Equestria Divided: Chronicles (NSFW, a lot of violence and gore)

@neutralgrey  
heated beams lanced at them as in the middle of the deck a group of battlemages seemed busy with their own preparations, sheilded behind Fireshine’s soldiers.
 
“they are closing in and will try to send boarders, keep them off our mages for about 5 minutes, then we will show them the error of their ways!”
 
it would become a defense at the railing of the Sea Lion, or celestia forbid, a brawl on deck.

@Cerebrate19  
*Marines fired at Pegasi charging towards the ship, their first volley was devestating as many Pegasi dropped out of the sky and slammed into the ocean floor below. The cultists however got too close and the marines pulled out their bayonet and tried to hold them back. A few of the other cultists went to the balloon to try and sabotage it while the Pegasus marines flew up to try and protect the balloon. Meanwhile more Pegasi cultists were flying towards the ship while carrying Laughing Dead boarders

(Sorry for the delay! Been busy but I’m good now!

@neutralgrey  
(it’s fine.)
 
these transporters were ill suited to evasion and shot down, rather literally, beams of arcane might lancing fromt he horns of the sun and moon commanders.
 
the solar mages were charging still but the soldiers’ spears and arrows tore into the boarders.
 
similarly from the shadows nightblades materialized whenever a cultist got too close to the baloon, in order to dispatch those.

@neutralgrey  
a beam of pure heat lanced at the cult captain. at the same time the sun troops closed ranks with shields and spears in order to hold the line.
 
Sun mage: “feel the embrace of the Sun’s generosity, and be cleansed!”
 
from the group of mages that had finished charging a sizable fireball flung at the Cult flagship, ripping into the hull before exploding.

@Cerebrate19  
After incinerating the entire crew and ship, the marines looked in astonishment at the destruction as the remains of the ship crashed into the sea.
 
Captain Corsair whistled a bit at seeing the destruction.  
“That was hot…I need a drink…”

@neutralgrey  
the remaining cultists were wiped up in short order, the captain put up a fight but outnumbered as he was eventually he was just overwhelmed.

@Cerebrate19  
And disintegrated thanks to a mage. All that was left was an ash pile and his hat that comically floated down onto the ash pile.
 
Captain: One less cultist threat in the world.

@neutralgrey  
“that is good for everyone else… what was an entire battlegroup doing out here over the sea though? were they trying to strike at zebra lands?”

@Cerebrate19  
(Shit, thought I posted my response!)
 
“Probably not, more than likely they were pirates or raiders looking to plunder trading ships. Cultist pirates are some of the worst because they’re not after booty. They’re after bodies. Anyway, the threat has passed, me and my crew will take it from here.”
 
The next day they finally arrived in the Zebran lands. The ports were full of trading ships traveling to and fro. The Sea Lion managed to find a dock.
 
Citirine: And here we are! Our guide should be waiting for us at the tavern.
 
They travel to the tavern that was close to the docks, all kinds of folk were there but mainly traders or mercenaries. Citrine asked around for her guide and was told he’d be there in a few hours. They sit and wait at a table, Citrine wary of trying any of the drinks or food. Eventually they see their man, to their surprise it was another pony, a unicorn at that. He sits down with them at seeing Citrine.
 
Citrine: Good! You’re here! Fireshine, this is the guide I told you about, Sandstone!
 
Sandstone: Pleasure to finally meet you, sorry for the wait. Had some business I needed to clear up.
 
He said as he ordered a drink.
 
Sandstone: Now then…your friend here says you want to find the Temple of the Life, I feel like i’d Be doing you a disservice if I don’t tell you right now that it’s just a myth. However, she says she knows the general location. We already agreed on the payment, but my job is to just guide you to the location she wants. I can’t guarantee you’ll find what you’re looking for…or if you even survive. We’re gonna go deep into the desert for this one, and there are more than just bandits you gotta worry about out there.

@neutralgrey  
“the Sea lion might offer the mobility we need, and with any luck enough storage for the water.”
 
“or are you talking about the natural beasts around here.”
 
he would also probably have to leave the rank and file soldiers behind, an army was much harder to feed than a squad.

@Cerebrate19  
Sandstone: I saw your ship. Yeah. It might provided we have just a skeleton crew manning it. If we have everyone we’ll run out of water fast. The fewer people the better.
 
