Chapters Kriegbats
CHAPTER I: Magnus
Bricks shook under my hooves, deep rumbling booms echoed through stone and metal to reach my ears. Polished armour, a deep, dark, grey, much like that of volcanic stone, clung to my body through insulated padding and mail, enchanted so as to not increase my weight. Over my wings were thick armoured plates, shaped to look like metal feathers, lending them a strange appearance, as if the wings of some giant black bird were draped over that of a pony-sized bat. Across my back, holes cut in them for my wings, were white cloth banners, trimmed in black, decorated with the silhouette of a crescent moon swallowing a four-pointed star, much like a tapestry draped across my withers.
The plate armour kept my whole body sealed to the air, even my tail was clenched down my metal bands that prevented air from seeping in. Atop my head was a metal helmet, a full semicircle tilted back to allow vision, a thick brim and crest gave it shape, complete with a half-faceplate that covered my head down to my muzzle, holes carved in for my eyes, and a beaked mask that covered my muzzle and lower head, giving me the appearance of a pony-sized bird. Underneath this, my coat was a light grey and mane a dark grey, with golden slit-eyes.
The armoury was filled with mares and stallions of an array of colours, all armoured just like myself. In their mouths or with their hooves were a host of weaponry, swords, shields, crossbows, bows, halberds… Spearshafts were strapped to their flanks, spearheads on the opposite flank. One of us was bearing the standard, standing straight in the absence of wind. The walls were made from dark bricks, reinforced with equally dark metal, this same material comprised the floor tiles, and the doors, great stone slabs that moved up and down on chains, enchanted to not let any air pass when closed.
From above a small jewel embedded into the wall glowed with light and released a deep dinging noise like a great bell. One, two three… I thought to myself, waiting as the sound of cogwheels filled the air, there came a rumbling shutter from a large, slanted, door. Four, five, six… The door lifted upward with surprising speed, revealing a snowy landscape… Mountains surrounding an elongated valley, all a stark white, a flurry of wind and snow started filling the armoury. Seven, eight, nine… Below, some great distance, the specific distance unknown to me, was a long, shallow, stone-walled moat, from within beams of striking red fanned out into a horde of ponies on the surface. Ten.
“Now! Cry havoc!” I shouted across the room, blunted by the roaring winds, this shout was matched by nearly every other pony, twenty shouts of ‘Cry havoc ’ joining my own. Then with a flick of my wings and a thrust of my hind legs, I fell out into the cold air.
“Is that where brother is!” I peeked over the crenellated railing. It was dark like always, thick dusty clouds rolled overhead, and some strange sparkling formed a bluish purplish blanket over the sky. Up above something had burst a hole in the sky, and through that hole painful light sprayed down around a vaguely bird-like shape, creating a corona of brilliant golds. A flying castle! I thought, as a large, skinny, ship made from brick started to fly overhead, it passed through the sparkling layer with a hissing noise, making the world feel a little bit colder. The ship was covered in tapestries and banners, towers with the barrels of trebuchets poking out just over their crenellated tops were extending from the top and bottom of the hull, with a massive pair of bird-like wings flying out from the sides.
Behind me, from out of the corner of my eye, mom nodded. “He’s flying to the Order’s capital… We’ll be going up there to visit him soon, I promise!”
I was about ready to leap off the railing with excitement. “I hope he can come down here for my birthday!”
“I have no doubt,” She sighed, “But we need to get you to school, it’s the last day of the week, and I don’t think your brother would want to see you if you didn’t do all your work.”
I sighed, a deep, guttural sigh… My brother’s back and it’s only a few days away from my birthday, how is that supposed to be fair. “I’ll go get my bag.”
Without waiting for my mother’s response I trotted into the house. My house, like all others in town, was made from dark stone bricks, with small stained glass windows, mostly oranges, that mutated the cool colours of light flowing in from outside. Running through the common room that held the kitchen and living room, I burst into my room. It was small, only really a closet in the wall with a bed, dresser, and table, but I appreciated the compactness and cosiness of it all.
I retrieved my bag, a small, leather, messenger bag, like those carried by mail ponies… Putting my drawing pad, notebooks, and more charcoal than I would ever need inside, I reached over to my desk. There was a bow, it was only a toy but it looked like a wooden replica of the real thing. A mouth-handle extended from the side of a boxy part in the middle, from the blocky centre the bow shaft extended both up and down, string pulling back on a rod that reached into the boxy apparatus.
I sprinted out and met up with my mother, grabbing a waterskin from the cooler, a metal device that looked like a chest, cooled with magic until the contents inside were on the verge of freezing. I merely waved a wing at her and ran out of the door, with a leap I was atop the crenelations, then free falling as I fell from three stories up, with a quick wave of my wings I landed in the middle of the road.
While other thestrals were the norm, numerous other pony subspecies, as well as a few griffons, were crowding the road. The route to school was a long one from my home, all through flagstone streets, past brick buildings with crenelations and stained-glass windows, usually one or more banner or heraldic shield was hung from their roofs, a method for telling whose house was whose, and the trees were beautiful this time of year… The plants were all a vibrant orange, and for half the year the trees would lose their leaves as the snows crept in. It wouldn’t be too long now until snow-season! Once my brother brought back a plant from a place called Equus, it was all green... But died really quickly when the snow season crawled around.
I passed over a bridge, brick with metal reinforcements, and looked over its side to see the farms on the hills. The city was built around a mountain, buildings built on artificial plateaus and outcroppings, all strung together into a mass of brickwork. From here I could make out the farms in stark detail, there were a few dedicated to potatoes and carrots, magic was used in their growth due to a lack of light… Most were dedicated to chickens.
I came around into another part of town, this was a suburb I knew particularly well… One of my friends, White Rose, came from here. There was a crowd of ponies around a banner that hung in the air. The banner was a dull purple with silver trim, the silver outline of a heraldic shield was surrounding an emblem of a sword, inward facing spikes of silver, almost like the glow of the moon, could be seen around the edges of the shield. Written on the top and bottom of the banner in silver lettering was something in the ancient thestral language “Verteidger der pferde, morder von monstern…” I worked my tongue around the strange words.
The crowd of ponies all had looks of awe on their faces… Wait, no… Not all, a few, had looks of… Was that anger, worry. Something on them instead.
“The Order Argent!”
“They're here?”
“I thought they were just a story!”
“Aren’t they the ones who hunt monsters!”
“I thought they killed criminals?”
More mutters of confusion and excitement came from all around me. In the centre of the herd was a metal cage, within was a pair of ponies, one with pale pink fur and lavender mane, her eyes seemed to give off a little bit of purplish light… The other was a filly visibly younger than me, with a dark bluish-grey coat and a dark pale red mane with brighter red highlights… She didn’t even have her cutie mark yet.
Around the cage were hoofmares with silvery armour and halberds, pilot lights flaring, along with a knight in full armour minus the helmet. The knight was a unicorn and was in an argument with a city guard. “This pony and the filly with her are mutants! She was found drinking the blood of a street cat and sheltering that c-child, how long until she would come for one of you!”
“That does not give you the right to abduct citizenry of the Order Luna, your Order has no jurisdiction here, if she ever does indeed assault somepony, we will deal with it ourselves!”
“No jurisdiction! We were created for this very task!”
“If we had a mutant problem, we would have called you!”
“And you would just let this creature run loose! Even as she murders your foals and breeds more of her kind!”
“I didn’t see her doing anything wrong, that cat you presented as evidence only had minor blood loss, it wasn’t dying… Hell! It doesn’t belong to anyone here! A-And that foal, what evidence do you have that she’s a mutant too!”
The argument grew as the expressions of the ponies around them changed, some started discussing among themselves… If this didn’t stop a fight could break out. Then the hoofmares lowered their halberds in the guard’s direction. The guard flinched but didn’t back away. “Take the mare, but at least have the decency to let the foal go!”
The knight isn’t going to agree to that… I worriedly thought. Upon seeing the foal and listening to the argument, more and more of the ponies in the crowd started agreeing with the guard. I slowly trotted up, trying to be as non-threatening as possible. “S-Sir,” I said, squeaking as one of the hoofmares lowered his halberd in my direction, “P-Please stop, just agree to let the filly go, or something… If you continue, there might be a fight from some of the other ponies here.”
“She’s a smart one,” Grinned the guard.
The knight started to look around, seeing the glares from the other townsfolk, and hear the discussions flaring between the crowd. “Fine,” He spat, “Don’t blame us for what this foal does to you…”
With that, the cage was opened and the foal was released. I darted up to meet her, but she dashed away from the crowd and down an alley before I could get a word in. With that, most of the discussion in the herd had silenced a bit, but the guard and knight were still glaring at each other. Finally, the cage and the pony within were flown away by the hoofmares, the knight trotting off in their direction.
Finally, I came to land in front of the school, ahead, among all the thestrals, were Brick Bastion and White Rose. One was a slender but well-built colt, of dusty brown coat and white and black striped mane. The other was completely white in both mane and tail and a red bow in her mane, she was looking exhausted...
