Corporal Breeze scrambled to the rear of the palace wall. It overlooked the path up to the palace itself, with formerly well-tended grounds on either side, now rather overgrown and scraggy after months of neglect. The grass was long and thick, bushes unpruned and patches of weeds were everywhere. Now, there was a plague, too. A plague of Chaos.
Men were streaming in through the opening in the gate, spearheaded by the armoured giants and their heavy guns. There were defensive positions inside the gate, placed there in case of a breakthrough, and ponies opened fire from behind the barricades. They struck down some of the infantry following, but could not harm the vanguard. A field gun roared and did at last inflict some damage on them, ripping the arm away from one of the leading figures. It hardly seemed to slow him down, however, and he was still able to wield his weapon in his other hand and return fire.
The ponies on the wall turned their attention to the breach and switched from firing down at the enemies outside the wall to those who had made it through into the palace grounds. The best, perhaps the only, way to stop them making further progress was to hit them rapidly, from more than one direction at the same time. Ponies attacked from the walls as well as from behind the barricades inside the palace grounds, catching the enemy infantry in a crossfire while staying out of the line of fire of their own comrades. Their rifles and magic proved deadly to the lightly protected men who crowded the breach, forcing their way through, pushing and jostling and shoving with their fellows to try and beat them through the opening and into the palace grounds. The armoured phalanx at the head of the enemy attack, however, continued on. The staff-wielding man pointed the head of the long device at the barricades ahead of him, and they burst into flame, the wood crackling and charring. Another gesture made the ground ahead shake, and the cobbles crackled as ponies stumbled. Earthquakes were rare around Canterlot, which was one of the reasons the city had been able to stay in its relatively precarious position perched on the mountainside for so very long. This tremor, however, was localised entirely to the area ahead of the Chaos assault, enough to drop ponies to their knees and knock over sandbagged barriers, exposing the defenders to fire while simultaneously limiting their own ability to retaliate effectively.
The ponies behind, on the wall, however, were unaffected, and continued to pour fire into the mass of men below. Corporal Breeze called his ponies over and they joined in, lining the walltop and unloading their magazines into the throng. Return fire, red beams galore, strobed around them, blowing chunks from the stonework and killing several ponies, including one unicorn who tried to protect himself with a magic shield, only to remember with horror, or perhaps learn for the first time, that the human beam weaponry could pass right through it. Ponies who were aware of that fact remained crouched low behind the wall for protection. Everypony should have known it; it had been part of the briefings given to all Equestrian troops as soon as the facts had been definitively established. But in the heat of battle, when every second counted and instinct so often kicked in, it was easy to forget and to rely instead on the old truths; magical shields stopped enemy fire, and it used to be as simple as that.
More enemies rushed through the breach. Some of them began to head to the sides, to the staircases that led up to the palace wall. If they reached them, and got to the walltop, then the defenders there would be cut off from an escape route. There were too many enemies entering the breach to be able to stop them all, even as a couple of thrown satchel charges detonated below and killed dozens of men, spreading blood and body parts across the breach point. They kept on coming, however, and they were making rapid progress toward the stairs. The problem was obvious, and the Lieutenant in charge gave the orders to retreat along the walls, splitting the force in two, with half going left and half going right. They were to secure the top of each staircase, and if the position seemed untenable then they were to continue to fall back, a fighting withdrawal along the wall to link up with friendly forces farther down, or to descend the next staircase and move to reinforce the line in the palace grounds.
Breeze shouted orders to his group, retreating from his position in turn with those around him, moving in bounds and covering each other. Unicorns threw up shields as ponies passed vulnerable points. It would not protect them from the red beams, but it would defend against bullets, which the humans were also making good use of, and against the high-explosive rounds being fired by the guns of the armoured enemies. Some ponies had already secured the top of the stairs, but were pinned down behind the stonework as shots were pumped into it from below, the enemy attempting to force their way up and onto the wall. They were determined, but the ponies were equally determined to try and throw them back and hold their ground.
Breeze ordered his ponies into position. There were some crates and barrels along the wall and ponies crouched behind them, aiming their weapons at the stairs. Those guardsponies at the stair head were firing down with their rifles, trying to duck and avoid incoming fire at the same time. One of them tossed a satchel charge over and down, which detonated with a loud bang a couple of seconds later. There were screams, and renewed gunfire from below. Two ponies were caught and killed by the red beams, and others moved up to take their place and keep up the pressure on the enemy. Climbing to the top of a flight of stairs while under fire was not the easiest of tasks, and Breeze knew they had to not let up even for a moment, for that would be to invite disaster and allow the enemy to make the progress they were seeking. He and the others around him had to forget the rest of the fight, forget the battle still going on down below where the armoured enemies were trying to break through to the palace. They had to focus on their own struggle or they could very easily be overrun.
