The carriage flew through the darkening sky, coming closer and closer to Canterlot. Pulled by Mawr the Gryphon, three of the carriage's four passengers talked amongst themselves. The fourth, Daring Do, had dozed off and was humming various songs under her breath. The other three - Cloud, Kufn, and Night Light -

“What brings you boys to Canterlot anyhow?” Asked Night Light. “You have any friends or family there, or is it purely business?”

“The former,” Cloud replied.

“The latter,” Kufn replied.

“Ah, you have different goals there?” Night asked.

“Yeah,” said Cloud. “Honestly, I'm feeling pretty anxious. I haven't seen her in so long… I just hope she can forgive me. I miss her so damn much.”

“Ooh!” Night exclaimed, flexing his eyebrows. “An old flame?”

“No no,” Cloud smiled. “A dear friend.”

“I see! How exciting!” Night turned to Kufn. “And you say you have business there?”

“Yes!” Kufn grinned. “Pay for work! Lots!”

“Wonderful!” Night grinned back. “Could be dangerous though, what with the war and all.” He paused. “Y'know what lifts my spirits in potentially dangerous situations? A good bit of singing, especially about what I want!”

Cloud grinned. “Is that so?”

As she finished up a faster song, Do switched to mumbling something slower that the three men recognised.

“Yeah!” Night Light sang in reply.

“I want~ to see her!” Cloud sang. “My friend~ so dear! Her dark~ purple mane! And her big nerd brain!”

“Can't wait,” Kufn joined in, “to get paid! I'm glad~ that I stayed! Might have~ to fight though, but that's how it tends to go!”

“Tell me why!”

“Her coat's a dark violet!”

“Tell me why!”

“Things always get violent!”

“But now we fly!”

“We're gonna get what we want! When we reach Canterlot!”

“WOULD YOU THREE SHUT UP BACK THERE?!” Yelled an angry Gryphon.

Night had begun to fall over Canterlot. The sky was dreary and unkempt; the Pegasi weather control division had been ordered to leave it and allow nature to let it become what it wished. In doing so, the sky had become an airborne smoke screen. This would force the Dragons to fly low and stay within visibility of the lookouts at Canterlot. A night-time attack was to expected to be the Dragons’ first assault, which was why searchlights had been stationed around the outer perimeter of the city. Within the city, all streets had been lit up with floodlights. If an attack was to take place during the night, visibility would not be an issue.

The outer perimeter had further defenses too - ballistas had been set up in groups of four near each searchlight. Enormous bolts were set within them, each bolt as long as two adult Ponies. The tips of the bolts were fitted with glass containers filled with a special state-of-the-art potion designed in Princess Celestia’s secret labs. Some time ago, her secret science team had finished development of a potion designed to be hidden within food or drink. When the potion reached the target’s stomach acid, it would activate and become an acid strong enough to destroy a Pony from the inside out. The Princess was well aware of the strength of Dragon scales, and had commanded her science team to create an adapted version of the potion to activate on contact with Dragon scales. A bolt alone would be unlikely to do much - if any - damage, but their modified tips were designed to smash on contact, splashing the Dragons with a potion to wreak havoc on their natural defenses. Each outpost was also supplied with normal bolts, as the chemical bolts were of limited supply. A downside to the chemical bolts was the lack of damage past the acid - while the Dragon would most certainly be weakened and injured, they would be far from dead.

So it was as the Dragon army descended on Canterlot. Fire and bolts were exchanged, but the Royal guard soon realised their greatest folly: Lord Torch was no fool. Three chemical bolts had hit their targets, and Lord Torch had very quickly clocked in on what was happening, even if his understanding was vague. He had flown in front of his army, his gargantuan body shielding them from the bolts and his equally gargantuan breastplate shielding him.

One burst of a fireball was all it took to rip through the city’s defenses. The southern walls came crashing down, leaving a heap of smouldering wreckage and bodies. Their wings strained from the long flight, the Dragon army landed on the south side. Lord Torch now took the rear, allowing his forces to spread like a plague across the almost helpless city. Twenty four Dragons, plus Lord Torch himself, began to quickly rend the city to pieces.

The Royal Guard had another trick up their sleeve, however; their weapons had all been coated in the same chemical mixture. While this would be ineffective for ballista bolts due to their velocity, a sword was perfect. What remained of the Royal Guard’s squadrons rushed to fight the Dragons, but many were slain before completing the rush. That is, except for one…

...Squadron Twenty.

“Dammit, men!” Watcher bellowed. “How many times have I told you to discipline Private Parts?!” The squadron was in the entryway of Canterlot Castle, being forced to perform a roll call by their ever-incompetent leader Sight Watcher.

“Sir!” Private Affair shouted, his face twisted with anger. “With all due respect, FUCK YOU!” Watcher was visibly taken aback - none other than Private Parts had ever been so insubordinate. Private Affair didn’t stop there however… “You are a useless and pathetic excuse for a Squad Leader! You have done nothing to prepare us or yourself for this war, and now the lives of not just us but everyone are on the line, and you keep doing this BULLSHIT! Get the fuck out of our way, and let us go save the lives of the people we care about, you moronic and cowardly FUCKWIT!” Finally, Private Affair spun to face Private Estate. “Estate has been the closest thing to a leader this squadron has ever damn seen, and I speak for all of us when I say, he should be leading us right now!” Affair’s words were met with cheers from the rest of the squadron, save for Estate who looked surprised and flattered at the same time.

A nearby roar snapped them all out of it, and Estate took to action.

