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A flourishing field of wheat waves in the wind. The sound of hoofsteps approaches and the sound of metal being drawn is sound. Then with the flourish of habit, the curved blade of a scythe sliced through the stalks of the wheat and cut a path through the golden field.

The one gripping the scythe was an elderly looking unicorn, or rather, levitating it. His name was Proud Seed, a farmer who had been working his family's fields for generations. As he harvested his fields he took a moment to pause and ponder while looking down towards the coastline, where the growing city of Baltimare was bursting with life.

Ever since the warring barons had been defeated by the Order of the Golden Cross had the town of Baltimare and the town of Fillydelphia been given a lot more power. At first there were raids by dangerous warlords or bandits, but the Knights would protect not just the towns but the villages as well. Very few lives were lost and the knights even offered medical aid to those who needed it.

It had been ten years since the Barons were defeated. And it was more obvious then ever, that neither of the barons would have made proper rulers of the region. Considering just how well their Princess had handled the region through her knights made all ponies of the East of Equestria more then willing to serve. And Proud Seed was no different, offering part of his harvest to the Order of the Golden Cross to help them with winter supplies.

Truly he had never thought things would turn out so great. His five sons were all grown up, two of them were working with him on the farm, while the others had spread out and become good ponies he was proud of. Wheat Stack was becoming a good merchant, selling and trading all over Equestria. Heavy Lift had joined the Equestrian Army and was now a Sergeant. And Strong Stalk had become a member of the Golden Cross Knights' Order.

Truly he could ask for nothing more. His farm had grown from a small hut with fields with overgrown weeds, to a medium sized house with two big barns and large fields of wheat, corn, carrots and onions. The new farming method introduced by their new government was proven efficient, altering what you farmed on each field, every year, gave far more then replanting the same thing over and over.

It was not just his farm that had grown. So had the town of Baltimare. Which could now only be considered a city.

The coastal city of Baltimare had flourished for the last ten years. It had grown from a small collection of hamlets next to a big castle into a large coastal city of trade and goods. Even with the powerful earthquake created by the terrifying Maleficus Victoria half a month ago were none of its citizens going to leave their home.

They had rebuilt their city stronger then ever. And in this warm morning's sun light there was a cheer in the air as the ponies began to wake up and prepare for the morning of their wonderful lives.

Proud Seed smiled a bit before he lifted up his scythe and began to cut more of his wheat.

Meanwhile, towards the east, beyond the shores of Equestria. Up in the blue sky of the horizon, were something approaching. Small dots began to appear in the horizon, closing in on the coast. Not noticeable at first, only specks gathered in a single spot, looking like a dark faded cloud.

But by noon had they grown from the size of pinholes to the size of grains. And their small shapes were covering one third of the eastern horizon, like a cloud of locust expanding in size. Some noticed it, and one of these, knew what they were.

An elderly earth pony sailor, took one glance at the cloud, and grew pale. The old stallion fell forward, clutching his breast as he felt his heart race at an unhealthy rate. Even as several ponies came to aid the elderly, he clutched at his chest with one hoof while jabbing his out towards the eastern skies. Before his life expired, before he fell limp to the cobblestone square of his hometown, he gasped out one word. One word. A single, seven lettered, word, that would sent a wave of terror through the land for years.

"D-d-dragoooonnss..."

And the ponies of Baltimare, began to feel a sudden chill of terror rise up inside their bodies.

High Knight Iron Wing of the Order of the Golden Cross had been sitting by his office desk, working on a report to the Commander of Blackstone Keep. He was the Captain in command of Baltimare Castle, thus he was in command of the local forces of his knightly order. The Equestrian Order of Chivalry had their own base in a larger castle between Baltimare City and Fillydelphia City, but no one really bothered with them since they rarely did anything.

His duty and purpose was to maintain the safety of the ponies of Baltimare and its closest surroundings and offer aid to any other lesser outposts or patrols in need of support. But even with such important tasks was he still not as busy as his superior.

Master Knight and Grand Templar Rock Steady was the Commander of the Eastern Equestrian forces of the Order of the Golden Cross, as well as the Caretaker of Blackstone Keep, and thus the Guardian of the Hidden Temple of Sanctum. Thus the older stallion had a lot more work to do as he was the one to give aid to all outposts, castles and patrols in the entire region, while trying to keep track of them all.

Which was no easy task.

But back to Baltimare's situation.

The young Captain had just been signing a document when a pair of knights, a mare and a stallion, opened the door to his office and a crowd of screaming ponies could be seen out in the great hall of the castle, screaming out an incoherent mess of words. It was amazing he had not taking notice of the loud screams and shouting from the hall, it must have occurred recently.

"What the blazes art going on?" He asked the two knights as they pushed the door close, as to prevent any of the panicking ponies to get into his office.

"Problems Sir. The townsponies hath spotted dark dots in the horizon approaching the coast." One of the knights said as he walked over to one of the windows and pushed the stained glass window open, revealing the summer sky, with the horizon looking like it had a swarm of black dots on it.

"They say they be dragons, sir. And if that be da truth. Then them be at least a hundred or so dragons approaching." The second knight said as she put a scroll on his desk, it was mostly just a blank scroll, but its purpose was more important. And the knight captain instantly drew his quill from the inkwell, and began to write on the scroll.

"Alert all the troops, send out messengers to all local settlements, outposts and patrols. Get me our fastest pegasus Peacekeeper, Sir Rapid Fire, I want her here now. Have the towns ponies be taken to safety. Prepare and arm all of our siege weapons and prepare the magical defense barriers." He kept a calm and even tone as he wrote on the parchment. It was serenely calm, but High Knight Iron Wing had been in plenty of frightening situations, not even counting the Second Crusade.

The officer knew what had to be done and it had to be done fast. For even though he had no real ideas about the capabilities, powers or desires of the dragons, did he know one thing. A dragon was dangerous, a hundred dragons, was a calamity on the move. And he was going to do his best to protect not only the civilians, but his own soldiers as well.

Rolling up the finished message he sealed it with the sigil of the Order of the Golden Cross on some melted red wax, sealing it. He then held out the scroll as a pegasus mare came flying in from the open window. "Knight Rapid Fire. Get this message to Commander Rock Steady of Blackstone Keep, as fast as you can. You depart now."

The mare saluted and instantly grabbed the message and flew out the window just as swiftly as she had arrived. Iron Wing watched her leave and let out a soft sigh of relief as she disappeared over the castle walls and towards the north. Even should he fall, was at least his daughter safe. She was indeed the fastest flyer of his troops, which made it convenient for him to send her as far as possible out of danger.

He got off his chair and moved towards the window, and looked out at his castle as his knights and troops were blowing signals, hitting warning bells. While sending out messengers and opening the storage to bring out ammunition and gear for the coming danger. Even as the large gates opened and his best soldiers went out to bring out the message, he felt tense and worried.

Iron Wing looked at the approaching spots in the distance. As a foal he has always enjoyed the tales his mother told him about the dragons. The large powerful creatures who craved treasures not just for their greed, but for their hunger. Beings who flew, breathed fire, grew as large as mountains and devoured precious gemstones.

Back then, he dreamed of being a dragon. He dreamed of flying on a dragon. Having adventures alongside his foalhood friends and his imaginary dragon friends. But that was back then.

Now a grown up pony. A veteran of over twenty years of grueling fights and two crusades. He could only imagining the ferocity of their eyes as their large winged bodies brought fire and death to all he loved.

Iron Wing looked towards the north, where he could barely make out the sight of his scouts flying beyond the trees and fields. One of them was his daughter. And he would be damned before she came to harm. And so, with a determined look on his face, Iron turned away from the window and walked towards the door.

He could brood later, if he survived, for now he had to get geared up soon. After all, he was still the commanding officer of this castle. And no fire breathing lizard would find him easy prey. "May the Sun and Moon guide us to victory."

Two hours later. The Dragons arrived.

The dragons flew over the sea, their meat caring eyes could see something none of them had seen before. A large village of stone and wood surrounded by what looked like a stone wall. That had not been there during their last feast. But their minds did not registers the advanced infrastructure of the ponies as a threat. To them, the ponies were still nothing more then talking snacks, whose meat tasted ever so sweet and tender.

With eagerness folded several of them their wings slightly and lowered their long necks, and raised their tails upwards, and began to dive towards the settlement down below. Their eyes scanned for their desired prey, but they felt frustration as they could hardly see any of the ponies in the open. They turned their attention towards the houses, they would have to tear their large village apart if they were to get their promised feast.

One of them was a relatively young dragon, barely adult, this was his first feast along his brethren. He was eager to feed. The light appetizer he and his fellows had feasted on, on the way to these lands had been the sweetest morsels he had ever tasted. And he was eager for more.

His green hided wings flapped as he flew over the stone wall around the big village. turning his head left and right he flared his nostrils and sniffed for any kind of strong scents. For a few moments he felt frustration at the lack of any strong sources of pony smell, when he felt a light tingling in his nose as he sniffed somewhere in the direction to the center of the big village.

With a grin he flew down towards what looked like a big open space with strange wooden constructs with wheels on them. Possibly an offering to them to spare the rest of the town? Well he was not going to ignore it, but it was pointless to even consider offering their own for their own lives. They were fair dragons, everyone they found would be eaten until all of them were satisfied, with his elders getting the most of the food during the later portion of the feast, those were the rules of the Dragon Feast.

He landed on the strangely unnaturally even stone ground and sniffed the air for the scent of ponies. The wooden structures had nothing in them except for strange plants and what smelled like... baked seeds? Huh. Ponies were weird.

The young dragon followed the scent as good as he could while his fellows flew down and began to tear open the large huts in their search for ponies. He soon found the source of the scent. A strange big wooden structure with a big opening large enough for a dragon of his size.

Curious and hungry the young dragon pushed his head into the large structure ,sniffing the air. He looked around ,ti was filled with piles of grass and plants. To the left was some kind of wooden structure with four legs and a large flat surface. IT was littered with bits of metal and wood, it looked weirdly out of place.

The dragon then heard a click from behind his head, and had no time to turn around, before a loud thunk was heard and something struck his head by the neck. There was short sensation of pain. Then nothing. As the drill shaped arrow head of a ballistae bolt penetrated out through the back of his skull and out of his left eye socket. The ballistae bolt carrying one of his eyes with it. The young dragon fell instantly to the ground, dead before he even started collapsing.

"Surprise ye ugly beast." Muttered the young bronze armoured earth pony stallion as he stood behind the head of the dead dragon, a small but still powerful portable ballistae, strapped to his back. Behind him were two other ponies bearing bronze armour, one of them carrying a quiver with bolts, and the other carrying a shield and sword.

"We be relocating to da sewers. Quickly." The mare with the shield and sword hissed to them as she moved into the corner of the large barn and pulled up a sewage entrance cover for the catacomb like sewers beneath Baltimare. The two others followed her into the sewers, but only after they had pulled out the bolt out of the dragon's skull.

None of the dragons took notice of the death of one of their own. Thinking he had just laid down for a nap. It meant more meat for the rest of them.

A three story tall and ten meters wide building made out of stone bricks and hay covered wooden roof stood calmly next to the large wall of the city. Several almost identical buildings, with varying colouring and shapes, stood in line along the walls, with a small gap of ten meters between them. The base floor of this particular building was a store for a baker with the two floors over it being the home and attic of the house.

The house was covered by a shadow for a brief moment. Then a loud crack erupted as four large powerful limbs slammed down on the rooftop. The entire structure groaned in protest as the twenty meter long shape of a purple dragon landed on top of the house. Its structure not meant to support such a massive weight.

But the dragon was not bothered by the weakness of the structure beneath it and instead reared back both of its arms before swinging them down at the building's roof.

Large claws dug through the wood and stone, powerful muscles gripped into rooftops and then strong arms tensed as their muscles tensed and with a great heave the wood and hay was ripped off the building with a loud crack. Two large venom green eyes scanned the now bared attic, before narrowing in frustration as nothing living was seen.

The dragon punched through the floor of the attic and began to tear asunder the cover of the other floor. But it was just as bare. Finally ,as it breached the bakery down below, it was meet with no ponies yet again. In its frustration it let out a powerful roar and bellowed out a large gush of fire into the air.

Similar roars of frustration echoed over the city of Baltimare as their massive intruders ripped apart the homes of the ponies and found none within the wooden structures.

But as the dragons' frustrations grew, was a loud sound heard from somewhere in the town, and every dragon turned to see one of their fellows, a large green dragon who had been standing on a stone street, roar out in agony as something struck his neck. The large dragon clutched at its throat and tried to pull out whatever was biting into its throat. But as it got a grip on the stick shaped object and pulled it out, it ripped open its own throat, and fell to the ground, tossing and turning in agony, as it began to choke on its own blood.

Several dragons rushed over to the wounded green dragon to see what had occurred. When two of them, a blue and a red dragon, crossed by a large strange stone structure with an upside down shin bowl in it, and a big stone building, was that odd sound heard again, two times this time around. And one of the dragons, the red one, screamed out in agony, as something long and sharp struck the left side of its upper jaw, and split through both insides of its large mouth.

The blue one suddenly went limp and collapsed to the ground. It tumbled and rolled for a decent thirty meters before impacting another big hut. As the limp body uncurled from its rolling it revealed the dragon was lying unresponsive on the ground, dead with a wooden stick sticking out of its right eye socket.

With an angry roar the red dragon opened its mouth and a gush of lightning shoot out of its jaws, the lightning sparkled over the direction the strange projectile had come from, demolishing parts of the thick looking stone structure. That's when that strange sound was heard again, from behind the red dragon, and it stopped breathing lightning, and collapsed forward and over the stone structure, a wooden stick sticking out of the back of its neck, directly below the base of the head.

The big purple dragon looked on at this, curious and slightly nervous at what was happening. He was wondering if it would be safer to leave this strange big village. It may not even be a village. Sure there were huts and smell of ponies. But surely no pony could make such things. Could it be some of those bird cats? They were dangerous in large numbers to a single dragon.

But the purple dragon had his theory busted when he spotted something down in an small road between two large buildings in front of him. A strange looking metal coin was flipped open in the alley way and out of it came a pair of hooves, followed by a pony, and then another and finally a third. It blinked in surprise at the sight, who knew ponies had started to live underground like the dragons did. Were all these huts just decorations? Fascinating.

The trio of ponies, one of them wearing some weird wooden structure, spotted the dragon looking at them and started working with the strange wood thing. Smirking at the familiar sight of panic the dragon bent forward and gripped the front of the building. It was about to leap at them and gobble them up.

Then one of the ponies said something, and that strange wooden structure let out that familiar thunk sound. Something flew straight towards the dragon's face and it had barely time to blink as something black and pointy flew straight into its face. Then there was a burning sensation of pain in its eye, then an agonizing tearing feeling ripped into the inside of its head. It had barely time to rear back its head and screech out in utter agony, before its remaining eye went blank and its once mighty and strong body went limp and began to fall.

With a loud groan the massive beast tilted backwards, then its back and wings struck the stone wall before it rolled over with the moment and dropped over the other side of the stone wall. Its body impacted the grassy ground by the stonewall, its neck snapped in an awkward angle, but the head remained in its screaming agonized expression, with a big wooden stick sticking out of its right eye socket. Dead.

And then, all hell broke lose.

Iron Wing watched the dragons ravage the city. Their numbers were many, they were covering every rooftop with their frames. And there were more in the sky above. But his skirmish units had taken down four dragons so far with their portable ballistaes. The dragons had taken notice of the danger of the town and had gotten cautious.

Every siege weapon in the city was covered up, hidden from sight with thick cloth, tarps or natural camouflage. Thankfully had none of the dragons even deigned the towers of the city worthy of investigating. It was like they did not even know what a tower was.

And that had given his troops the time to prepare, and for his skirmish units to guide the citizens to the catacombs beneath the city. Even taking out four dragons had been far more then they had ever dreamed of this plan achieving. But it had worked, and now it was time for action, for he who took initiative in a fight, held the advantage. One of the many teachings the history of Golden Cross' old order had been given to Equestria.

So when the fourth dragon was slain, its massive boy collapsing over the city walls, the Captain raised his poleaxe into the air. The glistering surface of the axe blade and spear head, both made of sacred bronze, shone in the sunlight. This got the attention of his troops, and as he saw everyone was looking at him, he made a slow downward swing with his weapon. And shouted one word to his troops.

"FIRE!"

And as he shouted out this word, was a large gong in the castle struck, one time. Its sound catching the attention of every dragon in the city. But by then, would the ponies be ready.

Tarps, sheets of linen, vines and leaves, all manner of cover were thrown off the towers of the city, not just the towers of the castle but all of the twenty towers on the city walls. Upon each tower were at least three siege engines. One Heavy Ballsitae, one Energy Rod and one Hornet's Nest, each manned by a group of four ponies. And upon the large box shaped fort making up the main structure of the castle, was four Heavy Ballistaes, four Hornet's Nests and eight Energy Rods unveiled by unicorn magic.

Each gunner of a heavy ballistae aimed their respective weapon at the dragons flying above their home, and with incredible precision, fired off their siege weapons. Over thirty wooden bolts flew off into the sky above, and the dragons above the down roared out in shock as the wooden bolts expanded to the size of trees, and detonated into a showers of wooden shrapnel.

A few dozen smaller dragons screamed out in pain as shrapnel the size of branches pierced the membrane of their wings and forced them to fly away to land or fall to the ground depending on how much hit them. The wooden shrapnel did little to harm the larger dragons, but the concussive force of the exploding tree trunks were enough to knock the wind out of their wings or scramble their head as if struck by a tornado. Explosions rang out above the city of Baltimare while it started to rain wooden shrapnel.

The Hornet's Nests were aimed at the dragons in the city. The two meter wide and half a meter tall honeycomb shaped holes of the artillery box was mounted onto a pair of metal rods, connected by gears and springs. These were connected in turn to the center of a wooden wheel that was rotated by a pony. While the gunner handled the box itself by the grips on the metal limbs that altered the angle it was raised at. While one pony stood with a spyglass with inscribed angles in the glass, and determined were the weapon need to be aimed.

Working as one the ponies rotated and angled their shoots. And then the pony gripping onto the siege weapon released a burst of magic through their hooves and into the rune engraved bronze of the metal they were gripping. The magic would instantly trace up to the Hornet's Nest and activate the five hundred runes engraved inside each of the holes. And then would each separate rune release a powerful and focused burst of force straight out of the holes.

The projectiles within the hornet's nest were lifted up by the kinetic force of the runes and launched out of each of their holes in a burst of dust and blue light, making it look like they were being fired by several small bursts of blue fire. And as each of the bolts were fired out of the box and it finally ran empty, it was swiftly taken off the bronze contraption, and an already prepared Hornet's Nest box was stacked onto the siege engine, ready to fire instantly.

Each of these contraptions released a shower of metal tipped bolts that shoot out with a rapid sound that was like thousands of darts being fired out of a thousand blow pipes. The metal tipped projectiles flew like small clouds of death for a few seconds, before impacting their intended targets.

The dragons on the ground struck by dense bursts of metal tipped crossbow bolts. Some were struck by more then one shoot, some were hit by the same shoot as the arrows spread out as they flew through the air. The metal tips of the bolts pierced through their wings and soft stomach scales, over thirty dragons fell to the ground, either dead or severely injured as over a hundred bolts penetrated their bodies.

Then the Energy Rods fired their own volley. The wooden frame had been remade into a metal frame in the shape of a V on a rotatable wheel. And the metal rod itself was positioned at the point end of the frame and was in a spiral form with a crystal sphere on the tip. Each side of the frames had a pair of handles, each which were used to raise and lower the angle of the weapon's aim.

It was based of the same design as the Hornets Nest's firing platform. Only a bit more bulky because of the added weight of the Energy Rod's metal frame.

A recharge was still needed for the rods to fire after firing but with the improved runic array in the rods and the sphere could the rods now hold up to five shoots before emptying out the magical energy. Or they could fire a single powerful shoot.

What the ponies of Baltimare used these for, was the first setting. For with the amount of dragons within and around their home, they could not spare time to bother powering up the weapons. And thus, all shoot counted.

The crystal spheres lit up with various manners of natural energy, mostly pure magic or fire because of the availability of these energies. And out from the spheres came bolts of intense light, no longer kept in the form of their natural element, but shaped into an energy bolt. There had been too many incidents when the energy fired went out f control and struck things they were not meant to.

A bolt of blue light, signifying it was made from lightning, struck the torso of one of the dragons, the bolt burst apart into a thunderclap and arcing sparks that struck the bolts sticking out of the dragon's body. The lightning passed by the normally protective scales and hide and into the blood stream itself, and a pained screech erupted from the dragon's throat as its body convulsed and twitched as the lightning coerced through its insides and boiled its very life essence.

As the sparks stopped the smoking body of the dragon just stood there, upright, mouth agape, smoke coming out of its throat, its eyes having bursts apart like microwaved eggs. The smoldering husk of a beast then fell down, dead as a smoked piece of beef.

Another dragon tried to evade a bolt of red light, it passed it by and struck another dragon in the head. A powerful burst of intense heat filled the air and when the smoke cleared was the soot covered face of the dragon blinking in confusion as of what had just happened. It was still relatively unharmed, but the explosion itself had burst its eardrums and it was had been rendered completely deaf by this.

Two dragons folded their wings in front of them to shield from the bolts. A clear white bolt struck one of them and there was a burst of chilling cold wind as the dragon's wings were suddenly frozen stiff by a one meter thick layer of ice. There was a loud resounding crack as the wings broke apart , revealing the completely blue chilled corpse of the dragon behind them, collapsing onto the ground, breaking apart into small frozen fragments when it struck the ground.

The second dragon was struck by a green bolt of light, and at first it thought nothing had happened, until suddenly it felt a great burning sensation through its wings and it roared out in fear and agony as it saw how its massive and beautiful wings, were starting to melt apart by a green flowing liquid. It inhaled and blew out fire upon its wings, trying to remove the foreign substance, but as it did, the green light ignited into flames and it screech out into agony, as it began to burn and melt apart from the super intense fire, which never seemed to stop burning.

It flailed around, slamming its burning body into buildings, other dragons and finally into the stone wall of the city. The flames spread like wild fire and the dragons who were burning by them screamed out in agony as well. And soon was half of the city covered in a bright green fire, burning with a burning acidic and rotting flame that not even a fire dragon could withstand.

That had been an Energy Rod, powered by the green and corrupting energy of Maleficus Victoria's fire. It had been discovered that by taking trees from the Everfree Forest and lighting them on fire, before letting the wood dry, caused a powerful and acidic fire to burn from them. It had been discovered by accident a year ago when one of the patrols of the Equestrian Armies by the Everfree Forest made camp near the forest and used some of the fresh wood as firewood.

The fire had burst into the air and burnt for over a day before finally stopping. It had been lucky none of the patrol ponies had died. And the unicorn and pegasus mages, who had been sent to investigate the incident, could confirm that the Everfree Forest had NOT spread to the burnt area where the fire had been burning. But the acidic nature of the flame rendered the soil black and lumpy, like freshly rotten manure that made plants grow at an increasing rate. It was a form of hyper fertilizer.

The investigating mages came up with a theory, that for the Everfree Forest to spread further, would the corruptible flames have to burn a living tree and not just a single branch. Thus had the Everfree Lumber been registered as a Mark Five Illegal Product, the first of its rating, only to be handled by the Equestrian Military and the Research Department of the Magical Academy of Canterlot, when it was officially completed.

The green fires had been set alight within a stone room and then a single orb had been pushed into the orbs and absorbed the energy. Had the orb not been enchanted to absorb large amount of energy would it have melted or exploded from being filled up too much. But even then was the weapon a bit incomplete. The green energy acted like a acidic oil, and would ignite with a single spark. But if it was not ignited, it would turn into a poisonous fume that would rot anything it touched for over a day.

Thus standard procedure to handle the Everfree Fire, as it was being called, was to light it on fire and NOT put water on it. Water only made the green fire explode. And though it removed most of the green flames, it had a side effect of vaporizing anything within ten meters with a high density steam explosion.

Luckily they only had one orb loaded with this energy and it had been pretested, with only one charge remaining since it was not safe to reload the darn thing. Thus were the Everfree Fire ammunition of the Energy Rod out and it could not spread anymore then it already had. Hopefully.

Thus the corrupting fire burnt and killed over thirty dragons and ruined half of the town in an instance, while more bolts of energy struck the wounded or the uninjured dragons, killing another fifteen or so before the Energy Rods had run out of energy. By now had the dragons decided to stop playing passive and surprised. And their retaliation was swift and brutal.

A group of five young dragons flew at one of the towers, spewing fire as they flew over them. The flames struck at the tower, the unicorns managed to shield most of the flames but dragon fire is a ferocious fire and not one so easily dismissed. While they managed to deter the flames themselves, was the heat of the flames so intense they broke down the magical barrier.

Seeing their targets still alive the five dragons flew down and landed on the edges of the tower, reared back claws or opening jaws they struck out at the armoured ponies. Two ponies were grabbed and crushed by powerful jaws before being eaten in loud crunches, blood erupting from between the teeth and out of the lips of the dragon who was devouring them.

One was crushed beneath a large palm, her crushed corpses scrapped off the stone and licked up by another. Three ponies using the Heavy Ballistae managed to fire off one of the bolts into the gaping mouth of one of the dragons. The bolt was swallowed and the dragon blinked in confusion, before its stomach erupted as a sharpened tree trunk expanded out of its innards, it gripped its guts and screamed out in pain.

It had just the pain to do this before the trunk exploded, showering the entire tower in wooden shrapnel and dragon bits as its body, from neck to lower gut, burst apart, eviscerating the remaining ponies with bone and wood shards. The other dragons found their wings shredded apart by the wooden shrapnel and screamed out in pain as they fell off the tower, unable to fly.

Two dragons flew down on opposites sides of a single tower. One of them streaked by and with a snapping bite of its fangs, bit three ponies into halves, and crushed the Hornet's Nest they were handling between its teeth. While the other dragons tore apart the heavy Ballistae with its claws and impaled the crew on its claws, gobbling them up as it flew away.

One of the remaining ponies desperately cranked the Energy Rod from, FIRE to ABSORB, and as the dragons were flying back towards the tower. After he had done that he opened the hatch covering the staircase leading down into the tower. His two fellows followed and they desperately ran down the stairs, closing the hatch shut behind them.

The two dragons saw that the ponies had disappeared from and rather then risking their heads by tearing apart the stone structure, they inhaled and flew over the tower, and blew their fire over the tower. That's when something freaky happened. Their flames, normally burning and sparking like... well... fire. Began flow and swirl like a vortex. before disappearing into something that was glowing on the rooftop of the tower.

Completely stunned by this the dragons just hovered over the tower, staring in confusion at what had just occurred. But then they got seriously annoyed. A dragon took great pride in their power, and that included their fire, and for something to just absorb their flames so easily, it was easy to see that they might have gotten upset.

They inhaled and blew out an even larger amount of fire at the tower. and they kept it up, even as their flames kept being swallowed b the strange glowing thing on the tower. They flew closer to the tower, blowing more and more flames. Not willing to let this thing made by those prey animals beat their glorious fire breath.

Then a loud crack was heard, before there was the sound of shattering glass, before a rush of heat and light blinded the dragons for a few seconds, before the tower, and over fifty meters of stone wall around it, exploded into a one hundred meter tall and over one hundred meter wide fire pillar, the concentrated dragon fire, the intense flames did not burn their bodies, but the oxygen around them was snuffed out and they found themselves unable to breathe and as the intense heat of their own flames invaded their lungs, they collapse to the ground, dead.

For while dragons are normally immune to even their own fire do they require air to breath. And even if you breath fire, and even if you can swim in lava, when the air in your lungs is burnt up by the intense heat of dragon fire, which then invades your own air ways and stomach to find things to burn, you do not get a chance to regain your breath.

A massive blue dragon flew straight along the stone wall, its massive mouth opened and it bit down upon not the ponies or their weapons, but the entire tower tops. A mixture of crushed ponies, gravel, wood, stone and metal found itself being chewed and swallowed by the massive beast, as it broke apart the ponies' defences with far more ease then its younger brethren.

Another dragon, this one young but clever, flew down and used its tail to smash apart one of the towers, and watched with glee as the ponies on the tower fell to their death along with their weapons, crushed by the stone of their own defences. While an adult dragon just blew a lightning bolt at one of the towers and with a zap of light and the intense scent of ozone it vaporized the entire top, along with its defenders.

As this was going on was the massive black dragon flying above in the sky, and he was not amused by what had happened. Deciding to take matters into his own claws he folded his wings and fell down from the sky towards the point with the most defenders, the large stone structure on the mountain in the large pony village. His four clawed limbs slammed down with a loud crack upon the tops of the large cylindrical stone structures surrounding the big box shaped stone hut. He felt the familiar sensation of bodies and wood being crushed beneath his palms and toes.

Roaring out in victory he grinned as he moved his head to look into the fearful and pleading eyes of his next meat. It added so much spice when they cried in his mouth, so much wonderful flavours one could get by just playing with your food.

But what greeted him was not fear or despair, heck there was not even awe or even discomfort. The ponies standing on top of the large stone structure were glaring at him, with determination, discipline and courage. And it made the large dragon's stomach twinge at the thought of such baseline creatures even THINKING of being even ALLOWED to look at him in such a disrespectful manner!

"Fire!" The pony in decorative armour shouted. There was a sudden burst of projectiles from the various siege engines And the massive dragon grunted as hundreds of projectiles struck at his stomach, but then he let out a choked snarl as four massive tree trunks slammed into his gut and made him spew up smoke and magma from his mouth, causing parts of the towers he was standing on to melt as it dripped down over his talons.

With a furious twitch in his left eye the dragon shifted his hind legs and stood before the gathered ponies, his rear legs standing on the ground before the gates, he inhaled, he opened his jaws and a torrent of fire and magma burst out of his maw. The ponies did not back away, they did not quiver, they did not falter. They stood valiant in the face of death, and they died standing, even as their bodies were burnt to ashes and the stone beneath them melted.

A smug grin grew across his lips s he surveyed the destruction of the ponies' stone structure. That's when he noticed a glint of something, and he barely had time to close his left eye before that decorated pony, suddenly slammed a strange metal object against his eyelid. And in a great shower of sparks,drew a jagged mark over his left eye. His tail instantly reacted and lashed out like thunderclap, striking down the pony into the courtyard of his destroyed home.

