Eclipse Of The Sun

An impenetrable fog surrounded Stormwind's fleet as they advanced through the ocean, looking for more Celestial ports to capture along the way to Manehattan. Scouts had reported a small city and a shipyard on a peninsula ahead of them. The remains of the Royal Navy would likely be there as well, and this time they would not escape to the next city like they had in Baltimare.

The admiral's brow furrowed as he remembered the last battle. He had nearly lost his landing ships to accurate ballista fire, and instead had to wipe the city out with his cannons from afar and move on. The Pegasus shook his head and started pacing around the deck, his ship gently rocking in the waves. The fleet was approaching a strait near the target city, and their movement would be much slower when they entered.

A Pegasus scout flew onto the deck from the fog and immediately made his way towards Stormwind. "What do you have?" the admiral asked.

"The strait is no more than a mile away. We will be inside it shortly."

"Good. Tell the other ships to get into formation," Stormwind ordered. The pony nodded and flew off.

Sure enough, a few minutes later, Stormwind noticed rocks and other terrain through the fog and darkness. He ordered that some torches be lit along the sides of the ship to give them at least some vision to prevent from running aground, as well as give the other nearby vessels something to follow. The land quickly went from level ground to slightly-wider-than-normal fjord, something that quickly began to bother the Pegasus. His ships would be unable to maneuver or even turn around; if trouble arose, their only hope would lay in their speed.

The only noise was the creaking of wood and splashing of waves against the Night Stalker's hull. The only other ponies above deck were the two in the crow's nest, himself, and the first mate on the wheel behind him. He began to wonder if the fog had been made by the Celestials in hopes of disorientating the armada.

Suddenly, a blinding yellow light washed over the water and ships, as if the sun itself had instantly swapped places with the moon. The hulking black forms of the Lunar and Zebra ships stood out in stark contrast to the dull gray fog, and Stormwind struggled to understand what exactly was happening, when dozens of flaming spearheads flew out of the fog and struck his ships.

The admiral had his tongue on the command to fire, when a ball of flame soared over his head, striking and exploding in the water. As this happened, more fireballs fell from the sky, some missing, some hitting. "We are under attack! Get everypony to their stations!" Stormwind shouted to his first mate, who he replaced at the wheel.

The Night Stalker took a hit in the rigging, sending yellow tendrils of flame up and down the ropes and through the masts. Another spell struck the hull, and a third landed right on the deck, setting it ablaze. Unicorns specializing in frost spells raced up and combated the flames, but while the ship itself was saved, it was too late for the rigging, and the flagship of the Lunar Armada began to slow.

The Celestial ships opened fire with their ballistae as well, scoring hits with their flaming spears and creating more work for the fire crews. Several Lunar vessels also lost their rigging and masts, and those who didn't were set on fire outright, their hulls falling apart into charred hunks of wood. The powder stores of one ship became a violent explosion, reducing the vessel to half of an outer hull, still entirely on fire, and quickly damning it to the water below.

The thunder-like report of cannonfire filled Stormwind's ears as his ship and others returned fire, but due to the obscure location of the enemy ships, it was unknown if they took any hits. A second barrage of spears marred the Lunar ships, several of which landing on the Night Stalker, quickly sending more flames than the crew could handle throughout the ship. A bolt of magic blew off part of the bow of the flagship, and Stormwind listened as two more ships lost their powder to the fires and exploded.

By now, the assault of magic had been joined by Celestial Pegasi, shooting their bows at crewmembers. The Lunar's own Pegasi took off to intercept them, and the few Unicorns on the warships who could create a strong ward began to shield their individual vessels from magic. The Lunar Marines emerged from the cover that their landing ships provided and intercepted the Celestial attackers with spells or arrows, pushing them back from the more vulnerable ships. With the cannons reloaded and the position of the Royal Navy pinpointed, the third volley of spears was met with a fusillade of iron shot.

Half of the Night Stalker had been enveloped in flame, and Stormwind gave the evacuation order once the ship's fate was certain. The crew began to jump overboard and attempt to swim to allied vessels, and Pegasi flew to help those who risked drowning. The admiral remained behind, running through the lower decks to make sure everypony had escaped before he would even think of leaving himself. The fire had spread there as well, and before long their own gunpowder would go up in flames.

