Archmage: Square One

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Chapter 15: Drake

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The frontlines had been breached, and I could tell immediately, this was war. Between the guard's reaction, the massive thing behind the shield, and everything that had happened in the past few weeks, war had come to Equestria, and it came in the form of the beast before us.

"Io." Basil's soft, breathed exhalation sent a shiver down my spine. The aftermath of the shield shattering still resounded to us, massive plates of arcane energy splintering and breaking apart, sounding not unlike glass as they tinkled and crashed against one another. Miniature shockwaves of energy rocked the wall beneath our hooves, product of the massive deposits of solidified arcane energy Twilight had cast breaking up as they fell to the ground. From behind that monstrous barrier emerged a dragon the likes of which I knew the world had not seen in thousands of years.

"No way." My mother paled as we watched the hulking beast take the first step through the broken remnants of Twilight's defense. "One of the Great Serpents? That's Io?"

"The Ram of the Heavens." Basil swallowed. "The dragon that could level a mountain. Heavens help us, we're doomed."

Io was indeed a massive dragon, and even as far away as the four of us were from the barrier, I could see the size of him. It made sense that this beast would be the one to level Twilight's barrier. Unlike other dragons I had seen in diagrams (and one very fortunate dragon migration viewing held not far from Canterlot,) this one was easily ten times even the largest serpent's size. His head was where the greatest variation had been made; where a regular dragon boasted a massive mouth for breathing fire, spines, and bright, intelligent eyes, Io was all bone and muscle.

He looked not unlike a goat with his horns, only that the two curved protrusions from his skull were probably the size of one of Trottingham's gates. From their dull tips down the sweeping, ridged length of them, they met what appeared to be a massive, pale, bony mass on his head. The large protrusion gave him the other half of his earned name, in that he looked like a massive, winged battering ram. If I had to guess, his skull would be as thick as the wall beneath her hooves; thicker in some sections.

Beneath that massive ram of his horns was a thickly-muscled neck. His eyes sat a good fifty feet back from the bony plate on his head, looking beady and small from this distance. But if the history books were to be believed, Io was one of the most intelligent of the great serpents. Combined with his brute, ground-shaking force, he was arguably the most dangerous of the three that had terrorized the Blood Fields thousands of years ago.

From the top of his ramming bone and down his spine ran thick, flat spines, completely different from a regular dragon's. Those were pointed. His were wide, flat, and as I watched, interlocked when he crouched low. From beneath the bony plate of his head, his mouth opened, wide enough to swallow an entire tower without flinching.

The primal scream ripped through the air towards us. I could see the snow pulsing and moving in time, the shockwave of sound kicking up a blizzard of ice.

"Get down!"

I ducked beneath the surface of the wall just as the first keening blast reached us. Snow and ice flew through the air over my head, and I felt like my ears were trying their best to rip themselves from my head. The sound pierced straight through my head, like a needle, thin and high and excruciatingly painful. I saw rather than heard Goldy's scream, her mouth open wide and her eyes pouring tears, unable to close with the shock of how loud Io's scream was.

The scream died in intensity, just as I thought I was about to lose my sanity. Feeling woozy and disoriented, I stumbled to my hooves, watching as Io lowered his massive, hulking head. From behind those flat spines, his massive wings unfurled, easily tripling his size.

I could only watch in horror as he began to advance on Trottingham. One rocking, tremor-inducing step after another. As I looked down to the base of his hulking, tower-wide legs, I saw something else that made my blood freeze in my veins.

"He's bringing the Timberwolves with him."

"What?!" Basil swept up to my side, throwing his forelegs over the wall to get a closer look. True enough, through the cleared air between Trottingham and the barrier, the ground was laden with Timberwolves. As Io began to push through the gap left between Horseshoe Bay and whatever was left of the shield Twilight had cast, an entire horde of Timberwolves came with him. The writhing sea of black, green, and brown spilled out onto the snowy plains North of Trottingham, and began their slow crawl towards the city. They were not as immediately pressing as the dragon, who could cover an eight of a mile in a stride. Io's lumbering pace carried him ever-closer towards the walls of Trottingham, his massive form looming over the ground beneath him. I could see Timberwolves, thousands of them, in the shadow cast by his hulking form.

