"Up, up, up, everypony! No time for sleep!"

Twilight Sparkle had gotten used to being awoken earlier than any sane pony should ever be awake, but even by military standards, this seemed a bit excessive. "Flemeth, what in the world is going on?"

"It would appear that Princess Luna has failed to hold off the gryphon army. It's sweeping its way through northern Equestria and will be knocking on the city gates within the day, so get out of bed and get ready to fight," the old unicorn said.

Oh no...What happened to them? To Shining Armor? To Razor Blade? There was no time to ponder these worries, though. As she gradually became more aware, Twilight began to notice the sounds of panic and scrambling in the city outside the castle. A glance out of a nearby window revealed streets chock-full of ponies scurrying about while the city guards tried in vain to maintain order and enforce the 24 hour curfew that Princess Celestia had mandated in response to the approaching gryphon army. "The fewer civilian ponies in the streets during the fighting, the fewer civilian casualties there will be" was Celestia's logic.

Although it was known to everypony in the kingdom that Gryphus had a military far superior to that of Equestria, few ponies considered it a possibility that the gryphon army would advance as far as Canterlot. It just didn't register in the minds of most ponies that the war could be fought at home. Most of the nobility had shared this misguided view despite Celestia's and Luna's urges that they pool their resources to bolster the city's defenses. Lo and behold, however, an army of gryphons twenty thousand strong could be seen in the distance on approach to the Equestrian capital.

When news reached the throne about the gryphon army pouring across the northwestern border, Celestia immediately ordered that the Royal Guard, the Wonderbolts - who had all be reassigned to Canterlot after the initial reclamation of the Crystal City - and the various chapters of the Order of Magi to converge on Canterlot as quickly as possible to defend the city. Following the attacks on the towns between the norther border and Canterlot, many civilians moved their families inside the walled capital for protection. Though most of the denizens of Ponyville stayed in their village during the aftermath of the enemy's unsuccessful attack, it was decided that Cheerilee would take the fillies and colts of the town to Canterlot for protection.

The temple to the ancient gods currently served as a refugee center. It was the protection of this building with which the Magi had been tasked. Flemeth had asked Twilight and a handful of acolytes from the Tower to inspect the temple and make sure that the building was structurally secure before the fighting began. Between the gryphons' use of explosives and the combat spells that would be flying up and down the city streets, there was sure to be a large amount of collateral damage. It was up to Twilight and the acolytes assigned to her to do what they could to ensure that the temple housing the refugees was not part of that damage.

When Twilight entered the temple, she was knocked to the floor. "TWILIGHT WE MISSED YOU SO MUCH!!" three young voices cried out. As she shook her head to fix her eyes that had begun to resemble Derpy's, Twilight saw three familiar fillies' staring at her with huge smiles - a yellow earth pony, a white unicorn, and an orange pegasus.

"Ughn. Hello, girls. It's good to see you, too," she said as she struggled to rise from her hooves, still a bit wobbly from the forceful embrace. "You girls need to stay close to Miss Cheerilee. It's going to get dangerous, and I know that Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash would be devastated if anything happened to you because you got overly excited. Stay with her so she can keep you safe."

"No way!" Scootaloo shouted. "We don't need Miss Cheerilee to protect us!"

"Yeah, we're gonna do the protectin'!" Apple Bloom said.

"You...wait...what?" Twilight wasn't sure if she even wanted to know what they were going on about.

"We're gonna keep everypony safe from the gryphons," Sweetie Belle said.

"CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS ROYAL KNIGHTS YAY!!" the three fillies shouted in unison.

"Oh no, girls, this is no time for your crusading."

"I'm gonna use what Razor Blade taught me and kill any gryphon that tries to get in here!" Scootaloo shouted as she rose to her back hooves and started thrusting a hoof forward, lunging in the stance that she had been taught in her fencing lessons. Scootaloo fluttered her wings as fast a hummingbird, hoping up and down on her hooves in excitement. "I'll be so awesome, Rainbow Dash will have to be proud of me when she gets back from whatever super radical Wonderbolt mission she's on!"

