//------------------------------// // Chapter 7 // Story: Battalion Wars: Equestria // by mathwiz617 //------------------------------// 7:07, January 17; Xylvania “Bombs away,” the pilot’s voice came over the radio. “Good. The plan proceeds as expected,” Kaiser Vlad said. “Come back to base. One bombing should be enough to send this inferior species running for the hills. Then, we will be free to strip this new land of anything valuable, and turn it against our foes.” 7:08; Manehattan As the objects that fell out of the flying machine hit the ground, they exploded. “Bombs! We’re being attacked!” various ponies nearby shouted, panicking. Twilight quickly cast up a shield, protecting her and her friends from harm. The ponies surrounding them weren’t as lucky. While most were able to dive out of the way, there were a few hurt by the blast. As the dust settled, Twilight rushed to inspect the damage. Surprisingly, it wasn’t too bad. The shop windows were shattered, and the road was wrecked, true, but nopony was seriously injured. No buildings had collapsed either. All told, it was more of a shock that anyone would dare attack Equestria than anything else. Twilight pulled a scroll out of her saddlebags and wrote a quick letter to the princess explaining what had just happened. She then wrote “URGENT” on the front. “Rainbow, I need you to take this to Princess Celestia as quickly as possible,” she said. Rainbow Dash saluted, then flew off with a sound like a clap of thunder. Then, there was a flash of light, and everything went black. 7:50; Canterlot Palace Shining Armor looked up from his conversation with the human that was still in the courtyard. He could swear he heard somepony shouting his name. A second later, Rainbow Dash landed next to him with a loud “THUD”, holding a scroll in her teeth. She spat it at him. “You need to get this to Princess Celestia,” she said. “Manehattan’s been attacked.” Shining’s eyes widened. Picking the scroll up with his magic, he easily recognized his sister’s writing. He ran into the castle. In the dining room, Princess Celestia and Empress Lei-Qo were just wrapping up their conversation when the captain of the guard barged in. “Princess,” he said, “there is dire news!” “About Prince Blueblood?” Princess Celestia asked. “If so, you know where it goes.” She motioned toward the fireplace. Shining shook his head, levitating the scroll over to her. “It’s from Manehattan. Your protégé wrote it.” The blue aura around the scroll was quickly replaced by gold as Princess Celestia opened the letter. “What was Twilight doing in Manehattan?” she wondered aloud. “Oh… oh no. This is not good.” Looking up, she ordered, “Captain Armor, rally the guard and make for Manehattan. I shall join you shortly.” Looking at her guest she asked, “What nation unites under this crest?” She pointed to a rough drawing on the scroll. Lei-Qo gasped. “That is the symbol of Xylvania,” she informed Celestia. “Either another Kaiser has been crowned, or Vlad has escaped and returned to his homeland.” “I see,” Celestia said. “So, Equestria is under attack once again. Empress, will you honor the old alliance?” “I shall,” Lei-Qo replied. “I will also see if any of the newer nations will join in the eventual retaliatory attack.” Celestia frowned for a second. “I wasn’t planning on retaliating yet. The safety of my little ponies must come first. I hope you understand.” Empress Lei-Qo nodded. “I shall contact my troops. You can expect a battalion from the Solar Empire in a few hours.” Celestia nodded in return. “Thank you, but it may not be necessary. If I know Discord, he’ll be there already. The royal guards are just for cleaning up the mess.” 8:00; Manehattan “Can’t a draqueonus get any sleep around here?” Discord asked. “I mean, seriously. I go to sleep in Canterlot, and my natural affinity for chaos drags me all the way to… where am I? Manehattan? Huh, I thought I’d be in Ponyville.” Looking out into the harbor, he asked, “What are those? Ships of some sort? Hmm, they don’t look like pony ships, so I guess Celestia wouldn’t mind me checking them out.” Flying out into the harbor, Discord heard a strange buzzing coming from his fang. “Is that filling picking up radio signals again?” he asked nopony in particular. “It’s not even music.” Focusing on the buzzing, Discord could make out about half the words. “The city of Manehattan… under attack… Xylvania… Bombers… warships… all forces, engage…” “Well, that’s a strange accent,” Discord said. Puffing out his chest, he added, “But my nation is under attack! And it is my duty to defend it! Oh, this is going to be fun.” He laughed maniacally, something he hadn’t done since he had last been sealed in stone. 8:15; Manehattan harbor Twilight assessed her surroundings. First and foremost, she could see that she was surrounded by barbed wire, which seemed to be ringed with explosive barrels. Outside of that, she could see a few humans, dressed in a hideous combination of blue and purple, as well as a pair of large turtle-like wagons. Rarity would be sick just looking at them. Speaking of her friends, she was glad that Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy were still safe in Ponyville. Rainbow, she assumed, was in Canterlot, having delivered the message to Princess Celestia. As for Pinkie Pie, well, that mare couldn’t be caught if she didn’t want to be. Twilight cast a tracking spell. It seemed Pinkie was in the same building, but for the life of her, Twilight couldn’t tell where. That didn’t worry her, though. What did was the fact that the tracking spell also produced light, which alerted one of the humans. “Whatever you’re doing, stop it immediately!” the human shouted, leveling its weapon at her. Twilight ceased the spell, shutting the light from her horn off. “That’s better,” the human growled. Thinking of her options, Twilight reasoned that she could teleport away from the humans quickly enough. Those… what did Rainbow call her turtle? Tank? Those two tanks could be quite a problem, though. She might have enough power to destroy them, and render any humans piloting them useless, but it might be a stretch. Suddenly, she noticed Pinkie climb out of a flowerpot nearby. After a quick exchange in sign language, they had come to an agreement: Pinkie would take out the guards, while Twilight would destroy the tanks. Gathering her power for two large blasts, Twilight blew her prison wide open.