Chapter 4: The Battle of Sundered Heavens
Chapter 4: The Battle of Sundered Heavens
Blaze's jaw dropped when he read the last sentence on the page. Dragons. The greatest, most powerful mortal creatures to walk - or rather, fly - the earth, had come into the titanic clash between Celestia and the griffin host. Eagerly stretching his hooves to get a better shaft of moonlight, the silver maned pony read the words on the continuing page hungrily. The owl on his armoured shoulder hooted.
The Battle of Sundered Heavens and the Declaration of Harmony's Power
As told by the unicorn stallion Apollo and the griffin warrior Peronan, present at the time of these events. Records taken from the Canterlot Royal Archives and the High Library of Talos in the Griffin Kingdoms
Peronan -
"The first sight we received of the newcomers of the battle was a bright flash of orange flame streaming across from the North. Our host was now caught between the terrible fury of the Alicorns and the fiery doom that was the Great Dragon Migration. We had been fools. Our Farseers had been fools. Our Chieftains, our generals, even our Windlord. None of us had bothered to read the signs that the Northern Drakes would be heading South upon this day. And now we all, warrior and general, had paid the price.
The first dragon to engage us was a mature red drake crowned with sweeping horns and a deadly spines running down its back. Its wings eclipsed all those fighting in the sky, and I felt pure fear run down my spine. With a mighty roar, the first of dozens of dragons belched forth a searing blast of fire, and I saw my brothers in arms burn at their power. Even the Sun Alicorn faltered before the fiery rage of the dragon. Another six of my brethren were knocked out of the sky by the dragon's sweeping tail.
The white Alicorn spoke again, silencing even the dragon's roars.
'Back dragon! This is not your land, begone from these skies before more blood is spilt!'
The great beast in turn replied with a mighty belch of fire, but the Princess' magic saved her. A glimmering sphere of light formed around her, breaking apart the jet of flame like water crashing against a rock. I moved away from the duel about to begin. I may not have been a coward bit I was certainly not stupid. To stand before these two titans whilst they battled would have been folly.
The great red beast swiped a massive talon at the Alicorn, but she darted away with a speed exceeding any flying creature I have seen. Borne upon the wings of an angel, the Day Sister's horn glowed as she dived for the dragon's throat. The great reptile let loose another blast of fire to stop her, but once again its attack was deflected with the glowing shield. The Princess' blazing horn plunged deep into the softer scales beneath the dragon's jaw, causing the great beast to roar in agony. The booming cry caused its brethren to howl back in rage.
The true battle was about to begin.
With the absence of our Windlord, the remainder of our host had flocked under the temporary leadership of the six great Chieftains. This was the first time I had ever seen all six working together. The Fog Runners and the Iron Beaks had formed a wedge shaped formation to engage the nearest dragon to our numbers, a female blue serpent with eyes of sapphire. My own Chieftain Skaldi rallied our Clan together to form the right flank of our host. Despite the terrible vengeance that the Alicorns had wrought upon our numbers, our host was still mighty. A powerful horn blast heralded the attack of the wedge against the dragon, over two hundred spears ready to plunge deep into the dragon's body.
The white Alicorn continued to battle with the wounded red drake, great rivers of black blood pouring from the magical wound the Princess had inflicted on it. I saw the dragon swat the Alicorn away with its powerful wing, sending her spinning away towards the ground. For a moment it looked as if she would fall to her death. But with a terrible thunderclap she righted herself, tendrils of orange fire running off her wings in anger.
'You are a creature borne of Fire, and I am the Sun! The Greatest Flame of all! You are nothing to me!'
With a blinding flash of light, the white Alicorn hurled a colossal jet of flame towards the dragon. The entire sky was lit up by the fantastic bolt of curling fire as it smashed into the red dragon's body before completely overwhelming it. The death roars were drowned out as its throat burned away. When the fire cleared, naught was left of the dragon but a ruined husk which quickly fell to earth.
Despite our pride, even the most blind of us could see that we could never have hoped to defeat this majestic creature. The only thing we were left to do now was to help the two Alicorns drive away the dragons."
The owl on Blaze's shoulder hooted again. The little brown bird hopped up and down excitedly as it reached the end of the passage. the grey unicorn chuckled.
"I know right, this is amazing. Who knew that this was the reason as to why dragons fear Celestia."
The moonlight continued to increase through the window, and Blaze reckoned that midnight had passed. Meaning that he only had a few hours until dawn, and the end of his shift. The unicorn guard silently cursed. It was highly doubtful that he would be called to cover for the Library Guards again - meaning it was highly doubtful that he'd get another opportunity to read this book again. Cursing, the unicorn turned over several pages, hoping he hadn't missed too much. If he couldn't read everything, he would try and read the important events.
