Since the failed assault-turned-massacre two days prior, Luna had hidden herself away in her command tent. She didn't come out, and she allowed nopony to come in. Several of the army's officers had been killed in the assault, leaving Iron Hide with a severely undersized staff in addition to the responsibility of being in command for the duration of Luna's self-imposed absence. He had increased the size and frequency of patrols and guard postings around the army's encampment in the Crystal City so as not to be caught off-guard by a gryphon attack, but all had been quiet along the border in those two days. As that second day turned into night, however, Iron Hide began to get antsy and frustrated regarding Luna's isolation.
"Damn it, this army needs her," Iron Hide complained to Razor Blade and Shining Armor. "I can lead the army logistically and tactically better than almost anypony else, but there's only so much I can do for morale. What's a random Earth pony next to an alicorn princess? Having her lead the ponies inspired them!"
"Think about what happened," Shining Armor said. "It was her decision to attack. It was her order to try to push through their defenses, resulting in the unfortunate discovery of that minefield."
"I'd have done the exact same bucking thing in her place! Most ponies would have!" Iron Hide shouted.
Shining Armor raised a hoof to calm the irate Earth pony. "I know, I know. My point is that she probably doesn't see it like that. From Luna's perspective, the blood of all of those dead ponies is on her hooves. From her perspective, that massacre was her failure as a tactician, not an exceptionally good defense on the gryphons' part, albeit a vile one banned by several treaties."
Iron Hide thought about that for a moment. He looked over at Luna's tent a few dozen meters away, then at Shining Armor, then back at Luna's tent. "You know the princess better than anypony else here, and you married her niece; why don't you go try to explain that to her?"
Shining Armor's eyes widened. "No-I mean, yeah, I know her better than you guys, but I can't just waltz into her tent. She's still a pincess!"
Razor Blade deadpanned. "Seriously? You married one. Don't pull that 'she's still a princess' crap." Iron Hide snickered.
Shining Armor, sighing, said, "Alright, fine, I'll go talk to her..."
As he walked towards Luna's tent, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Despite the fact that she'd always been very friendly to him, Princess Luna still intimidated Shining Armor, although he wasn't sure why. Perhaps it was that the ten century old habits she had yet to break, like the majestic plural and generally antiquated word choice, were just unusual enough to catch him off guard? Perhaps the memory of Nightmare Moon still lingered in the back of his mind, affecting his sub-conscious attitude towards the reformed Luna? One thing was clear, though - Luna, for whatever reason, did intimidate him.
When he arrived at Luna's tent, Shining Armor took one last deep breath and cleared his throat. "Um, Princess Luna? It's Shining Armor. May I speak with you?"
For a moment, silence was the only response. Then he heard a meek voice from within the tent. "We are...I am indisposed. Please direct your concerns towards Colonel Iron Hide."
I knew this wasn't going to be easy... Shining Armor said, "I'm worried about the army, Princess. I'm also worried about you. May I please come in?"
"I insist that I am fine," Luna rebutted.
"And I insist that you're not. Please, princess. The army needs you. These ponies look up to you. Just let me talk to you, and then I'll leave."
Silence. "Very well," Luna said quietly from inside the tent. "You may enter, but only you." The tent's flap became enveloped in a dark blue glow and parted, allowing Shining Armor entry into the tent.
When he got inside the tent, Shining Armor was greeted by darkness. Not a single candle was lit. He set his horn aglow to illuminate the tent. Luna was sitting on on her haunches in the far right corner of the tent, staring at the ground. As Shining Armor walked closer, he could see that the fur on her cheeks was wet. Carefully, he reached a hoof out under her chin and raised her head to face him; her eyes were puffy and red. He sat down next to the distraught alicorn. "Luna, tell me why you've shut yourself away in here. The army's getting worried. Is this about the battle the other day?"
Luna pulled away and stared back at the ground. "T'was not a battle. A battle implies a fair contest with losses on both sides; t'was a massacre into which I lead our army, the ponies entrusted into my care."
Shining Armor contemplated his next words carefully. He knew that any verbal misstep could set the princess into an emotional cascade. "Luna, what happened wasn't your fault. I would have made-"
"Their blood is on my hooves, Shining Armor! Perhaps you would have made the decision, but you did not; I did. I lead them to the border, I ordered the charge, and because of a decision that I made, almost two THOUSAND ponies are dead," Luna shouted before breaking down into heavy sobbing.