The massive best rubbed the mark on its face before looking down with a glare at the tiny figure who had dared to injure him. And as he lowered its massive head to glare at the broken ,but still alive, shape of the pony, he began to growl out a vicious message to the pony, smoke, ash and embers bursting out of his mouth and nostrils as his anger boiled beneath his thick hide. "You have done a big mistake thinking you can take on beings like us! You prancing little grasslickers will regret ever trying to stand up to the might of dragons. Your home, your kin and your very race, shall burn."

"Hehehe. We may die here. But We hath won this battle fiend. Our citizens art safe and We hath warned Our nation of thy approach. And they and Our Princess shalt bring thee down to thy doom. Thou. Shall. Fall. Before. Equestria. Beast. Hehehehehee-" Captain Iron Wing of the Order of the Golden Cross died smiling, his final mocking laughter ending as the massive claw of the black dragon slammed down upon his prone shape, a loud crunch echoed across the ruins of the burning castle as the last of its defenders were put down.

The black dragon growled and glared at the bloody smear that had been the cause of so many of his kin dying. He was furious, he was going through such a rush of hatred and anger of which he had never felt ever before. But he had not grown this old by being careless or stupid. Size, power, hoard size and age, those factors made up the social factors of dragons, and he was one of the oldest of the species and he was not going to let some bite sized herd animals defy his right as an apex predator.

But he was not stupid, he could not show weakness before his fellows or he would no longer have control over them. He would have to convince them, both the easily influenced young and stupid and the older and ore smarter of his kin. But he had centuries of experience and knew just how to motivate even a lazy and unmotivated slug like dragon.

Turning to face his fellow dragons the massive beast crushed the remains of the pony in his palm and growled out to them as smoke and embers erupted from between his teeth. "These morsels have grown a bit too arrogant in their folly. We shall show them the errors of their ways. By burning down their stone huts, devouring their kin and destroying their little kingdom. One. Piece. At. A. Time."

The dragons around him grinned widely and roared out in eagerness, their flames gushing out into the sky like geysers of fires. All the while standing within the burning ruins of what had once been Baltimare City. The fields around the city, burning into ashes and there in one of the burning fields, laid a badly bent and burnt scythe. Just a short distance away from the burning ruins of a once large farmstead.

Achilles, the disguised form Maleficus, looked down upon his designs. His various attempts at utilizing metal, crystals or wood had not worked as he had intended. None of the metals or crystals could harness the ambient energies of the world and turn it into a steady power source. If the ponies could, he did not know, but he knew that he needed more time and effort to properly figure out a way to make the mana engines.

After fifteen various kinds of failures, most of them explosions or duds, he had decided to think over something different. Rather then creating an engine to create the power he needed, he would utilize a magical array, that would have to be powered manually, but would maintain its power for long periods of time. But for the array to work, he needed to have a properly made surface to put it on. The more compelxx the array, the larger the surface needed to carve it.

To make the array permanent, he would have to carve the entire network of runes, lines and pentagrams into the surface he wanted it to work on. Thus far had he been trying to combine the runes of Earth and Wind with the pentagrams and array patterns for Power and Time. It was not entirely working, he had only been making tests on some big boulders, it had made them spin around for... well two hours and not stopping. Butit was not his intended result.

"Okay... I have to link the lines of runes into the pattern of the pentagrams. Which I will then have to connect through a larger set of runic lines to link the array together. But even then..." He contemplated and looked upon his various notes and prototypes scattered across his workshop desk in his tent. He had been working on away to great a power supplier for a magical effect on a larger scale, but there was more then one problem, but the biggest one was pretty important.

"Just... what do I do with it?" That's right. Maleficus had been working out this entire new kind of conductor for magical power and even the ground works for a mana engine, without figuring out just what to do with either of them. Sure he had thrown out some random ideas about enchanted carts, wagons, cars or even trains. But he had not actually figured out how to even apply it in practice rather then theory.

Sighing he decided to take a break and walked out of his tent and looked around the camp as his horses worked. There were high activity across the campsite, he had even created new horses and applied knowledge to them to create them as the modern horses of the world having gathered together. It was a work in progress and they looked more like nomads then soldiers, but it fit with what he was building up.

He walked past a pair of mares giggling while discussing something ,and felt a shiver at how lifelike they had all become since he gave them their personalities and knowledge. It felt just... weird watching what was essentially artificially created flesh puppets with the biological age of toddlers acting like long lived adults.

The disguised alicorn walked past a tent designated as the mess hall for the horses, when something white suddenly flew out of the tent and got stuck in his mane. He blinked as he pulled off the thing that had found itself on his head, and stared at what he saw. "What the?"

It was a piece of white parchment, folded, into the shape. Of an airplane. It was a paper airplane. The thing was just so... innocent and yet so utterly bizarre that he found himself staring at it in utter confusion. But then... a twinkle of an idea began to roll in his head. And he slowly began look towards the piles of lumber his troops had been gathering. and a small smile grew upon his lips, steadily growing into a wide and gleeful grin. As he got a very interesting idea.

He turned his head and looked into the tent were many of his horses were eating or tossing paper planes around. And he whistled, loudly, there was a sudden silence as all of the horses turned to look at their creator, who grinned and waved a hoof. "Hey. Gather everyone. I have something important to tell you."

Maleficus then left the tent, hearing the horses scrambling to deliver the news. He stopped by one of the big piles of lumber, and levitated one of the pieces of the the pile, and began to carve the entire thing into a different shape. It took a few tries before he felt content in the look, but he finished making the shape before all of the horses had gathered around him, with a respectful distance.

"Ah excellent." He said as he finally took notice of the horses. He then levitated the newly carved wooden shape in front of the group and asked them a question.

"Does any of you, know what this is and how you make one? Show of ha-I mean hooves if you do." There was a moment of silence as the horses looked at their creator's latest work, before all of them raised their forelegs into the air.

"Wonderful. Now. Do you know you need for this thing to be of use?" There was another brief moment of silence, before all of the horses nodded together. And a grin grew on the face of Achilles, as the mind of Maleficus worked out its latest idea.

"Excellent. Now. I want all of you to gather whatever wood you can. And get to building those. We got a lot of work ahead of us so do be ready for a lot of overtime." The horses all saluted before moving out, grabbing saws, knives, hammers, mallets, nails, ropes and many other things. And then they all began to pull out pieces of lumber. and work them into shapes.

As they did this were another group of them gathering buckets, cauldrons and brushes, before moving into the cave and forest to gather material.

And as this was happening was Maleficus working on his own project, the wooden object he had just recently made. And along its entire length and flat end, he began to carve, a runic pattern, that would take on the shape of pentagrams that would link together into an array.

*If this works will nothing be the same. Thus I better keep it only for my own forces for the moment. They will keep this a secret from anyone who would misuse it, after all, I programmed them loyal to me so I know they will keep this safe.* He thought to himself as he craved out the markings in the wood, while floating over different types of gemstones,for testing.

The Northern Road lead forward along the eastern fringes of the Foal Mountains.Normally it was a well traveled road with many patrols and travelers crossing its well made stone paths. But ever since the Second Crusade and the massive earthquake had patrols turned scarce because of the amount of damage needed to be repaired, travelers traveled less because of the lack of protection.

But some still dared to take the path. And one of these groups were the Wind Strider Clan. Their caravan of wagons pulling along the stone road towards Blackstone Keep, just mere hours away. The dark stone structure and its massive towers and walls could be seen beyond the rising hills and small mountains the road was moving around. As it had been built to prevent as much issues as possible when building it. Thus flat ground had been a preferred option rather then making tunnels or steep paths unless there were no other options.

Wild Whip was fidgeting nervously as he walked next to Gold Digger, the two had been close together ever since that awful night all those days ago. The two never left each other's side for long and they had even gone so far as to start sleeping in the same bed all the time, their nightmares less of an issue when they were close to one another.

For several days had the Clan been traveling north, trying to reach the Blackstone Keep to find a way to properly settle down, the recent fight that ended with their old chief and elder dead, proving that they needed to adapt to survive. Their passion for treasure hunting, history, crafting and exploring would not be put aside however, they did not intend to just stay idle.

But they wanted a home. A place they could stay at, were their families could be safe without the risk of the nomadic lifestyle they had endured for so many generations.

Gold Digger did not mind settling down, she still had a love for digging for treasures, but she could sate her curiosity by learning about the treasures others found. And now that she was in a dedicated relationship again, she would not be the clan's Comfort Mare anymore. Many stallions felt this was unfair, but the mares found it romantic and a relief knowing that they would not be risking their stallions visiting another mare not part of their herd.

Wild Whip was a bit uncertain about it all, but he was going to support gold Digger all the way, especially considering she was pregnant, with her having gone through pregnancies before, the mare knew what she was talking about. Her other children supporting her and her new fiancee, even if some of them made joking threats to castrate him if her hurt their mother.

The young pegasus stallion was nervous, because he had been working up his courage a lot lately. Gold Digger's care and sexual attention had helped his confidence a lot but he was still fidgeting when making decisions. And what he was deciding was something rather important.

But the thought on that was removed from his mind as one of the scouts from the clan came flying down from the air, carrying an unconscious Golden Cross Knight pegasus who looked like she had been flying through thorn bushes by the amount of scraps and bruises on her body.

"Chief Ancient Ruin! Ah found an unconscious knight! She was nearly killed by wolves an' wild cats!" The scout shouted out as he landed in front of the caravan, the unconscious knight resting over his back. Wild Whip looked ahead in curiosity as their new chief Ancient Ruin stepped forth and began to examine the unconscious knight.

"Get her in a bed, care fer her wounds, and prepare some food an' water. We shall take her with us to da castle." The scout nodded and carried the unconscious mare to the wagon where one of the clan's more medically taught families lived. He watched as the unconscious pegasus was carried inside and looked at Gold Digger in confusion.

"Why da blazed do ya think that knight was doin' out here bein' mauled by beasties? Were they lost or somethin?" It was weird since the knight was a pegasus and the castle was just around an hour's walk away, less so by flight.

The mare looked curious about this as well but just shrugged and bumped her side against her stallion's and nuzzled his cheek. "We can wonder about that later stud. Let's keep movin'. We're not far now."

Nodding to his lover the young pegasus kept up with her as they walked down the road. The large structure of the black fortress growing ever closer.

After around an hour or so they reached a small village built by the base of the mountain. It was more like a hamlet, around ten different buildings. There was a single gatehouse built out of the cliff of the mountain side, there was no wall connected to the gatehouse, instead was the mountain side filled with small paths, each connected to a small doorway in the mountain side. While a single ten meters wide road went up to the black fortress in a zigzag pattern, to allow wagons and siege weapons to reach the castle interior.

There was a lot of activity in the village, ponies walking around, shopping, working, talking and singing. A lot of laughter and cheer, the village was a recent built one, only a year old, but it was growing very fast because of the protection and wealth of the Blackstone Keep and its owners the Knightly Order of the Golden Cross.

"Wow that is darn impressive." Ancient Ruins whistled out as she looked up at the big stone structure sticking out of the mountain top. The sheer size of the beast of a castle was very awe inspiring, especially so considering that it was easily standing at more twice the size of the castles of Canterlot, Baltimare and Fillydelphia.

"Well we better get started y'all! Da sooner we can talk to da shiny knights da sooner we can get ta work!" There was a cheer from the other nomads and the new chief felt a bit more confident at their joyful chorus. As their clan approached the gatehouse at the base of the mountain, where a pair of knights noticed them, and one of them struck a large bronze gong, two times, signalling the castle of their arrival.

After thirty minutes or so had a group of knights come down and exited the opened gates, a large Unicorn dressed in Bronze Plate, wearing a purple mantle with a purple circle and golden star on his left shoulder pauldron, moved at the front of the group. He was easily the most decorated of the knights and thus was probably the one in charge, or a representative of the Order. Ancient Ruins straightened herself, she needed to prepare herself to speak to this big shot of the Order, even the good knights had some bad foals among them from time to time, no matter their gruesome training and personality tests.

As the group of knights stood before them stepped the large unicorn before them and gave a short bow in greeting. Ancient Ruin could not help but notice how buff the unicorn was, those muscles looked more fitting on an earth pony. And then he spoke up, in a voice that almost made her knees weak, that voice was like the dark echo of an ancient catacomb, mysterious and deep. "Welcome to the village of Blackstone Keep, We art Master Knight and Grand Templar Rock Steady, Caretaker of Blackstone Keep and Commander of all troops of the Order of the Golden Cross located out here in the East. What art thy business here and how may We aid thee?"

*Okay, way bigger big shot then Ah'd expect. And a far better lookin' unicorn then Ah'd ever thought possible.* The mare thought while trying to not make a nervous twitch appear on her face, this was her first diplomatic talk as chief of the Wind Strider Clan, she could not mess this up!

So she took a calming breath before she spoke up. "Ah am Ancient Ruins, new Chief of da Wind Strider Clan an' new Head of da Lore Seeker Family. Me an' mah kin wish to find a place ta settle down at, to plant our roots. So our families an' friends can have a place to be safe an' sound."

"Your clan's fame is far and wide milady. And you have a most worthy endeavor as wells. We of the East Branch of the Knightly Order of the Golden Cross will be more then willing to aid you in settling down." The big unicorn's warm smile made the chieftainess flustered but she bit through it and nodded, while reaching out with a hoof to shake the big... warm... and... strong... hoof... of the stallion. Avoiding to look him in the eyes as her face was starting to turn red, unable to see how the Master Knight looked a bit confused as of why the mare was acting so strange.

Coughing a little as her clan began to cheer she tried to change the subject, the curios stare of the Commander making her feel a bit nervous. "Ah. Right. Our clan found one of ye knights in da woods on our way here. She was badly wounded by wild animals, apparently fell unconscious when our scout found her. We have her in one of our wagons. Not sure why she was in da woods, but Ah recon she was on important business if she risked her life like dat."

The Knight Commander's face turned serious and he nodded. "Thank thee for aiding one of our own, though we doubt she come from Blackstone Keep. And yes, it is strange for on of our knights to risk their health like she hath. The situation must be dire for her to be willing to take such risks. We shall take her to the fortress and help her to the best of our capabilities."

He then turned towards his knights and nodded at them. The knights saluted and moved over to retrieve the unconscious scout. Commander Rock steady then turned towards the Chieftainess and smiled kindly. "We thank thee once more for thy aid of one of our own. And we hope thee shall find yourself at home in these lands."

"Hey Commander! It's Rapid Fire! This knight is Sir Rapid Fire from Baltimare! She hath a message for you! She be barely awake!" Came the shout from the knights in the caravan, the Commander looked in the direction with wide and startled eyes. He knew that young knight, she was the daughter of the Captain of Baltimare, Sir Iron Wing, one of the fastest flyers in the East Coast.

The group of knights came galloping forward, the barely conscious form of the pegasus knight being carried on the back of four of them. As they approached the barely conscious mare saw the commander and weakly pulled out a scroll from within the fold of her armour, and tried to lift it up to the Commander.

A big hoof gently patted her head and a telekinetic grip gently pulled out the message from her hoof. The kind face of Commander Rock Steady smiling down at her. "Good work soldier. You did a fine job, please, rest and recover now."

"Y-yes... s-sir..." The mare mumbled out before she closed her eyes and began to snore, loudly.

Rock Steady looked at the knights carrying the once more unconscious messenger and pointed towards the fortress. "Take her to the medical wing of the fortress, but be careful, she is badly injured."

They all nodded and moved away, one of them calling out to their commander as they passed him by. "No need to tell us that Commander."

"I hope we can meet later lady Ruins. but for now I need to return to Blackstone Keep, know that you may enter at any time during the day if you wish to talk with any member of our order." The chieftainess gave a short nod before she shouted out to her clan to get moving. As the clan moved on walked Commander Rock Steady back to the Fortress, not taking heed of his troops gossiping about the newly arrived clan.

He had far more important matter to consider. Like the message he had just received. *If Rapid Fire was sent then it must be dire news.* Commander Rock Steady thought to himself as he ripped open the wax seal of Baltimare and unfurled the message. What was written there, gave him chills.

Rock Steady closed his eyes and took a deep shallow breath before he opened them again and saw that he had come to the gatehouse. He quickly pocketed the scroll and barked out orders to the ponies at the gatehouse. "Signal out for assembly at the courtyard!"

They jumped a bit but saluted and began to sound the signal for assembling at the fortress courtyard with the gong. Rock Steady ran past the open gates and began to rapidly jump up and over the cliff sides of the zigzagging road, not caring one bit that he might fall. Soon he reached the large gate and ran past it and nearly knocked over the two ponies about to greet him on the other side.

He ran past the open courtyard and slammed open the doorway to the central keep. Jumping over ponies and opening doors and leaping up stairs he took the quickest route to his office, where the crystal ball that connected him to Canterlot was located.

Grabbing the crystal he rushed out of the office and soon reached the large hall were the soldiers often gathered for meals, meetings, festivities or such matters. He ran through the hall and shouted out orders to the troops who were just about leaving to assemble in the courtyard. "All Scribes listen! Bring us quills, ink and parchments! All messengers art to prepare for take off on the double! All of thee art to meet us in the courtyard ready to work on the fly!"

The knight ran through the open doorway of the hall and rushed up the left staircase and soon reached the larger balcony that overlooked the large courtyard, were he could see his troops scrambling into position. They were all working over time to fulfill his rapid orders but they were still a big lacking in the execution. But he could not blame them since most of the knights in Blackstone were newly graduated recruits who were there to gain experience in the duties of knighthood.

And so he waited a few minutes, letting the final stragglers come out of the keep, before he ignited his horn and telekinetically held the Communication Orb before him. And then he activated it and as the line on the other side answered, he began to speak out to not just his troops but Princess Celestia as well. "This is Master Knight Rock Steady of the Order of the Golden Cross speaking to all knights of Blackstone Keep and directly to Princess Celestia!"

"We have just received dire news from Baltimare City! A day ago there was a sighting of a large mass of dragons from the west approaching the coastline! Sir Iron Wing has stated in this message that he and his troops have gotten the citizens into the underground beneath the city and the castle to keep them safe!"

The knights looked at one another nervously at the mention of the dragons. All ponies had been told stories about the dragons. But more those who had lived on the East Coast, their grandparents telling them about the dragons invading the lands to burn down villages and devourer their inhabitants. They had not thought much of the stories, but now, now they had just been given the truth. The dragons were real and they had already arrived.

"But the message also told me that he and his troops will not be enough to repel the dragons, but that they would be fighting to the last to stall them! We hope that Baltimare City has not fallen! But we cannot make such a speculation! Equestria is being invaded by a horde of dragon as we speak! We need to take action!"

At those words the knights all raised their heads. If Baltimare City had fallen then things had gone from bad to worst. Baltimare was the third largest supplier of goods in Equestria. For the city to have fallen would mean disaster to the economy of Eastern Equestria. Not to mention the lose of lives once winter came without the autumn harvest from the city to feed the southern half of the coastline.

"Thus we are giving out orders to all outposts of Eastern Equestria! Scribes! Write!"

Over a hundred ponies pulled forth quills, ink bottles and parchments and began to write down the message their commander was shouting out from the balcony. The sound of quills scratching paper and clicking against liquid filled glass echoed across the courtyard as the ponies tried to write down the message into as many duplicates as possible.

"All knights and troops of Equestria are to gather all civilians and take them to safety! All forms of siege engines and high tier magic is allowed for confronting this threat! Gather information about the dragons if thou can! But it is not your primary objective! The priority is the survival of the civilians, all other things are secondary! We shall weather this storm of fire and claws and bring down these invaders! Ave Equestria!"

All ponies, except for the scribes, saluted their commander and shouted out together, their voices echoing out over the courtyard and over the castle walls. The Knights of the Order of the Golden Cross would take actions, or all would be lost.

*May the Sun Guide our path.* Commander Rock Steady thought with a solemn look in his face as he ended the transmission to Canterlot. If Princess Celestia wanted to contact him he would respond as swiftly as possible. But for now he needed to focus, for time was running out. And had been even before he received the message from Iron Wing.

In Canterlot was the Day Court under way, Princess Celestia sat upon her throne listening to the laments of the nobles, the commoners and the organizations of her nation. It had taken up a bit of her time meeting these ponies and talking about their worries, needs and/or requests. It was making her feel like when she had been ruling from the Everfree Forest.

She was frankly glad she had made the court hours no more then three hours a day or she would have been forced to sleep in her office rather then her bed before she was finished with her other duties as princess. Though for why she was the one who needed to approve the patrol patterns of the parade units from Equestrian Order of Chivalry was anyone's guess.

The Princess of the Sun had put that stupid request in the garbage where it belonged since the parade would have been pointless. Not only was it pointless the route would have gone through half of Canterlot's main streets during the most active morning hours, and would have caused no small amount of traffic issues.

But Court matters were by far worse then the paperwork, since at least the paperwork was not a pony who verbally tried to make as much of a claim as possible by making stupid suggestions, crazy ideas or attempts at frauds. She may be a princess but she was no air headed fairy tail princess who just sat around combing her mane waiting for a strong prince. Although she could not deny that the concept of a handsome stallion taking her away from her busy life was not intriguing.

One of the court matter she had just recently completed had been about two ponies arguing about who owned a specific spot of land. The problem was that the 'spot of land' was the Everfree Forest. When she asked them where they had brought their 'totally legit paperwork' they both said 'some noble with a mask'. When she asked for an identification she almost facehoofed when one of them said that the mask looked like a peacock, while the other argued that it was a parrot.

Clearly the two were the victims of fraud, but were too stupid to take note of that. So she had in short lay terms explained to them that their paperwork were about as worthless and real as a pony trying to sell the Water of Youth while filling bottles with water from the city well, where he had made his stand. THAT had been an interesting court case, easily made her top ten of the year. And then she had told them that they had been fooled worse then a rabbit being told by a fox that it was a vegetarian, and believing it.

Both ponies had been rather humbled, a bit poorer, but wiser after this and had left the court. And both vowed to find the one who had sold them the fake papers so they could take him to the town guard, if they ever found him again. Which she seriously doubted they could achieve if they could not tell the different between a parrot and a peacock. But she just smiled and nodded as they left.

The white mare was about to call out for the next court matter when suddenly Solid Pink appeared by her side, carrying the glowing Communication Orb. Her closest aid raised the orb to her, the pulsing light glowing and dimming rapidly. "There is a call from Blackstone Keep, Princess. The amount of light signals it is urgent."

"Court is temporarily adjourned." The Princess called out as she grasped the orb and held it up to look into it as she magically activated the answer function. An image of Commander Rock Steady appeared within the orb, he was not looking directly into the orb, he was looking forward and he was outside from what she could tell by the cloud and sky above him.

He opened his mouth and began to speak out, loudly, his voice vibrating out of the orb as if he was there directly. His words echoing though out the throne room, making the ponies who had been about to leave, halt and stop to listen.

"This is Master Knight Rock Steady of the Order of the Golden Cross speaking to all knights of Blackstone Keep and directly to Princess Celestia!"

The guards did not stop them as they too were distracted by the sudden loud voice coming from the orb, this was the first public usage of the Communication Orb outside of the Second Crusade a month ago. And the message it was receiving, spelled disaster for Equestria.

"We have just received dire news from Baltimare City! A day ago there was a sighting of a large mass of dragons from the west approaching the coastline! Sir Iron Wing has stated in this message that he and his troops have gotten the citizens into the underground beneath the city and the castle to keep them safe!"

Loud gasps filled the air as mares and stallions felt horror fill their hearts as the words told of the impending terror that had already reached their nation's borders. The panicked ponies began to discuss and murmur among themselves while the loud voice of Commander Rock Steady kept going, the Princess' attention locked onto the orb, not caring one bit about the panicking ponies in her throne room.

"But the message also told me that he and his troops will not be enough to repel the dragons, but that they would be fighting to the last to stall them! We hope that Baltimare City has not fallen! But we cannot make such a speculation! Equestria is being invaded by a horde of dragon as we speak! We need to take action!"

Yet more gasps filled the room and one of the mares of the nobility actually screamed and fainted, as she came from Baltimare City. A guard was swiftly there to catch the mare as she fainted and was quick to put her on a couch in the hall outside of the throne room so she could recover. Princess Celestia's eyes had gone wide at these words, before they narrowed into utter and burning fury, her mane momentarily sparking into golden fire before assuming their prismatic miasma after she regained control over her temper.

"Thus we are giving out orders to all outposts of Eastern Equestria! Scribes! Write!"

As if by reflex began several guards, servants, civilians and nobles, to pull out parchments, quills and ink and began to scribble down the words of the Knight Commander as his voice boomed out over the panicking crowd in the throne room. His commanding voice strong enough to evoke the basic training reflexes of anyone who had worked, even just as an apprentice, as a scribe.

"All knights and troops of Equestria are to gather all civilians and take them to safety! All forms of siege engines and high tier magic is allowed for confronting this threat! Gather information about the dragons if thou can! But it is not your primary objective! The priority is the survival of the civilians, all other things are secondary! We shall weather this storm of fire and claws and bring down these invaders! Ave Equestria!"

At his final words there was a loud and resounding rumble of voices echoing out of the orb, as Celestia realized that the Caretaker of Blackstone Keep was speaking out to his troops and they were responding to his speech. She also took note that her own troops responded to his final words by saluting and repeating them along with the troops in Blackstone Keep.

And the orb flickered out, the call over. And there was a moment of silence before the ponies scattered out of the throne room in either a reckless panic or in a focused and steady pace, going to spread the words not just all of Canterlot's Military Leaders, the Battle Mages, the Knightly Orders and the Sun Guard's High Captain. But to the civilians as well.

While their princess just sat in her throne, staring at the with narrowed eyes and an angry frown on her face.

Princess Celestia did not know what she had been expecting when the call from Blackstone Keep was made. But this. This was something she had never ever dreamed of. How could she? She had never seen a dragon, only the old stories and whatever lore gathered out of the ruins of the Age of Chaos remained and each gathered scrap of clear information on the fire breathing creatures barely filled a pamphlet, let alone a book.

Even the few recovered records of dragons showed nothing about their physical or magical abilities, only the amount of destruction and lives lost during their occasional raids. And she knew that this lack of information would be one of the biggest issues for the coming battles.

"Gather Our Generals and the Leaders of the Knightly Orders as well as the Arch Mages in the War Room. We will need to have a meeting and plan for the dragons. Canterlot and Equestria shall not be unprepared like we were during the Rattenfänger Siege." Solid Pink nodded and disappeared in a blur, making the princess chuckle as he could never figure out just how the mare could more like she did. Even when she had a tracking spell on her during one of the military exercises before she became her personal aid, had the spell just fizzled out and not been able to keep track of her after two minutes.

Getting off her throne she stood up and walked out of the throne room, she needed to prepare for the coming military activity. For she could not just fly off and leave the capital without sharing her orders with her subjects, she would be a poor ruler if she just left without words. No matter how much she wanted to fly out, armed to the teeth, and personally slay the fire breathing beasts attacking her nation.

For now she had to prepare a force before she could move out and aid her nation's people. Then, then she would march with the fury of the sun upon these invaders.

Eastern Equestria, often just known as the East Coast, was burning. Dragons were rampaging across the skies, their fiery breathes and massive bodies tearing up the country side in a massive slaughter to avenge those who had died. Their feast had been spoiled by the resistance of their prey and they were not willing to let such insolence pass by.

A group of fifteen dragons flew towards one of the nearby towns, more specifically the town located just west of Baltimare City. The city was alerted of the dragons however and even before they had come halfway to the town had the civilians fled into the underground dungeons of the nearby fort of the knightly order.

And the Knights of the Order of the Golden Cross, had armed their siege engines.

Five dragons flew at the front, eager to rip apart and feed upon the insolent herbivores. But as their shapes flew over the first house of the town, a loud thunk was heard as the four Heavy Ballistaes mounted on top of the four towers of the fort, fired.

The dragon in the front got its head and neck crushed as a tree trunk suddenly expanded out of a tiny bolt and slammed into its face just below the speed of sound. The other four tried to move out of the way of the other three bolts, but one of them got struck in the side, several bones and organs crushed as it struck its side. The other two flew past them.

Before the corpse and the injured dragon could even fall the trunks detonated into shrapnel. The three young dragons who had not been hit screamed out in agony as their wings were torn to shreds by the wooden shrapnel. While the first five dragons crashed into the town buildings, three of them barely alive, but unconscious, the two explosive tree bolts detonated just ten meters away from the other ten dragons.

The shower of shrapnel caused fear and disarray among the dragons as they had witnessed how destructive they were not just now but earlier as well. They flew up into the sky above the city and began to bombard it with their fires, lightnings and ice breaths. But even as they bombarded the town from over five hundred meters above, the bolts kept firing up towards them and discouraged them from getting closer.

In the end the dragons set fire to the town, but they dared not approach it, fearing being struck by the siege engines. None of them were adult dragons, they could not take hits from such massive projectiles.

Thus they decided to leave the now ruined town behind, telling themselves that the ponies had learned their lesson.

No pony died from this attack, but over half of the town was destroyed. But this was a rare occurrence, for while the Order of the Golden Cross had fortresses, forts, castles, towers and outposts across the East Coast, do they not have them everywhere. For while they were the most numerous of knights in the nation, are they not numerous enough to post outposts at every single town and village.

And even those towns and villages who were defended by the knights, did not all fare well. Since only the settlements closest to Baltimare and in the direction of the north had been warned of the dragons. And that barely covered one tenth of the settlements of the East Coast.

One group of four dragons flew over a large vast field, where in the distance they could see a tall stone tower sticking out of the road next to a village. They flew with unrestrained fury and evaded the bolts fired from the Manticore Ballistaes mounted on the top of the tower. While the rapidly fired wooden projectiles were good enough to handle bandits, would be war lords, beasts and cultists, were they of no use against these new attackers.

Wooden bolts would impact the thick scales of the adult dragons and with loud thinks they would bounce off as they had been tooth picks thrown at a cauldron. Though thankfully were the dragons still rather frightened by the weapons, remembering how their younger brethren had been killed similar projectiles. And thus they tried their best to avoid being hit by the projectiles. So the militia of the town and knights of the tower were able to distract the dragons long enough for the civilians to seek shelter within the underground dungeon of the tower.

The defenders perished to the last pony when one of the dragons grew brave enough and body tackled the tower, toppling it over, crushing the knights on and in the tower. While the other two tore down and ripped apart the ponies on the ground before they spewed fire upon the town, trying to scare out anyone hiding within the buildings.

But even as the fires of the dragons' breaths ignited the wood of the town and the rubble of the tower no more ponies came out. After the last of the buildings were burnt down to the ground had the dragons decided to seek another target since they could not find more ponies to eat with the ponies hiding beneath the rubble of the ruined tower.