“Bang!” I said, swooping in with my bow drawn, I aimed it at Bastion’s head and let go, a loud snap followed as the bow’s rod hit the inside of the boxy part. White gasped and nearly tripped over herself as she stumbled back, while Bastion turned his head, took one look, and started laughing…
“Wow. Marble! didn’t see you until now!” He walked up to greet me, meanwhile, White snapped out of her brief panic and noticed me. Bastion and I slapped our wings together in greeting, White galloped up and did the same.
“So, what took you so long Merlon...”
“I ran into some trouble down by your neighbourhood… It looked like the Order Argent had placed a banner in the centre of the street.”
“The Argents! They’re here!” Bastion lept up to his wings, “I hope they’re still there once school’s out!” Bastion’s sudden outburst causing Rose to involuntarily jerk back. “I hope they aren’t too busy for me!”
I chuckled, “Bas, I think they got their hooves a bit full already. Last I saw they were dragging away a pony they thought was a mutant…”
“Aww, but they’re monster hunters imagine the awesome stories they could tell! Ooh, I could even help them!”
“They hunt mutants, thestrals who’ve gone all ‘monster’, what if you need to fight your own neighbours!” Rose shuttered.
A frown crossed Bastion’s face, but he steadied himself, puffing out his chest, “I-It doesn’t matter, my dad said that mutant ponies are bad news for us… Bad for the Princess.”
“Well hey, I don’t expect anything to come of it, I think all these ‘Argents’ are just paranoid… We’ll see that mare back by the end of the week, I promise.” I finished.
Bastion giggled, “Plus, a pony in this town coming out of nowhere and trying to eat us will make for one hell of a story!” Bastion trotted behind Rose and with a jump, “Arrgh!” He opened his mouth to draw his fangs and pretend to bite Rose’s withers.
Rose jumped back, yelping and clattering to the ground, landing hard on her saddlebag, throwing the one on the opposite over and scattering its contents across the ground. I jumped to my hooves, “Rose!” I shouted, “Are you alright,” My tone calmed as I lifted her to her hooves.
“Y-Yeah, just shocked me is all…”
I turned my head and scowled at Bastion, “You could have hurt her!”
“S-Sorry, I just…”
“I-It’s ok, just don’t do that again,” she muttered.
A loud donging echoed above as the school bell rung. The school looked like the mountain was trying to bite it, the site had once been a cave, but the school was built halfway inside, and halfway out, a five-metre tall brick wall was built around the structure, connected to the school’s doorway, leaving the cave as a place for younger colts and fillies to enjoy recess, while older students spent the break studying, the cave also was where lunch was held. As it was one of only three schools in all of town, it needed to accommodate ponies of all ages.
We trotted in, there were three classrooms, with three teachers, all connected off the main hall… It resembled a cross with the bottom-most bar removed, and each classroom had a door out into the cave. One classroom was meant for fillies and colts below the ages of ten, the second was for ponies from ten to fifteen, and the last was for ponies fifteen and up. We all headed for classroom 2.
“Brick Bastion… White Rose… Marble Merlon…” The teacher listed off each of our names as we passed in. “Good, it seems everypony is here, at last.” Blue Moon was an older stallion, at the very least older than anypony’s parents, and a kind teacher. We each took our seats, padded cushions on the floor, everyone was free to choose our own seating, but most of us had our favourite spots, I sat in between my two friends. The classroom was the same as most buildings in town, grey brick with metal buttresses, the wall was covered in banners showing the cutie marks of each of the teachers who had served here.
“I hear that the Order Argent has shown its head here… Seems about as good a subject as any to talk about, and something that I suppose you students should learn about. I’m sure you already know the basics about the Knightly Orders, does anypony want to start.”
A filly I hardly knew but was familiar as a classmate raised her hoof, “There are six Orders… Order Luna, Order Polaris, Order Astra, Order Solar, Order Argent, and Order Lupus.”
Another pony, a colt, the oldest in this class, continued, “They were founded by Princess Luna, and the Kingdom of the Moon is divided between the six, each Order having their own territory.”
“Correct, although you are incorrect in saying that there are six Orders… There were six Orders, now only five official Orders remain.”
Rose pressed into the conversation, “Yes, the Order Astra fell apart only a decade after its founding, I think it was because of internal political struggles, now its territories are a nopony’s land… Filled with pirates, mercenaries, and independent settlements, each claiming to be part of the Order Astra.”
“Now, what about our own Order…”
I opened my mouth, “The Order Luna, that’s easy, we’re the Order with the largest consolidated territory, we are led by a governing council of one representative of each settlement who act as advisors to the Order’s Judge, the head of the Order’s military, and together form the Order’s Court, we’ll still take orders from the Princess if necessary, but for the most part we’re allowed to govern ourself.”
One of the students, the colt who spoke earlier, corrected me, “Actually, the advisors discuss political doctrine and the Judge acts as the final arbiter of any decision unless more than seventy percent of the Advisors disagree with the Judge’s choice.”
“Good, now let’s return to the topic at hoof, the Argents…”
Bastion raised his hoof, “Ooh! The Argents! They have the least actual territory of the Orders, I think they own one settlement per colony across all the kingdom. They pride themselves as enforcers of peace and unity, they hunt down escaped criminals, deal with dangerous monsters who threaten our settlements, and hunt down mutants, cults, and terrorists, who threaten our everyday lives.”
“Yes, they are the ponies who keep our kind safe from threats within, there are some criminals too skilled for the police to handle, some pirates which the settlement garrisons can’t handle, and the mutants-” The teacher shuttered.
Rose raised her hoof, “But what makes these ‘mutants’ so dangerous, I’ve not heard much about them except rumours…”
“Good question, we don’t know much about them, other than that through some disease or curse, they have attained a taste for the blood of other ponies… The symptoms appear during a pony’s puberty, starting with an increased aversion to light, even more so than a thestral’s normal distaste for light and heat, and minor insomnia. They may start as regular ponies like you or me, but as they grow older their need for the blood of others grows to the point where they can no longer resist their urges and attack and usually kill others… That’s why it’s important to imprison, or in the worst cases, kill them.”
Lunch had come, students of every age had filtered out into the cave. There were balls lying around the courtyard for ponies to play with, a tree was growing in the centre of the yard with its tallest branches touching the cave ceiling. Cushions were brought out of a shed and placed around tables for students to sit around and eat, some had already finished their food, platters of baked chicken strips, and were now playing buckball with their friends. Deeper into the cave was a metal fence with a wooden door, this led further into the mountain, sometimes teachers would take classes down there for geology or history classes.
I sat on one cave wall, watching the proceedings from far away… With few friends and no intention of being hit with a ball, I simply chewed my food in bliss. Over by the benches and tables, one foal was showing her class her pet timberwolf. Bastion had already mingled with the sportier ponies and was having fun bucking thick leather balls around, I didn’t understand it… Numerous times I had tried convincing the school to remove them, what if a five or six-year-old foal was trotting around and got smacked with a ball bucked by one of the older, stronger, students!
A familiar mass set its weight next to me, “Rose…” I muttered.
“Hey, you looked a bit lonely out here, so I thought I should come by and keep you company…” She replied, and I blushed a bit at the thought.
“You don’t have to do that, what about your own friends.”
“They told me it’s ok…”
An awkward silence followed before I started talking again, “Sorry for Bastion’s actions earlier, before we got to class… He’s not a bad pony, he just doesn’t understand that not everypony is like him, his sense of ‘fun’ is throwing buckball balls at other ponies faces!”
Seemingly on cue, a loud “Whoo!” Echoed from the other side of the cave as Bastion scored a point… This was at least his third game, and his team had all won the previous ones, he clapped his hooves together with one of his teammates, a mare with a purple mane and grey coat, fairly standard colours for a thestral.
“It’s kinda cool watching him play,” She said, staring at Bastion’s flank and thus his cutie mark, a target.
“I still don’t like it, had I had my way, we’d be playing with foam swords and shields and bows!” With a grunt, I flopped over to my side. A moment later I felt a tickling sensation crawl up and down my mane, rose’s hoof was trailing down my fur like I was a little filly in need of comfort! “I’m at least a year older than you, can you stop that…”
With a blush of embarrassment, Rose released my mane, “S-Sorry…”
Dawn unfolded on the next day, I woke up, dressed myself in a simple formal dress, and hooked my saddlebags across my back, that done I mounted my bow to my side, then galloped out the door. Hanging from his tail off the overhang of my roof was Bastion, my mother chased after me, and the four of us began trotting down into town.
While trotting through the street I turned to Bastion, “Have you seen Rose anywhere? It would be a shame for her to miss this…”
“No, I asked around her neighbourhood, but apparently both she and her father have been missing since yesterday… I hope they're alright.”
“They're probably going down to visit family, this wouldn’t be the first time they’ve left town without telling anypony,” My mother chimed in.
“Yeahhh…” I muttered, a mixture of sarcasm and legitimate concern clouding my voice.
