Falling Stars

by Rokas

Chapter 14 - Second Canterlot

Author's Note: There are several hyperlinks in the following chapter that lead to a Battletech wiki. Reading these is NOT required to enjoy the story, they are simply provided for anyone who wants to know more.

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Royal Palace

Canterlot, Equestria

September 24th AD 3070/1023 RC

The sound of booted feet and shod hooves echoed in the halls as the entourage traveled through the spacious corridors of the Royal Palace. Surprisingly spacious, James McKenna mentally amended, as he openly gazed about the gilded corridors. And decorated with enough gold to buy a planet, he added to the previous thought, exaggerating considerably to reinforce the vast amount of wealth he saw.

His gazing did not go unnoticed, however. “Enjoying the view?” Starbuck asked, from where he walked aside the lead human, as he cast a smirk-laden glance up at the commander.

James chuckled at that. “I'm just impressed,” he said, truthfully. “Seeing the city and the palace from the air was beautiful enough. But the decorations here are just as spectacular.”

“Is very shiny, here,” Ivan added, from where he walked in the group of humans that trailed the mercenary commander. “Like the future.”

Princess Luna, who had been leading the group, paused at that and then turned her head back to look back and up at the tall human. “I... beg your pardon?” She asked, confused.

“Please, don't mind Ivan, your highness,” James said, somewhat sheepishly. “He likes to think out loud.”

“Also, princess,” Starbuck added. “He thinks like miss Pinkie Pie.”

“Dear heavens,” Luna gasped. “There are two of them now?”

A heartbeat of silence passed, and then was ended by a round of chortles coming from Schneider, Melissa, and Rainbow Dash, while the others in the group looked indifferent or mortified. For his part, James felt his face twist up as his mind was torn between chuckling along with his friend and his daughter, or being embarrassed. The deadlock was broken, however, when he saw the flummoxed look on Luna's face, and couldn't help but chuckle. “Ah, sorry, your highness,” the human commander said, after working the humor out of his system. “It's just that I said something similar when I saw Ivan and Pinkie interact for the first time.”

Another brief moment passed, and then was again ended by the sound of chuckling, this time coming from the night princess herself. “I see,” she said, with a brief smile. “Well then, I know thy sanity is secure,” she said, and then turned and started off, again prompting the group to follow.

“There are some who might question that,” James replied. “My wife, for one.”

“And me,” Schneider added.

“You raised me, and I think you're nuts,” Melissa chimed in.

“Yer more daft than a Wobbie on stims after a three-day bender,” McCoy wryly said.

James glanced back at the speakers and gave them his traditional, one-eyed squint. Before he could speak, however, Ivan clasped a large hand on the elder McKenna's shoulder. “Ivan know you good man, commander,” he said, in his usual gregarious tone.

“Thank you, Ivan,” James said, and then turned back around so he could studiously ignore the second round of chuckles coming from the other three humans. As he returned his attention to the front, though, he caught Starbuck giving him another, sidelong smirk.

“You don't ever seem to catch a break, do you?” The pegasus captain asked.

James sighed briefly before he replied. “It certainly feels like it,” he muttered, as the group made a turn into another corridor. “But I think we should get down to business, rather than discuss my arguably many shortcomings.”

“Agreed,” princess Luna chimed from up front. “Whilst it is amusing to hear thy verbal sparring, time is of the essence.”

“Glad tae 'ear it,” McCoy spoke up, his voice gruff. “I'd like tae get with yer armorer soon as I can,” he added, as the group came to another stop so the princess could look upon the grizzled tech with a measure of surprise at being addressed so directly. “Ye got a wee bit o' luck, lassie, in that yer tech levels ain't so bad. Kinda schizophrenic, but I seen worse 'fore the Fourth War,” McCoy said, and then paused to scratch his chin. “I might be able tae whip up somethin' nasty 'nuff tae make O'Connell uncomfortable if'n I get some help an' resources.”

“I... see,” Luna said, feeling a bit overwhelmed. “Thou dost not speak much with royalty, dost thou?” She asked.

“Ain't had much use fer all that shtick,” McCoy replied, as he crossed his arms and derisively sniffed. “Half th' nobles I met ain't worth th' hydrogen it takes tae launch 'em into a sun.”

“'Drew,” James said, after having covered his face with the palm of his right hand. “For the love of God, please stop talking.”

The sound of laughter washed over the entourage then, and everyone turned to see Rainbow Dash rolling on her back as she guffawed. “No no, please, this is great!” She said, in between laughs. “This is so much better when he's giving grief to somepony else!”

“I beg your pardon?” Luna asked, her voice taking on a timbre of anger.

Twilight Sparkle, upon hearing the dark note in the princess' voice, cleared her throat and then spoke up. “Rainbow Dash has been working with mister McCoy on a project, your majesty,” she explained, with a polite smile on her muzzle. “Supposedly it's a way for ponies to use human-made firearms.”

“Yeah,” Dash added, as she clambered back onto all fours. “McCoy's kinda rough on everypony, but he's cool,” she added, and then glanced up and gave the master tech a wink.

“If ye say so, lassie,” McCoy replied, indifferent.

Luna frowned. Heavens above, must it come to that? To wield such weapons and make wholesale slaughter easier for my ponies to achieve?

Yet, what choice do we have? The night princess mused, and then shook her head. “I see,” she said, and then looked over to the eldest human. “Very well, mister McCoy. Unless your commanding officer objects, we shall head to the armory first and introduce you to Steelshod, the master armorer for our guards regiments.”

“I think that would be a very good idea,” James readily agreed, as he dropped the hand from his face.

“Very well, then,” Luna said, and then turned to lead the group down a different corridor.

* * * *

It only took a few minutes for the group to traverse through the gilded corridors of the Palace and enter the guard barracks, even with the humans having to occasionally pause in order to duck under particularly low doorways. Soon enough, however, they entered the tall, relatively dark armory, and then paused to gather their bearings.

Predictably, it was McCoy who spoke first. “What a great heap o' junk!” He derisively scoffed.

“Junk!” A voice answered him from across the room, and everyone turned their attention to the large, brown earth pony walking towards them. “Who dares call my work junk?” He angrily asked.

“Th' guy who's gonna take ye back tae school, that's who!” McCoy countered, his voice just as belligerent as the pony's. “Teach ye a thing or two 'bout workin' with real equipment!”

“I hardly think-” Luna began, attempting to interject.

Unfortunately, she was drowned out as Steelshod took his chance to reply. “Like you would know anything about real equipment, you filthy ape!” He snorted, in a most equine manner. “I've heard all about your so-called technology, and I can't say I'm impressed!”

“Well of course ye ain't!” McCoy countered. “Yer a half-ignorant savage, that's why!”

“Savage? Come over here and I'll show you savage, you tinpot-wearing neophyte! Why, I'll bet you've never even tried forging real armor!”

“'Course I didn't! Because I fix things, not make 'em broken tae begin with!”

“I don't think you'd know what broken was even if I smashed a sword over your head!”

“As if ye would 'ave th' wits tae know how tae smash a sword!”

“In all my years of-!” Steelshod began, and then abruptly paused and looked around. “Wait, they're gone,” he said, in a calmer voice.

“Oh?” McCoy replied, and then looked around the armory himself. As Steelshod had said, the two were now alone, and the human sighed roughly. “'Bout bloody time! I swear, that princess o' yers must be slow.”

“Hey now, enough of that,” Steelshod replied, as he raised an eyebrow at the other armorer. “Princess Luna is a fine pony. Just, well,” he added, and then paused for a moment before he sighed. “Okay, yeah, a bit slow when it comes to socializing, but otherwise very nice.”

“Well I ain't known her long, so I'll take yer word fer it,” McCoy said, as he walked over to a workbench, and then pulled out a stool from it and sat down. “Name's Andrew McCoy,” he said, and then offered his hand when the earth pony came over.

“Steelshod,” the brown stallion replied, as he reached up with a foreleg and shook the proffered hand. “Nice to know even aliens have sane engineers.”

“'Course we do,” McCoy said, as he reached into the coat he wore and then took out a glass bottle. “It's th' same thing everywhere ye go: we fix things an' keep th' place runnin' while the idiots go out and break all over again so's we can fix it.”

“I'll drink to that,” Steelshod replied, with an amused grunt. “Speaking of which, what did you bring?” He asked, as McCoy opened the bottle.

“Scotch,” the human tech replied, and then took a long sniff of the drink's aroma before he sighed contentedly. “Straight from th' casks on Northwind; best ye'll find outside o' bonnie ol' Scotland herself,” he added, and then offered the bottle to the pony.

“Never heard of it,” Steelshod said, as he grabbed the bottle with a hoof and the inherent attraction magic it held, and then took a hearty swig. The pony then quickly set the bottle down and shook his head while letting his lower jaw hang loose so that it and his lips could swing back and forth in a vain attempt to ease the sensations within. Finally, he brought up a foreleg and then slapped himself across the muzzle.

“Good stuff, eh?” McCoy slyly asked, with a smile as he picked up the bottle, and then took a swig for himself.

“Extremely good,” Steelshod said, with a strong tone of approval in his voice. “I think we're going to get along just fine.”

McCoy smiled at that, and then set the bottle on the work bench before he stood up. “Then let's see what ye got, an' I'll see what we can both do tae make our bosses happy.”

* * * *

I should have stayed in the armory, Rainbow Dash thought, as she sat on a cushion seat set alongside a long table covered with maps and the humans' holographic display. I'm pretty sure McCoy was just trying to be friendly, in his own way, the cyan pegasus mused, as she stifled a yawn and then looked around the room.

It wasn't too large, set as it was in the top of one of the Royal Palace's high towers. Still, the circular room was more than large enough to enclose the large table that everyone sat around, as well as the various meeting participants and several guards, all without feeling cramped. Large windows set into the cardinal points were opened to the midday air to let in a cool breeze and plenty of light, which kept the room from becoming stuffy and unfortunately prevented Dash from having an excuse to leave and entertain her easily bored mind. All they keep talking about is stuff like march paths and logistics and magic shields and stuff. Why don't they get to the good part where they go out and stomp the invaders' heads into the ground? Rainbow had to admit the mental image made her smile a bit, though it was short lived as Schneider started giving a lecture on something the pegasus understood vaguely as being about force multipliers. Whatever those are.

A sudden, silent pang ran through the pegasus then, and Rainbow frowned a bit as she started to regret missing breakfast. Stupid soldiers and their whole “get up at sunrise” thing, Dash grumbled to herself, as she remembered almost being late that morning. I skipped on breakfast to get there on time, and what do they do? Spend twenty minutes looking around and jabbering before we left for Canterlot. I could have had some oatmeal by then, at least.

Or maybe I could've hit up McCoy for some bacon again, the cyan pegasus thought, and then swallowed as she started salivating at the thought. The grizzled human had been sneaking her bits of the salty pork product every morning since her first, accidental ingestion, and thus had ingratiated himself with Rainbow. Despite the shock she had received upon finding out what it was, the mare had found herself wanting more. It's just so darn good. And I took a look at those articles on domestication Twilight was reading when she got blitzed, I saw the pictures and movies. Those animals really aren't like us here at all. Her guilt assuaged, Dash had thus held little concern at consuming a piece or two during the days she worked with the human tech.

Her stomach sent out another pang of protest at the reminder of the heavenly ambrosia, and Dash frowned as she considered alternative measures. A sudden idea hit her, and she glanced to her left, where Melissa was sitting cross-legged on a cushion seat. The pegasus watched the human for a moment to make sure that she wasn't involved in the current discussion – to the contrary, she seemed almost as bored as Dash – and then gently nuzzled her arm.

Melissa jerked slightly, and then surreptitiously looked around to make sure no one noticed. Fortunately, everyone was focused on the maps, holographic projection, and discussion, and so they didn't notice the pilot's slight jump. Well, one person isn't distracted by the meeting, Melissa wryly thought, as she felt the nudge again and then turned her head to look down at Rainbow Dash. “What is it?” The human whispered, as she leaned down to make sure she wouldn't disturb anyone.

“I'm hungry,” Dash replied, flatly, though also in a whisper. “Do you have any of that beef jerky with you?”

The pilot frowned at that. “Can't it wait?” She asked, and then glanced over to the four ponies sitting on the other side of the table to make sure none of them were taking an interest in the whispered conversation. “I'm sure we'll break for lunch, soon.”

“But I skipped breakfast,” Rainbow countered, and then turned her head aside a bit and blushed. “Besides, they won't be serving meat here.”

Melissa gave the pegasus a look made up of equal parts of incredulousness and guilt. Oh Lord, what have we done? The human silently asked, and then closed her eyes and turned her head back around to face forward again while she contemplated. Carnivorous little ponies... Well, I suppose there is some precedent to it, she mused, and then stifled a sigh.

For her part, Rainbow Dash had returned to looking around the table. Maybe I shouldn't have asked? She wondered. Mel's right, lunch will be around soon, and my eating meat seems to make everyone worked up. Well, it made Twilight worked up, the humans all act differently. Mel seems kind of in the middle, though. Wait, why am I thinking so much about this? The cyan mare frowned as she started to take stock of herself. Now that I mention it, I've been doing a lot more thinking lately, since the good humans got here. Especially since-

“Here,” came a whisper that lightly startled Dash, and she turned to see that Melissa had shifted her position to one where her legs were bent up in front of her rather than folded under her. This let the human pilot easily reach into one of the lower pockets on her flight suit, from which she had retrieved a small plastic baggie.

Rainbow Dash felt her mouth water again as her friend opened the small bag with a single hand, careful to keep the movement and activity hidden from the others at the table with the bulk of her leg. Melissa then pulled out a small piece of material that was a brown so dark it could be mistaken for black, and then proffered the slip of homemade jerky towards the pegasus.

The deep, smoky aroma was pungent in Dash's nostrils as she leaned over and carefully took the piece in her mouth, and then started to chew. Immediately, the rich flavors of soy sauce, brown sugar, liquid smoke – whatever that is, Dash mused – and of course beef, washed over her tongue, and the mare had to close her eyes as she leaned back into the standard pony sitting position. I don't care what anypony says, this is heavenly, Rainbow mused, as she lost herself in the bliss of chewing on the cured, sliced roast.

“Art thou enjoying thyself, miss Dash?” The cool, liquid nature of princess Luna's voice broke through Dash's reverie, and the rainbow-maned pegasus snapped open her eyes to see that everyone at the table was looking at her.

Oh dear heavens, what did I do? Dash asked herself, only to have her memory recall that she had been making pleased noises as she chewed. Oh no, how loud was I?

That question was answered almost immediately. “Thou seemed rather vocal in thy enjoyment of your refreshment,” Luna wryly observed, with a raised eyebrow. “Might I ask what has thou so enthralled?”

Haystacks and hailbait, Dash thought, as she blushed so profoundly that it ignored her coat coloration and simply turned her face straight crimson. “Uh,” she uttered, and then froze as she realized she was still chewing on the delicious morsel, her mouth still salivating over its flavorful texture.

“For pony's sake, Dash,” Twilight said, her voice betraying a slight tone of shock. “Are you eating what I think you're eating?”

Rainbow turned her head towards the purple unicorn and frowned at her. “Maybe I am,” the pegasus said, and then reluctantly swallowed the jerky. “What's it to ya?”

Twilight looked incredulous for a moment, and then opened her mouth to speak. Before she could get a word out, however, the sounds of some sort of commotion came through the room's open windows and promptly drew every being's attention to the one that overlooked the city.

“What is that noise?” Luna asked, even as she stood and then walked over to the window. She was quickly followed by the other ponies at the table, who crowded around the princess, even to the point where Starbuck and Dash took to hovering above the small gathering.

