Land of Dreams

by JoyceCarleton

Chapter 4

“Wake up!” Gilda shouted into Twilight’s ears, the shock causing her to slip off the bed.

“Ah! You don’t need to yell!” Twilight responded, quickly picking herself back up.

“We don’t have time to waste; get ready to join up with Lieutenant-Colonel Lyra.”

“What?”

“Did you forget already? You said you’d fight on the front lines, so you will be joining her squadron.”

“Where’s that?” Gilda turned her eyes up a bit and realized that she forgot to mention it. “Fine, I’ll show you where it is, but that’s it!”

“Can’t I at least get some breakfast first?”

“Come on, let’s go!” Twilight got out of bed and followed Gilda. On the way out, Gilda picked up an apple and gave it to Twilight. “This might be your last meal, so remember it well.”

“Thanks,” Twilight said with a tiny bit of contempt. Gilda led Twilight to her destination and then left without another word. At the barracks she was taken to, there was a large group of ponies wearing light armour standing with spears. Wait, they're standing. A mint green unicorn with a cyan mane streaked with white saw Twilight and went over to her.

“Are you the latest recruit for the BATS?”

“What?”

“BATS: Bipedal Assault Technicians Squadron.”

“Uh, yes.”

“Alright, go inside to pick up the armour you’ll be wearing.” Twilight did as she was told and put on the armour. It was composed of a helmet, chest plate, skirt, armlets, and shin guards. At either side of the skirt, there was a sheath for a dagger. Twilight picked up a couple of daggers and put them in their sheath and then picked up the spear as well, but had difficulty holding it. She was hoping there was something she could use to strap it to her side but there wasn’t any. After a while, Lyra came inside. “What’s taking you so long?”

“Uh, I’m not quite sure how I’m supposed to hold this.”

“Hold it like I am.” Lyra was standing on her hind legs and was holding the spears with her fore hooves.

“How am I supposed to do that?”

“The rest of the BATS can do it.”

“But I just joined today!”

“Well, if you don’t want to die today, I’d suggest learning fast.” It was said without any intended offense, but the seriousness of the situation did make Twilight pause for a bit. Eventually, Twilight got up on her hind legs and tried to balance herself. It was shaky at best and in the end, she used her spear like a cane to keep her balance. “That might be fine for training, but how do you expect to fight like that?”

“Could I get some training first?” Lyra looked at her like she was crazy. “Yeah, I’m sorry. I’ll think of something.” Twilight hobbled after Lyra and she went to the front of the group of armed ponies to make a speech. Twilight looked around and saw that most of the ponies were earth ponies.

“BATS! Today is the day we march forth against our enemies and deal them a decisive blow! We may be small in number, and many of us cannot use magic, but none of that matters! Our enemies are unprepared, and we have never been more ready before in our lives. We have mastered our techniques and no advantage over us in flight or magic will overcome us! Not as long as we fight together! BATS! We are the vanguards of the attack but we are not the most vulnerable. No, we are the ones to be feared the most! They will come to pick us apart, but we will hold strong and drive them into the ground! Our spears, our daggers, our wills! They have all been trained to perfection! Now, BATS, let us go forth and walk the road of victory!” Lyra lifted up her spear high over her head and the rest followed. Then, they all cheered loudly and Twilight tried her best to just lift the spear off the ground for a moment without tipping over.

Outside of Haven, their forces were gathered and Twilight looked around to see the army that had been amassed. Dozens of griffons were perched over the cliff face along with about a dozen or so pegasi. Twilight was with the BATS and she looked around to see the other units. Big Mac and Applejack were surrounded by many large stallions and armoured ponies. Rarity had a pair of binoculars around her neck and was standing just inside of a red tank, the only tank present in the entire army. There were also hundreds of other soldiers all gathered and Shining and his Generals were in the middle of everything.

Last night, a scouting air unit was sent to find traces of Shadowbolt’s forces. The gathered army stood by for the reports. It was probably late in the morning now, but the air was still the same dark grey it always was when the scouts returned. They gave the report to Shining and an order to march was made. Twilight walked on her hind legs with the rest of the BATS, trying to gradually learn to walk like this along the way.

After about a two and a half hour’s march out of the valley, they saw them. Here the skies were black and rumbling with thunder. But, you could see them. Coming from the distance, wearing black and purple, were the pegasi of Shadowbolt’s air force.

