A Journey Unthought Of: Revival of Chaos

by Hustlin Tom

Chapter 56 - The Battle of Canterlot Part 1

An army of half a thousand Changelings swarmed into sight, flying in what seemed like erratic patterns. The sun reflected off their black carapaces, their exoskeletons looking like full body armor suits, their fangs like miniature sabers.

Mr. Black squinted as he peered down the scope of his rifle, “We’ve got incoming! They’re coming in hot from the North by Northeast!”

He cursed the bugs for flying with the sun close to their backs, and shielded his vision with the tips of his wings as best as he could. Their attack formation wasn’t making it easy for him to score a clean hit. He cursed them again: he wasn’t going to waste his precious few bullets on a shot he wasn’t sure of.

Beneath the Death Eagle’s cloud, Prince Shining Armor’s eyes grew in horror at the incoming jittering mass on the horizon. So many of them, and they still weren’t ready, not even by a long shot! His eyes quickly ignited with a spark of anger. They’d fooled him once and taken his love from him twice. Neither of those was going to happen again, not today! He raised his horn straight toward the sky directly above, and fired off a large magenta beam of light. The spell reacted with the rooftops of Canterlot, and once again the city was encapsulated by a large magical dome. Before Cadence could ask what he was doing, he shook his head and growled in discomfort, “That’ll hold them a little longer, but not for long!”

A detachment of the Royal Guard led by General Blitz Hammer began to trot out of the doors of Canterlot Castle and into the square. The war pony was genuinely surprised to see Princess Cadence at the Prince’s side, and he bowed quickly to her, “Good to see you again, your Majesty.”

“General,” she greeted.

“Assemble your troops around as many of the entrances to the underground caves as you can,” the Prince commanded, “The Lieutenant will fill in where you can’t reach. Stick to the outer entrances on the lower and middle terrace, and I’ll manage up here with a dozen of your ponies.”

“Sir, Yes sir!” the General bellowed before he turned to his troops, “Roll out, ponies! We’ve got orders to complete!”

“Sir, Yes sir!” the group of unicorns and earth ponies repeated back as they all fell in and made for the lower districts. The pegasi soldiers, who had remained at their post atop several of the roofs of Canterlot’s taller buildings, began to follow their earthbound compatriots from overhead.

The twelve guardsponies the good Captain had requested filed into step in front of him and saluted, which he quickly returned. He then turned to his wife, “Our army of idealists should be able to hold the main door to Canterlot Castle against the Hive by sheer numbers, even with zero combat training. Even so, I’m not taking any chances.”

“I trust your judgment,” she said as she nodded her understanding.

“Just like I’m trusting yours,” he replied with worried eyes and a small smile. He then turned to the crowd of ponies surrounding them. While still standing their ground like earlier, their nervousness was almost palatable as they all stared up at the swarming mass of enemies just outside the large magenta dome. The Changeling drones had learned from their previous experience with metropolis spanning shields, and they took turns slamming against several different weak points over and over again.

“Your Majesty!” Trixie yelled as she rushed forward, trying to grab the Prince’s attention. The guards locked ranks to protect their Captain, but she yelled over them, “Your Majesty, we’ve fought them before!”

The Prince’s eyes widened, and he called his ponies off with a heavy wave of his hoof, “Let her speak!”

She straightened her pointed hat a little as she spoke, “Their strength is their coordination with each other! Lead a few away from the others, a dozen at a time, and you’ll be able to make it a fair fight!”

One of the ponies who had stayed behind had a radio pack on his back, and he approached so that his commanding officer could spread the word back to the General. The radio squawked after he had finished, and a mare’s voice spoke, “Prince Shining Armor? Are you receiving?”

He clicked it with his magic, “I’m here. Is that you Ditzy Doo?”

---

“Loud and clear!” she called out with a smile, her optimism very apparent as she moved her chair around the cramped circular space of the Defense Chamber. She began to set several small levers at their upright positions, and slid back towards a large set of organ keys and pumps, next to which sat the communications array, “We’ve almost got everything ready! The Defense Grid’s partially up, so I’m sending supplies up to you right away: weapons and armor.”

“Fantastic!” he called back, “When can we expect them?”

“Give it a couple of seconds for the lower terraces,” she replied as she pressed down on a pedal at her lower hooves, and began to slide her hooves across the lowest set of keys. On a nearby route indicator panel, diodes began to light up. The paths they took indicated where a supply unit was headed from the RSD at the bottom of the map to the surface up at the top. Once they had reached their destination, the lower set of lights flashed green. “aaaand they’re there.”

“Send up as much as you can to our front door,” the Prince called out, “We’ve got about 330 troops to arm.”

