The War of Ferus Island

Chapter 7

Theft and Capture

Spike gazed down into the tall cylindrical container. Every time a stone fell into it, there was a little flash of light. Spike had to squint as the constant stream of ponies with wheelbarrows dropped stones in. Even with such a regular input, the contents of the container never seemed to grow. It was going to take a long time to fill.

"Everything looks good," Twilight said with a smile. They were standing on a raised platform which surrounded the lip of the container. The sun was nearly below the horizon, but everypony was still working hard. "We're moving along right on schedule. After the conveyer belt it built, it will go much faster. We'll begin charging tomorrow." As a test, Twilight sent a beam of purple magic into the pit, smiling as it made contact with the stones below. "Now I need to get some research done. You can stay here and watch the operation if you want, Spike."

"Sure!" Spike said eagerly. Leaping off Twilight's back, he sat down on the edge of the container, his feet dangling into the pit.

"Be careful, Spike," Twilight warned before trotting back to her room.

The long line of ponies stretched down a spiraling ramp. The line was moving quickly, and nopony ever had to wait for anypony else. Some of the ponies were dumping the contents into the pit, but most were dumping it into a growing pile of dirt and rocks off the side of the platform. Standing and looking over the edge, Spike saw the spiral ramp led down into a large hole in the ground below. That would be the mine. There were scouting parties out surveying the surface, but the mine was a much faster source of stones. The ground seemed to be filled to bursting with them.

Spike fell in with the stream of ponies moving away from the container. They walked down another ramp and down into another hole. The mine was very efficient, thanks to Twilight's planning, and nopony was ever left waiting. As the ramp carried him below ground, Spike stared in awe at the number of ponies occupying the cavern that opened up before him. Reaching the bottom of the ramp, Spike fell out of line and looked up. The ceiling was not high, but the room was very expansive and filled with ponies working.

On the walls, ponies with pickaxes chipped away the wall. Ponies behind them loaded the dirt and rocks from this into wheelbarrows. These were dumped onto conveyer belts, which ran past sorter ponies, who examined any rocks in the line of dirt and took them out if they were Ferus Stones, tossing them into wheelbarrows. The excess dirt and rocks were carried on down the conveyer and fell into other wheelbarrows. Ponies from the line would grab the first full wheelbarrow they came to and take it to the spiral ramp. The next pony in line would replace the wheel barrow, and continue on down the line of sorting conveyers until they came to a full wheelbarrow. If they ever made it to the end of the line without encountering a full wheelbarrow, they went on mining duty. If there weren't enough ponies to take all the full wheelbarrows, they would call one of the miners back. Twilight had told Spike that this prevented bottlenecking, and he didn't see anything wrong with anypony's neck, so it must have been working. The only other ponies in the mine were constantly building wooden supports to keep the ceiling from caving in.

Spike walked behind the line of miners, hoping to find a gem or two poking out among the refuse they left. There was nothing but boring old rocks with a glowing one here and there. The whole island seemed incredibly devoid of gems. He wished he had packed more than he had. Coming to a section of the wall where nopony was working, Spike examined a pile of glowing rocks. Twilight had said something about leaving some charged Stones in the mine to help with mining when she got around to teaching some unicorns how to use them.

The empty patch of the wall crumbled. Spike saw a Diamond Dog suddenly reaching out to grab at the glowing stones. Yelling in alarm, the surrounding mining ponies came to see what was going on. The Diamond Dog grabbed two stones and vanished back into the wall. Immediately another piece of wall crumbled a little further down the line, and a Diamond Dog leaped out and grabbed a stone that was lying in a pile of dirt one of the miners had just loosed. Suddenly, Diamond Dogs began jumping out from everywhere, laying about for any Stones they could get their hands on. As the miners ran to start fighting them off, Spike sprinted toward the exit ramp.

* * * * * * *

Twilight sat down on the floor and looked at the dimly-glowing stone. Picking it up, she looked into it. It was nothing but a dull stone beneath the glow. What the things were and where they had come from was the question that had plagued her for the past week. There was no natural explanation for them, which meant they had to have been created at some point. But by whom? They seemed to be indestructible, and what could forge that which could not be destroyed?

Sighing, Twilight turned to an ancient tome she had found. It was the oldest record of history that she had ever seen. Celestia had given it to her, hoping it would help in the research of the stones. Celestia had believed it to be nearly eight-hundred years old. Turning the fragile pages gently, she became enthralled with the words.

The Reign of Discord was ended in the year zero by two young Alicorns. These Alicorns were incredibly talented with magic, and had discovered the Elements of Harmony on Chorus Mountain. Nopony knows where exactly the Elements came from. They seem to have been forged by somepony ages ago, but nopony knows by whom.

The Alicorns had only recently received their Marks of Talent. Due to the incredibly strong nature of their magic, they were given the abilities to control the sun and moon. Grasping these things from the control of Discord threw him into a confused daze. They seized the opportunity to move in and defeat him using the Elements of Harmony, encasing him in stone for all time. Everypony worshiped them for what they had done, and they assumed the roles of Princesses, ruling over the land.

Twilight looked up from the book. Chorus Mountain? She had never heard of it. Perhaps the name had been changed through the years. Just like Marks of Talent. She turned her head as Spike burst through the door panting. "Twilight, Diamond Dogs are invading the mine!" Twilight jumped to her feet. Just then, Spike belched and a scroll appeared. Picking it up and reading it, Twilight gasped.

