CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: INFERNO

November 1

Canterlot

Scarlet Hope cast a levitation spell on the empty breakfast tray in front of Fluttershy and whisked it away. She was pleased to see that the Pegasus had eaten every morsel, every grain of oats and clover, and her patient was staring at the bowl as if expecting more food to appear. "Is there any more oatmeal?" asked Fluttershy. Her eyelids drooped.

How could anypony resist that smile? The doctor spooned more oatmeal into Fluttershy's bowl. "Remember, one bite at a time and eat it slowly," she chided the bedridden pony. "We don't want too much of a good thing, do we?"

It was a good sign. When the recipient of a Healing Spell woke and began to crave nutrition, it meant the worst was past, and all that remained was to carefully nourish the pony back to full health, so their body could do the rest. Carefully. Healthy meals and gentle exercise, with supervised stretches. Bringing somepony back from death's door was no cakewalk.

Full health was another week away. The doctor was astounded by Fluttershy's rapid recovery, given the extent of her injuries, and the mare recovered a tiny bit of her strength with each meal. But the most important thing was a peaceful environment in which to recover. Peaceful. Not teeming with annoying and inquisitive visitors.

Not in a room that seemed smaller than a broom closet, due to the four extra ponies and one- creature crammed into it.

With a dignified sigh, the unicorn set the tray down in the rack to be sterilized. She straightened her instruments irritably. Celestia! These visitors- the purple one in particular- were straining her nerves.

That purple unicorn, Twilight Sparkle, frolicked around the room. "I have almost all the pieces," she said, holding a notebook and quill aloft with her magic. "I only need to make sure of one thing, and that's what you saw the night you were attacked, Fluttershy."

"It's… all a blur." Fluttershy shifted in bed. Morning sunlight filtered through half-open shutters, although the sky itself had grown hazy in the past hours. Rarity and Applejack sat on stools near the door; Rainbow Dash, exhausted from long hours standing vigil at Fluttershy's side, perched on the edge of the bed. Bryn, hood raised and hands concealed in the folds of his cloak, stood in the corner as if attempting to meld his body into the wall. The doctor had dropped her tray upon seeing him. Ashamed of her reaction and the break in her ironclad demeanor, she straightened instruments and avoided looking his way. Most of the ponies in the palace had reacted in the same manner, from the guards at the Palace gates to the minor nobility passing them in the East Corridor. To these ponies he was, in his own words, a freak.

I'll never be anything else, he thought.

Bryn crossed to the window and opened it. There was plenty of fresh air in the room. Opening the window was not necessary, but it gave his hands something to do, and moving to the window allowed him to escape the accusing eyes of the doctor. She stared at him as if Fluttershy's injuries were his fault.

The leaded glass pane swung outward with a creak. He breathed deeply as chill air filtered in. Light breezes tugged at his hair, and he recoiled. Not from the cold, but from the acrid tang. Like… woodsmoke. A lot of it.

Fireplaces or chimneys, probably. Even Barbie fairytale palaces have to be heated with wood, or does the whole fucking thing run on unicorn magic? He sniffed again at the air, thinking it odd that smoke would even reach halfway up the walls of the Palace, far above all the roofs and spires of Canterlot. Would it? The sky was awfully hazy. Maybe there was a forest fire somewhere in the distance.

He shut the window, wishing for a book, a board game, Rarity's fucking knitting projects- anything to do with his hands that didn't involve standing still. The minutes dragged by.

Bryn had never been one that could sit still. Even when eating or relaxing, his mind- and more importantly, his hands- needed something upon which to focus. Music or books were best. Take that something away and he was an alcoholic without a bottle, or a junkie without his fix. Hurry up, Twilight… I don't like it here. It feels wrong.

"What happened before that?" Twilight insisted. She didn't notice Bryn or the window.

"I went looking for Elizabeak," Fluttershy said.

"And what happened then?" Twilight asked, impatiently. She even pulled up a chair, to the very end of the bed, where the emaciated Pegasus was finishing the oatmeal. Fluttershy even found a way to make stuffing one's muzzle with oats and clover and honey look dainty.