"What... I don't... What's even happening?" Goldy's voice reached me through the ever-present high-pitched hum that permeated through my ears in the aftermath of that first horrific scream. Some small part of me was infinitely glad that Goldy wasn't deaf or worse, but the larger part of me sympathized with her words on an almost primal level.

'Io's been presumed dead or missing for, what, five thousand years? Longer? How could he be here now? And if he's here, then where are the other two, if they're even alive? Why would he even be coming here now? What is his motive?' These questions and a thousand more filled my mind, making me quake with dread. It seemed all I could do was stare in awe as the hulking, black dragon before me began picking up speed. He was already halfway between the former barrier and Trottingham.

'Oh holy SHIT HE'S ALREADY HERE.'

With another ear-splitting scream, Io planted all four gargantuan limbs, the muscles underneath the thick, plated scales of his form bulging grotesquely before he brought his wings down. I could hear the wind hissing around the edge of his wings, his bones creaking in protest, and his mouth open in yet another world-ending scream of defiance.

I was frozen in place, watching with my jaw wide open as Io's charge led him less than a quarter of a mile outside of the walls. The gigantic dragon stood almost to the top of the city, even with his head lowered for another charge. If the last one could shatter Twilight's barrier, the one he was lining up with Trottingham would surely level the walls. No amount of millenia-old enchantments, no matter how tried and true they were, could withstand this.

Io planted all four of his gargantuan legs, coiling himself up not unlike a massive, scaled cat. When he sprung forth, his wings came down, the sounds all mixing together into a hellish cacophany. His ear-splitting scream, the rush of wind around his wings, the tremors of his lumbering charge...

Io lowered his head, the Ram of the Heavens, and leapt at Trottingham with all of his weight.

'So this is how I die.' I felt an odd sense of calm wash over me. Just beneath my hooves, one of the Great Serpents, the three dragons that could have allegedly ended the world as we knew it, was charging the wall I now stood upon. He was less than two thousand feet away from us now, the contrails of air rushing over his bony skull evidence of just how fast his massive hulking beast of bone and muscle was travelling.

'I never even got to ask Goldy to marry me.'

*sssssssssssSSSSSHH-KRA-BOOM!*

The world exploded into purple and yellow. Fire and energy erupted into existence, washing over my face, blowing me back from the wall. The sight of Io and his charge was rent from me as the shockwave of energy crashed against Trottingham's walls, ripping my hooves from underneath me, sending me sprawling onto the cobblestone.

The cobblestone. Wall.

Trottingham's wall was still standing!

"What?!" Scrambling back to my hooves, I threw my forelegs over the edge of the walls, looking for the devastation I knew was about to be wrought on us.

Io was gone.

No, not gone...

Tackled.

"TWILIGHT!" Basil's hoof shot into the air, his voice thundering into my consciousness loud enough to break my funk. From the South-West, a massive purple contrail cut through the sky. Directly in front of us, where Io had been, was a puff of black smoke and crackling purple energy, still lancing into the walls and onto the snowy fields below. The residual energy scintillated through the air, dissipating in a massive shockwave of sound that left a small crater just outside of Trottingham's walls.

Off to our right, past the cliff-face and into Horseshoe Bay, Io sprawled into the waters. I watched in half-horror, half-joy as the gigantic dragon's limbs flailed comically, his entire body turning end-over-end through the deep surf. He kicked up gigantic sprays of water, the frothy white discharge covering swaths of his massive, black body.

And above it all, the arcing purple contrail of Twilight Sparkle, cutting hard to turn back to the city.

"TWILIGHT!" Basil waved his hooves frantically beside me, trying hard to signal the princess in the aftermath of what had just happened. Olive and Goldy were still stunned. I was halfway between awestruck and pissing myself. But Basil, for all his glorious intelligence, was lighting the area above us with a bright golden light. Twilight veered towards that light, and I saw the purple streak grow wings as she flapped to slow herself.

