CHAPTER V: The First Battle (Prelude to Siege)

“We’re under attack!” Shouted Goldsparkle, yelling at the top of her lungs from her position on the communications altar within the Castle’s command centre. Shouting echoed from every last inch of the marble-titanium room and its vaulted ceiling.

“Anti-orbital towers O-12, O-11, and O-15 have all been destroyed!”

“Contacting the ground forces!”

“They can’t be pirates, we would have spotted an unauthorized vessel in orbit, are they a Solar armada!” Shouted the Grand Master in reply.

“No my lord, opt-” Goldsparkle started to say.

“Sir, bunker complex BO-11 is reporting that their blast-doors have been sealed shut!”

“Order them to blast it open with the breaching talismans!” Replied the Grand Master, “What does the optical data say.

“Sir, it appears to be a ship from the Order Luna!” At that moment, the frantic button-mashing and maniacal shouting ceased.

High-pitched and manic laughter filled the fire control tower, atop a large stone dais was a mare, shouting at the top of her lungs, her sensual tones growing ever louder and aggressive with each shake of the ship, each press of a button, each flash on a magical hologram. All around this centre spire of madness were mares and stallions of different races frantically gathering, coding, decoding, recording, and relaying data gathered from the ship’s sensors.

Many of the ponies were shouting over one another, however it all became white noise behind the laughter and screaming. If one tried they could hear ponies shout “Temperature data recorded,” Or “Changing focal point from twenty-five millimeters to twenty-eight millimeters,” Or “Ballista A-3 shutting down for cooling,” Or “Trebuchet firing angles rectified, scanning wind patterns,” However the dais mare either didn’t hear it, or didn’t care, simply revelling in the destruction being relayed to her by the ship’s optical and thermal sensors. Gamma Ray gave a displeased grunt, barely able to stand her boss’s lust for destruction, her eyes were drawn to a line of ponies running out of a bunker and into the first trench line, “The Knights should be deploying around now,” she said, her voice drowned out among the other noises,” Then she placed her hoof on the controls and gave the order to fire.

Hoofmares, hundreds of them, armed with silver-painted morion helmets and titanium chainmail, marched out of the bunker with pikes raised high, claxons blaring in the background. One marched through the group at a faster pace than the rest, for a moment blinded by the brilliant light of outside, though to any other pony it would have looked like a dark day. Those who took to their positions in the brick-walled trenches gave a stunned silence, many had expected an advancing army, with some distance siege rams or enemy vessels, engaged by the castle’s anti-orbital weapons, then they followed the mechanical noises upwards.

“They're practically on top of us!” Shouts and gasps tore through the hoofmare’s ranks.

“That’s an Order Luna ship!” A hoofmare shouted, her eyes drawn to the black and white tapestries and banners hanging from the hull.

Already dozens, then hundreds, of small shapes began to flood from out of the ship’s hull, some ponies got over their stunned silence and raised their bows and crossbows into the air, aiming at the vaguely pony shapes.

One hoofmare simply stood there, staring upwards at the ship, his eyes glued to a small but bright point of red light that shone from within a tower on the ship. Then, a moment later, within the depths of the bunker, those ponies not fortunate enough to be outside were suddenly blasted away with a rush of steam, hot enough to boil blood and sear away skin in a blink of an eye.

Low over Magnus’ northern mountain ranges, below flew rolling hills covered in ice and snow, blotted by glaciers. The Grand Master stood at his command lectern, the ship flying at half the speed of sound, dangerous in a thick atmosphere for a ship of its size, but they couldn’t risk being in range of anti-orbital batteries without shielding, and coming in just over the horizon was a tried and true strategy for avoiding surface-based weapons.

There, just coming over the horizon was a large dark shape, the Ritterschaft, punctuated by flashes of light, they’ve already engaged the Argents. “Estimated time to arrival?” Asked the ship’s Grand Master. The ship was made from a bluish stone that glittered and shone like glass, the room looked as if it was carved from crystal. The view outside was through tall arched stained-glass windows, flooding the bridge in a mixture of purples and reds. The vaulted roof was held up by towering and elaborate archways and flying buttresses that combined with the silky red and gold banners, armoured pony statues, and rows upon rows of command altars, gave the bridge the look of a cathedral.

“Well, we’re going about zero-point-four-five the speed of sound, and we only have nineteen more kilometres until we intercept, so...” Said the Master of Electromancers, her features slightly distorted as she projected herself all the way from the ship’s reactor bay.

“Soon.”

“Yes, very soon.”

“Very well!” Shouted the Grand Master over the room, “Ready the Javelin launchers, and get our knights down to the armoury, we’ll make our first appearance in style.”

His announcement captivated the horde of bridge ponies, who then dove back into keeping track of the ship’s functions. From through the distorted colours of the windows, the ship’s top decks could be seen, atop which were numerous towers housing trebuchets and javelin launchers which suddenly burst into motion.

Frozen and snow-filled air streamed past, the magic woven into the visor preventing any foreign particles from impairing my vision. I drew my crossbow, as did others, a few shots from below were being poorly directed up at us, nothing but a few near misses before a blast of heat and light, powerful enough that I could feel its radiance as it passed in the air next to us, left a steaming crater in the trenchline. However, the blast didn’t kill all of the trench’s defenders.

A hoof-full of crossbow blasts and bow shots filled the air, arrows streaming past with visible contrails, next to the light blasts that burned the air. My own crossbow felt warm in my mouth, even before firing, I made sure to slide three bolts in before jumping, thirty shots. With a tightening of my jaw, the crossbow fired. I had never liked the recoil of the bow, to unpredictable, all that happened was a brief flash of warmth, then a jet of painful heat was wafted to the side by the cooling fins, as the actual blast was shot forward and into the trench, leaving a steaming puddle where it struck the ground. I wasn’t going to be accurate at this distance.

Several more ruddy beams lashed downward, one or two stuck home, melting their titanium mail and leaving a few dead, while a few survived, though painfully. Deep booms met the ruddy lances, and contrails filled the skies from a few bows, although using such a weapon in the air seemed dangerous to me.

What’s that, I thought as in the distance, away from the battle, in the side of a mountain, a bright blue light glimmered… That wasn’t a ballista or trebuchet, it looks… My fears were confirmed, a pulsating and sparking orb of fire was launched from the mountainside toward the ship, the shields focused, creating a disk of light and distortion where the impact was predicted.

“Grand Master sir, it appears that the Order Luna ship is releasing its knights and hoofmares into the battle, what-”

“Fire the culverin! Destroy that Luna damned ship!”

