Celestia's sun was shining brightly when Dash moved her troops out of camp and towards Canterlot. They'd gone little further than a mile when she halted them and stood looking around.
"What's wrong, General Dash?" Spike asked from his place next to Scootaloo.
"Something doesn't feel right." Dash said, eyes scanning the surrounding countryside. She thought she saw a flash of orange, and stared hard at the spot. When nothing else happened, she scowled.
"Alright, lets move. But proceed with caution and for Celesta's sake keep your weapons ready! Something is really off, but I don't know what."
"Trixie might know." The magician was scanning their surrounding as well, but was using a scanner spell to detect the slightest movement or sound. She picked up on a flash of pink. "Ah. Yes. Trixie knows." She looked at Dash. "We appear to have company, General."
Her words proved true when Defenders came bursting out of hiding all around them, yelling. So sudden was the attack that a good many of Dash's troops fell at the hooves of the enemy.
"Chaaaaarge!" Dash yelled, and lunged into the fray with her friends following. Rarity and Sweetie Belle fought valiantly side by side, but all too soon the former was struck in the chest by a bullet and let out a shriek.
"No! Rarity!" Sweetie Belle cried, as her sister calmly laid herself down on a patch of grass(in the shade, I might add), and began to die...quite theatrically.
"Oh Sweetie! I'm hit!" She cried. "Oh! I haven't long, little sister!" Sweetie Belle came and flung her forelegs around her.
"No!" She said. "Hang on, Rarity! Please don't die! Please! We still have to take Canterlot! And then Equestria! Please don't die!" Rarity laid her head down on her sister's neck and let out a dramatic gasp.
"Oh Sweetie Belle...you will have to...take Canterlot...for the both of us." She gasped out. "And always remember, I love you!" She twitched, kicked one leg, let out a long and raspy shriek, then put her head down on her forelegs and lay very still.
"Oh Rarity!" Sweetie Belle wailed. A blue blur swept in. Dash stared.
"Oh no, Rarity!" She said. She sighed. "Sleep well in eternity. I'll miss you. Come on, Sweetie!" She dragged the filly away, back into battle. They fought their way to the others.
"Rarity?" Spike asked.
"Gone." Dash said.
"Oh not Rarity!" Spike gasped. He hung his head and sighed heavily.
Dash rolled her eyes, then led her companions into the thick of yet another surge of Defenders. This one was led by Applejack herself, accompanied by Pinkie. Starlight circled around to cut off Trixie.
"So, you want to fight the Great and Powerful Trixie, do you?" Trixie challenged her friend...er..current enemy. "Well. Trixie is ready for you."
"Yeah! With her Second Greatest and Most Powerful Assistant!" Apple Bloom piped up proudly. Starlight raised an eyebrow at Trixie.
"So. Replacing me already, eh, Trix? That's not very nice of you."
"Yes, well...note she is Trixie's Second Greatest..."Trixie pointed out.
"Oh, that makes all the difference for sure." Starlight said drily. Then she grinned. "Alright, Great and Powerful Trixie..." she glanced at the filly beside her "...and assistant. Prepare to be defeated!"
Trixie threw up a shield just in time to protect herself and her young charge from a blast of magic that, at worst, would have knocked them both head over hooves. She let it drop and fired back with a low strength knockout spell...enough to daze but not to actually cause unconciousness. Starlight blocked it with a shield. The two stood glaring at each other. A sudden, filly-ish yell was Starlight's only warning before Apple Bloom charged in and walloped her sword across her flank. Hard.
"Ow! Hey!" Starlight yelled, spinning around to see who had dared to actually swat her. Seeing the filly, she smirked. "So, that's how you want to fight, is it? Ok, little filly. You asked for it!" Apple Bloom yelped as Starlight's horn started glowing, but before she could run, she was captured in the older pony's magic and held gently but firmly.
"Let me go!" She yelled.
"Ohhhhh, no!" Starlight smirked. "You swat your elders on the flank, you pay the price."
"Trixie, help!" Apple Bloom wailed. Trixie immediately started to leap to her aid, but a quick burst of magic from Starlight paralyzed her in her track. Literally.
"An immobilizing spell." Trixie said drily. "How very rude. Trixie is not amused!" Starlight grinned as she used another glow of magic to draw her own sword and raise it...right above the flank of the squirming filly in her grasp. Apple Bloom instantly tensed.
'Uh oh. Maybe hittin' her on the flank wasn't a good idea after all!'
Starlight's grin widened, then she brought the sword down across the filly's flank with a good bit of force. Being foam, it didn't hurt much...it just left a small sting that made Apple Bloom blink. Her yelp was more of shock than pain. After a second smack, Starlight lowered her sword and set the filly down.
"Next time, don't swat me." She grinned. "Stab me, shoot me...don't swat me."
"Ah won't!" Apple Bloom said. Trixie recovered her powers pf mobility and stepped towards Starlight, eyes flashing.
"How dare you attack Trixie's assistant!" She huffed. "Trixie demands an apology!"
"Nope." Starlight said. "It was fair." This was met with violence as Trixie and her charge pounced on the smug unicorn and proceeded to thrash her without mercy.
