II. Canterlot, Equestria. September, 1251.
Twilight Sparkle bit her lip. Canterlot City was normal enough, but the moment she set hoof on the palace grounds, she felt a wave of nausea. This wasn't right. Nothing was right. They had met the Princess many times, of course, but this--this was clearly different. The atmosphere was usually so quiet, so peaceful, so...steady. But now, Pegasus Guards were swooping all around the palace, into windows, out doors, through hallways, each carrying scrolls or bags. The Unicorn Guards stationed at every doorway looked anxiously in every direction, their steady gaze replaced with a colt's nervous energy. Twilight turned to look at her friends. None of them had grown up here, but by now they must know enough of the palace to know that something out of the ordinary had happened.
Hm. Applejack was hard to read, as always. Pinkie, well, Twilight didn't even bother trying to read her any more. Dash, though--Dash was watching the pegasi as she walked, her brow furrowed. She knew what it meant when a pony flew in a window instead of walking up a staircase. And Rarit--
--with a dull thud, Twilight walked directly into a Unicorn Guard. Both she and the Guard fell to the floor, the Guard's helmet clattering to the ground. Immediately, she heard an unfamiliar sound, a metal scraping noise--coming from all directions. And wingbeats. And hooves clacking on the ground. And...she blinked her eyes and tried to stand up.
She couldn't. Something was pressing between her shoulderblades. Something sharp. Even her gentle attempt to stand had pierced it into her flesh, and she could feel a trickle of blood beginning to run down her neck. "I...I'm sorry..." she squeaked. "Please...I don't..."
"You can let her go," the unicorn under her said. "It was an accident. I know her, she's a friend of the princess." Nobody moved. "Let her go, soldier," he repeated, "I know we're all on edge, but it was an accident. Now let her go, and let me get the hell up so I can get back to my patrol."
The sharp thing was gone. She stood up, and looked around. Surrounding them were a dozen or so Pegasus Guards, each with a meter-long spear of some sort attached at the shoulder, and each wearing an expression ranging from suspicious to relieved to frustrated. As the unicorn guard stood up, each of the pegasus guards tossed their heads to the left, and with that same strange scraping noise the spears retracted back into their armor. The pegasi each looked around for a second or two, and then began to disperse, fluttering back to their assorted duties.
"Th...th...th..." whimpered Fluttershy. "Th..."
The unicorn tilted his head. "Thank you?"
Fluttershy glanced back over her shoulder. "N..no...I mean...that...I...that was..."
"--she means thank you," Twilight interjected, "and I'm sorry for the trouble. I should have been more careful." She blew some dirt off her shoulder. "I was told we would meet the Princess now, at--"
"--I know," he interrupted, "and believe me, if I didn't know, you'd be lucky to be having this conversation in a jail cell. Go on, and keep your friends close. Most of us know you, Miss Sparkle, but the same can't be said for your friends. This courtyard is still open to credentialed visitors, but the palace is in lockdown. Trespassers are kill-on-sight."
"Er, okay. Okay. Okay!" She spat out the words, as if she might hit on one that might keep her safe. "Sure. We'll sure do that. We'll totally do that. Thanks. Um...Bye! Take care! Of course you will. Ha ha. Bye. Ha."
Twilight stumbled forward, her mouth hanging open, with one hoof signaling the others to follow her. The pegasus-guards thing was fine, a misunderstanding. A big misunderstanding, but a misunderstanding never the less. If she was upset and she saw a strange pony tackle one of her friends she might assume the worst too. But...kill? She had never heard a guard *say* that. Kill? What would make him say--
"...k...kill? Twilight, what's happening? I think that guard...that first..." Fluttershy. Of course. How could she tell Fluttershy to calm down when she didn't even know what was happening?
"I'm not sure, girls, but I am sure Princess Celestia will explain it." Twilight shook her head. "She obviously brought us here to explain whatever it was. Let's...just keep it together until she tells us what's happening."
