Danger Close

Chapters

Smoke on the Horizon
Fire in the Clouds
The Fog of War
No plan ever survives...
...contact with the enemy.
For the Honor of the Flag
Holding the Line

Smoke on the Horizon

'It is going to be an good morning,' she said to herself as she raised her muzzle to the partially open window and enjoyed the fresh breeze that spilled through the gap. She took a moment to check her watch…5:30 am. ‘No sweat’ she thought, ‘I can handle this.’ She’d handled way worse than this over the course of her career; the stench of jungle rot; numerous battles with foes of all kinds; the traps and the numerous death defying escapes; injuries and illness that would try any pony’s will. And then of course, were the other challenges; the deadlines; that cranky publisher and his ridiculous demands; and of course the fans, and all their ridiculous demands.

She paused in her thinking and smiled. “Yeah right,” she said to herself with a chuckle, “and what was it the doc used to say about the dangers of buying into your own legend?” She rolled her eyes and looked once again towards the darkness around her. ‘Get your head out of your fifth point of contact’ she thought. That same cranky publisher needed this story, and she needed the peace of mind that would come with getting that favor off of her to do list. ‘Just need to get through the day…and try not to piss anypony off… THAT would be an achievement.’

Finally the carriage rolled to a stop, and the sound of hoof steps was heard as someone approached, opened the door, and peered inside.

“Ms. Yearling…?” a uniformed earth pony asked.

“Still here,” the mare answered, “So…are we there yet?”

“Uh, well, no…not really. But we’re close…or at least as close as WE can get,” the young soldier replied. He stepped to the side, and held out a hoof as the passenger came through the door and carefully stepped off the carriage, accepting the support as she did.

There wasn’t much to look at, just a dimly lit guard post, with a double layer of fencing, with corresponding gates behind it. Yearling took a thorough look around, and then turned to the young n.c.o., pausing only for a moment to adjust her glasses.

“Thank you sergeant,” she said, “So, I guess I wait here then?”

“Yes ma’am,” he answered, “Your guide should be here in a few minutes. Oh and…thanks for the autograph. My…uh…sister is a huge fan.”

Yearling smiled and nodded. “My pleasure, and…thank you.” she replied, and she watched as he climbed back aboard the carriage and it sped off down the road. She glanced around once again. With the slowly growing amount of ambient light, she figured that she could if she wanted just do the math and get a decent idea of where she was, as land navigation was never a big issue for her. But she quickly dismissed the idea. Secrets were secrets after all, and she had to admit that she could never be 100 percent certain she could keep this one anyway.

Since she was dealing with the military here, she decided to settle in and prepare for a classic example of “hurry up…and wait.” So she settled herself down and once again adjusted her glasses. They were an integral part of her disguise, but she still hated this particular pair. It sucked to think that she actually needed a correction for reading now and that what had been a prop had become a necessity.

But, as she was finally getting them settled in, she heard someone approach and quickly sprang to her hoofs as a voice called out from somewhere, “Hello! Are you by chance A.K. Yearling?!?”

She turned towards the sound, and spotted a tall thin earth pony in a crisp green uniform approaching, a big smile on his face and a clipboard tucked under his arm. As the guard opened the double gates, he trotted over to her. “Oh wow…uh anyway…Ms. Yearling…this is such an honor. I…I..I’m such a huge fan. I swear I must have read your entire series at least three times. Daring Doo is my absolute favorite character.” He paused. “Oh…uh so…let’s get to it then. Oh…uh…sorry again, my name’s Lieutenant Alydar. I’ll be your escort, and minder.”

Yearling replied with a smile, “Minder huh? Well, I’ll try not to give you too much to mind...but I can't promise anything.” Lt. Alydar simply nodded and directed her up the path past the gate. Yearling raised an eyebrow, but kept smiling as she thought to herself, 'well, so much for my first attempt at charming.'

“Well, this is all quite a surprise,” Lt. Alydar said as they walked, “You know…given all the security we have, we rarely get any visitors around here, and certainly not journalists.”

“Well, I certainly wouldn’t call myself that,” Yearling replied, “And this is not something I would normally do. I just had a slow couple of weeks and I owed my publisher a favor. And apparently he knew that I knew somebody who knew somebody, so here I am.”

“Well, I’m certainly glad you came,” Alydar answered, "Oh...uh...right, just follow me please." They moved up a well worn gravel path going up the hillside, eventually stopping at another fence, and another guard post. Lt. Alydar stepped forward and had a brief conversation with the sentry, who then let them pass. Their journey continued steadily upward the increasingly steep incline until they rounded a bend in the trail and came across a grove of trees.

Yearling paused, and surveyed what was in front of her. The sudden change back to primeval was a bit startling and she turning towards her escort and asked with a smile, “Hmmm…I’m guessing it’s here…somewhere?”

“Uh…well, yes ma’am,” he replied, and he took a few steps forward towards the grove, and suddenly half disappeared into an invisible hole. “It’s a camouflaged entrance ma’am. Given the powers of magic these days, it’s rather hard to keep much of anything secret. But as the general says, that doesn’t give us an excuse to be a bunch of lazy as…” He paused, and cringed a bit before adding, “Oh...I’m sorry about that. It’s…not always a good idea to quote General Black Jack directly. His language can be a bit salty at times.”

Yearling just smiled as she followed her minder inside the cave, and down a long dimly lit tunnel, the only sound other then their own hoof steps being the hum of some sort of ventilation system. As the pair continued to advance, the lighting became better and the tunnel widened, and then changed as the walls turned white as the substance changed from a metal lattice to solid granite. Yearling was impressed. She would never have guessed that the Royal Guard’s Corps of Engineers was capable of this. But as she glanced around, a sign on the wall caught her attention, and brought her back to Equis. It was white, with black lettering, with the words, “What you see here…What you hear here…When you leave here…Let it stay here!”

She plodded along behind her minder to a large cavern, dominated by a huge steel door in the midst of a steel wall covering the entire stretch in front of her. The pair paused to check with another sentry before passing through the door and moving down a hallway which led to an even larger room, filled with rows of desks, the chatter of teletype machines, and dozens of ponies moving in what seemed like several directions at once. Lining the walls were various whiteboards, each tracking some unknown variable that she couldn't decipher with just a glance. Dominating the scene on a lower level in the middle of the room was a huge table, dominated by a map of Equestria on which were numerous small wooden objects, many of them green, some red; some of them squares and a few of them rectangles, periodically moving about in a mostly linear fashion with the assistance of unicorn magic. She could only guess that the symbols represented larger flying craft, as trying to track individual pegasi would be an exercise in insanity. Still...

“Well Ms. Yearling, what would you say is your…I don’t know…first impression?” Lt. Alydar asked.

Yearling took another look around. “Hmmm…it’s certainly interesting. I would never have guessed that we even had anything like this,” she answered,” No offense, but given the track record that most ponies are aware of in the kingdom, one could be forgiven for thinking that the Royal Guard’s activities were much more…”

“Haphazard…?” came a voice from behind. She quickly turned around towards the sound, and found herself facing a grey older looking earth pony, a bit taller and stockier than most, with dark eyes and a close cropped mane, with three stars on the collar of his green tunic. “…well, I guess that’s understandable…if not also a bit insulting.” He walked around to meet her face to face, and continued, “But we face all sorts of threats, most of which don’t draw much of the kingdom’s attention, at least till some jackass sorcerer’s apprentice comes in and changes half the population into potted plants. So, I have to leave THEM to the alicorns and the Ministry of Magic, and then low and behold everyone’s left wondering “just where in Tartarus IS the damn Royal Guard?” He then smiled and reached out to her and said, “Ms. Yearling I presume?”

She smiled and nodded, “You presume correctly sir.” She then reached out and gave a proper hoof shake. “General Black Jack?”

“Indeed ma’am,” he answered, “and I do hope you’re enjoying the tour so far; and my little rant of course. Yeah…let’s just say that I’ve been practicing it for a while, usually saving it for princes and bureaucrats. And it does come in handy when the topic of budget cuts comes up.”

“Well, indeed,” Yearling answered, “actually, we’ve only just started the tour. But I am curious; just exactly how many of these command posts are there?”

“Uh…several,” the general answered, “…dispersed throughout the kingdom as part of several regional commands. It’s our little way of trying to make up for the limitations of modern communications, magical portals not withstanding of course. And we've got plenty of resources to help us coordinate with the others when it’s necessary. It's....hardly perfect, but we've had decent luck with it so far.”

“I see, that’s…rather impressive, and actually quite surprising, ” Yearling answered, before another pony caught her eye, a male pegasus wearing a well decorated dark blue uniform. She focused on the sight for a moment before she heard the general laughing behind her.

“Well ma’am… can’t say that I’m too surprised that you haven’t seen a pony dressed like that before,” the general said with a note of irony, “See what you’re seeing there is the OTHER great secret we have. It’s what we like to call around here ‘the silent service’, also known to an all too few enlightened outsiders as the Royal Flying Corps.”

“Well…I’m rarely called ‘enlightened’”, Yearling answered, looking towards the general with an eyebrow raised, “But I have actually heard of them. I agree though that they do have a serious image problem. It all reminds me of a conversation I had recently at one of my book signings. See, I mentioned the R.F.C. in a story of mine, and I actually had a fan of mine try to correct me on it. He was all '...you mean the Wonderbolts,' and I was saying 'No...I meant the Royal Flying Corps.' Yearling groaned. "Back and forth and back and forth," , she continued "...and the odd part is that this stallion is usually right about everything...and he was just so damn stubborn about it too. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised given my history with this guy, but I swear I just wanted to strangle him before it was over.”

General Black Jack chuckled a bit to himself and replied, “Well, I'm actually quite impressed myself. I'm guessing there's probably a good story about how our 'secret' got out. But indeed…you would think that somepony out there might just wonder who is it that actually flies the four biggest zeppelins in the kingdom, or...wonder of wonders, where exactly does that snappy blue uniform that the commander of the Wonderbolts wears come from...like the entire kingdom can be covered by eight full time flyers and a hundred or so reservists.” He paused and added, “One of the little drawbacks of not being in airshows I guess.”

“Uh…yes indeed,” Yearling answered, “And one would guess that invisiblity certainly doesn’t help at recruiting time.”

“Uh…true,” the general answered, “I suppose you’re right about that. Well…” he started before turning Yearling in a new direction, “…I’m afraid you’ll have to pardon me. Big day ahead…with the ‘Friendship Festival’ and all…”

“Oh yes,” Yearling interrupted and circled back the other way, “does that by chance have anything to do with that sign?” She gestured up to a sign on the adjoining wall that read ‘Current Alert Level’ with a small light on next to the number 4 out of a group of five.

The general took a look up at the light, then looked back to Yearling, smiled and then replied, “That's a fair question, and the answer, as you no doubt suspect...is yes. We tend to get just a wee bit nervous around here when all five alicorns are in the same place at the same time. History has taught us that such events tend to attract miscreants like flies to stink. But…” he paused and turned her again, “…we should probably let you get back to the tour, just as soon as I have a word with our young stallion here….” He moved to the right and pulled Lt. Alydar aside and said to him, “Remember…no pictures; stay away from the paperwork; and keep her out of the way.”

The lieutenant cleared his throat and answered, “Oh…uh, yes sir.” He quickly joined up with his charge and directed her to a different part of the room as the general turned back to his work. He scanned the room and paused when he saw several ponies hovering around a cluster of teleprinters. He looked around, and spotted one particular pony and waved her over.

“Captain, is there a problem?” he asked, pointing to the cluster.

“We’re not sure sir,” the unicorn mare answered, “It’s a communication failure of some type, apparently on the lines from out west. It’s certainly going to make coordination with the weather ponies a whole lot harder today.”

“Yeah...among other things,” the general answered, pondering for a moment before continuing, “Captain, have the techs run some tests on the system and I want YOU," he said pointing to the other officer, "to make damn sure they find out how widespread this outage is, and give me a report when you do.”

“Yes sir,” the younger officer answered, and she quickly went back to work, while the general continued to watch for several minutes before he reluctantly went on to other things.

The light through the large patio door was finally reaching the opposite end of the bedroom, and was making the whole idea of getting more sleep just too hard to pull off. He reached up and pulled the pillow over his head, trying in vain for the comfort of darkness, before finally concluding that it was futile. It was only then that the stillness caught his attention, and he rolled and looked back behind him to confirm that he was alone.

He rolled back the other way, and raised his head, looking over the scene. It still looked like the Los Pegasus hotel room they had occupied two days ago, but there were notable differences, like the obviously disturbed overnight bag, and the rustling of the curtain over the patio door, and what appeared to be the phone cord trailing out to the balcony.

He groaned. “Not good…” he thought, and pulled off the covers and got to his hooves, pausing only a moment to stretch his wings before he plodded over and pulled the curtain aside to peer outside. As he suspected, his wife was there, the large bay Pegasus mare leaning up on the handrail, with her trusty field glasses clamped solidly between both front hooves as she watched a distant object disappearing on the horizon. He paused. It was a fetching sight, as the breeze caught her ebony mane and tail sending them drifting across her back and left flank. But the moment was lost as she quickly turned to set down the field glasses and reached for the receiver of the telephone.

“O.K.,” she said to someone on the other end of the line, “did they give you any estimate of how long repairs will take?” She paused and listened, and then answered, “I understand. Tell whoever you’re sending that I’ll meet them in the lobby. I’ll try for Manechester and your team should try for Coltlumbus, and if that’s not far enough tell them to keep going. And make sure that someone gets out to the peninsula…copy that? Good… and thank you major. I appreciate the good wishes.”

Her husband took a deep breath and stepped out on the patio, and apparently the sound was enough as she turned quickly to face him. The pair just looked at each other for a moment before the husband asked, “Sooo…how long have you been up?”

She came down off the ledge, carefully hung up the phone, and came over to him, a strained expression on her face. “Oh…from around 5:30. I woke up at the normal time and I got a little antsy, so...I thought I’d come out for some air. And then I saw THEM…” she paused and gestured out to the open air, “… a whole damn squadron of them! Eight zeppelins, loaded with who knows how many nasty ass furballs, riding by on the R.D.F. signal right straight through the center of the damn Los Pegagsus strip! Sweet Celestia…can you imagine the military genius that came up with THAT plan!?! I swear one of those...jackasses...came so close to the hotel that…dammit I could have spit on them!"

She paused as she walked back to the door and went back inside, her husband following, “So…I, of course, got on the line and called out to the aerodrome…you know…make sure that they filed a report…maybe even throw in a few key details. And it turns out that pretty much the entire telegraph system is off line. Can you imagine it!?!” she paused again as she reached the closet and began rifling through it, “Six principal lines, you would think more than enough redundancy, and all, it turns out, trunked through a central switching station, so if you get just the right major malfunction, they all go! Handy as frickin’ hell, don’t you think!?!”

“Uh huh...yeah…that sounds about right. I think I got the gist of this,” her husband answered, trying to calm things a bit as his mind still somehow tried to catch up, “Telegraph companies aren’t going to invest in any more infrastructure than absolutely necessary. Brings to mind the question of why a city this size doesn’t yet have telephone service to the rest of the kingdom. And I’ve been in on that conversation. ‘Gee, why would we want to do that? Waste of resources…totally unnecessary...we’ve already got all we really need’ Yeah, we all know how monopolies operate. But," he paused, "…and I almost hate to ask, if there's a problem, there should still be the dedicated government line you could access through the arsenal? I mean please…you can’t be telling me that Equestria’s fifth largest city can’t communicate outside of the damn city limits...right?”

He got what seemed like an answer as he watched her retrieve her duffle bag from out of the closet. She looked down at the bag in front of her feet, and then looked to her husband, who met her gaze. He, of course, knew what she kept there, and what locating it at his time implied. He hated that damn thing. He planted his rump, and took a deep breath, and asked, “O.K. Dawn…level with me, are we in trouble?”

His wife took a deep breath and answered, “Well…if all goes according to plan, the civilian lines should be back up in an hour. Supposedly it’s mostly a case of resetting the breakers. Of course then we’d have to wait and see how long it takes a potential war warning to get through the system. Or who knows dammit...stupid ass 'Friendship Festival' crap! ” She paused, took a deep breath and then thought out loud, “Can you imagine some little colt, in one of those silly uniforms, rolling up to one of the armories, or the damn ministry? And where the hell would they send him once he got there? I really don’t think they’d let him get within a mile of ‘The Tower’.”

“Hey!” he answered, waving his arm to get her attention, “You’re not answering my questions here! O.K…let me try this again. Dawn…sweetheart…are we in danger, and why can’t we communicate?”

His wife looked him in the eye, and then looked down towards her bag. She raised her head and gestured towards the patio door and led him outside towards one side of the balcony, grabbing the strap of her field glasses in her mouth as she passed by. She then gave him the glasses and pointed towards something on the far horizon. He hopped up and braced himself on the rail, and leveled the glasses in the direction she indicated.

He was silent for a moment, and then said in a low voice, “Grass fire on the cape…looks big. Uh…lightning strike?” He brought the glasses away from his eyes, and looked over for a response, but all he got was her shaking her head.

“Not enough cover to account for that they say…and the only thing substantial out there is the lighthouse, and the weather station. They think that probably explains the damage to the government A.D. line. Something, or someone, caused a surge, which started there, ran down the line, and fried the system. The civilian lines were affected too, but their circuit breakers limited the damage. And it’s on those weirdos flight path; and according to the locals, there was no weather around that could have caused that. But, a magical burst could have, because magic is essentially at its heart just another form of energy. It’s all just a matter of how the wielder chooses to use it. ”

The stallion nodded his head slowly, as he made his own calculations and came to what he assumed was the same conclusion she had. “I hate to think,” he said in a low voice, “about who or what could generate that kind of power. Do you have an idea who this is?”

“Yeah…I’ve got an idea, based on the markings. ” she answered as she made her way back into the room and went over to begin unpacking her duffle bag, “if it’s who I think it is, they're aggressive enough, and I don't think they're here just to visit, but they don’t generally play with high end magic. But, who knows whom they could recruit? All it would take is one idiot.”

Her husband watched silently as she unloaded her gear, starting with her flight goggles and commo gear from one end; her two tone grey flight suit from the center compartment, fairly plain except for her squadron crest on each flank where her cutie mark would normally be and her rank insignia on the cuffs; and her sheathed survival knife complete with harness from the other end. “Whatever’s going on,” she continued, “it’s got to be serious and I need to know what's up. I can’t take the chance of having that end up blindsiding Canterlot. So anyway…I...volunteered to try and fly past the break, and get a message off.”

Her husband lowered his head, and took a deep breath. “Yeah,” he said, “That’s not too surprising.” He sighed and then added in a quiet voice, “You know, sometimes I really wish that you weren’t such a damn jolly volunteer.”

He looked up, and saw the troubled look on his wife’s face. She faced hoofed, and answered in a low voice, “We…really don’t have any time for that conversation...if this is anything like what it looks like.”

Her husband closed his eyes and took a couple of deep breaths before replying, “Yeah…O.K, you’re right. I’m sorry, that…that was a crappy thing to say. So, how far are you going?”

“As far as I have to, maybe even all the way,” she answered, “I’ve got an escort going along at for at least part from a local recon squadron. After that…well, we’ll see.”

“That’s a damn long flight…” he replied mostly to himself, and then turned to her and asked, “Next question…should we get out of here?”

She thought about it, and answered, “It just might be the prelude to something bigger. They’re trying to get ready here, but…I’d consider it…maybe like a daytrip…sort of, at least as far as the Manechester garrison.”

He nodded. “And now the next question,” he started again, “Could you help me tell the kids?”

The mare looked away and sighed, and then raised her head and nodded. “Of course…” she responded.

Her husband forced a smile, and moved in close and threw a wing around his wife and held her close, and said, “O.K. Ladybird…final question, for the moment. With help, I think I can make something work in this damn kitchenette. So while you get geared up…coffee?”

The mare gave him a skeptical look and answered, “Oh my, on a day like this you actually have to ask?”

Her husband just kept smiling and shook his head.

