Chapter Six
The sound of staticky music drifted slowly from the dimly lit tent from outside. Aria lay on her back, her eyes lidded and her jaw locked. Her breath was slipping in and out; slow and steady like soft ocean waves.
Aria's tent wasn't anything special, a tad bigger than most at best. She had three hanging lanterns — slung from the front and back posts, a desk, a dresser, and a duffel bag full of useless possessions of hers. Hidden under her cot was a chest with her armor and padding. And buried under those were her weapons.
In a cloud of flame-orange aura was Aria's dogtags. They clinked softly as the stamped strips of metal slid and connected with each other, she twiddling them at the end of their chain.
Why did I even attempt that with Fiery? Aria thought bitterly, one of her hooves rubbing at her bandaged stomach. What is happening to me?
"That ain't the half of it."
Aria's ears flicked back, tension seizing her chest.
"It's because you're a brute and enjoy torturing changelings," she muttered under her breath. Fiery puffed out a small halo of smoke, clearly having heard her comment.
"Hey now, I never said we tortured 'em," he drawled as the nickertine ebbed at his brain. "We jus' treat 'em like little beasties, that's all. Barbed hooks to secure the legs while I, so mercifully for y'all's sake, blow the damn bugs' head to shit."
"But the changelings are reformed," Aria snapped, turning on her stump to glare him directly. She didn't trust her peripherals to keep her safe around the mercenary overlord. "There's no reason to hunt them anymore."
"Didn' I jus' say that our business was fallin' to hell 'cause of that goody-four-hooves Thorax?" He levitated his cigarette from his teeth and looked at it in bewilderment. "I did jus' say that. Damn! I'm so glad somethin' listens to me when I speak!"
Aria rolled her eyes and snorted, shaking out her mane.
"Don't get all feral with me, sister," Fiery snickered, clamping his stained teeth on the butt of his cigarette once more. "Not fuckin' interested."
"Excuse me?" Aria sputtered, curling her scrap of tail closer to herself. "Where did that come from?"
"It's in yer eyes," he muttered, flicking his dull brown eyes to her. "That kind of ferocity ain't nothin'." He ran a bared hoof through his dark mane, the exhaled smoke swirling in the dim light as he moved. "Seen that shit far too often in this damn republic."
"I don't know what you're talking about, you illiterate mule," Aria spat icily, wrinkling her snout at him. He chuffed dryly, leaning against her stump. He blew a thick cloud of smoke into her face.
"Ya need to get fuckin' laid," he answered. "Ya old hag, get yer stifles out there and loosen up."
Aria's whole body was pricked with freezing indignity and then a wave of furious warmth. As quickly as before, Aria tackled Fiery, feeling his cigarette ash rub into her fur as the two tumbled down the forested hill. Her shoulders slammed into a few out of place rocks and the stallion grunted as his head grazed the stumps lining the rugged pathway. Aria's magic was sparking with anger, fumbling as she tried to wriggle out her dagger from its sheath. Fiery's own odd green magic flickered with each hard slam into the frozen dirt. Further and further they fell, until finally they reached the base of the incline where the forest ended and withered into another Lunar camp.
Somehow, the stallion had landed on top of her, his jaw clenched and his gaze stony. He forced out a thin laugh and whispered to her, "Stupid mare made me lose my cigarette." Fiery peered down at her before backing off spastically, Aria's knife whizzing up to slice at his snout.
"Get the hell off me," Aria snarled, pushing herself to her hooves. She could feel the bruises forming on her back and shoulders as she glared at him. The stallion seemed more confused than before, rubbing at his head and the back of his neck.
Aria kind of wish she'd thought of breaking it on their descent.
Still can if I really want to, she thought with a inward smile. One quick crunch and he's gone forever.
"Ya really are uptight," Fiery said, plucking his pack from his pocket. He shook it lightly and flicked a cigarette out, lighting it with a tiny burst of magic. "Was no need to be aggressive."
"You spoke to me like a whore," Aria hissed. "I am ranked above you, Fiery Mind, and I will not be susceptible to your outlandish ways." Aria flinched as a tiny line of pain flickered across the front of her skull. She scrunched her eyes shut until it was gone; her horn lit up and unsheathed her two swords, putting her dagger back in its holster on her left hind leg.
"A swordsmare, eh?" the stallion nickered, his eyes widening in amusement. "Thought ya was just a butterknife kind o' pony."
A distant rumble sounded and Aria glanced up, seeing thick midnight clouds broiling to swallow the moon. A tiny plip of cold water landed on her snout and she grimaced.
More rain, she thought in distaste.
