as his friend reached the door, his voice quiet but still heard by the masked man, causing him to freeze with his hand on the door. He stood there for several moments, his hand resting on the door. Finally, he tilted his head back to Fancy, his masked held to the side by a hand for the moment, his piercing blue eyes staring at Fancy.
"When I watch her burn" He says with such hate in his voice it almost made Fancy feel like he was the one who was going to be killed. Then his friend was gone and the door had closed, leaving his best friend behind. Once again making his way through the mansion till he once again reached the exit.
Fancy stared at the door his friend had exited from with a small frown on his face before he slowly turned back to the fire. His magic reaching under his chair and pulling out his emergency whiskey, and places it down on the coffee table and pours it into a glass. His magic swirling his glass softly as he stares into the flames, taking a sip every few moments. "May Faust have mercy on you, my friend." He says softly, as he takes another sip before he gains a much more somber look as he realizes what's about to unfold. "May Faust have mercy on as all, and may you spare my soul and family." He drank much that night before he joined his wife in bed not much longer. After having sent his men out to deliver his friends' message of course.
This was truly the beginning of the end. Faust would not heed his prayer, nor would anything be able to stop the growing flames.
Clink, clink, clink. The sound of wood tapping against wood was heard throughout the night, and it had been a few hours since the meeting of Fancy and the human.
The human was currently sitting in the middle of a warehouse looking over the note Fancy had given him with a small hum, a chessboard next to that. He had a week until the meeting was meant to happen, and a few months after that till the return of the moon princess. He had a lot of work to do from now till then, more work than he had in the past few years. Even his training hadn't been this taxing, especially on his mind. He needed to think through everything carefully.
The human sighs a little as he turns back to his chessboard, and moves a piece every few moments as he does. Carefully planing against his opponent, every move is carefully planned out with precise timing. Yet even still as he played he thought about the list of names he was given and considered what he knew about each player on the board. The first being the bishop, blueblood.
Rumour has it that blueblood has grown tired of his aunties, and had been purposely sabotaging their endeavors for years now. Of course, these were just rumors and nothing concrete has been found yet, at least, that is until Fancy had done a little digging. It seems that Blueblood has been quite naughty over the past three years, dealing in the black market, tipping od Equestrian enemies, sabotaging traders, and...exterminating information that might have been very important to a certain princess. Indeed, truly a master manipulator in his own right. He made the princess think that he was just a simple whiny brat when in reality he could be considered a tactical genius. Sadly, he had trusted others to do his important dirty work, which had led to clues to be found by Fancy.
All in all, a potentially valuable asset. He was definitely someone who could be turned to his side and used to further his goals. However, he also came with his own dangerous risks. He had a record of betrayal and was quite greedy, which could end up ruining his entire operation should Blueblood decide it would be wiser to ally with his enemy. He would be put on a maybe list for now, until more information could be gathered on him. He would also be put on the potential threat list and should be exterminated if he finds it necessary. A pawn took the queen before a bishop one was taken up.
The next one on the list, or should I say ones, would be two inventors/con artists, named Flim and Flam. Two unicorn ponies who have a knack for invention and swindling others out of their money, brilliant businessmen in their own right, but very greedy. That greed would most likely be their downfall in the end, unless they are set down a different path. It seems these two could be easily swayed by bits to the humans' side if necessary, and if not can at least be tricked into helping him. They are going on the yes list, as they could end up imperative in securing funds for the group, and creating weapons as needed. The bishop moved now, and the rook was taken up.
The human frowns a little at this next one as he tilts his head a little staring down at the paper, this one was not a single individual, but a group of griffon mercenaries. According to the info, Fancy gathered they were a group of skilled griffon mercs, who once had a carrier in the griffon royal guard before they defected. An interesting group to be sure, but what really caught his eye was the leader of the group. A rough looking female griffon with feathers as black as night and deep piercing golden eyes, a serious and thinking look about her. This was the look of a warrior, and not only that but according to what Fancy had gathered is that she has never failed a mission she had been on before.
The human hums a little as he looks over the griffon groups folder, before placing it on top of Bluebloods. While they would definitely help in any conflict to come, griffons were a rowdy group, and quite greedy. He wasn't sure if he could afford to have both them and the unicorn brothers at the same time, his bits would quickly evaporate into thin air. The human then looks at the last three and takes another one to read through. Moving the rook piece in the process, and picking up the knight.
After a moment of looking through the folder, the human instantly sets it down in the no category. Cultists were far too obsessed with their own agenda and would almost definitely stab him in the back if it meant they could get closer to their own goal. He would have to deal with them if they got in his way, however.
The next one was far more interesting than the cult, which in of itself is an achievement, considering it's a cult and all. This folder contained information on a recently defected royal guard cadet. A young pegasus by the same of sun piercer. The name alone made the man smile in amusement behind his mask, however as he reads through the ponies folder he just grows more and more amused. This just helped to cement in his mind that the opponent he was facing was truly a fool.
The cadet had the best scores out of all others, including the recently promoted shining armor. As for why sun piercer wasn't promoted instead of the good captain, was simply because of an accident. According to the medical report, during a practice spar, sun piercers opponent forgot to place the dull enchantments onto their blade and ended up stabbing poor sun piercer in the side. This caused him to be bedridden for a week, which in turn caused him to miss the ranking test.
It seems sun piercer was angered by this and demanded that he be given a second chance instead of starting out at the very bottom. His request was refused, and he was set to start out as a private. This, of course, infuriated the hard-working pony, causing him to quit not long after.
Now, this was an interesting tale to the human of methodically played with a chess piece in his hand as he raised an eyebrow at the picture of the Pegasus. He was a young lad, maybe in his early twenties? But he had a determined look about him and definitely held that killer look that most soldiers who have seen battle have. He had fiery orange hair, a darker orange coat, and the cutie mark was that of the sun having a spear through it.
The human thinks for a moment, this one would be perhaps the hardest to manipulate minus the cult, who he wasn't even going to touch, those guys creep him out. The human idly drums his fingers against the chest tab, before sighing as he places the knight piece he had been holding down, taking a bishop in the process. Then he takes the cadets folder and moves it over to the yes pile. He might have an idea to capture this piece before it leaves the field.
Now, onto the final folder as he picks up his queen piece. He raises an eyebrow as he looks through the folder with a small him as he does, his foot tapping lightly on the ground as he stares. Then he instantly moves this one into the yes folder as he places the queen down, leading the back king into his white king, where he was trapped. The game over he sighs softly and leans back into his chair, thinking as he stares up at the roof. Three, he can get three of them by next week if he hurries.
He does a little mental map, before nodding a few times, if everything goes according to plan he'll have just enough time to brief them and prepare for those Fancy has gathered for him. Oh god, he needs to make a speech, he hates speeches.
With a loud groan, he pushes himself up to his feet and stretches out his body to a series of satisfying cracks and pops. Him rolling his neck for a moment as he makes his way to the door of the war house. He has some books to steal, some friends to gather, some alcohol to buy, and some things to kill. It's gonna be a fun week for him.
Monday
The human was currently walking a library in the middle of the night, browsing through the books and shelves with a little magic glow stick in his hands. He had managed to avoid all of the magical sensors on the way inside and was now looking for the books he would need.
As he looked he would stop every once and a while to look at a specific book, and then put that into his bag with a happy hum. Some of these being, "The innards of magic. By Starswirl the bearded." "Legendary artifacts and you. By A.K Yearling." and several others that had caught his eyes. Gotta love the forbidden section, though what bothered him was the apparently hidden section within the forbidden section. He would investigate later. Even if he did spend almost ten minutes staring at the fake wall almost drooling, all that knowledge. He had to stop his stare fest however when a guard pony rounded the corner and he had to hide quickly.
He grumbles a little in annoyance that his dro-study session had been interrupted, and instead moved back to why he had come here in the first place. The history section. Fun right? Anyways, he finally reaches the history section with far more books then he originally intended to get, he starts to peruse through the books, looking for a few specific ones that he'll need. He grins widely as he finally pulls a few out and places them in his book bag with the other books he had.
He then turned and was about to head out of the row, before his eyes widen slightly behind his mask as he sees a lantern approaching. The guards weren't supposed to patrol this part for another two minutes!
Thinking quickly as he jumps up and pulls himself on top of the shelf he was closest to and pushed his body as far as he could back into the wood. He hears the clip-clopping of hooves bellow and tilts his body slightly to get a glance before his eyes widen and then narrow at who it is. It just had to be the princesses student, didn't it? It seemed the famous bookworm was looking for another book for her to read, and it just so happened to be in the history section. He either had the worst luck ever, or fate was real and decided to flip him the finger while laughing louder then discord on a chaos high. Speaking of, fuck discord.
Anyways, he continues to look down at the purple pony as he waits for her to leave. He, however, has to let out a hiss as she grabs a certain book, so that's what Celestia wanted her for. Clever girl.
The human then seems to let out an odd growling noise in the back of his throat as he sees her pull out another book. Titled "The great disaster. The story of how a-" The rest of the title is covered by a purple hoof as the pony down belly examines it curiously, mumbling something about why Celestia wanted her to read this book. This causes the humans' grip to tighten on top of the shelf, causing the creaking of wood. The noise causing the purple pony to look up confused.
She would see nothing except a little handprint being embedded in the wood slightly, causing her to frown a little confused, before deciding to just ignore it for now. She has a project to work on, and she needs to prepare for the test that Celestia is almost definitely preparing for her! Meanwhile, the human had slipped into the other row, before working his way past the guards and out of the library, him returning to his wonderful warehouse home. He has some reading to do.
Tuesday
Blueblood was currently in his chambers at his desk, frowning over some documents. "Despicable." He mutters to himself as he looks over the report of what the royal treasury was being used for, as well as reports over the guard training. The treasury was being spent to help some farm in some backwater down instead of being used for something more relevant. He was starting to think Celestia was a fool more and more over time.
He shakes his head a few times as he continues to look disgusted over all of the documents before he huffs and pulls out some of his own. Signing off on some rather, annoying projects for his "aunt." Especially the movement of some of his own troops, who would be spying on some of her guards. What? Did you expect a prince to not have his own personal army? Celestia may be a fool, but she was certainly careful with things like this, and she needs him alive, as he controls quite a lot of the economy and has a lot of power in politics.
He continues to work until he hears a faint sound in the background causing his ear to twitch as he frowns a little. He stops his writing for a moment as he gets up and looks around his chambers cautiously, before noticing a window opened up in front of him. He frowns a little as his horn starts to glow as he prepares to cast a spell, that is before he freezes at the feeling of cold steel being placed against his neck. He sees the slight glimmer in the blade as it rests lightly against his neck, before hearing a quite and rough voice speak out. "I wouldn't call for help if I were you."
Blueblood glances to the direction of the voice to see the wielder of the blade, holding it at the ready. The odd creature before him seemed similar to a minotaur, except much smaller and less bulky. Blue tires to keep a calm mind at this as he stares at the potential assailant before him, before giving a small smirk. "And I would get your blade away from my throat if I were you." The moment he finishes that sentence there were suddenly several ponies in the room, each holding a weapon at the human. Seeming to just appear out of nowhere.
There is silence for several moments as the human looks around at all of the weapons pointed at his vitals. Then, suddenly, all the guards die around him, spraying blood everywhere, because of Hashirama cells!... Sorry, inside joke. Anyways, after assessing his situation he frowns a little, before slowly lowering the sword he stole from some random guard. "Well. Fuck." He says simply as he looks around at the how outnumbered he was.
He wasn't stupid, he knew he couldn't fight against that many trained guards, and they were obviously much better trained then Celestia's schmucks. So, he thought diplomacy was the best idea for now, even if he had intended to do that in the first place, just without any guards.
He stares around at all of them for several moments, before he tilts his head to Blueblood who was looking quite smug. "You know, I didn't come here to kill you? If I did, you wouldn't be alive right now." He says, trying to stop the smug little pony before his head causes the castle to fall right off the mountain.
This safely just seems to make blueblood more pleased with himself as he looks up at the human. "I know, that's why my guards haven't killed you yet. Now, do tell, what a beast such as yourself would want with me?" Blueblood sticks his nose up at the beast part, causing the human to frown a little. He wasn't that ugly was he? Wait, none of you have seen his face.
The human frowns a little at the guards around him and starts to plan an escape route should things go south. After this, he frowns a little at the arrogant pony before him and tilts head slightly. "Well, several things, just dropping in to say hello, have some tea, maybe some crumpets, and if we have time. I dunno, plan the downfall of Princess Celestia?" The human says sarcastically, sounding amused.
Blueblood looks shocked at this and actually sputters a little as he tries to form words before he starts to chuckle shaking his head. "You are either the stupidest, smartest, bravest or just plain most suicidal creature I have ever met." Blueblood says still chuckling slightly as he looks up at the larger creature before him. "Now, what makes you think that I would betray my auntie for some strange monkey?" Blueblood asks raising an eyebrow as he sits there, his guards still ready to murder the creature.
The human hums a little before carefully and slowly reaches into his cloak, making sure that the guards saw exactly what he was doing, before pulling out a large folder. "This, is all your little exploits against Celestia, from trade sabotage to making important individuals disappear. Quite a large rap sheet honestly." The human says putting it down in front of Blueblood, who frowned as he picks it up with his magic as he starts to read it.
"Where did you get this information?" He asks seriously after he finishes verifying the content of the folder, his eyes narrowed and serious as he looks up at the larger creature with a glare.
"I have my ways." The human replies simply as he crosses his arms, causing a few of the guard to push their weapons a little closer to the human.