“Alright!” Estate barked. “Enough with the social drama, we’ve got a city to protect!” The rest of the squadron cheered again, before following Estate as he ran outside - leaving Watcher standing by himself. A few moments passed before he clenched his teeth in anger.

“How dare they?!” He growled to himself. “After I find Private Parts I’ll have them all hung for insubordination!” Watcher’s wings unfurled with a pomf before he took to the air and flew down the halls of the castle in search of the missing soldier.

Canterlot was quickly coming into view for Mawr, and the sight of the devastation made her sick to her stomach.

“Hey! You three!” She called back to her passengers. “We’re here, and things are looking bad!”

“Copy that!” Cloud called back. “What’s the plan?!”

“We need to touch down as soon as possible and get to the Prin-!” Mawr was interrupted by a ballista bolt impaling her through the gut. Her breath was knocked out of her, her blood ran cold, and her mind went blank.

The carriage plummeted from the sky.

Twilight, along with the other Spirits of Harmony, quickly made their way through the Canterlot backstreets as they headed for the castle. Fire and death surrounded them, and it was all they could do to focus on moving forward. Finally, they reached a place of sanctuary; Twilight’s tower.

In there! Twilight thought to the others. She crashed through the door and the other five followed in silent agreement. She stood by the open door as Pinkie, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and the other two were safely inside before slamming the door closed. Most of the girls were in too much of a state of panic and shock to speak, save for Applejack who seemed mostly unaffected.

“Why are we waiting here?” Applejack asked. “In here is as dangerous as out there, is it not?” Twilight took a few shaky breaths before attempting to answer.

“T-There’s, uh… Enchantments…” Twilight sat on the ground, trying to hold back the welling tears. “On… on the building… There are enchantments…” She gulped. “I… Princess Celestia let me test out my magic here, so I… She put enchantments here to protect me…”

“Oh!” Applejack perked up, looking around with a smile. “How interesting! This place is a quite a good shelter then, that old bat can do some rather wondrous magic when she puts her mind to it!”

Twilight looked up, confused but too shaken to fully understand. “What… did you call her?”

“Hmm? Ah, the bat, yes.” Applejack nodded. “I’ve begun to slip quite badly, what with all the high tension. Well, no matter. All we need do is get you to a good vantage point - the throne room I’d imagine - so you can continue with your plan. What has happened to App- to me, is of little concern right now.”

Twilight’s gaze fell again. Everything was spinning around in her head: The screams, the distant roars, the danger of her plan, and now something strange with Applejack? She couldn’t focus. What do I do…?

“I…” Twilight realised she was hyperventilating, and took a deep breath before trying to speak again. “I need to get to the throne room. The Dragon leader… He’ll go there, I think. It’s the best opportunity I’ll have to cast the spell…” She reached into her saddlebags and pulled out her magic crystal, its gleam reflecting in her eyes. “The best opportunity to cast ‘Retcon’…” A roar and a crash reverberated from nearby, gleaning a look of impatience from Applejack.

“Yes, yes, drama and such,” she said swiftly. “Now, if we could be moving before this chapter’s end…?”

“Chapter?” Twilight echoed.

“Let us leave the pink and the yellow here, I doubt they will be of use to us as we continue.” Applejack moved to the door and pulled it open. “Come on, come on, let’s go, ladies.”

Though she felt unsure of herself and concerned with... whatever it was that had happened to Applejack, there were more important matters at hand.

“Yes… That… Yeah…” Twilight looked to Pinkie and Fluttershy who nodded meekly. “Okay ladies… let’s go stop a war.”

The smouldering wreck of a carriage lay at the edge of the city. Four figures were beside it, three largely unharmed but one in a terrible state. A fifth figure, realising she had a chance to escape, flew quickly away from the city.

“Shit!” Cloud trembled, staring at Mawr’s bleeding figure. “Shit… Shit!” Her eyes were closed and her body was in a crumpled heap. She was breathing, Cloud could see that, though her breaths were tiny. A ballista bolt had gone straight through her gut, skewering her. Blood pooled from the wound at a slow rate, but Cloud felt alarmed all the same. Off to the side was Kufn, attempting to set his broken hind leg so he could splint it, and beside him was Night Light massaging a fractured jaw.

“Well, I appreciate your-” Night Light stopped to spit blood, “-fast thinking with that magic circle clout there, but next time I’d advise faster thinking.” He groaned, talking being a painful action. “Princess is waiting in the Castle, we need to move. Says your goodbyes to what’s-her-name and let’s go.” Cloud sprang up, a startled look on his face.

“What?!” He cried. “No! No! We aren’t leaving her here! We need to help her!” Before Night Light could reply he was interrupted by a loud grunt and several mumbled swear words. Kufn limped over to Mawr and hoisted her onto his back.

“Right, let us go,” said Kufn, his voice strained from pain. “Need to get her healed fast.”

“No,” growled Night Light, “she’ll only slow us down. It’s a shame she’s dead, yes, but we have more pressing matters right now. Shame the other ran off too,” he looked to the southern skies where he could just make out Do’s silhouette, “but it’s of no matter.”

“Mawr isn’t dead, you fuck!” Cloud spat. Anger burned in his mind, but before he could start to lose control he felt a hoof on his shoulder from Kufn.

“Vote is two to one,” Kufn nodded, giving Night Light a dirty look, “take own advice and hurry.” He took in a sharp breath of air and mumbled more curse words. “Sooner than later, please.” With a few mumbled curses of his own, Night Light complied and began to lead the way.

Before following, Cloud looked at the castle in the distance. I’m finally home, Twilight...

Author's Note

Next chapter will be the final of the first arc - after so many years. It may take a while, it’s gonna be a long one.