//------------------------------//
// A Day That Will Live in Infamy 
// Story: My Little Marvel: Captain Equestria 
// by CuchulainSetanta 
//------------------------------//

The first thing that Ivan sensed was a distant thud. A second one, closer, stirred him back to consciousness. As he lifted his heavy eyelids, reds and greens filled his vision. Slowly, the formless colors focused into Hearth's Warming lights, wreathes, and other decorations. He closed his eyes again. If the dull pain in the guardspony's head was any indication, he had had too much eggnog with his squadmates the night before. He just had to wait until his hangover lessened to a more manageable state before he got up. Hopefully, his commanding officer had joined in the night's festivities and wouldn't be too upset with him for having a little holiday fun.

Another pair of thuds made Ivan's eyes shoot open again. Hearth's Warming Eve was still a couple weeks off. He hadn't been drinking. This was something else.

Something much, much worse.

Groans of pain reached Ivan's ears as he slowly rose to his feet, taking in his surroundings once again. Sparks flew from broken Hearth's Warming lights as they lay on the ground. A fallen pine tree filled the air with thick smoke as it was consumed in flames. Wounded ponies lay scattered about, some also coming to terms with their situations, others already trying to get to safety or mourning less fortunate loved ones.

Another series of thuds. This time, Ivan turned his gaze to where he thought he had heard the louder of the pair, seeing a pillar of smoke rise into the air as what Ivan now recognized as cannonfire blasted a building apart.

"They're coming back this way!"

Ivan tensed as he heard the panicked cry. Anypony who could still move got to cover as dark shadows quickly danced across the ground. Ivan turned his eyes skyward, catching sight of the source of the shadows. Griffons. An army of griffons soared above the city. Every few seconds, one broke off from the flock and dove out of view, before rising back up a few moments later with a pony in their clutches. Ivan's heart sank as he saw the griffons release their grip on their captives in midair, letting them plummet to their deaths.

A sickening crack caught the guard's attention, soon joined by screams of terror. Turning, Ivan saw one of the griffons' victims laying in the street a few feet away. Mustering his strength, he hobbled over to where the victim lay and stopped dead in his tracks when he got close enough to see who it was.

It was his commanding officer.

Ivan had to suppress the urge to panic. Injured or not, he was still a guard. The time to lay down was over.

"E-everypony get off the streets!" Ivan shouted as loud as he could, his throat sore from the smoke. "Get inside! Don't stand in the open!"

Slowly, the other ponies followed Ivan's command. The artillery was still a danger, but hopefully the griffons would have a harder time getting to them now. With the civilians out of harm's way for the moment, Ivan turned his attention to himself. His head still hurt. Taking off his helmet, Ivan saw a large dent in the side. The last thing he remembered before being knocked out was a loud explosion above him. A cannonball must have hit a nearby building, hitting him with debris. If he hadn't been wearing his armor, he would have been killed.

Replacing his battered helmet, Ivan started moving in the direction of the barracks. There had to still be some guards left. Somepony capable of fighting back. As Ivan turned the street corner, however, he froze.

A formation of armored ponies was headed his way, and they weren't any of his comrades. They were covered in black, spiky armor, and all wore large helmets that completely covered their heads. Green light flowed from the eyeholes, and they marched forward in unnatural synchronization.

"Crystal troopers," Ivan whispered to himself. So that was it, then. Sombra had answered the princesses' ultimatum in the worst way possible. This wasn't a random attack.

It was a full-scale invasion.

Ivan quickly ducked into a nearby building. The Crystal troopers had given no indication that they had seen him. Ivan prayed that they hadn't. Trotting behind some rubble, he dropped to his stomach and waited. Slowly, the rhythmic, mechanical sound of hooves beating against stone grew to a crescendo as the army approached the building. It felt like hours before the sound began to grow softer before ceasing completely. Ivan dared to peek out from his hiding spot, and his spirits lifted a bit as he saw the formation had indeed passed by. Slowly, wary of any other troopers, Ivan stepped out of the building.

His hooves almost immediately left the ground as something grabbed him by the shoulders and lifted him into the air.

