//------------------------------// // Chapter 15 // Story: Legendary // by RoflNom //------------------------------// All was quiet that morning. The streets were bustling, as usual, though nopony seemed to make a sound. The wind was blowing, but there was no howl. Not even the birds had been chirping their cheerful tunes. I thought it strange at first, but decided it was just an average Sunday. There were many soldiers out and about, taking the time to visit the stores and venders around the city. I was busy trying to find Arch. I had not seen him since the day before, and wanted to talk to him about our plans. I hadn't gotten word on how our army size was looking, and a lot could have changed in a couple of days. Our army hopefully had grown in those days, we could use all the soldiers we could get for this assault. I was heading down one of the larger main streets when I spotted both SwiftWing and Aceymac looking through the different stores around. They noticed me and walked over. "Morning, Legend," Swift said, "I don't suppose you've seen Arch around? We've already been to his quarters and none of the other officers have a clue where he is." "No, I haven't. I was looking for him myself, actually. And I see you've already been released from the hospital, Aceymac." I said. "Yeah, Canterlot has some of the best doctors and surgeons in all of Equestria. They just ran a few tests, used some magic, and I was feeling good as new." Aceymac explained happily. "Aceymac being healthy again aside," Swift said, "we need to find Arch. He got some letters from home, and since the messenger couldn't find him, she just gave them to me to give to him. He's been waiting to hear from his wife for a while now." "Well, that's good. Anyways, I'm beginning to recall that Arch was supposed to be meeting with the Field Marshal for a few days. They're still trying to build up our offensive force." I said. Swift gave a quick nod. "Alright, I'll go see if I can find-" He was suddenly interrupted by the sound of a large boom. We all looked in the direction of the sound to see smoke rising above the buildings. We made our way over to the source of the sound to see two buildings completely burnt to a crisp. There were soldiers running about, trying to figure out what happened. Several seconds later, another boom was heard and another building down the street went up in flames. "What in the name of the Celestia is going on?!" Aceymac yelled out, asking anypony who would answer. "We're not sure, General!" An earth pony yelled from a few feet away. "There were just sudden explosions and the building were nothing but ashes seconds later! I've got a few ponies bringing help from wherever they can get it. There they are now." He pointed over to a group of about ten soldiers and civilians galloping this way. I began hearing a faint whistling sound. I tried to focus on it through all of the chaos and confusion, and could hear it getting louder. Soon both SwiftWing and Aceymac heard it as well and tried to figure out where it was coming from. "What is that?" Aceymac said, pointing to a small dot in the sky. "I don't know," Swift responded, "but it looks like it's getting closer. And that whistling is getting louder." He was right. The dot in the sky kept falling closer and closer, and with it the whistling was getting even louder. As it approached, I could see that it was small and rounded. I could also see that it had three distinct colors: black, brown, and gray. The colors of the Gryphonian flag. "You all see that as well, right?" I asked the other two ponies. "See what? That's way too far to get a good look at it Hang on, I'll try and go grab it before it hits the ground." Swift said, but before he could take off after the strange object, Aceymac pulled him down by his tail. "Hang on, Swift. We don't know if it's dangerous or not. For all we know that could be what's causing this." He said. "Then that's more of a reason for us to get it. We can find out what that thing is. But you're right, maybe we should be careful about this. Hey Legend," The Pegasus said to me, "can you use your magic to grab that thing?" I looked up at the plummeting sphere and focused on it. As it fell, it began being enveloped in a gray aura. Though my focus wasn't strong enough and the aura vanished. I tried again, but to no avail. "Keep trying, it's getting closer!" A pony in the crowd yelled. I closed my eyes and blocked out everything around me. There were no more sounds of fire, screaming, and panicking. I imagined the sphere being levitated to the air in front of me. When I opened my eyes, there it was. "Well, what do we have here?" Aceymac said curiously. "Looks almost like a bowling ball. Except for... the Gryphonian flag! They're the ones doing this! But how?" Before anypony could answer, a hundred screeches erupted from out of nowhere. When we all looked up, we saw dozens upon dozens of the explosive balls falling from the clouds above Canterlot. "Sweet mother of Celestia..." _________________________________________________________________________ Arch had no idea what was about to happen in a matter of minutes. He had one thing on his mind at the moment: Morning Haze. They had been meeting for the past couple of days, planning the assault into Gryphonia and trying to increase the numbers of the assault They had gotten along relatively well since his arrival in Canterlot, considering their past issues. Arch, as always, was as kind to Morning Haze as he could possibly be. She, on the other hoof, was almost always rude to Arch. Though not now. She must have had a change