There was nopony left on the ship. Stormwind raced back up to the top deck and was getting a running start for which to take off when a massive explosion from below tossed him into the air. He tried to salvage the attempt at flight, but to no avail; he crashed into the water not too many yards away from the burning flagship. The Pegasus kicked and flapped his wings in the water to keep himself above the surface, and a few seconds later a second explosion tore the Night Stalker in two.

The halves of the ship slowly began to sink, and the battle raged on. The Lunar cannons could not aim high enough to strike the cliff face, and even if they could, the exact location of the Celestial mages was unknown. With the remaining ships now protected by temporary wards, the spellcasters either fired blindly into the fog above - which was beginning to burn away from the fires and spells - or to their right and left. The fourth wave of bolts was the smallest and the last, the remaining ships either destroyed or hiding. Stormwind swam around until he located a functional friendly ship and called for help, and was quickly pulled aboard.

Eventually, the Celestials found that their spells were no longer effective and battle died down, and the light that had revealed the armada faded away. The damages were counted - every ship had taken irreparable damage to their rigging, and eleven had been sunk entirely - four frigates, a battleship, a cruiser, three destroyers, one of the supply ships and the flagship of the fleet. Multiple others had also taken heavy damage to their hull, which would require repairs if they were to continue.

The armada was trapped in the fjord until either the ground war caught up or other ships carrying sufficient repair supplies arrived. The Celestials, however, would undoubtedly return to finish what they started long before any such relief came to the admiral and his crews.

General Rune read the report again, as if somehow he had done so entirely wrong the first time. Lunar Armada ambushed at the Canterbury Strait - minimal Celestial losses - multiple ships sunk, all of them damaged, and the advance of the fleet halted.

It had been just what Equestria needed, both for morale and the hope of gaining the support of the nations who had turned their backs on Equestria when the war started. Until the Lunars could fix the damages caused to their vessels, no other ports would be in danger, and a turning point in the war could be relegated to the land; something that they might have a chance of doing with the strengthening of the cities close to the front.

Derbyshire still had its two thousand soldiers, and there were reports of a thousand or so Lunars just outside the wall, split among three groups. Rune wrote off a quick order to start harassing Night's forces until they either fell back or attacked and thus forced to contend with a regiment twice their size. Pushing them back would allow for more ponies to be sent back to defend against Griffon raids, which had slowly begun to take their toll on various armories - something that could result in the Royal Guard becoming unable to equip fresh soldiers - or even the current ones - effectively.

The lights of Dappleshore were visible in the early dawn. The city was small, but significant - capturing it meant the possibility of cutting off Celestial reinforcements to the front lines, provided the Lunars did their part at Canterbury. It also meant the further advancement of the Griffon border, something that would be welcomed and rewarded when the airborne battalions returned to Gryphus. Ironfeather and his squadron of longbow-wielding Griffons began their steady ascent, to give them good shots on any Unicorns that could disrupt the operations of the infantry also taking part in the attack; magic could make the battles one-sided if the mages were undisturbed.

They had raided this place many times before, as it held an armory. They had burned the crops from the local farms and food reserves as well, and done their best to keep the ponies unwilling or unable to fight. Dappleshore had been put on the defensive after earlier Griffon attacks picked off several of their Pegasi and any mage foolish enough to expose himself, and while the raiders had taken casualties early on, such a thing had become less and less common over time.

Some ponies awake at this hour noticed the Griffons and fled, calling out to the city guard. The squadron took a few shots at the Celestials as they emerged from their barracks and posts, wounding several - their armor was too thick at the angles being used, and so the Griffons aimed for exposed legs with the intention of finishing the soldiers off later. The remaining Pegasi garrisoned in the city took off, and some longbows broke off from the descent to chase them. Ironfeather drew back and fired, striking a pony as he flew up from the streets; he cried out and careened into a nearby wall, crumpling against it and falling back to the ground, motionless.

