Game of Worlds

by DualThrone


Break Upon Like Water

Trixie prided herself on being a fairly cosmopolitan pony. Her wandering had taken her wagon all over Equestria, and had occasionally crossed over the borders into the Provinces. For a unified nation under a diarchy, Equestria contained so many cultures, so many styles of building and laying out cities, that it was sometimes difficult to see how it was ultimately all the same place. The history, too, led to memorials, museums, monuments, and even some ruins of old castles around Neighpon, Bitaly, and Trottingham. None of that had prepared Trixie for the earthworks that Shining and the ponies of Ponyville had dug in less than twenty-four hours.

It wasn’t so much that it surprised her--astonishing endurance was just as much part of earth ponies as wings were pegasi and horns were unicorns--but a previously flat kilometer now obstructed by an earthen wall and a trench behind and in front would bring any pony up short. Spaced atop the wall, which was several times Trixie’s height, was poles from which dimly flickering lanterns hung. Pieces of the cobblestone path that was previously there had been worked into the wall, providing steps to get on top of it and a narrow hardened top so ponies could walk back and forth as needed.

The earthworks were already occupied by various ponies from around town--Trixie recognized Carrot Top and Berry Punch and traded smiles and waves with both--with the tall forms of Shining Armor and Big Mac standing together and looking towards the Everfree.

“Ditzy mentioned seeing them massing at the edge when she flew over,” Shining said as Trixie drew within hearing range.

“Eeyup.”

“I wonder why they’re waiting.”

“Dunno.”

Shining smirked a little. “Prefer action to talk?”

“Eeyup.” Big Mac twisted his head to either side, his joints audibly popping. “Dun like being bait.”

“Those without an army of their own get to help those that do,” Shining sighed. “I don’t like it either but if there’s as many as Ditzy estimated based on what she saw, we can’t possibly fight them. Forest Shadow’s soldiers can, these thestrals sound like they can, and the reinforcements my Cady has called in can.”

“Do ya know much ‘bout them?”

He shook his head. “Only what Cady has told me, and it’s not much.” He looked out towards the direction Forest said her soldiers would be coming from. “I wish I knew more of these thestrals and the soldiers that Forest Shadow plans to use. She spoke of using them to ‘rake’ the Twisted and then some of them entrenching in ‘firing positions’. I’ve never heard of such tactics, at least not with infantry. Usually raking and securing safe firing positions are cannon tactics and they don’t move all that fast even with well-drilled pegasus pullers. And I’d like to know more of these thestrals as well. Cady talked about them being sort of like those dragon-pegasus mixes Nightmare Flare made, but also said Flare’s were crude imitations of a much more capable race of pony. Being kept in the dark is…” he paused to find the word “...disconcerting.”

“I’d like to know something much more important Captain Armor,” Trixie said as she easily vaulted the trench behind the wall and started up the stairs. “Let’s say that Forest Shadow’s soldiers aren’t fast enough. What is the plan for your militia?”

Shining heaved a sigh and rested his hoof on his forehead. “Hope,” he said. “These creatures aren’t like bucking timberwolves or driving off manticores. From how the Cutie Mark Crusaders described what they saw, these Twisted are predators and Ditzy Doo assures me that they’re extremely numerous.” He turned to meet her eyes with ones full of very real fear. “I don’t know what to do, Trixie. I feel like I’m lining innocent ponies up to die, hoping against hope that complete strangers will save them. I’ve never had to fight monsters before, only criminals and professionals.”

“Have a little faith, my love.” Trixie turned her head slightly as she reached the top of the wall, seeing Cadence standing there with her wings tucked against her sides, wearing a peaceful smile. “You’re not facing this alone, none of the ponies of Ponyville are. Aunt Luna may be away and Aunt Celestia disabled but there is still a princess watching over them, prepared to defend them against their enemies and comfort them in the face of this darkness.”

“That and the weather team is prepared to drop a twister on them,” Trixie pointed out. “As terrible as the atermors are, I don’t think they can do much about weather.”

“I fear that you’re being a little too optimistic,” Cadence chuckled. “Kryssa and Anori are two of the most loyal, dedicated, and able guards I know but weather-making is a skill that takes years to really master, and mastery is what is needed to build violent weather and then control it. And yet things are in such flux that even a drizzle could harm the atermors’ efforts.”

“Hope they get it moving fast then,” Carrot top called from the far end of the wall. “Creepy bird-thing straight ahead of us and bunch of things coming out of the Everfree behind it.”

“Oh little pony princess!” The grinding, hollow sound of an atermor’s voice floated over their dirt wall and Trixie turned to see that the atermor itself had approached close, well within the arc of where she could concentrate a barrage of the spheres of Light. The sight made her immediately begin gathering her concentration, feeling the comfortingly hum of magical reserves back at full strength from the strain of the previous day.. Spread out behind it was a mass of roiling blackened mockeries of ponies, covered in chitin plates with apparently random assemblages of horns, claws, and teeth. “Oh little pink princess, come greet your subjects.”

Cadence’s sigh of annoyance was audible even as far away as the princess was standing, and Trixie heard her walking up the steps, her hooves clinking in rhythm as she climbed. Pausing to kiss Shining lightly, she nosed her way in between Trixie and Forest, peering out over the crude battlement. “I see them,” she said evenly. “And I see their tormentor.”

“And I see a fake, a false princess pretending to…”

The moment Cadence had stepped up to answer the taunting of the atermor, Trixie had been holding the barrage in readiness for use the moment the princess was done; one of the foul things strolling casually up to point-blank range was far too juicy an opening to let go. So the moment Cadence turned slightly so her eyes met Trixie’s and gave a minute nod, Trixie let the cascade fly. She hadn’t meant to aim it quite so narrowly, but the sight of the atermor’s form being shredded into scraps of mask and cloth was oddly cathartic after the events of the last few days.

The sudden destruction of the atermor seemed to momentarily stun the mass of Twisted before there was a faint gibbering howl from far behind the mass and any sense of confusion seemed to vanish instantly. The howl was repeated as if it was a signal, leapfrogging up the mass until it reached the ones nearest the earthworks and the hoard immediately surged forward.

