//------------------------------// // Arc 2 Chapter 5: A First Taste of Battle // Story: The Problem of Evil // by Quixotic Mage //------------------------------// Twilight had been busy. News of Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie’s capture had come late at night after a full day of work. Naturally, there’d been no question of sleep, not while her friends were in enemy talons, so she’d hauled herself up and set to work. Soldiers were dragged from their beds, including Captain Armor, and slowly a plan began to form. The scout that had brought the report had been thorough, stealthily tracking and listening to the griffons within their camp to confirm that they had the missing ponies. Fortunately, the scout had also heard what the griffons intended to do with them. It was a rather ironic inversion of Twilight’s original plan. The griffons intended for Fluttershy to call in as many animals as she could for the griffons to harvest. The site of that gruesome butchery was to be in a rock outcropping outside the city walls, close enough to be easily accessible by air, but far enough that pony patrols would not have stumbled over the griffons by chance. With the knowledge of the location and the griffon’s intentions, Twilight had set to work. There had been a small hiccup at the beginning, namely that she needed to go meet with the dragons. Negotiations were at a delicate stage and if she slighted them by not attending the long memory and pride of the draconic race would prevent them from speaking to her again this century. Out of options, she had gone to beg Luna, as the only other pony the dragons would accept, to attend in her place. Truthfully, that conversation had taken place in the dead of night and Twilight had only hazy recollections of it. Still, she remembered feeling content as she was leaving so she assumed it was taken care of. Or rather, she’d done what she could and if she had to pick between saving her friends and making peace with the dragons, there was simply no contest. Tea had not been cutting it, so Twilight had knocked back a few cups of the sludge-like coffee the troops referred to as Ascension. Apparently because it gave unicorns wings. Twilight couldn’t speak to that, but it certainly had a kick like a mule (no offense) and kept her awake and reasonably alert. She and Captain Armor had assembled a strike force with as much haste as possible. Hopefully, they had enough troops to win a quick engagement and get back to camp without getting bogged down in their own numbers. Twilight had given orders for the rest of the camp to continue readying for battle, while her forces left as soon as they were prepared. Glancing around, Twilight confirmed that the company of soldiers she’d brought were safely hidden among the crystal rocks and crags. They had made good time, all of them running low to the ground so griffon scouts wouldn’t find them out, and they’d reached the outcropping of rock after a little more than an hour of galloping. They’d actually reached the spot before the griffons and set up an ambush. Now the company waited for the griffons to make their appearance with the hostages. The other Elements of Harmony had come, of course. None of the remaining four were the type to wait and hope when they might be able to help. Applejack had received a special set of armor from the other earth pony soldiers. Apparently, it was usually given to new recruits as a bit of hazing because it was too heavy to lift. Metal sheets draped over the wearer’s sides and each leg was encased in thick greaves designed to protect the legs while allowing some movement. Atop the head sat a full helmet so deep that when it was worn not even the eyes were visible behind the visor. On the helmet’s forehead was an extra thick padded area ideal for ramming. All in all, it was a monstrous set of black armor that weighed twice again as much as a pony. When she had been given it, Applejack had pronounced it adequate for her use. After she had been told that it was a joke and that the armor was clearly too heavy for anypony, let alone a filly like her to use, Applejack had just chuckled. She wore it for three days of training in a row including during sparing practice and much to the chagrin of her partners, who just happened to be the ponies that had given her the armor in the first place. No pony had given her any grief after that and the soldiers, impressed, had begun training her in earnest. Applejack sat with the rest of the soldiers near Captain Armor, patiently waiting for the order to charge. Unlike fidgety pegasi or high-strung unicorns, earth ponies were fully capable of sitting absolutely still until instructed otherwise. Only when she saw Twilight glance over did Applejack give a single wave. Her armor creaked quietly as she moved her hoof up and then reassumed her position, looking for all the world like a boulder that would endure as long as the earth itself. Unsurprisingly, Rarity had not opted for a full set of armor. She wore only a grey vest, specially knitted to resist slashing talons and beaks, which covered from her neck down her barrel. Of course, it also was stylish and flattering to her figure, but even Rarity was paying little attention to that now. Given her dislike of physical effort her presence was the most surprising, but Twilight had needed her assistance for a spell that was a key component of her plan. Even now, Rarity’s horn glowed and her face was screwed up in concentration. Twilight let her gaze follow the curve of the rocks down to the open space where the griffons would land and the fruits of Rarity’s spell could be seen. Scattered across the area were a number of mountain goats with coarse white coats and ridged curled horns rising from their heads. Or at least that’s what a griffon would see. To Twilight’s practiced eye some of those goats glowed with the light of illusion, visible only to those mages that knew how to look for it. Naturally, she was helping with that particular spell. Rarity had an eye for detail and a skill with illusions that made her ideal as the primary caster of that spell, but she lacked the power to hold it for long enough. To compensate for her lack of power she and Twilight were linked. It was a little trick common in unicorn families, though Celestia had been the pony to teach it to Twilight. If two unicorns were connected on a fundamental level, their magic could flow together, allowing one of them to cast spells fueled by the magic of both. The exact nature of the connection varied, most commonly it was used in families to show foals exactly how a given spell was cast or to provide the magic for them to try spells on their own. Usually, simple friends would not have a strong enough connection to link and a link could not be forced or trained in any way, limiting military applications. Twilight though, had suspected that her friendship with Rarity, underscored as it was by the Elements of Harmony, would be sufficient to form that connection and so it had proved to be. With a flicker of thought possible only because she was a part of the spell, Twilight