Silver ran into Summer Breeze as she left the armorer. "Much better. You'll find that Lunar Republic steel is far stronger than the cheap Ryborian knock-offs they're making in Canterlot." The sound of howling came from the hills above the camp, and Silver grinned. "We'll talk more later, Miss Breeze. Right now, it would seem that reinforcements have finally arrived." Flying into the hills, he could see thousands of creatures approaching the camp. Huge packs of Timber-Wolves, dozens of Manticores, a small swarm of Cockatrices, even several Hydras and an Ursa Major. At the head of the army, looking quite pleased with herself, was Holly. Silver flew down and greeted his old friend with a look of astonishment. "I'll be honest. When I sent you to gather allies, I was expecting you to return with a few dozen Timber-Wolves. This... this is extraordinary. You've brought us an army! Very good work, old girl."
"Greetings Summer, may I say your looking stunning. Her Names Jewel Ring, working for the civillian branch of the Swifts. What we know so far is that she's an ex jewelry maker turned soldier from Cloudsdale. Her father and uncle are the only defectors in her family tree. There names are Meteor Ring ex Equestrian foot soldier turned Trainee Night guard and Platinum Mane. Ex Cloudsdale politian before the Royal guard Coup." Robin opened the tent allowing Summer in first before going in himself.
Summer walked into the interrogation room to discover the swift strapped to a chair with a two way mirror onto it. In a 20X20 meter room, there was only a small chair and a table along with a candle that acted as a light. Jewel looked petrified at Summer, seeing her former commanding officer now going to break her. "Afternoon Jewel. Seems that you and me know something they dont, i could have just told them, but where's the fun in that? Now, we are going to be discussing things. First of all, What's exactly is Celestia's "Apocalypse" plan?" Summer said, pacing around the table and around Jewel. "I have sworn unto Celestia's name that i w-" Jewel began, before being cut off. "She'll be dead within the next few weeks. I have a policy about interrogations, one question and one answer. If i don't get the answer i like, we have a problem. And if we have a problem, you have a problem. Now....what is Celestia doing?" Summer said, slightly picking up the tone in her voice. Jewel was scared stiff as Summer paced around. She could barely talk. "I....she.....um..." "Come on, spit it out." When Summer was behind her, Jewel repeated her previous sentence. "I have sworn unt-" Summer pulled her up by the mane and slammed her onto the table, almost snapping the wooden table in half. "Say it...." "I..." "Dont make me kill you." Summer threatened. "I have sworn unto Cel-" Summer then punched the swift in the stomach. "I was going to make things easy for you, but since you love doing things the hard way. Go ahead, make my day. I can either kill you or keep you as a POW. Your choice..." She then notioned for Robin to enter, requiring his assistance in making the prisoner talk.
"In need of the good cop bad cop routine huh? I'll be the good one." Robin slightly loosened the wing restraints. "Tell us the plans and you may leave to send a message unto the Princess. Tell us the plans and join us and you will leave with your wings not broken. Summer here was your superior, she was a solar flare and so the highest of high and she saw her errors. So should you. You wouldn't go against a solar flares decision and face the consequences so why now?" Robins voice was friendlier and calmer than his associates hoping it would go in his favor. "I swore unto Celestia's name that I will never surrender the tongue but the Phoenix Queen has risen from her ashes. The woman I truly serve is her. She is our savior, our lover and our redeeme..." she was cut off by Robin who was tired of all of it. "Call in her father and uncle. Perhaps they can talk some sense into her. One's a trainee night guard, the others in the royal Advisor's chambers"
Base was rummaging through files in the tent. Time to learn more of his queen's plans. "Prisoner reports. Mythology books... Crystal structure studies? What on Equestria are these for? Reports on long dead Ryborian heroes... Chemical compounds for enhancing pony DNA... These are all deranged!" He stacked folder after folder of the odd files on the desk. "I love it! Dark matter weaponry. Necromancy. Dimensional portals... unfunctioning. Wait... Necromancy. We're bringing back Ryborian heroes... but they won't serve us. I know them too well. They won't fall for it. Even in undeath the ryborian's won't serve her. I already regret deciding to follow her all those years ago, but I must follow my word. Sorry brothers. At least it isn't against my deal to hold her back a bit longer." He pulled out the dark matter weapons report and used the crystal to contact the group working on it. They had only succeeded in making one. A dark matter hammer. "Send it over. I have some things I must deal with." (all the back projects of Equestria were moved to there so they could still be made progress but would not have been any form of focus. The dark matter weapons were revealed to be weaker compared to most other weapons, so were put on backlist. Also base jumper is a traitor of the Ryborian nation from way back when. Did I not ever mention that?)