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Dash was fighting Applejack and Pinkie Pie as forcefully as possible, with Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle valiantly assisting her. The fillies were surprisingly adept at sword fighting, dishing out more than what they got. Spike was not only employing sword and gun, but also a very moderate degree of dragon flame breath...very very moderate. With no lasting damage.
"For Rarity!!" Was his battle cry each time he cut a pony down. "For my dear, sweet Rarity!!" Dash rolled her eyes every time. Then she sent Applejack and Pinkie running, and came face to face with a trembling Fluttershy.
"You!" She said, in a tone that made the other pegasus cringe.
"Um...hi...um...I'm supposed to fight you, I think, so, um..." Fluttershy gulped, and reached out a trembling hoof, poking her so lightly in the foreleg with her sword she might as well not have touched her at all. "Um...there. You...I got you."
At Dash's incredulous look, she gasped and shivered.
"I...I didn't really hurt you, did I? Oh I'm sorry!" She whimpered. Dash rolled her eyes.
"No, you didn't. Thanks for asking. But it won't save you. You are a traitor, and I am going to end you."
"Eep!!" Squeaked Fluttershy...and she promptly lifted off the ground and flew for her life towards Canterlot, leaving a startled Dash to stare after her in shock. Within earshot and eyesight, Applejack and Pinkie Pie exchanged astonished looks.
"Twilight made her a scout?? An' we armed her and dragged her out to fight??
Only to have her run??? Tarnation! Glad the fate of Equestria don't rest entirely on her in this war!" Applejack groaned. Then the two of them were promptly drawn back into battle.
The Rebels put up a massive fight, giving the Defenders a run for their money, matching every bullet and sword stroke with one of their own. At the end of an hour, nearly two thirds of Applejack's troops were sprawled on the battlefield, either wounded or killed, and Dash had lost a little more than half of her own troops. The Defenders were forced to beat a hasty retreat, while the weary but triumphant Rebels marched the rest of the way to Canterlot...completely unstopped along the way. When they arrived at the city, Dash gathered her troops together, noting that there were already Rebel troops surrounding Canterlot on all sides. There could be seen dozens of Defenders lined up and ready to fight. Dash grinned.
"Well, Twilight said we couldn't make it to Canterlot, and we did." She said. "This is gonna be awesome!"
"Maybe not." Trixie observed. "Look who just arrived." Applejack and her remaining forces had just joined the Canterlot Defenders. Everypony just stood in formation and stared each other down.
"Spike!" Dash said. "Send a letter to the Princesses! Tell them we are outside the city, and either to surrender peacefully or be taken by force!"
Spike obeyed the order, and everypony stood waiting for the response.
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In the castle, a scroll materialised in front of Celestia, who took it in her magic and unrolled it. She snickered as Luna and Twilight gathered close to read it also.
Dear Princesses Celestia, Luna, and Twilight,
This is to inform you that we have taken control of all towns within fifty miles of Canterlot on all sides and we now have Canterlot, and you, completely surrounded. This is your one final chance to lay down your arms and surrender peacefully, or we will come in and take you by force.
It's up to you. If I were you, I wouldn't wait too long to respond. I'm not known for being patient.
Respectfully,
General Rainbow "Awesome" Dash, Rebel Army
"Well, she proved me wrong by making it past Applejack's army and reaching Canterlot." Twilight said.
"I suppose we should respond immediately." Luna giggled. Celestia smirked. She wrote a few lines on a piece of paper, rolled it, sealed it, and sent it.
"I wish I could see her face when she reads that." She snickered. "Meantime, we better prepare to fight for our lives anf for Equestria."
The giggling princesses hurried to get ready for Dash's takeover.
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Outside the city, Spike burped up the letter and unrolled it.
"Oh boy." Dash siezed it and read it out loud.
Dear General "Awesome" Dash,
We hereby inform you that we will not be surrendering our thrones, or Equestria, to your Rebel Army. While we appreciate the effort you took to give us a last chance to do so, we feel we must fight to defend ourselves.
So, General Dash, you are going to have to take us by force. Or die trying.
Good luck, General.
Respectfully,
Princess Celestia
Dash huffed.
"Alright! They asked for it!" She snapped. "They want force, they're gonna get it! We'll rest up a bit, and then...we attack!!"
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News of the impending attack was dispatched to Applejack.
"Tarnation. That pony will not give up. Well. We ain't letting them Rebels take Canterlot! Or our Princesses!" A rousing cheer met her statement.
"Applejack." Pinkie said.
"Yeah, sugarcube?"
"Rainbow Dash. She's mine."
"Ah know, Commander. Revenge."
"Permission to blast her with my party canon on sight?"
"First we capture her. Then we try her. Then you can have her."
"Ooh, goody! I can't wait!!! Plus I wanna see Gummy!"
Applejack sighed. "Ah know, Pinkie. Ya said it a hundred times since yesterday." Pinkie only giggled. Starlight shook her head.
Rainbow Dash had no idea how sorry she was going to be for taking Gummy prisoner.
But she was going to be very, very sorry.
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Fluttershy was hiding in the room when Dash's letter arrived. Once the others were gone, she read it for herself.
"Oh...oh my...oh my!" She gasped.
And immediately dove back into hiding under the table, with her animals.
'Oh please don't let Dash find me!'