//------------------------------//
// 1: A Day That Shall Live In Infamy 
// Story: The Reiter Pony War 
// by ASDeckard 
//------------------------------//

Prince Shining Armor, Captain of the Equestrian Royal Guard, sat in the Crystal Empires throne room, on his own throne. I will probably never get used to any of this, he thought to himself, as he looked around at those in attendance. Some of the ponies gathered were nobles, but the majority were common folk, here to speak with the Princess.

Princes Mi Amore Cadenza, acting ruler of the Crystal Empire, sat on her throne to Shining Armor's left. He took a moment to appreciate how lucky he was to be married to such a beauty, who had such a kind and loving heart; even if it meant being stuck here listening to the common ponies problems—problems he usually had no authority to fix anyway—and, worse the noble ponies problems, which were usually not problems at all, yet they would fuss and make demands all day.

Cadance finished giving her speech, or administering justice, or answering whatever legal, moral or scholarly question she had been asked, and the farm pony smiled and bowed, before turning to leave. They usually smiled when Cadance was finished; even when two ponies would come with deep disagreement Cadance could often find an answer to their problems that benefited both. As the next pony in line approached something in his hallow, deep set eyes told Shining he would be one of the few to leave in a fury after hearing the Princess speak.

Shining stat up straight, and took a moment to look over his guards that stood arrayed around the room. Most simply stood at attention, but a few looked up to meet his gaze and gave him a quick nod; he was not alone in his suspicions.

Princes Cadance showed no sign of noticing the strange ponies angry eyes, speaking in her standard kind yet forceful tone. Cadance had long ago done away with the Royal Herald, preferring to instead address her subject's directly herself.

"Good day. What brings you to my royal court?"

The pony, his fur a dark forest green in a tangled mess, looked up at the Princess, and did something Shining Armor honestly had not expected; he broke into tears. He did not sob, but simply stood breathing heavily as tears streamed from his squinted eyes, and his mouth wrapped into a tight grimace. "I... I bring terrible news from the east..."

"I'm sorry; what news is it that pains you so?" Cadance asked after a long moment of waiting.

"An army of ponies came through the valley, and surrounded our village. Most moved on deeper into the Empire, but those that stayed behind told us to stay in the village. Late in the night I escaped, but they gave chase. I managed to escape but as I ran they shouted at me, telling me if I continued my family would be... I..."

"Umm, excuse me," Shining started, sitting stiff at attention, "but what do you know about your attackers? Were they bandits? I'll have a detachment move directly to your town, and force them to leave."

"They were no bandits," the pony said flatly, his squinted eyes widening. "They moved with purpose, and en-mass. The few they left behind to guard my village numbered in the hundreds, but their main force was thousands strong. I do not know anything more, but we must do something! I'm no more than a day ahead of them, unless they slowed."

Shining prepared to ask more questions, but his wife spoke first. "We thank you for your great service, and will do our best to deal with the situation as it develops. If you could follow my husband he will escort you to someplace private to ask you some followup questions, and then we will begin formulating a plan." She then turned to address Shining directly, "Go, and deal with this situation as you feel is best. Remember, you carry my full authority as well as your own."

"Of course," Shining whispered, bowing his head to his wife and princess, before rising to lead the disheveled pony away. With just a small, discrete motion two of the guards followed as well. Shining lead the small entourage down the main hall, passed the line of ponies waiting to see Cadance, and down to the guard's main barracks. It was as good a place as any for what he believed would be a short interrogation, and he would be able to dispatch the guard immediately.

"What do you know about our attacker's, and are you sure that's what they really are?" Shining did the best he could to keep his voice friendly, and to hide his disbelief; there were guard's ponies spread throughout the Empire and all along the boarder, and nothing had been reported in. There was something that had caught his attention yesterday; the guard's station at the Rhine rivers northern crossing had failed to send their weekly report, but he wasn't expecting to hear back from the messenger he had sent for them until tomorrow.

"I am sure of it! They came into our village like a flood, with weapons raised and shouting! They collected up all of the outlying farm ponies, and forced them into the town, then surrounded us. They took what food they could easily find, then the majority continued on their way, but those that remained swore they'd kill anypony who tried to warn our empire. Warn you of what, I asked myself... This must be an invasion; I can think of no other reason to march so many through our lands in secret. Please, you must prepare... I feel it is already too late for my people."

"It isn't too late for anyone," Shining said forcefully, truly believing what he said. I can't risk all of the guard at once, and if what this pony says is true we may be under attack in just a matter of days.