looked past the illusions to the ponies – and one griffon since Gilda had refused to be left behind – that waited underneath. Specifically, to where Rainbow Dash was crouched. As Twilight had expected, Rainbow was fidgeting, ruffling her wings, and scuffing the ground with her hoof. She had been instructed to move as little as possible to make things easier for Rarity, though Twilight was just grateful the other pony hadn’t taken flight or started pacing. Unlike Rarity, Applejack, or Twilight herself, Dash had opted for no armor at all, trusting to her speed to keep her safe. She also had decided that wingblades were too heavy to use and they just cramped her style anyway. However, there was one pegasus weapon that she had taken a shine to. Around each of Rainbow’s hooves was a glove made of ebonite, a hard rubber. Ebonite was a material on the negative end of the triboelectric series, while air and pony fur is on the positive end. As a result, every movement Rainbow made caused electrons to flow away from the ebonite into her fur or the air around her, generating an electrostatic charge on her gloves. As a weather pony, Rainbow’s magic was well suited to handling electrostatic charge since she dealt with thunderclouds all the time. Essentially, the gloves gave her an easier and quicker way to generate lightning on demand. Or, as she had put it, they ‘put the boom in rainboom.’ Twilight had cause to believe Rainbow would be effective with her new weapons; she’d seen the craters left behind from the pegasus’ practice sessions. Twilight, for her part, was wearing the armor that the dragons had gifted her when they had first come to court. She had nothing to put through the wingholes of course, but when she set the straps as tight as they could go it fit pretty well. At the very least the scales would hold against anything the griffons could do and she cut an imposing figure in the bright purple and green scaled armor, or so she hoped. Fortunately, the griffons arrived before Twilight could continue down the path of introspection and self-doubt. They had come in numbers, no doubt appropriately fearing the ambush that was in fact set up around them. Landing, they scouted out their immediate environs, though they did not go too deep into the rocks because they assumed they would have seen anything relevant from the air. Incorrectly convinced that they were not landing directly on a trap two griffons, each holding a pony in their talons, swooped down and unceremoniously dumped those ponies in the dirt. The ponies were certainly not at their best. Fluttershy’s coat was dirty and ragged and she had the beginning of a bruise forming around one eye. Rope was wrapped around her wings, keeping her firmly on the ground even if she hadn’t been the slowest of flyers. Pinkie was in relatively better shape, just a few smudges and tangles in her coat, but her flat dull pink mane revealed just how bad a shape she was in emotionally. Despite how worn they appeared, Twilight felt her heart rise just to see them in one piece, to know that they were still alive. The troops shared her energy, and she could feel their focus intensify. On the field below Twilight saw Dash’s nervous energy infect the other ponies hidden by illusion as they too took to scuffing the ground or snorting angrily. However, the time was not yet right and they all managed to hold themselves back. The griffon commander was a large young tawny griffon with an eponymous red feather tucked behind his ear. He strutted around, checking in with the scouts and giving orders to the crew of griffons that carried empty burlap sacks to bring their prey back to camp for consumption. When everything was ready, Red Feather strode over to where Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie shivered, waiting to be told what to do. “Now is the time,” he boomed, his loud voice easily carrying up to where Twilight and the others waited. “Yellow pony, you will call the goats here to the slaughter.” Ever timid, Fluttershy just cowered in place, trying desperately to disappear into the barren soil. “Maybe you didn’t hear me,” Red Feather growled. Seizing Fluttershy’s pink mane he lifted her and then sent her sprawling to the ground. “Call the animals,” he commanded. There was grumbling from the pony ranks at his treatment of Fluttershy. “Steady, steady,” murmured Captain Armor. They had to time their attack right, outnumbered as they were two to one. Twilight wished they could have brought more troops. If they had it would have slowed their march and increased the risk of being seen by the more mobile flight-capable griffon forces. They were counting on Captain Armor’s leadership and Twilight’s magic to carry the day, though a large helping of surprise sure wouldn’t hurt. Fluttershy shook her head, still shell-shocked from the shouting and the fall. Twilight could see her mouth the word “no”, but couldn’t hear anything over that distance. Silently, she willed Fluttershy to say yes. Once the ponies disguised as goats by Rarity’s magic were close enough, Dash and Gilda would grab the two hostages and make their escape covered by the sudden onslaught of the other soldiers. “What do you mean, ‘no’?” Red Feather shouted. From the incongruous reserve of strength that Fluttershy had shown time again when it truly mattered she gathered herself and regained her hooves. “No,” she said again, still softly, but loud enough to just barely carry to her would-be rescuers. “I won’t call my friends for you to eat.” Red Feather was apoplectic at being denied. He swung his wingblade up to her throat, the sharp edge just tickling the thin fur and skin. Fluttershy gulped, eyes crossing to stare down at the sharp blade. “Call them or you die here and now,” the griffon threatened. Fluttershy stood firm. “If I die then you have no way to catch my animal friends and they’ll all live.” It’s not worth it, Twilight mentally shouted. She’d never thought she’d wish that Fluttershy was less brave, but here they were. “You said no pony would get hurt,” Pinkie screeched suddenly. “You Pinkie promised!” One of the griffons holding Pinkie replied, “I promised neither of you would get hurt if she cooperated.” He waved a claw at Fluttershy. “She’s not cooperating, now is she? Fortunately, I have an idea.” Red Feather stalked over to one of the griffons armed with a heavy crossbow and held out his claw. Immediately the griffon unslung the strap and handed the weapon over. Red Feather checked that the weapon was armed and then jerked his head at the two griffons holding Pinkie in their talons. They moved apart, holding her spread-eagle in the air by her forelegs. Leveling the crossbow at the restrained pony he said, “thanks for volunteering.” To Fluttershy he added, “you are quite right. If I kill you, I get nothing. So let’s try this again. Call the goats over or I shoot your friend.” Twilight sucked in a breath and tried desperately to think of something to do in case the griffon fired. Thinking back to her lesson with Captain Armor she readied the shield spell. Catching her preparation, Captain Armor spread the