Chapter 32: The Fog of History
Part 1: Cadence's Confession
TIME: 11:22
DATE: War Day 290 (Local)/18 Primaus, 1003 C.S.
LOCATION: Unknown Island, Sea of Neighpon
Another four days on the island. To keep our spirits up, I talked about things. Everything I possibly could. Cadence and Toola both wanted to learn how to PROPERLY protect themselves - and Cadence wanted to know how to fight so she wouldn't be useless when we did confront Chrysalis. So, I did military drills - casually - between breaks for stories.
Toola proved herself resourceful enough to create basic paints out of the natural things around the island, a paintbrush out of bamboo shoots and combinations of her own mane, and various plant materials. Which made her happy, hey, all-natural paints and brushes! She used some of the scrap canvas from part of the sail (which washed ashore on War Day 287) to paint on. Pretty pictures!
We used some of the canvas to create a decent shelter off of the boat, along with part of the main mast. At least we had decent housekeeping. Cadence proved herself a reliable forager - both plant and animal ended up on our plate. Toola didn't partake the latter, but that was okay.
No, the main attraction of War Day 290 was Cadence giving me the full and unbiased truth about everything that had happened in Equestria, from the perspective of a race that had isolated themselves and tried to stop all of it from happening.
Cadence, knowing what she did about Equestria's true history, took me through all the steps that my encounter with Celestia had missed. She only knew all of these things because her parents had explained them to her. Apparently, the link between the Crystal Kingdom and Equestria ran deeper than I thought. Apparently, the royalty of the Crystal Kingdom were the keepers of Equestria's dark secrets. It was a hidden safety valve, in case things got out of hand again, then the royalty of the Crystal Kingdom would be in a positon to tell the pony masses the real truth behind everything, and be able to lead them in revolution.
As Celestia admitted, she wouldn't be able to stop EVERYBODY.
About a thousand years ago, there was the admitted Civil War between the three primary races (Earth, Pegasi, Unicorn). The reasons were different than those explained in history.
Equestrian history states that the 'balance' between the three was that the Pegasi controlled weather, Earth Ponies grew food, and Unicorns controlled the day/night cycle. The truth of the matter was, these three primary races of the Nation of Equestria had formed a kingdom together many ages ago, and the kingdom that existed at that time (the one-thousand year mark) was but a frail remnant of that original, mighty kingdom. According to Crystal Kingdom Royalty's own history, the Original Civilization lived in Dream Valley. This was a unified people, with no controversy or problems except those that threatened from the outside. As their civilization grew, noble houses were created. Eventually, they reached a high level of technical sophistication beyond what the lands in North Equus had currently (Coltonville - Generation 2).
Some great catastrophie occured about eight thousand years ago. They have no history on what it was, but it was what created the Barriers, and what made Dream Valley uninhabitable. Apparently, this is where Celestia and Luna lived, and at the time, they had kept themselves out of the affairs of ponies. They didn't want to be worshipped, or have to be the rulers of ponykind - especially since they had the capability of taking care of things themselves.
After the apocalypse, the core of the Original Civilization collapsed. Some ponies fled to other lands, founding nations such as Roam, Germaneigh, and Prance. The northern fragment of them - who lived north of the Crystal Kingdom - remained whole. Complete. And at harmony and peace. Then, the lands to the north grew colder and colder, until they could not sustain life according to the way the ponies there were living it (the "blizzard of hard feelings" from Equestria's history). So, they moved south.
It was around that time that the Crystal Ponies started to separate themselves from the rest of Pony society. It was actually during the Original Civilization that they were created, by the Jewel Wizard, intentionally, so they could find him more gems. The ten founders of the Twinkle-Eyes became the foundation of the Crystal Kingdom, and discovered that the Power of Love was the great force that it was. They weathered the Apocalypse seperately from the other races, and stayed to themselves.
After moving south, they found a land that wasn't fertile except in a few places - all of them required a lot of hard labor in order to cultivate. Earth ponies did this. The weather was unpredictable. Pegasi intervened and learned how to master the weather. The land needed protecting from creatures left over from the apocalypse. Unicorns did this. They lived in harmony at the northern edge of the lands for a very long time, isolated from other nations.
About three thousand years ago, though, the bonds of friendship started to break down. It took centuries for things to get so bad that it devolved into civil war, but it eventually did about eleven hundred years ago. The Hundred-Year War (the real civil war) spilled out into the entirety of the area. For five hundred years before that, though, the schism grew deep enough that the three races developed entirely independent governments. Celestia and Luna retreated to Dream Castle around this time, to hide from the Ponies. But, the Grundles lived in the nearby glades, and they had plenty of food.
Food started to get in shorter and shorter supply with the war on. Pegasi tried to farm, but found it difficult, despite good weather. Earth Ponies adapted to a four season planting schedule, but had to divert pony-power (manpower) to fight the war. Unicorns could cultivate barely enough food for themselves using magic. That's how they came to target the Grundles. It turns out that Gallart Bonebeard was a Twinkle-Eye - a Crystal Pony. He tried to save the Grundles from the Ponies by moving them into the basement of Dream Castle, which the survivors of the Apocalpyse had also used as a shelter (Cadence didn't know what became of them). He was killed for his efforts to try to save the natural inhabitants of the embattled lands. Someone thought him a spy, and did him in.
Gallart's death was what spurred Celestia and Luna to action. As Celestia admitted, she and Luna forced the integration of the Races, by fighting and defeating the elite of each faction - by this time, they had crowned themselves Kings and Queens. Had since the start of the Schism. The lack of harmony and the loss of the magic of friendship had been infecting everything in the "Inner World" for a very long time. Old Prance, Old Ambleion and Old Germaneigh, fought several major wars between two thousand and one thousand years ago.
The forced integration of the races was never a sure thing, and there was a lot of disagreements. The "Summit Meeting" mentioned in Equestrian history represented an actual event, but that event took place AFTER Celestia forced them to end the fighting, and was herself forced to become the unified leader of Equestria. She even changed the name of the country TO Equestria to force a clean break from their history.
Now, this was the part that Luna AND Celestia had left out. Discord's involvement in the problem. At the time, he was Celestia's lover, and a Chimera, not a Draconequus. This part, Discord explained to me, partially. What none of them dared tell the little human was that Celestia and Luna used Discord as their front man. He met with the masses, while Celestia and Luna directly met with the now-former kings and queens, who were largely retained as respected community leaders.
However, the problems were still there, even if peace was enforced by a pair of Goddesses.
Discord thought that ALL of this, from the loss of harmony over the millenia, to the present conflict, was caused by the spirit of Chaos. Said Spirit was already upset at Celestia for ruining the chaos of the civil war. Discord fought and killed him, and took his power for his own (Cadence wasn't sure Discord had a choice in the matter - when I told her that he said he didn't, she agreed that it was very possible that this was the case, and that Chaos was as eternal as the sun and the moon, but the power of chaos could be transferred on the holder's demise).
Now, this is where things got muddy with both Celestia and Discord's testimonies. According to Cadence, Discord returned to his beloved and took his old job up. There was enough chaos in the world already, that he was apparently in control, and restricted himself to harmless pranks (which, apparently, was the beginning of modern prank humor as Ponies understand it).
When Celestia said she was a despot, she wasn't lying. Her policies were intrusive to begin with, but as time went on and the integration wasn't working, they became incredibly harsh. Of course, this was all enforced by Discord on the masses, but in private, the elite of pony society knew this was Celestia's doing. Some started to question her rule. Those people started disappearing.
As things got worse, Discord did too. His form started changing (as in, he EVOLVED into what he was). His attitude started to change, too. The worse things became, the worse he became. Celestia accused him of being a monster - and so, he became one. A worse one. He started making up his own policies, and since the masses didn't know that Celestia was their actual ruler, they thought EVERYTHING was Discord's fault.
So, as Discord started to get out of hand, and Celestia did as well, Luna created the Elements of Harmony from the Rainbow of Light. Legend says, Luna cast the Rainbow away, that it couldn't be used to create such a thing ever again. However, Luna hadn't siezed the Rainbow of Light to stop Discord, she had made the Elements to stop her sister - but Discord was becoming worse by the day, and presented the greater threat. Luna and Celestia made a show of defeating Discord and sealing him away. End of story, right?