And so, twenty minutes later, two strangely dressed pegasi took off from the midst of the crowded street and soared off to the east. But very few took note of the event at the time, and nopony who watched thought much about it.

Fire in the Clouds

The morning sun had risen several hours before, and the work of the day was well underway. But it was only going to be a short one today, as the whole family had planned to take a trip in to nearby San Ferneighdo for the local version of the Friendship Festival. There was even talk of actual yaks showing up, Greybolt remembered, and he wouldn't miss that for the world.

By now he was almost through. Just a couple more of turns of the wrench left, and they could turn the water back on. 'Not bad', he thought as he examined his handiwork. It may not be up to most plumber's standards, but given the low pressure on this irrigation line, he figured it was good enough. Time to pack up and head for the barn.

"Greybolt!"

He heard his name and quickly glanced up and spotted his sister Bluebelle galloping up to meet him.

"What are you doing out here?" she called out as she got close enough, "I've been looking for you everywhere!"

"Well sis," he said with a grin, "Congratulations, you found me!"

"Yeah right," she answered as she arrived, "Don't be a smartass. Are you done yet?"

"Yeah, I'm done," Greybolt answered, We getting ready to go yet?"

"Uh huh, but mom's all in a dither," Bluebelle replied, "We'd better get going."

The pair trotted off, with Grey's tool bag bouncing on his left flank. They made their way down the well worn path, past the irrigation pumps, and around the barn, and up the path, rounding the corner, and immediately bumping into a large furry creature.

The collision knocked Greybolt back onto his haunches, and he was stunned for a second. But the loud roar of the creature brought him quickly back to reality as the creature lunged toward him. He immediately tumbled backwards to evade him. Only when he could regain his hoofs did he spot another creature lunging at him from his left. He ducked his head and twisted his body around and kicked the animal in the knees, then combat rolled away as the animal fell to the ground.

"Grey!" he heard his sister call out as a third beast tried to carry her off. He immediately took off after the pair, and when he got close enough, launched himself into the air and hit the beast dead center in the back. He immediately dropped Bluebelle, who promptly regained her hooves.

"Come on!" he called out, and Belle quickly joined him as they galloped off towards the house. She had to admit that her brother's reaction to the unexpected attack was amazing. Though he was born an earth pony on a watermelon farm, her brother's interests had always been elsewhere. It seemed he was forever studying books on military strategy and technology, and he had learned how to fight years ago. Why he didn't just enlist in the guard was a puzzle to her. But right now, she was glad he was home.

They paused just short of the front porch, and Greybolt signaled for quiet as he gingerly stepped up and moved towards the front door. He crept up slowly, the only sound being the rattle of his tool bag. He paused. 'How in Tartarus did I manage to hang onto them?" he thought. and slowly reached his right arm back till he hooked the loop of fabric that supported the twin bags on his hind end and slowly lowered it to the floor. He then continued forward. He was just about to take hold of the door handle with his teeth when the door was suddenly thrown straight into his face...

The sudden impact threw him backward onto his haunches, but he had no time to think about it as he opened his eyes and suddenly found himself looking straight into the crosshairs of his father's hunting crossbow.

"Dammit Pa..." he said in a loud whisper, "It's me and Belle."

"Young stallion," his father growled, "Don't be scolding me. You're just lucky I didn't shoot." The older chocolate brown stallion paused, and then gestured to the two siblings, who followed him back into the house. He led them back through the kitchen and then gestured towards the back window.

Greybolt came closer and peered outside, instantly spotting the small airship parked behind the barn. It was partly concealed, but he could see enough to understand the situation.

He turned towards his family, and said, "That ship belongs to the Storm KIng. If he's got forces this far inland, we've got to get out of here."

"What if he's here for the festival Grey?" his mother chimed in as she joined her family.

"Not a chance," Greybolt answered, "He overthrows kingdoms. He does not do friendly visits."

Greybolt pulled back, and then gestured to his family to circle up. When they had, he said "We need to get going, hopefully to someplace with a Guard garrison."

"Son, that's going to be one hell of a trick," his father replied, "I mean, who knows how many of those nasty things are out there."

"It's not that many," Greybolt replied, "That airship of theirs is just a scout. Can't be more than four or five on that thing. Trouble is that the group they're scouting for can't be too far away. If we're going to go, we need to go now."

Grey's father glanced around to his family, judging their response. His wife nodded to him, as did his daughter.

A sound caught everyone's ear and they all looked towards the window as two of the large creatures shuffled back towards the airship, waving their arms to signal someone onboard. Another creature suddenly appeared and the trio began chattering back and forth in an unrecognizable language.

"We've got to go...now," Greybolt said in a loud whisper, and the quartet slowly made their way to the door and onto the porch, Greybolt leading the way with his father bringing up the rear, pausing occasionally to check their rear, sweeping back across his line of sight with the large crossbow. The group immediately made a beeline for the pear grove, going to ground immediately as they cleared one of the rises. They paused and watched for pursuit for a moment, and then kept going down the tree line until they reached the road, and proceeded off to safety, wherever that was.

They had been running the checks for nearly an hour now, and it looked as though the situation was becoming clearer.

"This should be the last one ma'am," the sergeant said as he placed the small red pyramid on the table, glad to have the nasty tasting object out of his mouth. The light blue unicorn he worked for gave him a nod and levitated it out onto the map.

"O.k. sergeant," she said when she had it placed properly, "Let's see what we're dealing with." She then turned and walked back up to the observation platform to get the bigger picture.

She brought her arms up onto the rail, and carefully studied what was in front of her. The size of it all left her speechless. She quickly ran the numbers through her head, based on the mileage scale on the side of the map, and the varying distances. She noticed that her assistant had joined her. "This is all confirmed, right?" she asked him.

"Yes ma'am," was his reply.

'Sweet Celestia…' she said to herself, 'That's a gap of over a twelve hundred square miles! You could fly the entire population of Griffonstone through that!"

She quickly levitated her clipboard up from the map and scanned down the checklist. She had been scanning the blasted thing repeatedly all morning. There was no way to deny the result. It ran twenty five miles north and south of Las Pegasus, and as far east as Coltlumbus; the whole area in a communications dead zone, save for a patchwork of wireless operators, and a few barely networked telephone systems.

"Damn!" she cursed to herself, and then turned around and called out, "Sergeant, where's the general? " she queried, the stress clearly showing.

"In his office, I believe," was his reply.

"Get him over here sergeant...he needs to see this!" she commanded.

"Yes ma'am," he answered, and immediately did as he was told.

"Can't breath....can't breath..."

It was the only thought that she had as the weight bore down on her. She was going to suffocate. She was going to die. That was all there was. Her feeble attempt at heroism was for nothing. Would her parents ever know what happened to her? Would her friends know of her fate?

"H-h-h-how...w-w-why?" she choked out with great difficulty.

"Shoot up little creature!" came the voice of the massive hairy monster whose great weight pinned her to the deck. "Joost shoot up!"

She couldn't move, so she just tried to concentrate on getting enough air. She could feel the pressure on her chest. She knew her wings couldn't move. The only bright spot was that there wasn't much pain, meaning hopefully they were only pinned by the feathers. But that was enough.

She didn't dare close her eyes. All that accomplished was to let her see again the poor earth pony she failed to save. She felt a tear escape her as he saw the horror on his face as they tossed him over the side.

'Why? she thought, 'Why did it have to be me that had to try and save him? I'm not strong. I'm not brave. Why couldn't it have been anypony else...somepony who could actually fight?'

She turned her head and looked over towards the dirigible's squat pilothouse. She could see what appeared to be the captain in the large windows. "What is he doing?" she thought. Two other ponies, who she recognized as the owners, were also there, talking it appeared, to the large unicorn who had led the boarding party.

She turned her head back. 'What kind of an idiot,' she thought, 'would on an otherwise clear day fly straight into a cloudbank.' She certainly had never flown anything bigger than herself, but even she knew how dangerous that was. And what in Tartarus were they talking about?

She heard a distinct rattling sound, and looked over and spotted another creature approaching. The creature stopped just short of her, and from the sound she heard, apparently handed something off to her captor. As soon as this happened, her enemy changed his hold, taking his hands off her neck. She immediately raised her head, only to have a thick leather strap appear out of nowhere and come in tightly around her neck. Before she could even begin to react, she felt the creatures arms around her, pinning her wings to her side as he strapped them tightly down.

"Too...too...tight," she croaked out as the straps bore down on her chest.

"Zilince schtupid creature!" her attacker hissed.

The poor mare looked up ay her tormentor, and their eyes met. She cringed a bit at the harsh glare her captor gave her, but after a moment he seemed to soften a bit, and he loosen the strap ever so slightly. It wasn't much, but at least now she could breath. He quickly shifted his position and began securing her arms and legs with metal clamps and iron chains. He then installed a leather collar on her and what appeared to be a leash. When he had finally finished that, he got up off of her and yanked on the leash, commanding "Get up!"

She tried to roll over onto her hooves, but the chains on her legs severely limited her range of motion. She tried as hard as she could, but just couldn't do it.

Her enemy growled at the sight and roughly lifted her onto her hooves. She was unsteady at first, but slowly adjusted. It was only then that she looked around at the deck of the zeppelin that had carried her into this disaster. There were only a few ponies in sight, everypony else apparently locked up down below deck. She looked back to where she had lain and saw her bracelet lying on the deck, the chain obviously broken. It was painful to see it. She wore that everywhere. It had actual rubies in it. Her mom had given it to her when she had been named best flyer in the San Franciscolt Junior League competition. It meant so much...

Then, from somewhere in the cloudy distance, she heard it. A loud blaring noise, distant...but distinct. Everyone left on deck looked in the same direction.

There it was again. She heard it clearly. Someone was coming through the clouds.

"Oh no," she thought, remembering the small ship she had seen before they had detoured through the cloudbank. It was obviously some sort of government craft judging by its plain grey hull, large black numbers on the side, and large royal standard flying from the halyard off the stern. She had even waved to the crew on deck.

She heard a sound behind her head, and turned just in time to see another of the large creatures coming up beside her and shoving her over onto the deck. She landed hard, the straps digging into her sides as the stranger barked orders to her captor.

"Stop wasting time with this runt!" he commanded, "Another one is coming! Get to the rails! You should be on the boarding party!"

As she watched, she could see a flash of fear in the eyes of her attacker. He shrank back, and seemed for a moment to be shaking his head before the senior officer struck him across the face.

"So you think you're special, huh?" the senior one growled, "You are nothing but cannon fodder! Now...GO!!"

The smaller creature looked at the helpless pony just a few feet away, and then turned and did as he was told. The young mare looked on in horror as a dozen of the creatures lined the rail, waiting for their enemy to appear. She knew that there was nothing she could do. She could hear the fans of the approaching ship's engines as it approached, getting louder with each passing second. The clouds were so thick. Even if the ship was somehow armed...they would have no warning whatsoever.

She tried to move, tried to do something. But her range of motion was so limited that she couldn't accomplish much.

Finally it happened, as a shape loomed out of the mist.

"NOW!!" came the order, and almost simultaneously all the attackers leapt at once into the gloom. She couldn't say for sure at first, but it appeared the some had gotten past the large ducted fans and had reached the strange vessel's deck, or at least caught hold of the hull. But others, including what she believed to be her personal attacker, had missed and had fallen to their deaths.

"Oh sweet Celestia…" she said to no one in particular, "That's pure insanity!"

She continued to watch as the disaster continued to unfold in front of her, still in disbelief at what she saw. The small craft rocked back and forth with the fight, and she thought she saw at least one pony tumble over the side. But all too soon it was over. It was then that she heard footsteps behind her, and she turned as best she could and saw a much smaller creature come up to the commander of the attackers, apparently carrying a....clipboard?

"You know," the smaller creature said to the bigger one in a somewhat higher voice than the others, "If you keep using the troops like that, we're going to run out of them."

"We'll manage," the other one replied.

"Uh huh," the smaller answered skeptically, "I bet Tempest will disagree."

"Humphh," said the bigger one, "I bet she wont."

The smaller one tucked the clipboard under his arm, and slowly walked to the rail. He peered over to the alien craft in front of him and studied it for a second before turning back to his comrade and calling out, "Hey...I think this one's a warship!"

The other creature snorted and answered, "No such thing in Ponyland."

"Oh yeah," the smaller one replied, "Then what is that on the front, behind that shroud?"

The other creature plodded forward and joined the smaller one at the rail. The young pegasus tried to reposition in order to hear the pair talk. She twisted herself around to face the pair, all the while straining to catch anything that was said. The larger creature just stood there and studied what was in front of him for what seemed like forever.

Finally though, he leaned back from the rail, and said quite clearly, "It is...a gun."

The young mare's mouth dropped. "Huh??" she managed to choke out before she felt someone grab hold of the straps that held her bound and begin dragging her towards an open hatch. She tried to pull away, but it was no use as she suddenly fell down into the ship's hold, and the blackness enveloping her as the hatch closed over her.

The Fog of War

He heard it. He was sure of this. Something had crashed into the trees somewhere along the wooded path to his estate.

He had looked to the sky above him, and saw the unusual gathering of craft overhead, bursting forth from the cloudbank before moving onward at an ever increasing speed. Why they would go through the dammed thing was beyond the estate owners imagination, but that was unimportant right now he thought, as he made his way down the gravel path.

He glanced once more to the grey wall overhead and groaned. He had protested to no avail the idea of parking them there. He just knew that all that shade was going to hurt his vineyard. It would have been smarter he argued to simply shut down the cloud factories for a few days and eliminate the whole issue altogether. But no, he heard, that would mean too much down time for the workers.

Someone was going to pay for this, he thought, even if he had to sick half of his friends in parliament on the issue.

He continued down the path, scanning the scene if front of him carefully. He had supervised the planting of the lane himself. He knew it like he knew the lines on his own face. This was one thing he was not going to trust to any of his staff. His reputation was at stake here.

As he got about halfway to the connecting lane, he finally spotted something. As he got closer, he recognized at least two large branches that had broken off one tree, one of which was still attached by the slightest stretch of fiber. He couldn't see what had done the damage yet, but he knew it had to be pretty big.

He slowed his approach, and slowly circled around to the side of the tree, studying the scene intently. There was something large in the midst of the debris. As he approached, he slowed even more. He could see something big, clad in blue cloth, sitting in the middle of the mess. He came even closer and studied the form, and saw the bright red tail, and the mane, and the straps around the waist.

He gasped. It was a earth pony, clad in a strange blue uniform. The poor creature was apparently wearing a parachute, but the device apparently was never used, as it was still clearly still in it's pack, and the wearer had hit the ground full force.

The land owner recoiled back, and sensed his breakfast forcing it's way up his esophagus. He turned away, and swallowed, hard, trying to get it back under control. He then turned and went back to the house, accelerating his pace the farther along he got.

The city of Manechester was one of the oldest in Equestria, long predating Canterlot itself. The city, unlike any other in the kingdom, was fully contained on the top of a mesa, which limited its growth, but also made it a natural fortress. The cliffs around it had been tested repeatedly by numerous invaders over the millennia, and it was home of one of the largest garrisons in the western half of Equestria.

The city up till now was still in celebration mode, with the streets already filling with civilians and vendors, and the buildings lined with balloons and banners. But, few were still in the partying mood as the crowd watched the ominous formation slowly traversing off to the south.

Meanwhile, spotters stationed about the city tracked the movements of the foreign fleet, periodically calling out coordinates into their headphones while hastily assembled crews continued to traverse the barrels of a dozen well placed artillery pieces, all while others scrambled to unpack ammunition and prepare for whatever order was coming.

From the enclosed observation tower atop the garrison’s main command post, a group of ponies huddled together around a pair of pedestal mounted field glasses, each taking turns watching what was happening in front of them.

“Uh huh…that’s one of ours all right,” said the young lieutenant at one of the stations as he observed the intruders, “It's the PC-19. She normally flies out of Coltlumbus. And it looks like she’s tied up to that lead ship.”

This caused one of the group, a large pegasus mare dressed in grey to shift towards a male unicorn dressed in green and said, “In case your curious, that is NOT the standard procedure for escorting a visitor as far as the R.F.C. is concerned.”

The other pony looked her way, and replied with a note of sarcasm, “Noted wing commander. Thank you for clearing that up for me. But…” he paused, his arm gesturing in frustration as he searched for what to say, “…I need a hell of a lot more than that if I’m to open up on them.” He then turned to a fellow guardspony who was monitoring the phone, “Have they been able to establish contact yet?”

“No sir,” came the reply, “Nothing on the radio, and no response to the flag hoist either.”

“Lieutenant, can you see any activity on deck?” the senior officer asked.

The young officer focused in on the flyers and answered, “I can’t get the right angle to see that much. The port side doesn't show any damage and she's still flying her colors. She's just…wait a minute. Sir, her forward main gun has been deployed.”

The two senior officers looked to each other, and the grey clad female asked, “Are you sure about that?”

“Yes ma’am,” he replied, “Somepony definitely brought out that big old M-2. For whatever reason, that ship is...or was...on alert for something. ”

“Does it still sound benign to you sir?” the mare in grey asked.

The stallion in green gave the mare an annoyed glare and responded, “It could be a mistake by the crew, or an oversight."

"Sir...with all due respect....that's...a very big assumption to make here," the mare replied, "It's just not that simple to unmask the guns on that thing." She paused and took a deep breath and said, "If you have doubts one way or the other sir, let me go up there and do an I.F.F. inquiry…and then we’ll know.”

“No,” was the reply, “They’re getting out of triple A range anyway. And in case you haven't noticed, we only have a platoon's worth of Guard flyers here. If by chance they are hostile, we may not have enough firepower here to get you back. And…I don’t know just what you saw back in Los Pegasus. You may be totally misinterpreting the whole thing. And in case you're not paying attention, we have no communications outside of the damn city limits. And if somepony is going to end up starting a war here, it’s not going to be me. I'm not firing the first shot.”

The mare in grey sat down and stewed for a minute, her frustration clearly evident. She took a clearly audible deep breath, and replied, "That's assuming of course that the first shot hasn't been fired already. Anyway....it's probably time for me to move on." She stood up and moved towards the doorway.

But as she did, the colonel said to her, "For whatever it's worth coming from me wing commander, good luck."

The mare in grey looked back to him and answered, "Thank you," and then left the room.

“So major, what you're saying is that there shouldn’t be any natural causes for this little malfunction. Is that correct?”

The other officer answered, “Yes sir. All reports from the Los Pegasus weather station didn’t report anything even close to that area, and that report was from 5:15 in the morning their time, fifteen minutes before we lost contact. And there have been no signs of natural phenomena that could have damaged the lines.”

“So,” the general continued, “If it’s not natural, what kind of unnatural causes should we be looking at?”

The major continued, “I think we can rule out accidents, since according to the reports we've gotten the civilian line is apparently coming back on up despite the fact that they share the same damn infrastructure for at least the first thirty miles out of Los Pegasus; not that it helps much since that line's already clogged with traffic. And, of course the possibly of hostile action. It's not quite what we've come to expect though...I mean, taking the time to attack the communications system.”

The general simply smiled and shook his head and replied, "Major, I'm not even going to try and unpack all the issues I have with that comment. In the world of conventional warfare, that kind of attack is standard procedure. That's the difference between hocus pocus and plain old brute force." He paused and raised his arm, and tapped the side of his own head and added, "Got to keep an open mind major."

He then turned towards another officer, this one wearing blue. “Squadron Leader!” he called out, “What have we got in the southwest sector in terms of air assets!”

The other officer moved right, and located a clipboard. He flipped through the papers until he found something. “If everything’s going as planned, there should be three patrol craft up right now in that area. There are also two reconnaissance squadrons based in the area, along with a pursuit squadron at Coltlumbus, though unfortunately none of them are probably in the air right now.”

"What about the heavy assets?" the general continued.

The other officer flipped up a page on his clipboard, and answered, "Nothing in the area. "Endeavour" is on a mission to help out with a project in the dragon lands. "Intrepid" is in for dock work at Baltimare. "Mareitonia" is on routine patrol near Vanhoover. That would leave..."Cowpens", last reported leaving Manehatten, but still about a two days flying time away."

