Episode 215: Night Raid

In the long records of Equestria’s history the number of times it had officially mobilized for war were borderline nonexistent. Certainly not ever in living memory. The very fact that the nation had a military at all was seen as something of an amusing paradox, even by its own residents. Oh, your son is in the ‘Solar Guard’? How lovely, must be nice watching gardens grow and guiding tourists all day. Did you hear so-and-so’s daughter joined Luna’s new ‘Night Guard’, wonder what they do all night? Stargaze? The joking was ever in good nature, and only partially tongue in cheek. Most ponies understood that the existence of the Solar and Night Guard were more than a formality. The Guard often doubled as police, and Equestria did have a rather consistent issue with aggressive wildlife that sometimes needed dealing with. And while the population knew that on paper Equestria had long standing treaty’s with its neighbors, it wasn’t as if they were unaware of the prospect, however miniscule, of a hostile invasion.

But by and large the word ‘war’ didn’t enter into the daily, weekly, monthly, or even yearly thoughts of Equestria’s citizens. They just knew that they did have a military, and that units were stationed in every major city to help keep the peace.

The past month or so had gradually seen the rise of unease and rumor, however. More and more families who had members that were a part of one of the two Guards, be it Solar or Night, noticed those family members were gone for long weeks of ‘special training’ sessions in undisclosed locations. Rumors abounded of unicorn mages being approached for special projects in new factories, or dispatched to erect magical pylons of unknown purpose at various points around cities or in the countryside. Especially over the past couple of weeks this activity had increased and citizens who were paying attention to the gossip floating around had taken notice that something big was in the works.

Then news of the Crystal Empire being attacked by unknown assailants that had caused great damage to Equestria’s precious northern neighbor had blown the lid off of things. While the populace wasn’t panicking, unrest was growing, especially given the rampant tales of the monstrous nature of the attackers spread. Officially Princess Celestia and Princess Luna made public the information concerning these new ‘Hollow’ threats, and the countermeasures being taken to protect Equestrian citizens. Details remained sparse, however, and most ponies went about their daily lives nervously wondering about the danger.

Yet there were benefits to the public disclosure. Princess Celestia, not longer needing to be as clandestine about her or her sister’s preparations, had been able to make a lot of progress in a short amount of time. It helped that she’d thought ahead to the day she might need to orchestrate a large scale military action in her nation’s defense, and a good chunk of the groundwork had already been in place long before she’d even heard of the threat of Starlight Glimmer, or the Arrancar version of Chrysalis. Granted, she’d never imagined the nature of entities like Hollows, composed of such unusual spirit energy that was very unlike magic, but with the right samples garnered from Cadence’s brush with the enemy it hadn’t proven too difficult to adjust both ward, weapon, and spell designs to match.

Time was the limiting factor. There really just hadn’t been enough of it. Not to make every preparation she’d wanted. Now, time was up, and she and her people would have to make do. Outwardly she expressed the image of utmost confidence and composed dignity, while inwardly she was hoping with every fiber of her being that they were ready for this and that the cost in lives would be minimal.

Practically the moment Sombra had contacted her and confirmed all of her fears, Celestia had begun dispatching priority messages to every Solar Guard unit stationed across Equestria; full alert and mobilization of all forces, attack imminent. Princess Luna had done the same for her Night Guard, all specialized and tasked with their own defensive measures that would compliment the Solar Guard. Celestia had barely finished speaking with Twilight and Flash Sentry about their own plans before she started receiving alert messages via magical communication spells that transmitted glowing text to her, akin to floating scrolls. These informed her of the first breeches of the outermost ring of detection wards.

The Hollows were coming. As Twilight had surmised, Appleoosa’s wards had gone off first, but disturbingly soon after wards were triggered for both Manehattan and Las Pegasus. Fortunately it was just those three areas thus far, but that was bad enough, considering Appleloosa was nearly defenseless save for its sheriff and small deputy force, while the other two cities were the largest population centers in Equestria. Even Canterlot, despite being the capital, didn’t boast the numbers of Manehattan or Las Pegasus. But at least in the cases of those two cities, large concentrations of the newly re-trained and re-equipped Solar and Luna Guard had been stationed.

Given all of this had begun to go down not long after nightfall, Celestia had been retired to her chambers for the night after having hooved over the reins to Luna to keep an eye on things. Celestia didn’t bother walking, but rather teleported to the throne room the second her return message to Sombra had been sent informing him to get himself and the Reigai to Mt. Aris with the Klugetown residents.

She saw Luna quickly speaking with one of the tall, imposing forms of her Night Guard. These ponies all bore a similar appearance due to the enchantments on their midnight blue armor, all sharp angles that enhanced the bat-like features and wings each Night Guard was given, regardless of what pony tribe they haled from. The Solar Guard armor had similar enchantments, and while there were practical reasons for this, it had led to a little confusion in some circles of Equestrian society concerning whether or not 'bat ponies' were an actual, hidden tribe of ponies, or just the cosmetic result of Luna's nighttime aesthetic for her Guard. Luna seemed to delight in keeping it all a mystery. This one, a female whose name Celestia recalled as Echo, ceased talking and bowed, her stance all eager, nervous energy. Luna all but leaped from the throne, already wearing the chest piece and helmet of her Relic armor. Celestia didn’t fault her, despite the danger of using multiple Relics. Luna was probably having an easier time with it than she was, and Celestia could feel the weight of her own Relic even as it sat nestled in its hidden, magical sub-pocket, as if Eos’ ire was a force that could traverse the planes.

“Sister, I presume you got the word as well?” Luna said, “I’ve already told Echo to prepare our interception units.”

“I’ve gotten word and more,” Celestis said, swiftly explaining what she’d learned from Sombra, to which Luna’ visibly bristled.

“We should teleport there immediately! You and I can take this foul Hollow Chrysalis together with our Relics!” Luna said, the air around her growing noticeably frosty as Luna’s breath huffed with visible mist in the air. Celestia shook her head.

“No, sister. If we do that, I suspect we would be playing right into her hooves. This Chrysalis is no less treacherous and cunning than the one we know, and would expect a frontal assault on her stronghold. She would have a counter to such a move, and I can guess what it would be, given the properties we know of that Crossgate they used to get here in the first place.”

Luna’s brow wrinkled beneath the cold blue glow of her ornate helmet, her mane of midnight sky writhing with her own smoldering anger, “You think they’ll use it to transport themselves away?”

“If they haven’t already done so, yes. I imagine we’d arrive only to find them already gone, and our own time wasted. I’m not taking an attack on their base off the table if it turns out they stick around, or pursue Sombra and the Reigai, but for now Equestria needs you, I, and Twilight able to respond to these new attacks. Now, come, we need to get to the command center.”

The ‘command center’ was not a new construction, but it was newly renovated. Celestia had had it built long ago, in case she’d ever needed to conduct a war on a large scale, where she couldn’t necessarily afford to be on the front line in all circumstances. She and Luna had both worked on the enchantments for it, taking lessons from their experience in creating the underground arena beneath their previous castle in the Everfree Forest, and even their knowledge of making useful and intelligent constructs like Announcer. Celestia almost even smiled at the thought, wondering if Twilight might succeed one day in giving Announcer the ability to exist beyond the confines of the arena... since it would be interesting to see her reaction to finding out she had ‘siblings’.

“Right,” said Luna, “Come, Echo, to me.”

“Yes, my Princess,” said the Night Guard, hopping to her side instantly as both Luna and Celestia teleported together in twin flashes of gold and blue light.

They emerged into an already very active chamber, and one of impressive proportions. Oval in shape, and nearly the size of several warehouses put together, all was carved from solid stone, for this room was built within the uppermost reaches of the mountain upon which Canterlot rested. Essentially the entire peak of the mountain was hollowed out and converted into a fortified command center, with access for regular ponies possible via magical gates constructed and enchanted into the very walls along the south side of the oval. From there, ponies of the Solar and Night Guard entered and exited from barracks and sub-command posts all over Equestria. In this place, messengers could be dispatched instantly to any number of fronts through the gates and could let officers receive or give reports across thousands of miles. It had taken some time, but preparing these gates had been an investment on Celestia and Luna’s part to spare the need to keep a group of uniquely trained unicorns around to solely be focused on the difficult art of teleporting. The alicorn sisters had also made a point of enchanting a number of items to allow for Guard officers to open gates, if only to a limited number of locations or to other bearers of the gate items.

