Night Patrol ch 31
By Foxgear
“Come on, we gotta go! Move, move, move!”
The clattering of hooves against wood echoed as three ponies galloped at full speed down the decimated hallways. The floor creaked and moaned as the wood beneath their feet crack and snap with every stomp. As they round the corner, the three of them ran into a half wrecked pillar, bringing down the ceiling and sealing the passage behind them; a chorus of angry screeches followed as their pursuers claw at the rubble.
The three ponies continue on their way, stopping at a junction where a small trickle of sunlight stream down through the floors of the wrecked airship, the Solar Flare.
“Shock, Jockey, how are you holding up,” Trifecta, one of the triplets, asked, passing around the canteen. The two light blue rinin drunk hurriedly, tiny sparks of electricity surging between their lips as they drank.
“The thunder brothers are ready to go,” They reply in unison, a flash of blue lightning dancing between them as they brohooved.
Trifecta rolled his eyes, used to the two’s antics since being partnered with them. He’d rather have his brothers, Thrice and Trinity. They were called the triplets for a reason, and he felt off not fighting beside them. Alas, he didn’t have much choice. His brothers were with other teams under orders from Commander Topaz. His mission was to investigate the Solar Flare wreckage and search for clues to the crew's whereabouts.
Entering a nearby cabin, he peered out the window, looking longly at the once lush landscape of the Everfree forest. Now a barren wasteland of stumps and burned grass.
Since the griffons began their siege on the castle, they’ve cut out a vast swath of the forest for resources and to lessen the forest’s attacks on them. They found out the hard way what happens when you cut down an Everfree tree. It didn’t go down without a fight. For every tree cut, it took five creatures with it and more.
Trifecta continued to stare out the window, hardly believing a month passed since the war started. Princess Luna and Emerald Cutter were missing, Princess Celestia was bedridden, only recently regaining her mobility since her mass teleport.
Sixes, Applejack, and the Solar Flare crew were missing but still alive and fighting somewhere. They have yet to get word to Kira in Nippon, the griffons intercepting their messages and blocked any fire scroll messages from getting through. Add on top of all that, all the airships were grounded and wrecked. Things weren’t looking good for them. That was for sure.
Checking on the two thunder ponies, Trifecta was unsurprised to see them playfully shocking each other to pass the time. The two were much too playful for his tastes, and when they were so far away from the castle. The Solar Flare had only been twenty miles away from home when she was taken out of the sky. It was clear the crew put up a hell of a fight, given the barricades and damage around the ship. They must have been fighting until recently.
(If only we could have made it here sooner.)
“Shock, go and check out the next section of the ship, and see if you can find some clues to where the crew went. Jockey…”
“Sorry, boss, no can do,” Jockey interrupted, making Trifecta grind his teeth. “You haven’t really worked with us long, so remember my bro and me here can only use our thunder if we’re together, so where one goes, the other goes and all that. You get me?”
Trifecta pinched his temple in frustration. “Fine, go, I don’t care. Just be quiet. The enemy is still around.”
The two salute and trot off, poking each other with lightning. It was official. Those two were going to get them all killed.
“Why couldn’t I have just been paired with Nightingale? She’s been acting crazy, but at least she’s professionally crazy. I wonder how she’s doing. She shouldn’t be too far from our location.” The ship began to rubble, interrupting his musings; he didn’t have to guess what happened.
“Thunder brothers, hoo!”
Trifecta rubbed his temples. (This is going to be my entire day, isn’t it?) Sighing deeply, he galloped down the hall to the brothers and, to no surprise, found them fighting a bunch of griffons. The two ran circles around the griffons, zapping here and there with their lightning teleportation ability. They look like a blue bolt of lightning flying through the air, moving randomly and chaotically with no sense of where they were going. Which he was sure was the case.
“Stop fooling around and take them out!” He roared, unleashing a wave of fire at the griffons. The flames hit their armor, causing it to light up with runes, the magic symbols devouring the fire. This was just great, anti-rinin troopers. Griffons outfitted with armor customize with magic to neutralize dragon pony abilities. There wasn’t a lot of them, but they were dangerous without a doubt. One trooper wore a necklace of claws around his neck, trophies of slain Rinin.
Seething with rage, Trifecta rushed the trooper, grabbing him by the chest plate. Hoisting the griffon up. The griffon let out a horrible screech, but that was what he wanted. Chest ballooning, Trifecta breathed fire down the griffon’s throat, burning the body from the inside out. He rips the necklace from the griffon’s neck, kicking away the burning body.