As the droplets became heavier and larger, it didn't take long for the dirt to sink into itself as a squelching, slippery muck in the building downpour. Aria flicked her wet bangs out of her eyes.
"I have some toys myself," Fiery prodded, raising a brow and tossing a large stick-like item — that seemed to be made of metal and wood — and his saddlebag that had descended with him off to the side. He unsheathed two blades in his green magic, a bolo and a twisted dagger. "I guess ya could call me a swordspony too."
The two stood and stared at each other, the four blades they wielded growing slick. Droplets soaked into their hides, dripping from the edges of their bodies and weighing them down. A faint wind blew, scattering the raindrops sideways.
"Ya gonna jus' stand an' stare?" piped the stallion, letting out a chuff. "I got five minutes bef're I gotta head off." He swiftly readied his weapons to his sides.
I should back down, Aria thought suddenly, her eyes widening. Luna wouldn't want me hurting her new plaything.
Her falchions twitched downward, her heart trembling. Fiery's ears flicked forward, he tilting his head at her. His cigarette had died from the rain, but he still clenched it in his teeth. She let out a puff of hot breath, it clouding in front of her snout.
But, another thought flickered through her jumbled head, wouldn't letting him get away with speaking to me in such a way cause a superiority issue? The grip of her aura on the handles of her swords grew tense and her jaw locked. I could end up leading his mercenaries into battle. If I do not punish him, my authority will mean scat!
Aria's legs lurched under her, throwing her forward as one sword guarded her right and the other drew a line in the rain, slicing down the front of Fiery Mind.
CLINK.
Fiery smirked as he easily flicked his bolo to stop her blade, shoving it aside as he twisted himself, planting a kick and knocking her back.
"That it, lass?" he asked with a laugh. "If so, ya might wanna get a li'le more trainin' in!"
"Hardly," Aria growled, regaining her footing in the churning mud. "Just keeping you on your hooves, outsider."
Fiery grinned as he dashed to her, zigzagging in the mud causing spatters of it to streak up his legs and he flipped his dagger to its hilt, jabbing at Aria's flank. She leapt to left, skidding on the mud, slipping and landing on her side. Mud sloshed thickly against her skin and fur, clumping in her mane. She swung one of her falchions at his underside from her place on the ground.
Fiery grunted as the back of her sword propelled him upward as he jumped at the same time. He landed a few paces away, reaching under him and pressing against his stomach. Aria got back to her hooves, panting softly as he glanced up at her and sneered.
"This'll be fun."
Aria's aura burst into a double sized field, an orange blast of magic singeing at Fiery's snout as he rushed to her. She appeared once more beside him, grunting with force as she swung her left hindleg to kick him. Fiery twisted and used his forehooves to block the kick, chuckling, "This way, eh? Close quar'ers are my special'y." He gripped her leg and Aria's eyes widened as he swung her to the mud like a rag doll.
He's strong, Aria thought as he delivered a punch to her right ribs. She grit her teeth as he punched again and aimed both of his weapons at her. At this rate, he's going to break my ribs and incapacitate me. I'll lose. She could feel the heat of the magic from his horn and with each punch, her own aura flickered. He knows he's strong… he knows I'm vulnerable in this position. But…. His blades whirled as he flourished them, dipping them for her neck, a sadistic and breathless chuckle escaping his throat as he pummeled her ribs. Aria squeezed her eyes shut as one bellowing thought took control of her mind and body.
But I am STRONGER!
Aria's horn burst with energy as her body seized, jolting Fiery to stare at her and pause his weapons' advances and his punches. He narrowed his eyes as Aria's body curled inwards and her hindhooves tucked against the small dent in his armor along his stomach. She let out a long shout of effort as her hindlegs slowly and shakily lifted the large unicorn stallion, his forehooves leaving the ground. Aria's falchions slid pommel-first into the space between them and both swords' hilts and her legs shoved Fiery off, he staggering away and coughing.
As the mercenary leader moved, holding his chest, Aria leapt to her hooves. Fiery grimaced and he locked his eyes on her. Aria immediately felt his weapons dart past her and return to him.
Aria gasped a second later, faltering as flowering pain spread from her left shoulder. She flicked as much mud as she could off one of her forehooves before pressing it against the blossoming wound and removing it to see her dark blood smeared across it.
"That was a cheap shot," she hissed softly. Fiery shrugged, twirling his twisted dagger.
"Yer strong, I'll give ya that," he said, slipping past her comment. "Not too shabby." He blew the dripping drops off his lips and snout, blinking past the rain. His legs stood firm in the mud whereas Aria struggled to stand.