A few Griffons chasing their opponents suffered hits from Celestial arrows and fell alongside the downed Pegasi, and the survivors had to be covered while they looked for higher ground, lest the infantry make short work of them. A select few of Ironfeather's fallen comrades kept fighting on the ground, much to the surprise of the city guard, and multiple swordsponies took arrows to the throat and face, the closer range allowing for even greater accuracy.

The arrival of the mages signified a change in Griffon strategy - now, instead of being able to lay relatively motionless in the sky while others chased down Pegasi, all of them had to ensure they were only still when out of sight of the mages. Balls of fire lit up the sky as the Celestials tried to shoot down the Griffons, but they rarely scored hits - only the highly trained ones could use the long range beams of energy that were the real threat to the fliers, and they had been either suppressed into permanent cover during the battle or killed long ago, leaving the current mages' efforts relatively harmless.

The main Griffon infantry suddenly made its appearance, flying low over the walls and barreling into the first Celestials they found. The infantry force alone - roughly four hundred strong - outnumbered every Celestial in Dappleshore, and now that the archers were no longer getting harassed by the Pegasi and Unicorns - who had all been killed, wounded or forced to flee - the Celestial resistance collapsed completely, with the remaining soldiers being rounded up in the center of the city.

After that, the next process began: the Griffons began to go from house to house, rounding up every stallion they could find, and forced them to the town square along with the soldiers. The homes themselves were also trashed about - small valuables taken, larger ones destroyed, shelves and dressers rummaged through and tossed about - and the terrorized mares and fillies told, "We might come back." Once they were confident that every male inhabitant was in the center of the city, the Griffons began to pull individual Equestrians out of the mix, and slaughtered him before the crowd, usually with a quick gash to the throat if they were a civilian.

The soldiers, however, received a much more gruesome death depending on which breed of pony they were; Earth Ponies were hacked and slashed at with small serrated knives until they literally could not stand anymore, their muscles shredded and useless. The Pegasi had their wings removed in a similar manner and were left to bleed out, and the Unicorns - of which there were virtually none, most having been killed during the battle or later for fighting the Griffons pulling them from their homes - were held down, and their horns either sawed off or smashed with a sledgehammer reserved exclusively for the occasion.

Ironfeather grabbed a pony from the lot, sinking his talons into the stallion's skin and pulling him along. The Equestrian resisted slightly at first, but three fresh clawmarks across the face stopped such thoughts. He was a Pegasus, and so Ironfeather drew a knife and pushed his charge to the ground and grabbed his wing, forcing it to open. The Pegasus already knew what was going to happen, and tried to struggle and plead for mercy, until his captor screeched for him to shut up and delivered a swift stomp to his chest. The Griffon then placed the edge of his knife to the base of his prisoner's wing and slashed away, the resultant cries from the pony invoking a second kick, and then a third when he still refused to cease his whimpering.

The Griffon butchered the limb until only the bone remained, blood pouring from the wound and pooling at his paws, and he finally bent the wing forward and stomped on it, hearing the joint snap. He looked at the wing for a brief moment before tossing it aside and flipping the stallion over to repeat the process. By the time Ironfeather finished his work, crimson coated his forearms up to his elbows, and his paws left tracks wherever he stepped. The pony had long since gone into shock, eyes wide and jaw agape, and he barely moved until the Griffon forced him on his hooves. The Pegasi's formerly light brown coat was stained with blood, and it dripped from his sides as he was forced to walk towards the piled-up dead. Ironfeather gave one last kick to knock him onto the pile of corpses, where he remained.

The brutalities continued long after the last stallion had been killed. The Griffons did, in fact, return to the homes of the terrified ponies, all of whom begged for mercy from their atrocities. Ironfeather did not participate in the acts themselves, but all he had to hear was the cries of the fractured families inside the homes to know exactly what was going on. Eventually, the officers decided that enough was enough, knowing that if word should escape the conquered cities, other nations would finally try to help Equestria; they especially were concerned over what could happen if it reached the Lunars.

