Ancient evils

Chapter 14: Return to Canterlot

Rainbow awoke early in the morning, and grabbed her blades, then headed outside. A fire was started, considering it was late autumn and quite chilly in the mornings. Dead plants were being burned, considering any wood or living plants were too rare and valued to burn. No one talked much in the mornings, so rainbow quietly sat down and waited for orders. Shield came out from his tent a few minutes later, and prepared to give orders.

"We're heading back to Canterlot." said Shield. "I need to speak with Celestia personally, and we need some of you to stand guard there, we're need to be prepared for raids from Cloudsdale."

Everypony gave a salute after his orders, something Rainbow wasn't used to, and missed the timing by quite a bit. They began the journey back to Canterlot, but the camp was already close by, so it wasn't very far. Some soldiers stayed behind to protect camp, although they didn't expect a battle. It was mostly to scare off any raiders or thieves. Rainbow took her chance to speak with Shield some more.

"So, what did you need to speak with Celestia about?" she asked.

"New orders," said Shield. "What we plan to do with Cloudsdale, those sorts of things."

"Can I come? I've wanted to see Celestia since this started."

"If she'll let you, she rarely speaks to anyone who isn't high in rank, as she's very busy."

They had reached the gates, and a stallion in golden armor opened the gates, even though they looked like they would fall apart if you kicked them. Bars were broken off, and the hinges were loose. The parts that were left were rusted. This set the tune for how the rest of the city looked. Homes and businesses were burned and broken.Rainbow had expected the city to be crawling with soldiers, but there were very few for it being Canterlot. They continued through the wreckage towards the palace. Citizens were starting to rebuild, but the food shortages were a bigger concern. Not that rebuilding would serve much purpose with Sin around.  The sun shone brightly down on them. They reached the castle, and Shield went inside. Rainbow, curious to see what was going on, followed him. Celestia was inside, running back and forth, constantly giving orders to commanders or asking the few remaining researchers if they found a better crop to grow in these conditions. The answer was always no. As she went towards Shield's direction, he asked for orders with just the word "Orders!" and she threw a piece of parchment his way that had them scribbled on it in barely readable rushed words. Celestia looked hurt, and had a large scar across her side. But this was no ordinary scar. It said in very clear letters "SIN" and occasionally glowed a dark purple. It looked as if it was done not by a blade, but by fire. Her mane was cut very oddly and she seemed to not put any pressure on her front right leg.

Shield quickly left, and Rainbow followed, speechless.

"What the buck happned to her!" said Rainbow, after making sure Celestia was too far away to hear.

"Sin happened." said Shield "She tried to fight him personally. It went about as well as you would expect, based on her scars. She hurt him pretty bad too, and I think that's the only reason he hasn't fried anymore towns yet."

"Is that what happened to Canterlot?" she asked.

"This is nothing compared to what happened to Manehattan. I'd be surprised if anyone could still live in that city."

"Where's Luna? Why isn't she helping?" asked Rainbow

"We have no idea, she was on a diplomatic mission to the land of the Zebras the last time anyone saw her." said Shield "We've lost all contact with any other nations." he added.

Shield opened the orders, seemed a bit shocked, but tried his best to not show it his emotions to the soldiers. After all, he's supposed to be a pillar of strength, prepared for the worst.

"We've been ordered to lead an assault on Cloudsdale." he said.

"With these small numbers?" said a blue earth pony towards the back of the crowd.

"Not just our unit." said Shield. "we're merging with Armor's soldiers."

"But that would leave Canterlot near defenseless!" said a white pegasus.

"She's leaving Blueblood to lead the remaining guards." Shield tried hide a look of disgust at saying his name.

"How are us non-pegasi getting to Cloudsdale?" said a green unicorn.

"Our unicorns will cast spells allowing us to walk on clouds." said Shield.

Without anymore questions or interruptions, the ponies headed back to camp, where they would be close to the clouds.