“BATS, we’re leading the charge!” Lyra yelled out. They all yelled back in response and broke into a charge. Twilight who had difficult just walking found herself being left behind the rest of the group. The pegasi came diving down and the BATS readied their spears to counter. A spear was long and one of the best weapons to use against enemies coming down, but against the speed of the pegasi, it was usually a toss-up who would win. Dozens of the pegasi came raining down and although several of them were skewered by the spears, many more were either able to knock down the BATS or at least bring it to a level fight.

As Twilight caught up with the rest of the BATS, the griffons above her also engaged the pegasi. Twilight tried to look ahead and saw as a couple of her new comrade were kicked down by the pegasi they were fighting against. She also saw the blood dripping from the spears of others. Twilight knew this was a war, but her first time witnessing this bloodshed left her nauseated. She lost her balance and fell over. When she did, a pegasus came diving right at her, Twilight grabbed her spear but couldn’t get back up. Just as the pegasus was about to smash its hooves right into her body, Lyra came and intercepted the dive, thrusting her spear into the pegasus’ chest. Drops of blood spilled onto Twilight’s face. Lyra pulled her spear out of the dead pegasus and picked Twilight back up.

“Do you want to die today?!” Twilight simply shook her head. “Then fight!” Twilight nodded and charged forward, suddenly perfectly balanced on her two legs. Ahead of her, enough pegasi had landed to already outnumber the BATS by at least two to one. She had never used a spear in her life but there was only one thing to do. She jumped ahead and with her spear straight ahead of her. The pegasus flew back to dodge and a pegasus beside that one tackled her. Twilight fell to the ground again but another BAT next to her drove it away. Twilight got back up and the BATs came closer together. Some of the pegasi tried to charge again, but a wall of spears pierced into its body. Many of the rest of the pegasi started to fly up, preparing to dive down on them again, but in unison, half of the BATs threw their spears into the sky, managing to take down about a dozen pegasi. The BATs then charged forward to either take out the wounded pegasi that had fallen or retrieve their spears. As they did, the other pegasi dived down again. The remaining half of the BATs raised their spears to protect against the attack and the outcome was a mix of skewered pegasi and knocked down BATs. Twilight felt blood flow onto her own hooves as she realized a pegasus had dove right into her spear.

Panicking, she tossed her spear aside and another pegasus dove right into her now that she no longer had any protection. Twilight bruised her back as she was tackled into the ground and lines of the BATS had started to break apart now that even more pegasi had joined the battle. Twilight tried to push the pegasus off of her but it started to pound her with its hooves. Twilight started weeping from both physical and psychological pain as the pegasus beat her. When her survival instinct kicked back in, her first instinct to use magic was met with a tiny electric shock coursing through her body as the ring on her horn reacted. She looked around to see if any other pony could help her but they were all in the middle of their own fights. She even saw pegasi and griffons alike being dragged into the ground in the distance as the battle in the air intensified. Above her, past the snarling pegasus’ masked face, she saw a large burst of magic soar into the sky and explode, dropping a few of the enemy pegasi. The pegasus on top of her then started to strangle the badly beaten unicorn. Twilight tried to grab onto anything with her hooves off of the ground and felt something by her hip. She unsheathed the dagger and stuck into the pegasus’ side. It howled and then Twilight unsheathed her other dagger and stuck that in as well. The howling intensified and Twilight continued to stab the pegasus until it fell off of her on its own. Twilight grimaced before slitting the throat of the dying pegasus. Tears then started to mix with the blood spattered on her face. She was trembling and felt the urge to vomit, but she forced the sensation back down. Her disturbed state of mind had to be disregarded if she wanted to survive. Twilight clenched her teeth and charged back into the fight with the rest of the BATS, her two daggers at the ready.

The fight on the front lines continued as Twilight hacked and slashed at the pegasi whenever she could. To the sides of the BATS were the other units of the army, engaging with other pegasi. As she continued to hear the great explosions of magic in the air and saw the dropping pegasi, she started to believe that they were winning. Then, two streaks of lightning clouds came from the enemy’s side. They went right through a flock and griffons and their now-seared wings caused them to fall to the ground. The two at the heads of the streaks were pegasi wearing black and purple just like any of the others, but Twilight had been around Rainbow Dash long enough to see something familiar about them.
**

In the skies, Gilda, Derpy, and the rest of the air force were fighting against the enemy and Gilda’s stern expression hardened even more at the appearance of the two new pegasi. Another griffon officer came up to the two of them and started talking.