(You never mentioned it. I was just thinking if Base was Equestrian or another race, or ‘modified’. Base would have undergone a name change after he joined Equestria to suit his new life, from what it was previously to Base Jumper. It also seems that Tricorna and the Eriborian have a nemesis...) Venquis and Tricorna made it around the Equestrian base undetected. While the sight of seeing his people discarded like trash unsettled him, even though he has seen worse, was still disgusted. After making their way over a mountain pass, Neromia was visible. Even though they were well above sea level and that Neromia was on the other side of Ardelan, they city was still visible. “During the war, I watched my family be butchered by Equestrian officers. They forced me to watch, and they were about to do the same to me before I managed to escape after I killed almost all of them with my bare hooves. What unsettled me the most was that The White Reaper was there, laughing as he finished of my father, Eriborian Geion Razona. I still remember mother and fathers faces, my sisters and brothers corpses laying on the ground lifeless. I’m the only survivor of the Razona dynasty. ” The two soon came to a lone statue of Sihana, now covered in moss with some mountain grass growing nearby. Venquis quickly said a prayer and placing a flower onto the statue and bowed before leaving the statue as him and the doe was starting to make his way down the mountain. “The war was going to end with either the extinction of either the Ryborians or the Equestrians. Of course, neither happened due to my intervention upon killing Prince Eclipse. I preferred that neither race deserved extinction, yet alone a war. I can’t help but imagine what the world would look like if the Ryborians wiped out the Equestrians. It would have ended as something I would have wanted to destroy, it would have ended as an unstoppable version of Celestia’s empire like the Windarian empire from ancient times. In the end, there would have been only one dominant race while the others would have become slaves, threats like Lunar Pegasi and Dragons would have been quickly wiped out. I can’t help but wonder, but I can’t help but be afraid”
"Balance is mother's way. Extinction however must happen occasionally. Those that surpass other to the point of danger must become extinct. I don't know if you know this, but mother doesn't approve of the existance of alicorns. She leaves it be for others, but she would see them be extinct." Tricorna's face seemed stoic, as if she weren't speaking, just being used as a speaker. "What exactly is our plan again? Who are we sneaking in for?"
"We are going to enter Neromia, and basically wipe out as much Equestrian resistance in the city as possible until the Ryborian Legions arrive and clean up the remainder of the nation. According to reports, we seem to have allies in the form of a Ryborian resistance movement, apparently well supplied and armed, so we don't have to worry about being separated and hunted down." Venquis said. "And about Alicorns, Sihana and the Nine Divines modeled us in their image. We cannot be dominant in all areas like Alicorns are. While Equestrian's look upon us as "Super-Ponies", we are far from that. I personally don’t really mind Alicorns, but their born physical and arcane potentials worries me. All Equestrian leaders who have lead attacks on Ardelan are Alicorns, and they see themselves as Gods. In Ryborian culture, that is not only disrespectful, it's offensive. The Divines choose who they wish to ascend to join them in the end of days, no mortal can tell the Divines they are gods and think they are better then them.” Venquis looked behind him, hearing something muffled in the distance before turning back to Tricorna. “I understand her judgement, and her will shall be done to preserve the balance. All things come to an end, and we wish to make that ‘end’ better for other races while helping ourselves. Now let’s deal with whatever’s behind us and we shall be on our way.” Venquis said casually and respectfully before having the infamous Spell-Sword of the Eriborian, Moonsaber pointed inches away from the follower’s temple in one almost impossibly fast movement. -------------------------------------- Summer nodded as she went towards the door and whistled, as two Republic guards came to her. "Meteor Ring and Platinum Mane. Two clicks." The guards saluted as they each of them headed towards different directions, one heading to the north while the other headed to the west.Pleased with herself, Summer returned back to Robin's side.
