//------------------------------// // One Does Not Simply Walk Into Canterlot // Story: Harmony's Wrath // by hahatimeforponies //------------------------------// The six comrades quickly formed an effective group dynamic. Tactically, they complimented each other: Calvade kept the ranks motivated and energised, and would lead the ground troops, while Spectra concerned herself with battleplans and would lead the pegasus units. Dawn and Wingscale would provide support in the form of magic (both offensive and healing) and beast cavalry respectively. Diana found herself as a supply master, using her experience running Sugarcube Corner to ration food and the limited supply of gunpowder weapons; the Baroness officially sat on the sidelines throwing money at the militia, but her alter ego was always watching the progress, and preparing to perform the right pushes from the shadows at the right times. Not only this, but they began to form an amicability between them. Bolt and Rose soon formed a friendly rivalry, and would go on to hold a contest over whose unit could bring in the most gryphon heads; Corundum and Wingscale could see elements of their generosity and kindness in each other, and even if their words were few by necessity, they innately understood each other; Diana's light-hearted bounciness in even the direst of circumstances eventually earned Spectra's respect, and even admiration; and Dawn, all too often, found herself arbitrating between two of her friends - be it between the Baroness and Calvade over the use of funds, or curbing Calvade and Spectra's competitiveness - though it did get her nose out of her books. By their combined efforts, the party raised a militia within a matter of days, and within a week their army would reach Canterlot in time to intercept the marauding gryphon horde. Messengers would arrive every morning with word from the north about the settlements that had been razed in the night, and how each day the rising smoke grew closer to Canterlot. Time was running out for Equestria if they didn't act fast. When they reached Canterlot, it was just at the crest of sunrise, six days after Bolt had returned from her excursion to the north, and seven days after her and Dawn's banishment. With the numbers they were travelling in, they had no fear of arrest, nor did they have any intention of retribution. They were looking at the bigger picture. When they found Canterlot, it was preparing for siege - smoke rose in the distance from the towns destroyed in the dark hours previous, and ponies everywhere were busy ferrying supplies into the citadel. Their plan was to pass by and intercept the horde before it reached the city, so that even if they were beat into a retreat, they would have friendly (or, at least not hostile) lines to fall back on. But despite this, curiosity got the better of one pegasus, who couldn't help but use the distraction presented by the militia's parade past the front gates to sneak over the walls and see just what the High Sun Priestess' plans were. Despite her knowledge that Corundum would be far better suited to the task, Spectra broke off from the main flying group and approached the walls of Canterlot on the ground. She took cover both from the guards - still instructed to apprehend her on sight - and her own friends, who would surely call her out if she was seen. After an anxious moment's wait, she darted over the walls, a brief rustle in the bushes the only trace of her presence. Once away from the walls, she ascended to the rooftops to leap between buildings, unseen by the ponies - primarily unicorns - on the ground. She knew the palace and its patrols well enough that getting through to the Priestess' inner sanctum was simple. Before long she was creeping along the balcony of the inner hall, its rear window still undergoing repairs from her escape a week ago. The Priestess was tending to her normal business, flanked by guards as usual. Huh. Fiddling while Equestria burns. Before she could sit and muse much longer, the main doors of the hall were thrown open, and a figure in indigo robes - much like Dawn's, when she first encountered her - burst in, staggering across the floor and eventually coming to a kneel in the middle of the hall. "Your holiness!" The mare wailed. She threw her head up, her long, white mane bouncing away, revealing her blue face and horn. The Priestess immediately turned to address her. "Neophyte! What happened?" Hornblende... Bolt thought to herself, narrowing her gaze. "Oh, it was horrible!" The unicorn threw herself at her mentor's hooves, sobbing uncontrollably. Horrible acting? You bet. "Th-th-th-th-Dawn! She tried to..." she sniffed loudly, milking her 'suffering' for all it was worth. She was visibly roughed