word to prepare for the charge. “Don’t!” Fluttershy whimpered, “don’t shoot her.” “It’s okay, Fluttershy,” Pinkie called. “I deserve it after what I did. Don’t worry about me.” “It doesn’t matter,” Fluttershy insisted. “We’ll get out of this, both of us, and then we can forget about it.” Pinkie closed her eyes. “I don’t think we’re getting out of this one.” “Right,” Red Feather growled. “There’s only one way you both walk away from here and that’s by calling those blasted goats.” “Once they kill me they won’t have any leverage on you,” Pinkie called, tears leaking from the eyes that couldn’t face Fluttershy. “And I know Twilight and the others will save you as soon as they can. Just hold on.” “Pinkie Pie!” Fluttershy wept, adding her sorrowing counterpoint to Pinkie’s pleading that she just ignore everything. The noises spiraled together, drilling into Red Feather whose face contorted in anger. “SHUT UP!” he roared and beat his wings with frustration. “Stop your thrice-blasted screeching!” Perhaps it was the beating of his wings or the tension in his claw, perhaps it was his shouting that did it. But somehow, almost unconsciously, his claw clenched and the telltale twang of the crossbow rang out on that grey day among the desolate crystal rocks. Three ponies reacted almost instantly. Rainbow Dash, fastest of the fast, let that bolt be the starter’s gun and took off. She raced toward Pinkie with all the speed she could muster, desperate to knock the other pony out of harm’s way. She was, however, just a pegasus, and bound by the constraints of the world. Even she could only move so fast. It was physically impossible for Rainbow Dash to beat the crossbow bolt to its destination. Twilight was the second pony to react. She had had the shield spell ready and waiting in her mind, and the magic did not need to cross the intervening space between her and her threatened friend. It moved at the speed of thought and Twilight thought very fast indeed. Her shield snapped into place around Pinkie Pie almost instantly and, had she been the only pony to react, all would have ended well. Fluttershy heard the twang of the crossbow and, impelled by an instinct of her quintessential kindness, dove into the path of the bolt. The crossbow bolt took her in the chest, just over her heart, and for a single frozen moment of time none could believe what had occurred. Even the griffon commander looked surprised, as if his shot had perhaps been unintentional. Into that stillness Fluttershy gave a soft “oh” of surprise and crumpled to the ground. A high pitched grating scream rent the air. Twilight saw Angel Bunny dashing across the ground to his fallen owner. She hadn’t even known Fluttershy had brought her pet north with her. They’d have to grab him quickly, Fluttershy would feel devastated if anything happened to him. Fluttershy… Fluttershy wouldn’t be feeling anything ever again. The bit dropped for the gathered ponies. With a cry of pain and rage Rainbow Dash resumed her furious charge, not to protect this time, but to attack. Her hooves crackled as they gathered energy from the air and a peal of thunder echoed as she struck Red Feather dead on, sending his smoking form crashing back into his griffons. The thunder reverberated on and on until Twilight realized it was the hootsteps of the ambushing ponies, led by Applejack, crashing down on the disoriented griffons. Pebbles bobbled on the ground and new cracks formed for every stride the armored juggernaut took. She didn’t even slow as she impacted the first of the griffons, trampling them underhoof. Behind her came the royal guard, pouring into the gap in the line that Applejack had smashed open, their blades and hooves cutting deep into the griffon’s numbers. Rainbow came around for another pass and her explosive hooves blasted any griffon that dared try to reform their ranks and turn to fight. Unlike Applejack and Rainbow Dash, Twilight tended to keep her anger and her abilities separate, as a practical matter. Rage can do strange things to magic and no pony wants to deal with the damage a vengeful and out-of-control Archmage could do. Now though, the truth of Fluttershy’s state – no, face it head on – death and the battle that raged around her friends was eating into the pool of calm that usually surrounded her powers. Red filled her vision and the normally magenta aura that surrounded her horn darkened to the color of a gentle friend’s spilled blood. Combat magic might not have been an area with which Twilight had much expertise, but right now that didn’t matter. It’s not hard for a mage to kill. Her eye settled on a group of airborne griffons about to attack the main pony contingent from above with blowguns and crossbows. With a flick of magic, she bound their wings to their sides and watched in satisfaction as they plummeted squawking to their deaths on the hard ground below. It wasn’t enough. Another flicker of magic – and my wasn’t it easy to destroy at the moment – and the ground around her fractured. Sharp shards of rock and crystal rose into the air. She sent them rocketing down to the griffons, cutting holes through armor and flesh alike. And it still wasn’t enough. Twilight’s teeth ground together as her lips curled up in a snarl. It was too easy, taking potshots from on high, too unsatisfying. Her magic seethed with her rage and she wanted to feel their warm blood splash and steam on the cold rocks, wanted to watch the light leave their eyes for what they’d done to Fluttershy. With a bloodcurdling war cry of her own, Twilight let her magic loose, trusting it to give form to her anger. Her blood-red aura forged itself into a wicked blade as large as she was tall. A mage’s blade, it had no hilt and no guard. It could not be held except with a mage’s telekinesis. Angry whips of pure energy lashed the air around the blade and Twilight could feel it’s thirst. She’d grasped the blade in her magic and it howled with her as she teleported into battle. The second she materialized she brought the blade down, cutting easily through the leather armor and flesh of the brown-feathered griffon in front of her. A screech came from her left as another griffon’s talons scratched ineffectively against her armor. She spun and cut deeply again, the blood she’d sought splashing her face. It felt good. Adrenaline pumped through her veins, mixing with the rage and violence in a heady concoction of bloodlust. Twilight embraced the feeling, knowing somewhere in the back of her mind that the second it departed she’d have to face the terrible sorrow of reality. Twilight teleported again, nearer the soldiers cutting their way through the griffon ranks in Applejacks wake. Her blade grew and shrunk as needed and every swing effortlessly cut through everything in front of her, bringing down dozens of griffons. She flashed into the griffon forces just to the left of her troops, catching them in a pincer against her soldiers. Between her frequent teleporting, her howling blade, and the shield spell she’d learned from Shining armor she was a one mare army. Still, there were so many griffons and she wasn’t quite as