Together they walked to the Great Door that marked the entrance to the palace. Twilight stopped, and looked up at the familiar freze: there was Celestia, there was Luna, there were the Elements, there was history. Right. Celestia. And Luna. Celestia had reigned for over a thousand years. Everything had always been fine. Everything would always be fine. What's one more challenge? Whatever it is. Probably nothing. Ha ha. Probably nothing.
She walked forward, up the first few steps, her hooves sinking into the plush red carpeting. She turned to talk to Rarity. "And besides, I'm sure it's all just...girls? Girls?" She was alone. She looked over her shoulder. There, at the gate before the door, were the other five.
"C'mon, girls," she called, trying to sound impatient. "The Princess is waiting for us."
No response.
She turned and walked back down the stairs. All five looked around nervously. Dash pawed at the ground.
Fluttershy looked aside. She half-whispered, "Twilight, I think...I think that guard...he was going to k-kill you if the other one didn't..."
Twilight began, "Look, he wasn't going to kill me. It was all a big misunderstanding. I get that--"
"--no," Dash said, "no. You don't understand, or you wouldn't be acting like everything's fine. Fluttershy's right. They were going to kill you, Twilight. They were. He had his lance aimed at your heart. The others had theirs trained on us. We were seconds from being killed. Seconds. And we couldn't have done a thing about it."
Fluttershy sucked a strand of hair into her mouth. "I...at flight school, Twilight. They taught us how to use those lances. Not much. No. No. Just one day. They just told us what they were. How to put them on. That ponies had used them a long time ago. When...um...bad things happened. When--"
Dash interrupted. "She means it's a weapon, Twilight. A weapon of war. And we only use them when we're at war. Against enemies. Do you get it, Twilight? They thought you were an enemy. They would have killed you."
Rarity stepped forward. "Hold on! Your story makes absolutely no sense, Dash dear. You're just a bit rattled in the head. We all are, it's fine. After all, it was frightening, they way they manhandled poor Twilight. But Dashie, darling, Twilight isn't an enemy. Why, we're not even at war. Why would they think they were at war with Twilight? I admit I was a bit shaken by the whole affair as well, but--"
"RARITY!" Dash said, her voice strained. "No! That's exactly what I'm saying! We ARE at war! With somebody! I don't know who, but there's no other reason to have a lance. None."
There was a moment of silence.
"I don't want to be at war," Fluttershy whispered, to nobody. "I don't want to wear a lance."
"We're not at war," Twilight said. "Or maybe we are. I don't know. And maybe he was going to have killed me, and maybe he wasn't! None of us know. None of us are guards, none of us have spoken to the Princess, none of us know ANYTHING about ANYTHING, and we won't know anything until we get in there and find out! Applejack, please, help me out here."
Applejack breathed in deeply, puffed out her cheeks, then looked Twilight in the eye. "Look here. I don't know what kind of mess we're in. But I don't like hearing a pony talk about killin' a pony, and I don't want to walk through that door. I will, because I know I should. But you gotta admit, what that guard said don't make a pony feel too comfortable wanderin' around that palace."
"No! Girls, knock it off! Everything is going to be--" Twilight looked down. She said softly, "Please. I don't know what's happening. But I know that we need to face it. The Princess is counting on us. And I'm counting on you. I need you to come in with me. Because whatever is happening, we can handle it together. We can only handle it together. Please."
The ponies looked at each other. Rarity spoke.
"Twilight, of course we'll come with you. None of us would dream of staying behind. But shouldn't we first talk about--"
"No, Rarity, she's right," Applejack said, "We don't know anything. The only thing we can get by talkin' now, is get ourselves scared. Let's go."
Another pause. Somewhere, a bird squawked. Dash nodded, and the ponies followed in suit. They walked into the hallway--long and dark. Darker then Twilight remembered. Maybe it was cloudy out? She couldn't remember. She just remembered that piercing sensation in her back, and that...
"Huh!" Pinkie bubbled, "If we're at war, I bet it's the zebras! They're real scary."
"Shut it, Pinkie," Applejack muttered.