When the last of the Griffons emerged from the various homes reaffixing their belts and cloaks, they all chose the northernmost corner of the city and forced the inhabitants out of it, and then over the course of the day built up a small perimeter through the streets using materials torn off of other homes. Meanwhile, other Griffons patrolled and rounded up all the remaining Unicorn mares and watched the skies for attempted Pegasi escapes - after every magic-user was locked up without the ability to write letters and three Pegasi were killed, the city's silence had been ensured.

As Ironfeather emerged from his stolen home, he noticed multiple Griffons standing on and around the house that the higher-ranking officers had chosen for their headquarters. All of them were dead-silent, heads against the wall. The archer was about to call out to them, when one of the others raised a claw to his beak, and then signaled for Ironfeather to join the group on the roof. He nodded and took off, landing as quietly as he could on the roof, listening intently.

"...just captured this damn city, and now the Lunars ask for help?!" one of the officers cried.

"Nobody said we were giving the place up! We will leave a platoon behind to keep order, and we will return as soon as-"

"We will be vulnerable to counterattack from the south! A platoon - no matter how well trained - cannot hope to fight an army four times its size, which is exactly what the city of Stalliongrad has!"

"If we stay, what am I to tell Blackest Night? He knows of our capabilities - we demonstrated them long before this war - he won't accept a 'we can't make it' excuse. In fact, he might take it right up to Halfbeak himself, and then what?"

"And if we go, and the Celestials retake the city and tell everyone about what we've done, then what?"

Silence followed. "I will request that the First Airborne Battalion starts raiding Canterlot, and we can hope that the Celestials will deem their capital more important than some city in the north." came the eventual reply.

"Hope carries little meaning for me when relying on it risks the war."

"By Gryphus, what do you want from me?! I will have the First Airborne only attack Canterlot, if that's it!"

"I want you to keep our forces here, to repel any attempt at recapture at least until we have removed all evidence of our invasion."

"How, exactly, am I supposed to do that when the field officers practically encourage every member of the infantry to rape and pillage the city long after we've taken it over? We'd have to kill every mare here to ensure it never left the city, and then what would be the point of our fight if we've executed our charges?"

"These ponies scare easily. Just kill a few more and say they tried to escape, and they might never consider it."

"Maybe then will we send support to the Lunars?"

"Maybe, if they haven't solved their own problems by then."

"...Very well. I will have the troops begin their cleanup immediately." At this, the Griffons crowded on the building - now at numbers almost comical - flew from their perches. No sooner did the officer thrust his head from the window to begin repeating everything that the Griffons had already heard.

"Well, what do you make of them?" General Dark questioned. Aphelion shuffled the documents with his hoof.

"The story behind them is questionable, but other than that, I don't see any reason not to believe what they say. It's likely that it was just an act to confuse us," Aphelion replied. Meanwhile, Swift Breeze and Blackest Night looked on.

The black Unicorn spoke up. "If we sit here and remain indecisive, then their ploy has worked. The papers said five-hundred total Celestials in defense of Derbyshire and her walls - we double that, with cannon support no less. We wouldn't even need the Griffons if Stormwind and the marines hadn't gotten trapped in the strait."

"Yes, we will have to divert to Canterbury after this - judging by the letter Stormwind sent, if we don't get there soon, they will surely be sunk and killed," Breeze commented. "We may need those marines later."

"I agree, but if at all possible I want them to continue the plans set out when the fleet left the harbor unless it becomes absolutely necessary for them to be pulled back," replied Night. "As for Derbyshire, the letter is already sent and the Griffons - hopefully - on their way, so we will wait a short time for them, but after that, we attack."

The other generals nodded in agreement, and with their meeting over, they began to leave. The Second Lunar Battalion - led by Stonewall - and the First Artillery Company would be arriving by the end of the week, which would likely also serve as the date for the attack, Griffons or none.

Night fiddled with the device he found on Wavebreaker the night he was arrested. Another soldier who knew a little about Zebrican culture had told the Unicorn about the weapon and how to fire and reload the thing - it was just one variant of a gift usually reserved for Griffons who served in a war under command by the Zebras, and was often referred to by its owners as a 'talon-gun' or 'flintlock', and Night preferred the latter. It was loaded, as the Unicorn had found when he looked down the barrel in foalish curiosity.