"Yeah, and Ah'm gonna buck 'em so hard, they ain't gonna know what hit 'em! Just like Applejack and Big Mac!" Apple Bloom added, bucking the air with her back hooves.

"And I'll use my magic to hold them still like Twilight does so they can't run away!" Sweetie Belle chimed in.

"Twilight?" Scootaloo asked. "Apple Bloom talked about Applejack and Big Mac, and I said how Rainbow Dash will think I'm awesome. Aren't you gonna say something about Rarity?"

Sweetie Belle deadpanned. "What would I do? Make the gryphons new outfits?" The fillies broke into a fit of giggling.

"Are you three done yet? This is serious, girls. You have to stay close to Cheerilee. Promise me," Twilight said sternly.

"But Twilight-" Apple Bloom started to say.

"No but's, girls! Promise me." Twilight insisted.

All three girls pouted. "We promise..." they muttered dejectedly.

"Pinkie promise?"

The fillies rolled their eyes and said in unison, "Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye."

"Thank you," Twilight said, patting each filly on the head in succession. "Now you three run along and stay with your class. I have to go finish checking up on things in here."

As she was finishing making her way around the sanctuary, a young green unicorn trotted up to her. "Miss Sparkle, pardon the interruption, but we've finished our inspection of the building. All windows are locked, bolted, and boarded up, as are all of the doors with the exception of the front door. The basement is stocked with enough provisions to last for one week. What would you like to do regarding deployment in here?"

"I want you and the other acolytes to stay here and act as guards. Five well trained unicorns should be plenty, I think," Twilight said.

"Very well," the mare said before trotting back to the other three magi.

Celestia stood in her throne room, staring out the window at the field to the north. She was watching the brown and white mass creep towards her city. Several dozen miles behind the approaching army, plumes of black smoke billowed into the sky from the Everfree Forest. I thought they would just abuse the forest's resources. I hadn't expected them to set it ablaze. Only a couple hours left until the capital city is subjected to the same destruction... she thought to herself.

"Princess Celestia?" A voice startled Celestia from her thoughts.

"Hm? Oh, Cadance, good morning."

"Do you know anything about what's happened to Luna and Shining Armor?" Cadance asked.

Celestia allowed her stoic facade to drop before her niece. "I do not," she said grimly. "Since they marched to defend Detrot and Tramplevania, I have received no reports of the army's demise, but I have not heard anything positive, either; I am afraid that I have not heard anything at all. Unfortunately, with the enemy so quickly approaching the capital, we do not have time to spend worrying. We have to trust that your husband and my sister are well and will get word to us when they can."

"Of course. What would you have me to do to help?"

"You proved the strength of your shield spell while holding off King Sombra's influence. I would ask that you use that spell to help protect Canterlot from the coming gryphon army," Celestia said. "It would appear that we must defend this city together once again." With a smirk that contrasted the tense air of the city, she added, "We really must find a better way to bond, Cadance."

"I agree," Cadance said, though she was unable to return Celestia's smile. "I'd be delighted to use my magic in any way that would help in Canterlot's defense." Despite being her adoptive aunt's political and diplomatic equal, Cadance bowed to Celestia before departing the throne room.

As she trotted through the castle corridors at a brisk pace, Cadance quickly lost herself to a tirade of thoughts. Between Nightmare Moon, Discord, Queen Chrysalis, and King Sombra, Equestria has had more than its fair share of brushes with disaster in the past few years. How many close calls can one kingdom endure before its luck finally runs out, though? I hope that luck holds out just a little while longer; if Equestria falls, then there's no hope of freeing the Crystal Empire.