They also had to watch to see that the other group farther down the wall were holding their own, otherwise it would be a simple task for the enemy to outflank them and gain access to the wall, rolling them up easily enough with enfilading fire. Very little attention could be spared for the enemy still outside the wall, as they posed little threat until they had made it through the breach. There was no way they could climb up the vertical face, even with the aid of the various architectural decorations that studded it. The threat would come from inside, from the staircases.
One man made it to the top of the stairs and was immediately riddled with bullets, tumbling back in a heap and rolling down the stairs he had just struggled to climb. More snarling men were trying to follow him, but pony rifles were accurate, and were now joined by several shotguns since the range was short. One human lost half his head to a blast of buckshot, while another had a hole blown in his chest. Soon the stairs were slick with blood from the fallen, and still they had not made the walltop. The ponies there were holding, but the same could not be said for those down in the palace grounds.
The armoured phalanx of Chaos infantry were proving all but unstoppable, a juggernaut rolling over everything in their path with inexorable fury. Their weapons tore through cover, blowing holes in barricades and popping sandbags like balloons with sprays of dirt as the explosive shells did their work. Where they found ponies, the results were even more messy, with fountains of blood and viscera. The armour worn by the guardsponies was not proof against their exploding rounds, nor against the psychedelic light show that crackled and flashed from the tip of the staff held by the largest of the armoured men. It burned and scarred, and it killed. The field gun crew were wiped out as the dark magic ignited their ammunition supply, detonating in a single loud blast that demolished the barricade around them and killed half a dozen other guardsponies. The line was faltering and fading fast. Some ponies broke and ran, seeing the futility of remaining at their posts. Others stood to fight, determined to hold the line no matter what odds they may be facing.
Ultimately, their choices mattered little, for the result was the same. Those that stood were killed, and those who ran were killed also. The armoured men, backed up by hordes of infantry, were ruthless and precise, leaving none alive. Where they found a wounded pony, they finished them off with a shot to the head. Where they found a corpse, they made absolutely sure that it was a corpse before moving on. Whether it was pragmatism or a bestial lust for violence, none could tell. Again, it did not matter in truth. They had a clear path through to the palace, the last of the resistance fading away before them. Only a few ponies made it back to the palace buildings, and with no support and no possibility of stemming the tide, the position of the forces on the wall became increasingly precarious.
'Let's go, ponies!' the Lieutenant shouted, drawing Breeze's attention. 'Time to move. Fall back, along the wall. We'll head round to the west side and get down there. Make for the service entrance and get inside the palace! We'll link up with the main force.'
Breeze repeated the orders for his group, and once again they began to move, in turns, covering each other. Satchel charges were tossed down the staircase to hinder the progress of the enemy, while signals were made to the other group along the wall, letting them know to fall back as well. If they stayed where they were they would be totally isolated soon enough, and doubtless wiped out in short order.
Enemy aircraft still whizzed around overhead, but above the roar of their jets, Breeze could hear something else, a deep drone. As he moved with the others, he looked for the source, and spotted it in the distance. Coming in through the initial hole in the shield was an airship, just about able to squeeze through the gap. It was one of the giant Princess-Class vessels. Breeze had seen that the Equestrian airships posted at the city had been in the air, but they had been outside the shield, trying to thin the numbers of the enemy aircraft. Now, at least one of them was trying to bring the fight inside, to defend the city, perhaps to use its bombardment cannon and main guns to protect the palace. One of the enemy jets tried to follow it through, and slammed into the airship's shield, ripping off its starboard wing. It spiralled away and exploded down in the city somewhere, a plume of smoke rising.
Seeing the airship inspired hope, but did not mean anything would necessarily change. After all, Breeze had seen both Princesses overhead and the enemy had still managed to force entry to the palace grounds. They might be able to enter the palace itself, as well. Nothing seemed to be able to stop the armoured men. He scrambled along the wall with the rest of the unit until they came to the next staircase on the western wall. Down they went, crossing the small patch of open ground to reach the service entrance to the palace, where deliveries were made during peacetime. The doors were opened for them by other guardsponies stationed there, and in they went.