He affixed it to his chest, and waited at the top of the hill overlooking Derbyshire, the city lights visible in the night. Not long after his meeting, the Celestials had begun to bombard the hill they knew the Lunar camps to be behind, but so far no serious damage had been incurred; it was a very narrow margin that the Celestials had to hit perfectly to do anything, lest their magic, arrows, and ballista bolts smash into the side of the hill or overshoot the camp entirely. General Stonewall and his ponies had arrived two days later, and the artillery company a day after that with an answer to the Celestial bombardment. Now, there were signs of damage in the wall - it was nowhere near as solid as originally thought - and necessity had produced a type of cannon shell that was hollow and filled with powder, causing a sizable explosion once the fuse burned down provided it was properly made and didn't explode upon firing.

Although he knew the Griffons wouldn't be able to respond unless a courier flew to the Lunars, Night had sent a second letter, just in case by some accident they had not seen the first one. They had not arrived, and the more the scouts reported on the numbers around Derbyshire, the more doubtful he became. Captured intelligence had said five hundred troops total, but there had been five hundred on the wall alone - while the Celestials were not known at this point for their stratagem, it seemed off that nopony would be in the city once the Lunars broke through, which would be easy on account of the two especially large sections of the wall that had been reduced to rubble.

The Unicorn left the hill and began to disperse his orders. The two battalions had evened out their numerical differences, and now both had just under six hundred ponies. They would both charge into the larger holes while the artillery temporarily ceased fire, as it could only reach a little behind the wall, and friendly fire was an unwanted risk. He called the troops to attention, and took his half of the army around the right side of the hill, and Stonewall took the other half. Breeze was to remain high above the battle with a separate squadron and report on any activity inside Derbyshire, and Dark was taking a few mages specializing in long-range attacks back with the cannons.

Night's battalion spread out into a crescent-like shape, with his lighter skirmishing infantry taking point two hundred yards in front of the center, and Stonewall had his do the same. The Celestials either hadn't noticed the Lunar forces - it was a half-moon tonight, and an attentive eye could make out the ponies as they moved - or were waiting for them to get closer. The Lunars kept a fast trotting pace on their advance, and the entry points were three hundred yards ahead. The skirmishers broke into a gallop, charging headlong into the fortifications and meeting their enemy head-on.

The Celestials suddenly opened fire with their spells; they had, in fact, been waiting. Fire quickly lit up the field, but unless the enemy scored a direct hit, the skirmishers were unfazed by a quick jaunt through the heat. Lunar mages fired back with their lightning, forcing the Celestials to keep their heads down, and Pegasi filled the air with their arrows as they chased each other down. The main battalion sped up as the walls suddenly exploded into a display of lights and shouting as the skirmishers met their Celestial equivalent. It would be another few minutes until the battalion arrived and relieved the advance force, and so Night pushed his troops even faster.

By the time he arrived, the skirmishers had begun to fall back, their numbers shockingly low. There wasn't time to question them, however - the Celestials were visible behind the wall, and their numbers were great. It was a terrible chokepoint he was marching into, but the Unicorn was confident, and ordered his soldiers onwards.

Night's company was first in line, followed quickly by the two on his left and right. Three lines of Celestial infantry greeted them - one was nothing but heavily armored Earth Ponies slightly larger than even General Stonewall, and the other two looked like slightly better equipped skirmishers. The Lunars continued amid flames and fallen soldiers. Night drew his older sword, unwilling to use the other, cursed blade just yet. Cannon shells and bolts of lightning flew overhead and landed behind or on the wall, but it seemed most shots were missing, with Dark unwilling to risk striking a fellow Lunar.

One of the heavy infantry swung a longsword at Night; the Unicorn ducked and prepared a spell while trying to stab at what looked like a gap in the Celestial's armor. His sword did nothing, and the heavy troop punched Night away, causing him to lose his concentration and misfire the spell, the lightning arcing high into the air. He rolled as the longsword flew downwards and split the dirt and jumped back on his hooves before kicking his opponent in the forelegs as he tried to pull the weapon up, knocking him away.

