Chapter 13
A spotter on the northern gun of Crescent Fastness alerted, “Barrage vessel heading to 12-84, I repeat, bomber headed to Ponyville! Light escort vessel covering with smoke screen.”
In quick succession, lieutenants reported three urgent messages to Princess Luna:
“Solar fleet and army are mobilizing to attack.”
“Ponyville is about to be bombed.”
“General Graywood is ready to commence the counterattack.”
She attempted to remain calm and focused, but the protective orb quivered with her uncertainty as she heard one piece of unexpected news. “Why would they attack the town?” the Princess wondered aloud. “Shoot down the bomber with the north guns.”
“Just after we sighted them, they obscured the craft with a smoke screen. We can try, but I don’t think we will stop it in time. Ponyville is so far forward of the line.”
Indeed, Crescent Fastness was located much better to guard Ponyville Gap than the town itself.
“They wanted us to see the ship first,” she said with certainty. She realized her gravest fear.
“Do you mean they’re bluffing?” the lieutenant asked.
“No. No, they will kill the inhabitants if they can. But we are supposed to stop them,” she clarified. “I am supposed to stop them.”
“If that’s true, you can’t,” the Lunar officer declared. “You can’t fall into their trap. We’ll send someone else, maybe the Mustangs could--”
The Princess cut him off, “No one else can stop them in time. I will go.”
“We cannot let the Premier of the Republic endanger herself so recklessly,” the lieutenant declared boldly. “I won’t let you go.” The other two agreed but lacked the presumption to give orders to the supreme commander.
She addressed two of her trusted magicians who had not left her side. “Halifax, come here. I have taught you this spell, and I think you are ready. Halifax, you must promise me you will hold this enchantment steady until I return. Sidayana, help him.”
Halifax stepped forward and vowed, “With everything that I am, your majesty.” He bowed in concentration next to her, and when she turned away, the glistening sphere remained.
She brushed past the desperate lieutenant, and answered him, “You can’t stop me. I would not be the Premier if I did not try.” She galloped out the back gate of the fortress and with a powerful beat of her wings she was gone into her native night sky.
As the armored Princess took off, the Solar forces in the north trenches attacked. Luna swooped over them and caused lightning to strike a flame tank. The flamethrower burst into a fireball that claimed the crew of the vehicle and those advancing beside it. Infantry fired up at her, but she hid herself in darkness and continued north.
The Lunar army was energized by the thought of being led into battle by the alicorn leader herself. General Graywood seized on the inspiration of the moment and ordered his troops to charge into the teeth of the enemy attack. The enemy reeled in shock and the tables were suddenly turned.
The Rough Riders did their part, firing into the backs of the retreating foes while the stronger units chased after them. Applejack and Big Mac did their best to pin down the Solar troops who regained their defensive positions until the Lunar army was upon them. Then the Apples could only watch as their comrades blocked their view and carried the fight away through the dark trenches.
Luna raced through the sky towards Ponyville, where the Solar bomb ship had almost reached its target. She could beat it there if she teleported, but she had a better idea. She beat her wings as fast as she could and reached out into the night around her with her magic. Her blue light showed above the landscape like a shooting star, and she pulled a torrent of black night essence in her wake. She shot past the destroyer that was escorting the bomber and billowing smoke to obscure it. The crew scarcely spotted her before she was out of their reach.
The bomb hauler neared the edge of Ponyville and let the doors in the bottom of its bloated hull drop out of the way. Black steel dove out of the craft down towards the town, where the inhabitants thought they would be sheltered. More and more bombs flooded off the seemingly-endless racks of munitions as the ship pressed ahead to carry its destruction over all. Elemental forces balled around the warrior Princess as she streaked to intercept the deadly objects in their course to the ground. She extinguished her horn and released the ethereal torrent into the sheet of falling explosives. The bombs turned and spun as they were swept northward.
Deafening thunder sounded as the incendiary ordinance impacted the outskirts of Ponyville. Fireballs leapt up across the sparsely-occupied countryside, casting the town in stark relief against the darkness. Luna was illuminated in the new light, a speck to challenge the looming vessel. The angry fires reflected on her armor and on her righteous indignation. The force of her magic waned even as the supply of bombs ran low. She glared up at the thwarted bomber and allowed the last bomb to fall past her. She rolled and chased it. She wrapped the bomb in a shimmering aura as she grabbed hold of it with her mind. She pulled up, slinging the projectile back up towards its source. It returned to the bomb bay as if time had rewound, but this time it detonated within the ship. The starboard engine belched flame as its supply of firefly dust reacted to the explosion. The airship listed and the crew struggled to control the fire, but it stayed airborne.
