Blurring Realities

“No…wait. Wha-? What is this? Why is it shuddering like that… No! NO! NO! WHAT THE BUCK IS GOING ON?!"

"What is it?" Terra responded, annoyed, turning from the door she had been more or less guarding for the better part of an hour and regarded Onyx Light with disdain as she watched the mare frantically flip through a book of notes she had rarely seen cracked open.

Emil's bluster and impotent threats had been reduced to sputtering and incomprehensible shouts, muted by the heavy and magically infused iron-bound wooden door.

There was no real threat from the griffon as they had ensured the door, windows, and even the lone chimney placed in the center were more than sturdy and protected enough to keep any would-be fool out with overlapping barriers that had been cast with practice ease.

Those spells, unfortunately, due to the fickleness of such power-hungry mana drains, had to be recast daily to ensure their strength. But what was ten minutes to keep the rabble out?

Since the beginning of this assignment, tormenting the aging mercenary leader, who still dreamed of rulership, had been her only outlet in this otherwise dull assignment. Simply hearing him scream his pitiful demands was a highlight of an otherwise worrying evening.

The attack hadn't been a complete surprise. Terra Burn, with the help of her compatriots, scryed to see what the calamitous noise outside their spire was about, and it was mostly what they had expected. They had been anticipating an assault for some time and had even advised relocation on more than one occasion because of their suspicions, yet it was not good, and they didn't have the liberty of abandoning their assignment.

“The site was too secure to abandon”, Emil would say. Or; “The Prince wouldn't be able to find his own tail feathers without assistance from his father, let alone this place”.

Those words were an omen. It was only a matter of time.

The sight of Prince Gerhard himself, however, had been a shock. Even they hadn't believed the young Lord would commit so much of his remaining force to this kind of attack, let alone allow himself to be on the battlefield, even if he seemed to have been regulated to the rear guard.

They had decided to adopt a wait-and-see approach, and Emil was correct. The walls were more than strong enough to repel the prince's forces. The fortifications, however haphazard their construction, were still leagues above being caught out in the open.

There was no reason to jump the hedge as of yet. That didn't mean they couldn't plan for the worse.

Onyx was in the middle of a cleared space in the center of the circular room they used as their bed chambers. The tall white mare, dressed in simple woolen armor, was pacing around a circle of powdered crystals. The dull glow coming from the charged ground stone showed no indication of any kind of trouble that would make the normally reserved pony suddenly shout. Or curse, either. Considering her well-known disgust of vulgarity it was outside the norm for her to be so out of countenance.

"Onyx, what is wrong?" She prodded again, taking a step toward the scowling equine, worry now etching her face.

"There's…there's been a massive field disruption. The ley lines are fluctuating too wildly to navigate, I cannot establish a connection, and the formula keeps slipping away like its tissue coated in oil!" She spilled out, turning to look at Terra, a mane of black locks flicking elegantly over her shoulder. "Which is impossible, as you know."

The silver-furred pony did not know, but she could put two and two together.

"Are you implying we are cut off from…" she breathed.

"Apparently, yes." The mare bemoaned. "I just don't understand! What could suddenly produce this effect?” She scowled at the array of crystals. “And right as we were preparing to leave." She brought a hand to her chin. "Could Prince Gerhard have known of our involvement and found a way…no that's impossible."

"Found a way to what?” The unicorn took another agitated step toward her compatriots, ready to throttle the answer out of the often long-winded pony. “Onyx, what did he do?!" Panic gripped her throat, and she had to stop herself and breathe. This was no time to lose her cool. True, each one of the seven mares of the Sundown Syndicate had more combat capability than a dozen griffons. She was still no fool to believe they wouldn't be overwhelmed eventually.

"The only way to disrupt the local ley lines would be to have a team of unicorns create a Warp." The statuesque mare muttered just loud enough to be overheard through the muffled, distant battle outside. "I mean, even a pair of significantly powerful-"

"TERRA! WE GOT TROUBLE!"

Crystal Halter pounded down the stone steps leading further up the bastion, her breath coming in ragged gasps. The somewhat portly mare nearly collapsed as she came to a halt on the landing.

"WHAT. NOW?!" The crimson-maned mare screeched, spinning on the out-of-breath mare.

"P…" she starts, then takes a gulp. "Ponies! Inside the fortress!" She pauses to take another breath. "Not. Ours!" Her rear nearly collapsed onto the landing.

Both Terra Burn and Onyx Light turned to look at one another, shock mirrored in each of their features.

"Did They send backup? Why? Until this night, everything was going according to orders…"

Onyx broke eye contact.

"Do we know who they are? Who sent them…oh…Oh!" She said with sudden chilliness. "I think we are in trouble."

Terra did not understand what the mare was getting at and voiced it.

"What do you mean?" She said worriedly.

"I mean, that our sudden lack of an escape route and their appearance can not be a coincidence. But by the Grace of the Sun, I can't think of a mercenary band that has unicorns that are powerful enough to do that.” She paused, brow furrowing. “I am loath to think that the griffons are suddenly fighting fire with fire. Why, the knowledge to do so…oh…oh, buck me." The white pony, eyes widening, bolted. Tearing past Crystal's hunched-over form, she nearly flew up the stairs.

"What in the Sun's Light is going on?!" Terra rushed after her, not even bothering to help her down comrade. Perhaps if she laid off all the sweets she insisted on having, she wouldn't be gasping for her life now.

“Teaches you to dig through somepony’s packs.”

"It is what I feared. But for them to be here…it's just not possible."

The Terra Burn was the last to join the other five members of their band, only a little out of breath as she took position to survey the fortress herself.

The pleasure in knowing the climb up to the top had barely winded her, pushed to the back of her mind as she tried in vain to see what the others were talking about. “Curse this short body of mine!”

As she approached the parapet on the western side, the good feeling, no matter how distant, evaporated like water on a stone in the desert from her as she witnessed the scene below.

Explosions rocked the inside of the keep as an entire platoon of Griffon soldiers, bearing the crest and colors of the Prince of Griffonia, wreaked havoc amongst the various fortifications Emil and his commanders had their own troops erect. The shoddy workmareship of those hasty bulwarks seemed like brittle bones now.

It shouldn't have mattered too much for an attack coming from outside, but the current opposition was not just outside the walls, but inside dive-bombing defenses. Raining arrows and plucked stones atop defenders. Outright killing those that ponied those locations.

Some tried to fight back, of course. Taking to the air to engage them, but there was a clear distinction in skill between the two groups, and the mercenaries were being slaughtered in rapid succession before most could get a few paces above the ground.

