The Twilight War

Chapters

Prologue
1. Every Dog
2. The Wars to Come
3. Use At Your Discretion
5. Infinite Devil Machine
6. Just a Show of Muscle
4. A Dog With No Hares to Hunt

Prologue

The inhabitants of Mistshore were asleep, unaware of the sheer number of eyes and spears aimed at their town.

A cold wind was howling through the trees as a thick mist crept over the entire forest. One could be forgiven for thinking it was winter already, but the locals were used to the weather turning bad this early in the year. The Mistshore weather team liked to stay ahead of schedule.

For the forty thestrals, or bat ponies as most Equestrians called them, this weather was perfect. They had spent the last hour stalking their targets without ever even coming close to being seen or heard.

Their commander, Maulden, could barely contain his excitement. He had seen plenty of violence in all his days fighting in foreign lands, but ever since he started serving as commander of Princess Luna's Night Guard, things had been rather boring.

The last few weeks had finally been more eventful. Griffon raiding groups had once again begun terrorizing the Eastern shores, causing massive damage and loss of life before quickly bugging out to avoid Equestrian armed forces. The griffon’s government denied any involvement, stating that they condemned the activities and were dedicated to putting a stop them. Naturally, nopony believed this. But before anything could be done, these accusations had to be proven.

Maulden and his platoon of elite Night Guards had been put in charge of silently patrolling the forests along the Eastern shores to prevent these nighttime raids and protect the settlements. So far, they had not succeeded in preventing any raids, but had managed to scare away several raiding parties already in the middle of an attack.

This time would be different. They had snuck up on a raiding group while they were still in the process of preparing for their raid. Maulden watched from his hiding spot as they got in position to attack Mistshore.

‘Exactly where the princess said we would find you…’ Maulden thought. ‘And right on time too.’

Behind him was his platoon. All of them thestrals like himself. All of them were armed to the teeth and, from the looks of them, itching for a fight just like he was.

“Prepare yourselves,” Maulden finally said without taking his eyes off the griffons. “We are going to dispatch all of them before Mistshore even realizes what is going on.”

“But Commander,” his second in command, Haynes, protested. “Even if we are protecting Equestrian citizens, slaying these griffons would be an act of war. The law is very clear.”

Maulden finally turned to face his platoon. “Guess what lads? During our last meeting Princess Luna sanctioned the first act of war in over two decades. And since all the pretty ponies are asleep right now, we get to be the ones to carry it out.”

A murmur of approval came from the thestrals. Maulden was glad he had personally picked out these guards. They were all rearing to go, and no further concerns were raised.

“Very well. So, what is the plan Commander?” Haynes asked.

“We are to deal with them as swiftly as possible. I need our archers to sneak around the griffons and open fire on my signal. After the griffons turn their backs, the rest of us will simply swoop through them and take them out them with our wing blades. Right now, they outnumber us at least two to one. But if we do this by the books, it will just be a matter of finishing off the stragglers after that.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the designated archers of the squad disappeared between trees and bushes, making a wide arc to get around the griffons. Maulden lined the rest of his platoon up in a V formation and gave them a few more instructions.

As they waited for a signal from the archers, Maulden focused his attention back on the clearing the griffons had gathered in. He tried to get a read on their situation to estimate how far away they were from starting their attack. A griffon in shiny armor that looked to be their leader was arguing with two others. The rest of them were forming up in a rather sloppy formation.

The argument went on for a while and Maulden began to wonder what they were so busy talking about. Despite his impressive hearing, the wind made it impossible to hear anything. But Maulden was sure that as soon as the conversation was over the attack on Mistshore would begin.

Just then he heard an ultrasonic shriek coming from the other side of the clearing. The archers were in place.

Maulden addressed his platoon one last time. “I could give the archers the signal any second now. Get ready to take off when I do, stay closely together and do not break formation before I say so, no matter what happens.” The thestrals nodded collectively. He turned back towards the griffons and watched intensely as their leader continued his argument.

About two minutes passed before the griffon leader apparently had enough of arguing. He simply drew his sword and started yelling commands at the raiders, who immediately snapped to attention and drew their own weapons. The other two griffons awkwardly lingered for a second before quickly scurrying away from their leader and joining the ranks.

“Blades out,” Maulden commanded without breaking his concentrated stare. He quickly spread out his own wings, causing the mechanism on his harness to lock his blades into place. The blades ran along the frontside of his bat-like wings, essentially turning his entire wingspan into one deadly weapon.

The griffon leader finished up with his commands and turned around to face Mistshore. Maulden immediately signaled the archers to start the attack with an ultrasonic shriek.

A split second later twenty crossbow bolts came seemingly out of nowhere, all of them successfully hitting a griffon. The shots were spread out like a fan, to cause as much terror and confusion among the griffon ranks as possible.

As soon as the griffons collectively turned their heads to see what had happened, Maulden took off. It only took two flaps of his powerful wings to reach a dazzling speed. Before any of the griffons could see what was happening, he was already gliding through their ranks, taking out griffon soldiers with his blades left and right.

The confusion, the thestral's speed and the griffon's long necks proved to be a deadly combination. By the time he had passed through the raiding group and reached the other side of the clearing, he had already lost count of how many griffons he had beheaded. He had not looked behind him once, but judging by the sounds the rest of his platoon was having similar success.

After breaking away from the griffon ranks, Maulden ascended quickly and looked behind him for the first time. The others were finishing their attacks as well, leaving behind a surprisingly small number of surviving griffons. Most of the survivors had already dropped their weapons and were fleeing toward the darker parts of the forest.

“SCATTER! MAKE SURE NONE OF THEM GET AWAY!” Maulden commanded as he started descending towards the closest griffon he could find, which happened to be the leader of the griffons. Unlike his comrades, he was not retreating. Instead he was charging towards Maulden, his sword firmly in his talons. Maulden flapped his wings and started his own charge. A split second before the two would collide, Maulden dove down.

Before the griffon could realize his target was now under him, Maulden had already planted a dagger in his heart. He fell from the sky and hit the ground with a dull thud.

Maulden did not bother with rejoining the fight, opting instead to fly down and retrieve his dagger.

With help from the archers still hiding in the trees, what was left of the raiding group was quickly picked off.

As the rest of his platoon combed out the area to look for potential survivors, Maulden looked at the carnage that they had caused with a mixture of surprise and pride. It had taken under two minutes to completely wipe out the entire griffon raiding group.

He took a second to savor the feeling of victory. It had been far too long since he felt it.

‘News of our triumph here will be sure to shake things up...’ Maulden gleefully reflected. 'It might not be long before we get to do this again.' He wasn't sure what Princess Luna would do next, but he knew she had been waiting for this this to happen as much as he had.

Maulden heard Mistshore’s town bells begin to sound in the distance and snapped out of his thoughts. He quickly found his second in command and called him over. “Send word to the princess immediately. And please go tell the citizens of Mistshore that their alarm bells are no longer needed.”

1. Every Dog

Celestia was still trying to rub the sleep out of her eyes as she walked towards the throne room, accompanied by half a dozen of her royal guards, all with very serious looks on their faces. She had no idea what was going on yet, other than that the royal guards had woken her because some sort of calamity had taken place.

Just as she was about to enter the throne room, Celestia spotted General Diamond Prism, commander of the unicorn guards and a former pupil of hers. These days she was a close confidant to Celestia because she was one of the few ponies in the castle that could be trusted to give honest and poignant advice. From the looks of her, Diamond Prism was just as tired and confused as Celestia.

Once Celestia sat down on her throne and Diamond Prism found a chair next to her, along with the other select few ponies that were privy to these emergency meetings, the throne room doors opened again. Silver Strike, captain of the royal guard and tasked with the protection of the castle, walked in.

He started speaking as soon as he was in the room. “Sorry to gather all of you here at this hour, but it has been a crazy morning and it is my opinion that Princess Celestia should know about this as soon as possible.”

“I appreciate being kept in the loop, captain. Please tell us what is going on,” Celestia said.

“A few hours ago, just before midnight, a Night Guard platoon engaged in combat with a group of griffon raiders. This happened on the outskirts of the town of Mistshore, near the eastern coast.”

Celestia could not believe her ears and was lost in thought for a second. ‘This has to be some kind of mistake. This cannot possibly have happened.’

“Are you telling me members of the Night Guard carried out an unsanctioned act of war on Equestrian soil?”

Silver Strike briefly paused before answering, looking uncharacteristically uncomfortable being the one to bring this news. “Their commander, Maulden, claims that the attack was in fact sanctioned… By Princess Luna.”

It took her all the restraint that she could manage, but Celestia managed to remain calm. “Please tell me exactly what happened in Mistshore, captain.”

“Reports are still coming in and we are still trying to get to the bottom of all the details, my princess. Commander Maulden has been ordered to come to the castle right away, that should help us clear things up. As far as I can tell his platoon was patrolling the eastern shores, since there has been a lot of griffon raider activity in the past few weeks. For some reason this particular encounter ended with them attacking the griffons, rather than chasing them away.”

“And he claims Princess Luna gave him permission to do this?

“Indeed, but we have no idea if it is true. Princess Luna is tending to matters abroad and we have no way of reaching her.” A bitter look appeared on his face. “Not that it matters, considering that per the Age of Harmony Declaration, consent for an act of war should be given by BOTH princesses and the attack was therefore still illegal.”

Celestia shared his sentiment but knew she could not outwardly show it. Not yet at least. “Very well, thank you for bringing this to my attention, captain. You did the right thing, as usual. Now please continue, what happened after the platoon attacked?”

“It seems the bat ponies managed to catch the griffons completely off guard. They attacked the griffon ranks in a unified swooping attack and managed to incapacitate the bulk of their forced within seconds.” Most military stallions would sound impressed as they relayed such an impressive feat, but Silver Strike sounded almost sarcastic.

“As the griffons scattered, commander Maulden apparently ordered his platoon to hunt down the survivors and make sure no griffon could get away.” He spat out the last part in disgust.

Celestia found herself agreeing with Silver Strike’s disgust. ‘If this is true, Maulden will hang. No matter what Luna might say.’

Diamond Prism spoke up for the first time. “What was happening with the town, Mistshore, during all of this? Are they okay?”

“All the fighting took place on the outskirts of town and it was over before the guards in Mistshore could even sound the town bells. The eastern shore is currently being supplied with additional guards, to dissuade the griffons from attempting another raid.”

Celestia had heard enough. “Please excuse me for now, I will tend to this matter further. She gestured towards the group of ponies next to her. “I’m sure my councilors have several questions for you.”

She got up from her throne and exchanged a curt nod with Diamond Prism, who followed her out the throne room. Outside of it, Pristine Parchment, Celestia’s personal scribe, was waiting for her. She had been working for the princess for years and could read the mood on her face through the calm façade that Celestia constantly kept up. Right now, she knew better than to interrupt the princess and walked alongside her, allowing Celestia to walk and talk.

“How much longer until I have to start raising the sun?” Celestia asked in an almost monotone tone. She was clearly bothered more than she was letting on.

“Less than an hour, my princess. Forty-nine minutes to be exact.”

“Good, clear my schedule for the rest of the day and come to my chambers after you’re done.”

The scribe scurried off and Celestia focused her attention on Diamond Prism. “How bad do you think?”

She answered immediately. Diamond Prism had never been the type to mince words, and she knew Celestia would not appreciate her beating around the bush. “Honestly? Bad. The griffon on leadership has always outright lied about their part in organizing these raider groups. They knew they would have to face big consequences should evidence of their actions ever come to light. But now, they have the diplomatic upper hand. They are going to claim we massacred innocent griffons on our land. They will be able to point at our laws and say such a thing could only happened with your blessing.”

She paused to let out a large sigh. “Quite honestly, I’m afraid that they will see this as an opportunity to declare war on us, without fearing repercussions from the other nations that signed the Age of Harmony Declaration.”

“The tables have completely turned on us in minutes because my sister could not be bothered to talk to me first!” Celestia exclaimed. For the first time she dropped her calm demeanor, if only slightly and just for a few seconds. Several castle staff members stopped what they were doing and stared at their usually calm princess.

Diamond Prism sheepishly grinned at the onlookers and nudged the princess. The pair resumed the rest of the way to Celestia’s chambers in silence.

When they arrived, Celestia was happy to see a filled coffee can on her desk. Under normal circumstances she would feel bad for making the castle staff start their day off this early, but right now she was just glad she could finally have her first coffee of the day and start thinking with a completely clear head.

The pair sat in silence as the both drank their brew. Both of them letting all the information they had just received sink in.

As they both set their cups down Celestia spoke up again. She seemed to have gotten her usual calm demeanor completely back and spoke in her usual soft, almost paternal voice. “The first order of business making sure we know exactly what happened, how it happened and why it happened. Then we need to try and talk to the griffons and avoid further escalation.”

Diamond Prism sensed that the princess had recovered from the initial shock of the situation and felt it was appropriate to crack a smile for the first time that day. “When you say we, I assume you are talking about me?”

Celestia rolled her eyes, appreciating the small moment of levity in what was sure to be one of the longest days in her life. “Griffon diplomacy has always been more your thing. Especially so since King Guri hates my guts. He has always refused to show me or my sister even an ounce of respect.”

“I will contact their embassy right away, but I suspect we will have angry griffons on our doorstep any day now no matter what we do.”

Celestia was just about to suggest another cup of coffee when there was a knock on the door. Pristine Parchment had finished clearing Celestia’s schedule and asked what else she could do.

Celestia looked at the hourglass on her desk. She had leave to start raising the sun soon. “Find out exactly where my sister is and send word that I want to speak to her as soon as possible. And tell Captain Silver Strike that I want to question Commander Maulden in the throne room as soon as he arrives at the castle.”

