The show was extraordinary. A triumph of complex choreographed dance performances and concerts, wisely alternated with light and fun comedy sketches and brief magic shows and a little bit of pro-Discord propaganda sprinkled into it. For most spectators, the hours passed pleasantly and quickly, leading into what would have been the late afternoon.

For some other ponies, though, the hours went on excruciatingly slowly, and although the light hadn't changed at all, it didn't look like dawn anymore. They already felt the full weight of the "Sunset?" An orange pegasus wearing light but sturdy golden armour entered the small room her commander was in. He was trying to be calm in his speech, but it was obvious he was after all a bit excited "Everypony is already in the main room, and it's almost time. We only wait for your orders!"

For a few moments, there was no answer. Sunset Shimmer's gaze seemed to be wandering in the distance, leaving her with an unreadable expression. And Flash was almost going to ask again, fearing he hadn't been heard. Then she let out a long sigh. Her head turned towards the pegasus, her eyes now laser-focused on his own, filled with confidence and a determination that he would in other contexts had found intimidating. Now? They were just inspiring. "Thank you, Flash." A small smile wrinkled her muzzle, as she started walking towards the main room, with Flash soon following "I should still have time to say a few words to the troops, right?"

The young officer, despite the confidence in his agility and strength, found almost difficult to follow the fast, military pace of the unicorn, so it took him a moment to actually answer the question. "Absolutely. We should have about fifteen minutes, if not twenty." They walked quickly through the natural tunnels that water had carved in the rock through the millennia, creating an impossibly complex labyrinth. Luckily, they had centuries on their part to collectively map them all, and years individually to memorize those maps. Soon, they reached the largest room, the only one capable of accommodating the almost 300 members of Celestia's Militia

Flash lined up in the first row together with the other officers, while Sunset took her place on a natural platform in front of them, elevating her about 50 centimetres from the ground. Not much, but enough to be visible to everypony. She didn't wait even a moment more. "We have been waiting for too long!", she articulated clearly, as a little bit of magic enshrouded her throat, strengthening it. That wasn't Celestia's royal voice, but it was certainly close enough. "Our whole life we have been training, preparing for this day. And while, year after year, Discord gloated and celebrated, ignoring his duties and spreading his evil throughout Equestria, thirty generations of heroes had been preparing as well, passing down their knowledge and their spirit to us!" Be it the inspiring speech or even just the raw charisma she was projecting, even those that were becoming tense or afraid as the time of the showdown got closer were letting go those sentiments. They were starting to be excited, too. "We are lucky. We are not going to spend our whole life waiting for a chance of proving ourselves, a chance of deposing that monster. No! Our chance is today!" the crowd roared in approval, forcing Sunset to wait until they calmed before continuing her speech.

"They will send their best against us. Veterans, they call them. Veterans..." She dwelled on that word a little more, as if with disdain "Laughable! They haven't seen a war in their lifetime! The best of them have fought nothing more than bandits, or a bunch of diamond dogs. Most of them have just spent a few years idly, guarding the border, earning themselves military titles and honours. What about us?" She looked at the crowd in front of her, with pride, and smiled "Every week we fight our crusade against Chaos, protecting the life of the innocent citizens of Equestria!" Another roar, briefer but no less intense "While the guards just look on the other side, too afraid to do their job! They won't even be able to slow us. We will be at the door of Canterlot in minutes, ready to face our true foe!" She could clearly see that, just with those words, the tension was back. Fighting a godlike being is rarely good for morale. But that's exactly the problem she was there to solve "I won't lie: it will be though! All it takes is a snap of his talon, and he can take out the best of us. He will come to us sure he can destroy our whole army in two, maybe three minutes." Some soldiers looked at each other, legitimately worried, but something in sunset tone prevented them to be totally terrified. She was still as confident as she was before, still as determined "But if he thinks he will let him have his way easily with us -and he thinks that" Discord's confidence in himself was out of the question. "He is wrong!" Her tone was now stern, a bit louder than before even. "We know what his chaos can do. We have trained for years to perfect our formations. And we will be relentless in our attacks! He will be forced to focus on defending himself, instead of cursing us with his chaos!" Thinking back at the training, hours of exhausting exercise every day, gave them quite some confidence. Nopony before them had ever been as prepared to fight him!