The palace was organised chaos, as it always was, but this time they were not preparing for the Grand Galloping Gala or the Summer Sun Celebration. They were fighting for the palace, for their lives and for the Princess. Guardsponies were running crates of ammunition through the halls, while soldiers were firing freely from the windows and balconies which dotted the south side of the building. The enemy were still advancing, and still the armoured men could not be stopped. Breeze and his group were directed to reinforce one of the balconies that overlooked the grounds outside. When they arrived, there were already dead ponies, lying in pathetic heaps on the floor. Several holes had been blown in the marble railings, which offered only scant cover against the fire coming from below. Rifles cracked and ponies with determined expressions held the line as best they could. Trapped in the palace, there was likely nowhere for them to retreat to now. There were secret passages, yes, but few knew where they were or how to access them. Breeze felt fear now, not just anxiety, not just anger and worry and hatred for the enemy, but real, naked fear. He could die, at any time, but more than that, the city could fall, again, perhaps for good this time. Nopony could know what would happen next.
The airship was getting closer, looming large overhead, approaching the palace and shrugging off everything the enemy was throwing at it. Only the red beam weapons could punch through its shield, and when they did, they did minimal damage. It tempered his fear somewhat, but things only settled down in his mind a few moments later, when he saw something else in the sky.
It was the Princess, returning from the fight elsewhere. Breeze had almost forgotten that an entire city had to be defended, being focused down so much on the area just ahead of him during the battle. Celestia had been busy, no doubt, trying to stop the enemy landing barges from setting down, trusting her ponies to hold the line where she and her sister could not. Now she had come back to her palace, and she went straight back into action again. Golden lightning crackled from her horn and jumped between the men advancing on the palace, igniting entire squads, turning men into pillars of fire. She switched instantly from lightning to a single concussive blast of magic, a lance from the heavens which sliced one of the mighty armoured figures in half. Their armour, proof against all the physical weaponry that Equestria could line up against them, failed under the tremendous magical power of the Princess. She had fought their kind before, at Griffonstone, and she had triumphed, and she would do so again here. Breeze watched on with a sudden surge of pride and hope, banishing his fear to the back of his mind.
Celestia hovered high above, repeating her attack as the armoured men brought their guns to bear on her, switching targets from the palace defenders to shoot at their leader instead. Her shield deflected everything, their shells detonating against its rippling surface. She killed another three of the armoured men, but then the staff-wielding enemy unleashed a strike of his own, a blast of energy racing out to meet the Princess. She met it with a blast of her own, and the two collided in mid-air. A thunderous boom echoed across the city as a great explosion rent the ether above, shattering windows in the palace.
Breeze ducked instinctively, in awe of the sudden explosive light show being put on by both Celestia and the human. Had he somehow acquired an ancient Equestrian relic for his own ends? Surely he must have, for it seemed that he was using magic as well, despite lacking a horn. There were any number of ancient artefacts scattered across Equestria, some lost for centuries and some merely kept in museums. One of them could give a human the ability to wield magic in much the same way as a unicorn would, at least in theory. Perhaps the human had been able to find one, through interrogation or sheer luck, or maybe using some piece of technology in his possession.
He tried again, firing up at Celestia once more, but the Princess teleported away, appearing down low above the humans and killing another of the armoured men, punching straight through his armour and his body with a powerful magic blast before swinging around to face the staff-wielding human. She tried to get the drop on him, but he was ready, moving preternaturally fast and bringing his staff up, meeting her magic halfway with his own. Another explosion rippled out from the point of contact, flooring even the heavily armoured humans who stood nearby and rattling the walls of the palace.
Breeze stumbled. He could no longer see Celestia as she had dropped below the level of the balcony, but he could still hear the fighting, smell the ozone-like tang of magic in action, and he knew she was still there. He quickly learned, however, that time could not be wasted simply watching the Princess fight. There was still a battle to be won, and shouted orders from officers informed him that the enemy had forced a breach at the service entrance and were inside the palace. His unit was being pulled off of the balcony to go down and fight.
He ordered his ponies back and followed the officer, a Lieutenant, who was leading both them and another platoon's worth of ponies, a mixture of Guard and Army, thrown together by the circumstances. The palace was sacred ground, it was Celestia's home, and they had to defend it with their lives. They all knew it was a possibility; death was an accompaniment to any guardspony's life. It came with the job, after all. This was about more than life and death now, however. It was about the future, about reality and history and faith. Equestria hung in the balance, everything the Princesses had worked for for so long and everything so many ponies had fought and died to forge and then preserve down throughout the years. Now it was their turn to make their stand.
