When Twilight Sparkle awoke to the morning's first few warm rays of sunlight, she did not awaken to the quiet, peaceful castle to which she'd become accustomed. Instead, she awoke to the sounds of numerous sets of hooves hitting the stone floor just beyond her bed chamber door in what sounded like full speed galloping. Climbing out of her bed, she rubbed her eyes with her right fore hoof as she groggily stumbled across the room and opened the door to peek outside. She saw soldiers of all kinds - Earth ponies, unicorns, and pegasi - in full armor running up and down the hall. Why is everypony in such a hurry? she wondered, beginning to worry. It wasn't everyday that the castle's guard scrambled like this, fully equipped. She managed to slip into the hallway and made her way for the throne room. If anypony knows what's going on, it'll be the princess.
When she came to the throne room, Twilight saw there were five lance-wielding guards by the door - two on each side and one in the middle. Okay, now I know something's going on. There are usually only two guards here. "Excuse me, sirs, but is the princess in there? I need to speak with her as soon as possible."
"Good morning, Miss Sparkle. She's in a meeting right now, but we have orders to allow you inside. She seemed to be expecting you sometime this morning," the guard in the middle of the door said as he stepped aside.
Twilight nodded her head in thanks as she walked into the room. She saw Luna, Celestia, and several armored ponies around a table with a map sprawled across it. Celestia must have heard Twilight's hoof steps; as soon as she entered the room, Celestia looked up at her student. This time, she didn't even try to fake a smile. "Ah, Twilight, I was wondering when you would be by."
"Princess, what's going on?" Twilight was growing increasingly worried. "Why is everypony running around the castle armed for battle?"
Celestia rose from her sitting position at the table and approached the unicorn. "Conditions have changed with the gryphons. The army at Trottingham was attacked last night after returning from evacuating the survivors from the Crystal Empire."
Twilight's heart sank. "Attacked? What happened? Are my brother and Razor Blade okay?"
"I do not know, I'm afraid. I received word yesterday afternoon that they had cleared the gryphons from the Crystal City but had elected to evacuate the survivors to Trottingham because of a large enemy army readying to cross the border." Princess Celestia had begun to pace back and forth as she spoke. "I had ordered most of our standing army to gather in Trottingham to try to match their numbers, but several hours dawn, I was awoken by an urgent message informing me of the attack. I do not know how many survived or who. All I know is that the gryphons flew in and dropped explosives on the camp."
Twilight's jaw was open by this point, and horror filled her eyes. "Explosives? I thought those were only used to tunnel through mountains?"
"That was their intended, purpose, yes," Celestia said, "but it would appear that our enemy has turned them into weapons of war." She motioned for Twilight to follow her to the strategic map laid out on the table. "I've ordered all of our available divisions to converge on Trottingham and push into the Crystal Empire. This kind of an attack must not go unanswered. I'm also instituting a draft for all able bodied mares and stallions between the ages of 18 and 35. It is not something I want to do, but if we're to be able to defend ourselves, it's something I must do. We're a peaceful kingdom, Twilight; we weren't prepared for this caliber of conflict."
Luna rose from the table. "I have volunteered to lead our ponies-at-arms. It is the duty of a nation's rulers to lead their armies into battle, but my sister is needed in Canterlot more than I. It falls to me, then, as the lesser diarch, to lead Equestria's army into battle." It was now that Twilight noticed that Luna, too, was dressed head to hoof in heavy armor with a long, curved blade at her side.
Twilight looked at Luna and asked "When do we leave?"
Luna responded, "We do not, Twilight Sparkle. I leave within the hour."
Twilight shot Celestia an incredulous look. "Princess, why am I not going? I've learned enough combat spells to be able to fight. With Razor Blade's, Shining Armor's, and Cadance's safeties unknown, I need to be out there!"
"Be calm, my little pony, and just listen to me. I know that you want to be out there for your brother and your very special somepony, but you are needed in Canterlot. It will take our entire military to do barely more than equal the numbers of gryphons' approaching army. That says nothing of their forces still within Gryphus or what they are sending against Germaneigh and Prance. We are outnumbered, and on top of that, their soldiers are better equipped and trained than ours. Your magic has the potential to be stronger than mine or my sister's if the proper care and attention is given to your training." Celestia used her hoof to raise Twilight's line of sight to her own to make sure that the stubborn unicorn was listening. "If things do not go well in the coming battles, your magic may end up being all that stands between Equestria and gryphon occupation. What if you were killed because you insisted on taking the field before your training was finished? What would save Equestria then?"
