Equestrian Warfare
Chapter Four
The mercenaries were scheduled to arrive three nights later. Thirty-two legions had responded to Her Highness's order within ten hours, and another eighteen within the next six.
Aria stayed inside the war room all of the last night, twiddling with her dark dagger that seemed to be used far more on Silver than any other pony. Aria would narrow her eyes if one of those blasted mares came in, seeming to inspect the dumb unicorn that would not stop muttering. They would hold her face, brush the mane out of her eyes and stare at her for a long while before whispering to her and then leaving. Nopony saw Aria in the corner; nopony saw Princess Luna's scowl as they touched her precious subject.
Blaze had told her to see others for what they do and not pay attention to the princess, but Her Highness was all that Aria could see. In all her violent beauty, the moon princess was everything that was perfect. Everything that mattered. It felt as if Aria's soul had been linked to Luna's ever since she swore allegiance to the Republic.
Luna was all that mattered in the war. She was a strong, beautiful and understanding alicorn. She held power that Celestia herself could never possess. Princess Luna was truly everything that mattered.
Aria's dagger slipped from her aura the longer she stared at her leader. She fumbled and caught it before it could clatter embarrassingly loud in the chamber. Her heart was racing and finally a brief release of pressure lifted from her mind and a thousand words, pictures and thoughts clouded her eyes. None of it made sense and soon after a bright twinge of pain hit Aria below her horn and they were gone. She sighed and rubbed her temple, cool peacefulness ebbing the slight rush of panic she'd felt before.
"Spellweaver," Her Highness's voice murmured into the empty room.
Aria immediately moved forward from her place against the wall and stood alert at the tactics table.
"Yes, princess?"
"Do you trust me in that I am doing simply what has to be done to protect my world?"
Aria frowned, watching the alicorn observe the odd unicorn. The pure fur and unscarred face and clean breath she held, none of it made sense in a polluted and fucked-up world as this.
"Yes, Your Highness," Aria said at last, sucking in a low breath to keep her trembling heart steady. Although Aria admired her princess with extraordinary passion, she was still terrified of saying everything wrong in front of her and of the sheer power Luna possessed. "Your word is law to the Republic and to me as well. We are all solely loyal to the moon."
The princess made a strange noise; it sounded like something between an exasperated sigh and a stale laugh. "Yes, I am aware. But a few nights ago you seemed so displeased after I had ordered the summons for mercenaries. I am curious as to why." Princess Luna turned her dazzling, bright eyes on Aria and everything seemed to feel right. Warmth and cold filled her from the hooves up and she looked into her princess's eyes with total devotion.
"My princess," Aria said in an odd voice. "I had believed that maybe if we brought in mercenaries, a few could be secretly under another princess's rule and be ordered to assassinate you." She felt lighter than air.
"I see. Well, you needn't worry about such things."
"As you wish, Your Highness."
The peace and warmth left the second Luna's gaze broke from Aria's. She shook out her mane and weariness weighed at the bottom lids of Aria's eyes. She rubbed at them softly with a hoof, stifling a yawn.
Nothing is more important than Luna. Aria glared tiredly at the "villain wall" as Blaze called it. Hollow eyes of the deceitful leaders that dared betray Her Highness. Twilight...Cadence...Celestia. Horrid creatures.
Aria's head whipped towards the entrance doors when a deep bang resonated from them and she readied her dagger, but lowered it at once when General Applejack trudged in.
The orange warhorse was a tall, gnarled being. Dark red and pink flesh wrinkled across one of her forelegs, chest and the entire left side of her cheek and neck. Her left eye was milky and dead. Her snout was rippled with scars and her shoulders bulged with years upon years of muscles built from harvesting apples and digging and sowing the fields of her old home. The earthpony was a mighty force to be reckoned with, having suffered too many bone fractures and injuries to count but still managing to hold her own for the Republic. Little to no troops died on AJ's watch, that Aria knew from experience.
Aria bowed her head and cleared her throat, her muscles still tingling with the readiness to defend Princess Luna. Applejack nodded gruffly at Her Highness and slapped a thin patch-work of papers onto the large circular table.
The general had pale orange fur where it wasn't torn up by scars or old burns. She wore a deep blue and black uniform, stars of medals and badges glimmering against the dark fabric in the dull light of the room. Her mane was tied back, a faded and dirty red bow keeping her hair secured. In between her teeth was a stalk of wheat, she twisting it as she flipped through the pages.
