//------------------------------// // The Battle For Canterlot // Story: Children of the Sun // by Vanner //------------------------------// Chapter 18: The Battle for Canterlot Butter Bean and Blossom Stitch stood in a meeting with the herd of newly officers discussing the hows and whys of their return. The force march from the previous day had left the army exhausted, and they decided to leave the next morning rather than immediately. True, that wasn’t exactly as Iron Pick had ordered, but it was now the duty of these two ponies to see that every soldier was taken care of. Iron Pick had been right; they had gotten caught up in the rhetoric. Instead of being a credit to Bridleburg, they were almost the downfall of Equestria. “Everypony? Can I have your attention please?” asked General Butter Bean. His officers settled down and turned to face the earth ponies. “Thank you. Um… Cloud Drop was it? Weather report? “The pegasus squadron is reporting unusual activity in the upper atmosphere with winds in excess of a hundred and fifty miles an hour blowing directly south,” said the purple pegasus. “Reports are that they’ve been going on for at least the past ten hours, and that something up north is causing the disturbance. It shouldn’t be a problem, but there is a massive, unpredicted cloud bank about ten miles off that’s moving with the system. Doesn’t look like it’s carrying rain though, so no pony knows what’s to make of it. We should be fine to move out tomorrow morning.” Butter Bean nodded to the pegasus, and turned to one of the unicorns. “Minty Rest was it?” asked Butter Bean. “How’s the troops morale?” “Well sir,” said the magenta earth pony. “They’re all sort of melancholy. Here they had been psyching themselves up for the good fight, only to find out that they were being manipulated all along. A lot of the ponies are feeling ashamed for buying into the rhetoric. Some have even offered to surrender themselves for treason as our former officers did.” “And your suggestions?” asked Blossom Stitch. “Well…” said the mare. “Ah… perhaps some morale building activities? Maybe have them do some physical work to take their minds off the whole situation?” “How about building?” asked another earth pony. “We could build a road from Bridleburg to Canterlot, and say it was community service.” The ponies began murmuring in agreement. It seemed like a worthwhile pursuit, and it would keep the minds of the ponies off the thoughts of war. If it wasn’t for the echoes of explosions coming from the miles off that wouldn’t have given Canterlot a second thought. The army moved to the edge of the Everfree forest to stare in horror as the city of Canterlot burned in the distance. Butter Bean and Blossom Stitch looked to each other, then back to their troops. “Saddle up!” yelled Blossom Stitch. “Cloud Drop, take your pegasi and give Canterlot air support. Minty Rest, ready the troops to move out immediately. Officers, take charge of your platoons! Our princess is under attack! We ride to defend Canterlot!” A few miles away, Heart Chase, Bard, and Constance had taken shelter from the incoming aerial attack underneath a slab of granite that had been blasted off the side of a building in the first strike. Constance was in a near panic from the claustrophobic conditions, but Heart Chase stoked her mane to keep the pegasus calm. Bard watched as the city burned around them in unrelenting horror. “What the hell happened?” he asked. “I thought we won. That was the plan. Iron Pick calls off his troops, we expose Glaive, and we’re done. We ended the wars, damnit! It’s not supposed to be like this!” “Could it be the Lunar Rebels?” asked Heart Chase. “There’s not this many of them,” said Bard. “There’s not this many pegasi anywhere in Equestria except…” They both looked to Constance. “Son of a nag, I should have known it. Glaive doesn’t do anything half assed; that’s the army of Stalliongrad outside of those walls.” The herd cringed as rocks began to rain upon their position, smashing into the slab of granite above, and shattering the cobblestone walks outside. From where the hid, they watched as the city hall burned, and as ponies evacuated the building only to be met with the horrors of raining boulders and flaming debris. Even during the Lunar Rebellion things hadn’t been this bad. Normally pegasi dueled in the air, and provided recon to the troops on the ground. What was happening here was malice, pure and simple. This wasn’t a bid for independence; it was a grudge match, and Canterlot was losing. Heart Chase stared out into the city as it burned around her. Where was Canterlot’s pegasi? How could the capital city be unprepared for something like this? Had they been taken out in the first wave? Did they just never expect something like this to happen? The questions took a back seat to her comforting of Constance. They were pretty much safe for now, and worrying about what they couldn’t control would do none of them any good. Across the street, Iron Pick stood from the pile of tables that had buried him in the first wave of bombings. His ears were ringing, and his head swam. It took him a