Cadance exited the castle, making her way to the ancient temple. She knew that was where the refugees were being sent, and she felt that, technically being a refugee herself, that was where were tender heart and caring nature would be of the most benefit to the common ponies who were about to get caught in the crossfire. Furthermore, the temple's relatively central location in the city would make an ideal place to cast her shield spell, ensuring that no part of the city was left more vulnerable than any other.

When she entered the temple, Cadance was surprised by the number of ponies filling the building. To be exact, she was surprised how relatively few there were. She had expected the temple to be practically bursting at the seams with refugees, but on the contrary, there was ample space to move around freely. That's not to say that the were only a handful of ponies who were taking shelter within the temple; there were somewhere on the order of four or five hundred ponies. In a building that could safely hold four or five thousand ponies, however, it seemed very sparsely occupied.

"Cadance!" A voice from farther within the temple brought the alicorn out of her musings. The princess of love blinked and looked to her left to see a familiar purple unicorn cantering up to her.

"How are you, Twilight?" Cadance asked as she moved to embrace her sister-in-law.

"Busy making sure that things here are ready to withstand the battle, but I'm doing okay overall. Have you heard anything about Razor Blade or Shining Armor?"

Cadance shook her head. "I'm afraid not. I just talked to Celestia about it. She said that she hasn't heard anything good or bad about how they're doing. I guess we just have to trust them to take care of themselves and hope for the best."

"I'm sure they're fine. After all, Luna is with them. What are you doing here, though? Are you going to stay here with the refugees during the fight?" Twilight asked.

"I was planning to, yes. I thought that I might be able to help comfort some of the younger foals. I know they're bound to be scared. That, and Celestia asked me to use the shield spell that I used when King Sombra returned. I figured that it would be easier to keep the shield's magical power even since the temple is more or less in the middle of the city."

"Oh, good thinking. I'm glad that you'll be staying here. Having an alicorn princess close by will make everypony feel a lot safer, not to mention giving the Magi acolytes stationed here an authority figure. I put Spring Showers, the green mare by the altar, in charge, but since all of the acolytes are the same rank, I doubt they'll really listen to her," Twilight explained. "I have to leave to fight with the more veteran mages when the gryphons break through the city's defenses, but they'll listen to you even if they don't listen to her."

Cadance opened her mouth to say something, but the sound of klaxons outside interrupted her. "You'd better go, Twilight," she said, her horn glowing as she started to cast the shield spell. "I doubt that alarm means 'The gryphons gave up and went home,'"

Twilight walked outside to see the sky's darkening. Thousands of gryphons covered the sky, blocking much of the sun's light. In parts of the city, only the pink glow of Cadance's magic shield illuminated the alleyways. Gryphons flew full speed into the pink barrier, spears at the ready, in attempts to break through. All around her, members of the Equestrian military's various branches galloped about. Members of the Guard armed with spears, axes, and swords raced to and fro to ensure that all of the major roadways were defended when the enemy eventually broke through the barrier. Unicorn mages in groups ranging in size from three to five positioned themselves throughout the city to support the Guard. The twenty-three remaining Wonderbolts zipped through the sky to monitor the integrity of the shield dome and determine where the gryphons would break through first.

"Twilight Sparkle, you are needed here," an elderly mare said with a calm voice altogether uncharacteristic of one in a city under attack. Flemeth trotted up to Twilight. "I'm having the Circle's most powerful mages gather at the city gates. We won't have any way of knowing where Princess Cadance's dome will crack first until it's too late to position ourselves there, but that isn't important. Regardless of where the break first occurs, it will be there grunts that take advantage of that; their more elite forces will breach the city's main gates, so that's where we need to be."

Twilight nodded and followed alongside Flemeth. "How long do you think it will-"

Twilight's question was cut off by what sounded like shattering glass. Both mares snapped their heads around to see a hole shatter in the pink dome, sending cracks throughout the remaining parts of the barrier. Gryphon soldiers immediately began to pour in through the hole.