What they saw was something they had witnessed before, and far too recently at that: various figures flying through the air above the city, screeching battle cries as ponies ran for cover below. “We're under attack!” Shining Armor exclaimed in surprise.

“Griffons!” Luna growled out, and then turned to her two captains. “Deploy the Guard immediately!”

“Yes, princess!” Both Shining Armor and Starbuck replied immediately and simultaneously, before each brought a foreleg up in a brief salute. Starbuck then immediately turned and started to bellow orders to the pegasus guards in the room.

Armor himself started to head for the stairs down to meet his own unit, but froze as he saw three figures rise in the air just outside the window. All were griffons, and all held bows at the ready in their manipulative forelimbs and were taking aim at princess Luna, who still faced away from the opening. With only seconds to spare, the unicorn lit up his horn and telekinetically grasped Luna and hurled her to the side, out of the line of fire.

Unfortunately, though, Shining Armor stood directly across from the open window, and the arrows that were launched now had nothing to stop them before they embedded themselves deeply into his unarmored chest, to the sound of meaty thunks. The pain burned deep, and despite his training, Shining Armor found himself unable to react in any fashion, save to collapse to the floor with a groan.

“Armor!” Twilight Sparkle shouted, even as she ran towards her fallen brother. The screech of griffons, however, froze the pony in her tracks, and everyone turned to see the three assailants charging in with swords drawn from belts around their waists.

Two of them never made it, as the room's pegasus guards blazed out from the window and slammed into them at speed. Both ponies proved well-trained as they twisted their bodies at the last second to avoid the sharp weapons, and subsequently began to pummel the griffons with hooves from within the latter's ability to use their swords.

The third griffon ignored the fight behind him and continued forward, screeching a war cry that struck fear into those unaccustomed to battle. His sword raised, he barreled forward and aimed for Twilight Sparkle. Before he could get to the purple pony, however, a blue aura enveloped the being and brought him to an immediate halt that caused the sword to slip his grip and clatter to the floor.

“Thou art not welcome here!” Luna, her eyes aglow, shouted at the griffon. It was the last thing the hapless creature saw, as the aura around his neck intensified and then squeezed inward rapidly, crushing the griffon's windpipe and spine simultaneously. Once it went limp, Luna turned and then hurled the body outward with her magic, aiming for and hitting one of the two griffons that were still sparring back and forth with the guards.

The third griffon, however, seemed rather luckier than his fellows, and with a caw of triumph sank his blade through a gap in the armor of the pony he fought. A scream of pain and the sickening noise of metal scraping metal sounded as the wounded pony dropped out of sight.

His victory did not last long, however, as captain Starbuck raced in behind the griffon and, with a quick pirouette, bucked the back of the unarmored flier's head. The sound of bone crunching was heard again, and another figure dropped from the skies.

Starbuck wasted no time in celebration as he immediately turned to the other guard still in the air. “Check on the corporal,” he ordered, and then turned to survey the area as the guard immediately dove to see to his felled comrade. Seeing no other griffons nearby, he turned and then flew back into the tower and took in the scene before him.

Twilight Sparkle was, of course, standing next to her downed brother, her horn lit up while she muttered as if concentrating on a spell. Rainbow Dash stood on the floor next to her friend, between Twilight and the window the attack had come from, her wings fully extended and her face set in a display of fierce determination. Behind them, the humans had tilted the table over to act as a shield, though they had tilted it in the opposite direction of the attack; a move Starbuck realized was intended to protect the ponies' rear against the prospect of an attack from the other open windows. The hominids crouched behind its limited protection, wielding the meeting's cushion seats as makeshift shields.

It was princess Luna, however, who drew the pegasus captain's attention as he landed. The alicorn's eyes were still glowing slightly, and her face was set in a mask of anger. “Captain Starbuck,” she said, as she walked to the open window the steel blue pony had just flown through. “Continue to deploy the guards, see to captain Armor, and secure the palace,” Luna added, as she reached the window and then spread her wings. She paused then, and looked back at the pegasus officer. “I will see to the city.” With that, she turned her head back around, and then launched herself into the air and sped off towards the heart of the growing chaos.

“I have a recommendation, Jim,” Schneider said, into the silence that followed. “Do not piss off the princess. Ever.”

“Seconded and passed by acclimation,” James said, as he and the other humans stood. “Ivan, you have the best first aid training, go help Twilight's brother,” he added, glancing at the large man.

“Da, commander,” Ivan replied, and then moved off to do as ordered.

“McKenna,” a voice said, and James turned to see Starbuck hovering at human eye-level, a few feet away. “I know we asked you to come unarmed, but I need you to be able to watch over yourselves for now.”

“We can, once we get to the Ferret,” James replied. “We have a firearm stash hidden under the floor plates, just in case.”

Starbuck gave the human an incredulous look. “In case of what?” He asked.

James shrugged. “Whatever,” he replied, nonchalantly.

“And he calls me paranoid,” Schneider muttered.

“Not the time, Hermes,” Melissa quietly countered, as she warily glanced about the room.

“Indeed,” Starbuck responded. “Alright, I'm off to organize the guards. If you can lend any help to securing the palace, I'd appreciate it,” he added.

“We'll do what we can,” James replied.

Starbuck nodded at this, and then turned and glanced briefly at the wounded unicorn on the floor. His face set into stone at that, and the captain raced off through the palace corridors with a fierce blast of his wings.

Once he was gone, the human commander turned to face Melissa and Schneider. “Alright, we'll need the air cleared,” James began. “Melissa, when we get to the Ferret you'll take off and head for the DropShip. I want you and Eddie airborne for a CAP yesterday.”

“Consider it done,” Melissa replied.

“Hermes,” James continued, as he turned to fully face his second officer. “You, Ivan, and I are going to get our guns and then get to the armory to make sure McCoy is okay.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Schneider agreed, with a nod.

“What about us?” A scratchy voice asked, and James turned around to see Rainbow Dash hovering much the same manner Starbuck had done. “And what about Twi's brother?” She added, and then pointed a hoof to where both Twilight and Ivan were still working on the wounded pony.

“There's not much we can do about him now,” James replied, somewhat reluctantly. “I would suggest you two get help from whatever passes for an infirmary in the palace.”

“That won't be good enough,” Twilight said, as she stood up and then turned to look towards the small gathering and raised her voice. “The griffons coated their arrowheads with tatzelwurm venom; a rare and powerful anti-magic poison,” she explained, even as she fought tears and the cracking of her own voice. “It not only keeps a pony from using their innate magic, it also prevents healing spells and potions from working.

“But your medicine isn't based on magic,” Twilight continued, her voice taking on a hopeful tone. “Please, if you're going back, take Shining Armor with you.” She lowered her head then, and her voice dropped to a near whisper. “I- I don't think he'll make it, otherwise.”

“That might make it worse,” Schneider interjected. “Moving the wounded should only by done by trained professionals, or as a matter of last resort.”

“B-But he'll die if we don't move him!” Twilight wailed, her voice cracking.

“Is true, commander,” Ivan added, from where he was applying makeshift bandaged ripped from his dress jacket to Shining Armor's torso. “Pony lose lot of blood, and poison must hurt more than magic; he loses strength by moment.”

James frowned at that, but remained quiet for a moment as he thought. Soon enough, however, he sighed, and then nodded his head. “If you can carry your brother with your magic, we'll take him,” he said to visibly relieved Twilight Sparkle.

“Jim,” Schneider began, slowly. “Are you sure?”

“Enough, Hermes,” James replied, as he made a cutting gesture with his hand. “We're doing this,” he added, and then glanced around at the others. “Let's get going.”

* * * *

“Third platoon, get moving!” Starbuck called, and used a foreleg to wave the aforementioned unit out the door of the barracks. “Reinforce the patrols in the Merchant's Quarter! Sixth platoon- Where the cracking earth is sixth platoon?” He yelled the question, as he cast his gaze over the complete chaos the normally orderly barracks had fallen into. Ponies were flying or running back and forth, desperately putting on armor and grabbing spears with bent hooves, or blades that had to be strapped onto their forelegs.

“Sixth hasn't reported in,” a besieged unicorn sergeant replied, as he made his way through the maelstrom. “They had guard duty around the princesses' quarters in the north wing.”

Starbuck frowned at that, as something niggled at his mind. “But I sent the honor guard detachment to relieve them as soon as I got here,” he said, and then looked around. “And I don't see them here...”

“Incoming!” The call came from outside, and both Starbuck and the sergeant turned and dashed outside, just ahead of a wave of guardsponies in various states of dress. They came out expecting a fight, and were thus momentarily confused when all they saw was a panicked earth pony guard pointing upwards with a foreleg.

Wait, where is he pointing? Starbuck asked himself, as he followed the line of the pony's leg. Soon enough he saw what had frightened the sentry so much: Griffons, scores of them! The captain thought, as he saw the thick mass of heavily armed and even armored fliers aiming for a specific set of rooms. His blood froze as he recognized the location, and his eyes widened in fear even as his pupils shrunk. “They're after Celestia!” He yelled, and then leapt into the air with a furious flap of his wings. “Everypony to the princess' quarters! Move!”

* * * *

Garadan couldn't help but smirk as he stood on the outermost battlement of Canterlot's vaunted walls. Even at war, they had too light a guard here, he thought, with a glance to the side where a gutted pony guard lay, still and unmoving. Pitiful, the griffon thought, as he returned his attention back to the chaos over the city proper. If it hadn't been for Celestia, and now Luna, we could have taken these lands ages ago. They are truly weak.

Part of his mind admonished him for the thought, and Garadan mentally conceded that the guardsponies were indeed putting up a splendid fight. They are well trained, in spite of their coddling, the griffon admitted, as he watched two such guards hold off a group of five griffon warriors in mid-air. The pegasi fought fiercely, but the griffons' superior numbers ensured that whenever one made a mistake, left himself too open, then a blade or a talon would swoop in to exact a toll of blood. A few moments of this left the guards both downed, probably dead... and three griffons with them.

This, though, did not bother Garadan so much. The Swift Kill and Withering Winds clans were only too eager to volunteer to be the bulk forces, he remembered from the planning. Flying Strikes has only a marginal stake in this, and what we have put in is easily replaceable. Part of him wanted to recoil at such a callous thought, but long, lean years had done much to drain his sympathy and empathy down to minimal levels. Our lands cannot long support such numbers, anyway. Even if we lose this war, the survivors will at least finally be able to have full bellies without kowtowing to beings that should rightfully be prey.

A sudden, panicked screech from deep over Canterlot airspace startled Garadan out of his reverie, and he craned his head over to see a midnight-blue blur racing into the midst of the thickest group of griffons. Warriors fell in rapid succession as the newcomer made a quick pass, crushing their necks and heads with quick telekinetic strikes.

“Looks like the featherbrains from the Broken Claws didn't get the job done,” Gilda acidly observed, from where she stood next to her father.

Garadan sighed at that. “It was a long shot, anyway,” he admitted. “Fortunately, our new alliance has given us alternative options,” he added, and then turned to look at the third griffon standing on the battlement. “Yesari, use that radio thing and call in those “aircraft” the Desperadoes have,” he ordered. “They will keep Luna busy while the main thrust moves on the palace. And who knows?” He asked, with a grin. “She is the younger sister, and has no armor. Perhaps those so-called “fighters” will be enough to remove her, as well.”

* * * *

“I can't believe it's this easy,” Schneider darkly observed, as the group made its way unhindered through the corridors of the palace.

“I can't believe you wanted to leave Twi's brother back there,” Rainbow Dash quietly growled out from where she flew, keeping pace with the others.

“It was logical,” Schneider protested.

“Shut it, the both of you,” James said, with a glance over his shoulder from where he led the group. “Keep your eyes and ears focused outside, not on bickering.”

Mercifully, the two mutually antagonistic persons fell silent and did as asked, and turned their attentions to their surroundings. James gave a silent prayer of thanks, and then returned his own attention to keeping the moving party on track. Like any good mercenary meeting a client for the first time, he had memorized the path they had taken just in case, and this paranoia served him well as it made finding the way back to the landing fields easy and quick.

Unfortunately, when they got there they found the doors barricaded with one of the various decorative tables from the richly appointed corridors. James reached up and yanked on the table, but found it had been wedged in rather well. “Alright, we're going to need something to bust this down,” he said, as he turned to face the others in the group.

“Ivan go get planter from two halls back,” the burly human offered. “Looked heavy.”

“There's no time for that!” Twilight interjected. Her voice was strained, both from the emotional toll of the last few minutes, and also from the strain of levitating her brother. “Just step aside, I'll get it!”

“Twilight...” Rainbow Dash began to speak, as she landed on the floor next to the purple unicorn. “Can you handle it?”

“I damn well better!” Twilight heatedly replied, and the aura of her magic grew brighter along her horn. “Get out of the way!” She called to the humans standing in front of her, who quickly moved out and aside of the short hallway. Once they were clear, the unicorn concentrated and focused her magical grip around the table, and her aura soon enveloped it. She tried yanking it out, but the table was firmly wedged. Incensed, she gritted her teeth and then tried again, putting even more force into it. The hardwood furnishing shifted, but for the most part remained in place.

James frowned at this, and he turned to regard his infantry commander. “Ivan, go get that planter,” he said, quietly.

“No,” Twilight muttered, as much to herself as in reply to the human. “I've got this,” she added, and then concentrated again. Her aura, however, faded from the table, even as her horn grew bright.

“Oh, hailbait,” Rainbow Dash muttered, even as she stepped away from her friend. “Fire in the hole!” She called out, using the human lingo she had learned, and then brought up a hoof to cover her eyes. The others in the group took their cues from the pegasus, and all mirrored her move with their arms just as a brilliant flash shot from Twilight's horn and slammed into the table.

James winced at the noise of the magical assault, and then lowered his arm once the worst seemed over. To his surprise, the table, and the doors it had barred, were gone. Correction, he thought, as he spied a cloud of dust and splinters descending to the ground. They've been annihilated.

Schneider noticed this as well, and he looked to the commander and caught James' eye. “Are you sure we're needed here?” He wryly asked.

“Shut up and get to the chopper,” James said, as he took the lead once again and raced down the hall. The others followed, and they all paused at the blasted entrance to look outside.

“The coast looks clear,” Melissa observed, as she finished looking over the area.

“There was a fight here, though,” Schneider observed, and then pointed out several unmoving shapes lying in the grass of the field. “I hate melee combat, it always leaves a bloody mess.”

“Move,” James ordered, as he ignored the off-handed remark, and then set off across the field.

The group followed, and soon they were at the Ferret, whereupon Melissa immediately pulled herself aboard and then hastened for the cockpit. Twilight was next, as she levitated her brother into the open infantry compartment, and then set him down carefully before she did a quick teleport that flashed her aboard.

“Why didn't you do that this morning?” Rainbow Dash asked, as she came to a hover next to the aircraft's open doors.

“I didn't think it would be polite,” Twilight Sparkle grumbled, as she used her magic to reach for one of the intercom headset/protectors. “Also I was nervous enough that I might have ended up back at the library.”

“Pardon me,” Schneider interrupted the conversation, as he climbed into the Ferret and then hastened to a nondescript panel set into the helicopter's floor. “You're going to have to hold your brother still the whole way, miss Sparkle,” the intelligence officer added, as he went to work. “The 'copter isn't set up as a medivac, so there's no way to secure him.”

“I'll be careful,” Twilight promised.

“Good girl,” Schneider added, as he pulled the panel aside, and revealed an array of weapons and equipment.