Blueblood glare sharpens a little at this as he thinks some things over in his head, before sighing a little as he shakes his head. "I see. Ignoring how you manage to get this information, what I want to know is how you plan on overthrowing Celestia." The human grins a little at this, the fish has noticed the bait.
"Simple my dear pony friend, Revolution." He says spreading his arms wide with a wide smile behind his mask, the smile was quite obvious with his body language and the tilt of the head. Blueblood looking very confused as he tilts his head a little, and finding the odd mask smile to be incredibly unnerving.
"Revolution?"
The human grins as he spins around, ignoring the threatening thrust of the guard around him as he throws his arms out. "Yes! Glorious Revolution! You see, throughout history, all intelligent species have sought their freedom and power, this is a natural instinct in all things." He says his cloak blowing slightly in the wind from the open window a few feet away, his fingers flexing slightly as he turns back to Blueblood and bends down to his height, the creepy eye smile now right in front of the prince's face. Some guards now actually poking the human with their weapons. "All creatures desire a cause or reason for existence, it is usually found in the two previously mentioned things, and some would fight and die for such things. Now, if you give others a goal and have them fight for something greater then themselves, then they'll fight with all their strength and to their very last breath! Until they have shed more blood than any other, and have claimed what is rightfully theirs! This is the goal I am offering to all who join me, and now to you~" He says throwing his arms into the air as he stands at full height now, some of the weapons drilling into his body slightly before Blueblood gestures the guards away.
Blueblood looks at the human for a moment, looking incredibly unnerved, confused, interested, and slightly inspired at the same time. Him frowning slightly as he tilts his head slightly to the large creature. "That still doesn't answer my question, how do you plan on overthrowing Celestia, even with a revolution." The prince asks confused as he tilts his head slightly, he had a feeling this creature had something up his sleeve.
The human continues to hold his mask smile at the little pony, the moon shining through the window and casting his shadow slightly over the well-dressed pony. "Now why would I tell someone who could be a potential enemy that? While I may want you on my side, don't think for a moment I won't slit your throat if you cross me." The human says happily causing the guards to tense slightly at the words, Blueblood feeling a shiver go down his spine at the words.
Blueblood stares at the human in both awe, and fear as he realizes something. He never held control in this situation, sure his guards could probably kill the human, but not before the human killed him. That's even assuming his guards could stop the human. Blueblood imagines the only reason they aren't fighting right now is that the human realizes that so much focus would not be very good for stealth. There is also that the human had managed to sneak into the most heavily guarded location in Equestria, without being noticed, and if he had been then the ones who noticed didn't live long enough to tell the tail. Then there is the fact the human could simply escape and leak all the information he had gathered out.
This human, in the ten maybe twenty minutes they had been talking, managed to put him in a position to were if he didn't agree, he would die. If he said no, the human could simply kill him or publish the information and have him executed by the crown for treason. If he said yes, however, he had the potential to gain everything from this little Revolution of his. This human was dangerous, very very dangerous.
After several moments of silence with the human still holding the creepy mask smile, his form seeming to tower over Bluebloods in victory. "Fine." Blueblood finally relents as his ears fold a little, his guard backing off as he knows he had been beaten this time. Easily in fact.
Then humans smile seems to grow wider behind the mask, judging by the subtle shifting of the flesh that was visible. "Good, glad to have you on our side. But for now, I have some simple things for you to do, before Sunday preferably." He says happily as he claps his hands together with a large grin and held tilt, the glowing white part of his mask making this even creepier.
Blueblood nods a few times in understanding as he straightens his suit a little, him gaining a much more serious look as he decides that until he could find an advantage, he should probably do the best he can. "Very well, what is it you want me to do exactly?"
The human reaches into his coat once again as he pulls out a large folded paper, before holding it out to Blueblood, who took and opened it up. On the paper is a bulleted to-do list. "I need you to find info on some of the places on that list, buy others, and find the last times on the list. I will also need you to secure a source of funds and communication between us. Something that is preferably untrackable by magic if you don't mind." The human says happily as he claps a little humming to himself as he tilts his head to Blueblood slightly.
Blueblood nods a few times as he thinks this over, frowning a little at the fact he has to buy some of these places and that he needs to find a way to fund a revolution against his own county, not to mention how careful he'll need to be from now on. "Anything else?" He asks with an accepting sigh, hoping that the strange creature didn't have anything stupidly hard to do.
"Nope! That's all! You will, however, need to attend our first meeting on Sunday, at this location~" He says in a sing-song way as he passes over another slip of paper, where does he keep all of this stuff?
He continues to hold his creepily happy attitude as he saunters his way over to the window, still reveling in the sweet, sweet, taste of victory. Him looking back at Blueblood with a single glowing white eye and that unnerving mask grin he loves so much. "I look forward to working with you." He says simply before jumping out the window and vanishing into the night.
Blueblood stares out of his window for several moments, before glancing at his guards who were all standing there nervously. He sighs exasperatedly as he looks to them, before tilting his head slightly. "Do any of you have a problem with the choice I just made?" He asks in a tone showing just how tired and done with the day he was. The guards glanced at each other for a moment, before shaking their heads.
"Good, inform your commander I have new orders for him, and hurry. We have a lot of work to do." He says with a small sigh as he heads over his desk to continue his normal princely work, his mind working to plan out everything he would need to do before the meeting the strange creature mentioned on Sunday.
Thursday
The human was currently on a train, literally on top of a train, reading through a book, one of the ones he stole from the library. The wind blowing through his cloak as he sits there, oddly enough though he was able to keep the pages from blowing around.
It was currently Thursday, with nothing having really happened on Wednesday, except him having sent a letter to one Flim and Flam. Simply inviting them to come to the meeting with an offer of bits, no need for some big spectacle when something can be resolved so simply.
Anyways, the reason he was on the train in the middle of the day was that he was on his way to his next target, who had decided to move back to Manehatten after his hole incident. He would be his last target, and perhaps the hardest to convince to his side, hopefully, he can find a weakness to chip away at.
Anyways, the reason he needed to do this in the day instead of the night, as he preferred, was that there are no trains heading in that direction at night. Well, there was but that was to heavily guarded thanks to some bandits having gone after it before, thanks for that Blueblood.
After several moments of the human just sitting on top of the train reading the book and slowly flipping through the pages as he sits there, reading through them slowly. Then he suddenly glances up as the mental count in his head finishes and he tilts his head slightly. Watching at the slowly growing city in the distance as he sits there.
As the city grows closer and closer the human frowns a little as he stands up, the wing really whipping against his coat now. Soon, just before the train passed the first few buildings the city, the human jumped off, landing into a little roll just outside the city.
The human quickly moving to a hiding space, to be exact, a little ally in between the house he had jumped next to. The movement from off the train and into the ally had been so smooth and quick that it would simply look like a blur moving from out of the sky, and into the ally. The human frowns a little as he quickly goes over a little mental map of the city he had memorized not long ago.
Then he was off, bobbing and weaving through the cities alleys and streets, avoiding any pony he could have run into skillfully, the most they ever saw of him being a glance at his cloak at most. The human dogging carts, stands, trash barrels, and several other random obstacles around him. The human moving with such grace as if he had done it a thousand times before, perhaps he has. (Reference to his movement, assassin. )
As he continued to make his way past the large skyscrapers with his coat fluttering around him as he moves past each building, shop, and other places. The human glancing off to the side at a little white pony with a cutie mark of three diamonds. He doesn't quite know what about her caught his eye, as she just seemed to be a normal pony buying some fabric. He continues to think for a moment, before deciding to just ignore it and vanishes from sight.
Soon he arrives at his location, a much smaller home on the outskirts of the city. Why didn't he just go around the city instead of going through it with chances of being spotted? Well, I ask you this, what's the fastest way to a destination?
Anyways, as the human arrives he takes a moment to look over the house curiously, taking in possible entrances and exits as he stands there. Soon he just shrugs however and walks up to the door and knocks a few times, before waiting patiently as he hears a voice telling him to wait inside.
He hums a little as he looks around, admiring the house for a moment as he sits there. He doesn't even notice that the wind was still blowing against his coat, he is quite used to the feeling by now.
Soon the door is opened by a small, fiery orange pegasus who blinks a few times confused, then looks up at the large figure who was around double his height. The pony then instantly enters a subtle combat stance while at the same time keeping a friendly look about him, which would fool most but not this human.
"Um, hello. Who are you?" The young and slightly energetic voice of the young solder sounding out to the human. The human crossing his arms as he stands there.
"Hmm, someone who has been looking for you." He says simply, not answering the question as he continues to stare down at the pony. Humming softly to himself as he does, a tilted head. "May I come in?"
The pony blinks a few times at this and shifts nervously as his eyes narrow a little, a small frown growing on his face. Soon just walking back and cautiously allowing the human to enter, still keeping an eye on him no matter where he went.
The man walks in with a small hum as he looks around curiously with a slightly tilted head. The house was pretty simple as he tilts his head slightly, the home being full of little painting, a bookshelf full of books about war and battle, some weapons packed away in a closet, and some rather decorative furniture.
He hums a little as he goes to sit down on a couch, throwing his feet up as he enters a rather relaxed position. The human watching as the pony goes to sit down on a little cushion not far from the couch. The two just recently staring at each other, sizing each other up.
"So, why were you looking for me exactly?" The pony asked confused as he stares across at the larger creature.
"I came here to recruit you." The human says simply as he idly shifts his position every few moments, trying to find the most comfortable position he could.
"For what?" The pony asks, a etch of excitement in his tone as he glances to where he stored his armor and weapon.
"A revolution to overthrow Celestia and destroy everything she has built." The human says pulling a flask of something out of his cloak and opening it up, before taking a sip as he watches the ponies reaction.
The pony blinks a few times confused before he seemed to realizes exactly what the human had said and started to cough and sputter, choking on his own spit. The pony quickly entering a combat stance as he stares threateningly at the human, who just lazily waves in response. "You are to come with me right now, for crimes against her majesty and the land of Equestria. You hav-"
"Have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. Yadaydayada." The human says nonchalantly as he waves his hand slightly in a so-so gesture. His foot tapping ideally as he looks over at the pony with his creepy mask grin. "I've heard it all before, and it doesn't really matter, the moment Celestia sees me, instant execution." He says still waving his hand in a so-so gesture as he tilts his head a little to the pony, his fingers idly twisting his flask in his hands.
The human sits there as he waits for the pony to get over his stunned silence once again, and cuts him off before he can get a word out when he does try to talk. "You can preach all you want about how Celestia is such a wonderful ruler and how she would never do such a thing, but you don't know her as I do, and I can tell you without a doubt in my mind. She would kill another without a second thought, hell, she has done it before. Now then, before you continue you're little freakout, why don't you take a look at these?" He says as he reaches into his coat and pulls out another folder, what a surprise, then just drops it in front of the Pegasus.
The Pegasus frowns a little as he glances between the human, and then the folder, then back to the human. The ponies curiosity growing, he lets out a gulp, swallowing the growing saliva in his throat, and reaches over with a wing to grab the file. He opens it and starts to look through it curiously, his frown growing as he read through it. Several guards being paid to sabotage his training, some making it harder than others, and finally the order to stab him to make sure he didn't make it to ranking. All approved and signed by Celestia herself. The pony looks at these documents in shock before he throws him onto the ground.
The human looks at the documents on the floor, before looking back at the Pegasus. "Rude." He says as he shakes his head a little, a small smile heard in his voice with a little amusement. His fingers once again drumming against something, this time the armrest of the couch. "Hard to believe I take it? Confused perhaps?"
The pony continues to look shocked as he looks down at the documents, his eyes wide and a little frown on his face. The pony soon tilting his head back to the human, eyes wide still as he stares at him. His mouth opening then closing over and over again. It looked like his entire world had just been shattered. The human raising an eyebrow at this as he leans back into his chair as he lays there, his fingers he's still drumming on the couch.
"I'ma take that as a yes." He says rolling his eyes at the small pony as he sits there, a frown on his face. "Now then, let's explain as to why your oh so glorious princess has decided to betray you like this? Why she would work so hard to make sure you don't become a captain. To put it simply, she was showing favoritism. Do you know who else could have potentially become a captain outside of you? Someone who is currently the captain?" He asks grinning down on Sun as he sits there, watching as a shocked look grew on the ponies face.
"Shining Armor?" Sun says shocked as he stares down at the documents, the pony thinking it over slowly as he sits there in amazement. He slowly starts to piece it over as he tilts his up at the human, who grinned widely as he sees the human had figured it out.
"Indeed, and if you think about it, who's Celestia's student?" He asks grinning as he chuckles a little, him soon throwing his arms out in quite a flamboyant way. "Why none other than Shining's little sister, Twilight Sparkle!" He says chuckling as the ponies look slowly starts to morph into a look of betrayal, the plan seeming to go well so far. "So, to sum it up, you were denied the chance to become captain, your dream, all because Celestia wanted to stay in good standing with her "most faithful student." The human says chuckling a little as he once again gains the creepy eye smile. "How's that for betrayal?"
Sun Piercer continues to look at the documents in shock, slowly picking them up and looking through them all again. His anger slowly growing as the humans' words start to make more and more seance to him, his frown slowly deepening. After a while, he was practically shaking in his seat as he squeezes and crumbles the documents. Soon he just screams in anger as he throws the documents to the side, the pony getting to his hooves as he stomps onto them angrily.