My home was about a third up the side of the mountain, the school half-way… The Order’s capital was all the way at the top, a massive fortress… I had only seen it a few times before, it was always filled with carracks and other small shuttles, I had never seen a proper castle ship before, but I remember hearing how the capital could hold up to thirty in school… It was massive, a three-kilometre circle, but it was still only a speck in comparison to the whole of the city, extending from a few kilometres from the bottom of the mountain in all directions, all the way to the fortress at its peak.
Trotting through street after street, the path up to the peak was a long and difficult one, even taking the straightest of paths, “Why can’t we just fly there, it’s not like we’re flying above the clouds and atmospheric sheath…” Of course, I already knew the answer, it expended more energy than walking, the winds on Magnus were powerful and unpredictable, the air was thick and easy to get lost in, etc… But I still wanted to do it.
An hour later and we reached the top, a huge dark wall extended outward in a circle, made from a dark brick that had a faint metallic shine to it. The landed castle-ship was visible over the walls, and several dark buildings cluttered the space around it. Heraldic banners, much like that of the Order Argent’s banner, but white and black rather than purple and silver, were hung up across the walls and buildings. They shared the same pattern, a shield within a border with some words across the tapestry… In this one, the shield had a quartered pattern, black and white, with a white circle outlined in black in the shield’s centre, within was a crescent moon nearly swallowing a four-pointed star… The banner’s words, also written in an ancient thestral language, read, “Verteidiger des Mondes, Verteidiger des Menschen, Verteidiger des Freiheit.”
There at the gate was a pony waiting for us. “Dawn!” I shouted, running up to grab my brother in a wing-hug. Even though his armour was all spiky, like a much darker-coloured version of the Argent knight covered in a black and white surcoat, I still managed it without hurting myself.
“I know it’s a bit early, but happy birthday Merlon,” He had removed his helmet to nuzzle me, his coat was a darker version of mine, with a dark purple mane, and same yellow eye-colour. “And I even got you a few presents, but I’ll save those for later.”
He walked me, my friend, and parent, into the fortress. We trotted over to the castle-ship, passed siege rams, large vehicles that ran on magical engines, shaped like huge slanted rectangles with towers extending from a little in front their centre, inside the tower was a pony-sized weapon, like a bow was merged with a long metal rectangle, then covered in gems and copper fins… An arbalest!
We continued, past numerous warriors, mostly knights and hoofmares, and worker ponies, like technomages, electromancers, geomancers, and alchemists, plenty of griffons among them too. I was entranced by the weaponry, plenty of the warriors carried crossbows, they resembled the weapon on the siege rams but smaller, with a mouth-handle on the side, the bow segments were encrusted with rubies that gave off a magical glow, while the side of the bow, pointing away from the wielder's face, were copper fins built into the main hull, just behind the handle was a slot for crossbow bolts, just above on the sides were ports from which copper cables latched out to the bow segments.
We came to the bow of the castle-ship, there was an old stallion, bearded, in heavy-looking armoured robes, a halberd clenched in is wings, and jewelled crown around his head with an armoured visor. “Grand Master, this is my sister, Marble Merlon, her friend, Brick Bastion, and her mother, Moonshield.”
“Ah, Moon, it’s good to see you again,” He said, turning to face my mother.
“Good to see you too father, it’s been far too long.”
As the two began talking, I ignored them, they would sometimes mention me or gesture to Bastion, but for the most part, the only thing that mattered was seeing my brother. He turned to me and smiled, “Hey, remember those presents I mentioned,” He said, “Happy birthday.”
He passed me a metal construct, a box with a slot in the side, a barrel protruding from the front, and a piston extending from the back, handle at the piston’s end, connected to cables that latched onto curved shafts that were mounted by springy rotors to the boxy apparatus again. “Is… Is this a bow? A real one!”
“Grand Master. Is it ok if I take Marble over to the firing range!” The Grand Master turned to Dawnbreak and nodded, before returning to talking with my mom. With that, I happily trotted after Dawn. We passed a few more buildings over to a row of long corridors with paper targets at their ends, he passed me an arrow, a long brass cylinder with a lead spike at its end. “Now be careful, this is a real bow after all and we don’t want to shoot anypony here.”
I nodded, then gripped the handle in my mouth, using one wing to slot the arrow into the firing piece through the side-slit, and closing the breach. With the other wing, I pulled back on the handle, sliding it until the tension grew and the handle couldn’t slide back anymore, the rotors in the bow-shaft clicking. Then I let go, the rotors sprung forward, mashing the piston home with a loud click-boom! I received a kick to the jaw, a ringing in my ears, and a flash of bright light that faded soon after, leaving only a pain in the back of my neck. “Ow…” I whined.
I slid my wings forward and pulled from the side hatch on the bow, a searing hot brass shell. Looking forward I saw that I had placed a hole in the target, well a hole in the canvas, but the actual target was untouched… “Aww, I missed.”
“No, that was actually really good for your first shot.”
I turned and raised my eyebrow at my brother, he just gave a smile. We trotted back to the drydocks, he had borrowed a few training rounds from the firing range, they were enchanted foam rods that would give off sound and light when struck, but not actually hurt ponies, and they were reusable!
“Steeled Hull… She’s turning fourteen tomorrow, that’s the perfect age.” I heard my mother say.
“Agreed, she’s the same age as her brother when he became a squire. As for Bastion, we’ve already talked with his parents, he’ll be joining us tomorrow… Marble will need to make the choice herself.”
“Make what choice,” I said, finally catching up.
Dawnbreak turned and stared at me, “Oh, yes. Your second present,l if you choose to accept it that is…” He… Almost looked sad, “The ship’s only here for repairs, but we’ll be accepting new squires during that time… I just wish I could spend more time with you.”
“Wait… You want me to become a knight!” I screeched in excitement, “But… Wait… You can’t come with me?”
“No, I’m training to become a Cataphract, I first needed ten years of experience as a Knight, then I need to spend four years training down here. Plus, I’m sure mom would want to spend more time with me after so long.”
The Grand Master, Steeled Hull, my grandfather, turned to me, “Yes, you’ll be spending five years aboard my ship, then you can either choose to become a knight, or simply leave and return home…”
“But, what about my friends, and you,” I gestured to my mom.
Bastion turned and said, “I’ve already decided to join, and we can send letters to all our friends.”
My mom continued, “Plus, I can always take a shuttle and visit next time you’re near Magnus.”
“I-It’s just a shame Rose isn’t here,” I muttered, “I don’t think a letter will be a good enough goodbye.”
“I’ll ask around for her tomorrow…” Bastion replied.
“You’ll need to decide soon, we’ll be departing early tomorrow-” The Grand Master continued.
“I’ll do it, even if I can’t say goodbye to Rose.”
“Ok then.”
I turned, staring at a map that was draped over a table, showing the sun and seven planets. The three closest to the sun including their moons, Stygian, Somnambula, and Meadowbrook were highlighted in red. Equus, the next planet over was greyed out. The next three planets, Magnus, Starswirl, and Mistmane, were highlighted in blue. A group of asteroids that surrounded the entire system, moving in a polar orbit around the sun as opposed to an equatorial orbit, collectively known as the Rockhoof belt, were all greyed out as well, with small points of green, brown, and red. The planets in blue all had small points of colour spotting their surface, some white, some lavender, some violet, some brown, some yellow, some darker blue. The moons of Starswirl, a large gas-giant, were bright green.
Author's Note
Don't forget to leave a comment.
View Online
Chapter II: Silver Swords and Silver Shields
CHAPTER II: Silver Swords and Silver Shields.
The ship came to land. With a loud rumble and a shaking that flowed up through my hooves, the vessel landed at a massive stone and metal construct. We had passed through an atmospheric sheath, it felt strange, like all the air pressure vanished and returned for a second, and I ran to look out the window.
Outside was a swirl of blue gasses, held at bay by a magical field of green and purple magic that swirled together with the blue colours outside to create a dome of surreal colour. The city was… Strange, it looked like it was one giant building, everything was connected together with catwalks and tunnels held up by flying buttresses, this building extended vertically for as far as the eye could see, which wasn’t much given the thick layer of blue fog. Same held true for down, the air grew thicker the farther down you went, until at the end of my vision was a solid wall of blue.
Everything was made from the same dark bricks as the ship. I should really ask a Geomancer what that stuff is. There were now windows on any of the buildings save for small portholes only as big as a pony’s head. The place the ship had landed was on one of a series of platforms that extended out of the structure’s side, built similar to the gantries in the drydocks back at the Order Luna base, however… There was no bottom, instead it simply held the ship as a series of catwalks were connected to the exits.
A swarm of thestrals and pegasi were flying around the base, all were wearing heavy robes with masks and hoods. Kinda like those used by the Electromancers. Some ponies were flying out of the atmospheric sheath, returning with big lumps of gas in their hooves, hauling them to large gates inside the building.