Despite the situation, both of the ponies in the group were curious, and turned their heads to look at the hidden cache. “That's a lot of stuff,” Rainbow Dash observed.

“Just a few pistols, some ammo, radios,” Schneider replied, as he took a weapon out and then turned to toss it to James. “And a satchel of pentaglycerine.”

“WHAT?!” The shout came from the cockpit, and a visibly angry Melissa poked her head out a moment later. “You had pentaglycerine on board my bird without telling me?”

Schneider almost looked hurt as he gazed back at the pilot. “It wasn't armed,” he offered, plaintively.

“I'll kill you later,” Melissa retorted, and then pulled herself back to her preparations.

“Hermes, are you trying to piss off every female in a ten-kilometer radius?” James asked, as he checked his automatic slug-thrower.

Schneider shrugged as he returned to his task. “Just my special gift, I guess,” he offered.

“So, what is that pentaglutamate, or whatever?” Rainbow Dash asked, her curiosity piqued.

“It's an extremely powerful plastic explosive,” Schneider replied, as he took out a laser pistol and then affixed its holster to his belt. “It's very safe to transport, so long as it's not armed. When it is, though, you could sneeze on it and set it off,” he added, as he took out an exceedingly large pistol. “Ivan! Is this one yours?” He asked, temporarily interrupting his conversation with Dash.

“Da!” The large human replied, and then reached out with a hand so Schneider could pass the weapon to him. “Ivan had forgotten he left Petya here.”

“Right,” Schneider muttered, and then turned to pick up a satchel and a small cylinder on a metal chain from the cache. “Anyway, this pack's got enough punch to blast through a meter of solid steel,” he added, as he looped the satchel's carrying strap over his neck, and then put the cylinder in a shirt pocket.

“What?” Twilight asked from the side, having paid silent attention to the conversation. “Why in Equestria would you carry around something like that for “just in case”?” She asked, in a shocked tone.

“Clearly, you've never been to Solaris VII,” James chimed in from outside. “You done, Hermes?” He asked, as the Ferret's engines started their whine.

“Just getting the spare ammo,” Schneider replied, as he pulled another satchel out. He took a moment to return and secure the false panel, and then climbed out of the Ferret as the blades started spooling up.

“Safe journey, miss Sparkle!” James shouted, as he reached up and then yanked the portside door to the infantry compartment closed. Ivan, who had moved to the other side during the brief interlude, shut the starboard door, and then joined with James, Schneider, and Dash, as they sprinted back for the door to the palace. Once there, they paused and looked back to watch the Ferret rapidly lift into the air, and then turn to head over the lip of Canterlot's immense platform, whereupon the helicopter dropped from sight.

“Are they going to be okay?” Rainbow Dash asked, as she hovered in mid-air, still facing where the Ferret had disappeared from view.

“If anyone can fly them to safety, it's my Mel,” James answered, as he took several magazines that Schneider proffered from the ammo satchel and then stuffed them into his pockets. “In the meantime, the palace needs to be secured.”

“How the hay do we do that?” Rainbow asked, as she turned around to look the human in the eye.

“We aren't doing anything,” James replied, as he met the pegasus' gaze. “As a civilian, you are going to find a place to bunker down while the battle is being fought.”

Dash was taken aback by that, and she took a moment to consider her reply. “Who the hay do you think I am?” She asked. “I'm not backing down from a fight!”

“This isn't just a fight,” James retorted. “This is war. Unless you're ready, willing, and able to kill someone on a second's notice, you have no place on the battlefield.”

Again, the mare was taken aback, though this time it seemed to be out of shock. “Kill someone?” She asked, sounding doubtful. “I-I don't know. Is that really necessary?”

“Dash, we saw that guard take a sword to the chest and fall from the sky,” Schneider interjected, as he handed Ivan the spare magazines to the bulky pistol the large man affected. “He's probably dead. Those griffons the princess dealt with certainly are dead. Like Jim said, this isn't a game, this is real,” he added, and then sighed as he took out the spare energy cells for his laser pistol from the equipment satchel. “If you're not prepared to do what's necessary, then you're just going to get in the way.”

“Or worse,” James added. “You'll be a liability. Someone to watch out for, someone to take care of, because you're not able to protect yourself. That divides the attention of people like us, who will try to fight and protect you at the same time. Although we'll do it, you could just be the distraction that gets us, or a guard, killed.

“So think long and hard, Rainbow Dash,” James continued. “Because right now, I can't take the time to stuff you in a corner and make it so you can't get out and interfere,” he added, and then paused to give the pegasus a hard look so she would know he was not making an idle threat. “I can't stop you from doing what you want, so whatever decision you make is on your head. But if you come with us, know that if you're not willing to do your duty, then you might as well run and hide. Because otherwise you will get someone killed, and if you're lucky it'll only just be yourself.”

Dash thought about the humans' words of warning for a few long, tense moments. Soon enough, though, her face set into a hard mask, and she nodded. “If that's what I have to do,” she began, still sounding a bit unsure. “Then I'll do it, if it means protecting others.”

Despite the situation, James faintly smiled. “Whatever else happens here Dash, know this,” he said, as he reached up with his free hand and patted the mare's foreleg. “You've got your head on straight.”

“That just leaves us to wonder if your head is on straight, Jim,” Schneider dryly observed.

“We'll see,” James said, and then hefted his pistol and double-checked the safety. “Now let's go to the armory and see if-”

The sound of another set of beating wings caused McKenna to cut off his words, and the group tensed in anticipation; the humans aiming their weapons in the direction of the sound, while Rainbow Dash simply looked ready to tackle an enemy.

Fortunately, none of them needed to act, as a pegasus wearing only a helm flew around a corner of the palace. He paused for a moment to look around, and then raced towards the mercenaries when he spied them. The pony stallion came in hard, and his landing ended up with him creating a small furrow in the grass. “Commander McKenna?” He asked, his voice cracking with pain and exhaustion.

“Are you alright?” James asked, as he holstered his pistol and then walked up to the guard. “Do you need aid?”

“No, I'm fine,” the guard replied, as he worked to regain his footing. “Captain Starbuck sent me, he urgently needs your help at the north wing of the palace,” the pegasus said, as he finished standing, and then turned to look at the human. “The attack on the city is a feint, the real target is princess Celestia.”

“No,” Rainbow Dash breathed, shocked enough that she actually settled to the ground on her hooves.

James ignored the mare, and instead kept his attention focused on the messenger. “How bad is it?” He asked.

“The enemy has taken the corridors leading to the princess' chambers,” the guard reported, even as he continued to breathe heavily from his sprint. “Celestia's personal guard is holding them off, and Starbuck is leading a relief force from the outside, but the griffons have come in great numbers.” The stallion paused at that, and then gulped. “The captain is not sure that the guards protecting the princess can hold out.”

A moment of silence followed that, as everyone absorbed the import of the guard's words. Finally, James broke the silence. “Well, shit,” he said, and then shook his head briefly. “Alright. We're off to the north wing.”

“I'll lead you,” the guard said, and then took a step forward. As he started to move, however, the thunderous sound of fighter engines was heard roaring overhead.

“That was quick,” James said, sounding surprised.

Schneider, however, simply scowled. “Too quick,” he said, and then looked up. Soon enough, he spied a moving shape in the sky above, and then pointed it out. “Those aren't ours.”

“Lucifers,” James muttered. “This day just keeps getting better and better.”

* * * *

Even in her relatively short time alive, Lieutenant Samantha Leblanc had seen a lot of things. A veteran of the FedCom Civil War, she had watched dropships explode in low orbit as naval-grade particle cannons tore them apart and ignited their atmospheres. She had seen towns crushed under the indifferent footfalls of 'mech regiments more concerned with blasting each other than trying to avoid collateral damage. She had even, once, seen an honest politician, though most never believed her when she told that particular story.

What she saw now, though, as she flew over the improbable city perched on the side of an improbable mountain on an improbable world filled with improbable creatures of myth, made her wonder if she had finally snapped. Okay, dark blue winged pony with a horn tearing the crap out of every griffon she sees, Leblanc thought, and then shook her helmeted head briefly as she flipped the MFD in her cockpit from the belly camera back to showing her weapons status. “Alright, people,” she said, after turning on her radio with a flick of her thumb on the HOTAS controls. “In case your minds have gone soft from sitting on your asses, that blue thing's our target. Valkyrie Four and I will take the first pass, and then Five and Six follow. Any questions?”

“Yeah,” Valkyrie Six, one Matthew Hill, asked. “If it took the whole battalion to knock out the first one, why is it just us four for this one? Shouldn't the skipper and Valk Two be with us, at least?”

Leblanc had to fight to keep a sigh from escaping her lips. “You know as well as I do that the major wants to keep the heavies in reserve,” she replied. And also because O'Connell is a paranoid moron, she didn't say. I'm not getting paid enough for this crap. “Now, unless there's anything else, go set up your runs.”

* * * *

“I'll feast on your entrails!” The griffon warrior screamed, as he flew through the air, a spear clutched in the claws of his birdlike forelimbs.

Princess Luna flapped her wings hard, and then pushed herself into a short loop that barely allowed her to miss the charging griffon. “Feast on this,” she countered, as she came back into a hover, and then cast a spell that sent bolt of lightning racing out from a cloud she had summoned at the beginning of the fight. The bolt struck true, and the griffon screamed in pain as millions of volts coursed through his body. He limply dropped from the sky, unconscious at least, possibly dead already, but Luna paid him no mind as a pair of griffons fired more of their arrows at her from a distance.

A quick shield spell deflected the two projectiles, and before the princess could react to the threat, a pair of pegasus guards swooped down from above, swords attached to their forelegs held out. A quick pass by the two distracted archers sliced off a griffon wing apiece and sent them tumbling from the sky in a flurry of feathers and blood.

The fight goes well, Luna thought, as she pushed herself into forward motion, and aimed to close with a cluster of griffons that were raining arrows down on an earth pony unit that had been deployed to fight any landed enemies in the streets. A bit too well, the princess worried, as she used her telekinesis to latch onto one griffon, and then swung him through the air to batter his fellows. Several fell to the street below, where the earth pony guards they had been firing upon now took their revenge, and while they acted Luna snapped the neck of the griffon she remotely held and then dropped the body. Certainly, the griffons must have counted on my being wounded, perhaps even assassinated, but the fact I am here and whole should signal them to retreat. Luna temporarily paused in her thoughts then, as she cast another shield spell that deflected arrows from the remaining griffons in the unit she had just attacked. Yet they persist. Why?

A roar in the sky answered her unspoken question, and the night princess looked up to see a quartet of odd craft, white fire blazing from their sterns, flying in formation overhead. As she watched them, though, they split into two groups of two, and then turned to head away from Canterlot in perpendicular directions.

The invaders, the princess thought, as she kept up her shield spell so she could ponder the new arrivals while the griffons impotently rained arrows at her. Then the griffons are indeed in league with O'Connell and his raiders. Truly, their treachery knows no bounds.

The roaring started to grow again, and Luna broker herself out of her reverie in time to turn and see a pair of the fightercraft coming in low and fast. Just as she finished recognizing them, however, sheets of flame blossomed on their noses, and two score of small projectiles rode tails of orange-red fire as they aimed themselves directly for the princess.

Luna reacted automatically and funneled more power into her shield spell just before the mind bogglingly fast projectiles impacted. A rippling cacophony of noise blasted her ears, even as the force of the explosions sent feedback through the spell to rip into the alicorn's mind. Barely had this ended when Luna felt another wave of pain as her shield was again tested, this time by beams of light so intense that they made the sun look like an ember in comparison.

The princess of the night barely kept herself airborne as the stress of the attacks ripped through the innate connection between her and the shield. Curse you, Conservation of Energy, Luna groused, even as the screeching rumble of the two fighters' engines roared in her ears. She opened her eyes from their pain-clenched state, and watched as the two large craft soared off into the midday sky with a grace that belied their unnatural construction.

She had little time to reflect on this, as the rumble of approaching engines was heard again, and Luna abruptly remembered that there were four of the enemy aircraft. With this thought, she rapidly recharged her shield back to full, just a split second before another wave of missiles and lasers slammed into it from her right.

She screamed, and for a moment lost control of herself. Luna quickly recovered, however, and then opened her eyes again to see the city rising up to meet her in an unpleasant manner. Several quick flaps of her wings arrested the princess' momentum enough for her to regain control, and Luna descended to softly alight on top of a random building to gather her bearings.

This attack makes far more sense, now, Luna darkly thought, as she looked around and saw the airspace had cleared somewhat. Those “air craft” are a most dangerous enemy, the princess mused, as she looked up and outward. She could barely make out the first group of fighters as they finished their turn in the distance and started to head in again even as the second group raced outwards on fusion-powered flame.

A memory popped up then, of a report that she had read from captain Starbuck following a discussion he had with the humans following the latter's review of recordings they had somehow pulled from the felled Desperado 'mechs. “Commander McKenna is adamant that while princess Celestia was certainly capable, she made a grievous tactical error in attempting to face a unknown foe in the open. Human tactical doctrine is best described by the aphorism, 'if you can see it, you can hit it. If you can hit it, you can kill it.' They emphasize mobility, the capacity to damage or destroy a foe (succinctly called “firepower”), stealth, and intelligence gathering. Static defense in the open – that is, not in the immediate vicinity of a vital or strategic location that must be held – is a last resort and its use by a human commander usually signals incompetency, desperation, or both. However, McKenna did point out that there are exceptions to this rule of hoof.”

If you can see it, you can hit it, Luna repeated that line in her mind, and then turned and hopped off of the rooftop and let herself drop to the ground two stories below. She didn't bother to use her wings to slow her descent, and instead let her strong alicorn constitution show itself as all four hooves cratered the pavement upon impact. Her drop came just in time, as two waves of missiles streaked in and blasted the rooftop of the building into a cloud of dust and debris that rained down into the street. Luna grunted as she was forced to cast another shield spell to keep herself from being buried under the detritus. Even when they miss, their weapons are dangerous and destructive, the princess mentally complained, as she dropped the shield and extricated herself from the pile of rubble that was once a fine haberdasher in the Merchant Quarter, while the enemy fighters finished their pass and flew overhead. This battle hath become more difficult.

* * * *

James winced as he heard the Desperado Lucifers make a third pass, the roar of their LRMs and the firecracker-like explosions of the missiles' impact sounding like doom for the ponies in the city. I can't help them now, though, the commander thought, as he followed behind the guard who led him and his friends through the Royal Palace's twisting corridors. And given how badly the ponies felt at their princess being wounded, if she is killed it will likely rip the heart out of their morale. No side even won a war without being confident in victory.

Plenty of them lost, though, even when they were confident, a voice in his head answered. James forced the idea from his head, however, as the sounds of battle came from up ahead. Time to work, he thought, as the guard led them around a final corner.

...And straight into a melee. Over a score of ponies and griffons were clashing against one another in mortal combat in one of the wider halls that acted as the main thoroughfares in the palace, and the group and their guide had to skid to a halt just beyond the scrimmaging bodies of warriors.

For a moment, none of the new arrivals did anything, as their minds adjusted to the unexpected situation, and the humans and Dash found themselves watching in awe as they saw professional pony soldiers in the midst of the kind of battle they had been trained for. James noted with not a little admiration as, while the griffons fought with relentless fury and bold, strong attacks, the ponies maneuvered through the air and on the ground with an elegant, refined set of movements that almost looked like dancing. Pegasus guards with swords strapped to their forelegs hovered in mid-air, and pirouetted, somersaulted, and rolled like acrobats to avoid attacks while simultaneously delivering their own. The few ponies on the ground, mainly earth but also a few unicorns and at least one pegasus with a bleeding stump in place of a wing, fought in their own manner, with the heavily armored earth ponies delivering and taking heavy punishment with their saddle-mounted spears and shields, while the unicorns moved sinuously, dodging between the primarily melee combatants and lending shielding to their allies while using their telekinesis to disrupt and distract their foes.

