End of the Elements

Weeks passed. Few had even heard of the Crystal Empire, and although few knew it had gone, all felt it. Celestia settled back into Canterlot, into the finally completed grand castle. Luna headed to the West, where her family, and Sugarcube, were waiting for her. Daffodil had more work than either of them, as the harvest period was beginning.

No place was quite as busy as the Southern Bay, where droves of ships sailed in for trade. The small nation also had a healthy flow of immigration, as ponies came for work in the great cities, or further north in the plains of Everfree.

Thus, Celestia was quite surprised to be interrupted one day by Cumulus, bursting into the throne room. Celestia leapt down to meet the blue pegasus.

     “What’s the matter?” she asked swiftly. The smaller pony was shaking a little, and gasping for breath. Evidently, she had flown all the way here from Manehattan, her capital.

“Invasion,” she managed to whisper. Celestia gasped.

“Where? How have we not heard of it!” Celestia trotted nervously. “Who?”

“We are not yet...invaded,”

“But who?” Cumulus looked up at her.

“The Clan Ponilii”

“But that’s impossible,”

“I’ll show you,”

Within hours, the two touched down in the Royal Courtyard of Manhattan. The largest city of the Southern Bay, the tall arches that surrounded the courtyard were light blue, the color of the skies and the sea, the Southern Bay’s most important aspect. In the center of the courtyard was an enormous fountain, at least fifty feet tall, with water gushing down. Manehattan was the busiest port in Equestria, and the most Eastern of the great ports. It was closest to most of the great nations of the world, and all sorts of ships and creatures could be found in the bustling metropolis. The sails of a thousand merchant ships flew in another busy day of work.

Manehattan had been the least affected by Discord of Equestria’s cities, as it was far from Canterlot, the, as he would have called it “Chaos capital of the world”. It had been the center of resistance, though they had not produced the materials that would end Discord’s reign. That had come from the western mountains, where the Elements of Harmony had been harvested.

Cumulus flew up to the balcony that rested atop the arches. The balcony lead to the main part of the building, a great glass structure that stood mightily, the tallest building in the city. From its top an enormous telescope monitored the sea for miles. The two ponies flew up to it.

“Look for yourself,” said Cumulus. Celestia did, and, sure enough, far off, just on the horizon there were three ships. The sails were not pure white, rather an enormous, ancient seal had been imprinted on the cloth. She had seen it in books before.

“That’s...incredible...but it is the seal of the Ponilii,”

“What are they doing here? I thought they had died out,”

“They did,” Celestia shut her eyes, trying to remember. “They were one of the ancient tribes. Once the original six tribes united, and founded Equestria, they ruled as one for centuries. Then they began to split, not based on type of pony, but by family. There were twelve ruling families, and the Ponilii were the most powerful. They were in charge of the military. When Discord arose, all the tribes fought him, and none came close to victory, except for the Ponilii. This was mainly due to their sheer number, as they were the biggest of the tribes. But they failed at the last moment, and none survived. There would not be another challenge to Discord’s reign for centuries. The tribes dissolved, and Chaos took hold.” Celestia sighed.

“So...how are they there?”

“I have no clue,” Celestia admitted. “But there are just three ships. I don’t think we should be too worried,”

“There are more,”

“Where?”

“Behind those ones...that’s the advance guard…”

“Oh.” Celestia looked again at the telescope, panning across the horizon. Sure enough, she could see the tips of a couple sails.

“Are you sure they are malign?” asked Celestia. Suddenly, with a great crackle of electricity, a unicorn teleported onto the massive palace.

“Ponies of this city!” he bellowed. Celestia and Cumulus turned, startled.

“We have come to liberate you!” Magic allowed his voice to ring across the city, as the uncharacteristically silent city listened to his words.

“We have come to liberate you from the tyrant. Our ships will arrive in two days. Stand with us, or be burned.” And without another word, he vanished, in a crackle of magic.

“I guess they are” Celestia looked out towards the sea. Cumulus turned to Celestia, nervous.

“What should we do?” Celestia was silent, hesitant for a moment.

“We prepare for war.” she said quietly. Cumulus paused for a moment then nodded, and flew off.

Preparations for the arrival of an enemy fleet were swift. All merchants ships were informed that they must leave, for their own protection, and each were given a letter to be shown to the Port authorities of Baltimare, Fillydelphia, or whichever port the sailors decided to take up residence while the city began its preparations. Ancient walls were refortified, and gaping holes from Discord’s attacks, for he had indeed attacked the city on multiple occasions, were filled. A powerful wall no extended across the cities land side. On its sea side, a more turreted wall was fortified, and droves of Unicorns prepared themselves to blast the ships as they sailed towards. The ships probably had some magical protection, but a heavy fire might bring about the destruction needed to keep the city safe. Celestia personally created the massive magical shield around the city, though such a large sphere was limited, and the ships could destroy it. Troops arrived from Baltimore and Fillydelphia. Daffodil sent her regards and apologized for the lack of military support, the harvest was in its peak and every hoof was needed to feed the young nation. Cirrus arrived, along with fifty of the finest pegasi soldiers she had. They immediately set up a vast operation to keep a constant eye on a circle, five miles in diameter, around the city. Finally, news came in of the ships. They were heading at a slow speed, but they were massive. There were reports that the flagship of the Ponilii was two hundred feet long, though no one dared get close to it, for the ships were close together and crowded with troops, several of them pegasi.