The southern gate to the castle was rarely ever used. Its main function was to let in important messengers who could use it to reach the inner chambers without being seen by most the castle staff. Maulden stepped through it triumphantly. His armor was still slick with blood and mud. A new addition to his collection of scars was hastily bandaged on his left hindleg. He enjoyed the looks he was getting from the royal guards at the gate. For the first time since leaving Hollow Shades to serve in the Night Guard he felt like a true warrior again.

As entered the small courtyard beyond the gate he was immediately approached by several royal guards. All of them with their weapons drawn and looking like they were ready to attack him at any second. The smile on Maulden’s face grew even wider. ‘It seems we have indeed succeeded in shaking things up.’ he thought to himself.

A voice came from behind him. “You're looking way to happy, considering what you just did." Maulden would have recognized that tone everywhere. Captain Silver Strike had always had it out for him.

“Good to see you again, captain. I suppose every dog has its day right?”

Silver Strike gritted his teeth. “Shut up. Drop your weapons. Follow us. You know I would not hesitate to deliver you to the princess unconscious and in chains.”

Maulden rolled his eyes. With one practiced motion all the straps on his armor came undone. He slid it off his back and made a show of pulling his impressive collection of hidden blades out one by one. Silver Strike’s eyes were filled with fire as he looked on. Finally, Maulden took off his wing blades by pulling on a shoulder strap with his mouth. He threw them off his back, making sure they landed as close to Silver Strike as possible without cutting him.

“Shall we then, captain?”

Silver Strike did not respond. He simply nodded at the other guards, who quickly formed up around Maulden. They marched to the throne room in silence. Silver Strike still carrying an agitated expression on his face, Maulden with a big smile.

When they got to the throne room, Princess Celestia was already there waiting for them. She sat in her throne with her usual serene expression on her face. She still managed to strike an imposing figure, even to a wintered veteran like Maulden. To her right was Diamond Prism. The other chairs next to throne were all occupied with nobles. Maulden didn’t know any of them by name, but he was sure they were there mostly to keep up appearances. The princess and her ever-present right hoof were obviously the ones he needed to be worried about.

Maulden’s escort of royal guards led him to a single chair, facing the throne. He was roughly shoved onto it. The guards then lined up a few feet behind the chair, with their spears ready for action. Maulden could feel their eyes boring into the back of his skull.

The princess spoke up. “I assume you know why you are here, Commander Maulden?”

‘This hearing is going to be in history books one day.’ Maulden mused. ‘I will be remembered as a capable leader, not some frightened soldier that gets intimidated by some puny pony princess.’

He answered confidently. “I assumed I was brought here to give you a personal report of tonight’s skirmish. But the way I have been welcomed here makes me think otherwise.”

“You have been brought here to answer to formal charges of treason. Your actions tonight are in violation of the Age of Harmony Declaration and you will be tried accordingly.”

“Treason? With all due respect, my princess, I was merely following orders-”

Celestia cut him off, unable to hide her annoyance. “Your standing orders are to NEVER use violence against any member of the Age of Harmony Declaration. Failure to follow these orders is treason, plain and simple.”

Maulden managed to sound genuinely shocked by what he was hearing. “My princess, I would never violate any order, unless it was overruled by another. Princess Luna gave me her blessing to carry out an attack if necessary and I did as I was asked.”

“You’re not stupid, Commander Maulden. Arrogant and cruel? Maybe. But you are not stupid. You know as well as I do that a military action such as yours can only be carried out with the consent of both princesses.”

“That was not my call to make. I told Princess Luna I was worried about our limited options for defending the East from raiders and this is what she suggested. I assumed that she was speaking for both princesses.”

Diamond Prism sensed that Celestia was about to lose her composure so she quickly intervened. “Before we get into all that, let’s talk about what you saw. I have not received a complete report of the events yet. Tell us exactly what happened.”

Maulden begun to describe the battle, starting at the point where his patrol spotted a large group of griffons gathering near the town of Mistshore. When he got to the part where the actual attack began, he made sure to describe every gory detail of it. To his delight he noticed that some of the nobles became visually uncomfortable about the descriptions of griffon heads being sliced off by wing blades.

Celestia seemed less impressed. “And after you carried out your initial attack, did the griffons scatter or did they manage to regroup and fight back?”

“They scattered. We took out the bulk of their force in one swoop. With their leadership gone and most of their fellow griffons dead, they quickly decided against an attempt to fight back against us.”

“And yet I hear that you ordered your platoon to kill every one of the remaining griffons. Was that part of your intentions to safeguard Mistshore?

“It honestly was, princess,” He said while shrugging. “These griffons were all armed to teeth and they obviously had their reasons to seek revenge. I made sure they couldn’t. I was thinking about the safety of all nearby ponies.”

Celestia was about to speak up again but Diamond Prism beat her to it. “How many griffons were there exactly?”

“The body count is happening as we speak, but about a hundred by my estimation.”

“And how many were there on your side? Any casualties?”

“I had a standard sized platoon of forty warriors with me. No casualties on our side and just a few minor injuries. It seems like some griffons managed to swipe at us during the chaos and confusion of our initial swoop through their ranks.”

Diamond Prism sat back in her chair, satisfied to at least know the basics of what happened now. She had no idea how to deal with any of the further implications, however.

“I think we have all heard quite enough information for now," Celestia said. “Is there anything else you would like to say in your defense, commander Maulden?”

“So that’s it huh?” The venom in Maulden’s words was clear for all to hear. “You’re just going to pass a sentence based on what you heard here? Where is Princess Luna? Why is she not here to confirm that everything I just told you is the truth? She is the only one in this godforsaken castle that dares to make a decision. All you lot do is sit around and play at politics.”

If Celestia was affected by his words, she did not show it. “Princess Luna is not at the castle right now, Commander. I will talk to her later, in private. And no, I will not pass judgement on you yet. This trial is suspended until I have all the facts and have discussed with both my sister and the griffons. If you have something else to say do it now. Otherwise the fine gentlecolts behind you will escort you to the dungeon, where you are to remain until the trial continues.”

Maulden looked Celestia directly in the eye. “I am a member of the Night Guard. Everything I have done in the last three years of my life has been done to protect the citizens of Equestria. Last night is no exception. If you cannot see this, I must wonder if you are fit to lead us after all.”

He stood up without waiting for a reply and headed for the door. The royal guards formed up around him once again. In the corner his eyes he spotted Silver Strike, who was now smiling triumphantly.

‘Oh, you’ll get yours. Just you wait…’

2. The Wars to Come

“That went about as well as it could have…” Diamond Prism said as she and Princess Celestia sat down in Celestia’s chambers. She had a feeling the two of them would spend a lot of time here over the next few days.

“Well, we know one thing for sure,” Celestia said. “We will never get a straight answer from Maulden. We need Luna to clear this all up. Is she back yet?”

“She’s on her way back from what I’ve heard. Probably sometime today. Do you actually think she might be behind any of this?”

Celestia suddenly looked exhausted. “I don’t know… We’ve had our differences over the past few years… But… I just don’t know…”

The two of them sat in silence for a while, deep in their own thoughts. Then Diamond Prism thought of something. “You know, you are right. Maulden is never going to tell us anything, is he?”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about damage control regarding the griffons. The very least we could do is offer them the assurance that whoever is behind all of this is dead. If it’s not an all-out war they’re after, that might just be enough to calm them down.”

“You want me to execute a member of the night guard without a proper trial, or even knowing what happened exactly?

“I’m just thinking practically here. Regardless of what your sister did or did not do, right now the griffons are our main concern. Do you have anything in mind to appease them?”

“Honestly? No.”

Celestia considered Diamond Prism’s idea for a while. She appreciated her bluntness and practicality, but in moments like these it felt a little excessive. There were just too many moving parts to consider. “Let’s table this discussion,” She finally said. “At least until I have had a chance to speak to my sister.”

It was almost evening when Princess Luna arrived at the castle. Despite everything on her mind, she took a second to appreciate the beauty of the castle. It was times like these were she felt a little annoyed that everypony simply referred to it as ‘the castle’ instead of ‘Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters’. Surely a structure this beautiful deserved a proper name?

She then focused on Maulden, who had been arrested, questioned and thrown in the dungeon this morning. He had made quite a few sacrifices today. Luna vowed to herself that she would never forget what Maulden had done and to make sure to reward him handsomely when everything was said and done.

She arrived at her chambers and immediately closed the curtains and extinguished all candles with a single flash of her magic. She needed some dark right now. She needed to think. Her sister had sent her a message, telling Luna to come talk to her as soon as possible, but she needed to straighten out her thoughts first. There was still a lot of work to be done before she would face her sister, and not a lot of time to do it.

A knock on the door pulled Luna out of her thoughts. Before she could even react, there was another knock. Whoever it was, they were in a hurry.

Luna lit up her horn and opened the door. On the other side was a member of the royal guard. She didn’t know the guards name or recognize her face, having spent little time surrounded by non-thestral guards. The guardsmare quickly shuffled through the door and closed it behind her.

“Please forgive me for intruding, Princess,” She said.

Luna raised an eyebrow. “It is quite alright, guardsmare. I was not made aware of your visit.”

“Well... Nopony knows that I’m here, Princess…”

“And yet here you are, defying standing orders.” Luna stated bluntly. “What is your name?”

The mare visibly cringed at being reprimanded by a Princess and averted her eyes when she spoke again. “Deep Winter, Princess.”

“Please explain to me what brought you here.”

“Well, my family owes a lot to you, Princess. So, I came to warn you... I’m not supposed to talk about what I overhear while on guard, but earlier today I heard Princess Celestia talk and… I thought you should know…”

Luna softened her demeanor a little, in an attempt to get the mare to talk a bit easier. “What did you hear?”

“After they interrogated Maulden… I was patrolling outside of the Princess’ chambers and I think she forgot to put a silencing spell on the door. And Diamond Prism was there with her… And I heard them talk… Diamond Prism said she saw no other way to make peace with the Griffons than to execute Commander Maulden…”

“And what did my sister say about that?”

“She did not agree… At least I think not. But she also said she had no better ideas…”

“Did they arrive at a conclusion?”

“I had to finish my patrol before hearing the rest of it… But Diamond Prism was really adamant about doing it as soon as possible. Before the griffon emissary arrives, so they can prove to the griffons that they do not agree with the attack.”

Luna groaned. She had considered countless scenarios, but somehow, she had underestimated Diamond Prism’s ruthlessness. She had to decide quickly. One the one hoof, Maulden had done his part and was no longer vital to her plans. But after what he had done for her, she could not bring herself to abandon him. She mentally rearranged a few things until she saw a new path forward.

“I cannot thank you enough for bringing this information to me, Deep Winter. You have done me a huge favor. Now I am afraid I must ask you for one more…”

Celestia had been sleeping less than an hour when a knock on the door woke her up. Groggily, she got up and opened it without using her magic. She simply was too tired.

Three royal guards stood on the other side of the door, all with very serious looks on their faces. One of them spoke up before Celestia could say anything. “We have orders to get you to a safe location Princess, I’m afraid that that is all we know.”

The four of them walked through the hallways at a brisk pace. Celestia could hear orders being barked all throughout the castle. She wondered what could have happened that caused all of this. Even yesterday’s news of Maulden’s attack had not caused this much of a commotion.

“Search the barracks! Wake up everypony there and remember to check for changelings!” One guard called out. It appeared they were all looking for somepony.

The guards stopped at Silver Strike’s office. They knocked on the door and waited until somepony on the inside opened it. They waited for Celestia to go through it and then all three of them took position outside of it.

Silver Strike was sitting behind his desk writing on a piece of parchment. When he noticed the Princess, he quickly shoved it all aside and motioned for her to sit down. The look on his face was even more serious than usual.

“I'm afraid we have a problem,” Was all he said, before running a hoof through his mane. The gesture betrayed that he was just as tired as she was.

“I can see that Captain. What is going on?”

“Just a few minutes ago, one of my guards was patrolling the interior of the castle when he made a discovery at the dungeon. It seems that Maulden has escaped. His cell door has been ripped to shreds and three guards have been found dead outside of his cell.”

Celestia did not attempt to hide her shock, nor her emotions. She buried her face in her hooves and let out and long and painful groan through her tears. There was no doubt in her mind whatsoever that this was her sister’s doing.

‘I should have seen this coming. I should have known that something was wrong when she did not come talk to me as soon as she returned.’

Once she had calmed down a little, she looked up at Silver Strike. He managed to maintain his composure, but his eyes where seething with rage. He had obviously come to the same conclusions that she had.

She had to ask anyway. “Do we know who did this yet?”

“No Princess,” he said with an icy voice. “All guards are sweeping the castle right now to find the culprit. However, Princess Luna is not in her chambers. Nor are any of the thestrals that are supposed to be currently stationed at the castle.”

“I know we are both thinking the same thing right now Captain, but we should not jump to conclusions.”

Silver Strike simply nodded in agreement.

“Did anypony else escape?”

“Fortunately not, the dungeons were empty before Maulden’s arrival.”

“Can we go there now? I have to see this for myself,” Celestia said.

“No Princess. We must wait until the guards have completely searched the castle. For your own safety.”

“Get your sword out and tell those guards outside the door to come with us. That should be plenty of protection,” She replied in an annoyed tone. “We might still have time to pursue whoever did this.”

Silver Strike knew better than to argue.

Celestia practically ran to the dungeons, accompanied by three royal guards and one captain. The castle was in a state of complete chaos at this point. Members of the royal guard were frantically searching the castle, kicking in doors and screaming at other inhabitants in the process. The royal guards were casting spells as fast as they possibly could, making sure nopony around them was actually a Changeling.

When they got to the dungeons, they found Diamond Prism already there with two royal guards standing next to her. They were standing over the corpses of the guards that had been assigned to watch Maulden.