Said hiding ponies would come out later during the evening, having been forced to push through the rubble over the tower. Their homes laid in ruins but their fields were still intact and the majority of them were still alive. they could rebuild.

Sadly enough however, was these situations not the most common. Since very few towns, let alone villages, were supported by guard towers. The most common cases, were far less lucky.

Eight young dragons along with two adults stomped down through the streets of a town by the southern part of the coast. The ponies were fleeing in panic as the massive beasts slammed their talons and claws through their wooden buildings.

The villagers were not able to defend themselves properly from the dragons. They were fishers and scavengers, their weapons were no match even for the younger of the dragons who stood easily the size of a small hut.

Blood was spread across the ground as the young dragons gorged themselves on the flesh of the villagers. Their teeth tore apart pelt, crushed bone, ripped flesh and ruptured organs as they bit down upon the unprotected flesh of their screaming or dead preys.

Not even bothering with burning down the village the large creatures crushed the wooden huts in their hunt for meat. There was no mercy in their eyes, only hunger and anger.

A young filly hid between a pair of large boulders, her small shape covered by seaweeds as she clutched her eyes shut and tried to remain as still and silent as possible as her home, family and friends screamed out as the horrid monsters tore it all apart.

*Mama! Make it stop! Please stop hurting my family!* The little filly cried in her mind as she tried her best to hide.

After an hour or so the sound of destruction ended and the screaming stopped. She did not dare move however and just remained still and silent.

Then she heard hooves rushed over rock and she dared to take a peek out of the seaweed. Only to see her younger sister, running towards her location, she opened her eyes to shout out. When a massive mouth of razor sharp teeth suddenly appeared from above, and crushed her sister's body between its massive jaws.

The blood flew out from between the jaws as her sister screamed a loud and horrible noise that she could never ever forget. It sprayed out and struck across the ground, some of it splattering across the sandy ground before her hiding place, where she was forcing her hooves into her mouth.

She did it to prevent herself from screaming. While tears streamed down her eyes as she watched the foreleg of her sister caught between the teeth flail around as she screamed. Before it was bit off as the jaws closed down, silencing her sister as it crushed her body, and then the monstrous mouth began to chew.

Even as the dragons finally left, she did not leave her hiding spot. Nor did she look away from the spot where she had seen her sister get eaten, nothing but blood, the front half of a foreleg and strands of hair left behind.

And there she would remain for a long time. Trying to recover from the horrors she had witnessed and experienced, not even reacting, when some of the survivors found her. And took her to a safe place, she did not stop staring emptily forward, unable to make a sound.

"Just a bit more! Get it to an height around three meters!" Cursed Blessing shouted out as he surveyed the work of his fellow horses. They had been working nonstop since yesterday, not even sleeping except for naps, alongside their creator. Chopping trees, making lumber, gathering tar, hammering nails, weaving linen, gathering gemstones, forging metal, carving patterns and putting it all together into several large structures.

Structures they were now raising into the air using wooden cranes, which were still needed to be manually pulled as they had not all of the material needed to make a more functional crane.

"Heave! Ho! Heave! Ho!" The horses chanted as they pushed on the large rotating wheels that pulled in the thick ropes. Slowly but surely the large wooden structure attached to the ropes groaned increasingly as its entire hull was lifted off the ground. Then, as soon as it reached three meters above the ground they tied the ropes to trees, iron poles, giant boulders and other big and solid surface to properly anchor the ropes so that they do not get loose.

This particular structure was 45 meter long, 3 meter deep in the center and around 7 meters wide. And as it was fastened and held above the ground, moved several horses beneath it and began to carved out the wood as instructed by their creator. With chisel, hammer and knife, they carefully carved out a long and complex pattern upon the wooden surface.

Another wooden structure was being raised into the air next to the other one. This one was a bit shorter but much taller. Around 40 meters long, 6 meters wide and 10 meters tall. It too was raised to three meters above the ground and was being carved on the bottom of its wooden surface.

Next up was yet one more kind of wooden structure, it was far more box like in shape, but while it was smaller then the two before, was it solid in structure. It was around 36 meters long, 10 meters tall and around 12 meters wide. And its wooden surface was covered by iron plates. But the lower section was not covered just yet as the horses needed to reach the wood to be able to carve out the runic engravings.

The fourth, and final wooden structure was not as boxy in design as the third, but was by far the shortest of the four structures. It was around 22 meters long, 6 meters wide, an height of 6 meters and a tall structure on its rear that was around 4 meters higher then the rest of the body.

'Maleficus, in the disguise of Achilles, grinned as he watched the four prototypes being made. Ad beyond their large frames being engraved with the runes he had prepare,d were several more of each type being made. He then heard something in the distance and looked towards the west, but could not see anything.

Then he took notice of something just beyond the edge of the mountain peaks. It looked like a flock of birds flying all over the sky. Only... now that he looked a bit more. they were far too big to be birds.

*What exactly are those things?* His curiosity sparked he pulled out his Interface Solid Light Screen and he connected it to the floated visual satellites and began to alter and shift until he found his own location, and with a slide of his hoof he began to zoom in and shift the view a bit to the right so that he could properly examine the east coast at large.

At first he did not see anything out of the ordinary. But as he got a closer view, he spotted something ominous. There was a large spot of black on the coast side, one he was very certain had not been there when he last looked from the moon.

Shifting and zooming his view he soon pierced the cloud layer of the atmosphere, and what he saw was shocking and not to mention rather disgusting. The entire pony town was burned down to a black crisp. Even part of the mountain castle that the city had been built around was burnt to the ground. And all over the wreckage were large, and colourful, creatures moving through the burnt debris.

And as he zoomed even closer. He finally saw them, dragons, dozens of them. Eating the burnt remains of ponies from the burnt down town. He felt his stomach churn and something try to rise up his throat when he saw the half burnt corpse of a pregnant mare bit in half by a dragon, who ate her bit by bit with a delighted smile on his bloody maw.

"Oh fuck me that's just disgusting! Fuck!" He shouted out and abruptly put away the light screen when he thought he could see the undeveloped fetus of the mare slide out of her half eaten stomach. Only to be eaten by the dragon like a lemon drop.

Maleficus hunched over and an acidic sensation and sour taste filled his throat and mouth as he began to throw up the food he had been eating for the last day. He was puking for a good thirty seconds before it stopped, and after having gasped for air for a few moments he seemed to have gotten control over it. But then he resumed puking another ten seconds.

Summoning a cup of water he gargled his mouth with water and then spat it out to rinse out the taste. He threw aside the mug, gasping and stumbling a little as he stepped away from the pile of bile and sat down on a wooden log. Putting his hoof and claw over his face he took deep breaths and slowly let them out, calming down his nerves after that disturbing sight.

Soon he removed them and opened his eyes to see the concerned eyes of Cursed Blessing looking at him, or at least, that's what it looked like. But the flesh golems should not have such an advanced personality design, yet.

"Okay... Speed up the process." There was a moment's pause as Cursed Blessing tried to register hat his creator had just said. But then his creator gripped him by the shoulders and started to scream him in the face, rage and utter disgust apparent in his eyes. Green flames began to burn out of the red fleshy veins all over his fake body, his eyes began to burn with green flames and pieces of his body began to burn off like ash. The emotion the alicorn was going through was making his magic going a bit... out of control.

"You heard me! Speed. Up. The. Process! Dragons are attacking Equestria as we speak! Complete this before sunrise tomorrow! We need to help the ponies before more of them are butchered!" Finally letting go of his creation Maleficus rubbed his head and felt like ripping out his mane. The danger to the ponies was tremendous! And if that scene was playing out all over the country, then more innocent lives would be lost to this senseless butchery!

So why had he been trying to make this point out to one of his flesh golems!? Was the shock finally settling and the stress was making him bonkers!? *Why am I talking to this guy!? He's not programmed for-*

"As you wish creator. We shall speed up the production." Cursed Blessing said, interrupting his creator's train of thought. The green flames burning out of the patchworks of his fake body went out with a puff, the damaged flesh regenerating in seconds, as the shock of what just made his mind go blank. So with a gaping face the disguised alicorn just stared at his creation and almost felt like trying to voice a question, then he just closed his mouth. Then he opened it again when the horses all responded to the order of their fellow, acting independent, annnnnnd after a few seconds just closed it, again.

Finally he decided to drop the subject. Instead Maleficus assumed his more natural form and ignited his horn as he began to trace across the Solid Light Screen, and examined the locations of the dragons. They were spread out all over the East coast, but the majority of them seemed to be focused in the center.

*If only I knew how to fly. If I just went out there running I would just have ended up arriving at a fucked up sight o butchery... Not that that doesn't make me feel any less guilty.* He thought to himself before he reluctantly dismissed the Solid Light Screen. Rubbing his head he let out a loud and long suffering sigh, before he decided to do something productive then just feeling sorry for himself.

Walking over to a pile of wooden objects that had yet to be carved he picked one of them up with his telekinesis and began to focus on working on carving out the piece of wood with the runic pattern he had prepared for it. The faster he got it done, the faster he could aid the ponies. He tried to just forget what he had just witnessed from his Interface and the actions of his creations. It was not easy but focusing on carving the wood into a pattern helped him feel less bad, and less... concerned.

*I mean... I could not have created sentient beings. My magic is not that advanced. I mean... That can't be it. I am not good enough for such a thing... yeah... that's right... not good enough...* As he held those self doubting thoughts in his head, he focused his entire attention on the wood he was holding. But unknowingly to himself, as he pressed the blade of the knife into the wooden fiber and let his attention of his surrounding disappear, something happened.

It began with a twitch, a knife on a nearby desk rolling a few inches. A chisel vibrating. More and more of these tools began to twitch and roll, until, with a burst of silent movement, they began to levitate into the air. The tools floated over to the prepared wooden objects behind their unknowing controlled.

A knife began to carve into the surface, while a chisel began to shape sockets for crystals. Together the tools began to carved out the runic array pattern the alicorn was working on. At least fifty different pieces of wood while working by hoof on one.

By the time he was done with the single object he had been working on, had the remaining wooden objects been completed. The scattered tools lying on the ground made him think that the horses had been working on them while he had been working on one. And it made him slightly proud to know that his creations were so efficient at their work.

Equestria woke up to a new day. A day marked by the horns of war being sounded once more as the Gates of Canterlot opened wide to let out its forces. A majority of the Three Armies had once more been assembled, their goal was the East Coast. And while normally the armies would be more focused on infantries rather then support, was it the opposite this time.

Princess Celestia had spent the whole afternoon, evening and night planning with her Generals, Arch Mages and Knightly Leaders. What little they knew was that dragons preferred to fly above their targets and either breath some manner of elemental breath, most commonly being fire, that could burn almost anything. And then they would either use their massive physical strength along with their large claws, long tail and sharp teeth to tear apart their targets.

Dragons had the advantage in size, physical strength, magical resistance, physical resistance and had even their elemental breaths to consider. Thus it was decided that the forces of Equestria would focus on heavy ranged weaponry to take on the flying beasts and take them out before they could harm anypony else.

The Workshop of the engineers next to the Battle Mage's almost ready Magical Academy had been working overtime at completing new siege engines to handle the dangerous beasts. And Grand Master Grand Music of the Order of the Golden Cross had offered the support of his order's engineers to replicate the Order's siege engines for the Equestrian armies.

And by sunrise the next morning had the combined effort of the Order of the Golden Cross and the Workshop engineer,s, as well as hundreds of volunteers, constructed a massive arsenal for the armies. It made the marching troops look less like an army and far more like a massive caravan of heavily armed traders.

50 Heavy Ballistaes, 100 Hornet's Nest Platforms, 50 Manticore Ballistaes, 100 Regular Ballistaes, 50 Restrictas and 30 Energy Rods. All of them prepared with wagons and firing platforms for better targeting and maneuverability. It was the largest amount of siege engines assembled within such a short amount of time and the Order of the Golden Cross had emptied all of its stored siege engines within Canterlot to aid in the effort.

There were still the regular siege engines protecting Canterlot, but it would prove to be a rather bad decision to not have at least some of the Order's more unique siege engines left behind to protect the capital.

Princess Celestia had wanted to join in the march to save the east. But the nobility of Canterlot had protested that she leave the city, the ensuing argument between Celestia and her court had been... heated.

"Thou want Us to STAY BEHIND!?" Princess Celestia's voice roared out across the throne room, her mane was just moments from bursting into fire, sparks and smoke emitting from her rapidly flowing cloud mane and tail. She stood before a group of nobles who were sweating nervously as they had just asked their princess to not rush to the east.

"W-well you cannot just... rush off! The city needs you here to defend it!" The stallion unicorn yelped out as he tried to put up a brace face in front of the glowing eyes of the alicorn as she turned her burning gaze towards him.

"Canterlot is far more capable of handling a dragon incursion then Our less fortunate subjects by the East Coast! We shalt not stand idle while Our subjects art being butchered by wicked beasts!" The Princess' stance was clear on the matter but one of the older nobles stepped forth to try and reason with her, with a rather, logical, if cold, explanation.

"Thou majesty. There is no easy way to say this. But if thee leave Canterlot. All of Equestria shall fall." There was sudden silence in the throne room, the only sound being made was the crackling sound of sparks emitting from Princess Celestia's mane and tail.

Said Princess turned towards the elderly noble and glared at him, not as harshly as the younger noble, but still glaring. "Explain thy words carefully, Bloody Baron, now."

Clearing his throat a little the old unicorn nodded and stepped forward as to speak properly before the gathered court. While he had retired as Lord of the Blood Clan was he still a powerful figure in the politics of the court and held much respect and influence. "With the sudden incursion of Cultists and Bandits in the east, we have taken notice of increasing numbers of similar lowlifes in the lands near Canterlot as well."

"Thou hath yet to tell Us a proper reason still Bloody Baron." Princess Celestia growled out as she tapped her left foreleg's hoof against the cushion of her throne.

The old noble just held up a hoof to ask for the alicorn to have patience, and kept talking. "We are getting there milady, be patient. Ahem. We hath received words from our grand nephew Bloody Courage that these lowlifes art not just some common thugs or deranged mad ponies. There art some of them who art descendants of the Church of Clucking Chaos, and thou know all too well how dangerous those crazies can be."

There was a moment of stunned silence, before Celestia's left eye suddenly twitched and she grounded her teeth in utter rage and frustration.

The Church of Clucking Chaos, once a group of desperate ponies who sought to offer their servitude to Discord during the Age of Chaos to not be used as toys at his whims. But it backfired, spectacularly, Discord found their worship and prayers boring and even worse, annoying. Thus he decided to liven them up a little.

He turned the Head Priest of the Church, into a pony sized chicken. And then he turned all of his 'followers' into chimeras of chickens, roosters and turkeys, while still being partly pony.

The cultists went insane and declared themselves to have been blessed by Discord and declared themselves the Church of Clucking Chaos and their insanity spread like wildfire. They enacted orgies, blood sacrifices, chicken dancing parties and insane self suicide rituals, sometimes at the same time.

With the amount of insanity and bloodshed they spread was it a wonder there were even any ponies left for Celestia and Luna to save. They had thought they had eradicated those insane monsters after defeating Discord, but apparently some of them remained. And she knew that none of her subjects knew how to handle the insanity of one of the C.C.C. Why they decided to shorten themselves to that she had no idea.

Glaring at Bloody Baron she stood up from her throne and stepped down to face him directly and she was practically snarling in his face as she reluctantly agreed to his words. "Fine. We shalt remain here. But heed Our words, We shalt not remain idle for more then five days, unless We hath words back by then, We shalt act."

She stomped out of the throne room and without looking back at the relieved nobles she spoke up in a growling voice before slamming the doors shut behind her. "Court dismissed."

To put it mildly Princess Celestia was in a foul mood even as she sent all the forces she could to save her subjects in the east. And with the improved roads as well as the lack of a large amount of infantry, would the speed of the army be much greater then that of the march during the Second Crusade, it would still take time however.

Thankfully, even as the main arsenal of siege engines in Equestria marched down the main road towards the East and Princess Celestia reluctantly remained behind, were others moving on their own to aid Equestria.

Upon a mountain top in the Foal Mountains were a lot of activity going on. And had been for two days, but since yesterday had the work been escalated to an even faster pace. The once forest covered mountain top was now bare of any trees, as were the surroundings of the mountain itself, which was now constructed with catwalks and wooden platforms for the numerous mine entranced carved out of the mountain.

There upon the plateau that made up the peak stood a veritable armada of wooden constructs never seen before upon the world, well this world at least. Held up by ropes strapped to improvised cranes the large objects were held tree meters above the ground of the plateau. There was a total of forty, ten of each kind of structure. And as the sun rose and brought its light upon the mountain, were their once shadowy silhouettes finally revealed.

Forty massive ships, made by the hooves of horses, designed by the minds of a former human. Each type of ship was made for one specific faction upon which the horses were based upon.

The largest of them were the Skeids, which in the ancient Nordic tongue meant 'To Cut Through Water'. These ships were the largest longboats in existence, used by the vikings during their golden era. The largest Skeid ever known of being made by man had been of around 37 meters in length.

However these specific longboats were 45 meter long, making them the largest ever constructed. Their wooden hull was treated with tar, paint and metal, giving them a dark brown base colour with golden runic arrays and painted old Norse runes across their surfaces and sails. There were forty seats for rowers, twenty oars on each side, and each oar was gracefully engraved with gold filled runic patterns as well as having gemstones implanted into the runic pattern.

And for some reason was a strange wheel attached to the oars where they were inserted into rower ports. And thick round shields covered the sides of the ship. It could hold up to one hundred and fifty horses easily with its length and surprisingly large space..

What ship came next was the ship of the Spartans, or rather, the ship of the Ancient Mediterraneans. The Trireme, one of the most infamous ships designs from the Ancient Times of Human history. Their structure was very solid, made for speed and endurance, for few ships could handle the war times and waves of the Mediterranean Sea. It has two decks and a large width and length that made it capable of supporting a lot of weight and people.

But those had been built for crews of two hundred humans, of which one hundred and seventy had been rowers. Their size and structure was more often then not built with the same measurements and no large differences. But these triremes were different then those made by humans. They were much larger and yet had no apparent rowers. Instead, sticking out of its sides, not out of rower ports or similar but attached to the structure itself, were inbuilt oars which were connected to one another by metal bands.

The entire structure was engraved just like the longboats, but had metal plating upon its hull as well. More specifically a fang shaped battering ram sticking out of the front of its hull. And upon the surface of its deck were ten platforms, each holding a siege engine, a ballistae, made entirely out of metal. But the ship held space in its lower deck for a crew of 100, and though it was far more static in its structure, then the ship it was based upon would it be a dangerous thing to face.

These hips' hulls and frames were coloured with red, white and orange with patterns of black helmets and black horses upon their sails.

As for the Samurai based horses, the design of their ships based upon the ancient Japanese war ship known as the Atakebune. A box like ship that in the human world was built with the concept of a sea turtle, covered with thick metal plating and manned with archers and soldiers. It was a clumsy ship, one often commonly to capsize and sink in the rough storms of the Asian seas. But it was tough and sturdy in design despite its flaws.

But this design was by far even more of a block of metal then a ship. It was 36 meters long, 10 meters tall and around 12 meters wide. And its wooden surface was covered by iron plates, both its wooden frame and the iron plating had been engraved with the runic pattern to allow it to function better, and as before had the pattern been filled with melted gold. Its front area held a large pipe of iron engraved with runes. It had no sails, only a thick row of oars attached to its hull, which looked quite a bit like the fin of a lion fish.

It was coloured black, red and pink, in a fish like scale pattern across its surface. In the original design there was enough space on the ship for over 100 humans, but in this design, it only had enough space for 50 even though it was larger. And one of those reasons were the pipes sticking out of its frame. One row of six on each side of the ship pointing straight outwards, and one row of six diagonally pointing out from the sharp corners of the bottom of the hull. Their function, unknown.

The final ship was the knight's vessel. And it was based upon an old and trusty design that had reigned over the Atlantic waters for many centuries, the Carrack. It was a three, or four, masted sailing ship that was developed in the 14th and 15th centuries in Europe, and would be the base for the major ship designs that followed. It was fast, sturdy and reliant, equipped with a good amount of fire power that helped it against pirates or enemy ships.

Instead of having eight cannons, four on each side, there were instead eight slingshot like structures the horses liked to call, well Slingshots. They just really wanted that name for some reason. These metal frames with large rubber bands and metal springs were as they appeared to be, giant sling shots, and their purpose was, to launch stuff. However while their design was pretty childish and innocent looking, if the size of a small ballistae, was their payload not any of those descriptions. They had four different kinds of ammunition to fire at a surprisingly long range of over three hundred meters, made possible by the metal springs used in the design.

And those were not all of the armaments on the ship. It could carry up to 80 horses with its compact design would it be cramped but it could. With its three sails and no oars, was its design of the four ships out of the ordinary. Though it looked rather slow in comparison. So yes, it had something more to it then sails and Slingshots, including a prototype weapon.

The Carrack was by far the shortest of the four ship designs constructed, but unlike the other ships was it built with a compact and sturdy frame. It had three decks and a separate tower like structure on its rear that held an impressive weapon. Normally that would have been the location for either the Captain's quarters or even the steering wheel for the rudder, but instead it was now a veritable guard tower which held what appeared to be a harpoon gun, a weapon once used to hunt whales.

It was built in a simple fashion, in the shape of a one and a half meter long and five centimeters wide pipe out of iron that was not mounted on a firing platform, it was hoof held weapon that had to be manually held, loaded, aimed and then fired. And it took more strength then one horse could manage, as the thick iron pipe and the ammunition weighted a lot. And the recoil was very much dangerous if you tried to fire it alone, one horse shattered his entire left foreleg and part of his shoulder and rib cage when the first test firing happened.

The iron pipe would launch the projectiles loaded into it by a set of powerful magnetic bursts that would essentially magnetize and launch the harpoons like a miniature rail gun. This powerful magnetic thrust came from magically powered runic arrays engraved into the inside of the pipes.

The Harpoon Launcher's size and ammunition was built at a scale more fitting for hunting other ships then whales, the projectiles were easily two meters in length and were each made out of solid iron with simple runes engraved upon them to make it possible to fire them without them just falling down.

It was so heavy even with the light weight runes that it required two horses to wield and use it.

Only the Carracks held this weapon for it was a hastily made and very much improvised project that Maleficus made during the night when he needed to figure out a way to properly handle the dragons. He was proud he could get the things to work, but only ten prototypes had been completed before sunrise and thus he decided to have them placed on the Carracks that had the highest firing positions to use them with.

Each harpoon projectile had a ring on its end, that could be attached to a collection of chains next to the Harpoon Launcher. The reason why the weapon was named launcher instead of gun was because it was magic powered magnetic acceleration cannon which utilized magnetic force to fire rune engraved iron spears. So it made more sense to call it a launcher then a gun, since it was not a weapon that utilized explosive powder to launch projectiles.

These were the ten ships made by Maleficus and his horses in the last three days. A force of over a thousand horses working together in perfect sync and with the unwitting knowledge of their creator, they had done it. Creating a fleet of forty ships within three days. Many of them were exhausted both mentally and physically, but they could rest one they got the ships moving.

With a grin on his face the disguised alicorn stepped up the stairs leading up to one of the longboats. He walked towards the front of the ship and stood up on the dragon head sticking out of the prow. He spread out his forelegs and called out to his creations. "Prepare all ships! Check all preparations! Double check all safety precautions! We are off to save Equestria"

The horses cheered and raised their hooves into the air and began to march up the ramps to their respective ships. Several of them would remain in the campsite to prepare a proper settlement for the horses' backstory to fit into the made up lore of Maleficus.

Horses climbed up their respective ships, going to their stations. While the horses on the ground level began to examine the hulls and the gold filled arrays twice over, chipping out any slight defects or repairing anything that could cause disaster later on. For the magical array engraved into the ships was the most important factor of these ships.

"Prepare to Attach Oars!" Maleficus shouted out to the horse Vikings, they each grasped hold of an oar and dragged a bit of the long shafts into the ship, a loud click resounded as a spring mechanism in the wheels attached to the oars clicked into place.

"Oars Attached!" They cried out as all of the oars had been properly attached to the wheel mechanism.

Nodding Maleficus gave the next command, while the other Viking Captains did the same to their own crews. "Start Test of Oars!"

All of the sailors hefted back the oars and began to make test movements with them, the wheels rotating as they did so And sparks began to emit from the tip of the oars as they swung them through the air. "Oars Tested!"

Around them the other ships equipped with oars, but not movable like the longboats, called out that all oars had been checked as well. Sparks emitting from all of the oars as they were tested.

"Check Sails!" Came the next order and two horses, who were already up in the crows nest, got out and began to check the sails as they were unfurled, the decorated cloth flapped out wide in the wind. And as it did, began some of the runes on the sail to glow.

"Sails Ready!" Was called out from all around as all of the sails had been unfurled and their runes glowing just the same. All minor faults corrected swiftly.

Nodding Maleficus walked over to the prow and and shouted out to the ground crew beneath the ship. "Report Check of Runic Enchantments!"

All ground crews beneath all ships responded back with the all clear, the runes upon all the hulls began to spark and glow golden as magical energy slowly began to be channeled through them. "Check Complete! Enchantments Are Ready!"

Grinning the disguised alicorn called out to all ships and pointed a hoof towards his personal crew as they gripped their oars. "Activate Runic Enchantments!"

"Activated!" The viking by the rudder cried out as he turned a lever located next to the rudder, and a loud rumbling emerged from the longboat. Sparks began to emit from the oars and moisture began to gather beneath the hull of the ship until it took the shape of a black cloud, sparking with electricity.

Soon all of the ships activated their Runic Arrays and dark clouds emerged beneath them, engulfing the lower parts of the ship, making it appear like they were floating on storm clouds. And that, was essentially, what Maleficus had been planning all along. For to the wood of the hulls the cloud was as solid as deep ocean water from the way the cloud's dark fluffy shape splashed against the hull and oars.

The ship shook suddenly and many almost lost their balance, but all managed to hold themselves straight, as the magically created clouds began to rise upwards, and with the rising pull of the storm cloud, rose the ship as well. All manners of cheers and hurrahs spread across the crews on the ships and on the ground as the fleet off forty ships, began to rise up from the ground. And fly.

"You have attained cloud based levitation! Creator! The enchantments are working! You have attained flight!" Cursed Blessing called out from down below as his Creator's ship began to rise more and more into the sky.

"Hahahahaha! Yes! We have attained flight! Isn't it amazing!?" Maleficus laughed out as he felt the ship rise into the air. A wild idea that had sprung to his mind had been made into a grand success!

It was the first time he had made such a complex runic array on his own, even the overly dramatic Anti-Petrification array he had made before had been nothing more then the same array repeated with some aid of the Interface on the moon.

He knew that pegasi could walk on clouds, he even knew that they could manipulate clouds. And he also knew that unicorns could manipulate clouds and weather. So that gave him an idea. To create a ship, enchanted with near weightlessness along with a powerful weather based runic array that would allow the near weightless ship to float on clouds.

That was the most difficult part, to make it so that the ship would be able to float on clouds, like a pegasus could. Once it had been near weightless, he added an additional set of runes, that acted as a sort of catalyst, that made water vapor,that which clouds were made of, act as solid matter for the ship's hulls. Combined with an artificially created cloud through runic engraved oars and sails would allow it to gain altitude. An altitude that could be raised and lowered, by adjusting the strength of the weightless enchantments of the ships. *I actually did it! I actually managed to create flying ships!*

The disguised alicorn called out to the horses left on the ground as they began to grow smaller in sight. "Prepare the next step of the plan Cursed Blessing!"

"I shall my Creator!" The shrinking figure of Cursed blessing called out as the ships rose higher into the sky. and as they did, the vikings began to pull on their oars, and began to row. Sparks turned into thunderclaps as the oars were moved and with each rumble, the ship moved forward. The oars enchanted to interact with the cloud and winds near them, to make it so that the wind streams and the clouds themselves, became like water for the oars to push through with powerful bursts of kinetic energy.

The other ships began to do the same, their oar not moving, but still releasing bursts of thunder. The secret being the large hamster wheel like structures within the lower decks of the ships, powered by the running power of two horses to keep the ship moving. Each ship had four of these wheels and could thus keep up with the viking's superior speed.

Lightning crackled out of the oars as the wheels turned. Flashes of lightning arcing out and crackled out over the sky, the black clouds beneath the ships growing large enough to cover up most of the ship's features if looking up from below.

With thunder in their oars, with wind in their sails and with clouds on their hulls, the horses began their campaign against the draconic invaders of Equestria.

A lone knight of the Order of the Golden Cross tried to run as fast as he could through the woodlands, his saddlebags filled with news, information and most important of all, maps. He was the Captain of one of the strongholds of the Order, but when the massive group of over fifty dragons approached his castle from the air he knew would not be able to even stall those monstrous beast and called out for his troops to retreat and take the civilians with them.

But before he himself escaped he took all of the documents of his orders with him, there was plenty of reports from scouts and survivors about the effectiveness of the siege engines against the dragons and what had failed utterly. It was crucial to get it to Blackstone Keep.

For days had he been running towards the north. He knew the dragons were following him, he could see their silhouettes through the trees and among the clouds. Had he been a pegasus or even a unicorn he would have had the ability to escape or hide himself, but he was an earth pony he was ill fitted for hiding from such powerful predators. Nor did he have the training for it.

How much he regretted not training with the Peacekeepers when he had the chance.

His train of thoughts were interrupted however when a massive black claw suddenly slammed down upon the ground before him. He swiftly threw his saddlebag into a hollow tree and drew his two short swords and glared t the giant figure staring down upon him.

"Ah. Finally decided to give up little prey? Good. I was getting bored chasing you." Talos the Dragon Lord said with clear boredom in his voice. He had been casually pursuing this particular pony for over a day and he was rather annoyed, and hungry.

The knight did not verbally respond, instead he threw his left sword at the dragon's face. The spinning blade impacted the dragon's nose and dinged off with a loud cling, making Talos give the futile attempt a raised eyebrow.

He then slammed down his tail tip and caused the entire part of he wood to erupt into a shock wave as his tail struck the ground. There was a loud thump as the badly hurt knight landed on a wooden trunk of an uprooted tree. The same tree he had been hiding his saddlebag in ,which was now lying on the ground.

The large claw of the dragon reached out and grabbed the pony by the torso and lifted him up to his face and began to interrogate the less the bite sized herbivore. "I know you are a high ranking pony, you were the one to give out the orders before you fled your little stone hut. Thus I know you hold a lot of information I need. Now, tell me where I can find your so called Princess. I have a great desire to... dine with her."

