Not much happened over the next several months. The zebras and crystal ponies had built a proper battering ram, though they were unable to bring it to the city gates due to the drawbridges being up. The area just outside the walls was deemed a free fire zone, keeping the zebras and crystal ponies back away from the wall. Likewise, nopony in Canterlot left the safety offered by the walls.

Steelhorn had ordered the surrounding and retaking of the fortresses leading back to the Crystal Empire by as non-lethal means as possible. Having a larger army also meant that he could easily surround the invasion force, keeping them all in one location. He dared not issue the order to attack, opting instead to starve out the crystal ponies and zebras to the point where they would surrender their weapons, and the peace talk could resume.

Neither the crystal ponies nor the zebras were starving, however. Many of the crystal ponies, having been slaves before, were not unaccustomed to hard work, and the zebras, being close to nature, were very skilled agriculturalists. They weren't rolling in food, but through their cooperation, they had barely enough to wait out this siege. There were no large farms inside of Canterlot. The soldiers surrounding them would eat, but Canterlot needed a lot of food, and it would run out eventually.

If there was anything for Jericho to be upset about in this setup, it was Shining Armor's constant complaining. In the beginning, it had been about how the minotaurs had been shot at in transit to the negotiations, something that Jericho had not intended to happen. He had prepared a message to be sent to Steelhorn apologizing for the uncalled for missiles, but when a messenger was sent to deliver the message, they had been issued a warning shot in the form of an arrow landing less than a metre away.

After the messenger returned, Shining Armor's criticisms lay in the fact that Jericho had changed his mind and agreed to meet in the castle, as a form of appeasement for the harm caused. Jericho had tried to explain that they were in the wrong in this case, but Shining Armor was having none of that. After two months into the siege, the direction of complaints changed again to focus on how long this was taking. Every moment they sat and waited was another moment of torture for his sister.

In reality, Twilight was doing better after the siege began than she had been before. She still had to wear the ring that blocked her magic, but the tempers of the minotaurs had calmed since Celestia had been moved to the dungeon, and she'd very rarely been punished. She still wished her freedom, but the beatings had stopped. Although, that may have had something to do with the fact that she was now very pregnant. Being the smallest of the three alicorns of Canterlot, she was showing the most growth.

Scrimshaw and Steelhorn had healed up completely, and Luna had even had the clothing repaired. She and Steelhorn were still hopeful that a surrender was coming soon, unlikely as it seemed to be. Her clothing and demeanor had loosened, and she felt more at ease around him. She cared very much for the child she was carrying, and Steelhorn reflected this by helping her to move around with it.

Celestia was not faring particularly well with her child. It had taken multiple attempts to impregnate her, and even when it did take, there were a few problems with its growth. It was undersize, though that may have been a result of Celestia not eating as much as she used to. Some of her mane had grown back, and a stylist had come in to even it all out again so as to arouse less suspicion when she actually did earn the right to exit the dungeon.

Even the soldiers were under tension. After a week of watching each other, both sides were a bit twitchy. After several months, they'd worked out their own rapport with each other. They had utilized the often underappreciated art of communicating via semaphore to establish a line of non-verbal communication. It did quite a bit of good for both sides, organizing ceasefires for medical professionals to pass freely between the two areas.

The siege had been going on for five months, and Canterlot was beginning to run low on food supplies. Some of the citizens had private gardens, and were doing particularly well, canning, pickling and drying their produce. some of them sold at a high market value, others hoarded and kept their food to themselves, but for most citizens, food was running very low. Steelhorn had set up a system for rationing, but it began to fall apart as the citizens stopped listening. The soldiers soon had their hands full quelling a rebellion inside the wall.

This would have been the perfect time for the invasion force to march on Canterlot, but they were having an internal struggle, as well. This wasn't a fight between the soldiers, but rather because Jaxton had barred Shining Armor's entrance into Jericho's tent, and this had caused a scuffle. The bonds between the crystal ponies and the zebras were growing weaker by the day, and their familiarity with each other was beginning to breed contempt.

This distrust came to a head quickly. One night, as Jericho was personally helping an elderly urologist safely cross the ceasefire zone, Shining approached. He was irate because Jericho wasn't using the ceasefire to keep the drawbridge down. If the bridge was down, they could cross with the siege ram, and break down the gate. Jericho tried to explain that such tactics would only harm the civilians if it failed, but was cut off as Shining Armor punched him in the face. The doctor rushed for the gate as fast as his old bones could carry him. In the ensuing scuffle, the two leaders rolled around on the ground, swinging wildly. As the crystal scouts rushed in to pull them apart, Shining pulled out a knife and stabbed Jericho in the gut, kicking him into the river and letting him float away downstream.

Author's Note

The second act is progressing much quicker than the first, so it's almost time for the split. If you still have yet to vote, do so now, or for a few weeks hold your peace.