However, what had caught everypony's attention on the little tower, was the three equines in the bright polished armor of the Equestrian Armed Force, bringing the same level of savagery Gerhard's troops were.

It seems that the Prince had indeed borrowed a page from Rosebreast's book.

A diminutive earth pony welding a pair of axes was throwing herself at their opponents with reckless abandon. But it wasn't without reason. Behind her was another soldier, a unicorn like themselves, firing shot after shot of the simple spell: Magic Missile. Effectively suppressing the enemy from overwhelming them.

Every fortification in their path was blasted to bits in the blink of an eye.

The third, and final pony in the squad of three was somehow both tall and hard to identify. The figure was simply moving way too fast to get a good look as they skewered one opponent, and flowed into lobbing the head off another in such fluid grace that it seemed the unknown equine danced despite the bulky shield they used to block blows coming from other directions, as if they knew when and where their enemy would strike.

A blast of air pushed all six of them back suddenly, putting Terra on the defensive as she scanned the ground for a source of the attack.

"Is there another bucking squad?!"

"LOOK!" Stone Tempest, a green-eyed, stone-furred mare dressed in similar armor to her own, stabbed a finger in the air, and the silver pony followed it to a blurring orange and silvered form rushing to the center of the formation. Sudden hope soared only to die immediately when instead of crashing into the group, the figure came to a complete stop next to the flowing warrior in a burst of air that pushed their opposition away long enough for the accompanying griffons that fought with them to surge past and engage the enemy.

Motion, sound, even her breathing came to a stop as she recognized who the flier actually was, and her heart sank. Second Lieutenant Spitfire, of the Wonderbolts was here running recon for the invading force. "What is she doing here?!"

"THAT'S SHINING ARMOR!" Shouted Frost Lace, startling her.

"W-what?" Terra croaked, as she took a closer look at the now still pony, a stallion of all things, with a handheld telescope and gasped.

He was tall and broad-shouldered, an imposing figure next to the shorter mares and griffons that surrounded him.

His two-tone blue mane poured out at the crest of his helm like a cascading waterfall of saturated color. One hand held a broadsword of considerable size. The bulky shield in the other bore scratches, but also the emblem of Equestria. Two alicorns encircle the pair of celestial bodies of the Sun and Moon.

"It.." she swallowed back the lump in her throat with little success. "It is him." Memories of seeing the stallion on the training fields during Hoofcamp. His movements from then and now were quite different from what she could remember. A part of her wondered where he had learned to dance, for lack of a better term, like that with such heavy equipment.

Immediately on her confirmation, the group exploded into near hysterics. Each accusing the others of some detail they had forgotten that had clearly, at least to themselves, pointed the Lieutenant in their direction.

No pony asked the big question, though. How had that wretched Princess known to send him here, and were there more?

"Enough." It was not Terra's voice that demanded silence, but Shadowed Dawn who spoke up. Her heavy tone instilled absolute obedience in the others, as one by one, each quieted and gave her their full attention.

The smokey gray mare stood impassively at the parapet, staring down at the officer and his subordinates with contempt in her red eyes.

"We can sit here, and blame one another for whatever grievances we have with each other. Or we can come up with a plan of withdrawal." She continued. "Terra. Is it true? Is he as capable a fighter as the rumors say?"

Taking a deep breath, the named mare answered her warily.

"I have been on only two campaigns with him before I resigned my commission.” She swallowed back the lump in her throat. “As well as trained with him during my induction into the EAF. From what I have seen, he is more than capable of beating any one of us.” She shook her head at the impossibility of his shields knocking back arrows and magic blasts alike. “Possibly all of us, if it came to that." She grimaced. "However, this may be worse.” Pointing at him, she tried to explain the real problem. “He's a natural leader. Something Equestrian Command never did, considering his status. Before I had left, they had tried and failed to get him barred on several occasions. Rumor has it that it took the Princess’s direct intervention to keep him from being tossed out after some event in Zebrica.”

"Nepotism. Of course." Shadowed said with scorn. "Why do you say this is worse?"

"If that force of vultures is doing what I think they are doing, then he is commanding this raid. I'm afraid his ability to lead is what is the true issue." Shaking her head, Terra spoke quicker. "The Translocate spell has been rendered ineffective, which means he and his team know we are here already, and likely preemptively struck by knocking out our ability to leave quickly.” Her hands balled into fists. “How and why he is here, I cannot even begin to guess at. Right now, I fear we have no time to wonder how. You are correct, Princeps. We must move quickly."

"I see-"

"What is that?!" Gestured Lightening Dare.

As one the group turned back toward where she pointed to the Equestrian ponies. In front of Shining Armor, was a weird warp of blue and pinks swirling about themselves. The stallion himself bore a defensive posture, and when Terra raised the looking glass to her eye again, she could see fear on his face.

Behind him, the only other unicorn of the party paled visibly under her helm. Strangely, Spitfire seemed to be very pleased with what was going on.

"What is that…" repeated Terra quietly.

"It doesn't matter." Shadowed spoke up after a minute. "Whether the Princess is aware of our organization's activities or not, we must flee. By any means necessary. To fight now would be foolhardy."

"It's going to take too long for the ripples to die off…" Muttered Onyx. She was doing that annoying thing she always does when she worries. Gnawing on her bottom lip.

"Then more conventional means we'll have to be taken in order to escape, but escape we must." Their leader looked each other in the eye as she spoke. "Terra. Lightning. The pair of you will go through what we have. Make sure no paperwork that cannot be taken with us survives. You should both be able to at least make a fire spell. Onyx, continue to try and establish a connection.” She cut her hand across the space between her and the white mare. “I know it is highly unlikely, but if anypony can do it, it's you."

Turning, she regarded their two, up till now, mute party members.

"Solar. Beats. I want you both to start looking for hidden pathways out of the tower. This structure was built in a time of war, and the griffons were always paranoid about the sky being robbed from them. I don't care if it's a crack in the wall, we can widen it to our needs. So do your best. Worst case scenario, we have to tie bed sheets together and make a run for it." With a heavy sigh, she turned back to Terra Burn again. "And get Crystal to help you. Sun cursed pony is still not back up here."

"That…that is the situation, Princess." Shining swallowed thickly. His throat was dry from giving a very rough report in the middle of a battlefield and to his very ruler, no less.

A tap on his shoulder, and he found Vorder offering his flask to him. Stifling an incredulous chuckle, he waved him off and returned his attention to Princess Celestia, willing his face into passivity.

