Twilight and Rainbow Dash walked side by side through what they once would have considered the scariest room (and possibly the coolest) in all of Equestria. Now they walked through the busy and much larger armory with an edge of eagerness and curiosity. The brightest, and probably some of the secretly darkest, minds of Canterlot had been studying new ways for ponies to carry and use weapons that once lay nearly forgotten.

Swords to be wielded by mouth or levitation, spears and lances that were to be strapped to the flank or to an armor piece, bows and arrows of many kinds from piercing metal heads to magic ice arrows, and many other fearsome tools of war from bygone ages.

"Heads up!"

Rainbow Dash ducked in time for a ninja star to strike past her mane, slicing off a few hairs before sticking into the wall. Rainbow and Twilight glared in the direction it came from, where a young pink pegasus was shrinking away, apologizing softly. Rainbow Dash was glad that it hadn't come from the other direction. She still had a bandage canvassing her swollen left eye and a few others covering other injuries on her legs and right flank.

"We really should make sure everypony knows how to handle what they're given," remarked Spitfire a few paces in front of them. "Earlier today an earth pony had to be taken to the doctor after an archery accident. Dang foal had dared a friend to shoot an apple off his head."

"Oh no! He hit his..." reacted Twilight in horror

"Knee. Luckily his friend was a horrible shot, not just a bad one," finished Spitfire.

Spitfire led the two mares onward past two Royal Guards carrying an entire load of spears to be hoofed out. The building was cavernous in size, actually built under the city and embedded in the mountainside. Didn't change the fact that navigating through the current of ponies milling about carrying heavy items was not an easy task. They couldn't fly, because there was a flurry of activity above of pegasi performing various tasks.

"What they wanted to show you two is right over here," said Spitfire, turning out of the aisle and up to a lineup of several huge wardrobes. Soarin, who had been trotting behind the other three, flew forward to the wardrobe that had a painted 1 on it, while Spitfire casually sauntered to the neighboring chest that was painted with a 2.

"Over here, Princess," said Soarin, beckoning as he opened the chest. Inside was a dazzling, golden armor set, with Twilight's cutie mark set on the front chest and Celestia's sun symbol engraved on the front leg pieces. It was sleek in design, with openings for both her horn and her wings.

"Oh, wow," was all Twilight could say as she walked up and examined it.

"And this is what they got for us, Rainbow Dash," said Spitfire, opening chest number 2. Rainbow Dash settled in front of the open chest, which had an assortment of metal contraptions Rainbow had never seen before.

"Great. What is it?"

"Pegasi blades," said Spitfire, flying up and lifting one of the contraptions off the display hooks, and bringing back down to Rainbow to see up close.

"Great. What is it?" she asked again, looking Spitfire in the eyes.

"Here, let me put 'em on you," said Spitfire, moving to Rainbow's side and saddling the metal. It was light, though the straps were pulled on a little tight by Spitfire.

"Now, spread your wings for a sec." Rainbow obliged and watched as Spitfire and Soarin, who had taken a break from helping Twilight fit her armor, attached the metal to the front edge of her wings. It was definitely a little awkward, Rainbow feeling the odd stiffness right away. Was she supposed to fly with this?

"There you go: Pegasi Blades," said Spitfire. Rainbow got her first good look at them herself. She could see why they called them blades, it was as if they had strapped jointed swords to her wings, a sharp edge leading the way forward and the tips parallel to her feathers. Rainbow was unconvinced as she looked them over. The stiff feeling was driving her crazy, and she finally flexed her wings. Much to her shock, they actually flexed. Rainbow Dash did it again, watching closer. The blades were actually disjointed at several points, with blades placed inside so that when the slid open, the blade was still continuous. It was all attached to a flexible strap that stood between the blade and her feathers.

"Ok, now this is sweet!" exclaimed Rainbow Dash, repeatedly moving her wings in every position she could think of, the stiffness now very minimal.

"The stiffness should go away almost completely the more you fly," remarked Spitfire in satisfaction. "Some pony dredged these things out of an old history book. Apparently these things go back to the time of the tribes, but of course, these are brand new."

These would be much easier to fly and fight with these than carrying a sword in her mouth. She had done that before on their little adventure with Hoofbeard and the pirates, and while she had been awesome at it (when has she not), it had felt very awkward to fly with it. In fact, she had spent most of those instances fighting with her hooves on the ground so that she could concentrate.

Rainbow turned her attention to Twilight, who had finally strapped on all of her new armor.

"Wow, Twi, that looks good," she said admiringly. "Hey Spitfire when do I get some of that?"