His hooves making loud banging sounds as he slams down on the papers, again and again, the pony almost growling in anger as he continues to show his rage. Meanwhile, the human was still just sitting there looking at his hand, glancing up every few moments as he hears Sun cursing out Celestia. Then just shrugging and going back to admiring his hands, thinking to himself as he waits for the little pony to calm down. Checkmate.
After several minutes of shouting, stomping, and stabbing the papers, the pony having a gotten his weapon not long ago. The pony just sat there panting, the papers just a bunch of unrecognizable scraps. The pony soon turning to the human and growling out just what the human wanted to hear. "Where do I sign up?"
The human feels a little relief at the ponies words, as he didn't know if Sun would believe the documents, and even if he did he could have just stayed loyal to Equestria. If things hadn't gone exactly the way they did, this could have ended up horribly, with the human fleeing the scene after having to fight and murder the little pony. But, since everything had gone to plan, the human grins widely as he claps his hands a few times pleased, changing position once again.
The human now leaning forward to the little pony, the large unnerving grin on his face. Him handing a very familiar slip of paper to the little pony, containing the location of the meeting place on it. "Here, this Sunday." He says grinning widely as he sits there.
The pony looks at the paper and memorizes the location after a moment, before looking up at the human. "Um, what may I call you? If you don't mind me asking." He asks, wanting to know the name of his potential new leader.
The human hums a little as he brings a hand up to his face and ideally strokes his chin as he tilts his head a little. "Well, I suppose you could simply call me Leader." The human says shrugging a little as he stands and stretches out slightly, before making his way to the door quickly. He has a train to catch soon.
The pony follows the human silently and watches as he gets ready to leave. The pony thinking over their choice for a moment, and not regretting it for a moment. He freezes however as he sees the large human look back at him, the white glowing eye and feeling the human suddenly giving off causing to shiver in fear. "I look forward to seeing you there Sun, and I do hope you live up to my expectations." The human says a grin in their voice along with a threat, their clock swaying slightly back and forth.
Then he was gone, leaving quickly out the door and vanishing out into the city.
The pony stands there for several minutes, before falling back on his rump panting and sweating slightly. His eyes wide and body shaking in fear. When the human looked back at him, it felt like he was about to die, that nothing he did could stop the inevitable or the human. It was terrifying for the pony honestly, and he was having trouble calming himself down and getting his thoughts in order.
With the human however he was grinning widely, finally having everything he needed for now. He planned on going after his other targets later, he couldn't do it now, after all, he had to prepare. The human chuckling a little to himself as he dances through the city once again. This is going to be fun!
Author's Note
Soooo, I've decided to try and post a chapter every Wednesday and Sunday. So yaaa, I hope you all enjoy the story so far! I know I am.
It was once again night, the usual time for something important to happen. Not a whisper was head this night, not a squeak, nor a crack. The stary sky shined with a beauty of a copycat. The moon blazing high in the sky, the image of a mare still on it. This was the sight Leader was currently staring at with a small frown, his fingers idly drumming against his desk as he stares up at the mare, a somber look on his face. His mask laying in front of him on his desk.
Yet still, he continued to stare up at the mare in the moon, a small frown on his face as he does. Soon, a voice speaks out, as soft as a whisper but with the strength of a lion behind it. "Soon Lulu, you shall return, and my revenge shall begin." The human says softly as he turns away from the moon, back to his papers. "I just hope you're smart enough to stay out of it, even if I know you won't."
The human continued to scan over these documents with a small hum and a frown on his face. In exactly one hour, the troops that Blueblood had gathered would arrive, and his Revolution would begin. Everything he had finally planned for would come to pass, and nothing would stop him. Never again.
He hums a little as he hears the approaching sounds of two loud and flamboyant ponies. It seems the first two of his four guests have arrived. Great
With a small hum, the human stands and stretches from behind his desk, the human once again returning his mask to its place. The white glow once again shining up from his eyes as he stands there, adjusting his cloak, he makes his way out of the office and into the main area of the warehouse.
He looks down to see two ponies who looked interestingly similar to each other, both wearing suits, one with a mustache and one without, each with different hairstyles. The cutie marks of an apple with a piece missing from it, and the other of said missing piece. They were currently talking with each other, their words loud and curious. It seems they were wondering why they were invited to an empty warehouse.
"Welcome, Flim. Flam." Leader says finally after taking a moment to examine the two of them, his hands rested on the railing of the stairs.
The two quickly spin around and blink a few times at the sudden strange creature. They looked a little confused at the human before they look at each other and whisper together for a moment. Soon they return their sights to the human who was still just resting there, staring at them with the glowing white eyes.
"Um, hello good sir. I take it you're the one who sent us that incredibly well-written letter?" Flim asks as he looks to Leader with a confused expression, his brother looking around curiously as they stand there.
"Yes, that was me." He says simply as he continues to stare at them, before finally standing up straight and heading down the final steps to the bottom. "Now then, I have a job for you two. I need you two the build something for me." He says simply as he reaches into his cloak and pulls out a large bag that jingles as he moves it. "With, payment of course." He says jingling the coins a few times, just to make sure he has their attention.
Both brothers look at the bag in slight awe, the amount of bits inside of the bag unknown to them, but it certainly sounded like a lot. The two once again entered their huddle as they talk a few things over, mainly about if they should take the deal or not. The two turning back to Leader with a greedy glint in their eye and wide smiles across their face. "Well my good friend, depending on the project, that may not be enough for what we need. Isn't that right brother?"
"Yes indeed good brother, now the question is. What is the project you want us working on exactly?"
Leader grins at the two in that creepy mask grin as he stands there, before reaching into his cloak and pulling out some blueprints. He hands them over to them to examine before their eyes widen in shock as they start to scan through the blueprints with renewed vigor. Then another blueprint was added onto that one, showing them another project, and another, and another.
Finally, the two look up at him, not even questioning where exactly he hid all the blueprints, and then they both speak at the exact same time. "This is impossible."
The human just grins as he moves over to a bunch of crates, before kicking it strongly, breaking a hole into it. From the hole bits upon bits quickly start to pour out of the crate, more and more falling down onto the floor in front of them. Shrining brilliantly as he stands there next to the large pile of gold.
The two brothers stare in shock at this, then they realize something much bigger, there are about twenty more crates just like it behind that one. "Then make it happen." Leader says simply as he crosses his arm, his grin still wide on his face as he stands there, staring at the two brothers.
The two brothers take several moments to finally pull themselves together, by which time the bits had finally stopped pouring out of the box. The human still standing there waiting for them, but now he was reading over a little paper. "Deal." The two says when they finally pull themselves together, the two looking hungrily at the large number of bits on the floor.
"Good, you get one crate every time you make a big jump in your work, and two for every time you finish a project. You will send daily reports of your work to this address, along with proof that you've done that much, you are allowed to go at your own pace, but you must at least complete a single one every half a year." Leader says handing them a paper with the address, before stepping back tp the crate and blocking it back up with a piece of wood. "A crate has already been sent to your workshop. If you do not comply with the payment, and instead take the bits and run. You will be hunted down and killed." He says simply as he stares at them seriously, giving them a look that just screams he could murder them.
At the death part, the two let out a little gulp of fear and shiver nervously as they stand there, looking between the bits and the man nervously. The two once again entering their little talking circle as they whisper and speak to each other. The two glance at the man and then the bits every few minutes, before they finally break the circle looking much calmer. "What if we wish to stop at one of the blueprints?" Flam asks nervously as he stares at Leader nervously.
"That will be allowed, as long as you finish the project that you get bits for." He responds simply with a little grin as he stands there, almost like he knows something they don't.
The two look to each other nervously once again, before finally, they both give a few nods as they stand there. "Very well good sir, you have a deal then!" They finally say as they both hold out a hoof for a shake, the human shaking both hooves one after the other. The human soon stepping back a few feet and nodding at the two.
"Very well, of our business is complete." He says gesturing to the door as he stares at the two of them curiously with a slightly tilted head and a smile still on his face. The two look at each other nervously before nodding as they make their way out. Flam stops however and looks back curiously at the human.
"Um, what do we call you good sir?" He asks nervously, afraid that he might get mad at them for the question, Flim soon stopping to look at the human as well as he stands there. nervously.
The human is silent for several minutes before he grins and claps his hands happily, causing the two to jump slightly in place. "You may call me Commander if you don't mind." Leader says, giving a different name to the two than before.
The two let out smalls sighs of relief as they once again start to walk away from the human, once again vanishing into the night.
The human stands there for several moments after they vanish, before sighing as he returns all the coins back into the crate. Then he yawns a little and moves to sit down upon the railing to his office. Looking down at the warehouse as he thinks.
If he's not mistaken then Celestia knows Luna will return in six weeks, and she must also know who the new elements of harmony are, and if not, a pretty good guess. She hopefully doesn't know that he's around and kicking now, and she definitely doesn't know what he's doing, he's been far too careful for that. He also knows that no one besides Celestia and soon Luna will know who he is.
If he were to estimate, he has around two months of preparation time, which is honestly more then what he needs. He should definitely have enough time to get a few of the more, special items he needs. This should be all too easy at first, and he'll definitely have a head start over Celestia.
He hums a little as he hears the sounds of the doors opening once again and watches as Blueblood and Sun Piercer enter the warehouse, each wearing a mask and something to cover their cutie marks. Seems they can follow basic instructions.
They both look around confused, talking to each other for a moment before they finally notice him. They seem about ready to talk to him, he stops them however by bringing a finger to his lips and letting out an shhh noise. They instantly shut their mouths as they stand there awkwardly for several moments until several other ponies start to enter the warehouse.
Leader glances around the room, staring at every single pony that enters the room with a small frown. One, two, three. Each one is different and wearing a mask, and something to cover their cutie mark, just like he instructed Fancy. Good.
Twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two. He continues to count with a small frown growing across his face, and by now talk has started to sprout throughout the room. Some noticing him and some not. After quite some time, ponies finally stop entering the room, his number stopping at around twenty-five percent of them with, which is around fifty total. He frowns a little at this, an army of one hundred fifty, That's not as much as he had hoped, but he knows it'll grow soon.
Soon he stands, this causing several more ponies to notice him finally, his finger lightly tapping against the railing. Slowly growling louder as he increased the strength of his tapping, and more and more grew quite. Soon there was silence in the room, and Leader stops his tapping as it was almost deafening to everyone inside, he also stopped because of the fact the bars were about to snap in half.
He stands there silently for several moments, grinning down at them with a large smile behind his mask, looking as creepy as ever. Soon he straightens up and adjusts his coat again. Then he spreads his arms wide and speaks. "Hello, ponies of Equestria."
"It is a pleasure to meet you all, truly. You may all call me simply, Sargent." He says as he looks down at them, and grins a little as he notices Sun Piercers confusion. "Each of you came here for one reason, and one reason only. Because you are not satisfied with how Equestria is run." There is large murmuring in the crowd at that, and several of them nod in agreement with his words. "Well, I'm happy to say now is the time when something will be done about it, when you will do something about it." He says causing some of them to look confused at each other, and even more, murmuring to break out in the crowd.
Leader allows them to talk for several moments, grinning behind his mask still as he stands there. His hands coming to a resting position behind his back, soon he lets out a loud fake cough to get their attention. "I'm sure you're all confused as to what I mean, well, to put it simply. The reason why all of you have suffered and lost. Is because of the one you all know and love, Princess Celestia." He says as several gasps are heard throughout the crowd, the only ones not shocked and outraged being Blueblood and Sun Piercer. Several ponies already shouting out denying his claims with things like, "Princess Celestia would never do that." "Lier!" "You big meanie!", honestly. These ponies are so wrapped around her hoof, they don't even know it.
He continues to wait for several moments as they get all their accusations and denials out of the way. When he thinks they've finally had enough time, he claps his hands loudly and glares down at them, silencing all of them and making most of the weaker ones start to shake in place, feeling as if they were being crushed. "None of you believe me?" He asks, sounding offended even if he wasn't. "Well, trust me. You will be the end of this little meeting of are's, even if you don't want to." He says menacingly as he stares down at them with his eyes still glowing white, it being some of the only light in the darkened warehouse.
"Now then." He says happily, his mood seeming to instantly change as the feeling of being crushed vanishes. Leader hums a little as he continues to look at them all, frowning a little as he can still see no doubt in some of their eyes. "If you do still think that I lie, well take a look at these." He says throwing several documents into the air and out into the crowd, several grabbing them with their wings, magic, or hooves.
Every document held information on several of Celestia's crimes against the state, from misuse of the treasury, to simply making certain creatures go away. Leader stood proud and tall throughout it all as they all read over the evidence against Celestia.
He waits for several minutes as the ponies bellow read through the reports, him ideally watching how they react to it. Most showed disbelief, others outrage, but in the end, almost all of them ended up with disappear on their faces in the end. Penny in the air.
"So, now you all now." At his voice they once again all look up at him, some in fear, others sadness, and many more expressions on their faces. "The one you trusted most lied to you, abused your trust, used her power to violate the crimes she had implemented, and finally, she took away your freedom." He says shouted to all of them as he continues to hold a large grin on his face as he stands there.
"She forced you on a path she designed, made you do what another desired you to do." He says growling a little as he stands there still, his body position showing his strength, and confidence. The crowd showing more and more doubt, until they soon finally started to show the exact thing he wanted. Rage.
"Now, does that sound like the ruler you want? That you trusted with your everything, your country, your money, and even your children!" There were several cries of boo's and no's, causing the mask mans grin to widen even more. His arms coming back to their resting position on the railing. "Do you wanna do something about it? Strike back against the one who abused you? Who forced you to be accomplices in her crimes!" He calls out, being responded with several cheers as he continues to stand there, his words echoing only inside of the building.