Shining turned away from the farm pony before him, and turned to the closest of the two guards that had accompanied him. "Head to dispatch and have them round up as many Pegasi as we have, and have them scout every path between here, and the Rhine's North Crossing. Send our fastest flier directly to the guard's station there, and have them report back immediately. I expect them back by tonight. Everyone has strict orders not to engage, and to keep their distance; if we really are about to be at war we need every pony alive and well to prepare our defense, but we also need to know what's happening. Every member of the guard is to report back by tomorrow evening for new orders. Understood?"

"Yes, sir!" the guard snapped, before turning to leave.

Shining himself turned to go. "Where are you going?" the farm pony asked as Shining marched away.

"I'm going to speak with the Princess before sending a letter to Celestia. If we are being invaded the Royal Guard will not be enough; we will need the Royal Army, and the sooner they arrive the better. And thank you for coming to us, if we really are under attack you will be treated as a great hero."

"And if we are not?" the pony asked, following Shining, doubt for the first time seeping into his voice.

"Well, then I will personally be rather annoyed with you for messing up my guard rotations, but the alternative, being caught unprepared by a large scale invasion force, is far worth the risk of wasting my Guard's Ponies time." Besides, Shinning thought to himself, I'm only sending the Pegasi; the rest of the guard will be on standby, ready to prevent the assassination attempt that this distraction likely serves for. If it's not a distraction this is a prudent first step all the same.

Shining turned to his remaining guard, "take this pony to one of our guest rooms, and make him comfortable. Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to stay there until further notice, in case we have more questions or are in need of your help," or to interrogate you to root out your supporters if this does turn out to be a ruse to open an assassination attempt, Shining finished in his head.

Shining walked the way back to the throne room on his own, passed the guard's standing on either side of the doorway and back to his wife's side, who was in the middle of getting an earful from a self-entitled noble, ranting about some unfair law cutting into his profits. Cadance had looked up at Shining, and given him a warm smile before smoothly forcing her face into a calm neutral.

Shining was about to whisper to Cadance, asking her to excuse herself as soon as possible so they could discus this, when he heard the heavy steel shod hoof-falls of a guard's pony coming into the room, working hard to catch her breath. "Sir!" the guard's mare shouted, ignoring the noble's glare, "and ma'am! We are under attack!"

Shining rose immediately. So, it was all for an assassination attempt. "Get the civilians out and clear, now! Alert all guard's ponies to standby now!" As the rooms guard's began ushering the crowd out of the throne room, Shining turned back to the guard's mare who had come to warn them. "Where are the assassins, and how many?"

"They are not assassins sir, and we don't know! I was sent after the first hundred poured into the valley! They'll be to the city in just a few hours if they keep their pace up."

"Where?" Shining repeated.

"They're coming up from the south, near the train depot to Canterlot."

That doesn't make sense, Shining thought, if the civilian earlier was right, and they came across the Rhine's Northern Crossing, then it would be faster if they attacked through the mountains, directly into the back of the Crystal Castle and it's surrounding city, rather than cross the entire valley from the south, in full sight of everypony the whole way...

"Cadance, we need to send a letter to Celestia, and get the Royal Army here as soon as possible. Failing that we need to sound the evacuation."

"But Shining, we can't abandon—"

"I'm not sure how long our Guard can hold off in a siege, and it will be far easier to rebuild a burned town, than to clean the street's of the corpses. If we can not protect the civilians here, we must get them to safety."

Another guard, this one a large Earth Pony stallion, charged into the room. "Thank Celestia, Prince, Princess, they!—"

"have an army approaching from the south," Shining finished for him.

"What? No, they're attacking from the north!"

"How many?" If they're still in the mountains, we'll have less than an hour.

"Thousands, sir. They're at the gates!"

"What?! What happened to our post in the northern pass?"

"I don't know, sir."

"Cadance, we need to leave—"

"I will not abandon our people," Cadance stated.

"I think it's too late to escape," the guard's mare from earlier said. She was standing near the exit to throne rooms northern balcony. "Their Pegasi are already circling the town!"

"What happened to our own Pegasi?" Cadance asked, concern darkening her beautiful features.

"I split them up and sent them to figure out what was happening," Shining stated flatly. He moved up, and pressed passed the guard's mare to stand on the balcony. From outside he could clearly hear the sounds of fighting echoing up from the city below; they were inside the city, murdering their way towards the castle right now, with a flock of at least a hundred Pegasi circling above, ready to catch any who tried to leave by air. As he watched, a group of about twenty Pegasi broke from the flock above, and moved to dive towards the castle, seaming to come straight at Shining Armor himself.

"Guards, to the throne room!" Shining shouted, projecting his voice across nearly all of the castle. "Cadance, we need to barricade ourselves—"

"We will face them here," she said, calmly.