"They're still working on organizing the old armor stockpiles, but they should have it all before we fly out," replied Spitfire. "Why? Worried you'll get beat up again?"

"Shut up," sighed Rainbow Dash. It had become a bit of an inside joke in Rainbow Six to make fun of one another when they got an injury of any kind, and Dash had just come back looking the worst out of any of them at any time. Cloudchaser had teased how she was glad she couldn't be made fun of for taking the worst hit anymore.

"The armor fits good," said Twilight, loosening one shoulder as she tried to get used to the new weight. "I'm sure it'll make me feel better standing out front."

"Ain't that the truth," said Soarin, who set to helping her take it off again. A few tricky minutes of trying to get off armor and wing blades later, the small group walked out of the armory and into the warm sunlight. In the massive courtyard stood a battalion's worth of ponies standing in formation, with a Royal Guard unicorn addressing them.

"Once you have concentrated the magic in the tip of your horn, redirect all your concentration to your target," the Guard bellowed. "Then you release it all at once, keeping the beam as thin as you can. Try imagining a needle piercing through a cloth to help keep a sharp image."

"Battle magic," said Twilight to the pegasi. "Most ponies don't know any at all, but Princess Celestia wanted to make sure all of the volunteers knew how to use it."

"Good thing," remarked Spitfire. "Using levitation on a sword or bow can only go so far, but magic is invaluable."

"Okay! Front row! Step forward and concentrate magic!" the Guard ordered. The front row of unicorns obeyed.

"Ready! Aim!"

-----

"FIRE!"

A long row of black-clad unicorns shot bright streams of many-colors streaking across the short field, impacting the hay bales lined up in front of them. Several of the hay bales exploded in a puff of dust and chaff, while a few others caught fire and yet more were simply pierced through. The one opposite Rarity had a mix of all three, at which the white fashionista grinned satisfactorily.

"Excellent! Practice the visualization when you can!" instructed the Lunar Guard up front. "Instruction over! Dismissed!"

Rarity carefully brushed off a bit of hay that had landed on her leg as she walked off, shoulder to shoulder with other unicorns.

"I'm not sure I can get this down in time," said Lyra, who was walking right next to Rarity though she was talking to Amethyst Star, a pink mare with a purple-striped mane. Both were panting a little bit from the workout.

"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll be fine," Amethyst assured. "Right Comet Tail?"

The yellow unicorn stallion beside them nodded and grinned encouragingly.

"I'm sure we will all be ready when the time is right," chipped in Rarity. "Besides, we'll have Princess Luna right there with us."

"I sure hope so," said Lemony Gem, who came up to the small group heading into town. "A lot of those out of town ponies looked pretty good though."

Rarity kept her next thought to herself. She was glad that the ponies would turn out to be helpful. It had taken forever, even with dozens of ponies helping, to make so many uniforms. If it had been fewer she certainly would have not made them so plain, but she supposed it was for the best. This was one of those rare cases where function was more important than flare.

"What I can't stand is this waiting," said Comet Tail as they arrived into the center of town. "It's aggravating! Why don't they just come and get it over with?"

"Or why don't we go there first?" imputed Amethyst Star.

"Fightin' uphill is never a good idea."

Applejack joined the group, hauling a load of swords in saddlebags and followed by Big Mac who was carrying the same.

"You always wanna be on top in a fight, but if ya can't you gotta make sure you're hard to get to," said Applejack, who was more or less relaying what she had heard from Princess Luna during their strategy meetings.

"Ee-yup," agreed Big Mac, who set down his load next to the now closed Sugar Cube Corner with several other weapons stacked nearby. The Cakes had taken the first opportunity they could to go find Pinkie Pie in the Crystal Empire, wanting to keep their two foals out of harm's way. Rarity's parents had gone with them, though Sweetie Bell had stubbornly refused and had successfully hidden herself until the train pulled away.

"Anyways, Rarity. Princess Luna wants to see us at 2 o clock sharp. Somethin' urgent," said Applejack, setting down her own load.

"At the library?"

"Nope, the youngins are staying there now in the basement. They were hopin' to use your shop."

"That'll be fine," replied Rarity. "I better go and tidy up a bit first. It has been an absolute mess for days."

-----

Later that evening, nearly 500 pegasi were preparing themselves in the grand plaza of Canterlot. They had managed to dredge up old armor for most of the volunteers that would be participating that night, but there were limited pegasi blades, and those where being passed out to only the most skilled fliers.