"Ooh, no! The gryphons! They're real mean. RAAARGH! Or the dragons! Wow! What if it's dragons? Do they even have a country? What if they had a country! Oh my gosh, guys--"
"Pinkie!" Dash whisper-shouted. "Stop it!"
"--guys, what if--what if the DRAGONS had a COUNTRY and they were invading the ZEBRAS and then we were helping them out, I mean the zebras 'cause they have hooves too, and then what if the gryphons helped out the dragons 'cause they have wings and OH MY GOSH--"
"PINKIE!" Twilight shouted. Her voice echoed through the corridor. The ponies stopped, dead silent.
"Shh!" Pinkie whispered. "Quiet, Twilight! The guards are real cranky today! Anyway, so the gryphons and dragons are wing buddies, but Dashie has wings! So does Fluttershy but she like never uses them, such a waste! I would fly all the time if I had her wings. I could surprise everybody! Ha ha that would be great! So anyway, hey--Dashie, wouldn't you want to help out the dragons and gryphons? I mean they have wings, and the zebras just have hooves, and you like your wings more than your hooves right?!"
Dash rolled her eyes and started walking forward. The rest followed. "Look, Pinkie. Obviously I like my wings. I'm a pegasus. But if Equestria was under attack, of course I'd defend it. It's my home. It's our home."
"Noooo," Pinkie laughed, "the ZEBRAS are under attack! Weren't you listening?"
"Nopony is under attack," Applejack said. "Let's go!"
Five ponies walked forward, in uneasy silence, following the long shadows cast by the light streaming through the Great Door.
Pinkie hung back. She looked at her shadow. Her eyes narrowed. She bit her lip. "I...Yeah! Nopony is under attack!" She trotted forward to catch up with the rest.
-----------
The Hall of Heroes was splendid as always. Here the stained-glass windows looked silently down on you. Thousands of years of history, inspiring and reassuring. Equestria had been through so much. Equestria had done so much. Celestia had done so much. I have done so much, Twilight realized with a shock. I'm...I'm up there. Twice. More than anypony but Celestia and Luna. Twice. And so are my friends. I'm...I'm historic? History was something she read. History was something in a book, dry and musty and rough on the skin of your nose. Not something you could touch, someone with fur and warm breath, someone who laughed when she drank chocolate milk, or who cried if you didn't like her dresses. She understood that she and her friends bore the Elements, yes, but she tried to keep it all out of her head most of the time. It didn't make sense.
It was all hard to ignore in the Hall of Heroes.
Celestia sat at a long table set up in the middle of the hall. Luna was there too, and some guards, and some old unicorns she didn't know. There were scrolls and maps and all sorts of things she had never seen before. Pegasi were swooping in and clattering out, giving scrolls to some of the old unicorns and taking scrolls from others.
Twilight cleared her throat. "Princess!" she called out, loudly but respectfully. Celestia looked up from the table. Twilight and her friends bowed gracefully. Celestia looked back down at the table.
The ponies looked at each other. Rarity shrugged. Applejack cleared her throat. Twilight shushed her, and tried again. "Princess!"
Celestia stood up. "I heard you," she snapped. "If you want to talk then come over and talk. We don't have time for formalities." She sat down and went back to studying a scroll.
The ponies walked over, cautiously. They had seen hints of this side of her, yes--when Discord returned, for one. They could tell she wanted to *do* something, that she burned with a frustrated energy. But when Discord returned, she was helpless. Now, they saw a new Princess.
Twilight was first to speak. "Princess, we have come."
"I can see that," she said offhandedly, writing on a parchment. "To offer your services, I imagine? We'll have need of the elements, of course, but it won't be that simple. War changes a pony. If I just sent you to the front you'd be broken within a day. And I can't afford that. No, we'll have to--"
"--princess?" Twilight said. She had been trying to interrupt from the first word, but only now had worked up the courage. "What is going on?"