Shining Armor sat in stunned silence. The lunar princess had always been so collected and regal. To see her displaying such strong emotion seemed completely out of character for her. Then again, did you really think she was an emotionless shell? Just because she usually keeps her emotions under pretty good control - at least better than most ponies - doesn't mean that she doesn't have them.
"I should never have come out here," Luna said quietly, her sobbing having subsided to sniffling for the time being. "I wanted to be here to inspire my subjects as they fought bravely for their kingdom. All I've done is get them killed."
"Princess, stop this!" Shining Armor said suddenly, startling Luna slightly. "That's not true at all! You do inspire them! Nopony blames you for what happened, and Iron Hide and I both would have made the same decision that you did. What happened was not because of bad leadership; what happened was because the gryphons' used weapons banned by numerous treaties, and NOPONY could have expected that. Luna, nopony blames you. You're still a hero to them. Every one of them. You're the royal sister who's leading her troops into battle rather than just sitting comfortably in a castle. Most of them now look up to you as much as or more than they look up to Princess Celestia simply because you're out here with them, risking your life right beside them. What they need now is a princess who will lead them to avenge their comrades, not one who spends all day and night beating herself up over mistakes and miscalculations."
For several seconds, Luna simply stared at Shining Armor. She had no idea how to respond to what he had said. She closed her eyes and lowered her head to gather her thoughts. ...what if he's right? What if I have failed my subjects simply by worrying about whether or not I'd failed them before? No, Luna. Stop thinking like that. Shining Armor is correct. As the Mare Macbeth said, "What's done is done." Luna breathed deeply, opened her eyes, and raised her head to look at Shining Armor. Whereas a moment before, her eyes had been filled with regret and angst, they now held a renewed determination. "I suppose that you are correct, Shining Armor. My mistake cost many brave ponies their lives, but my sulking is costing the survivors what morale they have left. That ends this night. I will-"
"Princess Luna! Prince Shining Armor! Please forgive the interruption, but I have urgent news!" A young pegasus stallion - only barely too old to be called a colt - burst into the tent, quickly bowing.
"Be at ease, young one. What has happened?" Luna asked.
"The gryphons, your highness. They've breached the far eastern border. They've completely razed Windsoar, Detrot is little more than a smoldering ruin, and Tramplevania is about to be overrun."
Luna froze. Keep it together, Luna. They need you, now more than ever. "Mobilize the army. We move out at once." She looked at Shining Armor who simply nodded his support.
The pegasus bowed again. "At once, your majesty," he said before exiting the tent.
Shining Armor put a hoof on Luna's shoulder. "I think you made the right decision just now, Princess. Just know that your ponies stand behind you and will continue to do so until the end." With that, he left the tent to help with preparations.
Once Princess Luna had left her tent to help the army ready itself to move out, it took only an hour to mobilize. By the time the sun had begun to creep over the horizon, the army had reached what used to be Detrot, but the ominous orange glow that had been visible for over an hour had told them all that they had needed to know. Luna had ordered the army to reclaim Detrot first under the assumption that there would be some reclamation to be done. What they found, however, was not at all what she had expected. There were no gryphons to clear from the city streets. There were no survivors to save. Anypony who hadn't managed to escape the city was already long dead. There were not even any buildings left; all that remained of Equestria's industrial powerhouse city was just was the messenger had described - ruins, completely razed to the ground.
Windsoar fared even worse than Detrot. At least in Detrot, there were ruins; in Windsoar, not even the foundation clouds that held the city afloat remained. Luna hurried the troops to Tramplevania. She was determined to save at least one of the assaulted cities. Normally, screams of agony and the ringing of clashing steel are considered to be noises that one does not wish to hear when approaching one of the nation's towns, but they were music to Luna's ears; they meant that there were still Tramplevanian ponies that she could save.
When they reached the city, the Earth ponies and pegasi wasted no time charging forward at full speed. What greeted them, however, was a surprise; throughout the entire city, no more than 800 gryphons were to be found. Iron Hide and Shining Armor broke from the bulk of the army with several hundred ponies apiece to sweep the western and eastern edges of the city, respectively, while Razor Blade remained relatively close to Luna near the head of the army, pressing into the center of the city.
This does not feel right, Luna thought. This is too easy. By the time there was only a single gryphon remaining, Razor Blade had yet to draw a single drop of blood. Deadeye hadn't loosed a single arrow. Luna had only cast three spells including the immobilization spell with which she now held the last gryphon. "Speak, knave," she said, approaching the gryphon that was being enveloped in a deep blue glow. "Why was your force so small? What was your goal?"