moment to regain his bearings, but he realized the building was on fire, and that he should probably just get out. Ridgeline bucked through the remainder of the debris to join him. “You’re still under arrest you know,” said Ridgeline. Iron Pick only chuckled at the absurdity of it all. With a wave of his horn, he blasted a hole in the wall beneath the window and stepped through. Outside, it was as bad as he had feared. All around the city of Canterlot burned, fueled by the alchemical concoctions of the Stalliongrad Army. Ponies lie injured or killed in the streets, and entire buildings had been reduced to little more that leaning piles of rubble. For the moment, there were no more pegasi dropping things into the city, but that wasn’t going to last. As the castrophony of war swelled around him, he looked out into the city and wondered what he could do to help. There was nothing to do but wait. The army of Stalliongrad would batter down the gates of Canterlot to take the city and with it, Equestria. Since time immemorial, Equestria had prospered under the guiding hooves of the princesses. Iron Pick had managed to bring it all crashing down within a year. “Iron Pick! Ridgeline!” yelled Heart Chase. “Get over here!” The bewildered unicorn and the banged up earth stallion trotted to the downed granite slab and ducked into basement the ponies had taken shelter in. Heart Chase greeted them with a hug. “So much for that trial.” “I expected to be hanging by now,” said Iron Pick. “Every minute past this one is a gift from Celestia herself. I should probably use them wisely.” Another boulder clattered into the streets in front of them. “Though I’ll admit, what to do now is a bit of a mystery.” “Well, we can’t leave the city,” said Bard. “And you can’t win a war through air power alone. They’re going to have to take the city by force. I suppose we could just hide here until it’s all over.” “What a cowardly thing to say,” said Iron Pick. “Well, I am a coward,” admitted Bard. “My friends are safe here, and that’s all I care about now.” He looked to the motley herd that sat sheltered beneath the granite slab. Here they were safe, and that’s all that mattered. Soon enough the forces of Stalliongrad would come charging through the city and Canterlot would fall beneath their hooves. Bard was sure he could smooth talk and puppeteer their way to freedom. Where they would go next really didn’t matter. These ponies had become trusted friends in such a short time that it amazed Bard; he was willing to put his own fear aside for their safety. Bard began scratching a circle into the floor. “What are doing?” asked Constance. “I’m getting us out of here,” said Bard. “I think I’ve got enough magic left in me to take us somewhere other than here. I want to keep you all safe.” “We can’t just abandon Canterlot!” said Ridgeline. “If we abandon the city, then Glaive’s won and everything we’ve done has been for nothing.” “I don’t care,” said Bard. “I don’t care about my brother or about Equestria or any of that nonsense. I care about you ponies. You, Ridgeline, Constance; you’re all my friends and if I can keep you safe, then by Luna I will do everything I can to make sure that you are.” “What about my family?” asked Heart Chase. Bard stopped drawing for a moment, and looked up at Heart Chase. “What about Red Chase, and Quill Pick, and all the fillies that were born this year? What about Bridleburg? Do yah think Glaive is going to let Bridleburg go unpunished for what’s happened? Iron’s already an admitted traitor; it would take nothin’ to convince the armies of the Lunar Republic to march to war again. If yer brother seizes power, then Bridleburg will be razed. We’ve all know what kind of pony he is, Bard, and yah know I’m right.” Bard looked down to his circle a moment. With a few more scratches into the stone, it would be ready to take these ponies to wherever would be safe. Heart Chase was right though; Glaive would seek retribution. He didn’t know Heart Chase’s family, but if they were anything like her, then they were worth saving. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Okay then,” said Bard. “What do we do?” Heart Chase looked out to the city. She saw other ponies cowering in fear beneath rubble or caring for those injured in the bombing. She walked from the shelter of the basement and into the streets of Canterlot. “Come on,” she said. “It’s time to show Celestia what we’re really made of.” The aerial assault abated as the army of Stalliongrad marched to the gates of the Canterlot. Behind the gates stood the remains of the Knights, two hundred strong against an army of two thousand or more. Steadfast, they waited for the breech, exchanging looks of resignation, rather than determination. Ridgeline trotted to the front line of the army to find the same guard that had repeatedly hassled him at the gate. “What are you doing here?” asked the Knight. “Shouldn’t you be hiding with the rest of the civilians?” “I’m not a civilian,” said Ridgeline. “I may not be a knight, but I am a soldier, and I adhere to the Code. We will not let Canterlot fall.” “Who’s we?” asked the