Legendary
It was, when one got down to it, very much a calculated risk.
Star Swirl stood straining, pouring energy into a portal- one that stretched wide enough to allow twenty soldiers to march through, shoulder to shoulder. But even with the discipline the army possessed- a discipline, it should be noted, that wasn't shared by a certain bunch- it took some time to herd the whole of it through at quick march. The were 2,000 of them, after all.
Which is where the risk came in. The mage was weary by the time Goryanna and her griffins strolled past. Star Swirl didn't return her jaunty wave. Instead he leaned even more on Glamour, who was supporting him as he focused on keeping the portal open. Root and Sweet Care were already through, and Dash had been near the front.
Finally, after ensuring the portal didn't close on his allies, Star Swirl limped through.
The clamor that met his ears as he emerged was terrible. Metallic clanging, shattering, shouted commands, screams, and beneath it all a wet pattering. Star Swirl reeled, then caught himself. He couldn't let it unnerve him. He wasn't allowed to. Instead, he walked over and touched the beacon that had served as the portal's anchor- returning the magic he'd imbued it with three days ago. Thus restored, Star Swirl turned his attention to the battle.
The facsimiles seethed out of the village, more and more throwing themselves at the waiting army. This presented an interesting wrinkle. The pegasi and griffins had taken to the air, as was their way, but not all of the creatures could fly- and they needed every body save Discord's out of the town. Therefor a detachment of pegasi, lead by Fior di Battaglia, was forced to stay grounded.
So that was where Star Swirl's help was needed most.
Deciding to forego lightning and fire- they were too dangerous given the circumstances and most likely ineffective, respectively- the mage lit up his horn. A cloud of his aura caught a section of the swarm above and slammed them down in the middle of the opposing ground army. Before those still intact could recover, pure telekinetic power smashed the impact site.
But the gap was only momentary, and was soon closed by the ranks behind.
“Star Swirl!”
The unicorn spun towards Root's voice. She and Sweet Care had collected a number of injured, but in doing so they'd also attracted the ire of some of the glassy creatures. Root was doing what she could to repel them, bucking fiercely and even destroying a few, but it wouldn't be long before they were overrun.
Star Swirl could fix that. He muttered a few words in an old tongue and stomped a hoof. Instantly, walls of rocks shot up around the ponies. A bit more magic and they slid outward to give the injured some more rooms. One side rose up and over to make a dome.
Fior was quick to notice the new advantage. Shouting commands, she maneuvered her troops so that they were fighting with the structure at their backs.
“Glamour, you should get in the dome,” Star Swirl said. “You'll be safer there, and you can help Sweet Care.”
She nodded. “Alright, I will. But be careful, Darling.”
“I'll be fine,” he told her.
Almost immediately after she left, Dash swooped down. His armor had a few nicks, and he himself had a cut or two, be he was otherwise okay. “If you had any sense, you'd be in there with them.”
“I wouldn't have a clear view of the battle if I did that, Piercing. If I am to be useful, I need to be able to tell where I should direct my spells.”
Dash frowned at the mage's reasoning. “Then get to a hill somewhere. This isn't the greatest spot, and it's only going to get even more chaotic.”
“I'll be fine,” Star Swirl insisted.
The pegasus opened his mouth to rebut, but before he could he was forced to duck to avoid a talon-swipe from a passing crystalline griffin. Dash took off after it. Spear and Claws flashed as their bearers dove at each other.
Not that Star Swirl had the luxury of watching the duel. Several of the creatures on the horde's fringe took notice of the lone unicorn and started towards him. Star Swirl edged closer to the dome and the soldiers, firing off beams of magic at the ones that got too close- which only served to alert more to replace each creature he destroyed.
Thus, it wasn't too long before a particularly large, canine-looking monster broke through and pounced at the mage. Star Swirl stumbled sideways, only barely reacting quickly enough to avoid being tackled to the ground. The beast's follow-up swipe was just as narrowly dodged.
As Star Swirl frantically backed away from his pursuer, a red-covered lump thudded down next to him. Its hoof caught his cheek and sent him sprawling, and for a moment all he could see were miniature stars. The din of battle was replaced by an insistent ringing.