“Looks like Spitfire and Soarin’ finally showed up.”

“I guess Shadowbolt isn’t far behind the two of them, then,” Gilda commented.

“Derpy, Grizelda, can you two deal with them? I will handle Shadowbolt when she comes.”

“No,” Gilda answered.

“What?”

“You two deal with Spitfire and Soarin’; Shadowbolt is mine.”

“Don’t be a fool, Grizelda; Shadowbolt is too much for you to handle.”

“I said I’ll do it!” The griffon was about to speak up again but Derpy held out one hoof.

“I believe in Gilda; if she says she can do it, she can do it.” The griffon growled.

“Fine, but don’t you dare do anything crazy!”

“We’ll see about that.” Gilda flew off far ahead of them, anticipating more pegasi to soon join the battle.

“Well, let’s try to keep the damage to the minimum here.”

“Why can’t we just win?” Derpy said with a crooked smile.
**

Gilda raced past the air battle and tried to find the enemy’s leader. Solitarily perched upon a storm cloud was a pegasus with a black mane and cyan wings. This alone was not distinguishing enough, but no pegasus under Shadowbolt would ever just hang back like that. Gilda charged at Shadowbolt.

“Why are you being so passive?” Gilda asked as she thrust her spear and Shadowbolt dodged.

“Is there a need for me to make a move?” she asked back nonchalantly.

“You might be a bit too far away to see, but we’re beating your Fleet!” Gilda lunged again and Shadowbolt slipped to the side.

“Oh really?” Gilda started to fly after Shadowbolt.

“Yeah, we are. Isn’t that why you sent in Spitfire and Soarin’?” Gilda picked up her speed to catch up to Shadowbolt but she accelerated as well, leaving a streak of darkness behind her.

“I was just thinking you were getting too cocky; trying to beat my Fleet with ground forces.”

“Well, it looks like it’s working.” Shadowbolt suddenly turned around and came charging right at Gilda. “Come and get some!” Gilda stopped in mid-air and prepared her spear. When Shadowbolt got in close, Gilda thrust her spear but Shadowbolt just nearly avoided it and rammed right into Gilda. Gilda lost some height but as Shadowbolt started to fly off, she threw her spear and it grazed one of Shadowbolt’s wings. A few beads of blood flew off from the torn feathers and her flying became unsteady. Gilda accelerated towards Shadowbolt before she could regain her proper flying. Shadowbolt put on a burst of speed, releasing a streak of darkness but Gilda managed to close one claw onto Shadowbolt’s back hoof. The streak of darkness left Gilda with a very foreboding feeling and even made her cough a bit but she held on tight.

“Let go!”

“Not happening!” Shadowbolt tried to shake Gilda off but she continued to hold on, even bringing her other claw to grab on as well. Using her weight, she now started to drag Shadowbolt down onto the ground. Shadowbolt struggled against the griffon but was brought all the way down to the ground. Then, with one more burst of extra speed, Shadowbolt freed herself from Gilda’s grip but ended up crashing into the ground anyways when she lost control. Before she could get back up, Gilda pounced on top of Shadowbolt and pinned her to the ground. Gilda closed one claw around Shadowbolt’s neck and started to squeeze.

“You damn griffon!” Gilda began to strangle the pegasus when she suddenly loosened her grip. Instead, she tore off Shadowbolt’s goggles and head butted the pegasus. The pegasus yelled out in pain. The pegasus’ crimson eyes looked back at the griffon, filled with rage.

“I am not some damn griffon; I have a name.”

“Like I care!” Shadowbolt continued to struggle and Gilda was finding it difficult to keep her pinned on the ground. Gilda head butted the pegasus again.

“My name is Gilda!” Shadowbolt just continued to stare at her angrily. “Doesn’t my name mean anything to you?!” Shadowbolt said nothing and Gilda then ripped off her mask, revealing her face. “Damn it, Dash, remember!”

“My name is Shadowbolt!” With a great amount of force, she broke out of Gilda’s pin and flew up a bit, but Gilda grabbed onto her hoof and threw her back down onto the ground. She then pounced on her again.

“No, it’s not! Your name is Dash! Rainbow Dash!” For an instant, Shadowbolt’s eyes were filled with confusion, but that was quickly replaced by anger again.

“What kind of stupid name is that? I am Marshal Shadowbolt, Commander of the Fleet!” Shadowbolt broke free from Gilda again and this time, she flew far enough away to avoid getting recaptured.