"Umm..." Raising a hoof to her forehead, Fluttershy tried to shake off the fatigue. The memories all seemed so fuzzy. Trying to catch them was like bobbing for greased apples. "Well… Elizabeak was missing when I shut the chicken coop. I followed her tracks into the forest. It was so cold, and-"

"-and then something attacked you?" Twilight butted in. She jotted down notes in a notebook.

"And I followed her all the way to this lake." Again she lay down on the pillow and took a deep breath, trying to remember anything about that night. "It was so cold, Twilight. I bundled up in everything I had and it wasn't enough."

"Why didn't you come to one of us for help?" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

"I-" Fluttershy said. She didn't have a good answer to that one. Why hadn't she called for help? "I don't know. You were in Canterlot, and- you were probably busy," indicating Applejack and Rarity.

Both Twilight and Rainbow Dash had indeed been in Canterlot at the time. Rarity and Applejack weren't, but in truth, calling a friend for help hadn't even crossed her mind.

"So you went out alone, into the Everfree Forest?" Twilight said. Rarity let out a little shriek.

"I had to save her, Twilight. I had to keep her away from him." Fear trickled into Fluttershy's voice. "The black stallion. He's been trying to get me for weeks now and I knew that if I didn't find Elizabeak soon, he'd catch her too. None of my poor little animals were safe…"

Bryn stiffened. Applejack and Rarity were out of their chairs, exchanging a loaded glance.

"The Windigo," Twilight whispered. "Did you see it? Did it look like a pony, but ghostly and shadowy, and colder when you were close to it?"

"Yes," said Fluttershy. "It was there…" She struggled through the rest of her tale. "I followed her tracks to this lake in the middle of the forest. There was a wall, and a ruin, and it was so cold." Words could not convey the chill of standing on that lake, with the Windigo in the shadows, and the jagged hole in the ice where-

She gasped, and remembering the blood, began to cry.

"Elizabeak, she was d- dead!" bawled Fluttershy. "It killed her!"

"Twilight Sparkle, that is quite enough! I will not allow you to interrogate my patient like a criminal!" Scarlet Hope's hoof came down onto the counter with a sharp crack.

"But she-"

"I am afraid I will have to ask you to leave." The unicorn's tone permitted no disagreement. She began to wrestle Twilight toward the door. "You too, Rainbow Dash."

But Fluttershy continued, and leaving was the last thing on anypony's mind.

"Princess Luna came to save me," Fluttershy cried, thin limbs clawing at her blankets, "and the black stallion burned up from her magic, but there was this- this- thing with tentacles and teeth and it hurt the Princess. And then- it grabbed me and I can't-"

There was nothing more to be gained from Fluttershy. She sat bolt upright in bed, half-crazed with remembered terror and pain; the tender chest wounds flared like hot irons, reminders of her dance with death. Whimpering, she collapsed. The doctor pointed at Twilight, then at the door. "OUTSIDE."

"C'mon, Twi'. We shouldn't get in the way."

Twilight reluctantly allowed herself to be led from the medical ward. Her friends looked at her as if she might charge back in and spar with the physician. Bryn slunk along behind. "Did ya have ta terrify her like that?" Applejack said, when the door had swung shut.

"Poor Fluttershy," said Rarity.

Twilight's face glowed. "I knew it! We have to tell Princess Celestia. I'm certain that what attacked Fluttershy was a Ravana."

"A- what now?" said Applejack.

"A Ravana. An ancient evil that long ago was thrown into Tartarus. It's in three of the books that I found in Princess Celestia's personal library, the books that she didn't even let me see until just recently. It's like a nine-headed Hydra with a manticore's bad temper and the strength of ten manticores." Twilight, in frustration, slapped a hoof against her forehead. "Nothing else makes sense!"

She trotted quickly as she talked. The others struggled to keep up with her, twelve hooves and two feet making an awful racket on the stones. Twilight was leading them toward the stairway they had just climbed; again, she was taking charge as only she could.

