Of Flame and Shadow

by Garuda IV

Chapter 15- Invasion: Part II

The stands were turned into a full blown battlefield now. While the few dozen ponies were holding off the hundreds of timberwolves on the front lines, the unarmored unicorns were up in the stands, raining fire down upon the two groups. While they were busy with that, Iron Guard was fighting to defend their right flank from being overrun. Conjuring a pair of magical longswords, he ran into the enemy army, his blades leaving a glowing trail with each swing. Spinning his swords around him, Iron Guard continued charging forth, cutting down every timberwolf within their reach. But not all of his swings were precise, though, as he would need to sidestep or jump to dodge when one would leap at him from above, or duck below his spinning swords. Despite his lack or armor, he managed to create a thin magical shell around his legs and body. While it was weaker than what normal metallic or magic armor would be, it could take a few hits before it would shatter. That, and due to it practically weighting nothing on him, Iron Guard was far more agile than what he was used to fighting with.

While he was busy on that end, Dark was still staring down with the ursa major, both waiting for the other to make the first move. Dark didn't know why it didn't just charge straight for him, and instead choose to wait for him to attack first. As they continued their standoff, Dark noticed one of the hydras moving closer to one of his traps. Lighting his horn and pointing it in the direction of the trap, Dark waited for the hydra to take its last few steps. Once it was over the magical seal on the ground, he activated it, causing it to erupt in a massive pillar of flame that engulfed any timberwolves inside, and the hydra, leaving only its tail visible.

Seeing the new spectacle, the ursa, most of the timberwolves, and some of the guards, stopped to look at it. Seeing the massive fire pillar and hearing the cries of pain from the hydra's heads, they wondered what was going on in there. Their curiosity was soon sated as the pillar died down, showing a completely charred hydra standing in the center of it. Losing its balance, the dead hydra started falling over, and though the timberwolves tried running out of the way, many weren't so lucky as the giant corpse landed and crushed sever dozen timberwolves. Taking advantage, the ponies used this as momentum to fight harder back, gaining some ground on them.

Hearing the infuriated roars of the other three hydras, Dark turned to face them. As he watched them, he saw that while one was heading near another trap, if the other two kept on their path, they would miss theirs completely. Taking in a deep breath, Dark breathed out a stream of flame at the ground. While he was burning away multiple timberwolves and causing the fire to spread to any nearby timberwolves, what he was trying to do was create another wall of fire. This one, though, would force the hydras to walk over the other traps. That is, if they chose to avoid the flames and not just run through it. Regardless, he continued through with it, burning a trail beneath him as he flew. Once he made a trail of fire that would funnel them into his traps, he flew back and hovered to catch his breath.

As he held back, Dark saw his plan working when another hydra stepped over his trap. Activating it, he caused another fire pillar to erupt, taking out the second hydra that was sent there. But, as he began looking towards another one approaching its trap, he forgot about the ursa. Before he knew it, Dark was looking at the ursa major as it swiped its claw at him.

"Ahh, crap," Dark muttered, right before the massive claw knocked him out of mid-air and back behind the line of ponies.

From the initial impact, Dark could feel some of his ribs cracking. After he hit the ground and tumbled to a stop, he could feel a great amount of pain coming from his left leg. Looking back, he saw that it was broken at the shin, causing his hoof to wobble when he tried moving it. His injuries didn't hurt for long, though, as his regeneration was already dulling the pain and repairing the damages, leaving its signature shadowy mist in the damaged areas. Laying still for a few seconds, Dark could feel that the pain was completely gone. Standing up, he gently put pressure on his left hoof to test it. It was unnecessary, though, as it felt just like it was before he got hit, which included his ribs that he was prodding at.

Turning his attention strictly at the ursa, seeing that it was now charging him and the ponies in front of him. Not wanting to get them involved with this beast, Dark flew up to confront the ursa head-on. As they got closer, he put a few strong flaps into his wings, launching him up above the ursa's head. Lighting his horn, Dark began casting another one of his spells.

Haven't used this one in a while, Dark thought to himself. Let's see how it does.

A few seconds later, he conjured three flaming spheres that orbited his body. Wanting to test them first, Dark turned his attention towards the sea of timberwolves blow him. As he focused on several spots, each orb began firing out fire needles. A few seconds after they impacted and impaled themselves into their targets, each needle exploded. While each needle was six inches in length, the explosion each caused was easily ten feet wide, taking out even more timberwolves from the area of effect, rather than the initial attack.

Explosive Fire Needles, Dark smirked. Last time I used it was during the stupid gorgon incident. Now, if only I could increase the fire capacity for each orb.