That ringing subsided quickly, though, and when it had faded low enough Star Swirl could hear a menacing growl.
The dog-thing was coming for him- Star Swirl didn't have to look to realize that. He tried to rise, but his sense of balance had yet to return and he fell again. So he crawled. As fast as he could.
But the path forward wasn't clear either, not by any means. A pair of constructs- these ones in the shape of his own tribe, though they used no magic- stomped Star Swirl's way. The mage clenched his teeth, his head throbbing in protest, and gathered his power again. Two ragged beams lanced forth.
Then a crystal paw wrapped around a hind leg. Star Swirl yelped and tried to twist away, kicking desperately, but every time he managed to get loose of the thing's grasp it would drag him back. Before long, its claws found purchase and there was no more escaping. Star Swirl gathered his aura to blast the brute away, but as soon as he lit his horn the monster grabbed it and bashed his head into the dirt. The ringing came back.
With a victorious snarl, the glass creature leaned in to bite. The ringing got louder. And louder.
Then the ringing deepened slightly in pitch, becoming more akin to a buzz, and the thing pulled back. It looked down at its paws, whining, a confused expression on its muzzle. Several cracks formed up and down its body. The buzzing changed one last time, and the dog-thing shattered explosively.
“Are you alright?” A hoof appeared in Star Swirl's field of view.
The mage took the offered help and was pulled to his hooves, blinking to refocus his eyes. “What was that, a spell? Why did it...?”
“Acoustic resonance,” Star Swirl's rescuer explained, and it was then that he realized who had saved him. The strange doctor held up the device he'd used on Downward. “If you apply the right frequency, anything will come apart. Makes for a neat party trick.”
“You... you said you wouldn't get involved,” Star Swirl gaped.
“I lied,” the doctor said simply. “It's something I do. Now, if you would be so kind as to make a shield around us? It won't be long before the constructs get over their comrade's... unusual demise.”
Sure enough, the creatures roused themselves almost as soon as the words were out of the doctor's mouth. Star Swirl quickly did as suggested.
“Excellent! Now we can talk. I'm sure you have a few questions for me.”
Star Swirl's head pounded from the strain of holding the shield together- almost in time with the creatures' attempts to get in- but he ignored it. “Just one: Why did you lie? Why did you help me?”
“I'm not sure if that could really be considered one question...”
“Just answer, please,” the mage said.
The doctor's expression sobered, his wry smile disappearing. “History is being made here. History is always being made, and remade, and changed, and improved, and worsened. Time is constantly in flux. Except, and this is important, except when it comes to Fixed Points. Moments in time that always happen- that must always happen.”
“So you're saying this battle is one of these fixed points?” Star Swirl looked around. “That it always is like this, and can't change?”
“Not exactly. You see, this battle isn't the fixed point. What's happening- or is about to happen- in that village is. This fight can go either way, but you still will have completed your objective. Even you, whether I interfered or not, your legacy is secure. You found the Sisters, and they would've found you in the aftermath. Mauled and half-dead, but still breathing. The others, as well.”
“Then you still haven't answered my question.”
The doctor pointed back towards the skirmish line. “Look.”
Star Swirl squinted in the indicated direction. The pegasi proved to be holding their own, despite the unfamiliarity they surely felt fighting with their hooves on the ground. Enemy upon enemy were destroyed as they approached, and those that managed to get close found their strikes expertly deflected before they too were broken. At the center of it all was Fior, her armor gleaming and still unmarred, her spear thrusting wickedly.
Yet as Star Swirl watched the ranks in front of her parted suddenly and an immense glass minotaur barreled forward. Fior was only a moment too late to react. One of the bull's horns caught her full in the side, just below the plate of her armor. With a furious scream, Fior drove her spear through the minotaur's skull- holding tight to the construct as it thrashed in pain. The struggle lasted but a second, then the minotaur and the mare dropped.
Those pegasi nearby shouted fiercely and leapt to their leader's defense, whirling their spears to fend off the hordes, while still more soldiers dragged her back from the front.
