Nightingale

A lone horn light shone against the darkness in the sewers beneath Canterlot, Illuminating five ponies trudging thru the waste. The sewers of Canterlot were truly cavernous and would be a world wonder in their own right… if it wasn’t covered in the waste of thousands of ponies that used to live above. The engineering brilliance that created the sewers was demonstrated by the great flowing arches that acted as supports for the sewers. Leading in front was a white unicorn mare who looked like she might be sick, followed by a pink earth pony who looked like she would like to be nowhere else than a stinking sewer running for her life from evil daemons.

“Pinkie! Quit bouncing your splashing this muck into my mane! I am already covered in so much muck I will have to bathe for a lifetime, no need to add any more!” Rarity whined at Pinkie Pie. “How much further Fluttershy? This sewer smells!”

“Oh… um sorry Rarity!... I think it’s just a little bit farther!” Fluttershy replied “Sorry to drag you girls down here I just kind of panicked once the battle started.”

“Oh it’s quiet alright dear! I am just worried is all; I do hope Twilight is alright, it looked like quiet the battle.”

The group was silent as they came to a stair case at the end of one of the many long and winding tunnels that snaked through the Canterlot sewers. Though they had been led through the sewers by Fluttershy’s freakishly immense and complete knowledge of the sewer system, the fear of the dark unknown around them had set the ponies on edge. Torches lined the walls as the steps ascended, the lights at the top a mere pinprick against the darkness. The stair case was long enough to make King Sombra proud and Rarity whimpered as a drop of goddess knows what dripped on her head. As the five companions slowly climbed the stairs to the surface Rainbow Dash contemplated the previous day.

“Hey girls?” Rainbow asked “Anyone notice that Discord wouldn’t speak to any of us during the battle yesterday?”

“Well yea RD! he was kinda busy layin waste to the city and the Princesses!” Apple Jack responded “He didn’t exactly have time to say howdy girls!”

“Well yea! But he just didn’t seem like the Discord we know!”

“Well yea sugarcube the Discord we knew wouldn’t have attacked Twilight like that! The Discord we knew, the Discord we loved, is dead.”

“Exactly AJ! Even when Discord took over Equestria the first time he never killed anypony! He just caused so much Chaos that nopony could mess with him! The old Discord was Chaotic, but never evil! This new Discord… well he is just blatantly evil!”

“And what is your point dear?” Rarity interjected “Discords changed!”

“Gah! For once am I the smart one?!? Discord hasn’t changed! Something has changed HIM!”

*

Luna was nervous. Her secret fort from the lunar rebellion would not hold for long against the amassed forces of Discord and she would have to wait until daybreak to move her forces towards the Everfree. Discords daemons could not move far from the rift in sunlight so tomorrow morning would be the best time to join Twilight. Twilight had sent her a message through a seeing mirror at the old castle that they had arrived and had begun to renovate the old fortifications and gather supplies and weapons.

It was a strange thing, preparing for war. Luna had not had to for over a millennia, war in Equestria had become little more than a concept, a myth, the closest thing to war the citizens of Equestria had experienced was the invasion of Canterlot by the Changelings. However even that conflict paled in comparison to the full scale war that was to come, and Equestria’s guard had been overrun in a matter of minutes when the rift had opened over Canterlot.

Luna trotted over to the portcullis and looked out over the lands that once belonged to her, Trottingham was burning in the distance, and a Cullum of ponies were fleeing from the city to the citadel. Discord had followed her all the way to Trottingham before she had escaped through a secret tunnel to the Citadel, and in his fury Discord set fire to the city and was slaughtering the inhabitants. A breeze picked up and blew Luna’s mane around her.

“To positions! They are coming! Quickly now! All Ponies to the walls! Get somepony on those ballista! Mages to the moon tower! Pegasi to the skies!” Luna Yelled

“The Enemy believes us beaten! Believes the age of ponies is at an end! My subjects! Show them different!”

It was then that she heard it. A buzzing sound growing in intensity as the horde of daemonic flyers flew towards the citadel, while the sound of claws scraping on rock rose from below. Thousands of daemonic red eyes blazed with the fire of Tartarus through the darkness, and for the first time in a thousand years Luna felt the nauseating embrace of fear grasp her. It was going to be a long night.

*

On Mane Street in Canterlot a trapdoor was opened and a blue head with a rainbow mane poked out. The street was deserted, or so it seemed at first, then the mare noticed that the bodies that littered the streets were being cleaned away by ponies. In fact they were being cleared away by ponies the mare recognized, for a moment she was elated, Twilight and the other princesses had obviously won the war. That was until the mare looked closer at one of the ponies. A certain grey mare had turned towards the trapdoor. What Rainbow Dash saw chilled her to the very core. The grey mares lips had been sewn shut with black string while her normally derpy eyes were a solid black. The Rainbow mare suppressed a scream before retreating back into the darkness of the sewers and closing the trapdoor.

“Well Rainbow? Who won? What’s going on up there?”

Rainbow shook her head allowing a tear to fall from her eyes “Canterlot is taken. Celestia help us, what has Discord done? Derpy Hooves… she… she wasn’t the same… her mouth was sewn shut for goddesses sake!” Rainbow sobbed “How could he do this!”

