Freedom Through Harmony

by Electricut

Chapter Ninety-five

Chapter Ninety-five
Fortress Apollo
Rainbow Dash

"Happy birthday, partner." Applejack said, and she sat beside me against the wall. We had been holed up in this fortress for almost a week, meaning that a whole month had passed since Celestia's declaration of war. We were biding our time, allowing ourselves and the others to ready themselves for the four-front attack on the capital city. The fact that Applejack still took time to wish me a happy birthday, even with all the final preparations underway around us, made me chuckle happily and wrap an arm around her.

"Thanks, AJ." I said warmly. I was glad she was able to still find things to be happy about, considering everything that had happened, and me being one of the things she could still smile at wasn't bad, either. With the loss of her brother, I expected her to fall into the same sort of depression I had when Vi died. She must have accepted that his sacrifice was his own and that she had to keep going for him; either that, or she was saving her sadness for after the war. I promised myself that I would be there for her no matter what the case was.

Our army had been hurt in the siege, but we actually lost very few human troops. Xekora had overhauled the basement of the fortress into a Stalfos factory, and I could only guess that a fresh batch of a thousand or more skeletal knights was on its way. With them on our side, overrunning the streets of Eclipse city and giving us an opening for the castle, I knew we stood a chance. And with three or four Goldoan dragons providing literal cover fire, plus the whole team of Wonderbolts, Celestia would have to roll out a lot of light beasts to match us.

Ultraviolet would have to hurry up if he wanted to get here while there was still something to fight. I hadn't received a dream correspondence from Vi since before the war started. I hoped this was because he was too busy fighting his way here to contact me.

"I couldn't really get ya much just yet," Applejack said apologetically, "so I hope this'll do for now." She twisted around where she sat, and the two of us shared a long, drawn-out kiss. She fell back on my shoulder afterwards, and with a grin on my face I teasingly said "I guess it'll do."

She and I both stood. "May as well see what the others are up to." I said. "We'll be leaving a few days from now, most likely, so we should see to it that everything and everyone is still in top shape." We walked in step through the torchlit halls, nodding to each of our friends and allies as we passed. At one point we saw Applebloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle pushing a cart full of a random collection of supplies down the hall. When asked, they said they were building something and that it was a surprise.

We ran into Twilight next, who was with a group of mages. The Apollo Charm hung like a bracelet on her hand, as Blake had instructed her to use it in place of Belenth. The house charms could be used by anyone physically capable, and Twilight was the only other mage on hand who could handle its power. In reverence to Belenth, and all the other fallen, she had accepted.

We found Pinkie next, drilling with a small group of swordsmen on how best to handle someone with a spear. When she saw us, she bade her group a five-minute break and moved over to join us.

“Hey, Pinkie, I was meanin’ to ask you...” Applejack began, “I never did see what your skill was. An’ we’re supposed to be able to combine our skills to make ‘em stronger, right?”

Pinkie nodded. “Yeah, I thought we might try that. See... my ancestor’s skill was to give my other half, Chaos, more freedom on the battlefield to make us both stronger, but... Xekora is keeping Chaos safe right now, so I can’t use that. But Xekora was able to set me up with a different one, so we should be just fine!” Pinkie dug around in her pockets and held out her palm, in which sat what looked like four pieces of candy. “He said that eating one would power me up, but that throwing one at Celestia would do just as much. He only had these four, though, so we have to be careful with them.”

I frowned slightly. We didn’t even know what these candies did, and it would be hard to test them in combination with our other abilities if it only had four uses. Several of our skills had been tested in conjunction already, with spectacular success, but we still needed to be sure exactly what we had to fight Celestia with. We would just have to wait until we reached her to try out anything with Pinkie’s ability; but, considering Xekora had given these to her in exchange for her own natural skill, I had a feeling they would pack a punch.

"Just be careful." I told her. "We'll figure it out as we go, so save all of them for Celestia." She nodded and went back to her group of trainees, and Applejack and I continued all the way to the secluded command room.
___________

Manehattan
Phil

The city had been on the brink of chaos ever since the successful overthrow of Eclipse forces a week ago. Phil knew from the start that things would get crazy, that he couldn't predict all of the city's possible reactions, but he still had difficulty keeping up. When the citizens of Manehattan had realized they were at war, countless numbers had tried to flee, and the Moonlight resistance did not have enough manpower to stop them. Even when Phil and the others assured them the fight would be taken away from Manehattan, not brought to it, people continued to flock away. A week later, the city was almost half-empty.