Trixie didn’t have time to say or do anything, whether to call up more orbs of Light magic or make her flechette ready, because there was a crackling explosive roar far off to the right and half of the Twisted collapsed as if a giant scythe had swept through them. Entirely forgetting that the other half had survived the attack, Trixie turned to face the direction that the roaring sound had come from.

A cloud of whitish smoke was rising from the tall grass off to the east of the earthworks and from the smoke and tall blades a hoard of… something burst forth, coming at a run. Trixie wasn’t quite sure what she was seeing, other than the fact that they were all just a little bit taller than Spike, had the wiry build of a diamond dog, and were all wearing dark grey uniforms and brown packs that seemed far too large for something so small to move. Of more immediate importance, each one was carrying what appeared to be a long pole made of metal and wood tucked against them as they came running for the earthworks.

Beyond the ones heading for the works were others and these were dressed in dull grey armor with small circles of metal clutched in one hand and long wickedly curved blades in the other. Weaving among them, coming on at a full leaping gallop were more metal-covered soldiers carrying long spears and riding what, from what Trixie could see as they charged, were timberwolves standing taller at the shoulder than even Princess Celestia.

There was no further opportunity to study the soldiers charging the Twisted, because a shout of warning brought Trixie’s head back around in time to see that the survivors of the raking attack were just reaching the earthen walls and the first were already gathering their feet under them to leap the almost-sheer surface. As it had been with Spite and then the atermor in Ponyville, Trixie poured magic into the hemisphere of the flechette just as the first one launched itself--and was torn to pieces by the torrent of magical darts. The ones leaping upon Cadence had impacted a barrier with a wet crunch and fallen limply to the ground where the earth ponies on the wall (and Captain Armor as well) knocked their attackers back off with well-timed bucks.

“Might not what to take your eyes away Miss Lulamoon,” Shining Armor said wryly. “Although our unfortunate foes are mere moments away from having much more important things to think about than us.”

Trixie gave him a quick nod as she fed some of her reserves into her horn, looking for where it would be best to direct a barrage. The flow of Twisted had diverted away from trying to charge the earthworks, however, and were in a full-blown melee with what were clearly Forest Shadow’s soldiers. It was difficult to distinguish between the dull grey of the soldiers and the vibrant black of the Twisted but she had no trouble at all picking out the giant mounts of the soldiers. They looked oddly like the way the CMC had described the unfortunates that the atermors’ plague had mutated, lean and wolflike but covered in some kind of chitin and sporting long wicked claws and whiplike tails sheathed in more of the chitin. The mounts were reaping a terrible harvest and yet the sheer weight of hundreds pressing in on them was making it an equal contest.

“Trixie Lulamoon.” Trixie jumped a bit at a nasally piping voice practically inches from her ear and turned to its source. This turned out to be a green-skinned creature almost exactly her height with a muzzle-less face, slightly bulbous yellow eyes, and a prominent hooked nose. He was wearing a well-fitted uniform of rough trousers and a three-button coat with an odd circular cap from which waves of greasy white mane cascaded. His hands were like Spike’s, but with an extra finger and covered by a pair of heavy leather gloves. Belted around his waist was a curved sword of some kind and what looked like a small club, a handle angling away from a metal shaft with a cylindrical bulge near the handle and a thin metal loop at the junction.

“Yes?” She responded, making no attempt to hide the fact that she was looking the odd creature over.

“Colonel Kipper, 15th division, 3rd Corp,” he said, his serious and businesslike bearing dramatically at odds with the small stature (at least relative to Forest Shadow) and piping voice. “Could you please direct me to Adjutant Sadow?”

“I’m here, Colonel.” Both Trixie and Kipper turned at once to see Forest Shadow standing at the base of the rough stairs leading up to the wall, smiling. “Your timing is impeccable.”

“The atermors lined up all pretty and asked very insistently to be shot,” he replied, giving the kitsune a salute. “My bully boys could hardly miss if they tried. Is there any word on whether the thestral contingent has struck their rear in the Everfree?”

“None yet.” Shadow gave him a grim half-smirk. “Although I guess we’ll know soon enough. Until then, you know your business. The artillery reserve is coming up from the rally point on the road to Canterlot but there was an entanglement and we have siege pieces mixed in with the field pieces.”

“Siege pieces? Field pieces?” Both Sadow and Kipper turned to look at Shining Armor. “You have cannons?”

“Yes,” the colonel said. “Although it sounds like they’re entangled and…”

“How?” Shining interrupted. “Where are you bringing them from? For that matter, who the buck are you? What are you?”

“Gremlins, Royal Guard Captain sir,” Kipper said, straightening slightly. “And the rest will keep until we’re not shielding you against an onslaught of atermors.” He turned to Sadow. “If you’d be willing, Adjutant, would you please tell the captain in charge of my reserve to untangle his mess and get me the ordnance rifles double-quick?”

“Anything I can do to assist,” Shadow gave him a quick bow.

“If you’re willing to do anything Forheest, taking the field yourself would be helpful.” He crossed his arms and frowned at her. “Our enemy is coming through a mass of flowers and leaves, and I have a kitsune planted on her arse in the back of the lines. I should like to quickly crush this branch before wheeling to receive the other.”

“Hold on.” Trixie looked hard at the major. “Other?”

“Yes.” He uncrossed his arms and turned to point in the direction from which he and his soldiers had come. “Scouts on extreme picket duty sent word of a larger force on its way to the east just before we engaged the Twisted. They further report that the force has reversed its direction and will arrive around dawn tomorrow, so we must destroy the force before us.” He looked pointedly at Forest. “For that, we will need to use all of our advantages.”

She sighed but nodded. “I shall deliver the reprimand and then return to do what I might.” There was no apparent gesture, no gathering of magic; between one blink and the next, Forest simply disappeared with a sharp whoosh of air rushing in to fill the void occupied a moment before by the kitsune.

“I recognize this isn’t an opportune time, Colonel, but my fiance’s questions are both relevant and important,” Cadence sad. “You simply cannot know Ponyville and its surrounds the way we do, and I infer that having your artillery at hand is very important.”