Each of the orbs could fire up to twenty needles per orb. And while they were useful for ranged attacks, he could also manipulate each of them individually. If he wanted, he could use his magic to fling them around like a flaming wrecking ball. But instead of crushing everything it hit, it would generally burn straight through, almost to the point of melting through, depending on how much power he put into the swing.

Looking back up, Dark began unloading the rest of the needles he had left in the orbs at the ursa's face. Although it was a lot of area to cover, he made sure to spread out his shots and let the explosions do most of the damage. As he fired, he tried to keep his shots somewhat scattered, but also put some focus on the ursa's eyes, trying to blind it. But as he fired, the ursa lifted up a claw to block the needles, causing them to impact and explode on the back of its claw instead.

Roaring out in pain, the ursa brought back its claw, looking at the deep-red second degree burns, and a few trickles of blood leaving it. Giving it a few licks, the ursa turned back to see Dark preparing another round for him. But before he could finish the spell, the ursa leaped up and swatted at Dark, interrupting him and forcing him to fly back.

As Dark continued to keep his distance from the enraged ursa major, he looked up. As he did, he spotted a rogue manticore flying towards Twilight's Castle. He also saw Rainbow flying towards their right flank with Spike riding on her back, leaving Applejack and Pinkie approaching them overhead in the balloon. But as he looked up at the balloon, he stopped, seeing that something was different with it, or rather, that a few things were different about it than before.

---

A few minutes earlier, Pinkie, Spike, Rainbow, and Applejack continued floating in the balloon towards where Celestia's guards were stationed at the stands. As they traveled over the trees, the could start to see the smoke rising from the battle ahead of them. Continuing onward, none of them continued to question what Pinkie had said about her party cannon, or where it could be. They all sat quietly as Pinkie steered them towards the battle until Applejack spoke up.

"So, how are we suppose ta help them anyway?" she asked. "Because none of us can do anythin' ta them up here."

"Not to mention that if I flew down to get in a few punches that those timberwolves would drag me down," Rainbow added.

"And I can't breath fire onto them while we're so high up," Spike told them.

"Oh, that's easy," Pinkie told them. "While Applejack is helping me in the balloon, Rainbow can fly Spike around on her back while he breaths out fire onto those nasty timberwolves."

Thinking over her plan for a moment, they decided to go with it. With them now assigned with their jobs, Spike jumped onto Rainbow's back and got himself comfortably seated. Slowly, they began moving closer and closer to the battlefield. Once they finally got there, they could see that the pack of timberwolves that chassed them were now attacking the guards on their right side. As they looked out unto the swarm of timberwolves that was still coming out of the forest's edge, Rainbow and Spike turned to Pinkie.

"Okay," Rainbow slowly began. "So, where exactly do you want us to start?"

"Yeah," agreed Spike. "I mean, look at them. There must be several hundred to a thousand timberwolves down there. Not to mention-"

Spike was cutoff when a massive pillar of fire engulfed a hydra. Looking over to it, they could only see the end of its tail sticking out of it. Once the flames died out, they saw a completely charred hydra falling down onto the nearby timberwolves.

"Woah Nelly!" Applejack proclaimed. "What in Equestria happened ta it?!"

"I think he's what happened to it," Spike answered, pointing over to a figure flying above the army.

Taking a second look, they could see that it was Dark hovering there. As they continued to watch him, they saw him turn his head towards another hydra, right before it too became engulfed in fire. With just by looking at it, they could practically feel the heat radiating off of it. And once the spell ended and the fires dissipated, just like last time, it left the hydra toasted. Leaning over the edge of the balloon basket, they didn't notice Pinkie behind them before she spoke up.

"TOASTYYYY!" she exclaimed, now wearing a gray-blue shirt with a picture of toast, and a slice of butter on it.

Turning around Applejack asked, "Pinkie, was that really necessary? Ah mean, he just burnt that hydra like..."

"Toast?" Spike guessed, causing Applejack to reluctantly nod.

"I don't see what the problem is," Rainbow said with a snicker. "I mean, it's actually kinda funny. Especially with how Pinkie said it."

"Ahh, come on, Applejack," Pinkie said as she put a foreleg around her shoulders. "You gotta admit that it was at least a little bit funny."

Giving a slight chuckle, Applejack nodded. "Alright, Ah suppose it was sorta funny. But how are we gonna help them out from up here exactly?"

"What do you mean?" Rainbow asked. "We just went over what we would be doing to help them."

"Ah know that. What Ah meant was who's takin' what group? Ya know, since they're attackin' from two sides."

"That's easy," Pinkie began. "Rainbow and Spike can go help the smaller group while we help with the bigger one. Besides, I don't wanna accidentally hit them."

"What do you mean by that exactly?" Spike asked, getting a smile and raised eyebrow from Pinkie. "Let me guess... you'll see?"