The entire center of the chamber was dominated by a living map of Equestria, the magic sustaining it linked to dozens of sites enchanted over the landscape’s wide breadth to provide accurate information on troop movements, the status of townships, villages, and cities, and mark hostile force as soon as they were detected. Already the map was blooming with red markers making their way from the south, clusters fast approaching Manehattan on the east coast, Las Pegasus hovering over the west coast, and Appleoosa nestled down along the southern border. Blue fields in block formations showed Solar and Night Guard regiments, the sun symbol to denote Solar Guard, a crescent moon to denote Night Guard. Celestia knew that the enchanted map would let her focus on any given unit to see its numbers, specializations, and the names of its commanding officers.

Twin thrones hovered under magic over the map, while a set of six smaller chairs were erected around the map where ponies already sat, all identical mares whose bodies were constructed of living gray stone pulled from the mountain itself. With bright, focused gemstone eyes, these constructs were essentially ‘sisters’ to Announcer, based on the same magical design, albeit with a more focused and orderly purpose. Each was named after the gemstones their eyes were made from; Agate, Emerald, Sapphire, Jade, Quartz, and Onyx. The task they had been created for was to provide logistical and information support to Celestia and Luna, whether one or both were in the command center at any given time, and aid in smoothing out communications as any given crisis developed.

Already waiting for the two Princesses at this command center was another Night Guard pony, a male with a tall, lanky body and an uneasy smile as he nodded to them, especially Echo, “Crazy night for everything to go down, eh sister?”

“Ever watchful through night’s domain is our motto, Nocturne, so no need to act surprised. We knew this was coming,” Echo replied simply, joining her brother, who bent one bat wing to salute Luna and Celestia.

“Princesses, all Night Guard units report readiness. Interceptors and sniper regiments all on standby to engage once our golden, shiny brothers and sisters make anvils of themselves.”

Coughing loudly next to the two Night Guard was a dour faced unicorn stallion, whose polished gold armor and white coat marked him as a member of the Solar Guard. Celestia knew him well and that sans the armor that General Armchair had a more dusty brown coat and mane, and was a vocal proponent of the uniform appearance enchantments used by the military as an effective means of keeping a clear indicator of allies in the heat of battle. Some of the younger members of the Guards argued against them, and Celestia had on occasion considered removing the requirement, but in theory the idea of uniform appearance creating cohesion in battle held up. Armchair, despite his unusual name that might indicate otherwise, was one of the only command officers in the Solar Guard with active combat experience, mostly due to a thankfully brief campaign a number of years ago to dislodge an unfortunate infestation of troublesome griffin bandits that had taken root in Equestria’s northern territories.

“Princesses, as our night kin say, the Solar Guard is prepared to be the anvil to their hammer,” General Armchair said, indicating the map dominating the chamber’s center, “Fortunately our alert system has worked perfectly to give us the warning needed to react in time. Raid sirens are awakening the citizens and local police are handling evacuations into shelters, while our troops are mobilizing on the city perimeters. All bastion points report pylons are at full charge, and artillery units are on standby. Mage teams are also all accounted for.”

Celestia gave the curtest of nods as she moved past him to the table, flying up to her throne and looking over the map while glancing at the stone mares, “Very good, General. Luna and I will likely need to deploy to the front line ourselves, so I’m tasking you with coordinating the defense from here when that happens. Onyx, have our warning messengers been sent to our allies in the Crystal Empire, Yakyakistn, the dragons, Griffinstone, and the buffalo tribes?”

Onyx turned her pure obsidian eyes up towards Celestia, hooves working over a series of floating arcane runes that hovered over her chair near the map, flashing with various indicators. Her tone had the same energy and enthusiasm as Announcer’s, but was sharpened to a formal, professional point, “Confirmed, ma’am! Messengers were dispatched the instant wards were triggered. I’ve received confirmation status on all messenger status updates, save for the one heading to Appleoosa.”

“The buffalo are nomadic, so their camp won’t remain in the same spot, but they don’t go far from the region,” Celestia said, “Chief Thunderhooves did provide us with a general idea of where they’d be at any given time, so the messenger shouldn’t have too much trouble finding them, and even then Sheriff Silverstar would probably know the more exact location of where the buffalo are making camp.”

“Princess, Appleoosa is weakly defended,” said General Armchair, “Shouldn’t I be diverting at least one or two regiments to them?”

“Princess Twilight Sparkle has agreed to send her recently acquired airship, the Treasury, and its formidable firepower to protect the town, along with our Soul Reaper emissary, Flash Sentry, to lead the defense. However, if you believe we can spare any troops, then I’ll authorize it,” said Celestia, to which the General swiftly nodded, and turned to a different one of the six stone mares.

“Very good, Sapphire, dispatch a message to the Hoofington 2nd Regulars, they’re to redeploy via gate to Appleloosa and support Sheriff Silverstar and the Treasury.”

“Yes, General!”

Nocturne piped in quickly, bat wings flaring up, “We ought to divert a sniper team as well. All that open space around Appleoosa is a perfect shooting gallery for our arbalests.”

“Do it,” said Luna, taking her own throne that floated opposite of Celestia, “And while you’re at it, Nocturne, I’d like you to lead the team personally. You’re our best markspony, and I fear Appleoosa might turn into a bigger fight if the Hollows find Manehatten and Las Pegasus to be too difficult prey.”

Nocturne’s teeth flashed a white, fanged grin, “My pleasure, Princess.”

Next to him, Echo grunted, “Don’t underestimate the enemy, brother.”

“I’m not. Just looking forward to shooting something that isn’t a target dummy or an enchanted training construct. We’ve trained our whole adult lives for this, Echo. For once it's not just six mares with sparkly rocks to save the day-”

Luna cut him off with a firm look and tone, “Those six mares with sparkly rocks remain our nation’s greatest defenders, Nocturne. They will be risking their lives on the front lines the same as any member of the Guard. Show them the respect and support they deserve, and appreciate the peace we’ve enjoyed for so long, largely thanks to their efforts.”

Nocturne’s face burned bright with embarrassment and he bowed his head, “Apologies, my Princess. I misspoke. I merely meant that I’m glad to have the opportunity to do my duty, which I’ve trained hard for.”

Luna nodded, once, and gestured with a hoof, “Then go, and please, fight well and return alive.”

“Princess!” Nocturne saluted, and quickly flew through one of the gates, heading towards one of many locations where Night Guard would be mustering to deploy. Echo remained, sighing heavily as she came over near to Luna’s throne to watch the map.

For a few precious minutes the Princesses worked together to finish issuing orders and organizing the defense. Each of the stone mares relayed orders, provided information, and acted to facilitate the smooth process of command to the point that one could readily see why there weren’t any other staff present. The Princesses had concocted this chamber so that they wouldn’t need a giant staff of aides and officers to command the forces of Equestria, and could rapidly respond to any changes on the battlefield. General Armchair and Echo, essentially the highest ranked officers of their respective Guards, were barely needed as Celestia and Luna went to work.

Princess Twilight was contacted via message spell once more when it was time to confirm that she and her friends were prepared to move out, as well as the Treasury. By then return messages had been received from Equestria’s allies. Princess Cadence, Shining Armor, and the Crystal Guard were mobilized and ready to lend support, although for now Celestia wanted them to remain in reserve and wait to guard the Crystal Empire. Prince Rutherford of Yakyakistan had a full ‘horde’ of yak warriors ready to be teleported to any location where heavy muscle was needed, and like the Crystal Guard, were being held in reserve, but were more likely to be used first as an extra hammer once the enemy was engaged fully.

Griffinstone had a contingent of volunteer soldiers, but Celestia was hesitant to risk them, given Griffinstone itself was not heavily defended in comparison to other cities. The dragons responded with vigor, however, with Torch especially wroth over the disappearance of Spike and his daughter. That search remained fruitless save for the likely confirmation that the pair had been spirited away to the Beast Realm. This meant a large force of very angry dragons had nowhere to vent their frustration at the abduction of their Dragonlord, and now the Hollows had provided a more than adequate target.