“It’ll take a while for that many,” Ditzy called out as she began to send the arms first, “but I can reasonably send about eight units per minute.”

“You’re a saint, Ditzy!”

She grinned again and replied, “Don’t I know it!” before she signed off with him. She then switched over to every RSD channel, “All units prepare for open gates. Repeat, opening all troop hatches now: Siege Mode conversion in fifteen minutes.”

All squads checked in, and everything seemed to be going right.

Then a new unit called out.

“Defense Chamber, this is Dragon’s Bane 1,” a gruff stallion’s voice declared, “Requesting surface exit to middle terrace.”

Ditzy Doo’s brain stopped when she realized where she had heard that voice before. “You,” was all she could initially say.

“Yes, me.”

Her words began to then tumble out as the mare’s agitation grew, and her wings flapped angrily, “How are you even here after what you did? You are breaking Equestrian law by even being near this city! Whatever you’re doing, you put that vehicle back right now, and stay out of the way!”

“My presence is sanctioned by the Prince for the moment. If you wish, you can check with him or the Lieutenant.”

Ditzy Doo patched her co-leader into comm, and snapped at him, “Swiftfeet!”

The call was silent for a little bit, before the Lieutenant hesitantly replied, “Yes, Ma’am?”

“Is there any particular reason why I wasn’t told of a certain banished scientist’s return?” she angrily asked.

The pause was even longer this time, “To try and avoid something like this from happening.”

“Is he really here under Shining Armor’s orders?” she asked with an angry snort.

“Yes, he is,” the Lieutenant quick replied back, “and in case you haven’t noticed, we do have bigger things to worry about! Open up the hatches already!”

Ditzy Doo stared down at the speaker with a dark expression as she began to open up several small pressure valves with an outstretched hoof, “We’re going to have a long talk when this is over, Mister.”

---

“What the-“ Twilight exclaimed.

The Elements paused outside the Cathedral of Harmony to look at the skies, which had not been magenta hued when they had entered just a few minutes ago.

“Why is the shield back up?” Rarity asked as she looked across the horizon.

“What is my brother doing?!” Twilight asked as her confusion and anger grew, “We can’t do this without him! If he accidentally puts himself out of commission…”

They began to run back towards Canterlot Castle at a hurried gallop, with Twilight leading the way through the backstreets along the quickest path. As they came to a wide street from one of those alleys, the cobbled road began to shift and groan. Each of them came to a very quick stop to avoid the cracks that were forming in the middle of the street.

“What in the hay is happening?” Rainbow Dash yelled.

The street buckled completely and caved upward. Slowly, an opening appeared that lead down into the street at an angle. Once the earth stopped shifting, a large squad of ponies began to emerge, and they began to march up towards the area where the mountainside and the large citywide terrace met.

Twilight and her friends gawked at the sudden appearance and then dispersion of a group of soldiers from out of the earth.

“What. The.” The cyan pegasus could only exclaim dumbly before she shook her head a little and turned to Twilight, “Since when-“

“Don’t look at me!” Twilight exclaimed in bewilderment, “This is new to me too!”

“Far out as that was, we still need ta get back to the others, so let’s move!” Applejack yelled.

Before they could cross, there was an even deeper rumbling, and from out of the hatch emerged a colossal machine. The bricks that covered the street were crushed beneath its gigantic treads. Steam vented from the back of the metal behemoth, as well as from two ports on its front. As the tunnel into the earth closed behind it, it began to slowly turn.

“Holy horseapples!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed again.

The street was barely large enough to allow the land ship clearance without touching the surrounding buildings, but it managed to turn and head up towards the upper terrace.

“Come on! There's no time to lose!” Twilight called out, and they made for Canterlot Castle at a full on gallop.

---

The ground beneath Canterlot Square shook. The many civilians that made up the Return to Harmony movement looked at the street nervously. All that the Prince could focus on was the nearest sewer hole cover. As the tremors intensified, it began to shake in its frame. Finally it slid off to the side as a large capsule pushed it out of the way. The container opened its compartment doors, revealing two fully equipped light war saddles, four spears, and two full sets of armor.

The Captain of the Guard rushed to the capsule as soon as it emerged from the ground and began to quickly fit himself into a set of armor. “Those with any form of experience get the spears,” he bellowed out, “Earth ponies or pegasi with the best accuracy get the war saddles. Everypony else, scrounge for anything you can use for now!”

The crowd temporarily didn't move or know how to respond.

“MOVE SOLDIERS! YOUR LIVES DEPEND ON YOUR WEAPONS!” he screamed harshly, and that got the crowd moving.