up. "... she threw me from the balloon, and then, and then..." Why you little... It took all of the pegasus' strength to restrain herself from lashing out there and then. The Priestess laid a hand on the weeping neophyte's head. She couldn't believe she was just eating it all up. "Hmm... I had feared this was the case... come. There isn't time to lose." She started towards the door, and Bree followed, still sniffling and stuttering. Still treating the whole thing suspiciously, Spectra exited the hall through a small side window and swooped around on to the roof to get a bird's eye view of the courtyard. She looked at the position of the sun, surmising the time. The guards will be changing shifts any moment now... that means there's a blind spot right th- oh no... The precious few moments it took her to work this out cost her any time she had to move. From her perch, she had just the right angle to see Hornblende whip out a dagger and plunge it into the Priestess' back, and give it a twist, emitting the most sickening squelch noise. Before this had even registered with the white unicorn, Bree angled her head into the sky and shot a pulse of light into the sky from her horn. By the time the Priestess' knees hit the ground, the magical energy had exploded brilliantly in the air over Canterlot, a noise quickly followed by distant caws and screeches. So she WAS a spy... That tears it. The pegasus leaped from the roof and charged down at the traitorous unicorn, pulling the spear - her spear, now - from her back. In the instant before she would have made contact, Bree disappeared in a puff of smoke. Bolt had committed to her trajectory, and carried on into the ground. The spear stuck into the ground and she rolled across the dirt. The gravity of the situation became apparent as she hastily staggered to her hooves and spat a mouthful of blood - she was now not just a wanted fugitive, but a wanted fugitive with a gryphon-made spear, and the only pony within fifty yards of the dead Priestess, with a beacon for the horde just detonated overhead. Her heart racing, she snatched the spear from the dirt and took to the sky, subtlety be damned. "Gryphons! The horde! They're attacking!" Bolt yelled as she raced over the wall and back towards the formation, which were still making their way around the outer walls of the city. "What... is she doing..." Dawn groaned, watching a few guards chase after her. "Ah don't know..." Rose sighed. As Spectra passed overhead, the pegasus units of their assembled army began to follow her in formation, cutting off the pursuit of the guards. They swept out over the forest, just in time to catch the first wave of aerial gryphon assault, buying the ground troops precious time. "... but ah think we better go along with it!" Calvade broke ahead of the march, stopping them in place, and began to hurriedly bark out instructions as best she could over the ruckus of battle in the background and the chatter of the militiaponies among themselves. Dawn cast a quick voice amplification spell to help. "Alright ponies, this ain't gonna be pretty, but this only we way we're doin' this. The pegasi have 'em grounded for now, so you need to get in that there forest and kill 'em before they can get airborne again! The main attack will be straight down this here bank." She motioned to the side of the road, where a steep hill lead to the denser trees below. "Don't worry 'bout no formation, just use yer heads an' think practical. The forest ain't open enough for anythin' formal. Wingscale, bring yer critters in from 'bout half a mile west o' here and surprise 'em from behind, we should have 'em busy by then. An' you!" She turned to face the city walls, where a number of guardsponies were standing around, somewhat bewildered. "If any of you have even a shred of decency, of pride in who you are as ponies, you will turn around and get every last able-bodied stallion and mare out there an' fightin' with us! Ya hear?" Two of them exchanged glances for a moment, before abandoning their posts and disappearing into the city. She returned her focus to the mass of ponies behind her. She stood at the crest of the hill, looking out over the forest. "Ready!" She called out. She inhaled deeply, savouring this auspicious moment; the scent of morning air, punctuated with the distant clatter of airborne melee, the occasional stamp of an uneasy hoof behind her, the infrequent caw of a gryphon's last breath. Let's go to work. "Charge!" At this, her army needed no further instruction. They poured over the hill and into the forest, roaring with bravado. Meanwhile, in the skies over the forest, chaos had broken out. The pegasi had been charging in a V-wing formation in waves, which did a very good job of parrying