Nebula's War

“We apologize for our tardiness, sir.” Captain Flare said. “There were a series of riots that required our attention. The nation seems to have received some troubling news.”

“W-we have int-truders, F-Flare.” Nebula choked, and pointed to Azure. “K-kill them!”

“SIR, YES SIR!” the monsters said in a loud, harmonious bark, and readied themselves to attack: the dragons bared their fangs, the griffons flexed their talons and the changelings began morphing into fearsome beasts. Everypony except Azure was sweating and shivering with fear.

“This doesn’t look good, Azure.” Eclipse squeaked.

“Now THEY outnumber US fifty to one!” Jacob cried. “How can we fight them all off?” Azure looked at Jacob, then to the others.

“Together.” Azure said, and pointed his sword at the nearest changeling. An instant later, the monsters charged, and the courtyard was once again rent with the sound of war: clashing blades, whizzing arrows, snarls of anger and grunts of pain. Changelings and griffons collapsed every few seconds under the assault, although the dragons’ tough scales granted some protection from the influx of arrows, knives and claws.

“Don’t let up!” Azure called as he opened a gash in a changeling’s chest. “Fight until your weapons break, then bludgeon them until your hooves bleed!” The team stabbed and kicked and bit with all their might, but they knew that it was hopeless; every fallen soldier was immediately replaced with a new soldier, hungering for blood. Meanwhile, Anamir and Aaron were running low on arrows, a dragon had bitten Silver’s staff in two and Jacob’s claws were growing dull.

“I hate to say it, but we’re fighting a losing battle!” Jacob shouted as he threw a changeling across the courtyard. “We need to get out of here!”

“No! We need to finish this!” Azure shouted back. “We can’t let Nebula win!”

“Well, if we keep this up he’s going to win by default!” Silver said as he kicked a griffon in the jaw. “There are too many of them, Azure! We need to fall back and regroup!” Azure wanted to object, but as he looked at his beaten and battered comrades, and the ocean of bloodthirsty monsters around him, he was forced to concede.

“So be it.” Azure spat, and slashed his sword at an approaching griffon. “But we’ll need to fight our way out. We’re surrounded on all sides, and if we fly away they’ll follow us!” Everypony was silent for a few moments, and then EagleHeart spoke up.

“I’ve got an idea.” He whispered. “Everypony squeeze close together and prepare for a bumpy ride. Trixie, we’ll need cover!” Trixie nodded and twirled her horn around in the air; a cloud of pink fog blossomed from thin air and enveloped the immediate area, so that nopony, friend or foe could see anypony else. An instant later, there was a flash of green light, and Azure and his team had disappeared.

“What’s going on? What happened?” Nebula demanded. His body had finally repaired itself, and he was now ready to deal the final blow against Azure and his team. “Stand aside, you idiots, so I can-!” But as he reached the epicenter of the battle, he found dozens of prone bodies, pools of blood and no Azure Night. For a moment he was silent, although his eye was twitching dangerously, and then…

“NO!” His unholy roar shook the buildings of Canterlot, including Canterlot Theater, where Azure and the others were hiding.

“He doesn’t sound happy.” Silver whispered. “We should get out of here soon, before he finds out where we are.”

“And we shall do so momentarily.” Vesper replied. “But first, we must tend to Master EagleHeart.” Trixie was waving her horn over EagleHeart, who was passed out on the floor.

“Teleporting twelve ponies is no easy feat." Trixie explained. "It took a lot of energy out of him. Trixie is attempting to awaken him with an Invigoration Charm.” She waved her horn once more, and EagleHeart opened his eyes.

“Are we… safe?” He groaned.

“For the time being, but we need to get going.” said Azure. Anamir lifted EagleHeart into a standing position, but as soon as they began walking EagleHeart gasped.

“Wait! The changeling on the roof! We need him!” Everypony turned to look at EagleHeart.

“A changeling on the roof?” Azure repeated. “What are you talking about?”

“While you were fighting in the courtyard, Trixie and I captured a changeling drone and left him on the roof.”

“Okay, so what’s the big deal?” Azure asked. “We can just go upstairs and kill him before he can return to Nebula.”

“No, we can’t kill him!” EagleHeart insisted. “With the right spells, Trixie and I might be able to remove the control badge on his chest! He can give us information about Nebula’s defenses!” Azure considered the idea for a few moments.

“… Actually, that’s not a bad idea.” Azure admitted. “But we need to make sure he’s restrained at all times. We can’t afford to let him run off and tell Nebula our secrets.”

“Agreed.” Everypony said in unison. Five minutes later, Azure and the others were dragging the changeling through the back door of the theater, through alleys and behind bushes toward the edge of the city. Once they were safe from prying eyes, the team flew back to The Everfree Forest, leaving Nebula to take out his frustrations on his monstrous army.

Back in the courtyard, Nebula’s bellow of rage awoke Malum from his brief coma.

“What’s going on?” He groaned, and winced as he stood up; although the silver dagger was gone, the wound that it had left in his back still stung, and blood was still oozing down his back and soaking into his white fur. As he looked up, however, he saw flashes of crimson light from within the crowd of monsters, which meant that Nebula’s Demon Madness had returned in full. Malum ran as fast as his injury would allow, pushing his way past the blank-eyed soldiers until he reached the center, where Nebula was blasting the monsters to pieces.

“He got away AGAIN!” Nebula roared. “He got away, and revealed my secret to the entire nation! When I find him, I’ll tear him and his friends apart, atom by-!”

“Nebula, stop!” Malum shouted, and Nebula was broken out of his stupor. He looked around at the carnage that he had caused, closed his eyes and sighed. “Nebula, what the hell happened?” Malum asked. “Last thing I remember was getting stabbed in the back; it felt like I was being burned and poisoned at the same time!”

“Spare me the details, Malum.” Nebula sighed. “Azure and his little friends got away, but not before revealing our secret to everypony in Equestria. The jig, as they say, is up.”

“What?” Malum cried. “So everypony in the nation is going to come here and kill us?”

“I’m sure they would, if we weren’t the most powerful beings on the planet. We’ll just need to make a few… adjustments.”

“Well yeah, that much is obvious.” said Malum. “But where do we start?” Nebula turned to address the remaining monsters.

“Soldiers, fan out and subdue the populace. If anypony resists, throw them in jail. If they fight back, feel free to kill and/or eat them. Dismissed!” The monsters saluted and flew off to the various towns and cities of Equestria. Then, Nebula turned to address Malum.

“Have any of the other demons been killed?”

“No, but we're hurt pretty damn bad.” Malum groaned, and pressed his paw to the bleeding wound on his shoulder.

“Then go to the infirmary and tend to your wounds.” Nebula ordered, and drew a circle in the dirt.

“And what are you going to do?” Malum asked. Nebula pierced his hoof, placed it in the center of the circle and muttered ‘suratrat otlatrop anepo’. An instant later, the circle turned into a glowing red portal.

“I’m calling in reinforcements.” Nebula replied as a low, menacing growl sounded from within the circle.