“S-Sir,” Goldsparkle replied, “The weapon is experimental, and technically a gift from the cha-”

“I care not, let those damn technocrats sort out the details, I won’t have them take this keep!”

I don’t think the Emperor will be pleased if we end up destroying it, or worse, allow the Order Luna to discover their involvement. I kept my thoughts to myself, “Yes sir,” I said with trepidation, “Contacting forward culverin battery II”

“The Castle is under siege, our orders are to fire on the opposing ship,” A large marble corridor, similar to that of a carrack hangar, however slightly smaller, housed a set of rails leading to a huge marble door camouflage to mix with the surrounding mountainside. Within were a set of rails, upon which stood a large cart, built into this cart was a long cylinder set into a silvery metal frame. The device was long and relatively skinny, although the barrel was large enough for a pair of ponies to comfortably fit inside.

Fanning out from the central barrel was numerous cooling fins, similar to those of a crossbow, but as large as a pony. From the weapon’s rear came a bundle of cables and tubes that descended further along the tracks and into the depths of the base. The weapon’s heating chamber was decorated with a series of portholes from which shone bright cerulean light, inside was a swirling pattern of fire. Sticking out both upwards and to the sides like a cross were copper coils that jabbed into the machine, which due to their unfortunate placement meant that we couldn’t fire at targets lower than twenty degrees but that was unavoidable, these coils served to contain and project the burning and volatile gasses forward and toward a target. The designers called it “The Culverin.”

A trio of technomages were pushing the machine forward across the platform and toward the doors, with a cranking and clattering noise, the door came free and frosty wind vomited forth into the base. The outside world looked distorted through the lens of thaumaturgic shields, but the target was clear, only a single kilometre away, this weapon was meant to smite vessels in orbit, and at this range, it was bordering on pedantic to use the thaumaturgic targeting array.

I gave the order to fire with the click of a button, the technomages backed away, the room burst into blue light, the shield dropped for a split second, then a concentrated ball of destructive and energized gasses flew forth.

There was a loud popping noise, like that of a bubble being broken, however, it was punctuated with the sound of rushing fire that sounded like the roar of a dragon. The ship’s shield didn’t hold, but it did stop the vessel from being cored like an apple. The fireball burst upon contact with the shield, spreading outward in an explosion of plasma, it melted away some of the ship’s outer armour, which fell away in a stream of magma that showered the icy ground below, causing geysers of steam to erupt upward.

We couldn't be hit again. “Steeled!” I shouted into my communication’s talisman, built into the beak of the armour. My knights started to descend at a faster pace, we needed to get down there now and stop that weapon.

“I’m fine, it was only damage to our armour, but we’re pulling back, Reactor is frantic in trying to get the shields back online.”

“I’m updating my mission parameters, we’re going after that weapon.”

“I was about to suggest the same thing, try and get it back undamaged, I’m sure both Reactor and Photon will be angry if you didn’t… I’m relaying this information to the Strigoi.”

With that, the sound cut out with a pop. Above the ship’s thrusters had reversed, and it was now rapidly descending and jetting to the south. With that I turned back to the task at hoof, “Two hundred meters to the planet’s surface,” I shouted through the communications talisman to my other knights, they raised their wings accordingly. The crossbow, radiator fins still glowing orange, was remounted to my back, as I gripped my sword in my mouth and retrieved my shield from my side.

I lowered my wings somewhat, gaining speed, I landed with a heavy thump, raising my wings at the very last moment and skidded to a halt on the ground, with my remaining momentum I ploughed into an enemy hoofmare as she tried to lower her pike, she couldn’t react in time, and several hundred pounds of tungsten smashed into her going the speed of an angry bat-mare. She was knocked to the ground, bleeding from the mouth and nose.

I rose to my hooves, and with my sword charged down another hoofmare, surprised by my sudden arrival, with a jab I slid my sword into his armour, the metal snapping apart under the blade’s force and weight, splattering the snow with blood. I pulled my sword forth, my armour’s beak now dripping pony-blood, and stared into the eyes of the next hoofmare. He pulled a crossbow from off his back and bit down on the trigger. Something big and heavy came to land in front of me, and it raised a shield to block. Portcullis stood firm as the beam struck the shield, creating a faintly glowing mark across its surface, but little more.

Portcullis raised his sword in his mouth and charged, slashing at the hoofmare’s throat. I felt a sickly welling approach my throat as I stared at the blood covering my armoured muzzle, it was warm, I could feel it through my armour, but I knew it wouldn’t be for long, not in this environment. It all happened so quickly, I turned, my former prey was still bleeding out, he was most likely still alive, and an eerie cold started to flow through my veins. NO! I shouted to myself in my head, There will be time for pity and remorse, later, I need to survive, my friends and family need to survive, not them.

“Damn, they're below our minimum depression,” Shouted the electromancer, seeing the Order Luna vessel back away, and in doing so going farther downward than the Culverin could fire.

“What should we do?” Asked a technomage.

“Keep the weapon charged, we’ll shoot again once they enter our field of fire.”

A few moments passed before another technomage chimed in, “There’s another contact entering range, it shows no friendly thaumaturgic signals.”

“Fire!”

“S-Sir, it could just be-”

“It doesn’t matter, shoot!”

A bluish grey, glassy, gate adored the far wall, shiny enough that Cursed Symphony could make out her own reflection with little effort, her luminous red eyes casting strange colours along the shiny substance. The sounds of distant explosions, crossbow and bow fire, was growing louder. Not too long ago was a loud screech like electricity passing through the air, the ship had jolted to the side, throwing everypony in the armoury to the wall, but the sound passed without any of the following sounds of damage.

The gate opened, followed by a flurry of wind and snow that chilled the room, hardly felt underneath the armour’s insulation. The armour she wore was not too dissimilar to that worn by other knights of other Orders, it was an alloy of tungsten and steel, enchanted of course, and painted a glossy silver engraved with intricate golden patterns that easily could entrance with their complexity. The helmet’s brim was gold, as well as the visor’s edges, in place of the avian faceplate of the Order Luna, or the lupine faceplate of the Order Lupus, the jaw and muzzle was protected by a simple grille that wrapped around our face and resembled the radiator on an alchemical engine. Where should have been a small banner across the withers was instead a full cape that draped over my back, light and silky, red and gold, a layer of mail weaved into the fabric for added protection.