"Nope," she replied, her grin widening. "You'll see soon."

"Well, we better get going then," Rainbow said, spreading her wing. "Ready, Spike?"

"Ready," he replied, clinging onto her.

"Alright, just don't dig your claws into me too much... or light me on fire."

As soon as Rainbow and Spike left the balloon, Applejack waved them off before she turned to Pinkie.

"Alright, what now?" she asked.

"You see that big, red button?" Pinkie pointed out, getting a nod in return. "Press it."

Listening to her order, Applejack pressed the button. Once she did, she could feel the basket beneath her hooves begin to shift. Looking around, she could see the weavings that held the basket together flip over, replaced instead by metal plating. Looking over the edge of the basket, she could see the same thing happening on the outside of it, the only exception being Pinkie Pie's smiling face that was plastered on the sides. As she gazed in amazement at it, she then noticed a hatch on the bottom of the basket open up. Once it was fully open, a large party cannon slowly descended from it until it was completely exposed before turning upward and aiming straight in front of them. Turning back into the basket, Applejack saw a control panel with buttons and a wooden helm popping out of the front of the now metallic basket. As she looked in confusion, she turned to see Pinkie Pie taking the wheel, forgoing the toast shirt for a pirate hat, coat, and her favorite moustache.

"Uhh, Pinkie?" Applejack slowly addressed. "How in the hay did ya get all of this ta fit in this here balloon basket?"

"Sorry, Applejack," Pinkie apologized. "But that's a secret."

"Okay, but what am Ah suppose ta do ta help ya exactly?"

Reaching into her mane, Pinkie pulled out a large sack before giving it to Applejack.

"You can throw those over the edge of the basket at those timberwolves while I use the party cannon."

Opening the bag, Applejack took a look inside of it. Once she did, she snapped it shut, turning her head back up to Pinkie.

"Are those what Ah think they are?" she nervously asked.

"Yepperoni," Pinkie smiled. "They're my party bombs! Oh, and don't worry about lighting them. All you do is pull the string on the end, and after five seconds, they go off."

"How did ya even- ya know what? Never mind," Applejack relented as she took the first party bomb in her hoof and got ready to light and toss it.

"Oh, before you start, can you do something real quick like?" Pinkie began. "Could you go over to that panel and turn the music to track five?"

"... Ah guess," she slowly answered as she walked over to it.

Looking around the panel, she saw a bunch on buttons and numbers. Finding the right button, Applejack pressed it, causing it to start playing music loudly over the speakers. After a few seconds of listening to the song start up, she turned questioningly at Pinkie.

"So, why did ya want me ta play this music exactly?" Applejack asked.

"Because it fits the theme for us!" Pinkie answered.

"But Ah still don't get why we need it when-"

"Irrelevant!" she exclaimed as she slammed her hoof down on a red button with the word 'FIRE' printed on it.

Hitting it caused the party cannon on the bottom of the balloon to fire, causing the basket to rock back from the recoil on it, and watched as their payload flew away. When it hit the ground, the impact caused it to explode in shower of confetti and streamers. All the while, it had launched the timberwolves up into the air. Some were still fully assembled while others were nothing but bits and pieces, before they began raining down on those below them. Adjusting the angle of the cannon slightly, Pinkie fired the next shot. Starting to get into the feel of things, Pinkie began pounding away at the fire button. Although she was hitting away at it several times a second, the cannon could only fire one shot ever five seconds or so, making her attempts to fire it at a faster rate ineffective. Though she didn't seem to mind it as she continued to joyfully wail away at the button.

"Weeee!" Pinkie exclaimed as she continued hitting the fire button without a care in the world. "Hey, Applejack! You should really try this! It's easily the funnest thing ever!"

"Thanks, Pinkie," Applejack began. "But Ah think that Ah'll just stick with these here bombs.

With that said, Applejack decided that now would be a good time to toss over those party bombs that Pinkie gave for her to use. Pulling the ignition string, Applejack threw it down into the sea of timberwolves. And like Pinkie said, after the five seconds passed, the bomb blew up. Much like the party cannon, it too exploded with confetti and streamers while also blowing the surrounding timberwolves to pieces from the force of the blast alone, but on a smaller scale. With a triumphant smile on her face, Applejack reached for the next one before throwing it overboard. She didn't know what Pinkie put into these bombs exactly, but whatever it was kept the timberwolves from reassembling themselves after being blown apart. Even the party cannon seemed to neutralize it. As the two kept bombing and bombarding the army of timberwolves, Pinkie made sure to keep them well above the reach of both the hydras, and the ursa major.

During that time, Dark stopped flying away from the ursa to look at what Pinkie was doing. Seeing the modified balloon with Pinkie's smiling face on the sides, and the party cannon attached on the bottom, Dark threw his arms up.

