Chapter 3: Meeting Confusion Over Tea

Lieutenant Dayke runs up to me with a large piece of tan paper. She had drawn everything in eye-sight with rough estimations of how far they were. She had a knack for guessing distance and was in charge of our defensive trebuchets.

"I'm sorry Captain Raiden, but we're also out of rocks to launch. All we have left are shredders but we have a ton of them at least." Shredders were our most simple form of ammo. They were molded to be fist-sized balls of jagged metal, with a sharp piece pointing every direction. They were also soaked in the latrine so they could easily cause infections. Their only drawback was the severe lack of range and predictability. They had an eighth of the range as a normal rock, but could coat an entire area. Our trebuchets had different fittings for different ammo. For shredders, a larger pad was used to make sure we covered a wide area.

"Make several copies of this map and make sure every soldier in command has one." I hand the map back to her right as another soldier runs up. He hands me a scroll with red tape on each end, about a single inch from the actual edge of the paper. In it, is a report that a large group of what we presume to be natives heading in our direction from the huge mountain. I bolt to the window and look outwards.

We see several horses approaching our city from the south. They're still far enough away that it makes details impossible, but we can at least make out a front row. They're also wearing some kind of reflective material. Could be shiny armor, could be weapons made from steel. There could easily be more following behind.

I race through the castle and gather Emeris as well as the soldiers under my command. When it came to socializing, Emeris was my go-to. He knew what to say, when to say it, almost everyone liked him. In a few minutes, my scouts had already bolted through the stone halls and notified everyone under my command. Units pour into the throne room, as I stand in the middle with my hands clasped behind my back.

All fifty of us stand at attention, when the last few of my soldiers join our formation. I clear my throat and address them as they stand in five rows of ten.
"We know nothing about this land. You will act respectfully, but not fearfully. The last thing we need is to be picked off before we even have a chance to fight. Be ready for anything. Tara Beik, you will approach from the west, sticking close to any trees and shrubbery with bows at the ready. You will fire on my command only. You'll prioritize ground infantry with your longbowers focusing on high threat targets. Tara Neiz, you'll approach from the east, taking advantage of the hills. You will hold your fire until we need it. You'll be reserved for flanking as well as dealing with any arial units. We've seen them fly so keep your eyes on the sky. If we get into combat and fall back, you'll hit them from behind. Also if you see any of their people make a run for it, you are to use your longbowers to take them out. Understood?" Quiet nods from everyone. This could very well be the start of a second war. We couldn't risk any enemy unit reporting back. If combat broke out, we'd have to rely on the element of surprise given our ignorance of this land.

As we exit through the castle gate, Emeris leans over to me.
"That was the most boring, dry speech you've ever given. Might as well add in that they should kill themselves before being taken prisoner." He says with a chuckle. I sigh with annoyance.
"Alright, what would you have said?" Emeris smirks and crosses his arms.
"Who knows, maybe they'll just surrender and we'll become the new rulers here. I don't know about the rest of you, but I'd love being woken up by a foot massage!" He calls out. Our people laugh to themselves, more out of a release of tension than humor I assume.

We pass what remains of the double doors. They leaned against the stone, with only half of each door remotely intact. The ground was littered with wooden debris when doom came for us. We march through the remains of our former homes in a daze. Most of the city was gone, with our outer stone walls guarding a wasteland of misery and destruction.

The debris was already being quickly transformed into basic forts. If it wasn't a checkpoint along the road, it was being piled into a huge wall. The side facing away from our city was a gradual incline made to let the Og Nag climb onto it with ease. On the other side, facing us, large metal spikes were put down to impale enemies who try to jump down. The idea was that the Og Nag would mindlessly climb the hill of debris and possibly jump off without thinking, impaling them. Once they realize it's no good, the units behind them might give an accidental bump killing a few more. This also allows us to use the sides of the hill of debris as a bit of a choke point. Last but not least, it was a bit of an early warning as they'd have to stop at the top of the hill and go back down. It's engineering was obnoxiously simple as well: Make a wall, then pile debris on the other side over and over, gradually making a ramp.