"They out number us greatly, and there are too many entrances—"

"The only easy way into this room—"

"There is a group of at least twenty Pegasi flying to the balconies as we speak!"

"...Then I shall clean them from our skies." Shining Armor had only seen Princess Cadance angry a handful of times, and only once while wielding her powerful magic. As she moved towards the balcony, Shining honestly felt bad for what the attacking pegasi were about to endure.

As the couple argued, guard's ponies had filtered into the room; Shining counted just fifteen total. "We must hold them here. Cadance can stop the Pegasi coming from the north. I and you two will stop any coming in the southern balcony. The rest of you will barricade the main door. Now!"

This is bad, this is very bad, Shining chanted to himself as he moved to the southern balcony. He allowed the two guards to step in front of him; he was still in his dress wear and without his armor, and he planned on fighting solely with his magic. If the best laid plans always go wrong, will this one have a chance?

The Pegasi were already approaching Cadance as she stood on the northern balcony, her light teal magic pulsing across her long horn. "Come no closer, or you will be turned to dust!" she screamed at them.

Shining considered telling her not to waste her strength, that they would need her fighting with maximum efficiency if they were to survive this, but they were not going to survive this, so what did it mater?.

Before Shining could think further, four Pegasi landed on the balcony, immediately stepping forward to make room for four more to land behind them. They were clearly not guards, or Royal Army, or even members of the Wonderbolts, and Equestria didn't have a proper Royal Air-Force anymore. They wore mostly thick leather armor, but a few had thin metal plates on parts of their armor, but none were very heavy; not like the guards.

Shining didn't give them any warning; none was needed, as they had made their intentions perfectly clear. Shining pushed a large amount of power into his horn as he focused on the simple spell designed for the pure and simple job of cutting, then cast it in four quick bursts, aimed at the exposed throats of the attacking Pegasi. The right most three fell to their knees, blood pouring across the balcony, but the fourth on the left jumped up just in time to take it across his lightly armored chest; screaming in pain he immediately took flight.

The back four Pegasi shoved passed their dieing companions, still grasping at their throats in a vain attempt to stop their lives from pouring away. Four more took their place, pressing in behind them. The Guards mare took a quick swing at the left most Pegasi, while the guard stallion on Shining Armor's right slammed his helmeted head into the right most Pegasus's chest, pushing him back into the balconies entryway. 

This left Shining with the middle two. He had no weapon, and was unarmored, so he responded in the only way he could; with his magic. He cast a simple flat one way shield spell, and smashed it forward into the two Pegasi face's, throwing them back into their comrades. The guards mare had managed to overpower the Pegasi on her side, and slashed his neck with a fatal swipe. As the guard on Shining Armor's right failed to push the Pegasi back, he stabbed up into his chest, burying his short-sword deep in the Pegasus's ribcage.

Shining expanded his magic shield to cover the entire doorway. The rapidly growing group of Pegasi outside began bashing on his shield with their weapons, but Shining could hold them back for quite some time. I likely have nearly an hour before this becomes to stressful, he thought, taking a look around the room.

Cadance's balcony was slick with blood, and for a moment Shining Armor's heart threatened to explode, but he forced himself to calm as he looked over Cadance, who was clearly unharmed. I guess she decided turning them to ash would waste too much energy, so she's simply gutting them. As the bodies piled up around her Cadance was forced back into the throne room.

Shining was about to order his guards to help her, when the throne rooms main door was smashed open. A swarm of Earth ponies rushed towards the small gathering of guards.

"Back up the others!" Shining shouted at his two guards, as he rushed towards Cadance. He ignored the sounds of battle as he rushed to her side, and sealed the entryway just as he had on his side. Feeling the strain of both spells, he likely only had about thirty minutes in him if the Pegasi kept up their assault, but that was plenty all things considered.

"Let me take over the spell," Cadance said, her jaw clenched tightly. "I... I can't hurt anypony, anymore today..." There were tears in her eyes.

Unable to come up with a better idea, Shining Armor transferred the weight of his spell onto his wife; one of the most powerful beings in Equestria. After taking a moment to make sure Cadance could hold it, and receiving a slight nod, Shining Armor turned to the battle that was rapidly expanding across the throne room. Counting the number of enemy corpses scattered across the ground it was tempting to say the guard was winning, but Shining could only see eight of them still fighting.

Rushing down from behind the thrones, Shinning forced his way directly into the middle of the fight, projecting a shield passed his guards and pressing the attacking Earth ponies back. He considered attempting to kill some of them, but as he struggled not to slip on all the blood already spilled he pushed the thought from his mind; there was no way he could possibly kill them all, so he may as well just concentrate on protecting his own.