“O.K….so much for that. Radio still work?” the general asked.

“Yes sir,” the major replied.

“Can we potentially bounce a signal in to those patrol craft, and at least get some damn clue what they’re seeing?” the general continued.

The guard officer sighed, “Possibly sir, but it will be a damn slow process. And there is just so much that three patrol craft can see with the naked eye, even at their normal patrol altitude.”

General Black Jack answered, “Try it anyway. And while we’re at it, see if you can get recon up too, as much as you can muster…out to about…” he paused and gestured towards the map table, “…a one hundred mile radius from Canterlot out into our little dead zone. Got it?”

“Yes sir!” the major replied before quickly turning to comply with the order.

General Black Jack tuned back towards the rail, and towards the map down below. He knew the limitations he was fighting “This sucks,” he muttered under his breath.

A.K. Yearling listened to the presentation as closely as she could. The whole puzzle of communications for the military had puzzled her for a while now, particularly their reluctance to use magic. But hearing the whole thing broken down in detail here was surprising, and a bit disturbing.

She gave a wary glance to her right, and found Lieutenant Alydar still at her side, listening intently. That to her was surprising. "Didn't they train this kid before he got here? she thought. But, she thought, maybe not.

“Oh captain!” came a call from behind.

The quartet turned to the sound and A.K. spotted a tall blonde maned unicorn mare in a well decorated green uniform, who asked “May I have a quick word with our visitors?” Almost as soon as she spoke, A.K. Yearling and her escort found themselves surrounded in a bright yellow aura, and they quickly floated across the room till they were practically muzzle to muzzle with the stranger.

“Thank you my friends!” the stranger said, “I shall endeavor to keep the interruption brief, I assure you!” and then looked towards her surprised audience.

“Good Morning! My sincere apologies for my abruptness my friends, but I've been so anxious to speak to you Ms. Yearling,” the stranger said, “I mean, I am probably the second greatest one of your fans in the whole headquarters, with the possible exception of our young friend here,” she said gesturing to the young stallion standing there, and then added “Oh my, but I am being so rude. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Major Yeux Brillants. I do work in various things, but mainly intelligence.” She then held out her arm for a hoof shake.

Yearling could only stare for a minute, as her mind rushed to catch up. She quickly did the math in her head as she scanned the pony in front of her; the perfectly coiffured mane and tail; the light gold tinged fur; the vaguely familiar face with the bright blue eyes; and the decorations and qualification badges on the uniform, and decided to take a chance.

"Indeed," she finally answered, taking a moment to complete the hoofshake. "It's...good to meet you too. You know," she said, pausing and pointing towards the strange officer, "I think that I recognize your name. I believe that I have spoken on a couple of occasions with your sister. She's...done modeling work for a couple of my book covers. She's...uh...quite delightful."

Major Brillants's smile disappeared and her head tilted slightly in obvious surprise. But, it was only for a second. She smiled again and answered, "Ah...yes...you have met Fluer? Oh yes, of course, one should expect such things amongst celebrity types I suppose. Indeed," she paused before adding, 'that mare doesn't tell me anything I swear it. Ah...but yes, my little sister is quite the charmer. I shall have to get after her about keeping secrets though. I mean...she knows quite well that you are my favorite author."

"Oh really," Yearling replied, "I'm quite flattered."

"Oh please," the major answered, "I am quite sure that you hear such things all the time." She then turned to the young lieutenant standing with them and asked, "My good fellow, would you mind terribly if I were to borrow your charge here for just a moment or so. I promise that I will return her as soon as I can."

Alydar seemed to shrink a bit, his disappointment plainly obvious. But he quickly straightened up and answered, "Yes ma'am."

"Good fellow," Brillants replied, and then turned towards the offices that lined the adjoining wall, pausing only for a moment to encourage Yearling to follow along behind her.

"Come come my friend," she said as she went, "we just have to talk. If nothing else, you just have to tell me what other things my chatterbox sister has told you about me."

Somethings there.

Marble heard it...off in the distance.

She raised her head...and looked around her.

'No...' she thought, '...nothing nearby.

And then...there it was again.

And once again she looked up...and scanned her surroundings.

And then...she scanned the horizon...and she saw it. A large formation of ships...crossing over the northern horizon.

They weren't like any she had seen before. and she should know. She'd made a hobby out of watching the various airships that passed by on the air corridor that bordered the edge of her family's rock farm. But, she had never seen ships with markings like that before. And, were those gun ports on the side of that one?

There was no sound, other than the distant buzz of their engines. And soon, the strange formation disappeared over the horizon.

Marble sat down and pondered what she saw.

'What does this mean?' she thought.

‘An hour…another damn hour,’ he thought as he strode around the perimeter of the room. He knew that every pony around him was capable. They would do what they could. But, what he wouldn't give for some magic portal or spell of some type to speed this process up.

“Sir?” came a voice from behind.

He turned, and found himself facing his chief communications officer who continued, “We’ve just got a message from the Coltlumbus armory. I think that we’ve got a major problem.” Her magical aura held out a clipboard, which she directed towards the nearest table. General Black Jack followed, and as soon as it landed, he moved over and carefully read through the message it contained.

“The Storm King?” he asked.

"Yes, sir," she replied, "As you can see, the unit who reported said that one of our intelligence officers wrote up the report and confirmed the i.d.," the other officer responded, and continued, "but...they only identified him simply as..." she paused, and peaked over to the report on the table, "Hellhound 14 Delta. Should we take this seriously?"

The general just rolled his eyes and replied, "Yeah captain, that does seems like a safe bet. She is our chief of intelligence after all. For the record, that call sign belongs to Wing Commander Rider captain. So, which unit filed this?" the general asked.

“Uhmm," the younger officer hummed as she scanned the paperwork in front of her, "VR-23, the reconnaissance squadron homebased at Los Pegasus."

“Uh huh,” the general replied, “so it appears that we accidentally dropped that poor mare into the dead damn center of the bullseye. Swell.” He took a deep breath, raised his head and then said, “O.K., thank you captain. Now if you could, either yourself or one of your N.C.O.s need to go around and round up the usual suspects, including Major Brillants assuming of course you can figure out just where the hell she's gone off to."

"Yes sir," she replied, and she moved off to make it happen.

Yearling followed along, carefully surveying her surroundings as she went. Charm aside, there was something about this officer that just hit her wrong. Whatever it was, she was not going to be taken by surprise, or left without an escape route.

At one point in the trek, an older looking staff sergeant approached, and whispered something to the senior officer. There was a moment of conversation, but Yearling couldn't quite make out what was said, and the pair separated and Brillants gestured to Yearling to continue.

Finally, the two mares reached what Yearling assumed was the unicorn mare's office, and she directed Yearling to a chair while she positioned herself behind her desk. Yearling surveyed the scene as discreetly as she could, particularly noting the large collection of books on the shelves along the wall, including what appeared to be the entire collection of her own work, the creases and wear on the dust jackets clearly showing that they were not just there for appearance sake.

"Can I get you anything?" Major Brillants asked.

Yearling looked back again towards the front and responded, "Oh...uh, no...thanks for asking."

"Well, I must get myself a bit of tea, if that is o.k.." the major answered, "I swear, even in the middle of summer, I get a chill in my bones down here. It is...like living in a tomb I think." The unicorn's horn glowed, and in what seemed to be less than a minute, a steaming hot cup of black tea floated by Yearling's head through the open doorway. The major brought the cup to her lips and took an audible sip before directing the cup and saucer down to her desk.

"I hope that I wasn't out of line back there." Yearling said to Brillants, "Some things came up in conversation, and others by research that was sparked by said conversation."

"I see," Brillants answered, "It's quite understandable. You seem to be a cautious pony and you want to understand those you associate with. So...if I may ask, what is your reading of me?"

"Well," Yearling replied pausing to collect her thoughts, "You seem to me to be...a collection of contradictions."

"Really?" the major answered with a smile, "How so?"

"Well, I believe..." Yearling began, "if I can recall it correctly...you hail from a wealthy family....and your appearance, if I may say so, rivals that of your sister, yet I understand that you joined the Royal Guard as an enlisted pony, and then eventually earned your commission. And your uniform, and the tale that it tells, suggest a career spent in combat arms, particularly...artillery. And yet you work in intelligence," Yearling paused, and then added, "I'm betting that there is an interesting story there."

Brillants pondered for a moment, and then smiled and said, "There is...but I shall not waste your time, and I'll give the condensed version. Well, as for my background, my family is willing to save us from a life of begging if needed, but otherwise we were taught to blaze our own way through life. As for appearance, while I may have a certain style of my own, you will probably get a wholly different opinion of my appeal to a wider audience from...say...Photo Finish. And," she added with a chuckle, "I would not want Fluer's lifestyle anyway, as I like to enjoy a good hayburger on certain occasions, though that said, I do envy her relationship with Fancy. He is a wonderful stallion. And...as for my work, the queen of battle and myself are well acquainted, but I am by nature a problem solver, whether it is hitting a target, or solving a puzzle. It is what I enjoy."

"I see," Yearling responded with a smile, carefully noting the rather vague answers. But something caught her eye, tucked in between a couple of file cabinets. It looked like a large walking staff...and yet.

"Is something wrong?" Brillants asked, and then turned and looked to what Yearling was interested in. "Oh...I see, you're looking at that staff. That is fortunate. It is part of the reason I wanted to talk to you."

She levitated the staff with her magic and brought it over to her desk. It was mostly plain, long, and somewhat irregular along it's length, with a generic looking jewel placed at the top. "It is interesting...isn't it. At best, I admit, a crude representation of the original, but the texts are imprecise at best as to appearance of The Staff of Sacanas. As I remember it...the staff was the object of Daring Doo's most recent adventure, if my memory serves me."

Yearling's smile disappeared, and her eyebrow rose, and she answered, "Yes...that's true. It seemed like a good subject, but it took a lot of research."

"I can well imagine," Brillants answered, "It has been an object of my own curiosity as well of recent. Anyway...ultimately she was unable to recover it, and the tale went another direction, which is most unusual for one of your stories. But, you were rather opaque as to why? What happened there? Did you have a theory as to what became of it?"

"We are, of course....speaking in terms of fiction," Yearling answered, the warmth long since absent from her voice, "but...as I wrote...it was...obtained eventually by another party."

"That...wouldn't happen to be the Storm King, would it?" Brillants asked as she gazed over the rim of her cup as she took another sip of her tea.

Yearling felt her blood go cold within her, the alarm bells in her head becoming almost deafening. She straightened up in her chair and asked, "Major...am I in trouble here?"

Brillants leaned forward onto her desk, and said with a smile, "Not in the slightest bit my friend. But unfortunately, your secret is out to more than just you're closest allies, all thanks to our nosey friends at the D.I.A.. But, they have concluded, as have I, that you are truly on the side of the angels. Otherwise of course, we would never have let you come here. In fact," she continued, leaning forward across her desk, "I am fully prepared to show you everything that they have shown me concerning you personally. But...I need to ask a question first. I have received a report of a possibly hostile incursion by the Storm King's forces near Los Pegagsus. I need to ask, if I may be so forward, how worried should I be?"

Yearling's gaze hardened and she leaned forward, her hoofs resting on the edge of the desk, and simply answered, "Very."

Brillants closed her eyes and nodded, and then turned and used her magic to open one of the file cabinets, and then levitated from it a large envelope obviously full of paperwork.

"I shall give you as much time as you require, after which...you may do as you wish," Brillants said to Yearling as she slowly moved out from behind the desk, "and...for what it is worth coming from me...a pony who has violated your obviously much prized privacy...I'm sorry...." she paused, and placing a hoof on the other mare's shoulder continued, "...and thank you", before exiting the room and leaving the other mare to her reading.

"So," the general chimed in, "I need to talk to somepony in that damn castle, preferably immediately, and tell them that I'm increasing our alert status. You all know the deal. You all have any thoughts about this?"

He glanced around the room at the assembled officers discussing the question. Not surprising, one was missing. 'Standard damn procedure', he thought. Glancing around he spotted her, coming out of her office and slowly making her way in his direction.

"Dammit Red!" he called out, "are you going to be part of this...or are you doing your army of one imitation again!"

"My apologies general," she answered as she quickened her pace to a trot, "but as they say 'greatness cannot be rushed'! And yes, I hear you. Your voice travels quite well actually."

She reached the platform and approached her commander and said, "Pardon if you can my tardiness sir, but given what we discussed yesterday, and the recent reports, it seemed to be a good idea to expedite my planned interview of our esteemed guest."

The general waited a second and then asked, "And...?"

"In short, she believes that the Storm King has the staff," the major answered, "and that we have a serious problem."

"The Staff of Sacanas?" General Blackjack asked, "The one that can..."

"Absorb magical energy and redirect it to the bearer," Major Brillants answered, "...and obviously pose a existential security threat if used against our princesses."

The group went silent for a moment, but finally one R.F.C. officer spoke.

"Sir, we need to intercept this intruding force immediately, with every damn thing we've got. We can't let them reach the capital."

"Indeed flight leader, if we can indeed assume they're hostile" the general replied, "But that said, we don't need to scatter our force over hundreds of square miles either, so..." he paused, and then turned to Brillants and asked, "Do you think that you have enough magical firepower here to pull off a pulse?"

Brillants turned and moved to the adjoining railing. She put her front hooves on the railing and scanned the ponies around her, clearly doing the math in her head. Then she turned and got back on her hooves and replied, "Of course."

"Make it happen Major," the general answered, and then turned to the others and commanded, "Captain, pass the word to all units....including at the damn castle that we're taking the alert level up to three. And that means that I want Canterlot on air defense alert...and yes that does include those damn lawn ornaments that used to be triple A batteries. Squadron leader," he said, turning to another pony, " I want two pursuit squadrons on scramble alert. We'll send them up as soon as we have an idea of an intercept course. Also, put two attack squadrons on ten minute alert, just in case. And as for you colonel," he added as he looked to another pony, "Pass the word...this command is hoisting the black flag...immediately." He glanced around the assembled group one more time and asked, "Any questions?"

The only response was a few shaking heads.

"Good," he answered, "Now make it happen."

And with that the assembled ponies quickly dispersed to carry out their orders.

It was almost 10:30 local time when curious eyes at Canterlot's airdrome spotted the batch of strangely dressed ponies trotting out to the end of the facilities principal runway. Most who saw the scene didn't think much about it at the time, as their attention was focused on the plethora of aircraft of every configuration that had assembled over the last fifteen minutes, trying to find somewhere to land on the already crowded airfield.

One pony stopped near a field telephone at the edge of the runway and waited while the others gathered around him. As he was on a small rise, he took advantage of it and began counting the assembled ponies in front of him.

"Hey boss," one of them called out, "What's the story here? I mean really, I've heard of groundstops, but this is an exercise in insanity."

"No kidding genius," another pony answered, "It's not just a groundstop. Everything that's up has got to come down."

"Oh heck," another flyer chimed in, "How does that work when a third of the population has wings? Sounds like crap to me."

The pony on the rise held up one hoof and commanded, "Hey, let's try and keep the snark to a minimum here o.k.? This day is going to be long enough as it is."

"So what do you think?" added another flyer, "I'm betting they've got this alert for the entire Central Command. Anypony want to bet against?"

"Yeah right," another added, "And I'm betting that this whole thing is a giant waste of time, and that my mom isn't going to make it to the concert if this keeps up." She turned and looked back behind her, "Hey Sting? What's your best bet?"

"Oh please, are you kidding? I would have taken that one personally," Sky Stinger chimed in as he approached, with Vapor Trail alongside him, "I mean really...did you get a look towards the castle. The airspace around there looks like a three-ring circus. Somepony out there must not be too damn worried."

"Sting," Vapor said in a voice only he could hear, "You've never even seen a three-ring circus."

"Hey," he replied in a similar voice, "You and I know that...but they don't," which made Vapor chuckle to herself.

"Yeah well, it would be a damn shame if some jerkweed ended up raining on somepony's parade," was the response. The group then lapsed into various conversations, at least till the ground crew arrived, along with the large wagon that carried the squadron's equipment.

"ALLRIGHT EVERYPONY!" the squadron commander called out, "I'VE BEEN TOLD THAT WE WILL PROBABLY LAUNCH WITHIN THE NEXT TEN TO TWENTY MINUTES, DEPENDING ON JUST WHEN THEY FINALLY GET AN IDEA OF WHERE WE'RE GOING! SO...WE NEED TO GET IN GEAR! FLIGHT LEADERS....GET WITH YOUR TEAMS AND GET GOING ON YOUR RADIO CHECKS! ANYONE NOT IMMEDIATELY INVOLVED IN THAT PROCESS NEEDS TO GET WITH THE GROUND CREW AND START LOADING UP! AND THAT MEANS FULL BATTLE RATTLE FELLOW TRAVELERS! DON'T LEAVE SOMETHING YOU MIGHT NEED BEHIND! O.K...LET'S DO THIS!!

Vapor Trail moved off by herself for a moment as Sting went over to locate his equipment. She reached back and turned on her radio, and prepared to call the tower when it was her turn.

"Uh excuse me...uh...Flight Officer?" came a voice from behind her. She turned and saw the squadron's newest member behind her, with her bright silver mane contrasting with the dull grey of her uniform and the R.F.C. crests on her front cannons showing her newly commissioned rank of Flight Aviator.

"Fair...you don't have to call me flight officer....not when it's just us...remember?" Vapor answered, "Just call me Vapor...o.k.?'

"Oh right...sorry Vapor," Fair Winds replied. "So...are you ready for this?" she said gesturing towards the group.

Vapor didn't reply at first, sensing the tension in the other mare's voice. She pondered her answer for a moment, and then finally responded, "Uh...in truth...not really. But...we've got a few minutes...so let's go and do what we can...o.k.?"

Fair Winds looked towards the group, and then back to Vapor, and after a moment responded, "Oh yeah...sure...that's what I meant...actually."

Vapor smiled, and answered, "Yeah...I know." She then gestured towards the others, which the junior officer took as her cue, and the pair walked over to begin preparing for what the day had in store for them.

No plan ever survives...

General Blackjack watched from atop the observation platform as his crew made the necessary preparations. He knew that he didn't have much time given the age of the reports he had. Once again he thought of the plan for more trained civilian observers that had been kicked around recently. He shook his head and groaned. He could have really used them today.

But now, everything depended on the pulse that Brillance was organizing, assuming she had enough magical firepower to work with. If he could figure out a direction, he had four squadrons that he could get up in a matter of minutes, and almost the entire garrison of Canterlot at the ready. But where were they coming from, and when?

"Sir? came a voice from somewhere to his left. He turned and spotted a young sergeant next to him. "We have a call for you sir."

"Really?" the general replied, "Any damn clue who it is, or is this going to be a surprise?"

The young N.C.O. turned back and conversed with the caller for a few moments, and then turned back and answered, "Sir, it's some courtier calling from Canterlot Castle sir. He insists that he needs to talk to you."

The general gave an exasperated sigh. It was hardly a surprise that somepony at the castle would have heard of the issues that had cropped up during the day. But to have to deal with some anonymous underling expecting information while he was still trying to confirm just what the hell he was up against in the first place was just a royal pain in the but.

But protocol was protocol.

"O.k. sergeant, put it through to my personal line," he finally replied.

"Yes sir," the sergeant answered, and he motioned to another guardspony, who flipped a couple of switches on an adjacent control panel while General Blackjack moved over to a set of wired headphones hanging from a box attached to the railing with a sign marked "O.I.C. use only." He then put the headphones on and pressed the button on the box.

"This is General Blackjack, to whom am I speaking?" he asked.

"One moment please general," was the reply, followed by a moment of silence before a magic portal appeared in front of him, and an all too familiar voice was heard, "Good morning general."

Blackjack had to make a deliberate effort to control his reaction as he recognized his ultimate superior. But he took a quick breath and responded, "Good morning your highness. It's good to hear from you, though your timing is a bit inconvenient."

"As I guessed general," the princess replied, "I have been receiving reports of some possible security issues. Is there anything that you can tell me about the situation?"