The group of flares stood spread out slightly behind them, each with their weapons drawn. "We have orders to bring you two in-" "I'd like to see you try!" Tricorna's eyes lit up and she lowered her head to charge. "Let me finish! We were told to bring you in unharmed!" Some of the flares near the back of the group backed away slightly.
Venquis looked at the flares and laughed. "Trying to have a 'peaceful' alternative to this discussion is difficult in your position because you are all holding your weapons. If you stand down, we can talk. If you don't, then you are going to regret your choice in the afterlife." He noticed Tricorna still in her stance, not willing to stand down unless the Flares change their minds and take the easier choice.
"Very well. Men drop your weapons." "Sir he could be tri-" "Silence. Drop em. That's an order." The flares dropped their weapons one at a time. Tricorna stood straight, almost shocked that they actually dropped the weapons. "Now our orders are to take you, unharmed, to commander Base. Please don't make this an impossible task."
It took a brief moment, but Venquis eventually allowed himself to be taken by the Solar Flares alongside Tricorna. Despite the Flares allowing him to keep Moonsaber for an unknown reason, he was still horn-cuffed to prevent magic from his horn despite Venquis knowing full well that he can perform magic in several different forms and ways rendering the horn-cuff's useless. The Flares were possibly stupid not knowing a Ryborian's simple ability to do so. The two were then led down the mountain and back towards the Equestrian camp where they were likely to be interrogated.
-Meanwhile, back at the base camp- The Equestrian attack had succeeded in throwing the attack on Canterlot behind schedule. Silver Crescent spent most of the morning contacting the Lunar Republic's allies and informing them of the change in plans. He quickly learned that many of them had fought off similar attacks. He was not displeased with what he learned. The allied armies were merely a distraction, a way to keep Celestia's forces occupied while the REAL plan moved forward. From the looks of things, the Equestrians were taking the bait.
As Tricorna and Venquis entered the camp, they found an eerie lack of ponies of any kind. Militant or otherwise. They flares guided them to the center of the camp, then ran off, leaving them alone. "This is both strange and troubling..." Tricorna looked around, studying the empty camp. A gentle breeze blew by. In a puff of smoke, which faded to black and exploded outwards, Base arrived. The dark matter hammer was strapped to his back, easy to access. "I am glad you two were the ones sent here. You two are exactly who I needed to speak with, and I assure you, you will both be interested in what I have to say." He held up a file titled "Eriborian" and then turned and walked into a tent, motioning for both of them to follow him within. "That is even more strange and troubling." Tricorna bluntly stated. "Should we trust him?"
“Depends” The Eriborian replied casually. “If he proves a threat to us, then it seems that we could take him down before things get messy. However, remember that he is a Solar Flare. They don’t die easily. I’m also curious about this fellow, he appears to be Ryborian and yet he is serving Celestia and her band of misfits.” Venquis said. “We should at least listen to what he has to say, especially if it concerns the two of us.” Venquis then walked into the tent with several questions on his mind. He appeared to be Ryborian, and he assumed that he was one of the traitor’s during the Black War. He also thought of his Captain during the War and the leader of the attack of Neromia almost 500 years ago, and the one who killed his parents. Dovian Frenzia, “The White Reaper”. He made comparisons between Dovian and Base. If he was Ryborian, he wondered what his real name used to be. The Eriborian took a seat nearby a desk and listened to what he had to say. (You can make up a name if you want for Base, if he is Ryborian. One note, all Ryborian names end with an "a" at the end. Examples: Razona, Frenzia, Sihana.)