We ran forward, and out into the chilling air, the ship was still going an incredible speed, and it was only thanks to the slipstream the vessel was created in its wake that we didn’t get dragged away by the winds. The g-forces experience when we hit the air wasn’t pleasant though. “Listen, we’ve been ordered to disable an unknown weapon, I’ll guide you to its predicted location,” With that I folded my wings and dove downward for additional speed, soon followed by a flock of knights.

The Ritterschaft came down with a rumble behind a steep hill, adequate cover from the remaining anti-orbital batteries. Up in the air the hoofmares who had managed to leave the castle-ship before it backed away had now engaged the Argents, they formed up into clouds of eight to fifteen, then with pikes drawn, flew down into the trenches. Chainmail snapped when met with the blade of a pike, plate armour deflecting blows and allowing the survivor to retaliate. All this was joined with the occasional crossbow beam or bow contrail. This segment of the trench was almost devoid of life, the Luna hoofmares had advanced, and the Argent hoofmare retreated from this area already. However, on his way to regroup, a small group of Argent hoofmares had attacked a lone stallion.

The stallion raised up his pike and divide forward, lunging into a pony that looked like an exact copy of him, same mane, same coat, but his armour was a reflective glistening white as opposed to black tungsten. The pike jabbed in between a link of mail, rending it apart, and allowing the blade to strike deep inside his breast. He stood there for a minute, seeing himself within the rapidly dying stallion, however the feeling passed as another hoofmare in silvery armour ran to avenge his fallen comrade. No, that pony’s life was forfeit the moment the first shot was fired, He thought to himself.

A burning rod of light filled the air, the crossbow blast struck the Luna hoofmare in the side, luckily hitting the armoured plates. It still burned, and the stallion fell to the ground in screaming pain, almost made worse by the snow falling into the burning wound. The second enemy hoofmare advanced, placing her hooves on the stallion’s underside, knocking the winds out of him and causing his mail to rattle, she raised her pike. Before she could slam it’s blade down, another thestral bearing the iconography of the Order Luna slammed into her side, pulling a bloody longsword from out her side. I raised my hoof to the fallen stallion.

He stumbled to his hooves, picking up his fallen pike. “Take some of this,” I said, passing the stallion a vial of bright, semi-luminescent, pinkish-reddish liquid, “And if you still have the strength continue the fight, if not you have my permission to return to the ship.”

“Y-Yes” The stallion replied, quickly drinking down the potion, the look of pain on his face vanished within moments and the charred flesh around his side started to take on a healthier colour, then he turned and flew off. This wasn’t much of a battle, the initial bombardment had fried a good portion of the enemy hoofmares, I turned to stare at a crater, a pool of bubbling and steaming water sat in the centre of a pile of half-melted brickwork that was once the trench walls, entire segments of wall having fallen apart as the ground they were built upon melted away, some segments of stone still glowed a soft red. In the centre of boiling water and warped stone were piles of smouldering carbon and ash, they had stained the water black and were slowly crumbling away, though one or two still had the distinct shape of ponies, liquified metal, what must have once been armour, woven into the carbon mounds. The sight chilled me, or that could have just been the wind, either way, it was something I wish I hadn’t seen.

I was broken from my trance when I heard a familiar voice scream from above, a blast of light still lingering in the air as an armoured mare with a pale gold mane fell down near me. “Gate!” I shouted. I lunged upward, pushing against the ground with all my might. She fell into my hooves, I thought I had caught her, but then her full weight sunk into me, and I came tumbling down with her. When I dragged myself to my hooves I looked over at my friend.

She coughed and sputtered, but managed to say “T-Thank you,” However my attention was drawn to her breastplate, a portion of it had melted away, revealing horrid red burns and blistering skin next to angrily glowing red metal. I didn’t hesitate to throw ice and snow over the burn, the cold matter sizzled and steam rose from her wound, but the metal had turned from red to grey, and I washed out the boiling water for another dousing of snow. I pulled off her visor and faceplate, leaving them in the show, to see her face, fur damp with tears, moaning and squealing in pain.

Tears started to flow from my own eyes, making hissing noises as they touched the metal of her breastplate. “I need to get this damn thing off,” I shouted to no one, as I began working my mouth and hooves around her armour. Armoured hooves approached, I didn’t care, I doubt I even noticed at the time. To my surprise the breastplate unlatched easily, W-Wait, it has four attachment points, I undid one- Quickly I pulled the metal slab off and tossed it into the snow where it hissed dangerously, then I turned, my thoughts quickly turned red as I saw a mare, a unicorn, in silvery armour with purple sashes and bands around her withers, standing over me. I drew my sword, she backed away, a mask of both fear and sorrow upon her face… She didn’t have a weapon drawn.

“I-I’m” She gulped, “I’m here to help… She’s hurt, and-”

Hastily slung over her back was a crossbow, the gems still glowed with malefic light, the copper fins still radiated heat, “You! You shot her!” I shouted.

“I-I” She started crying, “S-She was going to k-kill me… I didn’t want, I.”

I was breathing heavily, even though the bird-like mask my breath was visible… It was suffocating. With my hooves I unlatched the mask and visor, staring into the hoofmare’s green eyes with my yellow. The two of us stared at each-other, fear, regret, anger, all of it was battling for control… Should I kill her, let her help, ignore her, tell her to run…

“Lithium!” Shouts came from further down the trench. There was a small horde of Argent hoofmares running down one of the support trenches, “Watch out!” There was a bang. There was a pinging sound, like a loud tink, and it felt as if I was hit in the side with a buckball ball, except sharper and warmer. I looked to my side to see an arrow, now just a flattened chunk of lead, stuck between the plates of my armour.

Lithium’s face turned white, then she turned to face her fellow hoofmares, “Stop!” she called. I was moments from drawing my crossbow, but a sharp gasp from Gilded Gate silenced any conscious thought, and I turned back to the problem at hoof. I grabbed my second-to-last healing vial and forced it down her throat, then pulled an injector of painkiller and jabbed it into the wound, forcing a pained choking noise from Gate, that quickly vanished as her breathing grew steady.

“Lithium, she-” The stallion gasped as he saw me plunge the injector into the burning wound on Gate’s breast.

“Get the regiment medic-” Replied Lithium.

“B-But, the knight-”

“Now!” Yelled Lithium.

“He’s dead, I think we’re the last ones from this sector who didn’t run,” Said another, younger, stallion among the group.

Lithium trotted up to me, “She’s going to need more than a healing potion, I think I know a few medical spells-”

“Throw away your weapons, and your armour…” I said, turning to the group. Many looked hesitant, “If you want to survive do it, none of us really have a problem with you as ponies, just as an organization,” A few did so, Lithium evidently knowing why as she was the first to do so. “Run over to our ship, or simply hide somewhere until this is all over, if you don’t lose your armour you might be shot.”