No. After defeating Discord, Luna used the maximum extent of her power to try and stop her sister, when it became clear that Celestia was simply going to reveal their existance as the puppetmasters of the three races, to the masses, and keep her policies in place to continue to destroy the cultural fabric of those three races, until only Equestria's united cultural identity remained, instead of trying to let them handle things on their own. Apparently, Celestia feared that they - the Ponies as a whole - needed a permanent Mommy to make them play nice together.
Well, Celestia managed to get the upper hand on her sister and banished her to the moon. She then became ridden with guilt, and at the same time knew that the Elements were still out there. A final threat that her sister had made to her - that the power to overthrow her was now within reach of the masses. This forced Celestia to change, not that her guilt wasn't eating at her. She placed the blame for the bad governance on Discord and Luna, and made Luna's reputation take the blame for part of the reign of terror, and more or less scapegoated her into taking the blame for all the mystical things that ponies had to fear, while Discord would be remembered as a despot and a chaotic tormentor.
K: "This.. how did this all get whitewashed so badly?" I finally asked, at the end of the history lesson.
Cadence: "What was your country like one thousand years ago?"
K: "We didn't exist. My country is just over 220 years old.." I blinked. What was happening in Europe in 1012 AD? The only thing I could really think of was the founding of the Holy Roman Empire in the late 900's AD. Besides that.. "..I see your point."
Cadence: "It didn't help that Celestia ended up corrupting history herself - partly to keep her subjects in line, partly to help the integration process, and partly to deflect blame from herself so she could rule with an air of innocence, and as a saviour to the people of Equestria." She shrugged. "What you know as Equestria's history isn't all a lie - Aunt Celestia WAS trying to do the right thing, and there was a schism between the three primary races that make up modern Equestria, but the actual truth is much more disruptive than the one the people are told. And the Crystal Kingdom is part of the lie. We more or less hold the knowledge to ourselves, in case Celestia gets out of hand again. So we can lead the people in revolution against her, even if that means - meant - imprisoning her in stone like she did with Discord. We were supposed to know where the Elements of Harmony were, but that knowledge was lost."
K: "Okay, now.. explain the Cystal Kingdom to me."
Cadence: "There's not much to say. Celestia knows the truth about it. The core of the kingdom is unreachable - that's due to Sombra."
K: "Did Celestia and Luna have anything to do with his banishment?"
Cadence: "Actually, yes - they defeated him some time after Discord, but before the split between Celestia and Luna. The events all happened within the space of a couple of months."
K: "Is the core of the kingdom really under some kind of vanishing spell?"
Cadence: "No.. well.. not really. You can GET there, but once you arrive, you cannot leave. Your soul - and all the feelings of love, warmth, and desire - are drained from you. That's what Sombra did. He's holding everyone there as hostages. When Aunt Celestia and Aunt Luna defeated him, they didn't really seal him away at all, all they did was force him to retreat to the core of the kingdom to lick his wounds and regain his power."
K: "For a thousand years?"
Cadence: "Aunt Celestia's doing. While it helps Sombra indirectly, it also keeps the Crystal Pony race from becoming extinct. The towns at the border lands aren't.. they're populated by Crystal Ponies, but not ones that directly descend from our founders. They're part-breeds that bred with other races. Some have wings, some have horns, some don't. That simple. The true Crystal Pony race only exists in the area that Sombra has corrupted and is using to restore himself."
K: "That explains why travel is highly restricted. Celestia doesn't want people finding out the truth, and getting themselves killed."
Cadence: "There's also the Crystal Heart.. that's what Sombra needs to regain all his lost power."
K: "I see. So, the Crystal Heart.. if it were restored in the Crystal Kingdom.."
Cadence: "It would restore the Crystal Ponies - the true ones - back to their old selves. That's why I exist."
K: "But you're not a Crystal Pony."
Cadence: "Not.. not exactly. I'm descended from Crystal Pony Royalty, but the blood has become so thin over the years, that I don't have any racial traits from them. Except.. my Cutie Mark. The Crystal Heart itself calls to me. I'm supposed to save them.. save my people." She shrugged.
Toola: "Faaar out!" She was stunned. "I never knew this!"
K: "Sombra.. how does he fit in with shadow power?"
Cadence: "He has power over shadows - it's what he corrupts feelings of love into. Shadow power."
K: "Is there some chance he could have something to do with Tirek?"
Cadence: "No idea. It's possible. It's entirely possible that Sombra is related to him somehow, but I have no idea how. Tirek is a Centaur, isn't he?"
K: "Yeah, and Sombra's supposed to be a huge Unicorn.." I pondered this. "..is it possible that Sombra somehow FOUND the source of Tirek's power and took a piece of it for himself? Somehow learned - or absorbed - this shadow power?"
Cadence: "It would fit with what I was told of our history."
K: "What happened to your parents?"
Cadence: "They.. when my Cutie Mark appeared, and after I became an Alicorn, they left for the Crystal Kingdom. I never saw them again."
K: "Hm. And what's.. shouldn't it be the Crystal Empire?"
Cadence: "That's only what Sombra calls it."
K: "He's just a Unicorn, right? He's not a Crystal-Unicorn, is he?"
Cadence: "From what I was told, he's like me - he has Crystal Pony blood, and sees himself as the land's rightful ruler. He also sees Crystal Ponies as the true rulers of Equestria. That, during the Civil War, we should have invaded and settled the problem by conquering the other three races. This was part of the reason we shut ourselves away during the Civil War - we were dealing with him. And we were losing, until Celestia and Luna came along." She gestured. "It was the survivors of the Kingdom's Royalty that came to live in Equestria, and how the informal agreements that Equestria handle our official business came to be. It's also how we came to be the keepers of Equestria's dark secrets. We watched - my direct ancestors watched - Celestia's battle with her sister, and found out the truth about what had happened before they arrived, from Luna herself. And we were sworn to secrecy.. if Celestia hadn't changed after banishing her sister, my ancestors were in posession of the Elements, and could have ended her tyranny."
K: "What an odd alternate history THAT would have been." I shrugged. "Can the Elements destroy Sombra?"
Cadence: "Probably! They're the most powerful force of magic and.. everything else, on the planet, now that the Rainbow of Light is gone."
K: "We need to find the Rainbow of Light. It's - apparently - the only thing that can stop Tirek. That or we can just steal an A-Bomb and hope that works."
I had to explain Atomic Weapons to Cadence. She was, of course, shocked to learn about them. Toola was shocked that we'd actually USED them before.
K: "We didn't.. really.. have a choice in the matter. If we hadn't, millions of people would have died. We would have been forced to invade a country that was arming every single one of its citizens, and telling them to fight to the death. Men, women, and children. Every single life would have had to have been exterminated. To say nothing of the other country that wanted to invade them as well, which would have probably ruined the nation we were fighting, after the war."
I explained the Cold War to them, and how a prolonging of World War II might have allowed the Soviet Union to claim parts of Japan. And what that meant - I explained what happened to Germany to them, and how, even now, Germany has problems with culture and east-versus-west disputes.
Toola: "Okay.. so.. it was the lesser of two evils. Barely."
K: "Eh.. I won't judge the people that had to make the call. But, yeah, in the face of things, we really didn't have any other options. Invasion, or A-Bombs. That was it."
So, now I knew the truth - from an unbiased source, that had passed the story down over ten centuries. It certainly cleared up a lot of things, and explained Discord's relationship with Celestia. And I now understood why they were all reluctant to tell me about this. Being human, knowing what I did, I could have led a revolution against Celestia and Luna as penence for their real crimes (letting - nay, inviting - Discord to the position of power he's remembered for, then planning to cover up Celestia's crimes by blaming things on him that weren't his fault, even if Luna did rebel soon after), killed Discord, and created a democracy or something, to replace them.
In short, while I could have given Celestia her desire to have the Ponies handle things themselves, I would have destroyed or imprisoned the two things that really WERE keeping everything from falling apart, and possibly destroyed myself in the process by becoming the Spirit of Chaos Embodied.
And to be honest, I might have done it, years ago, if I knew that Celestia and Luna basically let Discord do all those things, and had worked so closely with him, until they decided he needed to go. I was mad enough about Celestia banishing her sister, but if I had known that Discord originally 'ruled' the masses with their blessing?