"Your highness...I'll be blunt. In a nutshell, we have persistent communications issues with a large section of the northwest territories; a confirmed report of an incursion by the forces of the Storm King in that same area; and a report that the Storm King may be in possession of an extremely dangerous magical device," Blackjack answered.

"Hmmm," Celestia replied, her voice betraying her concern, "That is quite a nutshell."

"Indeed your highness," Blackjack replied, "I have to ask, if you can tell me, do you know if Princess Twilight invited anyone from the empire to this celebration?'

There was silence for a moment, and then Celestia answered, "Unfortunately, I really don't know. She has been putting a lot of pressure on herself to make this celebration perfect. Given that she has made several friends and new allies among other kingdoms, it's entirely possible that she would have made such an effort, though granted I wish she would consult with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs first."

"Your highness," the general replied, "We're still trying to locate these intruders, and we're way behind the curve here. The time that we have to spend making I.F.F. inquiries when we do find these guys is that much less time to respond militarily. Given those factors, I can not guarantee that once we do confirm hostile intent that we will have the time to employ enough of our forces to defend you."

There was silence on the line for a moment or two as Celestia pondered the question, and then she reponded, "I understand that risk general. That is a chance I'm prepared to take. If this is a friendly visit, we don't want to do anything to aggravate them. And...if it is an attack, I will not abandon the ponies here."

Blackjack nodded, "I understand your highness. With that in mind, would it be possible to delay the opening ceremonies for at least an hour, and possibly limit access to the castle proper for at least that long?"

"I believe that we can pause things at the main gate for that long," Celestia replied, "That I think I can manage."

"Thank you, your highness. That will help." Blackjack answered.

There was a small pause as someone appeared behind the princess and whispered something to her, and then Celestia continued, "I'm afraid that I am needed elsewhere general, so I'll have to move on. My best wishes to you and your command, and good luck to all of you."

"Indeed your highness," Blackjack answered, "My best wishes to both you and your sister. I'll do my best to keep you informed."

A moment later, the line went silent, and Blackjack removed his headphones and hung them up carefully. Once done, he turned around to face the map table.

"Red!" he called out, "what is the status of that pulse!"

"We'll be ready in a minute," Brillants replied.

"We don't have a damn minute!" Blackjack answered.

"Duly noted," Brillants replied.

Grey Bolt paused for a second and looked back towards the small grove that his parents had chosen to conceal themselves in. It wasn't impressive, but it was fairly dense, and certainly did the trick. 'What the heck was going on?' he thought. He certainly knew what he saw back at the farm, with the hulking shaggy creatures, at least two of them carrying spears. That was certainly not a friendly way to begin a visit. But so far, he had only seen one other ship since that first one landed. If it truly was an invasion, where were the rest of them? Different scenarios danced through his head; a general invasion; a decapitation strike; or some rouge group on a raid. Or...was he overreacting? Did he bring his whole family to the middle of nowhere...for nothing.

He shook his head and tried to clear his mind, and then looked around. He spotted a line of trees in the near distance, apparently strung along the banks of a small river. And then it all clicked. "Good," he thought, "Now I know where I am." Based on what he could see, they had at best travelled only about twenty miles from the farm, and the nearest village was at worst five miles way. Even in the worst-case scenario, that meant that he knew how to get the family to the safety of Manechester, assuming it had not fallen. And at best, he could report the incursion to the authorities and then they could stay overnight, or even get back to the farm before nightfall. Either way, he could handle this.

But first, he thought, there were immediate needs to consider. He needed to check out the river and see if it was reasonably safe to drink. He moved at a steady gait towards the treeline, pausing at the edge to look and listen. Having satisfied himself, he slowly proceeded forward, always alert for any surprises.

At first, there was only the scene of the stream ahead of him, and the shade of the canopy overhead. But then, a sound caught his ear, and he immediately crouched down and looked for cover. He spotted some dense bushes a few feet away, and moved towards them slowly, and on arriving crouched down in the midst of them. Once he felt reasonably concealed, he carefully studied the surroundings much more deliberately.

Something caught his eye off to his right, and he flattened himself out on the ground, and carefully peered out from between the bushes and carefully scanned the perimeter around him.

It only took to spot the source of the sound he had heard, as from out of the tall grass appeared a small unicorn filly, or so it appeared. He had to look closely to confirm his original idea, as the young pony's color pattern was unlike any he'd ever seen before, all black, the mane, the fur, everything. Grey had to think for a moment. He'd never seen a pure black pony before, though it was a color that appeared as often as any he had seen.

It was then that she turned her head and saw him. Grey wasn't sure just what she expected or how she would react, but instinctively grinned and gave her a quick wave, which was answered with a look that could best be described as one of annoyance.

For a moment, he remained in his concealed position, contemplating whether or not to go over and explain himself. But, out of the corner of his eye, something got his attention. He turned his head and squinted towards the opposite bank of the river and saw them, three hulking blue furred creatures, almost identical to the ones that had landed at the farm.

His mind scrambled to process what he saw. 'Did they follow us all this way?' he thought 'or is this another scout group?' 'How close are they to the grove where the family was?' "Do I have time to warn them?' He couldn't answer those questions, but one thing was clear to him as he surveyed the scene, that filly was now directly in harm's way.

As Blackjack watched, three unicorns took up positions around the large map table that dominated this part of the command post while Major Brillants directed them from the head of the table. When she was apparently satisfied, she looked back over her shoulder and nodded to the general.

Seeing this, Blackjack turned towards the communications board to his left and commanded, "Alright captain, I need commo to go dark for three minutes. Make it happen!"

"Yes sir!" was the answer, and he turned back to his crew. Blackjack didn't hear the actual order, but the effect became apparent quite quickly as the chatter from that side of the room began to rapidly drop off.

When quiet finally became the norm, Blackjack turned and looked to Brillants, and said, "Let's do this major!"

"Yes sir," she replied, and she looked towards the others and said in a calm voice, "O.k. friends...let us begin. I will take the lead, and keep in mind that we will need as much range as possible, so give it your best effort."

She looked around the room, and seeing affirmation from those around her, she took a couple of deep breaths, closed her eyes, and concentrated. The others around the table did the same, and for a few seconds there was nothing but silence.
But in a few seconds, all four of the unicorn's horns began to glow, first dimly...and then with steadily increasing intensity. The light that was generated grew steadily, eventually becoming one intense source, illuminating the entire cavern, while a low resonating sound began to build...slowly but steadily. As the spell grew, the sound became more intense, and the magical energy seemed to concentrate itself, like a magic halo over the four ponies involved. Meanwhile the sound continued to increase, while the halo became more concentrated.

Brillants still had her eyes closed, but she was smiling, and obviously in control of the whole process as the sound became more and more intense.

"Get ready my friends," she said in a raised, but steady voice, and then called out, "Now!" All four of the gathered unicorns threw their heads back and in an instant the halo closed on itself, and a burst of energy shot out from the center towards the commo equipment overhead with a resonating tone that reminded the assembled ponies of standing next to a giant bell as the clapper struck the side.

In that instant, the bright light faded, and General Blackjack looked down to the map table. He could see the halo rise above the representation of their current location, and slowly spread out from there, with several glowing dots suddenly appearing, floating over the map at various locations and heights. The magic energy continued to expand outward, with more and more dots filling the airspace over the table.

Blackjack then looked over to Brillants, who by now had already moved away from the map table to congratulate her fellow unicorns, before turning back towards her commander and reporting, "Sir...there you are. Remember, it will only last for at best 15 minutes. We must use it wisely."

"Thank you major," he replied, and then looked to the officer next to him and asked, "Any first impressions flight leader?"

The other officer studied the picture in front of him, and replied, "I'm concerned about that cluster to the south. It's a tight group, and they appear to be large craft...flying in what appears to be a defensive formation. Not to mention they're way too close for my comfort. Also, the group about 100 kilometers to the north northwest. It's got the same characteristics. Given the choice though, the first group is the more immediate danger."

"O.k.", Blackjack answered, "What's availalable?"

The R.F.C. pegasi looked back to the blips, and answered "Sir, I think that the pair of blips there just to the north of Ponyville might be ours, if those guys from VR-19 are on the heading that they reported ten minutes ago." She turned and signaled to one of the ponies who had been obviously listening in from his communications station, who turned to the console in front of him, made a quick adjustment of frequencies, and the pressed the microphone button and called out, "Fastrack 1-1...Fastrack 1-1...this is the Tower calling...come in."

There was a moments silence, and then came the reply, "Tower...this is Fastrack 1-1...I read you lima charlie...over."

"Fastrack 1-1...this is the Tower...request current vector and assigned waypoint...over," the operator called out.

"Tower, this is Fastrack 1-1...we are on vector 190...assigned waypoint is Ponyville...repeat Ponyville...over."

The operator looked over to the general, who had obviously listened in. The general nodded and ordered, "Send them in flight leader."

"Yes sir," he answered, and then turned back to the microphone and pressed the button. "Fastrack 1-1...this is the Tower...you are to continue to waypoint Ponyville...then vector to 1 2 0 for multiple large bogeys last reported at angels 2 approximately ...upon contact I.F.F inquiry is to be made at your discretion...how copy over?"

There was a moments pause, and then came the reply, "Tower....Fastrack 1-1...roger that."

Blackjack watched the entire exchange, and when that last call was acknowledged, he turned back to the map table, and once more studied the scene. He knew that someone needed to check out the other contact, but he wasn't in a hurry just yet. He didn't want to commit his pursuits, and he had a bad feeling about that group to the south.

Vapor Trail had to take a bit longer than usual this morning to gear up, as the ground crew member assigned to the task of wrapping up her tail seemed to be having more trouble than expected. It was more than a bit embarrassing to have someone fuss over something so intimate, but it was mandatory, as the blast effect from the pod she would carry would otherwise fry her tail fur if she had to ignite it. She had been singed enough in training too many times to have any remaining doubts.

It amazed her even now that she could have adjusted to the idea of carrying what was essentially a magically infused 100 pound rear firing light artillery piece loaded with 40 rounds of grapeshot on her back.

"Oh my," she thought, "adjusted? Am I kidding myself?" She looked back over her shoulder to the empty frame on which the weapon would eventually be mounted. She thought back over the times in which she had fired off that weapon. It always felt like a surprise when it went off, with the feeling of having been kicked in the backside; and those tests against paper targets had made it abundantly clear just how much damage that weapon could do.

She felt her stomach tighted, and her pulse increase by what seemed like a factor of four. "Oh my," she thought, "Breath...just breath...just breath..."

Whe she felt a bit calmer she opened her eyes and looked around at the expressions on the faces of the others around her. Some of them seemed reasonably calm, but no one looked truly at ease. She took a bit of comfort from that at least. "Misery loves company?" she thought, and then took a deep breath and moved towards some of the lower ranking squadron mates as she tried to focus once more on her responsibilities, her mind running the checklist in her head as she studied them.

"Alright every pony!" came a call from somewhere to her right, "Let's rally up on me!"

Immediately the entire squadron, ground crew included, trotted over to their squadron leader, forming a circle around him as they did. As Vapor joined the group, Sky Stinger appeared out of the crowd and fell in next to her, giving her a wink as he arrived. Vapor couldn't help but smile. As nervous as she was, it felt good to have her best friend by her side.

Meanwhile, Squadron Leader Sky Dancer took his position in the center of the circle, pausing for a moment to make a few quick drawings in the sand table in front of him before looking up to his squadron.

"Alright everypony! Get in close! I've got today's warning order! I need everypony to hear this!" he called out, "But first...who's got today's joke!?!"

For a minute or two, the squadron members looked around to their comrades, no pony answering their leader's question. But finally, a member of the ground crew raised her arm, and the young leader pointed to her.

"Uh...actually...it's a food joke," she said, and then cleared her throat and asked, "What's brown and crunchy on the outside and white and gooey on the inside?"

The other ponies around her looked to each other in obvious confusion, not sure how to respond. Finally, one pony rolled his eyes and said, "Alright already. What the heck is it?"

The young mare looked around to her fellow service ponies, and finally answered, "A cockroach."

"Ewwwww..." said more than a few of the ponies in the group, and Sky Dancer shook his head and said, "That's a good one...now don't ever tell that joke again."

"Agreed," another pony added.

Sky Dancer then looked down to his paperwork for a moment, then looked back to the group and said, "Apparently according to reports the Storm King has sent some sort of armada heading towards us! There's still some confusion as to whether it's hostile or not, so we're going to be on scramble alert probably for the next twenty minutes at least! And that means we'll be loaded up for a bit longer than what's ideal! So, that being the case, leaders...keep a close eye on the rank and file! We're going to need to do a running takeoff with all the weight we'll have, so maintain your positions in the lineup! We don't need to make things harder by messing up flights and elements!

"If there's any question about heading, your landmark will be Friendship Castle in Ponyville, on a heading of 1 6 0 off the bullseye, which just happens to be this aerodrome," Sky Dancer continued, "From the sound of it, if you can make it there your target should be pretty obvious."

"Also, make damn sure if we have to use the pods to be certain of your targets and of the whereabouts of the rest of the team!" he continued, "We don't need any fratricide! We don't need to be our own worst enemies out there! Am I clear?!?"

"Sir...yes sir!" the assembled ponies replied.

"O.k., if any of you do use your pods, remember to cut them lose when your done and go back to assist the others," Sky Dancer continued, "Wing sabers may not be a viable weapon in this fight, but remember that your friends are out there risking it all! And in this squadron, we fly, and we fight as a team...always! Am I clear!?!"

"Sir...yes sir!" the squadron answered.

"Alright everypony," he continued, "Hoofs in!"

Everyone in the group stuck their right front hoof out, some touching the hoof of the pony next to them, others on the back of the pony in front of them.

"Alright fellow travelers, let's make this work! Let's do it to them before they do it to us!" Sky Dancer continued, "And whatever happens today, I want all of you to know that I consider it an honor and a privilege to be here today with each and every one of you!" He then took a breath, and then reached out and touched hoofs with his command, and called out, "FORWARD INTO DANGER!!!! ONE...TWO...THREE...!!!"

"HOOOAH!!!" the squadron answered, and the group began to break up as fliers and ground crew moved to the side to finish loading up. As they did, Vapor and Sting moved to one side. Vapor looked around, trying to find Fair Winds. In a moment, she spotted her, standing by herself. Vapor gestured to Sting, and they both went over.

"You ready for all this Fair?" Vapor asked as they came up alongside her.

"Uh yeah," she answered, "I think so."

Vapor reached over and patted her friend on the shoulder.

"You'll do just fine," Vapor answered.

"Yeah," Sting continued, "Let's do this!"

Fair Winds just smiled and nodded.

As 11am approached, the number of pedestrians on a certain street in Canterlot City seemed to double by the hour as the group of five made their way along. As they slowly made their way long, Trixie Lulamoon looked back over her shoulder and smiled at seeing her best friend Starlite Glimmer following closely behind. Trixie loved having her best friend so close by, and the fact that they were there with Shining Armor, Sunburst, and Flurry Heart made the day seem perfect. There was definitely a lot to be said about keeping distinguished company.

"So," Starlite called out from behind, "How are you holding up?"

"Who me?" Trixie answered, "I'm holding up just fine, thank you very much."

"I'm surprised to hear that," Sunburst chimed in, "considering the way you attacked the breakfast buffet. Before you were finished, I half expected them to chase you out wielding pitchforks."

"Oh hah hah," Trixie answered, "I can't help it if I hadn't eaten since dinner."

"Yeah right," Starlite added with a smile.

"Well, we need to keep moving," Shining Armor replied, "I've got a lot to show Flurry before the celebration begins.

"No problem," Trixie replied, "We'll make it. I've got a good feeling about today."

General Blackjack had been shifting his attention between the communications board and the map table for several minutes now, watching as the two blips that represented two young patrol fliers slowly creep up on the mysterious cluster approaching from the vicinity of Ponyville. He knew that if things went wrong, he had little time, as given the speed and position the strangers could look out and see Canterlot Castle already. The time needed to cross that last distance by air could be measured in minutes, not hours. There was no margin for error...period.

"Anything yet sergeant?" he asked of the N.C.O. who was monitoring communications through the headphones he was wearing.

"There should be something about now sir," was his reply as he took the headphones off with his magic and switched over to the loudspeaker.

"At first there was just light static. But then the communications officer called out, "Fastrack 1-1, this is the Tower...repeat Fastrack 1-1, this is the Tower...come in..."

Static was the response at first. But after a moment came the response, "Tower...this is Fastrack 1-1...I have visual contact with the bogies...stand by."

"This is the Tower...standing by," was the reply.

A few seconds later came another report, "Tower...this is Fastrack 1-1...reporting at least 8 to 10 large bogies...flying mostly in line abreast on heading of 5 at angels 2...approximately 1 kilometer north northwest of waypoint Ponyville...vessels displaying no obvious markings. Standby Tower...we are preparing to overfly..."

"Standing by...", was the response.

Blackjack looked down to the map table, and watched the clusters of blips merge even as the spell slowly began to fade. He heard a noise behind him, and turned to see Brillants come up behind him, and in the distance the clearly recognizable form of A.K Yearling lingering at the edge of the crowd, obviously curious about what was happening.

But a burst of loud static brought him back to the matter at hand, followed quickly by another one, and then by the clear unmistakable call "Break right...break right!", followed a moment or two later by "MAYDAY...MAYDAY...this is Fastrack 1-2...repeat this is Fastrack 1-2...we are under attack...repeat...we are under attack...my element leader has been hit by some sort of burst of magic...I...I can't locate him...I...I think that he's down...I need... immediate assistance...repeat immediate assistance...how copy over?"

The commo officer turned to Blackjack who pointed at him and nodded. He then looked back to his microphone and called out, "This is the Tower....roger that Fastrack 1-2...orders are to pull out of range if possible and assume an overwatch position...report on any course changes or increases of speed...help is on the way...how copy over?"

"Roger that," the flyer responded.

"Alright everypony, you just heard that stallion, let's get everything we can into the air right now!" Blackjack called out. "Commo," he continued, "see if you can redirect those two patrol craft that I saw to our west and head them this way!"
He then looked to the N.C.O. next to him, and ordered, "As for you sergeant...alert the Canterlot garrison...and get me in touch with some pony in that castle...preferably the Princess...or baring that the Captain of the Guard."

"Yes sir," he answered, and quickly went to his task as his commander turned once again to the map table, just in time to see the spell that had helped so much finally peter out.

"Shit..." he muttered under his breath.

...contact with the enemy.

"Chevalier 1-1...this is the Tower....repeat this is the Tower. Come in Chevalier 1-1!"

"Tower....this is Chevalier 1-1.... roger!"

"Chevalier 1-1...this is the Tower. Clear this channel...op order follows immediately!"

"This is Chevaier 1-1...roger. Clearing channel!"

"Chevalier 1-1.... this is the Tower....your orders are as follows. Scramble immediately and vector to 1 3 0 off the bullseye and upon contact engage multiple inbound hostiles last reported at 2 kilometers north-northwest of waypoint Ponyville at angels 2. Upon contact be advised that you are weapons free. How copy over?"

"Tower...this is Chevalier 1-1...roger wilco!"

"It is impressive...isn't it," Sunburst gushed as he studied the huge fountain before him. "It's over a city block long, and about as wide, constructed from some of the finest granite available in the kingdom...and all to celebrate the 500th year of Princess Celestia's reign. And it circulates over a thousand gallons of water through its system every day."

"Borrring," Trixie announced in a way too loud voice, "Can we please move on? I'd really like to grab some food from the street vendors before we have to get back to the castle."

Starlite laughed. "How could you possibly be hungry already? It's only 11 o'clock?" she inquired, "We only ate two hours ago."

"Oh please," came the answer as Trixie assumed her favorite pose, "The Great and Powerful Trixie burns calories very efficiently. It's how she is able to maintain her impressive appearance." She held her pose, and peaked to see her audience, and noticed that everypony had moved past the fountain towards the nearby intersection.

"Hummph," she snorted and quickly moved over to join them.