After some discussion among the hoofmares most did so. One turned to the group, “Why are you listening to t-this traitor!” Shouted an older mare.

“Because we’re not stupid,” Spat back the first stallion, “I don’t know what this is all about, but I don’t want to die.”

Anger crossed the mare’s face, but she didn’t say anything, just turning and running for the second trench line. “Idiot…” Sighed the stallion.

There was the beating of wings, and from above a duo of armoured figures descended, knights, Portcullis and a stallion named Crenel, from the 1st Knights, about two years older than the oldest in my team. “What’s going on here!” Shouted the raspy yet feminine voice of Portcullis.

“Get Gate back to the ship as soon as possible, she’ll need proper medical attention, and escort these ponies to safety. I said gesturing back to the hoofmares. They flew to a landing, Crenel gathering up Gilded Gate and her armour, meanwhile Portcullis went to talk to the hoofmares.

“What about Lancer and his team?” Asked Lithium.

“As long as they stay in the bunkers, or surrender, they’ll, for the most part, be fine… Plus the early bombardment was aimed at the bunker doors, that should seal them closed, as long as they weren't open to begin with, we’ll come to dig them out once the battle’s over.”

Discussion continued, meanwhile I retrieved my visor and mask from where I had dropped them in the snow, remounting them to my helmet. Once again I put them on and noted how the beak on the mask almost made me look like a griffon.

“We’re mostly done with the primary trenches, we’re still mopping up some more stubborn defence in the east section,” Said Crenel.

“I’ll go, make sure to meet up here in ten minutes.”

Crenel bowed in salute, then flew off with Gate in his hooves.

“The first line of defence has completely collapsed!”

“We’re detecting a second vessel moving toward the Castle!”

“Order Luna hoofmares have started engaging the second line of defence!”

“We’re getting reports of enemy knights sir!”

The reports kept coming in, with each word spoken the Grand Master grew more and more livid, Goldsparkle just looked more and more worried, “Send word to all Order Argent forces on Magnus, tell them-”

“The second enemy vessel is not entering the firing arc of the culverin, we believe they’ve caught on to its limitations.” The Grand Master let out a sulfurous growl in reply.

“Send in all our lines of Siege Rams!”

“Sir, that would leave the Castle and culverin base without armoured support, and leave them exposed to enemy fire!” I tried to reply, a shiver in my voice, “They would be better in a defence-”

“You are a communications officer, your job is to relay my commands, not counter them!”

A moment passed, then another communications pony shouted, “We’re detecting catapult and arbalest fire from the location the enemy ship landed.”

“Order Sanguine reinforcements will arrive in the AO in fifteen minutes,” The voice of the Grand Master echoed through the communications gems implanted in every set of armour and every siege ram. Silvertread stood in the gunner/commander position, meanwhile, the unicorn Pintle sat in the driver’s seat, normally there would be at least three others, a loader, and a pair of gunners for the sponson-mounted weapons, but one of us was a unicorn, and this particular Mark-8 didn’t come with sponsons. With this Silvertread felt relieved, though disappointed at the lack of additional firepower, Pintle couldn’t care less.

The huge hangar doors of Armoury II raised, a snowy landscape beyond, This isn’t going to be good for the tracks, Thought Pintle… Moments passed, and the order to advance was given. Alchemical engines jumped to life as the Ritterschaft’s first, And only, thought Pintle again, armoured ram line drove into the cold.

It wasn’t long until the three vehicles crested the hill, getting a good view of the battlefield. From his perch in the top of the ram’s weapon tower, he could see the battle below him, mostly thanks to the surprise of landing right on top of them, the first line of defence had fallen, both primary, communications, and support trenches were all but cleared of hostiles… The second line of defence, about a kilometre away from the first, wouldn’t be so easy to capture, they had managed to get their warriors out and into battle before we could seal their bunkers shut, and we couldn’t surprise them again… Or rather they, the knights and hoofmares couldn’t surprise them.

With a wave of his hoof, Silvertread signaled his fellow ram commanders. “Fire on the second trench-line, be careful with your shots.” With this, he descended into the tower of his own ram, a bolt already loaded into the arbalest. Outside, the barrels of catapults mounted within the tower and sponsons of the other rams began to fire, catapult shells flying down and into the foe’s ranks… One or two seconds passed, and large bursts of smoke and snow flashed around the trenches, the sound only reaching their ears another few seconds later.

Silvertread gripped the trigger to his ram’s weapon in his mouth, staring through the scope. Aiming the reticle directly at the distant speck of a pony, he bit down, scope filling with bright orangish-red light.

“Lion, Crossfire, what happened?” I asked. Lion Nightheart, a younger stallion with standard thestral colours, grey and purple, was missing numerous armour plates and his helmet, bandaged and bleeding around the barrel and breast. Copper Crossfire, a brighter coloured mare with red highlights on both her coat and mane, had one of her forelegs bandaged up, she was being carried by a few other knights and seemed barely conscious.

“Got stuck in a bit of a melee, got jabbed with pikes a few times, they didn’t hit anything vital… A few of the others managed to get me bandaged up and I downed a few healing vials, I’ll still be needing a few days of magical healing though… As for Copper,” His face suddenly turned grim, and tears started welling in his eyes, “Ran into about a dozen hoofmares with crossbows, she tried to block them all with her shield… Her leg was burnt all the way to the bone, and I don’t think magical healing will be enough. She gave us time to lob a few spears their way.”

I started feeling cold, and this time I was sure it wasn’t the air’s fault. “W-We shouldn't have done this… I shouldn’t have done this!” I started feeling tears pool around my eyes, freezing before they could hit the ground, “You, Gate… Crossfire’s going to lose her fucking leg because of me!”

“Don’t you say that shit, we can’t get anywhere with that weapon still up… Sure, a few of us won’t be able to help, but since when have you needed us for anything.”

“Don’t say that, sure you may not be as good of a fighter as me, but I don’t think I could block a dozen crossbows, or survive being stabbed in the gut. You need to be stronger.”

“It doesn’t matter what you think… We’ve gotten ourselves into a situation there's no returning from.”

I grunted, ”Luna damn it, this wasn’t supposed to happen,” I said under my breath, too quiet for them to hear… A few moments passed, but my gut stiffened, “Fine!” I forced the words from my mouth, “There’s no going back,” I was still crying, but the reality of the situation had sunken in, we’re all dead unless I stop feeling sorry for them, for myself… “I’m going up there to stop that weapon, and whoever’s feeling suicidal today, raise your hoof.”