"Good evening, General," Her Highness murmured, stepping thankfully away from the pathetic unicorn on the floor. "What might these be?"
"T'night's agenda, Y' Highness," the earthmare grumbled in her thick accent, her ears tilting back and forth as she read. "We've gotta lot ta get through b'fore the mercs arrive."
"Who will we be speaking with?" Luna asked.
"Comm'nder Spark an' Corp'ral Sonicboom."
"Ah, yes…." The princess turned her bored gaze briefly over Aria and she stood erect for a moment, ready to serve her. But her eyes solely fell upon the young unicorn to her right.
"I b'lieve since I haven't seen the battle site f' some time now, we've got more cas'lties pilin' up all over the blasted place," Applejack said slowly, narrowing her eyes down at the papers that seemed to irritate her. "Trench w'fare ain't these ponies' spec'lties."
Aria frowned, leaning up against a pillar and rubbing at one of her eyes. She could feel the slight depression in her skin and fur where a scar had made its home. She couldn't remember where she'd gotten it, but sadly most ponies on the field receive scars over their eyes.
"Simple amounts of casualties," Her Highness mused blankly as she stared away from Applejack.
Aria began to tune the world out, closing her eyes as she tilted her head towards Princess Luna. Blaze told her to pay attention to what others were saying, not only the princess. But the princess was everything.
The shocking bang of the war room's doors rumbled the column Aria was up against but she didn't move or flinch. The stagger of seven hooves and a shuddery set of coughs gave away the two whom entered. Yet she opened one eye, just to be sure.
Commander Spark was a three-legged beast. More scars than fur, it was almost impossible to tell what color his coat used to be. With his age showing how ill and close to his last breath he was, he should have resigned two years ago at least. However Spark was, to put simply, a warlord; he knew every tactic for every situation, and he knew exactly who he had to take into every raid. The only flaw he possessed was that he was dying after being exposed to four heart attacks, three full-on magic burst explosions, and lastly six head traumas. As hearty as he was, there was no possible way he would be able to outlive this war — not at this rate.
On the other hoof, Sonicboom was rather explosive and a repulsive mare. De-winged after getting struck by lightning in a battle against the Solar Empire, the once-general and now corporal led the privates in training alongside, ironically, Sergeant Lightning Dust. Aria had never been trained by either of them, and she had never been on the field with Boom. Aria was thankful for it in all honesty; mainly for the fact that almost nopony would return from the forefronts when she led them. Sonicboom was smart and deadly, but she lacked patience and control and the apparent ability to keep her subordinates alive.
Aria closed her eyes once more the second the shouting began.
"Your Highness," the commander spat, staggering up to the main table. "The Sorceress is becoming restless; her blasted army is cutting us down bit by bit, practically shredding through our front lines on S.A.A.'s southern fields. We've got resources but she's simply burning most of that forsaken farm to ash!"
There was a slight pause, and a hard swallow from General Applejack was heard faintly.
"I know that that vermin ain't burnin' my farm for the fuck o' it," AJ said softly, the noise of her turning through the pages she brought in light in Aria's ears. "She's usin' an old strategy from a long time ago. Exhaust'n."
"Exhaustion? Really?" Corporal Sonicboom asked, her voice heightened in curiosity. "Severed hides, I never thought she'd know of it."
"The Sorceress is a mighty fine opp'nent," the general stated, sighing. "She knows war and all th' fuckin' science be'ind it."
Commander Spark snorted, displeased. "Well if that forsaken alicorn wants to burn her only source of income and food then I suggest we let her. We've got hundreds of trees behind our lines and the No Mare's Land in between our forefronts prevents any of them rushing forward with a torch."
Aria's ears pricked when she heard Her Highness take in a breath.
"Have you consulted our veterans?" she asked lightly.
"The what?" all three leaders asked in unison. The simple mention of those disgusting mares made Aria cringe.
"The veterans," Princess Luna repeated, sturdier this time. Aria opened her blue eyes to watch the alicorn slowly circling the war-worn ponies at her tactics table. "I requested the retrieval of one pegasus elder, and my commanding officer brought forth the assassin Amnesty, the rogue Sanako Helsin, an unknown unicorn whom at the moment I know not their name, and this," she gestured towards the lying mare on the smooth floor, "unicorn who will be soon molded into a powerful addition to our Republic."