The cut in her shoulder wasn't deep, but the battering downpour stung and left tiny shocks to wrack her muscles. She grit her jaw, displacing her weight on her other three legs and lifting her hoof just slightly off the ground.
"I could say the same for you, despite your ethics," she said through her teeth. She took a pace forward, biting and fighting the pain that streaked from her shoulder to the nape of her neck.
"I'd jus' repaired my armor, by th' way," the stallion crowed, tilting his head as if analyzing her steps. Aria Spellweaver barked a cold laugh, rain pattering down on her tongue.
"Good to know," she mused, "that you'll be wasting your bits on something as pathetic as body armor."
"I did it m'self," Fiery deadpanned, rearing up on his hindlegs and kicking the blurry air. Dual curved blades flicked out from his fetlocks, curling like a dragon's claws. He landed back on all fours, taking a couple steps and leaving gouges in the mud where rain was quick to pool into. "Not ev'rythin' is money."
Aria stood dazed at the new weaponry from his hooves as the stallion jumped to her, outstretching his forelegs with the glistening claws aimed for her throat and snout. Floundering with effort, Aria backed away, forcing her stunned legs to move her out of harms way. She didn't trust herself enough. As a precaution, her dual falchions preformed another cross-guard in front of her, her magical grip tightening and preparing for impact.
She was right to doubt herself. Fiery's bolo (which Aria had been so foalish not to keep track of) slammed down on her swords, pulling her sideways as the metal caught against each other. His dagger zipped to her exposed side and his hoof-blades whirred through the rain, close behind.
Three slivers of pain spread and leaked from Aria's flanks and stomach. She gasped and delivered a hasty crack to the mercenary's cheek, throwing him back with the pommel of one of her swords. The stallion staggered sideways and held his jaw for a moment, blood dribbling past his hoof and his brow furrowed, while Aria was quick to wrap a foreleg over her abdomen. She could feel the dull throb through her whole body. She pressed harder and sucked in a pained breath, wires of fire entwining in her sides. Blood blotted into her leg.
"You dirty bastard," Aria growled, tentatively removing her leg from her wounds. Like the sliver on her shoulder, the cuts underneath weren't deep, but somehow the flesh was torn and irritated enough to bleed thoroughly.
"Well I am a li'eral bastard, so I might as well act like it," Fiery mused, flicking his claws and examining them thoughtfully. "Ol' Pa had a name like Phoenix somethin'-or-another, I f'rget." He rolled his eyes and set his hoof down, looking bored. "Suppos'dly an infamous swordspony."
"I guess that isn't uncommon," Aria muttered, hardly interested. The fury that clung to her seemed to have ebbed down to mere disliking.
But she was far from surrendering a victory to the outlander.
Aria slowly slipped out her knife from its sheath on her leg as Fiery's gaze seemed to wander. It looked as if he himself was no longer interested in the fight, or believing he'd won enough to no longer care. She tilted it back behind herself as she readied her falchions.
The soft clinks caught Fiery's attention. His ears flicked to her and then his eyes. A thin grin spread across his snout as the stallion was quick to lunge, his bolo swirling around his body in a formidable field and his hoof-blades reaching for her once more.
A burst of orange magic and the stallion stopped in his tracks, eyes wide.
Aria smirked triumphantly at his expression as she tilted her Bowie closer to his skin on his throat. He lowered his bolo, and the claws on his fetlocks reversed and retracted into almost-invisible sheaths along his wrists as he attempted to move slowly away from her knife. Aria kept the edge pressed to him.
As Aria began to lift her head in victory, however, a point pricked the back of her neck at the base of her skull. Fiery smiled through a gulp.
"S'prised ya didn' track my dagger," he said brightly. His aura flared a tad brighter, the tip worming slightly into Aria skin and prodding forth a rivulet of blood to stream down her neck warmly.
Aria scowled and dropped her weapons except for her knife. The rain was beginning to lighten, though the mud would probably last for days.
"We're at an impasse I suppose," she said grudgingly. Fiery laughed, the pressure from his dagger suddenly gone. The prick pulsed annoyingly.
"If that's all ya got, lass, then I'm afraid so!" He gave her a genuine smile, his teeth stained with blood from his cut lip. "I've no reason to go all out at this point."
Aria relieved him of her dagger and she sheathed her weapons. Frustration and weariness made her shoulders slump.
She raised her head to suddenly recognize the dozens of Lunars and mercenaries alike watching with wide eyes. Each were soaked thoroughly, giving away how long they all had stopped to watch.