Kipper frowned but nodded. “My mistake,” he said. “I apologize, Royal Guard Captain Armor. Our rally point is sixteen kilometers along the road to the city called Canterlot. The reserve will be force-marching on Ponyville as soon as its captain reorganizes it.”

“I could bring the cannons here immediately,” Cadence said. “Teleportation magic is a fairly basic discipline and I’ve the reserves to cover in seconds what may take hours to march. How many of these ‘ordnance rifles’ are there?”

Kipper answered but Trixie had already turned away and tuned him out, letting Princess Cadence and Shining Armor discuss details with him. From where she was standing on the earthen wall, Trixie could see a great many of the ponies that the plague had mutated laying on the ground, either dead or dying, but the soldiers seemed as numerous as they were when they’d charged forward. And yet it seemed like the line hadn’t moved at all, the flow of creatures arriving from the Everfree never seeming to end.

“Horrible innit?” Big Mac said, leaning down to kiss her cheek.

“Yes,” Trixie sighed, smiling very slightly despite herself at the kiss before turning to return it. “Strangers fighting to save us, by killing as many victims of these atermors as possible. It’s hard to know whether to cheer them on or avert your eyes.”

“Cheer,” Mac said instantly. “Folks comes from further than we can think just ta do right by us. ‘Least we can do is a bit o’ cheerin’.”

“I’m not sure how you can Big Mac,” Carrot Top said from somewhere off to Big Mac’s left. “Every single one of those… Twisted are ponies.”

Trixie looked around her coltfriend to where the carrot farmer stood, looking faintly ill as she stared out at the fight. “You know?”

“Berry told me,” Carrot said faintly.

Of course she did, Trixie sighed. If Berry hadn’t decided that everypony should know so they understood exactly who was coming to kill them, Trixie would have been surprised. Still, she had to say “She shouldn’t have.”

“Why?” Carrot turned to look at her. “So we’ll just think the atermors gathered an army of monsters to kill us?”

“Eeyup,” Big Mac said. “Ponyville’s got good folks. Good folks try ta help sick ponies. Woulda got ‘em killed cuz there ain’t any fixin’ this. Still might.”

“How do we…?”

“Because we trusted our allies, Carrot Top.” Shining Armor started up the steps to the wall. “And now it’s because we can’t think that. Otherwise the tragedy of hundreds, of thousands, of tens of thousands of victims dying while we watch would destroy us long before they actually cut our throats.”

“But…”

“This is war, Carrot.” Shining slumped a little, barely giving the distant fight a glance. “This is battle. According to one of Twiley’s books, the last pony to see this sort of thing died hundreds of years ago--at least until the Guardian came.” He patted her shoulder with a hoof. “I know what it’s like, what you’re feeling. I felt it six months ago; all the Royal Guard did. Helpless, ill, frightened, desperate to do something to stop the bloodflow, realizing that you can do nothing.” His tone became unconsciously bitter. “Realizing that the ones doing the fighting are so much stronger than you that all you can do is watch, wait, and try to hold yourself together. Realizing that for all you know and all you can do, it doesn’t mean anything and doesn’t change anything.”

Trixie forced herself to stop looking at the stunned-looking Carrot and turned herself back to the battlefield… and then stopped. Where there had been fairly clear skies above the Everfree when she’s turned to look at Carrot, now there was a faint grey column extending from some dark clouds and disappearing below the horizon. Moreover, the column appeared to be moving and after a moment of baffled incomprehension, Trixie felt a spark of hope.

“Maybe not Shining,” she said, gesturing with a hoof. “I think that’s the weather team’s twister.”

“Really?” He narrowed his eyes and stared at it, watching as it loomed larger and larger. “You know, I think you’re…”

“You lot can control weather?” A piping voice demanded from below.

Trixie blinked, having forgotten about the gremlins who’d dashed for the trench in front of the earthen wall, before peering over and down at them. Now that they weren’t approaching at a run, she could see that what she’d taken for a pole made out of metal and wood was a long metal rod bound to some wood with bands of metal and some kind of decorative metalwork at one end. Each one was also carrying a curved sword strapped to one hip and a large pouch on a strap that ran across their chests.

“Pegasus ponies can,” she told them. “And I’m sure Forest Shadow said that you’d be firing at the Twisted while the other soldiers cut into them.”

“Atermors are directing them to use the cavalry as a shield,” the gremlin that had called up to her said. “Can’t fire without a target. But that doesn’t matter cuz that storm is barreling right for the cut in the line.”

“Cut in the…?” Trixie swallowed, remembering. “Oh no.”

“Oh no,” Shining agreed. “Worse, I don’t think we have a messenger who can get to the cut before the storm is close enough for them to see it on their own.”

“Write-off then,” the gremlin said. “Can’t help them. Hope they’re good.”

“They’ve been through the wringer keeping up with a pony named Rainbow Dash,” Trixie said to him. “The most skilled flier not on the Wonderbolts.”

“Then we don’t need to help them.” The gremlin turned his face towards the battle. “Impasse. Impasse is bad when you’re outnumbered, worse when you’re trying to disengage. Fatigue sets it, weapons break, bleeding has time to take effect, and numbers begin to mean more and more. And if the superior numbers have no more pressing business, they can drive a dagger into your back as you retreat” He turned back. “Royal Guard Captain Shining Armor, they must be broken quickly so the cavalry can disengage before that storm arrives. Will your militia follow?”

“I wouldn’t call them militia,” Shining hedged. “They’re… townponies trying to help.”

The gremlin sighed deeply. “Then sending them to battle is as good as murdering them,” he said. “Keep them out of our way and for Weaver’s sake, keep them from trying to be heroes.” The gremlin turned his attention to the soldiers. “Alright boys, fix bayonets. Wide flank to the left and back in. Aimed fire, no volleys.”

Almost simultaneously, the soldiers planted the ends of their weapons in the dirt, withdrew what appeared to be a very long sharp blade with a ring on the end from a pouch on their right hip, slipped it over the far end of the weapon, and gave it a firm twist. As one, they brought the weapons up so one end was tucked in the crook of an elbow and the other end cradled in an open hand, and then exited the trench at a jog, heading outwards and around towards the opposite side of the Twisted from where the cavalry was fighting.