He managed to get all the living enemies pressed back outside the main room, and he telekinetically slammed the doors closed, before sealing them with a more energy efficient spell. This should have been our game plane from the start, he realized, and we should have gotten word to Celestia; I would feel a lot better if I knew the Royal Army was coming to save us.

Shining moved back to Cadance, and after receiving another slight nod from her he merged their spells together, so they could share the upkeep between themselves. His remaining eight guards moved between the bodies laying across the room, some ponies on both sides were still alive and would need medical help soon if they were to live.

"Who are these ponies?" Cadance suddenly asked. She didn't look good; he knew it wasn't her's but the blood smeared across her coat put Shining Armor's nerves on edge.

"I have no idea, but they are well organized to have made it this far with so many." He had no idea what else to say, or do. It was over, as far as he knew. At least we can hold out for a few hours, together.

He immediately regretted thinking that, as a lance of pain shot from his horn deep into his head, as the upkeep on his shield spell's skyrocketed. Cadance shrieked and backed away from the balcony, where a blue coated unicorn mare was standing, just on the other side of their shield spell. She pressed her horn into the spell, and it pulsated with a deep violet. 

Again Shining Armors head exploded, filling with sharp pain as colors blurred and shifted before his eyes. Again, Cadance shrieked, but she stood strong. A second wave of pain hammered into Shining Armor's mind, this time with enough force to drop him to his knees, and bow his head to the ground. He tried to rise, to meet this new enemy head on, but a final wave of pain pushed him to the edge of consciousness.

He felt the strain of maintaining the spells double as Cadance passed out. Unable to open his eyes, let alone rise and fight, Shining Armor very nearly joined her, but he managed to find the energy to shout one word that might possibly save the lives of his few remaining guards. "Surrender!"

The eight guards still in fighting condition rushed to help their fallen leaders. While four attended to the unconscious Cadance, the other four helped Shining to stand. Shining let the shield spell falter and fade, and once again shouted the command, "surrender."

The guards attending Cadance pulled her gently back, then stood in a row in front of her, while the guards around Shinning stood on either side of him.

Behind them Pegasi from the southern entrance rushed into the room and spread out, and Earth ponies flooded into the throne room from the far side. In front of them, the Unicorn mare tried to back away from the entryway, but was shoved forward by the mass of Pegasi behind her, so she ducked into the room and immediately to the side to let the Pegasi through. They were quickly surrounded, on all sides.

"We surrender," Shining told them. "Guards, lower your weapons; this fight is over."

"A wise decision," the Unicorn spoke. She was young; not much older than Twilight or her friends, and she was quite petite. It was a little hard to believe that such a small pony had overpowered both Cadance and Shining Armor, but he had gotten into magical sparing matches with his little sister before, and knew first hoof how irrelevant size was when it came to magic.

One of the Pegasi, impressively tall and well built for the normally graceful race, stepped forward. "Step away from the Prince and Princess," he ordered in a quick bark. Shining couldn't place the accent, but it was somewhat thick and very noticeable. He didn't recall hearing much of one when the Unicorn spoke.

"Listen to them," Shining mumbled as he stepped back, and made his way to Cadance. The Princess had regained consciousness, and was looking around, eyes wide. "It will be ok," Shining told himself as much as her as he approached.

"You two, go to your chambers and you will not be harmed," the massive Pegasi ordered.

"Not unless you spare my guards," Shining barked back, although he knew he had next to no energy to force a resolution.

"Fine," the Pegasi spat, "stay and watch if you must. Stallions, you have your orders." As the massive Pegasi turned to leave, the remaining Pegasi stepped forwards, attacking the now unarmed guards ponies from every direction at once. Shining looked down at his wife, and dragged her face up to force her to look back at him. Tears came to both of their eyes as a guard laying wounded from the earlier fight screamed, as he was stabbed through the chest.

"Why?" Cadance cried out, burying her muzzle in Shining Armor's chest.

"What ponies would refuse to spare even the wounded?" Shining demanded. With the massive Pegasi gone, his eyes found the blue Unicorn. She wasn't looking very happy either, but she was able to hold Shining Armor's gaze.

"You heard the Stallion; we have our orders," and with that the little blue coated mare looked around the room. "Collect our wounded, but leave the rest. We don't have much time." She sat in the corner and watched as the Pegasi collected up the few of their own to survive the encounter with the guards, and check to make sure those that had fallen were truly gone, before the Pegasi started filing out onto the balconies, and the Earth ponies began leaving through the main entrance.

The Unicorn turned to look at Shining and Cadance one last time, before she to trotted out onto the northern balcony, before disappearing in a violet flash.

It took Shining a minute before he managed to speak. "We need to get a message to Celestia, now."

Cadance only nodded as she rose from the cold marble floor.