End of the Elements

As the pegasi flew around the ships, dodging the unicorns assault, Luna sent another blast into the middle ship. Despite the numerous unicorns who had abandoned the attack and were anxiously repairing the shields, they were weakening. Luna concentrated, dodging a few blasts from unicorns from neighboring vessels, who’d notice the decrease of fire from their compatriots, and fired another, powerful blast of magic directly into the small bubble on the middle ship. The cracked like glass great chunks of magic dissipating before it could touch the ground. The pegasi dive-bombed the unicorns, and battle raged on the ship. Luna watched as the ships neighbors moved closer, as more unicorns prepared to board the ship, to aid their falling fellow fighters, and quickly began attacking the shields of another. The depleting task of lowering nine different magical shields was unyielding on her.

Back at Manhattan, the earth ponies and unicorns cheered at the smoke rising from the middle ship. Luna had destroyed one of the shields. But there were still eight more ships sailing steadily towards the city, though the great guns that had initially barraged the city were silent, their wielders more concerned with the battle on their ships then besieging the distant city.

“All merchant ships have left the city, taking refuge in neighboring ports,” Cumulus announced. “But we have a few ships of our own. They will not hold in a fight against those ships, however,”

“Those ships are under siege now,” Celestia reminded. “What I want you to do is sail some unicorns out to the ships and destroy their shields so that our enemies can be attacked. Then we will attempt boarding. There will be no need for ship to ship combat.”

“I understand,” said Cumulus, nodding in agreement. She turned to her generals, and relayed the strategy.

“You know you will have to stay here,”said Cumulus.

“Of course not!” said Celestia, outraged. “Now that those weapons are down, we do not fear attack. any unicorn can maintain these shields.

“It would take many unicorns to maintain this large a shield, and we need those unicorns on the ships.” Cumulus looked anxious. “We need these shields to protect the city.”

“And what do the earth ponies do?” asked one such earth pony.

“We need as many ponies as possible to fight at those ships, but that doesn’t mean that the Ponilii do...we need you to hold the city walls in case of an invasion, and to protect Celestia.

“I don’t need-” began Celestia angrily, but stopped at the smile Cumulus gave her.

“I’ll be back soon,” said Cumulus taking off. Celestia cantered over to the port, where a dozen or so small wooden ships sailed towards the hulking vessels in the distance.

“Be careful!” shouted Celestia.

Luna landed powerfully on the ship. A battle raged around her. A unicorn charged at her, a long spear floating above him. Luna pulled her own spear, blocked and, with the blunt end, hit him full in the chest, knocking him down, and swinging her weapon like a bat, knocked him off the ship. More ponies arrived, and Luna switched to magic, shooting paralysing spells, freezing the ponies before sweeping them off the ship. She looked around. A hatch had opened from a lower deck, and more ponies, dressed in iron armour, had flooded out. Several pegasi were on them in moments, and soon the air was once again filled with the clangs of metal on metal. Luna leapt forward, knocking a helmeted warrior over, joining the fray.

Silently, the small band of ships sailed forward, towards the ships. The tiny wooden ships could easily be overpowered if the huge warships were to fight them. However, with the pegasi preoccupying them, they might be able yet to score a couple critical hits, destroying the hull of the powerful vessels, paralyzing them, stopping the threat to the city, and, with a few more hits, sinking them.

“Prepare yourselves”  Cumulus muttered. The unicorns nodded, each focusing their magic when - BANG!  A huge sphere flew across the small armada, blowing up in the water nearby, almost capsizing the flimsy vessels. One of the ships had noticed them, and several had begun firing their massive guns into the small fleet.

“How long until we get within firing range?” Cumulus shouted at the captain, who manned the rudder in the tiny ship.

“Not much longer now!” He yelled back, as another explosion came, this time on the opposite side of the fleet, narrowly missing the closest vessel. “Give us a couple of minutes.”

Celestia was anxious. She paced through the massive  hall. A loud bang broke the terrible silence. Celestia rushed out, her wings unfolding, flying up to the roof of the great palace. She had not felt the slightest disturbance to the shields, and that troubled her immensely. She landed on the battlements. The small armada was coming closer and closer to the smoking vessel, and they had been noticed. The great guns capable of hitting the city were no firing directly into the small approaching fleet. The only good news was that the navy was distracted. One ship was in poor state, while the others were either attacking the armada or the flying pegasi, though most had flown down to the available ship. Celestia cantered towards a nearby general.

“How does everything seem?”

“Everything’s fine here,” the general squinted across the sea, towards the battle. “Not sure about over there though...but if those ships keep sailing at that pace, they’ll be within reach of our ballistas in a half hour. We only have the capacity to shoot down a couple of ships that powerful...and the pegasi and unicorns need to be able to take down at least six before they get within range.”

“Good news Princess!” Luna slashed at another soldier, knocking him down.

“Don’t call me Princess!” She shouted over her shoulder at the young soldier who’d spoken.

“Sorry Princess!” He shouted, ducking a blow from another troop, bringing him down with a well placed blow with the butt of his sword. “Sorry!” he shouted again, jumping out of the way of another guard, and, after parrying with his sword, he hit him hard on the top of his head with the blunt side of his sword. The battle continued to rage on the lower decks of the ship, as Equestrian and Ponilii fought for supremacy of the cramped quarters.

“What is your news?” Luna asked, backing out of the fight, and sending a blast of a magic at another pony.

“We’ve got the guns. We can take down the other ships!” Luna turned, her eyes lighting up.

“Do we know how to work them?”

“Yes,”

“Well, get to it then!” She said, sending out three more blasts, each finding its mark in the attacking ponies, bringing them down.

