Spitfire is not a patient woman. And she has a temper. And she'd really like to wring Sunset Shimmer's neck right about now.
“What took you so long Spits?” Sunset calls merrily. Where she is perched on the wall surrounding Thicket. She is very much not dead. Or even in danger. In fact, she seems to be puffing away on a pipe and smiling as if the sun had risen just for her. “We've been waiting for ages!”
Spitfire turns to the girl called Indigo. The soldier looks just as baffled as Spitfire feels. The Captain wordlessly snatches a bow from a nearby lieutenant and fires an arrow at the High Commander of the Dark Regiment. It misses. Sunset laughs, a real, genuine laugh. “Please don't shoot me Captain!” She chuckles, “Come on up and I'll tell you how we came to take Thicket without your assistance!”
Against her better judgment, Spitfire enters and climbs the wall. “Start Talking.”
Sunset grins, “So we figured that water from the river had to flow in somewhere...”
Sunset and Applejack cut down the longest, thickest pole they can manage and roll a large, round river stone nearby. Under the guidance of Torque they set up their fulcrum.
Slowly and painfully they forced the end of the pole toward the muddy water below. At first, as the pole bent beneath the strain, Sunset worried it would snap. If the post broke the snapping of such a large branch might give away their location. Just as the wood began to creak ominously, Applejack gave a grunt and a heave. And the grate between them and their quarry broke loose from the wood around it. It fell into the water with a splash.
Sunset organized the soldiers into a tight formation and they moved into the aqueduct. For what seemed like hours they traveled through the dark with only a single lit arrow so as not to alert their quarry. For a long while all Sunset could hear was the movement of the water below them and the splashing of their feet.
At long last they came upon a split in the path, three separate tunnels. One led straight ahead, likely to the center of Thicket. One split left, near to where their comrades still fought. And the final tunnel went straight for a few feet and then turned right toward the far end of the citadel. After a short debate, Sunset and AJ agreed upon a plan.
They needed to spread out as much as they could so the spheres could blanket Thicket and give them a chance to slip inside. It was decided that if Pinkie and Dash were still alive, they would be deeper within, so AJ and two of their number would take the right hand tunnel. She would use the distraction and chaos as an opportunity to look for their friends. Sunset would lead a group of seven down the center, they would be the biggest part of the distraction. They would fire off several smoke spheres and then break into the citadel and cause as big a fight as possible. The final group of ten would go to the left, hopefully from there they could climb the inside of the wall and give Shining the signal to redouble his attack. Torque had volunteered to lead the third group.
With their course decided, Sunset led her group down the center. They walked for perhaps seventy or eighty feet before they saw sunlight. Above them was an opening, massive and round. A well, likely in the heart of Thicket. After a brief debate about the best archer of the bunch a lithe young man who called himself Feather stepped forward. Under Sunset's instruction he lit the first sphere, tied it to an arrow. It threw of the balance terribly but he managed to fire it high enough that it sailed out of the well and landed well away from it. As they heard the enemy panicking and sounding alarm bells above, Sunset climbed up.
As their leader, she saw fit to ascend the well first. About thirty feet of climbing a slick stone well was no easy feat. When she reached the top, she hastily threw out three more spheres. She used the ensuing chaos to tie a long rope to the winch of the well. Wasting no time, she tossed the rope down and turning to fight.
Tying a piece of wet cloth over her nose and mouth, Sunset threw herself into the path of a scurrying enemy soldier. He was choking on the rancid smoke and she cut him down as he opened his mouth to scream. She heard more alarms clanging and smiled. The smoke was doing it's job and the horrible racket the bells made just provided more cover. She darted through the citadel, tossing smoke any time she found an open space of air and cutting down any Changeling in her path.
Her soldiers had made it out as well and had scattered, doing as much damage as they could where ever they could. She could hear the clang of their swords and whoops of victory. Flash's stroke of brilliance may well have done the job. The spheres were keeping the battlefield smoky and foul smelling. AJ's addition of the wet cloths over their noses was saving her people from the smell and let them breath easier.
She barreled as fast as she was able toward the city center, searching for AJ's bright red mask. She caught sight of a Changeling general, he was up on a raised platform screaming orders. She snatched a spear from a nearby rack and took aim. It sailed through the air with perfect precision and he ceased his screeching, his throat split in two. Before the soldiers around him had time to retaliate, a new sound filled the air.
A horn was sounding along the wall behind her. The signal had been given. Shining Armor would be pushing for the wall again, and this time there would be too much chaos for the enemy to stop them. Their ropes would not be cut this time, and their ladders would make it onto the wall.
The Changeling's did not seem to know that they had already lost but Sunset was happy to show them the light. She batted away the strikes of the one closest and ran him through with his own sword before turning toward the rest. She bested three more before an arrow pierced the last. As she turned in the direction the arrow had come from she was greeted by a welcome sight.
Up above her, on the roof of a small shop stood Rainbow Dash. Her face was bruised and her armor missing but she was alive. Alive and holding a stolen Changeling bow. Behind her was AJ, and her two companions. Each of the soldiers was supporting a grinning Pinkie Pie. Sunset whooped loudly and drew her horn from it's place on her belt. With a great heaving breath she put it to her lips and blew three massive blasts. The first two shook the air with their sound; the third seemed to shake the ground itself and with that final blast, the poor horn burst apart.
There was an answering horn call and the scream of thousands of united voices from over the wall. Shining had heard them, their men knew that Pinkie and Dash were alive. Hope was with them, and they heard the war cries of their Regiment "Death! Death! Death!"
The Changeling's found themselves routed.