"Go fuck yerself." The earth pony spat out, his bloody saliva hitting the snot of the dragon, who just rolled his eyes at the defiance of the smaller life form.

"Oh that's too bad. I was hoping for a better source of information. Guess I will just have to have one of my little snacks translate your notes for me." The dragon said with a dramatic sigh before opening his jaws and tossed the pony into his mouth.

"W-wha-" The startled captain had barely time to speak before the giant teeth between the large and powerful jaws crushed his body into paste.

After two seconds of chewing the pony knight's body was swallowed and Lord Talos turned towards one of his followers and held out the saddlebag containing the documents of the pony that laid upon the palm of its massive claw. "Have one of our little appetizers translate this, if they lie to us. Well, we will just have to ask the next one not to."

The other dragon bowed and pulled out a large wooden cage made out of tree branches and rope. And lifted it up to its face, the dozens of terrified ponies within shivering in fear. "The one who translates this, will be free to go."

*Into our belly.* The dragon thought the last part to itself with a smirk as it watched the ponies fight each other to be the one to translate the documents.

Soon the ponies would learn their folly and once more be the docile prey they were always meant to be.

Yawning Achilles, aka Maleficus, stretched his limbs as he sat up from the pile of furs he had been sleeping on. The sky ships had been sailing for the entire evening. Yet no dragons had been sighted, only the burning remains of their rampage had been spotted. Thus the exhausted horses and their creator anchored the ships in the sky.

By raising the oars and spreading them out like a giant horizontal sail, while folding the sails, the sky ships essentially becomes immovable and just hover in the sky on white clouds. When the oars are not moving will the thunderclouds assume the shape and colour of common white clouds.

Unless a sudden gale capable of capsizing boats struck them, would none of them be moving. And thus had all of the horses and their creator taken a long deserved sleep. Most of them had been out cold when they had anchored the ships and had slept for over ten hours.

So when the first light reached high enough to light the ships, had some, but not all of the horses, woken up. One of those who had woken up was Maleficus in his disguised body, his mind used to waking up even with too little rest since he was human. It was actually bit of a sore subject to him, he could feel as if he had not even gone to sleep sometimes in the mornings because of this. In fact, ever since he had become an alicorn, he had, had the best amount of sleep ever since he finished high school. And yet he could not stop waking up when the sun if there was any way for the light to hit his face during the morning.

But contemplating his odd sleeping patterns aside, Maleficus was feeling rather well rested at the moment and could focus on the more important matter of the day. These rampaging dragons needed to be stopped before they could butcher more of the ponies.

Pulling out his Solid Light Screen Achilles spread out the flt surface and once more connected it to the visual satellites. He zoomed in upon the east coast and began to scan for the dragons. And he began to notice something, how the dragons were all moving to one spot.

*They must be regrouping... but what for? I better keep watch of how they move.* He thought as he sat down on a barrel tied down to the deck of the longboat. And as he watched his face grew more and more concerned, as he saw the dragons gather into a large group in the middle of the East Coast.

After two hours the dragons split up, into two large groups, moving in two directions. And Maleficus could see their destinations very clearly from the direction they were going.

Blackstone Keep had been a stalwart symbol of the Order of the Golden Cross since it was first made. Commander Rock Steady had been the caretaker of this wonderful structure since it had been built, given command of it by Grand Master Grand Music himself. Even had a plague in his office signed by the Grand Master as proof.

That kind mare Chieftainess Ancient Ruin, had been rather impressed by the fact. Or could it have been how he showed her son the library of the castle? Well either way was Rock steady a proud protector of this mighty fortress.

But today would both him and his beloved castle be tested. Hard. As a horde of dragons had come by the morning sun, their vast numbers easily over a hundred strong. At the first sight of the dangerous beings had the signal gong rang out from the castle and out over the nearby settlements.

All of the civilians were swiftly escorted to the underground tunnels of the fortress and down into the massive cavern where the Sacred Sanctum was located. Rock steady had personally sent words to the Wind Striders' campsite for them to see cover within the mountain beneath the castle. They had offered to help in the defence but the Commander had not been willing to risk civilians in the coming battle, no matter how skilled.

Thankfully had the dragons still been quite a distance away and thus allowed him time to put the citizens of the are to safety. Now he could give his entire focus on handling these wretches who sought to bring harm to his keep.

"Accursed fiends! They have no idea the folly they are about to commit." Rock Steady growled out as he looked out from the main battlement of the central fort of Blackstone Keep with a spyglass at the approaching horde.

"We count at least two hundred or so dragons, thirty tower sized, seventy two story house sized and one hundred or so one story house sized." His second in command reported with a salute as he reported the number of approaching enemies.

"Good. If what Iron Wing wrote is correct were they numbering in the hundreds, not in the thousands, if we take out these we will have taken out at least two tenths of their numbers." The large unicorn stated as he folded down his spyglass and handed it to his second in command who accepted it.

"Are our siege engines ready?" He asked as they walked along the battlement of the rooftop of the fortress' central keep.

His second-in-command nodded and pointed out at each of the towers as he began to count out the armaments of the fortress. "Yes sir. Ever single tower is equipped with one Heavy Ballistae, two Hornet's Nests and four Energy Rods. The main fort hath been equipped with four Heavy Ballistaes, ten Hornet's Nests and over eight Energy Rods. We have ten more of each type of siege engine, including the ten Everfree Fire Charged Energy Rods, in storage ready to be pulled out in an emergency. We art just grateful we hath so many siege engines in stock."

Snorting Rock Steady shook his head at the statement, which was rather ridiculous considering just what one of the purposes of Blackstone was. "Feh! This is one of the main testing ground for the Order's siege engines. You know we get new siege engines ever sixth month or so whenever new ones are made or old ones are improved. How can we not have a good number of them? Now. Tell us what the situation is with the civilians."

Rolling his eyes the unicorn responded to his commander's inquiry, the two had been recruits together and even been part of the Silver Army before they joined the Order of the Golden Cross. And Rock Steady could never stop being such a know it all. "All accounted for, down to the last foal and pet. The cavern of the Sacred Sanctum is large enough to house them a thousand times over. Thy lady is safe and sound sir."

Blinking in surprise Rock Steady slowly turned his head and looked at his second in command with a curious look on his face. "What in the name of Tartarus' bloody holes are you talking about?"

Looking straight ahead, with a face that screamed 'casually innocent', the other unicorn just responded back with a bland voice. "Oh nothing sir... Just that Lady Ancient Ruins sends words of gratitude and wish you luck by the way."

The commander looked a bit startled at that and grew a little flattered by the words of concern from the mare he had bug to get to know recently. "Oh! Really? Ah... hmmm... perhaps we should send words back to her?"

His second in command's poker face impressive and it was impossible to see if he was being smug when he responded to the commander's muttering without even a hint of amusement in his voice nor the slightest hint of a smile. "Already done sir... along with an invitation for the victory feast. We suggest thou wear thy clean uniform, sir. And bring flowers."

"...Are... are you giving us dating advise!? Right before a bloody siege!?" Rock Steady stared incredulously at his old friend. The mere idea that he was being put up on a date of all things mere moments before a major battle was weird even for his old friend's weird attitude.

"Of course not sir... We both know thou would not even know the difference between a date or a siege anyway." His second in command said in a non nonsense voice, not even muttering as he said the last sentence in a slightly faster manner.

Rock Steady nodded, then the words finally registered in his head. He blinked before his eyes narrowed and he turned his head around to glared at his fellow knight. "That's right! ........Wait... what did you just say!?"

The front row of the dragons suddenly began to dive down, and fly at a lower altitude. They were trying to fly lower to make it harder to hit them.

As the dragons made this move the second in command pointed out and made a totally emotionless gasp void of surprise or shock at the sight. Heck even his face could not have been making a more false look of surprise unless it had been painted with hoof paint. "OH! Look sir! The dragons are making the first move!"

Rock Steady glared at his second in command and old friend and growled out a bit as he once more pulled out his spyglass to investigate the approaching dragons. "You and us are going to have a good talk after this!"

"Save it for Lady Ruins sir." The second in command stated while he began to walk away to join his own station at one of the siege engines.

His commander shouted out at him while still looking out through his spyglass. "Shut it Be Boop! We do not need your sass talk! By the Gods we wish you took after your other relatives more! At least they act funny."

"We art proud to say auntie doest approve of our manners and sees much of our family traits in us. She also asked us to tell thee to remind our Grand Master Grand Music to invite her to his wedding after this invasion." Master Knight Be Boop, nephew of Solid Pink, said with a monotone voice as he walked over to his own post.

*Do not ask! Ignore it! Ignore it! Do not ask! It is a trap!* Rock Steady frantically thought to himself as he tried to keep his focus on the approaching dragons. He did not need to know whatever horrifying secrets laid beyond that sentence nor what manner of crazy explanation there would be. Nopony should ever try to understand the workings of the Pink family, or their relatives. That way leads to madness.

As the dragons finally came within firing range the commander felt a sigh of relief leave his lips as he focused on the less taxing task of fighting off the foes of his nation. "Energy Rods are to hold fire until the bigger enemies approaches! All other Siege Weapons! Target either their wings, heads or bodies! Now! Fire at Will!"

There was a loud resounding collective of cranks as each of the siege engines were rotated and angled to aim their payload at the horde of dragons flying just above the tree layer as they were well within their range of fire. Then there was an nonrhythmic sound of prattling arrows, heavy cords being released and the sound of thousands of arrows and spear sized bolts whistling through the mountain air.

Young Clash had always considered himself to be a proper dragon. Always trying to follow the steps of his grand father Talos' teachings. Things always worked out when you followed those teachings.

But this time it had been different. This time, the dragons had been the one hurting, by their own prey. That made Clash confused, and angry, like many of his siblings and elders.

Through out the land of the ponies the dragons had been hunting and feasting for three days ever since their devastating attempt of sacking the big stone village the ponies called Baltimare City, which they never bothered to remember. More then one of these locations had brought down a fair deal of younger dragons, even a few adult ones. This had lead to a great deal of unrest of gather among the dragons, their former prey was starting to fight back in a manner not befitting a prey animal.

Young Clash knew that things had gone rough, but he had not seen any need to try and return home, not yet. The sweet taste of pony meat was so exquisite, surely it was worth the effort of feasting upon these foolish animals? Grandfather was always right about these things and had not been proven wrong yet.

His grandfather knew he had to act quickly before there were some uprising youngster or elder who would rather retreat back to the homeland rather then putting down this uprising. For in his eyes this was a rebellion against nature itself, as herbivores had no business in fighting an apex predator, they were there to be eaten, and they should be honoured being given such a purpose.

But no, these lower beings had decided to rebel against their very purpose in life, in nature itself. and decided, to fight back. It was sacrilege to their kind and his grandfather and Lord, Talos, who saw himself as the supreme predator in the world, with none who had dared to fight back against any of his feasts or hunts. And thus saw only that this meant that the superior beings in the world, were his kind. Anyone else, were prey, and could not fight back.

These ponies, were going against everything he had ever believed in. And it was driving his already bad temper into new heights. He needed to make an example of these lesser beings and prove once and for all, that none should dare to stand against his kind, least they end up like the ponies.

Clash could understand his grandfather's anger at the animals trying to fight back against their prey. He just had a nagging feeling it would not be so easy to solve, but he was just a youngling, barely old enough to attract a proper mate. What did he know? His grandfather knew how to act on these thoughts and emotions, like he always had.

Thus on the eve of the first day of their entrance into these lands, and mere moments after he received words of the several dozens of killed dragons by pony defenders, he had to make a serious decision. And thus he had given out orders to capture ponies, and make them cooperate or eat them. And then eat them after they had done their jobs. For while his species was far stronger and superior then any of the preys they hunted. Could he not read the tiny scripture of the herd animals, more often then not tearing apart the flake sized pieces of parchment.

It was through this he had received words about a certain middle sized stone and wood village with an important pony fleeing. Thus he had personally decided to hunt for the pony, intent on discovering where the ponies had their main village. So he could sack it and devour their so called 'Princess', as to show them their place in nature.

Young Clash wondered what a Princess tasted like. It sounded sweet, was probably very tender too.

Through various methods the dragons had discovered the locations of the largest locations of the ponies. With the information about the big pony made mountain peak hut to the north and the large pony made pony stone village in the west, they had been gathered together once more by Lord Talos.

Not all of them had been gathered however, many of their numbers were still too far away or too busy indulging themselves in feasting upon the populous of the ponies to answer his grandfather's call. They would be properly disciplined once they returned home.

And from the sacrifice of three ponies they had managed to translate the scripts the pony leader had been carrying. One of those said scripts had been a strange looking painting of a landscape, apparently of the lands of the ponies. And from what those three ponies had explained, were the two largest 'castles' owned by the ponies, located to the north and the west.

Clash could not understand the purpose of these weird buildings an objects the ponies had made. Like the word castle for example. Castle, castle, it was a weird word for what was essentially just a big stone hut.

One of these so called castles was apparently called Blackstone Kasheep, or something with an Ksheep sound to it, hard to tell as you tossed the screaming translator into your mouth. Apparently it was the largest source of pony fighters and the unnatural tools used to kill their kindred.

The other was a weird place called Canterlot, or was it Prancalot? Who knows with these weird pony names. It was apparently the ponies' main home, their... capital? Yes that was the word. And there their super pony ruler Princess Celestia held command over them.

Young Clash was starting to feel rather eager in proving himself, plus engulfing himself during he feast with some proper tender ponies was something all true dragons should look forward to. But even he knew that they could not all fly off in one direction, least the ponies in the other location run away and hide.

Thus had Lord Talos had decided to send half of his numbers to the Blackstone hut to tear it apart. His words had been as specific as.

"Tear that source of these abominable things they think will allow them to stand up to our might to the ground and burn the entire mountain into slag."

Yeah Clash's grand sire and leader was clearly not in a good mood. And who could blame him? Their favourite food was starting to fight back and act against the natural order of things. Any dragon who held true to the ideals of Lord Talos would realize how wrong the situation was.

Thus he had given the command to one of his eldest followers, as well as his second oldest brood, Thorn. A large dark brown dragon with curled up horns with thorn like spikes along their curled shapes. He was large, strong and brash, even for one of the oldest dragons was he a rather aggravating person, even to other dragons.

Heck even Clash did not like his company, and he was his son. The big brute was more likely to bully others he considered weaker then himself then to try and earn their respect or awe.

Might have been why he had given the command to him, as to give him some experience and perhaps mellow out, or maybe just to not have to deal with his son's annoying persona. Who knows. All that the dragons truly cared about was feasting and then returning home to their volcanic homelands.

So while his grandfather went westwards with the majority of the older dragons, to tear down the main home of the ponies, went the other half of the horde, numbering of around two hundred strong, northwards. And young Clash was sent on the front line by his father to fly to the big stone hut called Blackstone.

Their wings were strong and even their largest or clumsiest of flyers could fly at neck breaking speeds. Like a flock of massive birds they streaked across the sky, their large shapes blotting out the sun, while their shadows crossed the ground. Their eyes were focused upon the northern horizon, looking past blurring woodlands, fields and mountain peaks. Searching with wicked glints in their slitted eyes.

And as the sun rose on the third day they saw it. The large black structure stuck out like a sore claw out of the jagged mountain peak, mocking the dragons of what should be possible by such weak creatures. For the structure was something worthy of the glorious dragons rather then these tin little herbivores.

*There it is!* Clash thought to himself with a triumphant grin on his face. The young drake could see the big stone building as he and his kin came closer and closer. Then the leader of the first wave began to make a dive and fly shallowly across the tree lines.

Young Clash followed, knowing that his elder knew best in how to handle the ponies' weird weapons. He flew downwards alongside his fellows and began to zigzag across the tree lines, making himself a far more difficult target.

That's when a burst of black dots flew out from the stone structure, growing form tiny to humongous in mere seconds. And several of them expanded outwards into massive tree trunks. All of these projectiles were meet by a sudden gush of fire, which burnt down a large amount of them.

However, while many of the smaller bolts were burnt to ash, was young Clash and his kin, unable to stop them all.

The young drake let out a roar of pain as a sharp sensation split through his wings as four different bolts struck through his wings and joints. He tried to retain his altitude but he found himself stumbling through the air, and barely had time to blink before his head impacted a large pine tree, and he blacked out. A weak thought of how everything was wrong, being the last thing in his mind before he lost conscious.

But the fall of the young dragon was ignored by the rest of his kin as they charged towards the large stone structure.

Of the twenty dragons who charged as the first wave would none of them reach the castle as another volley of projectiles tore them asunder. The older dragons could resist a lot of damage, but even they could not handle tree sized javelins striking their heads and exploding with the force of a volcanic geyser eruption.

The second wave flew from the higher ground. Another group of twenty, this time only the exploding tree spears were used, as the smaller bolts were unable to reach so high. Explosions of wooden shrapnel and kinetic force covered a section of the sky as the wave tried to dive down over the castle's top to attack it from directly above.

But the ponies' defences were not as limited in maneuverability as they had thought. For the platforms holding the siege engines were suddenly rotated back so that they were facing straight up. Another volley shoot out in a concentrated burst of heavy ammunition. The enlarging bolts flew up and expanded into what looked like a flying forest before they struck the ten remaining dragons, the cuing explosion tore them all asunder.

Four dragons slammed down onto the castle's courtyard, the remaining six crashed into the mountain sides around the fortress. Twenty ponies got crushed by the falling bodies while another thirty got injured.

But now the dragons had decided to do another tactic. For while their current leader was brash and arrogant, did it not mean he could not learn from his mistakes. And thus he gave the command for the remaining one hundred and sixty dragons to split apart into four groups of forty and attack the castle from four fronts. East, West, South and above.

For while the ponies had a lot of powerful weapons, were they far too few to take out so many dragons as once.

And thus four large strike forces took shape and flew off to attack the castle from three sides and from above. The ponies adjusted their weapon's aim accordingly, focusing most of their defences upwards but also dealing out a lot of projectiles towards the other three flocks. Even bolts of energy now shoot at them, striking with explosive force of various types of elemental projectiles.

But it was still not enough and even as fifty dragons fell to the attacks, the remaining one hundred and ten acted upon the next step of the plan. With loud suction sounds the flying behemoths inhaled air deeply into their lungs just as they approached the large stone structure. And then as they passed above it, or came closer from above, they opened their maws and released a gush of fire, ice or lightning upon the siege engines of the castle.

Ponies screamed and died as the entire upper section of the towers, walls and central keep of the castle erupted into explosions of dragon fire, ice and lightning breaths. After their initial bombing run the dragons flew northwards as to by pass the castle and prepare another attack.

Then came the biggest flaw of the plan. Even though the dragons took out the majority of the weapons firing at them, they had been coming in large numbers from four different directions. With only one other point of exit. So the air space just north of the castle, was suddenly flooded by the collective number of a hundred and ten adult and elder dragons, at the same time.

It was an utter cluster fuck worthy of its own description in a dictionary for the top 100 'Stupid Ideas' in the world. There was no other way to explain or describe the mess that followed. And it was also one of the reasons why you make reconnaissance and proper planning actions whenever possible, as to NOT mess up like the dragons just did.

The dragons could not maneuver properly in the air when in such a tight formation. They were essentially hitting each other with their large wings and whipping tails. Anger, frustration and confusion filled their ranks as they tried to figure out a way to fly through the mess.

Someone flew left, crashed into another, causing both of them to struggle as they lost altitude. Their struggling shapes slammed into the ground bellow the mountain, their bodies tumbling across the woodlands, tearing up a long line of trees as they crashed through them. Their broken bodies eventually stopped deep within the woods, motionless.

Another tried to fly up, only for her head to slam into the crotch of a male. The infuriated dragon male roared out in pain and anger as he lashed out with his large rear claws to try and gash her in the face. He missed and hit the wing of the dragon flying just behind him.

The dragon's wing got badly shredded and it roared out in pain as it started to stumble in the air, it grasped out to try and gain support, and both of its large claws reached out and grabbed hold of the tails of two much smaller dragons. They could not maintain their flight with the added weight of the much bigger dragon and they crashed into the struggling male and female dragon.

But then came the biggest danger for the frantically struggling dragons. The tall mountain peaks of the Foal Mountains, for the cloud covered peaks were not all smooth or covered by green forest. There were several jagged, rough or pointy peaks that rose up like giant daggers and swords through the cloud layer. And with the dragons flying at such an erratic manner, they could not properly focus to fly safely or high enough for it to be safe, they tumbled straight through the cloud layer.

Five dragons struggled against each other, roaring and screeching as they fell down through the air. With a loud crack they impacted the side of a small mountain. None of them would fly, some of them would not even live to see the coming day, as the force of the impact had been enough to crack the stone they struck.

Their bodies had hit with enough force to break wings, limbs and necks like twigs. Thus the five broken dragons fell silent as they hit the mountain, and then after a few minutes their slack bodies began to roll down the mountain side. They rolled down like rag dolls through stone, sand, dirt, grass and trees before disappearing into the valley below, a cloud of dust and dirt covering the area.

Four dragons tried to fly in opposite directions, from opposite sides, they impacted each others' heads in a comical fashion. They had no time to start a fight as they suddenly slammed into the side of a tall mountain peak, their skull buried into the solid stone. Their heads were essentially burrowed into the stone and their horns wedged stuck leaving their unconscious bodies hanging out of the stone surface like limp turkeys.

Another eight tried to fly left and avoid impacting the tall mountain, but their tight formation made it impossible for them to change direction when another mountain appeared out of the clouds. The leading dragon tried to slow down and fly up, but the other seven slammed into her from behind. She impacted the mountain peak chest first, the jagged tip of the peak splitting through her torso, killing her instantly.

The other seven were less fortunate as their crash into their flight leader's body left them without air to fly. And thus as they tried to flap and gain altitude, they ripped apart their wings against the jagged cliffs sticking out of the mountain. They could no longer fly, thus all they could do was helplessly flap their shredded wings as they roared out in utter pain and despair. All the while watching as they fell down to their doom, the ground approaching rapidly to their fear filled eyes. Then their roars and descent ended as their bodies impacting the rough stone surface below with sickening crunches, leaving a pile of dead dragons bleeding upon the rocky mountain side.

Through the final burst of the clouds the dragons spread out as they finally regained their momentum and control. But several more of their numbers impacted the mountain peaks or crashed into other dragons. In the end, out of the one hundred and sixty dragons that had originally started the four direction assault upon the castle, only sixty five remained.

Fifty lost to the ponies' powerful weapons, and the other fifty five lost to the faulty planning of their leader, Thorn.

But Thorn, having flown through fine and clear without any issue, did not saw the fault as his own and only the fault of the others, having failed to properly follow his orders. Thus as the dragons reformed into a group once more, he started to fly back towards the ponies' stone structure once more, roaring out another order to his unnerved and frankly exhausted followers. "Charge! The ponies are defenceless now! Let us feast!"

As he flew forward some of the other dragons looked at each other, then down at the dead corpses of their brethren on the mountain ground and peaks. Some of those had been their next of kin, children, parents, siblings. And now... they would risk it all over again?

"...Let us return home. I will not be part of this madness any longer." One of them finally muttered, before flying off towards the east, several others soon joining him. Their faith in the teachings of Lord Talos shaken so much, that they had started to doubt them enough to leave.

Out of the remaining sixty five dragons, including Thorn, would only twenty nine follow their leader, thus leaving a total of thirty. The rest, began to fly east. Finally having enough of the pointless bloodshed. Uncaring about the punishment Thorn would give them once he realized they had deserted him, not to mention Lord Talos.

But Thorn did not know of this, and none of those who followed him were willing to rat out those who had left. But that mattered little, since he would not find out about the deserters anyway.

The dragons came with an intense wind of heat, light and sound. Fire raged all over the castle and ponies screamed as the sheer force of the dragons' elemental breaths covered the entire upper section of the fortress, melting parts of the battlements and causing every magically enchanted siege engine to rapidly combust into fiery explosions, sending metal and wooden shrapnel everywhere.

As the dragons passed by the ponies struggled out of the remains of their once proud and powerful defences. The burnt corpses and ruined siege engines littering every wall and tower as well as the courtyard and the roof of the central keep. It was a disaster, a bloody disaster that had cost the dragons as well, but not as much as it had cost the ponies'.

Luckily, were there still survivors and among them, the leader of the fortress itself, had somehow survived.

Smoke and fire filled Commander Rock Stead's eyes as he finally regained conscious. The last thing he had remembered were the dragons flying over them like a massive cloud spewing fire, thunder and hail upon his battlements. *...Ooooh... shit... what hit us?*

Coughing he spat and snorted out several wads of sot filled snot and saliva, clearing out what kept him from breathing through his nostrils. Then he unstrapped his helmet and rubbed his eyes clear of soot before strapping the helmet to his belt. The he shakily began to stand up from the slightly cooked stone roof of his fortress's central keep.

Rubbing his forehead he felt a bleeding gash just below his horn, something wooden was sticking out of it, a piece of fragment left by one of the exploding siege engines. "Buck that's not good. Going to need to have that cleaned pronto." He muttered before he walked through the destruction, he could see ponies heaving debris, corpses and wounded all over the place.

"Ah just great. Wonder how many we lost." He said with a sigh as he stepped over the burned out husk of an energy rod.

Be Boop appeared by his side, his own armour badly burnt but still relatively whole. "Around 224 knights and 45 soldiers sir."

Not even reacting to his Second In Command appearing like a ghost Commander Rock Steady just winced at the numbers, those were a lot of ponies who would not be going home to see their families. And each of them would have to be consoled by either him, the regional captains or the Grand Master himself. "Ah. Great. Most of those would be our Caretakers and Gold Troops I take it?"

"Around 90% from those two groups sir. If thee doest not count those twenty whom hath died when those dragons landed on us. The rest was 50% of our Soldier support from the Gold Army." Be Boop said with a slightly sad tune to his voice, a minor frown on his lips as he looked around at the damages. Even though the fortress itself had come out relatively unharmed had its defenders not done so well, considering they had lost just over half of their knights and one third of their soldiers from that one assault.

Letting out strangled growl Rock Steady grumbled out curses before he began to give new orders, the ponies around him working as he did so. "Bucking glue buckets this is not a good situation. Have our reserve siege engines brought out, we need to prepare for the next coming strike-"

Be Boop interrupted his command by pointing over the edge of the battlement and up towards the northern sky, where a much smaller swarm of dragons was flying towards the castle. At a rather rapid speed. "It doest appear that they art already flying towards us again sir. Only around thirty this time around though. All of them doest appear to be about twenty meters long at least and one fifty meter long appear to be leading them."

Burying his face in his hooves Rock Steady let out a frustrated groan before he looked up at the sky where the dragons were coming from. Even if his troops were already pulling out the prepared siege engines they had kept in storage, since not all of them could be used at once, he knew they would not be able to bring them up to the battlements before the dragons reached the castle. "...This day is going to get a whole lot uglier soon. Still have our orders sent out. We need the power of those siege engines. If we survive this next assault."

"Indeed sir. We hath already sent out thou orders." Rock steady smiled at those words and let out a soft sigh before he winced as a Caretaker walked over, pulled out the wooden shrapnel from his head, and with rapid proficiency and speed, sewed the gash shut after cleaning it with an alcohol soaked clean rag.

As the Caretaker rushed off to attend the next wounded pony the Commander put on his helmet and, with a telekinetic grip, unstrapped his war maul from his side. The large long handled war hammer of sacred bronze he had received when he and the others of the first generation found the Hidden Sanctum. "*Sigh* Thank you Be Boop. At least we will keep the civilians and the future generations of knight safe, a death worthy even Golden Cross himself would approve of I am sure. It's been a pleasure old friend."

Smiling at his friend the pony just nodded and drew out his long sword and shield, while other knights pulled out their own weapons and started to move into positions. "Same here sir."

Then their determination to go down fighting was interrupted when a pegasus suddenly flew down, carrying a spyglass, the mare saluted and shouted out a report to the two confused officers. "Commander! Sir Be Boop! Something art approaching from the west! It looks like storm clouds!"

Commander Rock Steady blinked in confusion, there had been no reports of bad weather coming from the west, there would have been a forewarning from Canterlot. Something was going on. Was it a natural thunderstorm? "Storm clouds!? There were not meant to be any kind of bad weather today!"

"They are not made by us nor do they really feel... natural sir. Just. Look here." The pegasus held out her spyglass to the commander who accepted it and unfolded it before looking towards the west.

"Let us see... hmmm... well... what are we looking for... wait... What in Tartarus' shiny gates are those storm clouds doing flying against the bloody wind?" In the distance there was a large black storm cloud, rumbling with thunder and lightning as if a horde of pegasi was kicking at them constantly. The cloud itself was not an overly large one ,but it was so thick and dark and spewing out so much lightning and rumbling with thunder that it looked just... wrong. Not to mention how they seemed to be floating against the wind, moving in the opposite direction they were supposed to.

"They appear to be moving towards us sir. With... oddly rhythmic thunder and lightning bursts at that." The mare said with a uncomfortable voice as she looked towards the west, the approaching thunder cloud moving rapidly over the mountain peaks like an omen of disaster. There was several strange looking sparks of lightning and thunder. It looked an awful lot as if something emitting lightning was swimming through the clouds, in the opposite direction the clouds were moving, which made absolutely no sense what so ever.

Then Rock Steady's left eat twitched as he heard something absurd, he lowered the spy glass and turned towards the two ponies next to him."Doest anyone else perhaps hear music? Or are we in need of a check up from hearing damage?"

With a nod the mare confirmed his suspicions about the music not just being him, and pointed towards the storm clouds. "Yes sir. We can hear it clearly. It appears to be coming from the clouds."

Pulling up the spyglass once more Rock Steady tried to closely examine each section of the dark mass of water vapor and lightning. As he traced across the clouds he thought he spotted something. "We think we see something now! Where....... There! There's some kind of... What the absolute buck...?"

Floating on top of the dark mass of clouds, was a veritable forest of sails, and connected to those sails, were boats, large wooden and metal constructed vessels meant for the roughness of the sea. Not the cloud layer of the skies! "Is that a fleet of large sea vessels floating on those storm clouds!?"

Be Boop blinked and walked over to his old friend and put a hoof on his shoulder, thinking his old friend was having a nervous break down. "...Art thee alright sir?"

He got the spyglass showed into his chest for his troubles, as well as a glare from the large unicorn. "Just look for yourself before you judge us insane Be Boop."

Looking through the spyglass Be Boop blinked at the sight of the floating ships. He kept his eyes on them, a bit more to confirm it, when he saw something. Several of those large sea vessels were equipped with siege engines. And they were being crewed by ponies, large ponies. "Huh... Sir..."