"Nope, that's it! I'm done!" Dark exclaimed to himself. "Screw trying to figure that pony out, because I don't care anymore!"

His little rant was cut short by the ursa swiping at him.

"Craaaaaaap!" he yelled while being flung over the army of timberwolves, and into the trees.

Landing on a branch, Dark looked to his side to see three long gashes covering him from his right side, and straight across his chest. He could feel something wrong, though, as he coughed into his claw, seeing a good portion of blood splattered on it. A second later, he could feel his regeneration kicking in as the pain was dulled, and the wounds began sealing themselves up within the black mist. After ten seconds of waiting, Dark saw that the would was mostly healed, and that he could get back into the fight just before it was completely healed up.

While Pinkie and Applejack were busy with the main group, Rainbow and Spike were having their way with the other one. As Rainbow flew above the heads of the timberwolves, Spike would breath out fire behind her. Though he was breathing fire, he made sure to aim behind her wings and away from her legs and tail. He was also careful to not accidentally use his magical fire and send them to the princesses by accident. As they continued to make another pass, Rainbow's attention was turned to the balloon.

"What happened to the balloon?" she asked. "And why are they playing this music?"

"If I had to guess, I'd say that it was that big, red button that Pinkie told us not to press on our way here," Spike guessed before releasing another stream of fire.

"Ugh, I swear, I don't think that I'll ever fully understand her."

"Yeah, no kidding." Spike then paused for a moment. "How long are we suppose to do this anyway?"

"Beats me. Why?"

"Wasn't there another group of timberwolves and hydras attacking the guards over by Ponyville?"

Rainbow stopped herself from making another pass, instead hovering in place to think it over. As she did, a unicorn began waving her down. Seeing him, they descended back behind the shield wall to talk to him. Once she and Spike landed, they saw that it was Iron Guard.

"Hey, you're that Captain of the Royal Guard, right?" Rainbow asked.

"That is correct," Iron Guard answered. "What were you two doing out there?"

"Just helping you guys out by torching those timberwolves."

"Alright, but what about the main group?"

"You mean them?" Spike asked, pointing a claw in the direction of the explosions and flying timberwolves.

"... never mind."

"Anyway," Rainbow began. "How much longer do you need us here? Because the guards defending Ponyville could probably use our help right about now."

"Go ahead," Iron Guard told them with a nod. "You've helped clear out a lot of them already by what you've done."

"Sweet. Well then, we'll see ya around," Rainbow said before flying her and Spike off to help defend Ponyville.

Over at the front of the battlefield, Dark was flying around, trying to keep the ursa major from biting down on him, and keeping that music from getting stuck in his head. As he flew, he would fire spells off at it, trying to slow it down. But, although he was flying away, he made sure to lead it through the army of timberwolves around it, stomping over them as it charged. He was also making sure to try leading it over one of his traps. As he neared one of them, though, he saw that he was also flying straight for a hydra that had spotted him. Taking a quick dive, Dark flew down to dodge some of the heads that tried snapping at him, and flew around. Doing this caused the ursa to trample over the hydra, causing it to get up and continue marching with a slight limp to its walk. Still, it slowed the ursa down enough for Dark to take a quick breath before flying over his trap.

Hovering in place, Dark waited for the ursa to close in on him. As it was getting closer, he began readying the spell by putting a little more magic into it. Then, once the ursa was finally standing over it, Dark activated the trap, causing another pillar of flame to sprout up from the ground. But with the extra added magic, the spell was greater than the others, increasing both its size and intensity. Not wanting to try taking any chances, Dark continued pumping his magic into the spell, causing it to last longer than what it normally would. All the while, the ursa was roaring out from being burnt and trying to run out of it. When it got out of the flames, Dark canceled the spell to look at the ursa. It wasn't as charred as what the hydras were, but it was still badly burnt all over the front of its body, its coat now covered in black burns.

Though it was severely burnt, it now seemed more enraged than it did before. Locking back at Dark, the ursa continued charging him, but this time at a much faster pace. Dark was starting to get tired from all of the flying and spell casting, causing him to slow down a little bit. Turning his head to look back, Dark saw that the ursa was gaining on him now. He then took a moment to conjure up another three Fire Orbs before flying off with them orbiting his body. As he flew, the orbs would automatically fire at the ursa whenever it got too close to him, causing it to recoil from the pain and lose some ground. With the distance he put between them, Dark flew back to safety behind their shield wall to take a breather. Panting for breath, Dark looked around to see how the others were doing. The guards appeared to be holding them off rather well, but he could see them starting to get tired.

"Dark!" a voice called to him.

Turning, Dark could see that it was Iron Guard who called to him as he approached him.