Celestia gently pushed one of them aside to get a better look. She successfully managed to keep her emotions in check as she studied the bodies before her.

“We found something on the floor of the cell, Princess,” Diamond Prism said in a monotone voice that Celestia had never heard from her before. “It appears to be a message, directed at you.”

Celestia took it from her without looking at it, her gaze still on the dead guards. “How did they die?”

One of the royal guards answered. “It Is hard to say right now, but there are a lot of mana traces all over them and they all have several broken bones. It almost looks like they were hit by some kind of magic shockwave, but nopony in the castle heard anything like that. Very advanced magic most likely.”

“The kind an Alicorn would have, no doubt…” Celestia muttered, more for her own sake than for anypone else in the room. Then she remembered the message that she was holding. She looked down and read the note.

I wish you good fortune in the wars to come.
-Princess Luna

Everypony in the room averted their gaze as their Princess stood there in silence, staining the parchment with her tears.

3. Use At Your Discretion

Aurora Shade sat on the large windowsill in her chambers and stared at the disturbing, yet strangely beautiful sight outside of her window.

When Princess Celestia had gone out to raise the Sun that morning, the stars and the moon were still there. No matter what she did, she was not able to get them to go down. When she gave up and raised the sun as usual, the result was a sky that was completely colored purple. The world seemed to be stuck in twilight, now that the two alicorns that controlled the sky were no longer unified.

Aurora Shade thought back to last night’s events, but she could not make sense of it one bit. Princess Luna, the very same pony that she had studied magic under for most of her life, had disappeared overnight. She also took a thestral commander charged with treason with her and left behind three dead guards. And if the rumors were true, she also left a message for her sister, stating her intentions for a war.

There was no way any of this added up, no matter how Aurora Shade looked at it. Was it all an elaborate setup to blame Luna for something she did not do? Was it true, but was there a good reason why Luna did what she did?

Aurora Shade reread the note she was holding. She had done so at least fifty times in the past hour, and was mildly disappointed that it did not reveal any new information this time either.

Aurora, you must hate me right now. I am asking you to trust me, however. Meet me at midnight were we first came to practice magic together. I will explain everything there. Please don’t tell anypony about this and please destroy this note.
-Your friend Luna.

She had already made up her mind about what to do when she first read the note, but now she finally dared to admit it to herself. She got up and walked to her desk. She held the parchment in the flame of one of the many candles spread around the room. She watched as it slowly turned to ash.

It was late in the afternoon when Celestia and Diamond Prism sat across from each other in her chambers. She lost track of how many times the two of them had met in the past two days, but she did know exactly what another meeting meant. More bad news.

“My scouts tell me that word about what happened yesterday is going around,” Diamond Prism said. “The news of Princess Luna declaring war on you seems to be spreading like wildfire. “

“Are they aware of what happened prior to that?”

“Mostly yes. But there are a lot of false rumors too. My scouts have even heard versions of the story in which you were the one to order an attack.”

Celestia sighed. “It seems we have no choice but to send out an official statement then. The longer we wait, the more salacious these rumors will become.”

“We have to be careful to word it in the right way. The population is already pretty restless in a few places.”

“Restless? What do you mean?”

“This is mostly based on rumors as well, but my scouts tell me there is talk about certain families with strong ties to Princess Luna… It seems they are openly coming out in support of her declaration of war. There haven’t been any major incidents yet, but tensions are high in certain cities.”

She walked over to the map of Equestria on Celestia’s wall and pointed out the cities. They were mostly relatively small settlements near Hollow Shades. All of them with a good number of thestrals living in them. It was no wonder that ponies who felt connected and loyal to Luna would choose to live there.

Celestia kept staring at the map for a while longer. Hollow Shades seemed to be the most logical place for her sister to have gone. She was no doubt counting on the loyalty of the thestrals living there if she was actually considering waging a war to take over as the sole ruler of Equestria. Loyalty she was likely to receive. Celestia had never been liked very much by the nocturnal thestal population. And Luna had Maulden, something of a legend amongst the thestrals, at her side.

What worried Celestia about Hollow Shades was how close to the castle it was. It was still a very long walk away, but an airborne army could easily fly over the mountains between the two locations in under two days.

She turned her attention to Diamond Prism, who also appeared to be lost in thought staring at the map. “How are the efforts to mobilize the guard coming?”

Diamond Prism answered, while still looking at the map. “Every single member of the guard and the reserves are either here at the castle now or on their way. We meet with the generals of all the different divisions of the guard early in the morning tomorrow.”

“Contact your scouts in the meantime. We need to know everything that goes on in or around Hollow Shades. That seems to be the place we need to be concerned about right now.”

“I agree," Diamond Prism said as she took down some notes. "We will have to spread the scouts a bit thinner in the immediate area, but a focus on Hollow Shades seems like the right approach.”

Celestia got up to stretch her legs and clear her mind before dinner, but Starswhirl stopped her. “One more thing. We received a message back from the griffons. They have sent an emissary with a message from the crown. He will arrive sometime tomorrow.”

Sneaking out the castle was nothing new for Aurora Shade. She had lived there for almost her entire life and she had plenty of late night adventures in her younger years. She and Luna would often go into the forest at night to practice advanced magic, away from anypony that could get hurt by any errant spells. Later in life, Aurora Shade had snuck out every now and then to go to nearby small settlements, where they had actual bars instead of the snobby high society wineries in the castle. She loved to sit in those, listening to other ponies’ conversations while staying quiet herself.

For the first time in a long time Aurora Shade felt actually nervous about sneaking out the castle. If she was caught now, she would probably be tried as an accomplice to all the crimes committed at the castle in the past two days.

She made it out of the castle without being spotted and headed toward the forest. She knew there were pegasi circling high above here, but she was confident that as long as she was wearing her dark cloak and kept moving slowly they would not spot her.

Aurora Shade felt relieved once she passed the tree line and entered the forest. She was finally sure that she could no longer be spotted. The thought of nearby animals did not scare her. She had been in the forest many times before and knew from experience that they tended not to come this close to the castle.

It was quite a long hike, taking her way beyond the settlements she went to on her usual trips. She had to go past Rambling Rock Ridge all the way to the base of Foal Mountain. All in all it took her almost four hours before she neared her destination.

After making her way through a seemingly endless amount of thick bushes, she finally reached a small clearing with some badly overgrown ruins in it. Six oddly shaped rocks surrounded a stone basin. There were ancient runes inscribed in the stones that seemed to tell a story, but Aurora Shade could not understand them.

She thought back to the first time that Luna had taken her to these ruins. It was just weeks after Star Swirl the Bearded had disappeared. Luna seemed to think there was some connection between him and the ruins, but was unable to figure out anything further. There was a lot of magic emanating from the ruins however, as if they had been enchanted with a powerful spell. This made the ruins a perfect site for a powerful alicorn and her inexperienced pupil to practice magic together. These early days of her studies were some of Aurora Shade’s favorite memories.

Aurora Shade walked around and looked for signs of anypony else having been there recently. She found none, but kept looking to kill some time. She estimated it to be just a few minutes away from midnight. She wasn’t sure, because it was no longer possible to tell the time by simply looking at the sky, which was still colored a deep purple.

Just when she started to worry, Aurora Shade heard a soft pop behind her. She turned around and was greeted by her oldest friend and mentor, smiling warmly at her.

The two hugged in silence for a few seconds. Aurora Shade slowly let go of Luna and backed away. She had almost forgotten why they had come here in the middle of the night.

“Luna? Is it true what they are saying? Do you really want to overthrow your sister and take over Equestria?” She said meekly.

Luna’s smile made way for a sorrowful expression. Her voice was soft, not at all like her normal cheery or boastful self. “In a way this is true, yes. My sister and I can no longer rule together. For the good of us all I have decided that it should be me alone on the throne.”

“But why? Why now?”

Luna looked up at the purple sky. “Celestia and I have been disagreeing more and more over the past few years. Over time I kept seeing more behavior that I could not tolerate. She looked the other way when ponies suffered under griffon raids. She did nothing as our thestral brothers and sisters suffered from poverty and discrimination. She is fast friends with rich unicorn nobles while the rest of the population grows poorer and more divided every day.”

Luna looked back at Aurora Shade, her eyes full of pain. “It is time, Aurora. I have known that I would have to carry this burden for a long time now.”

"So you set all of this in motion by ordering your guards to attack those griffons? To create an opportunity for you to get rid of your sister?"

"I did. But you know as well as I do that it was time something was done about the griffons anyway."

Aurora Shade let her tears flow freely now. She was incredibly angry, yet could not help but feel also feel saddened by what her friend was telling her. The result was a feeling of pure frustration. “You killed those guards Luna!” She wasn’t quite yelling yet, but a few nearby birds got startled by her raised voice. “And now you’re going to start a war? Thousands will die!”

“I do not want to hurt anypony. You know this.”

It took all of Aurora Shade’s willpower to not scream at Luna. “Ponies did get hurt! Those guards did nothing wrong and now they are dead because of you! Maybe the griffons had it coming, but you cannot claim to be above violence.”

Luna looked away, unable to meet her friend angry gaze. Her voice sounded weak. “I know, and I will regret that for the rest of my life. I swore I would not let this happen ever again…” She paused and closed her eyes, seemingly experiencing a painful memory. “But that is why I need you now, Aurora. I believe I may have found a way to end this war before it truly starts, using ancient magic.”

Aurora Shade was not convinced. “Me? Why not ask somepony else? I have no interest in war. Besides, you taught me everything I know. Anything I know, you know.”

“I need somepony else to assist me with this. I simply cannot do it alone. Besides, you are not giving yourself the credit you deserve. I’ve seen you pull off magical feats that even my alicorn magic could not match. Do you remember what Star Swirl said about you all those years ago?”

The unexpected reminder of an old mentor softened Aurora Shade’s anger. She realized that above all, she was concerned about her closest friend. “He… He said I had an important role to play… Are you sure about doing this Luna? I want to trust you, but this seems…” She trailed off.

Luna gave her a pained smile. “I have thought for a long time about all of this. Long before the events of the past days. I kept coming to the same two conclusions: I need to do this and I absolutely need my best friend at my side when I do it.”

Aurora Shade smiled through her tears and tried to sound confident. “I am with you Luna. What do you need me to do?”

Luna returned her smile. “If you truly want to help me, I’m afraid you will need to leave the castle behind and come with me.”

“I would do anything. Where are we going exactly?”

“All thestrals not already there, are on their way to Hollow Shades right now. We shall join them and prepare them for a war. I will need army for appearance's sake. You and I will win the real war together.”

“What do you need me to do once we get there?”

Luna embraced her friend once again. “I will explain everything later, in Hollow Shades. Right now we should get going, it’s going to be a long trip.”

Celestia stood in front of her mirror and gave the most cold look she could muster. A cold and imposing figure stared back at her. Like all facial expressions she had endlessly drilled herself to make, this one came easy to her and succeeded in giving her the exact look she wanted to achieve.

It had been a long time since she had ‘put on’ this particular face. Since she and her sister wrote the Age of Harmony Declaration after the last great war, there had been few reason for such an expression.

With a single flick of her horn, she magically equipped her traditional golden armor. It’s helmet featured a spike that ran parallel to her horn, making it seemingly longer and more dangerous. A purple gem on her breastplate contained numerous defensive spells, making her nearly invulnerable to any kind of magic attack.

She took one last look in the mirror before she left her chambers. Four royal guards stood outside of her door waiting for her. Ever since the events two night before, her guard had been doubled. Every castle inhabitant looked on in awe as their Princess strode by in full battle regalia, with two guards in front her and two behind her. Nopony said anything but they must have all thought the same thing: ‘good thing she’s on our side.’

She was the last one to arrive in the war room. The top brass of the guard all sat on either side of a long table. The head of the table was reserved for her, of course.

Celestia sat down and looked around for a while, meeting each attendee’s eyes for just a moment. She had not seen most of these ponies in a long time.

Cloud Spear, the general of all the Pegasi forces, looked a lot older than she remembered. He still kept the same short beard as always, but it was no longer brown. The years had turned it and his mane white, contrasting sharply with his cream coat. He still looked as fierce as ever despite of it. As one of the few ponies in the guard old enough to have actually fought in the last great war, he was easily the most experienced guard member alive.

Stone Tail, general of all earth pony members of the guard, looked just like the last time Celestia had seen him. He was as big as ever and still hid the numerous scars on his cherry red coat under a set of chain mail armor as always. Stone Tail’s brutal strength was not just legendary amongst ponies, as a result of his many travels many other races had come to respect him.

Of course Diamond Prism, general of the unicorn guards, was present. Not only was she the only female general, she was also by far the youngest. Combined with her immaculate white coat and long blue mane, this made her stick out among the gruff military folk. Those who had seen her in action, however, could verify that she definitely deserved her seat at this table. Celestia couldn’t help but feel a little proud at seeing her sitting there. It felt like yesterday that Star Swirl the Bearded brought her and Aurora Shade to the castle, ranting about how one of them could take over for him as one of the pillars when the time came. Celestia had no idea what he meant by that and he disappeared just a few days later, before he could ever explain anything. Since then Celestia had taken Diamond Prism under her wing, while Luna looked after Aurora Shade.

Finally, there was Silver Strike. Technically not a general, but a captain, he was in charge of the royal guards that were tasked with protecting Princess Celestia and the castle. The royal guards have been around since before the guard existed in its current form, which is why they have their own ranks and customs. Silver Strike’s coat was painted white, a longstanding tradition amongst the royal guards. His own cutie mark had been similarly painted over by a standard royal guard mark, showing his rank.