"Yes?" The commander asked as he received another spyglass from another scout.

"We doest not think we should worry about the dragons any longer." Be Boop stated with a slightly nervous voice.

Rock Steady blinked a bit before asking for clarification. "Why not? Are they targeting the ships instead?"

Be Boop shook his head and just watched as the crews of the ships fired off bolts from those thin looking ballistaes, and saw five dragons fall, their heads, necks and wings embedded by ballistae bolts. "No sir. It be because those ships art equipped with siege engines, which just fired upon the dragons. Plus, all of those vessels doest appear to be crewed by what we think art... large earth ponies... VERY large earth ponies."

There was a moment of silence before Rock Steady looked up with his own spy glass and examined the large earth ponies working on those ships. And cursed when he recognized them from the reports from those who had fought during the Second Crusade. Those were not earth ponies. Those were horses. The soldiers brought to life from ancient times by Maleficus Victoria. "Horses...Bloody fucking horses!? What is the freaking army of Maleficus Victoria doing with a fleet of flying boats!?"

Be Boop just shook his head as he tried to look for the dreadful flag of Maleficus that they had been told of being used by the forces under his command during the Second Crusade. "We doest not know sir. Only... we doest not see the flag of Maleficus anywhere on the ships, they hath four different emblems on their flags. These doest not appear to be horses from Maleficus' army, at least, not from what we can tell."

Then both of them went silent s they saw something utterly absurd occur as the flying ships and their horse crew descended upon the dragons. Ten very long ships took the lead and charging straight into the dragons. And what they did next as they reached the dragons, just two miles outside of the fortress, left the entire fortress stunned in shock. Every single pony, just gaped as the horses flying the ten sky ships at the front assaulted the dragons in a most peculiar manner.

"...Did they just?" Rock Steady asked, as he tried to make sense of what he had just seen.

"Yes sir. They just took out two dragons doing that." His second in command confirmed with a voice of disbelief.

"And then they just?" He asked again, his left eye twitching rather... unhealthily.

"Indeed sir. Also, four more dragons dead." And again he was given a confirmation from his old friend.

Finally deciding that enough was enough Rock Steady just handed the spyglass to the stunned scout next to him and began to walk towards the stairs. "...We are going to check on the refugees now and then we are going to report to Princess Celestia. Get to us when the world turns less insane. Take care of matters up here Be Boop."

"As thou wish sir. Good luck with Lady Ruins." His second in command said with an emotionless murmur as he tried to register what he had just seen.

"Yeah, yeah." Rock Steady responded with before he went down the stairs.

Then a loud clink was heard followed by the sound of an adult stallion screaming out in shock at losing balance. Then a loud metallic crack was heard that soon turned into what sounded like big beanie bag covered by metal plates rolling down a loooong staircase. "Woahk!"

Be Boop looked towards the latch covering the staircase with a wince as the loud clattering of flesh and metal hitting rock faded away as it kept going down the stairs. That's when he remembred just where those particular stairs were going. "...We probably should not hath made those stairs spiral down to the secret entrance to the Sanctum. The door is open and... well... That is a long trip down... Fly ahead and call for a medic for the Commander scout. We shall keep track of the battle."

The pegasus scout just nodded as she flew down the open latch, making certain to fly slowly down stairs as to not accidentally fall as well. All the while the cursing words of her commander, as well as the sound he was making as he kept rolling down the long staircase, could be heard even from five floors up. Every time a particularly loud crack or clang was heard she winced. *That got to hurt.*

Thorn spotted the black clouds approaching from the west. But he thought nothing of it. He should have.

The black moving sea of storm clouds rushed over the mountain peaks like a black sludge, their lightning illuminating the forests and mountains beneath them as they flowed over the skies. Gusts of white mist erupted from the top of the clouds, covering them in a mist like layer on the upper surface, making it look even more unnatural.

But then a strong wind came bellowing from the east, it blew over the clouds with a sudden gale like force, and the thick white mist like cloud above the storm clouds dispersed into the sunlight. Out from the now removed cover of white water vapor came what appeared to be a large fleet of wooden structures as large as adult dragons. Their wooden frames sailing forth across the moving storm clouds as if it was solid water, their flags and sails flapping in the winds as they moved across the heavens.

And as the boats moved into an intercepting course with the dragons, a powerful music began to fill the air.

Voices sang out from the armada of sky ships, singing out in a tongue unknown to any pony or dragon. But the words struck out with more strength then thunder or lightning.

Ballistaes made out of iron moved with well greased gears and joints, the horses crewing them using the cross eye scope as an aiming guide. And with careful aiming by guiding the target, aka moving the aim a bit ahead of their intended target, they fired. Five bolts pierced the skull of one of the larger dragons, a second had their wings rendered into shreds, a third found their throat and wings pierced by metal bolts, while a fourth and fifth were both shoot with so many bolts that their entire right sides looked like a dragon sized porcupine had landed on them.

"Feuerroter Pfeil und Bogen!" A large knight sang out from one of the ships with no sails. A tall person even for a horse, his metal armor and longsword making him appear like a non-organic being as his voice rang out across the skies. While the corpses of the five dragons fell to the ground.

And after his words, a chorus rang out from all other knights, responding to his words in a similar tongue as his.

"Fumareta hana no namae mo shirazu ni!" But then another began to sing, this time, a pony wearing metal and silk armour, bearing a peculiar helmet with a mask in the shape of a demon's face. His voice ringing out in another language unlike the one used by the knights.

"Chi ni ochita tori wa kaze o machiwabiru!" And as he sang, the horses on the box shaped ships all drew back the strings on their large bows and took aim.

"Inotta tokoro de nani mo kawaranai!" A loud sound of a large amount of tense bow strings being released was heard, then a cloud of arrows flew out from ten of the ships, each arrow flew with intense speed and accuracy, yet the dragons were not caught unaware this time and flapped their wings to blow the projectiles away.

"Ima o kaeru no wa tatakau kakugo da!" But a few arrows still struck their targets and with the horses' unequal accuracy, was it not hard to pinpoints where they struck. Two of the remaining twenty five dragons roared out in agony as their eyes were rendered useless as ten arrows struck their faces, five for each eye.

Thorn glared at the interlopers. *How dare they! The skies belong to us! We are the true masters of the world, that includes the sky!*

Inhaling the large dragon spewed out a massive cloud of fire at the flying boats. All of the dragons stared with intensity as the flames washed over the cloud ships, eager to see the abominations burn. But to the stunned disbelief of all the dragons, the ships flew through the flames, or more specifically, the thick storm clouds they were sailing on smothered the cloud of dragon's fire.

"Shikabane fumikoete!" The demon faced horse kept singing, and as he did flew ten ships forward, the longest of the lot. Their length almost equal to that of Thorn. Each ship flying on an individual storm cloud.

"Susumu ishi o warau buta yo!" And as these ten large ships flew forward, began a horde of ponies, armed with spears, axes and swords, stood up on the sides. With one of the ships holding what looked like a horse made out of parts of various ponies.

Frustrated and furious Thorn turned towards his fellow and pointed at the approaching ships. "Tear those things apart!"

"Kachiku no annei kyogi no hanei!" The dragons flew forward with fervor. They could handle these wooden structures with their fire, now that they were not so close together, their flames should burn them with ease.

"Shiseru garou no jiyuu wo~!" But as they approached the leading horse with a patchwork body, reared back one of his forelegs, one bearing the claw of a griffin, and roared out an order.

"Prepare for boarding!"

"Torawareta kutsujoku wa hangeki no koushi da!" Ten dragons flew forward ahead of the other ten, each targeting a different ship, they inhaled air and flew up alongside the ships to spew fire upon the foolish ponies on the decks.

"Jouheki no sono kanata emono wo hofuru JAEGER!" They lost their breath and their composure, when over fifty large earth ponies jumped off the ships with loud battle cries and landed on the dragons. A few missed but they had long lengths of ropes which they swiftly used to climb back up to their ships. Those who landed on top of the flying dragons, started to hack away at any weak points they spotted with a ferocity worthy of a recently tickled sleeping dragon.

"Hotobashiru shoudou ni sono mi o yakinagara!" A large horse bearing a metal helmet, fur harness and wielding a large axe rushed forward and with a powerful swing embedded the blade of his axe into the softer scales of the dragon's neck. A geyser of blood erupted as he savagely jerked out the blade from the pierced flesh and howled out a victory cry as the dragon tried to stop the bleeding by clutching the wound, only for a bolt from one of the ballistaes to strike him through the skull.

"Tasogare ni hi o ugatsu!" Another dragon found her wings hacked to shreds, leaving her to crash down with a fear filled scream as she could no longer maintain flight. Four more found themselves dealt with in such brutal manners, their crippled wings making them fall to the ground at lethal speeds.

"Guren no yumiya~!" The remaining four dragons quickly dived down to evade the fanatical slashing from their attackers. One of them went down too quickly without looking ahead and slammed into the side of a nearby mountain peak, his neck broken from the impact.

Once more the knights sang out to the skies, their languages echoing across the skies.

The dragons were not willing to give up to these interlopers. And they decided another tactic, to assault from any directions like how they had handled the large pony stone hut down below.

"Ya o tsugae oikakeru yatsu wa nigasanai!" Once more the demon faced horse began to sing. and as he sang the thirty ships behind the long ships spread out into lines.

"Ya o hanachi oitsueru keshite nigasanai!" The dragons ignored this since it looked like the large ponies were making it easier for them to burn up a majority of their floating wood structures with such a faulty tactic.

"Genkai made hikishiboru hachikire sou na tsuru!" They flew in from the left side, the right side, from below and above. Thorn took the lead from above, going a bit slower then the rest to keep a better track of the ships.

"Yatsu ga iki taeru made nando demo hanatsu!" With murderous intent the dragons flew at the ships, four from down and above, three from the left and right.

"Hemono wo korosu no wa dougu demo gijutsu demonai!" As the dragosn approached began the strange metal pipes sticking out of sides and bottom of the samurai ships' hulls began to glow. The clouds covering u pthe pipes and hul lwas still not enough to hide all of the glow coming out from the rune engraved pipes.

"Togi tsumasareta omae jishin no tetsui da!" Then as the dragons came within range to shoot their payload, the energy within was released. And what came as a spherical force field around thirty meters wide in diameter. The energy fields intersected with one another and became a single force field.

As the dragons came flying, the knights and samurais began to sing together. As if acting in defiance against the dragons, unafraid and uncaring of their might. The knights singing the first half of a line ,with the samurai singing the next.

The dragons spewed their flames, but the force field held strong against the fire. And as the dragons flew past them, they were assaulted by the sound of a loud zapping crack, as if lightning had struck rock, as the ten harpoon launchers of the knight ships, fired at the dragons.

Four dragons had their hide skewered by the magnetically accelerated harpoons and found themselves stuck with thick chains holding them in place. Even as the Carrack's groaned as the dragons struggle to tear off the chains and harpoons, the samurais turned their bows, and fired.

With no way to escape or flap their wings the dragons tried to look away from the arrows to not be shot in their weak points. Only to stare in horror as the front of a longboat suddenly appeared from the side and slammed into their skulls at full speed, the metal enforced front of the ship wither breaking their necks by the force of impact. Or knocking them unconscious.

"Angriff auf die Drachen!" As the four dragons fell erupted the end section of the harpoons in small detonations, breaking the chain link connected to the harpoon. And as their bodies impacted the ground, the leading knight began to sing out some kind of poem, while the ten remaining dragons turned around to try again.

"Der Junge von einst wird bald zum Schwert greifen!" But the horses did not allow them time to plan, As soon as the energy field covering the ships flickered out of existence, the crews went into action and as one they all move. Every single ship began to turn, tracking those who had attempted to attack them, and with a sudden burst of thunder and lightning from the clouds beneath them, they flew towards the anxious dragons.

"Wer nur seine Machtlosigkeit beklagt, kann nichts verändern!" The ten remaining dragons found this new sensation coursing through their bodies to be unpleasant and decided to try and evade the pursuing pony structures. For it had been many centuries since they had felt the sensation of being preyed upon.

"Der Junge von einst wird bald das schwarze Schwert ergreifen!" The ten long triremes flew forward, their decks armed with several metallic ballistaes, their stationary oars sparkling with thunder and lightning rapidly as they speed up to chase after the dragons.

"Hass und Zorn sind eine zweischneidige Klinge!" Rapid chanting came from the long boats with their viking sailors, rowing the oars rapidly, drums beating in tact with the music to speed up their efforts. The sheer speed of the skeids were faster then any of the other ships.

"Bald, eines Tages, wird er dem Schicksal die Zähne zeigen!" The Carracks and the Atakebunes were by far the slowest, but they had good defences and powerful weapons to make up for it. With the Atakebunes sailing just in front of the Carracks to act as shields should the dragons try to target them.

"Nani ka o kaeru koto ga dekiru no wa!" As the poem of the knight ended, the samurai began to sing once more. The dragons were on the run, not even Thorn's threats and furious roars could instill any manner of morale into them. Especially not when a shoot from one of the triremes skewered one dragon's wing and made him spiral down into the woodlands below the mountains and rolled through the trees for a while before impacting a small hill with a loud crash.

"Nani ka o suteru koto ga dekiru mono!" One of the spartan ships, a Trireme, managed to force a dragon to slow down as the ballistaes on it struck its wings. The battering ram on its front struck the flying fire breathing creature in the back, piercing through its back and out through the stomach, killing it instantly. The corpse had to be pushed off least the ship risk falling with it.

"Nani hitotsu (keshiku) nado seowanai mama de!" On the Skeid long boats flew upwards above one of the fleeing dragons. A single barrel was thrown off the edge of the ship and struck the dragon on its head, a black sticky mass covered the dragon's face, making it roar out in frustration and confusion as its eyes and nostrils was covered by the black gunk.

"Nanika ga kanau nado!" It breathed fire but that only ignited the black mass, which did little to harm the dragon but it sure as hell did not let it see how its struggling in mid flight had caused it to steer off course, it barely had the time to blink when it saw the rocky surface of the mountain side before it struck it face first at diving speed. A loud crunch could be heard as the dragon impacted the mountain side, before it slid down, its head flopping around with a broken neck.

"Angu no soutei tada no genei!" four of the dragons flew in a U turn as they decided to attack the boats following them. The triremes and the skeids were not following them for some reason.

"Ima wa mubou na yuuki mo!" With smirks on their faces the dragosn flew at top speed at the twenty less dangerous and much slower ships. Sure one of them had shields and far too accurate archers, and the other one had a powerful metal spike weapon, but they had far less dangerous weapons then the other ships.

"Jiyuu no senpei kake no kousei!" The front pipes of the finned ships began to flow white, and the dragosn got a sick feeling at the sight of the glowing light coming from the finned ships.

"Hashiru dore ni shouri wo!" With a loud whoomp the pipes fired not a projectile nor a proper energy blast or even a gush of fire. No, it fired a sphere, a shield sphere the size of a pony. and it flew, at the speed of sound. Of the ten shoots fired impacted five of them, three on the same dragon, the rest on others.

The impact of the fired force field was enough to shatter the thick scales of one of the dragons' skull, before the field could no longer maintain itself and erupting inside of the head, causing the entire cranium from forehead to lower jaw to explode.

The other two were far more lucky as the shoots only broke the bones of their front limbs as their covered their faces with their large claws.

"Kaserareta fujouri wa shingeki no koushi da!" But then a loud whump was heard and several canisters were launched from the Carracks. The stumbling dragons had no time to react as the canisters struck them and shattered and released a thick jello like mass that glued itself to their bodies, and became so hard they could no longer move. They slammed into the woodlands bellow the mountain range, badly injured but alive.

"Ubawareta sono chihei sekai wo nozomu ACHILLES!" Achilles was standing at the front of his ship, he was wielding a large spear given to him by one of the valkyries. He hefted the spear back, took aim, charged his horn, making lightning spark through the spear, before he threw it.

"Tomedo naki shoudou ni so no mi okasare nagara!" A sickening splat was heard as the spear shoot down through the back of the skull of one of the three remaining dragons and out through his lower jaw. Even as the corpse fell to the ground, Achilles pulled back a second spear and took aim for the second dragon, the smaller one.

"Yoiyami ni shi o hakobu!" Thorn felt the tingling sensation of being targetted, something he had only felt as a hatchling! It was infuriating, why were the ponies able to fight back!? This was wrong! All wrong!

"Meifu no yumiya~!" Another sick crack was heard as the last of his fellows died, a metal tipped big stick tearing through her skull in an instance. And at the sight of the final one of his aids dying, something snapped within Thorn.

And he turned around, his eyes glowing red in a berserker like fashion before he flew with a loud animal like screech towards the boat pursuing him. He gushed out fire and smoke like he was frothing, his mind completely and utterly broken down into a state of utter rage and bloodlust.

Achilles looked into the mad eyes of the beast and put down the spear he was holding and unsheathed his bronze sword and his shield. And then he took a few steps back, before he suddenly charged off the front edge of the boat with a powerful leap, unfolding his wings and using them to glide towards his target.

Thorn roared out and spewed out fire towards the approaching foe. But a circle shaped shield of iron burst through the cloud of fire, badly melted, but still intact. And then, the face of a horrifying pony emerged from behind the shield, rearing back a small metal fang being held by a griffin's claw.

The pony slammed into his face and Thorn had only time to glare, before the small metal fang, was pushed into his left eye, through the eyeball, and straight into his brain, before with a powerful and jagged push, the metal fang cut up the insides of his front lobe. While lightning arced out from the pony's horn, and into his brain, effectively frying his head from the inside.

Pulling out his foreleg and claw out of the now dead dragon's break Achilles watch as the dead beast still glared at him,as its now limp body started to fall to the ground, even as he hung by the waist of his lifeline, he watched as the massive creature kept glaring up at him. Until its body slammed into solid ground as it struck the large cobblestone road next to the pony settlement, falling slack against the surface on the ground below.

He hung there in the air for a moment, contemplating what he and his creations had just done. Though he knew his ships were going to be effective, he had not realized just how much. This changed a lot of how he had planned to do things. For he had a deep respect for the legends of dragons, they were his favorite mythological creatures since his early childhood.

To see these mighty creatures he had always wanted to see, defeated with such... ease. It boggled the mind. And he knew that his decision to keep the sky ships, and now the arsenals of said sky ships, only in the hooves and knowledge of the horses, was a good decision. He did not want to be the cause of a World War because he carelessly spread out the knowledge of advanced weapons.

Looking up, finished with his deep thoughts, he called out to the crew on the longboat. "Pull me up! We are not done yet! There are more dragons to the west who needs hunting!"

With a final roar of victory, the sky ships of the horses flew over Blackstone Keep, they bellowing voices echoing across the lands as their ships altered course, towards the west. Leaving behind its confused but grateful defenders.

Lord Talos landed on top of a mountain peak, his eyes glaring towards the west. He had been searching for the so called home of the ponies, but he had not found it! Even though he had been flying west for almost a day had he not seen the place called Canterlot.

"Hrrrrmmmmmm... Why are we not there yet? It should not have taken us more then half a day to reach the other side of these mountains." He looked around in confusion, he knew these mountains fairly well and he knew how to fly over them. Yet for some reason had he not seen the other side of the mountains yet.

Around him his smaller kindred landed and began to seek shelter to sleep. He remained on top of the mountain looking out over the seemingly endless mountain chain. Something was obviously wrong here. Could he have taken a wrong direction? According to what he had been told would the ponies' home be across the... middle... of the mountains.

"Accursed simpletons! Of course they cannot describe a proper direction if the were given a straight line to walk!" Growling the large dragon clenched his claws as he realized just what had occurred.

The dragons had left the center of the mountain range for sure, from THEIR perspective. For while the maps of the ponies did not cover the entire mountain range of the continent, the dragons could clearly see it. and thus, they had flown through the center of the mountain range, far too the south of their intended destination. They needed to fly north now!

Grumbling and growling Talos laid down around the mountain top, dreaming of roasted ponies and gemstones as he began to fall asleep. Unknowing that in his error he and his horde had evaded the siege engines of the Equestrian Gold Army as it marched through the mountains.

Maleficus sighed as he dropped down onto a soft pile of furs and cloth. He was exhausted, he had spent three days working on the ships and one flying them. It had not been easy to figure out how to steer and move the ships properly, a few accidents had occurred but nothing major. And thankfully were his horses better equipped to learn about the ships then he was.

And though they had slept for twelve hours last night, was he still extremely tired and needed to recover. But he knew they had far to go before they could properly rest, but that did not mean they could not recover a bit. The dragosn were still moving towards the west, towards Canterlot, and he could already feel his anxiety growing as the dragons were approaching the city were the ponies he had grown attached to lived.

"I am going to rest now. Be sure to sleep as well. Tell the other ships about this as well. We have all been active... a long time. Anchor the ships if necessary so that everyone can get some sleep, or work into shifts, it is up to you." He said to the horses before he just leaned backwards and collapsed onto the pile of fur, his unconscious form snoring after just mere seconds.

And so the ships' crews kept moving as they moved into shifts, those who had fought and spent a lot of energy went to sleep while those still awake enough kept the fleet moving. The speed of the ships became clearly a lot slower after this but they were steadily heading towards the west to aid Canterlot. Though how soon they would arrive to bring aid, was uncertain.

The sun was settling in the horizon and Canterlot's walls and towers were lit up by the torches, crystal lanterns and lamps spread out across the households. A great tension had been filling the city ever since the Gold Army forces had left Canterlot to hunt for the dragons.

Uncertainty and fear was high in the air. Unpleasant memories of the Rattenfänger Army and its attempted invasion of Canterlot a decade ago made many ponies feel high unease and tension. Even the Sun Guard was not unaffected by this, though they did nto speak of it publicly, had several of their members been having bad tempers or emotional breakdowns for the entire day.

On top of the left clock tower of the Temple of Law stood a certain pegasus mare, Happy Meal, staring solemnly over the city. Her normally cheerful and happy face sad and contemplating, her once wavy and flowing mane looking slack and straight as if it had been washed with bleach and starch.

*Will we be okay?* She wondered. The situation that was occurring was so alike and yet so different then all those years ago. It was not an army of land bound foes eager to tearing apart and eating the ponies, instead it was an army of flying fire breathing monsters eager to tear them apart and eating them.

"Are you okay Happy Meal?" Came the soft voice of Grand Music from behind her, she made no move to turn around as the stallion walked over to her, a look of concern on his face.

"No... Ah feel like things are goin' ta turn out bad fer us. Like... like last time." At those words Grand music got a look of understanding in his eyes before he closed them and let out a soft sigh. The two just stood there for a moment, silently thinking about the harsh events that had occurred ten years ago.

"It will be alright." The Grand Master of the Order of the golden Cross said out all of a sudden.

The sudden change of tone made Happy Meal blink a bit in confusion before she spoke out to him. "But how can ye-"

She was silenced by a hoof gently pressing against her mouth, and she felt her cheek fluster a little as the determined face of Grand Music leaned forward and looked her in the eyes. He looked so handsome with that cool look on his face."It. Will. Be. Alright. Happy Meal. We are stronger, we are better and we got... we got..." He faltered a bit, as if trying to speak out the words he did not want to say.

So Happy Meal gently lowered his hoof down and spoke up with a sad smile. "Grandpa? That's what ye meant to say right?"

"Ah... errr... I...." The stallion stuttered as he tried to find the words to say. He just... could not find it in himselw to respond. For as much as he felt betrayed and angry, he also wanted to have his honourary grandfather there, to help them like he had done in the past. And he did not know if he was willing to admit it.

Happy Meal just shook her head, making her mane wave around a bit in the wind, a small smile on her lips, no longer sad, but still a bit solemn. But she had a less depressing look in her eyes. "Ah get ya Music. Grandpa is still a sore spot, even fer me. But... Ah can't help it ya know? Ah can't help... wantin' him ta be here. Protecting us again. Like last time."

"..." Grand Music just remained silent, and the two knights stood there on top of the tower, looking out over the city as the sun settled down in the distant horizon. Their minds swirling with uncertainty and anxiety, but still a bit more comfortable now that they are no longer alone.

A bed bound Commander Rock Steady glared at the orb he had been holding for the last two hours. In his haste to regain some sanity he had... erm... slipped on the stairs. And had for over an hour rolled down the entire set of stairs running down fro mthe top fo the fortress and down into the bottom of the Hidden Cavern where the Sacred Sanctum was located.

Why there had never been anypony meeting him on hiw trip down had been mind boggling ,but what really made him salty was that a pegasus scout flew over him and prepared a medic. Rather. Then. Helping. Him. That scout would be cleaning the latrines for a YEAR... once he could remember what they looked like. Everything past the fourth floor of the fort had turned into a blur to be honest.

As he finally struck dirt... literally... he had broken at least two bones in each of his legs, he had a major concussion, over six of his ribs were fractured, he had badly twisted his neck and his spinal cord had at least four bad bents. A group of panicking ponies had rushed to his aid, lead by Lady Ruins.

The mare pegasus had used her weather magic to create a cloud cushion for him to lay upon as to not risk his health any longer, which only caused her to blush in shame when he just slipped through the cloud. That was the moment when he fractured his horn as he hit the ground head first when he slipped through the cloud cushion as Lady Ruins forgot that non-flying ponies, cannot walk on clouds.

So when he woke up from his trip down the stairs he was bed ridden, with plenty of bandages and straps, in a quest roo mthat had been onverted into a medical room. And to top it all of was it already past midnight and nopony had bothered to send a report to Celestia. Although Be Boop had entered the room a few moments after he woke up, to read a report he had written down, which was... very detailed and very enlightening of what had happened.

Be Boop explained of how the horses had slaughtered the dragons with their sky ships and how they had been heading west afterwards, then Be Boop wished Rock Steady a good recovery and left the room.

The report brought him some joy, as it confirmed the defeat of the dragons, and no more lives had been lost. Well... the report and the fact that Ancient Ruins was currently sleeping with her head resting on the side of his bed, apparently she had been worried sick for him and refused to leave. Her son was also in the room, sleeping on a cushion.

And while he was grateful Be Boop had not made fun of him because of this, was he still rather frustrated that he was unable to connect to Celestia's Communication Orb. It had been two hours and it was almost sunrise, he knew Celestia was asleep but she should have left somepony to check on the orb right?

Then, the orb lit up and the image of a sleepy looking Solid Pink appeared and the Commander took a deep breath before he began his report. "This is Commander Rock steadyof Blackstone Keep. We have fought the dragons and we have lost many lives, but the dragosn are defeated. However... the dragons who fought us were not defeated by us. While we managed to clear out at least one third of their numbers, and the terrain did a lot of damage to them s well, were we saved in the end... By horses."

Solid Pink's face instantly turned awake and she looked at him with full attention. And that face turned into a rare sight of shock as the Commander tried to describe what he had witnessed and been told. "Horses... flying boats... row and sail boats... in the sky... armed with siege weapons and some manner of magical shield. These horses appear to be part of four different factions then the horses under the command of Maleficus. They appear to be hunting the dragons however."

And so he told Solid Pink all the information. The appearances of the boats, the ways the dragons were slain. The amount of ponies and gear lost to the dragons' fiery breaths upon the castle. For over two hours he spoke and before he knew it was the sun starting to rise and he felt death tired as he finished the report.

"Recover Commander Rock steady, you have done Equestria proud. Tell our nephew that he is to take care of your duties until you recover." Solid Pink ordered before the sphere flickered out and the orb was once more just a purple hue.

Rock Steady slowly levitated the orb back into the bag by his bed and laid back his head on the pillow. His sore left foreleg once more resting in its straps after having been used so intensely while badly injured. With the comforting presence of Ancient Ruin and the knowledge that his duty had been done and that his home was safe, Commander rock steady fell asleep once more. Unaware of the horrors that was about to strike the center of Equestria.

Princess Celestia strode out onto her balcony and looked up towards the shining silvery sphere that was the moon, and for a moment her eyes grew teary and she almost burst out into tears. Yet she shook her head and gripped hold of her emotions. She had a duty to uphold, and she could not let her emotions get the better of her.

Her horn ignited with a familiar golden aura. The moon began to shift across the surface of the planet, moving down beyond the mountains and forests. And as it finally disappeared out of sight she let out a deep sigh before rubbing her eyes with her left hoof, wiping away the moisture from her eyes.

Then she ignited her horn again and slowly began to raise the sun. it was always calming to her, moving the sphere of fire she had always had a deep connection to. It always fascinated her when she had been told by her of how groups of ten unicorns had moved the moon and sun during the ancient times before the Age of Chaos. The tales of how the sun's warm light brought life to the world, while the moon blanketed it in a comforting glow during the night, had fascinated both her and her sister.

Celestia had always enjoyed the time she shared with her mother and sister, she had grown even more attached to it when their mother began to wander off to seek something. She never knew her fathers or her second mother, but she knew that both she and Luna were Laura's daughters and that was all that truly mattered. But in one of those old stories, Laura had spoken of the sun and moon, as the children of the heavens, brought to life to bring warmth and comfort to the world.

A sad part of the tale was that after some mishaps, both siblings grew distant, so much, that they could no longer share the heavens and thus, night and day were born. That tale made Celestia and Luna sad, and the two had wanted to bring the Moon and Sun together again.

That was the day that the two had gone out on the night, and ignited their horns, and broguht the sun and moon together. They had barely been ten years old when they did so, and when they did, their cutie marks appeared. Their mother had scolded them both something profoundly, but... it had been one of the happiest days in her life.

That tale and that eventful night was what made Celestia want to bring warmth and comfort to all ponies, just like she and Luna had reunited the sun and moon.

Smiling a bit at the memory the Princess softly hummed before she left for her bedroom, once inside she looked up at a ponnyequin, holding her golden armour. An armour that had been recently repaired and improved after she returned from her failed Second Crusade against Maleficus. Reaching out with a hoof she softly touched the golden plate as her eyes narrowed into a glare as she saw the faint scratch mark fro mwhere that burning great sword had nearly split through her chest area.

It brought her once serene and calm mind to a burning rage as she remembered her vow to hunt down the stallion for his crimes and bring him to justice. It had yet to happen, even after ten years had she not been able to do anything. And now the hunt for the demon alicorn was put on halt because of the Draconic Incursion in her nation.

Even though she still wanted to send scouts to find the fiend she could not spare them. Her orders to expand the maps of Equestria had lead to a large amount of the Silver Army being spread out and the Bronze Army was too busy patrolling roads, protecting outposts and acting as strike forces against bandits or monsters.

And now with the Gold Army acting as the main force sent to hunt the dragons in the east coast, with a small amount of Silver and Bronze troops acting as support, ironically enough, she had no more forces to spare outside of her knightly orders. Which she could barely spare any for anything.