"Nice job in taking out those hydras," he complimented. "And for doing such a number on that ursa."

"Thanks, but we're far from done here," Dark replied. "Besides, that ursa got a few hits on me earlier. If it weren't for my regeneration, I doubt that I would still be alive."

"You're right about that. I actually saw you get swatted by it like a fly into the trees. Still, it looks like its in pretty rough shape."

"Yes, but every time I hit it, it just gets more enraged. Speaking of which, I shouldn't stay here for too long. Not unless you want it to trample over the guards and come straight to us?"

"Thanks, but I'll pass."

"But, I do have a question for you. How are we suppose to win against so many?"

Iron Guard thought about it for a moment. They were severely outnumbered, and everypony was starting to get tired. As he looked out over the battlefield, an idea came to mind.

"Have you heard of the phrase 'cut-off the head of the snake'-"

"'And the body dies'," Dark finished, getting a nod from Iron Guard.

"Well, if I'm correct about this, that ursa major is the supposed head. If we can kill it, the rest of the army might crumble."

"To me, it sounds more like what two armies used to do in olden times. You know, how each would send out their champion and the winner would determine the entire battle."

Iron Guard looked to Dark in surprise. "That's actually a fairly good analogy. I'm surprised that for living in a secluded village that you would know that."

"Well, we did have old history books there. Just thought that I'd take a page from one of them. Eh, no pun intended."

Shaking his head in slight amusement, Iron Guard looked up to see the ursa looking around for Dark.

"So," he began. "Do you have any ideas on how to beat it?"

"I'm not sure right now," Dark admitted. "I'm beginning to get tired, and I can feel my magic starting to get low. If I had a bit more-"

Dark cut himself off when he felt something that he didn't feel before. Turning to his right, he could see fire rising from Iron Guard's area of the battlefield. Confused, Dark looked to address Iron Guard.

"Where did those fires come from?" he asked. "I don't remember setting your area on fire, unless it was a rogue shot from a spell that I casted."

"That actually came from Princess Twilight's Assistant, Spike. He was riding on top of Miss Rainbow Dash, breathing fire down on the timberwolves for us," Iron Guard answered.

"So," Dark slowly began. "That's from Spike then?"

"Correct."

With a joyous grin, and a twinkle in his eyes, Dark now had his key to beating the ursa major. And possibly, the rest of the timberwolf army.

"Captain Iron Guard," Dark addressed, putting a claw on his shoulder. "I believe that we might've just won this battle."

---

Over at Twilight's Castle, Celestia and Luna were busy with shooting down the manticores and timberwolves that were quickly approaching them. As time passed, they began using more advanced spells to try and fend off the attackers. While Celestia turned to firing off several magical beams simultaneously at the timberwolves, Luna resorted to launching lightning at the manticores. But as they continued to fall, they didn't relent in their goal to overrun the castle. During their fight, they became distracted by two different things. One was a set of fires over by the stands, where another was the cries of falling ponies over where Luna left the guards defending Ponyville. Turning to her sister, Luna looked apologetically to her.

"I'm sorry, sister," she began. "But I need to go and help them."

"I understand, Luna," Celestia said with a small smile. "Go and save what you can."

With her sister's blessing, Luna flew off from the balcony and towards Ponyville. She didn't go quietly, though, as she continued launching lightning bolts all around her as she flew through the fleet of manticores. With each second she was in there, and for each bolt of lightning that struck, it would jump over to the next closest manticore. Each bolt would chain up to six others before it stopped jumping. Happy with the amount that she cleared out on her way, Luna picked up the pace towards Ponyville, leaving Celestia alone on the balcony to defend the castle.

Looking out upon the large number that she would have to deal with, Celestia looked up to here sun. Closing her eyes, she focused on it, taking in the warmth radiating off of it. After a few seconds of bathing in the sun's light, she felt her magic partially restored. Turning her attention back to the oncoming army, Celestia lit her horn. With time, the aura around it became brighter and brighter before the gathered energy within it burst out. It created a massive wave of light and heat rushing out towards the timberwolves and manticores. As the wall reached them, every timberwolf and manticore that touched it was instantly incinerated. Taking a moment, Celestia allowed herself to catch her breath from casting a spell of that magnitude again after such a long time. But as she did, she failed to notice a lone manticore flying up behind and above the others.

It was then that things started becoming strange. The manticores split-off into two different groups, one heading straight for her while the others turned towards the others side of the castle. With her breath caught up, Celestia continued firing several beams from her horn. But, although she was cutting them down like a scythe to a stalk of wheat, she couldn't get all of them as they were now within a hundred yards of the castle. With little other choice, Celestia forwent the counterattack for a massive magical barrier that covered all of Twilight's Castle. Looking down, she could see the timberwolves crashing into the barrier, while up above, the diving manticores hit the side of it and slid down it unconscious. With the barrier as large as it was, and it being under siege, Celestia guessed that she could hold it up for about fifteen minutes. Hopefully enough time for somepony to come and help them.