"The sky turned into hell. Dozens of our warriors were being destroyed by flame or claw as the full might of the dragons descended upon our ranks. Our choice to aid the Alicorns had unleashed the fury of the great beasts. I myself nearly lost my life when another drake slain by the Sun Goddess tumbled to earth, nearly crushing me as it fell. The dragon's jaw had been broken, leaving a trail of black blood streaming behind it.
Our own army had managed to subdue three of the beasts, but at the cost of over a hundred lives. The white Alicorn seemed to realise what we were doing, and ceased her attacks upon our numbers.
But then a sight which none of us expected to see crested the clouds: Gryphus the Windlord flying side by side with the Night Sister. The great spear Kyria had been cracked, and his armour broken beyond repair on his left side - but he lived. He lived and now fought beside the Night Sister. The darker Alicorn struck an adolescent drake full in the chest with a bolt of fiery blue lightning. With the ruined blade of the ancient spear held high, Gryphus screeched out a challenge to the dragons and dived onto the neck of a green male before plunging the spear deep into the back of its skull.
The darker Alicorn raced to rejoin her sister - and we saw just how powerful Ponykind was.
Together, the pair fired bolt after bolt of fiery missiles and brilliant lightning strikes, felling dragon big and small all around them. Our army watched as a massive serpent tried to drown the sisters beneath a tide of searing red flames, only to have the same fire wrap round its master's throat and throttle it to death with fiery bonds. When our Windlord rose from the slain green's neck and called to us, we didn't hesitate.
Gryphus' mighty wings now flew beside those of the Day and Night. For the first time in history, griffins and Ponykind fought side by side in the Battle that history would call the Battle of Sundered Heavens. Our army clashed with the dragons in an explosion of steel, feathers, fire and scale. The Night Sister blinded three dragons with the same flash she had used against us that day, and smote down a great wyrm with a single blast of moonfire. The Day Sister followed in her wake, breaking the dragons' fire with that of the Sun itself, scorching scale and bone was she galloped across the backs of falling dragons. Our warriors charged into the creatures, stabbing and slashing with our spears and battle claws. Gryphus slew yet another by plunging Kyria into its gullet.
Angry storm clouds bellowed in the sky high above us, sending down streaking lightning bolts as a freezing rain began to fall. The Moon Goddess used these bolts to her advantage by guiding them to split apart both sky and dragon. But the Sun Goddess did the unthinkable:
She set fire to the rain.
Our war host barely managed to veer away as the tide of fiery doom rained down upon the Great Dragon Migration. The roars of outrage and pain shook the entire Valley we fought over. The liquid fire scorched and exorcised the great serpents, yet somehow faded back to water just before the struck the ground, not harming the land below. It didn't take long for the dragons to fly away in defeat.
My people cheered and cried out in triumph. The Alicorns, the ones we had sought to enslave, had saved us. The only thing we could do now was wait for their dreadful judgement upon us. Yet it never came. Our people turned to face the twin Goddesses. The pair of majestic ponies hovered before us, borne upon wings of Day and Night. The darker of the two turned to Gryphus, who now hovered in front of his host protectively.
'Thou has the skill and grace of one worthy to be called a creature of the Sky, griffin lord. Yet thy actions against our ancient foes does not excuse the true purpose to thou being in Equestrian skies. Explain thyself!'
The Night Sister's voice was almost deafening, where her sister's was powerful yet tempered with restraint. Our Windlord raised his crest and ruffled his feathers as he defiantly matched the Alicorns' angry gazes.
'We are Griffinkind! Ours is to conquer and to dominate. With the power of Discord we could have taken the secrets of the Godlands, and be hailed as the greatest warriors this world has ever known. But YOU cast him down. YOU robbed us of our conquest, our right! It seemed only fitting that your power be used instead to guide my kind into a glorious future.'
The Night Alicorn bristled at my leader's words, but was stopped from retaliating by her sister. The Day's mane reminded me of the auroras of the Godlands themselves. With a fair yet strong voice she spoke:
'Our duty is to protect Equestria and Ponykind. Your race has no place here if you seek blood and conquest. Your Kingdoms can wage war against us until eternity's end and still you would not triumph. We are the Children of Sun and Moon, Beloved of the World and the Avatars of Light and Darkness. You're kind has no power over us nor our subjects. So shall this be until the Sun's fire dies and the Moon's glow falters. So this shall be unto the ending of the world.'