Celestia felt almost sorry for the Arrancar that would get to face the flight of rage filled, vengeful dragons. Las Pegasus was closer to the dragon’s search area than Manehattan, so Torch was heading there, first. Celestia was fine with that. Manehattan had the larger concentration of Solar Guard, and she was more than ready to go there herself to reinforce that defense. Her only worry was the heated sensation in the back of her mind, that feeling of hot, flaming eyes boring into her heart from within. Eos wasn’t gone. Far from it, the ancient alicorn’s personality was just waiting for Celestia to tap into her Relic again. Celestia knew she’d have her own fight to win, internally, if it came to that. Guilt also pushed at her consciousness like a mold. Ever since she became an Inheritor and Eos’ memories flooded her, she knew of Eos’ crime, and other matters beyond that...

I can’t let it distract me. Not right now.

Perhaps once Equestria was well and truly safe, she’d find a way to confront and make amends for the wrongs Eos committed, but for now all she could do was put her all into defending her realm. Thankfully she knew she wasn’t doing so alone.

“Princess Twilight, once the Treasury departs, I want you to split your team between Las Pegasus and Manehattan,” she said to the image of Twilight that floated in a magical mist over the map, “I’ll leave who up to you and your friends. Just focus on backing up the Solar and Night Guard forces in any way you can. If we can route the Hollows quickly enough, we might still be able to redeploy to Appleoosa.”

“I understand,” replied Twilight, looking at something off to her left, likely one of her friends saying something. Twilight frowned, but nodded, “Actually, Princess, Applejack wants to go to Appleoosa, too. I know that wasn’t in the plan, but I agree with her. I’d feel better if at least one of us was there. Rarity and Pinkie Pie are saying they’re good to take care of Manehattan. That’ll leave me, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash to aide Las Pegasus, which makes sense given its an aerial city and we’re the ones with wings.”

Celestia and Luna exchanged looks, and Celestia nodded, “Very well, move out as soon as you can. If things get dicey in Las Pegasus, Luna will go there immediately, while I’ll be prepared to go to Manehattan in the same event.”

“Thank you, Princesses. Stay safe, and let’s hope that everything goes well. Starlight and Trixie have already teleported to the Changeling Hive, so hopefully everything will be okay there, too. Good luck to all of us.”

As Twilight cut off the message spell, Celestia tried to maintain her air of calm as she turned her attention back to the map. All of maybe twenty minutes had passed since the first alert to this point, and all defenses had gotten into place in record time. All that was left to do was watch the red dots on the map approach her cities, her citizens, her little ponies... and pray that they were as prepared for this as she hoped they were.

Despite it being night, the huge, full moon in the sky along with the thick blanket of stars was providing nearly as much light as daytime. Visibility wouldn’t be a hindrance. As for seeing the Hollows, which normally were invisible to mortal eyes, that issue had been addressed through slight alterations to every Solar or Night Guard’s armor. All of them had been briefed on the dangerous, and highly unusual nature of their enemy. Most at least believed they knew what to expect.

Temporary barracks that had been erected in the previous week were now emptied, and the forest hills around Manehatten were occupied now by ten full regiments of the Solar Guard, with another four occupying the city itself. In Equestrian terms, a regiment was a smaller affair than its human counterpart, two hundred ponies to be precise. For an Equestrian’s notion of military size, that was more than adequate for the usual peacekeeping and disaster relief aid that most Guard forces were meant to fulfill. Few could imagine any reason to mobilize so many ponies for all out war, and even harder to imagine an enemy requiring nearly three thousand well trained and armed soldiers to repel.

Then again, Manehattan was a big city, the biggest in all Equestria, sporting a population of nearly a quarter million souls. It was built on an island that occupied Manehattan Bay, with three great bridges that connected the densely packed island to the mainland. Towering skyscrapers occupied much of Manehatten’s real estate, with smaller buildings clustered between the tall edifices of glass, stone, and steel. It was considered one of the most modern cities in Equestria, too, with an active subway system and connected to the rest of the country by both railroad, an airship tower, and the most active harbor in the nation.

When one looked at it logically, three thousand soldiers was positively paltry for defending such a large place, but in Equestria, there’d never been a need to fortify or defend it in the first place. This was literally new ground for those involved, including the commanding officers who were following the orders of the Princesses. Amid the hills on the mainland encircling Manehattan island, ten bastions had been erected, each for a single regiment to occupy. These bastions were not walled affairs, but rather earthworks where trenches surrounded tall, stone pylons that were covered in arcane glyphs. Within the trenches themselves were emplacements for enchanted ballista and the rarer cannons that had come into recent favor with the growing prominence of magi-tech. The pylons themselves were creations of magi-tech, their purpose not singular, but many. While the trenches themselves were manned by Solar Guard of the pegasus and earth pony persuasion, most of the dedicated unicorn mage teams were centered around the pylons, ready to provide magical energy to the devices.

In the trenches themselves, squads of Solar Guard watched the surrounding hills and lightly forested fields with wary eyes, cradling spears and crossbows that faintly glowed with the different arcane hues from unicorns who had enchanted the weapons minutes prior. Between the moon and starlight, along with the glittering lights of Manehattan, each pony had clear lines of sight at the countryside, where darkened farmsteads could be seen from families already evacuated to the city.

“Where are these dang buggers?” said one jittery stallion under his breath, eyes scanning left and right as he aimed his crossbow.

“Word is they’re coming right at us from the south,” said an equally uneasy mare, gripping her spear in steady hooves, “Should be on us any minute, now.”

“I can’t see a thing. Shouldn’t we be seeing them if they’re that close?” replied the other, only to have a nearby unicorn bearing an officer’s badge embedded on the shoulder guard of his armor give the soldier a sharp look.

“Cut the chatter and don’t drop your guard. The enemy isn’t natural, and we can’t waste time wondering what to expect. Just focus on your job, soldier, and-”

“Contact!” shouted another pony further down the line, her voice carrying loud over the trenches, “They’re in the sky!”

Eyes from two hundred ponies occupying the bastion shot upwards to see clusters of dark, onyx colored forms in ghostly, pale white clothing. Numbers were hard to gauge, for they were swiftly leaping across the sky in whooping packs of several dozen apiece, but there were in turn dozens of these packs, all spreading out to the east and west as they rushed the southern banks of Manehattan Bay. Some were angling down towards the bastions in the hills, while others were traversing higher, ignoring the soldiers to make for the city.

In an instant, orders rang out from officers across the bastions on the southern bank, “Enemy contact confirmed! Activate the pylons!”

Groupings of highly trained unicorn mages all channeled streams of raw magic from their horns into the pylons that stood tall from the center of each bastion. In mere moments these edifices of sparking magi-tech bloomed to life with grinding magical gears and spinning pistons, crackling electrical coils and flickering tubes, all channeling vast magical energy towards precisely calculated physical ends. All at once ten pylons, one for each bastion, lit up the night with arching rivers of eye searing blue light. These arcs all flowed upwards and outwards, blossoming into sheets of electrical magic force. These sheets joined together, the ten streams linking at an apex some two hundred meters above Manehattan itself.

The hordes of Chrysalis, several hundred hungry Arrancar drones all eager for souls and blood, pulled up short of this intense barrier of harnessed magical electricity that now formed a vast dome around the city they were targeting. Similar, smaller domes formed around each bastion, encasing the ponies within they’re protective barriers.

“Heheh, what do you think this is supposed to be?” asked one amused female Arrancar, with long, drooping green hair hiding most of her face as she poked at the barrier with her curved Zanpaktou blade. Her body lit up with incandescent blue light as electricity surged through her and knocked her back like a pinball, smoking and sizzling as her hair stood up on all ends as she dropped from the sky. Nearby a number of her pack chuckled loudly at her misfortune, a burly male Arrancar elbowing his nearby kin.

“Alright, dumbasses, don’t go poking the electric fence. Ponies want to play games, we play games. Tear this stupid thing down with Ceros!”

Down below, similar scenes were playing out near the bastions, with hungry, curious Arrancar gathering around the edge of the electrical barriers and several getting zapped after giving them experimental prods. It didn’t take them long to grasp that trying to physically break the barriers was... unsound, and most backed up and began to raise palms, gathering pools of crimson light in readiness to fire Ceros at the obstacles standing between them and the tasty ponies beyond.

Just then, however, the Solar Guard and Night Guard alike went to work.