“Awful sorry Captain,” Big Mac rumbled after a moment of them watching the soldiers exit and move towards the fight.

“For what?” Shining said in a subdued voice. “Not being hardened soldiers in a nation protected by two near-deities and the Elements of Harmony?” He sighed and shook his head. “You’re all here, standing on the wall and ready to help. Nopony could ask anything more of you than that.”

“We’re still sorry Captain Armor,” Carrot Top said. “A chance to actually do something, unlike what happened with Nightmare Flare, and you’re stuck here holding the hooves of civilians.”

Shining Armor smiled a little and shook his head again. “I just have to remember that my oath of duty calls upon me to serve the ponies of Equestria, not fight their enemies. Holding the hooves of civilians while soldiers fight is exactly what I signed up for, so you have nothing to feel sorry about.”

“Just by getting the buildings in better condition and throwing up earthworks, you’ve acquitted yourselves well,” Princess Cadence said, stepping up beside her fiance and giving him a quick nuzzle. “I’ll be able to get the ordnance rifles here but I’m told that they can’t be transported until the soldier Colonel Kipper left in charge reorganizes them. In the meantime, I think we should try throwing up some more of these earthworks in the way of the other group of Twisted coming from the east.”

“I was thinking the same,” Trixie said, watching the snaking column of gremlins break into a jog as they started looping back towards the fight. “Other than watching, we can’t do anything here. If the fight turns against them, we can’t help. If the fight goes in their favor, they won’t need us. But the way we can help, I think, is make more of these earthworks facing east.”


The few times she’d been in severe weather, Trixie remembered the sky getting dark, and the wind turning cold and stiff. There was usually a peal of thunder and once or twice some flashes of lightning. Universally, however, the storm was announced by a drizzle quickly turning into rain and then a downpour. So when they finished laying out where they’d dig and had broken ground with nary a drop of water to be seen, Trixie stopped and stared confusedly at the placid sky above.

“No storm,” Big Mac observed.

“I was thinking the same thing,” Trixie said. “I’m not eager to be blown around and soaked to the bone but…”

“...you were counting on the storm.” Cadence nodded. “Do you think it could have been a wild storm that the weather team was trying to harness or disperse? It’d explain why it was barreling at the cut in the line instead of where it could do the most good.”

“That... “ Trixie sighed. “That could be. I wish Ditzy was still here.” She glanced around. “Where is she anyhow?”

“Last I saw her, she was flying a high circuit around the edge of Ponyville,” Carrot Top siad. “I’m sure if she sees anything, she’ll come and tell us.” She paused. “Well, at least if she sees something she thinks we don’t already know about.”

“That must mean she got the flag put up.” Trixie turned to see if she could spot the flag, finding that her view was blocked by nearby buildings. “I guess the flag doing something on its own was too much to hope for.”

“It was worth a shot,” Spike said from between the pages of a book almost as large as he was that he was somehow holding above the ground. “Hey Shining?”

“Yeah?”

“I don’t think we’re gonna get much out of a wall and trench,” he said, resting the book on the ground lightly and flipping several pages. “I know we laid them out but I think we’re better off trying to slow them down than block them. C’mon over and look at this.”

Trixie peered over the baby dragon’s shoulder as Shining ambled over, dropping the shovel he’d been using with his horn magic as he went. The page Spike had flipped to was mostly text in a series of characters that looked nothing like Equiish. but also a series of diagrams showing the dimensions of a setup and crudely illustrating pits with forward-facing wooden spikes and deep irregular holes lightly covered over with grass.

Shining took up position beside her, eyes visibly skipping over the text to the diagrams. “So, pit traps to break up the charge?”

“Yup.” Spike gestured to a particularly dense passage. “‘We found the timber wolves loved spikes of wood no more than any creature of flesh, and that with their attention on an easy meal, failed to see the holds beneath their feet. The pack came; the few that survived the field of pits were easy prey and then we destroyed their pack-mates. Such defenses should cause the ponies much sorrow, no matter the cleverness of their warrior princess.’”

There was a long silence while Trixie and Shining stared at Spike, who didn’t seem to notice for the first few seconds. After several moments, he turned to look over his shoulder at them. “Yeah, I can read canni. Stop staring at me like that.”

“Sorry.” Trixie gave him a pearly smile. “I was just thinking that it may have annoyed you when our visitors said it, but they could have a point about the familiar thing.”

“I’ll bet you read canni cuz Twiley reads canni,” Shining said.

“Eh.” Spike shrugged, turning back to the book. “Whatever. Important thing is, it should be faster to make these kinds of defenses and they’ll work better. Too bad those gremlin guys are fighting right now… I’ll bet they could do a lot with some shovels instead of little cannons.”

“Is that what those are?” Trixie said.

“Long metal tube, stabilized with a wood frame, used in volleys.” Spike shrugged again. “Seems like the cannon diagrams I’ve seen.”

“Seems like descriptions of the cannons I’ve seen,” Shining added. “Although all the cannons I’ve seen have fuses and torch holes, and I’m not sure how that’d work with a cannon you carry on your shoulder. Maybe the gremlins will let us keep one, let Twiley look at it.”

“Percussion caps.” The three of them turned to look behind and above and were greeted by a mare that Trixie mistook for Krysa for a split second. The lean shape was the same, along with the very light purr to her voice and the predatory focus. But after the split second, she saw the grey-violet coloration, the black armor, and most distinctly, the reptilian pupils and broad dragon-like wings, and Cadence’s brief description of a thestral came back to her.

The thestral showed her teeth to them, exposing delicately pointed canines and incisors, before settling to the ground and tucking her wings against her body. “I’m told that the shoulder cannons use small things called ‘percussion caps’ and a piece of the weapon called a ‘hammer’ to touch off the powder.”

“You’re a… thestral?” Shining stared unabashedly at her.

“You’re a unicorn,” she said dryly. “So’s the one in the fancy cap and cape. And there’s a dragon holding a book. I’m a mare, she’s a mare, you’re a stallion, and the dragon’s male. I’m the alpha female, you’re an officious twat, and the stage magician smiles like a pro. I’m pretty sure the dragon is a nerd. Any other obvious things you want to get off your chest?”