“Run!” He ordered the twins. The three quickly jumped down a hole in the floor, descending to the lower levels as their pursuers reorganize.
“Why we runnin’?” Shock questioned as they descend to the engine room.
“Yeah, we can take ‘em!” Jockey agreed.
“That’s not our mission.” Trifecta rebuked. “Our mission is to get to the engines and make this wreck burn before the enemy can use our own technology against us. After that, we need to find the missing crew and get them back home safely. You two did remember our rally point to meet up with Nightingale and her unit, right?” The twins nodded. “Good, now keep quiet and follow me. The engine room should be just over here.”
The three enter the wrecked room—the inside looking like a greenhouse. Seems the Everfree forest was trying to reclaim some of its territories. Fresh vines hang from the boilers, while new trees reached for the sunlight streams coming through the cracks in the floor. There was hardly a metal surface untouched by the greenery.
“Doesn’t look like the griffons have been down here yet; I don’t see any tracks.” Trifecta observed stepping into the forage. Passing by one of the gem generators, Trifecta peeked inside. “The gem is gone.”
“This one too!” Shock reported from the opposite side of the room.
“Same here,” chimed Jockey from down by the main engine, “Looks like all the gems are gone.”
Trifecta frowned. (Why are the gems gone? Were they destroyed in the crash, or did the crew take them?) It was hard to fathom that the team had the time to take all the gems out while fleeing. Unless they had already begun removing them as they went down. (Why would they do that? Did they know they weren’t going to make it and performed a controlled crash by disconnecting the powerplant?)
“Let’s go check out the main engine body. There might be some clues there. After that, we need to get out of here. Those griffons won’t be far behind. You two remember what to do, right?”
“You know it, Commander Tri, we’ll blow this place sky high in one go!” Shock said confidently.
“Just give the word, and we’ll thunder brother this place to smithereens!” Jockey added jovially with glee with sparks showering from his horn.
Why couldn’t these two be more professional? Would it have been that hard to find some other ponies for this mission? Trifecta sighed. He was beginning to lose count of how many times he's done that today.
“Whatever, just come with me.”
“Got it, boss!”
Trotting to the back of the engine room, the three sally up to the massive machine, admiring the engineering behind it. Gadget, or rather Starwind, had put an enormous effort into upgrading the engine since the first model, making it more robust and reliable. It's a shame they’ll have to blow it up.
“Shock, Jockey, charge up and blow this thing. I’ll keep watch,” Instructed Trifecta, taking point in the middle of the room. He kept an eye on the door while the twins charge up their attack. They couldn’t let the griffons recover the engine or anything on this ship. It all had to be destroyed.
The sound of rushing feet made his ears twitch. Trifecta lowered into a battle stance, readying a fire blast to block the entrance and slow the enemy advance. He needed to buy the twins a few minutes to get enough power built up, then they could overload the engines, and they could scram, hopefully before the whole thing explodes. Starwind had calculated it down to the T. They would have ten seconds to escape. Ten seconds to blast their way through the hull and fly to safety. Hopefully, Shock and Jockey could build enough charge to use their lightning teleport; otherwise, he’d have to carry them out.
“Are you two almost done?” No answer. “Hey, Shock, Jockey… where the hell are you?” The twins were gone! (I’m going to kill them!)
From the stairwell, a griffon yelled, “Somepony is down here! Get him!”
Trifecta cursed under his breath, moving to where he left the twins. They couldn’t just vanish. Ok, they could, but despite their unprofessional conduct, he knew they wouldn’t turn tail and run. No patroller would leave another behind. Something must have happened to them, but what?
With the Griffons drawing closer, Trifecta scrambled to come up with a workable plan. He had few options. He could stay and fight, run away, and fight the army outside, or he could hide and try to lose his pursuers. Hiding would be the logical thing to do.
(I’d prefer to fight, though.)
“Damnit, no choice then,” Growling Trifecta dug in for the fight. He would need… what was that sound behind him? A claw reached out of the shadows beckoning him closer.
A familiar gruff voice said, “Come here.”
“There are no ponies here.”
“I swear, I heard them!”
“Shut up, we gotta find them! We can’t return to the King empty clawed again!” The squad leader squawked angrily. “Damn, ponies are tricky.”
Trifecta watched through the narrow crack as the griffons file out of the engine room. The claw over his muzzle moved away, allowing him to turn and see his savior, Sixes. Behind him were Shock and Jockey.
“Commander Sixes! It’s a relief to see you.” Sixes shushed him and waved towards a small opening in the ground. Silently Trifecta and the brothers follow the black rinin down into the depths of the earth. It reminded him of their home in the caves of Firehorn. It was kind of funny in a strange way.