The new arrivals watched this battle play out for a few long moments. The ponies were easily better trained and better armed, but the griffons had fury and numbers, and slowly started to take their toll on the guards. When one of the pegasi in the air took a spear through a gap in his armor and fell to the floor, James had enough. With a dark fury born of the protectiveness that had grown in his heart towards the colorful equines, he brought up his pistol and aimed it at the griffon who had just scored a kill, who was even now raising his spear in triumphant display.

It was a display cut short, as the thundering report of the pistol filled and echoed in the close confines of the hall, and the slug raced through the air to slam straight into the chest of the hybrid creature of myth. The bullet then ripped through and out the back of the griffon, leaving a bloody hole that leaked gore even as the now-dead body dropped to the floor.

A silence fell over the hall for a brief moment, as the two battling forces paused to look towards the source of the unfamiliar attack. Suddenly struck by the incredulous nature of the moment, James couldn't help himself as a quote emerged from his memory. “I have come here to kick ass and chew gum,” he said, even as Ivan and Schneider aimed their pistols on either side. “And I'm all out of bubblegum.”

Hell broke loose at that, as the three humans seemed to understand the end of the line was their cue to fire. James singled out another griffon and sent a slug to rip open the chest of another hapless griffon. Schneider was next, and his laser pistol trilled as its beam burned into the head of a second griffon and flash-boiled the moisture inside the creature's brain, which caused the skull to explode outwards from the pressure.

By far, though, it was Ivan's Sternsnacht Heavy Pistol that stole the show. Long derided by marksmen for its inherently difficult nature, the ridiculously-sized “hand cannon” was considered an amusement at best by most soldiers. In the hands of Ivan, however, the Sternsnacht proved to be a force of nature as the 18mm slug blasted through two griffons in a row, ravaging their chests, before it lodged in the bone of a hind leg of a third attacker, who immediately fell to the floor in pain.

The battle resumed in earnest now, as both griffon and pony were broken out of their shock. For their part, the griffons realized the bigger threat, and several of them broke off to charge towards the humans. The mercenaries, however, were no fools, and had ducked back around the corner after firing their impromptu volley, with Schneider reaching up to drag Rainbow Dash through the air by a rear hoof as the pegasus mare had briefly frozen in shock at the carnage, save her wings which seemed to move on automatic to keep her airborne.

She abruptly broke out of said shock, however, when a griffon turned the corner and thrust a spear towards her. Acting on instinct, Dash dodged back and to the side before she turned and bucked the griffon with her hind legs to send him reeling. This conveniently let Schneider gain a clear shot at the assailant, and the laser beam ripped into the warrior's chest, which ruptured and sprayed blood, some of which landed on the face of the rainbow-maned pony who had turned to keep an eye on the male who had attacked her.

Wide-eyed, Rainbow Dash could only flit to the floor in shock after witnessing the death. “I'm going to have nightmares about this,” she muttered, as she wobbled on unsteady legs.

“The worst possible kind, too,” James grimly agreed, and then fired his pistol as another griffon rounded the corner. His shot missed, but fortunately a telekinetic grip suddenly encompassed the warrior and then yanked him back and around the corner, where a screech of shock was abruptly cut off with a sickening crunch. A few more audible events of this nature were heard, and then were replaced by silence. Soon enough, however, the sound of hooves moving about and spoken commands told the mercenaries who had prevailed, and thus they slowly edged back around the corner.

One pony turned to face them as they came back into view. “When I asked for help,” captain Starbuck said, from where he stood amidst several felled griffons, “I didn't think you'd be so flashy. Or so loud.”

“Part and parcel of the job, I'm afraid,” James replied, as he safed and lowered his pistol, and then looked over the various guardponies who were turning to attend their wounded. “I'm guessing you got pushed back?”

“Unfortunately,” Starbuck growled, and then shook his head. “I'd love to talk, but the enemy is already at Celestia's inner chambers. We need to relieve the guards there immediately.”

“Lead on, then,” James said, and then waited a moment as Starbuck and the guards under his command took a moment to organize before they ran off, leaving the commander to follow the larger group.

Schneider and Ivan, of course, were right behind the human leader, though much to his surprise James noticed Rainbow Dash keeping up in her usual flying position. “Go back, Dash,” James said, between huffing breaths. “It's only going to get worse.”

“No,” the pegasus replied, through gritted teeth. “The princess needs help, and I'm not going leave her to die.”

“Even after what you just saw?” Schneider piped in.

“Especially because of that,” Dash answered, her eyes narrowing even as tears started to form at their corners. “I won't let that happen to her, or to any of my friends. Not if I can help it.”

No one said anything to that, and so the humans and Rainbow continued following the guards. On they moved, passing through corridors stained with blood, and littered with limbs and bodies of both pony and griffon alike. Again the sounds of battle could be heard up ahead, and this time the entire group of soldiers slowed as they approached a final corner, careful not to rush into an ambush. Starbuck took a moment to silently signal the various guardsponies and had them arranged in a careful formation before they moved forward and then wheeled around the corner.

James, Schneider, and Ivan all followed right after the ponies, their pistols already up and ready for action. The scene they saw had plenty of it, as well, as Starbuck's reinforcements rammed into the rear echelons of the besieging griffons. They had gathered outside a pair of tall double doors that looked to be made of a white-painted fine hardwood, but were now battered and cracked from a broken decorative column being used by the enemy as a makeshift ram.

The griffons abandoned their assault as the reinforcing pony guards ripped into them, the earth ponies leading a short but nasty charge that resulted in many of the clannish warriors skewered on spears or trampled and crushed underhoof. The unicorns used their shield spells to corral and funnel the griffons on the ground towards the mass of death that were the earth ponies, while the pegasi simply cut down any griffon that attempted to escape into the air.

The mercenaries held their fire as the melee played out, concerned that their shots would accidentally harm friendly soldiers. Occasionally, though, a griffon would make it past the spears, shields, and even pegasi swords, and attempt to make a flank attack. Then it was a race between the three humans to see who could fire first; a race Schneider usually won, though Ivan's massive Sternsnacht spoke at least once more, again causing horrific damage.

Soon enough, the battle ended as the last griffon fell, the entirety of the attack force standing to the end rather than surrender. Several more ponies were down, dead or wounded, but for the most part the relief force had accomplished its job with relatively little loss of life. Relatively, James repeated, his mind already coolly analyzing the fights he had witnessed, now that the novelty had worn a bit. Mental note: don't get in melee range with anything on this planet, he thought.

Starbuck's movements broke the human out of his rumination, as the captain of the pegasus guards moved up to the battered doors. “This is captain Starbuck!” He called. “Relief is here, open up!”

“We can't, captain!” A voice answered from the other side. “We blocked the doors so much that the stuff all jammed up when the griffons started battering it.”

“Confound it,” Starbuck muttered, and then looked around. When he saw the humans, he lifted off and flew over the body covered floor. “I don't suppose you have something to get through that?” He asked, gesturing back with a hoof as he spoke.

James shook his head as his two subordinates turned to watch the hall they had come down. “We did, but miss Sparkle is escorting her brother to our camp for medical treatment,” he said, and then glanced to where Schneider was standing. “Hermes has a satchel of explosives, but it would be like trying to swat a fly with a 'mech's hand: massive overkill and likely to wreck things you generally don't want to wreck.”

“Hailbait,” Starbuck muttered. “Alright, this shouldn't be too bad. We've got the halls secured, and the doors won't open easily, so the princess should be safe.”

The sound of breaking glass, followed by a bellowing roar, came from the princess' quarters just then. “They're coming through the windows!” A voice from inside shouted.

“Manticore! Tamed manti-!” Another voice spoke, and then was cut off with a wet noise and another roar.

“Oh come on!” Starbuck yelled, even as he turned to regard his relief unit. “BLAST OPEN THOSE DOORS NOW!” He shouted to the unicorns, while pointing to the doors of the princess' suite. To a pony, the unicorns spun and charged their horns for a brief moment, before they let loose a volley of energy that disrupted and blasted the bared entrance.

Scarcely had the dust settled when a huge figure burst through the tattered remains of the door and its barricade. A quadruped, it stood twice as tall as any pony, had a fierce red mane wrapped around its neck, and a mouth full of dagger-like teeth that it easily bared as it roared. On its back rode a griffon warrior, who held in his foreclaws a pair of reins that directed the beast via a light muzzle that left the manticore's mouth free to bite and roar.

And roar it did, as the rider urged it forward. Starbuck's earth pony guards tried to form a defensive line, but the manticore swung a massive paw and bashed half the ponies aside, their armor the only thing saving them from immediate evisceration.

The remaining earth ponies attempted to charge, but the manticore's rider guided it to turn, whereupon the beast's massive tail swung out and slammed the remaining ponies aside. Several unicorns attempted to restrain the creature with their magic, and pegasi moved in to inflict wounds, but a quick barrage of arrows arced over the manticore from within Celestia's chamber. Few in number, and blindly aimed, the projectiles nevertheless felled several guards, both unicorn and pegasus alike, and forced the others to back away from the attacking mount.

Once again, however, the humans stepped into the fray. Ivan and Schneider, both having spun about at the noise, raised up their weapons and joined with McKenna as he fired his pistol. Again, the commander's shot went wide from its intended mark of the riding griffon's head, but Schneider made up for it by sending a beam of coherent light to burn and blast a cavity in the rider's flank. This distracted the griffon, and he dropped the reins long enough for the manticore to let loose its instincts. The huge beast lunged forward and trapped one of the knocked over earth ponies beneath its forepaws, and then bent down with its maw gaping wide.

It was then that Ivan, having taken his time to aim, fired. The slug of his hand cannon blasted through the beast's head just as it was about to finish its descent over the struggling earth pony, and even the manticore's sturdy skull could not withstand the heavy bullet, shattered. The dead manticore fell to the floor at that, and thanks to its demise Starbuck's guards could charge forward, unicorns leading the way for once as they turned their shield spells on full to ward off any further arrows. The sound of more roars could be heard from inside the room, and so James sprinted for the opened doors, with Schneider, Ivan, and Dash close behind.

The scene that met them as they arrived was chaotic, even more so than the two melees in the halls. Griffons seemed to be everywhere, but were confused and disoriented at the sudden appearance of more guardsponies, who were doing their best to force the enemy back. Unfortunately, another manticore and its rider was in the room as well, and it stood between the ponies and a strange, translucent purple bubble in a corner of the room. This seemed to be the focus of not only the griffons, but the ponies as well, and so James quickly assessed the best way to clear a route to it. First things first, kill the monster, he thought, as he raised his pistol and then aimed for the manticore, as it swung a huge paw and batted a pegasus out of the air. As the beast lowered its foreleg, James fired, using a double-tap that sent two heavy slugs to bury themselves in the manticore's head.

The abrupt death and collapse of the creature startled the griffons, as did the noise from the human weapon. This provided a distraction, which Starbuck and his ponies used in full to press the raiding party back. A few choice shots from Schneider's laser pistol felled some of the more cognizant griffons, and soon the remaining enemies started to beat a hasty retreat for the broken windows they had entered the room through.

For what seemed like the first time in forever, a lull fell over the palace defenders. For their part, the humans looked over the room carefully for any hidden threats, but saw nothing out of the ordinary, save for the purple sphere.

This object drew James' attention, and when he looked over he was surprised to see it was a full shield spell, being held by a pair of unicorns who stood on a bed next to a large figure wrapped in bandages. A very large figure for a pony, James thought, as he relaxed and then lowered his weapon. He put such thoughts from his mind, however, as several wounded ponies, now bereft of an immediate objective, collapsed to the floor. “Ivan, Hermes,” the commander said, quietly.

“Got it, Jim,” Schneider replied, as he holstered his pistol. Ivan simply nodded and did likewise, and both of the mercenaries went to work with several of the more intact guardsponies in attending to the wounded.

“What about me?” A voice asked from the side, and James turned to see Rainbow Dash hovering at eye level. “I... Is there something I can do?” She asked, her voice halting, but still strong.

James thought for a moment, and then nodded to the cyan pegasus. “Help Ivan,” he said, his tone still quiet. “He's going to need it.”

Dash nodded, and then flitted over to land next to Ivan, who was already attending to the pegasus who had kept fighting after losing a wing. After a moment of conferring with the large human, the cyan mare began to flit through the room, checking the vitals of downed warriors – griffon and pony alike – and then picked up the few still alive to be moved over to where Ivan worked.

“Thank you,” a voice said, and James turned from the scene to see Starbuck hovering at eye level to the side, much as Rainbow Dash had been. “For all of your help.”

“It's what we're here for, after all,” McKenna said, with a brief, wan smile. It disappeared soon enough, however, and the commander took in a deep breath before he let it out. “But it's not over yet. O'Connell sent some air support for the griffons; there's four Lucifer-class fighters outside.” The roar of a fusion engine passing overhead, followed by the unmistakable rush and explosions of missiles and the trelling of heavy laser weapons punctuated the human's remarks, and made him wince in frustration.

Starbuck facehoofed at the noise, and then sighed. “Can this day get any worse?”

A manticore's roar came from outside the windows just then, and James heavily sighed. “For the love of all that is righteous and holy, please stop tempting God,” he exasperatedly asked of Starbuck.

Barely had he finished speaking when another yellow and red beast appeared at the windows, flying on wings that extended from his forelegs and sides. These it tucked in at the last second, which allowed it to just squeeze in through one of the large windows and land with a floor-shaking thud, and predictably let loose another roar as it advanced towards the closest beings it could see; Ivan, Dash, and the wounded pegasus.

Naturally, James brought up his pistol, and the guards in the room gathered themselves up to resume the fight. The manticore, however, was already moving and with only a short distance to traverse before it could tear into the beings its rider guided it towards.

Fortunately, Rainbow Dash was as fast as her name suggested, and the multi-hued streak of her mane flashed in the room as she flew up and raced to intercept the aggressor. Time seemed to slow for the mare as adrenaline pumped through her veins, and so it was easy enough for her to somersault in mid-air and deliver a fierce, upside-down buck to the manticore's muzzle.

The beast roared in pain and shock, and then reached up with a claw to swipe at the pegasus, but Dash had learned from her last encounter with such a creature, and so had already flown backwards and away from the manticore. This would have cleared the line of sight for the humans, but sadly the palace guards hadn't had the familiarization training and so didn't understand to keep lanes of fire open, which meant that James found himself frustrated for a shot as the pegasi regained the air.

Ivan has a clear shot, though, James thought, as he watched the big man get to his feet, and then aim the Sternsnacht, while the various guardsponies engaged the manticore. When he pulled the trigger, though, the gun didn't fire, and both he and James realized at the same time that the large man had forgotten to reload the pistol. The griffon riding the manticore seemed to notice this, or at least noticed the human with a firearm, and so guided the beast to turn and head towards the burly man. The manticore roared as its eyes alighted on the hapless human and the wounded ponies on the floor behind him, and the creature began to advance with jaw held open in anticipation, even as various guardsponies began to move in on it.

Ivan, though, was not about to remain idle and let himself or the wounded become a snack. As the manticore finished its roar, the tall man took in a deep breath, and then bellowed back. His roar was louder than any man, pony, or griffon could have imagined it could be, and even the manticore flinched slightly at the volume.