At noon on the second day of preparations, Luna arrived, along with fifty of her soldiers. This provided much needed assistance, as well as another powerful alicorn. The two of them took turns keeping the sphere up. The walls were ready, the sphere was now slightly more powerful, though it would fall at a reasonably heavy assault, and the city was evacuated, just in case.

Finally, a shout rose from the troops stationed on the coast. The ships were coming into view. Cirrus, Cumulus, Luna, and Celestia flew towards the coast. Sure enough, at least a dozen massive warships had appeared.

“Wow,” said Luna, the only one who had not seen the ships before. “That’s an impressive vessel,”

“Isn’t it though?” asked Cirrus. “We should ask them about it,”

“We could build a nice navy with blueprints like those,” Celestia said thoughtfully.

“If we could focus on the matter at hand” Cumulus reminded gently.

“Oh...right,” Celestia turned. “Prepare the long range-weapons!” she shouted. On the roofs of the houses directly against the  coast, massive ballistas had been set up, powerful enough to destroy the standard merchant ship. These hulking war ships would take a few shots before they went down.

“Are they within range?” a nearby colonel shouted.

“Not yet sir!” shouted one of the troops. “We’ve got a few min-” he was cut off with a blast. A huge sphere made entirely of iron had been thrown forward, and had blown up upon impact with the magical sphere. Cracks emerged, but Celestia quickly mended them.

“How were they able to do that then?” shouted the colonel.

“No Clue!” the other pony yelled, confused. “There’s nothing we’ve got that can go that-” He was again cut off by a tremendous explosion.

“I can’t keep repairing the sphere without any chance of destroying those long-range...things,” Celestia said. “By the time we get within range, the sphere will be gone, and we’ll be vulnerable to their magic as well.”

“So what should we do?” asked Cumulus. Cirrus stepped forward. “My pegasi can fly close to them, and try to dismantle the ship’s weaponry.

“You’d take very heavy casualties” Celestia warned.

“Heavier than we would if are shield’s are down?” Celestia looked up, thinking.

“Fine,” said Celestia. “Take my pegasi too though,”

“I’ll go too,”

“Luna-”

“Pegasi can only fly...I can use my magic to attack them as well,”

“We won’t be flying without any weapons!” objected Cirrus. “We’ll have our spears.”

“Long-range magic will be better than a spear. Plus, you'll need some magic to disable the spheres”

“I’ll come along as-” Celestia began, but Luna cut her off.

“You know we need you to stay. Without you, the shields wouldn’t even be there,”

“The unicorns can teleport” began one Unicorn soldier.

“They’ll likely have a similar shield as us, preventing teleportation spells. The pegasi will be on their own.” The Unicorn backed off, head low in respect. Luna smiled. “I’ll see you later Celestia,”

“Be safe!” Celestia called, as Luna, along with a division of pegasi took off. The shield vanished for a moment. The pegasi flew silently, watching as the cannonballs flew past them, towards the shielded city.

The ships were arranged in a long line, nine ships long, sailing steadily forward. The huge white sails bore the emblem of the Ponilii; a large hoofprint in dark blue. The ships themselves were made of a dark spruce, and perched atop each the prow of each vessel was shining silver cannon, firing repeatedly at the city. Waiting on the decks were dozens of unicorns, all keeping within the protective sphere that made the ships glow a deep gold.

“All right!” Shouted Cumulus. “First Brigade, you take the ships to the left of us. Second Brigade, the ships of the Right...third brigade...the ones in the middle. Luna, keep the ships main guns distracted, fire on their shields, and - SCATTER!” They had flew within range of the ships unicorns, who had instantly began shooting magical bursts into the crowds of pegasi, who dissipated under the heavy fire. Luna looked around. Pegasi were falling, into the shields, as others tried to destroy the shields that protected the unicorns. She dodged a spell shot from the middle ship, which lead the fleet. She sent a blast of her own magic which sent a massive crack right across the top of the protective orb on the ship. She kept up her fire, and slowly the attacking unicorns stopped attacking, concentrating on repairing the shields, while Luna sent powerful magical blast after powerful magic blast.

Celestia watched the battle from afar. From what she could tell the pegasi, from this distance mere dots attacking the central vessel, were not able to attack the shields. A slightly larger speck, which Celestia presumed to be Luna  was firing tiny bolts of magic into the ship.

“What do we do?” asked Cumulus, also intently watching the ships.

“Do we have any ships?”

“Yes, but they won’t last in a fight against those warships.”

“Well,” said Celestia, turning to her. “It’s a good thing those ships are distracted,” Cumulus smiled, realizing what Celestia had in mind.