(Once more into the darkness, I guess.)
At the end of the tunnel, Sixes came to a stop, “We’re here; it’s safe to speak.”
Where was here, Trifecta wondered, moving past Sixes, his mouth agape at the sight of a brightly lit cavern, lit by the missing gems. The cave wasn’t gigantic, but it was big enough to accommodate the missing Solar Flare crew. Tanks were lined up on one side, with tents and cargo on the other, and on the other side, the anchors were dug deep into the earth.
“You let the anchors loose, digging a hole under the ship as you went down and then hid everypony under the ship! No wonder we couldn’t find you!”
Sixes nodded, “It was Applejack’s idea. We held off the griffons and zebras while a team dug the tunnel we came through, and then we set off a bunch of explosions and sent out teams towards the castle while the rest of us went underground. We’ve been stealing from the enemy camp for supplies and interrupting their supply lines. Did anypony from the decoy team make it to the castle?”
Trifecta bit his lip, “A few did, but they were badly injured; they didn’t last long. All they could tell us that you and the others were alive, but they weren’t able to give us your location.”
“I see. What’s the situation in the castle?”
“That’s all you have to say?” Trifecta interjected harshly. He had been one of the ones to rescue the fliers that made a break for the castle. He had stayed with them as they struggled for life, to have them be dismissed so quickly, it didn’t sit well with him, mostly since it was Sixes, their leader since the beginning doing it.
The black rinin turned to him, his eyes almost dead, “What more do I need to say? I wish it didn’t have to be this way, but I don’t have time mourn every brother and sister anymore when I’m too busy keeping the ones still alive safe. Now, what’s the situation at the castle?”
The two stared each other down till Trifecta snorted, turning away, “Topaz and Crusader destroyed the bridge crossing the canyon, stopping the zebra and elephants from crossing. Nearly every day, the griffons launch an assault on the castle, and we repel them. Princess Celestia remains bedridden from extreme magic exhaustion, and we have had no word of Princess Luna or Emerald Cutter. We can’t even get a message to Kira in Nippon. I would have thought she would have returned by now.”
“Not if she’s gotten married to the prince there.” Sixes scoffed. He heard about Kira’s situation from some of the crew. He didn’t really “feel” pleased about one of his kin being the interest of international politics. A visit to Nippon was definitely in order once this war was over.
Trifecta coughed, “Regardless, what is your plan for getting out of here, Sixes? Nightingale has a unit nearby; we can’t just leave her searching aimlessly for us.”
“And we won’t,” Sixes agreed, “Applejack, Fury, how are we coming?” The two commanders ran up to the group, each of them covered in grease and sweat.
“The tanks are ready to go, it took a while to get the parts to fix them from the crash site, but they’ll run.” Applejack stated happily, wiping her brow.
“We got enough gems to power them all the way to the castle. Give or take a mile or two.”
Sixes nodded, pleased with their results, “Good, get as many ponies as you can inside, no fliers.”
As Applejack and Fury left to fulfill their orders, Trifecta stood next to Sixes trying to figure out the plan. There were about eight tanks and maybe one hundred, one twenty, ponies. That was a third of the crew, not only that, but at least half of them were injured.
(No way.)
“You’re going to use the tanks to get them back to the castle and then fly them across? Do you have any idea how dangerous that is? Those machines ride rough; that’s no way to transport injured personal!” Trifecta protested.
“It’s the only way we got!” Sixes rebuked. “If I had a better way, I would use it, but the dirt’s too soft to dig a proper tunnel, and we're too far away from the castle to dig one anyway. The only way left is to fight our way to the castle and hold off the enemy until we get every pony across.”
“Do you have any idea how many you could lose doing this!”
Sixes snorted and then grabbed Trifecta, pushing him against the wall. “What makes you think I don’t realize what could happen? Do you think I would do this on a whim? Do you think I haven’t looked into every possible option I could think of? Now you listen to me, Tri, and you listen well, we’re going to do this, but I won’t cross that canyon until everypony is across. Got it?”
Sixes’ grip loosened, letting Trifecta slide to the ground; watching the night commander lurk away, Trifecta let out a sigh. Shock and Jockey help him up, worry etched into their faces.
“You ok, boss? You shouldn’t let it get to you.” Shock patted Trifecta on the back. “Commander Sixes is probably just stressed.”
“Yeah, Sixes maybe the Big Boss, but we got your back first. We’re a team! I know we’re not Thrice and Trinity, but we will do our best! No goofing, we promise.”