"Basil! Thank the stars, are you all alright?!"

"A little hard of hearing, but we're okay! What- how did you-"

"Come on, Basil." Twilight grinned at us, crackling purple energy still arcing off of her hooves. "You don't think I'd notice if my own barrier was broken? I flew from Canterlot. Looks like I made it just in time."

"You..." I stuttered, eyes wide. I wasn't entirely sure what had happened to my glasses. "You just..."

"Yes?"

"You just tackled mother-fucking Io."

"Looks like I'm going to have to do much more than that." Twilight looked over her shoulder, out into the surf of Horseshoe Bay. Io had righted himself, his gargantuan legs allowing him to stand tall enough that the relatively shallow depths of the bay barely reached his chest. He began another charge, kicking up tidal waves of water.

"Alright, here's the plan." Twilight grimaced at the hulking dragon rushing the city. "I'll keep Io tied up. I don't know if I can stop him outright, but I can at least keep him from levelling the city. Your four, coordinate with the guard and start culling the numbers of the Timberwolves. Celestia, Luna, and Cadance are on their way and will be here in minutes. Keep them from breaching the gates. Understood?"

"Yes, My Princess!" Basil answered for the four of us, saluting smartly. Twilight just gave a stoic nod at us before turning and jetting towards Io's second charge. I watched in awe as a massive aura of purple energy enveloped his front leg, tripping him up so that his top-heavy head buried itself into the cliff-face beneath Trottingham. The city trembled, but did not face the brunt of the charge.

"Alright, you heard the lady! Let's go!" Basil shook Olive, snapping her out of her funk. "Get us down to the North tunnel!" He hollered, breaking even Goldy out of her own reverie. "We have to stop the Timberwolves!"

"R-right! Let's go!" Olive wrapped her legs around Basil, diving over the edge of the wall.

"Goldy, you okay?" I asked, laying a hoof on my lover's flank.

"F-fine, I just..." She looked at me with wide eyes. "She just tackled mother-fucking Io."

"I know." I smiled, looking over my shoulder at the purple streak diving into the surf where Io had fallen. "That's our Archmage. Now let's go."

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What followed was the most intense day in my entire life. Olive and Goldy carried Basil and I to the Northern Tunnel, where a large contingent of guards was already gathering. There were wings of Pegasi intent on peaking the walls, armed with bows and massive slings. Down below, a whole column of Earth Pony guards wielding shields and unicorns prepared to enter the tunnel through the wall. Their orders were to hold the gate, and we were going to help them any way we could.

"Goldy, take my mom, and go to my parent's house." I urged the shocked pegasus. She deposited us near the captain, still quivering in the aftermath of the near-death experience. I couldn't blame her, it was hard for me to keep from panicking or collapsing on the spot. Only adrenaline and Twilight's last command kept me going.

"Wh-what about you?" Goldy whimpered, tears streaming from her eyes; whether from shock, fear, or otherwise, I couldn't tell.

"I have my orders. Twilight wants me to hold off the Timberwolves until the other princesses arrive. That's exactly what I'm going to do. I need you to keep my parents safe, okay?"

"O-okay." Goldy nodded, swallowing hard. "Stay safe, okay, Star?"

"I will. I promise." I stroked a hoof through her mane before pulling her into a crushing hug. She wrapped her own hooves around me, squeezing until it hurt. Into that hug, I poured all the stress and worry I had. Goldy had to have been doing the same, because when we parted, I could see the iron cast to her eyes; the steely determination to keep herself safe so we could see each other once again.

"I love you."

"I love you too. Now go."

With that, she and Olive Branch were gone. Basil and I turned to the captain, who was busy barking orders at a corps of earth ponies and unicorns wearing what looked like medical saddle-bags. They each wore a small white coat with a cross emblazoned on the front. As soon as he finished with them, he turned to us.

"Who are you two?" He snapped. Basil spoke immediately.