The white ruler of his people regarded him thoughtfully. Cadence looked like she wished to move through the gate, an impossibility as it would only fail and comfort him. With weary realization, he remembered he was already covered in an abundant amount of blood, and was likely the cause for the fear in her eyes. He slowly shook his head at her, and she relaxed slightly.

Their bond, magically placed within them, allowed a certain level of awareness between the pair. As the comforting aura he sent through it seemed to relax his love somewhat.

"I see." Began the Princess, her eyes darting back and forth as she took stock of his situation. "Shining Armor, at this point, it is too late for you to back out of this mess.” Her frown very much said she wanted that to be an option. “While I can see what you were thinking,” her eyes hardened, “this was rather foolish. Has Gerhard made any promises?" Relief seemed to flood through him. Perhaps he wouldn't be the first stallion in five hundred years to have his head removed after all.

"He has pledged to support me in their court, made a written proclamation that I carry, for the boon the king will owe me and my team upon our return. We hope to be done-"

Dodging to the side, he narrowly avoided a barbed crossbow bolt that buried itself in the pitted stone to the side of him, tearing a ragged chunk out as it did so.

"What did I tell you about paying attention!" The stallion roared as he thrust the point of his blade at the intending attacker. How the griffon had managed to sneak up that close was a mystery he feared would not be solved. Pestle's bolt of magic struck the griffon in the chest before he could reload for a second shot, the spell eating a hole through his armor and flesh and exploding out the ratty armor in the back.

Dropping like a stone from the rooftop on which he perched, Shining huffed and turned away as the sound of bones crunching echoed once the corpse met the cobblestone street beneath him.

Cadence's face visibly blanched, but Princess Celestia merely cocked an eyebrow.

"Vorder,” he growled, “spread them out. I would rather that not happen again if we can help it." The big griffon nodded, a bit of a smirk on his face. He spun on his paw and began shouting.

"Alright, you lackwits, ya heard the pony. Get your tail feathers in gear and start a-huntin'." Making shooing, motions, he clapped his hands. He took off with some of the rest. Val remained behind, likely as a guard and to relay commands if needed.

"I see your ability to command is not limited to Equestrians, Lieutenant," Celestia remarked dryly. For a moment, she seemed to stew in silence, choosing her next words carefully. "I am deeply disturbed by the events that led up to this moment, however. Even more so by your willingness to go along with it. I would advise you to have a well thought out argument for when you return to Canterlot with your report, Lieutenant." Her gaze went from stone to diamond. "For both myself and Command."

"Celestia, he couldn't-" Cadence began, but the Sun monarch swung that glare at her, and she choked on her words.

"Be that as it may,” her eyes lingered on his marefriend for a moment, “I too admit curiosity to the events occurring in the north. This is now a sanctioned op." Those same magenta orbs looked past him to the near-ruined fortress behind. "Fort Bollwerk…it has been a long time since I laid eyes on that fortress…" Shaking her head, she redirected her focus on him. "Lieutenant Shining Armor. You are to recover any information about the team of ponies working with the Griffonian bandits, as much as possible. I want at least a prisoner if you can manage that.

"I also wish to have a full report ready upon your return, with Orion Falls in hand if you can somehow accomplish that as well. Though,” she scoffed, “something tells me you may find that more difficult.” Her voice was a strange mix of scorn and wry amusement. “Owing to the fact that King Bloodbeak is covering for him for reasons we cannot know at this time, I won't hold it against you if he does not return in cuffs.”

Shining worked to keep his jaw from slacking. She was essentially giving up on the entire reason for him and his team to have been out here, and she was well aware of it.

"I know that look, Lieutenant. Rest assured, I've not given up on his capture.” She shook her head, a rueful smile on her lips. “However, the events on which you have spoken, unfortunately, take more precedence than one lone colt. Should the operation of these ponies be more widespread and disruptive than we realize, many of our citizens both abroad and at home may be under threat.” Celestia grimaced sourly. “Also, if Griffonian nobles suspect, no matter how ludicrous it may be, that we are somehow responsible for these mercenaries' rogue actions, our best opportunity now is to provide aid to stop any aggression that might aim our way.” The Sun Monarch nodded. “As you are doing now. Thus, cutting the head off the proverbial snake. It is unfortunate that Orion is now only a secondary requirement in the face of this."

He nodded slowly. It made sense. A cold and calculated sense, but he figured it was the best choice in light of circumstances. Glancing around him showed his soldiers also thoughtfully nodding along. Even Val Shadow-wing, who had remained back with his own small group of agents, seemed to agree as his eyes darted back and forth, thoughtfully.

"It will be as you say, your Highness," Shining responded, slightly bowing.

His stern expression must have shown the inner turmoil about the change in operation because the alicorn chuckled richly.

"Rest assured, Lieutenant. I'm sure that colt will turn up eventually, either by himself or by you finding him. Perhaps…" She paused before shaking her head. "Yes, perhaps I was too hasty in sending you out as I did. Then again, it is all too likely that Harmony has been the guiding force in this foray into the north." She shook her head once more. "I shall leave that for academics and history itself to determine."

Shining did not know how to feel about that, but his candid report and the informality of the situation left him with the feeling that he should not press his luck with questions to her motives, at least not out loud. He was essentially getting away with what many might interpret as dereliction of duty.

"Lieutenant Shining Armor," he practically snapped to attention, "you are hereby ordered to render assistance to Prince Gerhard and his troops to the best of your ability. However, your primary duty is to capture and secure the rogue mercenaries assisting the bandits in opposition to the Griffonian nation. Failing that, secure any information they may have on their persons at all cost at worst."

"By your Command, your Highness." Driving his sword into the soft soil where cobblestone had long been uprooted, he ignored his desire to wince at what he might have done to the tip of his sword and saluted smartly, fist over his heart.

Nodding, the Sun princess turned to Cadence.

"Sever the connection, Cadence. You and I,” there was a dangerous tone to her voice, “should talk."

"But-"

"Cadence." There was no shout, or raising of her voice at all. Instead, a strange sort of calm seemed to have washed through her. "Lieutenant Armor must do his duty, and you will distract him from that if we linger." His mare friend grimaced.

It was no secret to Shining that Princess Celestia did not approve of their relationship. Nor was it a secret, to him at least, that the ruler of Equestria had her own designs. For his sister, no less.

His Love's confession to manipulating him and his sister for her own ends had hurt deeply. There was no getting around that, especially back then. However, as he reflected on what she had gone through, he understood to a degree how desperate she was. In truth, it was a lot of pressure on him, not only to perform the duties she had hoped to pin on him but also to accept her for the weight of centuries she held over him.

