The War of Ferus Island

Chapter 6

Dogs

Side by side and one by one,

Into love they fall,

Until we come to spoil their fun,

And then destroy them all.

Free Form shook his head. He had had that infernal nursery rhyme stuck in his head for days. He stamped a hoof on the ground impatiently as he peaked out from the bush he was hiding in. He had been waiting for nearly an hour, and nopony had come down the small back road. He needed something good on his record. For years he had just been another grunt in the Queens army. One grunt is just like the other thousands of grunts. So he opted for this assignment. Free Form would not be caught in an endless loop of front-line invasions.

His hole-filled ears snapped up as he heard the sound of hooves coming down the road at a gallop. The diplomat. Changing form required but a thought, and after only a moment Free Form had become an elderly mare. Feigning trouble walking, Free Form stepped out into the road. As the galloping stallion rounded the bend, Free Form fell over with a hoof on his currently wrinkled forehead.

A cloud of dust filling Free Forms nostrils and the sound of skidding hooves told him it was going well so far. "Ma'am, are you okay?" The stallion came over to see if he was breathing. Seeing that he wasn't, the stallion quickly leaned down to listen for a heartbeat.

Free Form brought his hooves up in a flash, and thrust them down toward the stallions head. Unfortunately, the stallion had moved his head in time and leaped back, causing Free Forms hooves to come down squarely on his own chest. Grunting, he leapt to his feet and faced his opponent, who was wearing a startled look and trying to slowly back away.

Free Form reverted to his natural shape and flew into the air. The stallion on the ground hesitated for only a moment before starting at full gallop down the road. Diving, Free Form kept his hooves at his side as he aimed for the pony's back with his head. Impact was approaching. As hard as the stallion attempted to dodge from side to side, Free Form's aim was magnificent. The two bodies collided.

* * * * * * *

Shadow Light took her time guiding the diplomat from Luna down the corridor to the throne room. I should kill him. He could foul everything up! But the three guards accompanying them would keep that from happening. She had no choice but to take him to the Princess. Perhaps she would be able to slip out. Why didn't I anticipate this? Everything she had worked for could be ruined.

Sighing, Shadow opened the door to the throne room. "Presenting Olive Branch, a diplomat from Princess Luna." It took great effort to keep her voice steady.

Princess Celestia stood, smiling at the diplomat. He walked toward the matriarch and bowed. Shadow Light took her place behind Princess Celestia, grimacing. "It is a great relief to see you, Olive Branch. I had been afraid I had somehow offended my sister when she did not respond to my letter within a week. But I suppose it takes time to teleport from the moon."

Olive Branch looked Celestia in the eye. "I come bearing a warning and nothing more." Shadow Light's attention snapped to the stallion. "The glorious Princess of the Night declares that you shall regret it if you do not keep your forces off of Ferus Island. If you do not destroy or surrender all the stones you have thus far collected, Canterlot shall be overthrown. A corrupt empire cannot be allowed to survive."

Shadow’s mouth fell open. Scanning the stallions hooves, she asked herself, Where is it? Where is the engraving?

Celestia frowned, thinking. After a moment, she said, "Tell her I have no wish for conflict, but she cannot possibly think she can overthrow Canterlot. This is the most heavily defended city in Equestria. She must realize that it would be impossible for her to take."

"You know not of our capabilities. We shall take Canterlot if you do not comply. Tell me, how many ponies have traveled to the moon so far?"

If he is not with us—with me—than for whom is he working?

Celestia eyed the stallion warily. "According to our knowledge, around four hundred, including mares and foals. Hardly enough for an army."

The white stallion laughed. "As I said, you know not of our capabilities. The Glorious Princess of the Night has spoken, and shall not offer any further warning. You have four days to comply with these demands." Turning, Olive Branch left the throne room.

Could he truly be from Luna? Was my forgery that effective?

"Shadow Light," Princess Celestia said after he had gone. "Send a messenger to the Ferus Land Force. Call half of them back." It took Shadow Light a moment to comprehend what had just occurred, but she nodded and hurried down a side passage.

Luck has graced the Minions of Discord this day.

* * * * * * *

The island was calm in the cool air of the evening. The land forces had arrived three days ago. They moved surprisingly fast in establishing a more permanent fortress in the field. There were wooden palisades up, and the container for the stones was far larger than Rainbow had been imagining. It would take quite some time to fill.

Although the gathering of the stones had sped up quite a bit as the mine was expanded. The land force spent most of the day underground, hauling up wheelbarrows full of the things. It pleased Twilight, of course, but that much power could be an incredibly dangerous thing. Until Twilight had explained it to her, Rainbow had not known Celestia intended to cure all of Equestria from the island, in one mass spell. It seemed too ridiculous to believe, but she was the princess, and Rainbow would never question her.

Rainbow was just about to head back to the camp, having finished her nightly patrol. Turning to the horizon, she noticed a sparkle in the distance, like the glint off a piece of broken glass. Furrowing her brow, she flew toward it. It was only several miles away, and she arrived in a matter of minutes. A light fly always cleared her mind before bed anyway.