"Longer than that, I was sure," Flemeth said, a tone of worry momentarily betraying her otherwise calm demeanor. "We must make haste to the city gates. Either Cadance is the weakest alicorn in Equestrian history or we have underestimated the ability of the gryphons' army, and I very much doubt that it is the former."

Twilight and Flemeth galloped through the streets of Canterlot as quickly as the old mare's legs would move, killing the occasional gryphon that accosted them along their way. Above them, the Wonderbolts, having deemed their previous attempts to guard the cracks in the magic shield to be futile, cut across the sky in every direction to intercept the gryphons that had begun to enter the city's airspace. When Flemeth and Twilight arrived at the city's main gates, the heavily armored gryphon soldiers on the other side had already started to splinter the gates' wood with their battering rams. Over two dozen unicorn mages and nearly one hundred Royal Guards stood ready to engage the invading paladins.

"Twilight, when they break through those gates, I want you to cast the most powerful attack spell you can. I have seen you demonstrate competency with every spell that I have taught you, so I will leave the decision of which spell to use up to you," Flemeth said, her horn already glowing an ominous black.

Twilight nodded and turned her head to face the gates. An electric spell spell would generally be more effective against flying opponents like gryphons, but these gryphons will be on the ground and in heavy armor. With that in mind, maybe a fire spell? That would turn their thick, metal armor into ovens. It's cruel, but my priority has to be defending Canterlot, right? She couldn't help but think about what she was about to do to her opponents, though. It will literally cook them alive. Maybe I can make the magic strong enough to kill them instantly. Will that really be any better, though? If I make the fire magic that hot, then there probably wouldn't be a body left to bury. Even the most horrible pony - or gryphon - deserves a proper burial. This isn't right. I shouldn't be trying to decide how to kill somepony. The princess is counting on me, though...I can't let her down. And what would Razor think? He's been out there fighting this whole time. What does it say about me if he's brave enough to do that, and I can't even fight to defend Canterlot? No, this isn't the time for doubt. I have to do my part to protect Equestria, no matter what. I can deal with my guilt about it later. Her mind made up, Twilight lowered her head so that her horn was pointing directly at the city's gates. As she focused her alicorn's energy on images of an intense inferno, her horn took on a vibrant violet light. For second after tense second, the sounds of splintering wood filled the air along with the polychromatic aurora from the horns of the unicorn mages. Twilight screwed her eyes shut in concentration. When she finally heard the gates burst and the armored gryphons charge into the city, her eyes shot wide open, completely consumed by an ethereal purple glow.

As gryphons poured into Canterlot from the destroyed gates, a myriad of spells pierced the air to meet them. Gryphons were downed by bolts of lightning, balls of fire, cyclones of wind, and jets of water. Flemeth loosed from her horn a black disc that seemed to tear the very fabric of the world as it passed, severing anything it touched, be it a gryphon's wing or its head. When Twilight finally released her pent up magic, however, all of the other unicorns' attack spells paled in comparison. As she channeled her energy through her horn, a wide stream of azure flame flowed forth, setting the air ablaze. As it engulfed the gryphons in the front of the invading army, agonized screams echoed down the streets and alleyways of the city.

When Twilight's energy was spent and the flames subsided, she collapsed onto the cobblestone road as the sickening stench of death and burnt flesh permeated her nose. Where just a moment before had stood a disciplined and well armed fighting force, now there were only piles of ash and bubbling steel. Oh Celestia, what I have done? Twilight asked herself. Through her blurred vision, she could see the bubbling remains of the gryphons she'd just killed. I...I killed them. They're dead because of me. She suddenly felt sick to her stomach, but she barely had the energy to stay conscious, let alone retch the way her body wanted to. I shouldn't have put so much energy into that spell. That was...that was unnecessary. There isn't even anything to send to the families to bury. They didn't deserve that. They didn't ask for this war anymore than I did. They were just doing what they had to do, and I...I killed them. I killed so many of them. It wasn't even fast. Their screams...They were in so much pain...How could I do that? How can I bear one of the Elements of Harmony and then do something has horrible as that?