It’s too bright… What does that mean, what is bright? It’s a word, it means that there is a large quantity of light in this area, most likely projected by a powerful light source… How did I know that? Because you were born with this information. What does born mean? It means that I was created, before, a few seconds ago, I didn’t exist. Who am I?
The room’s walls were stark white, held together with tall rounded pillars, the two segments of wall were perfectly intertwined. Swirling patterns were inlaid with gold and on one far wall, they came together to form an ornate circle with an emblem inside, a long curved sword within an ornate swirling gear.
Someone, something, is watching me. Yes, you were created by them. Why. That is for them to decide.
There were strange creatures all around, looking like part insect, part horse… With colourful iridescent chitin, and large insectoid eyes. Most wore long and heavy white robes, with coloured scarves and sashes that went along their necks and backs. Atop their heads were conical hats made from the same materials as the walls, they wore masks that covered most of their features, save for their eyes. Meanwhile, a few wore armour, made from the same sterile material, painted a dark black… The armour was a cohesive whole, seeming to shift and change with the creature’s movements, above which were more solid plates of the material, stark white… It’s… some kind of bone. Correct. These plates were bound together to form almost a weave or mail, with strange angular helmets and similar, if more heavily armoured, versions of the masks worn by the others.
One of the robe-wearers approached, “Good morning, and happy birthday.” He said in a strangely high-pitched but rough and gravelly voice.
Good morning… It means that the sun is rising, that it’s the dawn of a new planetary cycle. Planets rotate around the sun. Yes, that’s true, isn’t it, happy birthday to me. A birthday is a day of the year, a year is how long it takes for a planet to complete its rotation around the sun, when a creature was first born, and is generally celebrated each and every solar rotation. Does that mean that I was born today? Yes… It does.
“So… What’s going on.”
“Refueling, Starswirl is mostly made of gasses that can be made into fuel… The pegasi and thestrals collect clouds of gas and sort it into its different components,” A geomancer, a large unicorn mare in heavy robes with brown trim.
“Cool… Oh, and what’s the stuff all this is made from!”
“Oh that… Ferrostone. It’s part alloy and part ceramic… It’s made by melting tungsten and volcanic stone together. By mixing them together it gains a stronger resistance to magical energy weapons, like ballistas, since the volcanic stone can absorb the heat, and the metal shine can reflect some of the light.”
We were exiting the ship. The technomages gave us all clothing that they called ‘Hazmat Robes’, apparently you couldn’t breathe the air here, and the atmospheric sheath around this place was only meant to stop pressure from crushing the structure. Most of my new team were still inside, but Bastion had decided to follow me. I was a bit taller than I was last year and was almost as tall as full-grown pony, but bastion, two years younger than me, was trotting along my side, looking like a little brother.
We marched along the platform going toward the tower, overhead was a rumbling sound, and the faint shape of a castle ship descended through the mist and landed somewhere above on another docking platform. The Grand Master and our little party of squires and technomages trotted forward until we reached a gate into the tower. A massive steel portcullis that, unlike the gate leading into the Order Luna’s base in my home town, or the gate leading into the cave at school, was solid and had no holes for air to escape.
The gate opened into a small chamber with some vents and a porthole, behind which was too dark for us to see through. There was another gate ahead. The gate behind us closed, the vents hummed with magical energy, and an emerald planted above the door flashed with green light. “It’s safe to take off your hoods and faceplates now!” Announced one of the technomages.
As we did so the gate ahead opened and we peered into the tower’s centre. It looked like a massive circular library, but in place of bookshelves were brass pipes and huge metal kegs wired into all sorts of machinery. Tapestries were hung over certain doors, with words and symbols embroidered on them… Such as ‘Airlock’ or ‘Alchemical Processing III’ or ‘Holy Water Condensing’ or ‘Guard Station’. Apparently, the inside of the tower was mostly hollow, save for a few rooms that needed to be secured for various reasons… Those non-winged creatures that worked here needed to be carried to their destinations by a winged-coworker when they had free time.
There were more than worker ponies too, on a platform near ours were more ponies in hazmat robes, bearing a symbol of a black shield with a bright violet star atop it… Ponies of the ex-Order Astra. They were working out a deal with one of the worker ponies, trading what looked like wooden kegs for metal kegs with portholes covered in alchemical symbols.
The Grand Master trotted up to a pair of ponies and made a request, I couldn’t hear it over the rumble of machinery and noises of working ponies. There was a loud noise above, one of the gates, one with an airlock banner over it, squeaked and churned as it was lifted up. Out from this airlock came a mare and two armoured ponies, wearing armour similar to those I saw knights and hoofmares wearing, but completely sealed to the environment, and silver in colour with lavender surcoats. “The Order Argent!” I exclaimed.
The ponies, all three of them thestrals, descended to one of the platforms above us. “Do not be alarmed, we are here conducting a routine bi-yearly scan of this world… Everypony cease your actions unless it’s of critical importance, and line up.”
“W-What… Can they just do that? This is an important fuel depot!” I muttered to the geomancer next to me.
“This outpost isn’t officially aligned with any of the Orders, if this did belong to say, the Order Luna, then they would need to speak with the outpost’s Grand Master first.”
“But they don’t need to if it isn’t aligned with an Order.”
“The Orders have a higher standing than those non-aligned.”
“B-But, what are they doing here?”
“Searching for mutants, escaped criminals, ponies of the Kingdom of the Sun, or disguised changelings I’d assume.”
Several lines of ponies formed together, some paused to finish their jobs before lining up, but otherwise, not a single pony dared go against the order. The trio of Argent ponies fanned out and pulled small talismans from their saddlebags, gripping them in their teeth before waving them over each and every pony they passed, always the gem on the end made a dinging noise and the worker pony was allowed to return to their job.
One of the Order Astra ponies, a younger mare with a multicolored mane and tail, was trotting in place, clearly nervous. A stallion in environmentally sealed armour passed by, waving his talisman at me, ding! Then at Bastion, ding! Then the hoofmare, or hoofstalion in this case, trotted over to the geomancer besides me, getting closer to the Grand Master, he winked to the geomancer once he had been scanned, then the geomancer’s horn lit up with amber light, so dim that unless you were paying close attention, you couldn’t tell.
The talisman passed over the Grand Master, there was a slight pause, not even a second, then ding! The hoofmare continued, not noticing that the ding didn’t come from his talisman, but from the horn of the geomancer.
The Argents continued onward, before starting to scan the Order Astra ponies, ding! Ding! Ding! Then the red gemstone implanted into the talisman flashed. There was a pause, presumably a gasp or look of shock on the armoured pony, not that you could tell beneath said armour… Then a shout of, “Apprehend her!” As the armoured pony lept to try and grab the multicoloured-maned mare.
The other ponies, one still scanning the ponies on my platform, and their boss, the mare who was still sitting on the platform they entered from, descended to tackle the Astra mare. “What’s going on here, this mare is a member of my crew, you don’t have jurisdiction over the other orders!”
“This pony has been recorded engaging in acts of piracy!” Shouted the stallion who scanned her.
“That doesn’t give you the right!” Shouted the Grand Master of the Astra ship. Drawing a sword in his mouth. In response, the other Argent hoofmare drew his glaive and thrust the blade in the Astra’s direction.
The Astra’s Grand Master dodged out the way and batted the weapon aside, before lunging at the hoofmare. There was a flash of bright red light, a horrible screaming, and the smell of burned meat and seared fur. The armoured mare, and leader of the Argent band had drawn a crossbow and shot the Astra’s grand master.
“You know the law! Assaulting a member of another Order is punishable by death!” The mare said between the crossbow handle. But you were just doing the same thing! I thought, too scared to say my thoughts out loud. The Argent mare trotted up to beside the multicoloured-maned pony, who had been rolled over to her side, and was still struggling with the stallion who had a hoof firmly placed on her stomach. The Argent mare pointed her crossbow at the head of the Astra mare, who had stopped struggling to stare at the weapon. Flash.
The rest of the scanning went without incident… The workers were all scanned and cleared with no further trouble, the rhythmic ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Went on for what felt like hours, but then it stopped… The mare and two stallions flying out the way they came. For a few minutes that felt like an eternity, everypony stood perfectly still, holding our breath. But then nothing happened. Bastion looked shaken, the geomancer showed no emotion at all, the Grand Master looked… Sad… I didn’t know what to feel.
When everything went back to normal, the worker ponies leapt back to action with an almost supernatural zeal. One pair of workers in the blue-trimmed robes of electromancers dragged up a pair of large metal kegs on carts, both about the size of a pony. One had a porthole showing the inside, which showed a thick colourless liquid, and the keg felt painfully cold to the touch, both kegs were covered in alchemical symbols, one was of two circles inside a larger circle, and the other was three circles inside a larger circle with lines point off it in all directions, this second symbol was next to another symbol I had only seen once before, on the door to the castle-ship’s engine room, the symbol for magical radiation.
“What is this?” I asked the all-knowing geomancer.
“They're called ‘The Spark Gasses’ and are used as fuel for ships… I don’t actually know much about them, ask an electromancer or alchemist.”