armored as Applejack. She had a few cuts on her face and at the armor’s joints and exhaustion was looming, though not quite there yet, by the time her rage had diminished enough to join up with the main force of her soldiers without danger to them. The soldiers recoiled from the manic rictus of her face, cast in a fey light by the crimson glow of her ethereal blade. Twilight paid their fears no mind, already turning to face the griffons with which they were engaged. “Archmage! Archmage!” came a call from behind, but Twilight was uninterested in anything other than this newly discovered need to fight. She flashed off a teleport and cried aloud as she ricocheted off a familiar pink shield that had sprung up around her. Spinning around, she spat, “let me go, Captain.” Sure enough, Captain Shining Armor, battle-scarred and weary but still standing tall, strode up to the shield. He leaned in close and looked her in the eyes. “We need to go, now, and to do that you need to get your friends under control. They won’t listen to me or any of my men. Rainbow Dash blasted her way out of the shield and Applejack just bucked her way right through it.” Ha, that explained why he looked tired, the rebound from a shield like this breaking would hit hard. Aloud she said, “we’re winning, Captain. I don’t intend to stop until every griffon is dead.” “Listen to me,” he hissed. “When this started a few griffons made it past our line and raced right for their main camp. I don’t know how long it will take them to return with reinforcements, but when they do return they’ll bring with them the entire griffon army. Unless we make it back to our own troops first we will all die.” “I’m not afraid of a few more feathered targets,” Twilight snapped. “I didn’t take you for a coward, captain.” “Think,” he urged. “I know you’re hurting, Archmage. But we can’t win against all their forces. He eyed her red-dyed armor and the circles of fallen bodies that marked the areas where she’d teleported behind griffon lines to slay every griffon within reach. “You and your friends may have turned the tide here, but sheer numbers will have their say in the end. How many more friends do you want to watch die today?” That struck home with all the force of a crossbow bolt. It tore away the veneer of rage to which Twilight had clung to hold back her grief. She scrabbled desperately to hold on to her anger, to keep using it to power her magic. But it was gone, and in its absence came a tidal wave of loss that threatened to drag her under. Slowly, within the shield, Twilight sank to her knees. The blood-red mage’s blade faded away and Twilight felt nauseous as that bloodstained magic nestled back inside her, just waiting to be called forth to resume the slaughter. With it gone, or at least turned quiescent, her aura lightened back to magenta and there was some small comfort in that. Tears welled up in her one eye and she feared she would be lost to sorrow as she had been to rage. But no, she was Twilight Sparkle, Archmage, speaker for the princesses, wielder of the Element of Magic, and she did not make the same mistake twice. She took the grief and used it to burn the image of that awful moment into her mind, swearing over and over that she would never allow it to happen again. And to follow that new oath she needed her mind and all its faculties as sharp as they had ever been. It took her a few moments, eternity on the battle field, but she regained the control she so desperately needed. Standing, she opened her eye and nodded firmly to Captain Armor. “Release the shield. You finish routing these griffons so they don’t harry us as we run and get your troops to disengage. I’ll stop my friends.” He held her gaze for a moment, assessing, then nodded back and dropped the shield. “Hurry,” he said, before wheeling to his troops and shouting orders in a deep baritone that carried even over the clash of combat. Twilight looked over the battlefield and found her friends. Rainbow was still buzzing above it, moving so fast she was little more than a prismatic blur in Twilight’s one eye. Applejack was easier to track, still marching at the forefront of the battlefield, disregarding every effort by the griffons to bring her down and every effort by the ponies to slow her so that the other troops could catch up. Deciding that Applejack would be easier to reach and to convince, Twilight reached for her magic to teleport next to the armored pony. Unfortunately, she’d burned a reckless amount of magic in the past few minutes and without quite as much adrenaline powering her it wasn’t so easy to throw out teleport after teleport like it was nothing. Growling, she considered trying to force the spell, but long practice told her that she was teetering in a dangerous spot. On the one hoof, forcing more magic immediately might very well push her right into unconsciousness; on the other hoof, a few minutes’ break could keep her functioning at a reasonable level for long enough to do what she had to. Casting her eye back over the field she plotted out a route that would take her as close to Applejack as possible while staying behind pony lines. Satisfied, she took a step and wobbled, nearly falling. That was plain old tiredness and that, at least, she could simply push through. Forcing herself to take another step, and another, she found momentum made each come easier than the last. Muscles, trained through frantic running through the Crystal Empire with the griffons hot on her heels groaned under the strain, but they held. Slowly she picked her way across the battlefield. With her own fury tamped down, the battle was a very different place. Wild yells and screams of effort and pain wound inextricably around one another to the beat of steel clashing with steel. Too many steps came down on rough earth slicked with blood, and more than once she had to detour around a fallen body. The smell was the oddest thing, she decided. Though it felt like it had lasted forever, only a scant half hour had passed since the beginning of the battle. There had not yet been time for the smell of death to sink into the landscape. Each breath held equal chance of being the fresh cold air of the Crystal Empire, or the stink of blood and guts ubiquitous in any war. A stray arrow pinged off the shoulder of her armor and quickly reminded Twilight why woolgathering was a bad idea in the current circumstances. Still, the lapse of concentration had been exactly what her magic reserves needed. She wouldn’t be setting any records, but she could probably handle a few spells without feeling like she’d fall over. Reaching the edge of the line, she shouldered a solider aside and shouted, trying to get Applejack’s attention over the din. The other pony didn’t seem to hear, busy as she was with smashing a leg into and then through the armor of a nearby griffon. Realizing the futility of shouting, Twilight’s eye fixed on the only unarmored part of her friend. With a simple bit of telekinesis she grasped Applejack’s tail and tugged it. Applejack whirled, readying herself from the attack she assumed was coming. When she saw the