She sensed a threat from the earth below and turned to meet it. It was a gunshot; she cast a repulsive spell to stop the bullet. The magic bullet merely glowed blue as it tore through her repulsive spell and her right wing. The wounded alicorn spun helplessly and twisted toward the ground. At the last minute, she stabilized herself and slowed her descent, landing lightly on hooves that could stand on clouds. Luna galloped south, ignoring the pain and the blood to rush back to her loyal soldiers.
As the sounds of the fighting and the boom of the big guns filled the air in Crescent Fastness, Halifax held Luna’s shielding spell steady. The magical intruders returned, causing streaks of light to lash out from the orb. Halifax bent them back into it, but the turbulence of the sphere only multiplied under the metaphysical onslaught of the unseen enemy. Sidayana joined in, and working together they restored the shield to full integrity. They enjoyed a moment’s peace but remained wary.
Suddenly the orb swelled in front of them and splayed into thrashing strips around a materializing shadow. They bent their concentration to cast out dark magic and repair the spell. As the darkness spread, red beams lashed out of it and disintegrated the white fragments of the orb. They were knocked backwards as their magic blew up in their face.
Instead of the glistening sphere stood a triumphant Solar magician. The commando dropped his saddlebags and grinned at his success as he prepared to leave. He disappeared in a flash, leaving his opponents and the gun crews to gape in horror at the explosives on the floor. Halifax glanced at his partner before leaping to his hooves and snatching up the bomb. He teleported away, chasing the trail of the intruder through the magical dimensions. Sidayana cried after him but he was already gone.
The garrison saw that the fortress was no longer secure and readied their guns to meet any further UNICROM incursion. Three more flashes lit up the interior of the battery. The guards struck down the commandos with bursts of automatic weapons. Two were killed instantly, but the third dropped his saddlebags. Bleeding from the neck and unable to teleport, he whimpered and trembled in fear.
The explosives were detonated remotely.
The infiltrator was vaporized in the explosions that blasted through the confined space. Shrapnel was contained by the partitions, but smoke filled the Fastness, blinding the defenders. Lights in the smoke betrayed the entrance of more saboteurs, and within seconds the fortress was full of chaos and destruction. After the last explosion, the survivors were left to feel their way through the haze to find the wounded and assess the battery’s prized guns. Twisted metal and ruined targeting equipment marked the end of Luna’s long guns. The center gun, along with its crew and Sidayana, had been saved by Halifax’s last deed; but only one other remained, and it could only face south.
It was not enough to hold off the Imperial armada. The heavy warships sailed past the hills and over the plains and fixed their sights on the Lunar army below. General Graywood’s charge had almost dislodged the enemy from the north trenches when the second wave of Solar forces reached them. The most intense fighting yet erupted as the two attack groups met head-on. The tide of battle hung uncertainly; although outnumbered, Lunar troops were pushing their foes out of the trenches. If they could catch the advancing divisions in the open they might carry the day.
At the Solar general’s orders, the fleet fired into the front of the fighting, where soldiers from both sides were still in hoof-to-hoof combat. Huge plumes of dirt burst up from the contested positions, deepening the chaos and carnage. The determined defenders persisted, but soon the earth seethed like a stormy sea as a sky-full of naval guns concentrated their power. Combat was replaced by survival. The relentless resolve to fight until the end evaporated as troops became aware of the fate of Crescent Fastness, which they fought to protect. Neither General Graywood nor Luna were to be seen, and Lunar troops fled in a panic. The whole of the Lunar army scattered at the orders of the lieutenant who assumed command. Big Macintosh, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie left with the rest of the Rough Riders. Shells from the air fleet chased routed soldiers until their location was uncertain. Defeated and dejected, the Lunar forces slipped into the night.
Some wondered about the fate of their general. Reports said that he was slain by a unicorn wielding powerful dark magic. Other stories told that the brave general had defeated the magician and was instead killed by the shells from the Imperial fleet. Some held that their hero, true to his word, could not die or retreat, and must still be fighting somewhere in the north trenches.