What finally tipped the scales in her favor, was the memory of the regret in her eyes, the way she stood apart from him when she confessed all she had done. Despite it all, her willingness to ruin what she had with him for what was right and true won him over.

Celestia, on the other hand, had earned an ire from him that, in his youth, he did not believe he possessed. He did not trust her with Twilight. True, the filly was exceptionally gifted; he was not blind to her talents, but the burdens placed upon her shoulders were too great for one so young. And as the years have marched on, those duties only seemed to grow in his eyes. Watching his little Twily grow up in flashes due to his absence, showed what his parents were missing.

There was a heaviness to her gait now. She smiled far less exuberantly than she once could have. Her focus on learning was almost crushing, leaving little time for other matters.

Now he could admit, this may have only been due to her growing up. He himself put away foalish things as he got older, as is only natural for a pony reaching maturity, but it still seemed to have been stripped from her, rather than letting it go at a normal pace.

It made him distrust the mare he once held total faith in. Judging her every action for the hidden meanings and intent had become second nature, and deep down, he hated it.

"You are right." Turning, Cadence looked at him with unshed tears. “Be safe, my Heart." He nodded, letting a smile form on his lips. She did not need to hear from him. She smiled back, and the view portal created by the Sorde Val swiftly sucked in on itself till it vanished in a pop.

For a few moments, Shining simply stared at where the portal had been.

"Buck me, I can see why yer so loyal, Lieutenant." Earnest, her voice startled him from the regret that filled him.

"What?"

"The Princess, Mi Amore. She's…wow." She continued. Grinning at him.

He snorted at her. ”Really?’

"Sergeant,” he began.

"Sir, the Sergeant isn't wrong. You are one lucky stallion. How did you manage it?" Pestle's eyes radiated jealousy, and he chuckled in response despite their situation.

"You can ask her if you ever meet her," he groused, not liking the direction this was going in. They had all become far too relaxed since their mission began, a mission that had been near chaos since it began.

"Is that a proposal, Sir?" Earnest grinned, wiggling her eyebrows as best she could under the heavy helm she wore.

Shining snorted in exasperation. "Mares."

"Lieutenant Armor, perhaps we should get underway and achieve both of our goals this night." Val had stepped forward, his long slim blade held low and ready in his grip.

"Right, right. Apologies, Hauptleute. What is-"

"Sir!" Pestle interrupted him suddenly. "We got company!"

Whipping his head up, he saw what she did. Unfortunately, during the lull in the fighting and his brief meeting with the Princess, the defending griffons of the keep had managed to rally their troops and began to swoop in on their position.

Already, he could see many had taken up position on top of decayed roofs and crumbling walls, the iron sights of their crossbows swiftly being trained on them. More were landing on the street below, drawing swords and unslinging bucklers as they raced forward on armored paws to close on his group.

"This will be a problem," Val said casually, as if rain had suddenly been called in the morning's forecast. Shining glanced over to see just the tiny bit of upturn in the corner of his beak. The mad-griffon was enjoying this.

“Come to think of it. They've all been grinning like loons since this buckstorm began. They're all crazy.”

Rather than comment, he raised a full shield, turning his attention back to the enemy. The sound of dozens of tense strings snapped in the air, and seconds later, through the connected magic, he felt the distant impacts of the broadheads as they slammed uselessly into the conjured barrier between them.

"My question is, where in Tartarus did they all come from?" Earnest said, shifting her grip on the axes she held. "I thought you lot put a sizable dent in their numbers?"

"We did. However, we believe that while we had clashed with the main host, and, as you said, put a dent in their numbers. We also knew that they had more than one force in the field." He cocked his head and studied the magical fortification that surrounded them and nodded. "This is impressive, Lieutenant. You managed to surround all of us with it."

It was Shining's turn to smirk.

"Couldn't let potential snipers take shots at us from beh-" Just then, two more twangs sounded out, and the dull strikes of a pair of crossbow bolts slammed into the shield from behind. "Well, that, actually." Shaking his head, he continued. "They are trying to keep us pinned down. Wait for my mana to drain out. Alright ponies and griffs, we are going to have to do this the hard way. Spitfire, Storming, Val, we are dropping ranks for the time being. I don't want them knowing which amongst us are officers.”

Spitfire gave him a pointed look. He could only shrug in return. He could only hope the enemy was really dumb.

"When I drop my shield, I am going to flex it outward, attempting to ricochet their assault back at them. When I do, you rush to the sky as fast as you can, gain the altitude advantage, and divide their attention. After that, you are free to engage the best you see fit, though try and work together and follow Val and his soldiers' lead at least in the initial engagement." He frowned as the next volley seemed to strike harder than he expected.

Was there more arbalest than before?

"What about you? You are sitting prey down here in the alley. The buildings and wall have you effectively boxed in." Val responded, giving him a wary look.

"That is where Pestle comes in." Turning, he gave her with a thin-lipped smile. Situations like this, for some reason, excited him, and he suspected he knew why. “Great, I must be just as crazy as the bucking griffons.”

"Do you have anything in your list of spells for a low-yield bombardment?” He asked. “Something that won't backblast us would be nice."

The specialist shared his grimace. "I do believe I have something in mind, though I am not one hundred percent certain about there being no back blast,” she paused, her head nodding, “but it…should work.Though it will be a chaotic mess. The cavitation is still going and its relatively fresh. I’m not certain what all will happen."

"It'll have to be good enough.” Shining hummed. “Val? I'd advise giving us a few seconds before your return assault. I'll just throw up another barrier to vent what pressure may come our way upwards." He turned to Earnest Hearts then, "Earnest, your role will be very simple-."

"Throw myself at the leftovers; I got it." She chuckled. "Like always, I am picking up the pieces."

"More like smashing it in tinier pieces." Giggled Storming Wind, who had swooped in to get orders. Everypony laughed, except for Spitfire, who had taken her orders without remark.

That was unlike the mare.

"Something wrong, Spitfire?" He asked, hoping that another breakdown in decorum was not coming.

"No, sir…" She said with little heart.

"Something is wrong, and I need to know what. Please." He added that last almost belatedly.

"I just….I just can't believe the Princess went along with this!" The sun yellow mare suddenly shouted, her arms shooting out to gesture at everything. "This is ridiculous. We should have never come this far or done even half the stuff we've done. Now it's all but sanctioned, and coming from her, it might as well be."