Shining’s cheeks grew a bit pink, at her condescending tone. “Excuse me,” he said with a frown. “Who are you?”

“Keen Edge,” the thestral responded, eyes narrowing. “Who the hell are you?”

“Shining Armor, Captain of the Royal Guard.”

“Impressive job Captain,” Keen snorted. “Just goes to show that soft ponies from nice safe cities don’t mean pies when the chips are down. Can’t believe ol’ Sunbutt…”

She trailed over as Princess Cadence’s familiar multicolored mane filled Trixie’s peripheral vision, and she could have sworn the thestral got a little pale. “I believe you were saying something about my adoptive aunt, Keen Edge?” Cadence asked in a tone of exaggerated sweetness. “And about my fiance?”

Keen Edge swallowed audibly and bowed hurriedly. “P.. princess,” she said. “I’m sorry, I got carried…”

“Save it,” Cadence growled a little. “There’s no time for us to go the rounds about your temper and your big mouth, Keen. What’s the status of the cut in their line of advance?”

“Last I saw, their cohesion was shattered,” Keen said in a more even and subdued voice, not meeting Cadence’s eyes. “Lord and Lady Bloodwynd are chopping off the heads of their leadership--literally, for the most part--as quickly as atermors appear. I was confident enough to leave Darkwing in charge and bring a hoof-picked force here to shore up the defenses.”

“Did you happen to bring any of your staff?”

Keen smirked a little. “They’re my ‘staff’ now?”

“Betas, thetas, epsilons, gammas.” Cadence waved a hoof. “I don’t care what you call them, did you bring them with you?”

The smirk became a grin. “Darkwing’s a lot of brave and smart but he couldn’t manage his way out of a paper sack. Couldn’t leave him to keep the fight going without Match and Brass.”

Cadence smiled a little. “She’s ‘Match’ now?”

Keen apparently decided that the lighter tone was a signal that she could look up and she promptly did. “Matchstick, actually.” She looked over at Shining Armor. “Sorry for being a jerk Captain Armor.”

“It’s… fine.” He looked at Cadence. “How do you know my fiance?”

“Let’s call her a friend of a friend of a friend and leave it there for now.” Keen forestalled any further questions by stepping around Shining and peering at Spike’s book. “Quick fortifications?”

“Yup.” Spike turned to look at her. “How long have you been in the Everfree?”

“State secret.”

“Whose?”

She bared her teeth at him. “Mine.”

Spike stared at her a moment longer before shrugging and turning back to his book. “What do you think?”

“I beat things up,” she said. “You want to talk to Brass Coupling about this sorta stuff. Came out of the womb with a wrench in her mouth and a toolbox clutched in her hooves.”

“I think Twilight came out with a book and a reading light sometimes,” Spike grinned toothily at her. “So, what state?”

“A state that’s done right by me and mine for centuries.” The bared teeth were upgraded to a glare. “Drop it. You’re gonna be all grown up before me and Sunbutt’s little kingdom are square, and I ain’t gonna blab state secrets till we’re square.”

Spike was noticeable smaller than Keen but Trixie had to give him credit: he either had an incredible poker face or he really was as unimpressed with the threat as he looked. “So this state that did right by you… one of those secrets?”

“For now.”

“Why Princess Cadence knows you and you know her… another secret?”

Her eyes narrowed. “What the hay are you…?”

“Awful hard to know you’ve got a temper and a big mouth if she doesn’t know you.” He looked passed Keen at Cadence. “The thestrals are the ponies you called for help.”

“No, not specifically.” She smiled. “But well-spotted.” She took a step closed to Spike, brushing passed Trixie lightly so she could lean down and look him in the eye. “That said, please stop asking. The time to discuss all of these things--who the ponies are, who the thestrals are, how I know Keen Edge and her colony--will come and I’ll explain it all when that time comes. For now, please just help Shiny lay out fortifications and answer Keen’s questions.”

Spike nodded immediately and looked at Keen. “Okay, so, is there anything that we can try to throw up that’ll help you guys?”

“A brothel.”

Spike didn’t even blink. “Two stories or three?”

Keen eyed his total deadpan expression before she grinned. “You’re my kind of nerd. Whatcha called?”

“Spike. And I’m just the nerd’s assistant.”

“Right-hoof dragon, huh?” She glanced at Cadence. “Well, pies. Now I gotta keep this place safe, at least until the queen nerd shows up.”

Cadence chuckled. “Just because of Spike.”

“Well, him and the mare in uniform up high.” Keen gestured vaguely upwards. “How she spots things with a screwed-up eye, I have no idea but I like her. Blunt like a sledgehammer, and I’m all about that.”

“I’m glad you’re fully behind the effort.” Cadence stepped back so she could kiss Shining’s cheek. “So, here’s your boss Keen. Whatever he says, treat it like I say it.”

Keen’s grin dropped. “You’re bucking me.”

“Only with Shiny’s permission.” Cadence’s pleasant expression evaporated as well. “I mean it sincerely. We’re getting help from the gremlin soldiers but for all the ponies, Captain of the Royal Guard Shining Armor is in command.” She nodded to Trixie. “As is Trixie Lulamoon here. It so happens that the queen nerd acts as the unofficial guardian of Ponyville, and she asked Trixie to work on her behalf. So until further notice, you listen to her and you listen to Shiny.”

Keen growled but nodded. “OK, fine, I listen to the tin soldier and the stage magician. Anything else?”

“Be an alpha female, not a child.” Cadence nuzzled Shining. “There’s a good reason you got the job.”

Keen glared at Cadence before hissing something under her breath and looking at Shining Armor. “OK tin can, give it to me straight.”

Shining returned Cadence’s nuzzle as Trixie looked Keen over. “Sorry to interrupt, Captain Armor, but why hasn’t the storm we saw arrived?”

“Storm?” Keen furrowed her brow. “Oh, you must mean the monsoon cloud. We redirected it towards the deep Everfree on our way in. Would have loved to use it to drown some critters but it was completely out of control and it’s sorta dumb to mess with something that wild. Best to let it dump out and break up on its own.”

“Did you see any pegasi around it?”