Trifecta smiled, ruffling their hair, getting a few shocks for his trouble, “Thanks, you two, but we have our orders, and we’re gonna follow them. This isn’t the first time Sixes led us into a near-suicide mission, and it probably won’t be the last. He just irritates me sometimes.”
The twins look to one another, “What’s your beef with the Commander?”
He smiled, shaking his head, “It was a long time ago, back when we were in the caves before we met, Princess Luna. We had a bit of feud about who the leader should be at first; let’s just say I was on the opposite side of Sixes. That’s the past, though; let’s go help.”
“Roger that!”
King Silverous pace back and forth in his tent, his brow a constant frown as he looks over the map showing his army’s position. His griffons were facing heavy casualties with the bridge to the castle gone. He placed everything on the line for this war, gathering allies from wherever he could, amassing a combined army of over three thousand soldiers consisting of his griffons, Zulu zebras, elephants, mammoths, and mercenary species such as goats and caribou.
However, the missing bridge made over two-thirds of his army nearly useless. He had planned to charge across the bridge, take the castle right away, and then move to Canterlot. That plan was scrapped as his griffons were the only avian units they had. Everything else was a land walker, and they were sitting around being useless.
Efforts to build across the canyon have been thwarted, any attempt was imminently destroyed and the workers killed. Trying to go around through the Everfree forest was equally pointless. Units would be lost or killed during the passage, and the ones that did make it barely had the strength to stand and fight and were quickly dealt with by the pony defenders.
Currently, the construction of siege weapons to attack the castle was underway. Enemy raiders impeded their progress, which had left Silverous with no choice but to divide his forces. He sent the goats and caribou with the remaining mammoths to take Canterlot. The city was holding better than expected, the mountain city’s natural defenses were proving to be too tough to breach with land units alone, but he could not afford to send many flying companies to aid them. He needed every flier he could get to launch his assault, and his allies refuse to submit their own soldiers to help the mercenaries because of Princess Celestia’s presence in the castle. No one wanted to miss the chance to take down the Princess.
“Dammit, this is taking too long,” cursed Silverous under his breath. The longer it took to take the castle, the more supplies, and the more money they used. According to the treasurer, they only had enough supplies to wage war for roughly two months. After that, the griffon economy would suffer, and not only that but the longer it took to get to the castle, the closer Celestia got to recovery. After that, it was all over.
“Hoofenstein, are you certain you’re countermeasure against the Princess will work? I am putting a lot of faith in you, you know.”
The earth pony grinned in the shadows, “I wouldn’t worry. My pet has already neutralized Princess Luna; she can deal with Princess Celestia with little effort. Have faith in my dear Nightmare Moon, dear King.”
“I fear you put too much faith in that monster. If she is as powerful as you say, what is there to stop her from turning on us once Celestia is gone?”
The doctor shrugged, “then that is the way it will be. I’m more interested in the journey than the results. Well, I’m interested in both, but as they say, don’t worry about things you don’t know. If my fake alicorn proves to be better than natural Alicorns, I will be content with the result either way.”
“You worry me, doctor, you are the one that pushed me to this war, don’t test me with your glass half full theory. Now, where is your creature?”
“Nightmare Moon? She’s resting. The battle was very intense, and even the strongest need to recover. Remember, better to wait and attack with full force then to rush and fail. I assure you, victory will come soon enough if you are patient. You don’t want to make the same mistakes as your father, right?”
Silverous clenched his beak tightly, “You are dismissed.”
The doctor chuckled on his way out, causing Silverous to grind his beak. (I hate that pony so much!)
Taking a calming breath, Silverous pours himself a glass of wine. He sniffed the contents, taking in the aroma before savoring the taste. Gingerly he sips, each sip relaxing his nerves. The sound of his tent flap opening made him sigh and put down the glass.
“This better be… Oh, Lady Zelka, what do I owe for this visit?” He greeted the zebra amazon with a bow, offering a glass of wine, which she refused. From her demure Silverous guess she was upset about something. “Lady Zelka, is something the matter?”
The zebra’s eyes around the tent before speaking, “We will be frank with thee griffin king, we are leaving.” Silverous’s eyes widen as he quickly tried to compose himself.
“Leaving? What do you mean, my lady?”
“This war is too drawn out. We have already acquired a great prize, no need to waste time here. The amazons are returning home. Our territories will be in danger if we stay much longer. The zebra lands are not in friendly times. Other chiefs will strike in my absence if I stay away for too long. Goodbye, griffon king.”