Wonderful, Aria inwardly sighed, the morons saw their superior get her hocks hoofed to herself.
"All right you lousy patrons," Aria snapped, her voice rugged and authoritative. "Get back to your damn posts before I make privates 'n' soldiers alike participate in drills!"
The ponies were quick to scramble away, except for a few mercenaries whom looked to Fiery expectantly. An earth stallion tossed a bag to Fiery in which he caught with an exchange of low words.
A slight twinge in Aria's chest made her take a step closer to him, her shoulders and brow set.
"Colonel," Aria addressed formally. The stallion turned his head to look at her.
"Yes, Commander Spellweaver?" Fiery answered with a smile.
A small pause as the words caught in her throat.
"Welcome to the N.L.R."
The memory dissipated in front of her eyes. Aria was back in her tent, her cuts self-patched and her tags suspended in the air in front of her in wispy orange aura.
Pointless was all Aria could get from the combat. Pointless and completely unnecessary.
"Miss Grumpy-hooves."
Aria's tags dropped to her chest and she sat up slowly to find Blaze standing in the tent opening. Aria sighed and rolled her eyes, laying back down.
"I see you've gotten yourself into another skirmish."
Aria didn't respond.
"C'mon," the pegasus wheedled, stepping over to the cot. She laid a hoof on the edge. "They need you in the medic tent. Monthly reports on injured soldiers."
Aria slid off her cot, tugging her tags over her head and tucking them under her bandanna. She pushed calmly past Blaze, cracking her shoulders and neck.
"All right," she muttered, "let's go."
The night air felt like bliss against Aria's bandages, and the clouds had thinned enough to let a sliver of moon streak its pale light onto the main campsite. During the beginning and end of the moon's life — when it smiled down upon the Lunars — the unicorns within the Republic were required to provide light without fires. Some spread colored lanterns from the entrance trees throughout and others simply illuminated the tips of their horns to provide at most a four-pace diameter of light wherever they walked.
Aria herself had an unusual device she used to spread light in the camp. Before she had exited her tent she tapped the orb. This simply activated it and let it float alongside her, providing orange-gold light that doubled the area provided by a unicorn horn.
The two mares walked through the winding and dwindling path between the growing clusters of tents and personal shop stalls. Stallions of all kinds cleaned their weapons. Some Lunar mares (not necessarily soldiers for some had young foals swaddled on their backs) were assisting a few mercenaries set up their tents. The fabric was a forested green with pinpricks of jade, and the insides seemed to be almost a golden color. As they stepped past, however, Aria was astonished to see some of the jade specks wink out of existence.
What in the moon's name….
Blaze nudged her along once her hoofsteps began to fall behind. Aria continued alongside her friend.
"What are your thoughts on the mercs?" Aria asked as they reached open space behind the army of tents.
"What do you mean?" Blaze retorted. "Haven't you already asked me about my thoughts on this kind of scat?"
Aria nodded. "I have," she said, "I'd just like to know your place because my own has shifted."
Blazing Reign reared up, her wings spread wide as her legs stopped moving. "You've changed your mind?!" The mare stared all around with wide gold eyes. "Are you sure you're Aria Spellweaver?"
Aria chuffed much to her inner dismay and gave her friend an admiring punch. Blaze snorted and smiled, rubbing the impact spot.
"I don't mind them, really," Blaze answered as the medic tent grew closer and closer. "They're a little rough around the edges but they've got cool stuff to trade with."
"Like wh—" Aria's voice cut off as the cooler air within the medical tent hit her snout. The stench of sanitizer and rubbing alcohol, and the light crunch of the constantly watered down tarp under their hooves struck Aria more sudden than she expected.
I'll never understand why I'm the one sent here for this kind of thing….
Soft groans escaped the soldiers on the cots whom were still conscious enough to feel their ailments. Others, like the earthpony to her right with a bandaged head, remained silent and stony, the skin beneath their coats pale.
A renowned nurse, Redheart, was stroking the mane of a little colt whose lacerations along his foreleg were getting sewn up by another medic. His eyes fluttered though still locked on her as she cooed soft words. Aria's stomach churned when she saw other bloody gashes along his body, each red and puffy but stitched closed. Blaze caught her gaze and the pegasus simply frowned.
"Redheart," Aria said, staying in the middle of the aisle between cots. The nurse raised her head, blue eyes meeting blue. "You've requested me?"
It somehow disengaged Aria when the earthmare smiled at her. Nopony was supposed to smile in a room like this.
"Commanding officer Spellweaver and Officer Reign," she whispered, "thank you both for coming. Doctor Fletching has the report for you back in his office."