Ivan felt like his heart had fallen out and been left behind where he went airborne. He had been so focused on the Crystal troopers that he had forgotten about the griffons. Ivan tried to crane his head to look at his attacker, but the way the griffon was holding him prevented him from getting a good look. All he could make out was the yellow skin on the talons that gripped him.

It was all over. Ivan had seen what the griffons had done to the other ponies they caught. To his CO. There was nothing he could do anymore. Any moment now, he would be released and then... what? What did it feel like to die?

Ivan was shaken from his thoughts as he caught sight of his barracks - or what was left of it. The buildings were nothing but burning rubble now, and Ivan could see small shapes that he knew to be what remained of the guards who hadn't gotten out in time. He thanked the princesses that he was too high up to make out any details. It made sense, he reminded himself. The natural first target for a military attack would be where the opposing military would be stationed. Even if he had made it to the barracks, it wouldn't have mattered. All hope gone, Ivan closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable.

The feeling of air rushing past him told Ivan that he was descending... but it was slower than he had expected it to be. Was his mind playing tricks on him? Did time just feel like it was going slower when you were about to die? Ivan cautiously opened his eyes. He was descending, but he wasn't falling. The griffon still had a hold on him. After he realized he wasn't dying yet, Ivan realized where he was descending towards.

The griffon released its grip, and Ivan fell to the hard ground, though it was a much shorter distance than he had feared. Ivan slowly rose to his hooves, glancing fearfully around him. The cold glares of griffons and the empty green light of Crystal trooper helmets followed his movements. A few feet away, the cannons that had been battering the city continued their dreadful task. Ivan had been taken back to the enemy lines. He turned to get a look at his captor, and found himself wishing that he had been dropped like the other ponies.

The griffon that had seized him was dark gray on both its avian and feline halves. It would have looked unremarkable, if not for its head. It looked the head of a great vulture. The skin was completely bare of feathers and tinted a deep, blood red. More than that, it seemed shrunken, clinging tightly to the creature's skull. It would have been a terrible sight on its own, but Ivan knew this griffon... and knew that there was much more to fear from him than just the way he looked.

The griffon must have picked up on Ivan's realization, as his beak curved in a slight grin. "You know who I am, don't you, pony?"

Ivan slowly nodded. "Everypony knows who you are. You're the Red Skull. Sombra's second-in-command."

The Skull chuckled. "So word of my exploits has reached Equestria. Good. Tell me, pony, do you know why I spared your life?"

Ivan shook his head. Raising an eyebrow, the Skull strode over to one of the Crystal troopers. The trooper made no motion as the Skull reached up with a talon and stroked the helmet it wore. "I assume you know the purpose of these helmets, right?"

"They control the Crystal ponies' minds. Sombra brainwashes his subjects and sends them into battle against their will."

The Skull clicked his tongue. "Close, but not quite. It's true that the helmets affect the Crystal ponies' minds, but they are not brainwashed. Their minds are still their own." A smile crept across the Skull's face as he turned to Ivan, causing a chill to creep down the guardspony's spine. "The magic in the helmet brings out the deepest fears of the pony wearing them. They are locked into their most terrible nightmares. If the magic didn't keep them from using their vocal cords, you could hear them screaming their lungs out."

The Skull strode closer to Ivan, causing him to unconsciously back away. "Subtle alterations in the spell affect the pony's actions. Make them imagine they are being chased, and they will move where we want them to. Make them think they are being attacked, and they will lash out. Scare them enough, and they will freeze up in terror."

Ivan felt himself back into something. Looking back, he saw the Crystal troopers blocking his escape. Only now did he realize they were just as imprisoned as he was. No, that wasn't right. They were worse off. Was this the fate the Skull intended for him?

"Fear is a powerful motivator. This invasion is proof of that. It wasn't enough to face the Equestrian army on the battlefield. We needed to show you what happens when you cross his Majesty, King Sombra. Your homes, your families, your children - all will burn."

Ivan turned and started as he saw the Skull's gruesome visage right in front of him. "When his Majesty tasked me with destroying Stalliongrad, his orders were to leave no survivors. I have every intention of carrying out those orders, but it's not quite enough, is it? How do I make you frightened instead of simply hardening your resolve? For this to truly strike fear into your hearts, I need to leave a more... personal mark."