Under different circumstances, Maulden, Commander of the Night Guard would have been present as well. The Night Guard was essentially the same as the Royal Guard, but their ranks consisted completely of thestrals and their duty was to protect Princess Luna instead. Like the royal guard, they had their own ranks and customs. Their leader, usually the biggest and strongest member, was simply referred to as commander. Nopony had seen a single member of the Night Guard since the disappearance of Maulden and the general assumption was that they had all left to side with Luna.

Celestia began speaking, informing the attendees of each detail of the events over the last few days. They had all been briefed, but Celestia knew that there was a lot of misinformation being spread, even amongst the members of the guard. Once she was finished, she gave the word to Diamond Prism.

Diamond Prism had received word from her scouts that thestrals seemed to be massively flocking to Hollow Shades, making it all but certain that Luna had gone there to plan her next move. She had quickly devised a defensive strategy based on that information and used a map of Equestria to explain it to the other generals.

There was a large group of mountains between the castle and Hollow Shades. It seemed likely that Luna and an army of thestrals would simply fly over it and reach them that way. General Cloud Spear and his pegasi were instructed to form a defensive line in the mountains.

To the East of the mountains was a large open area near the city of Fillydelphia, consisting mostly of small Earth Pony settlements and farmland. General Stone Tail and his Earth Pony guards given the same task as the pegasi: form a defensive line. Doing this would prevent any non-thestral troops and siege weapons from reaching the castle. Diamond Prism made sure to point out that getting a clear path to the castle was likely a high priority objective for their foes. The castle had excellent defenses, and taking it without any siege weaponry was almost unthinkable.

The unicorns were to stay at the castle, to work with the royal guards on a fortified version of the magic barrier that could be erected in the event of a siege. Luna and the Night Guard members knew about this barrier, so changes needed to be made as soon as possible. The unicorns were also getting ready to move out at a moment’s notice in case of an attack elsewhere.

The meeting went on for a long time after that. There were a lot of questions surrounding the events that had led up to Luna’s declaration of war. Celestia admitted that she did not have all the facts, but stated that she believed the altercation between the Night Guard and the griffons had been planned by her sister. The idea seemed to be to put Celestia in a position to fight two wars at once.

The generals mostly worried and speculated about the number of foes they were going to be dealing with. If Luna had in fact convinced all thestrals in Hollow Shades to join her cause, she would have a force about two-thirds as big as the entire Equestrian guard.

The fact that thestrals were known to be fiercer and psychically stronger than most ponies made that number a scary proposition. Not to mention the fact that almost no guard member had any actual life or dead combat experiences. The Bat Ponies of Hollow shades were known to leave Equestria and fight wars alongside other Bat Ponies living in different parts of the world. Which also led to the worry that those Bat Ponies could come to Equestria and join Luna’s cause as well.

There was also the question of how many citizens of Equestria would take up arms to assist Luna. Many families had ties to her, owning their settlements to her or having been assisted in some other way by her.

Then there were the griffons. It was almost certain that they saw this political turmoil as an opportunity to drop the subtleties and go for an all-out invasion. The fact that griffon ‘citizens’ had died on the ponies’ territory meant that neighboring nations would view this action not as an invasion, but as a just retaliation.

Celestia assured the attending generals that she would meet with a griffon emissary that same day and she was confident that she would be able to settle any animosity between the two nations diplomatically. She realized that nopony at the meeting really believed that and she could not blame them. She didn’t believe it either. The griffons had always hated the ponies and would obviously jump at the chance to make a move.

When the meeting finally wrapped up, Celestia and Diamond Prism stayed behind while the generals went to rally their troops and relay their orders. Celestia felt relieve wash over her as she could finally drop the cold expression from her face. She never liked having to do it, but she knew the situation called for her to present herself as a battle hardened leader who was not afraid of making difficult decisions.

‘Would any of them follow me if they knew just how much I’m haunted by doubts and regrets?’

“We are in an okay shape, I think.” Diamond Prism said. “We are basing a lot of this stuff on assumptions, but I think we have some solid plans.”

Celestia did not answer. She had her fair share of wars and knew enough about them to realize that they were basing far too much of their strategy on assumptions. They basically did not have anything solid to go on. As solid as Diamond Prism’s initial defense strategy was, Celestia knew that there were some hard times and tough choices ahead.

After she magically removed her golden armor set, Celestia finally managed to get comfortable in her chair. She was about to suggest to take a break and grab some coffee when the door to the war room opened. Captain Silver Strike walked back in.

“Did you have anything else to say, Captain?” Celestia asked him.

“No princess, but I have a message. The griffon emissary has arrived. Should I send him in here, would you rather speak to him in the throne room?”

“Tell him to wait in the throne room. I will be with him in a little while.”

“It is not my place, but uhm…” He stammered. “We really should not make him wait too long…”

Celestia raised an eyebrow. “Who is he?”

“The griffons appear to have send Gusev, their crown prince.”

Celestia and Diamond Prism exchanged a shocked look. “Send him in here please. And thank you, Captain.”

No sooner had she said that and a griffon walked right past Silver Strike and entered the war room. He was scrawny for a griffon, and according to griffon customs would have likely been cast out as a child, had he not been born in such a powerful family. He carried himself with a pompous air.

“No need to stand up, Princess. And no need to stand on any ceremony either. I am simply here as a friend, coming for a friendly conversation.” He had a slight accent, but his Equine was perfectly understandable, a rare skill among griffons.

Celestia hid her surprise well and gestured at the nearest empty chair. “By all means then Prince Gusev, have a seat.”

Silver Strike gave a quick bow before he closed the door behind the Prince. His eyes betrayed his feelings towards their guest, which were not particularly warm or welcoming.

Gusev sat down at the table and gave Diamond Prism what was meant to be a warm smile, but looked like a terrifying smirk because of this sharp beak. She found herself caught off guard and awkwardly smiled back. “Welcome to Equestria, Prince Gusev. Would you prefer for me to stay here or would you and the Princess like some privacy?” She said after recovering from her initial shock.

“Like I said, I’m just here as a friend, feel free to stay here. You might be able to help clear some questions for me while I am here.” His tone was friendly, but his demeanor suggested that disagreeing with him was probably not a good idea.

“I suppose I do not need to ask you what brought you here.” Celestia said. “Given the events over the past days it seems reasonable enough that you chose to appear here yourself.”

“Indeed it does, Princess, Indeed it does,” He said with an amused look on his face. “But know this, I am not here to demand an apology or make any threats. We all fully realize that it is in fact your sister that is to blame.”

“I still would like to offer my apologies, Prince Gusev. I sincerely wish I would have done something that had prevented this situation from happening in the first place.“

“Apologies accepted, of course. Now, before I tell you why I am really here, I have to ask you if we are alone. Are you two the only one that can hear me right now?” Gusev said.

Diamond Prism took out a small gem and tapped it with her hoof. “We are now,” she said.

“Good,” Gusev said as he slumped in his seat. “I will speak freely then. I realize you must think I came here to threaten you and make demands, but the opposite is true. I am here because I need your help.”

Diamond Prism made no effort to hide her skepticism. “You want our help?” She asked with a raised eyebrow.

“As you may or may not be aware of, my father has fallen ill,” Gusev continued. “It is not common knowledge yet, but for the past few weeks I have been the de facto ruler of the griffon empire. I make the decisions, and my father signs them. He can’t even read them anymore.”

“I am very sorry to hear that,” Celestia said.

“Thank you, Princess,” He said. “The thing is, things have not been going great. My father has always been very vocal about not engaging in open warfare with your nation. He greatly preferred to handle our territorial disputes in a different manner.”

“I guess you are referring to the raids on our border towns?” Diamond Prism said. “The raids that are being carried out by so-called criminals that have nothing to do with your government?”

“That is correct. I assume you were already aware of-“

“So you admit it then?” Diamond Prism said with venom in her voice. “Your father gave the orders? We should-” She trailed of as Princess Celestia motioned for her to stop.

“Please continue, Prince Gusev,” Celestia said.

“Right,” he continued, seemingly unbothered. “My father never wanted a war, but every other member of our ruling class feels differently. Now that my father is no longer able to voice his objections, there is tremendous pressure on me to declare war on your kind. Especially now with what just happened at Mistshore…”

“And I assume you agree with your father that going to war is not the best option?” Celestia asked.

“Absolutely, Princess. Respectfully, the other griffons are fools. They have been blinded by hatred and greed. Going to war with your nation would mean going to war against you. I am very familiar with the history of the last great war before the age of harmony. We would simply not stand a chance.”

“You wouldn’t,” Diamond Prism said coldly. “Why don’t you just keep saying no? It seemed to work for your father.”

“My father is a respected and feared ruler. Every single griffon in the empire does exactly what he tells them to. Myself, on the other hand have not quite gained such respect yet. If I don’t go along with the others, they will simply spread the word that I am a coward across the empire. Within days we would be dealing with burning palaces and toppled statues.”

“Still, I am surprised,” Celestia said. “Our nation is currently divided and me and my sister are going to be very busy fighting each other. It seems like the perfect time for you to go to war.”

“Well, with all due respect, Princess, I do not see the war between you and your sister lasting very long,” Gusev said. “I suspect the reason the two of you are both still alive is because you still care about each other on some level. But as soon as this war truly starts and ponies and thestrals start dying… Well I think one of you will see no other option but to 'deal' with the other Princess.” He sliced his talon across his throat for emphasis. “And I am here because I cannot imagine you not coming out victorious in that scenario.”

Sadness overwhelmed Celestia for a second. Gusev has just said out loud what she had been thinking for two days. It was true. She feared she was going to have to face Luna herself before this war was over.

Gusev noticed the effect his words had on the Princess, so he continued. “But this is why I am here Princess. I believe I have a plan that helps both of us. You want to end this war without killing your sister and I want this war over as soon as possible so I have a reason not to join it.” Gusev was speaking fast now, making wild gestures with his claws. “Since it seems you and me appear to have the same hopes for the outcome of this war, I would like to, unofficially of course, tell you that there will be no more raids coming out of the griffon empire during this war.”

So not only are you not going to war, but you are prepared to stop the raids now? Why?” Celestia asked.

“My father’s approach is never going to work. I want to do things differently. It is actually pretty simple, Without the griffon Empire to worry about, you will be able to focus on doing what matters to me. Making sure your sister goes away as soon as possible.”

“And how exactly does this solve my problem?” Celestia asked. “No longer having to worry about a griffon attack would help our war efforts, but in the end the situation between my sister and me remains the same.”

“There is a way to resolve this war without it coming to the point of you and your sister fighting face to face,” Gusev said as he leaned in closer. “Score a decisive victory on the battlefield. Make it clear to your sister that she won’t be able to be able to come near this castle without getting absolutely annihilated. I am talking about total military domination here. “

Diamond Prism scoffed. “And how in Tartarus are we going to do that? Our defenses are spread incredibly thin. Even if Luna has half the army we fear she has, our victory is far from a sure thing.”

“Very true,” Gusev said. “And for obvious reason I cannot give you the support of the griffon army. But there might be another way. I could provide you with information. Information that would give you a considerable tactical advantage.”

“What information? What could you possibly have to say that changes the realities of this war?” Diamond Prism asked.

“I have it all here in writing.” Gusev reached for a stack of papers, tucked under his wing. “So I will not bore you with all the details. As for how you use it, I leave that up to you. Use at your discretion, as you ponies might say."

“And you would be willing to just give this to us? Celestia asked. “Do you want to see us win that much?”

“Well, that is not exactly it. If I thought your sister would be better to work with, I might make her a similar offer.”

“So what’s in this for you then? Besides not going into a war you can’t win?

“Well, after you have successfully beaten back Luna’s forces and your victory is assured, my army will move in and claim a reasonably sized piece of territory for the griffon Empire. And your guards will not intervene, because they will be busy keeping the peace with the thestrals.” Gusev leaned back and spread his talons. “Does that sound fair?”

“Have you lost your mind?” Diamond Prism blurted out. She turned to Celestia. “Please tell me you are not considering this, Princess.”

Celestia remained quiet for a few more seconds, lost in thought. She would essentially be trading the life of guards and thestrals for that of her sister. It was not something she could ever forgive herself for. But the loss of her own sister, who still had the capacity to do a tremendous amount of good, was an even bleaker outlook. “How good is this information? And how much territory would we be paying for it?”

“I’ll tell you what. Feel free to study this information at your leisure for the rest of the day.” Gusev said as he slid the stack of papers across the table. "Tomorrow morning we will discuss how much this this information is worth to you.”

“So you have lost your mind,” Diamond Prism stated dryly. “You’re just handing this over without us agreeing to anything?”

“If we cannot reach an understanding tomorrow, Princess Luna will receive a letter containing this same information. She will anticipate every move you could possibly make based on this information and it will be like it never existed in the first place. Oh and by the way, this letter is on the way to her anyway. She will receive it unless I contact the courier and tell him not to go through with it. So please do not do anything stupid, like slitting my throat.”

“And after we reach our agreement?” Celestia asked. “How do we know you are not going to occupy the rest of our nation as well? As you said before, our guards would not be in a position to stop you. Do we just take your word for it?”

“You have much more than our word Princess,” Gusev said with a smirk. “You have me. Tell your guards to prevent me from leaving the castle and to cut me down if the griffon army does anything other than what we agree on. You can even throw me in a cell if you’d like.”

“You want us to imprison you for the duration of the war?” Celestia asked incredulously. “What about the rest of the griffon leadership? Would they not immediately invade us to get you back?”

Gusev shrugged. “It was their idea. I asked for alternatives to an all-out war and this is what they came up with.”

“Have you considered that they might not care whether you live or die?” Diamond Prism said. “They could finally start their war and have us get rid of the coward who tried to stop it at the same time. Two birds, one stone.”