The gryphon laughed. "For such a small force, we did a lot of damage, wouldn't you say, nag? Our mission wasn't to utterly annihilate a pegasus city or reduce an industrial center to rubble, although it was a pretty nice perk. All we were supposed to do was distract you long enough for the main army to invade Canterlot." With a sick grin, he said "I'd say we did a pretty good job of that."
Luna's inquisitive gaze contorted into a scowl of hate. All she saw was red. Without a word, the glow of her hold on the gryphon intensified, and the avian head spun around nearly 270 degrees with a sickening crack. Luna released her magic, allowing the corpse to slump to the ground. She turned around, her eyes aglow with fury and her hair blowing in an ethereal wind, and said to the ponies around her, "Gather the troops and move NOW. We must away to Canterlot at once."
Like most mornings in Ponyville, the first ponies out of bed were the Apples, hard at work on their orchard, and the Carrots, hard at work in their fields. Before dawn, Big Macintosh was out bucking apple trees while Applejack was busy helping Apple Bloom get ready for school. Macintosh looked up to admire Celestia's sunrise as he took a momentary break from his work. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a familiar wall-eyed pegasus mare flying towards the farm.
"Big Mac! Big Mac! Where's Applejack?" Derpy asked frantically.
"In the house. Follow me," Big Macintosh said. Noting Derpy's uncharacteristic urgency, he galloped towards the farmhouse. He knew that Derpy knew where the house was, but he was curious what the mare had to say and figured that being there when she spoke with Applejack was the best way to satiate that curiosity without seeming overly intrusive by asking Derpy directly.
As the two burst into the farmhouse, Derpy shouted, "Applejack! We've got trouble!"
Applejack turned to face Derpy. "Slow down there, sugarcube. What kind of trouble?"
"The kind with beaks and feathers," Derpy said.
Applejack's face grew stern. "Apple Bloom, you and Granny Smith stay here. Do NOT leave his farm under any circumstances. Let's go, Big Mac." Applejack took a pitchfork that she kept propped against the wall beside the farmhouse door in her teeth as Big Macintosh took hold of his scythe. The three made haste to the town proper where a commotion was underway. Applejack discovered, much to her relief, that the fortifications they'd built were holding up. The unicorns in the town had erected a magical dome to prevent any gryphon from flying over the palisade walls, and the walls themselves appeared to be study enough to hold out the attackers, at least for the time being.
Applejack made her way through the ponies in town, all of whom were trying their hardest, albeit in vain, not to panic. After a few minutes, she found Lyra and Bon-Bon in front of the town hall with the roughly 100 ponies that made up the town's militia. Thanks to Razor Blade's overproduction of weapons and armor prior to his talks with Twilight, there was sufficient armor and weaponry to outfit the entire group. "How's it look, yall? How yall feeling?"
Lyra turned around , standing at attention with an overzealous and quite exaggerated salute. "Ready for anything, sir! We'll show those gryphons who's boss! HII-YAA!!!" Lyra shouted, chopping the air with a hoof and following it up with a clumsy roundhouse kick that left her on the ground, hooves sprawled in all directions, with a goofy grin on her face.
Bon-Bon shook her head. "I think we've all had enough practice to know pretty well how to handle a weapon, but I don't think anypony's ever truly ready for their first battle. We're as ready as we'll ever be, though."
"Applejack!" Applejack turned around to try to find whomever had called her. She scanned the crowd and saw Doctor Whooves waving at her between firing arrows from atop one of the wall towers. "Applejack, they're starting to crack the gate! They'll break through any minute!"
"Already, everypony, clear on out of here unless yer plannin' on fightin'! Things're fixing to turn ugly!" Applejack turned to Lyra and Bon-Bon. "Get ready, girls. They're about to bust through that gate."
The militia lined up facing the gate in rows of ten, weapons at the ready. They could see the gate beginning to crack and splinter against the stress of the gryphons' relentless battering. Finally, the log keeping the wooden gates closed buckled and spintlered, allowing over a thousand gryphons to pour in. "CHARGE!!" Lyra shouted around the axe handle gripped in her teeth as she charged at the invading force. Once the gate was breached, the town's unicorns dropped the magical dome overhead to focus on spells that would help the changed situation. For some, that included telekinesis to manipulate the gryphons' weapons or immobilization spells to give the militia ponies openings to attack. For the town's more aggressive unicorns, it consisted of attack spells, usually with fire or electricity. Lyra erected a personal shield directly in front of her that blocked the volleys of incoming arrows. When she reached the gryphon hoard, she pushed from her horn a burst of telekinetic energy, sending over a dozen gryphons flying backwards, thus knocking to the ground dozens more. While it was only a momentary stun for the gryphons, it did give the ponies a chance to kill 30 or 40 of them before they had picked themselves up and recovered.