Moments passed, some odd sense of relief washed over me, but it was quickly replaced by some form of regret and dread when a hoof was raised, “Postern…” I said, then it was followed by two more, “Skyrise, Green Heart… Anyone else?” I asked, then Portcullis and Crenel arrived back from the ship, raising their hooves too.

“I’ll go too, been too long since I’ve been in a battle in person,” A familiar voice called out from over the lip of the trench. A pony slid in, armour covered in snow.

“No… Not you! You are more important than my entire team, I can’t let you risk your life,” I said, turning to stare sternly at the figure of Iron Keep.

“I’ve been fighting longer than you’ve been alive, and I’ve never liked my position of strategist…”

“Still, you are the pony who belongs aboard the ship, hell, you were the pony in charge of the ground forces and planning.”

“Your grandfather seems to be doing a good job directing in my absence, and if I remember correctly, I had nothing to do with the planning… If anyone should be safe aboard the ship, it’s you.”

I growled, but… “Fine, you make a good argument, but stay at the rear, I’m not letting you of all ponies die.” I looked up at the sky, the distant form of the Strigoi, a fast approaching cloud of pony-shapes emitting from it, “Looks like reinforcements are here anyway.”

“Knights! On me! Hoofmares, descend and support the attack on the second line of defence!” Cursed Symphony yelled through the communications gem. Without reply the cloud of hoofmares began flying toward the battle. Cursed tilted her wings and began flying off toward the direction of the enemy’s weapon.

The second line of defence was quickly turning into a stalemate, the hoofmares of the Order Luna couldn’t get close to the trenches, being repelled by volleys of arrows and crossbow beams. The ponies of the Order Luna were taking cover behind some of the larger rocks, ice chunks, or ridges that they could find leading up to the trenches. A stallion leapt out of cover to try to return fire, only to hit in the barrel with a barrage of arrows, the chainmail had saved his life, however he fell in pain, toppling to the ground.

Inside the Argent trench, a hoofmare raised his bow for another shot at the downed pony, not trusting that he was actually dead. He loaded another brass-shelled arrow into the chamber, drawing back the handle and bowstring, aiming… Then some movement from above caught his, and the attentions of several other hoofmares from both sides.

These ponies wore armour, silver and gold, with red and gold cloaks and sashes. Shock echoed through the Argent ranks, at first assumed to be Argent knights were it not for the lack of purple and red in its place, “I don’t recognize those colours, are they here to help?”

“I didn’t receive news of reinforcements.”

“Do you think they might be more e-” A mare’s words were cut off in a gasp of shock and pain. A mare in the strange armour was on top of her, eyes glowing a bright purple, she fell from the sky like a meteor, having knocked over the Argent hoofmare, she struggled, trying to resist its grip, but to everyone’s shock the now clearly hostile mare didn’t have her sword drawn. Screams of horror cried out from within the trench, the Argent hoofmare, the stallion, instead stared at the creature before him, paralyzed in fear. The creature had its mouth to the Argent’s neck, ripping at her flesh, drawing and drinking her blood!

“M-Mutant!” Shouts erupted from inside the trench, ponies reaching for their melee weapons without hesitation, then the rest of the cloud descended in a rage, “It’s an army of mutants!” Shouted the stallion, drawing his bow again at the figure… She had finished and had drawn her sword in turn. Bang! Sounded the bow, as the shot struck the mare in the shoulder, pinging off her armour, and causing a meaty crunching noise, but the pain had simply angered the mutant. The stallion desperately reached for another arrow, then pain erupted in his neck as a sword impaled his throat.

I and most of my remaining knights were flying low to the ground, we could feel the snowy rocks pass below us, suddenly, a blast of heat flew past, the beam the width of an entire pony, “Scatter!” I shouted, however they were already doing what I had asked of them even before I said so. We were approaching the weapon’s base, It was obvious it would have some defence, some part of me wanted to jump into the heat-ray for being so dumb as to fly up in the open.

I dodged up and to the side, spotting a low ridge that we could duck behind, I told my fellow knights to follow my lead and set down. I came in a bit faster than I should have, but the thick and relatively uncompacted snow served as a cushion against the fall. Above was the sound of engines, three of them, an entire line of siege rams. They were moving in the direction of the battlefield, they were made from metallic white bricks, decorated with lavender banners and tapestries that depicted the symbol of a silver spear, at least one had sponson-mounted arbalests, the others had simple catapults.

“Spear, anti-armour head!” I said. Iron Keep passed me his spear-shaft, and Portcullis gave me a spearhead. It was a long metal cylinder about the width of my hoof, a button was mounted to the end, and the other end was a threaded socket, I screwed the head to the shaft, then charged over the lip of the ridge. My intended target didn’t see me, however, one of the sponsons was tracking back and forth and getting dangerously close.

With my hoof I threw the spear forward, the head impacted the vehicle’s side, then a loud but soft crack filled the air, and a flash of bright light that carried with it no smoke… Then the vehicle exploded. Horseapples! I hit the ammo store! The explosion threw me back, and I trashed in the snow. The other vehicles soon took notice and turned in my direction, Shit! Shit! Shit! Need to run!

A loud boom attracted my attention, while I was trying to regain my balance, I saw a black-coated mare with a purple and blue striped mane pull up into the air, a bow clenched in her teeth. No! Nononono! She let off another round from her bow, it harmlessly bounced off the armour of the ram, this was enough for the ram’s tower to take notice and turn in her direction, “Skyrise! Wa-” There was a red-orange flash, a burning ray of energy, and Skyrise was gone, in her place was ash and carbon particles floating away in the wind.

I screeched in shock before I could move, and before the ram could notice, a shape lunged from seemingly nowhere, the knight stallion coming to rest atop the ram’s tower with the sound of metal-on-metal. The vehicle’s commander opened a hatch on the roof of the tower to see what had just hit him, then was decapitated with the slash of a sword. The stallion Green Heart produced a spear, slung an anti-armour head to the shaft, then tossed it down through the hatch. A crack erupted inside the machine, followed by numerous popping noises, the sounds of batteries exploding, then smoke began to pour from every hole in the machine as the engine went dead, and the fuel was set alight.

“Get up!” He shouted to me, “We still have one more to deal with!”

I didn’t have time to grieve for Skyrise, I lept to my hooves, shaking off the snow that got stuck between the folds of my armour, and saw the final vehicle turning in our direction, this one didn’t have sponsons. In the sky, the silhouettes of ponies were flying in our direction, I didn’t know whether they were friendly or not, but I didn’t want to find out.