“All troops,” commanded officers brandishing gleaming sabers and gesticulating at the assembled Arrancar, “Open fire! Concentrate on any foe preparing a blast!”

The barriers operated by the bastions were potent, but also malleable by the unicorns operating the pylons. In an instant openings flared open like windows in the barriers which allowed the rows of crossbow ponies to fire, and the spear wielders to aim the spears like rifles. Just as crossbow bolts were loosed, so too did the spears emit focused beams of magical light, akin to lasers. The Arrancar were staggered by a barrage of fire, the crossbow bolts exploding on impact due to the explosive magic enchanted into the bolts, and the searing beams from the spears striking with burning intensity.

The Arrancars’ hardened, Hierro fortified bodies withstood these weapons, but not without injury as many were knocked back or forced to vanish out of the way using Sonido, surprised more than anything that they could even be hurt by the Equestrian weapons. And this was before the larger ballista and cannon emplacements added their own thunder to the cacophony.

The cannons were themselves magical affairs, enchanted silver metal in the barrels channeling enhanced mana through focusing lenses that transformed beams into packed balls of raw magic energy that then flew out and exploded on impact in flares of arcane fire, dotting the night with flashes of red, green, blue, gold, or purple light. The ballista bolts were larger versions of the crossbows, each bolt enchanted to disperse scintillating blasts of elemental magic on impact.

Caught relatively unprepared, several Arrancar were slain outright by concentrated barrages, the ponies following their officers’ orders to focus fire on any Arrancar they saw that had been charging up a Cero.

This initial success brought a string of cheers from the ponies as the openings in the electric barrier closed back up, but those were short lived as it became apparent that while they’d killed a few of the enemy, many scores more were arriving, and were now wise to the danger. Ceros began to hammer down from above as Arrancar, flickering about at high speed, only took a second to charge up Cero beams to discharge upon the domes before the ponies could focus any serious return fire. The thick barrier of crackling, cerulean electricity held up against the pounding red beams, but this forced the unicorn mages to channel even more energy into the pylons to keep the barrier going.

Meanwhile a different fight had become joined in the sky.

The Arrancar who had gone for Manehattan itself were similarly trying to batter down the barrier protecting the city, sending flights of Ceros into the powerful dome. At the same time, shadows moved from clouds the Arrancar hadn’t even noticed approaching and surrounding the area.

Fewer in number than the Solar Guard, Luna’s Night Guard operated not in regiments, but hunter platoons of twenty apiece, split between ‘interceptors’ and ‘snipers’. Ten such platoons of each type had been sent to Manehattan, a dark army of four hundred ponies bearing the bat-like appearance of the Night Guard that soared out of the clouds to engage the Arrancar in the air.

For these Arrancar who stood on the air like it was solid ground, most of their attention was on trying to tear down Manehattan’s protections, and so the first clue the majority had that they were also under attack like they’re brethren on the ground was the darting shadows clawing into their back line.

Each Night Guard interceptor had drank an alchemical potion prior to engaging the enemy, a potion that boosted speed and strength for a short number of minutes. Their armor enchantments helped blend and blur their forms, making them appear like midnight blue streaks as they attacked. Equipped with clawed gauntlets infused with magical enchantments meant to sharpen their steel, the Night Guard interceptors struck hard and fast against the first Arrancar. Their gauntlet claws found purchase on toughened Hierro skin, Equestrian enchantments matching against spirit empowered flesh and at least half of the time managing to draw blood.

The surprise attack was further aided by the sniper teams, who remained posted in the clouds. Each one carried an arbalest, an exceptionally long and large crossbow with four bows instead of two, which loaded and launched bolts the size of javelins. Using brass, magically enchanted scopes, each Night Guard sniper could peer through their scope to see ghostly images of where their target would be, allowing them to predict and adjust aim accordingly. As a result, the night was filled with accurate streaks of silvery bolts of metal that managed to impale a number of Arrancar before they fully became aware of the attack.

By then, however, everything turned into a chaotic mass of bloodshed in the sky. The Arrancar, now fully eager for bloodshed, turned on the Night Guard in their midst and it became a contest of their insane, spirit-born speed and strength against the hit-and-run tactics of the alchemically empowered Night Guard. Once the Arrancar started striking back, the ponies fast learned the necessity to keep moving. Even glancing blows from Arrancar Zanpaktou severed limbs, heads, and bodies like wet bags of meat, armor or no. Over a dozen ponies lost their lives in the first few seconds before they quickly understood the need to evade and not tackle these enemies hoof-to-hoof.

The snipers also quickly grasped the need to start moving, for Arrancar, realizing how deadly the arbalests were, turned their attention to the clouds and began discharging Cero beams into the white masses. Any sniper not fast enough to get out of the way was incinerated by the murderous ruby beams, but the loss of comrades only hardened the survivor’s resolve to return fire from new positions and repay their foe in kind.

Officers amid the bastions not yet engaged began to have their troops turn their aim skyward, readying cannons and crossbows alike to light up the Arrancar in the air and provide the Night Guard with support. However, the bastions under assault were unable to do so, far the Arrancar, now managing to concentrate their fire with Cero and Balas both, were managing to tear open holes in the smaller domes around the bastions themselves. With gleeful shouts and hungry laughter, Arrancar began to slip through those gaps and engage the Solar Guard directly. A confusing melee in the trenches ensued as slower ponies gathered back to back to try to protect themselves against the speedy Arrancar. The close quarters did favor the ponies in so much that some Arrancar couldn’t make full use of Sonido to evade, and earth pony strength was no laughing matter even for an Arrancar.

While some ponies were cut down swiftly, others dogpiled Arrancar that paused to kill their comrades, in some cases managing to hammer spears and discharge their beams at point blank range into Arrancar in enough numbers to burn through their Hierro. Still, for every Arrancar that went down, it seemed it took four or five ponies to do it, with several being cut down in the process.

The unicorn mages went to work, adjusting the pylons and channeling new magic to make use of the pylons’ other features; concentrated bolts of lightning that began lancing into the Arrancar and pushing them back, trying to clear them from the trenches. The raw power of these electrical bolts was enough to fry a few Arrancar in their tracks, while others got smart and targeted the pylons themselves with cackles as they unleashed fast Bala bullets upon the magi-tech devices.

In short order at least two pylons at different bastions were destroyed in showers of magical sparks and flaming bits of wreckage. Fortunately these pylons, designed in part by Twilight Sparkle herself, had a built-in failsafe to keep them from exploding in catastrophic fashion, so the bastions themselves were relatively unharmed and most of the unicorn mages operating them could dive to cover to avoid injuries. While the whole electrical dome flickered with the disruption of magic energies, the system was also designed to keep functioning even if as few as three or four pylons remained active.

The night was filled with the ugly sounds of battle; explosions, shouts, screams, and the clash of metal.

All of ten minutes had passed since the start of the battle, and while the protective dome around Manehattan was still intact, a few Arrancar had noted it had been weakened and decided now was the time to make full use of their Zanpaktou. Both in the pitch ground battle at the bastions and in the air, nearly half of Chrysalis’ Arrancar horde brandished their Zanpaktou and invoked their Resurreccions all at once.

While the release of a mere drone’s Zanpaktou couldn’t match the tremendous output of spiritual pressure even a lower ranked Espada might achieve, the fact that so many Arrancar were transforming simultaneously created a similar effect of incredible reiatsu bathing the whole area. Even non-spiritually aware ponies could feel the change in the air, like a cold, clawed hand pressing down on their chests as all over the place explosions of raw power cascaded out of multiple numbers of these terrible foes.

The transformations were of course as varied as the numbers of Arrancar present, some growing in size, others gaining additional or longer limbs, many taking on twisted animal qualities forged of pale, waxy bone armor. Regardless of form, the power increase was evident immediately, as cannons and magical beams suddenly found it much more difficult to punch through the hardened hides of the Resurreccions. One Arrancar who had taken the form of a bipedal saber-toothed tiger with a ridge of spikes down his back took four point-blank shoots from one set of cannons, while unicorn mages focused spirals of electrical might from the dome to impact him... and while his body writhed under the assault, he roared and moved with claws large as farming scythes and slashed through two cannons and their crews all at once.