"Then, we will do something about it. I will do something about it, I promise you that." He calls out being responded with more cheers as he continues to grin. "But one man can not fight a kingdom alone, will you help this man? Will you fight against the abuser Celestia?" He calls out as he looks down at them, some showed doubt at this but soon that was washed away with cheers from the others. Ah, good old mob mentality. Gotta love it.
He waits for the cheers continue to sound out from all of them, grinning every still as he stands there. "Good. I would like you all to do me a favor, tell others. Those you trust mainly, but also those who you think will help us with a little encouragement. Then, come with them here next week, but be careful and tell no one of what you now. Understand?" He asks, causing the others to nod and some to look even more hesitant before they look down at the documents below them and their anger is reignited.
"Now then, I will ask some of you to stay with me, to help me from the shadows. You do not have to, for you will never be able to return to the light if you do. You will never even be able to see your family again. Who will stand with me in the shadows?" He asks as his mask seemed to glow brighter before finally, a few ponies raised a hoof. He grins a little at this, before doing a quick count as he sees who they are. Twenty raised their hands, and he has fifteen of them. The penny drops.
"Good, then the rest of you can go. I hope to see you all tomorrow. When are real work begins." He calls out to them as he continues to grin widely to himself, his pose relaxed now. "Those who raised their hands, I will speak too soon." He says as he watches as those who did not raise their hands, leave the room. Minus Blueblood and Sun piercer.
"You two, come with me." He says pointing at Blueblood and Sun piercer, causing them to tense up in surprise before they nod and start to walk up the stairs, Leader having already entered his office.
Meanwhile, in the marble castle of Canterlot. All was quiet, not a sound was heard except for the guards slowly moving around through the castle on their patrols. Tense and on the lookout for any threat that could possibly befall the princess. Maids were also around here and there, tending to the castle and making sure everything was clean and fixed.
The night not quite as active as it would be if the moon princess was still around.
The throne room was empty, as were most other rooms. Except for one particularly important room, decorated with white paint and little suns being painted on the walls. The room holding desks with several piles of papers, quills, and several other things to help the owner. In the middle of the room, was a large king sized bed, with a large lump wiggling around under the covers. Next to the bed was a little birdcage, holding a bright red colored bird, that almost seemed to be on fire.
Soon the covers move away to reveal the form of Princess Celestia, Her holding a little Luna plushie tightly against herself as she lays there with her eyes closed. She was currently wiggling around in her bed, making little-distressed noises as she does. After several minutes of this, she bolts up awake with a large gasp. Startling her bird, who makes a surprised squawk sound.
Celestia sits there panting as she squeezes her plushie tightly, her trying to gain control of the wild storm of emotions she is currently feeling. Her eyes closed a little as she does, her bird looking at her worriedly as it lets out a concerned worring noise. Celestias eyes snapping to the bird at the noise, before they quickly soften as she opens the cage with a little of her magic. The bird quickly flying out and nuzzling up against Celestia in an attempt to comfort her.
"I'm okay Philomena. I'm okay." She says softly as she lifts a hoof up to softly start to pet the bird resting next to her, nuzzling and snuggling into her. "It was just a bad dream." She says softly as she continues to pet her bird, sounding more like she was trying to convince herself more than the bird.
Celestia looks out of a little Window and up at the moon shining brightly in the night sky, a small frown on her face with sadness in her eyes. 'Oh Luna, I fear something terrible has happened.' She thinks to herself as she closed her eyes and pulled her bird closer to herself, along with the plush. Her staring up at the moon, until she softly drifted off to sleep once again.
Unknowing that these next few years would be the greatest and worst of her life. She will raise so much higher, only to fall so much lower.
Author's Note
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJkj3DgW8Y0
Chapter 4 Summer Sun Celebration part 1
It had been two months from the initial meeting between Leader and his revolution force, and the meeting with Blueblood and Sun piercer, since then not much has happened. He held meetings weekly, gave the same speech basically, dealt with Celestia's little spies, and gained more and more traction in his revolution. To be exact, he had a total of five thousand ponies who were loyal, a thousand of them have agreed to work with him in the shadows. He had to move from the warehouse to some place bigger, that blueblood was quite "happy" to buy for them.
They were currently held up in a factory not far from Manehatten, with a lot more room they have a much bigger opportunity to do their work. Several of the ponies bringing important books into the factory to study and learn from. While some still had their doubts, they slowly faded away with every speech and every bit of evidence that was given to them.
Things all in all had been improving slowly, and his information network had been growing slowly. For example, he now had a very good guess as to who the new elements of harmony were, and he knew that Celestia knew. Which was not exactly good, but it wasn't really bad either. After all, he knew the element's weakness.
Besides that, things have been going surprisingly well, in that Celestia hasn't been able to find them, or do anything bad to them. Leader, of course, changed the name he used during every meeting of his revolution. He did this to make sure that if Celestia found out about his little group, she wouldn't know who really led the entire operation.
Anyways, Leader was currently reading over the schedule for the summer sun celebration, the same one he knew that Celestia planned to give to her "most faithful student." Honestly, it physically hurts for him to say that out loud, he tried. Twice.
Anyways, he was reading over for two reasons really, because one it just so happens the schedule puts Twilight in the perfect position to meet who he suspects to be the new elements. And number two is because the celebration was tomorrow, and he needed to know how to avoid the purple butt for now. After all, he intends to be there for little Lulu's return. He has some things to discuss with the thing inside of her after all.
Anyways, he's been in his office for the entire day, reading over documents and thinking over his plans, that is before a knock came upon his door and he raised his head curiously. The ponies don't usually come knocking unless they have questions, and that's usually when everyone else has left. Curious about this he rests his head on his hand and calls out for whoever it is to come in.
The door opens with a golden glow as a young unicorn mare enters the room. Her having a pretty mane style, with golden hair that has a crimson strake going through it. Her cutie mark is a bunch of masks, which was interesting in itself as well, he already as a guess on what he talent is. He continues to observe her for several moments, well moments for him, in truth it was more like a single second.
"Yes? What is it?" He finally asks as he leans back in his chair and drums his hands on the desk, he does that quite a lot. Especially when he's thinking.
She stiffens up a little at his voice and looks quite nervous at him as she fidgets in place, Leader just sitting there waiting for her to actually say something. "Um, Yes sir. I was well, I found something, and um. I think you might be interested in it?" She offers with a nervous smile, causing him to narrow his eyes at her behind his mask. Seems he was dead on with her talent.
"Hmm, what is it. That you think I'll be interested in?" He asks tilting his head slightly, interested in the enigma before him, he's so far been able to see through fix layers.
"Oh, um, well. I found this book and was reading it, and um." She says fumbling a little with her saddle bag, before pulling out a large old tome, the tale of the two sisters. Seems he's found a smart one. "And, um it tells of the return of-"
"Princess Luna. Yes, I am aware." He says with a small sigh, cutting her off before she could speak of Nightmare Moon. "I have been aware for quite some time. Though, I have to admit it was very clever of you to discover this." He says giving her a little mask smile, which wasn't as creepy as his previous ones. "But rest assured, I plan on dealing with it." He says as he pats her head slightly, causing her to flinch slightly before she gives a little nervous smile to him
"You may go now, thank you though." He says giving her a small smile and thumbs up, causing her to nod a few times as she turns around and starts to make her way out of the room. "Oh, and be careful. Staying behind a mask too long, it makes it hard to tell which part of you is real." He says in a slightly smug tone, causing her to freeze for but a moment in shock, before she continues on as if nothing happened. Seems it wasn't such a perfect mask as she thought.
He hums a little as he stares at his now closed door, he'll definitely have to take a look into her soon. Now, however, he has more important things to deal with. "You know, it's rude to spy on others." Then suddenly with a shatter, the only mirror in the room shaders, one of his hidden knives logged deeply into the steel, having cut through easily.
The remains of the glass seeming to slowly fall to the ground, and yet he could see. Each and every movement the glass made on its decent, the way the wind and gravity affected it. He could see it all happening as if it was in slow motion. Most of all, he could see the face of a certainly possessed princess who looked on as her spell shattered and faded away. The connection she used to look on from her prison lost. However, what really made him smile was the look of horror on her face, for she knew what was to come if he was there, and she knew there was nothing she could do to stop his vengeance.
He makes his way out of his office and into the main area of the Factory, where ponies looked up at him confused, having heard the sound of shattering glass. "Well my friends, it seems our plans are going to need an acceleration. Move to phase three by tomorrow if you don't mind." He says causing some of the ponies to gasp in shock, Sun piercer looking up at him confused at this.
That is before he was forced to dodge a sneak attack from one of the ponies he had been tasked with training. He was doing the classic, try and get a hit on me strategy. Except with a twist, cause every day they are unable to do it. They have to do a thousand of each exercise he set for them the next day. He was a true sadist indeed.
Anyways, Leader makes his way down the stairs and makes his way through the crowd of ponies and to the large tarp covering the only project that Flim and Flim figured out relatively easy. "Sun!" He calls out as he grabs onto the tarp, before quickly throwing it away to show a painted black motorcycle . "You're in charge!" He calls out with a giddy grin in his voice as he hops onto the bike.
"Um, wait sir!" Sun calls out as he watches the human start to rev the engine nervously, quickly running up to the human. "That hasn't been tested yet! Flim and Flam said that their might still be a few kinks and it could be dangerous!" He says as he looks up at the human, worried for their leader.
"Then that's just gonna make this even more fun!" He says happily as he revs the engine one more time. "You worry too much Sun, I mean. The worst that could happen is I explode!" He says with a little as he pushes the kickstand up and then quickly starts the engine. Him cackling the entire time as he pushes forward on the throttle, causing the bike to lurch forward, and through the little opening to their base that they still need to fix.
Sun was left dumbfounded as to what just happened before he finally sighs and slowly lowers his head. Honestly, you'd think after being around someone for two months, you'd be used to it. But boy was he wrong. Honestly, he just hopped his leader made it to where he wanted to go, without somehow ending up in a situation that causes their revolution to end before it began.
He knew his leader was a genius, but he also knew that with that genius came a lot of insanity. But he also knew that he probably planned for everything and should be fine. At least, that's what he told himself to help him sleep at night.
So, the motorcycle did not break after a few minutes, it did, however, explode after around three hours of riding. To be exact when he finally stopped a few miles from his destination when he tried to turn it off the fuel tank simply exploded. Seemed it hadn't been wired correctly, and when he tried to turn it off it simply ignited the oil inside.
He was luckily able to escape the blast with some well-timed movements and a lot of luck, only getting his cloak slightly singed. The damage fading moments after oddly enough. He did still have to run into the Everfree forest in case something came to investigate the explosion or the smoke that was rising from the fire it had caused.
So, that was an eventful five minutes until he made into the forest, at which point everything got creepily quiet. Leader frowning a little as he looks around the forest, it's been a few years since the last time he was here. He takes a little while to explore, most of the predators leaving him alone for now.
He would bee exploring for quite some time, seeming to be looking for something inside of the large forest. His footsteps were silent, except for the occasional crunching of leaves and twigs beneath his feet. His hands held in his pockets as he frowns a little. He's been going around in circles for the past ten minutes, even though he was walking in a straight line. It seems the thing he was looking for didn't want to be found. At least, not by him.
It seems he would have to wait for a bit until the elements came to collect their prize. Which, judging by what he can see through his mask, won't be long at all. Seems for now he'll need to head to his other destination, the local town holding the celebration. Ponyville.
Leader hums a little as he sits on a little tree in the everfree, watching with a pair of binoculars as a large chariot pulled by two pegasi slowly approaches the town. To be exact, at the pony and dragon duo that was in the chariot. He hums slightly to himself as he watches their approach, his legs kicking slightly below the branch he was sitting on.
He made sure to stay just out of the way of that little pink pony who seemed to defy the laws of physics somehow. Which he's not even gonna bother to question how she does that. He swears, just before the purple one arrived he was watching her, then she was suddenly on the other side of the town heading to were Twilight would be getting dropped off.
Leader hums a little as he watches the purple butt land, and then start to make her way into the down talking to the little dragon she always brings around. He's honestly quite curious as to how she tamed an adolescent dragon, considering that most of them are brash and very violent most of the time. Then again, the dragon wasn't quite the size he should be at that age so maybe he was some kind of special case.
Anyways, he watches them as they interact with the pink abomination, who somehow manages to vanish from his sight a moment later. He even looked around the entire town and couldn't find her at all. He needs to figure out how she does that sometimes, or just kidnap her and scan whatever type of magic she has in her. He bets it's chaos.
Anyways, after scanning the town for the creepy pink one, he grumbles a little as he turns back to Twilight and watches to the apple orchard nearby. He's tried a few of their apples before, and he's gotta admit, that some good shit. Anyways he shrugs a little as he jumps off of the branch and starts to make his way there, making sure to stay just out of the estimate range of the Pink one. By estimate, this is the usual area where she turns and starts to head in the direction of someone who's heading into the town. Somehow she always knows when this is happening too.
He shakes his head a little, clearing these thoughts for now. He assumes since she was the first person Twilight came in contact with, she's one of the element holders. Laughter, judging by what he's seen from her. I mean, he's never seen her frown or sad before, even on the worst of days. So, he thinks it's a fair assumption.