Bon Bon, just like anypony else at that moment, was terrified. Still, she looked around for the nearest thing she could use to defend herself. In front of a nearby tailor's shop she found a thick handled broom leaning against the door frame. As she picked it up with both her front hooves, she couldn’t help but chuckle to herself. She headed back towards the larger group. When others stared at her strange weapon of choice, she yelled, “I’ve been told I have a good technique!”

Princess Cadence looked up at the large shield above them all. Large cracks could be seen throughout the entire structure as the insectoid army just outside continued to bang away at it. It wasn't going to last much longer. With her magic, she constructed her weapon of choice. From out of thin air she produced a blue, elegantly curved bow. She aimed towards the sky, notched an ethereal arrow, and drew it back.

Nearby, Fancy Pants flicked his sword slightly, trying to keep his concentration up and his body limber as he jumped in place slightly.

“I've never done anything like this before,” she quietly announced.

The gentlepony stopped his preparation and put his full attention on the Princess’ words.

“I know what I said to Shiny and everypony, and I did mean it,” she shook her head and looked to the unicorn, “but I am so far in over my head.”

“We've both been through dark times, you and I, Princess,” he responded as he cleaned his monocle one final time, “Through it all you persevered, and believed that hope was still alive. Be strong, especially now; now, when we need you most of all!“

A loud crunching sound could be heard coming from above, and a large crack appear in the dome’s structure.

“I don’t know how to fight a war; that’s your husband’s province,” he said as looked back to the Princess, “but fight for what you want to protect most, and hopefully we can all make it through this crucible!”

“Big Brother, Cadence,” Twilight called out as she and her friends finally made it back into the square, “We've got the Elements!”

“Well, having those close by is one small relief in this whole mess,” Cadence sighed in relief. She glanced at the ornate headgear that sat on Twilight’s head and smiled, “That crown really does look beautiful on you! I imagine it’s leaps and bounds better than quite a few of my tiaras.”

“Before we go any farther, there’s something we need to quick address,” Rainbow Dash declared before she flew up to Prince Shining Armor and drew him close to her by the collar underneath his armor, “Since when did you guys have a tank and secret passages?! That is awesome!”

“Tank?” the Prince asked as he slipped the enthusiastic pegasus’ hooves off him with his magic, “Wait, do you mean-“

The ground shook again as the gigantic armored box on treads rolled around a corner further down the street, and made its way to the Square. With a screech and several clanking mechanisms, the twelve foot tall monstrosity came to a halt. Adorning the front of the tank was a large rollbar, and a steel face which it connected into. The whole ensemble made it seem like the land ship had the head of a disembodied minotaur.

The guards who could see it, Prince Shining Armor included, gave a big cheer upon the tank’s complete transformation, while everypony else just stared in mixed fear and awe. The Captain laughed giddily, “We've got the Mechataur with us now! Things are looking up!”

A deafening crack filled the air, and with one last heave, the magenta shield that had been keeping the Changelings out gave way.

“And not a moment too soon, I suppose,” Fancy Pants declared as he raised his ethereal sword once again.

“Prince Shining Armor?” the comm pony’s com squawked; it was Ditzy Doo, “We’re green to go! Ready when you are!”

In reply, all he could say was “Do it! Do it! Do it!”

The Changelings came down, swarming to and fro as they closed the gap between themselves and the roofs of Canterlot. The warning sirens all across the city flared to life, but it was the signal to remain grounded for an incoming storm, not of an impending attack. As the chattering army of hellish insectoids approached from the skies above, rolling aggressive clouds appeared out of nowhere. Lightning flashed, thunder roared, and the invaders were enveloped by the menacing weather. Before they could retreat, lightning bolts struck each of them, arcing across one to another, creating twenty and even thirty member long chains of energy with their luminescent power. Stunned, but not incinerated, the bugs fell in uncoordinated patterns, impacting randomly across the city.

Each of the terraces, all nearly a half mile in diameter, groaned and buckled as they too began to change. Homes and businesses were sucked up by the ground, taken out of harm’s way, while they were replaced by high stone walls. Massive structures of marble extended up throughout the city, creating a labyrinth of causeways, passages, and streets. High towers collapsed and fell down, their bricks and mortar crushing the streets below. Where those pristine works of architecture had once soared to the skies now sat artillery and cannons, each with ponies already at their station and ready for their orders.

“Conversion complete,” Ditzy Doo announced across all of Canterlot through the city’s sirens, “Siege Mode Activated.”

Comments

[Alan Smithee]

Sorry, guys. I know I said I'd help you out, but I just got cast as Dr. Manhattan!

[Hustlin Tom]

4259669
Don't worry, Mysterious Blue Text Pony will make a reappearance along with Princess Luna and Serana two chapters from now. This of course only holds true if I can fit everything I want to in each chapter though.