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Prologue: An Old Enemy2,472 words
Chapter 1: Principesse e Castelli3,355 words
Chapter 2: Exodus in Equestria3,139 words
Chapter 3: Boys Will Be Boys3,851 words
Chapter 4: Political Realities in Appleloosa3,248 words
Chapter 5: Making Friends2,543 words
Chapter 6: Medical Mysteries3,135 words
Chapter 7: It's a Revolution, I Suppose3,421 words
Chapter 8: The Morning After3,566 words
Chapter 9: The Boys are Back in Town3,776 words
Chapter 10: This is Ponyville, Equestria3,136 words
Chapter 11: Work to Make It Work2,294 words
Chapter 12: Cider and Friends3,445 words
Chapter 13: Stand and Fight4,157 words
Chapter 14: The Time's Come3,910 words
Chapter 15: The Final Assault3,810 words
Epilogue: Fade Away3,205 words

Chapter 13: Stand and Fight

There was never a good war, or a bad peace. ~ Benjamin Franklin

Ponyville, Equestria
24th May 1002 C.R.
7:34PM

Smoke and ash clouded his vision, seeping its way into his eyes and down into his lungs. Pain shot throughout his body in the form of deep cuts and gashes, debris having torn through his clothes and skin. Even with the painful ringing that plagued his hearing, Ezio could still make out the terrified screams and whimpers of ponies as they ran away, some of them horribly injured.

“Christ!” he heard Marston shout as he clambered to his hooves, pulling the shaken Rarity along with him. “It’s more of them fucking things!” Ezio turned to see what he was pointing at and saw more of the alicorn creatures out in the street. He counted at least five, flying around and firing blasts of magic at the fleeing ponies. A full on public attack, he thought to himself. But that means... oh no, they can’t. It’s too soon!

"We need to get out of here, now!" he called to them, stumbling towards Marston. "Is everyone alright?"

There was no reply for a few seconds, before he heard Cole's voice. "Yeah, we're fine," he said, coughing as the smoke continued to fill the room. To Ezio's amazement, the conduit had managed to form an electrical shield around the rest of his friends, protecting them from the blast and the debris that came along with it.

"Come on!" Ezio shouted as they got to their hooves wearily. "We need to go! There should be a back entrance." He turned and started towards the bar, which was ablaze. "Quickly!"

Dazed and confused, all ten of them sprinted past the bar and into the back rooms. Thankfully, they were mostly unharmed, and there was a door to an alleyway that was fortunately unlocked.

"Come on, get moving!" Marston bellowed, holding the door open for the rest of them. "This whole place is burning to the ground!" He cried out in shock as a plank of wood fell from the ceiling, nearly crushing them all. Terrified, they all frantically scrambled out of the door and into a back alley.

“Alright,” Twilight said, panting. “Let’s catch a breather.” She stared up at the burning building, her ears folding back as she heard the screams of the ponies on the other side.

“What in the hay is going on?” Applejack exclaimed. “Are these what you guys have been fightin’?”

“Yeah,” Cole replied, wiping ash from his face. “They’ve never been this bold before though.”

“What are we going to do? We can’t just sit here and-” Rainbow Dash stopped as she noticed Drake to her side, clutching his head. “Hey, Nate, you okay?”

Nate didn't respond, instead he grunted in pain, tumbling onto his haunches, head still in his hooves.

"Nate!" Dash shouted, grabbing him. "What's wrong? Snap out of it!"

Her raised voice seemed to knock him out of his stupor. “Ugh...” He grunted, before looking up. “No, I’m fine. We need to go.”

The rest of the group looked at him, concerned, but the sound of a large explosion reminded them that there were larger problems at that moment. “Come on, we need to move!” Twilight shouted, beginning to gallop towards the end of the alleyway. “We’ll become sitting ducks if we stay here any longer!”

The ten of them ran, dodging falling debris and fire as they went. Fear and adrenaline kept them moving, even as their muscles ached. They were about to reach the end of the alley when they were cut off by a black-suited unicorn.