It took a moment, but she arrived just in time to hear Starlite say, "Now can you hear it?"

The group paused and listened. It took some concentration to separate the strange sound from the noise of rushing water, but it was there.

"Is that a... bugle call?" Sunburst inquired, "It must be coming from the Guard garrison on that next block."

"Whatever it is," Trixie chimed in, "It isn't much of a tune."

The group listened again, and then Starlite came up beside Shining Armor, her ears back and her jaw agape and asked, "Please tell me that that isn't what I think it is."

Shining Armor shook his head. "I wish I could, but I'm betting that it's exactly what you think it is." He then turned to Sunburst and commanded, "Sunburst...get Flurry out of here!! Go with plan Alpha! NOW!!"

Sunburst looked dumbfounded at first, but he quickly recovered. "Ah yeah...got it!" he answered and used his magic to pull Flurry off his back and into her carrier, and immediately began galloping in the direction of the garrison.

"You two make a run for it!" Shining ordered the two mares that remained. "I have to get back to the castle!" And with that, he turned and charged off, quickly disappearing into the confused crowd.

Starlite glanced around quickly as her brain struggled to catch up. But she finally turned to Trixie and commanded, "Come on Trixie, we've got to get back to the castle! We've got to warn Twilight and the others!"

"Starlite..." Trixie replied, obviously dumbfounded by what was happening, "What's going on here? The song isn't THAT bad!"

"Trixie!" Starlite answered, "That's not a song!! That's the call 'TO ARMS'!!"

At first, Greybolt wasn't sure just what to do. He knew that if he was too obvious in trying to alert the young unicorn in front of him, he'd probably draw the attention of the nearby invaders. But it was clear that only a matter of time before they spotted her on the opposite bank of the river anyway. In the end...he had no choice.

He noticed a small rock in the dirt next to him, so he scraped up at it with his hoof, balancing it on the edge, and then flicked it at the hereto oblivious stranger. The stone plopped into the water maybe about a foot in front of her, causing her to turn her head in his direction. As their eyes met, he pointed back towards her, mouthing the words, "Look behind you."

She seemed confused at first, so he mouthed it again. This time it apparently worked because she finally turned her head and looked across the stream to the opposite bank, just as the furry invaders happened to look in the opposite direction.

For a moment, the two sides just stared at each other. Greybolt could hear something. It sounded like "D-D-D-D-...". It sounded like the young unicorn just couldn't get whatever word she was saying out.

But finally, she turned and screamed, just as the invaders launched themselves into pursuit, and she ran...straight towards him.

"Oh dammit!" he cursed as he sprung to his hooves and began running himself. He knew even as he did this that he dare not head back towards the grove, as his family was in no position to hold off those creatures. But even as he did so, he saw the strange mare peel off away from him, and straight towards that very same grove.

"THIS WAY DAMMIT!!" he called after her, altering his own course at the same time.

It looked like it may be too late, as the mare continued on her course. But even as he closed in on the stranger, he noticed that she had already skidded to a halt, apparently after spotting the heretofore unsuspecting ponies sheltering amongst the trees. Then she turned back and faced her approaching attackers, lowering her head towards her pursuers as her horn began to glow with steadily increasing intensity. In what seemed like no time at all, her horn was almost blindingly bright and then....

A blinding flash...accompanied by a deafening boom...and a wave of magical energy blowing down everything in its path, stopping only after colliding with the nearby tree line, jarring loose most of the leaves as it hit.

It took a few moments for Greybolt to get past the ringing in his ears. But finally, he straightened up and carefully approached the strange young mare. He noticed that she had pushed backward at least two feet by her magical burst, the green ribbon in her mane now untied and hanging lose. He also caught sight of her cutie mark, which consisted of an unusual pattern of colors and shapes the like of which he had never seen before. As used as he was to more specific marks, he had to admit that hers didn't give any obvious clues that he could see about the pony who bore it. As he approached, she didn't turn to face him, but instead just stared at what her magic had wrought.

"Hey! What the heck was that!?!" Greybolt demanded, "Do you have any damn idea what you're doing!?!"

"Grey!" came a call from behind, "What's going on here?" He turned and saw his father and sister approach.

"Hey Sere," came a call from behind him, and he turned back around to see a young purple pegasus colt appear overhead and home in for a landing next to the dark furred filly, "What's going on? Where's dad? Whoa....", he paused as he noticed the scene in front of him, including the motionless heap that marked where the two attackers ended up. "Did you do that?" he asked, "That is totally cool!"

Greybolt's jaw dropped, and he glanced to his father, who had come up alongside him, and then looked back to the strange pair and protested, "Now...wait a minute! That was not cool! What...what in Tartarus were you trying to do there!?!"

"Hey!" the young pegasus protested, "Leave my sister alone loudmouth!"

"Oh yeah right!" Greybolt fired back, "You tell her to watch it with that damn magic of hers before she gets somepony killed!"

This caused the unicorn mare to turn back towards the strangers behind her, her eyes wide as saucers and her jaw hanging open.

Greybolt tried to approach, but found his way blocked by Bluebelle's outstretched arm.

"Grey," she said in a discreet voice, "Don't...just don't."

He tried to move around her, but stopped when a large shadow passed over him, accompanied by gust of wind as a large bright orange pegasus stallion came in for landing. He landed directly in front of him blocking his path to the two younger ponies and paused to look over to the disturbed scene at the riverbank. He then moved up next to the dark furred filly, and put one arm around her neck, and the pair started a quiet conversation.

"Oh, for crying out loud!" Greybolt said to no one in particular, "Now who the heck is that?"

"Grey...calm down," Bluebelle answered, "He's probably her dad."

By now, Greybolt's mom had joined the group, and the party waited as the strangers conversed amongst themselves. Finally, the conversation ended, and the trio turned and moved towards the other ponies, with the older stallion in the lead.

"Young stallion," he said as he approached Greybolt, "My daughter tells me that you were the one that warned her about those Storm Guards. I'm guessing that I owe you one for saving her." He smiled and extended his arm for a hoof shake.

"Now just a minute there," Greybolt objected, avoiding the outstretched arm, "What in Tartarus did she do back there? I've never seen a burst like that from any unicorn before! That kind of thing is going to draw in a lot more of those creatures, and they're going to be out for blood once they find what's left after she fried those two!"

The strange pegasus lowered his arm, his expression hardening, and moved one step closer to Greybolt and said in a measured tone, "Your concern is valid. But I assure you that though they may be damaged, those creatures are still live. And I will grant you that that use of magic may have been extreme. I don't think that it's reasonable though, and I would hope that you would agree, for me to tell my daughter that she can't defend herself when she's under attack. But that said...though I like debates relating to the use of force as much as the next pony, we are all at risk here and I think that it would be best that we vacate this area as fast as we can manage. Do you agree?"

Greybolt didn't respond at first, choosing instead to meet the intense glare of the stranger in front of him with one of his own. Until his father, with one arm extended, pushed him back and faced the strange pegasus and said, "Yes we do agree, don't we Grey?" He looked back over his shoulder to his son, his expression making it clear the response that was expected.

"Yes...indeed," Greybolt answered through gritted teeth.

Grey's father turned back to the stranger and extended his arm and smiled. "Name's Archer by the way. This filly over here" he said gesturing over his shoulder, "...is Bluebelle, back there is her mom Bright Dawn. And this young stallion that you've already met here is Greybolt."

The large pegasus smiled and completed the hoof shake and said, "Glad to meet you. My name's True Wind. This little colt hovering over my shoulder here," he paused and gestured towards his son, "is Ruffian. And this little filly behind me is Serenity." He moved a bit to his right to reveal his daughter, who was busy trying to retie the bow in her mane. She seemed to struggle with it for a moment as the fabric was caught around her hooves, but finally completed her task and looked towards the strangers in front of her warily. "We're on the way to Manechester, and we could certainly use the company."

"Sounds agreeable to me," Archer replied with a smile, "Safety in numbers after all." He then turned towards his son. "Grey...why don't you and your sister go back and get our stuff from the grove, and then we'll get going."

Greybolt just stood there and continued to stare at the new arrivals.

"Son,,," his father continued, "sometime today if you don't mind."

Greybolt looked towards his father, and finally turned and went towards the grove with his sister as the rest of the group came together and began to converse with one another.

Blue Breeze saw it, the cloud forming on the horizon. It was distant but intensifying in spite of the warm temperatures and otherwise cloudless skies. And it seemed to be coming closer and closer.

"Sergeant!" he called out to the N.C.O. struggling with the frozen hand crank on the neglected piece of artillery whose platform he stood on, "Are we as screwed as I'm thinking we are?"

The large guardspony didn't respond at first but left his task and climbed down to the ground and moved at a brisk trot to the officer in charge.

"Sir, with all due respect, I would suggest that we watch our language," he said as he got close, "I still have to keep these troops motivated. And as to your question, not one of these weapons are mission capable without a lot of work, which we have no time for. The pods they were encased in were leaking, and it doesn't look like anyone has done routine servicing on these things in at least a year. And were still lacking more than a few rounds of ammo, not to mention sighting equipment."

The young officer pondered the question, noting the tone of the response. There was no time to argue about decorum, especially since he was probably in the wrong anyway. He took another moment to look to the horizon at the approaching threat. He then turned back and met the senior sergeant's stare directly and ordered, "Allright sergeant, here's the plan. Pick one of these guns...just one, whatever one you think is the most serviceable, and concentrate every pony on it. Forget the others for now. what I need is ONE weapon. Can you make that happen?"

The sergeant pondered for a second, and then smiled and answered, "Yeah, I believe I can."

"Then those are my orders," the officer answered.

"Yes sir," the sergeant replied with a salute, which was returned by the officer before both parties went back to the task at hand.

How...how did that happen?

They had made that second pass; he had been on her wing...just like they had been trained.

The pod had fired...with that same deafening blast that she had experienced before...followed by her releasing the bulky weapon...and the sight of the drogue chute deploying.

There was no call...no sign of that the plan had changed.

Yet where was Sting?

Did she....?

No...that was impossible. He was right on her left wing. She was sure of it. He couldn't have...

She quickly scanned the skies around her. The scene around her was pure pandemonium, a confused jumble of fliers, airships, and bursts of cannon fire.

"Chevalier 3-3, this is Chevalier 3-4...Sting...where are you!?!" she called out into her throat mic.

There was a burst of static, but she couldn't understand anything over the wind roar and the din of the air battle around her.

And then she saw it...one lone flyer...caught up in some sort of magical spell.

She couldn't decide just what happened. Was it Sting? What exactly was happening?

She couldn't exactly decide. But she saw the motion of that flyers wings slow...and eventually cease.

Oh sweet Celestia!!

She didn't have time to think. She didn't have time to identify that flyer.

She had to act.

She threw herself into a tight rightward spiral and accelerated, trying to reach her stricken comrade. She lost sight for a moment as her tight turn continued, but she quickly spotted her target again as she came around. Something was seriously wrong with the sight in front of her, but there was no time to think. The flyer closed in rapidly, and she reared back to change her angle of attack and lose some airspeed. She reached out as she got close...and grabbed what she could.

And she fell...

She had caught hold around the pod and wrapped her arms up under the wings. But the clash of momentum between her and her target immediately threw her into a flat spin. The alarm bells in her head were almost deafening. She had to break off...every instinct in her knew it. She had less than a minute at this altitude before she would crash. The horizon spinning in front of her...the pony in front of her turning into a solid black hardening mass in front of her...her wings beating furiously, but barely affecting her rate of decent...she had to break off...

"SOMEBODY HELP ME!!!" she screamed into her microphone.

And then the surface became too slick...and she lost her grip.

She flew off, her sense of direction completely lost. Something hit her on her right side, and a sudden shock of intense pain hit her like a flash. And then...water.

She skipped once on the surface, and then it consumed her. She instinctively twisted around in spite of the pain and finally broke the surface and got a breath. It hurt like hell, but she forced herself to breath as deep as she could. Then she slowly propelled her way forward, the water not too deep thankfully, until she reached the muddy shore...where she immediately collapsed.

When she opened her eyes again, she saw the discolored sleeves of her flight suit. It puzzled her for a second, and she looked back over her shoulder to the muck and mossy growth that covered both her and the water from which she had emerged.

"Oh ewww...," was all that she could say.

She reached up and removed her googles, the pain in her side making the whole process almost unbearable. Then, she looked down at her hooves, and said to herself, "Useless...useless..." She just sat there, for how long she couldn't say. She had never felt so defeated in her entire life.

"Flight officer!" came a call from somewhere behind her. She tried to look back behind her but couldn't manage it.

"Hey somebody!" that same voice called again, "I need help over here." Vapor raised her head and based on the voice was not surprised to see Fair Wind's eyes looking into hers.

"What happened?" Vapor asked as best she could.

Fair Wind didn't answer at first, but instead carefully examined her superior officer before responding, "Uh...a very hard landing is my guess. Your left wing appears to be broken." She paused and carefully probed her fellow flyer, until she reached her barrel, which caused Vapor to clinch up and utter a distinct whine.

"And... I'm guessing that you've got an injury to your ribs," she added, "but it looks like your wing sabers didn't deploy
so, it could have been a lot worse."

Vapor just shook her head, as tears began to flow from her eyes. "I lost Sting. I had a hold of him...and I lost him," she answered, her voice barely audible.

"Uh...that wasn't Sting," Fair Wind answered, "You caught Sky Dancer. And he made it down, a unicorn caught him in her aura. I mean...he got hit with magic, but he'll just need a counter spell. And it wouldn't have happened without you Vapor. You're a hero."

Vapor Trail looked up at Fair Wind, her eyes wide as saucers. She looked up to the skies, and then looked to the other flier and asked, "Fair...where is your wingpony? Where is your wingpony dammit!?! GET BACK UP THERE..." she shouted as loud as pain would allow, "...AND HELP YOUR WINGPONY!!!"

Fair Wind retreated, her ears folded back and her hopeful smile turned into a chastened frown. "Yes...yes ma'am," she answered in a barely audible voice. She then stepped back and flew off to rejoin the fight, as Vapor laid there and watched as the scene of the fight became steadily more obscured by a thick grey smoke.

"Major!" General Blackjack called out, "I need a sitrep!"

The guard officer gestured towards the map. Blackjack came closer, and she reported, "Initial intercept was made about ten minutes ago. First reports have two enemy vessels forced down in the midst of the Everfree Forrest with casualties, but it appears that V-P 21 has sustained around 25 percent casualties themselves, and they've pulled back to regroup. V-P 30 is in the air, but the reports are that they're encountering a very thick smoke screen obscuring the targets, bad enough they say that they can't risk engagement, particularly over populated areas."

Blackjack pondered the news for a moment, and then answered with a tired sigh, "Defense of Canterlot Castle at all costs is not an option. That's doctrine. So, what's left...is rescue if possible the biggest target." He then turned to his communications officer and asked, "Captain...how you gotten through to that damn castle yet!?!"

"Sir, I can't get the princess, but the captain of the guard should be on momentarily!" was the reply.

"Let me know when he's on immediately," Blackjack replied, "In the meantime..." he paused and turned to a senior N.C.O. and commanded, "Master Sergeant! Sound the alarm! We're now at alert status 2! And lock down this facility!"

"Yes sir!" he answered, and then turned to the panel with the microphone in front of him, pressed a button on the panel, and called out, "All personnel...all personnel...lock down is in effect! We are now at DEFCON 2!!" He then pressed a button on the panel activating a blaring siren.

For the Honor of the Flag

The morning had moved along rather nicely, and Dahlia Pinnata took a moment toss her head back and redistribute some of her auburn curls away from her eyes and smooth out the lapels of her white waistcoat as she watched the latest celebrity arrival introduce herself to the princess. She had good cause to feel proud of herself. It had been over a year from the announcement of the festival, one that for her at least had been filled with weeks of intense negotiation to get Songbird Serenade on the schedule in spite of the performers packed schedule. It was certainly not as bad as the Countess Coluratura experience of a few years back, but it was no cake walk. But in the end, Songbird won out, even insisting on the ability to record the concert for a live album for charitable purposes. And now she was here. It was going to be a great day.

"Hey Dally. The princess sure looks pleased," came a familiar voice from her left. She turned her head towards her assistant and smiled.

"Yeah...I think we've done it again," she answered, "Lemon Hearts isn't the only one who can pull stuff like this off." She looked away for an instant, and then turned to face towards her friend. But she noticed immediately that the other pony wasn't paying attention to her anymore, but instead had turned to her right and was looking off into the distance. She focused her attention in the same direction and saw an approaching wall of dark hazy gray that dominated the horizon in front of her.

"What in Equis is that?" she asked no one in particular.

The halls that only moments before were almost empty were now a churning mass ponies heading in numerous different direction at once as the alarm continued to sound. But A.K. Yearling had no time to think about it. She had one thing on her mind, the heavy steel door that could at any second slam shut and leave her trapped.

This was not going to happen, she thought. There was too much at stake. Not just her future. Not just some damn alter ego that she had spent so many years creating. She could do so much more outside in the world as Daring Doo than A.K. Yearling could accomplish in a year in some damn bunker. She just had to move faster than that damn door. She had no idea how much time she had. And she couldn't blow her cover along the way. She could only keep moving. She had to try and beat the odds.

"Hah! Not quite fast enough", she thought, as it suddenly appeared in front of her as she rounded one more corner. She passed through at a full gallop, not looking back once as the door slowly swung on its hinges as a magic aura closed the it behind her with the loud cacophony of steel on steel.

“Sir,” came a call from the communications officer, “Captain of the Guard is on the line sir.”

Blackjack came over to the call box that took up a corner of his command station, the sight of the map table still fresh in his head, along with the early reports already coming in from the castle itself. He knew what he had to say, but knowing wouldn’t make it any easier.

“Captain Navarch reporting as ordered sir,” came the voice on the end of the line.

“Captain, this is General Blackjack at Central Command. As you might have noticed, you’ve got all Hades heading straight for you,” Blackjack said as clearly as he could, “The R.F.C. was able to do some damage, but you’ve still got at least 8 large incoming hostiles heading your way, and of last report the Royal Artillery isn’t going to be much help.”

There was the sound of a long sigh, followed by the young captain's reply, “Yes sir, I was briefed on the initial reports of the incursion by my guard liaison. I had hoped for better news. So, I have to evacuate?”

Blackjack nodded to himself. 'Kid knows what he's doing' he thought.

“That is correct captain,” Blackjack answered, “I know that the south gate has been closed for at least the last hour, but even then, we’re hearing that there may be up to a thousand ponies still on the grounds. And Celestia won’t leave without them. I’m afraid that I’ve handed you a real shit sandwich young stallion, but I need you to try and salvage whatever you can out of this.”

“I understand sir. We’ll do our best,” was his answer.

“I know you will son. Good luck to you,” Blackjack answered.

Shining Armor had to duck and dive around the swirling mass of equine around him. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to the crowd that he faced, as some were still advancing forward, while others just stood there in what appeared to be total confusion.

It took far too long, but he finally arrived at the causeway that led to the north gate. The first thing he saw was a column of soldiers trying in vain to advance up the path, but slowly getting intermixed with a crowd of ponies heading in the opposite direction, creating an almost hopeless traffic jam. And in the distance over the ramparts of the gleaming white castle in front of him he could hear the growing din that could only signify one thing in his mind...violence.

One officer in the group spotted Shining in the crowd and quickly made his way forward and joined him on the opposite bank and saluted and said, "Your Highness, the entire causeway is impassable. Our orders were to reinforce the garrison, but we can't even get on the damn grounds. What do we do sir?"

Shining Armor looked back towards the castle. For a moment, he craned his head a bit higher, as if hoping against hope to see some particular pony looking to him from the parapets. Then he looked the other officer in the eye and said, "Don't even try! I'm countermanding those orders! Get these troops back to the bank; leave just a few to help the civilians evacuate! And let me know if the Royal Engineers show up! We may have to blow this damn causeway!"

"Yes sir," the other officer replied, and immediately he moved to carry out his orders.

The crowds thickened considerably the further they progressed, and Trixie was beginning to lose track of how far they had come as landmarks became harder to spot through the crush of ponies.