"Amnesty?" Commander Spark asked, his red eyes narrowing. "That corrupted beast killed your general before Sonicboom here." He struggled to put his one foreleg on the table to straighten his injured back. "How, Your Highness, could you let these ponies into our territory?"
Aria withheld a nod of agreement. She had no right to give input for she was not part of the meeting, and she was simply guarding her princess from the mercenaries who had yet to arrive.
"At ease, commander," Princess Luna cooed. "I am well-educated in exactly what these mares are capable of. I know all their little quirks and abilities. None of them have anything within them I do not know of."
"You just said you don't know one of them," Sonicboom retorted. "That, 'unknown unicorn.'"
"Indeed. Yet Silver Star made it clear that that unicorn is trustworthy in my domain."
An accumulation of displeasure radiated from each of the ponies and Aria frowned.
"Well, this'll be the first time I've heard of 'em." Applejack snarled, grinding the wheat stalk between her teeth. "What rank are they?"
"Silver Star will be admitted as an officer of the group; the rest shall be minute soldiers," Her Highness said plaintively. "Nopony will be underneath Officer Star except for those commissioned alongside her."
"And what about the other generals, colonels and captains?" Boom asked impatiently.
"They shall all hold their own above her; you all forget an officer is a petty title, hardly higher than a cadet," Princess Luna responded with a wave of her left wing, dismissing it all.
A dull throb echoed in her skull but she ignored it.
"Is there any more we must discuss?" Luna sighed, stopping beside General AJ and looking at her papers. The earthmare frowned and sat up.
"No, Y' Highness."
"Then meeting adjourned," the moon princess said, delighted. She clacked a hoof on the floor and Applejack staggered out, leaving the two others, Aria, the test subject, and Her Highness in the room.
"My princess," Commander Spark began, his horn fizzling with magic. "What is your plan for all of this?"
"Clearly I am aiming to win this war within the next year," the alicorn said. "Why else would I be accepting so many outsiders into my land?"
"I wouldn't know, Your Highness," Sonicboom answered.
"The simple answer would be I would not in any other circumstance." Her Highness paused when the war room's door slid open to reveal a page. "What is it, Featherweight?"
"Uh — f-forgive me, Your Highness," the pale pegasus mumbled weakly. Aria made an attempt to ignore his over-sized ears. Featherweight straightened out his wings and bowed respectfully. "T-the mercenaries, Your Highness. They've arrived. Some of the guards have been stationed to prevent them from crossing the Phasing Bridge, but there are h-hundreds, Your Highness."
Aria felt the tension rise in her shoulders and she scrunched up her snout. She hated how excited the lunar princess looked.
"Excellent! Whom will I be seeing first within the brigades? I was told there'd be fifty legions!"
The page swallowed hard and wiped a bead of sweat off his temple. "Y-your Highness, there is only one leader. He is a valiant one, my princess. He claims all fifty are his and they come from the Badlands."
Princess Luna narrowed her eyes, a sudden coldness surrounding her and the fur on the back of Aria's neck stood on end.
"I see," Her Highness said slowly. "Have four guards escort him in."
Featherweight nodded and skittered out of the room.
The princess sighed and briefly glanced at the other ponies in the room. She straightened her crown, adjusted her veil, and fixed her latticework of diamonds and chains around her neck.
Aria's heart pounded, watching her. Everything that Luna possessed was perfection. She quickly adverted her eyes and focused on her dagger.
Several quiet moments passed, hard breaths from Spark and a series of quiet curses came from Sonicboom.
A chant of armor sliding against itself and hooves marching on stone floors sounded outside the doors of the chamber. Her Highness lifted her chin and set her wings. Aria glared full-heartedly at the doors as they swung slowly inward.
In strode a male unicorn, padded thickly with pale gray armor and a light brown undershirt. Four dark-armored ponies flanked him. Aria stared long and hard at him.
Tall, bare hooved — a clydesdale's offspring. Unicorn, brown eyes, gray fur, darker gray mane. Talent mark…. Aria paused, glancing at it once more. A heart...split down the middle; one side black, one side white. Unknown meaning. Aloof...cocky, from the looks of it.
"Good evening, Your Mighty Highness," he acknowledged with a pleasant tone as he stopped and stood in front of Princess Luna. "And hello to all you other, over-ranked equines."
Sonicboom and Spark both scowled and tensed up. Aria stopped twirling her knife. Luna merely blinked slowly.
"Good evening," Her Highness answered.