While Twilight's ethical crisis kept her distracted, the situation took a turn for the worse. Although she had done an excellent job of wiping out the first wave of oncoming gryphons, she failed to take into account the thousands of reinforcements that were marching directly behind. The other mages and the Royal Guards stationed near the city gates did their best to hold back the invading force, but it soon overwhelmed them. I have to get up Twilight though to herself. The battle isn't over yet...I have to help. She struggled to rise to her hooves, knowing that she needed to do her part in the fight. It took her a moment to realize that everypony was running away from the fight, not towards it. Wait...what? Where's everypony going? We have to stop the grypons! she thought to herself, though just thinking was difficult for her at the moment; the sudden expenditure of such a vast amount of magical energy left her both exhausted and with a splitting headache.

"Move, child! This position has been lost. To tarry is to invite death," Flemeth said as she enveloped Twilight in an ebony aura and lifted her from the ground. Twilight said nothing, but she nodded her understanding. Flemeth lowered her to the ground, and she galloped alongside the old mare, her senses having begun to return to normal. "Her majesty foresaw this and gave orders that we would regroup at the temple should our position be overrun," Flemeth explained.

As the two unicorns approached the massive temple, they saw groups of ponies from the Circle of Magi and the Royal Guard converging on the temple, as well. This alone would have been enough to cause concern, but what truly gave Flemeth pause was seeing the Wonderbolts flying towards the temple from various parts of the city. "It appears that Canterlot shall fall," Flemeth said, her voice sounding all but resigned to the fact. "We make our stand at the temple, though if even the Wonderbolts are in retreat, I doubt there is much to be done."

"Do not be so quick to give up on Equestria, Flemeth." Flemeth and Twilight turned to see Princess Celestia, dressed from head to hoof in golden armor, land beside them along with the twenty-five ponies of her personal guard. "The battle is not lost yet."

"Of course not, your majesty," Flemeth said, bowing before Celestia alongside Twilight. "It simply seems that victory here is growing increasingly unlikely. Perhaps we should withdraw to-"

"No," Celestia said with the full authority of one who has ruled for ten centuries. As she spoke, her voice began to rise in volume and in intensity. "I may well have already lost my sister to them. I will not sacrifice Canterlot. We have made too many compromises already. Too many retreats. They invade our allies' territory, and we fall back. They raze entire cities, and we fall back. Not again. The line must be drawn here. This far, no farther, and I will make them pay for what they have done." Flemeth and Twilight stood speechless, the former with her mouth slightly agape. Flemeth had served Princess Celestia for a long time, and even during the crises with Nightmare Moon, Discord, and King Sombra, she had never heard such unbridled emotion in the princess's voice or such unrestrained fury in her eyes.

Celestia took a moment to compose herself and regain her control before she turned to face the armored hoard that marched towards them. "Read yourselves, everypony," she said as her horn took a pale yellow shimmer. "The enemy approaches." Gryphons closed in from all sides, but the bulk of their army made its approach by way of the city's primary boulevard, marching directly towards the temple's facade. Celestia's eyes flicked back and forth, taking stock of her surroundings and weighing her options. She closed her eyes and sighed quietly. "Gods, forgive me," she whispered. Celestia opened her eyes and stared at the approaching army. When it was mere yards from the circular plaza in front of the temple, she shot from her horn two beams of magical energy. They impacted the large buildings on either side of the plaza's entrance, destroying the first floors and bringing the buildings crashing down, crushing the gryphons in the front of the army. Those around her gasped, but nopony dared to question Celestia's actions.