She left. Just like that, she went, and Silverious could only stand there with his mouth hanging down. He couldn’t even gather up the will to chase after her. After all, what would be the point? If he tried to keep the Amazons here, they would fight back, and then his forces would be fighting themselves. However, once they left, it would only be a matter of time before the others would desert as well. What could he do? What can he do?
“Sire!”
“What is it?” He screamed at the soldier. The soldier stammered, pointing out the tent flap.
“The enemy, the enemy, is pushing through our lines from the back!”
Silverous pushed the lad aside and flew above his tent, spotting eight of those metal machines tearing across the battlefield towards the castle. A flock of dragon and pegasus ponies circling around the devices, providing cover.
“Zulu! Send your elephants to stop them! Stop them before they get to the canyon!”
The zebra saluted and ran into the chaos. Silverous looked on grim-faced. Watching his army scatter and fall as the ponies made their mad dash to the castle, leaving fire, lava, and lightning in their wake. What monsters they were, and he the fool that challenged them.
“Come on, come on, we can make it!” The tank clattered beneath his claws, rolling over the enemy encampment, crushing tents, running over trenches, supplies, and personal. Zebras scattered, never seeing such a thing as the metal monster before. Elephants roared and charged with their tusks, but they were laid to waste with the tanks' cannons like their mammoth brethren. Chunks of flesh rain down on the enemy, some scream, others fled and hid, letting the tanks roll by. In the sky, griffons continue to peck at them, but they held tight, keeping the half birds from breaking into their defenses.
“Tri, help me clear the path!” Sixes hollered, climbing to the front of the tank. Trifecta nodded, joining the commander. Both took a deep breath and let loose a stream of scorching hot fire at the enemy ranks.
A smile spread across Trifecta’s lips, watching the enemy scatter. The plan was still crazy, but somehow Sixes was able to pull it off. They were running straight through the enemy lines just as planned, and somehow they weren’t dead.
“We’re almost to the cliff! Prepare to stop and fly the injured across the canyon. All rinin will stay with the tanks to cover their retreat, Pegasus will move the injured, and all other able ponies’ will use the tanks till the last second and then dispose of them over the cliff. Be prepared to jump out the moment that happens! Don’t worry, we’ll catch you.” Sixes said with a chuckle, the others awkwardly laughing with him.
This was the real crazy part of the plan. The tanks came to a dead stop, slowly the drivers turn, so the cannons were facing the rallying enemies. Injured ponies were quickly pulled from inside the tanks and handed to the pegasi to carry them away.
Trifecta, along with Shock and Jockey, took up positions between the tanks beside them: Sixes, Fury, and Applejack, along with the other remaining rinin. The griffon ranks regroup, forming a massive line of troops. Elephants push large siege towers fitted with large iron shields, thick enough to stop the tank rounds, providing the zebras and griffons cover as they advance. The castle defenders stirred across the canyon and began preparing for battle, a team of fliers working to pull a crudely build rope bridge across the ravine.
“This is it! Get ready for the fight of your lives!” Sixes yelled, breaking from the group, spitting hot lava across the battlefield. Some of the towers turn to avoid it, while others were too late and caught fire. “FIRE!”
The ground shook as the cannons blasted, the rounds bouncing off the iron plates flying off in random directions, some flew over the shields, the shells bouncing through the enemy lines. Catapults fire back, sending pony-sized rocks flying at them! Trifecta pressed his body against the tank as the stones bounce off the metal hull. One stone clocked a pony in the skull, crushing his head.
“Are they done yet?” He yelled as more and more rocks and other deadly objects were hurled at them. Peeking back to the other side, a line of ponies was waiting to join the fray, but they wouldn’t move until the enemy was closer. It sucks, but they couldn’t endanger more ponies than needed. Leaving their posts would only result in helping their enemy. However, that didn’t mean the castle defenders were going to stand by. Cannons were being rolled out, and soon enough, their roar joined the symphony of battle.
A bright orange light broke away from the castle ranks and flew across the canyon, cutting its way through the flying stones and arrows. One rock flew right towards Trifecta, only to be cut in two, glowing hot with magma.
“Commander Topaz!”
“Sorry I’m late. Glad to see you’re all alright, for the most part, at least.” The orange commander joked.
“Took you long enough,” Nightingale scoffed, batting away stones with her metal wings. “What were you doing? Sipping tea while we were busting our flanks out here?”
“Something like that,” Topaz grinned, much to Nightingale’s irritation. He then turned to Trifecta and patted the triplet on the shoulder. “Good job. I knew we could count on you.”