Anyways, he arrives just in time to hear a little bell ringing and watches as several ponies rush around and place food in front of Twilight, who just looks a little confused and overwhelmed. This causes him to chuckle a little as he grabs a little apple from a nearby tree and takes a bite out of it, before raising an eyebrow as he looks down at the apple as a sour taste fills his mouth. 'Green, hmm how fitting.' He thinks to himself, and watches as Twilight is puppy-eyed into eating the food.
He left not long after this and started to explore around the town, staying just out of the area were the Abomination could seance him. He watches as the ponies go about their days with an amused expression, and after several minutes of this, he starts to frown as the smell of rotten flesh and death fills his nose. Causing him to tilt his head a little in the direction of several moving shapes inside of the flowers, glowing green eyes staring into the town.
He turns in the direction of them as they continue to move around the forest messing around inside of the forest, seeming to be heading in the direction of the town. He grins widely at this as a blade appears in his hand, and he slowly starts to make his way in the direction of the large pack Timberwolves. His blade holding a slight glint to it as he tilts it, approaching the beasts quickly. It seems he found something to distract him for the next few hours.
The human stands there, the light of the moon shining down on his form, his cloak fluttering slightly in the wind. The area around him is destroyed, several trees having cuts or claw marks going through and over them, and several more having been knocked down. He was surrounded by a bunch of twigs and branches, sap covered the ground quite thoroughly, not a single twig, branch, or drop of sap being located on his person. He stood on top of a large head of one of the wolves, the one that had formed when several of them decided to combine. Yet still, there were no injuries, no sign of him even being touched by the creatures.
The only sign that this man had been in combat was the battlefield around him, along with the sap slightly covering his blade. The human still continues to stand there, as a little leaf floats slowly through the wind, landing on his shoulder soon. His mask glows ominously as he stares up at the moon in the sky, at the image of a mare on it. He stares at the four stars that were slowly growing closer and closer to the moon, the stars that would aid in her escape.
Soon he sighs a little as he brushes off the little leaf on his shoulder and starts to make his way into the town. Ignoring the crunching of the head he was on as he made his way away from the scene, leaving behind the corpses of several Timberwolves who would reform in the next few hours if not days.
When he arrives in the town he sees it empty and assumes that everyone has already headed to the town hall, and decides to do the same. Except he goes for a different approach, and quickly climbs up a nearby building, and starts to roof hop from building to building. When he arrives at the town hall he quickly climbs up and enters through a sunroof quickly and silently, blending into a shadow as he lands on the shafts holding the roof up.
Leader sighs softly as he sits there, blending into the shadows, his mask having stopped glowing the moment he entered the building. His legs were hanging off the edge as he looks down at the crowd of ponies chatting and hanging out with each other. One pony, however, does not seem to be having much fun. A little purple pony with a dragon resting on her back.
It seems Celestia really did warn her student, or at least gave her a hint to figure it out herself. Oh, now she's looking up at the moon, he follows her gaze just to see the stars disappearing behind the moon. It seems it was time for the show to begin. He watches as the Mare vanishes from the moon and shivers slightly. A wide grin spreading across his face, this is going to be so much fun!
Then, there was a blue light, and he felt pain.
Author's Note
Mwahaha. Cliffhanger. ~~Also, I feel terrible. Am a sicky boi.~~
Chapter 5 Summer Sun Celebration part 2
Leader is currently laying on the ground, a long streak of dirt leading from the town hall being thrown up. Leader was currently frowning on the ground as he stares up at the now empty moon, his clothes slowly repairing themselves from the burns.
'Hmm, this is a familiar feeling." He thinks to himself as he puts his hands behind his head and throws himself back onto his feet. He then works to brush off the dirt that was now covering him. His mask being readjusted back into place, and his cloak being remade around his neck.
After he finishes cleaning himself off, he looks up and sees several guards being launched out of the town hall and a trail of mist shooting out and into the forest. He grins widely behind his mask and quickly shoots after her, his cloak quickly waving and twisting in the air as he moves quickly through the building, and soon the trees.
His form soon starting to blur slightly as he follows after the mist, becoming a black blur and blending into the forest around him until he was almost invisible.
The mist seems to notice him after a while as it starts to move in crazy ways, truing sharply and going up above the trees every once and awhile. Leader never slowly doing however as he follows the movements as best he can, through the woods and on top of the trees. His cloak somehow never being caught on any of the odd branches.
Eventually, Leader's eyes widen slightly as he watches as around twenty dark blue bolts head directing towards him, causing him to quickly jump over them and use a branch to swing onto the next tree. However, after a glance, he sees a dark glow quickly approaching, and he shoots off once again after the mist. The little bolts still following him as quickly as they can.
Deciding he would rather not be blasted once again, he quickly starts to bob and weaves through the trees, allowing the bolts to impact them instead of him. Several of them continue to follow him persistently, others slam into the trees causing them to catch fire and become even more mangled. Yet ever still they follow, even as he rushes through several brushes, they just blast through.
Finally having enough of this little game of keep away, the human spins on the balls of his feet, and slashes forward quickly, a sword seeming to materialize in his hand as there was nowhere he could have pulled it from. The moment the sword comes in contact with the balls they dissipate in thin air as he stands there. Then with a twirl, the blade vanishes once again, the human turning as he once again shoots off after the mist, leaving behind several trees with new cuts on them.
After several minutes of the human tracking down the mist, he finally finds the thing he had been looking for hours ago. A large castle stood before him, broken and old, most of it being destroyed. The cloaked human stands on the edge of a cliff, looking down at a little rope bridge that was broken, and lets out a little sigh. "Of course she would break the bridge." He says sighing, as he reaches a hand up to softly pinch his forehead shaking his head. "Well, lucky her. I have no intention of fighting her."
He looks down the cliff, specifically at a little cave that had a glow coming out of it slightly. He grins a little at the sight, before taking a single step forward and plummeting down into the cavern. He lands with a loud boom, smashing a little crater into the ground, his hand on the floor as he stays in the pose for a moment.
"Ow." He says as he straightened himself up and hops in place a few times, shaking out his legs a few times. "Ya know, sometimes movies are right. That is a killer on the knees." He mumbles to himself as he continues to wiggle his legs around a few more times, sighing to himself as he looks up at were he feel from.
"I probably don't have long before they get those elements awake again, best use it wisely." He mumbles to himself as he crosses his arms, and starts to make his way into the glowing cave with a small hum to himself.
As he enters the cave, he blinks his eyes a few times and looks around, thinking to himself. Then he sees it, the tree that stands in the middle of the cave, letting out a bright glow. "The tree of harmony." He mumbles to himself as he makes his way over to it, avoiding the vines that litter the cave, and ignoring them as they snap at him a few times.
Soon, he stands before the great tree, looking up at it with a small frown as he does. "Ya know, it took a lot of work to get here now." He says, seemingly speaking to himself as he places his hand softly on the tree, brushing it a few times as he stands there. "That was a clever trick with the forest earlier. Made it very annoying to get here, but of course, I found a way." He says grinning to himself as his glove starts to let off small wisps of smoke.
"You see, all I had to do was follow little Luna here, after all, you couldn't very well keep her from the elements, could you? No, you need her in that castle, so she can be purged of that parasite that's attached to her." Leader says, his gloved hand starting to burn not as more and more spoke starts to come from the area his hand was in contact with.
After a while of just standing there, he pulls his hand back and looks at it, to see it had burned through his glove and into his hand. "These are expensive you know?" He asks glaring a little at the tree as he huffs, shaking his head as he shrugs in a what can you do way.
Then he grins as he looks at the tree, chuckling a little as he pats it a few times, causing it to sizzle at every contact. "But look at you! Having a bunch of vines trying to strangle you and destroy you for a thousand years is exhausting, but here you are! Still standing strong. Gotta admire that determination." He says as he spins around a little and starts to pace back and forth in front of the tree, muttering stuff to himself.
After several minutes of doing this, the tree just pulsing softly every few moments, the human finally stops and tilts his head to the tree. "You know they will fail, all before have fallen." The human says walking up to the tree and resting his head against it, the smoke starting to once again sizzle from his mask. "Celestia and Luna failed, what makes you think those six will succeed?" The human asks as he places a hand on the tree with a soft sigh and shakes his head a few times, a frown deep on his face.
The burning feeling is ignored as he continues to rest on the tree for a while, silence being the only answer to his question. At this point, the human lets out a low growl and slams a fist into the tree, causing a slight burst of energy to leave the tree, burning his hand directly through the glove. "You know, it's hard to have a conversation when only one of us is speaking." Leader growls as he takes a few steps back from the tree, just glaring at it.
"Fine then, I don't need your answers." Leader says, his suit quickly repairing the damage that had been done from it, a deep glare almost being felt behind his mask. "I'll do it myself." He growls as he turns and starts to make his way out of the cave, seeing a bright rainbow colored light coming from outside. This causes him to frown and quicken his pace a little, just in case the tree tries something.
"There is nothing ahead." He hears multiple voices coming from all around him, causing him to frown and tilt his head to the tree. An odd visage standing in front of it, shifting through eight different ponies. "Your road leads to nothing." The tree speaks to him, causing his frown to deepen slightly behind his mask before he shakes his head and continues. "Continue and there will just be darkness." The trees voice booms louder than ever to him, causing him to flinch slightly and stop.
"Then nothing there shall be." He says as he leaves the cave, the trees visage flickering slightly, before vanishing, leaving the tree to just continue fending the vines off. The human making his way up the cliff and heading to the castle, he thinks it's time for a big entrance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGakxQShcm4
Back up in the castle of the two sisters, the elements had just finished blasting Nightmare moon. They were all tired from staying awake for almost two days straight, and Celestia and just revealed the big surprise of Luna being her sister. The two were currently softly hugging each other as Luna forgave Celestia and vice versa.
This was all to be ruined however as the sound of slow, methodical clapping could be heard echoing throughout the room. Everyone starting to look around confused, before Pinkie with her every present grin points up onto a balcony above them. Her bouncing slightly in place in excitement, as she giggles a little to herself. "Up there, a spooky wooky!" ~~Idon'tthinkI'mgoodwithPinkie.~~
Everyone quickly turns in the direction she was pointing, and several of them gasp as they see Leader sitting on the edge of a balcony, his mask holding an odd ominous glow to it. Celestia instantly gains a look of horror as she sees him, and Luna gains a look of deep sadness and longing.
"Well well well. What do we have here? Six new elements, and two weak princesses. It would be a terrible time if the final boss suddenly appeared with the intent to kill, wouldn't it?" He asks as he grins down at them all, with a much more menacing look than his usual creepy one. A certain yellow pony with pink hair squeaking and hiding behind her friends.
Celestia quickly stalls herself and her horn starts to glow bright orange as she growls up at the human, an actual growl at that. "You will not harm my little ponies, leave this place. You have no right to be here!" She growls as she grinds her teeth together, Luna looking between the two worriedly, knowing that neither she nor Celestia, not even the elements had the energy to fight the human before them.
"Ya know, that's quite a rude thing to say, Celestia, especially to someone who holds the lives of the elements in his hands." Leader asks tapping his fingers lightly against the railing of the balcony, glaring down at them. Some of the ponies seemed like they wanted to call out in outrage, but were silenced and frozen at a glance, them suddenly feeling like they were being crushed.
"Stop it, your qualms are with me. Leave them alone, understand?" Celestia growls as she stares down at you, her form glowing as her horn continues to glow brightly as she stands there, a deep glare on her face. "How did you escape, you were-" She is cut off, however, as she suddenly feels a sharp pain on the side of her face, and hears the cracking of stone. She glances back to see a deep blade installed into the ground, Leader having not even moved seemingly.
Leader continues to stare down at Celestia as she stares up at him, a small frown on his face as he sits there. "I know very well what you did to me Celestia, and I know very well what you wanted to do. However, I am not as foolish as you seem to think I am, especially if you thought I would stay in that place forever." Leader says as he softly kicks his legs as he continues to sit there on the railing.
"Lucky for you, I have no intention to kill you! Great, isn't it?" He asks, a deep sarcasm in his voice as he talks to her. "For you see, I simply came here to make an announcement." He says grinning as he climbs to his feet and stands on top of the railing, balancing perfectly on top of it, and then throwing his hand out in a very flamboyant way. "For you see, from this day on, Equestria is at war!" He shouts out to the room, pointing at the ceiling with a large grin on his face, not even caring to look down at the looks of horror on every one of their faces. "For you see Celestia, I've recently gathered myself an army, a revolution if you will. One that will throw you off your oh so wicked throne." He says grinning down at them with his eyes wide and his grin even wider.
"You can't!"
"Oh, but I can and have!" He calls out as he grins widely at the shocked looks on his face, spinning on the balls of his feet and jumping back on the balcony. "You better get ready Celestia, and bring your A game, because I plan to." He says casting one more glance back at them, specifically Luna who just fidgeted under his look, a look of sadness, and pity? on her face. "And a pleasure as always Luna, you look well." He says in a slightly softer tone, before vanishing into the shadows, allowing the normal ponies to move once again.
"Hey! You get back here!" Before anyone could stop her, Rainbow Dash shoots after the cloaked human. Vanishing into the darkness, and suddenly a wet cutting noise is heard, and Rainbow is sent flying back and lands on the floor several feet away from her friends. A large bleeding cut on one of her hooves, one she presumably used to attempt to grab him with.
After the human had left, the ponies began to panic over Rainbow, and Celestia quickly cast a healing spell on her, healing the cut slightly and stopping the blood. They all began to ask questions about what had happened after they felt Rainbow was safe and not about to drop dead any second. Celestia stayed silent throughout their barrage of questions, just staring at where the human had left.