Although the gryphon army's commanders had been unceremoniously crushed by the falling buildings, that did not stop the army itself from seeing vengeance. Gryphons took the sky and simply flew over the debris, emerging from the dust cloud with spears and axes at the ready. What had begun as a showdown between two disciplined fighting forces soon digressed into largely unruly claw-to-hoof combat between two well armed mobs. Members of the Royal Guard and gryphon grunts chopped and sliced each other to pieces, turning the crevasses between the stones that made up Canterlot's roads into small canals of blood. The remaining unicorn mages did what they could to support the Guard units, but being forced to fight near the front of the action, most of them were cut down in short order. Soon Flemeth, Twilight, Celestia, and a handful of fortunate acolytes were the only remaining trained magic users.

Flemeth loosed her magic discs as quickly as her horn could conjure them, and Twilight shot a gryphon out of the sky with a bolt of electricity every second. Celestia fired thin beams of solar light that burned through anything they touched, each beam capable of killing several gryphons if they were lined up well enough. Even as effective as these magical attacks were, however, the ponies continued to be constricted in an ever shrinking area around the temple doors. Twilight was nearly knocked over as Rapidfire's eviscerated corpse was thrown over her head and slammed into the temple wall behind her with a sickening crunch.

As unsettling as to her as the sound of bones' being crushed was, though, it was another sound that seemed to stop the beating of Twilight's heart - the shattering of glass. Oh no, the girls... Twilight spun her head around to see a group of five gryphons fly into the temple through a broken stained glass window. "Princess, the refugees! There are fillies and colts in the temple!" Twilight called, making no effort to mask the panic in her voice.

Firing three more beams of energy from her horn, Celestia looked at Twilight and said, "Teleport into the temple and protect the foals. Flemeth and I will hold them off and keep the door secure." Twilight nodded and used her magic to teleport inside the temple.

"Stay close to me, children! Everypony, come here." Cheerilee tried to mask her own fear as she attempted to keep the schoolfoals close to her. Even as thick as the temple's stone walls were, they did little to mute the sounds of death and destruction outside. I need to keep these foals as far back as I can in case they break through that door she thought.

"Don't worry, Miss Cheerliee! The Cutie Mark Crusaders will keep everypony safe!" Apple Bloom said, puffing out her chest.

"Apple Bloom, this is serious," Cheerilee scolded. The infamous Cutie Mark Crusaders looked utterly unconvinced. "This isn't a game, girls!" Cheerilee snapped. "Get over here right now!"

"But Miss Cheerilee," Scootaloo began to whine.

"Scootaloo, do not argue with me about this. How do you think Rainbow Dash would feel if you got hurt because you were too stubborn to listen to me? How awesome do you think she would find that?" Scootaloo grumbled under the breath but did as she was told. Cheerilee was about to give the children further instructions when the sounds of shattering glass and breaking boards brought an end to all conversation within the temple. The teacher turned around in time to see a shard of broken glass embed itself between the eyes of the one of the unicorn acolytes, killing her instantly. She looked up, and what she saw filled her with terror. Five gryphons were flying into the temple sanctuary, weapons at the ready, through a broken window.

"Spring, look out!" one of the refugees shouted. Spring Showers, the acolyte in charge of defense inside the temple, had been so focused on getting the refugees away from the window that she had allowed a gryphon to come up behind her. She turned her head to look at gryphon, the distance between them closing rapidly. A pink bolt of magic slammed into the gryphon, knocking it into a wall with a loud crack. One of the other acolytes loosed a fireball from his horn to ensure that the attacker was dead.

"Spring Showers, you and the acolytes finish off the other gryphons. I'll handle getting the refugees to safety," Cadance said, galloping up to the startled unicorn.

"Understood, princess," Spring said.

While Cheerilee had intended to keep the foals in her care safe by moving them to a secluded corner of the temple, it ended up having the opposite effect; she and her students soon found themselves separated from the protection of the Magi acolytes by four angry gryphons. "Kids, stay back," she said, placing herself between the approaching gryphons and her students, though she was unsure what she thought one unarmed mare with no self-defense training was going to do.