That flinch was all the hefty infantryman needed, as he jutted his left leg forward a step, pitched back his right arm, and then while still yelling, delivered a massive uppercut to the manticore's muzzle. The beast's jaws clacked shut with a noise that was audible throughout the room, and the predator staggered back several paces while it let out a whine of pain.

The burly man was not content with this, and he barely paused in his battle roar for breath before he charged forward, arms outstretched, and then rammed into the front of the manticore. The beast roared and tried to snap at him, but Ivan had already grappled onto the animal's mane and pressed himself up against its neck. Then, with shouted grunt, he large man began pushing the beast back, towards the window it had come through.

James blinked in amazement as he saw the huge beast shoved back. The manticore itself was quite surprised, and it turned its attention from offense to simply trying to gain purchase on the smooth stone floor with its clawed limbs, which caused no end of wincing from the tortured squeals of keratin against granite. The griffon rider of the manticore reared up and raised a spear as this happened, and aimed it with the intention of jamming it through Ivan's head, but a unicorn's telekinesis reached out and grappled with the warrior, attempting to pull the spear out of his grip.

The rest of the room, concerned that interfering would only make things worse, could only watch these two struggles unfold. “Ivan!” James shouted, as he moved to the side to get out from behind the various pegasi. “Just hold it still!”

“Nyet!” Ivan shouted back. “Might get loose! Too close to wounded!” He added, even as the bag legs of the manticore started to scrabble on the edge of the floor. At that, the large human glanced over to his commander and gave a hard look. “Keep ponies safe!” He shouted, and then turned back to give one more profound shove.

The back end of the manticore slipped off of the ledge, and the sudden loss of balance caused the beast to flail about, which only made it easier for Ivan to complete his relentless task and finish shoving the manticore off the building. However, Ivan himself remained clinging to the beast, and as it fell so too did the human, and both disappeared below the lip of the grand window.

“Ivan!” Three voices shouted at once, with one of them belonging to a blue pegasus who immediately flew towards one of the windows. She had to suddenly backpedal with her wings, however, when the griffon who'd been riding the manticore flew up from below, and then jabbed his spear towards her.

Rainbow Dash dodged to the side, but was a bit too slow as the spear tip grazed her flank. She yelped in pain and surprise, but managed to kick the weapon away from her and then prepared to rush forward to buck the new threat. She never got the chance, however, as a pegasus guard swooped in and decapitated the overextended griffon with a swing of his sword. The head flew up and forward, towards Dash, and out of reflex she extended both of her forelegs to try and ward off any incoming being. Instead, though, the lifeless had landed on top of her legs, and Rainbow stared into the cold eyes for a half second before she yelped again and then dropped the body part to the floor as she flapped backwards in shock.

Poor girl, James thought, before he moved over to the window after maneuvering around several guardsponies, who remained in a defensive posture. Carefully, he looked out at the sky first to make sure no other griffons were nearby, and then leaned over the edge just a bit to look for Ivan.

He was immediately struck with a strong sense of vertigo, as there was nothing below the lip of the window save the valley floor far, far below Canterlot. James pulled himself back in immediately, and then shook his head a bit to clear it. “Mother of God,” he muttered, and then closed his eyes for a few moments.

“Jim,” came the voice of Schneider, and McKenna opened his eyes again to see the younger man standing in front of him and changing the energy cell on his laser pistol. “I really hate to sound cold-blooded here,” Schneider continued, his voice low and respectful. “But we still have a job to do.”

James's lips pressed together at that, but he nodded. “Yeah,” he said, and then turned to look over the room. The guards had stood down a bit, though this time they were in a readied formation rather than collapsing outright. Once again, the wounded were being attended to, though now with a cautious, paranoid eye cast out every once in a while by those who worked on providing first aid.

In the midst of his visual assessment of the room, James made eye contact with captain Starbuck, who immediately dismissed the guardspony he was talking to and then flittered over. “I'm sorry about your friend,” he said, quietly.

“One of many losses this day,” James morosely replied, and then pointedly looked around the room again, his gaze lingering on the dead guards. He then looked over to where the purple sphere had been, and his eyes came to rest on the large figure still on the bed. “I presume that's your other princess?” He asked, with a gesture from his free hand.

“Celestia, aye,” Starbuck replied, after glancing over. “The room guards managed to get her bed into the corner before they were cut down,” he added, and then sighed, as his voice took on a deadened tone. “The two unicorns shielding her are the only two ponies who survived the onslaught.”

The ominous rumble of fusion engines and shriek of missiles punctuated the statement, and reminded the two officers that their task wasn't quite done. “Might be in vain, if those Lucifer pilots get told to level the palace,” James said. “My daughter will have gotten back to the camp by now, but it'll still be a time until she and Eddie are in the air. We're going to have to distract or even take out some of those fighters in the meantime.”

Starbuck looked at the human, his expression weary, but still hard. “If what you told us about such things is true, then there's not much we can do,” he said, carefully and in a quiet tone to avoid alarming the other ponies in the room. “We don't have weapons to disable them, and even if we did, none of us are fast enough to catch them.”

An idea popped into James head at that, and despite the situation, he smirked lightly.

* * * *

Explosions rocked the city, and Luna once again threw up a shield spell as a building near her was blasted by a wave of Long-Range Missiles. The only good news is that by staying in the Merchant Quarter, I hath kept the enemy blasting only empty shops and businesses, Luna thought, as she shook off the debris that landed on her shield, and then dismissed the spell. The bad news is that the enemy are most certainly out for mine blood, and will not stop until there is nothing left to shield me.

The princess of the night mourned briefly over the loss of her old armor, which had been torn apart when the Elements of Harmony blasted through all of its intricate defenses and then cleansed her soul of its dark taint. And with the world so safe now, I had not thought to have a new set made, Luna darkly thought, as she set off at a gallop through the streets, careful to provide fleeting glimpses for the airborne machines. She had hid too well after their initial runs, and so the fighters had resorted to firing into the city at random. Whether in hopes a lucky shot would fell her or simply to draw her out, Luna did not know, but she had resorted to playing a cat-and-mouse game with the powerful craft to keep the citizenry safe. Or as safe as they can be in the midst of a battle of this nature, the dark alicorn thought.

The roar of an approaching fighter broke Luna out of her thoughts, and she quickly glanced around to make sure she was in an area clear of civilians. She was, but unfortunately was in the midst of an open square as well, and the alicorn silently cursed her luck as she had come to know what that meant. Well, let them come, she thought, as she turned to face the sound and threw up a shield, and then concentrated in putting as much energy into it as she could.

The same pattern of missiles and lasers slammed into her again, and Luna gasped from the shock of trying to hold back the terrible barrages. Fortunately, being on the ground meant she did not need to split her energy up into defense and flying, and her shield was able to redirect some of the thermal and kinetic energy into the ground, rather than forcing the princess to deal with it directly. Still, it doth sting like nopony's business, Luna thought, as the two fighters finished their run and then flew off.

Scarcely had the noise dimmed when the sound of a nearby battle erupted, and Luna sighed as she dropped her shield and began to run towards the commotion. Leaving the square, she turned a corner at an intersection and found a trio of earth pony guards battling six griffons, while a unicorn guard provided a shield that protected a small family of civilians who seemed to have been caught in the open.

Luna didn't even think as she sent out a blast of destructive energy from her horn, which vaporized one of the griffons as it was attempting to fly over the ground-bound ponies. This naturally distracted several of the combatants, though the guardsponies remained more focused, and so killed another two griffons during the skirmish.

The remaining three griffons, seeing the odds so roughly turned against them, took to the air and attempted to escape. Luna reached out and grabbed one with her telekinesis, and quickly snapped his neck before she let the body fall to the street. The other two were too distant and moving too fast for her to concentrate on, and so she turned to regard the ponies whose aid she had come to. “Why art thou still here?” She demanded, her voice strong. “This quarter was to hath been evacuated by now.”

“Apologies, highness,” the senior guard – an earth pony with a rank insignia on his helm – replied. “But the invaders' air machines have disrupted our normal messenger chain by taking shots at our pegasi when they are not randomly bombarding the city. We only just recently got word that this family had been trapped without escort.”

Thou means, when they are not attacking me, Luna thought, but refrained from speaking aloud. The guard may not know that, but I do. “Very well,” she said, and then nodded. “Move them out, and quickly! The enemy strikes fast and cares not for the lives of their own.”

“Yes, princess!” The senior guard replied, and then turned to wave his stallions and the family forward. The whole group broke into a ragged gallop, and then disappeared around the corner of the intersection Luna had just come through.

The rumble of the enemy aircraft returned then, and Luna sighed in frustration as she turned and dodged in between a pair of buildings. Missiles blasted into the street she had just vacated, and the princess threw up a shield automatically in case any debris was blown in her direction. When the trelling of lasers and a second wave of attacks didn't come, Luna dropped the shield and then trotted back into the street. A ragged series of craters in the pavement marked where the score of missiles had impacted, and the alicorn felt irked. They hath just repaired this street after the Changeling fiasco! Now it is a mess once again, she thought, and then turned to run down the long avenue. I cannot continue like this. Simply garnering their attention and distracting them is not defeating them, yet I cannot gain a hold on their craft for they move too fast to concentrate on, nor can I fire a destructive bolt whilst shielding myself. It seems we are at an impasse.

* * * *

“Are you sure you're up to this?”

Rainbow Dash frowned at the question and its poser, and then puffed out her chest a bit. “Hey, I'm the fastest flier in Equestria,” she said, with her usual bravado. “I can do this!”

“That's not quite what I asked,” James asked, as he knelt down in front of the pony to bring himself to her eye level. “I know you can handle it physically, otherwise I wouldn't have bothered suggesting the plan. What I want to know, Rainbow, is if you can handle this emotionally?”

The bravado in her eyes dimmed at that, and Rainbow Dash let the look of confidence slip off her face. “I...” She began, and then paused to look around the room.

They were not in the princess' rooms as before. Now that Celestia was safe and most of the griffons cleared from the palace, James, Schneider, Dash, and Starbuck had left the suite and moved to one of the decorative turrets adorning the side of the north wing that faced Canterlot proper. Here there were no stains of blood or bodies of the slain, but Dash still had to suppress a shudder as the human's question brought back those uncomfortable memories. Do I really want to see anything like that again? She asked herself, as the battles just past replayed in her mind, the details still vivid and fresh. So many dead, wounded, crippled... Do I really want to see more? Worse, to cause it to happen to someone else, even if they are an enemy?

A rumble interrupted her ruminating, and Dash turned to look through the opened window she stood next to, and looked out over Canterlot. Figures of griffons and ponies still flittered through the air, taking shots at each other with arrows or clashing with swords and spears. Parts of the city burned, sending clouds of smoke rising into the sky, and as she watched this was added to as one of the Desperadoes' Lucifer aerospace fighters made a random attack, raining missiles and laser fire into the city before pulling up and away again.

Something in Rainbow triggered at that, and the pegasus felt her trepidation melt away, to be replaced by determination. This needs to stop, and if I can help stop it... She turned back to McKenna and gave him a steady look, one free of bravado, but full of steel. “I will do it,” she said, evenly. “Because there's nopony else who can.”

Again, James found himself smiling in spite of the situation, and he couldn't help but reach out and pat a hand on Rainbow's shoulder. “You'd make a damn good soldier, Rainbow Dash,” he said, and then stood up.

“Now remember,” Schneider interjected, somewhat nervously as he still was unsure of the situation. “You need to attach the satchel to either to the underside of the nose, or to the top of the canopy. Either location will destroy the cockpit and take the fighter out.”

And the pilot, Dash thought. “I... I understand,” she quietly replied.

“We know you do,” Starbuck comfortingly added, from the side, and again Dash turned her head, this time to take in the pegasus captain, his armor and blue coat stained with blood. “You just take care of yourself, as well.”

“I will,” Dash replied, and then turned her body around to face the window. She paused for a moment, and then took in a deep breath before she flapped her wings open, and then blasted out of the room.

The three males watched her rainbow contrail streak through the sky, and then angle down for the city. “Godspeed, little pony,” James said, quietly. “May He watch over you.”

* * * *

“Get, out, of, my, city!” Luna yelled, as she gripped two griffons by their necks with her magic, and then hurled them into the sky. Their pained squawks diminished into the distance, and were soon overtaken by the all too familiar rumble of incoming aerospace fighters. This grows tiresome, the princess thought, as she cast another shield spell, and then anchored herself to the street she stood in. The wave of missiles and laser fire was almost routine now, though it still hurt and annoyed the alicorn. And it drains my power, Luna added, as the second wave of attacks from this pair of fighters washed over her shields. I do not know how many more attacks I can withstand. Yet, what am I to do? I cannot reach them mentally, and though I might be able to intercept one I could not do much against its armor, if what McKenna has told us is true. Luna grunted as she let the shield drop and then looked around the deserted street. How can they build strands of diamond into armor like that, anyway?

“Princess Luna!” A distant voice shouted for her, and Luna stood for a moment and blinked before she recognized it. She turned her head towards the south, and saw a rainbow-hued streak coursing through the air towards where she stood, where it stopped practically on a dime and resolved into the shape of a cyan mare with a khaki satchel hanging from her neck.

“Rainbow Dash,” Luna spoke, as soon as the pegasus had landed on the street. “Why art thou here? The battle yet rages and I cannot spare time to watch over thee.”

“I know,” Dash replied, and then reached up with a foreleg to tap the satchel she carried around her neck. “But commander McKenna had an idea to take out at least one of those fighters, and I'm going to need your help to distract them long enough so I can do it.”

The alicorn blinked in surprise. “Rainbow, thou cannot mean to join the battle?” Luna asked, shocked. “'Tis no place for untrained ponies!”

Rainbow's brow furrowed at that, and she felt a fire kindle in her chest. “Hey, I may not be a guard, but I am more than trained enough to catch up to one of those metal slugs,” the pegasus hotly retorted, forgetting Luna's position as princess. “And I'm not going to sit on my flank and watch them tear apart the city if I can help it!”

Luna almost took a step back at the vehemence in Dash's voice. I had hoped it would not come to this, the princess thought, with a mental sigh. Bad enough that the Guard fights and dies this day, but at least their dedication to duty was born of careful thought, not thrust upon them in the heat of battle.

Yet dedication it is, and who am I to deny it? Luna took in a deep breath at that, and then let it out slowly. “Very well, Dash,” she said, evenly. “What dost thou need from me?”

Rainbow's face lightened at that. “Like I said, I need you to do something flashy to distract them, really get their attention so they won't notice me catching up to one.”

Luna thought for a moment, and then nodded. “Methinks I know just the thing.”

* * * *

“How many runs are we going to do?” Valkyrie Six asked, via the channel used between him and his element leader.

That person, Remus Ustinov, stifled a groan as he aligned his Lucifer to make another pass at the city and their target within. “As long as it takes, Matt,” the elder pilot replied, as he followed the cues on his HUD to bring the 65-ton fighter's nose into alignment with Canterlot. “Now shut up and get ready to go in again.”

To his credit, Hill remained quiet and angled his own fighter in the standard trailing position for a ground attack run. At least the kid knows when the shut up, Ustinov thought, as he scanned the HUD for his prey. And at least this so-called “princess” is smart enough not to stand still in front of her enemies and trade shots like it's the goddamned Eighteenth Century, he mused, as he scanned the ground.

Looks like she's hiding again, he thought as the distance rapidly closed. Oh well, time to spray and pray. He flipped a few HOTAS controls at that, and then sent a scattered barrage of LRMs into the city to explode wherever they happened to land.