"We're heading back to Ponyville. Not one of you is to speak of this, understand?" She asks turning her glare to them, causing them to freeze and nod quickly. After she gets confirmation from them she starts to lead them back through the woods and into the town. Luna was still silent as she follows behind, glancing around worriedly and looking at her sister worriedly.
The day ended with a party Pinkie threw to cheer everyone up, and Celestia allowed Twilight to stay in the town, before rushing off back to Canterlot. She had to prepare her kingdom for war after all. Luna, on the other hand, stayed silent the entire time, looking very sad and worried about both her sister and something else. Leader returned to his base on a train he had jumped on after arriving in the town, highjacking it and sending it on a never-ending course. Him jumping off and letting it continue on without him when he arrived in Manehattan.
Author's Note
Sooooooo, I'm curious. What do you all think of Leader? Funny? Good? Bad? Handsome? Badass? I wanna knoooooow. Also, have this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDXgbdhj5Zc
Leader was currently very happy, very very happy, why you may ask? It's because he won, that's right he fucking won. He was currently doing a victory dance as he stood over the corpses of his enemies, the fire had burned away everything and his mighty swords having been driven through the heart of his enemy. The tears of thousands filled the air as he stood tall and proud, his cape fluttering in the wind heroicly.
"That was a load of hay!" One strapping young stallion calls out next to him, throwing his controller to the ground, an annoyed and defeated look on his face. This stallion worse a shiny new piece of armor above his dark blue fur, he had green eyes, with a cutie mark of a pentagram surrounded by flames. "You had to have cheated!" This stallions name was Astral Burn, he was in charge of the magic division of Leaders revolution.
Leader ignored the comment of the hater to his right and continued to stare at the game over screen on the projection that a little crystal was making. Despite what some may think. Equestria was actually pretty advanced in the fact that it had video cames and some other more advanced entertainment features, the only problem with this being the fact that it was stupidly expensive. So, Leader stole one of these such systems and used it to help all the tense ponies of his revolution relax, by destroying them at games. It seems he's still got it, after all of these years.
It had been around a month since his declaration to Celestia, and since then it has been nothing but preparation, training, and studying for him and his revolution. You see, Leader had no intentions of making any sudden and brash moves against Celestia, he needed time. These things don't get done in a single day after all, and he needed to work if he wanted to win this war. His troops were untrained, inexperienced, and honestly, had very little talent that he could use.
This is why for the past month he had been doing nothing but working them down to the bone, and he definitely had to give it to them, now that they had a purpose they were improving scarily quickly. Some of them had even surpassed some of Celestia's royal guard captains. Of course, he cheated a little, cause he trained them far differently from Celestia, using methods like the Spartans, Romans, and even the Greeks used for training. Two of his more promising students, however, could toe to toe with some Celestia's Elite, that being Spitfire, Shining Armor, Night Light, and Brick Break.
Spitfire was captain of the Wonderbolts and was defiantly one of the most skillful pegasi of her time, she was approaching the levels of Commander Hurricane honestly. She had even managed to tap into that natural magic that all pegasi have, able to harness the power of the elements to strengthen herself and even to attack her enemies. This was not to mention the fact that she was unmatched in aerial combat and movement as of now, made her an all-around deadly foe. For anything.
Then there was Shining armor, who had actually become even better after becoming a captain, having increased whatever training he was doing by who knows how many times, he quickly caught up to the ranks of Celestia's other elites. Who was very skilled with his shields, and could even use them as a weapon, a road few shield users choose to go down in the end. Then there was his kill with a blade, which while perhaps wasn't the best, was certainly not something to be taken lightly. All around, a mainly annoying type to fight thanks to his defensive skills, but he has a feeling he's not that big a threat in the long run. Leader thought, however, that Sun piercer could take him as he is now.
Then came Night Light, who was the leader of Celestia's magic and research team, and captain of her magic assault team. Which was a stupid name in Leader's opinion. He knew, however, that the team, even if it did have a stupid name, was not to be taken lightly. To put it simply, the team was made up of some of the best mages of the century, with Night Light at the head of it all. He honestly wasn't able to find out much Night Light, but what he did find out made him very interested. Night Light it turns out had mastered almost every offensive spell in the book, even some of the darker lest accepted ones. Not only that, but he had even created a few of his own. He was probably the biggest threat out of all of Celestia's elite, able to adapt to almost any situation thanks to his magic, and several unknown spells of unknown power. If they were ever to meet in a battle, he was sure that none of his units could take him on alone, maybe not even if they all worked together. This, he would have to do the fighting should the situation ever be required.
Then finally was Brick Break, who was honestly Leaders favorite pony ever. Leader can respect a few things, one of them personally taking the time to literally mast every single weapon that a pony could use, and doing it in style just earned bonus points. Brick Break, when he was younger, had found a little blade that was left out and swung it a few times in his mouth. This leade to him, in simplistic terms, becoming a weapon nut, even more so then Leader was. So he started to learn, he learned how to use the sword first, then the hammer, then the bow, then a mace, and so on and so forth. He was an adaptable enemy, who could improvise with pretty much anything around him as a weapon. It honestly reminded him of Lancelot, when he was able to use his surroundings as a weapon when he had lost his blade. He also had the honor to fight fairly, which just made Leaders respect grow for him, even if Leader didn't fight fair he could respect something that could. He figured Brick Break still couldn't beat him with a blade, but if Leader used something like a spear? Ya, no thank you. He would definitely be out skilled, of course, skill doesn't always mean victory and Leader always had a few tricks up his sleeve.
As for his two elite, those were simply Sun Piercer and Astral Burn, who were his current favorites out of his little group. Of course, he's never telling them that. Their heads wouldn't be able to fit in their factory anymore. Sun Piercer has been training almost none stop since he was recruited, and was definitely far better than he before, especially since he used the methods Leader came up with to train. His main weapon, what a surprise, was a spear, and he knew how to use it. He was quick and agile and knew how to dance around the battlefield like nothing, but this was a usual trait found in most skilled spearmen. But he had learned to fight mid ranged, long ranged, and short ranged. Which was not something normal Spearmen could do. Not only that, but Leader had taken the time to teach him some of the Pegasi magic that has been long since forgotten, though his aerial combat still needed work. A lot of work. He was a bumbling fool in the air.
Astral Burn had a much more interesting arrival to his little group, it was quite amazing actually. You see, Leader had been right in the middle of one of his speeches, when suddenly with a bright flash there was a pony in the room who was slightly burned and panting. He didn't even notice the dagger that sailed past him when Leader threw it in surprise, all he did was shoot his head up and ask if he was late. This led to silence, and then laughter. Leader found himself laughing much more than he had in a long time, and that's when he knew he liked this new pony. Very much so. That was proven not long after when they had a little talk together and he learned about this pony. He knew things, he was practically a genius, he would even go as far to say he was smarter than the princesses precious student. Not to mention he had perfect control over his magic, which is rarely ever seen in Unicorns, it's always Alicorns.
The two became quite friendly with Leader, and he became friendly with them. Astral Burn was the type of friend who was always doing something unexpected, but he was fun to be around, and Sun Piercer was the type who was always silent and never really interacted with the group much, but you could always tell they were having a good time.
"Um, Leader?" Astral asks blinking a few times up at him as he tilts his head slightly, his oddly slitted eyes holding confusion in them. Oops, it seems he got lost in thought again. He tends to do that a lot.
"Sorry, got lost in thought. Planning and such. It's almost time after all." He says receiving a nod and an acknowledging hum in response. Leader, of course, had been talking about the thing they had been planning for the past few months. The raid of Ironhoof bay. "Have you finished the preparations?"
Astral hesitates for a moment, before nodding a few times, causing Leader to grin slightly as he leans back into the couch they got. Him setting down his controller a few feet away from him.
"Good, we strike tomorrow."
Author's Note
I feel this was to short. Also, really sick. I can't think of anything else to put here, so until next time!
Chapter 7 The battle begins
In was early in the morning, and already the port was bustling with activity, shops were opened up and selling their wares to all who came upon them. Ships docked and several creatures unloading their wears and items from their ships, ranging from food to gems and even some weapons could be found in these crates, Very few souls slept through the morning, and even fewer didn't know how active this city was.
You see, IronHoof was one of the largest trade routes in the entire world, and all species in the world would gather there, from the dragon lands, all the way to the Griffon kingdom. They came, they sold, they bought, and then they left. Except for those who came to the city to live there, those who enjoyed the noise and the chance to mingle with other creatures, the one who enjoyed hears old sea stories and hear the sea shanties that they sang. It was quite a sight to behold, and many enjoyed the atmosphere even if they choose not to live there.
However, one was not taking part in the cities usual day of selling, trading, drinking, or working. This individual stood on a building, having snuck into the city a few hours before the sun rose, and had taken the time to map it out, walking through it and avoiding any pony he may have come across. His hood flutter softly in the sea winds the blew into the city, the smell of the sea flew into his nose with it, along with the smell of wood, food, and steel. The human gazed at all the wooden rural houses around him, having been built over a very long time ago, he would know, after all, he was there. The city always held this certain spark of life about it, that made it so beautiful to the human. It made him almost regret the battle that was about to befall it.
He took one more moment to look over the town, his town, before sighing softly as he goes back to counting in his head. He's already up to four thousand guards, and the number was steadily improving. He had no doubt in his mind that his troops and he were outnumbered, and of course, he had accounted for this in his planning. Luckily there were no named units, and by that he means there were no units that he knew the name of, so they weren't too much of a threat. He made it his business to know threats to him after all. Still, though, he had to be cautious, especially if he wanted to make the casualties as little as possible. Which would be difficult for him, especially since he wasn't the only one fighting here, it would be some much easier and efficient to simply butcher the town, but not everything was about efficiency. Especially when he held the lives of so many in his hands.
With a small frown, the human turns his back on the village and makes his way into the woods surrounding it. His cloak fluttering softly in the wind as he moves, a deep frown on his face as he makes sure his cloak doesn't catch on any lose branches that surrounded him. He learned that when he first started wearing his cloak he had to be careful not to let it get caught on anything. He remembers the first time that had happened, let's just say, that's one of the few times he has been embarrassed enough to stutter. Right in front of Celestia and Luna as well, it was awful.
Anyways, moving on from that embarrassing subject, the human continues to make his way through the forest. His steps silence as he enjoys the peaceful atmosphere, it was much nicer here then it was in the EverFree. He didn't know which he preferred honestly, he liked the rough and wild nature of the EverFree, but he also enjoyed the calm feeling he gained from these woods.
Soon, Leader would find himself walking into a camp that he and his group has set up not long ago, one that was well hidden by the trees and shrubbery. No patrols should come upon them for some time, and even then Astral Burn should be able to catch up to them with a simple teleportation spell.
As he enters the clearing several ponies look up and watch him nervously that the hour of their attack was quickly approaching, and several of them held uncertain or nervous looks. They were doubting both themselves and their leader at this moment, after all, it was only a small group fighting against an entire town. Yet still, something kept them there, something made them want to fight for him to try even if they had almost no chance for success. None of them could explain this feeling.
Leader had a wide berth as he makes his way through the camp, his cloak fluttering just above the dirt ground, somehow always managing to stay clean, despite the fact that he is always wearing it. Soon he reaches a large tent way in the back of the camp, Leader takes a single glance around the camp before moving into the tent, the flap closing and hiding the view of the inside.
The inside of the tent was very open and warm, holding an almost home-like feel to it on the inside, with a little table in the center, a small portable kitchen a few feet away from that, a little cot in the corner, and a few other things scattered around the magic tent. Mainly maps, lots of maps.
Speaking of maps, there was one on top of his table, showing the town he had just been in not long ago. There were little red marks drawn onto it as well as green ones, he hums as he walks up to the map looking it over curiously as he does. He grins as a strategy starts to form in his head, and he takes out a little blue marker and starts to draw in little blue dots. He honestly looked like a child drawing a little doddle with how giddy he looked.
Several hours had passed before Leader was seen again by his troops and that was only to call Astral Burn, Sun Piercer, and Masquerade into his office. Masquerade being the one who had warned him about the princesses return, he, of course, took the time to learn everything about her that he could. She interested him oh so very much after all, and he was getting ever closer to who she really was. He's already been able to dig through about fifteen masks that she buried her personality with, and he was still digging.
The three entered the tent, Sun held the poise and professionalism of a trained soldier, his stance stiff and ready for anything. However, if you looked long enough you would see a little sweat dampening his form, a sign of his nervousness. Astral looked calm, excited, curious, and was abuzz with energy. Unlike Sun, he didn't care for the battle as much as what he could try out during it, and how useful he could be to Leader. Though, even when he was not prepared to do the unthinkable if he was forced to. Masquerade looked on the outside, to be terrified and nervous, and even more so sad about was going to happen soon. However, for Leader, he saw the giddiness that lay hidden under her eyes, the thrill, the rush of a good adrenalin junkie. The only problem he saw in this was that he didn't know if that's what she was really feeling or just wanted him to think she was feeling.
That was a confusing line of thought, Leader quickly shakes his head as he leans back in his chair relaxed as he looks at them all. "It's time." He informs this as he puts his feet down and shows the three of them his map as he leans forward. "As you three know, tonight we will be taking over IronHoof for the cause of the Revolution, I've been working on the plan all day, and I've decided to put each of you in charge of your own missions." He says much to the shock, pride, and amusement of the three in front of him. Mask (His nickname for her), Sun, and Astral in that order of emotions.