Tricorna followed Venquis into the tent and sat down next to Venquis. "I am Base Jumper. I betrayed my homeland and my people in the black war, forging a blood bond to and ancient evil, and to Celestia. My birth name has been lost to the ages... or so I was led to believe. I am Farakaria." He put the folder down onto the desk. "I did many terrible things, not the worst of which was burning down a deer village. The one you and your brother Obsidian were born in." Tricorna stared at Base. She said nothing. Nothing needed to be said. The hatred in her eyes burned enough without words. "I was one of the few solar flares that could fight Obsidian without dying instantly. Hah. Celestia does not reward those she thinks may betray her with positions of power. And with good reason. In this file is a list of all the Ryborian heroes Celestia tried an succeeded in resurrecting who are being held in our old home. It also has a map of the guards posted and the lab where they are developing improvements on the serum that makes... oh what were they called? The giant mutants she sends into battle as tanks. Do with this information what you will. I have payed off my moral code. I will act as thought this meeting never happened when you enter the city. If you get caught by my guards, I will not hesitate to destroy you both. It's nothing personal, just a blood oath I regret, from a long time ago." He slid the folder forward some then stepped away from the desk.
Venquis said nothing as him and Tricorna took the folder from the desk. Staring deep into his eyes, clearly not amused at the Ryborian standing infront of him, the Eriborian said nothing as he nodded to Tricorna and left in absolute silence as Venquis broke the cuff on his horn. Before walking out the tent flap, Venquis looked at Base Jumper one last time over his shoulder. If what he said was true about his oath and that he planned to kill him and his doe friend, then he would toss Base like a rag doll. He walked out of the tent and out of the camp. He placed his hoof on Tricornia's shoulder and teleported both of them to their previous location where they were intercepted by the Solar Flares. He could tell that Tricorna was about to burst into tears, finally knowing the monster responsible for slaughtering an entire village of innocents. He looked at Neromia in the horizon as his gaze returned to Tricorna. "He's a rabid dog that deserves to be put down. It must be hard hearing about what happened....I'm sorry"
"It's..." She rubbed her eyes, as the anger faded from them, replaced by a more obvious sadness. "It's in the past. We need to move on and avenge them. Short and simple." She sat and started crying. "We can't let this- let this hold us back. We need to free the risen ryborian's and put an end to the beast responsible for everything. If we ki- if we kill that bastard in the- the process then so be it..." She fell onto her face and a pool of tears formed on the ground. "If only I could do more. I can't even kill myself... I bet you're happy now, aren't you spider god! Tricking me into a blood pact under Celestia! This is all your fault, and you don't even have the will to come bother me anymore!" Base yelled up into the sky as the group of flares returned. "The deer and eriborian are still to be captured and not killed. If you have to beat them within an inch of their lives, so be it." The flares saluted and went on their way. Blind followers of a puppet who went mad with power. "I hope they can kill Celestia before they fight me. I have no desire to die." (he is bound by his blood pact to serve Celestia to the death. If she dies first, he is allowed to leave, and live his life how he pleases.)
Venquis showed little expression on his face, but some emotion showed that the Eriborian did not want to see Tricorna like this and was quite saddened. He bent down onto his knee and tried to comfort her, despite the fact she was likely to turn him away. "You wanted to avenge the loss of your family, and i believe that ending Ardelan underneath Equestrian occupation is the best way, and if possible, to kill him. You wanted to put this into the past, but sometimes the past comes to haunt you. I learn't that the hard way." He helped Tricorna onto her feet and looked at her eyes, Venquis now saddened with emotion on his face. "Farakaria deserves to die for the crimes he has committed, our verdict is vengeance. I'm sorry if i'm hurting you with words, but we need to keep moving. He would have sent more Flares after us, most likely to kill us this time, so we kill them in return. I'm sorry....." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Summer opened the door of the tent to reveal the captured Swift's parents as she tried to press out infomation. Maybe this would do the trick...
Robin simply watched as rhe swifts father and uncle came in only too notice a face of hostility rather than sorrow growing on her. "She's all yours" robin then had to dive behind Jewel and restrain her with his own strength. The appearance of her relatives surely hit something in her mind causing her to go into a rage. "Guys better speed things up a bit. Don't know how long I can hold her."