magenta aura she stared at it stupidly for a moment and then raised her head to Twilight, who beckoned. Stomping her way to the other pony, Applejack loomed over Twilight. “What?” she ground out. Twilight had never had it brought home to her just how large the other pony was. True, she was no Big Mac, but with the begrimed armor and the helmet hiding her face she was the largest and most intimidating figure on the field. The other soldiers scattered now that her attention was on them and even Twilight took a step back. “We have to leave, Applejack,” Twilight managed. “The rest of the griffon army is coming and that is a battle we won’t win.” Applejack cocked her head in confusion, as if she didn’t understand the concept of retreat. “We have to go,” Twilight repeated. “Come on Applejack, you of all pones should know the truth when you hear it.” The other pony shook her head, like a dog shaking off water, and tore off her helmet. Underneath, her orange fun was matted with sweat and tears ran silently down her face. “Twilight, what do we…” she trailed off, looking to Twilight for the answers the other pony had always managed to provide. “I don’t – I don’t know, Applejack. I don’t have some clever way out of this one.” Twilight placed a hoof on the other ponies shoulder, feeling her trembling under the armor. “But if we don’t leave right now, then it won’t have meant anything.” “Ok.” Applejack took a deep breath and nodded. “Ok. I understand. You’re right. But what about Dash?” Dash was still fighting, descending unpredictably to leave smoking craters that sent the griffons flying then soaring up into the clouds to gather the energy and do it again. She’d apparently tried to aim for the commanders, but after she’d taken out Red Feather no other griffon had stepped up. She was up in the clouds at that moment as Twilight took stock of the battlefield and waited for her chance at Dash. The griffons were fighting with surprising unity despite the lack of a commander, Twilight noticed. Despite that, Shining Armor was hammering them hard to buy the rest of the troops room to retreat and it seemed to be working. A bolt of rainbow lightning crashed to earth and Twilight moved fast to catch the other pony. She figured the tail trick had already worked once, and Rainbow was pretty used to it after all. As Dash started to ascend once more, Twilight’s magic yanked on her tail. Rainbow Dash whipped around and instinctively sent a bolt of lightning toward the source of the magic. Twilight only barely managed to raise her shield in time and even that rocked against Dash’s shot. Fortunately, Dash didn’t follow up on the blow. She realized who it had been that grabbed her, and she swooped down to hover next to Twilight and Applejack. “Don’t stop me,” she said without preamble. “I won’t stop you from fighting them,” Twilight said carefully, “but now isn’t the time. Scouts are going to bring the entire griffon army down on us.” “Great!” she shouted. “I’ll blow them out of the sky! I’ll fight them all. Alone if I have to!” “Then you’ll die,” Twilight said simply. “And we’ll have lost two friends today.” Dash wilted at that but Twilight wasn’t done. “I understand how you feel. More than you can know.” Deep inside Twilight the mage’s blade pulsed once, aching to come out and resume laying waste to the griffon forces, but she forced it back down. “I’m not telling you to stop. I’m telling you not to die with the job undone. Fluttershy wouldn’t want – wouldn’t have wanted any of us to die here. Pick your battles Dash. For her. Please?” It was frightening to watch Dash take those words to heart. The hotheaded pegasus visibly corralled her anger and grief, pushing them into a cold ember of pain that could keep her going. Her normally expressive face went flat, losing even the sadness that had colored it moments earlier. “Fine,” she said, her magenta eyes boring into Twilight’s own purple one. “But you have to promise me we’ll avenge Fluttershy.” Twilight never blinked. “I promise. Even if we have to topple the whole griffon empire, we’ll do it.” Nodding Dash turned away. Her voice lost a little of the steely will and a vulnerable note entered it. “Come on, I’m not leaving her here.” The line of battle had long since moved passed where Fluttershy lay and the three ponies were unopposed as they made their way over. Gilda, who had been intended to rescue Pinkie in the original plan, had done her job and now stood guard over the pink pony. For her part, Pinkie, mane still flat and dull, cradled Fluttershy’s body and wept over it. No laughter came from her, not here, not now. As they approached Twilight saw – and this was a complement of the larger sadness – the body of Angel, dead on the ground surrounded by three warrior griffons. She couldn’t imagine how he might have managed it, but that bunny had always had a vicious protective streak. Kneeling next to the sobbing pony, Twilight gently wrapped her hooves around Pinkie. “We have to go now, Pinkie.” Behind her she heard Rainbow approach Gilda. “You got Pinkie, guarded her,” she said, her voice still flat. “Just following the plan,” Gilda said, awkwardly ruffling her feathers. “I didn’t have to actually do any fighting.” “Still,” Rainbow said, after a moments pause, “thanks.” Buried in that thanks was forgiveness, maybe, or trust. An undoing of the sundering that had come when Gilda had been cruel to Pinkie and Fluttershy. Gilda acknowledged it as such. “I’m sorry about—“ Gilda gestured helplessly toward Fluttershy. “Me too.” Having said what she needed to say, Dash moved to where Twilight was still comforting Pinkie. “I’ll carry her,” she said. “We’re going to have to move fast, Dash,” Twilight objected. “Applejack should carry her.” “It’ll be fine,” Dash said, flying over Twilight and bending down to Fluttershy. “Her body was always the smallest thing about her.” Wrapping her two front hooves tenderly around the yellow body lying peacefully on the ground – she could have been sleeping were it not for the bolt in her breast – Dash lifted Fluttershy on her last flight. As she ascended, back legs dangling and wings outstretched, the clouds broke for just a moment. A sunbeam illuminated the golden body and the rainbow mane. Twilight swore she saw a pony shaped from golden motes rise toward the firmament, guided by a fierce prismatic Valkyrie and whispering “I’m sorry” as it went. The moment passed. The light faded and all that was left was one very sad pony, carrying a weight she never should have had to bear. “Bring Angel,” Dash said. “She’d want him with her.” “Ah got him,” Applejack said, not unkindly. She carefully lifted the tiny limp body and slotted it into a joint of her armor where it wouldn’t jostle or fall as she ran. With the help of Rarity, who had sensibly hidden when battle had broken out and just now surfaced when she’d seen her friends gathering, Twilight had managed to get Pinkie to her hooves. The other pony’s eyes were glassy and she moved gingerly, as if afraid of hurting herself or somepony else. However, she would run when prodded and right now that was all they needed. The troops