“The injured are across. Let’s go!” Fury hollered, covering the makeshift bridge as Applejack and the rest of the land ponies make their escape. “Change of plans, tank drivers out, Sixes, Topaz, take care of the rest!”
The two rinin nodded and fell back to the cliff and unleashed a frenzy of lava and plasma, destroying the tanks instantly. Using the smoke as cover, they cross the canyon to safety, cutting the bridge behind them.
This was usually the end of it. The enemy forces have never managed to get past the castle’s cannon fire. Today was different. They kept charging with their iron-plated siege towers, the cannon rounds merely bouncing off the iron.
What were they planning, the pony commanders wondered? The enemy continued to push the siege towers towards the edge of the canyon. Did they intend to drop them off the cliff? No, that couldn’t be it.
“We gotta stop them! I know what they’re doing!” Topaz suddenly yelled, but it was too late.
Ropes shot from the top of the towers, embedding into the opposite cliffside. The siege weapons lurched forward as elephants dug in their heels to slow its descent. The siege tower bridged the canyon, becoming a fully functional bridge. And it wasn’t just one.
“We gotta take them down!” Applejack cried frantically, running for the tower as more were knocked over.
The gathered rinin nodded and together fired one massive blast of fire at the armored tower, but glowing runes engraved on the metal plates quickly ate up the flames. The towers, now bridges, were made of anti-rinin armor!
Sixes shouted, “We gotta rout them before too many get across! Everypony to arms! Get these bastards out of our home!”
With a resounding battle cry, Sixes and the others charge forth. Mouth wide open, Sixes sunk his fangs into the head zebra, thrashing his body around, spilling blood and guts everywhere to intimidate the charging soldiers. Beside him, Fury was a blur of movement, slashing and clawing his way through zebra and griffon alike. The two fought flank to flank in the heart of the enemy force, each one keeping an eye out for the other.
“Think we can make it through this?” Fury asked, tossing a griffon away. He killed two more and then a third. The wounds on his body hissed hot steam from the numerous cuts on his body.
“You gonna be Ok?” Sixes asked, noticing the steam. “You’re not gonna explode on me or something, are you?”
Fury chuckled, “Nah, it takes a lot more than this before that happens.”
“Good. I would hate to try and gather up all your ashes in this mess.” Sixes joked, thinking back to the last time Fury “turned to ashes,” but it did make him wonder. “How many times can you do that?”
Fury kept silent, knocking aside a zebra and then a griffon. He didn’t know how many times he could turn to ash and come back like a phoenix. He’s done it two times already, two times too many in his book.
“Don’t worry about it,” He said to Sixes as they continue to fight with more and more of the enemy gathering around them. The enemy ranks suddenly split, creating a straight line to the bridge. A hulking grey beast came charging up towards them.
“Great, the elephants are across.”
“We can do this! Come on, yawl!” Applejack’s hooves glowed brightly with magic, slamming an elephant crossing the bridge, blocking the other elephants behind the enormous corpse of their comrade. They began to push the body out of the way, but she pressed herself against it and dug in her hooves.
Sweat beading down her face, Applejack held the elephants back, but it wouldn’t be long before she was overpowered and not only that but outflanked. Her eyes dash back as several zebras and griffons broke off from the group already across and came charging at her. She could turn and take them, but then the elephants would breakthrough. She was in quite the pickle.
“I got your back, “A voice said from the sky as several dead griffons hit the ground. Applejack couldn’t keep the smile off her face as Nightingale swooped in with bloody metal wings and cut down the approaching enemies. She then jumped onto the elephant corpse and spread her wings wide open, displaying her arsenal of gem rockets.
“Special delivery,” She proclaimed, firing her entire salvo. The elephants backpedaled in a panic, but it was too late. The rockets hit them dead on, taking out them and the support beams. The siege tower bridge broke apart and fell into the canyon.
“You got any more of those, Night?” Applejack asked as the two mares stood flank to flank. They took out the bridge, but they were still outnumbered, and there were still many bridges left to take out.
“No, but we’ll think of something, we always do.”
Applejack looked to her and smiled, “Yeah, we do.”
Something caught her eye, a squad of griffons was going for Princess Celestia’s room! She was about to yell for Nightingale to fly her up there to help the bedridden Princess, but as soon as the griffons land on the balcony, they were blasted away by several beams of magic. The explosion big enough that everypony and griffon stopped fighting for a moment to look up. Standing tall on the balcony was Celestia with Crusader by her side.