Before they could speak or object he holds up a hand, keeping them silent as he hums tapping his fingers against the map a few times, drawing their attention back to it. "First, before you object, let me tell you what each of you will be doing. You Sun will be leading the earth ponies and pegasi to the storage house and the barracks, where you will capture both and keep any guards you find subdued. You Astral, will lead the unicorns to the docks and sink any military vessel there, and take the cargo off of every other ship. You will also have several of them put a barrier around the town around twenty minutes after are assault begins. Finally, you Mask will be escaping with several ponies during the twenty-minute time frame, and immediately head to Ponyville, where you will act as my spy on the elements of harmony." He says pointing to each of them individually as he says their names, along with pointing at certain areas on the map were several blue dots lay, his expression unreadable behind his mask as he stares at them through it.
They continue to stand there in shocked silence before Sun breaks it as he lets out a long and slow nod. His posture moving into a salute as he stares at his Leader. "Yes, sir." He says softly nodding to Leader, his voice held slight uncertainty in it and a little hesitation, but over that, you could hear his loyalty. Leader, who could respect that in any solder, gave a small nod in acknowledgment, allowing him to end his salute.
Astral soon followed by letting out a sigh, and slowly pulls a hoof down his face, rubbing at his forehead for a moment before he does. "You're insane, the smart type of insane, but still insane. But, if you really think this will work, then I'll follow you." He says shrugging a little as he gives Leader a little lopsided grin as he gives a little magic spark from his horn for flare. His form seeming relaxed, yet still holding a tension about him despite this, though it was more for readiness then for worry. He was after all confident in his ability to stay safe, and of course his magical abilities.
Finally, Mask stood there wiggling around in place nervously, her hooves fidgeting every few moments in her nervousness, before finally she looked up at Leader with a glint in her eyes. "Um, if you really think that's best, I can try." She says blushing a little in embarrassment as the two others both look at her with a raised eyebrow each, her fidgeting in place some more at the looks. In truth what Leader saw was both excitement and interest in what kind of plan he had concocted.
"I know you can." He says with a small hum as he drums his fingers over the map in front of them, his head tilted slightly as he stares at all of them. "Thank you, I suggest you three go prepare. We attack in three hours, gather your troops and inform them of your plans." He says, speaking to Astral and Sun for the last bit. He then rolls up his map and places it into one of the baskets, before pulling out three much smaller maps and handing one to Astral and Sun. "I trust you both can figure out a plan of attack?" Leader asks grinning as he leans back into his chair, with a tilted head as he does.
They both blink a few times in surprise at this, having figured that Leader would have had a plan for them to follow. Astral soon blinks a few times and opens his mouth in an o formation, realizing what Leader was planning. "Not only is this to take over IronHoof, but it's also a test. Isn't it?" He theories causing Sun to blink a few times as he figures it out as well. "Oh." He says simply as Leader nods a few times, staring at them with an unknown intent as he does.
"Yes, I want you two to prove to me that you have what it takes to be leaders." He says simply, Mask just standing there shifting every few moments, not really knowing what to do in a situation like this. "I want to know if I can trust you two, and you're are going to prove it. Tonight." He says simply watching them as he continues to drum his fingers against the desk in an almost hypnotic way. "Now go you three, while you act, I have my own plans." He says simply waving them off, dismissing them as he stands and moves away to look through more of his maps. The three glancing at each other worriedly before nodding as they head out, Mask leaving the entire camp to head into town.
Hours later, the camp was silent, not a pony could be seen around inside of the camp, every single one has left to begin the assault on the town. However, that was for the ponies, a human, on the other hand, could be seen in the middle of the town, his hand on the ground rubbing away at the dirt. Looking for something Leader frowned to himself as he continues to push the dirt out of the way.
Soon, however, he grins as feels something other than the dirt beneath his palm, and quickly starts to brush away dirt and rocks. Showing soon, a large metal trap door, with the symbol of the sun and moon with a blade running down between them.
He grins widely as he heaves the trapdoor open and looks down at a long ladder leading to the tunnels below. Then, with a small glance around him to make sure no one was watching, he jumps down, disappearing into the dark cavern below and leaving the camp in silence once again. The trap door soon slamming closed behind him and then vanishing from sight. No signs of the trap door or Leader to be found. The sound of explosions soon being heard in the distance as the battle for IronHoof begins.
Author's Note
Aaaaa, I don't know why this was so hard and took so long to write. But, I've decided to start posting them weekly instead of Sunday and Wednesday. Anyways, sorry for the delay and thank you for your time.
Chapter 8 The battle for IronHoof
Everything had been going well in the beginning, really it had. Both groups led by Astral and Sun had managed to sneak into the port without being noticed, each group being careful not to make much noise as they snuck through the town. Each group splitting off as they reached a certain point to head to their own targets. They even managed to reach their targets without much trouble as well, only a few guards needing to be taken out and such. Sun had chosen to head to the barracks first, to take out any sleeping guards so they don't become trouble for them later on.
Of course, it was with Astral where things started to go downhill. When he had reached the docks with his group of unicorns, he looked out at docks frowning a little as he thought about what he could do. The first thing he did, of course, was made sure that everyone on the docks was disabled except his group. So, with the help of a few others in his group, he combined a sleep spell, and a mist spell making a mist that would force anything that breathed it in to fall asleep unless they had a strong magic resistant. Then the group used a wind spell to spread it throughout the docks, forcing every who had been previously awake to simply, fall asleep. Sadly for the group, however, was that not everyone was as weak to magic, as items had been made for the express purpose of stopping the effect of magic on the wielder.
After all, not every race trusted the Equestrians. Some of these races, were currently awake on their ship, feeling the buzz of the item that stopped them from falling asleep had awakened them. That mainly being those more experienced traders, specifically a few Cat people and Fish people, from the less friendly areas of the world.
They woke to see the mist surrounding them and the area, and they instantly get up and are ready to go, knowing that something was wrong and that they needed to protect their cargo. How could they make any money off of it if it was gone?
Astral hums a little as he focuses for a moment, wondering how exactly he was supposed to sink the ships that were ready for battle. He then glanced around at his group and sorts through the spells he knows, and the ones that he's taught some of them. Then he remembers that he needs to cause panic in the city so Mask can sneak out with the crowds. He hums a little as he stares at the battleship in front of him, before shrugging as his horn starts to glow. Might as well go with something big. He grins, as several arcane arrays start to appear over the ship, and then, with a bright flash of light, the ship didn't exist anymore, nor did the water around it for a moment. The ocean was quick to fill in that gap, however.
Astral was left panting heavily as he plops down on his rump, maybe not the best idea to use so much energy, but he was known for a quick recovery. Judging by the sounds of everyone outside of the docks panicking and screams starting to sound out, grabbing the attention of others worked rather well. He watches as his group starts to use spells of their own, blasting the remaining ships, simply sinking them slowly instead of making it disappear as he had.
He wonders idly if anyone had been on that ship when he had incinerated it, before shrugging as he realized he didn't really care. He was however quite pleased with the fact that his experimental spell had in fact done what it was supposed to. Not quite as powerful as he had hoped, but it worked well for his needs.
He continues to watch as his troops destroyed the reminding ships, sinking them slowly and letting the ocean swallow them up. His ear twitches slightly however as he hears a whizzing sound heading directly to him, and his horn quickly lights up and grabs whatever it is in a levitation spell. He glances in the direction, watching the arrow he held in his dark blue aura with an edge of red around it. He then glances at the direction of a cat standing on one of the ships that he had sent the mist at and frowns a little.
'Great, things just had to get complicated. Didn't they?" He thinks to himself letting out a small sigh as he drops the arrow. He had hoped he wouldn't have to deal with any actual combat, considering it was Sun's job to deal with the soldiers. It seemed, unfortunately, that the world had other plans, as he now had to deal with merchants? Pirates? Sea warriors? He wasn't really sure, might as well ask before he deals with them.
He starts to trot in the direction of the ship, ordering his group to continue their assault while he dealt with this. He idly noticed the sounds of battle coming from the direction Sun was working in and noticed some bright flashing lights in that direction too. 'Show off.' He rolls his eyes as he continues to advance to the ship, every arrow sent his way was stopped by a levitation spell. He couldn't do as much as he could normally, didn't mean he couldn't still fight with the few spells he could use.
'Hmm, about thirty-nine combat spells that won't drain my magic all in one go.' He counts as a grin grows across his face, teleporting onto the ship and in the middle of the group of Sea people. His grin was wide as he was clearly enjoying himself, which was a little creepy really, he summons a blue ethereal blade that had a slight red glow around it. 'This is gonna be fun.' He thinks as he watches as several of the group members throws up a shield when the time is finally up, then he raises an eyebrow as he watches another barrier overlap that one. He hums a little shaking his head as he focuses back on his targets, then with a swing of his blade, the first blood was spilled, in his area of the mission at least.
With Sun before Astral had caused a scene, he held a firm look of professionalism on him, holding back any emotions he may be feeling so he can get his job done. He wore his armor, which was crafted by him as a form of passage when he made it into the guard it, he's never worn another pair since then. The armor has his cutie mark engraved into the chest and his shoulders.
Attached to the back of his armor was a long spear wrapped in some white cloth, it seemed to vibrate under the cloth giving off the slightly of glows, making it barely noticeable. He had also crafted the spear, not long after joining the Revolution, and with a little help from Astral, he was able to make it perfect for him. He had used a spear throughout most of his training unsurprisingly and was one of the most talented with a spear in the last century. At least, according to his commander, he was.
Anyways, as he continues to lead his troops silently through the night, he would look around carefully to make sure that no one had spotted them. He would force them to freeze in place every once in a while just to make sure that they weren't seen. He was very cautious the entire time, planning out every step and every path they took, having memorized the map he was given, he knew the safest routes and used them to his full advantage.
They soon reached their target however, Spear grinning as everything goes to plan, the group moving into the barracks quietly, knocking out the guards that worked around the place. The group moving around silently, looking for the place where most of the guards were sleeping. Spear had assumed he didn't need to make much of a fuss, that they would cause panic after the two of them had finished their missions along with their groups. He probably should have confirmed that with Astral before they had separated.
Everything seemed to go wrong at exactly the same moment, as with a bright flash and loud boom came from the distance, every guard in the barracks had bolted awake to see the group that has snuck inside. There was silence for several moments, Sun just cursing out Astral in his head for several moments as he slowly reaches for his spear.
The noise of more explosions reach their ears soon, and that finally seems to breathe the life back into the room. As the guards jump out of their beds, several of them reaching for their weapons, and others pushing away members of Sun's group away from them and then going for their weapons.
With a flourish, Sun reaches back and rips spear off his back, the spear now grasped tightly with a wing as he spins it around. Waking several guards in the head and knocking them out, Sun barely managing to avoid the members of his group with the long spear in such a small area. "Move out of the room! We're at a disadvantage here!" He orders them as he quickly jumps back and makes his way out of the room, his group following as they clash with the guards, some of them even managing to wound a guard or two.
Finally, they're all able to make it out of the building, where the battle grew much more chaotic, as guards around the city began to pile into the area to help their brothers in arms. Sun growls a little as he spins his spear faster, small flames appearing around it and keeping the guards away from him for fear of being burned. He continued to fight his way through the guards, waking and knocking several of the unconscious. The worst injuries he gave to any of them was second-degree burns.
Sun was growing more and more annoyed at Astral with every guard he knocked out, as he could hear the sounds of battle coming from that direction as well. Then there was the fact that his group was starting to struggle with the guards, not because they weren't skilled, no. It was simply because there was so many of them.
Finally having enough of this little back and forth, Sun started to spin his spear faster, more and more flames igniting on the spear as they grow hotter. "Duck!" He shouts out, every member of his group and even some guards doing as he orders. Sun slams his spear into the ground, sending a wave cascading out and into several of the guards in the area. Some were able to avoid the flames sadly, and some were even able to use a little magic to put the flames out.
Sun glares around as his team quickly gets back up, Sun starting to focus intensely as he wacks anything that got too close to him, maybe hitting a few members of his group, accidentally. He focused on what Leader had taught him about Pegasi magic, which was pretty much nothing as he only really gave a few hints here and there, but still, Sun tried to figure out how to use it correctly.
He growls, a little annoyed as he feels nothing from attempting this. He couldn't really focus on it while he was swinging around a spear that was longer than him. Then there was the more annoying fact that whenever he waked someone there would be the rather annoying sound of a skull hitting metal.
So instead of trying to use his magic he just starts to move his spear faster and faster, causing more flames to appear around his blade hotter and hotter. The flames were now just barely licking the building as they pushed up and into the air, he was basically signaling where he was to everyone in the city. This of course, also just caused more panic to spread throughout the city as he knocks down more guards down.
He was rather enjoying this actually, cause it just proved even more than he deserved this position more than Shining Armor. This just caused his anger to grow as his wings twitch slightly as he wacks another guard upside the head, knocking them out. At this point, his numbers and there's had been pushed down severely, luckily there hadn't been any casualties on his side. He couldn't really say the same for the other side, however, as he thinks he may have hit a few of them a bit too hard, judging by the brain matter that was leaking out onto the floor.
As his anger at how he was treated grew, small sparks could be seen around his wings, that traveled up his blade and shocked anyone that was in contact with the spear. He didn't notice this, however, as he continues to spin the blade around and attack, creating quite the light show for others to watch. He does glance away from the battle, however, as he watches as several blades could be seen zooming around from where Astral was supposed to be. 'I'm gonna kill him when we're done with this if he doesn't get himself killed first.' He thinks as he watches as a barrier is thrown up around the town, before having to close his eyes for a moment as a large beam shoots up nearby, overlapping Astal's shield with its own.