The missiles had barely left their launch tubes when his target appeared, suddenly rising from the city moving almost straight up. Time seemed to slow for Ustinov as he watched the dark blue creature shoot up, a foreleg held in front of her, a small wreath of glowing energy gathered around the hoof. Then his fighter was passing over the city, over the princess, just as she reached the apex of her flight and connected the glowing hoof with the underside of the nose of the fighter.

The contact was brief, but loud, as the impact shook the Lucifer and sent it spiraling out of control. Ustinov felt his kidneys hurt as his adrenal glands went into overtime, and he struggled to regain control.

Because of this attack, neither he nor his wingmate saw a rainbow contrail departing the city.

* * * *

Rainbow Dash soared through the air, pumping her wings like mad as she raced to catch up with the enemy fighter. C'mon, c'mon, she chided herself, as she pushed even harder against the air resistance and the turbulence of the aircraft's wake. Her target was just ahead of her by a few dozen meters, and she was closing in at an oblique angle to avoid being fried by the exhaust of the Lucifer's fusion engine. The heat had been nearly unbearable for the last few seconds, yet the pegasus pony pushed herself past such concerns, and continued to close in despite the very real threat to her person.

Just... a little... more... Rainbow mentally prodded, straining her muscles to work harder and faster. The enemy fighter was turning now, its thrust starting to point in her direction as its pilot sought to rejoin his battered and shaken comrade. I'm not going to make it, Rainbow thought, as she saw the brilliant white flame start to take up more and more of her vision, and felt the heat increase beyond discomfort and moved to outright pain. Prudence demanded she back off, try again some other way, but her pride, her determination, and her loyalty drove her on. I am not going to let anyone down, not now, not ever, she thought, and then added on an extra burst of speed.

Dash could feel the sound barrier starting to push back at her hooves as she finally pulled up to and just above the Lucifer, and then abruptly pitched down to slam into the armored back of the 65-ton spacecraft. The mare felt her legs ache with the impact, but she focused her thoughts past the pain and angled her wings so that they produced a down thrust that kept her standing on the fighter instead of being blown away by the slipstream while she bid the magic in her hooves to grasp against the composite armor.

She paused for a moment to look around, and Dash felt her mind boggle a bit as the enormity of the situation hit her. What the Hell am I doing? She asked herself, using the human curse word as it felt more appropriate to the situation. Any further introspection was cut off, however, as the Lucifer started to pitch violently, and Rainbow Dash had to bend her knees as the fighter started into a backwards loop. Soon enough, however, the loop halted, and the craft started an aileron roll as it continued straight up.

Hailbait, he knows I'm here, Dash realized, as she huddled as close to the fighter's hull as she could, while still using her wings as spoilers to hold her in place. She looked up now, towards the nose of the fighter, and saw a helmeted head in the canopy looking back at her. He soon turned back around, but Rainbow knew he wouldn't forget about her anytime soon. Come on, move! She railed at herself, and then slowly started to climb up the fighter, the downdraft from her angled wings enough to keep her hooves pinned to the metal.

The fighter pitched forward suddenly, just as Rainbow started to cross the “neck” that connected the main body of the Lucifer with the cockpit/nose assembly. Inverted loop, Dash realized, as she felt the centrifugal force start to pull her away from the craft. Clever, but not good enough. At that, she started to flap her wings to counter the inverted G-forces, and then continued moving up the craft, one steady, clutching hoofstep at a time.

Finally, she was at the cockpit, and had to pause in order to keep herself pressed to the fighter as the pilot pulled out of the loop and then started a series of sharp horizontal turns, each more frantic than the last. Despite this, Dash managed to bend her head down so she could clamp her teeth over the strap of the explosives satchel she carried around her neck, and then pulled it up so she could work at it with her forelegs.

Time for the hard part, Rainbow thought, as she had to let go of the fighter with a leg in order to manipulate the satchel, and more importantly the strip of adhesive built into its side. Like all ponies, Rainbow Dash had a bit of magic inherent in her hooves, which allowed a limited gripping function, albeit one inferior to human fingers. Still, it was enough for her to pull off the strip of backing that protected the adhesive, and then move her head to slam the now-sticky side of the explosive pack into the back of the ferroglass canopy.

The thump seemed to startle the human inside, as the fighter jerked a bit, before it settled into a level flight path, which let the pilot turn again to look back. The movement caught Dash's gaze, and she turned her own head to look into the cockpit, only to see that the person inside had raised the mirrored visor on his helmet. Rose eyes met brown, and the two antagonists froze in place as they stared at each other.

Sweet heavens, what am I doing? Rainbow Dash thought, as she felt her eyes start to tear up from more than the wind whipping against her face. I... I can't kill someone. Not like this, not like some cold-blooded monster that just walks up and kills a helpless pony in a trap, she mentally railed, remembering what commander McKenna had told her about the Lucifer's lack of an ejection seat.

A sudden roar filled her ears, and Dash broke eye contact to look to the left. Somehow, during the aerobatics meant to throw her off, the fighter had looped back around, and was passing Canterlot again, just as one of the pilot's comrades was making another blind run, firing missiles and lasers at random into the city.

Helpless ponies, a part of Rainbow reminded her, and she felt her uncertainty and fear drain away, to be replaced by anger and determination. She turned her head back to the pilot and then narrowed her eyes in an expression of cold fury.

The human turned away when he saw that, and Dash felt the fighter buck around again as he tried to throw her off. The pegasus mare was not to be dissuaded, however, and she bent her head down again, her flexibility allowing her to grasp a cylinder that hung from a small chain around her neck in her mouth. Rainbow wrenched her head up, breaking the chain, and then moved forward just enough so she could press the arming switch into the appropriate receptacle on the side of the explosive satchel.

Dash pulled her head back as soon as the device was armed, and she waited a moment for three green lights on the satchel to light up, indicating that the pentaglycerine was fully energized and ready to explode. Upon seeing this, Rainbow did as she had been instructed, and carefully reached up with a foreleg to lightly press the arming switch in, and then twist it to the right until it stopped moving. With that accomplished, she released her grip on the fighter and flapped her wings hard to clear the Lucifer's fusion exhaust as the slipstream pulled her away.

Rainbow Dash was a good few hundred meters distant when the explosives went off. The highly-focused blast, a trademark of pentaglycerine, annihilated the cockpit in a flash of chemical fury. It also set off the remaining ammunition for the nose-mounted LRM launcher, which resulted in the entire front of the fighter disappearing in a ball of flame, light, and noise that made the cyan pegasus wince as she transitioned to a hover. Dash opened her eyes and watched with a mixture of despaired emptiness and grim satisfaction as the remainder of the craft pitched down and fell to the ground hundreds of meters below, where it crashed in an empty field.

So... this is what it feels like, Rainbow darkly mused, as she frowned at the burning wreckage below. Before she could ruminate further, however, a rumble filled the air, and she turned her head to see one of the surviving Lucifers turning to aim for her.

“Horseapples,” she said, and then promptly turned and tore a hole in the air as she raced back towards Canterlot.

* * * *

Remus Ustinov was in a foul mood as he guided his fighter in its turn towards the multi-hued pegasus that had just killed his wingmate. Killed him like a pig in the poke, he thought, uncaring of the nature of his own handiwork this day. Now Ustinov wanted revenge, and his face contorted in a grimace as he slowly brought the targeting reticule of his large lasers to rest over the fleeing pony. Time to say goodnight, horse, he thought as the range closed.

The sudden, loud alarm of a target lock on his craft interrupted Ustinov's concentration, and he automatically jinked his fighter up and to the right to try and break the lock. It was partially successful, as he saw the angry red spears of laser beam-trails cut through the air below his Lucifer, though the wrenching impact of two scores of LRMs on his fighter's rear armor shook him up.

What the Hell? He thought, as he threw the fighter into another turn and checked his threat indicator. Ustinov's eyes widened as the battle computer reported what had fired on him, and he hastily triggered his radio. “Valkyrie Three! Stukas incoming!”

* * * *

Melissa McKenna grinned as she felt the waste heat bleed out of her cockpit at a phenomenal rate. God, I love these new F12 models F.I. makes, she thought, as she maneuvered her fighter to regain her target lock. “We got his attention now, Two,” she said to her wingmate, via the radio. “He's off Dash, so let's nail his ass to the wall.”

“Copy that, One,” Rodriguez replied, as he moved to follow his leader. “Taking the kid gloves off.”

Easier said than done, Melissa thought, as she had to wrench her Stuka into a hard left turn to follow the enemy fighter. This guy's not too bad, the youngest McKenna admitted to herself. But he made the wrong choice going after my little pony, her mind added, unconsciously. Instead, the focus of her consciousness went straight into her HUD and her targeting systems, and soon both reported a hard lock on the fleeing fighter. “Eat shit and die,” Melissa snarled, as she pressed the triggers for her long-ranged weapons.

The Artemis-slaved LRM launcher mounted above and behind her cockpit fired first, sending a score of missiles racing out towards the enemy fighter. Unlike the older systems aboard the Desperadoes' Lucifers, the Artemis IV Fire-Control System guided more missiles on target, and so almost the entire cloud of LRMs blasted into the back and wings of the obsolete fighter, tearing apart armor in a string of explosions that only became worse when Rodriguez's LRMs hit a split-second later.

The coup de grace, however, came from the four extended-range large lasers mounted in the wings of each Stuka. Unlike their previous attack, both Dark Horse pilots had taken the extra few seconds to gain a solid bead, and all eight of the coruscating beams landed on target, burning away the last of the enemy's armor in a split second, and then exposing and demolishing the fusion engines buried within the fighter's main body. Of course, to anyone else who watched with unaided eyes, all they saw were the furious lasers hitting the Lucifer, which exploded almost instantly with a ground-shaking thunderclap, as the magnetic bottle disintegrated and released the miniature star that was the heart of modern fusion reactors.

Melissa blinked her eyes, as the brilliance of a fusion reactor going critical was enough to mar her vision even through her helmet's protective visor, though thankfully the affliction was brief. “That yours or mine?” The young McKenna asked, as she maneuvered her 100-ton fighter in a climbing turn and searched her HUD's readout for the location of the remaining two Lucifers.

“How 'bout we flip a coin later?” Rodriguez suggested, as he maintained his position trailing Melissa's left wing. “Right now I'm thinkin' it's time to barbeque some Lyran cannon fodder rejects.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Melissa replied, with an evil grin, as she reversed her turn and angled her fighter towards the two remaining enemy contacts on her HUD.

* * * *

Captain Starbuck winced, as having seen two explosions in a short space of time wore on his retinas. “Sweet Celestia,” he muttered, as he looked back into the sky and watched the two black-painted shapes of the Dark Horse's fighters curve through the air above Canterlot, their deeper, even more menacing engines shaking the palace's roof.

“When in doubt, use a bigger gun,” James snarked, as he, Schneider, and the captain watched the Stukas pull a turn near the top of Canterlot's mountain and then descend towards the remaining Lucifers. The latter fighters had taken precious time to form up into a proper formation for air-to-air, and now were suffering for it as the heavier fighters gained a chase position.

Lasers flashed from the sterns of the two medium fighters as their pilots fired the defensive weapons. Against the light fightercraft that normally would be able to maneuver into a chase position, such weapons were a strong deterrent. But the vastly improved armor of the STU-F12 shrugged off the medium-class lasers as if they were no more troublesome than insects.

The return fire was much more vicious, as the two Stukas closed the range and unleashed their full, forward-facing arsenal. Built as they were to attack DropShips, and even super-massive WarShips, the two 100-ton fighters unleashed a furious maelstrom of lasers, missiles, and even more lasers upon the enemy. Streams of light and clouds of missiles descended on the enemy, and hammered them mercilessly.

Despite the tremendous beating, the two Lucifers remained airborne, though the attack finally broke their pilots' resolve; both of the 65-ton ships nosed down, dove for the cover of the ground, and simultaneously pushed their engines to full, the sudden burst of power sending a pair of thunderclaps through the valley.

The radio clipped to James' belt chose that moment to emit a burst of static, and then a voice. “This is Black Eagle One to Dark Horse Actual, shall we pursue?” Melissa asked, using both her and her father's callsigns.

James smirked faintly as he plucked the radio and then brought it up to his face. “Negative, Black Eagle,” he replied, evenly. “BARCAP Canterlot, and keep the airspace clear. If you see anything flying towards us that ain't a pony, send it to Hell.”

“I might take offense to that,” another voice sounded, on the same channel, which startled the elder McKenna.

“Sweet mother of God, Mei,” James growled, while next to him Schneider and Starbuck exchanged smirks. “You really are trying to give me a heart attack, aren't you?”

“Did it work?” The Heart of Steel's captain asked, in an innocent voice. She didn't wait for a reply, however, and her tone immediately changed to a businesslike manner. “In all seriousness, Jim, your wife insisted that the Blackfoot be sent to help secure the city, and I'm the only one who's bothered to keep up on their VTOL certs. The Ferret's chugging, but I've got the whole group here, minus Ivan, of course.”

James grimaced at that, and then sighed, careful to keep his finger off the transmit button as he did. “Understood, stand by,” he replied, and then turned to look over at Starbuck. “Captain?”

“The palace,” the pegasus immediately replied. “I don't like how close they got to Celestia. Have your armored troops help secure the palace and I can cut some platoons loose to finish clearing the city.”

The commander nodded at that, and then triggered his radio. “Come to the royal palace, Mei, north wing. You won't need directions, it looks just like you think it would. We're on the roof.”

“Roger that, Dark Horse Actual,” Nguyen replied. “ETA three minutes.”

“Copy three minutes,” James said, and then waited a moment to give Nguyen time to correct any misunderstanding. No correction came, though, so he triggered the radio again. “Over and out.”

“Out,” Nguyen replied, and then cut herself out of the channel.

Schneider let out a breath at that. “Well, it'll be nice to have some backup,” he observed. “Not that it hasn't been an illuminating experience watching your soldiers work, captain,” he added, as he looked to Starbuck. “I must admit I underestimated you ponies.”

“So did the griffons,” Starbuck added, and then turned to look out over the city beyond the palace. “Still, they got the drop on us, and I want to know how.”

The trio fell silent just then, as a loud, long screech echoed across Canterlot. It was added to and echoed by others, and it lasted for a good several seconds before it abruptly cut off. Before anyone could question it, the sky above the city started to fill with warm bodies, as every surviving griffon in the city took to the air, and then turned to fly towards the palace.

“Looks like a Hail Mary,” Schneider observed, and then checked the charge reading on his laser pistol's power pack.

“With a vengeance,” James agreed, as he changed his nearly empty magazine for a full one. “Let's get back inside,” he added, and then turned to run for the roof access door they'd come through.

Schneider and Starbuck followed, the latter taking to the air and backpedaling with his wings so he could keep the griffons in his vision. “Heavens above, preserve and protect us,” he muttered, as he watched the enemy rapidly close in. “Here they come,” he added, much louder this time to make sure the two humans heard him.

James had just reached the door when Starbuck called to him, and he spun around in time to see a wave of griffons cresting the edge of the roof. Several broke off when they saw the humans and pony guard, and they charged, screeching loudly.

Surprisingly, the screech was met by a fierce roar that came from behind the three military males. Scarcely had it finished when a large shape flew over them and then bowled into the advancing griffons, knocking them down to the rooftop before it landed amongst them. James recognized it as a manticore at about the same time the griffons did, and the latter wore looks of fear and shock upon their faces as the beast started to tear into them.

And, riding upon its back, was a very large human carrying a ridiculously large pistol. “Mister Nibbles doesn't like you!” Ivan shouted, and then discharged his Sternsnacht towards one of the now many griffons who were aiming to join the fight on the rooftop. The thunderous noise was loud even in the open air, which itself served as a weapon against the griffons, two of whom were run through by the heavy bullet.