We stop right as our city ends and the luscious green grass begins. We can't believe the sight of it: real grass. I take the first step out. My foot sinks just slightly into the ground. My knee cries out, being accustomed to marching on hard, solid earth. I gently bend over, take off my left gauntlet, and feel it with my hand. Real grass was something I had never experienced. It was almost a gift just to be able to see it. The blades are smooth, cool and just slightly damp. The deep green almost massages my sight. The texture was almost that of silk, coated in fresh moisture.

I turn around to address our troops. To my right, Emeris tears off his armor and rolls around in the field giggling. Everyone bursts out laughing. I try to keep a straight face, but Emeris enjoying himself off to the side is too much. I sigh and give a small wave, indicating they can proceed. Roars of happiness erupt as everyone takes their own approach to this strange miracle. Some just admire it, while others remove one or more bits of armor and throw themselves around carelessly. I sit down, letting the cool green blades tickle my palm. If this was a dream, it had been the best one of my life.

I stare up at the sky, a few clouds, some birds with the bright warm sun kissing my face. I close my eyes as a nice breeze swims through my helmet. I let out a sigh of bliss. I had no idea where we were, but I didn't want to leave. Maybe we were dead. Maybe this was the next step; venturing outwards as some kind of test. Various animals run around in the distance, watching us curiously. They seem more shy than afraid. Animals that don't automatically run from humans, what a strange land this was.

One of my units calls out that the envoy is getting closer. Everyone jumps up and puts back on whatever armor they tore off, then get into formation. My two groups break off and sprint to their designated positions. Their leather armor makes them completely silent. Snickering and excited whispers plague the unit, as all the happiness hasn't quite faded yet. Soon, the most glorious horses I had ever seen make their way into view, accompanied by around fifty other smaller horses, wearing some kind of custom gold armor. As they get closer, there appears to be two horses leading them. They both had an odd familiar feminine look to them.

One was a spectacular pure white, with a mane that had light shades of teal, green, purple and pink in it. Her long tail follows the same pattern as it plays in the air behind her. She's much larger than the rest of her party. She's almost as tall as I am on all four of her legs and has roughly two feet on her guards. Atop her head is a horn, about a foot and a half long. Her immense rainbow complexion is topped off with massive purple eyes. To my surprise, she has a golden crown with a purple jewel in the middle. Perhaps some royal oaf lost their horse.

To her left is another horse, slightly smaller by a foot, but still with that strange feminine allure as well. Her fur is a dark, faded cobalt blue, with a spectacular mane of blue, with an odd outline of light purple. I think I see it sparkle a bit in the sunlight. Her eyes are just as wide, but are teal. I had never seen such color, let alone on an animal. On her head was a purple horn, approximately a foot long, backed up by a black crown with another strange purple outline to it. Around her neck she seems to wear some kind of cloth necklace, painted black, outlined with a light purple. In it, is a depiction of a white moon going through one of its phases. Her tail also mimics the same pattern as her mane. Both have massive wings at their sides, as if they could even fly. Their radiant black eyelashes almost make me stare at the ground. The oddest thing was that this is how I reacted around women of my own species.

To top off her appearance, I couldn't help but notice just how different she looked from horses of our world. Instead of massive bulging bodies, loaded with muscles, she was thin and petite. Were these thinner horses used for racing instead of riding or labor? Also her muzzle doesn't extend outwards of a foot or so like a normal horse. Instead it quickly forms into the mouth similar of a dog, sticking out only around three to four inches. It was...cute. Her mouth and lips were the size of a persons, instead of the massive gaping chops of a normal equine.