Citrine: As much as I want to see the Temple, I think it’d Be best if I stay here with some of your men. You’re smart though, you can be my eyes and ears.

@neutralgrey  
Fireshine was not a fan of leaving her alone, whitegold were not rebels like most other houses, however their loyalty was towards gold and only that.
 
Polaris: “i’ll be certain of her safety, a number of my shadow blades will accompany you as well as your champion mages. that should make adequate power in the face of possible dangers.”
 
“sounds like the plan is settled, do we have enough barrels captain? my mages can clean the seeawater to be fine to drink.”

@Cerebrate19  
Captain: We’ll need to refill our water supplies after the long trek but it shouldn’t take long. Especially if your mages can clean sea water, I’ll also have my first mate buy us as many provisions as possible.

@neutralgrey  
“good, I’ll make my crew arrangements, it won’t be many but i’m bringing my best.”  
with that he turns to do just that and get his army to move out of the sea lion.
 
Polaris: “i will arrange for our stay here.”  
and in a flash he is gone.

@Cerebrate19  
(I’m so sorry about the delay. Had a rough week)
 
A few days or preparation later and the Sea Lion had set off for its destination. Sailing through the hot desert, the ship was packed with water and food, and it needed every bit. At first the oasis’s were easy to find, but as they delved deeper into the desert they became harder and harder to find as the days went on. The supplies were starting to slowly dwindile as the fear of dying of thirst was in the back of everyone’s head.
 
However, Sandstone seemed to be at home in the desert. To him, this was as simple as a nature hike. Eventually they reached the last oasis before they reached the temple and the crew went to work trying to drink and fill their barrels with as much water as they could

“i admit i am no expert in the ways of the desert, Sandstone, but how quickly do oasis like this one recover? we could probably wrench a lot of water out of this one, but i fear it might dry up for good if we do.”
 
(It#s fine, really.)

@Cerebrate19  
Sandstone finished drinking from the water before looking up at him.
 
Sandstone: “Out here in the desert…your survival takes priority over everything. We’ve probably traveled deeper into the desert then anyone would dare so I doubt people will be lining up to come to this oasis. Besides, we’ll be taking a different route on our return trip so take as much as we want. We won’t be here for the consequences.”

@neutralgrey  
he nods and waves his mages over with any empty barrels they had, and soon enough every lasdrop was indeed pulled from the Oasis, filling their supplies.

@Cerebrate19  
This was the last oasis on their journey to the temple, they had to make every drop of water count at that point. Within three days they reached the general area Citrine said the temple would be in. It was a large area so the search began. The Sea Lion would hover over the area while ground teams searched in areas the Sea Lion couldn’t like caves…three more days passed and there was nothing. Sandstone ordered a meeting to be held and everyone of authority met in the captain’s quarters.
 
Sandstone: I’ve taken inventory of our supplies and calculated that we can only afford two more days of searching. We barely have enough of supplies for the return trip so two days is all we can afford. If we don’t find anything we leave. No if ands or buts.
 
Corsair: I agree…i have no intention of dying of thirst in this damn desert. That being said…it looks like we still have one more area to search.
 
He said as he brought out the map

@neutralgrey  
Fireshine steps up to take a look, mentally linking to citrine so she could add in her own thoughts.
 
“chances are this whole expedition was for naught anyways, the lead was good but it was still just a lead. a common risk in archeology.”

@Cerebrate19  
”Damnit…Sigh…I’m sorry Fireshine…I should have studied this some more. Don’t bother wasting two days searching, just give the area a look and come back…I’ll get started writing the report. Don’t worry, I’ll take the heat for this failure…”

@neutralgrey  
“we’ll send out a few of our firebirds to scope out the remaining crevices,  
you can go ahead and turn the ship back around, we don’t expect a miracle here.”
 
soon enough the constructs, bigger than phoenixes but still smaller and more mobile than a pony were zipping off the deck and flying around the area, looking for whichever hole the crew hadn’t looked in yet and in case of a find returning to fireshine.

@Cerebrate19  
The crew watched them take off before going back to work and turning the ship around. Sandstone went over to Fireshine.
 
“I’m sorry it turned out like this. But be thankful it didn’t end in disaster. Besides, maybe this is for the best, some secrets are better left buried.”
 
With that, he turned around and went to his quarters. After a few hours the birds returned…but not all. One was missing.