knight. Ridgeline nodded behind him. Behind the rows of Knights stood nearly two hundred more citizens of Canterlot from all walks of life. Bureaucrats stood shoulder to shoulder with merchants and farmers. Unicorns stood proud next to mules and donkeys. In the front lines stood Bard, Constance, Iron Pick, and leading the herd was Heart Chase. She trotted to the knight commander and bowed. “Canterlot Irregulars reporting for duty sir.” “These are civilians!” said the knight. “They can’t fight.” “Why not?” asked Heart Chase. “Isn’t this their city too? Yah ain’t gotta be some hardened veteran to know the difference between right and wrong, and what’s happenin’ to Canterlot is just wrong. All this started cause a couple ponies lost faith in the their princess, and thought they could do a better job that their goddess. We’re all guilty of losin’ our faith sometimes, but these ponies right here believe in Celestia, and they believe in Equestria. What’s outside those gates is what happens when ponies lose sight of what makes us ponies to start with.” As the harvest moon loomed in the sky, the mare in the moon seemed to have a cruel smile for everypony in Equestria. The gate began to splinter under the crashing of the ram and the walls reverberated with the cries of two thousand screaming ponies. Heart Chase stood tall as a massive cloud bank rolled across the sky and into the city. “What makes us ponies is that we’re willin’ to believe in each other, and that we’re willin’ to work together to overcome anything. Ponies need other ponies to live, and it took a war for me to learn that.” She pointed a hoof to the splintering gate. “Canterlot can’t fall to the Nightmare in us all. I won’t allow it, and neither should you. All of us may just be ordinary ponies, but we’re willin’ to defend Canterlot to our last breath. Not because we’re heroes, but because we believe in Equestria. Celestia’s final message to ponies was that she’d return when the fightin’ stopped. Well guess what ponies?” She lowered her helm and turned to face the shattering gate. “The fightin’ ends here and now. We will be the ponies Celestia wants us to be.” The gate exploded in splinters of wood and steel as the battering rams began to plough through the final planks. The Knights stood ready to charge at the army coming through the gates, as the citizens of Canterlot stood ready to stop anypony from making their way into the city. This was it. In a moment, the gates of Canterlot would fall, and the war would come barreling through it. Heart Chase offered a prayer to Celestia. If I die here, she prayed, let it be penance for the horrors I caused, and let this war end here. “For Equestria and Princess Celestia!” cheered a voice from the cloud bank. Heart Chase looked up to see a swarm of pegasi and griffins rolling over the edge of the cloud bank to take back the skies from the Stalliongrad pegasi. A griffin landed in front of Constance. “I heard about your war,” said Manus. “And your friend Star Heart said he could get us here in day. A thousand miles in a day! Who would have guessed?” Bard looked up to see Star Heart at the head of the cloud, horn sparkling as the ponies atop the cloud disembarked to the ground. Constance smiled at the griffin. She was glad to have the support. Manus turned to the gate with a nod, and lowered his head for battle. The gate finally gave way just as the last of the ponies from Hoofswell made ground. The knights charged horn first into the army of Stalliongrad with a cry of Celestia on their lips and the dreams of Equestria in the hearts. As the two sides clashed, the citizen ponies joined with the Hoofswell ponies to form a deep column that would hold back the advancing army. They were still outnumbered, but they stood united as Equestrians against the armies of Stalliongrad. For twenty minutes, the knights fought the army of Stalliongrad to a standstill, nearly blocking the front gates with the bodies of the fallen. The Stalliongrad pegasi tried to outflank the citizens but were thwarted by the air support of hundreds of griffins. Pegasi began to fall on the city with broken wings; the citizen ponies moved in to restrain them and treat their wounds. The Knights had managed to hold their own long enough to think they had a chance when the Knight line suddenly broke. The knight commander felt himself go limp as if some pony had cut his strings, and the army of Stalliongrad poured through the breech around him. Hundreds of armored ponies barreled through the front lines of the knights and crashed like a wave against the citizens of Equestria. The unicorns of the city blasted away as many soldiers as they could, but were soon overwhelmed by the sheer numbers. The citizens began to fall back into the city when the trump of a horn came from the road behind the Stalliongrad army. Leading the charge up the mountain road were Butter Bean and Blossom Stitch in full gallop. The thundering herd of the army of Bridleburg slammed into the flank of the Stalliongrad army, and began carving through it with the zeal of the righteous. Emboldened by the unexpected support, the citizens of Equestria