The girl’s suppressed screams at Rainbows break down. Rainbow was usually the solid calm rock in the group, if she was scared the girls were in real trouble. Apple Jack turned to Rainbow before speaking.

“Well what do we do now hun?” AJ asked “You think it is safe to go up there?”

“AJ I just said there were mindless slaves with their mouths sewn shut. Do you think it’s safe to go up there?”

“Well what else are we supposed to do?!” AJ yelled, her eyes blazing “Stay down here for the rest of our lives? What will we eat? Are we just supposed to sit down here and do nothing?”

“Look AJ the war is over! The Princesses are probably dead, Twilight is probably dead too” Rainbow countered before being slapped across the face by an orange hoof.

“Don’t you dare Rainbow Dash!” AJ yelled “Don’t you dare say that! How can you… how can you just give up like this!? Where’s the brash egotistical brave Rainbow Dash I know? For goddess sake the five of us could take on an army of changelings!”

Rainbow Dash looked taken aback at AJ’s outburst, tears fell freely from her eyes and she turned away from her closest friend. The group of friends was stunned in to silence; the only sound the soft drops of tears into the muck of the sewer. Rainbow Dash wiped the tears from her face before turning back to face the girls.

“Okay girls, this is the plan.”

*

Twilight and Octavian sat on the balcony of the castle keep, the moon hung in the air and its fullness illuminated the shapes of the ponies below. A mix of the remnants of the Royal Guard and a large group of volunteer militia lined the outer walls of the ancient castle. Shapes moved through the courtyard as ponies moved to begin renovations on the castle. Barrack rebuilt, living quarters refurbished and mess halls roof fixed. The refugees of Canterlot were turning the run down ruin into a home.

“So Twilight, what are we going to call it?” Octavian asked silently.

“What do you mean Octavian?” Twilight asked inquisitively, turning to face Octavian.

“The castle, what are you going to name it? We can’t exactly go on calling it the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters can we? Such a long name.” Twilight looked at him thoughtfully for a moment before replying.

“We will call it Defiance.”

*

Luna kicked another one of the foal daemons away from her before lighting up her horn and bathing it in concentrated moonlight, the daemon sizzled as is burned away, banished to whatever realm it came from. Smoke and flames flickered at the edge of Luna’s sight; the foal beasts had set fire to the barracks. Luna’s forces were broken and many were already falling back to the keep.

“Fall back! Back to the keep! Hurry back to the keep!” Luna commanded

Luna’s forces were in full retreat, many were brought down by the marauding daemons before they could make it to the keep. With an angry glare towards Trottingham Luna teleported into the keep, instantly appearing by the two large doors that provided access to the keep.

“I want those doors closed, now!” Luna commanded “Brace the doors; we must hold them here for a little longer! Sunrise is not long my little ponies!”

The remains of Luna’s rag-tag army braced against the doors as the daemons on the other side pounded away at them. With hoof and claw the daemons tore at the door, the ponies on the other side barely holding the forces of chaos at bay. Luna turned from the battle and sent a telepathic message to Twilight.

*

“Twilight, I need you to raise the sun NOW.”

“What, but Luna I don’t know how to! What if I mess up?”

“Then you fry the enemy as well as us, please Twilight, if that sun does not come up in ten minutes hundreds of ponies are going to die.”

“Alright I will try.”

Twilight got up from Octavian’s side her movement waking him from his slumber. She stretched her wings before lighting up her horn, concentrating on the psychic waves of the ether and finding the blazing brilliance of the sun. Reaching out to the Celestial body she cringed as her magic reached the sun, its heat warming her to the core of her being. Slowly she forced the sun out of its slumber early bringing it into the night sky as the moon descended.

“Twilight? What are you doing? It’s still like three hours until sunrise!” Octavian asked shying away from the bright, weakening rays of the sun.

“I just saved several hundred lives apparently.” Twilight said nonchalantly.

“Yea and gave me some nice burns while you were at it!” Octavian replied sticking out his tongue.

*

Luna looked towards the doors as light shone in through the many cracks and holes the daemonic horde had made while trying to break through. Then in are rare showing of emotion from the Princess of the night Luna began to cry as she smiled, relief flowing through her as she realized the battle was finished. A cry went up through the crowd and they pushed the doors open to let in the sunlight. The courtyard of the Citadel was covered with the dead and Luna found her smile cut short, she had lost many ponies but she had dealt a great blow to Discords army and may have stalled an attack on Defiance for a few months. She turned to her weary followers before addressing the crowd.

“My subjects, we have won!” Luna shouted to the cheers of her army. “We have dealt the enemy a grievous blow but now we must retreat to the Everfree to regroup with Princess Twilight at the new Capital of Equestria! Defiance!”

Within the hour a column of ponies headed out from the Citadel, laden with weapons, food, and other supplies bound for Defiance. Pegasi scouted the air looking for any sign of trouble and Luna was at the front of the column with a look of determination on her face.

*

A guard of Defiance was galloping through the courtyard and up to the keep; Defiance had changed over the last week as more and more refugees from all over Equestria had shown up. The old ruin was now a bustling city with upwards of 8,000 occupants in it and the surrounding refugee camps. The guard slowed as he entered the keep and continued at a trot towards the throne room.

“Princess Twilight, you may want to see this.”