“Not around it, no. The Ponyville region weather team were the ones who spotted it and warned us about it.” Her eyes flicked to Cadence. “Them, and a couple of pegasi in Royal Guard armor.”

Cadence sighed. “They’re talented guards but I feared they wouldn’t be up to weather-shaping without any experience.”

“And here I was thinking that flying ponies could do the weather thing without trying.” She looked at Shining. “OK, what’s next?”

He looked her over. “You’re like pegasi, right?”

Keen gave him a very level look and spread her wings. “You did catch that we don’t do the feathers thing, right?” Shining just gave her a dim look and she sighed. “OK, fine, yeah we do the pegasus thing. Why?”

“I’m thinking it’d help a lot if not all of the Twisted that are on their way here arrive,” he said. “Could you make that happen?”

She snorted. “Could we make that happen? It’s sorta what we do, tin can, and these Twisted are pretty aimless without atermors pulling their strings.”

“Then you know my orders,” he said with a smile he clearly didn’t mean. “Get to it.”

She gave him a mocking salute. “Aye-aye Royal Guard Captain Tin Can, sir.” She swept her wings downward and leapt into the air, rapidly gaining altitude. When she reached the level of some nearby low-hanging clouds, her shrinking shape was joined by at least a dozen others and they assumed a v-shaped flying formation as they rocketed towards the east.

Shining watched them go before looking at Cadence. “So how do you know her, Cady?”

“She was being flippant but accurate,” she said. “I know her through a friend among the ponies I called on, who knows her through a friend of hers. This is the first time I’ve actually met her, though.”

“Ah.” He looked towards where Big Mac and Berry Punch were just finishing one of the spiked pits and covering it over. “I hope those ponies show up soon. Having a nearly completely undefended flank when all our help is locked into a fight makes me nervous.”

“I know.” She walked to his side and leaned lightly against him, draping a wing over his back like a vast feathery blanket. “For all the magic ponies have, no one is ever where they want to be exactly when they want to be there. They may yet be hours away when minutes count. But they will come and…”

“They’re here!” Everyone turned to see Keen and her flight come barreling out of the forest, deftly dodging branches and brush as they came.

Cadence and Shining both lit their horns and a sphere of pinking magic popped up between the oncoming thestrals and the forest. “What do you mean, they’re here?” Cadence demanded.

Keen backflapped to a stop just a length short of Cadence and touched down. “Bucking gremlins didn’t bother to note how fast they buckers were coming,” she snarled. “And I’ll bet anything they went all-out when the gremlins checkmated the first bunch. They’re a minute behind us, maybe two.”

Trixie felt her heart constrict. And we don’t even have earthworks up! We won’t be able to get to the gremlins in time to warn them! “H… how many?”

“Can’t say,” Keen said. “At least as many as there are coming the other way, probably a lot more. Atermors driving them just like before, but I’ll bet they’ll be smart enough to stay out of easy reach this time.”

“Then we need to get the townponies out of here,” Cadence said, her voice distant, realization slowly creeping into it. “They must be shielded until my reinforcements can arrive to aid us.” She turned to Shining. “Shining, I need you to do this. I need you to shield and protect the civilians. I know you can sustain shields for a very long time. it’s your special talent after all. And as you said to Carrot, your duty is to the common pony, and that is who you must protect now.”

Shining kissed her, looking into her eyes. “What about you?”

Cadence kissed back and ran her cheek against his. “I am a princess of Equestria my love,” she said gently. “We don’t know why the atermors are so fixated on Ponyville but their intentions for Equestria are surely poisonous, so they cannot be permitted to drive us out. Even fleeing and letting them have their way isn’t an option. To protect Equestria, I must stand my ground here.”

Shining sighed and nodded. “I suppose you must then.” He stepped around her. “Alight ponies, we need to round everypony up and get them back to the library. It’s easier to sustain a shield over a single location than throwing up a large shield over a larger area. Keen, have one of your hoof-picked ponies inform Ditzy Doo so she can alert anypony she can find, which will probably be most of the town.”

Keen looked over the other thestrals with her and gestured to one with a dark grey coat and lavender mane, who nodded sharply and swept off into the clouds promptly. The alpha female then looked at Shining. “The rest of us are gonna hang with the Princess here, tin can. Hope ya don’t got a problem with that.”

“You wouldn’t be much use gathering ponies anyway,” he shrugged. “You could easily be mistaken for some creature of the atermors.”

She bared her fangs at that but with a glance at Princess Cadence, turned away without comment and walked to the fore, her party spreading out to either direction in a vague wedge shape in front of Cadence. Seemingly satisfied with this response from Keen, Shining looked at Trixie. “Miss Lulamoon, I think you should come with…”

“If you don’t mind love, I’d like to have her here,” Cadence said. “I’ll need her and I feel that if she was left out of this, she would eventually resent us for keeping her from fulfilling a promise to Twilight.”

Trixie swallowed hard at that. “Princess, I’m not that much of a…”

Cadence raised a hoof to her, smiling. “With my aid, Trixie, your limited abilities will be more than enough to give the atermors pause. And while I can’t be absolutely certain my abilities will destroy and hinder them, there is no doubt at all that your spells of Light will.” She looked at Shining. “The minutes are almost up, love. Hurry.”

Shining gave her a hesitant look, the tension in his legs practically screaming his reluctance, but he took in a breath and looked at the gathered ponies. “All of you come with me,” he called in a tone of ironclad command. “Drop what you’re doing, come now!”

There was no hesitation whatsoever in the ponies working on the improvised defenses. Big Mac stopped just long enough to kiss her on the tip of her horn, whisper “be careful” and his solid frame was already disappearing beyond the edge of the town with Carrot, Berry, and all the other ponies. Cadence watched them go, drew a deep breath, and let it out as she turned to face the woods. “Don’t be afraid Trixie,” she said. “Remain alert for the atermors and destroy them, and we will win through.”

Trixie swallowed hard again and found herself unconsciously stepping closer to the reassuring presence of the pink alicorn. “I’m not Twilight Sparkle,” she said as she saw a rustle pass through the trees and brush before them with no wind to explain it. “I… I can’t just drown them in magical power like she can, like you can.”