“Come back here, Dash!” Gilda flew up again to resume the chase but saw something coming from the distance. Shadowbolt looked over there as well and smiled.

“Looks like the Brigade is finally here.”

“You brought them?”

“Yeah, and that’s not all.”

“What do you mean, Dash.”

“My name is Shadowbolt. And what I mean is that there is going to be wonderful light show coming up!” The figures in the distance started coming in closer and Gilda began to retreat.

“This isn’t over, Dash! I’ll be back!” she yelled as she flew off. Shadowbolt felt her choked neck and then her unmasked face. She grinded her teeth in anger.

“Go ahead and survive and come back; I will destroy you when you do!”
**

Twilight could tell that the air battle above them was not going as well for them after the appearance of the two new pegasi. On the other hand, the rest of the ground forces were making headway. The earth ponies were slowly driving back the pegasi and the supporting fire from the unicorns and Rarity’s tank further increased their advantage. Things were definitely looking to be in their favour when another magical explosion occurred, but this one was not in the sky. From behind the front lines, a magical explosion happened back where Shining and the Generals were. The pegasi that were fighting against the BATS suddenly flew back and Twilight looked behind her to see what the cause of the explosion was.

Twilight saw dozens of wounded ponies lying on the ground far back and some of them were Shining’s guards. Shining himself looked to be injured and the armoured unicorn from the meeting was standing in front of him, protecting him from the attacker. Trixie’s horn was glowing blue as she fired off another powerful blast at Shining and his guards. They created a barrier that deflected the blast but just from the one attack, it had already cracked.

“BATS, we’re moving back!” Lyra shouted out. Twilight and the rest of the BATS started to retreat towards the middle as the rest of the ground forces held the line for them.

“Why is Trixie doing this?!” Twilight asked aloud. She received no answer as they made their way back. Trixie continued to conjure balls of light and let them fire against everything around her, breaking the barriers by other unicorns and knocking down more of Shining’s guards. Shining’s horn then started to glow itself and at this signal, Trixie began running towards the front lines. Shining fired off a blast at her but she defended with a quick barrier. The only ponies in a good position to intercept her were the BATS. As the two sides came in closer to each other, Trixie conjured a few more balls of light. Twilight considered doing the same but a slight shock reminded her that she could not. Trixie fired off a blast and Lyra jumped ahead of the BATS, creating a barrier. Unfortunately, the barrier could not withstand the attack and Lyra was knocked away by the blast. The rest of the BATS continued their determined charge as Trixie rained down more magical blasts at them. Most of them were earth ponies and the unicorns that were there did not know how to create barriers, making them easy targets. Several at a time, she blasted away until the only ones who finally made it into combat range were Twilight and half a dozen other BATs. The first of them thrust their spears but Trixie blocked the attacks with her barrier. She then sent out a magical shockwave from her barrier that traveled along the barrier and their spears, electrocuting them. The other BATs threw their spears at her and this actually cracked Trixie’s barrier. They charged with their daggers now drawn. They attacked at the weakened barrier and finally broke it. But, when they moved in to attack Trixie, she suddenly teleported away from them and ended right behind Twilight. She kicked Twilight down onto the ground and threw another magical blast at the other BATs. Twilight got back up and swung her daggers at Trixie but she caught both of her hooves with her magic and knocked the daggers out of her hands.

“Surprised, Twilight Sparkle? I didn’t become Lieutenant-General by chance,” Trixie said with a huge smile on her face.

“Trixie, why are you doing this?!”

“Why? For revenge, of course!”

“What do you mean?”

“You and all the rest of you humiliated me all those years ago! You labeled me a fraud! For years I was at the bottom of society and even after struggling for so long, nopony would take me seriously anymore! Nopony would accept me in any way!” Trixie replied in anger. She took a deep breath and calmed her voice down. “But then, something happened. I felt something. At first, it was cold and dark, but then it was warm, so very warm. And with that feeling, I could suddenly use such powerful magic! I became truly talented! I was blessed with a gift!” Trixie's eyes lit up.

“You don’t mean…”

“That darkness found me and it would offer me all of that power if I would just carry out a few of its simple tasks. Become a soldier and help bring about a quicker downfall for its enemies.”

“If that was your mission, why did you wait until now to do it?”