"This is your precious mercenary?" Spark spat, glaring at him.
"Well," the stallion said, tilting his head and grinning. "One of many. Though I'd like to call myself the self-appointed leader of this band of morons."
"I...see," Luna said, flicking her ears back. "What is your name, mercenary?"
"Name's Fiery Mind; at your begrudging service, madame," he gave an exaggerated bow, earning a few snorts of disapproval from the guards around him. "I presume you've got my offer that I've been promised?"
"Indeed." Luna's horn glowed and an enormous chest appeared and slammed into the ground in front of her and Fiery. Aria's eyes narrowed and she flattened her ears.
That is well more than they deserve….
"A year's worth of bits, food and shelter on Lunar Republic grounds. Rights to hunt in the Everfree, and my own allowance of observing training and picking recruits." Luna stared down at the stallion as he flipped open the lid of the chest. The golden bits glimmered faintly and Aria snorted softly.
"Your Highness," Aria spoke up. "Isn't granting these outsiders so much leeway dangerous? These are risky ponies."
"I believe you mean risqué," Fiery claimed smoothly, winking at her.
Disgusting, Aria thought as she wrinkled her snout at him and pointed her ears forward.
Fiery merely laughed and rubbed at his scruffy beard.
"Anywho; Your Highness," he mused, grinning at her. "I hope you do realize this is payment strictly for myself — unfortunately for you, all four hundred others need payments just like this."
"I fully understand; however they are payed for six months — your payment is one year. Their portions will be significantly smaller than yours, Fiery Mind." Luna smiled, just slightly. "I suppose that will not be a problem?"
"Nah, to Tartarus with 'em," Fiery said, rolling his light brown eyes. "My payment is my business."
"Understood."
"Pardon, Your Highness," Sonicboom piped, snarling at the mercenary leader. "How exactly will this colt be of use to us?"
"Uh, I don't believe ya heard me correctly," he answered, smiling. "I've got four hundred ponies with me, ready to get paid and ready to serve as long as their hearts see fit. Or their contracts, at least."
"Sonicboom, Spark," Luna stated finally. "You are dismissed for now."
The amputees both looked to each other and then to the mercenary. But as always, they obeyed their orders, and both Commander Spark and Corporal Sonicboom left the room.
Her Highness sighed, resettling her wings.
"Sir Mind," she said briskly, "is there anything more you must say before I allow your ponies to receive their payments and sign their contracts?"
"Nah…." He turned his head, looking about the room. His gaze landed on the crouched mare. "Who's that?"
"A subject of mine," Luna responded, raising an eyebrow.
"Why's she on the floor?"
"I wouldn't know." Luna's gaze landed on Aria who was still fuming and clenching her dagger in her fiercely bright magic. "Do you have an issue, Commander Spellweaver?"
"A rather large one, Your Highness," Aria answered slowly, narrowing her eyes at Fiery as he stepped towards the collapsed unicorn.
Aria's heart leapt when Luna briefly glanced back at Fiery and the mare before she paced over to Aria's place against the pillar.
"What seems to trouble you?" the alicorn asked softly.
"These mercenaries are going to run our resources right into the mud," Aria murmured, respectfully adverting her eyes to her own hooves. "Not even the leader treats you with dignity, my princess."
"I am aware of what I am doing," Princess Luna said, straightening herself. She smoothed out her gown and rested her cool gaze on Aria.
The soft pause between Luna and her made the whole world stop. Everything between the alicorn and Aria seemed to be there, that something was there for her to reach out and take.
A twinge of pain behind her left ear and the sounds of the war room filled her once more. Aria sighed and glanced up at Her Highness.
"Aria," the galactic mare whispered.
"Yes, Princess Luna?"
"All will be well. Rest assured that this war will be over within a year." The alicorn had a slight glint in her turquoise eyes and she gave Aria a light smile. "I am old and wise and I know what needs to be done."
"I...trust you, Your Highness," Aria whispered faintly, a slight throb beating through skull.
"You are exhausted," Luna said immediately. A warm wing rested on Aria's back and the princess guided her to the war room's doors. "Go into camp and rest; you are not to be disturbed unless I myself order it."
Pain hit Aria hard in the chest and she stiffened up. She slowly opened one of the doors, her mind fizzling silent as the words from the two other unicorns in the corner bounced off her. Everything was blurred, just slightly as if her whole reality had shifted.
"Yes, Your Highness."