Aria nodded and tried to ignore the mare's bagged eyes and white-streaked pink mane. The nurse was old — far older than the war itself — and yet she still worked harder than any other medic. Aria didn't want to think about a day where the war would still be toiling and Redheart wouldn't be around anymore.
Both her and Blaze walked to the right wing where a plastic entrance connected a smaller tent to the main one. A pastel green pegasus sat in a large chair behind a desk. Other than scattered notesheets and quills, a tattered and stained doctorate behind cracked glass rested on the dark wood. He greeted the two mares with a nod and folded the letter he'd been examining closed.
"Hello, ladies," Doctor Fletching finally said, his unruly silver mane bouncing as he lifted his head.
"Hello, Doctor," Aria said softly. Blaze only straightened herself in her usual hierarchy pose.
Stupid as always, Aria thought with a raised eyebrow as the doctor raised his ears and set his shoulders.
"All right," he began with a sigh, opening a cabinet to his right. "Injury and causality reports, due to be observed and given to Her Royal Highness, Princess Luna von Galactica by the second-hundred and third day of the year 1032 since her original and unjustifiable banishment."
"Yes," Aria withheld an eye roll at the lengthy explanation. "Thank you, Doctor."
"Why are we the ones delivering this to Her Highness?" Blaze suddenly asked, examining her feathers. "Why don't you do it? Or get another medic to do it?" Fletching seemed caught off guard because he so very stupidly stared at Blaze as if she had sprouted a horn with googly-eyes.
"Well," he started, pushing a thick folder towards the two mares. "You both are part of Her Highness's personal guard, yes?"
Before Aria could clarify, Blaze nodded.
"Then that's exactly why." Doctor Fletching rested his forelegs on the table, looking at them as if they were old medical books — bored and disinterested. Calculating, like most doctors were. "You both can waltz into Princess Luna's castle without a care in the world. For other ponies like medics and cadets and simple soldiers it can take a full 72 hours before Her Highness would accept any request to enter."
Aria frowned and flicked her ears back. She hadn't realized the security measures that took place around Luna's castle. Well, she had thought she knew, but all of what Fletching said made the world twitch in a way.
A little spark of pain flared in the back of her head and three images clouded the inside of her eyelids. Red hides, broken bones, burning land. Aria flinched and held her head gingerly with her hoof. It throbbed annoyingly. She opened an eye to see past the thoughts as another twinge of discomfort ailed her. She found both the pegasi staring at her.
"You okay, Aria?" Blaze asked softly. "Is it the headaches again?"
"Headaches?" the green pegasus inquired. "Have they been troubling her long?" He began to get up from his seat, but Aria waved him down.
"It's nothing," she grumbled. "I'm fine, sit down Fletching. I'm fi—"
The three ponies were thrown to the plastic ground as rumbles and deafening booms encased them. Fletching's diploma rattled off his desk. Aria saw the glass shatter, but everything was quiet. Her light orb had disappeared somewhere, leaving the room illuminated by the frozen fire. It felt like her ears were stuffed with hundreds of layers of cotton. Her legs refused to move and her mind was racing with everything her training told her.
Find the injured, get her armor, get her weapons, defend her Princess. Kill the opposers. Use the darkness and the moon to her advantage.
Fight.
Blaze was laying beside her, holding her head. Blood slithered down her neck from an unseen injury.
Aria dazedly looked up to see ice and fire in the same place. Fire burning at the cloth of the tent, ice left behind to drop in sharpened clumps of ash.
Get up, you moron, Aria thought at her legs. MOVE.
The cotton drained into shouts, screams and sobs. Aria struggled up, yanking Blaze up in staticky magic. Blaze looked at Aria almost as if she had no idea who she was. The two looked around the decimated room for Doctor Fletching. Aria shoved his desk aside to find ice slowly creeping over his wings and back, stabbing into his flesh as he writhed and jerked. His red eyes looked up helplessly at Aria. Blood was pooling from short gash in his throat where more ice began to form. Blaze caught sight of him and grimaced.
"We need—"
"I know," Aria shouted over another careening boom. "C'mon!"
The two mares ran into the medical tent to find half of it collapsed. Redheart was shouting orders to the staff, her eyes full of tears but her voice unwavering. A frozen boulder had landed where the colt they saw at first had been. Dark smears were dripping down the sides of it as the ice began to spread.
Aria shut her eyes and ran out of the tent, Blaze close behind.
More blood, more ice. Shouts of ponies dying, cannons exploding, clashing of spears on armor.
The outermost camp of the New Lunar Republic was under siege from the north.