---

Hidden up above the fleet of manticores, the cloaked figure rode upon his manticore, watching his army pummel away at the barrier that Celestia had just erected. Looking over it, he figured that it would hold out for a while, but didn't want to wait. Thinking fast, he brought a hoof into his cloak to speak to his army assaulting the castle.

"Timberwolves," he addressed. "Split off away from Princess Celestia's sight. Once you're in her blind spot, I want you to try burrowing under the barrier. If we can't get through it, then we'll just have to dig under it."

Heeding his command, the timberwolves ran back behind the castle before digging into the ground just in front of the barrier. With great anticipation, they dug, the dirt on their wooden claws feeling almost like nothing to them. Faster and faster down they dug until they finally hit the bottom of the barrier ten feet down. After digging another five feet for the extra room, they began burrowing straight ahead, then upwards to the other side. It took them a few minutes of digging, but they eventually made their way to the inside of Celestia's barrier.

"Very good," the cloaked figure complimented them. "Now, while you're in there, I want you to stay silent and sneak past Celestia, and towards the front door. It's the only door into the castle, so they'll have nowhere to run. Once you're all positioned in front of the door, feel free to charge it. And don't worry about Celestia. So long as she's keeping the manticores out with her barrier, she won't be able to come after you. As for the ponies inside, feel free to kill them all, but make sure that you bring me Twilight alive or else you will all die by my hoof."

Listening to him and fearing his threat, the timberwolves began prowling, hugging the side of the castle as they snuck below the balcony that Celestia was standing on. Sneaking alongside the castle, they made their way around from the back of the castle to the side. However, in their discretion against the princess, they failed to notice a butter-yellow pegasus looking out at them through a window, before she began running away.

---

Inside the castle, Twilight, Rarity, and Fluttershy, managed to get everypony situated deeper into the castle. Twilight noticed the magical barrier round her castle, so she knew that they were very close now. After she got the civilian ponies to safety, she and the guards began gathering the tables and couches, setting some of them up to barricade the door, and the rest to form a blockade behind it. It was made easier thanks to Zecora's remedy for the petrified guards that were brought in. Feeling satisfied with the job they've done, Twilight allowed herself to walk back up to see how Celestia was doing. That was, until Fluttershy ran frantically towards her.

"Twilight!" she shouted, her quiet voice gone for that brief moment before she got up to her. "We have a problem."

"What's wrong, Fluttershy?" Twilight wondered.

"I just saw a bunch of timberwolves outside the window. And they're all alpha timberwolves!"

"It's alright. It's nothing to be worried about."

"Not like that!" Fluttershy panicked. "I mean that they were right outside the window, as in on the inside of the barrier, just a few feet away from the windows!"

Twilight's eyes widened. "Go to the blockade and tell the guards there what you just told me. I need to tell Princess Celestia about this."

And in a flash, she was gone. Listening to Twilight, Fluttershy quickly ran over to the guards and began explaining the situation to them. Taking her warning to heart, the guards moved to the blockade, spears at the ready while the unicorns were ready to fire. During that time, Twilight teleported herself up beside Celestia, who was looking slightly tired.

"Are you alright, Princess?" Twilight worryingly asked.

"I'll be fine, Twilight. Just a little tired is all," Celestia answered with a reassuring smile.

"Alright, but we have a problem. It's the alpha timberwolves."

"I noticed that they ran off behind the castle, but I don't know where they went beyond that."

"That's the thing. Fluttershy saw them walking right past one of the windows!"

Surprised by what Twilight said, Celestia walked over to the ledge of the balcony and looked down. To her shock and confusion, she saw that the last hundred and fifty alpha timberwolves were walking alongside of the castle.

"But how?" was all Celestia could ask.

"I'll take a look," Twilight answered, spreading her wings before flying off.

As she flew back behind her castle, she was distracted by the manticores clawing away the barrier above them with their claws, and trying to puncture it with their tails. Shaking her head to clear her mind of them, Twilight looked back down to see the timberwolves below her. Flying a little farther ahead, she finally came to where they entered. Seeing all that she needed to see, she flew back and landed beside Celestia.

"I know how they got in," Twilight began explaining. "After they ran out of your line of sight, they dug down below your barrier and up through the other side of it."

"But where could they get an idea like that?" Celestia questioned.

Twilight brought a hoof to her chin to think about it. She had a few ideas, but with how things have been going so far, she had a good idea of why. Snapping herself out of her thoughts, Twilight looked back up to Celestia.