The half that remained, though, was much more devoted. When they saw the legendary Wonderbolts soaring across the sky, headed up by none other than Spitfire herself, at least three hundred Children of Air had signed up on the spot, with more coming in every day. Plenty of other troops had enlisted as well, and once the army raided a weapons depot hidden away by Eclipse, they had more than enough arms for the growing rebellion. A few old war machines- catapults, a ballista and even a naval cannon with several remaining shots- were rolled out and repaired. Phil could hardly have hoped for better. Their tiny resistance pocket had turned into a rebel army almost overnight.

Phil strode into the town hall, which had been commandeered and converted into the HQ when the mayor himself fled town. Trixie was already setting up another communication session with the sending stone, and most of the Wonderbolts were already sitting in the room as well. Spike sat silently in the corner, wanting to listen in and know first-hand what the plans were, but not wanting to blow his cover early.

"This is commander Trixie of the Manehattan army." Trixie said, using her new titles, probably made up on the spot. "Is everyone still well? No surprise attacks?"

"We had a small skirmish with a platoon or two of stragglers two days ago." the commander of the western forces said, "Thanks to the defensibility of these mines, we were able to deal with them and incur only minimal casualties."

"All clear on this end." Rilken confirmed. "Weaponization of everything in Los Pegasus is coming along nicely."

"No signs of an enemy counterattack here, either." Blake stated. "Though I do have a slight update. As... As you all surely know by now, Prince Belenth fell in battle, and appointed me as the new champion to the throne. At first I was of course hesitant, but... I've thought about it long and hard, and have decided that if you will all have me, I will accept, with the Lady Rarity as my queen."

A few congratulations were thrown around, and the general consensus was that Blake would make a suitable new heir and ruler. "So..." Trixie began, "This is it. The moment we've all waited for. Let's talk storming the capital city."

"We've got a whole additional army of expendable dark summons at our disposal." Blake affirmed. "My tactician suggests we have our various Goldoan dragons blast down the gates, then flood the streets with them and mop up any soldiers milling about. Odds are good that most will retreat to the far more defensible interior of Eclipse Castle."

"That sort of plan sounds familiar." Spitfire commented, a smug grin on her face. "Tug, is that you over there? What are you doing?"

A few muffled noises came through the sending stones. "Er, hey Spitfire." another voice answered. "You know, just helping some friends, same as you. Strictly personal business."

Spitfire shrugged. "That's fine, then. I was worried someone sent you to take me back. Then I'd have to kill you, and I'd rather not have that weighing on me. Stay safe, kid."

"You too. Now, like Blake was saying, once everyone else is inside the castle, we'll have to crack that open with something heavier. I count a grand total of six Goldoan dragons between all four armies, so we should try to use their immense brute strength to our advantage."

"We have a few mobile war machines here, and there should be some in Los Pegasus, too." Phil stated. "With the right ammunition, they could be equally effective. We just need to find some energy cores and recharge them with whatever magic we have on hand, and we found enough for ours in the armory."

"I propose we only wait for three more days at maximum." said the leader from Baltimare. "I am aware that the troops need a rest period between battles, but the longer we wait, the longer we leave ourselves open for counterattack. Three days, maybe two, will be enough to gather ourselves and move out for the final stages of the rebellion."

"Three days sounds fair." Trixie agreed. "Our guys can be ready in two, so we'll use the third to get into position and camp out closer to the capital city. The rest of you should already be close enough to launch an attack from where you are."

"One last note." Blake added, "Straight from Rainbow Dash and the other Elements. Celestia herself is to be avoided at all costs, and she is to be left to the Elements of Harmony to fight. Were anyone else to engage her, it would be both pointless and suicidal."
___________

Time passed, and how quickly it did all depended on what Phil was doing. If he had only to wait, it dragged by at a snail's pace, but when he spent time readying the machines or troops, it passed far too quickly. Soon enough, the the dawn of the third day was upon them, and the army of nearly five hundred volunteers prepared to depart. They had to 'borrow' some supplies from various shops around the city to have enough to support the entire army, but they only took what they needed.