had formed up behind them to prepare for the run back to base. What griffons remained alive had taken to the air and the pony soldiers lacked enough pegasi to pursue them. For their part, the griffons didn’t dare try and stop them for fear of what Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and a complement of pegasi might do to them. Now it came down to simple speed. Captain Armor rejoined Twilight and the others. He took in everypony’s sorry state and looked like he wanted to say something encouraging. His eyes fell on Dash hovering above everypony with Fluttershy in her hooves and he just sighed sadly. “Ready?” he asked Twilight. She nodded and in response he bellowed out to his troops, “forward march! Double time!” They began to canter, with the remains of the Mane six and Gilda at the head of the column. It was a strange funeral procession, and each soldier’s eyes often returned to the figure flying before them. Had she been in a more typical frame of mind, Twilight might have worried that the soldiers would resent having Fluttershy’s body brought home when they had had to leave no small number of their own comrades behind. But she would have been mistaken in that worry. Fluttershy had not spent her time training like Applejack and Rainbow Dash, or administrating like Rarity and Twilight Sparkle, she had spent it taking care of the soldiers as best she could and they counted her as one of their own. More than one soldier’s eyes drifted to her as they ran and more than one felt a tear trace its way down their face. On and on they galloped, racing for home and safety. It was a testament to Shining Armor’s training and command that they did not break ranks; that the retreat did not turn into an uncontrolled rout. The mood was so different than it had been on the way out. Then their spirits had been buoyed by the chance to finally fight, to release the tension that had been building for months. Now that mood had soured. The gritty reality of combat reared its ugly head in the empty spaces in the ranks, which gaped like the open wounds they’d received and dealt. It came too, in the labored breathing of the wounded and the struggling grunts of those that aided them. Still, they took twin comforts from the fact that they had left the field of battle victorious, and that at least no injured ponies had been left behind to die on that field. Twilight, though, paid the soldiers running behind her little mind. She trusted Captain Armor to see to his men. No, she was busy calculating the air speed of the average griffon, estimating the how fast the main griffon force could assemble, and guessing at how long it would take for that army to make its way back to them. They had a chance, she thought. The first griffons would have only left to fly back shortly before the ponies themselves had departed, and it would take no small period of time to gather enough griffons to be sure of victory. *** They should have had a chance, she thought, as they broke free of the rocky outcroppings and entered the wide plain that surrounded the city. Her estimates had suggested that the griffon army should have still been assembling. The cold facts proved different. Her heart sank as she saw the entire griffon army lift like a black cloud from behind the walls of the capital of the Crystal Empire. Up they rose and their numbers blotted out the pale weak sun. “Any ideas, Captain?” she asked of Shining Armor. “How many can you teleport?” Twilights shook her head. “Not enough to matter.” “I don’t suppose you’d be willing to teleport to safety yourself?” he asked hopefully. “No,” she answered, voice firm. “I brought these ponies out here. I won’t just abandon them.” Shining Armor shrugged. “I figured as much.” He raised his voice into a shout so all could hear. “Stallions and mares, sell your lives dearly! And whatever you do, keep running. It’s the only chance any of us have.” “So that’s it? We run straight at them and hope they don’t pick too many of us off?” Twilight should have felt afraid or angry, but she just felt tired. It was too much in too short a time. Every idea that sprung to mind was crushed by the dark cloud of snapping beaks and flashing talons that even now soared toward them. “Well, there is one thing. Remember the shield, Twilight? I’m going to cast it over the army, angled in front so we can still run.” He managed a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “There’s no way you have enough magic for that,” she protested. “And when it gets broken the feedback from a spell that large could kill you.” “That’s true,” he allowed. “I still have to try though. I was hoping that you could link with me to help hold it up. Between us we might have enough juice left to get inside the walls.” Twilight blinked. “But we barely know each other. I don’t think we’d be able to link at all, let alone while we’re running for our lives.” “It’ll work,” Shining Armor said without a hint of doubt. He cast a weather eye toward the approaching griffons. “I’m starting the shield. Give it a try.” His horn began to glow magenta and his eyes took on the blank gaze of a unicorn preparing a complicated spell. As she had done with Rarity, Twilight reached for her magic and brought it to the forefront of her mind. She shaped it, molding the magic to what she knew of Shining Armor. Slowly, delicately, she reached out a tendril of magic that just brushed against the captain’s aura. She expected rejection, for her magic to be repelled like similar ends of a magnet and merely hoped that she’d gain enough insight into his magic for a quick second attempt to be successful. Instead, the second their magic touched a fully-formed link sprang into being. It was easy and almost without thinking Twilight sent her magic flowing down the link. “That’s it, Twily, send whatever you can spare,” Shining mumbled distractedly. Overhead a pink curtain had formed above the center of their army and was descending with a curved dome on three sides and a sharp forty-five-degree angle in the front. As one, the griffons let out a screech of rage and spurred themselves to greater efforts, seeking to attack before the shield was complete. Twilight was so startled at the ease of the link that she almost pulled back. Linking with Rarity had required several tries to get right and even then it was like trying to pour a barrel of water through a funnel. Two ponies who had had relatively few interactions should not have been able to link so easily. It was almost as if their magic itself was similar in some way, though Twilight didn’t know how that could be. “A little more,” Shining said, his teeth gritted in effort. It dragged Twilight’s attention back to their plight and she sent another wave of magic over to him. “Yes!” he crowed in triumph as the shield just reached the ground as the first griffons slammed into it and were carried by their momentum up along the slant and over the top. The whole dome rang like a bell from the impact, but it held and the griffons wheeled off to make another pass. Twice more the griffons made attack runs, dragging their sharp talons along the