“Midnight! Pilum! We have enemy armour,” Shouted Cursed Symphony. She looked down to the fight unfolding below, a hoof-full of Order Luna knights, hardly even half a team, had successfully destroyed a pair of siege rams with only two… Wait, make that one casualty, the pony who had happened to be too close to the explosion got back to her hooves.

Midnight produced a long metal tube, it almost looked like a bulkier version of the spear, protruding from its front end was a metal cylinder similar to the anti-armour spearhead, except a little larger and with a conical tip. As she rested her mouth on the trigger, vents protruded from the weapon’s rear, then there was a loud burning noise, followed by the spearhead launching from the pilum and flying down toward the vehicle on a trail of black smoke.

Above was a small burst of light, almost like bowfire, except it persisted, it flew down toward the final ram on a trail of smoke, “Run! Run!” I shouted, and everypony followed, fleeing the incoming projectile, the vehicle’s commander was confused as he watched us flee… Then some realization clicked in the vehicle's crew as shouts came from within, and the hatch and side-doors flew open to reveal the commander trying to take flight.

The projectile slammed into the vehicle with a resounding boom and a flash of bright white light. The air became hot and smoky, there were several smaller booms from within the burning cloud of smoke, when it cleared little was left of the ram but a burned out husk.

Following a fit of coughing, I shouted, “Come on! We need to press forward and get inside the base!” My fellow knights came out of cover and continued on, only a hundred or so meters to the target.

“Close the door! Close the Luna damned door!” Shouted the Electromancer.

The firing door to the culverin base started closing quickly, large chains pulling the slab of marble-titanium ferrostone down. Outside a small horde of knights were advancing toward them, after destroying an entire line of rams. The technomages were quickly trying to draw the culverin back into storage, then the Electromancer stopped them.

“What are you doing! We can’t allow them to capture the culverin!”

“Charge it to full power! We won’t allow this base to fall into their hooves!”

“You’re going to self-destruct the weapon! Do you-”

“I think the ponies who supplied us would be happier if it was destroyed rather than falling into the hooves of another Order! Or worse, the hooves of Luna herself!”

The enemy's weapon emplacement was mostly a ferrostone facade built into the side of a mountain, deeper within were undoubtedly tunnels and passages containing the weapon, its crew, and whatever ammo or power systems were giving this thing life. The base was undoubtedly guarded. There was a swooping noise behind me, I turned, and several ponies in ornate knight armour, silver, shiny, and inlaid with gold, underneath bright red and gold cloaks, in place of the beaked faceplates of Luna knight armour, they wore simple grills across their faces. They almost look like a twisted version of Order Argent knights.

“It looked like you could use some assistance,” A mare spoke in a voice that should have been beautiful, had it not been spoken in such a harsh and aggressive tone. It was only now I noticed she didn’t carry a melee weapon.

“And we thank you, are you of the Order Sanguine?” I asked.

“Correct,” She practically growled the word, “We are the first team of knights of the Order Sanguine…”

“Good work destroying that ram, don’t suppose you have another pilum to destroy the weapon with.”

“We’ve been instructed to retrieve that weapon intact.”

“I can certainly understand the motives behind that, but it would be much simpler to destroy the base as I had been intending.”

“Well, we don’t know the nature of the weapon in question, getting some knowledge of its workings would be helpful.”

I nodded my head in agreement, “What’s your name?”

“Cursed Symphony.”

“Marble Merlon,” I replied.

One of the Order Sanguine knights pulled out an anti-armour spear as we approached the base’s facade. The giant weapon door was the only way in and out, although it could be assumed that there were tunnels that led into the castle within. “How are we going to get in?” I asked.

“Those rams came from this direction, there should be a hangar or armoury to store them, see if you can’t find a door we can blow open,” Said Iron Keep.

It didn’t take long to find the ram tracks and follow them back to the mountainside, and to a camouflaged hatch in a strange lip in the cliffside, they had done a good job disguising a bunker entrance, the snow easily merging natural stone and ferrostone brickwork. The gate however, had been opened recently, and the show had been disrupted.

“Anti-Armour spear!” I demanded.

Cursed Symphony drew hers, we all backed away as she grabbed the very end of the shaft and rammed the tip forward. There was the characteristic flash and smoke, and a few moments a pony-sized hole had melted away from the door’s hull. Just to be sure, I threw a fragmentation spear through the hole to clear away any potential guards waiting in ambush.

My fears, while not unfounded, were thankfully wrong, as inside was nothing, pony or otherwise, just damaged machinery courtesy of my spear. “Something’s wrong,” I blurted out, and got looks from the others, “No one would leave a building like this unguarded, particularly during a battle.”

“Do you think it’s a trap?” Asked Cursed Symphony.

“Yes, but what kind? Are they waiting in ambush up ahead, or have they evacuated the weapon and crew, simply hoofing us an empty building before sealing the exits?” Symphony stayed silent, the others began whispering things to each other… Then I turned around, “Everyone, get out and return to the battle!”

They gave me a questioning look, “Why?” asked Green Heart.

“This is a trap, that much we know, and we can’t afford to trot in blindly… Neither can we afford to let this weapon go and continue to suppress our aerial dominance… So I’m going in alone to deal with it.”

“N-No! That’s unfathomably idiotic!” Replied Iron Keep, “I refuse to let you go in without backup!” There was a nod from my fellow knights.

“What choice do we have, as I ment-”

“I’ll go with her, the rest of you wait outside and be prepared to come to rescue us if things go bad,” Cursed Symphony chimed in.

I tilted my head, but this was acceptable. “Ok, fine…” I replied, I really didn’t want to be the cause of an allied Order’s knight’s death… But if I turned her down, Iron would berate me again and the rest would end up following me into danger like last time. With those thoughts, images of carbon dust falling to the ground resurfaced.

The Argent trench was putting up stiff resistance, but quickly collapsing. A stallion in gold, silver, and red armour was struck in the head with an arrow, his helmet cracked, blood flowed from a gaping head wound, and he collapsed, however before he had even hit the ground, there followed the pained, horrified, and deadly screams of dozens upon dozens of Argent mares and stallions. The Order Luna was finally relieved, and hoofmares in black and white rushed forward, overtaking what parts of the Argent line hadn’t collapsed under the Sanguine’s onslaught.