As she approached the place the glint had come from, she began seeing some strange piles of dirt. The geologist pony had gone on several digging expeditions, but none this far from the camp. Grimacing, Rainbow landed on one. "Hey, Diamond Dogs!" she called. There was no answer. "What are you even doing out here?" Still nothing but silence replied. "Hey Rock Mutts, I'm talking to you--"

Rainbow was pushed from behind and tumbled halfway down the pile of dirt before managing to take flight. Turning to face her attacker, she saw a Diamond Dog on the top of the mound, chattering an incomprehensible string of words. He was holding something, but Rainbow couldn't see what.

"What are you doing here? You hunt gems! There are no gems here!"

"My precious does not need to be a gem, no..." The creature was cooing to the thing in his arms. "My precious is perfect just as she is, yes...." Picking up a clod of dirt, he threw it at Rainbow Dash.

Ducking to avoid the projectile, Rainbow made a dive and bucked the Diamond Dog off of the mound of dirt. The creature rolled down the pile, flailing his arms about. The Ferus Stone he had been holding flew into the air and Rainbow caught it, being careful not to activate it. Twilight had taught her and the other non-unicorn scouts how to avoid accidently casting magic.

"My precious!" the dog cried up from below. "Give it to me!" He began jumping up and down as if trying to reach Rainbow and pull her back to earth. Rainbow frowned, looking at the glowing stone. Sighing, she focused on it in the same manner she had absent-mindedly done on the first scouting trip. She remembered the Rainboom again, and the emotion that filled her seemed to channel itself through the stone. It was released in a beam of blue magic, colliding with one of the mounds, sending a spray of dirt everywhere.

Shaking the dust from her mane, she saw the Diamond Dog still jumping below. Then he did a double take. "What have you done to my precious?" he demanded. Rainbow glanced at the stone in her hand and saw that it was empty now. The dog leaped into the air and dug his way down on the dive, vanishing into the ground. As Rainbow began to fly away, she heard cackling laughter coming from the hole. "My precious! Here you are! And another precious! And another!!!"

Rainbow turned back and narrowed her eyes. After a moment the top of the hole was filled with dirt, mimicking the other mounds. Rainbow turned back toward the camp and started flying back as the sun fell below the horizon.

* * * * * * *

Trotting out into the empty valley, Twilight watched with satisfaction as the sun dipped completely below the horizon. The moon arose at the opposite end of the sky, and Twilight nodded. Turning around, she opened her saddlebag. The light from the ten glowing stones within momentarily blinded her in the darkness, but she adjusted and touched a hoof to one of them. The shifting feeling in her horn was noticeably stronger than it had been with just one or two stones. She felt as though she was limitless... She closed her eyes for a moment to enjoy the feeling.

Snapping them open, she thought to herself I can't let myself be distracted. Looking up, she focused on a valley on the moon. Unicorns had teleported to and from the moon before, but it usually took at least twelve hours to cast the spell. The moon was the furthest place visible. Although having the destination in sight was not a requirement of teleporation, per say, it did help imensely.

She sent out feelers, using some of the energy from the stones to expedite the process. They hit the moon’s surface a moment later, and she smiled, building the linking flows between the two locations. Smiling to herself, she thrust the stone's energy into punching her through.

Blinking and looking around, Twilight examined the lunar surface. She had never been to the moon before, as until recently everypony had been too afraid of Nightmare Moon to try it. She felt.... lighter. The difference was significant, in fact. After the plague was cured, she would have to return to discover why.

Looking at her stones, she saw that they were a little less than half full. Sighing, she went about filling them until she had enough to get back.

* * * * * * *

Nightmare Moon opened her eyes. The light of the infernal sun was streaming onto her bed in most unpleasant ways. It was year thirty-four of her imprisonment, and she still had been unable to entirely block the light from her castle.

Trotting through a doorway and down a massive flight of stairs leading to her mine, she yawned. The small amount of magic Celestia had allowed her made constructing the palace go a bit too slowly for her tastes. As she reached the bottom, she began the endless task of cutting square blocks of moonstone and ferrying them up to the surface once more.

As she shoved a flow of magic into the side of the wall, she felt something...odd about it. It was as if it was being sucked up by something.... Letting the flow go, she began bucking the wall. After several bucks, the moonstone crumbled away and a flood of rocks poured out. They...they were glowing.

Luna lurched up with a jolt. She had not had nightmares of her former self for over a year. For the past few years she had tried to force the memory of her imprisonment out of her mind, but every attempt had been unsuccessful. She remembered most of it in vivid detail. And yet try as she might she could remember nothing involving the stones.

Getting up and walking to a mirror, she sat there, staring into her own reflection, feeling the sickly feeling the stones gave her. Is one here on the moon? Or is it just a memory? The feeling abruptly vanished and Luna shook her head, trying to clear it. Yawning, she looked back at the bed. With a sigh, she pulled a book from a shelf and began reading, not wanting to dream—or even think—of the stones or Nightmare Moon any more.