"We are Archmage Twilight's students. We're here to help you defend that gate any way we can." His voice seemed so sure. I began to wonder if Twilight's training regimen involved crisis response and how to keep your heart from trying to beat its way out of your ribcage forcibly. And why she hadn't decided to teach me those things first.

"Perfect. I want you two on the frontlines. If the Timberwolves make the gate, they might break it down and overwhelm us with sheer numbers. We need to stop them on the field. The gate is a secondary priority."

"Got it. We'll lead the charge. Star, with me!" Basil dashed towards the corps of Earth Ponies sporting shields. There were only about forty of them, two of us, and thousands of Timberwolves bearing down on the wall. Near the mouth of the tunnel, an entire unit of unicorns was busy interacting with a massive formula. From what I could glean of the archaic design, it was a defensive spell meant to trigger the incumbent enchantments in the stone walls. The books I had read on the wall indicated ancient defenses that had been implemented ages ago. Lately, they had been disabled, allowing for unhindered travel through any of the gates in Trottingham's walls. Equestria didn't have any enemies to defend from; let alone any that required such drastic measures that these enchantments called for.

Until now.

"We're to hold off the Timberwolves until that spell is ready to go!" Basil explained to both me and the guards gathering around us. That forty-two was steadily growing as the medics joined us, and another small group of unicorn guards. "We defend the gate to the last until that spell is in-place. Then we make a break inside, and if any Timberwolves follow us, they'll be cut off. Once the enchantment is triggered, we'll be safe, even from Io! Understood?!"

"SIR!" The guards all saluted Basil, and he turned to the opening in the wall with a grim expression.

"Let's go!"

I was swept up in the flurry as we charged through the wall, into the heart of darkness itself. Io's charge had extinguished all of the lights inside the wall, leaving only a sliver of white light at the far end to orient ourselves. Beyond that white light, I knew the Timberwolves were waiting for us. Our lessons on the train and any other supplementary ones came rushing back to me as we ran. Basil shouted over the beating in my heart and the thundering, echoing sound of fifty-some-odd hooves rushing through the tunnel.

"Fire will do nothing to them! Blast them apart, or break them up, but don't set them on fire!" He was hollering. I remembered how these Timberwolves were made from the same wood beyond that barrier, the same forests that had been burned by Jormangundr and Tiamat ages ago, and had regrown to be more-or-less fireproof. Running headlong towards that light, I brought to mind all the force spells and dispelling auras I could remember.

"Here we go! Don't give them an inch of this tunnel!" Basil hollered encouragement as we neared the end. The white sliver had grown larger, more dominant, until it was all I could see.

"CHARGE!"

We erupted into pandemonium.

The wolves were right there at the wall as we emerged onto the snowy fields. I saw the Earth Ponies get maybe fifteen seconds to set up their shield wall before the writhing mass of Timberwolves crashed into it. Twigs and sticks flew into the air, snarling, jagged teeth snapping at the ponies making up the wall, interspersed with sporadic cracks of energy.

"STAR!" Basil's voice snapped me out of it, right as a Timberwolf leapt over the shield right in front of me. I saw a maw of jagged, wooden teeth open before me, the fetid smell of pine rot and death spilling forth.

"Aah!" On reflex, my horn blasted through the twigs, rendering the slavering wolf a mass of flying kindling, tumbling end-over-end as it was sent back to its brethren in pieces.

"Good job! There's another!" Basil called out, turning my attention to a wolf that roughly shouldered through two guards that were tangled up with two more wolves apiece. I wheeled on him, my horn blazing to life as I dispelled the magic holding it together. The sticks and twigs fell apart into a misshapen lump, the animation gone from those malevolent green eyes.

The battle was in full tilt. The Earth Ponies with shields did all they could to keep the massive horde from spilling over and into the tunnel, protecting the core of unicorns and spear-wielding Earth Ponies casting force and dispersion spells out into the fray. Ponies were injured. Yet for every one that fell and was hauled back by a medic, we took out ten more wolves. Still, there were too many of them, and not enough of us.