“Starlite!” she called out to her friend, “I don’t think that we’re going to get there in time!"

There was no reply at first, but then she heard Starlite call out, “Trixie…you’re right! HANG ON!!”

“Hang on to what?” Trixie answered before she saw the flash…and the scene changed completely form the streets to what appeared to be the parade ground of Canterlot Castle.

She paused for a moment, her head on a swivel as she tried to get her bearings, and then she resumed her pursuit. She spotted Starlite ahead of her, and what may have been Twilight in the distance, along with a red furred pony dressed in black.

“I wish you would give me some warning when you’re going to do that!” she called out before a random civilian blocked her path.

“Watch it buddy!” she called out as she skidded to a stop before the stranger finally ran off.

She tried to get underway again, but couldn’t spot Starlite immediately ahead of her, just an unusual figure in black. She trotted up alongside the stranger, and her mind trying to comprehend just what she was seeing. But in her mind, she recognized the stranger's features. And her blood went cold.

“Starlite?” she asked. There was no response from the apparently now fossilized figure, but there were no doubts in her mind who it was. And then she saw the large creatures heading in her direction.

“Oh no!” she cried out, and she immediately wrapped her arms around her friend, closed her eyes, and concentrated as hard as she could.

And she saw the flash again, and she opened her eyes, and looked around. They had only teleported at most twenty feet, back to where she had the collision.

“Oh dammit,” she cursed, “That didn’t help.” She glanced around quickly trying to think. But she had no time. She had to try again. She closed her eyes, and tried to pick a destination, and then…came the flash…

She noticed the change in the background noise immediately, and she opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was the figure of a earth pony mare, dressed in black. Then she looked around and recognized her surroundings. It was the state dining room where they had gotten breakfast a few hours before.

“Miss, what’s going on out there?” the confused servant asked, “Has every pony gone mad?” Others had by now come up to her, all looking for some sort of clue.

“Uh…I have no idea,” Trixie replied, the strain of the teleportation spell now kicking in, “but…whatever it is, it's bad. We need to hide.”

“Let us all go to the kitchen!” one of the chefs called out, “And someone douse those candles!”

In an instant, a nearby unicorn had snuffed the candles, while another closed the curtains, turning the bright sunlit room into something resembling evening, as two others got behind the fossilized form of Starlite Glimmer and pushed her towards the nearby doorway. Trixie followed along as best she could, and they were soon in the even darker kitchen. As the last of the staff filed in and the room went quiet, Trixie took a moment to sit down, removed her hat and carefully set it on the floor, and then went over to a nearby cart and grabbed a rather over decorated jelly doughnut off one of the plates, went back to where she started, and sat down.

“And all I wanted was to hit the street vendors,” she said to no one in particular, “…but noooo…” and then popped the pastry in her mouth.

It had taken her far too long to get rid of the blindfold that her captors had tied on her so many hours ago. But now, she had at least some idea of the surroundings, and the ponies around her. The scene was quite dark, with only one small red light shining from the ceiling to give any sort of illumination. There were other ponies around her, some with bits in their mouths, others apparently without. But there was one thing consistent among all her fellow prisoners…silence.

She had been ricocheting off objects around her since they had thrown her into this particular room, but now she noticed that some of the objects around her were rectangular, others rounded, and still others square. She lowered her head down as far as her restraints would allow, and spotted what appeared to be a label on one container…identifying it as…bottled water?

She looked around to one of the other shapes nearby and noticed a very similar label on what appeared to be the top. And there it was again on a similar container to her left. Her mind struggled to catch up to the new information.

And then it dawned on her…the cargo hold. It was the only thing that made any sense. There was nowhere else on the ship that could hold a large group of ponies and also be easily secured.

“Is everypony alright,” she asked anypony around her.

She waited a moment, but no response was heard.

"Would somepony please talk to me!?!" she pleaded.

She closed her eyes lowered her head and grit her teeth. She was surrounded by ponies, but she had never felt so alone in her whole life.

It was then that she heard it, a commotion in the distance. Someone, or something sounded like it was hitting the adjoining wall, as if being dragged kicking and screaming. And then came the light…

The sudden brightness caused her to turn her head away, but she saw the shadows dance across the adjoining wall as another prisoner was unceremoniously tossed into the already crowded enclosure.

“You are lucky nasty pony that I did not leave you to the wrath of the others for what you did!” a nasally voice called out.

“Yeah…well since you’re handing out favors buddy…” a familiar voice called out, “…do me one more and keep on talking so I’ll know in which direction to spit!”

His captor didn't respond with anything more than a grunting sound before slamming the door shut and locking it.

"Hello?" she queried in the general direction of the new arrival, "Are you o.k.?"

"Huh? Oh uh...sort of," was the reply from the stranger, "had to do a quick jog to the right before one of these ape things speared my wingpony, and I kind of got caught up in the rigging of this damn ship. And I think my left wing's a bit out of joint. But..." he paused and tried to stretch against his restraints she assumed to get more comfortable, "...I managed to catch that particular one of these jerks with one of my wingsabers. He won't be getting up any time soon."

She knew this pony...maybe. The size of him...the voice was familiar...she just knew it. She moved as close to the stranger as she could, trying to get through the checklist in her head.

"Hey...are you still there?" the stranger inquired.

His question was answered with the question, "Sting...is that you?"

"Uh yeah...I guess..." he replied warily, and then added, "Oh...oh for crying out loud. Is that you Angel?"

"Uh...yeah," Angel Wings answered, "Uh...long time no see, if you know what I mean." She paused for a minute, and then asked, "Uh...when did you join the R.F.C.?"

"Uh...a couple of years ago. It's a great little part time job...most of the time," he answered, "So... how the heck did they catch you?"

"Uh...I was on a cruise with a friend of mine," she answered, "I... have no idea what happened to her. I sure hope that she's o.k.."

"With all due respect...would you two kindly shut up," came a voice from among the heretofore silent crowd.

Sky Stinger answered, "Hey buddy! Got any idea what M.Y.O.B. stands for!?!"

The rest of the group stayed silent.

"Sting," Angel Wings continued, "I'm really scared. What are they going to do with us?"

Sky Stinger didn't reply at first. But after a long pause, he answered, "Well...there's good reason to be scared Angel. Just don't give up. We're not done for yet."

A.K. Yearling made quick work of the long tunnel that separated her from the outside world, her mind already churning with questions and potential plans. The big problem that she foresaw was exactly what she would encounter on the grounds out the post once she cleared the tunnel. It would probably force her to maintain her current persona at least till she cleared the compound, and she had no idea just what that would entail.

“Hey!” a voice called from somewhere behind her, “What’s the big idea!”

She turned around and found herself almost muzzle to muzzle with Lieutenant Alydar.

“Ma’am, with all due respect, did it ever occurred to you that it might look just a bit questionable if you make a mad dash for the door in the middle of a DEFCON 2 alert!?!” he barked, “Or...or are you just TRYING to get arrested!?!”

For a moment, once she got over her surprise at the very idea that he was able to keep up with her in her "mad dash", Yearling had to smile. ‘Maybe this guy isn’t a complete twit’, she thought.

“Let’s just say that I’d rather not be around when level 2 turns into level 1,” she answered with an appropriate level of snark, “In case you haven’t noticed, I’m not a damn soldier.”

“Ma’am, that’s very unlikely,” Alydar answered, “DEFCON 1 is offensive war, and only a crown princess can order that. And in case you haven’t noticed, not only are we not even properly mobilized, but the castle, where our princesses just happen to be at the moment, is at risk of being overrun!” He took one step back, took a deep breath and said, “Ma’am, I need you to accompany me to the M.P. station to report our status to my superiors before they notice that I’m missing, and they accuse me of desertion...please…”

Yearling sighed. As much as she wanted to bolt, she couldn’t justify screwing this kid over for the sake of her own ego as much as anything. As much as Equestria needed Daring Doo, for the moment they’d have to settle for A.K. Yearling.

The pair had been moving through the hallways and antechambers of the castle for only seemed like forever. But there was no time to waste. They had both seen what had happened to Songbird’s bodyguards when they had tried to get between her and the monstrous creatures that spilled out of those ships. And the sight of Princess Celestia being engulfed in that horrid blackness was a sight that Dahlia Pinnata was sure she’d take to her grave.

The twosome came to a balcony that opened out on to the west side of the castle proper, and instinctively ducked down lest they be spotted from the ground.

“O.k….uh…I don’t think that they’ve gotten this far yet,” Dahlia said as she turned back to her charge. “Oh…and uh…yeah…I probably should have done this earlier. But, on behalf of everyone here at the castle, I’d like to apologize. We do have more than our fair share of disasters here in Canterlot. But…this one kind of pegs the needle…if you know what I mean.” She gave Songbird an obviously forced grin, which was answered with an upraised hoof and a smile.

“Hey,” the performer replied, “I’m not going to hold you personally responsible…o.k.? We’re going to get out of this, and we’re going to do it together. I don’t know you that well, but I still like to think of you as a friend of mine, and I don’t leave my friends in a jam if there’s anything I’m capable of doing about it.” She paused, and asked, “Now…are you still with me?”

Dahlia nodded, "Oh...uh yeah...of course. I mean...I'm just, you know...a little freaked out. You know how it is. But yeah...you're right. We've got this."

But then a disturbance outside stopped their conversation, and the pair came over to the edge of the balcony and peered out between the pillars to see what happened. Immediately, they rolled over behind the pillars as at least three spears came in their general direction. But as soon as they did, they spotted the target, as a large grey clad pegasus shot past their position, juking right to correct her course before heading away towards the south.

The grey clad flyer homed in on the only large structure immediately visible to her, a lone tower situated in the perfect position to monitor both the gardens and the approach to the north gate. She came in to land on a decent sized balcony, then reached down and adjusted her commo pack as best she could, before calling out into her microphone “Tower Control…repeat Tower Control…this is Hellhound 14 Delta…repeat Hellhound 14 Delta…come in please…over.”

The chatter that day coming into the communications section of Central Command was like a tidal wave. But the operator caught that callsign, and answered, “Hellhound 14 Delta provisional, this is the Tower. I need you to verify your i.d. before continuing transmission. Failure to give the proper countersign will result in communications cutoff. Are you ready…over?”

“Hellhound 14 Delta…roger that,” she replied.

“Hellhound 14 Delta provisional…this is the Tower…sign is Troubadour…repeat…Troubadour…over,” came the call.

The flyer closed her eyes and thought about it for a moment. ‘Dammit...what the hell is today’s countersign,’ she thought. And then it came to her, and she called out, “Tower, this is Hellhound 14 Delta…countersign is Wolf Trap…repeat Wolf Trap! How copy over?”

“14 Delta…this is the Tower…call sign confirmed,” was the reply, “Report your status.”

“Tower…this is 14 Delta…I am currently on the mountain…repeat on the mountain overlooking the northern exposure. I need to file a sitrep with the O.I.C. asap,” she answered.

“This is the Tower. Standby 14 Delta,” was the reply.

The radio operator pushed back from the console and glanced about quickly, for a moment not sure who to look for.

“Corporal!” she called to the nearest pony she could flag down, “Get the general! Tell him to come here immediately! Wing Commander Rider is calling in!”

The flyer stayed on the parapet and did her best to survey her situation. She could see off in the distance the north gate, by now swarming with ponies of all types trying desperately to evacuate. She noticed that for whatever reason most pegasi were staying on the ground, probably from having seen what had happened to others on the other side of the castle who had taken to the air only to be netted by their attackers before they gotten more than a few feet off the ground.

“Hellhound 14 Delta this is the Tower,” came the call from her earpiece, “The O.I.C. is present and is requesting a report.”

“Tower…this is Hellhound 14 Delta…understood. Report is as follows…security situation for castle complex is totally compromised. Activity over parade ground and south gate makes any air or land evacuation impossible from that approach. Northern approach is open, but situation is deteriorating rapidly. Highly recommend that air recon assets be launched asap.” The flyer paused and took a moment to work her wings for a moment. After so much flying that day, she couldn’t risk her badly strained muscles seizing up. She finished up and then continued, “Do we have status reports on the key assets at this time?”

“14 Delta, this is the Tower,” came the reply, “That is a negative…over.”

“Tower…this is 14 Delta,” she answered, “In that case, I do have probable sightings to report. I have unconfirmed sightings of both codenames Diamond and Garnett. List them both as out of action. I have at present no report on any others.”

“Understood 14 Delta,” they answered.

“What are you doing here! Who in Equis are you!” came a call from behind the flyer. She turned around immediately and saw a cream colored mare with a red mane and wearing a black sweater and glasses.

The flyer answered, “I’m with the Royal Flying Corps…and in case you haven’t noticed, we’re kind of under attack!”

“Uh…” the strange pony answered, “the royal what?”

The flyer groaned and rolled her eyes and fired back, “THE AIR FORCE!!” She could see that the other pony was still confused, but it was then that a sound caught her ear, and she turned back to the parapet to locate the source.

Looming up between the towers of the castle a large armed airship passed, gradually losing altitude and maneuvering towards the Royal Gardens below. It was a slow process, but the intention was clear.

“What are they doing?” a question came from behind the flyer.

The flyer took a deep breath and replied as calmly as she could, “My best guess is land, deploy troops, and close off the north gate!”

She looked back to the stranger behind her. The poor mare had fallen back on to her haunches, her hoof to her chest, and was mumbling to herself, “How…how am I…oh my…”

The flyer turned back to the scene in front of her, and called out into her microphone, “Tower…this is Hellhound 14 Delta…I have enemy aircraft approaching my location. If vessel is allowed to land North Gate will be compromised. Request immediate air support. Are there heavy assets airborne at this time?”

“Standby 14 Delta,” the operator replied. The flyer turned and watched the approaching craft. Whomever it was piloting that craft, they were definitely having issues lining up with their intended target. But it was clear that at best, it would only be a few minutes before they would complete their task.

“14 Delta, this is the Tower. V.A. 19 has units in your area. Estimate 6 minutes out,” was the reply.

“Tower, that’s too long,” The flyer replied, “Is there any possibility of triple A support…over?”

“Standby 14 Deta,” was the reply.

General Blackjack turned and looked to the ponies around him. “Do we have contact with that battery on the north side of the castle!?!” he barked out.

“Uh…not at present sir,” another radio operator replied, “It’s going to take a minute.”

Blackjack growled and glanced about the room.

“Red!” he called out, “Where the hell are you?!?”

“RED!?!” he tried again.

But the pony in question did not respond as she pushed through the crowd in a rush to get to her office. Upon arriving, she wasted no time and quickly loaded a small collection of equipment from her bookshelf to her saddlebag, then produced a map from her desk with her magic. She quickly studied the map, found what she was looking for, stepped back from the desk, and concentrated. Quickly her horn took on a bright white glow, and then she vanished from the room.

“Lieutenant!” an unfamiliar voice called from somewhere. Blue Breeze turned around and saw an unfamiliar officer in dress greens galloping up to him.

“Uh ma’am, what are you doing here?” he asked as the stranger halted about a meter away from him.

“There is no time to explain my friend,” she answered, “My name is Major Yeux Brillants and I am here from Central Command. We have received a call for fire from a unit in the castle and I need to know your status!”

Blue Breeze wasn’t sure how to answer at first, but finally responded, “Well…the weapons here were stored improperly, and were in varying degrees unserviceable. I’ve got one operational, and I can get another up and running soon. But...did you say IN the castle?”

The senior officer nodded. “That is correct.” She then paused and looked around. “Where is your director crew?” she asked.

Blue Breeze could only shake his head and answer, “Dammed if I know ma'am. With all due respect, I can’t authorize a shot towards the castle. It’s against every rule in the book.”

The female officer moved past him and climbed up upon the director platform. “I understand my friend, but in this case I’m afraid that I must pull rank,” she answered, “And I shall take full responsibility for this, and the consequences. But I need one shot, and you must take it,” she answered.

She positioned herself on the platform and used her magic to unload her saddlebag. “Do you have a radio here?” she called back over her shoulder.

“We’ve been having issues all morning,” he answered, “our range is pretty limited.”

“I understand,” Brillance continued, “But If there is any range at all, we should be able to reach the Castle. Get on the Guard command channel if you please!”

Blue Breeze looked back to his radio pony, who nodded and quickly made his adjustments. “Yes ma’am!” he answered.

Brillants looked back towards the radio operator, and when she signaled readiness, used her magic to bring up both the earphones and the mic, and when she was ready, called out into the mic, “Hellhound 14 Delta this is Hellhound 19 Yankee! Come in please!”

“19 Yankee, this is 14 Delta,” came the reply, You’re coming in quite strong. What is position over?”

“I am presently at Battery Bravo,” Brillants replied, “Can you confirm your location? Last report has you at Twilight Tower.”

The flyer looked around. She had heard the description of the one-time home of the Princess of Friendship. It seemed her friend’s guess was correct.

“That is affirmative,” she replied.

“Very good my friend. I have you in my sights. Stand by,” Brillants replied.

Dahlia peaked around the corner of the wall, and saw what she expected, the Royal Gardens. She let lose a clearly audible sigh and looked back over her shoulder to Songbird.

“O.k….all we have to do,” she said to her charge, “is get across the rose garden, and then we’ll reach the North Gate. Still with me?”

“Hey, I’m game if you are,” was Songbird’s answer. This brought a smile to Dahlia’s face…at least until she spotted the large shaggy creature directly behind her friend.

“LOOK OUT!” she shouted as the beast lunged forward and caught hold of Songbird just past her wings. Songbird instinctively reared back, and her attacker reached out to catch hold of her around her neck.

Dahlia launched herself forward and rammed the creature headfirst, causing him to lose his balance and release his captive. But it left Dahlia dazed and she fell back onto her haunches. Thankfully Songbird grabbed her around her shoulders and towed her forward and away.

"Did you say something about artillery?" came a voice from behind the flyer.

"Uh yeah kid," she answered, "unless you have a better idea."

"Well...yeah," the bespectacled mare fired back, "I mean as opposed to getting killed!"

The flyer turned back to the scene off the balcony, and called out into her mic, "19 Yankee...I certainly hope you have a firing solution. The damn thing is almost on top of my position!"

"I have the coordinates 14 Delta," was the reply, "All we have to do is lock them in."

All of a sudden, a dark shadow engulfed the flyer, and she looked back over her shoulder to the craft looming over her head.

"Be advised 19 Yankee before you engage," she said as calmly as she could manage, "Proximity to friendly forces is danger close."

"Understood my friend," was the reply, "I strongly suggest that you take whatever cover you can find."

"Lieutenant!" Brillants called out, "Man your best gun. This is going to be very close. We must execute this with precision!"

"Yes ma'am!" he answered as the other members took their positions on the platform of the big 88mm weapon.

Brillants once again glanced over the map she had brought. She could only hope that the distances listed were correct.

"Gunner!" she called out, "Load one round...fuse setting at 4!!"

"Yes ma'am!" was the answer she got and she heard the gunners working the weapons breach and ramming the round home.

"Lieutenant!" she called again, "Deflection at 1 8 0!"

"Yes ma'am!" was the reply as the weapon twisted right and lined up on its target.

"Sergeant!" she continued, "Elevation at 42 degrees!"

"Yes ma'am!" she responded and the barrel rose up to meet the now clearly visible target.

"Stand ready!!" she called out as she paused to install her earplugs.

Dahlia struggled to keep up with the young pegasus that accompanied her. But her head refused to clear, and she knew in her heart that she was holding her charge back.

It was then that she saw the dark shadow suddenly dominate the scene around her as the large airship approached from behind, barely missing the solitary tower behind them. She knew that she had to move, but in that moment it was all too much for her to process.

"Dally...come on!" Songbird called out from somewhere ahead of her. And then she heard it, "Dally...LOOK OUT!" and then she felt the arm catch her around her neck. She could feel the grip of her attackers' furry arms tighten in spite of her thrashing and her airway constrict. She couldn't see her attacker, but she could feel the hardness of the body armor he was wearing, along with his hot breath on the back of her neck. She knew then that there was no escape.