"Orion!" Twilight cried, bringing herself to a halt in front of everyone else. "What's going on?"

"They're all here!" he shouted, trying to make himself heard over the deafening noise around them. "The princesses have ordered me to bring these four back to Canterlot!"

"What? Why?" Drake asked, keeping an eye on the sky above. One of those things could swoop down at any second. "Are we finally arming up?"

"You could say that." Orion flinched as the front of a nearby building exploded in a shower of glass and timber. "Come on, we need to go, now!"

"What on earth are we supposed to do?" Rarity shouted, a horrified expression across her face.

"Come on y'all," Applejack announced. "Let's get the Elements of Harmony and hole up at the farm, it's easily defendable. We should be able to hold out until you guess get back and we can make ourselves a proper plan." She turned to the four of them, who had crowded around Orion as he charged a teleport spell. "Now hurry on back, ya hear?"

"Gotcha." Marston nodded, before they all disappeared in a flash of light.

***

"Ah, shit." Shaking his head, Drake climbed to his hooves, trying to overcome his dizziness. "Never gets any easier, does it?"

"Sir." He looked up to see a unicorn guard talking to Orion. They were in the secret castle armory they had visited before. "Thank Celestia you're here."

"What's the situation, soldier?" Orion asked, clearly winded after the complex spell he had just performed.

"The princesses have called an emergency meeting," the guard explained. "We're to gather the weapons we need and meet them in the main hall."

Orion nodded, but didn't say a word.

"You heard the man," Ezio announced. "Grab whatever you need."

"Right. Let's do this." John hauled himself up and dusted himself off. He looked over to the rest of them and nodded, before turning to the variety of weapons that lay before them. "What was it you said before, Drake?"

"Candy store for adults," the pegasus replied, smirking and grabbing a handgun from the rack, slotting it into his holster.

"Yeah, that sounds about right." Marston paused for a moment before grabbing a six-shot revolver and a repeater rifle. "Best to go with something I'm familiar with, I reckon," he muttered to himself, sliding the revolver into his holster and slinging the rifle over his back.

"We all ready?" Cole said to them, standing by the door. "We ain't got much time."

"Va bene," Ezio replied, loading a bolt into a crossbow that he had taken. "We should move."

Without warning, the room shook violently, and a deep rumble could be heard coming from somewhere outside. "Yes, we should get moving," Orion agreed, motioning for the guard to open the door to let them out.

The castle walls continued to shake as they ran from the armory. The corridors seemed to go on forever, and Drake was beginning to feel dizzy and disorientated. "Come on Nate, snap out of it," he growled under his breath.

"We must hurry, there isn't much time!" he heard the guard call out. For some reason, the whole situation felt very familiar to him, but he didn't have time to think about why. The guard kept a brisk pace, leading them through the myriad of hallways towards the main hall. Thankfully, he knew where he was going, and soon enough they were bursting through the large double doors to come face-to-face with the two rulers of Equestria, grave looks upon their faces.

“Finally,” Princess Luna exclaimed. “You’re here. Time is short, and we haven’t got much of it to waste explaining.”

“What do we have to do?” Cole asked, flinching as a large explosion shook the castle walls.

“There’s a carriage outside,” Celestia explained. “It will take you all to Ponyville.”

“Wait, a carriage?” Cole groaned. “Can’t you just teleport us there?”

“My sister and I need to stay here and reserve our magical strength for the upcoming battle,” Luna told him, stepping forward. “No doubt they shall soon advance upon Canterlot.”

Celestia turned to look out of the window. She stared at the dark, overbearing ship in the sky. A few short weeks ago it might has well have been any other star. “You all know how important Ponyville is,” she continued, looking down upon the small town, which was mostly ablaze. “Especially what, or, more appropriately, who is there.”

“The Elements of Harmony,” Ezio whispered, realising. “They’re going after them.”

The princess nodded solemnly. “Yes. We have every reason to believe that they will try to attack our most valuable assets first, You must guard them at any and all costs.”

“Guess we know why they blew up the restaurant then,” MacGrath muttered.