"The Windigoes- I'm sure that the black stallion Fluttershy was afraid of was just a Windigo- were in service to the Ravana. It has powerful dark magic and can bend the weather and the elements to its will."

"Those horrid winter monsters that we were running from, in the Hearth's Warming Eve play?" Rarity interjected. "Why would-"

"They become Windigoes by- by-" Twilight had difficulty voicing the horror of the Windigoes, the truth that Celestia's books had shown her, the truth she had concealed from Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash.

This was no Canterlot stage and the monsters were not mere painted wooden props, held up by pulleys and wire. This evil was real. Windigoes walked Equestrian lands again for the first time in thousands of years. Ignoring their threat would not invalidate their existence. She gulped and swallowed her revulsion. "By eating the flesh of another pony."

Rarity shrieked. Applejack looked more queasy than angry. Why cover up unpleasant facts with oats and sugar cubes, especially now? "Once a pony has become a Windigo, they can only feed on- ponies- and they can leech a pony's lifeforce with Dark frost magic. Their curse makes them into abominations, many times stronger and faster th an ordinary ponies. Only the magic of friendship can defeat them. The Ravana… was their master, their creator, and sent them into battle against the first ponies, in the dawn of time. And we have to stop it. Somehow."

Twilight, for her part, felt only determination. No fear. Was this how Celestia felt when she donned her armor and flew into battle, becoming one with the power of the Sun? Her whole body aglow and stretched taut like a bowstring, burning away all fatigue and hesitation? A Ravana was attacking Equestria. It was, according to her research, the most evil creature ever to walk the land. She should have been terrified.

But she wasn't. The ponies standing with her, and the jeweled tiara on her brow, might have had something to do with it.

"I couldn't find much more than that about the Ravana. Celestia might know more, because in the stories, it was the first alicorn king, Theren, who defeated it, and he and his Exalted Guardians banished it to the void beneath Tartarus. It's also mentioned in a bestiary from before the Schism… 'Where the Ravana slithers, death follows on swift fangs.' If we want to stop it, we'll need the Elements and the Princesses on our side.

"Which is why we should wear them at all times, and never take them off until we've stopped the Ravana," Twilight continued. The glittering golden tiara, with its violet gem, already rested on her brow. She had passed out the other Elements of Harmony on the way to the palace… except two. Fluttershy was unable to wear hers just yet. Her Element, for safekeeping, sat in its box, and Twilight was praying Fluttershy would recover in time. What would she do if Fluttershy couldn't take up the mantle of the sixth Element? Furthermore, what about Pinkie? Her Element also sat in the box and its owner might never wield its power again.

The magic of Harmony needed every piece in order to work to its full potential. Lose just one, and the Elements became little more than pretty jewelry.

"I think that was what chased me in the forest," said Bryn. All of them stopped dead on the stairs.

"It chased you?" gasped Rarity.

"The day I came to Equestria."

"Why didn't you say anything?" Twilight asked. "If you had known it was a Ravana…"

"How could he know it's a- what-the-hay, Ravana, if he's never seen one before?" Applejack said.

Applejack's standing up for me now? "Whatever brought me here, it- it set me down in this field south of Ponyville. I could see the town, and so I went through the forest to get there. It wasn't a long walk but something… chased me in the forest, something big. I could hear it. I outran it and it didn't follow me once I was out of the trees."

"The night I first saw you, sweetie." Rarity moved closer to him.

The farm pony snorted. Applejack might be on his side, but he would have to look elsewhere for starry-eyed approval of his relationship with Rarity.

"I bet it was the same monster, though," he finished, looking at Twilight. "What else could it be?"

"We have to tell the Princess. Now. We can't waste another minute, or somepony else could die!"

Then, as they descended the final set of stairs, the Bells began to ring.

The Bells. Most Canterlot residents were aware of the Bells' existence, much like they were aware of the Grand Galloping Gala or of Celestia's solid gold throne. They were, like the streetlamps, uniquely Canterlot, but possessing an awe-inspiring mysticism that demanded to be spoken of in hushed tones.