the gryphons' initial assault; but when they came for a second pass, their formation was scattered, and much of the fighting reduced to dogfights. Pairs of sparring partners cruised through the air over the woods, arrows and spears following nearly everyone, most of them raining down on the ground below, occasionally accompanied by a body. The more agile ponies had the upper hand initially, leaving the bulkier gryphons to chase loose feathers and horsehair. However, the longer the melee dragged on and the more punishment was dealt, the more the gryphons could take, and the more the pegasi tired. Spectra was being kept quite busy, and wasn't fully aware of this until fatigue began to drag on her performance. This can't go on all day. At this realisation, she quickly despatched her current assailant and backed up to survey the battle. Pegasi were beginning to get cut down as narrow scrapes built up. Pfft. Volunteers. Inhaling, she began to circle the battlefield at the highest speed she could manage, prompting others to begin the same or get out of the way. Before long, they began to stir the wind in their wake, creating a small whirlwind, scooping up those gryphons unlucky enough not to escape. The tornado pulled them around for the full minute of the formation's duration, before the pegasi spontaneously broke off, throwing the disoriented gryphons inside far away, most wiping out over the forest, a few crashing into city walls and buildings at a bone-crushing speed. On the ground, the battle was far less kinetic. Small groups of ponies split off from the disorganised mass that charged down the hill and stalked the entrenched gryphons from behind the trees. Most of the invaders were pacing uneasily, muttering to each other as they watched the pegasi despatch most of the first wave with their manipulation of air currents. Occasionally they would dodge an incoming arrow or spear. Slowly, the more courageous ponies began to spring out and ambush the gryphons, surrounding their improvised nests and picking small groups off at a time. Calvade was right in the thick of it, practicing what can barely be described as stealth at all, perhaps hiding behind a tree for a moment before lunging at a group of gryphons with an axe plundered from the farm, or, if found in a fix, a high kick. The element of surprise quickly wore off, and as the rest of the horde became alerted to the assault, the stalking soon descended into bloody running battle. Rose continued to soldier on, attacking gryphon brutes nearly twice her size with sheer, honest passion. This only added to the terror her victims felt moments before their skulls became indented with the blow of an axe or a hefty hoofprint - she was far stronger than she looked. She was one hard-working earth pony and damned if she wasn't happy to demonstrate the fruit of years of apple-bucking. On the road, following behind the infantry units, were the artillery. Wheeling hastily prepared cannons and loose fireworks, the artillery units set up at the side of the road and commenced bombardment. Their aim was trained just over the tops of the trees, neatly between the grounded gryphons and the circling pegasi above, to help ease the pressure on them. Diana was running around frantically, ferrying bundles of rockets and powder around between cannon and volley crews. She couldn't help but giggle and squeal every time a rocket screamed from the ground and went off with the most almighty bang over the forest, coloured sparks flying everywhere. She had to be shaken back to reality a few times just because of this, though inevitably she'd glaze over again as soon as the next rocket fired. That is, until something brought her crashing back down to reality. Moments before she was about to hand a cannon crew a bag of powder to reload, their improvised device cracked open and blew apart. The three ponies who were firing it, along with Diana, were blown back. One careered off the hill and tumbled into the forest. The other two of the crew were scattered along the road, bones snapping like twigs from the force of the explosion and the torsion of angular impact. Diana was furthest from the blast, just being knocked back a few feet and winded. She was lucky to avoid the shrapnel, though a crewpony behind her was not so fortunate. As she reeled from the blast, staggering to her hooves, her puffy mane began to wilt and uncurl, a realisation dawning upon her. This is no party... her expression faded from shock to determination, as she grabbed a stack of fireworks and a flint, and finished her thought out loud; "... so let's make it one..." To the mixed confusion and horror of the remaining artillery crew, she leaped off the crest of the hill and skidded down to join the fray.