Back in the supply trench, one where fighting hadn’t reached yet, Argent ponies were rushing to support the battle, while some, fearing the same fate as those in the first line of defence, were already fleeing back toward the Castle. A mare looked up toward the distant hills, there were a few flashes, as if someone had struck flint and steel together for sparks… A distant whining noise grew and grew, then a boom as ponies were thrown across the trench floor, the screams of the wounded and dying reached the rearmost trench as distant catapult fire had raked across the battlefield, yet even in this chaos the ponies didn’t miss a beat in their work.

There was a burning beam of light, and a pile of arrow boxes were struck with a pony-sized beam of energy, exploding with both steam and fire. Meanwhile, from the communications trenches the sound of battle grew closer and closer.

No one, nothing, no signs of life, hostile or otherwise… “They’ve evacuated,” I said, “That’s the only thing that makes sense…”

“Do you think they’ve run away from us,” Disappointment evident in Symphony’s voice.

“No… They wouldn’t have fled from a team and a quarter of knights…”

“So, what’s going on.”

“We’ll know when we reach the weapon system…” But I think I know the reason already… They're planning to destroy the weapon and us with it. It had only been a guess, but the more I thought about the idea, as illogical as it would be to destroy such a valuable asset, the more my heart beat faster, the more my illogical and primal parts of my brain yelled to run as far and as quickly as my legs and wings could take me. “We need to get up there, fast!” I said, quickly picking up the pace.

Symphony gave a nod and a trot turned into a gallop, then a full sprint as we threw our wings into it. I found a ramp leading up, meanwhile holding a mental image of the base, trying to figure out how far up and to the side we’d need to go to reach the weapon platform. There was a wooden sign bolted to the wall, saying “Culverin bay,” outlined in yellow and pointing an arrow down a corridor, we followed its directions.

After ascending another three levels and running down a corridor, we burst out into a long tunnel big enough to easily carry a siege ram, there was a set of steel rails along the shaft’s centre, and heavy cables that ran along the length of the tracks. Down continued downward before opening up into a larger room, but neither of us cared what was down that way… Up led to a giant door, metal, unlike the ferrostone ones, usually encountered, there was a platform built into one of the side walls from which were numerous control altars and arcane devices, and most importantly, there was the weapon.

It was made from some stark white material that resembled bone, the end of the barrel fanned outward into a shape that closely resembled a flower, and mounted to the series of cables we had seen when we entered, it looked part catapult, part ballista. When we got closer we could see portholes and vents radiating blue light.

There were four ponies, at last, some semblance of life. “Halt!” I shouted.

“T-The’re here!” Shouted a technomage of dark brown coat and white mane, odd how similar he looked to Bastion.

I raised my crossbow, “Everypony, back away from the weapon!” I shouted. A few did, however the Electromancer, a black-coated and red-maned unicorn didn’t, he turned and held a buttoned device in his mouth.

“Back away, or-” He tried to murmur something between the device in his mouth, however, Symphony was fast, recognizing the threat she raised her hooves into the air, small but incredibly sharp claws extended forth from her armour, then she slammed down on the device being held in the unicorn’s mouth. There was the sizzling and popping of broken gems and damaged batteries as the device sparked.

The Electromancer’s face when pale, turning grey instead of black, “T-That-” He tried to say, however staring up at the face of Symphony, he went silent.

“What are you doing!” Shouted a mare technomage, “Are you trying to get us killed!”

The Electromancer turned back to Symphony, anger evident, and tried to pull something from his robes, Symphony raised a hoof, claws extending outward again, “No, we’ll need someone to tell us how to disable this thing,” I reminded her, and she wisely backed down, however the gesture was enough to tell the Electromancer that whatever he was attempting was a bad idea.

It didn’t take long to round up the ponies, strip them of their gear, and tie them up to the wall. “So! Time to tell us exactly how to turn this thing off,” Said Cursed Symphony threateningly.

“This thing is the Culverin, and you aren’t laying your filthy hooves on it!” Shouted the Electromancer. I had to once again remind Symphony not to kill our prisoners.

“Very well, for both our sakes, you will tell us how to disable this Culverin and then accompany us back to the Ritterschaft,” I said sternly, however not aggressively, to the technomages and Electromancer.

“You won’t-” Started the Electromancer.

“Cut the power cables, it’s the easiest and fastest way,” Interrupted the technomage mare. This earned her glares from her fellow technomages, however, those paled compared to the look of sulfurous hated given by the pony she interrupted.

Symphony returned to bullying the Electromancer, “Is that true?”

“Y-Yes, cut the blue cable, avoid the brown ones, they go to the arcane containment systems! Cutting those would flood the chamber in plasma!”

Symphony trotted over to the bundle of cables on the ground and raised her claws… I batted my wing at her, telling her to back down. Crouching I carefully separated the cables one-by-one. Pulling out my sword, I hovered its blade over the cable marked in blue. There was a look of hesitation, of fear among the technomages, however the Electromancer kept his expression of anger.

“He’s lying,” I said flatly.

“Are you sure? He looked shit-his-pants scared to me!” Said Symphony triumphantly.

I turned back to the mare, gesturing her to talk. She looked over to the others, who continued their glares, “The blue cable goes to the arcane containment systems… I think... I don’t know much about the workings of the Culverin, but I know there are specific instructions to never touch that cable while the weapon is active… The primary power line is the largest cable, I think breaking that one will work.”

Symphony returned for the third time to the Electromancer, “D-Don’t listen to h-her, she doesn’t k-know what she’s talking about!”

I pulled my crossbow out and aimed it at the largest of the cables, there was a burst of red, followed by the sparking noise of broken electronics, the cable was melted through, the bundles of copper within melting and flowing like water over the floor before cooling. The Culverin’s blue glow flickered, then slowly faded, the plasmas cooling quickly thanks to the failsafes such a weapon would undoubtedly have.

“It looks like she’s correct.”

Cursed Symphony turned her head to me, giving me a questioning look, or at least as much as she could give me while within her armour. I waved my hoof, caring not what she did to the Electromancer.

She clicked off the grill around her muzzle, then pulled off the visor, and finally threw off her helmet. I turned to stare at her, something about her colours painfully familiar… A charcoal coloured coat, not as black as the Electromancer’s, but still darker than my stone-like grey, coupled with red eyes that glowed, and a mane that was a deep pink with spiky orange stripes.

She knocked the Electromancer to the ground, and stood over him in a threatening posture, then lowered her head as she brought her head down to his neck. There was a sickening crunch, and a garbled scream, Symphony had bitten clean through his neck. I scrambled back “W-What the hell!” I shouted witnessing the gruesome display. The other technomages had similar reactions, though too scared to say anything.