“I’m sure you are aware of the fact that I am my father’s only son. If I die, our family line dies. And if that happens, the line of succession is murky at best. The last time something like that happened, our empire nearly crumbled under a civil war. It took my great-grandfather several years and thousands of lives to gain control over it. The average griffon might not care, but at least our leadership is not that shortsighted.”

Celestia and Diamond Prism were both quiet. The proposal seemed to hold up so far. They were both still trying to come up with something else to poke holes in it.

“I would love keep going here and answer all your concerns,” Gusev finally said. “But I feel like our conversation would be a lot more productive once you have seen the information I provided. Shall we continue this later?”

Celestia quickly exchanged a look with Diamond Prism, who gave her a small shrug and a nod. “Very well then, Prince Gusev. It looks like you are officially our prisoner now. For now at least.”

“So I suppose this is where you call in your guards and drag me out the room then?” Gusev said.

“For now, feel free to make use of our guest accommodations,” Celestia said. “There should be some royal guards right outside the door. They will take you there. We will decide how to further handle your stay here if we come to an agreement.”

“Very well then, I suppose I should rest up. Tomorrow the real work begins,” He said with a big grin. With that he left the room.

“What do you think? Do you trust him?” Celestia asked as soon as the prince closed the door behind him.

“Not in the slightest,” Diamond Prism said. “But he is giving us an awful lot of assurance. The griffons might be ruthless, but it is true that the ones in charge would never do anything to put the succession of the throne at risk. It seems to me that we are safe from any griffon aggression as long as he is our prisoner here.”

“Do we have any way to find out if his father is actually sick? Just to be sure that part is true at the very least”

“I will send the word out immediately. This should be something my contacts can find out by tomorrow morning.”

Celestia was quiet for a while. The more she replayed the conversation in her head, the more it was bothering her. “There is something about the way he talks. I have never seen a griffon acting so… calm before… Normally they either scream your ears off or cower in respect. I never knew there could be anything in between for them.”

“I have met a few upper class griffons before, at some diplomatic dinner in Zebrafica. I think most of them are like that these days. They like to emulate us upper class unicorns, I suppose.”

A smile appeared on Celestia’s face. “Well he did say he wanted to do things differently than his father. Perhaps he meant he was going to be a passive-aggressive jerk instead of an aggressive jerk.”

Neither of them could stop themselves from laughing at that.

5. Infinite Devil Machine

General Stone Tail wiped the blood out of his eyes and returned his nervous gaze toward the sky. There wasn’t anything to see at the moment, but he knew the attackers would be back any second now. He desperately tried to concentrate over the sound of wounded guards and yelling medics around him.

The attack was not the massive invasion Stone tail had been afraid of, but the situation still wasn’t good. For the past hour, small groups of thestral soldiers had been descending on different parts of the trench, scoring a few kills and then retreating before a proper counter-offense could come from the guards.

Stone Tail was confident that the defensive line would hold until reinforcements would arrive, but he knew the number of losses was already catastrophic.

‘These bastards are just softening us up… Making sure we can’t put up much of a fight when they are ready to invade.’

He kept staring at the sky for a while longer, knowing the bats were up there somewhere, circling around and plotting their next strike.

He finally tore his eyes away from the sky and stepped over the body of an enemy he killed minutes before. The thestral had taken out two of his guards before Stone Tail had managed to surprise him by throwing his massive greatsword at him.

He headed in the direction where he last had seen Sword Grass. Sword Grass had been in contact with the group of pegasi that were on their way to reinforce the trench. Stone Tail needed to know how much longer it would take for them to arrive. If it was going to take too long, he’d have to do something to minimize losses in the meantime.

He only had only taken a few steps when everypony around him suddenly collapsed to the ground. He instinctively did the same, covering his head with his hooves. A split second later a bladed wing narrowly missed him, traveling over his head so fast it made the air crackle.

As soon as the thestral had passed overhead, Stone Tail sprang up. He counted five of them, flying in a V formation.

Some of the nearby archers must have seen this group coming, because as soon as the formation started to ascend, they were peppered by a volley of arrows. Four of them went down immediately. The last one was hit in a wing but managed to keep flying. Judging by the slightly smaller body type, Stone Tail assumed this was a female thestral.

The thestral turned herself around and climbed up in an attempt to get away from the archers. Due to her damaged wing however, she quickly lost her momentum and started to spiral down. She made a last desperate attempt to pull out, but it was too late. She crashed back into the trench and tumbled end over end a few times before coming to a stop right next Stone Tail.

Stone Tail immediately stepped forward, intending to crush the thestral’s skull before she could recover. The thestral turned out to have excellent reflexes, however.

As Stone Tail was bringing his heavy sword down, she jumped up and angled her injured wing away to strike at the sword with the blade on her good wing. She managed to catch Stone Tail by surprise and send the sword flying out of his hooves.

While his sword was still spinning through the air, Stone Tail did the only thing he could think off. He sprang forward and punched the thestral in the face with all his strength. A satisfying snapping sound told him that her jaw had given out.

The thestral got knocked back by the blow and was now standing on her hind legs, leaning against the side of the trench. She quickly got her bearings and realized that she was surrounded with no means of escape. Seeing no other options, she pushed herself off the side of the trench and leapt towards Stone Tail with a piercing shriek.

Stone Tail was prepared for the thestral’s speed this time. He dove under her wingblade and quickly spun around as she passed over him. The thestral landed and tried to do the same, but Stone Tail was already jumping after her and tackled her to the ground. He made sure his weight was on her injured wing, leaving her pinned down.

Once on the ground, the thestral was the faster of the two again and headbutted Stone Tail in the face. Stone Tail ignored the pain and reeled his hoof back. He had his enemy exactly where he wanted her.

After two punches, the thestral’s body was already lifeless and twitching. Stone Tail punched a few more times anyway, to make sure she would stay down.

He finally got up and surveyed his surroundings. At least ten guards where standing nearby, staring at him in shock. “Thanks for the help, rookies…” he mumbled, blood dripping from his mouth.

He picked up his sword and noticed that its edge was badly damaged by the thestral’s wingblade. He wordlessly tossed it in the direction of the guards. Surely one of them could figure out how to repair it. He picked up a fallen guard’s spear and headed out.

The search for Sword Grass was short, but hectic. All Stone Tail could hear was the overwhelming sound of wounded soldiers. Thankfully, there were no further attacks on his position.

When Sword Grass saw Stone Tail approach, he immediately stopped what he was doing and walked over to him.

“The pegasus reinforcements are expected to arrive at our position within five minutes, General,” he said.

“Good. Anything else?”

“It seems the thestrals are aware of it too. A spotter in the mountains just confirmed that the bulk of their forces has left the area and are heading back towards Hollow Shades.”

“And the rest of them?”

“They are still circling somewhere high above us, it seems they- “Suddenly, Sword Grass got knocked against the side of the trench as a crossbow bolt struck him through his breastplate.

For a fraction of a second, Stone Tail started to move to help his friend, but then his combat instincts kicked in. He quickly spun around and saw a small group of thestrals rapidly descending on his position. The largest of them was heading straight for him.

Stone Tail readied his spear, knowing full well that the enemy had him where they needed him to be. He only hoped he could at least take one of them down with him.

Right when he started to move to lunge at the large thestral, Sword Grass jumped in between them with a scream. With no time to alter his course, the thestral crashed straight into him.

The other thestrals shared a look and then quickly turned around as they saw their leader rolling on the ground.

The large thestral managed to recover almost immediately and was back on his hooves before anypony else could do anything. Sword Grass, who was heavily bleeding from the crossbow bolt to his chest, laid at his hooves. He was coughing up blood and struggling to get back up.

The thestral locked eyes with Stone Tail and seemed to be considering a second attempt at taking him out. He changed his mind when he saw at least twenty guards approaching him.

“I will see you later, General,” he said as he picked up Sword Grass as though he weighed nothing and took off. A nearby guard slashed at him with his sword, but he was already gone.

“Come back here and face me, coward!” Stone Tail yelled. The thestral didn’t respond. Both Stone Tail and the other guards could do nothing but stand there and stare as the thestral carried Sword Grass higher up and further away.

When he was across the large fields and almost as high as the clouds, the thestral finally released Sword Grass.

Tears started to well up in Stone Tail’s eyes as he saw the silhouette of his friend fall to his death in the distance.

General Cloud spear circled a few times before he landed in a small clearing in the forest. He looked around at the desolate environment and wondered what the hell he was doing here. The twilight sky seemed to make the location even more ominous.

The only thing he had been told was that he was going to meet Princess Celestia here to discuss an assignment for him and the unit of special operations guards that he trained. He just hoped that whatever it was, it was worth not joining the other pegasi in the mountains.

Just when she started to wonder if this was the right place, somepony came out of the dense bushes. He immediately recognized General Diamond Prism. The two of them regularly met with each other throughout his military career and he considered her a friend.

“Are you here to meet with the Princess too?” Cloud Spear asked her after they exchanged salutes and some less formal greetings.

She sighed. “I’m afraid not. The Princess was supposed to be here, but she’s busy.”

“Busy with what? I was told to come here and meet her…”

“Apparently there was a situation near Fillydelphia earlier in the morning. I left before the specifics came in, but it seems like the bats decided to attack our defensive line.”

“Damn…”

“I think the line held, or everypony would be a lot more panicked right now. Either way, Celestia and I came up with the plans for this assignment together so I can fill you in myself.”

“So, are you going to tell me why we are here?”

“Follow me, we’ll talk further inside.”

‘Inside? We are in the middle of a forest…’

Cloud Spear decided his questions could wait a bit longer and followed Diamond Prism into the dense bushes.

After a short hike they arrived at a clearing with a small rock formation in the center. Diamond Prism walked up to it and pointed out a small hatch, cleverly concealed among the rocks. “This is us,” she said.

Cloud Spear couldn’t hide his surprise. “What in Tartarus is this place?”

“It used to be a mine,” Diamond Prism said as she pulled open the hatch. “But sometime during the last war, the griffons found it and used it for something else.”

“Used it for what? What is down there?”

“Trust me, you wouldn’t believe me if I told you…” Diamond Prism said with a sly smile.

After going down an old and creaky ladder, the pair stood in a small hallway, surrounded by rock. At the end of hallway was a wooden elevator, illuminated by a single torch. They both stepped on it before Diamond Prism yelled down into the shaft. “We’re here! Get us down!”

A creak was heard and the large pulley wheel behind them came to live. They started to slowly descend into the shaft.

“It’s going to be pretty dark down there,” Diamond Prism said. “I told everypony to keep the use of light to a minimum to avoid anypony finding us down here. Don’t worry though, as soon as we get off this elevator, I’ll have them turn on the lights long enough for the big reveal.”

After seemingly never-ending elevator ride, they stopped with a sudden thud. Diamond Prism had been right, Cloud Spear couldn’t see a single thing.

“Okay we are here, can we get some lights?” Diamond Prism yelled.

Somewhere near them a spell was cast. Suddenly, gemstones started lighting up all around them. For a second Cloud Spear was just marveling at the sight of them. They seemed to go on forever. Wherever they were, it was huge.

Then he noticed the giant objects in the middle of the cave and did a double take. “Are those...”

“Yep, they are,” Diamond Prism said. “Go check them out for yourself.”

Cloud Spear practically ran to the center of the cave. Three massive Gryphonian airships stood there, in pristine condition by the looks of them.

Cloud Spear remembered these terrifying contraptions well. During the last war they had been the single best weapon the griffons had at their disposal. Just one of these could burn down a city, launching flaming projectiles from up high. Three of them could destroy an entire armada. His head was spinning with the possibilities.

When he got close enough to the first one, Cloud Spear was able to read the name painted on the side of the Gondola. His Gryphonian wasn’t the best, but he was pretty sure this one was called Lawgiver. A fitting name for such an imposing weapon.

Feeling like a kid in a candy shop, Cloud Spear quickly moved on to the next airship, which looked to be identical to the first one. He couldn’t help but shake his head at the name: Vengeful Widow.

Hundreds of years ago, during one of their many wars, a pony general had described the griffons as “barbaric warmongers, whose primary export seems to be widows and suffering”. The griffon king at the time loved the description and decided to run with it. Ever since, the griffons started to use the word widow as much as possible when naming their weaponry.

Cloud Spear finally arrived at the last airship, which was at least a third bigger than the other two. An intricate pattern of red warpaint decorated its balloon. This was clearly the flagship. He tried in vain to translate its name, sounding out the syllables.

“It’s called Infinite Devil Machine,” Diamond Prism said as she appeared behind him. “But I think we should rename it after we use it to win this war.”

“You mean we’re actually going to use this thing?” Cloud Spear asked incredulously.

“Yep, that is what I mean,” Diamond Prism stated bluntly. “Speaking of which, it is about time I let you in on the details. Not here though. Let’s go somewhere where we can safely keep the light on.”

She gestured at a nearby unicorn and a few seconds later the lights started to slowly dim. Cloud Spear could barely make out Diamond Prism in the darkness as he followed her. They went through several long hallways before riding another elevator down.

He had no way of being sure, but Cloud Spear suspected they were easily over a mile below the surface now.

They walked through a few more hallways until they arrived in a well-lit area. A few tables and chairs were scattered around. Cloud Spear figured this must have been a break room for the miners once upon a time.

“About this assignment…” Diamond Prism started as they sat down at one of the tables. “I am not at liberty to give out all the details, but the Princess and I have devised a plan based on what we have been told by an informant.”

“The same informant that told you about this place?” Cloud Spear asked.

“Yep, that’s the one. But based on what this informant told us, we are not the only ones with airships.”

Cloud Spear felt his excitement rush away. “Just how many of these hangars did the griffons leave behind?” He asked.