That was beside the point of tonight's mission. 1000 packs were being strapped in pairs to each pegasi, each pack filled with the most powerful pyrotechnics their science had to offer. It was to be an aerial raid that was aimed to handicap the Lunar Rebels before the battle even really began. A surprise attack of epic proportions.

Princess Celestia had apparently proposed this plan a few days ago, and the Guard had been frantically running to and fro making sure it was possible, though Rainbow Dash and the other volunteers had only found out but a couple hours before, after her visit to the armory.

The scouts had noted the barricades and walls being put up all around Ponyville, and had discovered the weapons stash hidden in the Sweet Apple Acres' barn. These were the targets tonight. The Royal Guard would lead the attack, but Rainbow Dash and her team would not be far behind, followed by the rest of the volunteers. After the attack, they would join up with the rest of Celestia's army who was already marching towards Ponyville, and prepare for the real assault the following day.

Rainbow Dash had been found some armor, but she left off the helmet and gave it to another pony. It was too unwieldy for her to fly at the speeds she was used to anyway, and she felt like she'd need all the agility she could get.  

"Pegasi! Prepare to take off!" came the order finally, and on the signal the massive force kicked off the earth and towards Ponyville. There was great tension that permeated the air as they flew into the twilight, most of them uncomfortably silent.

"Excuse me, uh, Ms. Rainbow Dash?"

"Who called me what now?" Rainbow Dash looked around, yanked out of her own thoughts abruptly. Flying beside her was a deep red pegasus with a black and purple mane, and a cutie mark that looked like a guitar.

"Sorry," the pegasus apologized. She was obviously a bit awestruck. "I'm Robin Song from Baltimare, and I just wanted to say that, uh, I am a really big fan of you and, er, Rainbow Six."

"Ah, well, it was nothin'," said Rainbow Dash, relaxing from what had been a very stiff flying position and easing into a glide, just riding the wind from the ponies ahead. "And it's just Rainbow Dash."

"Ok," replied a grinning Robin Song. "You guys were so awesome in Cloudsdale!"

"That's how we roll," said Rainbow Dash, finding herself grinning. If there was one thing Rainbow thrived on it was admiration.

"It's actually because you that I volunteered," continued Robin Song. "I figured I could make a difference."

"Well, we sure did," said Star Hunter, who glided down to join the conversation. Robin Song was awestruck for a second time. She was a big fan. Star Hunter laughed before pulling back into his place in the formation.

"Okay, everypony be quiet back there!" the Lead Guard called back. "We should be coming up on the first walls in the next couple of minutes!" It was dark now, with only the light of the moon and stars to fly by, and frankly it had been somewhat of a guess as to exactly where they were. Even Rainbow Dash and the other Ponyvillians where only vaguely aware of where they were, the dark forests below indistinguishable.

The formation began a slow decent, from a distance looking almost like a dark cloud in the night sky. Rainbow Dash ran the plan again through her head. Her group was supposed to fly straight through and try to destroy the barn, taking advantage of the chaos of the attacks on the walls. She had thought it was funny she'd be destroying the Apple family barn. That thing had been destroyed too many times to count, and Rainbow had a hoof in it more than once.

Rainbow Dash's body reacted before her mind, shooting sideways to avoid something flying out of the darkness. An arrow shot past just a few inches from her wing. With another quick scan, she saw the formation begin to scatter as a rush of arrows shot up from the ground, and horrible screams sounded all around.

Rainbow felt something wet splatter on the side of her face, and she briefly panicked, wondering if an ice arrow had hit her. When she realized it was warm, she quickly looked for the source. She couldn't see anything at first, but then she realized that it was not something there, but rather something missing. She gasped in horror as she saw Robin Song plummeting to the ground. Rainbow Dash dove to save the young pegasus, but once she reached her she stopped short.

Robin Song was already dead, an arrow punched through her neck and blood trailing her through the air. Rainbow Dash didn't even catch her, breaking off to avoid a spell shooting from below that missed Rainbow by inches.

"Group A! Drop your bombs!" the order was screamed. Several pegasi dove towards the crude north barriers, dropping and some even throwing their packs, before pulling up at high speeds to get away from the ground to air assault.

"ALL GROUPS! FIND YOUR TARGETS!"

Rainbow Dash didn't wait, "RAINBOW SIX TO ME!"

The six streaked off across the skies over Ponyville, which seemed to be swarmed with spells and arrows intent on killing every thing they saw. They swarmed in with group D, which was mostly made up of Guards and was tasked with destroying the south defenses. They hadn't even made the Library when the head of Group D called a desperate halt order. Down below the street was filled with rows of archer ponies and unicorns lined up.