"By the way, now it is your last chance to quit." her tone was now calm, almost neutral. but that didn't last for long "Your last chance to go back to your home unharmed, far from the dangers of the battlefield. Your last chance to trade an eternity of glory for the little 'safety' that you can have as long as Discord rules our land." No one seemed intentioned to quit now. They were too far into it already, and the peer pressure made it just unthinkable of just getting up and leave even for the most afraid ones. Sunset smiled "For the brave ponies that will stay, and fight by my side, I can't promise much. You might be hurt, or worse. You might lose your mind to his chaos." Everypony was looking at her in the eyes, in those deep, green, determined eyes. "But I can promise I will be there with you. I can promise that I will do my best so that all of you can go home safely. And above all, I can promise that we are doing the right thing. I can promise we will not be fighting in vain!"

"Soon our Princess will be back in her rightful place " her voice was now at the most intense. She felt the stakes to be personal. It was her life's mission, and she wanted it to be also her fellow rebels' "And she will never forget our courage. Our heroism. Our sacrifice." A moment of dramatic pause "For Glory!" She shouted. "For Equestria!" The crowd answer back galvanized. "For Celestia!" She raised a hoof to the sky "Who is with me?" And then everypony else did the same, as the loud cheering echoed through the cave.

Everypony moved relentlessly in the backstage. Very few ponies had the leisure to stay idle for more than a few seconds, as the performers waiting for their turn had to make sure everything would be perfect, and so did the technical staff. Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow dash appeared in the centre of all of this, with a familiar flash of light. It was unnecessary, as Discord could teleport in perfect silence, and it wasn't very funny for him either (there were many visual and sound effects he would have preferred). Still, Fluttershy was adamant on not attracting any more attention than necessary, so unicorn style it was.

Fluttershy's first thought after she appeared? That she didn't think that through. Everypony simply stopped doing whatever they were doing, now focusing their full attention on the trio. She should have expected as much; Pinkie Pie was well recognized as Discord's spokespony for everything related to the celebrations, and Fluttershy was soon going to marry the King himself. To her relief, though, everything lasted no more than a few moments. Soon the pressure caught up to them, forcing them back to their own jobs, and leaving the trio able of roaming in the backstage undisturbed. And it was but half a minute, and they had found what -or better who- they were searching.

"Darlings, I've been waiting for you!" With a large, charismatic smile Rarity got closer to her. Just behind her, her assistant, Twilight sparkle, was moving two large wardrobes with her magic. She looked well rested, as she had managed to take a nap in the early afternoon. "Dear, put them over there." She casually gestured toward a less crowded side, having her moving toward it. But casual it was not, as there was a small, barely visible cross carved in the ground, and she put one of the two wardrobes exactly on top of it. Then the fashionista went back to the trio "I hope you have been having a pleasant day!"

"We sure have!" Unsurprisingly, Pinkie was the first to answer, with a happy and excited tone "I don't know if you have been seeing the show, but it is amazing!" There was pride in her voice, as she had basically planned the whole event. But as joyous as she really was, her words and her tone were carefully thought of. She was trying to frame the whole conversation in the most positive light. "And the best part has yet to come!"

Rainbow Dash, on her part, was hermetic. "Uh uh" Although she had accepted to be Fluttershy's best ponies, and to carry through this with her, supporting her, she was clearly not happy with the whole situation.

"Y-yes" Fluttershy was mildly blushing, and it was apparent how tense she was. As much as she could be resigned to her fate, this was still a huge step. But if there was a time for her to be strong, it was now. she tried to muster her most confident voice, and her most opaque poker face, to utter a few more word: "I look forward to seeing the dress!"

"Excellent!" Rarity could still read the yellow pony easily and felt pity for her. But her duties to Celestia and the plan that was unravelling in that very moment prevented her from acting on those feelings in any meaningful way. All she could do was to act and keep up her brilliant and charming persona. "The two of us will have time to make your dress perfect, darling, but I have to start with Pinkie now." The pink pony nodded, gleefully "If I understood it right, you'll have to meet with Trixie soon!" As she was still talking, she started moving towards the wardrobes, opening one with her magic, and starting to rummage through it.

"Yep!" Pinkie was legitimately excited. It was not the first time she had organized the whole show, but being personally involved in the show as an assistant? that was a first! And it was bound to be great "I'll leave my friends in your care. Play nice!" With a large smile, she tried to involve a bit more the two silent ponies in the conversation a bit more. Not with great success, sadly. Her excitement was not ruined though, especially since Rarity took out a beautiful blue and pink, candy-inspired dress, showing it to the group "Wow!"

"The concept" She started to explain, mostly to Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash as Pinkie was already well informed of the whole plan. "Is to have all the decor of the ceremony be very colourful and vibrant, including Pinkie Pie's and Rainbow Dash' Dresses..." This piqued a bit rainbow dash's interest. She wasn't big on clothes at all, and the idea of having to wear some fancy, boring dress was all but attractive. "I simply couldn't imagine the two of you with something plain" And as a Fashionista she had a good eye for this kind of thing "This will make Fluttershy's and his super-duper majesty's more traditional dresses much more impactful!"