Ask any pony on the street about the Bells and he might tell you, in a clipped and refined accent, to kindly step back, and try not to splash mud all over my waistcoat, thank you. But if he was in a loquacious mood and could spare the time to speak to somepony beneath his social standing, he would point a manicured hoof in the general direction of the Palace and say, with childlike wonder, "I was only a young colt when I heard the Bells for the first time, and they haven't sounded since." Because the Canterlot Bells were the sort of thing that no pony could forget.

It had indeed been years since the last ringing. Most young ponies had not been born when they rang for Princess Cadance's birth in 1372. The birth of an alicorn- a rarity among rarities, as the old bloodlines were extinct in all but the most pure noble families- was an occasion worthy of their use. Twilight was born eight years later. But Cadance was a double rarity, being the first female alicorn since Aurora, in the year 191. That particular alicorn had fallen to a dragon's fire and was no more than a chapter in fillies' history books to most, but she was Celestia's daughter, the result of a dalliance with one of her attendants; illegitimate or not, she was next in line for the crown in the case of Celestia's death, since Luna was indisposed on the Moon at the time. Aurora was the only known descendant of the royal sisters and the Sun and Moon Thrones had no direct living heirs. Therefore, alicorns like Aurora and Cadance were groomed as potential successors and given a life most ponies could only dream of.

Had Aurora heard the Bells, when she still lived, in the tumultuous early years following the Schism and Luna's exile? No doubt she had. Crises were much more common in those days. For the Bells, hung from the tallest spires of the Palace, also rang when the city was in danger. They rang during the worst of the Griffon Wars, and the third Dragon Incursion. They rang whenever Canterlot was threatened. Each was twenty feet from tip to opening and cast of solid ancient bronze. Strike a nine-hundred-pound iron weight against a bell like that, and the mountain itself would tremble.

Twilight froze. All of them did. The first Bell tolled like the bellow of some monstrous subterranean beast, deep and resonant and terrifying. Five seconds later, on the summit of the West Tower, its twin began to sing.

"The Bells…" Twilight said.

Both Bells took up the call. Boom- BOOM… Boom- BOOM… Boom-BOOM… They rang like thunder, at a frequency that shook the Palace.

"What's happenin'?" Applejack said.

"We have to get to Celestia! We have to warn her!" screamed Twilight. The others could barely hear her. They bolted down the stairs behind her, straining to keep up. Rainbow Dash unfurled her wings and flew above them. Abandoning all decorum, they burst through doors and narrowly avoided Palace servants, who looked as terrified as they did. One dropped her tea tray and simply turned flank and bolted, and another took cover beneath a table.

"Princess!" Twilight called, as they entered the throne room. The roar of the Bells swallowed her voice. But the Sun Throne sat empty. Or- was it empty? A black shape lounged in it, one limb draped over the legrest. The pony sipped at a glass of Marelot.

"Where's Princess Celestia?" Twilight demanded. "Who are you? Why are you in her throne?"

"Ah. Well, my little ponies, I am afraid the Princess just departed, on a sensitive defense mission. Technically I'm not allowed to sit in the throne, but-" he heaved a huge, dramatic sigh- "who could resist a little… roleplay?"

"This is Princess Celestia's student," Applejack bellowed. "Just who in the buck do ya think ya are, speakin' to her like that?"

"Nebula Streak, at your service."

"Well, Nebula Streak, we're lookin' for the Princess and it's important!"

He brushed aside his sleek orange-streaked mane, as if swatting away an insect. "I daresay all of Canterlot is looking for their Princess right now, or soon will be. Not that they'll find her, of course. I am in charge of all matters of state until she returns."

If Celestia is away, and the other alicorns are needed to defend Equestria as well as the Captain of the Guards, then the next in line to assume responsibility is- Realization dawned on Twilight's face. "You're…"

"Our dear Princess's royal spymaster, yes. A pleasure."

Twilight had never met Nebula Streak- if that was his real name- and much like Canterlot's Bells, Celestia's intelligence network was another thing shrouded in mystery and spoken of in whispers. Whatever she had imagined the Princess's chief operative to look like, it wasn't this Pegasus, this willowy, androgynous stallion with the sleekest coat and mane Twilight had ever seen, even outshining Rarity's. His voice was musical and coquettish. He looked as ill-suited to sit on a throne as Scootaloo, but… there was something about his eyes, a ruthless willpower. Fire concealed behind silk curtains.