In the cloud of emotions trying to conquer my mind, one came out above all the rest: confusion. “What was all that in the outpost, with you, and the geomancer, and the Order Astra ponies?” I asked the Grand Master.
With a sigh, he said “The Order Argent, don’t intend to be as aggressive or cruel as they seem… They are the law, they stop bad ponies, so they need that kind of behaviour in their members… An apathetic guard isn’t going to be able to arrest every criminal.”
“But what about that mare, she wasn’t doing anything wrong.”
“Are you sure about that, they said she had been involved in piracy.”
“But she wasn’t doing anything now, she wasn’t trying to rob the outpost.”
“But she could have.”
“I-I suppose, but that doesn’t change the fact that she had been killed. What about you, I saw the geomancer do something when the hoofmare was scanning you.”
“W-Well… It’s a long story,” He blushed a bit under his fur.
“No! You aren’t using that excuse on me!”
“O-Ok, I may have gotten in trouble with the Order Argent in the past.”
“Tell me.”
“Alright, you are my granddaughter, so you should know… As long as you promise to never tell another pony about it.”
“I promise.”
“No! This is serious, not some little accident or foalhood secret… I need you to swear that you will never tell another pony about this.”
“I swear…” I gave a look of grave certainty, memories of what had happened earlier… A headless mare being thrown down the tower’s main shaft, several thousand metres down. Flashed in my mind.
With a sigh, he started. “I had a friend, he was a friend of the family and a good pony, I would contact him every few months… One day I tried contacting him but got no answer, so I flew off in the direction of his hometown. When I came down I saw that over the last few days, the Order Argent had occupied the village. Apparently, there were some ponies there sheltering mutants, and as much as I wanted to help, I’d only get myself in trouble…”
“What happened.”
“The Argents were conducting tests on everypony in town, figuring out who was mutant and who wasn’t, those who were mutated were called for interrogation, some tried resisting, but were shot by the hoofmares… Apparently testing for mutation was much quicker than an interrogation, and there were several herds in cages, and among them were a few foals. I knew that those children weren't prepared for interrogation, and some would try to fight their way out, at the very least to protect their parents.”
“What did you do?”
“I couldn't save everypony, I knew that, but I could at least save a few… When the guards were distracted by a resisting prisoner, I reached the cages and managed to undo the lock, it was designed to keep the ponies in, not out, so it was really easy to work with when you weren't inside… I got a few, I don’t remember how many off the top of my head, but at least a trio of foals and a hoof-full of adults, into my ship before the Argent’s even realized they were missing, then sped away to the Rockhoof Belt… I managed to find an old cargo ship, the Belt is full of ruined and abandoned vessels, so it was my best bet to find somewhere to hide them.”
“Do you know where they are now.”
“N-No… I got the farming bays and magical life-support inside the wrecked ship running then left them… I gave one of the foals the communication signature of this ship, so she could call me if something went wrong. But she never has… But that’s not the point, the point is, don’t trust the Argents, they aren’t bad ponies, but they're… Misguided… They think what they're doing is right, but they don’t understand that mutated thestrals are just as good or bad as non-mutated thestrals.”
I nodded… “I hope somepony is trying to do something about that… If all that is true, then Luna, or perhaps one of the other orders, or some smart pony, should be doing something about it.”
The Grand Master simply shook his head. “I don’t think so, at least not right now… Someday… I’d do something if I could… But I don’t know what one pony could do.”
Author's Note
This chapter, originally I didn't want to make this, but there were a few plotholes that wouldn't have been filled in otherwise, I also took the time to show the rising political tensions between the Order Argent and the other Orders, do a bit of worldbuilding, give some motivations for our characters, and (sort of) introduce the Changelings.
Chapter III: Dawning Conflict
CHAPTER III: Dawning Conflict.
“Enough with the secrecy! You wanted us all here, together, why?” Asked a stallion in makeshift robes. The room was made from nearly pitch-black brick. Beyond the stained glass windows was a field of stars and some distant puckered rocks that floated near. The room was filled with thestrals, all of whom had glowing eyes of different colours. Atop a balcony overlooking the hall was a mare in armour, it looked like that of a knight, however lacking the visor and beak. Banners were hung from the ceiling, they were a bright red with gold trim.
“How many of us have been killed by the Argents, how many have been persecuted by their ‘defective’ blood… How long have we all needed to hide inside this abysmal rock, just so we wouldn’t be tortured to death by those who claim to be our guardians!”
“What are you getting at Cacophony!” Interjected a mare.
“Brothers and sisters, I refuse to let their maliciousness continue! From now on we’re starting our own Order!”
“That is ridiculous, as much as I hate the Argents, we can’t do something like that, it will only draw attention to ourselves! We should flee! To the Kingdom of the Sun, or out into unexplored territory!”
“And how long can we continue running! This vessel will need fuel, food, water… If we settle our own world it will only be a matter of time until the expeditionary fleets find us, all while our kind is still hunted down on our homeworlds! This will only give us a few decades, at least! And worse, you suggest running to Celestia’s domain, her ponies already see thestrals as violent and unnatural creatures, and you would drag us there!”
The stallion broke in again, “But if we declare succession, that will only cause more trouble! Remember what happened to Order Astra!”
A sly smile crossed the Cacophony’s face, “We aren’t going to separate from the Kingdom, we will become one of its pillars, the Kingdom can’t exist without us, just look at the decades following Astra’s collapse! And I know that some of the leaders of the Order Luna have started to grow suspicious of Argent’s actions.”
At this, the tone of the room changed, several ponies started smiling as the full weight of Cacophony’s plan sunk in. “Y-Your going to start a civil war! If we declare ourselves as a successor to Order Astra then the Order Argent won’t respond kindly. If what you say is true, and Order Luna allied themselves with us-”
“Order Luna will put their forces behind ours, several of our kind are within their ruling council, political tensions between them and the Order Argent grow more and more hostile since the beginning of their little ‘inquisition’, and if they see us as a method of bringing order to the lawless expanses of the Order Astra…”
The mare continued, “Do you have any idea what this could cause… There are members of our kind all over the Kingdom and combined with support from Luna, we’d equal half of the entire Kingdom’s military forces… Argent and Polaris are the only Orders likely to be immediately hostile to our actions, Solar will remain as neutral as always to our conflict, and we can’t anticipate how Lupus will react.” An awkward silence filled the room, then once she had done the math in her mind, a glimmer of a smile crossed her face. “A-Actually, I like those odds…”
This marked another shift in the room as other ponies started to think a bit harder, then after a long and uneasy silence, Cacophony spoke up again, “From this day forward, those who have been dubbed ‘mutants’ by our foes shall be hunted no longer, instead, they will find their homes with us… The Order Sanguine!”
With that, the thrusters long hidden within this rock’s surface clicked to life, and for the first time in years, the lights within Silberfluch burst to life, then from out of the rock flew a much smaller ship, the Strigoi, and it set its course to Magnus.
The sparring arena, a large rectangular rise in the centre of the training room. There were punching bags, firing ranges, exercise machines, magical combat simulators, but nothing compared to the real thing. The room was filled with thestrals, however, only two were in full armour, those in the arena.
One was a stallion, pale brown with blue eyes and a black and white mane. Then other was a mare with a dark grey mane and spotted light grey coat, complete with bright golden-yellow eyes. Our armour was solid tungsten, enchanted so as to not impair our movement. Held in the bird-like faceplates of our armour were swords, long and straight, and shields were mounted to our forelegs, one hundred and fifty millimetres of tungsten, made to protect from more than swords, but also shots from bows, beams from crossbows, and the concussive blasts of spears.
I raised the sword in my grip, blunted so as to act more like a club than a blade, “Just for the record… I think this is terribly unfair-” The stallion turned to address the crowd.
“Hey Bastion, think of it this way… If you get more than one hit on her, you won’t be the worst member of the team anymore!” A mare, Gilded Gate, said.
“You know, when I was a colt, I thought the Knights were all about killing bad guys, protecting the innocent, helping the Princess, all that… Now I’m starting to think that it’s an excuse for everypony stronger than me to kick my ass-” He muttered sarcastically before I delivered a solid buck to his side.
He fell to the ground, but recovered quickly, staggering to his hooves, and tried to slash with his head. I smacked his blade aside with my own, the enchantments in the two blades sparking against each-other in a shower of magical sparks. Then with a swipe of a forehoof, I knocked his out from under him. Finally, I raised up my sword in my grip, found a hole in his armour, and slashed downward, striking hard against the chainmail on his back.
The sword’s enchantment was designed for training, it, for a few seconds, disables any other enchantments placed upon an object. Bastion fell limply on his side, breathing heavily, as the full weight of tungsten dragged him to the floor.
“Hey Bastion, what was that you were saying about getting your ass kicked!”
“Gilded, stop that, there’s no need for such cruelty, even if it is meant jokingly,” I said flatly. Gilded, in response, rolled her eyes at me.