In the sky things were faring little better as the Night Guard focused fire with precision on the transformed Arrancar, but many had to engage in pure evasion with the time limits on their enhancement potions starting to wear off. One of the Arrancar had turned herself into something like a bizarre sea urchin, her arms morphed into two large shells covered in spikes that she rolled around with while firing those spikes around in shotgun blasts without much discrimination for friend or foe alike. By now the sniper teams had spread out to minimize the effect of return Cero fire, and seeing the disruption the urchin-like Arrancar was causing they coordinated their shots to focus upon her and keep the Arrancar pinned in one spot of the sky with a relentless barrage of bolts. Temporarily halted, this gave several of the interceptor teams a chance to rally and fly together in a swift spiral above the offending Arrancar, creating a localized tornados that caught their target in a powerful wind that sent her careening into the electrical barrier, immediately getting lit up like a spark bulb.

Transformed Arrancar who were still free to act were hammering that barrier even harder now, their enhanced power allowing some of them to even attack it physically with either giant claws or new weapons resulting from their Resurreccions, and while the lightning of the dome hurt them, they were so filled with bloodlust that they could ignore the pain now and begin tearing holes in the protection surrounding Manehattan.

Any bastion that hadn’t been engaged, which did count for most of the northern area, were now using the magical gateways their officers could open to transport their ground troops to the besieged bastions, while those still manning cannons and ballista kept firing into the air to help the beleaguered Night Guard. To the credit of the Guards, for all the casualties they were taking, they were returning in equal measure and weren’t breaking. Fear filled many of them. Almost to a pony these brave souls had never seen bloodshed or combat until this night. But many of the regiments stationed here were drawn from Manehattan’s own population. This was their city under threat, and no amount of fear was going to drown out the courage of ponies defending their homes.

If anything the Arrancar of Chrysalis’ horde were generally more unsettled than the ponies. They were used to violence. Fighting Soul Reapers or Quincy was pedestrian to them. They understood the stoic soldats of the Quincy, who fought almost like machines in their precision, or Soul Reapers who were ever honor-bound and dutiful. But there was a vicious streak to these ponies, a near insane capacity for self-sacrifice that gave more than a couple of Chrysalis’ brood pause. It was as if no matter how many of these colorful equines were cut down, their comrades only fought harder and with greater intensity. There was even a sense that these ponies were getting stronger the more they fought for one another, as if some underlying power was at play that the Arrancar couldn’t see or sense.

Not that this was going to stop them, especially now that several had managed to rip open holes in the main dome protecting Manehattan, even at great cost to damage taken from the magical lightning surging through them.

It was at this point, just as Manehattan’s dome was being breached and the battle was at its most bloody and pitched, that two things happened.

One, a portal opened up in Manehattan itself, and the Arrancar breaking through were given to halt as two ponies stepped out onto the roof of the nearest skyscraper.

“Yikearoonie!” yelped Pinkie Pie, readying her lute as she surveyed the carnage, “I’ve seen some screwy parties, but this is the worst yet. Hey, fuglies! You weren’t thinking you’d actually get to set one grimey, soul-slurping foot into Manehattan, were you!? Me and my pal Rarity here have got something to say about that, right Rares?”

Rarity, taking a deep breath and preparing her own Relic took stock of the situation with a dour grimace, “Indeed we do, Pinkie. In fact, I’d rather skip the banter portion and get right to setting this ruffians packing.”

“Can do! Let’s let ‘er rip!” Pinkie agreed wholeheartedly, and the pair both held aloft their Relics, becoming encased in flaring pillars of pink and white light that was bright enough to be seen from every corner of the city.

At the same time this was occuring, and even brighter flare of golden light dominated the sky, and appeared right in the center of the packs of Arrancar still fighting the Night Guard. Arrancar were thrown backwards, even the transformed ones, as the corona of intense light resolved into the blazing form of Celestia. Resplendent in her armor of burning gold and brandishing two conjured blades of sunfire, she had not yet activated her Relic, but the magic radiating off of her eclipsed any of the drones reiatsu by a long shot.

Wrath and regret were etched in equal measure on her marble features. Even at a glance she could tell her ponies were fighting well, but still taking too many losses. The ten to fifteen minutes of combat had been used to assess and determine of the Hollow Chrysalis was spearheading one of the attacks, and to redirect reinforcements, but it still felt like too long a delay to her and she wished she’d teleported here sooner.

“Stand down, or be put down.”

These were her only words of warning to the Arrancar. Words falling on deaf ears as one of them, a male whose Resurreccion covered his body in folding, erratic growths of bladed bone and covered his head in a mask like that of a hornet came flying at her with a mad laugh on his lips. His bulky, blade covered limbs swung in a blur so fast it looked like his limbs split into tens, but none of the strikes touched Celestia. A single roaring flash of one of her sunfire blades severed through limbs, and through the center torso of the offending Arrancar, and he fell into two halves that in turn burned away to cinders before reaching the waters of Manehattan Bay below.

“Put down it is, then.”

While Manehattan became the site of one of the most pitched battles of the night, Las Pegasus was undergoing its own trial.

A gorgeous edifice to pegasus cloud construction, the flying city sprawled out over a network of ten main, giant clouds, each of which had clusters of smaller adjoining clouds that functioned like a fluffy suburbs around the central city. Each of the ten central clouds was sculpted to function as its own unique district, be it commercial, industrial, entertainment, or high-class residential. For a pegasus, a cloud could be as hard or as soft as they needed it to be, and cloud-mixing produced clouds of varying degrees of tensile strength and flexibility.

Of course for a non-pegasus or similar sky dwelling species with the right magic, a cloud was a cloud, no matter how it was sculpted. Without some kind of enchantment to serve the purpose, most would pass right through any given cloud like the water vapor it was.

This presented both opportunity and challenge for Las Pegasus’ defense. One could not wall a cloud-city. If one made a wall of clouds, it would be no impediment to those flying, but not possessing magic to treat clouds like solid material. So fortifications like the bastions at Manehattan were not a rational means of defense, and it would be difficult to construct pylons like the ones that generated the barrier that protected the east coast metropolis.

That said, pegasi had their own ways of doing things.

When the Arrancar of Chrysalis’ hordes made their way west in search of a big clump of delicious souls to eat, they of course sensed the vast concentration of tasty life up in the sky. Ignoring smaller settlements in their gluttony, going for the bigger prize, a group of Arrancar made their swift leaps across the sky, using Sonido to cover great lengths at a time. This group of salivating Arrancar was smaller than the army hitting Manehattan, about half the size, although this still meant a couple of hundred violent, hungry Hollows.

As this particular mob of salivating Arrancar got in sight of the city, their jovial mood only increased, like some band of tourists that were finally seeing their destination on the horizon.

“It’s been forever since we’ve gotten to literally go to town and enjoy ourselves! Mother almost never takes us out anywhere anymore,” said one of the smaller drones, practically skipping along the air and swinging a notched blade around like a child.

“Tch, you’re lucky you even remember when the last time was!” complained one of his siblings, a long haired girl who was all but vibrating with nervous excitement, “My batch was born way too late to get to have any fun in the human world! It’s always other Hollows we have to go hunt, but I wanna know what real, whole souls taste like.”

“Super filling,” said another, “You’ll get to find out soon! Look, those lights must be where all the flying ponies are!”

“It’s pretty looking. How many souls are there? None of us will go hungry, right? We can eat as much as we want? That’s what mom said?”

Before too much chatter could get out of control, one of the biggest of the combined packs, a tall and broad shouldered male who was akin to a shorter Pharynx turned around and held up a hand to halt his fellow Arrancar. “Hold up! Something’s off.”

“Ugh! Stop being a killjoy, Spinel! You’re not big brother Pharynx, so stop trying to act all tough and cautious,” complained the long haired female, who swung her glaive-like Zanpaktou with irritation, “We can all practically taste those pony souls already, and you’re holding things up!?”

“This is why I lead the packs, Mandis, and you’re still trying to form one of your own. Now shut up for a sec and look... what is that?” Spinel said, making a gesture towards the pegasus city that hovered still a mile or so distant. Despite their overeagerness, most of the Arrancar in these packs knew that Spinel had slightly better survival instincts than most, so many followed his advice and peered ahead with interest.