The Sun Guard was too important guarding the Palace. And the Equestrian Order of Chivalry was more of a group of parading roosters then a proper fighting force. While the Order of the Golden Cross was too busy with their many duties, which included fighting the dragons in the east coast until reinforcements arrived.

Pressing her forehead against the cool metal of her armour she closed her eyes and mumbled softly to herself as she sought the soothing coolness of the armour's metal to help her aching head. "We will hath justice for thee sister. No matter how long it may take Us."

She then heard knocking from the door and straightened herself up and began to levitate her jewelry and tiara out of their boxes on the nightstand. "We shalt be ready soon Solid Pink. Please bear with us for a moment."

As she levitated her tiara onto her brow she heard the words of her personal aid. "We have an important report from Commander Rock Steady your Highness... The dragons were defeated, by a fleet of flying boats. Crewed by... horses. Not part of Maleficus' forces."

There was a sound of precious metal hitting a carpet covered stoen floor before the doors to Princess Celestia's room burst open and the Princess grabbed her startled aid and dragged her into the room, eyes wide with shock and wonder while blurting out orders. "Tell Us what thou know right now! How many factions were there!? What manner of heraldries were there!? How did their ships fly!? What manner of magic did they use to power the energy shields?! Horses doest not have magical powers! They art even more inert with external magic then earth ponies! What manner of trick did they use!? How were they able to utilize such unheard of magical techniques!?"

Solid Pink tried her best to calm down the frantic princess as she had a small mental breakdown. The mess of orders and questions was making it very difficult to understand what she was saying.

Fortunately, or unfortunately in some manner. The frantic triad of questions and orders from the Princess was finally broken, when the signal horn on the gatehouse of Canterlot, sounded out a signal that had not been heard for over ten years.

Enemies. Approaching.

Talos smirked as he saw it. There beyond the top of a cluster of mountains next to a large lake was it. There was no doubt that that carved out mountain was the home of the ponies. This... Canterlot they spoke of with such sickening loyalty and awe.

But seeing it made Talos reconsider his doubts about its grandeur. While much of the large stone village was unfinished, was it still a rather... well made structure. To carve out a mountain worthy of any elder dragon, and shape it into your own, that was rather impressive.

*And it does confirm my suspicions. The source of the ponies' abominable behavior stems from this place. This must be were this so called 'Princess Celestia' lives. Well. She is about to find out that her working against the law of nature, is going to bring about the end of her home... and her life.* With a swoop down he spread his wings and landed upon the large cliff side facing the large stone walls covering the city.

There across the surface of the pony carved stone and wood he could see the ponies running around, but not in panic, well not entirely, there was an order and a steady discipline within the small herbivores. Even as his forces of over three hundred strong arrived with him, landing on the mountains just south of the large stone village, or maintaining flight in the air just above him.

No one may move before he did. For he was Lord Talos, and there was no dragon willing to risk his wrath by breaking his commands. Thus, the only time the dragons would begin their destruction of this twisted mountain village, was when HE gave the order to do so. Never earlier.

His gaze looked over the large stone structure, he could see several of those accursed weapons that had killed several of his kindred. But he knew their weaknesses now. All he had to do was sending the larger dragons, those able to endure the hits, and have them destroy the weapons. Then, all he had to do was send in the rest, and this Canterlot, would crumble apart, and order would be brought to the world once more.

But before he could do so. He needed to make an announcement. For it would not do for him to just recklessly kill all of the ponies here and leave no one to remember the lesson he and his clan was about to bring upon their pitiful kind. Thus he reared back his head and spoke out with his loud and rumbling voice, its vibrating essence making the mountains around him shake as if tremors were going through them. "Hear me ponies! I am Lord Talos, the Lord of the Rockfire Clan! The Greatest of the Five Dragon Lords!"

"You have broken the will of nature! You have tried to best your betters with these abominable weapons of yours! We are the apex predators of this world and none shall have the power to face us! The fact that you have tried this is blasphemy!" as he shouted out the last word he clenched his left front claw into a fist and punched a hole into the side of a mountain, making cracks form in its surface with a loud resounding crumble.

Pulling back his fist he glared upon the city, his large blood coloured eyes glaring upon every soul within those walls like burning beacons of murder and hate. "We considered just killing you all, but that would not be a lesson, just a punishment. Oh no, no. We need to make an example of you, one that shall brand it into your minds to never stand up to your betters!"

"Thus we shall render this mountain home of yours and your so called Princess into ash right before you! So that you and all of your short lived descendants all may remember your place in the food chain! As our prey!" And with a final roar he stood up on his hind legs and let out a massive gush of fire and magma into the air. All the other dragons around him roaring out with the Lord of their clan.

And yet even after the inspiring speech he had just given, could Lord Talos tell that the ponies had not lost faith nor had they lost morale. If anything, they seemed even more motivated to fight back. It infuriated him ,but he guess he should not be all that surprised. After all.

*A cornered animal will still fight back no matter the odds. But in the end, it is just an animal.* He thought to himself before he looked towards one of his eldest kin, a green dragoness.

"Have the elders attack first. Clear out those weapons on their stone huts and walls. They are too weak to harm them, and thus, once we clear out those pests, we correct this mockery of the natural order of things."

"As you wish Lord Talos." The large green dragoness next to his stated before she bowed and spread her wings before flapping them to take flight. She flew up and let out a loud roar to the mass of dragons around her, spread out the will and order of her Lord and father to the other elder dragons. Whom all stepped forth, while the adult and young dragons stepped back to watch the oldest of their kin clear out the ponies' defiance.

At the first sight of the approaching winged terrors had the forces of Canterlot been put into actions. Armories were opened, armour was put on and weapons were prepared. Lines of soldiers marched through streets, alleys and walls setting up the defences of the city. While the Knights of the Three Knightly Orders began to guide the civilians to safety. Well the Sun Knights and the Order of the golden Cross did. The Equestrian Order of Chivalry decided to 'protect' their HQ, which translated to 'hiding at home' in military speech.

Up in the Bastion, the small garrison fort built just before the center of the city walls made for the sole purpose of war time activity, stood a large group of ponies in various types of armours, looking out at the large force of dragons on the mountains south of their home. While listening to the largest of them, this Lord Talos, speaking out a lot of words that sounded eerily familiar.

General Rough Stock snorted as he looked at the large dragon speak out his nonsense to the city. The earth pony was dressed in his refurbished bronze plate armour, his trusty shield and spear read by his side. He had been asked to assume a different weapon set, but it just did not feel right.

"Yeah this shit is just like dat fucked up rat fella who spouted nonsense ten years ago. Only this time around it be a bucking dragon instead of a darn rat. Can we ever get a break?"

Captain Weak Guts just shrugged and waved a hoof at the still speaking dragon, his new greatsword, which looked more like a two meter long and one hoof thick slab of sharp bronze then a sword, lying on his back, as it was too big to carry on his side. "Well to make a point. Last time we had no Princess to aid us. This time we do. And we doubt Princess Celestia is going ta let that big ole lizard and his flying snakes do as they pleases."

The General of the Bronze Army chuckled and patted the younger officer on the shoulder. "Point made there Captain." And the duo chuckled together at the small joke between them.

But the General of the Silver army, General Aerial Grace, glared at the two earth ponies. The situation was awful and these two were joking about it? She was not enjoying how they were not taking this seriously and was more then willing to scold them for it. "Are the two of you going to take this serious? Princess Celestia cannot be in two places at once! We have to do our duty to protect the city!"

Not her best decision as General Rough Stock turned around and gave her a harsh glare he that made her flinch back at the intense anger behind that stare. Then... Rough Stock started shouting at her, in his best Sergeant Voice. "Don't ye ever speak to me about duty! Ey have been fighting for this nation before ye were born litte missy! Ey know our duty and though Ey may be acting light hearted like at da moment do not doubt mah sense of duty! We art ponies of Equestria and we ALL shall do our duty or die doin' it!"

He turned away from the pegasus and walked over to a messenger to bark out orders. Aerial Grace felt rather discouraged by the stallion's harsh voice and his lack of tact, but she could not help but feel shame as well for doubting his sense of duty and honour just because he was making it easier for his troops.

A large hoof patted her on the shoulder and she turned to see the kindly smiling Weak Guts patting her on the shoulder comfortably. He spoke out to her as he did so. "Do not take it too hard. Rough Stock have always been rough around da edges. He may be a big shot General now ,but he shall always be that good ole screaming hardass of a Sarge to us veterans in da Bronze Army. No need to worry though, we may act a bit silly at the moment, but we shall do our part just like ye will Lady Grace."

With a final pat on the mare's shoulder Weak Guts strode over to General Rough Stock to keep track of the orders being given, least he ended up being the one to get shouted at next. While General Aerial Grace shuffled her wings and tried to not glance after the Captain as he trotted away.

"Did Captain Guts just draw your fancy ma'am?" Came the words from one of her own Captains and the pegasus glared at the other pegasus mare in question, with a slightly pink face.

"Better watch your words carefully Captain Sharp Wit or I will be making you wash the latrines of the barracks every time we have chili day." The purple furred pegasus went starch pale in an instance and just made a zipping motion over her lips.

With a snort and a toss of her mane Aerial Grace walked past the properly scolded, read threatened, Captain and spotted the shape of Grand Master Grand Music coming out of the doorway leading up to the top of the bastion. With him were three other knights, including Master Knight Happy Meal.

"We have sent out messengers to send word to the Gold Army, they flew at low altitude to evade sight and has been reported flying into the mountain pass. Princess Celestia has sent with them the order for one fourth of the Gold Army to return to the city to aid in the defence, she will keep the city safe until then." The Grand Master of the Order said as he walked over to the edge of the battlement.

"Ya. Hopefully them shiny colts will get back here before we finish these big lizards!" Happy Meal said with a wide grin as she skipped over to her adopted brother, who just rolled his eyes, a small smile on his face.

Aerial Grace let out a relieved sigh, the fact that the messengers had managed to get past the dragons was good news. But then her brain registered a part of the sentence that Grand Music had just said, at the same time as General Rough Stock did as well. And the two Generals walked over to the two kngihts and asked together.

"Wait. Princess Celestia will do what?" "Da Princess will do what?"

"Protect the city ya silly goofs!" Master Knight Happy Meal said with a wide grin, the two Generals blinked before looking at each other in surprise. Did the Princess intend to fight off the dragons all on her own?

Their train of thoughts were interrupted when loud roars emerged from the dragon horde and a group of fifty massive dragons flew out from the horde and flew like a wave of flying forts towards the city walls. Their maws alight with various manners of elements.

"They are flying towards da towers and da siege engines!" Shouted Weak Guts as he noticed how the large creatures were flying towards the spots of the walls and the large towers. All of these were the closest locations of the siege engines to the dragons.

The elders flew out from their younger brethren. Numbering at least fifty strong they flew like a flock of flying whales, their massive shapes blotting out the sun. Before they even reached halfway across the distance between them and the large stone walls moved several of the larger ballistaes on the larger towers and aimed towards the flying titans.

Several dozens of tightly strung cords were released and giant metal bound wooden bows straightened out. Several loud kachunks erupted as the wooden frames jerked by the force of the armed bolts were fired.

These were bolts of sacred bronze, prepared by the Order of the Golden Cross in all haste. Only a few had been produced so each of the large ballistaes were limited to twenty each. And thus the opening salvo was one of these newly made bolts.

And unlike the regular wooden bolts, was these metallic bolts of unnaturally tough bronze rather effective. Of the several dozens shoots fired, would around thirty strike. Several struck the thicker scales of the chest, shoulders and legs, only able to penetrate a few inches before getting stuck.

Four bolts streaked straight through the membrane of the left wing of one of the elders, each bolt tearing up massive gashes that rendered the wing into a badly torn mess. The massive beast managed to land with a loud crunch on the fields before the walls and staggered up right to glare at the walls, and began to march towards them.

Two bolts slammed through the softer under scales of the throat of a dragoness. She reached up and clutched at the bolts and gripped them before trying to pull them out. But she only managed to pull them hallway out before the blood filled her lungs and she lost conscious. Her massive body fell downwards in a hapless tumble before striking the grassy ground, dead.

Ten bolts split through both wings of another dragon, this one a male, he roared out and tried to fly in a crashing course towards the gatehouse, intent on destroying the large structure. The two Manticore ballistaes on the gatehouse turned and aimed for his head and fired, each bolt struck his skull straight on. But instead of just pinging off, they exploded, with the force of a cannon ball.

The force of the detonations sent his head backward, his eyes rolled up and unconscious, blood dripping out of his ear holes. His body's momentum had been momentarily halted but soon resumed, only into an uncontrollable roll in mid air that was causing his body to roll forward and slam into the moat before the gatehouse.

Two of the elders were struck down as they were pestered by around ten bolts each, of which one struck through the eye and into the brain stem. While the other had their eyes penetrated by a bolt each and their throat skewered by six bolts. Their bodies slammed into the ground with loud crunches.

As the remaining forty five dragons charged past the half point mark, took the rest of the smaller ballistaes aim, and fired their own, rapid fired, volleys.

Private Keen Shoot of the Gold Army rotated his Manticore ballistae to take aim at one of the approaching monsters. Adjusting his aim while muttering under his breath.. "Stay right where you are you scaly beast."

Then his eyes narrowed as he took in the pattern of the flapping wings, and for a brief seconds he spotted it, the section of the wings were the joints were all connected, like the wings of a bat. And after five seconds, Keen Shot saw his window, and began to rapidly pedal the firing mechanism of the siege engine.

The small but compact ballistae let out a stream of bolts, though the siege engine was not much different then it was ten years ago, except for being covered with more metal to allow more power to be drawn from its cords, was the ammunition all new. Freshly baked rune bolts from the Workshop, the latest brain foal from the engineers of Canterlot.

It was a wide and flat, almost crescent shaped, arrow head on the bolt. And upon its surface laid two runes. A rune that increased the force of the projectile. And another. That would, when stopped, cause the bolt's arrow head to explode with the amount of kinetic energy it had been gathering while moving so rapidly through the wind and impacting.

As he pedaled he fired six arrows a minute, of those first six he fired, two of them struck the joints of the wings. The bolts struck past the light scales, sank into the flesh and struck the bones. Then there was a gruesome sound of kinetic force detonating within a meat filled balloon, as the palm like joint area of the dragon's left wing, exploded into a gaping hole of flesh and bone.

The dragon crashed into the side of the city wall, alive but unconscious, and never going to fly again. Ten other large dragons had been taken down either by concentrated fire or good aim, but that still left a good thirty five flying behemoths heading their way.

"One down. Plenty more to go." Keen Shoot muttered before he altered his aim. Taking aim at a large green dragon who was flying towards the tower next to the location of the wall he was stationed on. Around him the Bronze and Silver Soldiers prepared their weapons to fight off the insanely large monsters.

As he aimed for the glaring red eyes of the green beasts he noticed something and looked away from his aim sight as a bright light began to appear from the city. And as he started to turn his head to look back, he was nearly blinded when a golden orb of light flew over the city wall with a loud sonic boom, a circle of golden light detonating from the air as it broke the sound barrier. He looked up in awe as a most amazing sight occurred before him.

The headless corpse of the green dragon falling to the ground as the glowing figure of a winged pony with a tail and mane of golden fire flew past the falling body to attack the now stunned dragons.

Princess Celestia, had entered the battlefield.

Howler flew over the ground between them and the city wall. The ponies stationary defences were not as powerful or as effective against her kind as those of the first large stone village they had raided when they first arrived. But while they were not as strong were they far more numerous. Ahead she could see the largest numbers of the bent wooden frame weapons and their deadly cargo fire at her kin and winced as she heard their screams as flesh, scales and bones were rendered by these small yet lethal projectiles.

*Why do we have to fight and die like this? For Lord Talos' pride? If nature had intended us to dominate these creatures, why can they now fight back? Does that not prove that we have stagnated?* With a toss of her head she narrowly avoided being struck by a shower of bolts, someone behind her was not so lucky and she winced as she heard another body crash into the ground. She may be several centuries old, but this... this was something she had never experienced before, and the only thing she could describe it to was when Lord Talos was angry at someone and you did not know who among you it was.

*Fear... I am... feeling fear... I am... afraid...* Howler realized this as one of her old friends Crunch was suddenly shoot down in front of her, half of his head tearing apart from the inside by several explosive projectiles that struck the inside his open mouth. She had always told him to never fly with his mouth open and hanging out his tongue like a dog, it had been so disgusting, now she regretted never physically forcing him to close his mouth.

"I want to go home..." She muttered softly as she spun aside from a spray of explosive projectiles from the thick gathering of pony crewed weapons located on the thick stone walls on either side of a tall tower and located on the tall stone tower itself. It was big group and she knew she needed to take them out before they could kill anymore of her friends and kin.

But the sheer amount of fear that was boiling within her was nerve wracking. Pushing through her instincts to flee she opened her mouth and began to inhale as she came within range. But before she could release the mass of eletrical energy building within her throat, came a flash of golden light from within the large stone village.

There was a sudden explosion as a disk shaped eruption of golden light erupted just in front of her head, deafening and blinding her, making her reach up to clutch her eyes. But as her claws reach up to clutch at her eyes, there was ntohign but an empty space, as lightnign and blood erupted from her decapitated neck, while her head flew off and slammed into the tower she had been heading towards-

The decapitated head of Howler slammed into solid stone surface of the tower, making a massive fracture take shape from the impact. There was a few seconds of silence before the head tilted backwards from the hole its snout had made, and thus it fell down and struck the ground at the edge of the deep moat. Her facial features were frozen in a state of clutched eyes and intense agony. A few seconds later her headless body slammed down into the moat itself with a massive splash, the once clear blue water turning crimson.

In the air past the place she had been flying, flapped a white alicorn adorned in golden armour her wings, as she swung her battle axe in the air, making the drops of blood on it fly off. As she prepared to face her next foe. All of the other dragons' attention, was on this new and dangerous threat.

Princess Celestia had seen the turmoil of the fight. No ponies had been lost yet but she felt anxious and fearsome. She never wanted another disaster like the Siege of Canterlotb y the Rattenfänger army. Thus she had put on her armour and equipped her best gear, and started to look out from her balcony, trying to get as much informatio nabout the dragons from her aid Solid Pink as she received reports from the frontier forces.

Then she received words of the approaching behemoths and she saw them arriving in the distance, even without a spyglass she could see them. They were that big. and she knew, if she did not do something, the ponies defending the city walls, would all perish. That. Was unacceptable!

"We shan't wait any longer Solid Pink. We need to aid Our subjects. This is not going to turn out like the massacre ten years ago." She finally said, her eyes determined and her mind set. Solid Pink just gave a nod. Some of the nobles of the city would no doubt complain that the princess put herself at danger after the battle was over. But the aid doubted it would ever really matter, for in the end, it was Celestia who gave the orders and made the decisions, and that was just fine by her.

The white alicorn took a few steps backwards until she reached the doorway of the balcony, then she hunched forward, spread her forelegs, and lightly unfolded her wings. Then with a rapid dash over the marble surface of the balcony she rushed to the edge. With a light skip she jumped up onto the railing. And with her hind legs folded down she pushed her forelegs skywards, made a large powerful flap with her wings, and began to spring up her entire body with a powerful push of her hind legs, that caused the railing to shatter. with a loud crack she flew off, her mane and tail igniting into golden fire as she empowered her body with magic to push more and more speed into her flight speed.

The city blurred before her, the city wall approaching in what felt like an instance. Then there was a strange sensation of... something letting go, and there was a bright flare from her body and she flew even faster! In the blink of an eye she came face to face with a massive green monster, closing is eyes as the bright light had blinded it.

With reflexes born from years of training and many battles, Princess Celestia swung her battleaxe, and the speed and force of her strike, sliced through the thick neck of the monster with ease. She could practically see the scales and flesh bend away as she carved through it in slow motion. Before she flew past it and the entire head, flew off as lightning a blood erupted from the now gaping neck, sending the head flying off the neck.

Slowing down Celestia flew through the air, in a levitated she swung her golden battleaxe, sending the blood that had been smeared over its curved blade off. Her eyes narrowed and focused as she looked forward at the dragons before and around her, not even looking back as the large headless corpse of the green beast she had just decapitated fell to the ground.

The dragons retaliated swiftly, but she was faster.

She twisted to the side to avoid a gush of fire, the heat of the flames not bothering her as she was rather resistance to heat and most manners of fire. But she was not interested in finding out if dragon's fire could harm her. The spray of fire guided her towards a large beat of brown, its gaping jaws open to bite down upon her.

With a smirk she surrounded her body with an energy field and flew straight into the beast's throat. Inside, she slammed through the flesh and bones of the back of its throat and erupted out of its neck in a show of fire, flesh and bone while the beast's body slumped down as it fell.

Flapping her wings she turned around in a U turn, avoiding a massive claw from striking her body. Her axe spun rapidly and flew with a buzzing sound upwards and with a loud grinding sound pierced through the lower jaw, up through the lower cranium and out of the forehead of the purple beast that just tried to smash her.

A massive white dragon spewed out a cloud of blue freezing gas, she folded her wings together and with a sudden kick with her hooves she released an explosion out of her hooves and flew forward with a sudden rush. The bone freezing cloud left bits of ice on her armour and feathers but with a flare of her mane and tail she evaporated the frosty moisture before it could disrupt her ability to fly.

She flew up straight into the face of the startled white dragon and let out a loud cry of rage, as her horn ignited with a golden light, and a sphere of white light erupted from it towards her foe. "Haaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

The sphere of plasma struck the ice dragon's face and though it was an old being and highly resistance to cold, and to some manner heat, and even to magic itself. Was it not able to stand against the intense heat of plasma powered by the magical might of the Alicorn of the Sun herself. Its face scales melted, his blood turned into steam and erupted out of its melting face, the eyeballs popped like microwaved eggs before the plasma slammed directly into its snout.

There was a bright flash of light as the plasma sphere detonated, and as it did there was a secondary explosion, a far more... dull and splattery explosion. As the dragon's skull to explode as the super heated ball caused all the body fluids in its head to rapidly turn into steam, causing its brain to explode within its own skull. With the pressure of the steam causing the cranium to crack and explode like a bomb stuffed turkey.

Two dragons flew together from opposite sides, seeking to take out the dangerous magic user with their sheer physical might. Princess Celestia did not seek to win a physical test of might against these foes, she was here to fight, not to have a contest of strength. So she flew down towards the ground, releasing a cloud of ash into the air from her mane and tail as she did so, and the two dragons' vision was momentarily blocked, causing them to crash into one another.

Before their bodies to fall out of the smoke Celestia raised her head as she made a U turn back skywards and released a beam of blue light from her forehead. It struck the ash cloud and as it did, the cloud became heavily charged by electrical energy and lit up with hundreds of lightning bolts just sparkling out of the cloud.

Two charred skeletons fell out of the cloud after a minute, four other dragons who had gotten too close to the cloud had each been so intensely fried by the electrical current of the lashing lightning bolts that they had essentially been turned brain dead by cardiac arrest and fell to the ground along with the two smoking skeletal corpses.

A large orange dragon flew at her and managed to grab her body with its massive claw, it smirked at first as it began to try and crush the tiny creature it was now holding. Only to blink in shock as its claws were slowly being forced apart by the much smaller creature, it tried to clench its other claw over the other and clench even harder. That's when a strange tingling sensation filled his claws, before he screamed as four of his claws were broken clean off as the rear legs of the alicorn buck kicked two of the claws holding her, breaking both them and the two other claws above them.

As it clutched its bleeding claws, roaring in pain, the alicorn flew out of the gap between its knuckles and with a sudden searing light, she fired off a blue bolt into his face, causing the dragon's head to be covered by a five meter thick layer of ice. Its mouth was caught open screaming and thus as it tried to breath fire, the ice holding its head, shattered, along with its own head, as the super heated dragon's fire caused the ice to rupture in a spray of blood, ice and sparks.

By now had the other large dragons grown rather nervous, they had lost twelve of their numbers to the much smaller creature, not even counting the fifteen they lost to the initial wave of projectiles shoot by the ponies' weird weapons. They were down to twenty seven now, almost half of what they started with. Though they were not eager to flee, Lord Talos would not be merciful to those who disregarded his orders, but how could they fulfill those orders with this... sun pony killing them?

But their indecision to flee or fight cost them. For Princess Celesta, seeing the dragons' indecisiveness, began to channel her magical energy into a runic pattern before her. An array of runes and liens connected into a seven pointed star, with an image of a tornado within the center of the array. A second set of lines grew out over the array, causing it to double in size.

This was a trick she had learned from her first fight with Maleficus. Multiple sets of runic arrays crafted by magical energy, each array acting as an amplifier, alteration or focus for the magic if done properly. And this particular array pattern, was one she had been developing to fight Maleficus for a while, but she had not gotten the chance to try.

The storm during the Second Crusade made it impossible for her to properly concentrate to carve the array, for while she was grudging to admit it, was she not as skilled or fast when it came to magically crafting runic array patterns as Maleficus. But that did not mean she did not know how to.

Smirking the royal pony spread her wings and let lightning arch out of her wings and into the array, and the once golden light of the pattern, turned blue, and began to glow with a thicker intensity. And then, as the array turned into a solid mass of light, it shrank down into a single point of light that glowed with such intense blue light that it was like a blue star was being held in the sky.

The dragons' attention had been taken by this and as they all stared with slowly widening horrified eyes the Princess shouted out at them as her magical array activated. Calling out to them, a sort of prayer, a prayer she had heard several pegasi during her childhood shout out during battle when they utilized their storm cloud based magic. "We bring forth the power and aid of Asgard, the Lord of the Heavens! Witness his might!"

She was feeling nostalgic as the magic went into effect.

A loud crackle could be heard, a thick scent of ozone filled the air, and then a powerful gale erupted from the glowing light, before it exploded out wads, into a thirty meter wide runic pattern, and out from that pattern. A lightning spewing pitch black tornado came out of the center of the array. It flew outwards and expanded in size as more and more of its length exited the array pattern.

It spun around and twisted out as it moved forward, its shape twisting and shifting like a massive serpent. The spinning clouds within the wind force making up its surface sparkling with blue lightning, as it twisted left, right, up, down and not in a set pattern. It was a twisting mass of chaotic weather only restrained by the fact that it had not come out of the runic array completely yet, and it had been at least thirty seconds by now.

Even as it was still expanding outwards the winds emitting from its still growing shape tore at the dragons, the sudden gale force winds made them clutch their eyes as the winds almost ripped at their eyes. And as they did so, they raised their talons to shield their eyes to properly see, the massive lightning emitting tornado flew forward as it exited the array completely. And as it struck the chest of one of the dragons, it detonated.

An explosion of lightning covered half of the skies, the intense force of the powerful winds that lashed out send ponies on their backs, it nearly toppled several siege engines, ant those were the winds NOT facing the dragons. The winds moved in a forward direction with the force of a typhoon that had been pressed into a single tornado, and then let loose.

These winds sent all of the dragons, including the two hundred and fifty dragons a quarter of a mile back, spiraling into the air as they were struck by the gales, even those standing on the ground. The only one not affected by winds, was Lord Talos, and only because he had managed to grab hold of two mountain peaks with his large hind legs and used them as dampeners.

But the poor elder dragon at the front of the explosion was torn to shreds by the intense winds and lightning, while eleven other elders were tossed and broken by the wind forces before being slammed into the mountains south of Canterlot like broken rag dolls. Over seventy other dragons landed on the grassy fields, BEHIND the mountains, none too badly injured, but VERY much rattled. While the rest managed to retain flight or land safely among the mountains.

Then the lightning that had been sent skywards by the explosion began raining down upon the mountain and fields were the dragons had been scattered across. Lightning bolts struck the ground as if a city of pegasi had begun a lightning based bombardment with a cloud the size of a city. Their blue arches cut through ground and rock, vaporizing, melting and scorching everything they struck.

Thirty seven dragons flying at the highest altitude, got struck by so many lightning bolts, that they were fried inside and out to the point were their charred skeletal remains rained down upon the fields and mountains below them. Another thirty three dragon on the ground had their bodies charred badly by the arching lightning, their wings rendered numb and their bodies unable to properly move as the electrical charge made them unable to properly move. None of them were dead but they would be unable to move or aid in the fight

Eighty two dragons, twelve of them elders, taken out by a single spell by a single pony. It truly made Lord Talos furious, even as he and the more experienced dragons let the lightning arching through their bodies sink into the ground as to not take too much damage from the shock. This was not his first time being struck by lightning, but it was the first time he had witnessed such a powerful lightning emitted by a weak little creature like a pony. It made his anger go from boiling to volcanic.

And to add salt to injury, Princess Celestia spread her wings wide, her golden mane and tail making her appear almost divine, and she shouted out at them, her voice lashing out like thunder over the recently shocked dragon horde.

"We hath come to bring judgement upon thee, thou foul beasts! We art Princess Celestia of Equestria! And all of thee shalt fall before Our Wrath!"

All of the ponies of Canterlot let out a rupturing cheer at this, the loudest being the soldiers on the walls and towers, as they sounded their war horns to honour their princess.

Lord Talos growled at the accursed hybrid flying before his clan. It was obvious, even before she said it, that she was the so called Princess Celestia, and by the cheers of the ponies and the sight of her butchering twenty of his fellow elders, on her own, he could see where they had gotten their unnatural arrogance from. "Abomination! You shall be made into ash!"

"No. It is YOU who shall feel OUR wrath! Bring that fool down! Turn her into ashes!"

He turned towards the rest of his forces, and let out a aloud rumbling roar. And the first one hundred of his forces, flew off and flew like a swarm towards the glowing pony before them. Lord Talos spread his wings as the wave flew over him, and hunched forward, gripping the front edges of the cliff. His large black shape almost looking darker then it normally did, with the glowing red eyes glaring, while crimson magma began to pour out from between his clenched jaws.

Princess Celestia just glared at the so called dragon lord as he sent his forces forward. A coward who let his underlings do all the work weakening her so he could get an easy kill and thus an easy victory. A worthy strategy to some, but to Celestia it only spoke of the dragon's lack of morale and selfish ways, he was beyond help, an eyesore to the world she sought to build for her sister to return to. Just like that monster Maleficus.

She levitated her battleaxe while arcane energy began to glow across her horn. It would be tough fighting off all these beasts so close to the city, but she would do it. She would fight off these fiends who had dared to attack her nation, her home and her subjects. These. WORMS. Would regret the day they ever hatched.