Twilight pulled her head away from Celestia's hoof and stared at the far wall. With a dejected sigh, she said, "Fine. I see your point, Princess, but at least tell me as soon as you hear anything about Razor Blade, Cadance, or Shining Armor."
"Of course, Twilight Sparkle. Now hurry along to Flemeth's tower. Even though I don't want you to fight today, that doesn't mean that I don't want your training to reach completion as soon as possible."
"Where the buck was our night watch when those gryphons flew in? They were carrying bucking TORCHES! They bucking GLOW! Why were we caught off guard?!" Iron Hide appeared moderately upset at his meeting with the battalion command staff the morning after the attack.
"Couldn't say, sir. I had Second Lieutenant Husband Kennel in charge of the watch last night," the commander of the battalion's pegasus division said. The relatively casual tone implied to Razor Blade that they had known each other for a long time.
"Demote him, damn it! Arrest him! Execute him on the spot; I don't care! That buck up cost us a lot of lives!" Iron Hide snapped back.
"No can do, sir; his was one of the lives that the buck up cost us. We're probably better off, though; I kept hearing rumors that he was sniffing glue again."
"Glue? That's just sick...." said somepony that Razor Blade wasn't able to see.
"Alright, everypony, let's keep focused. We're here to plan a counter-attack, remember? Princess Celestia scraped together a few more troops to throw at the gryphons, putting our total force at almost 20,000 armed mares and stallions. Princess Luna herself is coming, as well, to lead the army. We're to devise an attack plan to present to her. Once she's here, it's her call, but I want to have a solid plan to propose." Iron Hide looked at Shining Armor and Princess Cadance. "You two know the terrain of the Empire better than anypony else. What do you propose?"
After several hours of discussion, a battle plan was decided. Since there was little in the way of natural cover until one reached the Crystal Mountains beyond the Empire's capital city - with the exception of a small patch of forest here and there - the army would have little choice but to march across the flat field to the city. They knew that the gryphons would quickly notice this and engage them before they made it to the city. They also knew that gryphons' strength lay in aerial attacks. It was because of this that they chose to structure their march around the different types of ponies in their ranks. The ground-dwelling bulk of the army would alternate every other row between Earth ponies with bows and unicorns. Flying above them, ready to intercept incoming gryphons, would be the army's pegasi.
When Princess Luna arrived in Trottingham the next day with the additional troops from Canterlot, the rest of the army from various parts of Equestria had already arrived and briefed their commanders on the current plan. "Good morning, your majesty. It's an honor to serve under your command," Iron Hide said, bowing before the Princess of the Night.
"Well met, Colonel. We have precious little time to waste. The gryphons must be made to pay for their incursion. Direct us to your command tent and brief us on your plan. We - um, I mean, I - also want to meet with Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor immediately." Luna had been trying for some time with only moderate success to shake her habitual use of the long antiquated majestic plural.
"Uh, yes, of course, your majesty. Right this way." Iron Hide extended his hoof in the direction of one of the few unburned tents. Most of the ponies had been quartered in the hotels and the houses of the more generous ponies of Trottingham after the attack.
"Princess Luna! It's good to see you again," Cadance said when she saw Luna enter the tent. Shining Armor, standing next to her, bowed before the princess.
"Cadance, Shining Armor. It is good to see you well. My sister would have the two of you travel to Canterlot as soon as possible."
Shining Armor raised a hoof to object. "With all due respect, princess, I would rather stay and fight with the Equestrian Army. I agree that Cadance should be in Canterlot, as she has experience in diplomacy, but the Crystal Empire's military was mine to command, and defending the empire was my charge. I failed to defend her from the gryphons; at the very least, my place is on the battlefield fighting to free her."
"Very well," Luna said quickly, as if she had expected that response and only insisted that he return to Canterlot out of duty rather than an earnest opinion. "Cadance, I would ask that you return to Canterlot when the army departs for the Crystal Empire."
Cadance nodded her head. Shining Armor then asked, "How is my sister?"
"Twilight Sparkle fares quite well. Her training in battlemagic is progressing most rapidly. She is expected to finish her training within the month." Luna noticed that Shining Armor's expression was still inquisitive. "Oh, you referred to her emotional state. Of course. She is, understandably, concerned for the safety of you, your wife, and her special somepony on the field here. Tell me, does he yet live?"
Shining Armor let out a small chuckle. "Yes, he is alive and quite the skilled fighter. That reminds me, Cadance, please tell Twilight when you get to Canterlot that I thoroughly approve of her choice of stallion."