"But…" Nebula's aquamarine eyes were mesmerizing. She stilled her beating heart. "But why have the Bells been rung?"

"Hmm, well, the four dragons quickly approaching Canterlot might have something to do with that. I would recommend that you stay in the safety of the Palace. Pity if something happened to any of you, or to those lovely necklaces."

He stared into Twilight's soul, and winked.

He knows about the Elements!

"We have to help the Princess defeat the dragons!" Rainbow Dash said. Applejack grunted her agreement. Even Rarity drew herself up to her full height, as if the dragon would manifest in the throne room at any moment.

Twilight shook her head, ignoring Nebula's searching glances. "Just tell us where she is. Besides the dragons…" Twilight paused, wondering for a split second if it was wise to trust Princess Celestia's spymaster with her discovery. She decided to invite him into her confidences. "There's a monster on the loose, and I know what it is and how to stop it. I have to warn her. We have to warn her."

"My, my, today is getting exciting."

"Please… where is the Princess?"

"If you are that eager to fry in dragonfire, just follow the trail of screams. You'll find her." Nebula Streak's voice had the tiniest tremor of grief, as if he was sorry that Twilight and her friends might perish, from the dragons or otherwise. It was marvelous acting. Or it might have even been sincere.

---

The dragons closed in.

Flying in tightly wound but chaotic circles, they belched gouts of flame at the Cloudsdale Plains. The defenseless hills and valleys went up like kindling. Long bereft of new growth, and desiccated by the icy winds that had scoured them for the past two months, the ridges burned as the dry grass and brush drank the dragonfire and vomited out smoke. Cloudsdale was blotted out by darkness. The smoke and reek carried even as far as the north face of Canterlot Peak.

And, like moths drawn to a candle, the dragons closed in on Canterlot.

They moved quickly on the wind. At four or five miles away they looked like toys; Celestia wished she could pluck them from the sky and crush them between her hooves. Instead, they were likely to crush her.

She turned to the pony next to her. "You know what to do, Commander Shining Armor."

"Yes, your Majesty." He bowed and vaulted down from the watchtower with surprising agility for such a heavily armored pony, holding on to the ladder with his forelegs and free-sliding to the bottom. It was a long drop. "Guard, atten-TION!" he bellowed. Two hundred armed and armored Guards waited in the courtyard below. They jumped at their officer's command.

"You know the drill! Pegasus soldiers, with your Princess! Hornwood bows and black arrows! Defend her with your lives!"

Fifty Pegasi, in lighter armor than their earth pony and unicorn cousins, stretched their wings and attacked the air. They flew in pairs to the weapon stations and strapped on flank-mounted quivers of arrows. Bows affixed to their backs, they formed up around Celestia, who descended from the watchtower in a more dignified manner. Shining Armor slipped his plumed helmet and cinched the straps. "Earth ponies, arm up and defend the Palace at all costs! Unicorns, with me!"

The Palace armory and training grounds swarmed with hurrying stallions. The earth ponies seized six-foot axes and broadswords, wicked blades sharpened and polished to a mirror shine. The unicorns needed no steel to defend themselves. Only two hundred, Celestia thought. And fifty Pegasi and me, against four dragons.

The two hundred were her entire Guard. Never before had she worried that two hundred was too small a force. Luna keeps three hundred. "Commander, we need every able-bodied pony in this fight. Send word to the off-duty commander of the Night Guard. Those who are rested are to defend this city. And send a runner to the Wonderbolts… we may need them in this fight as well, if it comes to that."