“Alright, princess!” Applejack cheered with vigor. The zebras and griffons sunk back as the ponies’ morale soared with the sight of their Princess and began fighting with new zeal. “Come on, yawl, let’s get em’!”
Surging ahead, Applejack and Nightingale buck and kick their way to another bridge, meeting Topaz and Trifecta. From the castle, the ponies inside unleashed a barrage of blasts from the castle windows.
Up above, a flight of griffons in anti-rinin armor flew overhead, flying straight for the Princess!
“Night!”
“Got it!” Running fast, Nightingale grabbed Applejack by her barrel and hoist the farm mare up, pulling her into the sky. Being so far from the ground made Applejack feel a bit woozy, but she was determined to help Celestia. Nightingale began to spin, and Applejack gulped as the other mare's legs let go of her, flinging her through the sky.
“Oh, buck!” Heart pounding a million beats a second, Applejack crashed onto a griffin's back. The force of her landing sent him down to earth. Kicking off, she jumped to another griffon and then next in a perfect line to the squad leader.
“You little bitch!” He swore aerial rolling away from her. She let out a scream for help, but Nightingale was too busy fighting a second squad. Applejack gulped and prepared for a harsh landing when she felt a tug on her tail. Opening her eyes, the ground an inch away, she saw a gold aura of magic surrounding her.
On the balcony, Celestia strained to lift Applejack back up, with Crusader taking care of any griffons that tried to interfere.
“Get up here!” She grunted, pulling with all her might. Celestia flung the earth mare up into the sky, a little too high, and quickly adjusted to safety catch Applejack and place her on the balcony beside her.
“I hate flying!”
Celestia smiled despite herself. However, her frown returned upon seeing the hordes outside her castle. Silverous must have brought hundreds, possibly thousands of different creatures, to crush them. Usually, Celestia wouldn’t be too worried about such numbers but weakened as she was, and without her sister as her side, it felt like a crashing wave in the ocean. You can fight it, but eventually, you’d lose.
“Hey, Applejack,” Celestia said softly, breaking the orange mare’s rant of how much she hated being off the ground. Now that she had her full attention, Celestia leaned down and whispered, “In this situation and against these numbers. Do you think Luna would give up for the slight possibility of saving the ponies she loves?”
Applejack looked up at the sun princess wide-eyed before breaking out into a smirk, “No, she would fight till the very end, and we would stay by her side till then and beyond.”
“You know my sister well, perhaps even better than I do,” Celestia said with her head bowed, a small smile on her lips. “Very well. Let us fight till the end.”
To think centuries of life would end like this, and here Celestia had hoped to die in peace. Perhaps in a cottage on a hill overlooking a valley as she lowered the sun one last time, but maybe it was the fate of Alicorns to die in battle. War is how her mother and father died, how their entire race went from thousands to three and then two. Alicorns were always battling, it seemed. Maybe she has been too naive, thinking she could avoid this fate.
As she prepared to step off the balcony and join her ponies fighting below, something glistening in the distance caught her eye. The object was far off, way behind the enemy rearguard, it might be her imagination, but to Celestia’s eyes, it appeared to be getting closer and was just the faintest shade of green. Beside the shining green spec appeared a white one, and behind it, lines of bright red dots appeared, followed by flags.
“More enemies?” Applejack asked, seeing the dots herself.
Celestia shook her head, “No, not enemies, but friends.”
“FOR EQUESTRIA!” Was the last thing the griffon rear guard heard as Night Commander Emerald Cutter charged through their lines, swinging her blade horn to and fro, cleaving everything in her way clean in half, her six legs thunder loudly as her claws trample over those too foolish or too scared to move out of her way. For those that survived her assault, there was no time to recover as the white blur following the green mare pick them off one by one with the slightest motion of her blade. Kira Perfecta has returned home
Dancing between Emerald’s leftovers, Kira held an ornate katana and Watashi in her front legs. Gifts given to her by the prince of Nippon and her fiancé, she chuckled softly as the honor guard her stallion to be struggled to keep up, followed by Nippon’s army.
A few weeks ago, Kira listened to her wedding plans to the Nippon Prince Shinjuku after receiving noble status from the Princesses. She had delayed her reply to the princesses about the wedding. In case Princess Luna had a sudden change of heart about the affair, her Princess of the Night could get overemotional at times.
However, the last thing Kira had ever expected was for Emerald to show up in Nippon battered and bruised and barely clinging to life. Her fellow monster pony had made the three-day flight journey by sea in only five days and all while heavy injured. Emmy didn’t speak of the cause of her injuries, only that Equestria was in dire need of assistance by the Nippon army.