Rainbow Dash was still silent, just nodding in acknowledgement, while Fluttershy felt the polite thing to do would be to try answering somehow. "It sounds... nice!" That was still better than her average interaction with strangers, so she hoped that would not raise any question.

It didn't. The royal advisor was too excited to focus that much on her, right now. She had, honestly, more dresses than she needed. Expensive gifts she received from either Discord or Cadence, crafted by the best stylists from Canterlot and Manehattan. But she doubted she owned a dress as amazing as the one Rarity had made for her. It was not just the level of skill involved, or quality of the textiles, or the creativity of the creation. No, it was the fact it was really created for her, trying to take into account not only her measures and colour scheme but also her personality. And she loved it. "let's try it! I love it already!"

"Well said, darling!" And with a smile, not immune to the appreciation, Rarity starting to help Pinkie pie with wearing the dress, to make sure the fit was perfect.

Everypony's breathe was halted, as a plume of magical smoke made his way into the cavern, reaching Sunset Shimmer and soon materializing a rolled piece of paper, closed by a seal. The unicorn enveloped it in his own magic even before it fell to the ground, signalling that she was as much on the edge as much as all her comrades. With a snap, the seal was broken, and she quickly read the content. It took just five, eternally long seconds. then she smiled: "Let's go!"

A battle cry resounded through the tunnels as the army galloped through them, soon splitting into three teams. A smaller one commanded by Sunset herself, with Flash sentry as her second and other selected members following, and two larger ones directed by a mulberry-coloured mare with a purple mane and a black pegasus stallion with a light blue mane. They had been planning this one assault for just a week, but that plan had been in place for centuries. All of them had studied it for years, and no one had doubts about their own role. So, without any hitch, they emerged from three different entrances of the cave. All three of them were in a higher position compared to the doors of Canterlot, meaning their descent felt extremely menacing to the guards that first saw them, but they were actually coming from three slightly different directions. east for the group lead by the earth pony, northeast for the group lead by a pegasus, while Sunset's platoon was more or less in the middle between the two.

Militarily speaking, it would in most cases not have been a good plan. the slope was too steep, the pathway too unsteady, and the position lacked any kind of natural coverage. If attacked while still up there, they would have had severe losses. But no attack happened. Just as planned, The 'Veterans' reacted slowly. Not all of it was due to their lack of preparation for actual warfare, or even lack of training in general. They just couldn't imagine that, if someone was to attack Canterlot in the first time in centuries, they could possibly do it while an abnormal number of guards was station there. Also, having to deal with three separate groups meant they had to choose between waiting for them so close to the city or actually splitting their own numbers, which just slowed down the decisional process.

By the time the soldiers were ready and could send three detachments against the rebels, they had already reached flatter land, whose slight slope was actually advantageous to the rebels. Also, the latter's superior training showed from the get-go, as the unicorns of the two factions started conjuring magical bolts from their horns at darting them at one another. Discord's army was not used to marching together, and a few ponies bumped each other, making the magic less precise and the formation more unstable. On Celestia's side, the formation was tight, a few spellcasters were well trained in conjuring barriers and shield, and their magical bolts hit the mark excellently, disrupting the enemy's charge.

Discord's army sent a few pegasuses ahead, as it was usual in that kind of battle, and thought of having an advantage as the rebels avoided doing the same. But the magic hit hard, making some of them crash and the other retreat. Sunset had been clear about this: The pegasuses had to take flight only after the first lines had reached the opponent's, jumping over them and doubling the intensity of the offence. Again, if Discord's army had been used to fighting ponies maybe they would have been quicker to react. Instead, many more soldiers were hit and knocked out in the blink of an eye, and the rebels cut through them no differently from how a knife cuts through soft butter.

There were, as a matter of fact, a few excellent individuals even in Discord's army, whose magic was well trained, whose pace was steady, or whose strength at the moment of impact was menacing. As individualities went, though, none matched sunset. Not only she could hit her enemies like a markspony, knocking out more than a few by herself, but was actually able to alternate flawlessly between attack and defence, leaving her group literally untouched by enemy fire. And despite being a unicorn, she was perfectly confident staying in the very first row, putting her own body on the line while clashing with the enemies.

Despair was painted on the faces of the guards left close to the city walls as they observed the battle quickly unfold. as they observe the catastrophic defeat. They soon realized that, despite the numeric advantage, they didn't stand a chance, and the morale quickly dropped. Not that they would run away, accepting the dishonour and likely their ruler's retaliation. Soon they started running towards the rebels too, to desperately try to stop their charge with everything they had, although to no avail. Their only real hope was the messenger they sent to alert the king, which was already well on her way, and that soon would reach her destination.