The anti-magic enchantment wore off and Bastion clambered up. “I’ll admit, you got me that time, so… How about we finally go down to the mess hall and grab a bit-” I sent my hind leg into his flank, causing him to tumble over and out of the ring.
“Come on, let’s go… Next team down gets the training room,” An older stallion, a proper knight, unlike the rest of us squires, and the pony in charge of training us, addressed the room.
“Yes, sir Iron Keep.”
We made our way downstairs. Banners of the Order Luna were a common sight in the rooms and corridors, lit by magically-active gemstones planted in the walls and ceilings. We entered the mess hall, there were a few of the younger squire teams in training, we were the second-oldest of the squire team. The teams were divided not by the age of the ponies in the team, but rather by the year they were recruited… Thus you can have a fifteen-year-old, the oldest a squire can be recruited, in the same team as a thirteen-year-old, the youngest a squire can be recruited. A group of the younger squires passed our table, playing some foalhood game, as we talked among ourselves.
“I’ve been on this ship for four and a half years now, I don’t see why they don’t just make us knights right away,” Gilded Gate had a pale yellow mane and coat markings across a light grey coat much like my own.
You’ve said this already.
“That’s easy for you to say! Merlon and I have been here for four months more than you, and I’m still ‘the worst member of the team’”
I’ve heard this exact conversation more than eight times over the past month.
“Well, Merlon’s practically a knight already, she beat Keep in single combat!”
I can’t take this anymore… “Shut up! Every day it’s the same damn thing with you ponies, do you never talk about anything else!”
“It’s not like there’s much new to talk about!”
Fair point. I sighed, then just like during my last day of school, I trotted over to a corner, bringing a platter of chicken with me. I sat next to one of the windows. The glass was at least a metre thick and enchanted to the same durability as the rest of the ship, it was a stained-glass window depicting Magnus, the world the ship was constructed at, each of the windows showed something relating to the history of the ship, some showing fights with pirate vessels, some showing previous Grand Masters, some were glass renditions of the Order’s banner.
Outside the window was a sea of stars, glimmering in the colourful distortion of the glass… We were in high-orbit of Magnus, my homeworld… It had been at least a year since we last visited the world, thrice that number since I last saw my old friends and family. That doesn’t matter, I have a new family now. I glanced over to my table. Keep was laughing at something Bastion said. Portcullis was playing some kind of word game with Gilded. Crenel was blushing furiously following a comment by Postern. Glassy was drinking down all the ale. Skyrise and Green Heart were challenging each other for when next was our time to use the training room.
My old home looks so small from here.
I trotted away, down corridors back to my room. It was just like my room back home… Bed, table, wardrobe, but was just a bit smaller. I sat at my desk, gripping a quill in my mouth, pulling parchment from a stack I had borrowed from the quartermaster. “Dear White Rose… I don’t know if you’re getting my letters or not… It’s not like I can receive much mail out here, but if you do...” Damn… I don’t know what to write next… Something about how I beat Bastion in sparing today… No, I’ve already told her that plenty of times… Perhaps ask her how she’s doing… No, I’ve never gotten anything back from her…
I sat at my desk… Finally, I managed to put ink to paper and write one last sentence. “I’m sorry,” Then I rolled the paper into a scroll, then slid it into a hole in the wall. It disappeared with a flash. I sat there for a few minutes, vacant and tired, before flopping over and into bed.
I was… Depressed, even after a full meal I still felt an emptiness in my belly, and worst, there was a burning pressure under my tail that refused to go away. With a sigh, I pulled my pillow into my legs and slowly began to press my full weight into it- With a slam, the door opened, I gave a screech of annoyance, then suddenly all my damn horny emotions turned to a molten hot rage.
“Bastion! What in then Luna damned void is wrong now!” Could you have at least given me a few dozen minutes!
“It’s the Grand Master! He’s calling all of us to the bridge!”
Realization clicked, then I lept from my bed with a loud “What!”
The bridge was a massive rectangular room with vaulted ceilings and huge stone pillars. Massive vertical windows showed out into the void, and banners depicting the cutie marks of every previous Grand Master lined the hall. In the middle of the room was a magical image projector that projected unto a massive slab of pitch black material atop an altar lined with various magical devices and controls.
Projected atop the slab was an image showing a thestral with glowing orange eyes inside some dark building, there were hundreds more glowing eyes in the background. This mare had a dark blue coat with black markings and a pale violet mane. A mutant?
“C-Cacophony, you’re alive!” The Grand Master stuttered.
“Yes, in large part thanks to you… You still owe me.”
“Cacophony… What do you want of me.”
“I want you, Steeled Hull, with our help of course, to start a war with the Order Argent.”
A room fell deathly silent. What! How! That would break apart what little cohesion the Knightly Orders have!
“What!” Shouted Bastion, echoing my own thoughts. “The Order Argent protect us from monsters and radicals! Why! How!”
“The Order Argent… They send their soldiers into our cities, abduct citizenry who they believe pose a threat, sometimes on no other basis than rumours, then drag them off to Luna knows where, and most likely kill them! How can you defend that!”
“They have a very good reason for their actions, to stop ponies like you from tearing apart our civilisation!” But as much as Bastion tried to hide it, a tone of doubt crept into his voice.
“You’ve seen something to make you doubt the Order’s agenda, haven’t you.”
“Y-You-”
“Bastion! Quiet!” Shouted the Grand Master.
“You aren’t seriously listeni-”
“I said quiet!” There was a pause, then the Grand Master continued, “Do you know what you ask of me! I really don’t like the Order Argent, but I can’t just fight a war against them… Even if we survive this battle, I doubt the remaining forces of the Order will respond kindly.”
“I know for a fact that there are members of my kind within the Order Luna’s court on Magnus, I also know that your ship is an atmosphere-capable ship of the line… You can carry three full teams of knights and one regiment of hoofmares, and have room to carry at least one line of siege rams. That’s about one hundred hoofmares, forty-five knights, and three rams,” The Grand Master nodded, “I also know that the Order Argent’s base on Magnus is never fully guarded… Most of their forces are off policing the planet and Mangus is a heavily populated planet, they won’t be expecting us, so we have the advantage in numbers and surprise… I will send what forces I can once the fighting starts, but our ship isn’t as big or as well-protected as yours.”
“So… Once the battle’s over, what then,” Bastion growled as the Grand Master continued talking. “The Order Argent’s remaining bases will deploy their military forces as quickly as possible to stop us, once that happens there won’t be anywhere in the solar system we can hide.”
“I mentioned that I had allies within the Court, not to mention that the Argent’s harassment of Order Luna’s citizenry hasn’t gone unnoticed by many of the Court’s members, if they see that we’ve broken the Argent’s hold on Magnus, we will have enough support to begin a full-scale war.”
With a sigh, the Grand Master said, “The Judge won’t like this, are you sure that we’ll get seventy-percent support from the council.”
“Once the Argents see that the Order Luna has attacked one of their bases, they’ll get revenge on the populace of the Order, even if we don’t have support, a war will be fought, and that will swing the vote in our favour.”
“And what about the other Orders.”
“The Order Polaris will likely be hostile to our actions, they’ve always taken actions that favour isolationism and will actively try to impede any change in society… But thanks to that behaviour they’ll be slow to take any real action. Order Solar will remain as neutral as ever to any internal conflict, it’s a conflict with the Kingdom of the Sun that they're concerned with.”
“From personal experience, I know that the remnants of the Order Astra have been just as vilified by the Order Astra as your ponies… They’ll help us, this conflict might even help unify them a bit more.”
“Agreed, but the Order Lupus proves unpredictable…”
“Mercenaries usually are… Either way, the Orders Argent and Polaris don’t have the funds or political power to hire every one of the Order Lupus’s forces, so I doubt they’ll be much of a factor in the fighting.”
“So… You’ll do it.”
With a sigh, the Grand Master turned to the bridge. Some of his crew looked hopeful, some were concerned, some, including Bastion, looked angry with the Grand Master. I just stared into his eyes and gave a nod of my head.
“Ready the ship’s engines, we’re going to Magnus’s north pole! Everyone else, prepare for combat!”
Author's Note
Sorry for the shorter chapters, IV will be a bit longer, but I suspect there might be a small wait until the next.
Chapter IV: Strategy and Tactics.
CHAPTER IV: Strategy and Tactics
The Bridge was a hive of activity, ponies of all kinds were checking arcane interfaces, there were unicorns casting spells on machines, pegasi and thestrals flying to and from interfaces, and a hoof-full of earth ponies arguing with their crew members. “Thaumaturgic conduits A-7 to B-12 have been rerouted from life support to ballista control,” A small stallion with a yellow mane and pale lime coat announced to the room, wearing heavy robes trimmed with blue, with the symbol of the Order decorating his sides.
“Good,” A stallion standing in the middle of the room, surrounded by the Masters of the ship, replied, turning to me. “Master of Strategy Iron Keep, it appears that your favourite student has returned,” A sly smile formed on Steeled Hull’s lips.