Around Las Pegasus there was a cluster of suburban cloud-homes, like streams of smaller clouds surrounding the much larger banks of the central city. There, an unusual series of wavering cloud streaks could be seen, moving fast in a circular pattern around the city. Then, even at a distance, the sound of a grand, howling noise became evident, and it was getting louder by the moment. Movement could be seen amid the cloud suburbs, small flights of colorful, darting forms, all twisting and flying in ever swifter circular formations.

“I think those’re the pegasususes bro-bro,” said one of the younger Arrancar, drooling, “So many of them.”

“Pegasi, Weave, and yeah, there’s a whole bunch of them flying around just outside the city. Probably their army or whatever,” said Mandis, scoffing, “Cool, if they want to fight, that just means we get dinner and a show!”

Meanwhile Spinel licked his lips, eyes narrowing, “I don’t like it. We knew there’d be defenders, but they shouldn’t be able to see us coming, let alone be preparing a trap, but this has trap written all over it. We should back off, send in a pack to probe-”

“For the love of mom, Spinel, grow a pair! Are the cutsey-wutsey pony-wonies making you scared? Please, the others are probably already feasting away on the east coast, and they’d be laughing at us for getting all wigged out by a little howling wind,” Mandis said scornfully, and rushed ahead, against Spinel’s protest.

“Wait, you idiot! Argh! Weave, you and the youngest stay back until we clear a path. The rest of you, follow me, but for fuck’s sake don’t rush in behind Mandis... let her spring the trap, if there is one, the moron.”

Spinel’s caution had certainly bought a few minutes for the howling noise and the subsequent wind that came with it to pick up. As Mandis moved forward, leaping from spot to spot in the air with Sonido, she felt the air pushing ever harder against her. Growling, she shoved on ahead, ignoring the growing gale-force winds, her eyes set on the ponies ahead of her and the delicious smell of fresh souls. By now she could make out that the pegasi flying in tight, circular formations were all wearing gold armor and bore weapons, which she supposed meant that they were soldiers, but she still regulated them in her mind to the level of ‘non-threat’ because it was beyond her to imagine something so tiny and cute could be anything other than a prey animal.

By the time a formation of about twenty tornados took shape along the defensive line that the Solar Guard had formed around Las Pegasus, Mandis was directly in the path of several of the gigantic cyclones just as the pegasi directed the wind-born weapons of mass destruction straight towards the advancing Arrancar line.

“What the shit!?” Mandis cried out, snatched up by wind forces magnitudes stronger than any natural tornado found on Earth, and she was battered and spun around like a leaf before being ejected outward to careened into the ground a mile below with enough force to generate a crater on impact.

“Everybody break off!” shouted Spinel, he and the lion’s share of the Arrancar force having approached slowly enough to see the tornados coming and immediately scatter in different directions to avoid them. However the tornados weren’t dissipating, and under the subtle control of unicorn mages who were hidden among the suburbs, they used spells to direct the tornados now fully generated by their pegasi comrades. This resulted in the twenty tornados moving like giant sentinels, surrounding Las Pegasus and moving towards any Arrancar they tried to get close to the city.

Meanwhile other Solar Guard forces went to work. While it was difficult to enchant every magi-tech cannon the regiments could deploy, it was much more magic efficient to enchant large wooden platforms to rest on the clouds, then simply mount the cannons on those platforms in batteries of half a dozen apiece. Such platforms had been set up at interspersed sections of Las Pegasus’ suburbs, supported by pegasi crossbow wielders. With only six regiments to guard it as opposed to the ten at Manehattan, the defenders were spread out more thinly, but the tornadoes were meant to herd the enemy force and keep them hemmed into a narrow corridor, allowing for a centration of cannon and crossbow fire if they Arrancar chose to advance.

Despite his cautious nature, Spinel was not eager to just pack it up and retreat at the first sign of resistance, either. Given this battle was in the air, he saw no reason to fight as if this was restricted to a flat plane of movement. He led his packs of Arrancar upward, trying to get above the tornados so they could attack the city from a higher position. To his chagrin, he saw the cyclones follow suit, rising higher to block the path of his packs.

“Fine, then! Everyone, start blasting those tornados! Enough Ceros ought to break them up, and if we can get a few shots through, maybe we can get the bastards that are maintaining them!”

There were plenty of eager yells and shouts from his fellow packmates as they all began to spread out and fill the air with a colorfully bright, blood red tide of Cero beams that were directed at the tornados and any gaps between them. The ruby energy splashed and splayed out amid the magically swift and powerful hurricane winds, which didn’t always work to the pony’s favor as residual trace beams still packed a punch and started to land amid the suburbs of cloud-homes. Full Cero beams that got past did an even bigger number on the clouds, punching through entire houses. For a small blessing the lack of solidarity of the cloud construction meant the Cero beams had nothing to truly explode against, cutting through but also not detonating into larger explosions.

While most of the tornados held up under the barrage, not all of them had been created equal, and in one unfortunate case a stray Cero beam had taken out the house the unicorn mages controlling a tornado had been hiding. As a result two or three of the cluster of twenty ended up being dissipated, generating gaps in the defense. Spinel and his crew were swift to take advantage, clusters of Arrancar breaking off to rush the gaps as fast as possible.

The Solar Guard manning the defense platforms were quick to try to plug the gaps with cannon fire, the sky lighting up with colorful bursts of magical light as dozens of magi-tech cannons poured their fury at the oncoming foe.

A handful of Arrancar here and there were blasted by the dense barrage, either knocked out of the sky or too badly burned to keep charging in. Yet it was clear many of them would be on the Solar Guard forces dotting the cloud suburbs in mere moments.

That was when the fog rolled in. Thick as soup, appearing swiftly as a curtain being lowered, fog engulfed the area and the Arrancar charge became scattered and uneven as confusion swept over them. It wasn’t clear where the fog came from, and it wasn’t at all natural. Not only did it obscure sight, but Spinel and many of his fellow Arrancar felt their spiritual senses get thrown off by the fact that this fog was infused with dense layers of magic for the specific purpose of obscuring spiritual senses.

The Arrancar pressed on, regardless, reaching the suburban cloud homes in various small groups that began searching for the Solar Guard ponies. Yet the Solar Guard had fallen back, dragging their cannon platforms behind them as the fog had appeared. After all, they didn’t want to get in the way of their brothers and sisters in the Night Guard.

Spinel heard a yell from his left. He couldn’t see much, as he had landed between a pair of fluffy white houses that looked to him like any usual suburban home he’d seen in the human world, save for it all being formed out of cotton-like clouds. He couldn’t feel any solidness to the clouds, but he could still walk and move just fine like he usually could on air due to the reishi particles still present all around him. He could vaguely sense his fellow packmates, but all was distorted by the fog, and even as he glanced to his left where he heard the shout, he saw the shadow of one of his brothers get bowled into by a darting form that seemed to come from nowhere.

He pursued, finding a hole in one of the cloud homes that his fellow Arrancar had been knocked into. He saw a blinking motion of something dark fly out at him, and on instinct he drew down his notched blade and felt a metallic impact. Something with clawed blades fly by, bat wings blurring. A pony! A pony with sharp, bat features, gleaming yellow eyes, and bearing dark blue armor ridged with sharp angles and leading to clawed gauntlets. The bat pony was shockingly fast, although Spinel’s reflexes were superior. He swiped hard with his Zanpaktou as the bat pony vanished into the fog, and he couldn’t tell if he’d hit her or not.

Already he heard more shouts, cries, and the ring of blades on blades from the Arrancar around him, and he realized as he noticed more darting shadow-forms in the fog that even despite his warnings to Mandis, he had just led most of his pack straight into another trap!

“Okay, screw it! Don’t play around, guys, these ponies are actually serious bastards! Resurreccion-up, everyone!”

It wasn’t the usual way to do things, but he wasn’t about to play this safe anymore. If the ponies meant business, he sure as hell did, too, and Weave and the younger Arrancar were still outside the city, waiting for them. If the ponies got out there and went after that group, they’d be easy pickings. As far as Spinel was concerned getting a meal was now secondary to pulling his pack out of this mess.

“Skitter; Arana Saltarina!” (Jumping Spider)

In a rush of green reiatsu flowing from his body he grew six additional pairs of hairy white spider legs tipped with curved points and his regular legs took similar shape, albeit covered in armor plates rather than white fuzz. His torso shredded the white vest he wore and became coated in an armored jacket of white fur with a large collar, set with white spikes. His Zanpaktou melted like wax to reshape itself into a large bone-hook mounted on a short shaft he carried in both hands.