A request her stallion to be was all too willing to accept for her. Love breeds on the battlefield were his words, and he set off to gather the Nippon army and navy. Though traveling by sea had taken much longer than she had hoped, and then they had to march across land and liberate Canterlot before finally coming to here. Interesting note, about eighty percent of Nippon ponies were earth ponies.
“You’re in good form today, love,” Shinjuku complimented katana between his teeth as he cut down the enemy surrounding them. Kira grinned, pushing through Emerald’s wake, the Nippon army acted as a giant wedge that split the griffons’ forces down the middle.
The Griffons and their allies fell into disarray, wedged between a rock and a hard place. Nippon was at their back, destroying their heavy siege weapons. Giving the ponies in the castle much-needed relief, allowing them strikeout without restraint. In a rare historical moment, the Griffon alliance was surrounded by two smaller armies. Like a noose, the encirclement tightened. Those unable to cope with the face they surely doomed. Tried to flee, only to be cut down or crushed by their allies in the chaos. Some even buried their heads in the sand, waiting for it to be over.
Kira broke through to the heart of the enemy, she stayed her blade momentary when across from her stood Celestia. Both mares were equally covered in gore, but that did not stop their smiles.
“You’ve returned Kira, but I guess it's lady Kira now though, right, future Queen of Nippon?” Celestia said, greeting the white rinin. They exchange hoof shakes and bow to one another.
“I’m not Queen yet, so just Kira is fine and even after. That aside, what of the enemy commander? Has he been captured yet? The battle seems to be over by my account.” It was true. The Griffons and their allies dropped their weapons and laid on their bellies, the universal sign of surrender.
Trotting through the lines of captured soldiers, Celestia and Kira found King Silverous bound with Sixes and the other commanders' ropes, minus one.
“Where’s Emerald Cutter?”
“We’re not sure. Emerald ran into the castle and hasn’t come out yet,” Applejack said, wondering what the green mare was up to. She fought hard to get the castle. It was kind of strange she would go in and not come out after the griffons were defeated.
Deciding to ignore Emerald Cutter’s absence, for now, Celestia made her way to the bound King. Using her magic, she forced him to look at her.
“How could you do this? We were finally at peace! After so many years of bloodshed and you dare invade us without warning, killing hundreds, if not thousands of my subjects, what possible reason do you have for doing all this? What drove you to this madness?”
Silverous chuckled, shaking his head, “Must be easy looking down from the heavens. You really have no idea, do you? The terror, you and your sister, installed in all of us. The fear we feel when we look to our kingdoms' future and know you two will still be there after we are gone, age after age, till the end of time. I honestly could have lived that, but then you had to go and make these monsters!” He shouted, pointing to Sixes and the others. “Luna’s precious dragon ponies! Well, this time I’ve made a monster! And she will bring an end to your tyrant reign on us all!”
“You have been deceived, Silverous! We did not make the dragon ponies! That mad stallion over there did!” She pointed to Hoofenstein, who bore a wide smile for some reason; she would get back to that. “He stole foals and played god with them! He tortured them and used them for his own lust for immortality, and he has tricked you. Can you not see it?”
“Maybe so,” The griffon king said solemnly, “But if it gets rid of you. Then I will embrace any darkness.”
Celestia was about to question what he meant when a spear of shadows shot out of Silverous’s shadow, killing him. All around, the captured enemy soldiers were slaughtered with the same method, their bodies slumping to the ground as high pitched cackle echoes through the battlefield. A sudden chill filled the air as purple mist drifts in, darkening the sky. Celestia shivered as she felt a strange sensation like something was being cut off from her. Looking up, she saw the sun, her precious burning star, being overtaken by a massive black shadow.
At first, Celestia wondered what could be big enough to do something like that. It didn’t take long for her to realize there was only one thing in the world that could do such a thing, the moon! The moon was being used to block out the sun! With it, her fledgling powers were weakened even further. There is only one pony in the world that could do such a thing, but the question was, why?
“What is the meaning of this, Luna? This is not the time for pranks!”
“No, it’s not my dear sister,” Luna’s voice whispered in her ear. Her tone was cold and menacing, making Celestia’s coat stand on end. “It is a time for revolution, a time for a new age, namely mine!”
“What are you…?” Celestia didn’t finish as the sharp point of her sister’s horn pierced her body. The gathered patrollers gasped, watching one princess stab another. Staring in horror at the sight.
Princess Luna smiled and stood tall with her sister’s blood dripping down her horn.
“My faithful subjects of the night, your Princess has returned! Let the age of the night BEGIN!”