Shining Armor delegated the task to his swiftest runners. "Find Commander Darkmane. Tell him to send everything. And don't let his- er, size- intimidate you." A small part of him was glad that he was not the one to rouse Luna's commander from slumber. The gigantic stallion was known to be ill-tempered. It fell to the poor privates to bear the brunt of his rage, made worse by lack of sleep. The Wonderbolts, of course, would rise to the occasion as they always did. It was simply a matter of getting word to them fast enough. They were glorified show ponies; their days as a military force and as protection to the Princesses were hundreds of years in the past, but they remained Equestria's finest fliers. No dragon was a match for their speed.

Regardless, Celestia had to succeed with the forces she had at hoof. She hoped they would be sufficient.

High above the courtyard, the Bells continued to toll. Celestia addressed the Pegasi in formation around her. "Many of you were with me in the defense of Manehatten. You know what we face. Whatever happens, Canterlot must not fall! FLY WITH ME!"

Her Royal Canterlot Voice was, in cases like these, a wonderful morale booster.

Fifty ponies and one alicorn rode to war. Their wings beat like drums. On the ground, Shining Armor led the unicorns to strategic points within the city walls, where they would use their magic to shield Canterlot citizens from falling debris and other damage. They also served to reassure the citizenry that their Princess was in fact doing something to prevent their imminent doom. The Earth ponies' responsibility, meanwhile, was Palace security. They were too small a force to police the city- the Canterlot cops would provide crowd control- but they were a last line of defense for the Palace if all other battle lines collapsed. They could aid the police as well if, stars forbid, chaos and rioting got out of control.

And another alicorn would join the fight. In a support role, of course. Princess Cadance was airborne and in route from Vanhoover.

As Celestia flew into the maelstrom of smoke, she wished for her sister.

Even alicorn magic wasn't strong enough to transmit messages telepathically. She could send a physical message, but the spell needed a magical delivery system (such as a willing young dragon). But she tapped into the one thing stronger than magic- love.

Dear Luna, if you can hear me, I need your help. I need your strength and your battle wisdom and your power. I never meant to wound you… we have our squabbles and shouting matches but, in the end, all we have is each other. My sister, hear me in my hour of need.

Five miles is nothing when you are flying at top speed. The dragons grew larger and larger; through the slit in her golden battle helmet, she could now see the spines on their backs and the razor-sharp larger ones on their tails. Another few moments and she could hear their screeches. Another few moments after that, and the infernal heat of their destruction began to overwhelm the subzero winds that knifed through her armor.

Her breath had frozen to the inside of her helmet. Now it was melting away.

I love you, Luna.

I love you, Twilight Sparkle.

If I fall in the battle… Sister, if I fall, please tell Twilight-

And then the dragons were upon them. Her blood burned like a furnace in her veins. The Princess of Equestria flew arrow-straight into hell."FORM UP BEHIND ME! ARROW PATTERN, SHOOT FOR THE EYES AND THE BELLY!" Celestia screamed.

Because everypony should know, Celestia thought, that a dragon's weakest point is its eye. Unarmored and an easy kill if you are skilled and lucky enough to hit it. Failing that, shoot for the belly, where the armor is weaker, and a lucky arrow might slip between two scales.

Most likely, arrows would just bounce off and infuriate the dragons. But at least the Pegasi arrows might distract the dragons from chomping her head off.

The problem with fighting dragons is, first, that the battles often take place hundreds or thousands of feet above the ground. Earth ponies and unicorns were therefore useless in dragon battles, where otherwise their talents would have come in handy. A landbound dragon is no challenge at all; just gather twenty earth stallions and have them beat the thing to death with axes and mauls, while unicorns deflect its fire. But dragons are at home in the air. They can twist and turn and bring all their natural weapons to bear at once.

And there is the second problem with fighting dragons. The cursed things are all weapon. Find a way to somehow avoid the claws and teeth and spines and bladed tail, and you still get roasted to death.

They were four black dragons, three males and one female, and the leading male, the one roaring like a demon and stretching its gaping maw toward her, had to be at least ninety feet from crest to tail, with a wingspan that could cover three houses. The other two were nearly as large. I have never seen one so big. Look at his wings… they are twenty times the size of mine.