Blossomforth, Bluebell, and Blue Skies flew in loops overhead, dropping large rocks that had been stockpiled behind the town hall onto the gryphons a few rows back from the line of engagement. It was a messy, rather brutal tactic, but it worked; a large rock would crack a gryphon's skull as easily as an axe, and if one left fewer ponies wounded or killed than the other, why not use that method?
It turned out that that Lyra and Bon-Bon had learned more from Razor Blade than they had realized and, in turn, had prepared Ponyville's militia better than anypony had expected. Most of the ponies were dispatching gryphons left and right while suffering only minor injuries, thanks in part to their armor. Before long, however, the gryphons' far superior numbers took the upper hoof away from the ponies. While battling two gryphons with great success, Great Scott was impaled by a spear-wielding foe who had sneaked up behind him. Bright Idea, seeing Cold Front about to be overpowered by three gryphons even with the aid of her magic, galloped over to help her. He ran two of the gryphons through with his broadsword, but the third, wielding a massive axe, lobbed off his head before he was able to parry. Banana Fluff was fighting alongside Bon-Bon when a gryphon flew in from above and tackled her to the ground, shoving a knife between her eyes before Bon-Bon even had a chance to react.
This is bad, Applejack though. This is real, real bad. We ain't gonna make it if this keeps up, and even if we do, these ponies are gonna lose the will to fight if they see many more of their friends die.
Suddenly from behind her, Applejack heard a door open and a voice shout "Everypony, get down and out of the way!" She turned around to see Vinyl Scratch standing with a massive speaker in front of her. Her horn was glowing a bright blue, as was the speaker. "Wub a dub dub, mother buckers!" Vinyl shouted as she pressed a button on the sound system's control panel. The blue glow of her horn erupted into an almost blinding light and enveloped the speaker. As deep, high decibel synthetic sounds filled the air and shook the buildings' very foundations, a waving beam of blue energy burst forth from the speaker, leaving in its wake a trench a foot deep and in it, a trail of smoking, charred gryphon skeletons along with the blackened skeletons of two or three unfortunate ponies who had been unable to move in time. The gryphons that were left quickly fled the town with their tails quite literally between their legs.
For a time, all stood in silence, jaws agape. The burnt bodies that filled the new trench continued to smoke, but nopony seemed to pay that any mind. All eyes were focused on Vinyl Scratch.
Applejack trotted up the town's boisterous DJ. "Vinyl, now don't take this the wrong way, I'm awful glad you had your doo-hicky there to drive them gryphons out, but what in the hay is that? That thing was straight out of one of them space adventures that Rainbow reads when she runs out of Daring Doo."
Vinyl laughed and replied, "Oh, it's just a little something I threw together in case those dumb birds tried to attack Ponyville. I call it a Bass Cannon. It took a little longer than I expected to get set up, but I think it worked pretty damn well once I got it up and running."
"Yeah, but how does it work?" Applejack asked. "Looks to me like it ain't nothin' but a giant speaker."
"Well, that's pretty much all it is," Vinyl answered. "It's a huge, REALLY loud speaker, and I use my horn to basically turn the sound ways into a link between my magic energy and whoever I'm trying to hit. The energy from my horn just travels down the sound waves and hits whatever's at the end. It's basically a giant laser cannon. Pretty sick, huh?"
"It's right impressive, I'll give ya that," Applejack said, patting the DJ on the back with her hoof. As she tried to figure out just how bad their casualties were, she was pleasantly surprised: 18 dead and 47 wounded. While that was still more than 2/3 of the militia either dead or wounded, she had expected the death toll to be much higher. Truth be told, she hadn't expected there to be anypony left to count the number of dead and wounded.
Outside what remained of the walls of Ponyville, however, a storm of white and brown feathers brewed, advancing towards other Equestrian cities. Forces several thousand soldiers larger than that which attacked Ponyville were pouring into Manehatten, Fillydelphia, and Vanhoover as Ponyville licked its wounds, and a still larger core army marched onwards towards Canterlot to besiege the Equestrian capital and, if all went as the gryphons planned, force a surrender from its diarchs.