of heart, Arch thought. That was one way to put it. When he entered the castle's war room, as usual, he noticed that it was empty. He thought that strange, as there was usually a lower ranked logistics officer standing by in case somepony came in. As he was about to turn and leave, there was a sound that made it feel like his ears were bleeding. He knew what the sound was. Gryphon war cries. As he went to open the door, two large gryphons burst through and pinned him to the ground. He tried to use magic to get them off but nothing happened. He then saw small crystals hanging around the gryphons' necks, magic blocking gems. "You know, attacking one of the highest ranking officers of the Equestrian military isn't really a smart thing to do. Especially in the capital." Arch said smugly. "Quiet, pony. You're precious capital will be nothing more than a pile of rubble and ash once the day is over." The first gryphon said. Arch laughed in his face. "I doubt it. We have over 60,000 soldiers here, with another 50,000 on the way. There's no chance in Tartarus that you'll take Canterlot." "You're armies won't be a problem. And who said anything about taking the capital?" The second gryphon said. As he said that, there were sounds of explosions and combat outside of the castle. The sounds of building crumbling and falling echoes through the entire city. "What is going on out there?!" Arch questioned his captors. "Would you like to see?" One of the gryphons asked with an evil smile. Before Arch could answer, they moved him over to a window. Outside Arch could see smoke and fire rising from the city below. Gryphons constantly flew down from the clouds in several waves. Occasionally there would be screams and sounds of battle, but they didn't last very long. "You feathered rats will pay for this!" Arch yelled, only to be kicked in the gut. "It's funny because the King didn't plan this," One of the gryphons lowered his head to be on eye level with Arch, "One of your own kind made this possible. So much for love and toleration, eh?" "Lies! No Equestrian would dare go against the Princesses!" Arch screamed, more to reassure himself than the gryphons. He didn't want to believe it, but he knew that in times of war anything could happen. "It makes no difference if you believe us or not. We're simply here to deliver you to our Head General, for reasons unbeknownst to us. If it were up to us or the King, you'd be executed publicly and have your body hung in Talos." "I hear Talos is lovely this time of year. I'm sure the smell of poverty and rebellion is just wonderful." Arch said. "You know nothing of the burdens that the King bears!" One of the gryphons yelled as he slammed Arch's head into the ground, knocking him unconscious. "You idiot, we need him alive!" The second gryphon yelled at the first. "He's alive. Let us leave before the Head General becomes impatient." _________________________________________________________________________ "Where are those damned reinforcements?!" Swift yelled from his cover at the makeshift barricade. "They've engaged some gryphons on the south barricade! They're pushing them back, but won't be able to hold them off if another wave hits them." A soldier said. "Buck! Get me some more unicorns up here! We need to keep them at a distance!" Swift ordered. Everything had gone south the second the gryphons began dropping those strange explosives on us en mass. We had never seen anything like it. That also meant we had no way of countering it. Swift and Aceymac had made a sort of command center for the remnants of the Equestrian military inside the capital, which had turned into a war zone in the past few hours. With Arch nowhere to be found, the soldiers that had survived the initial strike were in disarray. Several groups across the city worked their way to us to make a somewhat capable battalion. Less than six hundred ponies, all set up at four barricades at the west corner of Canterlot. Aceymac left to command the north barricade, while the west and south barricades were in command of lower officers. That left Swift and myself here at the east barricade, which was taking the bulk of the enemy attack. I was helping with just keeping the gryphons away from our front line. I had the strongest magic, meaning I was a primary target for the gryphons. Where ever I moved to, the gryphon assault was aimed at. With a planned assault this large, the gryphons must have had several important objectives. It seemed like I was enough of a threat to be killed or captured. Wave after wave, the gryphons fell, but not without gaining some ground. They inched closer and closer until they were right in front of us. A lot of the unicorns were either dead or severely injured, meaning only the infantry and cavalry were left standing. The gryphons had pulled back to form a much larger group and when they saw we were weakening, they charged at us. It looked like it was over, that we had lost Canterlot. Hundreds of gryphons, all charging at tired, exhausted ponies. An easy win for the enemy, right? That's what we though, too. Until we heard something, in the midst of all the death and defeat. The sound of a dragon's roar. __________________________________________________________________________ Alrighty, here it is. The long delayed Chapter 15. I'm really sorry about the long delay, it was really out of my hands. Luckily I had this finished at the time of my old laptop's demise. I'll be back in the rhythm of things soon enough. And rather than writing "A/N" for Author's Notes, I'll just be making it bold face. It seems a lot easier to me.