When she took a small step backwards, the gryphons lurched forwards. One of the acolytes was able to fire off a spell in time and kill a sword-wielding gryphon, but the other three still raced towards the children. Seeing her teacher in imminent danger, Scootaloo galloped forward, grabbed the sword with her teeth, closed her eyes as tightly as she could, and swung her neck with all of the power that her small body could muster. She heard a tear and a gargling noise followed shortly thereafter by a thump. She felt a warm liquid spill onto her body. She opened her eyes to see the gryphon lying dead at her hooves, his throat torn open. Scootaloo faintly heard two cracks as the other two gryphons were killed by acolytes' spells, but she paid no attention. All she could see was the corpse at her hooves. All she could feel was his blood was soaking her mane, dripping from her muzzle.

When Twilight rematerialized from her teleportation spell, she had expected to see the gryphon soldiers' butchering the refugees. The sight that greeted her caught her off guard, to say the least. Rather than seeing dead ponies surrounding blood-soaked gryphons, she saw only one dead pony - an unfortunate acolyte with a bloody shard of glass between her eyes.

Two of the gryphons lay dead not far from the broken window, their bodies burnt to a crisp, while two more lay dead closer to the frightened group of fillies and colts on the far end of the sanctuary. It was the sight of the fifth gryphon that left Twilight truly speechless. When she appeared inside the temple, she saw it lying in a pool of its own blood and a sword being held in the mouth of a small orange filly. "...Scootaloo?" Twilight managed to squeak out.

Scootaloo gave no indication that she had even heard Twilight. Oh gods...I killed him. I actually killed him. There's...there's so much blood... The pegasus filly suddenly dropped the sword and emptied the contents of her stomach onto the floor in front of her.

"Scootaloo!" Twilight shouted as she galloped over to the filly. Scootaloo fell to her haunches, staring wide eyed at the dead gryphon. Twilight sat down to her left and wrapped a foreleg around her.

"His eyes..." she muttered almost inaudibly.

"What was that, sweetie?" Cheerliee asked, seating herself on the side opposite Twilight.

"His eyes," Scootaloo repeated, a little louder this time. "They're so empty. They were so angry a minute ago, and now they're just...empty..."

Scootaloo began shaking as she broke down crying. Burying her face into Cheerilee's stomach, she clenched her teacher's coat tightly with her hooves. As she cried, she didn't even notice faint white glow on her flanks. When her sobbing had calmed, Sweetie Belle trotted up to to Scootaloo. "Look, Scoots," Sweetie said gently, trying to cheer up her friend. "You got your cutie mark."

Scootaloo sniffled and pulled away from Cheerilee to look at her flank. There it was. Her cutie mark. She had waited so long for it to appear and tried so hard in so many different ways to discover what her special talent was. Her cutie mark - a kite shield with an open wing on either side - had finally appeared.

"Ya got yer cutie mark, Scootaloo! Ain't ya happy?" Apple Bloom asked, not really understanding why her friend was so distraught.

"I don't care!" Scootaloo screamed, causing both of her friends to recoil. "Just leave me alone!" she shouted as she galloped off to the other side of the sanctuary where Cadance had taken the other refugees.

Cheerilee went to talk to the other students, leaving Twilight to deal with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. "Look, girls," Twilight said as softly as she could to the two fillies, "I know you two don't really understand why, but Scootaloo's going to be really upset for a while. Just give her some space until she calms down. When she's ready to talk, she'll come to you, but until then, just let her have some time to herself. Okay?" The two girls nodded their heads, their faces showing confusion but genuine concern. Twilight opened her mouth to say something else, but she paused when she heard a noise a deep, rumbling noise outside. "You two stick together, and make sure you're there for Scootaloo when she decides that she needs you. You four," she said, addressing the remaining Magi acolytes, "make sure this sanctuary stays safe. These refugees are counting on you."