That's when a loud rumble was heard from the east. A loud rumble that echoed out over the air from the mountains, with a loud and steady rhythm that caused all activity to halt. Even the dragons in the sky, just hovered in mid air, as every pony and dragon looked east to spot what was making the sound.

And they spotted it. Loud gasps erupting from either side, as a sight of something that had never been seen before by either forces, came out of the eastern mountain range.

Lord Talos and Princess Celestia turned their heads together towards the loud rumbling of thunder, and stared with slowly widening eyes, as a FLEET OF BOATS. Sailing on fucking STORM CLOUDS. Flew over the peaks of the western edge of the Foal Mountains like a swarm of celestial vessels of ancient myths, bringing the wrath of the storm with them.

And upon those same FLYING sea vessels, were hundreds of armed horses, shouting out a war cry, as a deep and powerful music began to rumble from their vessels. As they announced themselves. Drums, strings, trumpets and flutes playing out, as the rumble of the storm clouds, rumbled in a particular rhythm, that fit with the rising music.

*They truly do hath flying boats! This is amazing! Art those runic arrays carved into the frame!? Truly astounding!* Princess Celestia thought with delight as she saw the ships she had recently received words about from Commander Rock Steady, it was truly a marvelous sight! Her mind completely forgetting about the dragons invading her kingdom for a moment as the sight before her made her inner scholar practically foam with curiosity.

Then as the ships flew forward, a lone horse stood up on the bow on one of the larger ships, his body a patchwork of various pony creatures except for his right claw that was the talon of a griffin. He was holding onto the dragon shaped figure head of the ship, a smirk across his face, of which one third was that of a unicorn. That was pretty intimidating to Celestia, but the sheer ingenuity of the FLYING BOATS, was making her momentarily ignore it.

Then the patchwork looking horse started to sing. And things just went crazy.

Meanwhile on the bastion, the faces of the Generals and the knights of the Order of the Golden Cross, all stared in awe at the sight that was approaching from the east. Stormcloud riding ships, bearing four flags never seen before.

"What in da blazing pits of Tartarus." General Rough Stock commented as he looked out through a spyglass at the sight. The flying ships were floating on clouds. As if they were pegasi.

"How da buck does those things even float!? One of them looks like it has been made with a ton of metal on it!" Weak Guts shouted out as he too tried to look on the ships with a spyglass of his own ,which frequently got snatched by Aerial Gace who too wanted to look. Why she did not just get a spyglass of her own was anyone's guess.

"They appear to be floating on the clouds somehow. Perhaps some manner of artifacts from the time before the Age of Chaos? Or perhaps just a proof of the ingenuity of the Ancient Ones?" She muttered out loud as she looked upon every single surface of the ships and the clouds they were floating on.

Happy Meal and Grand Music both looked at each other. They could see the hoof work of Maleficus from over a mile away. But they could not break it to the others yet, if this was their honourary grandfather's way of helping them against the dragons. Then they were willing to keep quiet about it.

Maleficus scanned the sight before him intently as he stood on the bow, the dragons were laying siege to the city. But they had yet to properly go beyond the walls from what he could tell from the large dead bodies lying on the ground before the city walls. And Princess Celestia was flying out there like a glowing beacon, armed to the teeth.

Letting out a soft sigh of relief as he realized that there were no dead ponies on the ground and on the walls. Only a few damaged structures. That meant that Grand Feast and the others were safe as well. Smiling brightly he muttered a bit to himself, grateful. "Thank you for keeping them safe Celestia. Now I will do my part. Even though you will probably never know it."

Then he straightened himself up, rubbing his sore eyes, his lack of proper rest having left a mark on him. Even though he had slept, he had not slept well, his worry acting like a constant wake up call. Now he felt as if a heavy weight had been removed off his heart.

And with narrowed eyes he drew out his short sword and pointed it towards his horses. "Hear me horses of Ancient Hellas! Today history will happen! Soldiers! Warriors! Heroes! Many will have worn, and many will have earned, these titles! and though many will be forgotten, many will be lost, many more will, will their efforts live on in the lives they saved!"

The horses began to stomp their hooves against the wooden frames of their ships, their chanting echoing out over the storm clouds as they were momentarily left to glide on their own for a few moments. As the horses responded to the speech of their General.

Stomping over to the other side of the figure head and he stood tall before them, spreading out both of his forelegs. "But here! Today! Is different! Here we shall claim ourselves a title like none other! We shall not just be Soldiers! We shall not just be Warriors! We shall not just be Heroes! We shall be Legends!"

More and more the horses responded, their hooves stomping faster and faster against the floor boards, the ships vibrating with the sheer utter power of their hooves striking the wooden surface.

"You all know what lays there! Ahead of us! With that swarm of dragons, death and destruction!" He shouted as he pointed towards the swarm of dragons blotting the horizon before them with his sword.

Pommels and hooves were now being pounded against the wooden surface and the repeating chants of the horses echoed out even more. As if building strength.

Achilles, the disguised form Maleficus Victoria, pointed with his hoof towards the horde of dragons before his fleet. And he shouted out the final words of his speech, as he pointed his sword towards his forces, held by his talon. "What lays hidden there is Immortality! Now let us reach out! And take it! It is ours!"

All of the horses be them viking, samurai, knight or spartan, all raised their hooves into the air, some bearing weapons, some bare. but they all answered the call of their creator and they roared out as one, their voices rumbling over the sky.

The horses scampered to their posts, and upon each vessel, moved a set of horses to the rear and grabbed hold of instruments. Stick with cotton stuffed cotton ends began to beat against drums. Metal strings upon a wooden or metal frame were being played by skilled hooves. Wooden hollow pipes were pressed to lips, with hooves pressing against various holes. And metal shields were being struck in a beat by weapons to the rising tempo.

Oars were being pulled, causing the thunder to rumble in a particular rhythm. And then ,as the ships flew into the swarm of dragons, Achilles rushed forward. There alongside the first wave of his warriors, the physically mismatched General jumped off the ship, and began, to sing.

"You've been fighting for much to long." His hooves struck the left side of a smaller dragon, before the creature could snap out at him and bite his unprotected body, he jammed his sword down against the thick scales of its skull. The short sword penetrated the forehead and split through the cranium bones and sank through the brain, rendering the once dangerous creature dead.

"You saw the future and what to come."With a jerk back with his claw Achilles pulled out his weapon before he used the slowly falling body as a platform to jump to the next target, a large adult dragon with white scales.

"Restless spirits out on the run." All around him were hundreds of viking warriors howling out their battle cries as they slammed into dragons, sometimes in groups as large as thirty on particularly large ones, and began to hack away at their bodies.

"Beneath the shadows of the sun." Achilles leaped, his hooves moving in a running momentum as he flew through the air, his wings spread out to guide his movement and he slammed into the back of the large white. It turned its head around to breath what looked like some manner of blue gas, but Achilles ran forward and sent a lightning bolt out of his horn into its face, causing it rear back with a roar of pain.

"You stood proud in resistance just now." Rearing back his short sword into the throat of the dragon ,the blade pierced past the joints of the scales and drew blood. As the beast roared out in agony he moved along the throat, dragging his blade through the flesh past the lower jaw, past the throat, and out the other side of the neck. Slicing the entire space beneath the jaws open, releasing a torrent of blood and gore.

"We've come to give you our aid somehow." He let his body drop off the creature, and at the same time gripping the rope that was his lifeline and used it like a climbing rope to kick himself away from the collapsing behemoth. And then he swung himself through the sky and slammed both of his hind legs, hooves first, into the face of a small dragon, crushing its head and breaking the neck in a single strike.

"Beyond the past and in secrecy." Vikings were no longer the only fighters. Even as a two handed axe cut through the back head of a big dragon's neck came a group of spartans down from a triremes and skewered a group of ten smaller dragons that had been harassing a group of climbing vikings on their spears.

"We might reveal it all, or hide it forevermore." Achilles swung past the scene of a heavily armoured samurai slicing off the head of two dragons with his long nodachi as he blurred past a group of lightly armorued samurais stabbing and slicing off the wings of a group of smaller dragons together, each of them cutting down one at a time by leaping between each intended target. Before slicing off a wing and then jump off to repeat the process on another foe.

"We come from the age of chivalry." Upon the stomach of a large brown dragon flying upside down stood a knight wielding a flail and shield, currently using said shield to protect against the torrent of fire gushing out of the beast's jaws. The shield was not large but the armour of the knight protected a lot of its from the burns of the flames, although sections of it were melted. But it ignored this as it rushed forward and with a flick of a switch on the shaft of its flail, the chain of the spiked ball extended to a length of several meters.

"Stone prisoners, now unchained and free." The knight swung back its foreleg and with a powerful lash, sent the ball of the newly made chain whip flying towards the left side of the dragon's neck. And soon the chain had warped itself around the dragon''s neck, the spikes on the flail end acting like a grappling hook on the rough scales of its body. Then the knight jumped off and used the weight of its armour and body to tighten the chain's grip on the dragon's throat. While a knight wielding a longsword landed on the stomach and ran forward before stabbing the struggling behemoth in the throat with a viscous thrust.

"We are here for you to see." Kicking his forelegs upwards Achilles slammed his forelegs into the lower jaw of a small dragon, breaking its neck. Then he used the corpse to push himself backwards before it could fall and began to climb up the ropes. Until he climbed up onto the deck of his ship, stepping over to the edge to look out towards Canterlot s the ponies just... stared at the sight before them. And as he did the horses all began to sing out the chorus part of the song as they kept fighting the dragons

Now singing together the warriors all climbed back to their ships after their successful first wave of attacks. And the ships themselves began to act as the majority of the crews returned. Metal ballistaes turned and fired upon any dragon close enough to instantly kill. Samurai Archers fired off their arrows, striking any weak points they could spot. While the knights prepared to fire their slingshots.

The energy fields of the Atakebunes were activated to protect the rear of the fleet as some of the dragons got smart and tried to attack them from the rear as they passed through the swarming beasts, yet again the shield protected the ships as the flames only washed over them.

A Knight uses his hooves to spin a small wheel to pull back the rubbery band of the slingshot. A small metal tooth jerks up as it is in position with a click, locking it in place. Then a canister is loaded into the half bowl in the middle of the rubber band. Next the slingshot was shifted, the aiming area unmarked but know by practiced eyes that began to track one of the approaching dragons. And with a loud twang the canister was released into the air. The fragile clay that it was made of shattered upon impact and the dragon let out a chilling screech of disgust as weeks old manure, urine, tar and other dirty substances splattered over its head and body.

As it inhaled to burn the stinking mass off its face, the brown goop began to burn into a thick stinking smoke of shit and tar, choking the dragon's nostrils and eyes in stench riddled smoke. Its suffering was ended swiftly when a bolt shoot from one of the triremes struck it in the neck. This scene repeated itself in different variations, with some dragons swallowing it and going sick, but the results were the same. Dead dragons.

The vikings' longboats lead the fleet out of a window through the horde, before the crews all aligned their oars as to make a sharp turn around, and the other ships mimicked this, only at a much slower pace as the longboats of the vikings were far faster and maneuverable then the other ships.

And once more, the fleet charged into the cloud of dragons. This time the dragons retaliated by flying towards them. An error on their part. As the longboats did not deter in their movement, instead, they anticipated the dragons' charge, and made their own counter attack.

"Moving forward like a gentle breeze." With a sudden heave of their forelegs the vikings shifted the oars of their ships and caused them to suddenly ascend upwards as the powerful weave of the oars released a powerful burst of thunder and lightning from the clouds beneath the ships. The arching lightning erupting from the cloud upon which the ships floated and with angrily sparkles and zap lashed out over the approaching dragons and gave them quite the scare. All the while Achilles once more began to sing.

"We're the horses of Hellas and we do as we please." Once more rushed the vikings off the ledges of their longboats and leaped into the air to assault the dragons again. Achilles climbed up to the crow's nest as this was going on.

"We are the restless, we are the wild." Four burly viking raiders body tackled an adult dragon and warped their thick forelegs around its neck ,wings and tail, and began to use brute force to make it fly in the direction they wanted. Their destination, to crash the adult dragon through several smaller dragons like am improvised battering ram.

"Burning hearts that never died." By now had the dragons decided to try something of their own. Four of them flew at the ropes holding the vikings in the air and opened their jaws and bit down upon the ropes. For their troubles, they managed to sink their teeth into the ropes, before a rain of spears skewered their bodies.But the weakness of the ropes had been revealed by now.

"We are going against the tide." All the vikings began to climb back to their boats, they knew that they could no longer jump off like they used to. Instead they decided to a different variation. While ropes were replaced, Achilles reached the crow's nest and stood up on his hinds legs and spread his forelegs wide as he kept singing.

"The hammer has fallen, a thorn in their side." A swarm of smaller dragons flew towards the ships ,opening their jaws to burn the offending structures, careful to avoid the storm clouds beneath the wooden frames. For their efforts, they received a chance to fire their breath, when the sight of vikings throwing grappling hooks attached to chains at them caused them to pause. They blew their chance.

"Break the silence or take the fall." Iron wrought grappling hooks flew out like a swarm of fishing hooks, the dragons at the front of the swarm reared back in panic as the thick iron hooks latched onto their limbs, scales or sank into the membrane hide of their wings. As they tried to melt off the chains of the hooks, which they only managed to do with a few, the rest of the charging dragons slammed into them from behind.

"The mighty horses will aid you all." With powerful heaves the vikings began to pull in their catches, while others among them threw out spears and axes into the now halted swarm of smaller dragons. Many shoots went wild but many dragons fell, one by one ,axes and spears splitting through their young bodies. Soon enough the swarm of dragons were dispersed and the dragons hauled into the side of the ships were cut down by vikings swinging down sword or axe into their necks, claiming the decapitated heads as trophies.

"Welcome the new age of chivalry." The other ships rejoined the fighting effort and the Spartans once more took aim with their ballistaes and fired. Bolts of solid iron tore through the flesh of a large adult dragon, causing its dying shape to fall to the ground. Meanwhile was Achilles unlatching the safety hook of his lifeline, and stood up on the edge of the crow's nest, gripping the flag pole of the mast, the flag bearing a Celtic pattern in the shape of a golden yellow dragon on a blue background swaying behind him as he sang.

"Were we all will be set free." Spreading his forelegs he slowly tilted forward, before he moved over the edge and fell off the crow's nest. Dragons and ships flew around him as he no longer fell but instead began to glide. It had taken him a few practices with the lifeline, but he felt confident he could at least glide safely, no proper flying yet, but it was a start. Thus with his sword drawn and his shield strapped to his hoof foreleg, he slid across the winds before he slammed into the face of a large pale green dragon.

"It's the time for you and me." As he sang he reared back his sword while his horn sparkled with lightning, then eh struck it into the eyeball of the beast and as it roared out in utter agony, he released a surge of lightning out of his horn and down his limb. Frying the dragon's brain through the nerve connected to its eye, as lightning arched out of its mouth, eyes and nostrils.

All round him, the horses began once more to sing as he jumped off the dead creature, and after a few seconds of fall, began to glide once more. His flight pattern leading him towards another adult dragon, an orange on this time. And this dragon had decided to not be prey, and it turned tail and began to fly away. Achilles let him flee, and instead turned towards another target.

Once more projectiles flew out from the warships, this time however the harpoon launchers were shoot as well. One of these teams of two hefted the heavy iron pipe together, with the harpoon loaded. But with a slight different. The knight aiming had removed his helmet and was carefully positioning the launcher in the direction of one of the larger dragons. And with a sudden burst of lightning and ozone as the magnetic charged accelerated the harpoon, he fired the weapon.

But before the harpoon was even halfway across he turned towards his partner and cried out. "Load the second harpoon!" Another harpoon was put into place even as the large dragon let out a scream of pain as the bolt pierced through the thick scales of its left thigh and got buried inside the flesh. This harpoon was also slightly altered. And this time another dragon was the target, and with another burst of a lightning emitting magnetic surge the second harpoon flew off. and the duo watched intently, as the second projectile closed onto its target.

The harpoon struck true at another large dragon, it split through the joints of the left wing and embedded itself into the shoulder, effectively nailing the dragon's left wing to its left shoulder. With a roar of panic and pain the dragon began to fall, but as it did, the chain connected to the harpoon stopped and a sudden meaty rip could be heard as the dragon's entire left forelimb got dislocated, the harpoon having dug into the bone, while the other dragon that had been struck first, found itself dragged down by the sudden weight of a falling adult dragon.

Struggling with its sudden added weight the behemoth tried to tear apart the chain in its thick, but before it could get free happened something bad. The frantically struggling dragon on the other end, managed to strike the top of a mountain, effectively crushing its neck as it had not be ready for the impact. While the dragon above suddenly found itself unable to maintain flight as its momentum was broken as its leg was suddenly torn out of its socket while two bolts from a passing triremes struck its wings, causing it too to fall and collide with the rocky mountains bellow.

"Ponies and horses fight or fall." Achilles sang again, his voice carried over the battlefield as he flew up in the face of a red dragon the size of a small house as it was about to breath fire upon one of his ships. It looked up with wide eyes as it spotted him and tried to fire off its fire at him. But he managed to fly past the rising wave of fire as it came out of its jaws and land on its snout. With a stab into its eye and a lightning charged burst he fried its brain and kicked off the now falling corpse, landing on the bow end of the longboat it had just tried to burn.

"For your families and princess." Cleaning his sword on a rag he walked past the vikings as they fired arrows at the smaller dragons while throwing spears and axes at the larger ones. Even though the vikings held no siege engines were the dragons no more willing to risk anything with the crazy berserk ponies after having been hauled in and slaughtered like fished whales.

"We're standing one for all." The ponies below stared in awe as the music began to reach its end. They had just been staring in shock at the sight of forty flying sea vessels, bringing carnage and destruction upon the dragons with such ease and brutality that it was dumbfounding.

Princess Celestia however just looked on with a barely disguised look of concern. While she still burned to examine the ships and speak to the horses, she saw the ways the fought and the ways the moved. These were no ragtag group of nomads or sky sailors. These were bonafide warriors who had fought in the skies for years, for she could not imagine someone without the power of magic or flight to dare to fight like these horses had just done. Leaping off ships to attack their goals, their only lifeline, a literal line. It was rather courageous though.

Once more the song of the horses carried out in a chorus, and now the dragons had, had enough. And they began to join the example of the orange dragon who had been the first to flee. The horses kept flying after them on their ships, bolts of iron, harpoons, spears, arrows and canisters.

The draconic horde broke apart into smaller groups and spread out to flee from the forty ships. It was also an attempt to corner individual ships as to break them apart easier. But the horses did not spread too far apart from each other. As had been instructed by their creator, they could not just let their forces spread too far apart or they would be easy prey for the dragons.

Soon only a few stragglers of the dragons remained. The ground before Canterlot, from the moat to the tops of the mountains across the chasm and the grassy fields, was covered with the broken bodies of over a hundred and fifty dragons of various sizes. The horde had been brought down by over half of its numbers in one fight. It was a harsh blow to them and even the ponies knew it.

With a final bursts of notes from the fast paced music, the horses let out a victory cry as the final dragon disappeared beyond the mountains to the south. The ponies joined them and the first day of the dragon's siege of Canterlot ended. but they would be back, that was certain.

Especially more so as the massive black dragon who had been staring at the disaster that had just occurred to its kin. And with intense fury in its eyes, it snarled out towards them as it stood up on its rear legs, its voice rumbling over the evening sky. "You may have prevailed today ponies, but at first light we shall return. And then you and your entire city will BURN."

It then leaped into the air and with a powerful flap of its wings, flew southwards after its retreating brethren, smoke and fire bellowing from its jaws as it roared out a cry of utter contempt.

With his ship slowing down Achilles stood up on the front of the ship and called out to all other ships of his fleet. They needed to land and check on every inch of the ships, he had no idea if there had been any damages to the hulls in that fight. "All forces prepare for landing on the field outside of the city! Check on all ships twice over! Act accordingly and do not cause any trouble, if anyone tries anything, come to me or one of the officers."

The ships flew off and made ways for the large patch of grassy fields that lay before the chasm to the west of Canterlot and the moat of Canterlot. As the ships began to lower themselves and dropping anchors, Achilles' longboat did something different.

He turned to face his own crew and pointed towards the city walls, the flying shape of Celestia was gone ,but he knew were she was most likely to be. After all, she had remained to watch the entire fight, that much he could tell. "Take me to the gatehouse, the Princess will most likely be there to greet us." The crew nodded and began to pull the oars once more, moving the ship towards the large gatehouse, upon which Princess Celestia's white pelt, golden armour and prismatic mane and tail could be seen standing.
'
It kind of stood out.

Princess Celestia landed on the gatehouse slowly, she no longer needed to just fly above the city walls for the battle was over. And what a battle it had been. It was worrying and yet she could not help to feel giddy, for such marvelous creations to be discovered again after so long. But the fact that it was horses, possibly those under the command of Maleficus Victoria, made her less the opportunistic. Then again, that fact was why she doubted such a possibility. After all, the fiend would not risk his life or anything of worth to save her city.

The fleet of flying boats began to turn around and at first everything seemed to get tense as the ponies around her went stiff, as if expecting another fight. But as the ships began to slowly but surely lower themselves towards the grassy plains on the outside of the city and on the other side of the moat, the soldiers began to relax.

As the long wooden frame came closer she could make out the edge of the complex runic array carved out of the wooden hull that was sticking out of the black storm clouds. And though it was just a small fragment of the pattern but she could see that it was an array of extreme complexity. Plus the fact that they had even gone to the trouble to fill the carved out wood with gold spoke of their knowledge of magical enchantments.

She had never in her life ever considered carving runes into wood and then fill them with gold to empower the array, which would also prevent much of it from decaying with time. It was ingenious! The Princess had to wonder if it was possible to do something similar to either silver or bronze armour.

It was something to consider researching into in the future, for now would the hoof carved enchantments remain. Especially since the Order of the Golden Cross had shown that carved runes were capable of being altered quickly. Probably not as probable with carved runes filled out with gold.

*Perhaps a set of gold runes on the INSIDE of the armours? Could the integrity of the armour's frame support the additional array matrix?* She pondered, almost about to reach out and tap her chin in consideration. But then her train of thoughts got broken as the rumbling of the cloud riding ship erupted a few meters ahead of her, almost making her jerk back, but she managed to only flex her ears.

Upon the wooden deck of the frame stood the same patchwork horse, which was what he had most likely been before he was... sewed together? He had adorned a black woven cloak to cover up his lower body, leaving only his head bare as a decorative cloth of some manner covered his neck and torso. But you could still make up some of the red veins crisscrossing across his flesh, especially the ones connecting the four fingered talon to one of his forelegs, which she had no idea what it was, but it reminded her eerily of Discord, and that was not a good feeling.

But her personal feelings aside she could not openly distrust these strangers just yet, as they had aided her against the dragons. Even she would not have been able to keep hundreds of dragons from invading her city alone.

A pair of large horses hefted up a long and wide wooden plank which they latched onto the edge of the ship with metal hooks before flipping it over, making it slam into the stone edge of the battlement. The physically mismatched stallion stepped up onto the wooden frame and as he began to walk off it, he spoke out in a polite manner. His voice was rather... exotic and almost made her flush. She had never heard such an accent before.

"Greetings and salutations Princess Celestia of Equestria, I have heard much about you. I am Achilles of Hellas, the current leader of the Horses. We have come to bring doom upon these murderous beasts." With a small half bow of his head he greeted her, not too low, for that would make him out to be a low ranking person, and not too high, for that would be too personal and disrespectful for a first meeting. His mismatched eyes looked at her with a focused and cold stare, one only an experienced soldier could have.

This was a stallion who knew war and she was pleased to hear that he was on her side. She needed more allies, especially now.

Giving him a half bow as well she lifted up her left hoof to her breast, a sign of gratitude, and spoke up with a smile on her lips as her pink eyes looked at him. Though she was slightly covered by sooth and blood, was she still a sight to behold. At least that would be the case, had the one she spoke to been a pony. But this was a new tribe, a horse, though mismatched in body, she needed to be careful. "We welcome thee to Canterlot, Lord Achilles of Hellas. We art, as thou apparently know, Princess Celestia, ruler of this young nation. We art grateful for thou aid against the dragons."

Stretching his neck, left and right, there was a disturbing sound of bones popping into their proper place as Achilles relaxed a little. he then chuckled and waved his talon towards his crew. "It was no bother. Me and my kin saw the murderous acts of those monsters out in the East and decided that they would make excellent target practice for our newly made Sky Ships. And we have done rather well I will say."

The crew gave small cheers, some of them even lifting up the heads of some of the smaller dragons they had claimed as trophies, Celestia felt a bit uneasy by that sight. But tried to remain polite and ignore them while focusing her attention to the speaking horse before he. "So far we have fought them in four locations, one in the north east close to a large black fortress. Two times in the mountain ranges as we chased after those flying west, and now this one. So far have our Sky Ships been working as they should."

At the word Sky Ship the Princess let her eyes look at the wooden structure that floated before her, her innate curiosity was frankly vibrating within her like the time she had been a filly and about to learn more from her mother or the few teachers she had. She managed to bite down her eagerness to learn about the floating ship and turned her attention to more important matter. "Yes they art rather... spectacular. We hath never seen anything like them before."

Snorting a little Achilles whistled out to his crew and a few of them pulled out horns and began to blow into them, in the distance the ships that had landed signaled back. Some of the vikings began to pull out long wooden poles and some coloured large cloths. Meanwhile was a group of thirty horses moving out of the landed sky fleet and began to march towards the city, bearing three flags. "I should hope so. Hasn't been a sky ship made by horses since before the Abominable War, at least not from what I have been told about the current state of the world by my more modern born kin. The knowledge has apparently been lost for untold ages."

Blinking slowly Celestia turned to face the mixed being and spoke up in a slightly, disbelieving, voice. "Wait. Thou mean. Thee were alive during the Unification War?"

Achilles shook his head at that. "No. Not this so called Unification War. The Abominable Wars was between us horses and the abominations created by Medusa around six or seven centuries before the Great Winter. Medusa, or Stone Gaze as she also was called, was an insane mare of my kind who went down a bad end after a large disastrous war destroyed her home and family."

He unsheathed his blade, a gladius of bronze, and looked at it, the surface of the blade was engraved with strange static lines, with images of a horse bearing a shield and spear upon the leaf shaped blade. "She returned a monster and in her twisted new form she caused tens of thousands to die or become petrified by either her own gaze or the gaze of her basilisks, cockatrices and gorgons. Beings she created from natural born critters, animals or captured horses and ponies, turned into petrifying beasts of torment and death."

Then he sheathed the blade and looked at Celestia with a blank stare, something she realized one who had gone through a lot of horror gained when they were remembering things they' rather not. "I was the one who killed her during the final fight. But not before she left her mark on me in turn, which in turn is the reason why I can say I was not alive during the Unification War, but am alive today. But that is not important right now. We can discuss me and my people's history later, for now, we need to prepare. That large black dragon sounded like he meant business."

He then motioned for the group of horses approaching along the road towards the gatehouse, ten of the vikings starting to gather together, two of them carrying long wooden poles bearing a sort of banner. "So for now have I sent for my more knowledgeable warriors, they will be approaching the gates soon."

She wanted to ask questions, she wanted to know more, but she bit her cheek to focus on the present. "Very well. We wish to ask thee more later, but let Us focus on the matter at hoof. We shalt hath the gate opened for thy soldiers."

Celestia then turned towards one of the guards next to her and the pony just saluted, not even needing to be given any orders, and left to transfer the orders to open the gates. As that was done she turned towards the Horse Lord and gave hi ma slight smile before motioning with her left wing towards the staircase leading down to the ground. "Please come with Us and We shalt guide thee to Our castle."

"Much appreciated your highness." And so Achilles followed the princess down the stairs, with ten of his troops following after him. With another thirty stepping over the lowered draw bridge and the opened city gates.

Things were about to get interesting in the city.

Relief was the best way to describe how Achilles, or rather, Maleficus, was feeling right at this moment. He had been so close to cracking and acting out in a way that would have been very bad, considering he was speaking to Princess Celestia of all people. She could very well have decided to have him executed if she ever got the idea that he either was afflicted with... well... himself, or if he was too dangerous to trust. Thankfully had he been able to get past that, incredibly enough.

*I cannot believe that actually worked! Gods that was so exhausting! I cannot believe I managed to keep my face straight! Shit! Should my heart be beating this erratically?* Maleficus though to himself as he walked after the Princess to the palace through the streets. With him were ten vikings, ten samurais, ten knights and ten spartans, all marching behind him in lines of five, at the front of each of the eight groups of five were the banners of their peoples strapped to harnesses on the horses at front.

Princess Celestia felt a bit weird guiding these strangers through her city, and she could not help but notice just how odd all of the horses' varying armours, weapons and banners made them look... hostile. Not hostile as in, willing to kill anyone they see, it felt more like... they should be fighting each other.

In front of the samurais were flags bearing the symbol of a blue and white bird of fire upon a white background with a crimson sun.

The banners of the knights were painted with a golden yellow kite shield with a white sword with blue hilt going standing behind it on a grey field background.

As for the spartans, their banners held the sideline image of a black horse head, outlined with yellow lines, upon a blue circle formed shield on a black background.

While the vikings bore their own blue fielded banner bearing the golden yellow Celtic pattern in the shape of a dragon.

At first the streets had been silent and empty, but as the sound of battle had ended so long ago were the citizens no longer cowering in the central keep of the palace. And slowly but surely, they began to move out from their homes and look out of their windows they had just recently returned to. As the strangest sight in their lives came striding down the street.

It was... a strange and yet magnificent sight.

Down the main street came Princess Celestia, slightly dirty from battle, and yet still elegant and beautiful with her golden armour. But there was... a group behind here that was... really out of character from what normally would be marching down the streets of Canterlot.

There were two each of these banners and they were being carried next to one another. It looked very strange, four different looking groups of large ponies marching down the street. One o them was a savage group bearing furs, large round shields and axes with horned helms. A line of refined looking knights that looked very similar in design like the Knights of the Golden Cross.

Then there was a group of scary looking warriors bearing demon faced masks with curved blades, strange hexagon lined clubs, polearms with sharp looking blades and large weird looking bows. And finally, a group of horses that were covered with bronze armour, large round shields and with long spears, looking scarily like the troops that fought for Maleficus, only not in black iron, nor as heavily armoured and with differently designed helmets.

All of these strange looking large ponies were being lead by a cloaked big pony whose head looked like it had been broken and then put together with a unicorn's forehead attached as spare part. At first the intimidating strangeness of the newcomers made many of the ponies skittish or fearful, a common reaction. But soon words spread, that these strangers had aided their city by driving off the dragons.