Her eyes were massive, consuming almost a quarter of her head. It was strangely calming though. They were also a bit more closer to her nose, rather than completely on the side. She was able to look straight at me with both of them at the same time. The more I stare into them, the more I notice one last perplexing feature. This horse seemed to have the back parts of her eyelids outlined with eyeshadow. Even her eyelashes seemed to protrude out with a bit of help. Her white counterpart seemed to have the same details, but her entire eyes were outlined in black. Who the hell puts makeup on horses? Perhaps it was the radiant teal of her eyes, or the way she casually bats her eyelashes, but I had the feeling I was dealing with more than a mere animal. They all shared the same characteristics that separated them from the horses we were used to. They were surprisingly rigid, as if striking a royal demeanor. They had clearly been heavily trained, but where were their riders?

The miraculous colors on them are more of a shock than the grass. What other possible surprises did this place have? I walk towards them, with my hands up, doing my best to appear friendly. They were probably hungry and lost, and came to us for safety. As I get closer, I see something just a tad off. Instead of mindlessly glancing around, they constantly studied us. What the hell was going on? I talk as gently as I can.

"I'm so sorry, we'll get you back home don't worry. " The two horses look at each other, and then back to me, with perplexed looks. I had never seen horses make facial expressions either. Did they even have more facial muscles than a normal horse, with the knowledge of how to use them? They all stop about twenty feet from us, almost acting as they had never seen humans before.

"Cy, get a saddle and escort them to our stables." I had instructed him to bring at least one in case we found a mode of transportation. Cy runs past me with his saddle. I turn around and begin discussing with everyone that we need to take good care of these creatures, as they may belong to powerful royalty and it would make a good first impression. I pull out my map and begin designating areas where we can house the poor creatures. Cy begin to saddle the white horse, when I hear a female voice call out.

"Excuse me!" The voice is mixed with an attempt at politeness but also anger. Cy drops the saddle and falls down.
"S..s…sir! The…the horse just told me...no."

I slowly turn around and stare at him, then back at the horse. She looks rather annoyed. She…smiles at me, raises her right hoof to her chest. Raises her hoof to her chest. Horses can't do that. Did they even have extra joints?
"I'm Princess Celestia, and this is-" My units start screaming and backing up. I can't look away or move. The map falls to the ground. The white horse, who just addressed herself as Princess Celestia, looks surprised at our reaction.

"I…I apologize! Have I offended you?" She stares at me with sympathy. My soldiers keep backing up, murmuring to each other about how this wasn't possible. I slowly shake my head in disbelief. The black horse looks at Celestia, then back to me and tries to speak. This...Celestia interrupts her by raising her left hoof to her company's chest.
"Giiiiiiive them just a minute. I don't think they're from here…at all." Her tone is royal and articulate. It is what I would expect from a powerful queen, but not from an animal.

We stand there in complete disbelief. Talking rainbow horses…talking horses. I just couldn't even begin to process this. My brain turns on and I accept the fact that at this point, anything is possible. We could easily be in some kind of afterlife even. All bets were off about where we are.
I slowly nod my head and weakly wave hello with my right hand.
"I…I'm Captain Raiden. We're…um…where we come from…your species hasn't…um…well they don't talk. They're for riding and labor like any other animal could be...not that I'm saying you're animals it's just... I…I'm sorry it's just…talking horses…I…"
The black one interrupts me.