Twilight teleported back outside with the full expectation of seeing some sort of devastating gryphon war machine. For a second time that day, she was greeted by a pleasant albeit confusing surprise. What Twilight had heard was not the rumblings of a Gryphonian super weapon but the rhythmic cadence of Zebrican war drums. Marching up the road to Canterlot through the destroyed city gates was an army of zebra warriors that looked to be at least 25,000 strong, and at the forefront of that army was a canary pegasus mare adorned by a Zebrican warlord's headdress. Twilight turned to Celestia with wide eyes and asked, "Princess, what's going on? Since when did the zebras agree to help? Why is Fluttershy leading them?"

Taking the moment's distraction to slay three more gryphons with another beam of magic, Celestia answered, "I do not know when or why zebras agreed to help our cause, but I am certainly glad that they did. I sent Fluttershy to Zebrica a week ago to use their reverence for nature and the gryphon's inevitable abuse of the Everfree Forest as a last attempt to gain their help. It would appear that my last-ditch effort has worked."

With the zebra warriors closing in from the main boulevard behind them and the remaining ponies having been cornered in front of them, the gryphons found themselves being squeezed. Even with their superior training and arms, being sandwiched between the greater numbers of the zebras and the determined resolve of the ponies was an untenable position. Once they were within a hundred yards of the temple's plaza-turned-battlefield, the zebra warriors broke into a full gallop. Crashing into the gryphons with a combination of spears and combustible potion phials, the zebras introduced to the battle a variable for which the the gryphons had not prepared. When the gryphons turned their attention to fight the zebras, the ponies took advantage of the situation to strike. What had been an assured victory for the army of Gryphus just moments before was quickly turning into a rout.

"Princess," Twilight began to speak between spells, "don't those phials constitute chemical warfare? Isn't that unsettlingly similar to what the gryphons did to us at Trottingham?"

Celestia, who had turned her magic from the fighting to healing the wounds of her subjects, sighed before responding, "Yes, Twilight, the tactics that the zebras are using are indeed very similar to those used by the gryphons, and it is only a technicality that prevents them from violating the international ban on the military use of dynamite. Unfortunately, when an enemy is burning the Equestrian capital city to the ground, I am in no position to turn away assistance, regardless of what dubious tactics that ally might be employing." Hearing a moan from the pony she was treating, Celestia turned her attention back to her patient. "Shh, I know it hurts, but you must be strong. It will only hurt for a short while, I promise."

It was less than an hour after the zebras' arrival before the gryphons admitted their defeat and took to the skies in retreat. The remaining Wonderbolts, who numbered only seven by this point, rose above the city to see to where the enemy had retreated. Returning to the ground, Soarin, having just had an abdominal wound treated by her magic, cantered up to Princess Celestia. "Your majesty," he said with a bow, "the enemy has retreated to the Everfree Forest. There is an area in the middle that didn't burn. That looks to be where they're going."

Celestia took the sky to see the situation for herself. The alicorn's eyes widened when she saw where in the forest that the enemy forces were converging. She quickly returned to the ground and turned to Twilight. "Make haste to Ponyville, Twilight," she said, her voice laced with trepidation. "Take Fluttershy with you, and gather Rarity and Applejack when you arrive. If I'm correct about what Ashnard has in store, only the Elements of Harmony can protect us. After I've gathered the Elements, I will meet you at Fluttershy's cottage with what remains of our army. Go!"

No sooner had she finished giving her orders before Celestia flew towards the castle at a speed that would have given Rainbow Dash a run for her bits. "Whatever it is, it sounds urgent. Soarin, would you please go check on the refugees while Celestia gets ready?" Twilight asked, to which the pegasus nodded his head. She then said goodbye to Flemeth and left to find Fluttershy before setting out for Ponyville at a full gallop.

Author's Note

I know it can get a bit confusing, but "alicorn" can refer to both the material out of which a unicorn's horn is made as well as a pony with both wings and a horn. It's confusing, I know, but I didn't make it up; those have been terms used in fantasy literature for decades. It's just important to keep in mind the context, I suppose.

Also, $20 to anypony who can name the inspiration for Celestia's monologue.