To the surprise of all present in the ruined, smoking sky, Gryphus nodded in understanding. With a flurry of his sharp talons, our Windlord removed the Helm of Conquerors. With a final sigh, our leader extended out a talon leg to the twin Goddesses. A talon of friendship and peace. A concept which we in the Griffin Kingdoms would learn that ponies called Harmony."
This surprised Blaze greatly. After all the bloodshed and fire, peace was achieved on the same day as the griffin's failed invasion. Surely there was more to it than that? Quickly scanning back through the brown pages, the unicorn skim-read the passages to make sure he hadn't missed anything else. Nothing very important, except for a rather daunting cry from the Sun Princess during the battle against the griffins:
'I have stood at the Dawn of Time itself, I have gazed into the Fires of Tartarus and the cold wastes of the North. I have survived the fall of the greatest city in all Creation! My Fire will NOT be extinguished today, nor tomorrow, never shall it dim until the Twilight of All That Is!'
"Hmm, what city...?" mused the unicorn guard out loud, earning a confused hoot from the owl. Thinking back, Blaze couldn't recall anything from his school history lessons on anything touching on 'the greatest city in all Creation.' Prior to Canterlot, there had been only a few fortified settlements in Ponykind's history, all of which paled in comparison to the violet and gold city.
Shrugging, the silver maned unicorn continued on.
His eyebrows raised at what he read next.
But to our horror and astonishment, the Night Sister's eyes suddenly flared a brilliant white, gaining a look of total shock from her counterpart. With a furious cry, the dark Alicorn struck down our leader with a glare of searing hot light. Gryphus' cry was short and final, stopping almost instantly as the starmetal plates covering the remainder of his body melted into nothing. The Day Sister screamed and shoved her sister's gaze away, but it was too late for our Windlord.
Gryphus was dead, slain by the power of one he had offered peace.
The entire War-Flock let out a single screech of outrage, and the only thing which saved the Night Alicorn from the spears and claws of the surviving Talon Guard was the gold shield her sister conjured up. With the white Alicorn hissing something incomprehensible to her counterpart, the two ponies darted away faster than the North Wind back to their city. We followed in their wake
"What?" Blaze spluttered, causing a loud echo to bounce around the Library walls. Princess Luna did WHAT?. Surely he must have read it wrong. The Princess of the Night, surely she didn't...didn't kill a bearer of friendship, despite what he had originally intended. Gryphus had easily redeemed himself in the battle against the dragons, at least in Blaze's eye he had. Why would Luna do such a thing? Not finding the immediate answers, Blaze was even more angry to realise that yet another page was missing.
"Goddess dammit, why is this book so...crap?" pondered the violet eyed pony as he inspected the front and back covers along with the damaged pages. The point of view seemed to have switched to the unicorn stallion.
...flashes of light. I summoned up all the power I could to help conjure the protective barrier, but the griffins were too many. I watched as the first cracks began to form in the shield. The pegasi above us started to prepare themselves for when the shield inevitably cracked and buckled.
No sooner had I thought of those events did they happen. The first wound appeared, and the War-Flock forced their way into Canterlot. I tried to hold the rest of the shield active, but others soon abandoned the effort and began firing magical pulses at the charging predators. The entire world descended into chaos, with dozens of multicoloured unicorn pulses flashing everywhere, felling griffins but the scores. The hundred or so circling pegasi dived to meet their new aerial foes, and engaged in a bitter hoof to talon struggle with the crazed warriors.
Nopony knew what had happened over in the skies above the Valley after Celestia vanquished the dragon flights. There was a brief lull in the fighting before we saw both Princesses racing back to Canterlot. Prepared for the battle to carry on to us, myself and eleven others had gathered on the edge of the western ridge of Mount Everwhite ready to protect the city should all else fail. Our winged cousins fought with a bitter determination that Ponykind had learned during the tyrannical reign of Discord, and many a griffin fell out of the clouds. Sadly, so did many a pegasus.
I saw friends fall that day. Good friends.
I blasted back a Talon Guard for attempted to skewer me on the end of his spear, and bucked another in the helmet, cracking his beak. But despite all our courage and all our strength, this little group of a little over a hundred could not hope to stand against a full War-Flock of over three thousand. I saw my unicorn brothers die as more pegasi fell. We were losing, and for a brief flicker of a moment, I thought that the Princesses had abandoned us.
All doubt was erased from my mind when a booming thunderclap split the sky asunder. A white lightning bolt broke the griffin numbers in half, separating the army between a wall of electricity. Princess Luna swooped in from above, hurling back the assailants with magic exceeding mine by an incomprehensible amount. But the griffins, rather than fleeing before her, actually seemed to become more zealous, so much to the point where they slaughtered their own in the rush to slay our Princess. Luna struck again and again at their ranks with moonfire and starstorms, burning and obliterating all foes in her path, yet still the griffins did not back down.
