Chapter 1: The Threat
“Have the pegasi returned yet?”
Luna’s voice echoed through the conference hall. Celestia turned to look at her sister, her rainbow mane lightly brushing against the marble floor. “No, though I believe they will be returning soon,” she replied.
“I hope they hurry up. I fear that we’re running out of time.”
Celestia looked out of one of the giant glass windows and was met with the familiar view of the Everfree Forest. It was beautiful at this time of year, the end of summer.
“What are we going to do about this?” asked Luna. “Our entire land is in danger.”
Celestia turned away from the window and walked over to her sister, her hooves clacking against the floor, which stretched across the entire room to meet the stone walls enclosing it. “Once the pegasi return with the necessary information, we can form a plan, sister, but for now we must wait,” replied Celestia.
“I still don’t understand why we can’t use the Elements of Harmony to fix this problem. If they stopped a creature as powerful as Discord, surely they can take care of a few dragons.”
Celestia gave her sister a look. “I’m surprised at you, Luna. You should know that the Elements can only be used once per year. It has only been a mere five months since we defeated Discord.”
Luna sighed and sat down at the table. “But you cannot deny that it would be an easy victory for us, Celestia.”
Slightly annoyed with her younger sister’s ignorance, Celestia responded, “You should not underestimate the Dragon Empire, Luna. Dragons are powerful creatures, and very destructive ones at that."
With her voice slightly raised, Luna retorted, “Do not speak to me as if I am a filly. All I am saying is that-”
She was cut off by a knock on the door, and a pegasus slowly peeked into the room. Luna turned around to face him.
“Oh!” she said. “Celestia, the pegasi have returned. Come in, Cirrase.”
The light grey pony proceeded into the conference hall, followed by three other pegasi. Cirrase had a hurricane as his cutie mark. The second one in the room was called Cumulase. Her plain white mane and tail matched the rest of her, including her cutie mark, which was an ordinary cloud, outlined by a light silver line. The third’s name was Stratase, a plain grey pony, whose mane matched his color, except for its slightly yellow tint. His cutie mark resembled that of fog, yet had a small glow to it. The last one was named Nimbase. She was a dark grey pegasus with a mane and tail to match and had raindrops as her cutie mark.
The four pegasi began to bow. “Never mind that; there’s not much time,” said Celestia, “Let’s sit at the table, and you can all tell us what you’ve learned.”
They all sat down, the pegasi wondering to themselves who should speak first. None of them had any happy news to report. After a few moments, Nimbase broke the silence. “The Dragon Empire had an agreement with Discord: in exchange for their exodus from Equestria he would provide them with all the jewels they wanted. After you defeated him, not only did they stop getting jewels, but their homeland was also taken from them. Needless to say, they are not happy.”
Celestia nodded. “Go on.”
“So, they’ve begun training dragons that they’ve deemed old enough to fight. They have many empty fields set up to train their flyers and their ground fighters, and the fields hold an average of forty dragons each.”
“Forty?” Luna had suddenly spoken out, somewhat surprised.
“That’s not all,” Nimbase continued. “We also-”
At this point, Stratase had decided he wanted to say something as well. “If it’s all the same to you, I would like to tell them this next part, Nimbase.”
“Very well,” she replied, sounding slightly annoyed.
“Thank you.” He turned in his seat to face the two pegacorns, taking notice of Celestia’s cutie mark. It looked like the sun. ‘That’s appropriate,’ he thought. ‘I just wonder if I should tell-’
“Stratase, we’re all waiting for you,” said Luna.
“Apologies, princess. As Nimbase was saying (Nimbase looked at him, slightly surprised that he gave her credit), we were able to eavesdrop on some of the conversations that took place at the training camps. One that we overheard revealed when and where the dragons plan to attack Equestria first. In two months they will make their first strike on the north side of the Everfree Forest, just east of the Griffon Kingdom.”
Celestia and Luna took this in, now a little more than concerned. Two months was not a very long time to prepare. This wasn’t looking good. A plan had to be thought out very soon.
Celestia turned to Cirrase and Cumulase. “And what about you two? Did either of you learn anything else?”