Diamond Prism was getting excited; talking faster and faster. “Just two of them as far as I know. But here’s the best part: Luna has no idea about our airships. She also has no idea that we know about her airships. So, the plan is to simply use ours to destroy hers before she even gets a chance to use them, giving us a decisive advantage.”

“And dealing a massive blow to their morale,” Cloud Spear affirmed. “Sounds like a solid plan, but how do we execute it?"

“I think we have a pretty solid strategy, but I will need your help. In fact, not just yours…”

“What do you mean?” Cloud Spear asked with a raised eyebrow.

Diamond Prism got up and started heading towards a large door on the other side of the room. “You’re going to want to see this. Just please don’t be mad at me!”

Cloud Spear rolled his eyes and begrudgingly started following her. ‘Diamond Prism really should know by now that I hate surprises.’

They stepped through the door and entered a large open space. Cloud Spear immediately noticed the movement above them. He stood there nailed to the floor for a few seconds, unable to do anything but stare. At least fifty pegasi were flying around in full battle armor. They appeared to be practicing combat maneuvers by sparring in small groups. Diving at each other in an attempt to knock them out the air and fiercely dodging attacks from their sparring partners.

“The Crimson Company…” Cloud Spear finally uttered. “How do you know about them?”

“I didn’t, until the Princess told me we should use them just yesterday. I guess these are supposed to be some pretty good fliers, huh?”

“Pretty good? These are the most elite of the elite pegasi we have. I selected and trained them myself.”

“I’m just pulling your leg. They look impress- “Diamond Prism suddenly jumped back when one of the pegasi got knocked out of the air by his sparring partner and crashed into the ground just a few feet away from her.

Before either of them even fully realized what had happened, the pegasus was already back on his hooves and preparing to take off again.

Cloud Spear stopped him just before he could do so. “Hold on. Let me see you spit and grin first.”

The pegasus spit out a bit of blood before showing his teeth to the general. After checking they were all still there the general continued. “How many hooves am I holding up?”

“You’re not holding up any hooves, general,” the pegasus replied.

“Alright, you’re good. Get back up there but BE MORE CAREFUL!” After a quick salute the pegasus was on his way back to his squad mates to continue the drill.

“Unbelievable,” Diamond Prism said. “A fall like that should have snapped a few bones at the very least. And yet, he seems perfectly fine.”

“Like I said: the most elite of the elite,” Cloud Spear was gleaming with pride now. “It might not be the high praise it used to be to say it, but this group here is the very best the Equestrian guard has to offer.”

Diamond Prism let out a prolonged whistle. “Impressive. So why exactly is the existence of this company such a big secret anyway?”

“After the last war ended, the princesses rang in the Age of Harmony and reduced our guard to the small size you see today. We were told to only focus on protecting our own territories and to stay out of international affairs. However, I convinced Princess Celestia that we needed at least a small group of special operators that could carry out missions abroad if the need ever arose.”

“Huh,” Diamond Prism said. “I always suspected that that were a few things going on that I wasn’t allowed to know about, but I guess you’ve been a lot more… active than I imagined.”

“Anyway, tell me more about this mission…” Cloud Spear said, clearly not comfortable with this topic.

“Right, the mission,” Diamond Prism said with a playful smile. “It’s pretty straightforward actually. We know where the bats are stashing their airships. So, we are going to fly over there and destroy them before they have a chance to react. You and your company will be in charge of guarding the airships from outside threats. Us unicorns will oversee everything on the inside of these flying coffins. Steering them, dropping the explosives on their hangar and making sure nopony gets inside uninvited. Not that anypony is going to get a chance at that with you there, of course.

“Did you just say explosives?”

“Sure did. The griffons didn’t just leave us a bunch of empty ships. They have enough bombs in them to level a city. They are not legal to produce anymore… But hey, finders’ keepers.”

Cloud Spear watched the Crimson Company run their drills for a while without saying anything. Then he slowly began to smile. “You know, this sounds just crazy enough to work. How soon can we head out?”

“Hopefully tomorrow. We are trying to figure out the logistics of getting these airships above-ground. This technology is pretty advanced for a bunch of griffons. Some of the unicorns here also told me they had plans to use stealth magic to help us with the element of surprise. As soon as all that’s done, we are good to go.”

Cloud Spear felt fired up. Just this morning he had been wondering how long it was going to be until the Equestrian guard would be forced to make some sort of desperate last stand.

Now there was hope again. A chance to turn everything around before it even really began.

6. Just a Show of Muscle

Despite the early hour and lack of sleep in the past few days, Silver Strike felt alert. He sporadically heard hoofsteps from patrolling guards in distant parts of the castle. The direction and timing of these sounds told him exactly which of his guards he was hearing.

He was pleased to hear that everypony was sticking to their patrolling schedule, despite the mad scramble they had just been through. Over the last three days the castle had both doubled its guard and replaced the thestrals of the Night Guard with Royal Guard ponies.

In the periods of silence between hoofsteps, Silver Strike stared at the door of Princess Celestia’s chamber. A small part of him hoped that somepony inside would somehow feel his stare and invite him in already. He had no idea if the reason he was called here was good or bad, but he was dying to find out.

Silver Strike almost felt amused at his own impatience. During his career in the Royal Guard he had spent a lot of time standing in hallways waiting for somepony to tell him to move. Doing so had resulted in a practically endless amount of patience. But apparently all it took to break him was Princess Celestia using the word urgently when she asked to see him.

When he was finally invited inside, Silver Strike immediately noticed Prince Gusev sitting across from the princess and frowned.

After curtly greeting the prince, Silver Strike sat down next to the princess and looked around expectantly, waiting for somepony to fill him in.

Celestia spoke up first. “I assume you probably have some questions about the prince’s presence here?”

It was the understatement of a lifetime, but Silver Strike did not let it show. He simply nodded.

“He came here with information that could be valuable to the war effort. We have been making plans to use that information as effectively as possible."

“Have we been able to verify this information at all?” Silver Strike asked as he turned to Prince Gusev. “I do not mean to offend, but I think you know why I have to ask…”

Gusev brushed the remark aside with a gesture from his claw before he answered. “I have already assured the Princess that I will be her prisoner for the duration of this war. Should the information I have provided be wrong, she may do with me as she likes.”

Celestia must have caught the worried expression on Silver Strike’s face because she quickly added, “I have already selected a few of your guards to watch over Prince Gusev during his stay at the castle. The reason why I have called you here is because we need your help with a strategy we have devised based on the new information.”

“Is this about whatever Diamond Prism and Cloud Spear are up to? I have heard rumors about some secret mission from my guards.”

“No. Prince Gusev’s information has led to the creation of multiple strategies. But Diamond Prism and Cloud Spear might make your mission easier for you. They are aiming to score a military victory, while you are going after a more precise target. If they are successful you might be able to take advantage of the chaos they create.”

Silver Strike raised an eyebrow. “What sort of target am I going after?”

“Aurora Shade. We have no idea why Luna took her with her. We don’t even know whether she came willingly or if she was captured. What we do know is that we need her back no matter what. Aurora Shade possesses an extreme amount of magical knowledge. If she cooperates with Luna, there is no telling what kind of damage they would be capable of.”

“Okay, it is a recovery mission then,” Silver Strike said. “So how am I supposed to get her back?”

“This is where I come in,” Gusev said. “I think it is safe to assume that she is being held in Hollow Shades, right? It is notoriously well fortified and currently serves as Luna’s base of operations after all.”

Silver Strike simply nodded, having no idea where Gusev was going with this.

“We all know even a large army would struggle to breach Hollow Shades. But what if I told you there was a way in that did not involve a large-scale siege? What if there was a long-forgotten passage that would allow you to slip in unseen?”

Silver Strike could no longer hold back. “Long forgotten by everyone but you… How very convenient.”

“Long forgotten by everyone but my father actually,” Gusev nonchalantly corrected. “He is still mad about it. Apparently, griffon soldiers used it all the time during the last war. Mostly to trade for alcohol and other narcotics. Father believes that it was a major contributing factor to our defeat.”

“So where do I go to find this passage?”

“There are these ruins right next to Hollow Shades. Remnants of some ancient civilization I suppose. Ponies tend to avoid them because of their proximity to the thestrals. The thestrals avoid them because…” Prince Gusev paused and chuckled dryly. “Well, who knows why the bats do anything?

“I know those ruins,” Silver Strike said. “I saw them on the way to a diplomatic meeting at Hollow Shades a few years back.

“What you probably don’t know about these ruins is how vast they truly are. Most of them are underground. I trust you follow where I am going with this?”

“I enter the ruins, go to the basement, walk over to Hollow Shades and pop back up.”

That elicited a generous laugh from Prince Gusev. “You certainly make it sound very manageable. I admire the optimism.”

“I suppose every plan seems easy when it is still just a plan. Still, bringing at least a few guards to watch my back would not be a bad idea.”

“I figured you would take one or two guards with you and disguise yourselves as traveling merchants,” Celestia said. “Nopony would look at you twice until you are right outside of Hollow Shades.”

“What am I to do if Aurora Shade doesn’t come willingly?”

Celestia did not hesitate. “Whatever you have to.”

Silver Strike thought for a moment and nodded. “We could leave within the hour if you believe this is the right course of action, Princess.”

“I have to believe that.”

General Cloud Spear looked at the pegasi before him. All members of the Crimson Company stood in a perfectly straight line. They stared back at him blankly, but he could see right through them. They were all feeling ready. Ready to put an end to this conflict. Ready to return hope to a nation that was quickly losing it. He couldn’t have been prouder of them in that moment.

Even though they obviously had no need for it, it was still up to him to make a motivational speech. “Listen up,” he started. “In a few moments we will finally get to leave this depressing hole and breathe some fresh air again. We will rendezvous with the airships and set out to rain down terror on our enemies. Sound good?”

“Yes, general!” the Crimson Company shouted back at him in unison.

“Our noble friends, the unicorns, will travel to our destination in style aboard the airships. No doubt they will be sitting in cushioned seats and sipping on fancy wine. Meanwhile we will be flying alongside them in the freezing cold that comes with high altitudes. And when the bats show up, we get to act as a living shield. Still sound good to you?”

“Yes, general!” they shouted again.

“As I expected. None of you are big on wine anyway. But if you manage to not embarrass me in front of my new unicorn friends today, I will buy rounds of beer until all of you can no longer stand. Now how does that sound?”

Their response was almost deafening this time. “Sounds good, general!”

“Let’s move out then. Nothing is more embarrassing than showing up late!”

The Crimson Company took off as one and left the mineshaft.

Diamond Prism was miserable. The low hum of the magically propelled engines was giving her a headache. The heat inside the airship's carriage was almost as unbearable as the smell of sweat and whatever mysterious fuel they were using. The carriage was also vibrating so intensely she could feel her teeth rattle. This was going to be a problem, especially since they had several more hours of flying to go.

Rather than knocking herself out with booze as Cloud Spear had jokingly suggested before takeoff, Diamond Prism decided to go over the plan again and see if they missed anything.

Their target was an old griffon hangar disguised as a large farm. It was located just outside of some densely populated areas. This meant they had to be careful to avoid collateral damage. Luckily the bombs the griffons had left behind weren’t too powerful. If they dropped them right on target, the resulting explosions shouldn’t be too much of an issue to the surrounding area.

There were likely going to be thestrals guarding the hangar. This meant that after the airships dropped the bombs and the element of surprise was gone, they were pretty much guaranteed to get swarmed. Cloud Spear and the Crimson Company had their work cut out for them.

This part of the plan concerned Diamond Prism the most. There would be no backup if they needed it and no easy way to slip away if they ran into problems. Cloud Spear had assured her that the Crimson Company was used to working under these conditions, but Diamond Prism could not help feeling uneasy.

She kept milling over these concerns until she realized this was wearing on her more than the sound of the engines. She got up without really knowing where she was going.

Around her she saw all her fellow unicorns preparing for the possibly of combat in their own ways. Some were readying their weapons, meticulously restringing bows and crossbows. Some had gathered in groups to talk. Others were sitting by themselves, either sleeping or lost in thought. The mood was grim and oppressive. Diamond Prism could not blame them. None of them had ever seen real combat before.

Without really meaning to, Diamond Prism ended up at the door leading to the airship’s flight deck. Figuring it would probably be a bit less noisy and miserable in there, she walked in. Inside, she found two unicorns. One of the was behind a large wooden steering wheel, while the other was inspecting a map. Both of them snapped to attention as they noticed her. “Officer on deck!” one of them shouted.

“Relax guys, I only came her to find a place where I can actually hear my own thoughts.”

“Well you came to the right place then!” the unicorn behind the ship's wheel said. “It's pretty nice up here. I am White Honey by the way. And my copilot here is Sweet Lilly.”

“I'm General Diamond Prism. Just Prism to you though, since I'm a guest on your flight deck.”

“Well, make yourself at home, Prism,” White Honey said as she returned her attention to the large windshield in front of her. It was quite a view. Even though they were magically enhanced to be stealthier, both the Lawgiver and Vengeful Widow were visible flying in front of them.

After enjoying the view for a bit, Diamond Prism looked around the rest of the flight deck. It was bland, just a few chairs and posters with instructions in Gryphonian. Despite knowing some basics of the language, Diamond Prism could not even begin to comprehend the technical terminology before her.

“So, are you two experts in griffon technology or something?” Diamond Prism asked. “Is that why you were picked to fly this thing?”

“No, not really...” Sweet Lilly said. “Before yesterday we had no idea what any of this stuff was. But it is pretty intuitive actually.

“Yeah... Better not mention that to anypony back there,” White Honey added. “I don’t think we have enough water on board to clean up all the resulting vomit.”