“Trixie, I’m the Princess of Love.” Cadence lay a wing over her. “And the fundamental nature of love is that it can be shared.” And without any further gesture on her part, without her lighting her horn or doing anything else that Trixie could see, a surge of electric feeling made her stumble, a surge of magical energy that pulsated as a phantom sensation right beneath her horn.

She took a moment to steady herself and tentatively shaped the surging energy into the spheres of the bombardment spell. Even at full strength, forming the spheres had always been a minor exertion; this time they materialized as if summoned by her merely wishing for them to appear. Growing bolder, she tried to manifest more at once and as before, they appeared instantly without any real effort. This… this must be what it’s like to be Twilight! she marveled to herself.
Any further thoughts were quickly silenced as the forest stirred again and a line of frighteningly familiar black forms emerged, extending so far from side to side that Trixie had to turn her head to take them all in. Behind the first line came another, and then another, all walking at an unhurried pace in nearly perfect unison. Rank after rank marched out from the thick forest and stopped just outside easy reach of the wedge of thestrals headed by Keen until there were tidy ranks going all the way back to the edge of the brush. With the Twisted standing so near and unmoving, Trixie could now see an additional detail that the Cutie Mark Crusaders hadn’t mentioned, likely because they hadn’t noticed.

The eyes of the victims of the atermors’ plague were empty of thought or life. There wasn’t even the awareness of a wild animal, but a terrifying mindless blankness. She had the sudden impression, and wasn’t sure what gave it to her, that the Twisted couldn’t actually see her--or anyone. They appeared to be little more than puppets on the strings of their malevolent masters, and Trixie abruptly understood why their allies didn’t hesitate to slaughter them: the afflicted ponies seemed no different than dead bodies walking around.

“If you tried, atermor, I’m certain you could be much more obvious,” Cadence said loudly. “Perhaps you’d like to try this dance face-to-face, like your brother.”

“I fear I must decline, little spawn.” Trixie stiffened slightly and noticed a moment of tension in the wing draped over her at the atermor voice that replied, echoing directionlessly from the woods. That voice… that tone… “I’ve already had my fill with you, and your little trickster kine. You cost us a valuable kazim stone, you and that white cow with the sun on her flanks, and the small one wearing the clothes of a huckster.”

Cadence paused a moment. “A puppet.”

“Astute. I have many, but you have just that frail flesh to protect you.” The atermor that had confronted them in the town square holding a black rod, the one that Trixie thought she’d destroyed with a blast of her flechette, chuckled breathlessly. “Flesh that I will now rend, at the claws of the people you claim as your own, who are now mine.”

At the last syllable of “mine”, several things seemed to happen at the same time. The Twisted leapt at the thestrals, the thestrals snapped their wings open and charged at the nearest Twisted, Trixie released the spheres of light she’d been gathering in the general direction that the atermor’s voice seemed to come from, and Cadence’s horn flared with blinding radiance, staggering Trixie.

When her vision cleared an instant later, the thestrals were all airborne and the entire force of Twisted were collapsed in place like puppets with cut strings. Trixie could see more emerging to replace them, coming with yelps and runs, but she couldn’t help but stare at the rows of still forms stretched out in front of them. Cadence lightly tapping her barrel with a wing brought her back to herself and she willed another barrage of spheres into existence.

As she released this fusillade of Light spheres into the forest, the thestrals swooped in on the running Twisted, flipping around in midair and putting the full force of momentum into their back hooves, bowling their targets off their feet. Once grounded, the forms of dragon-winged pegasi seemed to blur into a flow of constant deadly motion. Wicked chitinous blades passed around and over them. Moving to try to tackle them resulted in a stunning blow beneath their jaw and a pivot on a single hoof brought the front two into the temple with bone-breaking force. Some blows were dodged, others turned from a deep evisceration to a minute gash, and yet others were almost gently grasped and directed into another Twisted. Although Twixie could see plenty of power in the dragon-ponies, it was all grace and fluid motion, never staying still long enough to be overwhelmed, always moving from one step to the next as if it was a deadly dance instead of a fight.

“An entire race of ponies designed for war,” Cadence commented in a tone of quiet awe, “and they do it with grace.” She glanced to Trixie even as her magic appeared to lash out of its own accord and bat aside a Twisted that had tried to sneak up on them from a side. “Is the link working?”

“If you mean how I can do magic without calling on my own reserves, I think it’s working,” Trixie said, throwing another spread of spheres at the woods, catching one of the spheres in mid-flight and causing it to impact in a knot of the insectoid ponies, throwing them in all directions from the explosive shock. “You’re sharing your own font with me?”

Cadence smiled, looking at her even as her magic continued to lash out and throw any Twisted drawing near to them aside without apparent attention from the princess. “It’s part and parcel of how my special talent works, Miss Lulamoon. Love is a very nice thing but doesn’t mean much unless you can share it freely. By the same token, I can ‘subsidize’ your own power with my vast font so that you can do more with the tools you have. I and Shiny have been considering giving it a try with his special talent for shields, seeing what kind of beating his most powerful barrier can take with me bearing the magical cost instead of him. Perhaps even ‘tune’ the barrier to obstruct only certain enemies. But that is in the future; at present, I wonder why this taunting atermor isn’t simply crushing us with numbers as he threatened.”

“In my shows, I like to use big flashy magic to entertain my audience so I can do something extra special when they looking in the wrong direction,” Trixie offered.

“A distraction.” Cadence nodded. “But from what?”

“Flanking the gremlins, attacking the cannons the gremlins are bringing from the direction of Canterlot, going after the clinic where Princess Celestia is resting…” Trixie grimaced. “I’m pretty sure they don’t need to be creative to do harm.”

“All too true.” Cadence turned her gaze to the sky and some large clouds drifting lazily by from the east. “Dammit, where are they?”

Trixie’s brow furrowed as she followed the line of Cadence’s attention. “Princess, why are you looking at the sky? Are they flying here or something?”