McKenna, Schneider, and Starbuck watched in dumbfounded shock for a moment before they remembered who and where they were. Then the two humans quickly added their pistols to the fight, and Starbuck flew up and intercepted any griffon that turned its attention towards the humans firing into the furball. Unfortunately, the captain was only one pony, and despite his best efforts two griffons made it past him and charged towards the Dark Horse officers with drawn swords.

Schneider was lucky, as he managed a pointblank snapshot that ripped into the chest of the winged warrior, felling him only a foot before the harried human. James, though, was less fortunate, as his only shot went wide, and the griffon swung his blade down in an attempt to cleave the offending hand clean off.

One does not survive more than two decades of military service by being slow, however, and McKenna managed to snap his arm back in time to avoid the blade. What he couldn't avoid, though, was the charging mass of the griffon, who couldn't stop himself in time and thus slammed into the human shoulder-first, sending the two beings sprawling onto the rooftop, tom atop man.

They didn't stay that way for long, though, as both males began to recover. The griffon started to pull himself back onto his four feet, but James forwent such a move and instead brought his right arm around in a wide swing that brought the butt of his pistol crashing against the side of the tom's head. The griffon let out a shriek of pain, but managed to keep his wits about him, and managed to stabilize himself on three legs so he could claw at James' arm with a forelimb.

James couldn't help but let out a yell as the talons cut through the shirt and into his forearm, and his hand went limp as the muscles and tendons that controlled it were torn. His pistol clattered to the rooftop, and the commander barely had the time to gather his senses before the griffon warrior picked up his sword and brought it up, fully intending to plunge it into the human's chest.

A polychromatic blur slammed into the griffon's side before it could carry out its murderous intent, and the sheer violence of it sent the tom flying off of the human. “You stay away from him!” Rainbow Dash shouted, as she landed and took up a defensive posture between McKenna and the ejected griffon, her wings flared in a fierce display.

“Filthy horse!” The griffon shouted back, as he regained his footing and then hovered, clutching his sword in claw. “I'll run you... through...” He started to say, and then trailed off, as a new, yet familiar sound came from behind and above the mare and the human she was protecting. Both Dash and James risked a glance back at that, and the commander managed a faint smile through the pain.

The Ferret was hovering a good ten meters above the top of the north wing, and large, dark shapes were dropping off of its sides. As the fifth one departed the infantry bay, though, the helicopter rose a few meters, and then a small crack could be heard as a false panel over its nose was ejected via explosive bolts.

The minigun underneath was already spinning before the panel fell away, and Nguyen triggered the weapon as soon as it was clear. The air was filled with a terrible zipper-like roar, and a stream of bullets so thick that the tracers seemed to form a solid line reached out and sowed death amongst the griffons. James snapped his head around and propped himself on his good arm to watch as dozens of the flying foes were ripped to pieces by the Ferret's prodigious ammunition expenditure as Nguyen hosed the enemy with hot lead.

Several griffons, realizing that to be in the open meant death, charged forward. The moved past the waning melee around the manticore and headed straight for where James, Schneider, Dash and Starbuck were arrayed, clearly hoping to move in so close that the Ferret's pilot couldn't fire on them without killing those on her own side.

It was thus unfortunate for them that the Blackfoot arrived on the scene. The power-armored soldiers quickly moved to interpose themselves between the griffons and the unarmored beings, and then stood and aimed their weapons. Lasers flashed, machine guns stuttered, and a single gauss rifle cracked, sending waves of death to wash over the enemy.

This was the last straw for the griffons, and the survivors turned tail and began to fly away in every direction. Gunfire and lasers followed them as the Ferret and the armored troopers moved forward to keep up the pressure, the latter taking up positions around the edge of the roof.

Save one; the smallest of the armored figures – by dint of wearing the lightest armor – turned and moved back to the group of four near the door leading off of the roof. “Commander,” the woman inside the suit said, as she shifted her Thunderstroke gauss rifle to hang from her shoulder by its strap. “Looks like you need some help,” April Lewis added.

“A bit,” James managed to say through gritted teeth. “Keep your eyes open.”

“Always, sir,” the armored trooper replied, as she knelt by the elder human and took out a medkit.

* * * *

Princess Luna flew through the air, her wings beating rhythmically as she scanned over Canterlot. Below her the denizens of the city were coming out of their shelters, and despite the battle only having ended recently, were beginning the cleanup process. Anything to keep their minds off of what just occurred, I would wager, the dark alicorn thought, as she angled to head towards the Royal Palace, her escort of pegasus guards turning with her to stay in formation. Below she saw a cluster of armored guardsponies cantering through the streets to keep up with her, and Luna stifled a sigh. I withstood so much in the fight, and now they become paranoid about my safety, she mentally grumbled. Yet an attack force of griffons took us all by surprise. Methinks it is time to begin reorganizing the Guard, beginning with recalling Stonewall from Manehattan. I much doubt he would have been caught so unawares as colonel Backfire.

Luna felt some of her ire drain away at the memory of the former commander of the city guards. Whatever his faults, he at least was brave and died leading his troops, as a good officer should. I just wish it did not have to involve the deaths of so many citizens, as well. With the battle only having recently ended, the death toll was naturally still unclear, but the princess knew that dozens, if not hundreds had been killed from the random airstrikes alone. Add to that the many guards and citizens attacked by the maddened griffons, and I wonder just how high the cost will be?

The alicorn put the thought from her mind as she and her escort came upon the palace. She was not surprised to see the mercenaries' helicopter patrolling the air, as she had a grand view of it cutting down griffons as the tribal warriors fled the city, though she was surprised to see several large forms in the general shape of humans spread out over the roof of the north wing, along with a multitude of guards on and around the building that held Celestia's private quarters.

Realization hit Luna then, and she beat her wings faster to head for a knot of beings standing near one of the doors from which one could access the roof. Her keen eyes let her identify the key individuals even at a distance, and so the princess had a fair guess of who could answer her questions as she came in and gently settled to the roof. Where did that manticore come from, for instance, and why is that Ivan fellow petting it?

Luna again found herself putting her thoughts on hold as she walked towards where the humans stood or sat, conferring with captain Starbuck and several lieutenants in charge of various guards platoons. All paused in their conversation, and the ponies turned to bow to the princess. The humans did not bow themselves, though Luna ignored that as technically they weren't her subjects. Even so, she felt the same familiar concern when she saw that McKenna's arm was heavily bandaged, and frowned. “What happened here?” She asked, as she shifted her gaze from the human to Starbuck.

“The attack on the city was a diversion, your majesty,” Starbuck replied, after regaining a proper upright stance. “A second assault group hit the palace and attempted to assassinate princess Celestia in her quarters.”

Luna's eyes widened, and she wobbled a bit on her legs. “My sister?” She asked, worriedly.

Her fear vaporized a moment later as Starbuck replied. “Safe, your highness,” he began. “I managed to redirect some guards platoons to the north wing, and commander McKenna and his men lent their aide,” he added, and gestured towards McKenna and Schneider with a wave of his wing.

“I see,” the dark alicorn said, and then allowed herself a sigh of relief. “I thank thee, commander,” she added, as she turned to face the human. “Thou hast done Equestria and myself a great service.”

“Just doin' my job, ma'am,” James replied, his childhood accent leaking through due to the pain of his wound. His face darkened a bit, and he glanced around at the various ponies in the area. “All of us were.”

Luna mirrored his actions, and she saw what he meant, as most of the armored ponies bore some sort of wound or scar. Many had been bandaged and worked on, and Ivan and Rainbow Dash were attending to yet another wounded guard even as the alicorn looked over the area. “Aye,” Luna said, and then nodded and looked into the eyes of the various guardsponies. “The Guard hath once again proven that they are the bravest ponies in Equestria, and indeed the bravest beings in the world,” she said, her gaze steadily shifting around as she spoke. “Our foes hath learned that lesson this day, and they shall cower in fear knowing that the Guard is ready to stop their aggression, no matter the cost.”

The various ponies seemed to swell a bit at the praise, though most kept stoic looks on their faces. Luna nodded to them, and then returned her attention to Starbuck and McKenna. “Now gentlestal- er, beings,” she said, and then grinned sheepishly for a moment. “I think it would be wise if we-”

She didn't get to finish that sentence, as a green wisp of smoke wafted into her vision, and then suddenly was replaced by a scroll. Surprised, Luna let the item drop to the roof before she used her telekinesis to lift it up. Ugh, this feels more difficult than it should be, the alicorn thought, as she unrolled the unmarked scroll and began to read. I hath probably overexerted...

A moment of silence fell over the scene, as everyone waited for the princess to finish reading the missive. Many became worried when Luna's face turned stoney, and her wings tensed up at her sides. Finally, captain Starbuck cleared his throat. “Princess?” He asked, hoping that he was not being too forward.

His fear of committing a faux pas was soon replaced by another, as the dark alicorn lowered the scroll, and then cast an emotionless look in his direction. “It's from one of our watch posts near Manehattan,” she began. “They and the others were overrun by griffons and had to retreat.”

“Well, that explains the lack of notice,” Starbuck added, cautiously. “Is that all?”

Luna's expression changed from stoic to grim at that. “Nay,” she said, and then pressed her lips into a thin line for a moment. “They are coming.”

Comments

[Rokas]

So yeah.

I had trouble putting this chapter together, so I would appreciate some feedback. There are some parts I'm more concerned about than others, so let me know what, if anything bugs you. I'm going to let FIMFiction take this first, since I get people actually talking to me here, so this won't be going up on Fanfiction.net or updated to EQD just yet. Sorry to treat you guys like pre-readers, but I don't got anyone to do that for me and at least y'all want to read my stories.

Anyway, let me know what you think. There are music links spread throughout, and a few links to the Battletech wiki on Sarna.net. Again, I tried to make the BT material as accessible as possible so you don't need to read the wiki links, I just provided them in case anyone got curious. Admittedly, one of my goals with this crossover was to spread the awesomeness of classic Battletech around. ;)

So... yeah. Here ya go.

[shira]

Ohh new chapter, AND a request to edit things. This'll be fun

[Rokas]

631116
Gott en himmel. What hath I done?

[Total Eclipse]

Wait....when did this fic get on FiMfiction?

[Lateinshowing]

I think the chapter is fine. Nothing major seems to be off.

[Rokas]

631302

April 16th, It's kind of hard not to notice a story unless it's in the features box, I know.

[Paladin Redflare]

I read now because... HUMANS ARE MORE POWERFUL.

[shira]

631128

Hahaha ok god I about pissed myself laughing with McCoy and Steelshod.

"and Luna broker herself out of her reverie" probably should be broke.

"and instead let her strong alicorn constitution show itself as all four hooves cratered the pavement upon impact." Ok Luna is now metal as all hell now.

Oh god Ivan's using an 18mm sized round? That's just the type of ridiculous I'd expect .

Ok actual criticism, too many musical numbers too close together. Spread them out a bit more, though since a lot of people won't check this is a pretty minor thing. I don't mind the cultural references but you need to be a bit more subtle with them in the serious scenes. The Shoryuken, while funny, did immediately pop me out of the flow of the story like hitting a brick wall at highway speeds. It's all about timing and always double check yourself.

The action was amazingly well executed. I am taking notes for when I have to write action scenes.

Overall, careful of your flow, make sure you keep the reader from losing their immersion. Characterization, even for the guys on screen just for a few moments is excellent and Ivan's return was a thing of beauty. The problems this chapter were minor at worst.

Holy shit that was worth the wait.

[Tundara]

I raise a glass to the awesomeness of this battle. Excellent job sir, excellent.

[Tundara]

631361

This, everything in this. I have nothing to add as far as a real critique that isn't already mentioned here.

[shira]

631383

[Rokas]

631361

Hmm, I was worried about the shoryuken, yes. I think I'll work on that, but later; I'm kinda tired now, but I'll definitely sleep on it and edit it before I submit the update to EQD. But yeah, that confirms my suspicion that I need to tone it down.

The musical bits I was trying to tie into the scenes they're linked in. I also thought most people read slower than me, so I thought that the relatively shorter songs wouldn't overlap much. I'll leave 'em in as is but I'll be sure to limit the numbers next time.

And you bet your arse Luna is effing Metal. \m/

18mm was a guess. But you should see the stats for the Sternsnacht in the RPG... Or better yet, the picture. Sadly, I see none via Google ATM so that'll wait for now.

Glad it was worth the wait. Now I can take a small break and go play some Mass Effect or Ace Combat.

[shira]

631395

The music was appropriate (when isn't Two Steps From Hell) but this is why it's hard to match music with a story, besides that music is an incredibly person thing and you will find people who don't like it, everyone reads at different speeds and has different preferences. At least you didn't put song lyrics in the story, god that's just an excuse for me to start skimming. I'd still say include a song or two but put a lot more space between them, as slower readers can just put the song on repeat.

In other chapters the Shoryuken would have probably went over well but this was action almost from beginning to end, that leaves very little room in there. I actually didn't mind the Duke Nukem reference because it fits with James being the pop culture junkie that he is and matched the scene, but the Shoryuken was too much. Given how much you wrote though and that I only felt I lost my immersion once, that was an incredibly well executed chapter. You should take some pride in that and enjoy your rest.

[Rokas]

631351

Not necessarily. I just have humans not be completely impotent. There's a difference, though with how most authors portray humans in this fandom I'm not surprised the lack of Homo Sapiens Sapiens bashing is construed as the opposite effect.

[MiiaTheLamia]

For how long I have waited for this to be on FIMfiction...

[Rokas]

631410

Actually, the bubblegum reference was from the cult classic movie They Live, which is where Duke Nukem also gets it from. Go watch it sometime, it's pretty good.

But yeah, I'll work on that. I guess I got too excited about Luna doing a shoryuken because man that's how I likes my Luna. Still, it'll be worked on.

I know music can be a personal thing, but I still want to share it. Mainly because it's awesome. Still, there's a reason they're links and not fully embedded in the story.

[shira]

631424

i.imgur.com/3Dt7X.jpg

[Zervziel]

I was actually wondering how Luna's Shoryuken didn't knock the Lucifer from the sky or break her leg considering it apparently gave the craft one hell of a wallop. Anyway, for awhile I was quite saddened by Ivan's death. Then when he showed up later with the Manticore, I started laughing. Hey if I was a big tough beast like a manticore and I had to have a rider, I'd go with the dude that could hold his own against me.

Overall aside from a few spelling errors, it was quite a nice read and I was happy to see it update. Keep it up mate. Now if we could just get Sporksophy to lighten up about fan fiction.

[Paladin Redflare]

631416 I just think that Humans are overall better THAN EVERYTHING ELSE.

[Rokas]

631449

Ah, Mr Friday I presume? Sorry I ain't been on the forums, I've been bustin' my arse to get this chapter done and dueling with Sporky was distracting. Although it's also cathartic in a way. He reminds me so much of my parents' chihuahuas: they growl and grumble when you poke them, but they're so helpless it's adorable. ;)

[Zervziel]

631473 Nah. It's Zervziel, mate. Heck I think half the reason why people poke him is to see what pictures he'll post. Heck I save some of them. Except the banana pictures.

[blisterbeetle01]

It was awesome through and through! I did not see any mistakes and it was a very fun and detailed read! this is one of the fics I look forward to the most! I am soooo glad that Ivan survived, he's soo awesome!