I was outside of my armour and carrying around a small mound of books on my back, mostly tomes on Geomancy, the Knightly Orders, History, and general information about the planet Magnus. “What?” A slightly confused Iron Keep turned, in full battle armour including the visor and faceplate, then upon seeing me gave a growl, “That damn-” He sighed, “Sir, I am aware of her skills and her relation to you, but sir, I’m two decades older than her and you will need a strategist when prosecuting a war, not a tactician .”
“A war needs a strategy, but I’m more concerned with surviving the battle… Marble Merlon,” He addressed me.
“Umm… S-Sorry, about Bastion.” I muttered.
“He isn’t the only one to believe this is a bad idea,” The robe-wearing unicorn stallion, Reactor Breach, the Master of Electromancers, interjected, “But he’s certainly the worst.”
“Bad idea!?” Chuckled Iron Keep, “I finally get to do my job! And against those self-righteous bastards no less!”
“Still, a civil war is bad for political stability… And might agitate the Kingdom of the Sun.”
“Reactor, you always were a timid little buck,” Purred a pale orangish-red mare with a white mane, she wore glasses underneath armour that was more dress than protective equipment, and gave a harsh chuckle at Reactor’s flustered expression, “Well… I don’t think charging into combat is the best idea, but I don’t think any of you appreciate how boring it is to play with pirates… Once you’ve penetrated a hundred ships, blowing their reactors, it tends to get boring…” Then her tone suddenly shot up, giving her a maniacal expression, “But now I get to test my ballistas on actual defences!”
“Photon…” Steeled Hull gave an exasperated grunt, “Let us return to the problem at hoof… Merlon, tell us what you’ve found out about the Argent’s defences.”
I cleared my throat then turned to the arcane projector. We were still in the void, right above Magnus’s polar region, the thaumaturgic scanners projecting a topographical map of the magnetic north pole. “The Order Argent, while secretive about most of their facilities, are nothing if not boastful. The Castle Obenschnee, the headquarters of their forces on this world, rests in the middle of a valley, surrounded by mountains in the north and west, making a ground-based attack from these directions nearly impossible… And to the south and east are large rolling hills and glaciers, difficult terrain.”
“What about an attack from above…” Asked Iron Keep.
“Too many ground defences, In this,” I lifted up a book that talks about the Knightly Order’s holdings on Magnus, “It says that they have at least ten surface-to-air siege towers built into the main keep, it doesn’t tell us their armaments, and we can be sure that they have hidden defences built into the mountains.”
“So, what do you suggest, I can’t just let the ground forces have all the fun,” Replied Photon Shot.
“We send in some warriors here,” I pointed to an area behind the hills, relatively flat, and out of range of ballista and trebuchet shots, “One squad of knights backed up by a regiment of hoofmares, the knights can deal with the towers and any hidden fortifications, meanwhile the hoofmares assault the first line of defence… Here,” I pointed again to a strange dip in the topography, most likely a trench.
“And once the towers are silenced, we glass the castle.”
“No, wars are won using information, we can’t just bomb the place to dust… We need to take prisoners and steal intel, as well as any salvageable equipment,” Interjected Steeled Hull.
“So then, what do we do,” A disappointed Photon replied.
With a sigh, I continued, “You will provide covering fire, if you see a line of siege rams advancing, or the Argents bringing up catapults and arbalests, or see them rallying for a counterattack, make sure to stop them and sow as much chaos among their ranks as possible.”
Photon still looked disappointed but gave a slight smile anyway. “After we’ve taken out their anti-ship defences and breached their lines of defence, we land the ship in the valley I’ve pointed out, then bring up our own siege rams and siege weapons, then we move over the hill and storm the castle.”
“We won’t have the numbers,” Said Steeled Hull, “We have only a hoof-full of fighting ponies, meanwhile the castle, even at minimum garrison, has at least thrice our number.”
“And that’s where I can help,” A voice called out from the arcane projector. The projection split, showing on one side the topographical map, and on the other a familiar orange-eyed mare. “I’ve sent the Strigoi to assist you.”
“Numbers?” I asked.
With a roll of her eyes, Cacophony replied, “Two-thirds of a regiment of hoofmares, a two full teams of knights… A hoof full of working siege rams, I believe we had two in working condition last time I checked.”
“Are they good?”
“I’ve been planning this for six years now, and this isn’t the first time we’ve had to fight the Argents.”
“And this ship, the Strigoi, what’s its specifications.”
“Light cruiser, or something along those lines, it’s made from materials we’ve salvaged from the Rockhoof belt, originally it was a pirate vessel… We don’t have any thaumaturgic shields, but we do have plenty of armour.”
“Well… That’s good enough for me, they’ll still have numerical superiority, but I think our surprise attack will even the field.”
“You can trust my knights to put up a good fight, they’re easily worth more than a dozen Argents.”
“Speaking of knights,” Said Steeled Hull, “You said that this plan required a group of knights to disable the anti-ship weaponry.”
“Correct,” I replied.
“I’m promoting you and your team to knights, most of you only have a year or a half until you officially complete your training, but we’re going to need every capable warrior in the coming weeks.”
I bowed my head… to my grandfather, somewhat unnecessary. “Thank you sir.”
He gave a chuckle, “There’s no need for such formalities.”
“Sir, we’ll be entering the atmosphere in thirty minutes,” One of the bridge ponies said.
“Well then, go inform the rest of your team and gather in the armoury.”
Armoury II was a storm of activity, there a pair of ponies, one thestral and one unicorn, were busy inside the alchemical engine of a ram. “Hey Silver, pass me that talisman,” Said the unicorn, his head buried within the ram’s hull. Around him were two other rams, on one a pair of ponies were chatting, meanwhile the other was unattended. And around the rams were the frames of siege weapons, several were almost triangular wooden frames connected to wooden wagons, atop which were large metal wheels connected to a long tubular contraption with a diameter about the size of my head, a catapult.
Numerous ponies of various species, even a hoof-full of griffons, were loading large brass and lead shells into the machines, stacking them atop their frames. “Wait, that talisman, or that talisman,” Replied Silvertread.
“You know the one I mean!”
“No, I don’t, one welds shit together, the other bores holes… Oh, hey Merlon.”
Silvertread was wearing the grey and blue uniform of a technomage, strangely matching his fur, “Silver, my team has unofficially been promoted to knights, will you be ready to handle the siege when the time comes.”
“All I care about is surviving the battle,” Muttered the unicorn.
“I wish Steeled Hull wasn’t going through with this, but I suppose I have no choice in the matter, seeing how you handled Bastion.”
“There was no choice, he was going to contact the Argents, then we would have been in more trouble.”
“Yep… That’s why I’m still going along with the Grand Master’s apparent madness.”
“Silver…”
He simply rolled his eyes, “You’re going to tear this kingdom apart, and none of us can stop you, we just have to go along and see what lunacy comes of it.”
“Forgive my bro today, he’s just a bit bothersome today… Sure, I don’t fully agree with the Grand Master’s actions, but I wouldn’t be opposed to seeing the ‘mutants’ legalized… After all, I’m a unicorn and I’m still treated like an equal.”
Silvertread gave a grunt. “We’ll see, but a quick word of warning, if you start turning your arbalest on our mares, Photon Shot has a much bigger one,” And she’ll probably take orgasmic glee in firing it. I shuttered, earning me a curious look from the unicorn.
“Don’t worry, I’m the driver of this little scrap heap, if Silver does anything out of place I’ll be happy to drive us off a cliff…” The unicorn mused. I couldn't suppress a chuckle.
The aft tower was a relative calm in the storm of activity, that didn’t mean much though. Ponies were attaching cables to ports and wiring up magical machinery, all into or out of a massive structure in the centre. It looked like a larger version of the crossbow, mounted to a tungsten base, it rotated around the centre, around the walls of the tower were numerous indentations all sealed with brick, the firing ports. The ballista had a long tungsten beam as a core, covered in tubing, wiring, ports, and various bits of machinery, on both sides near the end of the shaft were pony-sized copper radiators, and at the rear of the shaft was a spoked wheel connected to a huge bundle of cabling. The bow part of the ballista were two large tungsten fins with hexagonal cells built into their frame, each had a glimmering ruby set into their centre, and extending from their ends were copper cables the width of my torso that led back into the central shaft. The front end of the machine was a long copper tube with a hole at the end, with a diamond-shaped tungsten head.
The ballista was rotated by steel chains that went along the walls of the tower and were controlled by a system of pulleys and rotors. One mare, a pegasus, was working the primary control talisman, built into a pedestal at the end of the room, showing a magical projection of the weapon’s targeting spells.
“Hey Gamma! Need any help!” I called out.
“Not from you!”
I trotted up and stared into the projection with her, “So, you think we can do it?”
“Capture an entire Order Argent base, yes ,” Wow, I found someone that actually has faith in victory. “That is assuming the Knights can capture the anti-void towers…”
I gave a chuckle, “I’ll be leading that part of the battle, my squires have been promoted.”