The Unicorn prepared another spell, only to be interrupted when a second Celestial charged and forced Night's attention away again. The Celestial died to Night's magic, by the time he turned to resume combat with the heavy soldier, the same pony had retrieved his longsword and was nearly upon the Lunar. He tried to direct the attack to the side rather than taking the brunt of the blow, and once again the sword hit the ground. Night thrust the tip of his sword into the hoof of the Celestial - the only exposed fur he could find - and twisted the blade, only to receive a laugh from his opponent. The Lunar gripped his sword with magic drive the thing further, until the soldier was effectively pinned to the ground by the sword. Night turned around and kicked the pony in the head, and he ceased to move.

All around him, other ponies were fighting and dying, and where one Celestial fell, it seemed two more took his place, fresh from the back lines. The Lunars put up their best, but they couldn't replenish their forces as quickly as their enemy, and were somewhat spent from their gallop long before the fighting began. Now that it was constant, they would become exhausted dangerously quickly. Night barely had time to tear his sword from the ground before three light infantry ganged up on him, and he moved back. A shell landing mere feet away made them all duck, and out of the corner of his eye, Night saw a row of Celestials crushed by the iron shot.

All three struck again and again, mostly clipping armor but sometimes drawing blood. One of them slipped up, and Night managed to hit him back, but took a solid strike on the foreleg in return. He lost his physical grip on the hilt of his blade, and as he cast the spell to pick it up again, the three Celestials lunged forwards, forcing Night to backpedal once more. He drew his other sword.

An unoccupied Lunar ran to Night's assistance, tackling one of the ponies. One of the other Celestial was momentarily distracted, allowing the Unicorn to surprise him by hacking at his face. The third pony attempted to knock Night away, but was headbutted rather harshly, and in his stunned state, also fell to Night's sword. He wondered how long it would be until the blade's magic took effect, and figured that the battle needed to be done before then. He nodded in gratitude as the other Lunar finished off his opponent with a quick jerk of the Celestial's head, snapping his neck.

The battle was not going well. The Lunars had been unable to push past the seemingly endless amount of Celestial troops, and the Celestials had yet to push out, resulting in the Lunars constantly having to throw themselves at their enemy or retreat; anything that would get them out of the chokepoint was being done. The Celestials hadn't used their magic at all, as it would kill far more than just the enemy, but any movement in the line could change that. A second heavy soldier crashed into Night and his ally, roaring and swinging a hammer the size of his own head, cratering the ground when he missed. The second Lunar took a hit in the side and was flung a few feet - with no time to charge, Night drew the flintlock, aimed it at the Celestial's body, and fired.

Fire and smoke erupted from the barrel and mechanism, and the target's neck twitched. At such a close range, Night could see where the soldier's armor had been torn and forced inward, and blood trickled from the wound. The pony choked and clutched his throat for a moment, but gripped his hammer up and turned to Night. Just as the Unicorn prepared to dodge, a bolt of lightning struck the brute in the chest, and he fell.

A Pegasus dived and landed in front of Night, shooting a nearby Celestial as he did. "General Night!" he cried, nearing the Unicorn. "Stonewall has fallen, and his battalion has begun to retreat!"

Night grabbed the pony by the collar and pulled him close. "You tell those bucking cowards that they will not retreat until I give the order, do you understand me!?" he shouted, pushing the Pegasus away as another Celestial attacked. The Unicorn put him down quickly, and another low cannonball slammed into the ramparts, scattering stone everywhere.

"Y-Yes sir!" the Pegasus replied, quickly flying off. The entry point was flooded with the bodies of the wounded and dead, and in spite of their best efforts, the Lunars were failing in their attack. Even as Night shouted and cursed, his own ponies were beginning to run from the fight, exhausted and terrified. Dammit! Luna forgive me, for we have lost this battle and it is my fault!