"If I had to guess, I'd say that the one leading this attack is somewhere among them," Twilight concluded, electing an approving nod from Celestia. "Have you seen anything unusual about anything?"

"Nothing much," Celestia began. "Although, I thought that I did see a single manticore that was flying a bit higher than the rest of them.

Moving to her telescope, Twilight looked through it to try and peek past the wall of manticores above them. While she continued looking, she could feel a source of power emanating from a specific area. Turning her scope in the direction of the magical pressure, Twilight was able to get a look at what it was. As she was taking in the look of the supposed enemy commander, she began relaying it over to Celestia.

"I found him!" she said. "Thought I don't know for sure what it is, what I did see is some kind of cloaked figure riding on top of a manticore with reigns on it."

"Very good, Twilight," Celestia complimented. "Now if only we could get to him."

"The guards will be needing me to help defend the castle from the alpha timberwolves, and you can't move because you're keeping the manticores out."

"Then we'll just have to-"

"THEY'RE BREAKING THROUGH!" a shout from within the castle interrupted.

Giving another look at each other, Twilight gave Celestia a loving hug before she teleported herself down to help hold the alpha timberwolves back. Letting out a sigh, Celestia looked up towards the direction of the enemy commander.

"Just who are you, and what is your goal exactly?" Celestia softly wondered out loud.

---

Over on the outskirts of Ponyville, the guards that were protecting it were starting to fall. They had managed to hold off the timberwolves well enough, but once the hydras got there, things took a bad turn. While their barrier could hold against the timberwolves, the stomps from the hydra were far worse. They managed to take out one of the hydras during its assault on them, but the second one was the one that forced them to release the spell. As soon as the barrier was down, the unicorns tried to quickly cast another one. It was harder for them with the hydra trying to crush them underfoot. So, all they could do was keep the barrier up just enough to prevent them from being squashed while everypony else used their shields to protect themselves from the timberwolves. Eventually, they had to move away.

Backing away from the hydra, those with any ranged weapons, be it magical or metal, were firing away at it. This also included the unicorns that casted the shield spell to protect them from the hydra's stomps. But, with them being temporarily out if its range, they began shooting at its legs, trying to cripple its movement. After a few minutes of group evasion, they succeeded in taking out one of its legs, causing it to fall onto the timberwolves nearby and unable to get back up. Taking this brief opportunity of relief, they continued to backpedal closer towards Ponyville.

They were eventually rejoined by Princess Luna, but things were too far gone by then. They were forced back near the first set of houses within Ponyville. And while they were able to gain a firm hold with Luna fighting back the last two hydras, the timberwolves were too many as they charged at the remaining nine guards, and the village itself. Not wanting to suffer anymore losses, the unicorns resorted back to their original plan of shielding everypony. Although, with the smaller number of guards left, the barrier didn't need to be as big, allowing them to use less magic than before. But, due to how tired everypony was from the constant fighting and spell casting, the barrier wasn't as strong as before. Within a few minutes of it being assaulted, a part of the barrier cracked. Seeing this, one of the timberwolves lunged forward, shattering a hole in it before grabbing onto an unexpecting guard, and dragging him away. Seeing the gap in the barrier, another guard moved to fill the gap with his shield.

Turning from hearing the scream of a fallen guard, Luna saw that their barrier was starting to fail them. Giving one last blast to finish off the last hydra, she then flew down near the surviving guards and casted her own shield spell. After expanding it outward, she flew inside to inspect the guards.

"How's everypony holding up," Luna asked.

"There are only eight of us left, Your Highness," Steel Hoof answered.

"I'm sorry that you've lost so many."

"We knew what we were getting into by signing up to join the guard."

"Regardless, I shouldn't have left you all alone like that, but how did you start losing so many? Before I left, it looked like you had everything under control."

"We did. That was, until the hydras came and started stomping on our barrier."

"So now we only have to deal with these last few hundred timberwolves, correct?"

"Thanks to you taking out those hydras, yes," Steel Hoof confirmed. "But we're all almost at our limits. We won't be able to continue fighting much longer."

Luna sighed. "So then that means that I'm the only real one who can fight them. It would be possible if I flew above their heads, but I can't do that while also keeping you all safe within this barrier." Her face turned to a scowl. "I just wish that those pegasi were here with those storm clouds by now. We could really use their help."

"Either that, or some kind of miracle," Aura added.

It was then that they heard a what sounded like a pegasus flying at high speeds towards them accompanied by a whine. Turing to see what it was, they could see a light-blue pegasus with a purple dragon riding on its back, leaving a rainbow-colored trail behind them. Immediately, they knew they were Rainbow and Spike. But what they didn't expect was for Rainbow to fly down just above their heads while spike bathed the timberwolves in his fire-breath. The guards began cheering for their new backup. Although it was only the two of them, it was more than welcomed.