“We’re within range!” shouted a pony at the leading ship.

“Well, what are you waiting for?” Screamed Cumulus over the blast of the enormous attacking guns. The assorted sounds of fifty blasts of brightly colored magical spells rang through the air, sinking into the hull of the ship, whose magical shields were dulling. Unable to use magic, the blue pegasi cheered on her vessels unicorns, who continued their bombardment. The shields sputtered under the heavy magical assault and shattered, sending great shards of magic everywhere.

“Take it down!” Cumulus yelled, but the unicorns needed no encouragement. Already weakened, without shields, the hull of the ship creaked ominously, before splintering under the magical attacks. The ship went down its sailors yelling, leaping over the sides. But even as it sank, one of the other ships enormous guns finally found its mark. A single great blast was enough to shatter the small vessel the Equestrians were riding in, as the leading boat sank with its great enemy. In this very moment, the captured ship lit up as it let out its own guns, sinking four shots directly into both its neighboring ships.

“Split up!” Cumulus yelled, and the unicorns did, slowly moving off, letting out streams of powerful magic. Soon those two ships would be sinking.

“One ship is down, One is conquered, and two more are suffering heavy fire,” reported the colonel manning the massive telescope. “ But they need to take down a few more ships within the next few minutes, or our ballistas won’t be enough to take them all down,”

“How much time have they got?”

“Another ten,”

“I’m going out there,”

“Your Majesty, we have the rulers of two of our provinces out there already!”

“Then another one won’t hurt!” said  Celestia, taking off.

“We can’t let you go! No one can maintain the shields. The moment you leave, Manehattan will lose its best defense, and they’ll notice, and they’ll be able to destroy the city. You’re the only thing maintaining the time limit right now...you have to stay,” Celestia landed heavily.

“Fine,” she snarled. “I guess I am forced to watch my subjects die…”

“So that others can live...yes,” said the soldier gently.

The ship Luna was on was in trouble. Having lost four ships to the attack, the remaining five were all headed directly for the solitary captured ship.

“What do we do?” Shouted one of the soldiers, as a cannonball ripped through the unprotected vessel.

“Maintain your post!” said Luna. “When one get close,” another bang, silenced her for a few moments, and she paused for the dust to settle. “When we get close, I’ll send out some powerful magic. With the unicorns weakening the shields, we’ll be able to bring down the shields, and board a different ship.” She pointed to another soldier, the only survivor on a cannon crew as the rest were blasted away. “You! Can you pilot this vessel,” he nodded. “Go to it,”

“Where?”

“Into any ship of your choosing,”

“Into?”

“Into,” The man smiled and galloped up to the top decks.

The entire armada was surrounding Luna’s ship, but they still had some cannons on Cumulus’ small fleet, and they were being hit with impunity. Two more ships had sunk, along with two dozen unicorns. The battle was going very poorly. And then Luna had a brainwave.

“Pegasi!” she shouted. “Let’s go! Grab a unicorn and lets go!” the pegasi looked at her, momentarily confused then realization gleamed in their eyes. as droves of pegasi flew out, onto the decks, and into the sky.

“Are they leaving us?” asked a scared young soldier, firing a weak shot into the hull of the nearest ship.

“No,” said Cumulus quickly. All the same, the small cloud of flying pegasi fleeing the wrecked ship was not encouraging. And then, the troop turned, flying straight at them.

“What are they-” the unicorns was grabbed by flying pegasi, who took off into the air, carrying their magical brethren.

“What do you think you’re doing?!” asked Cumulus, as Luna flew over her. Luna laughed.

“We’re uniting. Get your unicorns to fire on the ships. I don’t know why I didn’t think of this earlier.”

“I still don’t understand,”

“Well, the pegasi are able to navigate quickly, and are thus able to avoid the fleets attacks. But they cannot dismantle the shields without suffering heavy casualties. The unicorns, on the other hand, can take down the shields, but can’t navigate through the waters quickly. So, the pegasi will carry the unicorns, dodging their attacks, and keeping out of trouble, while the unicorns take down the ships,”

“That’s...brilliant,” said Cumulus. Luna grinned at her, and they took off.

Celestia was pleased. By the look of it, the ship Luna had been on had sunk.The pegasi had fled just in time. The pegasi had flown across to the unicorn’s little fleet, and plucked them up, carrying them around, letting the unicorns take the shields down while dodging the vessels attacks. Another two ships shields went down in moments. A few moments later, they were sinking. It was brilliant strategy, with Luna’s thinking all over it. An earth pony general trotted over to her.

“Princess, the remaining vessels are in range,” Celestia’s eyes gleamed.

“Then fire at will,” the general turned and shouted the order. A dozen or so ballistas fired as one. They launched large, fiery arrows directly into the weakened ships’ hulls.

Luna turned just in time to shout “Get out of the way!” as about fifteen large arrows pierced the sides of the surviving ships. With a great moan, the ships pace slowed to a halt, and, giving way to the sea, sank into the ocean’s watery depths.

“It is done,” said Cumulus, flying over to her.

“It is a pity though. I had so many questions,”

“Like what?”

“Were they really one of the old clans? Where did they go to escape Discord? Why were they coming back after all these years? Who even were they?” Luna sighed. “I suppose we’ll never really know”

Cumulus’ smile vanished. “I guess there might be...one more opportunity.” She was gazing off into the distance. Luna frowned.

“What do you-” she turned, and gasped. A single, massive ship, larger than all the others ships combined, was sailing towards Manehattan. The ship was made of black oak, and on the sails the great emblem of the Ponilii glowed with magic. A huge shield surrounded the vessel, which moved slowly towards the city.

“The flagship,” Luna whispered.