I was better off not knowing, back then. I really might have done something rash. Would I have taken Discord's power? Maybe.. maybe willingly.. and I probably would have gone after Tirek with it.
It also explained why Celestia was so quick to banish him, back when I first arrived, just in case I gave in to temptation and killed him anyway.
It was all starting to make sense. And I was actually glad that I was kept from the truth until now.
{End of Part 1}
Part 2: Island Romance, Island Warfare
TIME: 13:33
DATE: War Day 292 (Local)
Our days became somewhat routine. Exploring the island during the day, or 'training' as we could, talking history and telling stories.. eating, and then sleeping at night. I didn't mind it. Toola Roola was making up for lost friend-time by telling me about her special talents and her gift for painting. Cadence was getting to the point of calling me Uncle (given that I was with Luna, and Luna was her 'aunt'), though she did so as an equal, not as an inferior relation.
No, life was good. It was hard to imagine there was a war on, or that I'd been missing for 12 days.
Toola Roola and I were out, exploring the center of the island this day. We were taking our time in 'mapping' everything, so we could cover the island thoroughly.
Toola: "K..?" She started in.
K: "Yes?"
Toola: "So.. you have Luna and Applejack.."
K: "Yees.. and I'm also having an affair with Rarity, which Applejack knows about, and allows to occur since it's Rarity's way of.. cutting loose, as it were. It's an outlet for her, and she'd rather Rarity do it with someone she can trust not to hurt her physically or emotionally." I shrugged.
Toola: "Is that it?" She tilted her head at me.
K: "Is what it?" I blinked.
Toola: "The Mares in your stable." She nodded.
K: "Well, Rarity is more like a friend with benefits. And only on her request. I never come to her. But, yes, Applejack and Luna are my ladies. And Luna promised that if, for some reason, I turn out to be immortal or something, that she'll be with me until the end of time. Honestly, I would do it. I love them both that much." I shrugged.
Toola: "So, I have a chance, then." She bowed her head a moment, and rubbed her chin with her fetlock.
K: "Wait-what?! I thought you saw me as a barely-tolerable monster!" I was shocked.
Toola: "Well, yes, but then again, there's a certain thrill about sleeping with a monster.." Bad Boy Syndrome Alert! "..and you are highly placed in Equestria's government. You could help me help Equus, help the environment.." She looked me right in the eyes. "That and when I think about you being able to exhaust and Alicorn.. well.." And there's the 'You have multiple desireable traits' thing that got Rainbow Dash interested.
K: "You're not serious." I leaned my head back as I stopped at a tree and caught a quick drink of water from the small teapot we carried around for that purpose.
Toola: "Of course I'm serious.." She got RIGHT UP ON ME..
K: "You're going through Estrus, aren't you?" I said with a cocked brow.
Toola: "Maybe." She gave me a coy grin. "That and I want to see if I can get anything out of you even close to what Cadence did by accident, on purpose." She nuzzled my groin. "Plus, admit it, it's been a week since you had to do those horrible things with Trixie.. don't you want to share some tender moments with someone that actually cares about you?"
K: "Yes, and I want that to be Applejack or Luna.." I patted her head.
Toola: "Come on.." Up on her hind legs, she got her face close to mine. "..let me let you feel some real passion."
K: "Look, Toola, I get raped enough." Luna, Celestia, Katrina, Rarity, Lyra.. Rainbow Dash about half way (hands only).. Applejack was the only one that had been fully consensual on my part from the very beginning, and SHE was DRUNK at the time! "Please don't make me any harder - THIS any harder - than it already is and you've got my pants down already.."
FUCK. ME.
Applejack and Luna haven't even MET her, yet!
But her lips, so silky smooth, meandering over my hot monkey prick.. I couldn't deny that I was attracted to her personality, and her kindness - that despite seeing me as a 'monster' that she had trusted me before, helped all three of us survive now, and wanted to learn from me how to do some of the horrible things that I was capable of doing, in the name of ending the war.
That and I couldn't deny how warm and moist her tongue felt as it glided down all the way, or how inviting her mouth was as it engulfed me. Physical response is a bitch, especially when you hadn't bothered to worry about an 'outlet' for several days, and had spent a few days doing nothing but fucking your worst enemy - which, in itself, kinda conditions you to be ready for more.
I slid down to my ass, sitting on a rock at the base of the tree, and just let her go at it, stroking her hair while she made those cute sucking noises. She was.. shockingly very good at this. Hippies believe in Free Love, don't they? Maybe she practiced it more practically than just kindness and free hugs.
I jolted as I felt her tongue slip between the tip of my head. Okay, that was something I didn't know excited me like that.. I'd have to tell Applejack to do that to me. And Luna.
K: "Fine.. you want it? You got it. The Monkey God demands sacrifice!"
Toola: *Hmpf!* "Don't expect a virgin sacrifice.." She Presented.
And I couldn't get my clothes off fast enough.
Plowing into Toola Roola was amazing. Soft, yet firm. She'd done some stuff in the past, that was clear - she wasn't as tight as Luna or Applejack. Luna had a thousand years of no sex, and AJ had been a virgin. Toola? She had some miles on her, and it just plain felt so damned good to be inside her experienced love hole. It fit better than any of my other lovers. And it certainly felt better than Trixie did (to be honest, Trixie was rather on the narrow side, and I had to do her at an angle, or it was uncomfortable).
K: "You've had a few stallions.." I said, hunched over her, talking in her ear.
Toola: "Manyy.." She oozed, dreamily. "..I LOVE sex.." Great! I'd made friends with a hippie vegan nympho!
It didn't take me very long to get the results SHE was after. Twice. Three times. She eventually just wedged me against the tree and did all the work herself, at her own pace. Swaying front-to-back.. slow at first, then faster, until she released, then back to slow again.. after about ten minutes of this, it started getting to the point where I NEEDED to finish, and she just wasn't doing it..
Toola: "Come.. OOONNN.. Finish!" *Ghhee!*
K: "Not.. not doing it right.." *Grnt* "I do better.. on top." Same thing I'd said to Luna.
Flipping her over on her back, I slid back inside (she was absolutely soaked by this time) and pounded her into the dirt like a proper jackhammer. I got her off several times in rapid succession before I finally managed to finish. And BOY did I finish! That got HER off even harder! I just... kinda stayed there, on top of her, cuddling her, for a bit.
Toola: "Mm.. note to self.. do not anger the Monkey Sex God unless very prepared.." She slid a hoof over my back. "Thank you, that was amazing.." *Mmh* "And I think it sated my estrus.."
It had. It also got sex off of my mind for a while.
We got back to the boat, where Cadence was. I had already put it in the 'Deal With It Later' pile. Toola hadn't - NOW she was feeling guilty.
Cadence: "What's the matter, Toola?"
Toola: "Ohh.. I let my Estrus get to me.. again." She looked at me, with her head down.
Cadence: "Oh, Toola.." She beckoned her over and gave her a hug. "..don't worry about it. We all get a little crazy around that time."
K: "It doesn't seem to have a season." I mentioned.
Cadence: "It doesn't.. it's.. something that happens individually for everypony. Sometimes, close friends might all kick off around the same time. But it happens, really, only once a year. That's when we're most fertile and ready to be with foal." She shrugged. "Don't feel guilty, Toola." She patted the back of her head.
K: "Yeah, I'm genetically incompatible with ponies, as far as the repeated couplings with Luna and Applejack can attest." And Rarity, for that matter.
Cadence: "Well, there you go, then!" She lifted her head back with a big smile.
K: "You're.. starting to get the Mommy Instinct that Celestia seems to have." I noted. "Two years in prison.." I looked at the boat. "..it wasn't all at that prison, was it?"
Cadence: "No, no it wasn't. I woke up in a prison somewhere else, and I was shipped here about.. three months ago. As far as I can tell, that wasn't supposed to BE a Prison. It looked like it used to be a castle or something, and.. Trixie or whomever.. fixed up some ruins to work as a prison."
K: "Certainly explains the royal-like room she was using as her own. By the way, I'm convinced I didn't manage to kill her." I'd forgotten to go back and put a full mag in her body. Then again, I was more focused on getting Toola out.
Cadence: "How did you get away from her, then?" She asked, head tilted in question.