"To be fair, I don't think any of us thought this was going to go as far as it did." He replied, noticing through his magic that the volleys were still getting stronger. " Don't worry, Spitfire. I'm likely going to get yelled at by command when we get home anyway."

Her halfhearted smirk at his flippant remark faded quickly.

"In for an apple, in for a bushel, I suppose." She cocked her head. "What?" She questioned in response to Earnest's quirky smile.

"Never thought I'd hear you use a farm euphemism. Where did you pick that up?"

"Oh, that. I grew up in Bale. On the east coast of Equestria. You pick up a thing or two in a farming community like that." Shaking her head, she gave Shining a fierce look. "Alright, Sir. I'm ready to bust some heads. Me and Storming will take them out, no sweat." She gave Val an appraising look. "What do you say? Those that take out the most buys the other group their first three rounds?"

For the first time since Shining had met the Captain, the stoic smokey griffon allowed himself a full smile.

"I would take that bet. It's a win-win, to be sure, regardless of the outcome. Should you kill more, my purse will not be scoured too deeply by just a few of you. However, should my team and I win, we would welcome Equestrian coin to liven our evening."

"You're on!" They clapped hands together.

The white stallion was both pleased and taken aback by the Second Lieutenant's sudden abandonment of her principles. It was likely due to the Princess's acquiescence to the situation rather than any personal change of heart on the mare's part, yet it was good to see her finally loosen up.

Snorting, he turned his attention back to their obstacle.

"Alright. Every…one,” he stumbled on the word, “get ready!"

Onyx Light frowned in dissatisfaction. The assignment had been a distasteful shackle upon her. Time and effort, she believed, were better left to helping with the escape.

But Shadowed Dawn would not relent. The black-maned mare had to admit, her reasoning why was sound.

The longer the Lieutenant and his team remained bogged down by opposition, the better chance they all had of getting away without a chance of capture. Her talents in the field of magic only made her the more obvious choice.

However, she had no idea how to accomplish the goal without giving away her position. Onyx refused to become a target of the orange Pegasus with a direct assault that would no doubt fail the moment she launched it.

But what was she to do?

It would seem fate had decided to throw her a jeweled crown for once.

The moment she spotted the bandits and heard their rallying cries as they poured out of the guard spires that lined the inner keep walls, and a thought blossomed within her.

Her eyes had noticed the weapons they carried immediately. In particular, the crossbows.

In a brilliant moment of fortune and chance, an idea struck her. Their course took them close to the tower she stood upon, and so, as the hoard of lesser creatures passed by on their no doubt one-way trip to Tartarus, she cast Patiens Constructum est Potentia.

The spell was designed to slowly boost a weapon's power temporarily for a set period of time till its peak. Once the peak of the spell was reached, it would fizzle out completely before the next shot or strike could be performed.

It was the perfect spell in a situation like this, especially with the party of ponies and griffons distracted amongst themselves as they seemed to be.

It was, sadly, not enough.

The moment Shining Armor had noticed the approaching force, he not only threw up a shield, but an all encompassing one at that. Worse? It seemed to be at full strength to boot as the quarrels bounced uselessly off the blue-tinted fortification.

Still, with hope, the worthless pigeons could at least keep them cornered in the alleyway as her compatriots secured an exit out of their predicament.

Much to her surprise, the shield pulsed outward slightly before dropping, and two of their party, the pegasi and the gaggle of the Prince's soldiers, shot into the air.

"Are they really going to fight-"

Whatever thought she was going to finish, was swept away by both the blinding flash of light and the subsequent boom that toppled her backward into the tower's protective parapet.

"What under the Sun?!" She screeched, clawing at the ground for purchase.

Scrambling to her hooves, she clutched at the edge and stared in shock as she peered over at the scene below.

The entire alley was scorched clean. Whatever attacking forces that had been on the ground with them, were simply no longer there. Burned away by whatever attack the crazy stallion had launched at them.

"Time….time to go…" She muttered as she spun from the waist-high wall and dashed for the stairs. Apparently, Shining Armor would not be deterred by a measly two hundred griffons.

It was long past time for them to get the buck out of there.

Val Shadow-wing was not prone to emotional displays as much as other griffons may have been. He had always been an oddity amongst his kind, as he chose to stay reserved as often as possible. Dressing in subdued colors, if not just jet black, at all times, was simply one aspect of his nature displayed outwardly.

It helped that Prince Gerhard had a similar color choice for his own personal soldiers.

Yet, as he turned from his furious flight skyward, he couldn't help but gape a little in awe at the destruction below.

"Pestle Break…is one pony I would certainly not like to upset." Even the tone in his head was mild.

Below, the entire stretch of alley had been scoured by mage fire. What hadn't been blown completely away was aflame or smoldering.

Many of the griffons who had been on the walls had been knocked back and splayed out on their tail feathers, dazed. At this height and with the moon's help, he could see shock painted on their faces.

"HAHA!" Way to go, Pestle!" Crowed the yellow-orange pegasus beside him. Her sour attitude had practically vanished now that the battle for the keep was truly underway.

"You do realize that does not count in favor of your bet, yes?"

Spitfire gaped at him a few moments before sputtering. "B-b-b-but-!"

"You should have included her in your wager.” He gestured with a smirk. “As it stands, it is you two,” he pointed between the pair of ponies in the air with them, “versus us. Whoever kills the most…wins." Behind him he could feel the eagerness in his team.

The second in command of Equestria's expedition to his nation actually growled at him.

"Fine! But we are still going to win!" She flexed her wings, and the hidden blades that were buried in the feathers were shown in the moonlight with a bright polished gleam. "Let's go Storming!"

"But…the Lieutenant said to wait on-"

"I said, let's go!" The yellow mare, in that strange not quite leather, not quite steel, armor, dove forward and down toward the enemy struggling to get their bearings.

Her companion looked at him shrugging helplessly, and took off after her.

Chuckling to himself, he turned his head to the rest of his squad.

"You have your orders," he paused. "Now, keep an eye on our guests from the South. It seems they are…spirited."

That got a round of chuckles from them, the first sounds they had made all night. Excellent discipline.

Smirking, he dove down in hot pursuit, already noticing that Spitfire was nearly in striking range of her first target.

"My, she is a quick one."

Shining coughed and spat the acrid spell smoke that had gotten into his lungs.

"I said low yield!" He shouted into the smoke and haze brought about by Pestle's not-quite-low-powered artillery strike.