She opened her eyes, and saw that young pop star friend of hers running up to try a probably futile counterattack. Dally struggled to catch as much breath as she could, and when she had, she yelled out "RUN!!!!"

Songbird stopped short, suddenly without a plan. She glanced about wildly, not sure of her next move. And then, she heard a clearly audible boom from not too far away.

"Gunner..." Brillants called out, "...FIRE!!!"

And with that command, the young corporal pulled the lanyard, and the weapon spoke.

The flyer was still on the balcony when she heard the sound.

"Oh shit," she said aloud, and she turned back to the mare behind her and called out, "INCOMING!!!"

She scrambled away from the balcony and shoved the young bystander under a nearby table as her mind counted the seconds till detonation.

Songbird had no idea what to do next. The only thing that came to mind was get to shelter, and the only shelter was the castle itself. She took off at a full gallop and just managed to get around the corner of the sturdy stone structure as the shell detonated.

As a pegasus, Songbird has heard loud noises in her time. But this was like having a roman candle go off in your face. She heard the roar that signaled the death of the airship as it crashed to the ground, and the rattle of the chunks of stone falling that once had been part of the castle wall till being hit by the shrapnel the shell unleashed. Finally, the cacophony reached its climax, and she looked around the corner, and saw the wreckage, and the casualties.

What she didn't see was her friend, her friend's attacker, or given the debris field, any sign of an escape route.

She lingered for a moment, and then turned away and slowly proceeded back into the castle. For her, there was simply no other option left.

The flyer slowly crawled out from her improvised shelter. At least until she tried to stand, and the pain in her left flank forced her back down. She turned her head and looked towards her flanks and saw the slow trickle of blood that was now staining her damaged flight suit.

"Oh my gosh," her companion cried out, "you got hurt?"

"Yeah, looks that way," the flyer answered. She tried once again to stand, but she was forced back down by her charge.

"Hold still!" she ordered, and her horn lit up, and a collection of bandages and dressing material suddenly appeared. She positioned herself next to the injured mare and used her magic to tear away some of the fliers' suits material. She then began to treat the two rather nasty looking wounds.

It was then that the flyers' radio crackled to life and she heard, "Hellhound 14 Delta this is the Tower. Come in 14 Delta."

The flyer cleared her throat and responded, "Tower Control this is 14 Delta."

"14 Delta, this is the Tower," the voice continued, "Be advised...strike package is still enroute to your location. Do you still want them over?"

The flyer looked to the mare next to her, only then noting that she was now missing her glasses. She then shifted a bit to her right and answered, "Tower this is Hellhound 14 Delta! Negative...repeat negative! Wave off...wave off!! There's too much chance of fratricide." She paused and then added, "I do need an emergency evac at my location asap...any available unit!"

"14 Delta this is the Tower" came the answer, "Roger that. Units are inbound and should arrive soon."

"This is 14 Deta, understood," the flyer answered. She then looked back towards her young benefactor, who returned the glance with an obviously annoyed scowl, that she could only answer with a smile and a shrug.

Shining Armor stood in the shadow of the North Gate, herding as many of the civilians past as he could. But he knew that time was running out. The number of attackers seemed to keep increasing by the minute, and the perimeter that the ponies were defending shrank at an ever-increasing rate.

Finally, with the distance now down to less than thirty meters, he had had enough.

"Captain!" he called out to the young commander who was still fighting alongside his troops. Navarch broke away from the group and came back to the senior officer.

"Navarch, we've done all we can. It's time to go!" Shining Armor said to the young officer.

The dark red amour clad pony scowled at the order and gave a clearly exasperated sigh. But he only paused a moment before turning around and calling out, "Bugler!"

"Yes sir!" came the reply from a couple of meters away.

"Sound 'Retreat'!" the young commander ordered.

"Yes sir," the tall blue mare answered, and she immediately brought the bugle to her lips and played the call, only a bit faster, Shining Armor noted, than the standard, which he had to admire given the rapidly shrinking perimeter they were holding.

The sudden disengagement seemed to take the attackers off guard, and the remaining ponies made it through the South Gate much faster than anypony would have guessed. Shining and Captain Navarch paused about 20 meters past the gate and let all the other ponies pass down the tree lined path towards the bridge that crossed the north bank of the river. At first, they couldn't see their enemy. But in a moment, they appeared, apparently intent on following them all the way to Canterlot City itself.

"Sir!" Captain Navarch called out, "Get going!!"

Shining Armor nodded, and took off at a full gallop, while the guard captain paused just long enough to satisfy himself that no other pony was left behind. And then he himself took off, past the trees, and unto the spans of the stone bridge, steering just slightly to the left to avoid the lone unicorn standing in the center with the bright red castles clearly visible on his breastplate.

"Lite it!" Navarch commanded as he ran past. The lone N.C.O. lowered his head, and his horn began to glow as he concentrated on the strand of primer cord that was draped in front of him from an unseen location underneath the span of the bridge. In an instant, the cord ignited.

The unicorn reared back and quickly turned towards the opposite shore, calling out as he did so, "FIRE IN THE HOLE!!!" before breaking into the fastest gallop he could manage. He gave it everything he could and had almost reached the shore before two spans of the bridge erupted into a an almost volcanic-like explosion of smoke and debris, with the sound echoing off the structures around it like a thunderclap.

It took several minutes for the smoke to clear. But when it did, it became perfectly clear that the combat engineers had succeeded at their task, with two spans now in the water. The soldiers on the shore were by now intermixed with any number of civilians, both evacuees and a growing number of curious bystanders. It was clear to all what had happened, but from the ever-growing assembly not one word was heard.

Shining Armor moved over to the shoreline and surveyed the scene. A moment later, he was joined by Captain Navarch. At first not a word was said between the pair. But Shining could hear the heavy breathing of his young replacement and turned his head to look. He could see the frustration, and clearly sense the younger pony's anger.

Finally, he heard an angry snort.

"Dammit!" the younger pony said to no pony in particular.

Holding the Line

The flyer tried her best to achieve something approaching comfort as she lay sprawled out on the gurney. The throbbing in her hind end had mutated over the course of the last two hours from stabbing pain to dull ache after the shot she had received. She’d only caught two fragments, which had both been removed and the wounds stitched up. She knew that she should feel lucky, but catching that shrapnel just felt like injury on top of insult on a day like this.

It was, unfortunately, the kind of day where discomfort was going to be rule rather than the exception. She knew that the hospital had reported her arrival to her higher ups, and given the threat, she figured that eventually she would have to report to somebody, either to file a report or worse, report for duty, and it would probably be the latter. The only thing that seemed worse to her though was the prospect of heading home and sitting in an empty house, wondering if anything about the life she had built for herself would survive the next 48 hours. And if it didn’t, how would she even know?

"Oh my," came the sound from a familiar voice from somewhere behind her, "It appears that they got you in your best part."

The flyer turned her head, and saw her immediate subordinate enter the room, carrying a very familiar garment bag in her magic.

"If by they, you're referring to yourself, then yes," Dawn Rider answered.

"Oh...my apologies my friend," Brillants answered, "My aim was true, but there is always a certain risk with such things." Brillants landed the bag on one of the chairs and came around to where her superior could see her and sat down.

"I have not heard much for certain. But it is my guess given the early reports that our mystery mare Tempest Shadow has struck again," Brillants added with a sigh.

"Not a huge surprise given her history," Dawn Rider replied, "Though it is..." she paused, and tried to shift her position a bit, much to her discomfort before adding, "...disappointing." She turned herself as much as she could to face her friend, and asked, "I assume that you checked back at the Tower?"

"Uh...yes, I did," Brillants answered, "Though...that could have gone better."

Dawn Rider raised an eyebrow and uttered a small groan before asking, "Do I even want to know what you mean by that?"

Brillants sat back on her haunches, and continued, "Well...as you should recall, the threat situation required a very quick response...in terms of answering the call for fire...and I responded thankfully since the unit on station was in no way ready to engage...but without telling anypony at the Tower where I was going."

Dawn Rider's jaw dropped, then she face hoofed and shook her head.

"So...you were the principle intelligence officer on duty...and you abandoned your post," Dawn asked, her sour expression betraying her mood, "...in the middle of an invasion?"

"Well..." Brillants continued with an obviously forced smile, "it...sounds much worse when you put it that way."

Dawn closed her eyes and nodded, and then asked, "So what was the general's opinion of the whole thing?"

Brillants took a deep breath and answered, "In so many words...'the next time you get the urge to run off in the middle of a crisis situation without bothering to tell anyone to go play Little Miss Sure Shot...don't bother coming back.' And as you might expect, there was some profanity involved." Brillants went silent, waiting for her friend's response.

Dawn Rider took a deep breath and rolled her eyes, and then noticed Brillants concerned expression, and said to her, "Don't look at me. I can't improve on that. And how the hell am I supposed to react? You know..."she continued, "As much as he appreciates that you're one of the best in the business, he will only put up with so much. And if you get your ass hauled before a general court, who will be there to bail me out when I get called out to handle some last-minute crisis on Hearth's Warming Eve like what happened last year...and the year before that?"

Brillants quietly chuckled and answered with a smile and a nod, "Point taken," before standing up and turning towards the door, "Anyway my friend, I shall now talk to the doctors and see if we cannot get you discharged." She then proceeded out the door.

Dawn Rider sighed. "You'll know where to find me," she said to no pony in particular.

They were making good progress as the now expanded group made its way through the rolling countryside, though Greybolt kept his head on a swivel as much as possible.

“Hey you two!” a familiar voice called from alongside.

Grey looked over and saw his mom alongside him.

“Are you o.k. there Grey?” she asked, “You’ve been awful quiet for the last couple hours.”

“Oh…don’t worry mom,” Bluebelle chimed in from somewhere to his right, “I think that Grey’s been zoning out for the last few miles.”

“I have not.” Greybolt fired back, “It’s just…that everything is damn weird right now. I mean…did you notice how quiet it is. We’ve passed at least three decent sized farms along the way and not a soul in site. Doesn’t that seem just a bit off to anypony else.”

There was a pause, and Greybolt looked back and saw Bluebelle scanning the surroundings herself before finally answering, “Yeah…that is kind of odd. You’d think there’d be at least routine maintenance stuff going on. I mean, there's never such a thing as nothing to do on a farm. Do you think that they know about the invasion?”

“At this point, I wouldn’t rule out anything,” Greybolt answered.

“Huh...it sounds to me like you two need a little distraction," Bright Dawn responded, "So…have either of you even tried to talk to Fair Wind’s family?”

“Huh? No way,” Greybolt answered, “That pegasus seems like a little smartass, and don’t even get me started on that unicorn.”

“Grey,” his mom responded with a snort, “Not all ponies handle things the same way,” She paused, and then continued, “And don't even try to tell me that you wouldn't have reacted the same way as Ruff if Blue here had some stranger yelling at her like that. I know you too well. You…and your sister here need to try actually talking to those two. If you keep an open mind, and try to avoid the snark, they will talk to you, and you might actually learn a little something.”

Bluebelle thought about it for a moment, and then tossed her head back to reposition her hat.

"Might as well give it a try," she said to the ponies with her, and she accelerated a bit and slowly approached the young pair ahead of her. The young unicorn was plodding alone quietly, while her brother hovered over her about two meters off the ground.

"I'd better keep an eye on her," Greybolt said to his mom, and slowly increased his own pace.

"Yeah right," his mom answered, shaking her head as she went.

"Hey you two!" Bluebelle called out to the younger pair, "Could you wait up a sec?"

The pair turned their heads and slowed their pace slightly as the stranger approached.

"Sorry I've been so quiet so far," Bluebelle said as she finally caught up, "Guess I just didn't know where to start. Name's Bluebelle by the way. And it's Serenity and Ruffian...right?"

Bluebelle watched the reaction carefully. She noted that the younger pegasus looked down to his sister, who gave him scowl and a shake of her head, which was answered with a frustrated grunt.

"Yeah...that's right," Ruffian finally answered.

"So," Bluebelle continued, "Where are you coming from?"

"Uhm...Las Pegasus," Ruffian responded, "We were on vacation...and something happened."

"I see," Bluebelle replied, only then noting that that her brother was hovering close by. She looked back and shooed him away before answering, "Oh...that stinks. So uh...where's your mama little one?"

The two siblings in front of her paused, the unicorn looking up to the pegasus with obvious concern, while the young colt gestured to his sister to try and calm her, before answering, "She had to leave. She had to go to a war." The young unicorn suddenly accelerated, and her brother did the same to catch up.

Bluebelle slowed and thought about what she heard as her family caught up to her.

"Did he say that she had to go to a war?" Greybolt asked as he caught up.

"Uh huh," Bluebelle answered, "What do you think? Service pony?"

“That’s my bet,” Greybolt replied. He plodded on and as they rounded a curve in the path, he finally spotted signs of life in the form of a small village.

He smiled. He had been getting worried that he had lost track of their location. But seeing civilization again was reassuring. They were still on course.

At least until they passed the first house and saw that it was every bit as empty as the farmhouses that they saw earlier.

The group continued to move through the small village, and finally reached the town square, which held what looked like the entire population of the surrounding area. Archer took the lead of the group and lead them around the perimeter of the crowd till they found themselves in the shadow of a small airship, from which dangled a net which appeared to contain two large shaggy creatures.

Greybolt's jaw almost hit the ground. it didn't take a genius to recognize the ship. It was almost a twin to the one that had deposited the two raiders that had scouted out the family farm this morning. And the pair in the nets looked way too much like the pair of would-be attackers that a certain unicorn had knocked flat with her magic just hours earlier.

Grey slowly worked his way into the crowd, trying not to be too attentive to the multiple conversations going on around him, till he reached the front of the group. He looked about and saw what looked like a member of some sort of law enforcement, and he approached.

"Excuse me sir," he inquired, "What exactly do we have here?" He pointed up to the odd pair above him. "What are those guys?"

"Not entirely sure," was the answer he got, "some ponies found this ship tied up near the river, and these two...whatever they are...lying in the middle of a field that they say looked like it was burned to a crisp." He paused and reached up and poked the still unconscious pair, and added, "we brought them here thinking they need some attention. Then we start hearing about some crazy invasion going on. So...there they are...till we can figure out what to do next."

Greybolt nodded to the other pony and said, "Thanks" and then turned and moved back towards the outer edge of the crowd. He spotted his Bluebelle and approached her.

"The others," she said as he approached, "have gone out to find something to eat."

"No problem," he answered, "but uh...where's that unicorn?"

"Grey," Bluebelle replied, "her name is Serenity...remember? And what good is it going to do getting in all up in her face?"

"I am not going to get in her face...alright?" Greybolt replied, "I'm just wondering where she went."

Bluebelle shook her head and sighed. "Uh huh," she answered, "in that case, she's over by the fountain."

Grey looked over and spotted her, sitting by herself and looking over the passersby warily. He hadn't really given it much thought, but from her appearance, he guessed that she may be thirteen or fourteen years old, and probably hadn't been in anything worse than a schoolyard scrap in her entire life, if even that much. He shook his head and slowly approached.

As he did so, he saw her look towards him and lock on. He couldn't quite decide what her expression meant though, as it seemed to hover between anger and fear. He paused for a moment and did his best to put on a halfway convincing smile, and then continued to approach.

"What do you want?" the young unicorn asked when he got close enough, a note of sarcasm in her voice.

Greybolt paused for a moment, and then resumed and said, "I came looking for you. You seem like the kind of pony that needs a fair amount of backup, so I figured I'd do my part."

Grey sat down next to the young filly, and the two of them glanced over at each other for a moment. Then Grey looked over to the scene across the street.

"Looks like somepony found those two", he said to her, "Surprised that you're not over taking credit for taking them down like that."

Serenity snorted, and replied, "Why would I do something like that? I thought that you thought that I screwed up back at that meadow."

Greybolt smiled and shook his head. "O.K., fair enough," he answered, and the asked, "So while we're on the subject, just what the heck were you doing down by that river in the first place?"

"I was...trying to get some water...because..." Serenity paused, her eyes pointed at the ground, and said "...because I got airsick...and I needed to get that stuff out of my mouth."

Greybolt snorted. "Yeah...it happens," Greybolt replied, "Never had a chance to fly personally. Can't guarantee I wouldn't do the same thing."

"Oh yeah right...well...you didn't throw up on your own dad...in mid-air," Serenity answered, then looked away. "Would have been nice if I could have held it together just once. We could have gotten to all the way to Manechester if it wasn't for me. I guess...that I'm just not great in a crisis. Or something...I don't know."

Grey thought about it for a moment, and then asked, "So, changing the subject just a bit, tell me...why did you turn and engage those Storm Guards when you did?"

She looked up at him with a raised eyebrow and replied, "Because they were going straight towards your parents of course!"

"How did you know that? You shouldn't have been able to see them in that grove." Grey replied.

"Oh come on?!?" she answered, "it wasn't that hard, between the odd colors and the moving shadows and all."

Grey rocked back in surprise. He really thought that grove was too thick for that.

He then came a bit closer and continued, "And then you took those guards out with one shot."

"Yeah well...I'm not that great with magic," she answered, "That was more luck than anything."

Greybolt snorted, and said, "Not with a burst like that. You toasted an entire meadow. I've never seen a unicorn do something like that before. And I've got two things I'll say to that," Grey continued, " One is a favorite old saying of mine...'Fortune favors the bold'." He turned and looked down at her and added, "And two is...thank you...for saving my family."

He reached over to her with his hoof.

She just looked at the hoof for a second, then reached over and completed the hoof shake.

"Uh...you're welcome," she answered.

Making her way down the long hall was only slightly more uncomfortable a process than she expected. But she could at least console herself that the projectiles had somehow missed her cutie mark, so the scars would be at least a bit less noticeable.

“Oh my,” Brillants spoke up as they plodded towards the all too distant door, “it appears that we have company.

Dawn Rider looked up and saw two earth ponies watching them approach from a nurse’s station ahead. She recognized both of them immediately.

“Like I said, ‘not surprising, but disappointing’” Dawn answered as the two parties met up

She immediately moved first to the large light blue amour clad earth pony of the pair, and said, “Yeah Glory, it’s been one of those days.”

“Please don’t point out the incredibly obvious Dawn,” Glory Bound answered, “the merely obvious will do fine.” The large mare moved to the right and took a peek towards the bandages on Dawn’s flanks, and then came back and asked, “So, I guess we have at least part of what happened to you established. Now how about telling me just where in Equis my daughter is, and how the heck this happened?”

“Well...the condensed version is that they blew the heck out of the cape weather station and then cruised down the Las Pegasus strip like it was damn parade,” Dawn answered, “As you can imagine it made for one hell of a sight first thing in the morning.”

"And...?" Glory continued.

"I took off to come here...and they were heading on their own wings...hopefully...for Manechester." Dawn Rider answered, her guilty feelings evident in her expression.

Glory Bound shook her head and sighed.

"...and Sere's not a very good flyer. So, I can imagine how well that went," she said more to herself than any pony else.

Dawn looked to the other pony who stood there in the black trench coat and fedora. “And good afternoon to you Captain Sweety Drops. Seems to me that we haven't met since the bug-bear incident?”

The other pony scowled and answered, "The less said about that little debacle the better if you please. And I need to debrief you. Your boss needs you back in the game."

"indeed," Dawn Rider answered, "How did you draw this assignment?"

Sweety Drops snorted, "It sure as heck wasn't an assignment. I got caught in the middle of the damn thing."

"Oh my friend...?" Brillants said with obvious concern, "That must have been terrible."

"Yeah...yeah...," Sweety answered, "Stuff happens. Anyway, the Defense Intelligence Agency doesn't have time for games, unless they start them of course. And for the record, after the aforementioned debacle, the new name is Bon Bon."

Uh...congratulations ," Glory Bound added from behind the trio.

"Yeah...right, thanks," Bon Bon answered, "Pardon my lack of enthusiasm. It's been a long day." Anyway," she continued, "we need to get this going here." She gestured towards in the direction of a nearby doorway. "And…I’ve got firsthoof info," she continued, "straight from the scene of the crime.”

