12th day of Sun's Height
455 Years after the Defeat of Discord by the Sisters

“Keep back from the walls!” Luna commanded, her voice booming. A silvery curtain erupted up from the patchwork fortifications, pushing back an incoming wall of arrows.

“This is insane!” Silver Tongue grunted, horn sputtering as he tried to keep the temporary enchantment from failing explosively. “Where did they pull this army from?”

Luna shook her head, not having an answer to give. The city was under siege, the enemy army numbering in the tens of thousands. Many were griffons, but there were ponies and other species in the mix as well. From the command tower where she and Silver Tongue looked out over the city, she had a good view of the army, a wide encampment pressing in from all sides.

“It’s not just the army I’m worried about,” Luna said. “They’re not pressing their advantage, and we have more supplies than they do. They can’t last nearly as long as we will.”

“You think they’re planning something?” Silver Tongue asked.

“I know they are,” Luna muttered. “These periodic attacks are just to exhaust us and keep us busy. With most of the Dragoons lost, we cannot break into their lines and disrupt their command structure.”

“We need some kind of intelligence,” Luna muttered.

“Harmony knows that,” Silver Tongue mumbled.

“What is that?” Bianca whispered.

“Stay quiet,” Resplendent Shadow muttered. “The more noise and movement you make, the less my magic shields us from detection.”

“I have to ask the same question, though,” Fluttering Moth said under her breath. The three were on a low ridge, hiding with a combination of natural cover from rocks and Shadow’s spellwork. They could see a city literally on the horizon, hanging on the edge of a cliff over the sea, flying the flags of Luna’s New Lunar Republic.

And in front of it was a wall of hostile bodies. Sneaking into the city would be all but impossible, if sneaking into a city under siege was even a good idea in the first place.

What had their attention, though, wasn’t the city, and wasn’t the army. It was something walking towards the front lines slowly, lumbering across the sands.

“I don’t know for sure,” Shadow said. “I’ve never seen one myself, but…” She became visible for a moment in the gloom as she focused on the huge creature. It was the size of a building, with crude iron plates hanging from a structure strapped to its back. The thing walked on two legs, dragging a long tail behind it. With every step it swung huge, clawed arms that looked like griffon talons large enough to pick up several ponies at once.

“But what?” Bianca asked.

“I think it’s a Behemoth. They used to live in the far north, beyond the Crystal Empire. It’s said they would hibernate for decades, then tear their way out of the earth and eat everything in their path until they were sated, only to fall asleep again.” Shadow narrowed her eyes. “I don’t like this.”

“It’s a big monster,” Moth said. “You’re not supposed to like it.”

“That’s not what I mean,” Shadow said. “Look at it. It should be trying to eat everything around it! It’s just… like a trained animal.”

“It’s even bigger than the dragon,” Bianca said.

“Yes. And that armor.” Shadow shook her head. “They must have spent months putting it together. They planned this. And with how slow it moves, they even knew where we'd be.”

“Not necessarily,” Moth shook her head. “They might have used magic to get it here.”

“Well they have to be using magic to control it, somehow,” Shadow muttered. “But I don’t know anypony with mind-control magic that strong.”

“We have to stop it before it gets to the city,” Bianca said. “It’ll tear right through the walls!”

“Neither of us can kill a monster like that,” Moth said. “Not even Respy. Maybe we could slow it down a little, but not with an army around it.”

“We don’t need to kill the monster. We can use it.” Shadow narrowed her eyes. “Look at the top. It’s carrying an armored howdah. The pony controlling it has to be inside. If we take them out, whatever dark magic they’re using will fail, and the behemoth will begin to rampage, right in the middle of their army.”

“We still have to get close enough to do that,” Moth pointed out.

“I’ve got an idea,” Bianca whispered.

A small crate shuffled along slowly, trying to keep to the shadows of the griffon army’s encampment. It didn’t look out of place at all, except that it was moving, which was something very few crates did.

“Hey!” A soldier yelled, kicking the crate over to reveal Bianca. “What do we have here?”

“...This hasn’t worked out how I expected,” Bianca said, laughing nervously. “C-can you pretend you didn’t see me?”

The griffon reached for her with a talon. Just as he touched Bianca, he made a gurgling sound, falling over. Resplendent Shadow sighed as she pulled herself up out of his shadow.

“Perhaps a different approach?” she suggested.

“What did you have in mind?”

One more soldier among thousands didn’t gather any attention, even if she was a little short, and her shadow didn’t quite match her appearance.