K: "Jammed an apple in her throat and beat her head against her bed post until she lost consciousness." I shrugged. "I honestly thought I made her choke to death on it, but I guess not."
Cadence: *Snort* "I bet she can swallow a pumpkin!"
K: "Ha.." *HAHAHA!* "A SLUT joke! From the Princess of Love!" *HAHAHA!* "I love it! You're an awesome neice." I gave her a big hug.
Toola: *Giggle* "I have no idea what a slut is, but it sounds funny."
TIME: 12:44
DATE: War Day 293 (Local)
It was the middle of the next day that something finally happened. Toola and I were up on the Ringing Cliffs when we spotted a sail in the distance. A sail for a fairly large ship.
Toola: "That isn't a rescue party, is it?" She asked, concerned.
K: "No.. that's not one of the Bellerophon-class Frigates. It looks like.. the same sail configuration as HMS Moonlight before we modified her." I squinted. It was a guess, but a ship that size? It couldn't be ours, and the sail plan didn't look like anything else BUT one of Tirek's ships.
Meaning someone was likely aware.. that Cadence was here. They probably tracked her by her magic. That meant.. a mage was on that ship.
K: "There's going to be a mage on that ship. And they probably already know we're here." I looked at her. "Not you and me, but certainly Princess Cadence. I'm going to go ahead and guess they tracked her power signature." I tapped her on the shoulder. "Come on, we have to get ready."
It didn't look good. There could be well over a hundred crew on a ship like that. And we had.. 60 rounds of 9x35, and 170 rounds of 9x18. Well, MAYBE, if we can get one kill for every bullet..
..my mind went back to the classic film 'Predator.' What Arnie did after it was clear he had to fight the Yautja all by himself. The things he did to prepare the jungle for action. Montagnard Crossbows, mines, the works. It was time to see how much I remembered from the various 'How To' guides I'd gotten from 4Chan.
The ship was at least a couple of hours out. Probably a bit more. We'd seen it on the horizon from the cliffs, that was about 36 kilometers away, or about 20 nautical miles. The original sail plan of those ships - as estimated by Commodore Saletine himself - was about 12 knots at full wind. Problem was, they were coming in almost against the wind, which was fairly light, and I estimated their speed at.. maybe.. 4 or 5 knots?
The girls and I got busy with the island right away. We hoped to lure them towards where the boat was wrecked. To aide in the deception, we made false tracks in the sand leading away from the boat, and hurriedly erased signs of our staying there for the last few days.
Next step was to install traps. I had no idea if they'd be effective or not, but if I could at least cause injury, take a creature out of the fight, we might better our odds.
We didn't have time to dig spike pits, so I stuck with the basics - deadfalls, and Montagnard Crossbows. I also cut and shaped some Bamboo and stuck it along the clearest paths, at angles, covered by a little sand and a few leaves. These things ran around barefoot, for the most part, so there was always a chance they'd simply STEP on things.
Lacking explosives (we had ONE grenade from Toola's bag that had fallen inside the cabin), I couldn't do much for making blasting traps. But we did manage to get a large rock set up on a vine, right over a confluence in the paths, with a few smaller 'foot spikes' around the area near it. Hopefully, we'd snare a few of them, and either get more when their buddies go to help them out, or just crush those few.
I also rigged up a Colombian Snare - a rock that trails a long piece of rope or something, and swings along the edge of an inclined path when tripped. It SHOULD use barbed wire or something as the connecting piece, to cut enemy soldiers up, but we didn't have that, so I used rope from the rigging, hoping to simply knock them off the sides of the Ringing Cliffs.
We set up our last line of defense in a cave system at the mountain that overlooked the island. If they got this far - and we left them plenty of clues on how to get here - we'd be down to shooting them.
I gave Cadence the Sherman, and Toola the Zhukov. I took the Lee. Not that I was an especially better shot with it than them, I just felt like I could get more out of it. Besides, I was more mobile. The girls would be waiting in the cave, while I went about the island, tripping the snares that couldn't get tripped manually.
It was closer to five hours before they got to the island, and around to the side where the boat was.
TIME: 17:50
I watched as three landing boats from the ship pulled up on shore. In the lead was someone I.. sort of expected to see. Lostshort, by my guess. He was a chubby thing.. not what I expected to see. Wantall/Wontall was supposed to be a large Elf or something, and he had an elf assistant named Get-It.
His race? He looked like a goblin or something. He had a shorter assistant with him, alright, though. And he was dressed like a proper Wizard. Cloak, staff, and bag of likely miscellanious magical crap.
And I had Science. Once again, Science would Fuck You.
They sent the boats back. This guy wasn't stupid - he was going to get as many troops from his ship as he could.
He had more Goblins with him. Yes, we were now dealing with Goblins. Trixie wasn't lying when she said Tirek had other races under his control. Goblins.. were dangerously close to humans. Moreso than the Duregars. Had they been the ones to supply Tirek with technology? According to some lore, Goblins were especially good engineers, if rougher than their Gnomish or Dwarven cousins.
The goblins of the first group moved towards the jungle's edge together. Twenty in all. Six more hung back with the Wizard.
They were also armed with a mixture of Shermans and Zhukovs.
The Goblins were about four foot tall, or so. The Shermans were a bit big for them - Duregars were even shorter, at about three and a half feet, and couldn't really handle a Sherman at all. The Goblins made it work, though, as they advanced inland, following our tracks. They stopped about ten meters before any of our traps, though.
So.. they wanted proof or something that we were here, eh?
I snuck fairly close to the group of Goblins at the beach, with the Scout Party as my 'backstop' and waited a bit. I got the Lee out, and sighted in on one of them. Right for the head, about five meters away, in dense brush, but with a clear shot.
I took the shot. It hit the Goblin square in the head and made him drop like a sack.
Then the shooting started.
I hit the ground as flat as I could get myself while the Scout Group and the Beach Group essentially shot at each other. I squirmed away, deeper into the bush, as the Wizard started flinging magic bolts into the jungle. I waited for the shooting to die down and went to check my handiwork. Of the twenty that entered the jungle, ten were dead, five were wounded out of action, and the remaining five managed to escape back to the beach and show that they were friendlies to their own team.
I took the chance to quickly grab a Goblin body and drag it away into the brush. I relieved him of his weapon - a Zhukov - and his spare magazine before going and checking on the group at the beach. They were looking all over the place for the source of the original shot, but the Wizard was cowering behind his guards.
So.. fucker's a coward, is he? Good.
I opened up with the Zhukov in his general direction, peppering the beach with round impacts. This made him order the other Goblins back to cover him. The twelve rounds left in the magazine expended, I reloaded.
Then, I saw another two sails approaching from the north-east. They looked like HMS Alarm - before we made her Steam Only.
Yeeahh.. this was getting out of hand, quickly. Two Sloops-of-War? On top of the Ship-of-the-Line? The odds were getting worse. Much worse. The Sloops would be here within an hour or so. Time to withdraw.
I got back to the bodies, and grabbed everything I could, sticking it all in Toola's art bag, before retreating up the 'safe path' to our mountain redoubt. This took about twenty minutes. I checked my watch as I signalled to the girls that it was me.
TIME: 18:10
Cadence: "How did it go?" She asked, as I placed the art bag next to her.
K: "Bad. One Ship-of-the-Line, two Sloops-of-War. The Ship-of-the-Line can hold a hundred or more of those things. The Sloops are about fourty each. I'd say that between the two ships, they can spare a total of 120 ground troops. That's IF the Sloops aren't transporting landing troops. The Sloops are coming out of the North-East, which means they're.. likely coming from an occupied base of some kind. The Ship-of-the-Line came out of the North-West and had to circle around the island. The big worry is, these aren't Raptorians, Duregars, or Porcines. They're Goblins. I didn't know Goblins existed here."
Cadence: "They do. I remember my father telling me about them. You.." She looked away. "..they are horrible captors. Especially to females." She said that last part with a strong note of fear.
Toola: "We're.. we're screwed up, aren't we?" I looked at her. She looked like she wanted to cry.