After having reviewed the strategy that Iron Hide, Shining Armor, and the other officers had put together, Luna had deemed the plan to be "acceptable" and left it unchanged. She, despite Iron Hide's protests in favor of her safety, demanded to march at the front of the army. "It is the duty of royalty," she argued, "to lead our soldiers into battle and put ourselves at the same danger as they."
Also against Iron Hide's protests, Luna ordered that the army march to the border of the Crystal Empire that day and camp there for the night. That would put them at a roughly three hours' march from the Crystal City - close enough to strike in the early morning hours. The army made its camp in a small wooded area to try to hide their presence, and Luna gave them a cloudy night with a new moon to minimize overall visibility.
Rather than tents, the ponies dug foxholes for themselves to make their detection even more unlikely. Razor Blade had dug his trench next to Dead Eye's. The two ponies had begun to develop a friendship beyond just that which springs from mere proximity, one that began to border on true comradery. "So tell me more about this gryphon who took your eye. What started that fight, anyway?" Razor asked quietly once they'd settled into their foxholes.
"Didn't I say it was over a bet?" Dead Eye replied, not bothering to open his eyes or move his head.
"Yeah, but that's a pretty vague explanation. You can't get a battle scar as epic as that one without being willing to tell the whole story," Razor argued.
"Alright, kid, you want to know the story?" Dead Eye asked, finally rolling over to face the persistent pegasus. Razor Blade nodded. "So I didn't lose a bet. It was more of a...spontaneous brawl. This gryphon - Night Wing was his name - was a member of this cult. I still don't know what it was called or much of what they believed. I had only vaguely heard of it at the time. I just knew that a central belief of theirs was a strong hatred for ponies." He paused to breathe deeply of his cigarette. Almost nopony in Equestria smoked, but he'd picked up the habit when his old mercenary career put him in the employ of a group of camels, for whom smoking was a very common habit. "Anyway, I happened to end up in the wrong bar at the wrong time one night, probably six or seven years ago, when I was in Gryphus. I stumbled into one of their little meetings. Fortunately, I realized what was going on and had managed to sneak back out before any of them noticed me. I got curious, though, and hid just outside of one of the windows to listen in on their meeting. A lot was muffled through the glass, but I caught something about a plan to assassinate Celestia to destabilize Equestria. So, naturally, I did what any rational pony would do; I secretly followed him home from his meeting to kill him in an alley."
He took the last puff of his cigarette before pushing it into the moist forest dirt beside him. "Let me tell you, kid - gryphons aren't as oblivious as they look. That bucker knew I'd been following him the whole time. When he turned this corner, I hadn't realized that he knew I was following him. He was hiding just past the corner and, when I rounded the corner a few second later, grabbed me by the throat. Strong mother bucker, too - lifted me straight off the ground. Fortunately for me, he lived up to the 'bird brain' stereotype; all it took to force him to drop me was a nice, strong dick kick. I guess he hadn't realized that he'd left himself vulnerable. Once I had gotten to my hooves, I tackled him to the ground. We rolled around fighting for a bit, and eventually, his claw rolled into my face, and then my eye rolled out of my face. Along with blood; a lot of blood came out of my face, too." The casual, almost amused tone of Dead Eye's voice left Razor more than a little creeped out. Then again, it hadn't taken him long to realize that Dead Eye was just the slightest bit insane. "Anyway, once he turned me into a cyclops with hooves, the adrenaline kicked in full force. 'Fight or flight' and all that, and as an Earth pony, I clearly did not choose flight. I managed to hold him down and rip out his wings with my teeth. After that, he was unconscious from the pain. I don't know how it is with you pegasi, but gryphons' wings are apparently incredibly sensitive. Then I took a shit on his face for good measure and made my way to a hospital a few blocks away."
Razor Blade sat, jaw agape. "You....took a shit on him? Seriously?"
Dead Eye pause for a moment before saying, "Okay, so I made that part up, but it makes the story better. I did bleed on him, though."
As news of the attack on Trottingham spread throughout Equestria, towns and cities from Manehatten to Detrot put all available resources into preparing their militias should they need to defend themselves. Before leaving for the Crystal Empire, Razor Blade had told Applejack that she was welcome to use any weapons or armor left in his shop for Ponyville's militia. For Ponyville, the timing of Razor's immigration to the town was most fortuitous; because of the time he'd spent giving fencing lessons in town before the war broke out, a sizable percentage of the residents already some basic sword skills. Granted, although sport fencing and actual combat are very different, the techniques of fencing provided a better foundation than having no previous knowledge at all.