"Ponies. We're actually ponies. Don't get me wrong, we do have horses here, but they're technically another species." I turn my head slowly to her. She even has a slightly different female voice as well. It's softer with a bit of sass to it. She sounds younger, and less interested at coming across peacefully. I try to say something, but my head screws everything up and I make a strange knocking motion in the air with my hand. She looks me over awkwardly.
"I'm Princess Luna by the way." She glances angrily at Celestia, then back to us with a smile.
"Welcome to Equestria! If there's anything we can do to make this less-" she stops trying. She can tell we're still wrapping our heads around this. I turn to Emeris.
"Wh…what…what should we…" He shakes his head.
"You're first captain; it's your call. I'm not dealing with this crap. I'm still processing the fresh grass."
Celestia and Luna giggle at his comment.
They actually cover their mouths with a hoof while they do it too. They're mannerisms were so human it catches me off guard.
"I…uh, maybe if…would you excuse me for just a second?" They both nod. I instruct my units to turn around. Everyone reluctantly does. I subtly look over to my left and pat my chest twice with two fingers, signaling Tara Beik to relax. They all have their bows drawn. Their dark green leather armor makes them almost invisible. Lieutenant Termin commands Tara Beik and makes sure to stay where we can clearly see each other, but not the enemy. She nods at my hand signal and creeps back behind the small patch of trees. I take in a deep breath, knowing it was time to put on my friendly mask. Emeris and myself had always been a good tagteam for conversations.
"Okay…regardless, we are guests in these lands, and we've just received an introduction. We will act with respect, accept it, and…um…talking horses, I just can't even-"
"Ponies!" Luna calls from behind me. Several of my soldiers chuckle.
"Okay…talking ponies. We need to accept this, and treat them like any other nation. Is that understood?" I hear grunts of yes from everyone. We all turn back around. I take a deep breath, and exhale slowly. I redo my introduction. My body wants to shake violently, but I restrain myself.

"I apologize, I'm First Captain Raiden, and this is my second in command, Captain Emeris. We are the nation of Taraska. We were somehow teleported to your land during a war. We mean you no harm and are desperately trying to make sense of this world." Celestia and Luna give me large smiles.

"Well that's fantastic! I must admit we were in complete shock when your city first appeared here. Do you require any assistance? We have an abundance of anything you may need." Celestia says with a remarkably friendly tone. Why were they so willing to help us? Did they plan on using us later? We didn't have any options so there was no refusing help at this point. I hold the map out to her, and somehow it flies out of my hand, and unravels in front of her with a yellow glow around it.

Celestia looks over the map, completely unphased by the mystical floating paper in front of her. I hear Cy take in a huge breath and sit on the ground on my left. Emeris turns to me with that amusing look in his eye he always gets before a big performance.
"Permission to lose it sir?"
"Permission denied." I tell him with a strict but humorous tone.
Emeris points at the map.
"Sir…our map is floating…I can't even…."
Celestia looks up at me startled.

"Oh I'm so so sorry! That's um...called magic. I apologize; it's just so common for us. We'll keep it to a minimum for now." She gives us an anxious smile. Emeris and I exchanged bewildered looks. We stand there for just a minute. Luna glances at Celestia, then back to me. Suddenly rocks around us take on a purple glow and start whizzing through the air. Half my units scream and start running back towards our town.

Celestia shoots her a sharp glare. Luna giggles and the rocks go back to the ground.
"I apologize for my sister. She can be quite rude at times." Celestia gives Luna a playful but rough smack on her foreleg.
They were freaking sisters…they look nothing alike.
I do my best to regain my composure.
"Is…um…I apologize if this sounds rude, but…is there anything else we need to know about your land?" Luna thinks for a minute. She points at the massive structure behind them on the purple mountain.
"That's Canterlot, our castle and palace, and we can also fly." She rustles her wings a bit, extends them to about four feet on her sides, and retracts them.

Emeris sighs and shakes his head with his hands on his hips.
"Okay that's it; I'm going back to rolling in the grass." He starts to turn around until I clamp a hand on his shoulder. Celestia and Luna both start laughing. Emeris turns back around.
I rub the back of my neck.
"I…I guess we should take you to see the King…"
Celestia smiles at us.
"We would be honored to meet him. Perhaps on the way there we can work through this little...mess we have."
Emeris turns to me.
"You…you do know the King is the WORST with surprises and whatnot right?"
I nod slowly, giving him a small smirk.
"Yes, it's going to be hysterical. Make sure you take careful notes so we can share the story with the rest of our people tonight."
More laughter from the sisters. The humor was helping us relax as well. Luna clears her throat right as I go to turn around.

"Not to sound rude as well Captain Raiden, but is there anything we should know about you?" I stare at her in silence. The humor is completely gone as we lock eyes. There's only a few things I can say to her.