K: "Maybe. Being up this high, though, we do have one thing going for us - they can't elevate their cannons to an angle capable of providing fire support. As long as we stay on this mountain, they can't shoot us with their ship's cannons. So, we're on even footing, just horribly outnumbered." I shrugged. "Toola? Pass out the ammo. Conserve your shots. I'm not going to risk going back down there and get overwhelmed."
Toola: "Right." After a bit, she handed me some magazines. "We have, now, six full Sherman magazines and one with six rounds in it. We also have eight Zhukov magazines full, and three loose rounds."
I took one of the rounds and stuck it in my Lee.
K: "Two loose rounds." And they went in my pocket. "If you girls want, I'll save them for you." I said, softly.
Cadence: "..thank you."
Toola: "Mm."
K: "Alright, settle down. It'll take them a bit to land forces, and I demonstrated that the island is dangerous, that we are armed, but they hadn't run into the traps yet, so, it'll take them at least.. I'd say ninety minutes to get their force up here. Longer if they decide to take alternate routes to avoid our traps. Relax, get something to eat or drink, and make sure your sights are straight."
It looked grim, to say the least. Three of us against.. HOW many?
And no one had any idea we were here.
[End of Part 2]
Part 3: Alamo
TIME: 19:50 Neighpon Royal Western Time/07:50 Equestria Royal Time
DATE: War Day 293 (Local)
LOCATION: Unknown Island, Occupied Empire of Neighpon
I could hear them in the bushes. They were coming up on us, and I had no idea what they were going to bring, or how many. I got into my first firing position, and braced the Zhukov on a rock, trying to make my head as small of a target as I could. I didn't want this to be the end, but I could honestly say, there were worse things to die for than to protect one's adoptive niece, and friend (with benefits) from an enemy like this.
I'd made my peace already. As I'd said numerous times before, I may be Catholic, but I'm by no means a serious one. Still, I found myself praying, not knowing if any God could even hear me, let alone the one I called mine.
It looked that bad. Honestly, it did. I didn't see any way out of this. Either we killed them all, and waited for more to show up some time later, or we died here and now. Not much of a choice, is it?
K: "Here they come. Remember, make your shots count." I cautioned.
Cadence: "Thank you, Uncle."
K: "For what?" I asked, my stomach practically turning to stone.
Cadence: "For everything. At least I got a few days of freedom with.. with family." She shot me a soft look.
Toola: "At least *I* got some hot monkey dick.."
K: "Human dick. Monkeys are merely part of my genetic family tree." I reminded her.
Toola: "Still. It was good stuff. No regrets." She gave me a grin.
They didn't make us wait long (how polite!). Five Goblins came out on to the only path that led straight to the cave. One carried a tripod, three carried.. a Mark II Pershing!
K: "Take out the Gun Crew!" I pointed.
Cadence fired eight times, getting four of them. Toola got the other one with five rounds. They dropped the machine gun and its tripod in the dirt as they died.
Only to be replaced by more of them. This group had what looked like a Mark II Pershing with a proper, permanently-fixed bipod on the cooling jacket. They slapped it down and opened up on us, forcing us to take cover.
THESE fuckers know TACTICS!
K: "WATCH FOR FLANKERS!" I called out to them.
Sure enough, three Goblins came around the left side (my side) and just barely gave themselves away as they passed between two parts of the brush. I had to raise up a little, but I shot at them, and I was sure, tagged two, before the Machine Gun made me take cover again.
Suppress and advance. Those mother fuckers were using full on infantry tactics!
Cadence: "IS IT JUST ME, OR DO THEY SEEM SMARTER?!"
K: "THEY'RE USING INFANTRY ASSAULT TACTICS! WATCH YOUR SIDES!"
Toola: "GRENADE!" One came sailing into the cave, only to be caught by Cadence's magic and flung back.
K: "AND THEY HAVE HAND GRENADES!"
This war just got a hundred times more dangerous. The heaved-back grenade landed near the MG Team. And one of the Goblins dove on it immediately. HE was dead, but his buddies weren't. Fanatical, AND smart? Fuck me.
K: "TO THE RIGHT!" I pointed, seeing a Goblin, with an oversized slingshot and a brace of grenades on his chest, pop up for a quick look.
Cadence got HIM right through one of the grenades. Good thing about these Grenades? They're very unstable. It blew up and took a few more with it, killing not only the Grenadier, but at least three more with him. That cost her three rounds. She fired the last one towards the MG Team, and nicked the Loader in the side for one wounded-out-of-action. She then reloaded.
Sherman Magazines: 5
Toola popped up and hosed the MG team down with the last of her magazine, and managed to kill the Gunner and Assistant Loader that was taking over for the wounded one, and one more Goblin that was coming up to replace the Assistant Loader. She then reloaded.
Zhukov Magazines: 7
I had to stand up to fire at the flankers coming up along my side. Five of them - probably trying to distract us while they put another MG Team in place. I managed to get them all, but it cost me the rest of my magazine.
Zhukov Magazines: 6
Toola: "This is insane!" She frowned.
K: "It's better than I thought we'd do." I noted.
There was a lull in the fighting for a few moments, so I stuck my head up further to see down the path. I could see a lot of them down there.. it looked like they had a lot of wounded - I guessed that our traps worked, to some degree. I watched as a group of five Porcines came up, from an alternate path, followed by more Goblins. The Goblins started grabbing stretchers..
..they were evacuating their wounded!
K: "Cadence, can you land our grenade precisely.. fifty meters down the slope, in the middle of that collection of enemy troops?"
Cadence: "I can try. I'm not as strong as I would be if Shining Armor was here.."
K: "Toola, give her the grenade." I nodded.
She did, and after a moment, I saw Cadence levitate the grenade, and use her magic to fire it at the group of enemy soldiers. Obediently, it exploded a bit before it would have hit the ground, sending shrapnel everywhere. That downed more of them.
K: "Excellent." I nodded. "See, they're actually bothering to evacuate their wounded. Or, trying to. That means that if we wound one of the Goblins bad enough, they may make the effort to get him off the front lines. We can tie up their manpower for a bit, until they get wise to us."
Toola: "They're coming! PORCINES!" She pointed.
K: "Damnit.. those fuckers take a lot of punishment! Cadence!" I pointed.
The five Porcines I saw had aborted the Casualty Retrieveal Operation and were now advancing on our position. They, as expected, all had Pershings. They started hip-firing almost immediately. But, of course, their fire is inaccurate to say the least. Cadence started in on them immediately. It took her two rounds per Porcine. Tat left her at half a magazine.
K: "If I was in charge down there, I'd get some artillery.. barring that, I'd.. probably try to rush the cave. Big group, all at once, hope for the best. It's similar to what I did at Gloom Mountain, but I had actual cavalry.. troops.."
Goblins riding very large boars. Ten of them. All armed with Zhukovs. At the spearhead of ten more Porcines and ten Goblins, three of which were carrying a Pershing. Well, fuck!
Cadence: "This looks bad."
K: "Shoot the Boars!" I ordered, just as they charged.
Cadence did just that, while Toola and I worked on the Porcines. They took more rounds from a Zhukov to put down than they did Shermans - eight rounds per Porcine. The Porcine started opening up on us as soon as they could - which didn't happen until Cadence shot the last of the boars (causing her to reload). The riders were still game for a fight, and rushed us on foot. Toola put down her first Porcine, as did I. We then had to switch fire to the Goblins that were rushing the cave - they were holding grenades in each hand now, having discarded the Zhukovs. Yeah, SUICIDE BOMBERS.
Given that shooting at a running target is chancey at best, I was glad it only took the rest of me, Toola and Cadence's magazines to take them down. Unfortunately, the Porcines didn't keep up with them, so the exploding grenades (for the ones that pulled their pins) didn't do much extra damage.
Sherman Magazines: 4
Zhukov Magazines: 4
The Porcines opened fire on us - the remaining eight of them, did. Toola, Cadence, and I took them out, but that was costly. Cadence used six shots to kill three, Toola and I used 16 each to kill four. The last Porcine stopped, looked at the dead Porcine around him, then dropped his Pershing and charged at us!
K: "FANATICS!" I mag-dumped into his chest with what I had left, and it took every round.
Zhukov Magazines: 3
That still left the Goblins.. who had dispersed by now. I let Toola have two of the remaining three magazines. This was already getting grim. The enemy were bullet sponges for this lower-powered stuff. The 7x40 NEIGHTO round could take Porcines in one accurate shot, if you hit them in the neck at close range. We still had three spare Lee magazines that Toola hadn't tapped for ammo, and those were on me.