Cirrase thought for a moment, remembering one particular conversation they had all overheard. He looked at Cumulase, who ever so slightly shook her head, and then he looked back at Celestia. “No, princess,” he responded. “That was all we were able to find out.”
Stratase looked at him, somewhat incredulously. ‘What is he doing? Doesn’t he think that the names of the dragons’ leaders would be important information? But then again…’ Stratase looked down at the table in contemplation. Nimbase had also had a similar thought and noticed Stratase’s reaction, but then again, there weren’t many things she didn’t notice about him, especially the way his mane rested smoothly against his crest, and how his cutie mark glowed brighter in the darkness… Luna’s voice shook both ponies out of their thoughts.
“Well, then, if that’s all, you may leave,” said the pegacorn.
“What my sister means is that we thank you for your help and sacrifice.” Now it was Luna’s turn to give Celestia a look.
“Go rest now. We have a lot of preparation to do over the next two months, and everypony will have to perform at their best.”
Stratase hung back as the other three ponies left. Celestia had gone over to the fountain on the far side of the room for a drink. “There is one more thing we’ve learned,” he said. “The names of their rulers.”
“I’m assuming they have a king and queen?” asked Luna, who was closer to him.
“Yes,” replied Stratase. “Only their names…”
“What are they? And for that matter, why didn’t you simply tell us this before?”
Stratase chose to ignore both questions and lowered his voice, “I don’t know if it would be a good idea for her to hear this. The meaning of the king’s name is very-”
“Stratase, we need to know everything we can. I’m sure Celestia and myself can handle whatever it is you have to say.”
“Well, if you insist. The queen’s name is Sothia and the king’s name is…Apophis.”
Celestia, who was still drinking, immediately began to cough.
“Are you alright, sister?” asked Luna.
“Yes, I’m fine,” she answered. “It’s nothing. Thank you, Stratase. You may go now.”
“No, not yet,” said Luna. “There is one more thing I would like to know.” She now lowered her voiced and asked, “Why were you so intent on telling us the time and place of the attack?”
Stratase shifted, a little embarrassed. “Well, I, um, I guess I thought it was really important, and I wanted to be the one to tell you two.”
Luna gave him a small smile, knowing the feeling of wanting to impress one’s elders. “Well, thank you Stratase. You can go now.”
“Of course,” he said. He left the hall to see that Nimbase had been waiting for him. Once she was sure they were both out of earshot, Luna walked over to the fountain where Celestia was.
“What is going on with you? There must be a reason you reacted the way you did.”
“There is,” replied the white pegacorn. “But I didn’t want to tell him.”
“Well, it seems to me that whatever it was, he already knew. All of them seemed to, in fact. They just didn’t tell us.”
“No, they didn’t, and I appreciate why, but all the same…”
“Celestia, tell me what is going on.”
The princess looked at her sister, glancing briefly at her cutie mark, the moon. ‘I’ll only tell her my part,’ she thought to herself. Luna stared at her, waiting for her answer.
Celestia stared right back, looking her sister directly in the eyes. “Apophis,” she said, “means ‘enemy of the sun.’”
Chapter 2: The Draft
In the days that followed, a draft was sent around Equestria, recruiting mares and colts who had had their cutie marks for ten years, or who were twenty years old to be trained and to fight in the coming battle. Grateful to their benevolent rulers for ridding them of Discord, the ponies of Equestria were willing to help in any way they could. They arrived in great numbers, from Fillydelphia to Las Pegasus, and fields were soon cleared out for housing. Unprepared for the massive influx of ponies, no sort of training could yet take place. The two royal princesses talked endlessly, trying to figure out a way to sort through everypony and get around to training them. Eventually, the two thought of a plan and took immediate action.
* * *
Cumulase had been sleeping all day. It was her only day off, and that was her favorite thing to do in her spare time. Unfortunately, her nap came to an end when she heard her mail flap open and close. Groggy, she rose from her bed and walked over to her door, blinking the sleep from her eyes. On the floor she found a letter with the royal monogram on it. Wondering what the two princesses could possibly want now, she opened it and groaned in annoyance as she read the letter asking her to come to the castle. She placed it on the side table by the couch and opened the window next to the door, allowing the afternoon sun to shine brightly into her living room. After a hasty breakfast, she left her house in Cloudsdale, wishing she could go back to sleep.