The fog shifted and distorted senses or no, he saw the bat pony coming this time, along with two of her friends who leaped down from a roof above. He jumped, magnitudes faster in his Resurreccion form, especially his that specialize in jumping power, and bowled through the two above so hard he felt their bones shatter from the impact. He flicked a finger out at the mare, firing a swift, green Bala bullet, but she had already been darting away behind the house and evaded the shot.

“Fast little bats,” he muttered, leaping higher and higher, intent to get out of the fog. Even through the distortion of the fog he felt his fellow Arrancar unleashing their Zanpaktous, transforming all over the suburbs. Now the bat ponies were crying out and shouting just as much as anyone else, and the fighting grew more pitched.

Finally Spinel broke out of the fog, which he could now see engulfed not just the suburbs but a good chunk of the nearest central cloud. Ponies of the Solar Guard were already getting their cannon platforms set up on the edge of the main city, and seeing him, some began to open fire, dotting the air around him with colorful explosions.

“There you are! The hell you think you’re doing? Let’s get back in the fight!”

It was Mandis, bleeding from a thick scalp wound and with one arm broken from her tumble through the tornado, she had just pulled herself back up to the city and now stood with him amid the oncoming fire from magical cannons, growling as she batted one such blast aside with her glaive Zanpaktou.

“Spinel! You taking a nap, or what!?”

“I’m thinking!” he said, “We should call this off... they’re too prepared for us, and Weave and the younger kids need food, not an actual fight.”

“Hell, I knew you were a coward, but this is a new low. So the ponies got a little magic bullshit on their side? So what!? We start killing, and we keep killing until there’s nothing but souls filling our damn mouths!”

Mandis spun her glaive above her head, and it glowed a dark shade of jade as it filled the air above her with goo-like reiastu that then dripped like acid over her body, “Fill with bile; Escarabajo Tigre!” (Tiger Beetle)

The acidic slime bubbled over her and then pulsated like an uneven heartbeat. Growling under his breath, Spinel defended her as the Solar Guard began to adjust their aim and focus cannon fire upon the transforming Arrancar. He spun his thick bone hook, knocking aside spheres of volatile magic while Mandis finished assuming her Resurreccion form. The bubble of pulsating goo abruptly flared open like a noxious flower, revealing Mandis with an elongated lower body like an armored caterpillar, her upper body rising up from the head of it with thin strips of bone chitin covering her chest and shoulders, while in her hands she bore a shield bearing a beetles mandibles on its edge in one hand and a lager version other glaive in the other.

“When you finally pick up your balls from wherever you dropped them, come join in the fun, brother,” Mandis snapped, then blurred out of view with Sonido, bee-lining straight towards the lines of Solar Guard artillery. He watched with eyes searching for more traps to be sprung, although as far as he could tell the bulk of the ponies’ defense was focused on the fog below, where the majority of his packmates were still fighting the fast, phantom-like bat ponies.

Still far behind the line of battle, he saw that Weave and the smaller pack of younger Arrancar remained where he had told them too, which he was grateful for. This city was supposed to be easy pickings, but was proving to be anything but. He knew full well that many of his brothers and sisters wouldn’t care, with their bloodlust too high to want to retreat until the tide of battle firmly turned against them, but he’d always admired the forethought of their big brother Thorax, who always seemed to thing everything through.

Both his instincts and his rational mind was telling him to get his packmates out of here, but he doubted they’d listen, especially with firebrands like Mandis leading the charge. She was already crashing into the Solar Guard line, smashing apart one artillery platform with her beetle shield, while using her caterpillar body to spin and slam around at high speed, scattering the ponies on the platform like pebbles. The fighting in the fog he could hear clearly, and saw some of his packmates rising up out of the fog, most covered in blood both from their own wounds or from bat ponies they’d slain.

Flitting shadows from lower down among the fog showed a large number of those bat ponies falling back, but not in disarray but rather well practiced and disciplined formation. Spinel saw some of his transformed brethren giving chase, and his gut told him to shout warning, “Get back! They’re leading you-”

He cut himself off, having already spotted the gleam of moonlight on metal from deeper amid the suburban homes where the fog had gotten thinner. There, dozens of bat ponies bearing what looked like giant crossbows to Spinel’s eyes took aim at the pack of Arrancar predictably chasing their comrades, and let loose with silver flashing bolts that hit as hard as any Quincy arrow. Spinel snarled as he saw some of his own pierced clean through by the bolts, and with the raw enhanced jumping strength of his Resurreccion form he catapulted himself at the hidden sniper positions.

It felt too late to call for a retreat, and his own blood was starting to run hot in both anger and hunger. If they could snatch even a few pony souls for Weave and the youngsters to eat, he’d consider this raid worth it.

He wasn’t the leader of these packs for nothing, either. While not equal to the likes of Chrysalis’ trueborn, he was strong by the standards of the regular drones, and Resurreccion was giving his strength and speed a boost of several factors. The snipers had been focused on getting clean kill-shots on the Arrancar chasing the retreating interceptors, so when Spinel appeared among them there was half a second of surprised delay. More than enough for Spinel’s many legs to spear out like striking fangs, impaling one, two, three bat ponies all at once. He tore at their soul energies, ripping the intact souls out and planted them upon his bone hook. The unique property of the hook was its ability to absorb and conserve souls for later consumption, a trait he’d used plenty of times to look after the weaker young drones who couldn’t always feed themselves.

Before the snipers could regroup he moved to strike at another squad of them, but as his front two spidery legs lashed out, there was a blinding streak of blue and rainbow color followed by an intense wind, and Spinel found his legs halted dead by a gleaming silver-white, curved and notched sword breaker being held in the hooves of a blue pegasus mare. Her mane was like streams of rainbow color, filtered through her slit and visored helmet of white silver, complimenting the rest of her form fitting armor. Her strength was incredible, holding Spinel back with ease. On pure combat instinct he lashed out with his back legs and hook, blurring both in a swift series of simultaneous strikes, but to his surprise this pegasus deflected the storm of blows with ease.

“Sorry buddy, but not another drop of pony blood is getting spilled by you and your pals tonight!”

With speed that took Spinel completely off guard, she slipped under the rain of his blows and planted a hind hoof strike on his chest that knocked him backwards. Then she put her long, curved blade in a stance at her side, her hoof holding it was ease as coils of wind flowed around its edge, “Primus Ventus: Aura!” (First Wind: Breeze)

He’d fought Soul Reaper’s before and recognized a stance akin to an iajutsu stance, so on some level he knew she was going to slash forward with the blade, but even knowing that and crossing his four front legs in front of him, he barely was able to register the flash of metal or the sensation of a gentle breeze blowing over his body... right before dozens of sharp cuts broke through his hardened Hierro and drew blood all over his body as that gentle breeze instantly transformed into a focused, cutting wind blast that sent him tumbling backwards through a cloud home.

Shaking his head to clear the cobwebs, he leaped back up and threw a Cero out in the pegasus’ rough direction, flinging a palm out and discharging the consuming beam of red power in a wide arc. He didn’t expect to hit someone that fast, but to his surprise she didn’t even try to dodge, instead keeping herself between him and the remaining bat pony snipers as she slammed her sword into his Cero. A gust of wind flowed around her, and the tide of ruby energy was halted like a hose against a rock as the blue pegasus held her ground against Spinel’s Cero.

“Who the... hell?” he breathed, and the pegasus gave him a hard stare that didn’t quite match her enthusiastic grin.

“Rainbow Dash. And the awesome mares about to introduce themselves to the rest of your crew are Twilight and Fluttershy.”

Huh? Before he could wonder what she meant by that, he felt a massive surge of energy from the area where Mandis had been assaulting the Solar Guard. In the sky above that area the air itself shimmered, grew dark, and appeared to become a void-like field of outer space made manifest. From this field descended points of light, a barrage of starry meteors that streaked down, then bent and curved like homing missiles. Spinel saw Mandis flicker away from these using Sonido, but she was then caught in a field of purple magic that encased her like a blanket, holding her in place as the magic meteors impacted. Mandis had managed to get her shield in the way of the impacts, but the magical detonations still battered her body like a piñata, and she reeled under the blows. With a feral roar, Mandis swung her glaive and fired a lime green, thin Cero from its tip.