“Don’t worry,” Marston reassured them. “You have our word.”

“Then go,” Celestia told them. “And, above all, be safe, my little ponies.”

My little ponies.

Nate stopped. All of a sudden, a deafening ringing filled his hearing, blocking out all else. He cried out and clutched his head as he felt his limbs moving of their own accord. He saw Cole and the rest of them looking at him, worried. The conduit said something to him, but he couldn’t hear. The ringing was at a completely unbearable level, but suddenly it stopped, replaced by a soothing voice.

Orion Gazer’s voice.

“You are going to kill the princesses of Equestria.”

He looked over at the unicorn, who simply wore a slight smirk upon his face, unnoticed by everyone else in the room. Nate tried to fight it, but his will was not strong enough. He felt his hoof swiftly reach down into his holster and draw his gun, bringing it up at aim at Celestia’s head. Her sister’s horn flared up with magic immediately, but the snow white alicorn simply stood there, staring him down.

“Ah,” she murmured quietly. “I see what’s happened here.”

Drake tried to resist, to fight against the magic that had reprogrammed his brain, but it was no use. His hoof squeezed gently against the trigger.

The loud crack of a gunshot echoed around the hall, and Drake winced as his gun flew from his hoof and went sliding across the floor. Confused, he turned to see John, who quickly moved towards him and beat him across the head with the butt of his gun.

“Jesus Christ, Drake!” he shouted as the pegasus fell to the floor. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

His head throbbing, Drake managed to mutter. “Orion...”

Every set of eyes in the room turned to look at the suited unicorn, who stood there, frozen. His horn lit up, no doubt charging some sort of teleport spell, but was countered by Celestia as she stepped towards him.

“I’m disappointed, Orion,” she scolded, anger all but written across her face. “Why would you do this?”

Orion stared her down for a second, before smirking. “You really think all of us are still up there?” he nodded to the ship floating in the sky. “We’re smarter than that, and you know it.”

The princess kept her icy stare. “Take him away,” she said simply, motioning to the guards behind her. They moved immediately, restraining Orion with magic and hauling him across the room.

“It’s still hopeless,” he called out to them. “You can fight all you want, but you will still all die.”

The two princesses watches him as he was taken away, before turning their attention back to the stallions in front of them. "Nathan," Celestia said softly. "I'm sorry."

"No, it's fine," he said to her, rubbing his head as he picked his gun up from the floor. "Hell, I should be the one apologising to you, having just shoved a gun in your face."

She just smiled at him. "It was not you, it was Orion. His will, not yours." She sighed and hung her head. "I had always had a suspicion that somepony within the castle was a spy. I just didn't expect for it to be him." She looked towards the door where he had been dragged through. "I knew him since he was just a small colt. Have they really been planning all of this for so long?"

Princess Luna put a hoof on her shoulder. "It is alright, sister. None of us could have known." She turned to address the four of them. "Now hurry. Get to Ponyville, and protect your friends. The carriage is waiting outside."

None of them needed to be told twice. They turned around and bolted towards the door, making sure all of their weapons were fully loaded as they did so. They sprinted out of the hall and out into the courtyard, where a pegasus-drawn carriage was waiting.

"Make haste!" one of the guards barked at them. "We've no time to lose!"

"Jesus," Cole muttered to himself as they clambered inside and the carriage took to the sky. The city below them was under siege. The same creatures that had attacked them before were down there, along with smaller creatures similar to regular ponies, wielding deadly energy weapons.

The guards pulling them wasted no time, diving towards Ponyville at a heart-pumping speed. The small town grew closer and closer, as did the huge ship floating above it.

"Get us down to Sweet Apple Acres!" Ezio called out to them, making himself heard over the wind. "That's where the Elements are holding out!"

The guards acknowledged him and banked to the left, heading towards the sprawling orchards on the outside of town. Most of its apple trees were ablaze, and large, smoking craters were dotted about the fields. Nate couldn't help but feel sorry for the Apple Family. Their life's work was being completely torn apart, and there was nothing they could do about it. He only hoped that they could rebuild once this was all over.