Toola: "We have a plan.. right?" Meaning, after we get dangerously low on ammo..
K: "Yeah, we retreat into the Cave.. you remember this cave, Toola - it has that.. water slide thing in it that leads down by the south-west beach."
Toola: "Right!" She nodded.
Cadence: "Here they come!"
The Goblins that had split off were joined by more. They went right for the two Pershings out on the field, and managed to get to the Tripod one and drag it away while Cadence was busy picking off the five that went for the bipod-mounted one. It took her 14 rounds, total.
Cadence picked at the Goblins that were busy getting the Tripod itself. That cost her the rest of that magazine, as well, but it killed four of them.
Sherman Magazines: 2
Toola and I busied ourselves with shooting the flankers that were trying to come up the sides of the cave mouth. That cost us each a magazine, and killed fifteen Goblins that we could confirm.
Zhukov Magazines: 1
Toola: "Fillyflanks.." She held up the last spare mag. We each had one mag loaded. I ejected mine and handed it to her, pulling the Lee out. "Are you sure?"
K: "Take it." I ordered.
Zhukov Magazines: 2
Cadence: "Where are they getting all these creatures from!?" She demanded.
I pointed down to the small lights on the beach, and the comings and goings of the lighted long boats from the three ships.
K: "They're reinforcing about.. five boat loads at a time. I'm going to guess the Sloops had landing troops, and they're completely willing to abandon ships here just to make sure we're captured or killed." Total committment of forces.
Cadence: "That's bad, isn't it?" She looked at me, worried.
K: "We're.. in a lot of trouble." I said. "Lets see how high of a score we can get.." I rested the Lee's dust cover on a rock, and waited.
Toola: "I refuse to believe this is a no-win scenario!" She snorted.
K: "Maybe. I dunno." I shrugged.
Cadence: "They're here! Again!"
More of them. Twenty five Raptorians, this time, all dressed in whatever they use for sailor's clothes. Total committment indeed.. that coward was going to use the Raptorians to soak bullets and keep up the pressure on us, so we don't have a chance to go get ammo from the dead!
K: "Cadence.." I nodded to her. I could already see the Goblins down the path, getting SOMETHING ready.
Cadence started shooting.. and the Raptorians started shooting, but as expected, they didn't do very much to get themselves under cover. I helped her out. The shots ringing out in the darkness confused the Raptorians, even though they knew where the rounds were coming from. They fired wildly into the mountain, their accuracy about Storm Trooper-Tier. Cadence WAS able to get them with one shot each - she killed twenty. I got the other five with one Lee magazine, managing to get one in his scrawny little throat, and one more in his head..
Sherman Magazines: 1
Lee Magazines: 2
Toola: "We're.. almost out of ammo." She swallowed. Hard.
K: "No kidding." I reached over and patted her on the head.
Cadence: "I don't want to die here.." She started.
K: "They're coming up.. with one of the cannons!" They'd PULLED a CANNON from one of the SHIPS! "RUN FOR IT!"
We took off, deeper into the cave, right about the same time they fired. The shot hit the upper edge of the cave mouth, and blew a large piece of it off. We were all thrown to the ground. My ears were ringing, but I staggered to my feet, and helped Toola.. fifteen meters in, was the water slide. Cadence was in front, and she slid down belly first.
I put Toola on next, and slid her down. She was stunned.
Five Goblins breached the cave right at that moment.. and I had no choice but to shoot wildly at them while I dove down the water slide. To be fair, it was extremely slick, smooth rock, but.. down I went!
Into the water in the South-West Lagoon, I swam up to the surface as quickly as I could. Toola and Cadence were already on shore. I moved to join them.
Cadence: "We're not going.. to last much longer, are we?" She asked me, in a serious tone, as I pulled myself on shore.
K: "Never say never.." I wasn't really thinking at this point. My thought process was more along the lines of 'Take as many with you as possible'. "Come on, girls, let's make for the other side of the island.." I pointed up the beach.
Just as a party of enemy troops splashed into the lagoon behind us.. and a platoon-sized force of Goblins breached through the jungle ahead of us.
K: "So, it's like this, then.." I pushed them behind a rock. "..to the end."
{End of Part 3}
Part 4: Iron Clad
TIME: 20:22 NRWT
DATE: War Day 293 (Local)
LOCATION: South-West Beach, Unknown Island, Occupied Empire of Neighpon
Toola started us off by gunning up the platoon that had appeared ahead of us. She blew through her remaining ammunition in no time, as Cadence and I picked off the Goblins and Porcines that were emerging from the lagoon. This was the easy part - clipping the enemy as they were stuck in the water. Once Toola was out of ammunition, she just patted my shoulder.
I turned and changed magazines in my Lee. My last one. Cadence's last one was already in her Sherman.
K: "GO! THAT WAY!" I pushed them up the beach. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the moon... obscured by.. smoke? "Oh, WHAT FRESH HELL IS THIS?!" I screamed at no one in particular as I ran.
The torches being carried by the Goblins that had crashed through the jungle lit up the shores where they'd fallen. I was running for those corpses. We needed their ammunition. Anything. Something. Maybe grenades?
I turned back for an instant and saw the one thing I'd prayed I'd never see.
An Ironclad Monitor. Tirek had jumped ahead of us in Naval Technology.
Fore and aft turrets with what looked like a central bridge structure. The whole metal beast seemed to be bearing down on us like an angry sea dragon. The Monitor's forward turret seemed to be hand-cranked, but it was already rotating in our direction. I turned back, and dove on both of the girls, pushing them into the sand.
*PAA-PAA-CHOOOOOOOOM*
Both cannons in the turret fired at the same time. The screech of the flying shells didn't travel very far. They'd targeted AHEAD of us. The shells landed between us and the corpses, tearing huge chunks out of the earth, sending dirt and sand everywhere. Once the cannons had fired, I pushed both girls out from under me, pushing them towards the corpses.
Cadence: "WHAT IS THAT!?"
K: "IRONCLAD MONITOR! AN ALL-METAL WARSHIP!"
Early Ironclad Monitors generally had rather low draft - they were mainly shallow water warships - but there were some developed that were made for moderate seas, like the Harbor of Bombay. This thing looked something like the HMS Monarch, but without masts (making it closer to HMS Devastation). It had to be two hundred feet long or more, and the draft was probably 20-some-odd feet. It lacked a forecastle and raised poop deck, and had no masts, meaning it could fire fore and aft as easily as any Equestrian ship.
The only saving grace is that those guns took minutes to load.
Cadence: "WE CAN'T DO ANYTHING AGAINST THAT!" She screamed, more out of frustration than anything.
Toola: "GET THEIR GUNS!" She yelled as we dived on the pile of corpses that we'd just made.
We hadn't gotten all the ones behind us. I grabbed a Zhukov and turned on my heel, firing at the ones coming up the rear, that had slid down the water slide. I finished that magazine, and grabbed another Zhukov from the pile, and emptied it on the last of the ones at our rear. We scrambled to grab a few more mags, and took off for the Ringing Cliffs. We had to get above the beaches!
Cadence: "I GRABBED THREE MAGS!" She yelled out, as we ran - the girls pounding sand on all four legs at full gallop.
Toola: "I GOT FOUR!"
K: "GOT THREE!" Zhukov magazines. We had a little ammo. A fighting chance.
When we got to the slope of the Ringing Cliffs, though, we got caught. Porcines were already here, with more naval Raptorians. They opened fire on us as soon as we got close. All three of us dove into the bushes, up behind trees, and returned fire as best we could.
*PAA-PAA-CHOOOOOOOOM*
Like thunder, the Monitor fired at our position again. I hit the dirt as soon as I heard it - at this range, round travel time was very short. The shells hit the edge of the Ringing Cliffs to our left, and showered us with stone shrapnel. Toola Roola went down.
K: "TOOLA!"
Cadence: "SHE'S HURT!"
Well, that's it, then. We had a chance as long as we were mobile..
K: "TAKE THEM DOWN!" I demanded, and Cadence poured fire on the blocking forces.