After finishing up their first run, Rainbow flew back up before turning around to make another pass. The second time, Spike's flames forced the timberwolves back away from the remaining guards and Luna. With the wall of fire in front of them, Luna dropped her barrier and began focusing on shooting down the surrounding timberwolves. Seeing her, the guards followed her example by joining her, firing off beams of magic one after another with a second wind. Between the magical blasts and the flames from Spike, the timberwolves decided to abandon trying to finish them off, and instead headed into the village. Seeing them running away, Rainbow flew to get ahead of them

"Oh no you don't!" she said. "Spike, once I get ahead of them, try to block them off from Ponyville with your fire."

"Got it," Spike answered.

Picking up her speed, they were able to get ahead of them before entering Ponyville. And after taking in a deep breath, Spike let out the longest stream of fire that's ever left his maw. Between the range of his flames and the speed at which Rainbow was flying, they managed to make a wall of fire right in front of the first house in Ponyville, blocking the timberwolves off.

"Nice job there, Spike," Rainbow complimented, reaching back to give him a high hoof.

"You too, Rainbow," he returned, meeting her hoof with his fist.

Looking back down below them, they could see Luna leading the rest of the guards in an attempt to fall back closer to Ponyville. As they ran, Luna took the lead while she continuously launched multiple bolts of lightning from her horn, each one jumping to several nearby timberwolves as she charged. While she was taking point, the rest of the guards defended their sides and rear with metallic and magical shields. Once they got close enough, they took position in front of a small gap within the wall of flame that safely led into Ponyville.

"Thank you for your well timed assist," Luna thanked Rainbow and Spike.

"It's no prob," Rainbow said. "You can actually thank that captain of yours for letting us come to help you."

"So then, how fares the fight over there?"

"They're holding off."

"But they were starting to look tired before we left," Spike added.

"Very well," Luna began. "Once we're done, all of you will head over to Twilight's Castle to rest. The barrier my sister has set up will only allow ponies inside. After you're all in, I'll head on over to-"

Luna was cutoff by a loud roar. Hearing it, everypony turned to the direction of the noise.

"What was that?" Kite wondered.

"It was the ursa," Luna answered before it roared out again.

"What was going on before you two left?" Aura asked Rainbow and Spike.

"Last I saw as we were flying away," Spike began. "Dark had the ursa major incased if a pillar of fire."

Following his answer came a third roar, but this one was different. This one was higher pitched, almost more of a screech. But what was most eerie about it was that it had an echo effect, making it sound as though several others were screeching with it in unison. Seconds after hearing it, there was a loud bang accompanied by a equally loud crunching sound. But things didn't stop there as the ground beneath their hooves began to quake, knocking most of them off balance before falling to the ground, including the timberwolves. After it was all over, there was a deathly quiet sound as every pony, dragon, and timberwolf looked in the direction the noises came from. The only sound that they could hear at that point were Spike's fires near them, and their own breathing.

"That wasn't an ursa," Luna slowly spoke.

"Then what was it?" Aura wondered.

"A dragon."

"But I'm the only dragon here," Spike reminded them.

"I know who that is," Rainbow began answering, everyone's attention turning towards her. "It's Dark."

Comments

[BrotallySwagical]

Aww shiiiiit. Intense as fuuck

[Mkchief34]

Oh crap. Shit just went DOWN! Loved it!

[Blodhgarm]

Yay gonna read the next chapter...*sees it needs to update.*

[Garuda IV]

6711566 6711851 6713462 Thanks everyone, glad that you're all enjoying it. Hopefully I'll keep meeting your expectations. Also, if anyone has any questions on why I did, or didn't do something in the story, feel free to ask.

Now... if only we had an emote with Pinkie Pie and her moustache.

[Garuda IV]

6717050 Finally, someone who noticed it. Nice job.

[Titan Commander Sebaste]

Holy throne, this is insane!

[Vaughn]

Was listening to this during the entire invasion chapters:

Makes it sound so much more epic!

[Admiral_Gravleos]

6717084 I noticed it...

[Admiral_Gravleos]

7518495 That video no longer exists...

[TheQuiet_1]

Ok I have to say, Pinkie pie is the most awesomely bad-ass pony ever! The only thing that would have made it better would have been a better song like Hells Bells by AC-DC instead of Ride of the Valkyries.

[crossed]

While Pinkie and Applejack were busy with the main group, Rainbow and Spike were having their way with the other one.

i didn't know spike and rainbow were into rape orgies.

[RC-0117]

6717084
gutes Kapitel mein Freund (German) (^_^)