“A personal preference of mine. I could have tried to convince the others to pick the worst option of evacuation, but there would be no satisfaction in that. No, I would go along with your plan. I would go along with the plan of my most-hated unicorn and I would even let it go along perfectly. That way, when I made my move, I can say that I have completely and utterly defeated you and your best plan!”

“Trixie, you would kill other ponies just for some power?” Trixie slapped Twilight in the face and she fell to the ground.

“Just some magic? Oh, so easy for you to say! You were one of the most gifted unicorns to come along in ages! If I didn’t do what I did, I would never have gotten stronger! But, look at me now! I am stronger than the Royal Guard, I am stronger than their Captain, and I am even stronger than you! I am truly great and powerful!” Lyra suddenly lunged at Trixie and she dodged the attack.

“You die today, traitor!” Lyra howled.

“I think not,” Trixie’s whole body started to glow. “Wallow in defeat, Twilight Sparkle; it is done.” Trixie teleported away and the remainder of Shining’s guards and the recovered BATs made their way over to them.

“Are you alright?” Shining asked.

“We are fine, Commander. Shall we continue the charge?” Shining thought to himself as more figured appeared on the battlefield. They were enemy unicorns and they were using fireballs.

“Oh no, it’s the Brigade!” Shining's eyes widened a bit in horror.

“Curses, Shadowbolt must have already asked for reinforcements!”

“Alert everyone; we are making a full retreat!” They all nodded and left. The unicorns started shooting flares into the sky, alerting a retreat. The BATS moved back up to help the front lines make their retreat.
**

As the Brigade entered the battlefield, their officers went over a breakdown of tactics with Shadowbolt.

“So, you say they have a long-range war machine?” A uniformed, purple dragon with green spikes and wearing an eye patch asked.

“Yes, Major,” a pegasus officer replied.

“Hey, I’m the leader here!” A maroon dragon announced. The purple dragon folded his arms.

“Yes, we are well aware, Lieutenant-Colonel,” the Major responded.

“I don’t care which one of you is in charge; just get rid of all of those annoying ponies!” Shadowbolt shouted.

“We’ll just burn them all up; what else is there?” spoke the maroon dragon. The purple dragon patiently waited for his advice to be counseled for. Shadowbolt looked at the maroon dragon cock-eyed and waited for someone to actually say something smart. The maroon dragon sighed and nudged the purple one.

“Well, our greatest difficulty will be the war machine. I do not think our fireballs will be enough against it. We should use the special bombs we have made to destroy it.”

“So, we get the unicorns to use the bombs on it?” Shadowbolt asked.

“No, an aerial assault will be much more effective.” The purple dragon then went to pick up a couple of spherical bombs from the wagon. “I will help lead the attack if you wish.” The maroon dragon picked up the bombs out of the purple dragon’s hands and took them for himself.

“Oh no, I know what you’re trying to do! You are trying to make yourself look good! You wait here and stay on standby while me and the rest of the guys blow up the tank!” The other dragons laughed and the purple dragon silently moved back.

“Whatever, just get it done!”

“Hey, don’t get all high and mighty on us, Shadowbolt! Fafnir is our Commander, not you!” The maroon dragon said as he waited for the four other dragons to each pick up a pair of bombs. They all then took flight and went off towards the front lines.
**

The ground forces began their retreat and Rarity’s tank stayed at the front to help the retreat. As the unicorns came in closer, Rarity yelled out her instructions to the crew below her. Inside the tank were the Flim Flam brothers, Applebloom, and Braeburn. Applebloom was no longer a filly; in fact she was nearly as big as Rarity now. The Flim Flam brothers were in the back of the tank infusing magic into the machine and controlling the levels of power that went into the cannon. Applebloom was in the centre, driving the tank and repeating Rarity’s instructions as necessary. Controlling the cannon was Braeburn in the front.

The cannon fired and blasted away several of the oncoming unicorns. Then, Rarity spotted several large figures flying towards them. They were young adult dragons. They were individually almost as large as the tank that they controlled.

“Dragons incoming! Adjust the cannons upward 17 degrees and fire!” Braeburn adjusted the cannon and fired. However, the dragons managed to dodge the blast. Rarity hit the side of the tank. “It missed! Move the cannon 8 degrees to the left and fire!” Braeburn obeyed and fired, but the shot missed once again. “Curses!” Rarity focused her binoculars on just one dragon to see what they were up to. It was difficult to see, but she saw the bombs that they carried. The dragons were coming in close and they would probably only be able to fire a few more shots before they would be right on top of them. Just then, a unicorn came running up from behind the tank and jumped onto it, right next to Rarity. Rarity was about to say something to her when she focused her eyes on the dragons and barked out a command in an almost robotic voice.