“Which way is it…” Bianca whispered, lifting the edge of her helm.

“You looking for something?” A soldier asked, behind her. Bianca almost jumped right out of her armor.

“I was just- um- I was-” She sputtered.

He laughed. Bianca adjusted her helm so she could see him. He was a pretty average looking griffon, younger than most of the other soldiers.

“Let me guess, ditching guard duty to get a look at the Behemoth,” he said. “Don’t tell anyone, but that’s what I was doing too.” He smiled at her. “Hey, if we go together, it’ll look less suspicious!”

Bianca’s ear twitched as Shadow whispered to her.

“Yeah,” she said, repeating what the Dragoon had whispered. “I don’t want my commander to find out, but I’m stationed all the way on the other side of camp.”

“What, near the slave legions?” The griffon shuddered. “Guess it makes sense. They might listen better to pony commanders.” He gestured, and they started walking together. “I think it’s rubbish, just marching slaves in front of us to catch arrows.”

“Y-you mean the slaves we captured in Equestria?” Bianca asked, trying to sound casual.

“Yeah. Awful waste.” The griffon shrugged. “Maybe they’ll let us soldiers bid on any survivors. I heard the commanders saying it’s possible.”

Bianca’s ear twitched.

“But my parents-” she hissed.

“Huh?” the soldier asked.

“I mean, um, what’s your name?”

“Johann,” the griffon said. “This is actually my first deployment. I didn’t think the ponies would…” he stopped, looking at Bianca. “I mean, that the Equestrians would invade. Sorry. I didn’t mean to imply that you’re like them. You seem really nice.” He blushed. “And, um, cute.”

“Cute?” Bianca blinked.

“Sorry! I mean, um, forget it.” He blushed heavily, trying to hide it by turning away. “I think it’s coming through this way! They already moved a lot of the tents in back!” He led Bianca into a watching crowd of soldiers. Below her hooves, the earth started to shake.

“It must be getting close,” Bianca whispered.

“I can see it! Look!” Johann pointed with a talon. The behemoth lumbered into view around a low rise, surrounded by a cloud of dust.

From this low angle, Bianca could see glimpses of the beast under the armored shell bolted around it, a reptilian creature with a beard of bony spikes and thick, crushing legs tipped in long claws.

“That’s really… something,” Bianca said.

“I heard that General Draft is in charge,” Johann said. pointing to the enclosed deck on top of the Behemoth. “He’s supposed to be one of the strongest warriors in the world! The rumor is that he tamed the monster himself.”

Bianca tilted her head, blinking at Johann.

“You’re surprisingly helpful, Johann,” she said. “Um… you seem like a pretty good guy.”

“Aw…” he blushed. “Hey, I know things are gonna be kinda crazy for a while, but after the battle is over, let’s try to find each other at the mess hall! We can hang out, and I’ve got some rum rations saved up…”

“Y-yeah,” Bianca agreed, nervously. Johann’s eyes lit up.

“Awesome!” He grinned. “Hey, this is kind of embarrassing, but I’ve gotta go hit the latrines. We’ll meet up again later!”

Bianca waved weakly as he ran off through the crowd.

“What a strange griffon,” Shadow muttered in her ear.

“I hope he lives,” Bianca sighed. “He seems like he’s not so bad.”

“We need to focus on making sure we survive,” Shadow said. “With Moth trying to find a way into the city to warn them in advance, it’s up to me to defeat this monster.”

“Us,” Bianca corrected.

“I’d prefer if you weren’t here at all,” Shadow muttered. “This is far too dangerous for a foal.”

“I’m not a foal!” Bianca hissed. “Now how are we going to get to where the griffons are riding the Behemoth?”

“We’re going to slide in as shadows through the gaps in the armor,” Shadow whispered. “And you’re going to take cover until it’s over. You will be safest riding the behemoth, since it likely won’t be able to eat you then.”

“Okay, what do we do?” Bianca asked.

“This way,” Shadow said, and Bianca felt a tug as her silhouette stretched towards an empty tent, running along the ground like a puddle of oil, not quite pointing the same way as the shadows of the griffons and ponies around her. She stepped into the tent, and fell forwards, as if the darkness was a yawning pit.

Bianca looked around, trying to calm down in the ebon blackness.

“We are inside the shadows,” Resplendent Shadow explained, appearing from the gloom. “This is a between place, something accessible through the dark magic King Sombra taught me. Hold still. It’s difficult to hold another pony here for long without damaging them.”

Bianca went very, very still.