“What!” She spat back defensively… And part of me found some amusement in how she actually spat blood with her words.

“I-I’ve just never encountered an actual mutant before.

She sighed before returning to her meal… I just trotted over to the other side of the weapon, trying my damnedest to not vomit following what I had just witnessed. Desperate to find something else to focus on, I returned my mind to her odd familiarity.

“S-Sir,” Said Goldsparkle timidly. The Grand Master was fuming, he was always easy to anger, however none in the control room had seen him this angry before.

“What is it now,” He said, his tone sending shivers down the spine of everypony present.

“The second line of defence!”

“What about it! Has it fallen already!?”

“S-Sir, the enemy… T-They're eating us!”

The room went quiet with shock, and not for the first time today. “You mean… They're mutants?” Said another communications pony. Goldsparkle could only give a nod as a realization dawned on her, the reason why they were attacking us, and the reason why this base, in particular, was chosen.

“The Order Luna…” Growled the Grand Master, “I’ll have-”

“Sir!” Announced a frantic mare, “We’re detecting power loss from the Culverin!”

Then, the Grand Master, suddenly all his anger seemed to give way to fear, his face turning from red to white in a single instance.

It dawned on me, I pulled off my helmet too, revealing my light grey fur, dark grey spots, and near-white mane, yellow eyes staring into Symphony’s… The lighting was different, cleaner, devoid of the colours that tinted Magnus’ atmosphere, colours that would have shifted her mane to a pale and deep red.

She stared at me, wiping away the remains of her victim that stuck to the fur around her muzzle, she stared at me with the same look she had within a cage, but now tinted with curiosity, and the same understanding… “You, you were that filly, the one who got me out of that cage in Mount Zwielicht’s lower terrace.”

I nodded. She started prancing around excitedly, giggling, giving me somewhat conflicting feelings after seeing her eat a pony. “I’ve never got the chance to thank you, I’ve been looking around for you for what feels like forever!”

“Well, we can talk later, we still have a mission to complete,” I smacked a button on the control altar that the technomage mare had shown me earlier, with that the door started to open, blasting us with snow and icy wind. “Iron Keep, the target’s secure, get the word out to the Ritterschaft and Strigoi,” I spoke into the communications gem mounted to my armour… If I ever find the pony who designed the armour, I’ll thank them for putting in communications devices in both the helmet and breastplate.

Out in the distance the sun, a spot in the clouds that glowed brighter than the rest, was growing low on the horizon, it would only be a few hours until dusk. My knights, and the knights of Order Sanguine flew up and into the weapon emplacement. “You were taking a while, I was about to go rushing in after you anyway,” Said Iron Keep.

“You need to stop them… Go tell the Argent’s Grand Master that our Grand Master is the one at fault, and see if you can’t get this whole mess cleaned up!” Frantically whispered a mare, one of the members of the engineering crew. She was leaning into the barred door, which during times of battle, was sealed shut unless given the Grand Master’s permission. She raised a talisman, to the door and it came unlocked with a click.

Night had fallen, although it was hard to tell within the Ritterschaft’s cells. Bastion came up to the door, “I will, I’ll make sure that me, you, and all our friends are forgiven for the Grand Master’s actions.” With that the mare pulled the door open, and Bastion ran down the ship’s corridors while everyone else was asleep.

Author's Note

So... This chapter took me forever and a half to make... I was undecided on whether to split this chapter in half, or simply keep it as is, and that's the reason for the name, I decided to keep it one chapter, but I couldn't decide on one name, thus I named it both "The First Battle (Prelude to Siege)" As those would have been the names of the two chapters had I split them, though it is nice how it gave me a good even number for the word count. Now it's time for me to take a nice long break and write something shorter.

For future reference, here's how each of the weapons work: Pikes, Swords, and most other melee weapons are still the same as their real-world counterparts, metal blades that cut things, however, most of these weapons are made from metals like tungsten and titanium, though they also have near-monomolecular blades and have handles built for ponies (Mostly Y-Shaped, though they also have L and F-Shaped handles too.

Bows and 'Arrows', are actually regular ballistic guns, the arrow is a lead shell that's shaped like an arrow, placed into a brass shell filled with gunpowder. The bow's boxy part is the firing chamber in which you load the arrow, then you pull back on the handle that's connected to the bowstring, this handle is the firing pin... Think of the Nerf Bows for a good example. The reason why the arrows leave contrails is that they don't use the more modern cordite or smokeless powder, instead using good old fashioned gunpowder, which leaves a ton of smoke in its wake, and since the bullet is shaped like an arrow it creates a slipstream that drags the smoke with it. This is the same for catapults, which are actually howitzers and anti-tank guns mounted in wooden catapult frames, and trebuchets which are full-sized naval guns mounted to tungsten trebuchet frames.

Javelins and their pony-portable variant the Pilum, are rockets. Since it would be a waste of gemstones and magic to give them a targeting system, guided missiles don't exist, instead simple rockets do.

Spears are grenades on sticks, the fragmentation spear is just a frag grenade on a really long stick so a pony can throw or jab someone with it and explode them, the anti-armour spear is a shaped HEAT charge mounted to the end of a stick, so a pony can punch a hole in an armoured vehicle or building.

Crossbows, arbalests, and ballista are (sort of) laser weapons. The bolt acts as a powerful magical battery, it pumps electricity through the copper cables that act as the crossbow string, and into the bow segment, which is covered in magical gems that transform the electricity into pure heat at 100% efficiency. The heat is funnelled down the length of the weapon and out the head at the end which focuses the heat into a solid beam. It would be better to compare it to a Warhammer 40K meltagun, as it doesn't shoot light like a laser, but rather pure heat, and the glowing beams aren't laser light, but rather streams of plasma. The Arbalest is merely a crossbow the size of a tank cannon, and the Ballista is simply a crossbow the size of a naval gun.

Arquebus are what we tend to think of when we think of plasma weapons, they use magnetic fields to contain energized gasses, then propel them forward, so imagine a 15th-century musket crossed with a Fallout plasma rifle, except blue rather than green, because it's a smart idea to use nonreactive gases like xenon when weaponizing plasma. Just like with the crossbow, arbalest, and ballista, the Cannone and Culverin are just field gun and naval gun sized versions.

Siege Rams are tanks, literally ww1-era tanks with magi-tech weapons. I describe most of them as trapezoidal or parallelogram brick boxes with towers on their tops, so imagine a half-stone half-metal version of a British Mark IV tank with a turret, that's all covered in crenelations, banners, and tapestries.