Black dragons were native to the Frozen North, in the lands of everlasting ice, even further north than the long-lost Crystal Empire. They were the kings of the dragon species. Theirs was the toughest armor and hottest fire. Never seen in the annual dragon migrations, they preyed on anything from griffons to sea monsters to other dragons. And now four of them were here. The group of beasts attacked the ground from four hundred feet up, burning a little more of the world with each fiery exhalation.

And I will smite them from the sky.

With a grim smile, she reasoned that a dragon of his size could hardly be as maneuverable as his smaller brothers. She feinted left to avoid his fireball, dipped right and blasted his face with a bolt of magic.

But somehow, for all his great bulk, he was faster. Celestia was surprised to see the dragon shrug off the brunt of her attack and simply whip his tail up to meet her instead. Only a last-second dodge saved her from impalement.

Now it is truly beginning.

"STAY TOGETHER!"

The air reverberated with the dragons' roars. The battle was so pitched and rapid that she could not track the four dragons and her fifty Pegasi at once. No pony could. The two largest males tracked her; Celestia was forced to divide her attention between them, to dodge and pirouette and loop and cast spells with furious speed, so much so that it was difficult to determine which direction was up and which was down. Ponies and dragons were snarled into a tightly woven web of death. Arrows zipped and fire sizzled. They flew so close to the ground that the smoke and burning devastation nearly choked them all to death.

The soldiers focused on the smallest and most nimble dragon first, as they had been trained to do. Two Pegasi lagged behind some of their fellows in a valiant effort to lead the female away from the main formation. It worked- to a point. They passed too close to her slashing claws. Realizing their error, they dropped down, and the dragon craned her neck toward them, daintily, like a heron dipping her beak into a stream. She picked the closer of the two from the air. He shrieked, once, before he vanished in a spray of blood and teeth and shattered metal.

His name was Swiftwing. It was his first year in the Guard. His sacrifice let the other group loop around and focus their full fire on the female's abdomen. Celestia's heart ached at his death.

But Shining Armor had instructed his Guards well. Swiftwing bought an opening with his life; ten Pegasi wasted no time in encircling the female, and while she snapped and slashed, going for the lead ponies, the others flew below her, pumping arrow after arrow into her sensitive midsection. From the sounds of the dragon's agonized screeches, a few found their mark.

The Princess seized the opportunity and did a barrel roll, coming so close to one of the other dragons that she could kick at his wing joints. She summoned a Shield Spell and tweaked it to reflect the female's fire straight back at her. Celestia was one with her magic. You dare to bring your fire to Canterlot? BE CONSUMED BY IT! The dragon took a mortal shot. Quickly pincushioned with arrows and her eyesockets burned by a focused blast of her own hellfire, she fell three hundred feet to the plain. The Pegasi cheered; a moment later, the third male- the mate of the deceased beast- caught six of them with his white-hot flame.

Luna, if you are waiting for the opportune moment, this is it…

The two smaller males spewed death from their mouths. While Celestia blasted away at the leader, her soldiers were massacred. Ponies fell like shooting stars. A minute might have passed, or two hours. Time didn't matter when a single wrong move meant instant death. She tried again and again to get within the massive dragon's defenses, but each time he was there, meeting her attacks with claw and fang and fire. She dodged each one. Her wings ached from the rapid reversals of earth and sky. Then the other dragon swooped in, nearly barbecuing her with a jet of flames, and his claws whipped up. She felt the tips rake against her chestplate. Mercifully, the armor held. Now she had two of them to face. Alone and equally matched with her opponents, Princess Celestia danced with oblivion.

"PRINCESS!" cried a female voice. Twin streaks of light soared straight at the monster dragon; the beast's massive head tried to track them, but they snap-rolled and dodged in perfect formation, nearly too fast to see. Celestia flew into the window the newcomers had bought her and took careful aim. She channeled an inferno of sunfire through her horn. It caught the dragon square in the face; its sensitive eyes burned and melted, its cranial armor cracked and bleeding, the majestic reptile began to fall.

The body smote the ruined fields, burning in its own fire. Two dragons were out of the fight.

"Glad to help, Princess." A fire-maned Pegasus in blue armor zoomed up and saluted.