The palace corridors were wide and mostly empty, devoid of cover which would benefit the defenders more than the attackers, as the ponies had been able to set up barricades at regular intervals, making use of every piece of available furniture they could get their hooves on. Gunfire could be heard up ahead, around the corner near where Breeze and the others had entered the palace from the courtyard outside. The enemy were once more rampaging on the sacred ground of Celestia's home. They had to be stopped and thrown out.
Breeze rounded the corner. There was the barricade he had had to climb over to gain access to the palace when they had arrived. It consisted mostly of chairs and several tables stacked up, from behind which ponies were firing their rifles and shotguns. The corridor ahead was dotted with bodies where the enemy had already taken casualties. The first barricade, at the far end of the hallway, had already been taken, hence the call for reinforcements to hold the line and keep the enemy back. There were dead ponies there, too, not just humans, more sad sacrifices against this cruel foe.
The enemy had come in through the doorway, Breeze could see, but they had also punched a hole in the wall, presumably with explosives, and men were coming in from the side as well, clambering through the breach and opening fire with their red beams. There was only a squad of ponies holding the barricades, having lost the rest of their number trying to hold the doorway and the first barricade, and Breeze's unit arrived just at the right time. Their extra guns were thrown into the line, ponies taking up positions along the barricade, resting their rifles on tables and protruding through the slats in the backs of chairs. There were plenty of targets, with several dozen humans attempting to advance down the hall, trying to stick to the walls where they could find some meager cover in the form of the ornamental and architectural pillars that lined the hallway. They were proof against a pony bullet but were barely wide enough to conceal a man behind.
Breeze directed his ponies into position and then set himself up behind a wooden dresser which had been dragged from some guest room into the hall to serve as part of the barricade. He took aim and fired two quick shots, bringing down one man with a strike on his chest. Many of the humans lacked any visible body armour at all, even the simple flak vests worn by the Imperial troops. Breeze didn't know if that meant they were considered to be expendable cannon fodder, untrained militia or an ad-hoc formation of sorts, or if it meant the enemy were undersupplied in general. That seemed unlikely, given how many aircraft they seemed to have brought with them, plus their ships in orbit, of course. No doubt their holds contained vast quantities of war supplies for prosecuting their attack on the planet.
Several more men came in through the breach in the wall, but their numbers were being steadily thinned by accurate fire from the pony defenders. Some of the Chaos troops tried charging under cover of smoke, tossing a grenade which filled the hallway with clouds of the stuff, but though they were able to close the gap, shotguns among the defenders cut their advance short as they emerged from the smoke at close range. At the Lieutenant's command, two Pegasi used rapid beats of their wings to drive the smoke away, pushing it down the corridor away from the barricade and exposing the enemy to fire once more.
The enemy found themselves halted. Despite inflicting more casualties on the guardsponies and blowing holes in the barricade with their beam weapons, igniting several small spot fires and wounding other defenders, the Chaos forces were unable to make any progress down the hallway against determined opposition. The survivors began to pull back, leaving the palace building and retreating, leaving the bodies of their dead behind. Breeze was able to relax a little, breathing deeply, though it seemed all he inhaled was the scent of gunsmoke and cordite. He did not know if the battle for the palace was over, but the battle for this particular hallway was, at least for now. The guardsponies kept watch, tended to their wounded, removed their dead. There was still the sound of gunfire from outside' evidently the fighting was not yet over.
Outside the palace, Princess Celestia had dispatched the last of the armoured men, sending him to his grave with most of his lower torso blown away by a ball of magic that had exploded against him. The palace grounds were now host to a new, morbid sculpture garden, as it was littered with twisted and contorted bodies. The EAS Luna hovered over the scene, its shield glowing as it fended off an occasional rocket or burst of gunfire from enemy aircraft. its namesake was still busy trying to mop up enemy aircraft as they raced above the city, while her sister was now confronted with but a single enemy.
The staff-wielding human had resisted her efforts to strike him down, seemingly possessing magical power of his own, thanks to the weapon he carried. Celestia took position in the sky above him, and her Royal Equestrian Voice boomed out across the palace grounds.
'Leave this place, and you may live,' she roared. 'Stay, and you shall perish. What say you, human?'
The figure responded with a chuckle, his staff held at the ready, both a weapon and a tool with which he had kept himself alive in the face of her fury. With an artificially enhanced voice of his own, he responded.
'My my, you wish to talk now, hm? Very well. My name is Parthax the Infidel, and it is a peculiar pleasure to meet you face to face at last, Princess Celestia.'