At midday, Trixie rose her broomstick staff into the air, a Moonlight flag tied to its end, and lead the march away from the city of Manehattan in the direction of the capital. They traversed the southern fields, the same ground which divided Manehattan, the capital, and the fortress where Twilight would surely be. However, on this journey they veered more to the west, to attack from the southwest while Twilight's party hit the southeast. All the armies would convene in the streets of Eclipse, and strike at the heart in the castle.

Camp was made a fair distance from the city, far enough to avoid detection, but the spires of the castle could be seen in the sunset light in the distance. As he and Soren set up their tent, Phil realized that he recognized this place; this was where he had collapsed in his flight from the capital half a year ago, and Xekora had rescued him. Now he had returned to come back home in full force.

"You having flashbacks too, kid?" Soren asked, and Phil nodded. "Yeah... I remember one of the best shows we ever did was over the capital's skies. I never thought we'd be returning, especially with the whole team back together, to wage war. Destiny's funny like that."
___________

Fortress Apollo
Rainbow Dash

I had a hard time steadying my heart as I sat awake atop the fortress, looking out on the silhouette of the castle. It took an especially clear night to see it from here, but that sight made me realize how close we really were. Tomorrow, we would begin the final battle that would decide the fate of Equestria. Tomorrow, I might finally be able to avenge my brother, Creiddylad, Spike, Mac and Belenth and everyone else Celestia had ever taken from the innocent people of the country.

"Hey, bro." I heard from behind me, and Scootaloo sat beside me. "I was wondering where you were."

“Sorry about that.” I said. “Couldn’t sleep. So, how have you been holding up, kid? The fighting isn’t getting to you, is it?”

Scootaloo sighed. “Maybe a little. But I think I should be alright. The Crusaders and I have been keeping busy with building stuff and moving supplies. Applebloom’s really good at building, too. We put together this cart-thing that I can push around with my wind, and it can hold all three of us easy. We figured we could use it to bring supplies around the battlefield, that way we could help without getting into as much danger. Plus, Sweetie Belle says she can shoot from it.”

I gave him a pat on the back. “There you go. I wouldn’t want any of you fighting right up with the enemy, anyway. This way, you can still help the whole army.” I stood with a hand still on his shoulder. “C’mon, kid, let’s head to bed. Big day tomorrow...”
______________

It seemed like morning came the very second my head hit the pillow. I quickly equipped my armor and swords, then moved out into the hallways of Fortress Apollo. I joined several other soldiers who were silently marching through, headed for the fields outside. My heart was racing even more than it had been last night. Each step I took brought me closer to the capital city, where my blade would finally cross with Celestia’s.

The army assembled diagonal to the fortress, in a direct path to the city. I joined the other Elements of Harmony at the head of the pack, checking to make sure each of them was alright. Both Fluttershy and Rarity seemed especially nervous, though everyone was to some degree. None of them were so scared that they wanted to back down, though.

The company began its march as soon as everyone had assembled, and moved well through the day until the capital city loomed in plain sight. We stopped a short distance from the walls, close enough that anyone could see us if they looked, but far enough away that we were out of any practical firing range. For several agonizing minutes, we stood motionless, miraculously not drawing the fire of the Eclipse soldiers surely inside the city walls.

Twilight pulled her sending stone out of her pocket, and I was able to see that it was glowing. “Trixie, here!” The mage said excitedly. “Manehattan’s army is in position! Just give the word and we’ll thrash these guys!”

“Western forces are camped to the north of your position, Trixie.” The commander from Baltimare confirmed. “I can see your camp over this ridge. My troops await the signal to charge.”

A whole minute passed until we heard from Rilken: “Sorry, sorry! I had a few troops to straighten up. Consider the forces of Trottingham and Emberton ready to charge!”

Twilight cast an excited glance back at her companions, and I flashed it right back with a grin. She nodded, held the stone up to her mouth, and nearly screamed “CHARGE!” I raised my sword in pure exhilaration, and the army surged forward. The battle for Eclipse, and all of Equestria, had finally begun.

Comments

[LonelyChild]

Shit is about to go down.

[Electricut]

752618

Excrement will soon hit the whirling device.