“Well… Now I’m even less sure about this.”
A silence followed, or at least what passed for silence in one of the primary weapons towers. With a sigh, Gamma Ray continued “Photon works us day and night, trying to perfect firing solutions and repairing the slightest fault in the ballistas… She’ll berate us for half an hour should we miss a target, or fail to penetrate the armour. I dread the lecture we’ll get once this battle’s over.”
“Why?
“Well,” She sighed, “We’re going into Magnus’ polar regions, there’ll be tonnes and tonnes of ice and snow… Shiny, white, reflective surfaces, that’ll play havoc with the ballista’s beams, but it does carry an advantage, whenever we hit the ground all that water will be vaporized instantly, causing steam explosions and even a miss will still cause plenty of damage. But that causes another problem, between all the cold air and skin-melting steam, IR sensors are going to be practically useless, we’ll mostly be relying on optical data for our shots.”
“So, what does that mean for us?”
“It means that the infantry’s job gets a bit harder, since now you’ll be dodging not just the enemy’s fire, but also ours.”
“What can you do about that.”
“Avoid aiming at anything too close to you, other than that you’re on your own… But I will give you a piece of advice, avoid the craters left in our wake, they’ll still be searing hot, even in this environment,” And magically active. “But at least the knights get the pleasure of tungsten armour.”
“What’s that,” Asked Goldsparkle.
“I don’t know,” Replied Rusty Bit. The room was small and dark, lit by the glow from arcane interfaces, but even at this hour, in the earliest hours of dawn, it had to be operated. A tapestry was hung on the far wall showing the symbol of a pair of crystals intertwined by magical waves, above was written the words ‘Castle Obenschnee Communications Room’. “Shouldn’t you be sleeping with the rest of the day-shift.”
“I can’t leave you alone here all night, plus, looks like you found something.”
“I doubt it, from the size and shape it looks like a stray asteroid, and all the thaumaturgic sensors pick up is some stray energy, possibly a mining rig or ship debris. It looks like another vessel is moving away from it, possibly a response team.”
“Is it just me, or is that smaller ship moving toward the planet.”
“It’s moving into polar orbit, same with that Order Luna vessel.”
“Bastion,” I said, feeling a twinge of guilt. He didn’t respond. The cells were generally guarded when prisoners were aboard, however for this one, none were needed, thus I was allowed to trot in once I had identified myself. Bastion sat in the corner, a look of anger crossed his muzzle once he saw me enter. “Sorry about locking you up, but-”
“You're going to get us all killed.”
“Me! You were trying to contact the Argents! They’d have blown this ship apart, and you along with it.”
“It is better to die a hero than live a traitor!”
“I know, Blue, Silky, and Pine drilled that into every last one of us.”
“It seems like somepony wasn’t paying attention in school.”
“I was paying more attention than you, has all that running, jumping, and being hit finally damaged your brain,” I drew my eyes to his exposed cutie mark, a target.
“I’d think a pony with your cutie mark would see how inept this plan is.”
“You’re talking to the pony in charge of the plan.”
“Figures,” He huffed, “At least rose isn’t here to see you anymore.”
That bastard! I tried to force the words out of my mouth, but my body locked up, muscles growing unnaturally tense.
“That little filly cared for you every single day, imagine what she’d think when she sees that her own best friend is planning to slaughter hundreds !”
“Don’t you fucking talk about her like that!” I shouted at the top of my lungs. You were her friend too! You have no right to insult both of us.
“Ten more minutes until atmospheric entry, all knights gather in Armoury I,” A voice echoed from the crystals embedded within the wall.
“I’ll be leaving now.”
Bastion gave a chuckle before rolling himself up into a ball at the end of the cell.
The ship shook, a deep and rumbling noise, my hooves felt weak as the shockwave hit, soon followed with a wave of magic that forced all the air out of my body. It was a sensation I had felt plenty of times before, but today it was stronger. We had breached the atmospheric sheath going faster than we should have, I was suddenly reminded of a burning corona of light that bathed my town in pure golden sunlight.
“Ready,” I asked.
Bricks shook under my hooves, deep rumbling booms echoed through stone and metal to reach my ears. Polished armour, a deep, dark, grey, much like that of volcanic stone, clung to my body through insulated padding and mail, enchanted so as to not increase my weight. Over my wings were thick armoured plates, shaped to look like metal feathers, lending them a strange appearance, as if the wings of some giant black bird were draped over that of a pony-sized bat. Across my back, holes cut in them for my wings, were white cloth banners, trimmed in black, decorated with the silhouette of a crescent moon swallowing a four-pointed star, much like a tapestry draped across my withers.
“As ready as I’ll ever be, I didn’t think my first battle would be against other Thestrals,” Gilded Gate replied. The air started to taste of ozone, and a tingling feeling echoed across my body, the entire ship alive with magical energies as the ballistas and thaumaturgic shields charged.
The plate armour kept my whole body sealed to the air, even my tail was clenched down by metal bands that prevented air from seeping in. Atop my head was a metal helmet, a full semicircle tilted back to allow vision, a thick brim and crest gave it shape, complete with a half-faceplate that covered my head down to my muzzle, holes carved in for my eyes, and a beaked mask that covered my muzzle and lower head, giving me the appearance of a pony-sized bird. Underneath this, my coat was a light grey and mane a dark grey, with golden slit-eyes.
“Merlon, you’re the tactician, what happens when we hit the ground?” Asked a bluish stallion, Portcullis, a shiver in his voice, although I couldn’t tell if it was one of fear or cold.
The armoury was filled with mares and stallions of an array of colours, all armoured just like myself. In their mouths or with their hooves were a host of weaponry, swords, shields, crossbows, bows, halberds… Spearshafts were strapped to their flanks, spearheads on the opposite flank. One of us was bearing the standard, standing straight in the absence of wind. The walls were made from dark bricks, reinforced with equally dark metal, this same material comprised the floor tiles, and the doors, great stone slabs that moved up and down on chains, enchanted to not let any air pass when closed.
“We’ll be descending into one of the primary defensive trenches, after crippling their defences, the hoofmares will advance toward the second line of defence. The ship’s out of the line of fire of the castle’s primary anti-orbital batteries, but they’ll undoubtedly have secondary batteries all around the mountain, it’s our job to secure this valley,” And hopefully Gamma Ray can cripple the enemy’s forces before our job begins. Seemingly on cue, the electric feeling in the air vanished for a second, leaving an ominous void in the room, the sound of a ballista firing echoed in from somewhere to the front of the ship, then as soon as it left, the feeling returned.
From above a small jewel embedded into the wall glowed with light and released a deep dinging noise like a great bell. “That’s our cue! Ready to descend!” One, two, three… I thought to myself, waiting as the sound of cogwheels filled the air, there came a rumbling shutter from a large, slanted, door. Four, five, six… The door lifted upward with surprising speed, revealing a snowy landscape… Mountains surrounding an elongated valley, all a stark white, a flurry of wind and snow started filling the armoury. Seven, eight, nine… Below, some great distance, the specific distance unknown to me, was a long, shallow, stone-walled moat, from within beams of striking red fanned out into a horde of ponies on the surface. Ten.
“Now! Cry havoc!” I shouted across the room, blunted by the roaring winds, this shout was matched by nearly every other pony, twenty shouts of ‘Cry havoc ’ joining my own, I bitterly noted that there should have been twenty-five. Then with a flick of my wings and a thrust of my hind legs, I fell out into the cold air.
A flash of blinding light illuminated the frozen ground, the telltale sign of a ship entering the atmospheric sheath. Cogwheel looked up from his book, staring into the sky from the firing slits in the anti-orbital battery O-12. “An Order Luna ship?” He said, “Why is it here? And why is it coming in at such a shallow angle?”
“Do you think it’s damaged, attempting an emergency landing in the valley?” Asked Lightning Glow.
“No, it looks fine, better than fine.”
“Reactor damage, or perhaps an accident in one of the capacitor bays?”
As she said that, the ship began to give off a slight glow, hardly enough to recognize if you weren't looking too hard at it. The air around the vessel shimmered and sparkled as if the entire thing was caught in telekinesis, yet somehow there was no grand display of light or arcane sheath had that been the case.
“I-It’s charging its shields, why-” As I responded, then there was a speck of movement and a faint red light emanating from one of the towers on the ship’s bottom, thestral eyes picking up what would have been impossible to see at this distance.
“By Luna! It’s going to fire!” Shouted Lightning.
“Quickly, get-” The world went a blinding red, searing heat erupting in an instant, and in the blink of an eye, the world liquified, then vaporized, then plasmafied, then all feeling was gone as quickly as it came.
Author's Note
So, we've finally looped back around to the beginning, now the Seige has begun. To be honest, I was hoping to get this chapter out sooner, but a combination of disinterest, school, and simple lethargy took me down in the end... Time to go play Skyrim for the ten thousandth time.
View Online
Chapter V: The First Battle (Prelude to Siege)
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.