Celestia stopped writing, and looked straight ahead. Suddenly, her eyes widened, and she looked at the ponies and smiled. Her voice softened to its customary lilt. "Oh, I am so sorry. Welcome, each of you. Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy. I am so sorry for my rudeness. Welcome to Canterlot. There is much to discuss." She turned to the table, and resumed her brusque manner. "Ponies, please forgive me, this is a crucial matter. If anything urgent comes up in the next few minutes, I would remind you that my sister is of equal rank and authority to myself." She let that last remark hang in the air. Luna smiled smugly at one of the generals, who responded by looking down sheepishly.
Celestia stood, and walked down the hall with the ponies. She was again a beacon of gentleness. "I am afraid that something terrible has happened."
Rainbow Dash interjected, "War! I knew it! We're at war! With who? We'll beat 'em! I know we'll beat 'em!"
Celestia shook her head. "We are at war, yes. The Kingdom of the Gryphons has invaded. They are not responding to our messages. We cannot reach our ambassador. Our pegasus couriers are being intercepted and imprisoned. We hope they're being imprisoned, that is. They have fielded an army of tens of thousands of lions and thousands of gyphons. We don't know how many, exactly, but we do know they're moving quickly."
Fluttershy looked at the ground. "I...don't want to be at war. I don't want to wear a lance..."
Celestia continued. "We do not have an army. Though it must have taken them months to have built up their forces, our intelligence reports saw nothing from their lands. They simply appeared in our lands. We don't know where they're headed, but right now it doesn't matter. We couldn't stop them even if we knew their objectives."
Dash scoffed. "What do you mean we couldn't stop 'em? Let's just march out there and beat them down! I can fly rings around any gryphon! So could any pegasus!"
Celestia looked down. She looked sad. Heartbroken, even. "Rainbow Dash. Please listen to me. We do not have an army."
Dash looked at Applejack.
"What we have, Rainbow Dash, is a nation of farmers. We are a sturdy people. We are a magical people. We are a brave people. But war requires discipline. It requires leadership. It requires generals who can outmaneuver the enemy. It requires officers who can take the initiative while still obeying orders. It needs soldiers who will fight, and who will die, even when it looks to them that their deaths will be in vain--because they trust that their generals have a plan that will win. If I were to simply march a rabble of ponies against their army, I would be sending them to be slaughtered. We must train. We must raise an army. We must avoid giving battle. That is what we must do."
Applejack shook her head. "But Princess, they already have an army, don't they? It's in Equestria now, ain't it? So what are we doin'--just askin' 'em to sit tight and wait while we whip up somethin' to beat 'em?"
"They can advance as far as they like," Celestia said, "but they cannot hold what they have taken. Ponies will never accept being conquered. For now, we trade land for time. And we rely on the militias to slow the gryphons down. When we have an army, we will fight them head-to-head. But for now, we must let them operate freely in the countryside."
"LET 'EM WHAT?" Applejack shouted. "Wait, no, I'm sorry, your highness, but this is a war--"
"--as I am quite aware--" Celestia interjected.
"--and if we just let 'em advance and operate and whatever militaryin' words you're usin', you're sayin' they can just have Equestria. It's theirs now. They want some apples, we'll just hand 'em over. That's it? We just give up because maybe we can fight 'em later?"
"No, Applejack. They will not be given food by anyone. As I said, no pony will accept being conquered. If they want food, they must take it. And we will resist."
Rainbow Dash looked up, her eyes wide. "But, Princess. Farmers don't have weapons. And there are a bunch of gryphons and a bunch of lions. You said so. If the farmers don't give them food, the gryphons will just...kill them and take it. Won't they?"
"Yes." Celestia said. The ponies waited for her to continue. She did not.
"...Princess?" Twilight asked.
"But they cannot do that forever. If they kill a farmer, his neighbors and his family will take up arms. They will band into militias. Those militias will attack gryphon foraging parties. They will attack supply wagons. The gryphons will not be able to feed themselves. They will become angry. They will burn farms to punish the farmers. Then there will be no food for them. The gryphons will have to move on, and go elsewhere."
Applejack looked at the princess. Twilight had never seen the farm pony look so hopeless. "But, Princess. They'll die. The farmers will, I mean. They'll starve. All of 'em."