"Captain Spitfire. I commend your timing." The mare wasted no time in engaging the next dragon, buying precious seconds for the remaining Guards to form up and loose the last of their arrows at it. Celestia paused for a moment to admire them. The Wonderbolts flew like light given form, silver streaks tracing across the sky from their passing. Like twins, Spitfire and Fleetfoot soared side by side with mere inches between their wingtips. They climbed like rockets.

And these were the same ponies that signed autographs and pigged out on apple pie at the Grand Galloping Gala?

A terrible snarling wail tore at Celestia's eardrums… and the larger male, the one who had flash-fried fifteen of Celestia's soldiers, folded his wings and gathered speed. He struck two more ponies as he accelerated with the force of an express train, crunching their bones beneath his massive talons.

Celestia's blood froze. He's flying to the City!

She scanned the sky for one of the sergeants, so she could order her forces to remain with the smaller dragon. Both of them had fallen. The Pegasi still in the fight were all privates. She called to the nearest one, "Soldier!"

He was a tan Pegasus with a bright blue mane. "Flash Sentry, your Highness."

"You have command… have all forces concentrate on that one! I have to stop the other from reaching Canterlot!" With horror, she realized that the ebb and flow of the battle had somehow carried all of them much closer to the Peak, and higher into the air.

And that is the third difficulty when fighting dragons, especially when single-hoofedly engaging more than one dragon. The chaos is nearly impossible to control. It is not a simple matter of pieces on a board, a flat war table with moves and countermoves and easily quantified danger. It is a nightmare rendered in three dimensions. A nightmare played at four times the speed of normal life. A dragon is never easily herded into a location favorable to you; besides, each of your actions might carry you far away from where you started, or worse, disorient you so that you lose track of your surroundings. And what then? Chaos. Death. Ruin.

In engaging two dragons, Celestia had lost track of her surroundings. It was the mistake of an overconfident rookie, not the ruler of Equestria.

The battle continued. The Wonderbolts were incredible. Spitfire and Fleetfoot taunted one of the remaining creatures, flitting in and out of reach, while the Guards, under Flash Sentry's quick orders, expended their last arrows. The Wonderbolts' daring had given them the time they needed. Spitfire screamed a war cry and darted within the dragon's danger area, delivering a powerful kick to its cranium. The dragon roared and thrashed, its tail turning an unfortunate Pegasus to pulp even as Fleetfoot followed Spitfire's example and struck full-force at its spine, and it was now only a matter of time, time for the arrows to do their work, time for the thick blood to seep from the wounds and leech the mighty reptile of its strength. This dragon's destruction would soon be at an end.

Celestia, alone in the smoking sky, chased the other. For the first time during the fight she had a moment to think.

The last black dragon sighting was in 904 ACL. Fifteen hundred years ago. Why have four of them left their home in the Frozen North to attack Equestria now? What has inflamed their blood to battle?

Her own thoughts answered her. But the voice in her mind was not hers.

You know the reason, Sister. Only one dark power was ever strong enough to bend dragons to its will. The terror that nearly ended my life in the Everfree Forest. You know what we must do.

"Luna?"

Yes. I am with you, even though I am still too weak for battle. You carry my strength and your own.

How was Luna speaking directly to her, as if the younger alicorn's muzzle was inches from her ear?

As if reading her thoughts, Luna spoke with a tinge of wry sarcasm. My magic can touch more than just the world of dreams. I can use our bond to speak to you even in the waking world. Fly, Sister. Defend our City. When you have struck down the enemy, meet me in my chambers. It is time that this bad blood between us is ended. I love you, Tia.

Tia. Luna used the pet name that her mother had called her as a filly.

Two tears glistened on her cheeks, and were instantly frozen. She urged her wings to beat as they had never beaten before. The dragon was nearly to the city walls. Her horn shone like a miniature sun; she closed the gap between them.

"I love you too, Luna. If I fall, tell Twilight that I loved her more than life itself."

Alicorn and dragon met in the skies above the jewel of Equestria's cities. On the ground below, a unicorn looked to the sky with love and fear in her heart.