Light shone above them,and she looked up to see a rippling shape, like being underwater and looking towards the surface. The view came into blurry focus and started shifting, moving through a forest of legs and bodies.

The Behemoth suddenly lurched into view.

“Get ready,” Shadow whispered.

Fluttering Moth muttered to herself as she flew inches over the waves.

“What’s she thinking? I could have carried Bianca with me and still gotten into the city.” Moth edge up a little to avoid the swell of a wave, the water getting rougher as she got closer to the cliffs.

Familiar-looking, battered ships appeared through the mist as she turned into the protected cove of the city, torn sails lowered and snapped masts left broken.

Moth crossed an invisible barrier, and the temperature dropped sharply. Ice started coating her feathers in thick layers, and she lost lift from her wings.

She was going to say something clever, but then she hit the water and the breath was driven from her lungs, ending her quip before it could begin. The ice on her wings cracked, and the trapped air started to surge away before suddenly coming back, wrapping her in a veil.

Her wings flapped, and she continued, safely hidden under the surface.

Resplendent Shadow appeared in a burst of darkness and silence, depositing Bianca among the griffon officers around her in the confusion. She couldn’t leave her in the shadows unsupervised - the hostile environment would eat away at her. She’d have to take care of things before the griffons noticed there was an extra body among them.

“-going on?” yelled one of the griffons as the sound returned, silence popping like a bubble.

Inside, it was like the bridge of a ship, shaking with every step the Behemoth took under them. A glowing green crystal was set into a black, twisted plinth of some strange, black material that seemed almost wet. A unicorn in a more elaborate uniform stood at it, a hoof touching the crystal. His horn was oddly twisted, with a wicked point.

The griffons turned to look at Shadow. She reacted before they had a chance to even draw their weapons, dark magic crackling along her horn as she let loose, crystals growing from the metal walls and impaling them. The unicorn stood his ground, a shield of green fire snapping into place around him and shattering the crystals as they encroached on him.

“I see we have an unwelcome visitor,” he hissed. “How annoying.”

“I apologize for any inconvenience,” Resplendent Shadow said, as she snapped spears of crystal from the clusters growing from the walls and threw them at the leader, only to see them halt in midair, held back by the other unicorn’s surprisingly-powerful magic.

“You killed my soldiers,” the unicorn said. “That’s quite trying. They take so long to train properly. Oh yes, and we haven’t met. I should introduce myself. My name is Draft, and I’ll be the one killing you and destroying the city today.”

“You will do neither,” Shadow snapped, shattering the crystals into shrapnel and letting him keep holding onto part of them as the rest tore into his body, shredding his uniform. Cuts opened across his coat, and Shadow took a step back. The unicorn wasn’t bleeding. She could see deep furrows cut into his legs, but not a drop of blood fell from him.

“What are you?” Shadow asked.

“What? Not who?” Draft asked, his tone full of mock offense. “What a rude question. Isn’t it obvious that I’m a pony like you?”

“You’re no pony,” Shadow said.

“Are you?” Draft asked. “All those things you did in the past. She knows you’re only following her orders because you feel guilty.”

“What?!”

“Still stuck on what?” The unicorn brushed himself off, shards of crystal falling to the ground. “Well, I can’t blame you. It’s been a long time since you had to think about some of the really awful things you’ve done. Does your little friend cowering in the corner even know about your special relationship with Sombra? I suppose not. But you don’t like to think about it anyway, since you were just a replacement for-”

“Shut up!” Shadow snapped, losing her cool. She raised her head, a mote of red and black energy appearing at the tip of her horn. In an instant, it grew too big for the room to contain, the armored roof shattering.

“That’s pretty impressive,” Draft said, his twisted horn lighting up with green fire.

Resplendent Shadow threw the ball of magical energy, Draft disappearing from view as the death curse hit him. The plinth shattered, the strange black substance burning in the spell’s heat. Air rushed in as the cabin’s wall gave way.

“W-what was that?” Bianca asked, as she held onto a railing with both front hooves.

“I don’t like ponies bringing that up,” Shadow explained, taking a deep breath to calm herself. “Now, we need to-”

The Behemoth roared. The deck pitched as the monster’s stance changed. Soldiers started screaming around them.

“Hang on.” Shadow finished, as they watched the monster grab a soldier with its jaw, tossing him into the air and grabbing him, huge teeth crunching through his armor as the beast ate him alive.

Author's Notes:

Sorry for the long wait! It's a busy season at work for me, leaving me with little energy left for writing. This isn't nearly dead, just going to be a little longer than usual between chapters until things calm down again.