Mask frowns a little as she lays on a little bench in the town park, reading a book as she waits. She didn't really know how to feel about her part of the plan. It was rather boring honestly, and she didn't like being bored, at all. She hums a little as she turns the page of her book, her horn glowing gold as she reads the book, flipping through the pages with a small hum.
She tilts her head for a moment and grins widely, she for the life of her, can't focus on the book in front of her. She was more focused on her Leader, oh how he interested her. To see through her brilliantly crafted disguise so easily? That was definitely exciting, it got her all hot and bothered. Though she didn't like him in that way, she definitely enjoyed it when he got closer and closer to her core. She doesn't even remember who she was at her core.
She hums a little as she flips another page, a frown growing on her face. The question that she's been asking herself for quite some time, who was Leader? Who was the man behind the mask? While she may be able to create a mask, doesn't mean she could see through them as well as he does. She knew he wore a mask, and she ain't talking about the one smack dab in the middle of his face, the way he walks, talks, the way he just stands still. Despite not being able to see through it, she can still see it, and that was a damn good mask he wore.
She blinks a few times as she sees a bright flash of light coming from the docks, and raises an eyebrow as she sees this. Sun is gonna murder him. She sighs a little and slams her book closed, before moving the book into her saddlebag. Rising from the bench she heads off, watching as several civilians start to leave their building in confusion and panic, and then watching as they start to run around like headless chickens. She rolls her eyes a little as she sees this, it's not that big of a deal, it's just a group of people trying to take over your town. Chill.
She starts to make her way through the town and crowded streets, her most recent mask still on her, giving her this shy and pathetic persona. She modeled this mask based on a certain pegasus she knew of in Ponyville, it's worked quite well for her lately, and she rather liked it.
Anyways, she soon joins a group of Ponies making their way out of the town, her continuing to look all scared and nervous. What a dull world, everyone around her was just so predictable, so boring. She huffs a little in her mind as she vanishes into the forest, continuing to follow the crowd of ponies for now. Now she needs to work on her identity and find a way to contact Leader. 'This is gonna be a long next few months.' She thinks to herself as she watches as a large dome appears over the town, another one soon following it as a large beam shoots up from the center.
Leader hums a little as he skips down the stone hallway, making his way under the town as he looks around. 'It's been a long time, far too long." He muses to himself as he continues to make his way through the ruins. Watching as little rats scutter by, somehow managing to make it down there and through the caverns.
He would soon come across a large metal door, which he raised an eyebrow at, tapping on the door a few times as he starts to brush away all the dust. Revealing the same image as was on the trap door, the sun, moon, and a sword in between the two. He continues to clean away the dust until he finally finds a small and thin hole on the door.
He smiles softly as he pulls his sword out, before finally plunging it into the little hole as far as he could, which was up to the hilt. He then takes a step back as the symbol starts to glow, before the door slowly slides away to reveal piles of gold, gems, and several other things just laying around inside. Leader hums softly to himself as he walks through the room, past all the piles of valuables.
He does stop for a moment however and glances to his right as he sees a little journal there resting on top of a pedestal, one with the same symbol as was on the door engraved on the cover of it. He frowns a little as he stares at it for a moment, before simply walking past as his cloak flutters over the pedestal, and when he finally moves past the journal was gone.
Leader soon comes across just what he had been looking for, a large orb with several arcane symbols running over it in criss-cross patterns. He hums a little and grins, doing a mental count in his head, he figures that Astral should have put the barrier up right about now. Let's make it better shall we?
Leader softly rests his hand on the large orb, causing it to start to glow brightly, before shooting out a large beacon up into the sky, going through the ground and up through the very center of the town. The light spreading over the town and wrapping around it, giving off a large pulse as the large light finally touches the ground. Anything the light had touched had either been pushed back into the town or out of it.
Author's Note
For some reason I thought it was Saturday, almost didn't post this.
Chapter 9 Fall of IronHoof
Leader hums softly to himself as he continues to stare at the orb in front of him, his arms crossed and his foot tapping lightly as he flexes his fingers every few seconds. He would glance up several times as he stood there waiting, one of his hands idly fiddling with his cloak, straightening it and moving it to rest over his right shoulder.
He soon sighs softly and shrugs a little as he simply removes the cloak and stretches out, his bones creaking and cracking slightly as he stood there with his arms pushed up above his head. A small yawn escaping his mouth as he shakes his body out. Soon returning his gaze to the large orb, his hand reaches out a hand and softly rubs at the orb.
A small hum leaving him as he taps the orb a few times, watching as the orb lets out a small hum, and a map of the entire town is projected out in front of him, causing him to tilt his head slightly as he looks it over. It was much more different than what it used to be, much more houses having been built throughout the town and the shape of it had changed a little as it expanded.
He hums a little and pulls his hand up over the docks in a closed fist, and then slowly opens it, watching as the map slowly zooms into the docks, soon arriving at the point where he could see several ponies and other creatures down there. He raises an eyebrow as he watches as Astral does battle with a bunch of merchants while his group sunk ships. He shakes his head a little with a small smile on his face, paying apt attention to the battle as he watches as his ethereal blades zoom around the ship, taking out the merchants with deadly efficiency.
After a few moments of watching with his head tilted and his shoulders slack, her shrugs and with a gesture of his hand, the image changes to where sun and his group were fighting. He watches as the flames spin around the spear, burning any guards that got to close, and knocking out any guard that was in his sights rather impressive honestly. Though, he is probably going to have to break up a fight later for some reason.
He then once again zooms out, to out of the city this time, and looks for Mask, soon finding her running with a group of ponies who seemed to know where they were going. He raises an eyebrow as he stares at her curiously, he swears he could see a grin on her face, curious, he's never seen her smile.
Oh well, he has other things to focus on. For now at least. He frowns a little as he zooms out once again, farther than the city until he was looking at the entire world. He frowns a little and taps the orb, this time with the hilt of his sword.
The moment the soft leather makes contact with the orb, several dark red dots start to appear over the orb, causing Leader to blink a few times. Then he sighs deeply as he rests his head in one hand, shaking his head a few times as his hand softly rubs over his mask. "Of course, it couldn't be easy, could it. Of course, she just had to hide them across the world. It's gonna be so annoying to find them all." He says, letting out a long and loud groan as he continues to softly rub his mask.
Soon he takes a deep breath and stands up straight once again, and returning his gaze to the orb, he once again returns to Ironhoof, and with a flick of his wrist, he's back with the overview of the city and the surrounding area. He hums a little as he looks at it, before raising an eyebrow as he sees something coming in from the sea. Great, that's another thing he has to take care of. Being a revolution leader sucks.
With a small sigh, he taps a the orb a few times and watches as it flashes a few times before the ground begins to rumble below him, a tunnel opening up to his right. A magical light filling the tunnel every few feet to guide his way as he rolls shoulders a few times. Soon walking down the tunnel and vanishing from view, the tunnel closing off the area he was in before with a loud bang of stone walls slamming into each other.
Sun rolls his eyes as he knocks another guard who had been trying to sneak up on him several feet to the left. This had honestly gotten rather boring, with him just knocking a guard away and out, then waiting for another one to come up and suffer the same place. It was rather repetitive and annoying.
Most of his group had already been knocked out and detained, not because their opponents had been stronger than them by any means, but simply because of how outnumbered they were. So several of them grew too tired to fight back and were captured by the guards, not killed, of course, no normal pony would even think of such a thing. Unlucky for them, Sun was no normal pony, and his mind had started to go down a rather dark path.
On one hand, it was much harder to knock them out and there was always the chance that they would get back up again. On the other, killing them would not help their group be recognized as a righteous and just organization, in fact, it would most likely ruin their reputation for years to come. Then again, it would be so much easier.
After a while of this, an idea grew in his head, and he started to walk away while knocking out the guards. His destination clear in mind as he leads the guards along with him. Let's see how Astral likes it when he suddenly has to deal with a small army of guards.
He's not petty, you're petty.
Astral had been cool and confident at first, then he was confused, then his eye started twitching, after that he started growling, and finally, his entire body twitching as he growled louder and louder his blades spinning sporadically around him and almost burning with energy as the air hums and vibrates with his anger. He was honestly ready for murder at this point. Oh wait, he already tried.
Let me explain exactly what the past several minutes had been like for the poor unicorn. First, he thought this would be easy since he was able to teleport right behind them without their notice, that's about the time when everything had gone downhill.
You see, when he had gotten behind the merchant earlier, and took a stab at him, his ethereal blade had vanished upon contact. Then he was shot, in the leg, and it hurt. A lot. Luckily, his magic still seemed to work on him, so he ripped the arrow out and quickly healed the wound, flinching slightly in pain as he growls loudly. He then looks around confused as he is surrounded, wondering why hadn't worked exactly, and what he should do now.
After a moment of thinking and working to avoid the arrows that they continued to shoot at him, teleporting around if he couldn't avoid it physically. Every few moments he would take stabs at them, trying to see if he hit them in different places it would work, it never did. Every single time he tried, the blade would simply vanish on contact with the merchants.
Not to mention he only had so much magic to use, and teleportation was a taxing spell that was quickly draining him of what little bit he had left. So, he was not in the most relaxing situation right now, it was rather stressing actually. He was slowly piecing together why his magic wasn't working, but he couldn't really do much about it, considering that his magic would be useless against the thing and he couldn't destroy it without his magic. He didn't know how.
With a yelp, he quickly ducks behind some crates to avoid a barrage of cross bolts. For merchants, they had surprisingly good aim and equipment. Astral could barely keep up with all the projectiles flying his way, let alone the merchants who were shooting at him.
He was left a panting mess as he laid there for a moment, trying to regain his breath. He takes a quick peek over the crates, looking for anything he could do to get out of this situation. He doesn't get a very good look, however, as he is forced to quickly duck back behind the crate. This was ridiculously one-sided at this point honestly. He didn't have the physical capacity to fight them as a warrior, and his magic was useless currently.
Astral spares a glance at the city, wondering how Sun was doing in his area, blinking a few times at what he sees. He can currently see the light show from where Sun used to be, which was slowly coming closer and closer. He tilts his head slightly, raising an eyebrow as he frowns a little. He didn't have much time to think right now, however, as he had to quickly roll away as the crate was bombarded with arrows. God, merchants are officially his least favorite type of creatures.
With a small growl Astral quickly fires a little laser at one of the masts, watching as his magic impacts it, causing it to let out a large crack, before falling over and into the rest of the ship with a loud bang. Astral grins happily as he continues to pant, watching as a few slow merchants were crushed under the mast. He wasn't sure if they were dead or not, but he currently didn't care. He likes to think that they suffered before they died, or at least got several broken bones out of it. In the back of his mind, he knew they were alive, but he could hope.
After the mast fell, he had some breathing room and quickly looked in the direction Sun was approaching. He watches as Sun came into the area and grinned a little, his horn starting to glow brightly as he shouts out to Sun. "Switch!" Then he switches places with Sun instantly, which leads to him almost being stabbed, and Sun almost being shot. The only thing that saved them both from this was their quick reflexes, and a bit of magic from the unicorn.
Astral, of course, knew that he probably shouldn't have used such a taxing spell so leisurely, but he still had enough energy to summon and control two of his blades. Which should be more than enough to deal with a couple of guards who don't even have magic protection. Basically, brilliant stress relief.
So with a small grin, he starts to cut down the guards, making sure to make it non lethal cuts, or simply making his blade dull if he couldn't get a clean nonfatal opening. Astral rushing threw and demolishing any guard that stood in his way, his blades flying around as fast as his mind could process where it wanted to go next, and that was rather fast. Not a soldier was able to get close, not an attack in, nor a word before they were cut down.
With Sun, on the other hand, he was having a much less fun time. As his flames would instantly disperse upon contact with the merchants, of course getting hit with a giant steel pole would still hurt a lot, but he liked the flame effects. They made him look all scary and intimidating. Oh well, he had more pressing matters to attend to, mainly cutting down any arrow that came to close to him.
'He dies. If we survive this. He dies.' Sun hisses in his mind as he spares a glare in the direction where Astral was fighting, him giving a strong jab in between one of the cat peoples ribs, causing them to grumble into the ground wheezing for air. Another receiving a strong slam into the top of their head as they try to run at him while he was "distracted" by the fallen cat.
The two continued to fight their separate opponents as they dance around the docks, Astral's group soon joining in on the fight when they finish sinking the last battleship. Of course, at this point, they started thinning the numbers ridiculously quickly. Astral no longer burdened by the fact that his magic wasn't working, and Sun no longer having to deal with a barrage of soldiers that outnumbered him. The battle would end soon if everything went as planned, even if there was no plan.
However, just when they had been close to finish their battles, there was a large boom sound as flames could be seen in the ocean. Smoke raising high in the eye as a dark shape burned in the middle of the ocean, thus causing all of them to stop fighting and turn their attention to the sudden disruption. The guards who had been fighting with Sun and now Astral were pale and starting to sweat as they freeze in the spot as they stare, they realized exactly what this was.
"It's over." A voice speaks out as everyone whips around to stare up at a building. With his legs draped over the edge of the building and his cloak fluttering slightly in the pale moonlight. His form mostly hidden in the shadows of the night, but there were three things that illuminated his from. The only light on his form was that of the moon and the white light coming from his eye sockets. Then finally the light from the burning ship, casting a slightly orange light that contradicts his usual black style, his cloak protected his most of his mask from the light of the fire but some still shone through, casting his face in a dark intimidating glow.
"You're reinforcements aren't coming."