Rainbow took in why the stop order was given. There was a nearly invisible wall that was obviously a spell cast by the unicorns. They couldn't fly any farther, and they were now staring down the sights of dozens of arrows.

"ATTACK!" The lead Guard ordered, diving with the other Guards behind.

"Are you CRAZY?" called Star Hunter as Rainbow Six shot upwards to get out of range. They didn't have time to answer. The arrows darted through the air and Rainbow Dash couldn't help but flinch as she saw many make contact, knocking Guard after Guard out of the sky.

"We gotta help them!" screamed Blossomforth as they watched the carnage unfold below. The Guards were rebuffed in the space of a few seconds and were beginning to retreat under merciless arrow fire that was joined by a few spells being thrown their way. Rainbow Dash made a snap decision.

"Spitfire, you're with me! We'll cover the retreat! Everypony else help who you can and get out of here! Forget the barn!"

The team immediately obeyed, and Spitfire flew to Rainbow's side as they curled backwards in a loop. They followed the loop and rode it straight down to the ground and towards the archers, who were now spreading over the courtyard in their efforts to get better shots.

"Straighten your blades!" Spitfire yelled. They both spread their wings into an accelerating glide, slowly drifting apart as they drew beads on separate targets.

Rainbow Dash found her opportunity, her quick mind processing everything. She drew a pathline to two ponies standing just a couple hoof-lengths apart, both of them paying attention to the retreating pegasi above. One was a gray unicorn, who in those seconds was charging another spell, concentrating with all her might. The other was a yellow earth pony, pulling back and releasing an arrow into the night as he in one swift motion grabbed another arrow with a hoof, preparing to notch it. Rainbow Dash was low enough to the ground that she almost could have dragged her knees, the dust being kicked up behind her like a contrail. In the last few feet before speeding between the two ponies, who saw her all too late, Rainbow Dash thanked Celestia that at least she didn't know them.

She couldn't help but close her eyes, but she felt her wings strike the mark on both sides, slicing through effortlessly. The sound was sickening, and was repeated just a few steps away. All around Rainbow Dash heard cries of shock and horror as the ponies witnessed what just happened to their comrades, which was exactly what she had been aiming for.

"Spitfire! Let's get outta here!" she yelled, changing direction at a nearly 90 degree angle with Spitfire nipping on her heels. They ducked and weaved a serpentine pattern as arrows and spells were focused in their direction. Arrows glanced off her armor more than once, and Rainbow was sure others had skimmed her but didn't stop to check. The two pegasi used their un-rivaled speed to get out of range quickly to catch up to the decimated Group D.

They wasted no time, both quickly finding injured ponies and providing support as they pushed the group higher. Below, the unique sound of spells and the swishing of arrows mixed with the booming sound of bombs exploding. Rainbow Dash saw several fires, mostly around where the barriers had been, though here and there she saw flames rising from buildings in town.

"They knew we were coming," panted Spitfire, flapping hard to support the large guard that was bleeding from his flank. "That's the only way they were ready for us!"

"But how?" exclaimed Cloud Kicker. "Nopony even knew about it until a couple of of hours ago besides the Princess and the Head Guards!"

"I don't know!" cut in Rainbow Dash. "Let's just get everypony to the rendezvous!"

Rainbow Six replied in the affirmative along with a few other ponies gathering around them. The other groups met up with them quickly, many of them flying faster than they had in all their lives. Rainbow Dash scanned the group, taking a minute or so. She didn't have an exact count, but there were many ponies not with them any more. It was a disaster.

-----

It was just under an hour later that the attack groups limped down to the sprawling camp, the ponies below stunned by the sight. Rainbow Dash landed carefully, setting down an injured pony she was carrying into the care of a nurse pony that had run up withe dozens of others.

"Rainbow! What happened?" exclaimed Twilight as she ran up.

"Ambush," grimaced Rainbow Dash, stepping into the light of a temporary torch lamp. Twilight stopped cold, eyes wide with terror.

"Rainbow Dash! Are you okay?" she breathed, eyes wide. Rainbow Dash was puzzled for a moment before looking herself over, wondering if there was some injury she had missed. To her surprise she was covered in blood. Her wings were quite drenched, their blue color concealed under the crimson stains. The blood also ran in a splattered smear down her armor on the flanks and into her mane. Red had always been just a sliver of her rainbow mane, but now it was the dominant color.

"It's not mine Twilight," said Rainbow calmly, wiping the blood off her cheek with a hoof. Robin Song's, thought Rainbow Dash sadly. "Twilight, they knew we were coming."