They looked towards the farmhouse, which was encased in a large purple bubble of sorts. No doubt it was Twilight's doing, in an effort to protect herself and her friends. Let's hope they notice us and let us in before we get torn to pieces out there, Drake thought.

A cry of pain brought their attention back to the carriage. Looking forward, they saw with horror that both of the guards pulling them had been hit by stray blasts of magic, or bolts of energy. Either way, it didn't matter. The guards were most likely dead, and now the four of them were plummeting towards the ground, to a seemingly similar fate.

"Cazzo!" Ezio screamed, clinging to the inside of the carriage as they fell. "Everybody, hold on!"

"Ah, crap!" Nate desperately searched for an alternative way out, but there wasn't one. They weren't headed for a body of water, he couldn't just slip on a parachute and leap to safety. The only thing he could do was hang on and pray as the carriage crashed hard into ground.

***

Appleloosa
Meanwhile...

"Come on, son, cheer up!"

Braeburn looked over to his father, who was happily drinking yet another bottle of cider. Granted, it was cider that he had made and sold to the Salt Block, but that didn't give him free reign to drink all of it. Braeburn just rolled his eyes and tipped back his hat.

"I'm fine, pa," he responded simply.

"Ya look so glum," Baldwin observed. "What did ya do with the real Braeburn? The one who's always happy as can be?"

"I guess he's off sick today," he said softly, getting off his stool and stepping away from the bar. "Listen, I'm just gonna go for a walk, alright? Get myself some fresh air."

Baldwin looked at him, concern in his eyes. "You sure-"

His son cut him off. "I said I'm fine, pa. Just need a lil' fresh air is all."

The older stallion sighed and relented. "Alright then, Brae. I'll be in here if you need me."

"Yeah." Lowering the brim of his hat, Braeburn pushed open the doors to the saloon and stepped outside. The evening air was pleasantly warm, thanks, in part, to a soft, cool breeze that swept through the town. As he set off down the street, he sighed. Everything was so peaceful, though he didn't know how long it would all last.

The few ponies who were still outside greeted him as he passed, and he smiled softly in return. Being one of the ponies that helped build Appleloosa, it was no surprise that everybody knew him on a first name basis. Most ponies knew almost everypony in town anyway, but Braeburn's family was held in somewhat high regard.

He had reached the ridge on the far side of town, the same ridge where the buffalo had made their assault on Appleloosa about a year ago. Their village was just on the other side of the ridge, and he contemplated going down to say hello. I haven't been in a while, he thought. I'll bet Little Strongheart would be happy to see me. A small blush appeared on his cheeks at the thought. He smiled and chuckled slightly, climbing the steep part up the top of the ridge.

He soon reached the top, panting as he did so. It was a hard and steep climb, but relaxing nonetheless. The air was usually clearer up here, but, for some reason, Braeburn could smell smoke. Something was burning. Curious, he trotted to the other side of the ridge. Maybe they're making campfires bigger than usual now, or something, he mused. He reached the edge, but what he saw made him stop in horror.

The tribe's village was burning. Creatures, like those he had seen before, were swooping down on the buffalo below. Braeburn could hear some of them screaming as they were incinerated in the flames. "Oh no," he murmured. He would have run down to help, but he suspected that it was already too late. Instead, he turned and started to run home, intending to warn the town.

A cry from below made him stop. "Help!" He turned back towards the burning village. It had come from somewhere along the path down. He started down it, and sure enough, one of the monsters was attacking a small buffalo.

"Little Strongheart?" he called out, running towards her.

"Get off of me!" she grunted at her attacker, not hearing him. It seemed to be a different breed than the rest. It was smaller, and wingless. It shrieked and tried to strike her, but she held it away.

"Hey!" Braeburn shouted, reaching them and pulling the creature off. "She said get off!" Before it could react, he threw a punch across its face, before pushing it away and kicking off the side of the cliff. It shrieked in terror as it plummeted, before smashing into the rocks below.