Goblins to the rear. I swung around and emptied my last magazine into them. I grabbed for Toola's Zhukov, only to find the magazine had been blown open by stone shards. Useless! And the ammo was, too!
Down to my Lee, I looked at it, and over to Cadence as the rounds from the Porcine's Pershings snapped the trees all around us. Was it even worth it to use those last few-
Cadence: "BEHIND US!"
Out of instinct, I spun around and emptied the magazine into the Goblins coming up to our rear.
Empty.
I looked at Cadence, who had the cutest 'I'm sorry' face I'd ever seen outside of Fluttershy. Toola pulled herself out of the dirt. She looked at me, grimly, blood seeping down the side of her face.
I pulled the two rounds from my pocket, and numbly thumbed the first one into the chamber. I'd do Toola first. She'd been through enough. I tugged the slide back.. and reflected how I'd never included a slide release on the Lee, just a take down lever. I'd been outfitting ponies, I didn't think about races that had thumbs.
The slide clacking home brought me out of my inner reflection. I had to shut my eyes.. I couldn't look at her. I brought the pistol up.. the enemies on the Ringing Cliffs side of us were still shooting.
K: "Toola.."
Toola: "DO IT." She demanded.
I put the pistol to her head, I could feel burning tears going down my face. My eyes closed.
The shooting suddenly stopped.
Lostshort: "CEASE FIRING!" I could hear the little shithead.. my eyes flicked over to him and his personal retinue of Goblins walking down the slope. "PRINCESS CADENCE! SURRENDER! NO HARM TO YOU! PROMISE!"
Cadence: "Don't.. don't listen to him, K.." She said, desperately.
Lostshort: "I ARE LOSTSHORT, GOBLIN MAGE, SERVING GREAT TIREK! HE WANT YOU ALIVE, PRINCESS! DEAD ACCEPTABLE, BUT WANT YOU ALIVE!"
Cadence: "K.."
K: "Talk to him." I suddenly felt.. warm.
Cadence: "WHAT GUARANTEE DO I HAVE THAT YOU'RE NOT GOING TO.. DO HORRIBLE THINGS TO ME, JUST BECAUSE!?"
Lostshort: "TIREK ORDERS! NO HARM PRINCESS IF SHE GIVE UP!"
K: "Maybe.." My mind turned over. "..ask about the Crystal Heart.."
Cadence: "HE NEEDS THE CRYSTAL HEART, DOESN'T HE!?"
Lostshort: "YES! AND YOU ONLY ONE THAT CAN GET IT FOR HIM!"
K: "I see.. he's collecting artifacts.. that means Sombra isn't on his side, after all." Not comforting knowledge. "Tell him.." I patted her on the shoulder. "..we give up, as long as he promises not to harm you two."
Cadence: "WHAT?!" She hissed at me.
K: "I'd be a terrible Uncle if I let you get killed. The girls will rescue you, I know they will. You have a chance.. and you can probably get him to agree to take Toola, too.. but me.." I shook my head. "Tirek would love to see me dead."
Cadence: "K! I can't.. you can't ask me to do that!"
K: "Do it for Toola.. please?" I begged.
Toola: "K.." She sniffled.
Lostshort: "WHAT YOU ANSWER!?"
Cadence: "I HAVE ANOTHER PONY WITH ME - I'LL SURRENDER, BUT YOU HAVE TO GUARANTEE HER SAFETY, TOO."
Lostshort: "THAT A BIG DEAL! YOU NOT HAVE ANYTHING TO TRADE!"
K: "YES. SHE. DOES."
I stepped out into the clearing, having slid the Lee with the one chambered round into the back of my pants, and covered it with my A-Frame. What was left of it, anyway.
There were audible gasps among the Goblins. The.. Porcines kinda just stood there, one of them picking his nose.
Lostshort: "GENERAL K!" He squealed in joy. "I GET BIG PROMOTION, I BRING YOU DEAD BODY BACK!"
K: "Exactly. Promise both of them will come to no harm, and I'll come with you willingly. You can deliver me to Tirek yourself. Alive, no less. That'll surely get you well ahead of Trixie.. and Somnambula.." I shrugged. Better to trade my life for others..
Lostshort: "FINE! FINE!" *SQUEE* He pushed his people out of the way, and came over to me, holding his wand in front of him like a blade. I guessed he could cast magic with it instantly, like a trained unicorn. "YOU GIVE SWORD! GIVE! SURRENDER!"
I detached Celestia's sword from my belt. I was pretty sure he'd simply stab me with it once I gave it to him. He squealed when he saw it - like it was some priceless treasure.
His hand reached out for it..
..and out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of something obscuring the moon for just a scant moment.
*Clunk*
Lostshort: "What that!?"
I didn't look back at the Ironclad. I simply ducked.
*BAW-CHOOOOOOM!*
The Ironclad's engines went up.
Rainbow Dash: "EVERYPONY GET DOWN!"
I kicked Lostshort in the stomach, just as I heard the guns from HMS Moonlight fire a broadside all at once.
This was followed by Rainbow Dash firing her Bradley along the shoreline, a full magazine dump.
Lostshort: "HOWWWWW!?" He screeched, flipping back to his feet. "I STILL KILL YOU!"
The shells started landing all around us. A cacophany of explosions blowing massive chunks off of the beach, off of the cliff face..
..I drew Celestia's sword, and charged at the little bastard.
K: "I'M GOING TO RIP OFF YOUR HEAD AND SHIT DOWN YOUR NECK!" I screamed out, blade over my right shoulder.
Lostshort came up, and flicked his wand at me, firing off rapid bolts of energy. I closed the distance - he was trying to retreat, but he couldn't move half as fast backwards, as I could forwards. Meanwhile, his troops were all running for cover - their Naval Support had just been lost, and they were now being shelled.
I caught sight of HMS Alarm coming into the scene, making full steam, and firing her machine guns at the beach. This tore up sand and made even the Porcines start to run for cover - a few of them tried to fire back, but snipers from Alarm cut them down with single, accurate shots.
Lostshort's little buttbuddy got in the way of us. He had a little dinky sword that'd be no bigger than a large knife to me. He swung at me, missed, and swung again, connecting with my blade.
Got-It: "YOU DIE!"
*RACHOOM!*
I watched as a rocket-fast rainbow kick landed square on the side of his head, knocking him end over end - Dash simply rebounded off his head, and got some air.
Rainbow Dash: "GUN BEATS SWORD, YA FREAK!" And she mag-dumped into his chest.
I ran past him, to catch up with Lostshort - he was back to firing magic at me, determined to make me die no matter what. Fanatical little shit.
I felt a bolt hit my right shoulder, and singe off a chunk of flesh, just as I swung the sword down and made contact with Lostshort's Wand. The wand held fast. He then started charging the whole thing up, grabbing me with his other hand, holding my wounded shoulder.
Lostshort: "ME STILL WIN!"
He tried to fire the bolt of magical energy THROUGH the sword.. but it instantly backfired into HIM. This blew us apart in a huge, dark cloud of magical smoke.
I pulled myself to my feet to see that every Pegasus from the fleet was flying to the shores, hosing the Goblins down with machine gunfire. Boats were dropping from the Moonlight, Unicorn, and Terra. HMS Alarm was cutting in hard to get close to shore, firing off her pivot gun at an approaching Sloop.
I walked right over to him, and stood over the little pipsqueak.
K: "When you get to hell, tell them to save Tirek a seat." Lee out. Barrel to his head. I fired.
{End of Part 4}
Part 5: Relay
TIME: 20:44
DATE: War Day 293 (Local)
LOCATION: 'Alamo' Island, Occupied Empire of Neighpon
Dash handed me her Bradley. I handed her a giant hug around the shoulders. Not that one can.. GIVE a hug.. in the hands.. and ponies have hooves. Okay, you get the point.
K: "You saved my life." I was honest. "Now, let's get troops landed! I want anypony that can work a weapon on this shore, PRONTO!" I pointed back up the hills. "Get up over those cliffs. Squad formations - sweep and clear the jungle. Be careful, these are Goblins, they know basic infantry tactics just like we do! Have Unicorn come around and prepare to engage - they have a Ship-of-the-Line on the other side of the island!" I ordered.
Dash: "ON IT!" She went to zoom off and relay my orders, but pecked me on the cheek as she whizzed by. Good ol' Dash - I was missed.