The furious advance to our Night Princess was halted by a wave of blue fire. Princess Celestia spread her white wings high and wide as she blocked the griffin forces with the burning tide. Scores of the winged soldiers fell smouldering. The ranks of the griffins faltered and backed away, leaving them prime targets for us simple unicorns on the ground. I struck four with a single bolt of lightning whilst others picked off the rest of the warriors with energy pulses and flaming missiles. Our attack ceased when our Princess glared angrily at us all. I remember her next words very vividly, causing everypony - and griffin - to shrink back a little.
'You have invaded our lands for the purpose of domination and slavery, to conquer and to satisfy your thirst for battle. We ponies have already proven our dominance over you! If the Griffin Kingdoms dare strike at our home again, we will wipe your mountains from the face of the earth. By fire and storm we will destroy you. These lands are ours, the magic we command is ours, and I will first shed my immortality and die before I serve willingly to the cause of war! What my sister did was wrong, yes. but she is MY sister, and I will deal with her transgressions as I see fit! now begone from these skies and never return in force, lest I make true my threat.'
Yet only a few of the griffins flew away. A good two thousand still swarmed the sky around Canterlot, many sneering and cawing with contempt. I stayed still, not daring to move a muscle yet I had a spell already prepared in my mind. After a few long, agonising moments, the tangible silence was broken by a beautiful bird call.
Down from the summit of mount Everwhite it came, a keening and resonant cry, yet tempered with grace and beauty. All on the battlefield looked up, and let out a single gasp of awe. Riding upon the North Wind came a bird borne upon wings of the most scarlet flame. A Phoenix.
The firebird, a creature of myth, swirled round high above our heads and called again. The song it sang was so beautiful, so calm, and so loving. Riding skilfully upon the wind, the majestic creature dived, leaving a shining trail of yellow flames in the wake of its long orange tail. The phoenix swirled around Princess Celestia, gaining a smile from the Sun Goddess, before perching itself upon her shoulder.
The entire griffin legion gasped and began muttering frantically. I could not hear what was said over the rabble of voices, but six heavily armoured and decorated warriors flew forth and hovered before the Princess. The one adorned in armour of skysteel and cloud-iron spoke first.
'We of Griffinkind will not oppose the one who commands the Phurna-Fyuri, the Sunhawk. We of the Kingdoms hold them to be sacred, the one creature we will not fight. They are Gods in avian form and we bow to no other but them. If Ponykind has the respect of such a creature...we will not stand in their way. The Griffin Kingdoms shall withdraw from Equestrian borders. I speak for all six of the present clans, and for the absent clan Skyrider - the clan of our slain Windlord.'
With a single nod, Celestia let the griffins leave. I watched with trepidation as the winged creatures turned and left the skies of Canterlot. It took some time to realise what had happened. We had won."
And thus ended the war between the Griffin Kingdoms and Equestria. The Dragons of the Northern Wastes never again attempted to engage the Alicorn Princesses in combat, nor harm any under their protection. Gryphus' body was recovered and brought back to the sacred city of Talos to by burned. History cannot however tell of the reason why Princess Luna killed the Windlord, nor what Celestia did afterwards. Such things cannot be known.
Blaze smiled broadly. Philomena, the Princess' royal pet and oldest friend had saved early Canterlot from being overrun by the armies of Asgard, just by her mere presence. And while the princess had her, Blaze had this little owl companion for the night. The brown bird hopped up and down upon the unicorn guard's armoured shoulder, hooting - as if telling Blaze to turn the page.
"Hey, wait a sec little buddy" the unicorn yawned, "I don't normally stay up as late as you." The owl simply stared blankly at him for a second before giving a hoot. Blaze laughed and patted the little creature on the wing.
"I think I might call you Buttons" he said with a smile. The owl smacked him on the back of the head. The unicorn beamed widely and shook his head, moving his silver mane from his eyes.
Blaze was acutely aware of how little time he had left to read. The bright moon hung low in the sky as it approached the Grey Guardians. Letting out a mournful sigh, he realised that he wouldn't have time to read all the book in the single shift. It was possible he could always come to the Royal Library, but...something about the book told him that it wouldn't be waiting for him during the next day...something that Blaze couldn't quite put his hoof on. Seeing to liven things up a bit, the grey unicorn opened the book on a random page to see what event he would uncover next.
His brow furrowed.
"The Banishment of King Sombra..."