Cirrase had been in the middle of flight training when the letter arrived at his house. He had been flying for hours and had taken care to go to sleep as soon as possible the night before to make sure he wouldn’t be tired the next morning. The sun was directly overhead by the time he returned home to find the letter in his mailbox. As he read it he wondered to himself why the princesses needed him again, not even a week after he had returned from the Dragon Kingdom. ‘I guess I’ll just go and find out,’ he decided. It was a good thing he lived so close to the Everfree Forest. His wings were tired from flying all morning and he was within walking distance of the castle.
Nimbase had woken up very late in the morning and slowly made her way out of bed. As she walked downstairs, she noticed that Stratase was still sleeping on the couch. Quietly, she trotted into the kitchen and started making breakfast. ‘Pancakes will do,’ she decided. As she worked, she thought about the events of the night before.
Unbeknownst to both her and Stratase, the weather patrol had decided to have it rain that night. He had been flying her home from practice, and they had just arrived when it began to rain. The storm was very bad, especially with her home being in Cloudsdale. Not wanting him to fly through rain and lightning, she had offered for him to stay the night. He obliged and went inside.
She made the two of them dinner and afterwards some tea. It was that particular moment that she began to recall.
They were sitting at the kitchen table, waiting for the tea to finish boiling. All around they could hear the sound of rain and thunder, with the occasional flash of lightning. Almost awkwardly they sat, with nothing to talk about. Once or twice, she thought she noticed him looking at her, like he was deciding on whether or not to say something. She nonchalantly placed her hoof on the table and slowly looked at him. He took the hint, and placed his hoof on hers. Their eyes met and they leaned in closer to each other, their seats moving along with them as they drew nearer and nearer to each other. Now sure of himself, Stratase slowly wrapped his forelegs around her back, pulling her in closer. Their mouths were drawn to each other as she now embraced him. She felt his breath on her neck and their lips lightly touched…
A faint whistling sound from the tea kettle made them pull back, both of them slightly startled and embarrassed. After hastily drinking the tea, they went to sleep, Nimbase in her room and Stratase on the couch.
She had been heavily disappointed with these events, but at the very least it showed that he liked her as well. She turned back to the stove and finished making the pancakes when she heard a sound behind her.
“Good morning,” said Stratase as he yawned.
“Good morning,” she replied. “How did you sleep?”
“Just fine. The storm kept me up for a bit, but I fell asleep soon enough.”
“Good. Are you hungry? I’ve made some breakfast.”
“Starving,” he answered as he sat down.
She placed the food on the table for them, and neither said a word for the first few minutes, until Stratase broke the silence. “Listen, about yesterday…I’m really sorry if I…I mean, well…you know…”
He stuttered a bit more, while Nimbase, shocked by this random apology, took the opportunity to move much closer to him. “Shhhh,” she said, smiling at him. “I really don’t mind, you know.”
At this point, Stratase had stopped speaking completely, taken aback by Nimbase’s sudden advance. He now sat in his chair, silently looking at her, wondering what to do next. There was no need for him to, however, for at that moment Nimbase had decided to take matters into her own hooves by pressing their lips together. Everything was forgotten as Stratase felt her warm lips on his, and he wrapped his forelegs around her. She once again returned the gesture, and the two ponies embraced each other as they shared their first kiss.
It seemed hours had gone by before they finally pulled apart, both of them perfectly content. As they finished their breakfast, the mail slot rattled. Stratase walked over to the door to find two letters, one addressed to Nimbase, the other for him. “Look at these,” he said. “They’re right from the castle.”
He handed Nimbase her letter and began reading his. “It seems that the two princesses would like to meet with us,” Nimbase said. “Immediately.”
Stratase looked at her. “How did they know where to find me?” he asked.
“I have no idea,” she replied. “But we can ask them when we get there.”
With that, the two ponies left for the castle, chatting the whole way there.