“Braeburn, adjust the cannon 2 degrees down and 3 degrees to the left and fire!” Braeburn did as she said and fired. The blast managed to hit one of the dragons right as it suddenly changed direction. The blast caused the bombs it carried to explode and caused the maroon dragon behind it to also get knocked down to the ground. The maroon dragon dropped its bombs onto the Brigade unicorns below, exploding upon impact. The resulting carnage halted the advance of some of the ground forces below. The remaining three dragons in the air spread apart.

“Sweetie!”

“No time, sister. Braeburn, move the cannon 5 degrees down and 4 degrees to the left and fire!” The cannon fired again and landed another hit. Without even waiting for the dragon's corpse to fall to the ground, Sweetie Belle gave the next instructions. “3 degrees down and 6 degrees to the right and fire!” Braeburn quickly readjusted the cannon to fire and once again the shot landed just as the dragon was changing direction. The final maroon dragon however was getting very close and started diving towards the tank. “15 degrees up and 3 degrees to the right and fire!” The dragon accelerated towards the tank as the cannon readjusted. Less than twenty yards away, the cannon fired and Rarity put up a barrier over the tank right after it fired. The blast hit the dragon dead on and flames from the exploding bombs scattered over the barrier.

“Sweetie, what are you doing up here?! Go back with the rest of the troops!”

“I expected that there would be some difficulty in acquiring the aerial targets; I was very concerned.” Sweetie Belle looked up at Rarity with her big eyes and Applebloom inside of the tank spoke up.

“Thanks for the help, Sweetie Belle!” Sweetie looked down inside the tank.

“You are welcome, Applebloom.”

“Thank you kindly for the help!” Flim said. Rarity sighed.

“Yes, thank you, too, Sweetie. Come on, let’s head back with the rest.”

“Roger!” Applebloom started putting the tank in reverse when something started coming racing toward them. The maroon dragon who was knocked back by the blast was back up and flying in low towards the tank. Sweetie’s eyes focused in on the dragon and she quickly called out more instructions.

“23 degrees down and 2 degrees to the right and fire!” Braeburn changed the angle of the cannon and fired but surprisingly, the shot missed. Less surprisingly, the shot also had a lot less power, as even the inside of the tank started to overheat. Just as the shot was fired, the maroon dragon’s flying faltered a bit and it dipped down very low to the ground. “4 degrees down and 1 degree to the left and fire!” Braeburn readjusted again and fired but nothing came out; the tank needed to cool down first. But before that, maroon dragon was already right at the tank. Rarity intensified the barrier as the dragon started slashing at it with its claws.

“You damn ponies! I’ll kill you all!” The claws began to scratch at the barrier and Sweetie tried to jump at the dragon but the barrier wouldn’t let her escape.

“Rarity, let me out of the barrier; I can knock the dragon back into the cannon’s range!”

“No, Sweetie!”

“But if we don’t, it will break through!”

“That dragon will tear you apart!”

“That dragon will get all of us if we don’t do something right now!” Rarity’s face tightened as she concentrated harder to keep the barrier up.

“I’m not going to let you go out alone!”

“Rarity…” The dragon’s claws began to dig into the barrier and the cracks began to widen. Rarity hugged Sweetie close to her.

“We stay together from here on out…” The maroon dragon’s claw sunk in deeper into the barrier and it lifted up its other claw to take another swipe at the barrier. Then, Lyra suddenly jumped on top of the dragon and thrust her spear into one of the dragon’s wings. It let out a roar and shook her off. Lyra rolled along the ground and got back up. The maroon dragon took the spear out of its wing and tossed it aside. Lyra unsheathed her daggers and motioned for the dragon to come at her. The dragon accepted her challenge and she smiled.

“Fire!” Rarity yelled out. The cannon fired (now charged up again) and hit the dragon from behind. The dragon fell to the ground with its wings destroyed. Lyra quickly ran up to it and cut into the dragon’s neck with her daggers to finish it off. The scales would have made the attack futile if not for the fact they had already melted away. “Reverse and don’t stop!” Applebloom began backing up the tank and Lyra jumped on top of the tank. They were the only ones left on the front lines and they saw a flare being shot up from behind the enemy lines. The Fleet and Brigade stopped pursuing and started to move back. The battle was over.