Chapter Three: The Canterlot Civil War
Shinning Armour ducked his head less than a second before a small piece of metal flew over his head. Beside him Spike stood up and took aim with a crossbow. On the opposite side of a ruined Canterlot street an Earth pony fell down dead with an arrow sticking out of his skull. A musket fell from the dead ponies corpse. As a member of the Royal Guard, Shinning had heard of the experimental weapons before, but he had no idea how these rebels had gotten their hooves on them!
Spike nodded to Shinning and lifted a claw to indicate it was time to move. Underneath them inside the burnt out ruins of an old bakery, three members of the Royal Militia moved forward carefully, crossbows and spears at the ready. Shinning had to admit he was impressed with the raw recruits. They had advanced deeper into enemy territory than the Royal Guard alone ever could have. And yet, he felt an unmistakable stab of jealousy at the Princesses new army.
Suddenly there was an explosion just a few feet away from the three militia ponies. One of them fell down dead and another fell down wrenching in agony. The third raised her spear and impaled a rebel who leapt over a pile of rubble in ambush. Spike looked back over the crude cover the remains of the dress shop they were hidden in and picked off another Earth pony with his bow. But still more were coming.
The final militia pony screamed for help as the sound of more hooves galloped towards her. Spike tried desperately to reload his crossbow as quickly as possible but it was no use. Shining Armour hesitated for just a second then leapt over the battlements. Charging in, he impaled the first rebel on his horn. The pony howled in pain before going stiff. The second rebel raised a musket and fired.
Shining felt an agonizing pain in his back leg as the bullet cut through his ceremonial armour and into his flesh. Despite it the adrenalin told him to keep moving. He kicked a hoof forward with such force then it shattered the musket wielding ponies jaw, sending him tumbling to the ground. The final rebel raised her musket to finish off the wounded captain. Shining Armour stared his killer dead in the eyes. He expected to see anger, or fear. But no...just blind hatred seemed to fill her eyes. She pointed directly at his head and prepared to shoot.
The rebel ponies eyes went wide as a spear broke through her chest. The militia pony Shining had risked himself to save let go of her weapon and watched the wounded rebel sink to her knees. Bleeding from her mouth, the rebel looked up and spat at the captain. Blood trickled from her mouth.
'You unicorns...you did this to us...' he voice gasped, even as she bled to death she wanted to gloat one last time. 'Don't matter...soon you'll all be dead...the future belongs to us now!'
With that, she fell down. Spike ran up to join his friend.
'Shining! Your hurt! We have to get you to a hospital! I'll tell my soldiers to hold here whilst we get you patched up!' Spike spoke in a bluster. Despite his wounds, Shining Armour felt a moment of joy. Spike had changed so much...just like the Princess...to see him panicking like he used to do with Twilight was a moment of joy. Then he remembered the dying rebels words.
'No Spike. I'll get myself back. You need to keep moving forwards. There is something awful going on in the New Dawn territory, I can feel it.'
The militia pony who had saved him suddenly piped up.
'Captain...er...sir...I'd like to help you get back to the palace safely...after all, your injured and it's still dangerous out here...' Shining Armour looked to Spike who nodded.
'Looks like you'll be saving my life again then. Lead on my little hero!'.
The militia pony blushed and lifted a spear. Trotting alongside him as they left the grizzly battlefield.
Spike watched them leave for a moment then kicked over the remains of one of the rebels. Just like all the ponies they had fought in this area, the dead mares cutie mark was blotched by a brand in the shape of a rising sun. And just like every other pony they had killed here, he was an Earth Pony...Suddenly Spike understood the bad feeling Shining Armour had told him about.
Signalling the advance, dozens of ponies emerged from the damaged streets, each decorate with a patchwork of armour, weapons and anything else that could be cobble together from the castles armour. With Spike at the lead, they moved onto the next street, and deeper into the territory of the New Dawn.