Diamond Prism felt a bit queasy herself after hearing that bit of news, but she decided not to press the issue. Both ponies seemed to know what they were doing well enough so far. She plopped down on one of the chairs and enjoyed the relative silence for a while. The airship's engines were still audible, but at least she could concentrate here.

“You know, it is pretty cool to have you on our flight deck,” Sweet Lilly said.

“Why's that?”

“Well, you are kind off a childhood hero of mine.”

“Childhood? Am I that old?”

“Nah,” Sweet Lilly said with a sly smile. “I'm just very young. I signed up for the guard the day I was old enough to do so. I was at least partially inspired by the tales of your adventures overseas.”

That took Diamond Prism by surprise. The details of her work abroad had always been cause for speculation, but so far nopony talked about it to her so freely. She had honestly forgotten that she had acquired such a reputation. “I guess I owe you an apology then. I imagine being a guardsmare is lot more boring than those old bits of gossip make it seem.”

Sweet Lilly chuckled. “That's absolutely true. But I do like being a guardsmare. I got to make a ton of new friends like White Honey here. And from what she told me, I figured that things being boring might be a good thing after all.”

“True that!” White Honey said. “Boring is great. Being bored means you're probably not about to kick the bucket. I hope this mission will be boring. I hope every other mission until the end of this silly war is boring.”

“I couldn't agree more. Where did you pick up that bit of wisdom?” Diamond Prism said.

“Before I joined the guard, I used to work on a trading ship. That is why they let me steer this flying coffin. I have some experience with boats at least. But every now and then we would run into pirates. It got very grim some of those times. That is why I decided I would rather be a guard and be bored out my mind all day.”

“Thank Celestia these airships are not common anymore these days.” Sweet Lilly said. “Can you imagine how terrifying airship pirates would be?”

Diamond Prism had to agree with her. “One thing I don't get though. You say you like boredom, but pretty soon this airship will probably be the least boring place in all of Equestria.”

“Worth it!” White Honey deadpanned. “The sooner we kick we kick some bat butt, the sooner we can get back to sweet, sweet boredom!”

“Hear, hear!” Sweet Lilly yelled as she gave her friend a mock salute.

Diamond Prism grinned and shook her head. These two ponies reminded her a lot of younger versions of herself: tons of energy and a love for adventure, without being overly reckless. She made a mental note to transfer both of them over to her personal detail as soon as the war was over.

“You are in charge of this mission, so you might know a little more than us,” White Honey said, suddenly a lot more serious now. “Do you have any idea what sort of resistance we can expect once we reach our target?”

“If we are lucky, none. The idea is that they do not see us until we start dropping bombs on their heads. Any survivors would hopefully be smart enough to run away after that.”

“I have never been very lucky…” White Honey said.

“Yeah, me neither. If they do see us coming, they will probably assume it's just a show of muscle and attempt to call our bluff. Even if they don't see us coming we'd be in for quite a fight. But between our first-class escort and my company of unicorns, we have plenty of means to fight them off if that happens.”

White Honey was about to reply when they were interrupted by a knock. General Cloud Spear stepped on the flight deck and immediately addressed Diamond Prism. “The company just finished scouting ahead.”

“Did you see anything noteworthy?” Diamond Prism asked.

“Nothing we did not expect, but we have confirmed the presence of thestrals. One of them actually went outside for a smoke,” he said with a look of disgust.

“Fucking bats…” Diamond Prism and White Honey said at the exact same time. White Honey immediately straightened her posture and was suddenly very focused on steering the ship, pretending she did not just speak out of turn.

“How long until we arrive?” Diamond Prism asked.

“Should be a little more than an hour. I've already given the Lawgiver and Vengeful Widow instructions to speed up.”

“Okay, I should have everything ready by then.”

The next hour went by quickly. Diamond Prism instructed the guards to prepare to defend the airship. Then she talked to the mechanics to make sure they had everything in place to start the bombing run. Finally, she managed to call over a member of the Crimson Company from outside and got an update on their situation.

After she was done, she headed back for the flight deck. She decided to be in there for the bombing run. She'd have the best view of what's going on both on the ground and in the air.

“You're just in time,” White Honey said as she walked in. “Our target should come into view any second now.”

Diamond Prism joined the two other ponies in front of the windshield. She stared at the farm as it slowly began to become more detailed. Both the Lawgiver and the Vengeful Widow were already rapidly descending to prepare for their bombing run.

“Their trajectory is looking good,” White Honey mumbled to nopony in particular. “They should be starting the party within a minute. We clean up what remains.” Suddenly her eyes went wide with shock as she watched a large ball of fire envelop the Lawgiver. “What the-”

The shockwave from the explosion hit the Infinite Devil Machine and all three ponies were violently thrown to the ground. The airship got knocked off course and began to tilt as it was pulling sharply to the right.

“What just happened?” Diamond Prism yelled as she scrambled to get back up.

White Honey quickly grabbed hold of the steering wheel to steady the airship. “The Lawgiver just exploded!”

Diamond Prism finally managed to stand back up and looked through the windshield. “Oh no...” she said. “There goes the Widow...”

Another shockwave hit the flight deck. The windshield shattered from the impact, showering the ponies with broken glass. All three of them hit the deck and shielded their faces with their hooves but got some nasty cuts on other parts of their body.

Diamond Prism jumped up as soon as the shockwave had passed. “We are next! Turn us around while I tell the rest what’s happening!”

As soon as she was through the door, she got hit by a massive heat wave and a blinding light. She opened her mouth to scream, but she was drowned out by an ear-splitting explosion. Then everything went dark.

General Cloud Spear could not believe what he just witnessed. Within just a few seconds the entire fleet was in ruins. His shock and panic quickly made place for his anger.

"Those explosions came from inside the airships!" somepony nearby yelled. "Those treacherous bats knew we were coming and somehow used our own bombs against us!"

“General, what are your orders?” another yelled.

Cloud Spear quickly forced himself to calm down. Right now, he needed to make decisions and he needed to do it fast. He looked down.

The Lawgiver was already gone. The explosion done a number on its balloon and the whole thing had fallen out of the sky like a brick.

The Vengeful Widow had fared slightly better, but the gondola was heavily damaged and burning. He seriously doubted if he would be able to pull anypony out of there alive. The balloon was still mostly intact, but the airship was slowly drifting in circles.

The Infinite Devil Machine was moving erratically, clearly struggling to escape. Most of the gondola looked to be still intact. And while the envelope of the balloon was heavily damaged, it looked like it might be able to hold up long enough for an emergency landing.

“Unit one on me!” he finally yelled. “We will attempt to help out the Widow. Everypony else defend the Devil Machine. Buy them the time they need to safely land. The bats will be here any second now to finish them off.”

The message was quickly passed on and soon the entire Crimson Company was moving as one. Despite the horrible situation, Cloud Spear felt proud of them.

After Cloud Spear was joined by the ten members of unit one, they headed towards the Vengeful Widow.

By the time they were halfway there, dozens of thestrals were already taking off from the farm. “We have less time than I thought!” Cloud Spear yelled over the sound of the wind and roaring flames. “Get inside the airship and either put out that fire or get any survivors out of there! I'll discourage any curious bats!”

As they reached the Vengeful Widow, the other pegasi flew straight into the burning gondola, without a moment of hesitation. Cloud Spear circled the airship as he kept an eye on the now more than hundred airborne thestrals. He felt a mix of relieve and dismay as he realized that every single one of them was heading towards the Infinite Devil Machine. They might be able to get some ponies out of the Vengeful Widow, but how could the rest of the Crimson Company be able to hold off this many enemies?

After finishing another circle around the airship, Cloud Spear noticed a lone figure flying towards him. For a second, he could not help but smile at the thought that this thestral was dumb enough to take him on alone.

His smile quickly turned into a grimace as the figure came close enough to recognize. He gave a quick jerk with his wings, causing the wing blades on his harness to fold out and lock into place.

He knew the smartest thing to do would be to run away and force Maulden to chase him. This would buy him time until the others emerged from the airship and would be able to help him. He also knew there was no way he could ever do that. A lot of good ponies were already dead and the cause of all that grief was heading straight towards him. He hovered into place, just a few meters away from the Vengeful Widow's balloon.

Maulden felt elated as he dove towards Cloud Spear. Now was his chance to get back at one of the ponies that made his life miserable for years. The fact that he would be able to face Cloud Spear one on one made it all the better for him.

When Cloud Spear dodged him at the very last second, Maulden was hardly surprised. He had been expecting it even. He quickly adjusted his course and kicked out his hind legs to use the Vengeful Widow's balloon as a springboard. He launched himself in the same direction that Cloud Spear had lunged in and just like that he was right behind him, ready to strike.

Cloud Spear simply rolled out the way of his blow without even turning his head and took advantage by turning around and launching his own attack. He intended to simply tackle Maulden in midair, hoping to catch him off guard. Maulden caught on quickly however, shielding himself with his wing. Cloud Spear barely managed to abort his tackle in time to avoid flying straight into a winged blade. He awkwardly swerved around Maulden.

Maulden realized the advantage was his again now and pressed it by following closely. He knew that Cloud Spear would just roll out the way again if he tried striking with his wing blade, so he decided to hold off on attacking until he was close enough for an unavoidable hit.

Cloud Spear was not making it easy for him. He kept dodging in seemingly random directions and cleverly made use of his environment by trying to bait Maulden into crashing into the Vengeful Widow several times.

Maulden felt torn. He realized that if he just kept following Cloud Spear, he would eventually get the opening he was waiting for. But the longer it took, the more time Cloud Spear's guards had to finish their rescue mission and join the fight.

Maulden eyed the Vengeful Widow nervously, before deciding on a new approach. He veered away from Cloud Spear and darted towards the Vengeful Widow.

Before Cloud Spear fully realized what was going on, Maulden had already managed to cut one of the cables that connected the Vengeful Widow's gondola to the balloon above it. As the gondola began to tilt, Cloud Spear cursed under his breath and rushed to catch up with Maulden.

Eager to take advantage of this reversal of roles, Maulden took off and allowed Cloud Spear to follow him. Just as Cloud Spear had done before, Maulden led his pursuer through crazy dashes around the airship. During one evasive roll he felt Cloud Spear's wing blade graze his left hind leg. He ignored it and focused on the task ahead of him. Once he had found just the right position, Maulden suddenly stopped mid-air and spun around.

Realizing his mistake too late, Cloud Spear could do nothing to avoid a kick to his head. For a few seconds everything went dark as he felt himself tumbling out of control. Just as he regained his senses and prepared to steady himself, he crashed harder than he had ever done before.

For a few seconds Cloud Spear just laid on his back, completely disoriented and struggling to catch his breath. After he managed to open his eyes and lift his head, he realized he had not crashed into the ground, but had collided with the Vengeful Widow's balloon and was lying on top of it.

He tried to get up, but immediately stopped when he felt a sharp pain in his ribs. His wings were numb and unresponsive as well. There was nothing he could do as Maulden calmly landed next to him with a frightening, almost deranged grin.

Without saying anything, Maulden grabbed Cloud Spear’s wing and dragged him towards the front of the balloon. Cloud Spear struggled and trashed, but his broken body was no match for the thestral’s brute strength.

When they reached the very front of the balloon, Maulden let go of Cloud Spear. “Take a last look at your failures,” He said as he pointed down.

Cloud Spear followed his hoof and saw the burning wreckage of the Lawgiver. The flames had spread to form an enormous forest fire. It was obvious there was no way that anypony got out alive.

Then Cloud Spear looked ahead of him. The Infinite Devil Machine was still flying and still being defended by the Crimson Company, but it was clear that the thestrals were winning the fight.

Cloud Spear hung his head. Just as the tears started to well up in his eyes, he felt a pair of forelegs wrap around his neck and begin to squeeze.

Cloud Spear immediately saw red flashes in the corners of his vision as Maulden strangled him. He could hear nothing but his own heartbeat. He desperately tried to free himself by prying the legs from his throat, but there was no point. Maulden was one of the strongest foes he ever faced and currently had every advantage possible.

As his head began to feel like it was about to explode and his vision was narrowing, Cloud Spear made a last desperate attempt to escape by rolling out of the stranglehold, but Maulden simply squeezed even harder.

The sound of Cloud Spear’s heartbeat was replaced by a loud buzzing as his narrowing field of vision turned completely black. For a moment he felt his entire body violently trashing. Then there was nothing.

After Maulden was completely sure that Cloud Spear had died, he simply tossed his body over the side of the balloon, into the blazing inferno below.

"One general down, two to go," he whispered under his breath as he took off towards the Infinite Devil Machine.

4. A Dog With No Hares to Hunt

Even though he was exhausted, Maulden managed to land gracefully outside the gate of Hollow Shades. He took his time to stretch his wings and drink down as much water from his flask as he possibly could. The flight had not been brutally long, especially for a thestral, but he had been in a hurry. After he and Luna had escaped from the castle, he had been to several locations all over Equestria, relaying messages to fellow thestrals that lived in remote locations. He had been ordered to try and recruit as many of them as possible to come to Hollow Shades and join Luna’s cause.

Today those efforts were finally going to pay off. He was going to speak to the high council of Hollow Shades to convince them to officially throw their support behind Princess Luna. Not that they would need much convincing; the request was a formality at most. The thestrals in Hollow Shades essentially owed their entire existence to Princess Luna and her constant efforts to improve their standing in Equestrian society. Many thestrals were also already itching to go to war; plenty of young thestrals choose to spend a few years fighting overseas to get away from Equestria’s peace.

Despite his optimistic outlook, Maulden still felt bad about what happened. Princess Luna had expedited her plans in order to break him out of the dungeon before he could be executed. This caused her to miss some crucial steps in her strategy. She had assured him that she had been able to salvage things on the fly, but Maulden felt like he should have done something differently.