shield. Each time Shining Armor, aided by Twilight’s rapidly depleting magic, managed to hold them at bay. Again Twilight felt hope rise within her. They were holding the griffons off and the city was closer than ever, surely they could make it. That hope was swiftly dashed by a despairing moan from Shining Armor. She followed his gaze and saw that the griffons, moving with unnatural speed and precision, had carved a trench in between the ponies and the gate. It wasn’t terribly wide and for a moment Twilight wondered how it was meant to stop them. Then she saw the griffons bracing themselves against its back and readying their claws and she understood. Shining couldn’t add a bottom to the shield without preventing the army from running and without that shield the griffons could gut them from below. Their only option was to avoid the trench. Already Shining Armor was shouting commands to the troops, trying to get the army to turn in time. Twilight wasn’t sure if they would make it. They were 50 yards away and the troops were only starting to turn, then 20, then 10. Holding her breath, Twilight tried to watch were she was going and keep an eye on the army at the same time. Twilight didn’t actually see it, but the angry screeching of the griffons told her that the rightmost edge of the army had cleared the trench. Peering back, she saw that the outermost troops were barely half a yard from the sloping entrance to the trench and the waiting griffons swiped their claws at the shield as they passed. Hope began its now familiar roller coaster in her chest, rising only to fall as she realized that, while they had not fallen into the trench, they nevertheless had left themselves vulnerable. By changing the angle at which they were running, without changing the direction of the shield there now was a small flat slice of magic facing directly forward. Sensing weakness, the Griffons formed up once again and dove. Driving with talon and beak toward that one flat spot. They crashed brutally into the shield, setting it to ringing once again. For a moment Twilight thought it might hold anyway. But, without the angle to redirect the force, Shining Armor couldn’t hold back the sheer weight of the griffon flock. Like glass, the shield shattered. Pink motes and shards of magic rained on the heads of the troops and vanished back into nothing. Shining Armor’s scream of agony as magical feedback ripped through his mind melded with the griffons’ screams of triumph and the ponies’ moans of despair. As the griffon’s dive bombed the royal guard, the troops lost cohesion and momentum. Too many soldiers stumbled over the bodies of their comrades or fell from the exhaustion of two long runs and a battle between. Twilight sank to her knees next to Shining Armor’s unmoving form, out of tricks, out of magic, lacking the will to even take another pointless step. Instinctively, the remaining elements and Gilda clustered around Twilight, looking to her for direction, a plan, something. Twilight had nothing. Too many shocks, too much effort in too short a time. She was, after all, only mortal. All around the troops drew closer, herding together to protect their fallen captain. Beneath her knees Twilight felt the earth rumble as they stamped on the ground and swiped at the descending griffons. Or no, wait. The groaning of the earth was too loud to simply be the last brave stand of her troops. The core element of Twilight’s being was, of course, curiosity, and now, stripped of everything else, curiosity was what found its way to the surface. Knowing that an answer would be pointless in the face of her impending death, Twilight nevertheless shut her eye and mustered up the energy to send a simple pulse of magic down into the earth, questing for noise’s source. Even that faint sparkling of her horn encouraged her friends who, fortunately, knew nothing of her true state of mind. Past experience had taught them that if Twilight was doing magic then she hadn’t given up, and neither should they. “Protect the Archmage!” Applejack boomed across the plane. She hunched over her friend, trusting to her armor and her body to keep her friend safe. Griffons that dove against her scrapped ineffectively against her plate or met an upraised leg with a brutal crunch. “The Archmage!” the troops thundered as one, redoubling their efforts. The savagery of the griffons was met with the steely determination of cornered soldiers fighting with all they had. For all that they had the upper hoof, the griffons fought wildly. The ponies took advantage of that opening, relying on their discipline and training with one another to double team the diving griffons and bring them down. Dash, refusing to put Fluttershy’s body down, even for an instant, was relying on the ebonite gloves on her hind legs to fire bolt after bolt of lightning into the seething mass of griffons overhead. Every strike sent smoking griffons spiraling to the hard earth below. A myriad of moments of outstanding courage and sacrifice went unnoticed in that minute as the ponies struggled fate to buy the archamge what time they could. Their faith was rewarded. Twilight’s eye snapped open and she leapt to her hooves. She spoke to Applejack, passing along the orders everypony needed to be given. Applejack braced herself, raised her head, and commanded in a voice that carried across the battlefield, “fall back! Back across the trench. Fall back!” In a way, it was easier for the soldiers to obey now than it would have been earlier. Exhaustion has leveled the differences between them and now they would obey without thinking or worrying about timing themselves to the others. When in doubt or in despair, the old herd instincts came to fore and moving as one became the simplest thing in the world. Far harder, of course, was resisting the pressure of the griffons. Without Rainbow Dash and Applejack, they wouldn’t have made it. Dash was the last pegasus left slinging lightning into the griffon lines to create holes where the griffons fell. Applejack hammered those holes into an opening like no pony else could have. Despite their valiant efforts each step across ground which they had so recently traversed at a run was paid for in grudging blood. At last, and with a triumphant cry, Applejack gained the trench. Really it was no more than shallow rut in the earth, but it would have to do. “Cross!” she ordered, waiting in place to hold that crossing. It took another painful three minutes to get the ponies across. Twice the griffons attacked the crossing and threatened to split the pony army in two. Twice Rainbow Dash’s lightning and Applejack’s sheer strength pushed them back. Twilight knelt on the other side, horn almost touching the ground, waiting for the right moment. When Applejack, last of all the ponies, crossed, Twilight shut her eye and her horn flashed briefly. Then she stood, wobbling from magic depletion. “We hold here,” she tried to shout, though her voice wasn’t strong enough to cut through the din of battle. Other ponies nearby picked it up and her message rippled through the army. “We hold!” the troops called to one another. They