"Little Strongheart!" Braeburn turned his attention back to her. She was still lying on the ground panting, and bleeding from multiple wounds on her body. "My goodness, you're hurt."

"It's nothing," she said, trying to brush it off. She winced as Braeburn pulled her to her hooves. "I was on my way to warn you when that thing jumped me."

"Can ya walk?" he asked tentatively, still supporting her with his hooves. She took a feeble step, before looking up at him and shaking her head.

"C'mon then," he said, hoisting her into his back. "I'll get you to my ma and we'll warn the town."

She wrapped her hooves around his torso. "I'm sorry, Braeburn," she murmured as he started to gallop back towards Appleloosa. "I should have been faster."

"Ya'll ain't got nothin' to be sorry about, Strongheart," he said soothingly. "We're all gonna be fine, don't you worry."

Even with the injured buffalo on his back, he quickly reached the edges of town. Turning back to face the ridge, he saw some of the creatures that had been attacking Little Strongheart's tribe barrelling towards them. Wasting no time, he ran towards the Salt Block and burst through the door. Thankfully, his mother was inside.

"Braeburn?" Remedy looked up as he entered. She noticed his friend on his back and gasped. "What's going on?"

"I ain't got time to properly explain," he told her, lifting Little Strongheart gently into a table. "She's hurt, and I need you to take care of her. Something real bad's about to happen."

He turned to Baldwin and Sheriff Silverstar, who had been chatting before his sudden entrance. "Sheriff, the creatures who attacked us out in the desert a few days back are here, in large numbers. They just tore right through the buffalo's village on the other side of the ridge." He noticed a large metal crate sitting on the bar next to them. I swear I didn't see that just before. "Where'd this box come from?"

His father and the sheriff looked at it, confused. "It weren't here a moment ago," Silverstar said. "What's inside?"

Braeburn raised an eyebrow. Was this some sort of trick from the invaders? There was no way of knowing for sure. "Well, only one way to find out," he muttered, lifting open the lid.

Inside were a large number of metal objects, varied in size. They had long barrels and a hoof-sized trigger. Some kinda weapon, maybe? There was a note sitting on top of them all, which he picked up and began to read aloud.

"Dear Braeburn,

They are coming. Hopefully, there are enough firearms here for you to arm your whole town. They are rather simple to use: simply point, and shoot. Oh, and do try not to damage them. I would like them back.

Princess Celestia.

P.S. Your new friends say hello."

The silence following was cut short by a large explosion. They were out of time. "Alright, everypony grab one!" Braeburn announced, throwing the weapons to the bar's patrons. "Remember: just point and shoot!"

He handed one to both his father and Sheriff Silverstar. "Looks like apple pies ain't gonna cut it this time, huh?" he joked, smiling slightly. The sheriff chuckled and nodded, before galloping outside. His father nodded as well, before embracing his son.

"Be careful, Braeburn," he warned.

"You too, pa."

Baldwin released him before stepping towards his wife and pulling her into a similar embrace. Braeburn watched them for a second, before looking into the crate once more. One weapon remained. It was a sleek, brass bolt-action rifle with wooden furnishings. Picking it up in his hooves, the stallion reared back onto his hind legs, looking down the sights. "Yeah, this'll work."

He slung it over his shoulder, before stepping towards Remedy and Little Strongheart. "She okay?" he asked his mother.

"Brae, I told you I'm fine." The buffalo looked up at him and smiled warmly. Her wounds had been bandaged, and the bleeding had stopped.

"She'll be alright," Remedy said. "Still, she's sitting this fight out."

Braeburn smiled, but winced as a large explosion rocked the building. "I gotta go ma," he told her.

She pulled him into a hug. "Be safe, Braeburn. I don't want to be having to patch you up."

He looked over at Strongheart, who smiled. "Go get 'em, Brae," she said encouragingly, winking at him. He smiled warmly, before turning towards the door.

Alright, let's do this. Taking a deep breath, Braeburn threw open the saloon doors and stepped out into the war zone beyond.

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