Aside from that, Luna’s plan had worked out perfectly, from what Maulden could piece together at least. The fact that Gryphon civilians technically had died on Equestrian soil made for a messy political situation that no other nation would be tempted to intervene with. And the fact that Princess Luna had finally taken a stance against the griffon raiders would draw in a lot of supporters who had suffered from these raids. They would be more than happy to have Luna as their sole ruler following Celestia’s defeat.

After Maulden felt the worst effects of exhaustion and dehydration ebb away, he walked up to the gate and greeted the two thestrals outside of it. They were both large in statue and carried big halberds adorned with the sigil of Hollow Shades, a tree under a starry night’s sky. At seeing Maulden approach they both gave a curt nod. One of them then blew the horn around his neck three times in rapid succession. One blow was for inhabitants returning to Hollow Shades. Two blows for enemies approaching. Three blows meant a distinguished guest was arriving.

Maulden couldn’t help but smirk. The ponies at the castle had always spat on him and treated him like dirt. Even long before he was accused of treason, they always seemed to either distrust him or be afraid of him. He was finally back among thestrals now. The inhabitants of Hollow Shades all knew him for he really was: a capable commander and the most successful warrior the town had seen in generations.

When the gate creaked open, there were four more guards on the other side waiting. They all saluted Maulden as he walked through. He returned the salute and took a second to look around.

There was no place more beautiful than Hollow Shades in Maulden’s eyes. Most others would not agree with him. The city contained no fancy structures, no fountains, no statues, not even trees. Just endless rows of simple, shoddy buildings. The city was overpopulated and not well maintained. Its alleyways were home to all sorts of criminal activity.

‘A great place to get into some trouble.’

Maulden immediately headed for the council building in the center of town and entered the office that was set aside for him there. Once there, he was relieved to find the new set of armor he had requested. He had been forced to leave his old armor behind during his escape from the castle and had been anxious to get a new set to wear in front of the high council. He had to appear as the distinguished warrior that he was in front of the council, or he would look like an absolute fool. thestrals value strength above all; in their eyes a commander without armor is no commander.

Once his armor was on, he strapped on the matching set of wing blades. Like the armor, they were customized to fit Maulden’s giant stature. Finally, he picked up his favorite dagger, an exceptionally large knife that Maulden had given to his second in command for safekeeping back at Mistshore. It was the one material object that Maulden could not part with. While thestrals primarily fought using wing blades and longer weapons like spears, Maulden owed his live multiple times over to always carrying at least one dagger on him. This particular blade was a trophy he had taken it from a fallen foe during his first war overseas. A little memento he liked to keep around to remind him of his first kill.

One he was fully suited and armed, Maulden admired himself in a large mirror. He was ready.

General Stone Tail looked around nervously. The streets of Fillydelphia had never scared him before. Not even back when he was just a foal living on them. Right now, however, he was responsible for more than just himself. Behind him marched every single guard member under his command in a straight line of just three ponies wide. All told they were at least 800 Earth Ponies strong.

Another reason for Stone Tail’s nervousness was the looks they were getting from some of the ponies they passed by. Some even yelled obscenities at the guards as they went by.

The guard had never been particularly popular in Fillydelphia. Crime was rampant throughout the city and the guards were mostly seen as overbearing authority figures that stood in the way of people making a dishonest living. Right now, the attitude towards the guard seemed even more resentful than usual. Stone tail had wondered why for a while, until he heard “Hail Princess Luna, fuck the guard!” coming from a building they passed by. It seemed like most of the town was not on their side.

Suddenly, Sword Grass appeared next to him. He had been in charge of the guards in the back of the convoy. “Sorry for leaving my post,” he said. “But we just had some rocks thrown at us. I managed to keep my division from retaliating, but if we don’t get out of here soon, I am VERY afraid that we are going to cause a bloodbath!”

“I understand. I will pick up the pace,” Stone Tail said.

He yelled as loud as he could, making sure that all guards near the front of the line could hear him, as well as the locale that was staring him down. “GUARDS! IT LOOKS LIKE OUR PRESSENCE HERE IS NOT BEING APPRECIATED! I LIKE TO THINK WE ARE ALL REASONABLE ENOUGH, LET US GET OUT OF THEIR MANES! DOUBLE TIME!”

He started marching at double pace himself, praying that the ponies of Fillydelphia understood his intentions and would let them pass without trouble.

The rest of their march through Fillydelphia was met with a few more stones being thrown at the guards and some shouting, but a bloodbath was avoided.

When they finally exited the outskirts of town and were back in the open fields, Stone Tail sighed a sigh of relief. He felt like he had been holding his breath the entire time they were in the city. Now that they were no longer in immediate danger, he noticed for the first time how cold it was. Winter was close, so cold weather was to be expected around this time of year. The sun not being fully raised was not helping.

Stone Tail shot a glance at the mountains to the west. ‘At least I’m not a pegasus, those poor bastards are going to be a lot colder up there than we are down here. And they do not even have General Cloud Spear up there with them.’

Right after Stone Tail and the earth pony guard had left the castle, a message had gone out about a change in plans. The pegasi were still to defend the mountains, but Cloud Spear and some prestigious team of special operations guards were to stay behind and prepare for another mission. Stone Tail could not stop himself from questioning if pulling Cloud Spear away from Equestria’s defense was the right thing to do.

After about an hour more of marching, the guards finally reached the area that had been pointed for them. To Stone Tail it didn’t looked like anything but a bunch of farmlands in the middle of nowhere. But they were supposed to form a defensive line here, stretching from the mountain in the west to the sea in the east. That way they could guard the entire area behind them using as little ponies as possible.

Despite that, Stone Tail did not feel confident about their orders. The distance between the mountains and the sea was far too great to guard with so few ponies. And there wasn’t even any time to build proper defensive structures. Instead they were going to use the old ditches in the area as makeshift trenches.

Stone Tail also had his doubt about how quickly reinforcements would make it out here if something did happen. The pegasi in the mountains had to conquer the harsh weather in the mountains to make it down to the defensive line and anypony else would have to make it through the hostile town of Fillydelphia.

Stone Tail didn’t let any of his worries show to his guards. He simply barked orders at them. The guards had been marching all day and were probably already exhausted, but the entirety of the defensive line had to be established before the enemy could seize an opportunity.

Maulden’s voice boomed through the council room. “I am sure you have heard enough by now. Let us start the vote.”

His appeal to the council had been short. Maulden felt it was important to show them that he and Luna were already counting on the thestrals. So, he simply stated the facts instead of making a prolonged plea for help. Not appearing weak was crucial to gain their respect.

“All in favor?” Maulden asked the councilors. Nearly every single one of the forty councilors raised a hoof.

“All against?” no movement. The few councilors that had not voted in favor of the proposal were all holdouts.

‘Weaklings…’ Maulden couldn’t help himself from thinking.

Tendring, the head of the council, stood up. “Very well then, Commander Maulden. Your title from now on is Head Commander Maulden. The thestral army of Hollow Shades is under your command. I will spread word of this immediately. Is there anything else you would like me to relay to the troops?”

“Tell them to be ready,” Maulden answered. “Orders from the Princess will be coming soon. I am to meet her right now.”

With that, Maulden left the council chamber. He decided against taking off his armor. He quickly left the building and took flight. He could not wait to see Hollow Shades proper again. The last time he had been in the city had been at least five years ago.

Once he was outside, he quickly found that everything looked just like he remembered. The city was dark and soberly build, but the streets were full of live. There were thestrals everywhere. Selling things, buying things, or heading home from work. Maulden was particularly glad to see that the barracks were still in great shape and seemed to have a lot of activity going on.

On the far side of town was the small building that Princess Luna was currently staying in. She had insisted on not taking the large private residence that the thestrals had offered her. She preferred the relative anonymity that staying on the edge of town provided her. Maulden took a last look at the city and then flew straight there, not wanting to make the princess wait for him.

Once there, he knocked on the door. He was surprised that not Luna, but Renhold opened the door. Renhold was Maulden’s younger brother. After Maulden had left Hollow Shades to join the Night Guard, it had been Renhold that took over his old command position. Like Maulden, Renhold was large for a thestral. Though not quite as large as Maulden.

The two gave each other a quick nod before heading to the living room. They could catch up later. Maulden greeted Princess Luna with a bow. “It is done, the thestrals are with us and under my direct command.”

“Very good, Maulden. I knew I could count on you,” she said with a smile. “It seems we can finally move on with our plans. Me and Renhold here were just discussing our plans for our first attack.”

Maulden’s eyes went wide. “With all due respect Princess, I cannot help but wonder why you are discussing the attack plans with my brother instead of with me. I am now the head commander of the thestrals after all.”

Luna regarded him with a cheeky smile that Maulden could not quite place. “Are you worried your brother will be taking all the glory for himself?”

“Serving my princess is my only concern,” he immediately answered with a bow of his head.

Luna now smiled at him sympathetically. “My apologies, I failed to mention this to you earlier, but it will be Renhold who will be in charge of our first attack.”

Maulden bowed his head even deeper to hide his scowl. “Might I ask how you arrived at this… decision, princess?”

“I have a different mission for you. And I need you to begin tomorrow, so there is not enough time to involve you in our first attack. This mission is violent, dangerous and crucial to our success. I could not think of another to carry it out but you.”

Maulden’s anger and bitterness faded away slightly. “Whatever this mission is, I accept it. After all, what good is a dog with no hares to hunt?”

Pleased with Maulden’s acceptation of his role, Luna briefly described Maulden’s mission, promising that he would be given all the necessary details the next day. Then she went on to explain what the rest of the faces of her plan roughly looked like.

Both Maulden and Renhold listened in amazement. Luna seemed to have thought of everything. The plan was almost too perfect. Like she had been planning it for years already. Maulden decided to ask about that later, without his brother present.

After Luna finished her talk and both brothers acknowledged that they knew what their roles were, she dismissed them. “I know that you two have not seen each other in quite some time. Take this opportunity to catch up. It might be a while before you see each other again.”

The brothers saluted as one and started head for the door together.

“How have you been brother? You’re taller than I remember,” Maulden said as soon as they were outside. They engaged in a bit more small talk while walking through the streets of Hollow Shades. Neither of them needed to suggest it, they both knew where they were heading. ‘New Blood’, The military bar both of them frequented when they were just young soldiers without responsibilities.

“Can you believe it brother?” Renhold said after they had sat down at a table in the crowded bar. Each of them with a glass of their shared preferred drink, whiskey, in front of them. “Both of have quite a role in the upcoming war.”

Maulden looked around nervously before responding. “Best not to talk about it here. We don’t know who’s listening.”

“Okay,” Renhold said as he held up his glass and clinked it together with his brother’s. “To our reunion then!”

They both took a large swig. Maulden savored the taste before swallowing. He couldn’t remember the last time he had a proper glass of whiskey. Certainly not the excellent stuff that was distilled in Hollow Shades.

“Tell me one thing,” Renhold Said. “You have not changed much, have you? Still overly ambitious.”

“What do you mean?”

“Oh, come on. You looked like you were getting ready to burn down this city when Luna told you I was in charge of the attack. And when she told you about your little mission you actually told her you were her dog… What is that all about?”

Maulden finished the rest of his whiskey in one swig. “Maybe you’re right brother… But you have not changed much either. You still talk too much. And even worse, you’re still a shit drinker. I’ll get the next round. We are here to celebrate my promotion after all.”’

“Just one more round then,” Renhold said as he finished his drink as well. I need to head out soon.”

“Already? So, you’re taking your warriors out of Hollow Shades tonight?” Maulden said in a hushed tone.

“That’s right, we will be attacking the ponies before dusk. Or at least when it should be dusk. Having no night and day is starting to mess with me…”

Maulden cracked a big smile. “All the more reason to have a drink then!”

General Stone Tail stood outside of the reinforced trench that they had all night building. He leaned on his greatsword as he stared at the empty fields ahead of him.

The sword was a gift he had received from a Minotaur after defeating him in a duel. Stone Tail was one of the few ponies living that pocessed the strength to carry and handle such a weapon this big. Throughout the years it served him well in his adventures around the world. Adventures that usually involved quite a bit of violence, something that was unique to Stone Tail as well.

Behind him a campfire was burning. Several guards were sitting around it and sharing songs and laughter together. This sort of thing was technically against standing field orders, but Stone Tail did not mind. He understood. All these ponies had never faced combat before. They were scared and in need of some distraction.

Stone Tail had no need for such things. He felt more at ease being alert and spending every waking second being prepared for the worst. His eyes tried to bore their way through the relative darkness of the permanent twilight.

“It might be a while before anything happens,” Sword Grass said as he joined the General.

“Then again, it might not be.”

“Then I or one of the other guards will spot them. Either way, I am here to relieve you.”

“My shift isn’t over yet. Morning doesn’t start for another hour.”

Sword Grass let out a dry laugh. “How can you even tell with this damned purple sky? It doesn’t matter, as General you should be well rested. Tomorrow is going to be another long day.”

“You’re expecting trouble tomorrow?”

“We are probably going to have to deal with locals tomorrow. It has been noisy in and around Fillydelphia all night.”

Stone Tail sighed. “Civilians... So exhausting.”

“You said it. Sounds like a good reason to catch all the sleep you can.”

“Fine,” Stone Tail said reluctantly. “Let me keep you company for a while longer though. I haven’t had a real conversation since we left the castle.”

“I know what you mean. It gets pretty boring.”

“Well I guess we didn’t join the guard because we’re such big talkers, right?”

Sword Grass didn’t respond. He was suddenly staring intensely across the fields. For a second Stone Tail thought he was just demonstrating that he was indeed not a big talker, but then he saw the look of terror on his face.

The moment Sword Grass opened his mouth, another guard started sounding the alarms.

“Movement in the sky! The bats are coming for us!”