"But that's impossible! Up until a few hours ago only Celestia, myself, and a handful of guards knew about it at all! There's no way there could have been a spy!" said Twilight. Rainbow Dash realized she was talking to nopony in particular, but was going into her thinking mode. She was desperate to wash and preen her feathers after the grisly discovery, but she knew Twilight would get on a roll soon and would probably figure it all out in about 10, 9, 8.....

Twilight thought hard for a few moments before the light came on in her mind.

"Dreams," she muttered. Rainbow Dash pointed her hoof while thinking 'bingo,' though she simultaneously was beating up her own brain for not thinking of what now seemed to obvious.

"I'll have to find a dreamless spell," said Twilight. "I have to find Princess Celestia!"

-----

It was lucky that Princess Luna had known this was comin' thought Applejack as she helped in the cleanup. It could have been far worse. Applejack padded down the small mound of earth to make it smooth, trying to make the final resting place of one poor pony, look nice. It was one of 12 mounds that stood in a single row, with a group of unicorns and earth ponies putting up headstones with the names of who lay there. These were the defenders who hadn't made it through the raid.

There were over 40 other new graves nearer to the forest, marking the pegasi that hadn't survived. Applejack had spend much of the first hour after the attack was over running all over Ponyville looking for injured attackers who couldn't get away. In all they had found 87 of Celestia's pegasi that were still living. Most had been injured, though here and there there was a pegasi who had stayed behind to take care of an injured friend. Almost all of them surrendered without a struggle, and were being held in a camp near the hospital.

Yet it didn't surprise Applejack that Rainbow Dash was not among the dead or captured, nor were any other Ponyville pegasi. Among their own losses were three native Ponyville residents, though Applejack hadn't known any of them beyond their name. The rest had been volunteers from elsewhere or part of Luna's Guard. They had come off lucky to be totally honest. They had nearly 100 ponies with some sort of injury, mostly burns and mostly not too serious.

"Applejack!" She turned to Thunderlane, who was completely unscathed. "Princess Luna wants you to organize the weapon distribution before you go to bed. She says that the Solar forces will be here by tomorrow night."

"Alright, Thunderlane. Everything alright with the fillies?" Thunderlane had been one of the ponies put in charge of watching the foals in the Library basement.

"Well Applebloom, Sweetie Bell, and Pipsqueak tried to sneak out once or twice, but they're sleeping now."

"Thanks, Thunderlane," said Applejack. That worry squared away, Applejack set off on the assigned task. She was sure she wasn't going to sleep anyway

-----

"I'm not sure what we could do, Fluttershy."

"Yes, there is only a few of us. How do we stop a whole war?"

"I'd have to agree with them. If indeed the dark magic cycle is taking effect, there may be nothing that can reverse it."

"Especially since we gave up the Elements of Harmony to that big, crystally tree!" said Pinkie Pie.

Fluttershy looked at her hooves, not really sure what to say because they were right. Before her was only a handful of ponies that all came from Ponyville originally, but had come to the Crystal Empire for the same reasons she had. There was Mr. and Mrs. Hooves of course, with Derpy rocking back and forth playfully while munching on a muffin. A pegasus named Blue October was leaning casually against a lamp post, and a stallion unicorn named Goldengrape was laying back on a bench. Octavia was there as well, sitting very properly while drinking bad coffee. Fluttershy had invited the Cakes but they had declined, wanting to find a place to possibly settle in permanently if it never got better.

"I know we don't have much of a chance, but we can't just let our friends hurt each other," said Fluttershy quietly, somewhat regretting mentioning it. The other ponies were silent for a moment, even Pinkie Pie. Fluttershy didn't know who she was kidding. She knew close to zilch about magic, even with all the books she had read on it lately. How could she have a prayer of finding a way to reverse it when who knows how many had failed before.

"WAIT! IDEEEEAAAA!" cried Pinkie Pie happily. Everybody snapped their attention to her (except for Derpy who fell over in surprise, dropping her muffin). "C'mere! It's gotta be a secret!"

Fluttershy and the rest of the others looked at each other for a moment, while Pinkie Pie continued to beckon them. Finally, they all made their way over where Pinkie drew them into a tight circle. She then told them her bright idea step by step. It was a little wacky, but they had known the crazy pink pony for years, and they understood her plan.

"That just might be brilliant," remarked Mr. Hooves.

"I know!" replied Pinkie Pie outloud, bouncing to and fro.

"Then you all will help?" asked Fluttershy timidly. Octavia, Derpy, Doctor, Blue, and Goldengrape looked to one another again before nodding their assent.

"Yay!"

Next Chapter: The Battle of Ponyville Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 36 Minutes