"Sorry! I got nervous!" She called back, somewhere behind him and to the right. In the thick acrid smell of smoke, a byproduct of superheating the atmosphere around them, it was difficult to tell where everypony was.

"Sound off!" He shouted.

"I'm here!" Earnest called, bursting from the billowing smoke to his left. “Damnit, Pestle! I can't make tinier pieces if there is nothing left to break."

Shining wanted to smile as a bit of her country heritage leaked through in her agitated speech.

"I'm sorry!" Pestle Break cried again, stepping up to join them. Her own armor smoked in places. Some of the cloth looked to have been singed by the backblast of her attack.

Shining had not expected so much force from the small mare. Early on, when he and her had linked magic to create the Warp in the ley lines, he had sensed her strength and had been impressed. Surveying what little he could, he was impressed.

"I feel woozy." She mumbled, putting a gloved hand to her head and stumbling slightly.

"In your nervousness, you used too much mana. That was dangerous, Pestle." Other than the slim sword in her other hand, the mare could no longer be expected to bring another strike against the enemy in her current state. "How is your sword arm?" He asked, already strategizing for the next portion of this battle, regretting that he did not have Spitfire or Storming there to lend a hand.

It's an unfortunate consequence of having too green a team he supposed. There was no real coordination. Unused to what each member could actually do.

"I can fight, sir." He winced. First the Second Lieutenant's slip up, now hers. The whole point of dispensing with rank in a combat situation was so he didn't have a target painted on his back. Now he was just hoping that nopony was alive to hear her mistake.

"Take the rear.” He pointed Pestle behind him. “Earnest, take point. I'll provide cover when I can, but don't rely on me." As Shining spoke, his horn burst into life, and a different kind of smog roiled outward from him.

Ager Verrunt was a spell that seemed to come to him as second nature, almost as easy as creating various types of shields with his magic.

The casting of this spell flooded the field of the caster's position with a portion of his magical essence. Allowing the caster the ability to see their environment in their mind's eye. This invocation gave him a complete view of everything around him, despite the smoke, fire, and rubble.

He had complete command of the field, though it was not perfect. Enemy and Friendlies were both more blobs with limbs than actually well-defined subjects. Thus the reason for him wanting his remaining troops so close.

This particular formula was restricted only to those in the military, as it was dangerous in the wrong hands. Not in any perceived deadliness of the skill, but that civilians in the past had used it for anything from a heist to downright murder.

With a start, he realized the shape of a likely enemy had survived Pestle's overpowered onslaught, and was rushing to strike at Earnest from her left. Instinct took over, and the blue shield that needed no thought to create exploded between her and her would-be assailant.

With a start, when the mare heard flesh and armor strike conjured metal, she spun and lashed out quickly with her ax in an undercut pattern. The shield faded away just in time for her weapon to take the stunned avian in the chest. Ripping open poorly maintained leather and iron.

That same arc of the heavy instrument of death also took the griffon in the beak, silencing any chance of a death cry as it cleaved right through to the top of the skull, sending a disgusting display of viscera and blood in an arc over her.

The poor bandit was dead before he could react.

"Thanks, Shining!" Called Earnest, already sweeping her eyes through the smoky environment for her next target, and ignoring the pattern of blood cascading onto her armor.

"You are welcome. Head on a swivel. We are on our own here!" Turning ahead, he drew his sword as he noted more foes appearing in his field of influence.

"They must be dropping in from the walls. Shame Pestle's attack hadn't gotten them all." Shrugging his shoulders, and adjusting his grip on the physical shield in his hand, proceeding forward he grimaced, the night it seemed was only just beginning.

Emil pulled himself from the ground at the base of the stairs of the tower he was leaving. With the Whorses unwilling to lend assistance in the defense of the castle. He figured there was only one other choice available to him.

Escape.

Leave everything behind. He could do it, had done it before. His pappy always said that gold was only worth the fool's life. Gold could be obtained again, but life could not.

As he reached the bottom of the stairs, he was jolted off his paws as a shock wave through the stone shuttered everything loose, including what felt like his beak.

"What in the bloody five realms of Tartarus was that?!" Dust choked his throat at the end, making it sound like he had been struck in the throat mid-question.

The query, of course, was rhetorical. No one was there to answer him.

"Well, I'm not going to find any answers here, lying on my feathers. Might as well get to the roof and rally what's left of my troops." A good distraction should give him enough time to turn his tail feathers and run. With a grunt, the lithe Griffin pushed himself up and bolted for the next set of doors.

With a sinking feeling, the old bandit leader suspected that Prince Gerhard had brought something new to their little fight, and the odds were increasingly falling out of his favor.

"Captain Pipper?" Gerhard maintained a smooth tone, though, in truth, his heart was beating harder now than at the outset of the battle.

A tremendous explosion had cracked the air like thunder, and the eastern side of the ancient fortress blew outward in a radiant green and blue light that shot debris everywhere.

According to reports so far, none of his soldiers had been injured, but this had certainly put a pause on the action as both sides tried to figure out what had exactly happened.

“Well, except for the siege crew.” He chortled to himself. The plucky force hadn't stopped for a moment. Battered and rife with injuries, the dedicated armsgriffons had not stopped for even a moment.

The cry of said soldiers echoed as they worked feverishly to reload their siege equipment, and the sound of boulders striking fortified walls rebounded. Those points of contact with stone on stone reduced to rubble the ancient fortifications in such a satisfying way that it put a smile on his face early on. However, that was merely thrilling, as his campaign against the insurrection of his father's kingdom had become a steady beat of the saying: “day in and day out”.

No, what had set his heart to racing was the sudden explosion that now set his teeth on edge and brought most of the battle to a grinding halt. The thrill he bore, all but evaporated in the near blinding glare that had briefly hushed the battlefield in its brilliance and lit up the night's sky.

"I am not sure, my Prince." His war leader said, hesitancy clear in his voice. "Perhaps…perhaps the ponies?"

"Which ones?" He asked, worry tinged his tone.

"Oh, I'd say the ones that took out that wall, your Highness." Following his captain's gaze, he rediscovered the breach in the eastern wall, now looking like a gaping wound in an exhausted animal on its last legs. He cocked his head, considering.

"Captain, do you think that is an invitation?" He said with a calculated smile.

In a normal conflict, griffons chose to attack from the sky. However, in this case, despite the siege, the defenders of the ancient keep seem to be doing a decent job of keeping the skies over them empty of his forces, save for what was already inside. Even weakened as they were, they were doing an admirable job of repelling them.

The new hole in their wall offered a surprising opportunity.