began to push back the tide of soldiers that threatened their city. The lines of the Knights reformed as the citizens advanced, and the army of Stalliongrad’s invincible charge slowed to a halt. Heart Chase felt a chill; she swore she felt a ghost walk right through her. For another hour, the battle raged on both fronts as the ponies of Stalliongrad were cut down by the army of Bridleburg on their flank and the Knights of Celestia at their head. The citizens dragged downed ponies from the fight to bind them and start treating their wounds. Behind the columns of citizens, a growing number of ponies retreated from the fight to treat the injured, and the streets became a hospital only yards away from the fighting. The citizens of Canterlot didn’t want to kill the ponies of Stalliongrad, they just wanted them to stop fighting. Finally caught between the hammer of the army of Bridleburg and the anvil of the citizens of Equestria, the army of Stalliongrad began to surrender after an agonizing hour of fighting Officers tore off their helms and bowed in defeat to the remaining Knights. It was hours before the officers of Stalliongrad were taken into custody, and some of them had surely gotten way, but with the citizens of Canterlot acting like brothers to their so called enemies, the cycle of violence had been broken in Equestria. Citizens began to treat their wounded and soldiers offered no resistance as the ponies of Canterlot tried to help everyone that had been injured. Whether they had been the invading force or simply a pony that had stood up to fight for their city, every pony helped tend to the wounded, and move the dead from the streets to the fields. Everypony realized that the bloodshed had to stop, and that in order for Equestria to be strong again, they had to work together as nature intended. They had to be the ponies that Celestia had wanted them to be so she would come back to lead them once more. The city itself was in shambles, having been blasted to pieces by the aerial bombardment of Stalliongrad’s pegasi. Fire still burned in the city for hours as the griffins and Hoofswell pegasi moved in clouds from far off to bring the rain. Debris littered the streets as the ponies tried to make sense of what they’d become. For the most part ponies stared blankly into the devastation that war brought to their doorstep. Some prayed in silence, while others wandered around aimlessly trying to find something to hold on to. Others had started to take charge to search for survivors among the ruins of Canterlot as they waited for the rains. Heart Chase walked among the ranks of the injured soldiers and citizens searching for her friends. She eventually found them among the wreckage of the battle site, standing around a fire made from broken spears. Bard was missing part of his ear. Constance was miraculously untouched by the fighting. Iron Pick was nowhere to be found, and Heart Chase had taken hoof to jaw, but it was Ridgeline who had suffered the worst. Ridgeline had taken a blade to the face, and now sported a roguish patch where once he had an eye. One of the unicorn medics had sealed the wound across his face, but he was left with a scar that now ran down his face as a sad reminder of the horror that he fought to dispel. Heart Chase wondered silently if he had lost control during the battle. “I know what you’re thinking,” said Ridgeline. “And no, I didn’t lose control. I wanted too. I could have killed a hundred ponies before anyone stopped me, but I found something to hold onto that the demon can’t break.” He smiled at his friends. “It’s you three. You’ve taught me that friendship is all we need to keep going. I may have lost an eye, but I gained everything in return.” He looked out the destroyed city with a smile. “I think everypony here learned that lesson as well.” “It’s too bad so many had to die to learn that lesson,” said Constance. Her ears perked up as the sound of humming drifted upon the wind. “Do you hear that?” she asked. “It’s coming from the palace. Come on; let’s go see what’s going on.” The ponies cantered through the destroyed city streets of Canterlot. It would take years before everything was repaired, and the scars that it would leave on the hearts and minds of the ponies would last for generations. Still, everypony seemed to realize how far they had fallen from grace, and how much of a struggle it would be to return to the favor of their goddess. Through the blasted homes, and shattered sidewalks, the lesson in humility had not fallen upon deaf ears. They came to the gardens of the palace after a short walk to find that all of the ponies that had prostrated themselves before its walls had fled once the bombing began. As for the palace, it still shone as if made of diamonds. The battle had not touched upon the beauty of Celestia’s home. More importantly, where there had been only a stone wall, there was now a front door. Heart Chase looked to her friends for reassurance that what she was seeing was real. They too stared in disbelief and found themselves walking toward the door. Heart Chase pushed it open, and the ponies stepped inside.