Despite every casualty the Celestials had taken, their lines remained strong, even in the face of sustained Lunar assault and cannonfire. Night finally succumbed to the fact that he needed to retreat before everypony died, and scaled piece of rubble and shouted, "Lunars! To the rear!" A Celestial had the gall to try and strike the general as he stood upon the stone, and consumed by hate, he lunged down and tackled the pony, sword dropped to the ground. He punched the pony repeatedly as he clawed at the dirt for his sword, and upon gripping it, angled the tip downwards and stabbed the soldier through the neck. Another Celestial, taking advantage of his distraction, raised his sword and prepared to strike, and Night looked up just in time to see the blade falling. He tried to lean back and avoid the blow.

The sword seemed to falter for a second, and the Celestial lurched forwards. The very tip of the sword sliced over Night's right eye, blinding that half of his vision, and he covered his eye with a hoof. His attacker staggered forwards and fell onto the Unicorn, unmoving and extremely heavy, an arrow sticking out the back of his neck.

Dozens of large, black forms soared just above the wall, screeching and calling, and the Celestials suddenly began to panic, confused. Their Pegasi were suddenly falling from the sky, dead, and their mages hadn't fired a shot in warning. Somepony shouted about Griffons, and the infantry - now without the ability to attack airborne targets - broke rank and got split up trying to find cover. Fresh Lunars, realizing their chance at redemption, surged forwards and let out a warcry; "For Luna!" they shouted, "For the Regency!"

Night struggled to push the Celestial corpse away, feeling the first of his victim's thoughts creeping into his mind. There wasn't much time left. A Lunar saw his struggle and rushed to his side, pulling the Unicorn to his hooves. "Are you alright, sir?" he asked, staring at the massive cut running down the general's face. He wiped the blood away - his eye was fine, and the cut was shallow.

"I will be better once that city flies our flag," Night replied, picking up his sword. He looked at the Lunar's side - a Pegasus. "Find the Griffon commander, and direct him to me, would you?"

"Yes sir," the pony replied, taking off. The Griffon infantry had blocked off the path back into the city, and the archers were chasing them off into the night, picking the retreating ponies at every chance - very few of them would escape this battle. Very few Celestials were still inside, making the capture of Derbyshire itself rather trivial. The Pegasus soon returned to Night, with the presumed commander in tow. "Here he is," said the Pegasus.

"General Night, a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I am Major Graytail of the Second Airborne Battalion," the Griffon said, extending his talons. Night reached forward and shook the appendage.

"I don't mean to come off as ungreatful, but it-" the Unicorn suppressed a groan as a second set of thoughts entered his mind. "-took you long enough."

"Don't worry about it. I myself would never refuse a call for help from an ally, unlike my Lieutenant Colonel.

"Thankfully, however, I was able to convince most of the battalion to take flight with me. Steelclaw wanted us to remove all evidence of our presence there, an impossible task that I knew was only to keep us there until the King ordered us forwards. He won't be pleased about it, but frankly if you had been defeated here, nobody would be pleased," Graytail explained.

"What do you-" Another sting hit the Unicorn, like some icy spike driven into his head, but he continued. "What do you mean, 'remove evidence'?"

"It's... touchy. We have a strict policy regarding ponies fighting after their guard surrenders, and that's as far as I'll go into it."

Night was out of time and unwilling to push further at this moment. "If you say so. Take the city, come to me when it's done. I need some time alone."

"As you wish, General."

Night turned and stumbled out the eastern side of the wall as his allies left. The Unicorn found a small niche in the wall, he struggled to remain conscious against the onslaught of memories from four different ponies. The pony vomited into the hole in the wall, nearly collapsing. Not long after, he was consumed by a terrible fit of coughing and heaving that left his lungs burning for air and his throat feeling ragged. Weakened, he staggered a few feet away and fell, his vision fading in and out of focus as thoughts bombarded his mind - he did his best to block them out, a fog falling over his mind. He passed out before the worst of it could begin.

Some time later, Night's eyes opened again and realizing where he was, clambered to his hooves. Hoping to at least get the slightest bit of rest before the Griffon returned, he started the short journey back to the Lunar camp. He needed a drink of something to get the faint taste of blood out of his mouth, and maybe a new alternative sword. That, and reload the flintlock, provided he could find what he needed in the camp, as well as bathe and get his wounds dressed-

On second thought, he may not be getting any rest.