The group moved over and through the door to a well-lit adjoining room. She moved across the room and pulled the blinds shut, turning the room rather dark and flipped on the lights before she pulled out a folder from her coat and deposited it on a table.

“Is she cleared to see this?” she asked, gesturing towards Glory.

“We can vouch for her my friend,” Brillants answered.

Bon Bon gave the large female master sergeant a probing glance, and then nodded and opened the folder and laid out the pictures on the table.

“Take a look for yourselves,” she said, “It’s all new and all taken by yours truly. And if it's as bad as I think, we may be dead in the water."

Dawn Rider carefully spread the photos across the table and all of the ponies spread out and carefully examined the evidence in front of them.

"Uh huh," Glory Bound chimed in, "the one in this picture certainly looks like Cadence."

"Yeah," Bon Bon added, "She was hit first. Spell penetrated her shielding...somehow." She moved over to another photograph and pointed to another large black figure in the foreground. "Celestia was next. She had her back to that damn unicorn."

Dawn examined the photo, while Brillants looked over her shoulder. "So..." she said, "that's Garnet and Diamond. I assume that they got Saffire next?"

"Uh huh," Bon Bon continued, "knocked her right out of mid-air. And then it was Amethyst's turn." She moved another one of the photos over into view and the group carefully examined the evidence.

"If I'm right about this," Bon Bon continued, "We're screwed. We can't rally the kingdom behind a three year old princess."

Dawn, Glory and Bon Bon all looked to each other, none knowing just what to say.

"One moment please," Brillants chimed in as she continued to examine the picture of the last fallen princess. She produced a small magnifier with her magic, and then lit her horn and once more carefully examined the picture, slowly and methodically.

"My friends," she announced as he looked up from her task, "this is not a picture of Princess Twilight Sparkle!"

Bon Bon immediately moved over and looked over Brillance's shoulder.

"Brillants...are you saying that I don't know what I saw? It happened practically right in front of me dammit." she said, her irritation plainly obvious.

"My apologies my friend," Brillants replied, "It was not my intention to insult your intelligence. But nevertheless, the poor mare in this picture is not Twilight." She gestured for the other two to come closer, and she continued, "Look my friends...the height is not right; the horn is not the proper shape; the mane and tail are far too bushy; and the wings are too small."

Bon Bon reclined back on her but and pondered the question.

"I know that I saw Twilight there," she said, "It was a ways away, but I saw her. She had caught Saffire before she crashed. But I admit that I had to look away for a moment." She paused, and then added, "Could some other pony have taken that hit FOR Twilight?"

"Maybe," Dawn Rider replied. She then turned towards Brillants and asked, "Brill...I need to know...how certain are you about this?"

"Dead certain my friend," Brillants answered.

"I hope your right," Bon Bon answered, tuning towards Dawn Rider, "Because your mission is to meet up with Miss Black Magic herself."

"You mean the enemy commander, that 'Tempest Shadow' whoever?" Glory Bound asked, "Fabulous. So can we assume then that it's ultimatum time?"

"Maybe," Dawn Rider answered, "or...she could have unfinished business and she wants to tidy things up before she proceeds with whatever... assuming that we still have a princess out there. How soon?"

Bon Bon looked up towards the clock on the wall.

"You've got about an hour," she answered, "The meet will take place at the wrecked bridge over the north causeway. In the meantime," she paused and turned back towards the table, "I've got to get back to the castle."

"Oh my friend," Brillants replied, "Why is that. You've done your duty already I would think."

"Nope," Bon Bon answered, "I left my main mare back in that rotten mess. I've got to see if I can sneak her out of there."

"O.k...," Glory Bound queried, "And what if you CAN'T sneak her out?"

"Hmmm..." Bon Bon answered, "Then I guess misery loves company. Either way, I've got to try." She took a moment to adjust her hat, and then turned and proceeded to collect up the photographs back into the folder and tucked the folder back into inside her coat. ""Good luck Rider," she said as she turned towards the door, "And whatever you do, never let that smug bitch see you sweat." She then proceeded out the door and disappeared from sight.

Dawn Rider took a moment to adjust her uniform jacket.

"So my friend," Brillants said with a smile, "It appears to me that you'll need an escort for this mission. May I offer you my services as your force protection po..."

"Nooo..." Dawn Rider cut in, "We can't risk both of us. Some pony has to man the store back at the Tower." She then put one hoof on her friend's shoulder and continued, "Besides...I'm going to need to try to get some info...which means possibly antagonizing that damn mare. And...if this goes sideways, we'll need somepony around to come up with a plan B."

She then looked away from the clearly disappointed officer to the other pony in the room.

"O.k., so while we're on the subject, much as I would normally prefer not to risk both Sere's mom and her stepmom on the same mission...Glory...how's your sense of adventure?"

The other pony nodded and smiled.

"What the hell," she answered, "I'm feeling pretty lucky today."

The small party moved through the all too bright hallways at a swift pace. Every individual from probatio to praetor knew that Tempest Shadow was not one to tolerate delays, especially given the need to hunt down a pony princess. For most of the party, it was simply a matter of appeasing a temperamental leader who could burn them to a crisp if offended.

But at least one in the party had other thoughts...

Finally they arrived in what was normally the castle throne room, now dominated by the fossilized figures of the one time rulers of Equestria and the Chrystal Empire. The party approached their leader, stopping at roughly four paces short, and bowed.

"Reporting as ordered Commander," the leader announced.

Tempest Shadow looked over to the middle aged officer, her expression one of indifference.

"I assume that you have gotten the prisoners properly sorted?" she responded.

"Of course," he replied, "there was a serious lack of restraining devices here, but thankfully those that we brought with us were sufficient for the task at hand. We have total control of the grounds, and there is no remaining resistance."

"Uh huh," Tempest replied, her expression never changing. "Get two of the prisoners, and bring them to the North Gate. I am going to spell out terms to some pony and I need to make the right impression. And..." she added, "...make one a service pony...just for good effect."

"Yes commander," the officer replied, and turned to leave with his party.

As he did so, he heard the low voice of Tempests lacky Grubber saying, "I don't trust that guy."

And he was pretty sure he heard Tempest respond, "Neither do I."

He snorted and thought, 'Well, apparently she's not a complete idiot.'

Dawn Rider watched the city scenes rush by through the couch windows with a feeling of annoyance. She knew that in a different time she could have flown to the castle in a matter of a few minutes. But though she thought that her injuries were more superficial than anything else, her doctor thought otherwise and had forbidden her from flying.

So she rode along, glancing over occasionally to her daughter's birth mother. Glory Bound had no love whatsoever at first for the strange mare that had 'charmed' her ex-husband and seemingly bewitched her daughter. The whole process of adapting on both sides to the new situation took a long time. But thankfully an understanding was achieved, along with a much better relationship between the at times hard bitten earth pony and her mostly unappreciated unicorn daughter. And Dawn Rider was thankful especially today for that cause right now she needed a pony who could handle herself in a fight by her side, and that pony was Glory Bound.

Finally they arrived at the causeway that normally led to the north gate of Canterlot Castle. As soon as they stopped, Glory Bound dismounted the carriage and scanned the small crowd in front of her before settling on a particular pony standing nearby.

"Corporal!" she called out.

"Yes sergeant!?!" the young junior N.C.O. answered.

"Which pony is in charge here?!?" she asked.

"The lieutenant is over on the bridge sergeant!" he answered.

"Go get him!" she ordered, "Tell him that Wing Commander Rider has arrived!"

"Yes sergeant!" he answered, and quickly proceeded off.

Dawn Rider had by now dismounted, and took a moment to smooth out her uniform jacket. While she would normally have preferred a something a bit more practical, she was glad that Brillance had chosen to bring her a dress uniform. She knew that given this pony's reputation, she needed to make as good an impression as possible. She'd be facing a would be conqueror after getting wounded. She may in truth be a bit fazed by the whole experience, but she didn't dare show it.

"Reporting as ordered ma'am," a tall white amour clad unicorn stallion called out as he stopped in front of her.

"Situation stable here lieutenant?" she asked.

"As stable as we can make it, all things considered," he answered, and then he moved closer and asked, "Ma'am, are we going to surrender?"

Dawn Rider reached into her uniform jacket and produced a pair of mirrored sunglasses, put them on, and answered, "Not if I can help it."

The bright light of the outdoors hurt her eyes at first, but Angel Wings quickly adjusted as she was led out through the courtyard towards the heavy wooden gates that separated her from the outside world. Her neck felt like it was being stretched by the halter as she was pulled along. She had never had to wear a halter before, and she felt like the leather was going to wear it's way righty through her facial fur. Between that and the tight leather bonds pinning down her wings, it was all she could do just to move at all.

"Hang on...hang on...hang on," she pleaded as she was towed along, her hooves barely keeping pace.

"SHUT UP!" came the response, followed by the sting of the whip.

"HEY...LET"S KEEP IT SANE HERE ALRIGHT!?!" came the call from the left as Sky Stinger tried to block the her attacker. To her horror, he too caught a blow from her attacker as his reward.

Thankfully the group reached the gate, and Angel caught sight of the enemy commander. She couldn't wrap her mind around the sight before her. 'A pony?' she thought.

Tempest Shadow came towards the the captives and their tormenter, reached out and caught the arm of the attacker.

"STOP!" she commanded. The large creature lowered his weapon, and moved away from the two captives.

For a moment, Angel Wings was considering thanking her benefactor. But one look at the cold blooded indifference in the eyes of the equine commander killed that thought in her mind, and she quickly looked away.

Dawn Rider and Glory Bound slowly worked their way down the length of the bridge, stopping about 50 meters from the broken span.

Glory Bound looked about and spotted a large well armed infantry pony nearby.

"Sergeant, can I borrow your crossbow?" she asked her.

"Sure thing Sarge," she answered, and proceeded to pull off her ammo belt, then walk over and pass over it and her weapon. Dawn Rider could tell it was one of the new repeaters that could fire off at least three bolts in a matter of seconds in the hooves of a well trained shooter, which Glory definitely was.

It was then that she heard the hoof falls to her right, and she looked over to see that young unicorn lieutenant that she had talked to earlier.

"Ma'am," he said to her, "they tell me you need a force protection pony."

Dawn Rider grunted.

"I can't guarantee that there is such a thing as force protection against the pony we're facing," she answered.

"Uh huh," he answered, "That's why I'm not sticking some enlisted type with this job." He smiled, and took his place by her side.

Dawn Rider nodded, and then turned to face forward.

"Alright," she said to her two companions, "Let's move out."

Tempest Shadow's party made its way down the long path towards the bridge at a thankfully moderate pace. Angel Wings did her best to keep up while still dealing with a slight limp from her still stinging backside.

"Stay with me Angel," came a voice from her right, and she looked over and saw Sting who gave her a quick nod. That gave her a bit of hope. After everything that had happened to her today, she couldn't begin to imagine how she could make it even this far without a friend to help.

The party stopped about 20 meters from the edge of the ruined bridge and waited.

Dawn Rider's party continued their march slowly down the approach to the damaged bridge, all three ponies in lockstep with the others even without any pony calling a cadence. They passed the assembled troops and made their way onto the bridge, still maintaining a steady pace, until they reached a point about 20 meters from the wreckage of the third span.

"Detail...halt," Dawn Rider said in a clear steady voice.

For several moments, both parties just stood there, not moving...not speaking. Dawn Rider took note of her adversary, broken horn and all. She had to wonder how a maimed unicorn could have wielded the kind of magic necessary to take down at least three princesses. It was hard to imagine it.

But the moment lasted didn't last as her nemesis began to approach the open chasm in front of her.

Dawn grunted. 'O.K. Dawn,' she thought, 'Showtime,' and she also began her approach.

She slowly plodded forward, carefully avoiding the scattered bits of debris left over from the explosion. She slowed down and carefully picked her way through the wreckage till she finally took the best position she could on a large rock that had been dislodged from the roadbed. She had to extend her wings partially to steady herself, but finally achieved something sustainable and looked across to her nemesis.

The other party hit its mark and stopped short, while the enemy commander continued on to the edge of the abys. The two captives were kept further back and could only do their best to not further offend their captors. Angel Wings couldn't bring herself to look up and see the spectacle in front of her. Watching a surrender was more pain than she could possibly handle right now. She just wanted to crawl under a rock about now.

"Hey Angel..." came Sting's voice from her right, "Take a look at HER."

Angel looked up and saw the scene in front of her, the big brown pegasus perched on the edge of the rubble with those large wings and her black mane just barely catching the wind; the dark blue uniform covered with ribbons and qualification badges with some she recognized; those gold and silver stripes around the cuffs of her jacket; and the eyes hidden behind those sunglasses of hers. She was no expert on such things, but in her mind at least the whole package just screamed professional soldier.

"Oh wow," she responded to her friend.

"GOOD EVENING!" said the strange mare, "MY NAME...IS WING COMMANDER DAWN RIDER OF THE HER HIGHNESSES ROYAL FLYING CORPS! CAN I REASONABLY ASSUME THAT I AM ADDRESSING COMMANDER TEMPEST SHADOW!!"

At first there was no response, just stone silence. And then came the response.

"CONSIDERING THE CIRCUMSTANCES...I WOULD HAVE EXPECTED SOME OTHERWISE USELESS MEMBER OF ROYALTY...OR SOMEPONY OF THE RANK OF GENERAL AT LEAST FOR SUCH AN OCCASION..." she answered, and then paused for a moment before adding, "...SO CAN I REASONABLY ASSUME THAT I AM TALKING TO SOME PONY WHO CAN'T GIVE ME WHAT I WANT!"

Dawn didn't answer at first, and then responded, "I SEE THAT YOU'VE HAD EXPERIENCE WITH THESE KIND OF NEGOTIATIONS BEFORE! GOOD...WE WON'T HAVE TO DEAL WITH A LEARNING CURVE! AND...AS TO WHETHER YOU CAN GET WHAT YOU WANT...WELL...THAT ALL DEPENDS ON YOUR DEMANDS AS ONE MIGHT EXPECT!"

"ARE YOU REALLY TRYING TO PROVOLK ME WING COMMANDER?" was the response from the black clad unicorn. "HAVE I NOT ALREADY DEMONSTRATED WHAT I AM CAPABLE OF?!? OR...WOULD YOU RATHER THAT I TURN YOU AND YOUR COMPANIONS INTO OBSIDIAN PAPERWEIGHTS AS AN EXAMPLE OF MY POWER! IT WOULD APPEAR TO ME THAT YOU WOULD HAVE HAD ENOUGH INJURIES FOR ONE DAY, OR MAYBE YOU'RE INTO PAIN!"

Dawn nodded her head. "NOT AT ALL COMMANDER!" Dawn Rider replied, "YOU'LL HAVE TO EXCUSE THE BANDAGES! THAT'S THE FUNNY THING ABOUT SHRAPNEL! ONCE IT GETS TURNED LOSE, ONE CAN'T ALWAYS ANTICIPATE WHERE IT WILL GO! I WAS MERELY HAPPY TO ENCOUNTER A PROFESSIONAL! BUT THAT SAID THOUGH...I PERSONALLY WOULDN'T RECOMMEND TAKING THE ACTION YOU SUGGEST!"

"AND WHY DO YOU SAY THAT!?!" Tempest replied.

"BECAUSE IF YOU DO, THE ODDS ARE PRETTY GOOD THAT IN AN HOUR OR TWO, YOU HAVE TO COME OUT HERE AGAIN TO MEET UP WITH THREE MORE PONIES...AND PROBABLY HAVE THIS SAME CONVERSATION!" Dawn Rider answered, "SO WITH ALL DUE RESPECT, WHY DON'T WE JUST SPARE OURSELVES THE AGONY AND GET IT OVER WITH! WHAT DID YOU WANT TO SAY!?!"

Tempest Shadow moved over to the edge of the broken bridge all the while looking directly into the blackness that hid her adversary's eyes. Her stare became even more intense as she finally replied, "I HAVE TAKEN YOUR CASTLE AND DEFEATED BOTH YOUR ARMIES AND YOUR PRINCESSES! THE FATE OF EVERY CREATURE WITHIN THESE WALLS IS NOW ENTIRELY IN MY HOOVES! THEREFORE, IN THE NAME OF THE STORM KING...YOUR CONQUEROR...I HEREBY DEMAND THE IMMEDIATE AND UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER OF THE KINGDOM OF EQUESTRIA..." She paused, and then added, "...AND ALL OF ITS 'ARMED FORCES' WHEREEVER THEY MAY BE!"

There was no immediate response, and even from where Angel Wings stood she could hear the sound of Tempest's breathing as her anger grew.

Finally came the response.

"I SEE..." Dawn Rider answered, "CAN I ASK A QUESTION FIRST!?!"

Tempest shook her head and said, "OH CERTAINLY!"

"WHY EXACTLY WOULD WE DO THAT!?!" Dawn Rider asked.

Tempest Shadow recoiled back for a moment, obviously surprised by the question.

"YOU ARE TRYING MY PATIENCE WING COMMANDER!" she answered, her anger plain in her voice.

"I JUST WANT TO MAKE SURE WE ALL UNDERSTAND THE SITUATION HERE!" Dawn Rider answered, "YOU ARE OF COURSE AWARE THAT THERE ARE FOUR ALICORN PRINCESSES OF EQUESTRIA I ASSUME!?!"

"OF COURSE I"M AWARE OF THAT!" Tempest fired back.

"SO YOU HAVE PRINCESS CELESTIA!?!" Dawn Rider shot back.

"OF COURSE!" Tempest quickly reponded.

"AND PRINCESS LUNA!?!" Dawn interrogated.

"YES...OF COURSE I DO!" Tempest blurted out.

"AND PRINCESS CADANCE!?!" was the next question.

"YES DAMMIT!" Tempest screamed back.

"WHAT ABOUT PRINCESS TWILIGHT!?!" was the next question.

For a moment, Tempest Shadow looked like she was trying to say something. But instead, whatever it was seemed to get caught in her throat, and she closed her eyes and grimaced, her breath coming through in tortured hisses. Then she looked up at her nemesis, her expression showing her barely restrained fury.

"I SEE!" Dawn Rider answered, "I THINK THAT NOW WE BOTH UNDERSTAND ONE ANOTHER COMMANDER!"

Tempest Shadow straightened up and looked across to the other side of the bridge and said, "DON'T TAKE TOO MUCH SATISFACTION IN YOUR LITTLE VICTORY WING COMMANDER! THIS CASTLE IS STILL MINE TO DESTROY AT THE FIRST SIGN OF HOSTILE ACTION ON YOUR PART!" And then she added, "AND ONCE THE PRINCESS IS IN MY CONTROL, AND THE POWER OF THE ALICORNS IS MY MASTERS..I WILL PERSONALLY BURN YOU TO THE GROUND!!"

"WE SHALL SEE COMMANDER!" Dawn Rider answered.

Tempest Shadow then turned away and began making her way back to the North Gate of the castle. Only then, when she was sure she wasn't being observed, did Dawn Rider lower her head and take several deep breaths. She had really pushed her luck that time and she knew it. She could only hope that she had truly given the kingdom something they could use information wise.

As Tempest passed the two captives and their overseer, the apelike creature yanked hard to try and turn the two ponies in the right direction. He came close to pulling Angel Wings off her hooves.

"Ow....ow...ow," Angel Wings moaned as she struggled to comply. But in that instant, Sky Stinger reared up and kicked his tormentor, knocking him face first to the ground. The creature scrambled to his feet, pausing only long enough to notice Tempest Shadow's disapproving glare.

In that moment of confusion, Sky Stinger turned back towards the bridge, and called out, "HEY WING COMMANDER!! FORWARD INTO DANGER!!"

Dawn Rider heard the call as her two escorts slowly approached from either side of her. For a moment, she had to worry that she would make his situation worse by answering. But she decided to do it anyway and faced in the general direction of her captive comrade, came to a position of attention, and brought her right wing around in her best salute.

"DEATH OR GLORY FLIGHT OFFICER!!" she shouted back as loudly as she could, not even noticing that her two companions were also saluting with her.