But Star Swirl could see it was clearly too late. Fior was limp, and gore dripped down her coat. The rest of the force could see it as well. Spear points wavered, and several ponies shifted nervously.
“This is the rout.” The doctor was grim. “Fior was a brilliant commander, and her soldiers loved her as much as her own foals did. Without her, they lose their spirit and are slaughtered.” As he said this, a stallion let his spear linger just a bit too long and it was ripped from his hooves. The pegasus beside him pulled him away, but ended up getting kicked in the neck by a construct for his concern. He slumped to the dirt. The doctor turned to face Star Swirl. “What will you do? Will you wait here in this bubble?”
The line began to falter. Star Swirl's jaw set.
“Fantastic! Now, I do believe you'll be needing this.” The doctor held up Star Swirl's crumpled hat. In all the confusion, Star Swirl must've dropped it.
The unicorn wiped away some blood from his cheek, accepted the hat, dusted it off a bit, and placed it on his head.
Then he sent a pulse of magic from his horn into the shield. The bubble darkened for a split second before exploding outward, the shockwave blasting over the entire battlefield. Only two creatures, and the dome, stayed standing.
Star Swirl broke into a gallop, and as he ran his hoofsteps left blue fire in his wake. Pure force coned in front of him- force that none of the fallen glass monsters could withstand. All down the battle line he ran, clearing a space and creating a barrier at the same time. Then he doubled back.
“Stand fast, Soldiers of Cumulonium!” he bellowed, his back to the magical flame. “Stand fast, saviors of ponykind!”
The pegasi looked at each other uncertainly. They knew the unicorn that towered in front of them, of course, but he held no rank in the army. Star Swirl took a deep breath. “We have suffered for too long- you all know what those words mean. You all know what Discord has done to us. You all know that Discord is the antithesis of what it means to be civilized! To be just! To be kind! Remember the pain he's caused!” Star Swirl pointed at the distorted village. “Remember why we fight!”
Hooves gripped their spear shafts a little tighter, as Star Swirl continued. “I am a scholar. A bookworm. I'm tired, my magic is nearly spent, and my own blood is dyeing my beard- yet I still fight!” The mage levitated a nearby weapon over his head. “Who shall fight with me?!”
A cheer went up among the soldiers, with the loudest voice coming from a certain pegasus in the sky above. Star Swirl turned toward the monsters and slammed the butt of his spear into the ground. His horn flared. The fire blinked a brighter shade of azure and was siphoned into the mage's spear, before jumping to all the others.
The glass creatures, free from obstruction and apparently unimpressed by the now aflame weapons pointing at them, charged at the pegasi again.
“For the Sisters!”
The wave of crystalline constructs crashed into the line. Star Swirl swung wildly, breaking two of them fairly easily. A third knocked his spear away, but was destroyed before it could follow through by a panicked beam. The mage called the spear back, its flame noticeably diminished, and plunged again into the fight. For a while the line stayed strong, each pegasus displaying valor worthy of a dozen songs. The sound of breaking glass echoed for several minutes.
Courage could only do so much, however, for no matter how bravely the pegasi fought, they were still gravely outnumbered. A pink-coated mare went down under a pile of the things, her spear barely visible through the kicking hooves. On the other end of the line a grounded soldier, distracted by the constructs in front of him, failed to notice a diving glass griffin until it was too late and the thing's talons slashed his throat open. It flew away again, two of Goryanna's griffins in pursuit. Still, the ponies fought on- each fallen comrade only adding to the fury of their blows. All the while Star Swirl ran back and forth, swinging his spear and firing blasts as needed.
Until he collapsed, his strength finally gone. The flame on the spears winked out. Deprived of their weapons' enchantments, the line began to crumble again.
“No... I can still...” Star Swirl tried to light his horn. But the magic wouldn't come. The mage tried again, and again, as the creatures approached. He was still trying when their shadows fell over him.
Suddenly, the field was bathed in a blinding light. Pony and construct recoiled from the nova, until it morphed into a rainbow that arched over the village. Then it was gone.
As soon as the display was over, the glass creatures stiffened and tipped over- some even broke as they hit the ground. A hush settled on the plain.