Spinel saw her target was a regal, purple pony hovering in the sky above Las Pegasus, bearing a horn and wings both. Her body was clad in wafting blue and purple robes that looked as if they were made of raw magic itself, and floating next to her was a silver staff with a pitch black void at its tip, like a chunk of space made corporeal. This pony’s horn just flickered once to generate a thick, circular barrier of purple light that took the brunt of Mandis’ Cero with no visible damage.

“If you’re planning to run, now’s the time to do it,” Rainbow Dash told him, readying her blade again, “Because if you stick around, I guarantee you’re gonna seriously regret it.”

Things were quiet around the dark, dust strewn streets of Appleoosa. Too quiet. At least that was what Sheriff Silverstar thought as he walked his patrol with eyes giving wary looks at every stray shadow he passed. The citizens of the frontier boom town, Equestria’s southernmost settlement and a rapidly growing mining mecca, were all in their homes. Most were still awake, this early after nightfall, but even if it was later Silverstar imagined few would be resting easy what with all the rumors of danger on the horizon.

He adjusted his blue felt vest, and double checked the sling holster resting on his left flank. The new crossbows distributed by the Solar Guard felt a bit awkward, but he was Sheriff and he’d trained hard with his for the week he’d had it. He was faster on the draw and reload than any of his deputies, for what that was worth. Apparently the enchanted bolts packed a punch. Even so, he didn’t like a single thing he’d heard of these Hollow ne'er do wells. Sounded like a massive heap of trouble, well beyond the usual salt-drunk pony he and his deputies were used to dealing with.

Reaching the southern edge of town, he looked across the plains and rocky mesas that covered the expansive countryside, and fanned himself with his black, wide-brimmed hat, “Too nice a night ta be feelin’ this jittery.”

He nearly jumped out of his own coat of fur when the sky grew brighter, huge streams of purple magic flowing like water to form a massive circle a few hundred feet in the sky. At the same time, darker colored blue circles of magic began to form along the empty fields just south of town, and Silverstar sat there with eyes blinking in bewilderment. From the blue gateways of magic forming in the field came marching a full regiment of Solar Guard ponies, gold armor and white coats sticking out starkly against the dust brown of Appleoosa’s landscape.

As these troops began to fan out under barked orders from officers, the giant gate above Appleoosa flared solid purple, then an enormous object began to emerge, its shadow being cast long over the frontier town. Silverstar could hardly believe his own eyes as he watched a magnificent vessel of light gray metal and swirling bronze engravings fly out of the gateway to occupy the sky over his town. The airship bore little to no resemblance to the zeppelin-like airships Equessria’s wealthy made use of. Now, this thing look like a true masterpiece of engineering, shaped in a manner reminiscent of a swordfish, but with many fins curving from its hull, including two long projecting ones from the hull’s center. He had no idea how the thing was flying in the air, but figured it must have something to do with the huge tail fins mounted with crystal orbs and triple propellers that were spinning swiftly and silently.

“Princess’ above, what n’ tarnation is that thing doin’ here?” he whispered, having heard the rumors that Princess Twilight had brought back some kind of amazing seapony vessel from the western ocean, but he’d never imagined the fabled ship would appear over his town.

“Sheriff!”

The shout came from above, and he had to blink yet again in bafflement as he saw Applejack of all ponies falling down from above. Had... had she jumped from the deck of the ship!? But it was hundreds of feet in the air!

“M-Miss Applejack!” he shouted in alarm, cringing and averting his eyes as she impacted the grounded no further than ten feet away. Terrified he was about to see the flattened remains of one of the Princess of Friendship’s best friends and the cousin to one of the most respect residents of Appleoosa, Silverstar slowly opened his eyes.

Only, what he saw was Applejack, utterly unharmed, dusting herself off and shaking dirt off her hooves from the small impact indent she’d made in the ground, “Sorry fer droppin’ in all o’ a sudden, Sheriff, but Twilight said we weren’t sure if the messenger ta warn ya’ll showed up yet n’ given circumstances we weren’t ‘bout ta wait around ta hear what’s what.”

“I...uh... what?” he said, still too taken aback to get his brain in gear.

“Ah, Lady Applejack, you and the Treasury got here just as we did! Marvelous!” said another voice as a short, plucky looking mare wearing a Solar Guard officer’s coat trotted up, shouting and waving her hoof at her troops, “Yes, yes, set up the cannons along that small ridge there! Do try to get us a clear line of fire on that valley to the southwest, it’s the best spot for an enemy to approach us.”

Silverstar saw Solar Guard hauling what looked like big metal cannons on wagons pulled through the gates, and the officer mare halted next to him and Applejack and she swept her cap off her head with an elegant bow of her head, “Pleasure, Lady Applejack. And by the badge I take it you’re Sheriff Silverstar?”

“Yes...?” he said, and Applejack coughed.

“Just Applejack, ma’am. None o’ that ‘lady’ business. That’s Rarity’s thing.”

“Very good, very good. Major Polish, Hoofington Solar Guard 2nd Regulars, at your service. I hear we’ve got ourselves a collection of dastardly characters about to attack this town rather soonish. I’m under orders to secure the town, assist in the evacuation, and provide any and all support necessary to yourself and a fellow named Flash Sentry. Is he about?”

“Huh? An attack!?” Silverstar said, his mental fog clearing rapidly as he turned to look into the town, where various civilians were looking out their windows or peeking out onto their patios to bear witness to the commotion. He spotted a few of his deputies rapidly cantering in his direction, coming in from their own patrols. “I got to round up all o’ my deputies, then, so we can protect the town!”

“Easy there, Sheriff,” said Applejack, “Ya’ll don’t want ta tangle with the monsters that’re comin’. That’s why me n’ that big ol’ flying tin can are here, an’ all o’ these guard folk. Now, Major, I want ya ta start helpin’ the Sheriff round folk up an’ git ‘em ready ta load up onto that ship up there. Me n’ Flash, he’s waitin’ up above, keepin’ lookout ya see, are gonna need ta know where Chief Thunderhooves an’ his tribe are at, so we can evacuate them, too.”

“Understood, ma’am, I’ll send a detail to organize the evacuation with the Sheriff’s deputies, but the rest should probably take up a defensive position until we can confirm all civilians are safely secure on board the ship,” said Major Polish, while Silverstar rubbed his chin in quick thought.

“Thunderhooves an’ his folk oughta be at Bluefalls Bluff. It’s a waterfall comin’ off o’ one of the mesas, ‘bout four miles east o’ here.”

Suddenly, there was a red flash on the eastern horizon, followed a few seconds later by the sound of an explosive detonation, and the sight of smoke rising into the night sky, black and oily.

“...Round ‘bout there,” Silverstar said in dawning horror.

Author's Note

Are bat ponies real, or just the 'uniform' for Luna's Night Guard? I somehow imagine an entire group of Equestrain conspiracy theorists debating the issue in pubs all across the land. As for why it's called the Night Guard and not the 'Lunar Guard' to keep with the style of the Solar Guard, well...

Luna: Celestia let me name my Guard when I returned from my time-out on the moon and had to rebuild my personal guard force, so I went with Night Guard.

Celestia: She thinks it sounds cooler than 'Lunar Guard', even though Lunar Guard makes so much more sense and maintains the naming convention.

Luna: Night Guard does sound cooler, Tia! You should've renamed the Solar Guard to Day Guard to match!

Celestia: They've been called the Solar Guard for centuries, Luna, I'm not renaming them because my little sister bases her naming ideas purely off of what she thinks sounds 'cool'. Also, will you stop confusing the entire general public on the existence or non-existence of bat ponies!?

Luna: What, it's fun listening in on all of the theories about how a whole tribe of ponies may or may not actually exist right under the noses of everyday citizens. Did you know one group is convinced they came back to Equestria from the moon with me, and that bat ponies are hence technically aliens?

Celestia: *sigh* Let's just get back to fighting Hollows.

So there you have it. Night Guard sounds cooler. Fact confirmed by real pony Princess.

At any rate, hope you folks enjoyed the read! As always I appreciate any and all comments, questions, or critiques you may have for me. 'Till next time!