"Spike, go to Rainbow Dash. Give her this letter." She handed him a smaller scroll which had been rolled inside the larger. "Have the guard ponies who don't immediately leave help out in the mine. I have to go to the moon." Throwing on her saddlebags full of charged stones, she stepped outside, touched the topmost stone, and looked up. In a flash the landscape around her changed to the grey of the moon's surface. She dropped the bags, knowing that Luna would not want her to bring the stones near her, and started at a gallop toward the single tower of the palace visible in the distance.

* * * * * * *

Pure Corruption watched the purple unicorn gallop across the surface of the moon. It was a rare sight--most Unicorns were unbearably tired after spending all day teleporting to the moon. This one seemed vibrant and well-rested. Most odd.... Looking back at the bags the pony had dropped, Pure gasped. "Take her," he mumbled to the three ponies behind him. They complied, galloping off to a small pass in a ridge the pony would undoubtedly traverse soon.

Pure trotted to the saddlebags. Opening them, he gasped. Shadow Light had reported such glowing Stones, but she had also said she had been lucky to get her hands on one. Pure smiled and threw the bags on his back. Trotting toward the pass, he laughed, thinking of the praise he would receive from Shadow Light for this accomplishment.

Watching the purple Unicorn as she galloped toward the pass, Pure laughed again as she was tackled. She put up a half-way decent fight, but one of the attackers clubbed her upside the head with a large moonstone, knocking her out cold. Yes, he would certainly be praised.

* * * * * * *

Rainbow Dash,

I am recalling eighty percent of the Ferus Island forces back to Canterlot. Luna has made threats of attacking the city, and seems confident. You will remain there and be placed in charge of the remaining force. I believe Twilight will be able to defend against any attackers using the stones, so it should be no problem.

Princess Celestia

Rainbow Dash read and reread the letter, her mouth hanging open. Luna threatened Canterlot? Was she out of her mind? Looking up, she spied the Commander of the Ferus Island forces. Flying to him, she handed the letter over and exchanged a few words before returning to Spike. "Now what else did you need, Spike?"

"Diamond Dogs are attacking the mine!" he exclaimed.

"Oh hay-seeds! Come on," she motioned to her squadron. "We've got to buck some mutts out of our mine." They flew off toward the mine entrance. Dropping down through the hole, they saw the extent of the battle. Some of the dogs appeared to be retreating, but there were still numerous patches of fighting going on all over the cavern. The pile of Stones meant to be used in defense was gone, and several miners lay wounded on the ground. Diving into the fray, Rainbow Dash started kicking any Diamond Dog in sight.

Why does this sort of thing always happen to me?

* * * * * * *

Rarity stepped off the gangplank from the boat onto the island. Turning to Fluttershy, she nodded. They had gotten sick of waiting around for something to happen, and had decided to form this band of ponies: The Peace Hooves.

The boats held nearly a hundred ponies they had gotten to join in their cause. They had numerous nurses and several doctors to help if ever the conflict led to fighting. Rarity dearly hoped it would never come to that, but they had to be prepared. Also included in the ranks were several ponies skilled in speech craft and debating. These would be useful for organizing peaceful solutions to conflicts, and promoting diplomacy.

Fluttershy looked worried as she watched the ponies trot off the boats. Rarity flashed her a reassuring smile, which brightened the yellow mare only briefly. Rarity turned toward the fortress visible from the shore and gasped. There was an army marching toward the docks nearly a mile down the shoreline.

"Where do you suppose they're going?" Fluttershy asked in her soft voice.

"I don't know, but I don't like the looks of it," Rarity replied. "At any rate, we need to meet with Twilight and Rainbow, and let them know what we're doing here." Fluttershy nodded, and followed as Rarity started trotting toward the tall wooden palisades.

* * * * * * *

A throbbing headache was the first thing Twilight was aware of as she awoke. The second was the pain from kinks in her neck and back brought about by her awkward sleeping position. Lifting her head, she blinked, trying to clear the blurriness from her eyes. What had happened? Had she been attacked? That sounded familiar....

"I see you are awake." The voice coming from a blurry gray Earth Pony was chilling. "I have some questions for you."

Twilight groaned and put a hoof to her head as she tried to stand up. "Who are you?"

The voice laughed as her vision cleared. "All in good time, filly." Moving to a table placed on the wall of the dimly lit room, the gray pony picked a Ferus Stone up. "Right now I want you to tell me everything you know about these."

Twilight shook her head and immediately regretted it as the throbbing in her head increased. "I'm not telling you anything."

Another laugh. He ducked his head through the small doorway and called somepony to come inside. A Unicorn entered, taking the stone from the gray pony with a nod. Focusing on Twilight's horn, the Unicorn slammed magic into it. He throbbing headache was replaced by piercing pain all over her body. Horns were meant for one-way focusing of raw magic into usable energy, and pumping magic through the other way was like trying to force water to go upstream. It was usually impossible, since the horn naturally repelled magic from the outside--much like a full Ferus Stone--but Twilight supposed it would be doable with the power and speed of a Ferus Stone.

The flow ended abruptly but the pain lingered on, and Twilight passed out, a chilling laugh filling her ears.