Rarity had to do a few corrections to the actual size, and she also considered doing some last minute modifications with some other pieces of cloth she had prepared in advance, just in case... but in the end, she decided against it: she had an excellent job already. The whole process didn't take more than ten minutes, accompanied by innocent small talk. In the end, the dress was seamlessly removed and put in one of the two wardrobes "You are free to go now, darling!"

"Thanks, Rarity!" The Pink Pony had a large smile on her face and threw herself at rarity to hug her, catching her by surprise. Not that fashionista had anything against it. the excitement pinkie was conveying through her tone of voice and her action was simply contagious! "I'll leave my friends in your care then!" She let Rarity free, and started moving towards her new destination, giving just one last goodbye "Play nice!" On another side of the backstage, Trixie was giving the last few instructions to her assistants, and to the technical staff. Applejack was among the latter, as it was decided that if something went wrong with the plan her backup might have been useful. And convincing Trixie that she needed her help was simply too easy. Pinkie didn't take much to get there, and her briefing was quite short too.

Regarding the trio she left behind, it was naturally Rarity who took the lead "Fluttershy, dear, hope it isn't a problem for you if I start with Rainbow Dash?" Naturally, she had nothing against it, so she timidly shook her head "I created something positively dazzling for her! I went with a rainbow theme, obviously, and tried to mix ancient pegasus style with modern taste!" rainbow Dash rolled her eyes a little bit at the thorough description. But rarity was really excited: despite the little time and the tremendous pressure, she had felt incredibly inspired, and it was reflected in the dresses she had made. "Voila!"

And as her dress got taken out of the wardrobes, Rainbow Dash's eyes widened a bit. She couldn't help but admit "It looks pretty cool..." This came as a surprise. She didn't own any dress. She thought that they were the mark of stiff, boring, upper-class ponies. The idea that one of those would seem so fitting for her style was difficult to believe. Oh no! Was she going to start liking them?

"Right?" Rarity's voice took her mind away from the existential doubt. The fashionista was overall pretty happy. Sure, it wasn't the huge reaction Pinkie had, but the baseline was certainly different "Now help me, and we'll fix this in a breeze!" Putting the dress on Rainbow Dash was easy. And although she didn't feel as free in her movement as when she was naked, it wasn't too terrible either. The wings were pretty free, which was the most important thing. Also, what was everypony being so kind to her? She was almost starting to get convinced that the whole endeavour wouldn't have been completely terrible. "Oh, we'll also have to fix that manestyle, darling!" Or maybe not.

The messenger was a female pegasus guard, not only because she couldn't be slowed by the crowd, but also because she had most ease to reach the flying tribune. As soon as her hooves touched a stable surface, she quickly kneeled in front of Discord, and with ragged breath, she spoke: "My Lord..." these two words alone caused a certain degree of anxiety in most of the nobles and the diplomats seated around the King. They knew the protocol: the world Lord in place of "Super-duper majesty" was only allowed for foreign rulers and in cases of emergency, in which the greater length on the expression could have represented a problem. Discord was just intrigued and simply nodded back. "Canterlot is under attack. About three hundred ponies. Our veterans can't stop them. They will be at the doors of Canterlot in a few minutes. We need backup."

Almost all the ponies on the Tribune stopped observing Trixie's show, looking at each other, but most were reassured seeing the calm in Discord's face, and his way-too-large smile. He was actually excited. He did barely remembered how long ago somepony had the guts to face him directly. "I guess I will have to deal with them personally. That's a pity, I was liking the performance..." I tried to keep a poker face, but he just couldn't. A little giggle escaped. "Pinkie should be her assistant only in the last trick, so I guess I have... 10 minutes? Maybe less?" He started stretching his forelegs and got up from his throne "Tighten the security around here!" Arrogant, sure, but not a fool. The promise of further security and the direct involvement of the one-man-army, 'bane of dragons' Discord were definitely reassuring. And so was his boundless confidence: "I'll be back in three!"

Just a last smile, then he vanished into thin air, blowing up like a soap bubble and producing a feeble 'pop'. In his place on the throne, he left nothing but a comically large pocket-watch.

Author's Note

Keeping up with different scenes running at the same time (which, I realized, I've barely done before this chapter) is more difficult than I thought. I had to rewrite some parts a few times because I felt the pacing was messed up.
I think I managed to get it mostly right, in the end, but comments and critiques are 100% welcomed. I still have a lot of room to improve in this regard (and in many other, too!)

With love,
The Marshmallow