Ivan had no time to react as the Skull threw something into his face. He coughed as he inhaled. He felt like someone had jammed a lit torch down his throat. The sensation spread from his throat to his face, and then to his whole head. He barely noticed the griffons and Crystal troopers backing away from him. The world looked like it was spinning. Clumps of something fell from his head. Grasping at the clumps, Ivan saw that it was his own fur falling out.

The last thing Ivan ever perceived was the Red Skull whispering into his ear two words that would follow him into the afterlife.

"Hail Sombra."





Celestia was no stranger to monsters. It had only been a few decades since she and her sister had stopped Discord, and Tirek before him. Even before ascending to the throne, it seemed that not a moon would go by that the pair had had to deal with some demon or monstrosity that was now imprisoned in Tartarus. It hadn't been easy, and they weren't always able to stop the forces of evil before they claimed a few victims. Celestia had seen death before.

But how could a simple griffon be able to cause this much carnage?

When Equestrian Intelligence had first told her of the experiments being performed on the Crystal Empire's slaves, she had hoped that they were exaggerations. The body in front of her told her otherwise. What had once been a Stalliongrad guardspony was chained to a tree before her. The only way to tell the guard's name was the identification tag stitched into the inside of his helmet. His "face," if one could call it that anymore, was something out of a nightmare. All the fur on the guard's head had fallen off, leaving only shriveled crimson hide that clung tightly to the unfortunate pony's skull. Above the deformed corpse, a sign had been posted. "A gift for the princesses," it said, "signed" with the image of an avian skull, painted in red ink.

The ruined city of Stalliongrad lay beyond the tree. Guards were still searching the rubble, but it appeared that the city's entire population had been killed - guards, civilians, even foals hadn't been spared. It would have been enough of a message on its own. But this twisted "gift," left on the only road Equestrian responders could approach the city from, was just a twist of the knife. It had been meant to frighten her. And despite everything Celestia had faced in her life so far, it was working.

"Did Captain Fury find out why they didn't see it coming?" Celestia asked, responding to the wing she felt on her shoulder. She didn't turn to see her sister's response.

"He did," came Luna's voice. "We just received the report from the guard station. Two hours before the attack, the local pegasi brigade was called out to the east to look into a possible diamond dog incursion. When they got there, they were surrounded and killed by griffons. Without their air support, Stalliongrad had no chance against the invasion."

"Espionage, then," Celestia muttered, whether to herself or to Luna, not even she knew.

"It would appear so. You know what we have to do."

"It seems you were right."

"What about?" Luna asked, raising an eyebrow. Celestia finally turned away from the guard's corpse, meeting her sister's gaze.

"About what would happen. About what Sombra would do when he told him to release his slaves." Luna scoffed.

"I didn't know for sure, Tia. Only Sombra knew that. And if you're insinuating that I'm somehow proud that I was right about this barbarism, I prayed to whatever powers would listen that it wouldn't come to this!"

"You're right, I'm sorry. I did not mean to imply that. It's just..." Celestia sighed, "it's just that we've never declared a war before, Lu! When we fought Tirek and Discord, we were fighting one monster. We were fighting individuals. Even when the guard fought diamond dog raiding parties, it was only a few scattered tribes. We're going to have to declare war on not one, but two nations this time! How can we justify violence on that scale? How can we fight against somepony who's sending others to fight and die against their will?"

"Sombra had his chance, Tia. We asked him to surrender peacefully. We asked him to stop all this." Luna pointed at the ruined city. At the deformed corpse. "This was his response. How can we justify striking back? Ask yourself what they would want. Would they want us to do nothing, or would they want us to bring their killers to justice?"

Celestia turned to look at the guard's body again. Ivan. The name inscribed on the inside of his helmet was Ivan. What wasn't written down was if he had any family. How old he was. How long he had served. If he had any idea if this cold day, only a few weeks from Hearth's Warming, would be his last.

"We have a lot to do. Prepare a press conference in Canterlot. Let the citizens of Equestria know that we are now at war with the Crystal Empire and the Griffon Kingdom. And tell Professor Erskine to go ahead with his program. I only hope it's not too late."