"Why, your Highness.” Captain Piper said chipperly. “I do believe that is, so kind of them to open the window for us." The Prince could hear the mirth and enthusiasm in his voice.

"Well, we wouldn't want to be the rude guests, after all. Let's go say hello to our hosts." Both grinned before his Captain turned and barked orders that excluded him from attending.

“Of course, they all get to have fun while I sit and watch.”

It had been decided early on that the prince would not be participating in the main battle. Shining armor wanted to preserve the heir to the throne of Griffonia despite his protests that he would be fine—he had been fine the entire time. Unfortunately, his command staff agreed wholeheartedly.

"Oh, well. Perhaps someone will escape, and I can have some fun."

Pestle was exhausted. The sluggish way her limbs reacted to danger was a clear indication, as she stumbled from one half-remembered sword form to another, barely turning blades from her own throat that should have long since retired from the field.

Leaping back, she parried an attack to her midsection and thrust forward in an almost laughably bad riposte that nearly missed the mark entirely.

The ruddy brown griffon in ratty leather armor went down with a choking gargle, blood pouring out of her mouth as the pony's blade slipped free of the enemy's throat allowing the body to join their comrades in a heap in the ruined alley.

That had been a lucky strike and nothing more.

The mare's drilling instructor would have been appalled at the clear stagnation of her sword skills. And they had done more than most to ensure the young enlisted at the time had more training due to her lack of retention.

It was also why, the moment she graduated basic training, she tried to switch tracks and go into the artillery division instead. She preferred to keep targets at a sterile distance and their broken forms from close inspection.

Pestle Break was uncomfortable with engaging the enemy in so up close a fashion, only discovered during training with another would-be soldier screaming in her face as she was pummeled with a practice sword over and over again

The truth was, despite her chosen occupation, she didn't really like killing. Of having to take a life in the defense of her nation and others. In fact, she was terrified of it, really. That unwillingness to cause death, even for the sake of her own life, had made her unfit for either the Infantry or really the Artillery program once they realized that she was purposely missing certain targets.

The idea of keeping the enemy mostly out of sight has not worked. Even if they were only practice dummies, her mind's eye still injected real ponies in their place. Pestle could see their bodies get torn apart.

She was a washout, or near enough. If not for Captain Sureshot, the commander of the Twelfth Artillery Brigade out of New Baltimore, she would have been fast-tracked out of the service under Article Three. The dreaded Other than Honorable Discharge practically stamped to her forehead.

That was a black mark that would have followed her anywhere for years to come.

Instead of a summary dismissal, she was offered a position in the ROVERs, a division in the Equestrian military that focused on rescues and scouting missions rather than direct conflict.

This position allowed her to actually utilize her gift in healing, something she had tried to buck due to the rebellious belief that Cutiemarks do not define a pony.

She had been sorely wrong it would seem.

Luckily for Pestle, she excelled, given the wide variety of skills she had earned along the way. Rising to the rank of Specialist quickly with her unique skill set in potion making and field medicine had secured her from outright failure.

Her father had been correct. She had always been meant to be a healer, not a killer. Her time attempting to push it away had only been a waste of effort. It seemed Harmony had been trying to guide her all along. In this case, kicking and screaming.

Now, with what was supposed to be a simple retrieval mission, the mare had killed more people than she ever thought she would. That left a pit in her stomach that kept her awake at night, and nightmares plagued what rest she could attain on her own.

It had gotten so bad that she had been dosing herself with a diluted form of Sleepweed and Burden's Rose. Both acted as a sleeping agent that managed to put her out quickly, if dreamlessly.

Tonight would mean she doubled the dose from here on out.

The sound of metal on stone drew her attention behind her, snapping her from her wandering thoughts.

Pestle spun just in time to see a blue ethereal shield form between herself and a barely dressed griffon wielding a great ax that had been aimed at her head. The thick blade struck the barrier with a hollow gong and rebounded, throwing her would-be killer back.

Knowing what was about to happen, she thrust forward as the shield vanished, allowing her blade to plunge into the chest of the now-stunned bandit. That weapon he bore slipped from his grasp and clanged to the cobblestone street. His body quickly followed it.

She grimaced, not for the first time grateful that pre-battle jitters kept her from eating anything because she would have surely doubled over twice by now. Still, the taste of bile sat snuggly on the back of her tongue like a pile of rotted vegetables.

She looked on in pity as the enemy tried in vain to stem the tide of blood pouring from the chest wound her blade had given him.

It was widely understood that griffons did not value the lives of their drakes like Equestrians did their stallions. Yet, she could not help the pang in her heart every time she saw a male fall. No matter the species, it threatened to break her every single time.

She shook her head, blinking stinging tears away. "This is no time for distractions." Turning once more, she saw her savior somehow still in action despite the near rescue.

Shining Armor had been an impressive figure the moment she had met him at the Canterlot train station, what felt like a lifetime ago now.

However, as she watched in weary fascination, the pony could not help the slight gape that parted her lips at what she was bearing witness to.

Standing among a pile of corpses, the mission commander…flowed among his attackers. Barely being dislodged from his position on the steadily growing hill.

It was certainly not the standard Equestrian forces swordsmanship that was for certain. Instead of using the long sword in his hand to deliver powerful strikes to exposed portions of the body, he struck with lacerating blows in arcing patterns that allowed him to transition from one opponent to another. From slashes to stabs and back again, in fluid motions that looked like a blur to her.

Like a dance.

The only remnant of training anywhere near what she knew was his shield, which he thrust forward at what appeared at first to be random. Then she noticed the metal forcing combatants to either halt entirely or be stunned by the powerful blunt hits to their body and head that came in contact.

"Where…had he learned to do that?" The dazed thought rebounded in Pestle's mind as she struggled to pull enough air into her lungs to move her body.

She was hyperventilating, her rational mind knew it, but her brain was too fogged with fatigue to do much about it.

Past him, she could see Earnest Hearts using her axes in combination with body blows to throw her own adversaries off their hooves. They were too slow to make use of their gift of flight, as one ax, spinning in her palm, distracted the enemy enough for the follow-up to catch them before they could rise a pace above the ground.

Her team lead was a messy, brutal mare. Hard to believe she was one of the more romantic mares she had encountered in the Guard.

The clatter of cobblestone brought her away from her comrades.

Pivoting she dodged back as another male griffon came at her with a spear, the head of which just missing her midsection.

She struggled to lift her sword arm to strike back, so instead, she used what little power she had to slam her foe into the wall of the alley with a gust of magically conjured wind. It was enough to stun the drake as he quickly crumpled to the ground in a heap.