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I'm with the guard on this, Luna did what? Good job on showing how badass both the Sisters are.
1927198 Thank you muchly, the explaination of Luna's actions will be explained in future chapters
1927233
Good, 'cause I'm confused
This was another kick-ass chapter, I was able to imagine that happened in my mind, even without the details of the setting. I belive Luna to be best princess, but after reading this great piece of work, I have a new found respect towards the Sun Goddes. Keep up the great work, I'll be waiting for your next installment in the series, but take your time, okay?
This review brought to you by the group Authors Helping Authors.
Fic Name: Our Savior, Our Princess
Grammar Score: 8.5
Pros: Treatsies on Equestria's history are always an interesting read, but you've added a level of mystery to why it has been hidden away.
Showing the Princesses as their true immortal, goddess selves in both power and authority is pulled off with panache.
While this is primarily a description of Equestrian history, you've managed to pique my interest with the Golden Leaf with the Sun and Moon.
Cons: There are a few misspellings here and there, but nothing too major.
Owliscious (hope I spelled that right) seems somewhat unnecessary.
Discord was OOC quite a bit whenever he spoke. His actions were not though, which helped to mitigate it.
Notes: This is a very well written story, and your description is top notch. I particularly enjoy how you've somehow managed to merge the typical history narrative style with that of a journal entry. It truly does give the feel of a firs-hand historical account. Celestia being totally kick-flank (and her kick-flankness being so well written to boot!) is always a treat and I hope you continue to show this side of her. Keep on keeping on, you've earned a like and fav from me.
Hoped you enjoyed and found helpful your review. Please review my story, Marks of Harmony. I don't expect you to do it all at once by the way. That would be too much for even me to read!
This was the music that inspired me to write the story. Enjoy
This review brought to you by Authors Helping Authors
Name: Our Saviour, Our Princess
Grammar: 6. I'm seeing quite a few misspelled words here than there and some poorly-phrased sentences that distract me from the story (1/4th of the way into Chapter 1 and I see "proberly" and "broccali"). I'd recommend finding an editor or a proofreader for this.
Pros:
- The tone of the ancient passages is very well-done
- The battle scenes are well described and quite epic
- The way you use missing passages is both dramatic and realistic
Cons:
- I know this is the whole point, but the alicorns seem rather overpowered, considering how easily Celestia was defeated by Chrysalis. I hope you have some way to explain that.
- Discord seems OOC as well. It's worth noting that Discord's statue seems to be singing, not screaming, in Return of Harmony, so I'm having trouble reconciling this account with that fact.
- The griffon chapter is confusing. The alicorns were kicking their asses before the dragons showed up, and then suddenly their asses are getting kicked after slaying the griffon's greatest warrior? I hope there's something in that missing passage that explains that.
Hope you found this review helpful. Please review my story, Fragment.
1950261 Grammatical errors are now being removed and corrected
Hello Skythorn! This review is brought to you by Authors helping Authors,
Note: This review is going off the first chapter, by I did favorite so I can continue reading.
One of the main reasons I even felt like giving your fanfiction a try was because of the synopsis. Going by the title and picture only I felt kinda like it going to be all about Celestia and such, but your synopsis manged to grab my attention. Going with a guard that is in fact bored with his current life in the guard and eventually discovers something that makes him rethink how he views is job was a different approach that I gladly appreciated. Given how most stories are usually "ban wagon" stories, it gets hard to fine those that try to be different and unique and for that I applaud you.
As previously noted there are some noticeable grammar mistakes.
It should look something like this
And really the mistakes are like that, minor but numerous enough to be noticeable. So its something I suggest going back over and fixing or find a proofreader to help.
Pros:
1. The interaction between the MC and his friend about how stale their job as become. Brings a flare of "its not all cracked up"
2. Description that surprisingly went along side on what I thought the guards did in the castle.
3. Just how it feels (to me anyhow) more like a slice of life than an other story of Celestia's past. bonus points for it being told from a book.
Cons: Really its a personal one but I kinda felt the speed of the chapter was a bit to fast for the first half of the story. Now its not a huge thing and I understand none of us really want to know how many titles are in this room compared to the one with pillars in it. XD
Overall The Story is interesting enough for me to have favorite it so I can continue to read and follow it. But I need to ask, does the title of the book translate to the story's main title?
.
2528362 Thank you very much for the review, and I'll be sure to go back over every chapter and hunt down the grammar mistakes before purging them with fire
The title of the book does indeed (loosely) translate into the title, however the Latin word for 'Princess' seemed rather dull, so I've changed it to 'Our Saviour, Our Queen.'