"They'll move on. They'll follow the gryphons, to the next area. Where the farmers will be banding into militias, too. When the farmers from the first area combine with the farmers from the second, then there will be twice as many ponies to resist the invaders."
"But what of the foals? And the old ponies! They can't fight!"
"They must flee. And flee now."
"There won't be enough food for everypony!"
"There won't, no. It will be a time of great suffering. Terrible suffering. That is why I have always worked to prevent war. That is why, despite our strength, we have never started a war."
"And what happens when the entire country is burnt to the ground?"
Celestia stood silent. Then she said, quietly, "I sincerely hope our army is capable of challenging them before that time."
There was silence. A very, very long silence. One of the old unicorns eventually came over, and presented a scroll to Celestia. She muttered something to him, and he walked back to the table.
Celestia stared at each of them in turn. Something kindled within her. Her eyes flared with a determination they had never before seen. Her head was raised, proud and defiant. Her mane flowed majestically. She embodied royalty. It was impossible to meet her gaze.
"Ponies!" she said, her steel wind of a voice echoing through the room, as if it echoed throughout all Equestria, "This is the greatest challenge you will ever face. You will each have a role, critical and unique. You wield the elements of harmony, and you have been tested, but war is different. War is cruel, in a way you cannot imagine. You will make friends and watch them die--possibly by carrying out orders you yourselves gave them. You will promise innocent ponies that you will protect them, and you will see them murdered in front of you. You will see foals starve, and you will not be able to give them food, because that food must be used to keep alive the soldiers who will protect hundreds more. You will be given responsibilities no pony can bear. You will be asked to do things no pony can do. The virtues you embody will be challenged in ways you could not possibly imagine."
Twilight heard Fluttershy whimpering. Then she realized, with a sick feeling, that she was the one whimpering.
"This war will present each of you with a challenge you cannot expect. You must meet it bravely, because it will test who you are as a pony. It will redefine who you are as a pony. It will change you. If you are not careful, it will destroy you.
"But you will survive, because that is what ponies do. We survive. No matter the odds. No matter the pain we must endure. No matter the indignities, no matter the costs, no matter how cruel the enemy, no matter how harsh the rain or hot the sun, no matter how heavy the saddle or how painful the lash on our backs! They will kick us down, and we will rise. They will kick us down again, and they will spit in our faces, and we will rise. They will kick us and beat us until we are broken, and yet. We. Will. Rise. We will rise again, and again, and again. We will rise from fields soaked with the blood of our dead. We will rise from the ashes of charred farmlands where nothing grows but hunger and disease. We will rise from the rubble of desolate towns stripped to their foundations. We will rise from the shattered bones of cities where none can live. We will rise, stronger each time, impervious to pain, impervious to sense, impervious to doubt. We will rise. We will rise. And we will rise until we win. Because we are ponies. And we will survive.
"From this moment on, you are commissioned officers in the New Equestrian Army. Congratulations, Lieutenants. You may return to your homes tonight. Do not inform anyone of anything; the first and most important rule for any officer is to keep secrets secret. Tomorrow, every town and village will be informed of the invasion, and be issued evacuation orders. Militia organizers have already been dispatched; they will begin working tomorrow as well. In two days, you are to report to the courtyard at Canterlot, where you will receive a uniform and your first orders. I wish I could give you something else, but I have no more assurances to give. Nor do I have any time to give. I will see you again, Lieutenants. Dismissed."
Twilight looked around. Rainbow Dash was saluting, her hoof trembling. So were Fluttershy and Applejack. Rarity just stared into the distance, her eyes wider than Twilight had ever seen. Pinkie looked confused. Twilight looked back at the princess, and then saluted, too.
Celestia saluted in return, turned, and walked back to the table.
The ponies stayed silent. One second passed. Two. Three. Rarity fainted. Twilight retched.
Pinkie sat down, and looked up at the stained-glass windows. "Huh," she said. "I felt kinda weird when I woke up this morning, but..." she trailed off.
She looked around. Her eyes welled up. Then she slammed them shut, shook her head back and forth, and stopped. Her pink face popped into a smile.
"...boy, I sure didn't expect this!"