[Cody MacArthur Fett]

It's good, if a bit too quipy before the attack. The scene where the Stukas ride in could have been greatly improved by the addition of the Battle of Britain suite. In addition, I really have to wonder if the Dark Horses are eventually going to ask for some actual pay if Equestria's wealth keeps getting flaunted in front of them . . . probably not, but it would be nice if they got some kind of bonus after all is said and done. Speaking of which, are those other two dropships still docked with the jumpship? You'd think the scientists would have gotten curious after a while.

[The Commissar]

Badass.

[Little Voice]

IVAN HAS MANTICORE!!! Ivan is awesome! The sheer awesomeness of that is awesome!

[Gyvon]

I was about to strangle someone when Ivan "died". Then I laughed my ass off when Mr. Nibbles saved the day.

[RoadRunneR]

So now Ivan has Sasha, his 18mm pistol AND a pet manticore?
Most badass dude in that fic, 'nuff said.

[Totally Not A Pony]

A few typos, though after going through all that text the only one I can still point out is the "coup-de-grasse"...which should, of course, be a "coup de grace".

Also, glad to see Ivan survived after all and even made a new friend. On a battlefield where as per BattleTech tradition literally almost anyone can die (and I was fully prepared for the eventuality of their bodies being found later when they dropped out of sight), it's the little things that count.

[Magiwarriorx]

Heaven must be smiling upon me today; classes just ended for the year and now Falling Stars updated with a 22k word chapter. Now to actually read it.

[Tencentfriend]

There was some fat to skim. Technical references that don't need to be there and doesn't seem to have any reason to exist, over expansion on specific details which makes some scenes awkward and choppy to read, and some overall polish wouldn't be bad for the flow of the chapter. I had to re-read at a couple of points, to make sure the scene was what I thought it was. No critical flaws though as far as I can see, just needs nit-picking at the details to make the minor irritations go away. Oh, and this is just a personal tic of mine you can ignore it, but a lot of the jokes and references are not in-universe which makes it hard to take seriously and/or degrades my appreciation.

[DavidPony]

“Mister Nibbles doesn't like you!”

yey for mr nibbles

[Happy Thoughts]

One of the best chapters of this story. M O A R !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[werewolf435]

Finally got updated!!!

Awesome chapter. If you want, I can go through it and sort out all your grammatical errors, then PM them to you.

[Thespurgin]

631351 Did you not read McKenna's own personal memo? Never go into melee combat with anything on this bucking planet.

632035 This is Rainbow Dash we're talking about... she's a superhero in her own mind. On top of that, this would be the first time she'd have tried anything like that, and that means flawed logic behind her initial actions.

631675 Actually, that would be a stealth pun. Equestrians eat grass, so it became a coup de grasse.

631418 Far too long, I'm sure. This is definitely equal to it's relative, The Thessalonika Legacy, though admittedly for different reasons.

Let's see... personal thoughts... So many casualties... and now the MECHS are coming? That's gonna hurt. I wonder how long it will be before our little spell-crafting purple unicorn starts making nuke-spawner spells. (not really hard... you find a catalyst and you enchant it to go off in a given way. easy on the user too.)

Also, Luna needs a megaphone. Just weaponize that blasted voice of her's. That, or have her use that starry mane to negate heat blasts.

Why does this not have a TVTropes page?

[Material Defender]

Nice. 22k is quite massive, practically the longest chapter I've seen yet.

[Seeker]

Amazing chapter and we found the music was well fit, but due to our quick reading speed was often overlapping but that is not something you can plan for.

As for the technical information we find it makes everything a bit easier to view for the scene, Battletech is technical if you just skimmed over that then something would be missing.

[haggin]

was an ok to good story...till you got to trixie...then you lost me...cant read it anymore now

[Erik Tiber]

This was increddibly badass. The bullets Ivan's pistol fires are almost large enough to count as autocannon rounds!

Anyway, I didn't listen to the music much. I mostly listened to the matrix soundtrack, which went surprisingly well with this chapter.

[Rokas]

633335
*Shrug* To each his own. Glad you enjoyed the story even if the music wasn't your favorite.

[Schillok]

Well... leaving most of the other issues to other reviewers, I found myself wondering what the Desperados exactly expected to achieve with this attack?
Why did they decide to send the Griffins and 4-6 (?) of their fighters in a battle when the main force isn't going to arrive for a good time? If anything they had wasted a lot of attackers (even if it is just Griffins with a shaky allegiance), not to forget the loss of 2 fighters + pilots and a lot of missiles on the remaining ones - neither which they will be able to replace ever while on this planet. Why no concentrated attack?

Considering they seem to be moving out already without waiting for the outcome of the surprise attack, it almost seems like they never expected to win. Nor feeling to make sure if they had met certain objectives during that attack (that being Celestia and Luna, or getting control of the airspace over the town). Well, now that this first battle had ended with a loss (they can't even estimate how much damage they had caused themselves it seems, but their own losses should be evident), I wonder if they will just ignore the obvious signs and continue a battle that will endanger their just recently stabilized foothold on this planet.

Yes, I guess just waiting things out would not work for them since they eventually will run out of fuel/spare parts/ammunition while the ponies get more accustomed to their weapons; but this kind of splitting forces, wasting their first wave and giving the defenders time for their strategy (even if it is just evacuating and abandoning the capital) will run them dry even faster.
Of course this gives the good side (who everyone is hopefully rooting for) a better chance to win. However when the bad guys repeat the same mistake over and over again it kinda makes them much less intimidating...

[Rokas]

633541

The thing is, you tend to forget that O'Connell is a former member of a terrorist group. The attack on Canterlot was never needed to succeed, merely to hurt the ponies' sense of safety. Either the griffons win, and Celestia and even Luna are taken out of the equation, or they lose, in which case O'Connell still wins because he's unleashed Phobos and Deimos, so to speak. Not to mention the ponies' reaction when they realize the whole battalion is on its way.

Either way, O'Connell gains an advantage, hence why they didn't need to hear the outcome of the battle before marching. Of course, he didn't realize that McKenna had an airfield prepared faster than the Desperadoes had (thanks to treating your workers better), and so didn't count on the sudden aerospace opposition.

As for military objectives, again I remind you O'Connell is a terrorist. Most professional soldiers consider terrorists nothing more than thugs, crude cowardly scumbags who don't have any real brains or courage as they chuck bombs or at most commit suicide bombings. Thus I have set out to portray him as such, which is why his grasp of real military theory is loose and his hesitance to actually engage a real, professional military group, no matter his advantage in numbers. O'Connell is a bully and a coward at heart, like all terrorists, and is more than willing to sit in a hole and send others off to their deaths, like a certain someone who not too long ago had a Navy SEAL put a bullet through his @#%#% head.

So my whole point is that when you throw a third-world thug with superior numbers against a small but professional group of soldiers, the former's gonna get his arse handed to him. Not exactly groundbreaking, I know, but hey, there's Battlemechs gonna be blowin' shee-ought up. I don't gotta make it into War & Peace.

[DustTraveller]

633541

Actually, the only thing that O'Connell risked was his aerospace fighters, which I believe we can chalk up to overconfidence again on his part. Remember, most of the damage suffered by the battlemechs in the fight against Celestia was suffered because they are slow and groundbound. He probably assumed that the fast moving aerospace fighters combined with the supposedly weaker younger sister made it a worthwhile investment.

As for the Griffins, we've already seen that O'Connell is more than capable to ruthlessly expending assets in order to achieve a goal. As he sees it, the only true threat is Princess Celestia. Killing her would rip the guts out of the ponies morale and further cripple their war assets. Expending an allies strength instead of your own to do so? I have no problem seeing that as being something O'Connell would see as perfectly acceptable.

Bear in mind that these aren't necessarily the soundest tactical decisions, just very in line with O'Connells flaws as a Commander. He has a decided tendancy to bite off more than he can chew. Bear in mind also that there is such a thing as "fog of war". Such things happen in battle. Also, unintentially they have deprived Canterlot from a huge whompin' forcefield generator when they took out Shining Armor, so it wasn't necessarily a total loss...

[Saint coulombe]

Dam why cant i like and fave twice.

[J. Finch]

I just want you to know that this fic? Is awesome and win. Awesome and win, sir.

[Totally Not A Pony]

632938

Relies overmuch on the reader (a) knowing who Admiral de Grasse was in the first place and what exactly supposedly made him so memorable and (b) then actually making the connection, I think. (For one thing, not everybody visiting this site is going to be specifically an early American history buff.) Failing that it just ends up looking like another case of "oh, author stumbled over the spelling of something vaguely foreign" -- it's not like the "coup de gras" ("stroke of grease") mistake hasn't ever happened before.

[Schillok]

633840

Even as an Ex-Terrorist: Unlike that real-world example whose main asset was the money and influence of himself and his family, O'Connel is a military leader of his force. He is directly responsible for tactics, and if he managed to keep his ragtag group of ruffians together for this long and [to a certain degree] run this buisness at a profit. And even though he likely sits in the biggest and heaviest armored mech his army has, he did participate in battle directly.

He should know the one thing or the other about tactics. He should know that exposing where he is going to strike one day before his main force arives is a tactical mistake. He should have noticed that the main mode of attack the ponies used so far was throwing rocks (and other heavy things) on his mechs. What is good against huge numbers of flying ponies carrying heavy rocks? Answer: Huge number of flying Griffins with swords without heavy rocks to slow them down. Even he should notice the obvious counter to the kind of attack presented to him by the natives so far.

As he analyzed before correctly: He has to crush the opposition NOW, as long as he can still use all of his forces before they fall into direpair. He has to win decicive so he still has enough forces left afterwards to stop any uprising of the remaining enemies. He also knows that the Dark Horses had joined the ponies and are their enemies. NOw, forcing them to hurry to the capital is not a bad move - less time for them to get into position and with some luck some of their slower forces will arive late to the battle (as opposed to attacking them in Ponyville directly).
He also knows that he has superior numbers against McKenna (even with the qualitiy of his mechs slightly ahead of the Desperantos).

It just feels wrong to see the villian defeat himself by making one strategic mistake after the other. To be fair, a number of his setbacks were due to him missing important information (declaring war on a planet without the technology to resupply and without being able to get supply from another planet; underestimating the abilities of its inhabitants; missevaluation of McKennas will to interfere) - but by now he should have learned not to assume things will fall his way. For all he knew the second Alicorn could have been able to summon a lightningstorm that anihilates the griffins and his fighters with one attack. Not a far strech considering the damage the first one did despite being unprepared for the invasion.

Also... he already sowed fear and terror during his first battle (with Celestia) and the capuring of Manehatan. Sending a Griffins-force inferior to the ponies numbers to their capital while sending fighters - which seem to be suited to control the airspace but horrible at attacking the town directly (compared what a vehicle actually made for attacking targets on the ground could do) does little to improve that situation.

Argh... I am sorry, it is your story. Maybe O'Connell really is a bad tactican - makes it much easier to get him killed by his own men to allow a peace treaty and make the Desperantos retreat before they lose everything. Maybe he is not used to make strategic decissions on his own because his clients would usually do that for him.
Still, having the good side win because the evil is so inapt to send his troups in waves so they can destroy them and have enough time to refortify their position each time with minimal loses feels unrewarding.

Like 633854 said: O'Connell is affected by the "fog of war" badly. He has a hard time gathering information about the enemy troops (maybe a bit easier now that the Griffins have joined his side, giving access to scouts that are slightly less obvious than light mechs stomping through the landscape) while his enemies seem to have inteligence on most of the things he is doing. This is his weak spot. One of his weak spots. The heroes can use the weakness - which makes a victory feel so much satisfying once they earn it.

[Rokas]

634992

Apologies, but I am not responsible for other persons' ignorance. If they mistake it, fine, I'm not expecting people to know history. I just want to inspire them to try and learn it. I suppose this was a bit too subtle. Still, I'm leaving it in.

[Totally Not A Pony]

635363

You may not be responsible for other people being ignorant of something, but you are responsible for taking the possibility into account, especially when slipping in obscure references and/or making up new expressions from whole cloth. You're the author, after all -- if you don't express yourself clearly when telling your story, who will?

[Rokas]

635130

I really think you don't quite understand. The attack almost succeeded, and would have succeeded had the other humans not been in Canterlot for talks. It was a plan that had a reasonable assumption of success given the other things that has been said. As for "sending in waves", I'm sorry, but once lance is not a wave. A massive assault force of griffons is not a wave, but a full-scale attack. Bringing virtually the entire battalion (minus the one lance for obvious reasons) at once is not a wave. This is a full-scale assault that simply encountered the enemy, and I'm sure you know the First Rule of Warfare.

And yes, O'Connell is indeed a bad tactician. I made sure to mention that in earlier chapters. His unit is made up primarily of castoffs from a recent civil war, scum of the armies and all that. As for not coming out immediately, remember his unit was still repairing from the encounter with Celestia, that takes time. He is also, as mentioned, a bully mentality, and thus a coward when it comes to his own mortality. Hence his hesitation. Remember, he just contacted an alien freakin' species he didn't know much about, and as a result had his entire battalion slapped around by one. How did he know there weren't tons more of that caliber waiting as soon as he stepped out of Manehattan? How did he even know where to go? Obviously one should head to the capitol, but he didn't know where that was. Sure, he had maps of the cities from orbit, but can you honestly say which city is which just from a vague map with no cultural or historical background?

Basically, it's the Fog of War, as mentioned previously. So he needed to gather information, conduct repairs, and assess the situation, by which point McKenna had landed - weeks earlier than O'Connell expected him, mind you, if you noticed that part - and contacted the ponies. After the skirmish near Ponyville he still didn't know where the Dark Horse had landed, nor did he know where they were making a base. Again, Fog of War. Finally, he gets intelligence, gathers allies, and strikes.

And finally, why do you assume the early attack on Canterlot was entirely O'Connell's idea? I wanted it to be a surprise, so I didn't give much foreshadowing, but the griffons don't like Celestia very much at all, and any chance they have of killing her they wanted to take. O'Connell saw that, used it, and considered it a win-win situation no matter the outcome because as he saw it he was risking little. He's lost two fighters now because he was surprised again, and yes, he's going to be more cautious in the future. That sort of thing happens a lot in history, especially with half-educated jackass thugs like O'Connell.

In the end, I really think you're ascribing a greater level of competency to O'Connell than I've shown. He's not omniscient, he's not going to make the perfect tactical and strategic decisions, and he's most certainly not a true professional. That's the enemy I painted him as, and that's how he's been so far. If I made him as scarily prescient as you seem to want him, he would have leveled most of the cities in Equestria by now (hence the line Schneider gave in chapter 7 about how a 'mech battalion could flatten a continent of cities in a week), killed thousands of ponies, and this story would be less about ponies and humans coming together to fight a clearly evil force and more about it being the Pony Apocalypse, brought to you by O'Connell. The ponies would be so jaded by then that even McKenna's overtures would be rejected and the story would end up being Grimdark as Hell as everyone would be fighting everyone else.

Thing is, I already have read enough Warhammer 40k stuff, I don't need to make my story into a copy of it. So I came up with a badguy who's basically got qualities of a terrorist and a tribal warlord so that he could be a threat, but one that can be defeated without turning my story into a retelling of the Western Front circa 1916.

I know my antagonists are a weak point, but sweet heavens, people sound as if they want the bad guys to be smarter and better than the good guys. I'm not a fan of Nintendo Hard, so I guess you'll have to go elsewhere for that.

[Rokas]

635403

I did take that into account. That's why I cheated and used the expression, because frankly I don't think the majority of readers even understand what "coup-de-grace" means, let alone realize when it's being appropriated.

But if I'm going to get this kind of flak for it, it's not worth it. I'll change it when I make revisions.