* * *
The two princesses were pacing around the conference hall, growing more anxious by the minute as they waited for their four trusted pegasi to show up.
“What’s keeping them?” asked Luna. “We sent those letters hours ago. Why aren’t they here yet?”
“Patience, sister. Remember that these pegasi are not at our beck and call. They do have their own lives to attend to.”
Luna sighed. “Oh, I suppose you’re right,” she mumbled. She was about to sit down, when a knock on the door stopped her. “That must be them,” she said.
The door opened and the four pegasi walked in. One looked slightly tired and confused, one looked as though the mission he had been sent on was mere child’s play, and two looked very well rested, walking slightly closer together than the others.
“Thank you very much for meeting with us,” said Luna. “We realize you four are probably busy, but we require your assistance once again.”
The four pegasi bowed, and Nimbase gently nudged Stratase, who merely whispered, “I’ll ask her later.”
“Now then, on to business,” said Luna. They all sat down once again at the table. “First, the reason we have asked you to come here. As you probably already know, we have had a massive migration movement into the local area due to this draft. That is why we would like you to help us.”
“You want us to organize and train a group of hundreds of ponies?” asked Stratase skeptically.
“Well, actually, we have decided that we would like you to train ten pegasi for about two weeks. Just ten. After which, those ten will each have their own…I have decided to call them divisions…of pegasi to train.”
“What about the unicorns?” interjected Nimbase. “We are all pegasi. None of us can be expected to train them.”
“I will do that myself,” replied Luna. “In the same way as Stratase will train the pegasi, I will train ten unicorns, and they will each train ten others when I feel they are ready.”
She turned to face Cumulase. “And as for the earth ponies, we would like you to train ten, just like the unicorns and pegasi. When you feel those ten are ready, have them train ten others.” said Celestia, turning her attention to the drowsy looking pony, who merely nodded.
“What will Nimbase and I do? There are no other divisions of ponies left,” asked Cirrase.
Celestia now faced him instead. “I would like you to help me personally oversee the plans, including how each division will be placed and moved around during the actual battle.”
Cirrase was slightly surprised. “Why would you need me for something like that?”
Celestia looked at him warmly. “Do you remember when your cutie mark appeared?”
Cirrase nodded. It had been raining all day, and there were weather reports that a hurricane was moving toward the Everfree Forest. Try as they might, the weather patrol was unable to avert it by themselves. He was only a colt at the time this had happened, but he had been watching the path of the storm from below, and suddenly decided that he wanted to help. Hastily, he flew up to the others and looked around, straining his eyes through the rain to figure out the best way to send the hurricane in a different direction. A nearby mountain range caught his attention. The other pegasi, so concerned with the storm, had barely noticed that he had arrived, all of them flapping their wings as hard as they could to get rid of the storm. He quickly flew over to one and suggested diverting the storm toward the mountains. For each pegasus he did this, flying through the freezing rain and hail. When the storm had been successfully redirected and Cirrase landed back on the ground, he noticed that his cutie mark had appeared. He had found his special talent.
As Cirrase remembered this, he realized that his talent for strategic placement could be very helpful much in this situation. He bowed and said, “Of course I will help you, princess.”
“Thank you very much,” she replied, returning the gesture.
“Now, there is just one more issue that needs to be discussed,” said Luna. “We need weapons and armor. Nimbase, you have probably already guessed that we would like you to be in charge of their design and production.”
“I can do that,” she replied. “However, I wonder if having pegasi and unicorns wear armor would help them. It seems like more of a disadvantage,” she replied.
“Celestia and I also had a similar thought,” said Luna. “Which is why we have decided that only earth ponies will receive armor, particularly because they will more than likely be using weapons the most.”
“That makes sense,” said Cumulase, who now seemed to be more awake than usual. “We wouldn’t be able to fly very well with all that extra weight added on. May I ask what you will teach the unicorns, Princess Luna?”
Luna thought for a moment, remembering what she and Celestia had discussed. “Well,” she started, “I plan to teach them how to levitate, for as long as they can, of course, as well as how to summon and banish objects. I would also like to teach them short range teleportation, but I doubt more than a few will be able to do something like that without falling asleep.”