The first boat from Moonlight pulled up to the shore. My Lander. Norfy, Gaze and Cosmic jumped out and ran over to me. The girls were behind them, but I was acting like nothing was wrong - so I addressed the lads first.
K: "Gentlemen!"
Norfy: "You've been gone a long time.. we-"
K: "Grab a squad, each, and get ready to cut your way through that jungle. These are Goblins, they know how to fight just as good as we do." I instructed.
Gaze: "It's shure gud'ta hear them orders agin' in'nit, mates?" He patted Cosmic on the shoulder.
And AJ, frustrated with my serious lack of attention paid to her, tackled me from out behind them as soon as they moved off.
Applejack: "YOU BIG MEANIE!" She squeezed my neck. "Ahh.. Ah thought.. you really HAD.." She sobbed into my shoulder. I held on to her for dear life. It was.. magical.
K: "Honey, don't get mad, but it happened again. Twice." I nuzzled her. "I was forced to do things with Trixie in order to escape the prison she had us locked up in. And then.. I met a new friend, and she.. was in Estrus.. so.."
Applejack: "WELL!" She pulled back. Smirking. "Trixie ah c'n fergive.. y'all were kinda stuck playin' her game, an' I know mah stallion's got what all the mares want.." She kissed me. With tongue. Desiring, horny, happy, apple-flavored tongue. "But y'all gotta in'tra'duce me t'yer new friend." She looked over at Toola Roola and Cadence, who were being tended-to by Medics. "She ain't gonna be a reg'lar, is she?"
K: "One-time thing, I swear. I felt so dirty after having to do things with Trixie, I had to.. do SOMETHING to get that out of my mind. Anything. Feel someone that actually cared about me. Trixie wanted me as a sex servant and trophy."
Applejack: "Ehh.. s'pose if'n I loves ya, I c'n fergive ya.. but y'all're in deep trouble the sec'n'd we git ANY time to ourselves." Another lustful kiss. I had to put her down, though.
Because Princess Luna landed right next to me.
Luna: "My Darling.." And Starlight Mint jumped off her back.
Starlight: "DADDY!" She hugged my legs.
Luna: "..I think your officers can handle the battle."
Forest Spirit: "General!" He trotted over with Blinda.
Tankette Blinda: "GENERAL! You're okay!" SHE even Squee'd.
K: "I'm fine. Everyone grab ponies, sweep and clear the island. I want nothing to survive." I looked at Blinda. "I'm glad to see you're safe. I expect a full report on Stridesebo once this mess is cleaned up."
Forest Spirit: "Aye-Aye, General." He looked back at the Marines that were getting off the second boat. "MARINES, FORM UP - WE HAVE MONSTERS TO STOMP!"
The Medics were pulling Toola Roola and Cadence out of the bush and on to stretchers. Luna.. now looked ready to faint.
K: "I know everthing, honey. Everything. That Cadence back at Caterlot is an impostor - this is the real Cadence. And she told me.. EVERYTHING."
Luna looked like she wanted to curl up and die. But I wouldn't mistreat her verbally in front of our little girl. Whom I picked up and hugged as tight as I could.
K: "Daddy missed you so much, sweetheart." I cried. I never thought I'd get to hold her ever again.
TIME: 00:26
DATE: War Day 294 (Local)/22 Primaus, 1003 C.S.
LOCATION: HMS Moonlight, Off the Shore of Alamo Island
Once we were back aboard, I had Twilight join us in Commodore Saletine's cabin. Us being Luna and Cadence. She had to know the full truth, from start to finish. And it took hours, between Twilight's questions and Luna's guilt. She could hardly believe that Cadence had actually told me every last part of the dark secrets that the Crystal Royalty had been hiding all these years, and how it cleared up and filled in the gaps in the history that I was told.
Luna, for her part, took it better than I expected. She was flabberghasted that Cadence would be so plain about everything. That and the truth about her not being entirely blameless for Discord's little fun times. How she basically let it happen, because she did nothing (initially) to stop it. How she was willing to go along with her sister in using his 'death' to cover up her actions, and remain forever silent about what Celestia had done.
And, as usual, now that I was in on the secret, I promised that it wouldn't leave my lips. Equestria had done so much over the last one thousand years to restore and keep peace in North Equus. It wasn't perfect, and there were times - like the War with the Cervines - that they failed, but they did a bang-up job of stitching together a loose alliance of nations that had all sprung from the same basic seeds. The Lost Civiliation of Dream Valley, and the Empire of Harmony that later rose from it.
After all, Celestia had everyone that was royalty in those other lands calling her 'Aunt' - she was, indeed, the 'Sun' of the political world of North Equus. Everything revolved around her, and because of her, none of those nations that looked up to her, had ever had a war with each other, once they became a part of the greater 'herd' with her as Matriarch.
HAD I over-reacted when I first learned the truth.. HAD I known the entire truth, and taken out the Princesses myself, either of the fear that they would simply do worse later, or whatever righteous or noble reasons I had.. I would have done far more harm than good.
Luna: "I w.." She was having a hard time finding words. "You did tell him.. everything."
Cadence: "He had a right to know, Auntie." She sipped water from a metal cup. She hadn't even bothered to get cleaned up.
Luna: "You.. have to understand.."
K: "The lesser of two evils." I stated.
Luna: "W-weh.." She cleared her throat. "I won't pretend I was totally innocent." She finally said. "I knew what Discord was doing, what my sister was doing, and for the longest time, I did nothing about it. I let her.. make her policies. I was the younger sister, I.. I didn't.. I was Woona.. I.."
K: "You didn't think it was your place to say anything. Let me guess - the turning point was Selene's father?" Logical guess.
Luna: "He's the only alicorn statue in the garden. She had it moved some time after I came back. I.. don't know where. I guess he was always going to come between us. Back then. He wanted justice, honesty.. he wanted some kind of system where everypony had a voice. Celestia disagreed. He gave her a chance. She threw it away and tried to blame everything on Discord, not just the things he was responsible for."
K: "You still love him." I stated.
Luna: "Yes.. I always will." She looked away from me. She had a note in her voice that she wouldn't be able to choose between me and him.
K: "And then you tried to fight her." I continued.
Luna: "I found the Nightmare Power on my own. It's something I can.. could.. do. But the Elements have sealed that power away from me."
K: "Then Celestia has a form like that, too." I stated.
Luna: "I've never seen it, but I'm sure she does. Mother did. When I came after her.." She shook her head. "..it's not like the stories say. She didn't use the Elements on me, she couldn't - I'd hidden them. Why do you think she had Students looking for them for over a thousand years?" She looked at Twilight.
Twilight: "I promise you, Luna.." She started. "..if I ever had that kind of power, I'd never let that happen to me."
Luna: "That may be why she chose you." Luna sat back a little. "You have great potential, Twilight Sparkle. Even in your name.. it's the combination of Day and Night. Maybe one day, you can take her.. our.. place."
K: "Maybe one day." I ended. "Right now, we need to get back to Canterlot. Once we're done mopping up the island, I want us back at the supply base. I want a full load of coal for Moonlight and Alarm. Alarm is faster - my Command Staff will load up in her and head back to Equestria at full steam. I don't want Chrysalis tipped off early - I know what her power is like, now that I'm free of her influence. I remember. And it will take the Elements of Harmony to stop her. Moonlight will follow at her best possible speed. Spike will send word back to Equestria that we're coming home - tell them that someone important was severely injured. I'm hoping Chrysalis will take the bait and think we'll have our guard down. But as soon as we get back home, I want every Militia Company between Baleston and Ponyville turned out. She's going to bring her Changeling Brood to fight us. In the history that I remember, you were all virtually defenseless. This time, we're armed and ready. We're going to take the fight to her, and we're going to stop her."
Luna: "Of course. I will let the troops know." She had her head down as she went to leave.
K: "My Love.." I started.
Luna: "Yes?"
K: "I forgive you. I trust you. And despite everything, I want to end this war and have a peaceful world where you and I can raise Starlight in peace and harmony." I did. She meant too much to me for something like thousand-year-old sins that WERE and ARE being corrected, get in the way.
That's love right there, folks!
And I'm still not a furry.
{End of Chapter 32}