"Good, that's one stallion I won't have to kill today." The fact that she was relieved to not have to kill again, even momentarily, was too much for her already struggling stamina. “Get your head in the game, mare. You're dragging the team down.”

Unfortunately, her body was not listening. Collapsing to the ground, she gasped and retched. Drool leaked past her lips to splatter the ground. This was not good. Even without anything to come up, the trauma was beginning to become too much for her.

A blue aura suddenly surrounded her, and as Pestle raised her head, she saw Shining give her a sympathetic look before turning back and continuing the fight.

Shame threatened to swallow her. Shame at being so weak that a stallion had to help her. Shame at having to rely on her fellow soldiers to defend her while she became nothing but a millstone for their necks.

Collapsing on her back, she stared into the sky and watched as Storming Wind and Spitfire flitted about at the edges of rooftops. Striking enemies from improvised battlements to crash into the streets below, their wings slashed in a way that robbed them of lift as they futilely flapped their wings, only to still smack into the ground with a sickening crunch.

This was the worst she had felt in a very long time. Closing her eyes she just breathed, trying to shut out the world of clashing metal, of screams.

"Pestle!" Somepony shook her violently. "Are you okay?!"

Opening her eyes, she realized that sometime during the battle, she had passed out. Her face flushed with embarrassment as she tried to think of a way to save face.

Above her was Storming, a stricken look of fear leaving her face as she noticed the Specialist was still in one piece, if out of sorts, lying on the cobblestone alley like she was.

"What-" she swallowed thickly. "What happened?"

Shining popped up behind the lowest-ranking member of their squad, with a stern yet not unsympathetic look on his features.

His face was a mask of red and white that the helmet he bore did not cover.

"Magical exhaustion. You wore yourself out with that first attack, Specialist. That was, as I said before, a mistake. How are you feeling?"

She smacked her lips. "Dry, Sir."

That response was soon rewarded with a canteen placed to her lips and she found herself drinking greedily from it.

Once she had taken her fill, she had pulled away and was eased up by Earnest, who had been behind and out of her periphery. Looking around, Pestle instantly regretted drinking so much water. The battleground, from what could be seen through the torches scattered on the ground and the small balls of conjured light floating in the sky, was the stuff of nightmares.

Bodies, in various states of damage and dismemberment, laid in heaps upon each other as blood slowly meandered away from the piles to the ancient sewer system of the keep. She very consciously ignored the sticky sensation as her armor and mane were pulled away from the ground.

Before she could ask, Shining came to her rescue by casting a cleaning spell on her. The cold ripple of magic made her shudder.

"How long was I out?" She asked as she looked to the sky for the last member of their team. She spotted Spitfire, who seemed to be in a heated argument with one of the griffons assigned to them.

"No more than a couple of minutes, Pestle." Came Earnest's reply. She helped the down mare to her hooves and looked around at the mess before then. "This was a lot more gruesome than I thought it'd be." She mused, disgust on her face.

"This is ultimately what combat is, Sergeant." The words were a matter of fact, but the Lieutenant's countenance was anything but. Sadness drew lines where she had not seen them before. It was as if he aged ten years since the last she looked.

He looked at her, and his mouth formed a thin line. "I apologize." He glanced at the others. "To all of you, my eagerness to find the colt led me to accept a proposal that put us in far more dire straits than I had originally believed or planned. This was a mistake."

Pushing against Earnest lightly, Pestle demonstrated that she could stand on her own.

"Sir, I think I understand." He frowned at her, but she continued on before he could interrupt. "I have given this a lot of thought, and you don't need to confirm whether it is true.” She remembered the look the Princess of Love sent his way, as well as the High Princess’s own stern gaze. “You are driven to perform well because it's the only way your relationship with Princess Mi Amore Cadenza will be accepted."

"That is…true." Their squad leader said. Surprise painted clear on his face that anypony would have figured that out.

"Wait. He has to succeed in his assignments for Princess Celestia to allow him to officially date another princess?" Storming Wind was aghast.

"Yes and no. Judging by the High Princess's interest in the mission, I think she is fine with it." She groaned, irritated. "It's the nobles that will throw a fit should they learn the truth without him attaining the status for it."

"Sun…burn it all," Earnest whispered. "That ain't fair."

Shining could only shrug.

"I have no control over the situation, neither does Cadence.” He coughed and shrugged uncomfortably. “I mean Princess Mi Amore Cadenza." He gave a weak smile at his slip in protocol with his troops. "As it stands, some already know she is seeing somepony, and they are hunting for who it is. There are a lot of mares who want their sons attached to the Princess of Love."

"Exactly." Pestle frowned. "What's the plan, Sir? We've done a pretty bang-up job reducing the enemy's numbers here. Oberst Vorder should be cracking the gates any moment and taking out the embattlements along the wall soon enough. Do we now move on to the primary objective?"

Their first task was to reduce enemy troops inside the keep and draw attention from Vorder's gate crashers. With the assistance of Val Shadow-wing and his troops, that was accomplished—if more bloody than she would have liked.

The second task was to infiltrate and capture the ponies who had been assisting the bandits in their business of killing common griffons and destroying farmland and villages.

"Yes, we must make haste now. Judging by how hard their weapons struck at my shield, I can only assume somepony used an enhancement charm on their gear." He frowned. "They clearly know we're here."

Spitfire landed forcefully in the street, kicking up ancient dust not stuck to the ground by blood and bodies.

"They are in the eastern tower, the fat stubby one." She spat and pointed at a distant spire of stone. Whatever argument she had with Val Shadow-wing seemed to have not gone in her favor. "I saw at least six of them, all unicorns unless some ponies' are disguising themselves."

Shining spoke for all of them as the reality of what they were facing crashed home.

"Shit. That's gonna complicate things." He spat, gazing in the direction the Second Lieutenant had indicated.

Fighting unicorns, even for other unicorns, was a nasty task. While equines had an almost natural resistance to certain forces of magic, unicorns could well overpower that resistance. Then there was the other thing. Trying to surmount their defenses.

"Yes, Sir. Attacking now while they are dug in will not be the easiest." Pestle grimaced, already thinking of how to storm a tower without being crushed or set aflame by proximity traps and spells fired off by a desperate group of ponies all too eager to keep out of the hands of the law.

"Sir…" Earnest said slowly, looking toward where the artillery spell had blown several of the sides of buildings completely off. The weight of the structures now sagged, some even falling onward on themselves. "I think…I have an idea."