//------------------------------//
// Bonus Chapter: The Siege of Trottingham 
// Story: Pages in the Notebook 
// by NeverEatTheLemonsAlone 
//------------------------------//

"Hold your positions! Ponies on the walls, stay up there! Keep blastin' the bastards! Don't let up!"

Bastion roared at the defenders, urging them on. I sat in the shadows nearby, feeling somewhat useless. I couldn't move my right wing; it'd been crippled by the pain from the arrow that was embedded in it. Blood dribbled down my white feathers to the rough cobbles beneath me. I'd never been a competent archer; blades had always been something of my specialty. The yrch simply let nobody approach. Our only counter to their deadly arrows was the power of unicorn magic. Flares of frothing, unrestrained mana leapt across the battlefield, exploding in volatile blasts of color upon contact.

My eyes roved the walls, searching for the two unicorns I knew. My eye caught on a blue-purple coat, and I locked my gaze on Luna, who tossed pure arcane bolts with startling frequency and intensity. Beside her, Pyrrha was alone in that she was using real structure in her magic. Instead of simply directing raw magical power, she wove spells of increasing complexity, glowing orange circles apparating around her each and every time she cast a spell. Walls of flames blazed forth from those circles, carpeting the battlefield in bloody light. The infernos swept over entire fields of enemies. She truly was a powerful spellweaver. My eyes widened with each magical calculation.

Interrupting my thoughts, the city gate let out a boom and a creak. For a split second, everything went still as we gazed around with wide, terrified eyes. There was a moment of precious silence.

Then all Tartarus broke loose.

The gates splintered, fragments of wood flying through the air like spears. General Bastion brought some of the other ponies to a rallying point, or at least tried to. Barely a moment later, chaos broke out as a black arrow was hurled from the sky and directly into his neck. His eyes bulged and he let out a soundless scream before toppling forwards onto the bloody stones.

Luna whirled, barely avoiding a yrch shaft as she did so, and bellowed in anger. I shrank back further into the shadows. I'd never heard her so angry. An enormous torrent of blue-white magic blazed forth from her, leaving her panting. There was no trace of the group of yrch. Instead, half of the courtyard was marred with an enormous crater. Eyes glazed, magic exhausted, she slumped to the ground, nearly falling from the walltop. The tide of yrch was limitless.They just kept coming.

I shook her, urging her to wake up, desperately pleading for her to leave the city. There was no way we could defend it now. If we didn't run, we would be dead, all of us. Pyrrha looked like I'd punched her in the gut, but as she gazed around the city, a field of powerful magic incinerating any projectiles that drew too close to her, she realized that I was right.

Eventually, I managed to rouse Luna, and the three of us ran. We ran as fast as we could to the back entrance, where a small road led off into the forest. There were few yrch there, likely because of how small it was. Pyrrha teleported into the trees, glaring at me with a vindictive gaze that I don't believe I shall ever forget. Luna managed to muster up the magical strength to shield herself. Me? I ran fast, and through some miracle, I made it.

Even as I write this, I see a plume of smoke rising above the decimated city. "One day," I'm whispering, "one day."