In the distance, I could hear the resounding blasts of energy and pained cries as Twilight fought with Io. Through the random glances I could sneak, off to the East, there would be flashes of light coming from the bay over the cliff side, or the stray sight of one of Io's limbs flailing helplessly. He had to have been roughly the size of a small town, yet Twilight was throwing him all over the bay like a ragdoll. His pained screams mixing with the scintillating blasts of arcane energy highlighted the slavering yips and howls of the Timberwolves, peppered with an occasional mortal scream from one of the guards.

It seemed to be never-ending. The tide of wolves would surge back and forth against the shields, more and more breaking through, giving our forces the fight of a lifetime. I watched as an Earth Pony wielding a spear stabbed one Timberwolf, only to have another sweep it and wrap its teeth around his neck. All he got off was a choked cry of surprise before he was dragged through the line and ripped apart. More wolves surged into the gap leftover, but I blew them side to make room for a massive ray Basil had been cooking up. The green wave of energy washed over the front line of wolves, making them collapse into jagged bundles of tinder.

It bought us only a few seconds as another wave of wolves rushed forward, crashing into the shields. It seemed for a moment as if they would buckle under the force, but Earth Pony tenacity was a legendary thing. The line held, allowing only a few wolves to bleed through, only to have them blasted apart by our fellow unicorns.

I was panting, feeling ragged, as we continued to fight. Another wolf snapped at my hind leg, earning a quick buck to the face and a blast of arcane energy that splintered his foreleg from his shoulder. Yipping in pain, I tossed him over the shield wall and into the mass of wolves surrounding us, only to have another latch onto my mane a few inches away. Giving a clipped cry of surprise, I shoved him away, feeling my braid tug painfully at my scalp before another blast from Basil showered me with twigs and sap. The fetid stench of rot washed into my face, making me retch on the spot.

"They got it!" The triumphant cry reached my ears as my eyes swam, my entire body feeling light after emptying my stomach onto the battlefield. "Let's go! Fall back into the city!" The guards surged backwards, carrying us towards the hole in the wall. I stumbled after them, half-shoved, half-carried by the retreating wall of shield-bearing Earth Ponies. I saw retreating tails before me, guards throwing their shields into the fray, turning and running. Behind me, there were only four ponies.

Make that none. The Timberwolves surged over our retreating defenses, a wall of snapping fangs spurring me into frenzied action. Ahead of me, all I could see were pony tails in retreat, flapping as they sprinted through the tunnel. As I entered that black maw, chased by the keening howls of Timberwolves, there was nothing between me and them.

I could hear the teeth snapping at my tail. In some small part of my mind, I thanked the powers that be I had braided it extra-tight that day, and there were no stray strands for them to grab onto. Each frenzied glance over my shoulders showed a wall of surging greenery, glowing eyes, and a tidal wave of rotting stench that made my throat close up. I was flagging. The morning of sparring, watching a legend tear down a wall of magic, seeing Twilight tackle one of the Great Serpents of old, and the frenzied fight had worn on me.

Ahead, the gap began to grow. Behind me, I could almost feel the currents of air as Timberwolves swiped at me, missing by a hair's width.

"STAR!" I saw Basil's face in that square of light before me. Two guards were holding him back, keeping him from charging into the tunnel with me. A low, dull thud behind me signalled the defenses triggering. Screaming howls tumbled down the tunnel; Timberwolves who had been caught and repelled by the ancient enchantments embedded in the walls. But immediately behind me were those that were trapped in the tunnel, and all they saw was my succulent pony flesh, mere inches away.

Fifty feet to the end of the tunnel.

The first set of claws sunk into my flank, sending white-hot flashes of pain into my psyche.

Forty feet.

I poured the last effort I had into my legs.

Thirty feet.

The stink of rot chased me.

Twenty feet.

Something hit me, sending me sprawling.

Ten feet.

I was skidding across the cobblestone, pain erupting into my body as I felt worn wooden teeth sink into my neck, close to my shoulder.

I burst from the tunnel, trailing blood and sticks in a whirlwind of frenzied cries and pain.

Lying in a pool of my own blood, I watched the world go dark around me.