Cumulase nodded, and Luna now focused her gaze on Stratase. “Do you know what you would like to teach the pegasi, Stratase?”
Stratase had been asking himself the same question. “I think, hmmm…I think I will increase their endurance, as well as teach them how to better control the weather. Maybe they can learn to make small, powerful storm clouds.”
“Isn’t that something they should already know?” asked Celestia.
Stratase shook his head. “No, not all pegasi are on weather patrol, and the ones that are work together to make storm clouds. I’m one of the few that can make them by myself.”
“And another thing,” said Cirrase suddenly. “How are we going to separate everypony?”
“That will be simple,” answered Celestia. “We will have all the unicorns move to the large area outside of the forest, all the pegasi will be moved Cloudsdale, and the earth ponies can stay where they currently are since they will be learning how to use the weapons Nimbase will design.”
“And speaking of earth ponies,” said Luna, “what do you think you will teach them, Cumulase?”
Having just become fully functional, Cumulase took her time in answering. “Besides the weapons, I don’t know what I can teach them. Pegasi can control the weather and fly, and unicorns can do magic. I don’t mean to sound discriminatory, but what special skills do earth ponies have?”
Luna smiled at her. “You’ve just said it, Cumulase. Earth ponies are very handy with tools and gadgets. Think of how hard they work year after year to grow food. If it weren’t for their ingenuity, we may not have any food at all, and their endurance for harsh conditions is not a force to be trifled with.”
Cumulase realized that she was right. Not only would the earth ponies easily learn how to use the weapons, they would probably develop their own creative ways to use them on their own, and that was when Cumulase had another idea. “What if…what if I taught them how to blend in with their surroundings and disguise themselves to stay hidden better. We’ll be fighting in the forest, correct?”
She turned to Nimbase. “When you design the armor, give it a forest – like color scheme. They’ll be much harder to see that way.
Nimbase nodded. “That’s a good idea, Cumulase.”
“Well, then,” said Celestia, “I think that we should stop for today. Tomorrow we can begin our assigned tasks. By the time these two months are up, we’ll hopefully have enough skill to win this.”
The four pegasi stood up from the table and bowed. As Cirrase and Cumulase left, Stratase and Nimbase stayed in the room and approached the two princesses. “Yes?” asked Luna kindly.
“I was just wondering…how did you two know that I would be at Nimbases’s house this morning?”
“We didn’t,” replied Celestia with a small smile. “We enchant the letters when we send them to arrive at whichever home the receiver is staying at. We had no idea you would be there.”
“Though I can’t say I’m surprised,” muttered Luna, remembering watching the two walk down the hallway leading from the conference room together.
“What was that?” asked Nimbase.
“Oh, nothing! Nothing, I was just thinking to myself. You two can go now.”
“Alright. I suppose tomorrow we will start the training?”
“Yes, that is correct. Try to start as early as you can,” Luna answered. “Goodbye, and good luck my little ponies.”
Both pegasi bowed and exited the room, leaving the two princesses to their own assigned tasks.
* * *
And so, over the course of the next two months, everypony was kept busy with their jobs. Nimbase created very fitting armor for the earth ponies, and even made a design for a machine that would hurl giant balls of mud through the air, which she called “catapults.” Meanwhile, some of the pegasi had learned to fly much faster, and a few could also make their own small storm systems, which would be useful to combat the dragons’ fire. Under Luna’s training, a fair amount of unicorns had increased the distance in which they could banish and summon objects, as well as how to levitate for brief periods of time. About fifteen of them could also teleport short distances without passing out as well. Cumulase had also made great progress with the earth ponies. They had quickly learned how to use the catapults Nimbase had designed, and the armor hid them very well in the forest. Celestia and Cirrase had worked very hard together, and finally decided that the earth ponies should stay closer to the forest and use the catapults from afar, while the unicorns and pegasi would engage the dragons in closer range. The two princesses themselves would battle the king and queen. All preparation completed, and with two days to go before the decided battle date, the pony army prepared to fight as strong and hard as it could.