"We're professional warriors and we're supposed to be dead." Celestia and Luna's eyes enlarge a bit. Emeris leans in front of me as if he was performing one of his plays.

"But we're plenty friendly!" He says, waving his hands. No one laughs but I stop tensing up. I hold the back of my ahdn across my mouth and whisper to Emeris.

"Sudo Tara Beik gai." Making sure Emeris got the hint to tell Tara Beik to fall back. Emeris nods a few times.

"Before we depart, may I take a small leak?" Celestia blushes a bit but nods. Emeris does his best to casually speedwalk to the trees. He hums to himself, making his coded words to Tara Beik sound like a Taraskan song as he pretends to pee. I shake my head and sigh loudly to get their attention back on me.

"I apologize your highness. I hope we haven't offended you. This land is...more new to us than you could ever know." Celestia smiles and nods. Luna watches Emeris with a bit of suspicion. I swallow a bit,

"Princess Luna, you said the palace off in the distance is called...?" She turns to me, almost embarassed.

"Oh! Canterlot!" They both turn to look at it for a second and that's all the time I need. I pat the back of my head with two fingers and see my stealth team bolt backwards as fast as they can, disappearing into a much larger forest behind them. The princesses turn around, but Luna watches me curiously, probably picking up on the sudden relief I probably expressed. I was going to need to be more careful around her. I could only hope that Tara Neiz saw my commands too, as the hills to our right could easily conceal them.

I have our soldiers walk ahead of us towards our castle, while myself and my captains walk alongside the princesses. Their guards covered our rear. Celestia tells me about their various responsibilities, the different towns, the different types of ponies, and warns me how common magic is. I decide it's best to probably hold off on mingling for a bit until my soldiers get more accustomed to this new world.

I stop as the sisters let out loud gasps. Their eyes scan our destroyed homes and buildings. In our walk, I had completely forgotten about the destruction. There were literally five houses in our massive city that still technically stood up. Our city had been raided so many times, that we rebuilt homes with the intention of them being turned into temporary fighting quarters. Their shutters were metal, and could be closed from the inside. The wood has a special coating on it to make it more resistant to arrows and swordswipes. They were hideous, dull, gloomy, basic, and I owed my life to several of them during the last invasion.

Celestia's eyes go from the buildings back to me.
"Do…do you require any assistance?! Your entire city is destroyed!" Emeris shrugs casually.
"It's fine, it always looks like that." I punch his arm. He wasn't entirely wrong though. Luna swallows before taking a few steps forward.
"We would be more than happy to send you our most skilled artisans and builders so you have proper homes! And I'm sure we could spare plenty of hay for beds and anything else you may need!" Celestia glances at her sister and nods rapidly.
"Yes certainly! I hope you're not sleeping on the ground!" Emeris shrugs again.
"No of course not, there's perfectly halfway-clean stone in the Castle to sleep on!" I cross my arms and shake my head at the ground.

As we walk along the street, random debris is cleared from our path from the sisters. I'm still getting used to it. All my men gasp whenever they see debris go flying. Celestia stops clearing it, as Luna seems to enjoy all the attention from lifting everything. She trots along, proud as can be; smiling at every gasp as she effortlessly clears our path without even slowing her pace. I catch myself staring at her frequently, as she begins to return my glances.
"So…you raise the moon at night." I say awkwardly.
She nods happily.
"Every night!"
"That would be nice being able to bask in the moon whenever I wished. Never cared much for the day honestly." I glance at Celestia.
"No offense." I add in casually. She turns to me, laughs, and continues forward. I see Luna with a massive smile staring at me out of the corner of my eye. I begin to get nervous and do everything in my power not to glance over again.
"So if you don't mind me asking, Captain Raiden, what exactly is Tara Beik? I heard you whisper it to Captain Emeris, then he hummed it to himself earlier." My blood turns cold.
"Tara Beik is a term for...home. More like "Our dearest home"." I exhale through my nose in relief when she nods, happy with the response.
We walk in silence for a few more minutes until we reach our Castle.