“I already told you, I don’t know how they plan to arrive,” Cadence said. “Yes, flying here is one possible way to approach Ponyville but…”

Trixie waited for a moment for Cadence to continue and when she didn’t, looked back at the princess, feeling a wind stir her mane as she did. A wind moving east. She didn’t have the chance to look back at the clouds moving against the wind before there was an ear-shattering roar from above, followed by a staggering cacophony of many more roars, and the edge of the forest exploded. Trixie stumbled from surprise and the way the ground itself seemed to heave from the explosions, just regaining her stability when there was another roar and yet more of the forest exploding. This time, she was only saved from falling on her face by Cadence stepping forward and catching her with a hoof.

“Well as I live and breathe…” the princess said before the roaring destroyed another line of the forest and with the princess to stabilize her, Trixie finally got turned around and looked upwards at the source.

Where there had been a large cloud drifting lazily along, there was now a ship sailing through the air as if it was water. Along the hull were engines with a half-dozen large propellers at the bow, midship, and stern with an extra two on booms in the back. It was very large, moreover, about the height of a 2-story house with a large captain’s cabin sticking up in the front. Sails, probably more decorative than practical, jutted up from the deck and were spread out beyond the sides of the vessel as well. What drew Trixie’s attention most, though, were the source of the sound: two rows of ports cut into the side of the ship with cannons jutting out, cannons that were jumping back into their holes as they belched forth a curtain of fire only only to be shoved back out a minute later to do it again. The ship appeared to be made of blackened iron and as Trixie looked harder at it, she could swear she saw the guttural flame of runescript covering the hull as well.

“What… is that?” She breathed.

“That, Trixie Lulamoon, is the Black Mambo,” Cadence replied in a voice that was struggling not to be a laugh. “More importantly, it’s my reinforcements arriving as I said they would.”

“A single flying ship?” But even as she said it, she could see small shapes launching themselves from the deck of the vessel by the dozen, shapes as black as the vessel that were diving towards the ground and the ever-larger mass of Twisted flooding out of the forest, even as the Mambo’s cannons fell silent. They came on faster than Trixie could get a good look at but for a brief second, she had the impression of black-coated ponies with crooked horns before a brilliant green flame swept over that form and from it emerged what could easily be mistaken for a duplicate of a Twisted pony, but clad in gleaming bronze armor and very pony eyes glinting with intelligence as they launched themselves at the victims of the atermors’ plague.

There was no grace or lithe, liquid movement in the new arrivals but sheer brute power accompanied by faint flickering auras of viridian magic around their limbs as they struck. Twisted were not merely cut but run through and thrown at their fellows, not merely bruised or a limb broken, but chests caved in and bones shattered as Cadence’s reinforcements brutalized their way through the masses with careless abandon. Trixie felt her stomach lurch as she watched, the knowledge that the ponies being ground underhoof were effectively already dead doing nothing to lessen the impact.

It took her a full minute of watching the brutality for her mind to pick up on the movement at the outer edge of the masses: the Twisted were actually backing away. Some were even fleeing and the panic appeared to be contagious as it blazed its way inwards, leading more and more Twisted to turn and start running. Notably, the reinforcements made no attempt to stop them, nor did they make any movement towards pursuit. It was only those Twisted that continued to attack that received the crushing response and the crowd began to melt faster than the thestrals and reinforcements could disable them.

At some point, and Trixie didn’t see when that point was, the ponies fighting for them simply stopped and watched as the Twisted scattered, fleeing back into the ruins of the forest and as the last disappeared, the armored creatures turned and the flare of greenish flame swept over them again, and Trixie found herself almost eye-to-eye with several dozen ponies unlike any she’d ever seen.

They were solidly built and each one encased in what appeared to be the chitin of insects, an impression strengthened by wings that looked like those of a housefly. Their legs appeared pitted and irregular, and their horns were jagged-looking. And yet the ponies standing before her had manes and tails of various patterns and colors, eyes that were friendly, and despite the sheer number, she could see a myriad of very individual cutie marks on their flanks.

There was a long moment of hesitation as if they weren’t quite sure what to do or say next and then as one, every single one of the strange-looking poneis dropped to their front knees and bowed deeply in the direction of Cadence.

Cadence smiled and bowed to them in return. “Welcome to Equestria my friends,” she said warmly. “Thank you for your timely intervention, and your unhesitating zeal in the protection of Ponyville.”

“Um, y… you’re welcome Princess!” Trixie blinked and saw the same surprised expression on Cadence’s face out of the corner of her eye, as she became aware of the sound of clanking hoofsteps approaching. She could also make out what looked all the world like a bright red cap bobbing above the sea of blank as the hat’s owner wove his way through the reinforcements. The ponies shifted and parted ways as the hat-wearer got closer and with a movement simultaneous enough to be silently coordinated, the last two stepped aside to reveal a unicorn stallion standing among them. His face was a creamy brown color with a light off-white end of his muzzle and what Trixie could see of his mane was strangely long and flowing, and a rather attractive off-white like the tip of his muzzle. There was a subtle smile to the stallion’s face, a cheerful brightness to his chocolate-brown eyes and somehow, the presence of a vivid scarlet cape draped over his polished red armor that covered him from hoof to just under his jaw didn’t look at all silly. Somehow, the symbol of a heart with a curved sword driven through it and the words "Tantalus" on the breastplate of the armor didn't look silly either.

And yet, despite a very light blush and a coltish nervousness and cheer about him, Trixie had a very strong feeling that this was a stallion who could be very dangerous if someone gave him reason to be. Perhaps it was the weathering of his youthful features, perhaps the subtle flicker of military watchfulness behind those warm eyes, or perhaps it was that he was dressed in full and very obviously exquisitely-made armor in the midst of a hoard of ponies that had quite literally crushed their enemies, but something about the stallion suggested a hardened soldier shifting about under the extremely pleasant mien that he projected.

“Hi!” He enthused with a broad smile. “Um, I mean, good afternoon Princess! I’m General Sugary Market the er, commander of this unit. So sorry we were late, the wind was really hard to deal with over the Everfree, that’s for certain. But um, we’re here now and it looks like we’re in good time and you look unhurt so, that’s got to be good.” He hoofed at the ground in a slightly bashful way. “Ah, I’m really stammering aren’t I?” He took a deep breath, let it out, then bowed to her. “Well, what I mean to say is… Princess, First Tantalus Brigade reporting for duty!”