Since they had taken the most lessons with Razor, Applejack asked Bon-Bon and Lyra to oversee the actual training in town while she focused her efforts on getting the necessary equipment and overseeing the construction of fortifications around the perimeter. Given the small size of the town, Ponyville's resources were limited, but between Mayor Mare's knack for persuasion when trying to get extra lumber and nails from nearby villages and Applejack's general resourcefulness, they were able to construct a palisade wall around the town proper with watch towers roughly every 300 yards. Everypony in town dropped what he or she was doing - except for the ponies that Applejack and Big Macintosh got to work the orchard while they helped build the wall, of course - and worked from dawn until dusk to get the wall and towers built as quickly as possible. With the entire town's working together, it only took three days to finish the construction. The defenses were far from impregnable, but when she stood back and looked at the finished wall, Applejack was filled with pride in her friends and neighbors.
Ah wonder how Rainbow's doin'? Applejack often found herself wondering. She hadn't received a letter from Rainbow Dash since she'd arrived at Cloudsdale when the others had been summoned to Canterlot, but it hadn't really surprised her. She knew that Rainbow wasn't a big writer. Mix that with being in what was apparently Equestria's crème de la crème of pegasi soldiers during the kingdom's first real war in - actually, now that she thought about it, Applejack realized that she didn't know when Equestria's last real war was - and she understood that Rainbow Dash probably didn't have much time to breathe, much less write a letter.
"Well, Ah guess Ah can't be too upset; Ah ain't written to her, either," Applejack said to herself as she walked back towards Sweet Apple Acres. When she was back at the farmhouse, she trotted up to her room and began to write.
Dear Rainbow Dash,
I hope things are going well for you up in Cloudsdale. We've been in an awful rush to get walls built around the town ever since we heard about the attack on Trottingham. I hope yall are safe up there, but being elite and all, I know that's probably just wishful thinking. I know yall've got important stuff yall are doing to protect Equestria. I'm awful proud of you, Rainbow. Just make sure you come home to me one piece, you hear?
Like I said, we've been trying to get some stuff built up around Ponyville in case the gryphons make it this far. We've built a wooden wall around town and some towers so ponies can keep watch. Keep us from getting snuck up on and such. Since Lyra and Bon-Bon took so many fencing lessons with Razor Blade, I've put them in charge of training everypony in town. I'm hoping that between that and the stuff Razor left in his shop for us to use that we'll be able to hold off those gryphons if they come this way.
I miss you, Rainbow. The bed's lonely at night not having you snoring next to me keeping me awake. Scootaloo's missing you something awful, too. She comes by the farm a lot to ask if we've heard anything about how you're doing. That little orphan filly sure does admire you, Dash. She never said much about it before you left, but now that you're gone, I'm starting to think that Apple Bloom looks up to you almost as much as Scootaloo does. She's started asking about you a lot. She's really started to see you as another big sister since we got hitched.
Twilight's been staying up in Canterlot to practice her fighting magic, and Fluttershy's been working with the diplomats in Canterlot. Razor Blade's fighting with the army. Princess Celestia originally wanted him to stay in Ponyville and make armor and weapons and such, but he convinced her that he'd be more helpful as a soldier. We actually had quite the scare when we heard about Trottingham since he was there at the time of the attack. Spike got a message from Twilight today, though, saying that Princess Cadance got to Canterlot and told her that Razor's doing fine and actually rescued her and Shining Armor from some gryphons once they got to the Crystal Empire.
It's been awful quiet around here without you, Rainbow. You hurry on back whenever you can, you hear? I miss you. We all do, but I do especially. I love you, Rainbow. Write me when you can.
Your wife,
Applejack
She addressed the letter and trotted back to town to give it to Derpy. Applejack wasn't sure where Rainbow Dash was exactly, so she had simply addressed the letter to the Wonderbolt HQ in Cloudsdale. By the time she got back to the farm, it was well into Luna's night. As she lay down in bed, she gave in to the torrent of thoughts she'd managed to keep at bay for the past few days. When she closed her eyes, she was inundated with terrible images that she couldn't shake from her mind. She saw Rainbow Dash, bloody and broken in the middle of some field. She had already pushed herself so hard trying to impress the Wonderbolts into accepting her with some downright foolish stunts that she survived only through the grace of Celestia, and now she was fighting the strongest military on the continent. "Celestia, please watch over her and keep her safe. That pegasus means everything to me." She repeated this prayer dozens of times until she finally allowed sleep to claim her.