didn’t have to hold long. The ground rumbled again, loud enough that everypony and every griffon could hear. Beneath the soldiers’ hooves the ground began to quake. The motion grew stronger, more violent, and the ponies were flung from their hooves. Confused and afraid, the griffons began to flee back toward the city. With a thunderous crash the trench yawned open. A wave of hot sulfurous air blew out and an ominous red glow lit the bottom of the new chasm. With a great whoosh, a ball of deep blue light shot upwards, glowing too brightly to make out any details. Swiftly on its heels came a great upwelling wave of lava. The troops cried out in fear and alarm as they scrambled back from the deadly heat. “Hold!” Twilight reminded them, standing unafraid scant yards from the lava. Crawling along the edge of the lava closest to the ponies came a magic shield, the same color as the ball that had preceded the lava and even now hovered high above it. One of the troops, a brown earth pony sharper than most, was the first to put the pieces together. “The princess!” he cried. “We’re saved!” Far above, the light pulsed once in response and other soldiers took up the call. “Princess Luna.” “She’s come for us.” “Hail Princess of the night!” Organically, a music welled up from the soldiers. The Lunar Anthem rang across the plane as a triumphant expression of the trust the soldiers had for their princess. Some even cried, believing for the first time since they had fought the griffons that they might survive. Luna’s magic swelled with their song and she bent the wave of lava against the fleeing griffons. It crested high above the plane, its top frothing with flame and liquefied rock. Using her shields Luna contained it, kept it from crashing backwards on her ponies. Though the griffons were too distant for the ponies to hear their screams above the roar of the lava itself and the singing of the soldiers, there nevertheless was no doubt about what was happening. Luna was single hoofedly decimating the griffon forces. Twilight could only watch, impressed despite herself. She was an accomplished magic user and, with the right preparation and environment, she could challenge even an immortal like Luna. But there was something to be said for the sheer raw power it took to move that much mass and heat. She was so caught up in watching that she almost missed the three chunks of lava that did make it through the shield on the pony side. Rarity, however, was paying more attention to her surroundings and she kept a close eye on the rapidly cooling and hardening lumps of molten rock. She was the first to notice when a familiar spiky green and purple head shook off the rock like a dog shaking off water. “Spike!” she screeched, drawing the attention of the others and dashing forward to through herself at him. “Wait,” he said, and when a pout threatened to form he added quickly, “the rock’s still hot. I don’t want you getting hurt.” Rarity fidgeted, dancing from hoof to hoof as Twilight and the others caught up. With a sharp crack, Spike yanked an arm free and began clearing the hardened lava away from the rest of his body. “I’m really glad to see you all,” he said as he worked. “I felt something wrong through my connection to the Elements. You know, the one I told Rarity and Twilight about before. I guess I was just reacting to the threat or something like that. I’m glad you’re all ok.” “We’re not.” Spike’s head shot up at Rainbow’s flat declaration. “But I thought…” he trailed off. Twilight realized he must have assumed that Rainbow was helping a tired Fluttershy along, as she had done plenty of other times. Spike took in the limp body in Rainbow’s forelegs, seeing it properly for the first time. “No,” he moaned. His whole body sank to the ground, eyes closing. “No, no, no, no, no!” Hesitantly, Rarity approached the grieving dragon. She reached out a hoof, like a pony testing the temperature of an oven. He proved cool enough that she could wrap him in a hug. “Oh, Spike,” she murmured. “I should have been there.” “Spike, we were all there. There wasn’t anything to be done, darling,” she soothed. In the meantime, and unnoticed by the ponies, Iolite and Sim had removed their own rocky covering and helped Thraxus out of his as well. Twilight glanced over at the three dragons as they approached. “Since you’re with Luna I assume you’re not here to fight.” “Quite correct,” Sim said, spreading its arms and bowing ironically. “Your princess has secured an alliance with all the dragons not under Sombra’s control.” Earlier, the implication that the majority of the dragons were under Sombra’s control would have been the worst news she’d heard in months. Now, it was just one more weight for her shoulders. To clarify she asked, “and you four are the only dragons not under his control, I presume?” “Yes,” Sim confirmed. “We must begin planning our next moves.” Twilight held up a hoof. “Not now. None of us are in any shape to think things through, and I doubt you had an easy time of it either.” “But time is of the essence.” “Later,” Twilight ground out. She paused, then turned to Iolite. “Thank you,” she said stiffly. “If you’re here then it must be because of you that Spike wasn’t taken. So thanks.” Iolite nodded back but was saved from having to respond by the return of Princess Luna. Greeted by a great cheer Princess Luna slammed to the much abused ground hard enough to crack it further. A very dazed and confused Sunlit Rooms had a death grip around Luna’s neck. It took a few moments of coaxing before she could be persuaded to let go and stand on her own wobbling legs. “Soldiers form ranks!” Luna shouted the second she was unencumbered. As the soldiers arranged themselves she bent down to speak to Twilight. “I know tragedy has struck, but there’s no time. We must reach the walls before the griffons regroup or the dragons attack.” Twilight nodded, taking refugee from the situation in the demands of necessity. “Right. You make a bridge for us over the lava and I’ll make sure everypony keeps moving.” Without waiting for a response she spun around. “Applejack, with me. I need your lungs.” “Ya can count on me, Twilight,” she drawled, clanking as she fell into step beside the smaller pony. Between the two of them a semblance of order emerged. The least injured troops took the point and the rearguard while those still mobile helped the worst injured in the center of the formation. Twilight took a moment to ensure that Shining Armor was among the wounded and that those carrying him knew to keep his head as still as possible. She didn’t know whether he would ever wake up or what shape he would be in if he did, but Twilight hated the thought of inflicting a preventable injury on top of what he’d already suffered. As the troops fell into place, Luna’s magic unrolled in front of them. A navy blue carpet stretched across the lava’s hot dark expanse all the way to the city gates. The army was battered and bruised and lacking so many of the friends they had set out with. Nevertheless, they were alive and they trudged across their princess’ magic, heading towards home.