It started with a small clap and cheer from some foals, then it grew to some of the older foals joining in, then a few of the adults began as well. And before anyone realized it, was the entire city cheering the new comers who had helped protect their city and lives.

Achilles looked over at the cheering crowds and felt... oddly proud of himself. He had not... expected it. These ponies always came up with new ways to surprise him. It was weird and frankly a bit disturbing, but also... it made him feel appreciated. And he liked it. Even if it was mostly drowned out by his guilty conscience was it still a nice feeling.

The golden gates to the courtyard were pushed open by ten Sun Guards. And in the courtyard itself, leading up into the open gates of the castle and into the great hall inside, stood two lines of Sun Guards, bearing the banner of Equestria. Even though he had only seen it in on TV, comics or games, did Achilles know exactly what this was.

It was a Procession, of what type he did not know, the only thing he did know about it was that it signified important events. *Guess us temporarily driving off the dragons worked in our favours.* Not realizing that the forty horses marching behind him was also a manner of Procession, and the ponies had just responded with one of their own.

Achilles and his soldiers went through the gates of the palace and with steady steps they passed through the halls and soon reached the throne room. There was a crowd of various nobles, knights and even some civilians there, as the central keep of the palace was the nominated safe house o the city during invasion, thus there was some who still felt a bit too nervous to return home just yet.

Princess Celestia strode up the steps to her throne and levitated her battleaxe into the waiting hooves of one of her guards who walked off to the smithy to have it checked and repaired if needed. She then unstrapped her helmet and pulled it off, letting her mane flow free again and quickly accepted a wet towel to clean off soot and blood from her face.

Tossing the dirty towel aside she gave a smile to Achilles as he patiently stood before her throne with his forty troops standing at attention. It was good to see that he was not taking it personally that she washed her face a little after having pulled off her helmet. Speaking of helmets, her golden helm was given to another guard who strode off to have it checked in the smithy as well.

Having given herself some time to prepare she spoke out to the horses before her with a calm and polite voice. "We art grateful of thy aid Lord Achilles of Hellas. We officially welcome thee and thy kindred to Canterlot, Capital of Equestria."

Lord Achilles just gave a short half bow and spoke out as well, his voice calm and collected, and with that exotic accent that made her heart flutter a little. "I am grateful of your welcome to your city your grace. As you know I am Achilles of Hellas, one of the recently restored horses of the age before the Unification Wars."

There was a loud murmur of discussions and whispers at this. But Achilles ignored it and just kept talking, he needed to make a point that the horses the ponies were seeing before them were not part of his other forces as Maleficus. "We however, as you might have noticed, are not part of the forces commanded by this 'Maleficus' your citizens and our descendants have spoken of to us. We were restored to life around ten days back, by one of our people's last remaining descendants. The sage Cursed Blessing of the Solid Stone Tower near the so called Woods of Blood."

Gasps and loud discussion erupted at this but were silenced as Celestia raised one of her forelegs to have the crowd silenced. Then she spoke up her own questions to the Lord before her, hoping to be a... little tactful as she wanted to know how he ended up as a piece of Discord Art. "What doest thou mean by 'restored to life'? We do hope We hath not insulted thee for asking."

"No it is of no worry your highness. I and my brethren were all turned to stone an untold number of years ago by a monster called Medusa, I spoke to you of her earlier. Well Medusa and I have a personal history, one I do not wish to speak of at the moment, for it has no real meaning to drag it out during such a time of duress." A noble perked up at this, having heard this sentence he knew that there was a weakness to exploit her. And anything that could be exploited out of the horses would be of great gain for not only Equestria but his family as well!

"What do you mean no real meaning!? We deserve to know the acts of tho-" A harsh glare from the mismatched eyes of the horse gave the noble who spoke nearly enough fright to pee themselves. All ponies around the noble took a few steps away from him as to not be targeted by the piercing glare of the Horse Lord.

"The last time I remember before waking up in this... broken shape of mine. Was me fighting Medusa, turning her own petrifying gaze against her a she petrified my people, and me. From what I am told, my body was broken into tiny pieces during the long time between this battle. When I was put together, they had to take parts from other horses and ponies and glue them to my fragments, using grounded up piece of small parts of other broken petrified victims, to properly fit me together." He then released the strap of his cloak and there were several loud gasps, and even a few screams, as the patchwork body of Achilles was revealed to the throne room.

Even Celestia, now seeing it up close, looked rather appalled at the mismatching body. Even Discord had not looked so... wrong. It made her feel sad and sympathetic for the horse, having to go through being put together like that to be restored to life.

"THIS, is the result of trying to put together someone who was turned to stone without the proper parts!" Achilles said in a loud voice as he stood up on his hind legs, and revealed the red fleshy veins connecting all of his multi coloured parts.

He then pointed at his face with one of his claws and traced the red vein going across his face, blood pouring out of it as his claw pierced the vein. Several ponies began to retch at this sight. "The sensation of waking up in a body with the once glued together joints burning with blue fire as they are being melted to properly fuse to your body is not something I'd wish upon anyone. Thus I do not wish to speak of what occurred in the past just yet, it is a bit too fresh for me to wish to speak of it. And I do not care if you wish to know it now, I will not tell until I am ready to do so."

With a snort he ignited his horn and with telekinesis lifted up his cloak and strapped it back to place while speaking to Celestia. "Back to the matter at hoof. The dragon leader said he would assault the city again tomorrow. And though my Sky Ships are strong, will the dragons more likely then not, know how to handle them now. Thus I wish to offer me and my people's aid in the defence of Equestria, even after this fight is over. In return, I wish for Equestria to recognize my tribe, the Horses, as our own independent nation, with a clause to aid us in turn if we require it."

There was a great murmur from the gathered crowd, Achilles ignored it and just looked at Celestia. He needed to make this work. If he could get the horses accepted as a sovereign people of another nation, he could work out ways to keep Equestria safe while at the same time not making them too reliant upon him.

For a while the Princess was in a contemplating moment of thought. She then came to a decision and once more raised her hoof to silence the crowd and spoke out to the Horse Lord. "We would be glad to accept this Lord Achilles, however. How doest thee think thou can aid Us against those monsters?"

Achilles smirked and pulled out a bronze tube about one meter in length from inside his cloak. It was a tube meant to contain scrolls of large size. And this was his ace in the hole, the reason why he could give as much as he had promised, a work he had already done, that only needed a slight alteration. "By using the techniques of my people Princess. I have the plans for a device that can with a powerful enough source of energy can hold off a horde of a thousand dragons."

Princess Celestia perked up and practically bounces off her throne and with her horn opened the doors on the wide wall of the room and motioned as the crowd split up to not get in her way. "Thou hath my attention! Shalt we discuss it in the War Room?"

Achilles decided to just go with it and followed her with a nod. "As you wish."

A cheerfully smiling Celestia skipped down the hallways and a befuddled, but also highly amused, Achilles following behind her with his horses following him as well.

Once in the War Room the horse leader pulled out a set of large folded scrolls from the bronze tube he had retrieve from his side bag and unfolded them over the table. There was a set of runic arrays upon the parchments, as well as the design of the Shield Array Pipes of his atakebune ships. There was also several more blank parchments and scrolls being loaded onto the table by the Princess' aids.

"What manner of device doest thee speak off?" As she asked Achilles levitated the image of the Energy Field Pipe's blueprints. It was a rune engraved iron pipe that when conducted with energy released a powerful shield for a short duration of time. It needed an external power source to function however.

"It is a shielding array engraved pipe. We use these pipes on the hull of our Atakebunes, the ships with no sail and only oars. It is a pipe of iron engraved with two powerful enchantments, a shielding spell and an expansion spell. That together when powered by an external power supply creates a temporary energy shield, with its size and duration depending on the power added to it." Princess Celestia scanned the blueprint closely, a quill moving rapidly across parchments as she studied the description of the pipe and its powers. It was a highly dense and powerful shield conductor, and with several of them working together they created a fully enclosing energy field that acted as a shield.

But just one pipe would not create an energy field, just a shield bubble. Hmmm perhaps there was way to work around that. She looked up from the parchment and spoke out her curiosity to the horse lord. "So how doest thee think thou shielding array would work as thou sayth? From what we art able to tell, this shield array needs to work with a conduit of several pipes across a round surface to create its shape."

Achilles nodded at her words and his own quill moved across parchment, sketching out the image of a cone shaped device, with a sphere shaped orb on the top. Engraved with a slightly altered runic array like the shield generating pipes. As the Princess examined the hasty sketch he began to explain his idea. "Well we would need to adjust the array itself into a proper focus, conducting the shield array's energy into singular point of exit. And then give it a way to shape the expanding shied outwards into its proper shape by utilizing a focus point. Like a crystal or glass ball, preferable spherical in shape as this will create the focused shape of the shield itself."

A really simple and yet clever idea. To use the natural shape and light altering pattern of a crystal of spherical shape to create a spherical shield. She could really see it working with this device. The trouble was just what to power it with. "We see... what about a power source for the shield itself?"

He pointed at the illustration of a sky ship flying with the wind flowing through its sails, with arrows pointing from the flowing sails to the storm clouds beneath the hull. There was also arrows going from the oars, with lightning symbols in the arrows, going to the bottom of the ship. Indicating that either the sails or the oars had generated the cloud. "That would require the usage of a sympathetic power link, which is partly the reason why our Sky Ships can work with so many different enchantments and array without destroying themselves. A sympathetic power link requires two things. First the shielding array needs to be carved into a material that can absorb or direct energy, be it natural, magical or unnatural, so that an external force that power it. Secondly, the power source needs to be external, it cannot be directly inked to the array or it will get overloaded."

The patchwork stallion made another sketch, showing a simple image of the device and the symbol of a lightning bolt, with an arrow going between them. He spoke out as he pointed at the device and the lightning symbol, empathizing how the relationship between the two needed to be done. "What we need to do is create a power source that can be conducted into the runic array without a physical line. And since this thing will most likely be carved out of gold entirely. I think we would need to use either magical energy provided by an outside source, like unicorns or a magical item of great power. Or some manner of natural, or unnatural, energy force that can be absorbed by the array and the gold, like either lightning or a direct flow of sun light."

Celestia gasped at this, a source of energy not related to magic!? Her attention was all over it and she pulled out a fresh bundle of blank parchment so her quill to keep writing and stepped over to the horde lord and took a seat next to him, pulling the blueprints of the runic array over so they both could examine it. While asking about how this, non physically power source would work. "Amazing! How doest thee use this Sympathetic Power Link without magic?"

He pointed out the storm clouds on the image of the flying sky ship. He did not explain how the storm clouds were actually generated, but he explained the concept. The lightning from the storm clouds were not just for lifting the ship, they actively powered the energy of the array carved into the surface of the ship that made it light weight. Thus he did not wish to reveal the enclosed details, only the concept. "We utilize the storm clouds that our Sky Ships creates, using the lightning itself that is created to power the runic engravings. The sails have a similar function, taking power from the winds, but they are not as efficient as lightning. We cannot do it with this thing however as it would be far too dangerous to try and conduct lightning through a device made entirely out of gold. Especially since I would have to think of a way to properly seal off the bleed off energy of the lightning with runes, and that would take at least two days of work. Our safest bet is to have unicorns hitting the device with magical energy."

Celestia muttered as she took notes, by now she had over four hundred parchments and two dozen scrolls from her frantic examination and evaluation of the work. She was a bit sad that there was only the runic array of the shield, but it was something beyond precious since she could use this as a base for a lot of her future projects. "Incredible. Thou hath amazing knowledge of the past technologies! Were all of thy kind educated like so?"

He shook his head. Had he had an education that had prepared him for even half of what he had been learning for the last ten years he would not have been forced to have Luna translating his works and efforts for him. The day that Luna did not need to aid his magical work would be a good day for him, it would let him know that he was ready to handle it without aid. "Not so much, this technology was common place in Hellas, but it was also one of the most dangerous. Thus was this knowledge mostly limited to military forces or specific groups given permission to create them. I am just lucky I was a General and thus needed to know all this to properly command my armies and fleets."

Letting out a sigh she looked over the runes, the lines and the instructions on the large unfolded scroll. To have such a large abundance of ancient knowledge near, and yet only be allowed to know so little was making her feel so frustrated. Yet she was grateful for it was more then she had when she and her sister studied under Starswirl. "We wish We hath the ability to make such wonders Ourselves."

Chuckling a little Achilles understood her a little better. Apparently was Celestia rather interested in ancient knowledge, or knowledge in general. He was not sure, but it gave him a deeper insight to her as a person and he could say that he admired it a bit. Gods knows he had been nowhere near as interested in the knowledge itself as her when he started, yet he had to learn it to survive with his new magic. Now he was quite interested in it himself and could understand how she felt a bit. "Perhaps in the future, for now we need to protect your city from those beasts. I will have my horses prepare to aid you in constructing the device, sadly enough do we not have a lot of iron. So we may have to use another metal."

Celestia nodded at that. Iron was rare and very valuable. Her nation's largest amount of iron ore came from the armours and gears her troops had retrieved from the fallen soldiers of Maleficus during the Second Crusade. A truly valuable and yet so hard to get metal. "Speaking of which. How doest thee have so much iron? It be a rare metal."

He patted his forehead with a smirk, signalling that the secret of the iron ore was in hi head. Which was true, since he just summoned it from the moon whenever he needed more of it. "Stockpiles spread out in the various ruins of our homes and in different hidden chambers left behind by the ancient past. Iron is an excellent tool for magical enchantment. Even though it is very magically resistant and cannot hold an enchantment on its own, when combined with a gold filled engraved array pattern, the enchantment is a hundred folds more strong then if you had made it out of pure gold or silver."

She pressed her hoof to her lower chin as she tried to figure out something she had been bothered about. But she could not figure it out and finally decided to just ask Achilles about it. "How does thee not cause the metal to deteriorate from the magical and lightning surges? The lightning must be dangerous even though it is produced by thy ships."

He pointed at the set of runes he had developed to handling the discharging lightning from the clouds and the array itself. They worked like a sort of repellent, or sealant, keeping the energy from going up. "By adding a set of conductive arrays along the inside of the wooden and metal hulls on the other side not engraved with the storm cloud based arrays. We limit the power flow of the magic and the lightning to not move in any other direction then down. This makes it so the metal does not deteriorate form an overcharge of energy and keeps the crew from being injured by stray shocks. Of course this makes it dangerous if someone is directly below us but even pegasi should know not to fly beneath an active storm cloud."

"But what about the..." The Lord and Princess kept talking as they drew plans. Celestia kept asking questions about the arrays and devices made by horses and Achilles explained with straight and plain sentence even a first year mage student could follow. But never revealing anything beyond the theories and functions, he still eneded to maintain secrecy of most of the crafting and activation of the arrays.

For several hours the plans for the device was drawn and the two just... kept talking.

The horses and ponies in the war room all looked at each other in slightly uncomfortable manners as the complex magical theories, techniques and debates that were being flung out between their leaders were way over their heads. Not to mention so boring some of the guards were starting to fall asleep standing.

Then one of the horses decided, fuck it, and left the room. Then another horse left, then a pony, and finally as the hour of the evening bells struck the plans for the device was completed and both the Princess and the Lord wondered just where their guards and soldiers had gone.

"DISGRACEFUL WEAKLING!!!!"0 Talos' voice roared out like a crack of thunder. And with a brutal crunch his massive claw crushed the head of the recently mutilated body against the side of the mountain. The corpse was of the dead dragon who had initiated the retreat from the ponies. He was furious. Everything about the Grand Feast had gone wrong ever since they arrived at the continent.

There was no other way to put it. It was a mess and he had to do something about it. He had lost over half of his clan, the ponies were unwilling to be proven their proper place. and now. Those forsaken heathens had created flying huts! The utter gal to dare intrude upon the skies, the domain of his kin, with... with... FLYING HUTS, was nothing less then gut wrenching.

Oh but he would have his vengeance. Justice would be served! The order of things would return to what they were! Even if would cost him everything! He would NOT STAND FOR THIS!

"Gather your strength and wits. For at the first sign of dawn we strike, as one, from all directions we shall swarm over their entire mountain village, and melt it to the ground. Those who seek to flee, shall face the same judged as this coward." The dragon lord then stepped over the fallen corpse and stomped over to a cliff side where he sought to rest. While his frightened kin huddled out of sight, many of them injured and frightened by both the ponies and their weird flying wood huts.

But even those things did not put them at such unease as the idea of what Lord Talos would do to them should they flee. After all, the orange one was lucky. He had only had his legs, wings and forelimbs broken before Talos crushed his skull.

The meeting between Celestia and Achilles ended and the Horse Lord left the castle with his troops. It had been a productive evening and he would be sending a group of four hundred horses, one hundred of each warrior type, and hvae them aid in the preparation of the device.

He was thankful it had gone so well. The plan for the device had taken a bit longer then eh intended but it would be fairly easy to construct it with the gold that Canterlot would be supplying and with the skills of the so called Workshop, the Mages and the Caretakers of the Order of the golden cross, he knew they would have it made before dawn.

Even as he moved halfway through the city he saw lines of horses marching into the city towards the Temple of Law. Each of them carrying a saddle pack of tools and supplies, while some pulled small carts with various crystals and gemstones. The most important piece would be the focus point of the device, and it could not be any crystal. It had to be strong enough to channel the energy and spherical enough in shape that it could spread out the shield evenly.

The troops all stopped and saluted him before marching on as he passed them by. He just gave nod in response as he kept moving. Soon enough he exited Canterlot and reached the fleet. Where several horses were working on the enchantment arrays of the hulls. And he was told about what they had found out about the ships' arrays.

Apparently had the wood corroded a bit by the constant and intense energy being flown through them. Worst were the Longboats as they had no metal plating on their hulls to absorb the energy. It was easy enough to repair however. But Achilles, or rather, Malefius was worried. For he had no idea what would happen should the arrays be damaged or destroyed. The amount of energy the ships held was no laughing matter.

So he decided to have the horses prepare another set of runes on the deck of the ship on the railings, edges and ledges. It may or may nor be of any aid. But any chance above 0 percent was better then nothing in his books.

But he did not personally take part in the constructions. He had a more... personal matter to attend to. Something he needed to do. There was only four days, soon three, remaining. then eh would be sent back to the moon. And he had investigated the most recently updated calendar of the castle. The Red Sun would be sent through a long waiting period of nearly two decades, of not more, if what the calendar said was true.

He had to do this now. Or he would regret it for the rest of his life. And he already had enough regrets. There was no need to add more to it.

"Mama! Do ya need any help with da food?" Happy Meal asked as she stood next to her mother in the kitchen of her mother's eatery. Both she and Grand Music had decided to eat together with their family, for the dangerous day that was approaching was making both of them nervous, and they felt like they needed to be with their mother just to feel better.

Anypony was free to call them pathetic or clingy, two grown up ponies, both knights and one of them even the grand master of a knightly order. But in the end, sometimes a pony just need their mother's, or father's, comfort.

Grand Feast just smiled and pulled out the finished apple and chestnut pie she had been baking for dinner but never cooked until so late into the night with the dragon assault startling her to hide in the catle. Her store had been closed for several days because of the news of the dragon attack. It felt weird to have the normally active and homey place be so quiet for so long. So she appreciated her two oldest coming home for a meal, even if it was very late, her husband Applejack was with their foals at his family clan in the western forest, visiting the other half of the family for a month. Something she was grateful for.

"No need to worry child. We have been making food for your hungry tummies long enough to know how to do it. No need for concern." Happy Meal just made a playful pout before she broke out into giggles and hugged her mother before walking out of the kitchen to prepare the table.

Soon the eatery was filled with laughter as the two ponies ate and talked with their mother. but as the meal progressed into the early morning hours, there was a loud knocking from the doors of the eatery. After a few seconds of sudden silence there was another set of knocking.

"Wonder who that could be at this hour?" Grand Feast said with a wondering tone as she walked over to the doorway and unlocked it. As she opened it stood a large cloaked figure before the door, a pair of glowing red eyes beneath the hood.

"I apologies if I am disturbing you miss Grand Feast of the Blue Grass Clan. But I needed to speak with you... and your kin. It is most urgent." The voice was a strange one, and yet somehow the manner behind the speech felt familiar. so she nodded and let the large stranger into her eatery and part time home.

The stranger looked at her two children and let out a deep emotionally loaded sigh, sounding exhausted. Then, as she walked over to the table to invite him to sit down, he pulled back his hood. And the head of Maleficus Victora, with the black mane, fangs, pelt and a mandible like horn, was revealed to the.

"YOU! What are you doing here!?" Grand Music shouted out at the uncloaked head of Maleficus Victoria. Glaring at him with a furious look on his face. Standing up protectively before Grand Feast and Happy Meal who had both given out startled gasps.

"To talk to you. About something you and your family need to hear. While I still have the chance to speak of it." The large black stallion said with a serious look in his face. Grand Music wanted to attack him but he had left his armour and weapon back at the Temple of Law, least he anger his mother who had told him to never bring such dangerous stuff into her eatery, unless there was an emergency.

So he just decided to keep glaring at the alicorn.

"What do ya want ta say Mister Maleficus?" Happy Meal asked with a cheerful, but strained, voice as she stood next to her mother, unwilling to step away from her. Even though her mother was giving both of her foals a stern mother's gaze, would neither of them stood standing protectively before her.

Maleficus smiled sadly at her before he sighed and sat down on his haunches on the floor before he began to speak again. "I am here to speak the truth of what happened ten years ago. What I told you when we had our duel during the Second Crusade."

He took a deep breathe, closed his eyes and contemplated for a few seconds. Then he opened his eyes, his decision made. The die was cast.

"I was the pony known as Golden Cross ten years ago." The blunt spoken truth was sharp and without wit, it was just fact. Pure and simple, the truth coming from the souvenir itself. But that did not help the two young ponies from staring at him with widening eyes, while grand Feast looked at him with a concerned face.

"And I shall prove it, to you. Not by words, but by actions. So that you. Will know the truth." After he said that, Maleficus closed his eyes and a shimmering light enclosed his body for a short moment. Then. His body began to shift and alter itself, as if being molded and painted by an invisible sculpture.

As he changed, Grand Music's glaring eyes seemed to burn with anger, his horn sparkling. While Happy Meal began to cry sobbingly while her mother just smiled sadly at the sight. The older mare had known it would have come, it was not easy to confess the truth or your faults, but the Alicorn was apparently one of the few to do so.

The form of Maleficus melted apart, shifting and altering its colour, shape and size. Growing a head smaller, his wings shrank away, his horn disappear, his face grew wrinkles while his pelt and mane turned into pale and grayish colours. Finally, his frightening phantom of a cutie mark, transformed into a golden cross.

"Do you believe me now that I look like this?" The form of Golden Cross asked the family, his voice solemn and his face in a sad smile. Sadly this only made Grand Music more angry and Happy Meal just kept crying while her mother gently rubbed her head while she warped one of her wings over her daughter.

The adult stallion was furious and got into Maleficus face and started to scream at him, poking his transformed chest with his right hoof. As if trying to break whatever spell he had used to transform himself with harsh pushing. It did not work, the sobbing of Happy Meal echoed through the room. "No! You do not deserve to be him! Do not sully his memories to us!"

"Look, I... I am truly sorry. But I cannot keep lying to you to make you feel better. I am Maleficus Victoria, and Golden Cross, was a fake identity created by me. That, is the truth." Happy Meal was not sobbing any longer but she was sniffling a bit, brushing the tears out of her eyes, while Grand Feast was rubbing her head still. The young mare may be an adult, but she was still just that little filly in the eyes of her mother, and seeing her hurt like this hurt both Grand Feast, and Maleficus greatly.

But Grand Music, in his emotionally unbalanced state, reacted far more physically. As he broke out into a frenzied rage and reared back his right hoof. Maleficus, did not move out of the way, and just stood still.

"SHUT UP!" Grand Music shouted out as he struck the face of the motionless alicorn, there was a loud clang as his hoof struck the jaw of the one who had lied to him. And while the alicorn's face was slightly bruised, disappeared those injuries swiftly. While Grand Music himself felt like he had cracked his hoof and fractured the bones of his foreleg.

"ACK! Buck! My hoof!" The knight cried out in pain as he clutched his foreleg, Happy Meal, no longer crying, silently walked into the kitchen and poured cold water onto a towel her mother gave to her. Grand Feast just gave her adoptive son a sad look as he clutched his foreleg while Maleficus looked at him with regret, hurt and sadness, for the fact that the small foal he had known all those years ago had struck him, hurt more then the blow itself.

"I am sorr-" He tried to voice his regrets but the young stallion would not hear it and interrupted him while he clutched his hoof.

"Stop saying you are sorry! Buck that hurt." Happy Meal walked over and warped the wet and cold towel around Grand Music's hoof. The Grand Master of the Order of the Golden Cross let out a hiss of pain but became silent as the comforting coldness of the towel slowly soothed the aching pain in his hoof.

Maleficus remained silent, unwilling and uncertain, he did not want to upset them anymore and he did not want to say something stupid. So he went with a common rule of his old world, silence is golden."..."

But this did little to comfort the feelings of Grand Music and Happy Meal. The mare gave him a stern look as he just stood there in silence and spoke out to him in a slightly harsh voice, a voice that Maleficus could hear was shaking with pent up emotions and held back sobs. "Don't ya just stand there all silent like! Ye need ta say somethin'!"

He tried to form the words, stuttering a bit. Before he finally just sighed and asked them. "... I... I... haaaaa... what do you want me to say?"

Grand Music spoke up for the group, his voice slightly pained as he gripped his still tender hoof. But his words were still clear and sharp. "Tell us the truth! Why did you tell us those fake stories!? Why did you lie to us about yourself!"

The alicorn just gave a sad smile as he tired his best to explain his reasons. Reasons he knew would most likely never be acceptable for them, but it was the truth and he needed to clear everything. "I never meant for my fake persona as Golden Cross to harm anyone. Or to become such a big deal. It was just meant to be a way for me to travel without causing trouble for Equestria by needlessly fighting. "

"But... some of those stories. Were not all lies. I truly did come from a home. A place were I had parents, my three siblings. I had... I had a family.... once. But they are far gone now... long gone. And I, am the last. And I always will be the last. For there is no other of my family's bloodline alive in this world." With a sad smile on his face the alicorn looked upon them, and they could almost feel the pain that he felt as he spoke of his home and family. Lost to him forever, it was... something none of them had considered. But now that it had been said. It seemed to obvious.

He took a shaking breathe and slowly let it out, gathering his wits and restraining himself from breaking down into tears. It was not the time to cry, he could cry later. When he was alone and isolated, where no one could hear his shameful sobs. For now, he needed to keep talking, before he lost the heart and courage to speak. "That's why I never tell much about my past. It hurts, more then you know, it hurts so deep I cannot help but cry. My father, my mother, my brothers and my little sister. All gone, and I am the only one left. It is almost unbearable to even think about it, let alone try to speak about them."

"B-but why did ye... why did ye care fer us? Why tell us da truth now?" Happy Meal asked, her tears returning, but she was not sobbing. Her mother gently patted her child on the head, a sad smile of her own growing on her muzzle. As the older mare began to realize and understand Maleficus and his reasons.

His lips turned into a nostalgic smile as he remembered those good times ten years ago. The smiles, the laughter and the warmth... how he wished it could have lasted forever. But it never could have been, but even if that was the case... he regretted nothing about it. "...Because... even if it was just for a short month... you were the closest I've had for a family... since I became an alicorn. And that... that is worth more to me... then any false facade built on necessity could be. Though no matter how much I wanted to reveal the truth, I could not find a proper way to do so."

He rubbed his left shoulder with his right hoof, looking away from the three ponies as he felt his shame return. Even though he wanted to, did he not want to look them in the eyes any longer as he revealed his cowardice. It hurt but he would survive it, he always did. "And I felt shameful, that I caused you all so much pain. I never intended to become attached to anyone, I never intended to care for anyone. I never wanted anyone to care or become attached to me in return. For I knew it would end in painful separation each time the month of my freedom on this world would end. And I would not be able to see anyone again for several years, decades even."

"You stupid stallion. You may be an alicorn, but you are just as dumb as any mortal male." Grand Feast said with a strained smile as tears streamed down her cheeks. She was both sad, hurt and happy, sad for him, hurt that he lied, but glad that he still told the truth. Even if it hurt to know much of it had been fake, was she still happy to know he was still alive, no matter the lies.

"I know, and I am truly sorry for that." Maleficus said with a haunted look on his face, the large alicorn could not stop but feel sorry for them ,sorry that he lied. And he was more then willing to endure the pain, both physically, emotionally and mentally, as long as it helped them. He was fine with a bit of pain and hurt, nothing he had not gone through before.

But he would be surprised, of the forgiving nature of the ponies. As when Grand Feast stepped forward, and began to berate him with a kind, not scolding, voice. "Stop saying you are sorry Gold- no, Maleficus. You may have lied to us. But you protected us. You saved us. You saved this city. Even if it was just for us three, you still gave your all, even behind a false identity and limited strength, you went through Tartarus for us and this city. That proves, no matter the lies, that you, are a kind pony. No matter what you may have wrought. You are not a bad pony."

He blinked, and could feel the stinging sensation of tears starting to take shape in his eyes, he blinked slightly rapidly and inhaled, managing to halt his tears. And as he let out a long and slightly shaking breath, he spoke up, with an uncertain look in his face. "...Are you certain you are fine with this? Even knowing the truth of myself and my past wrongdoings?"

Happy Meal, no longer crying, her sad face once more a bright and happy smile, cried out with a cheerful voice that seemed to vibrate the room. "Yeah! Grandpa Cross or Grandpa Victoria! Does not matter! Ye be da best grandpa ever!"

"...Mmmhmmmm..." Grand Feast hummed with a smile at him.

"I... ah... I... fine... yes. Yes I forgive you... grandpa." Grand Music mumbled out, blushing a bit as he could not find it in him to be angry any longer. It was so awkward, but he felt a bit... better about it all now.

The shocked look on the alicorn's face was almost heart aching for the ponies to see. He had actually come to them ,fully expecting to be denied and thrown out, and yet he had done so, knowing that the truth needed to be told. No matter how it hurt. But this. This was something he had never expected, and it showed itself in his eyes and expression, as he looked a them, in stunned silence.

Then his eyes seemed to grow moist for a few seconds, his lower lip quivered slightly, as he inhaled, choking down his emotions. And he blinked rapidly, keeping his tears from falling. Before he smiled, a warm and joyful smile, that mirrored the smile he had worn as Golden Cross, but upon the face of Maleficus, it looked natural, even more so then when he had been disguised. "...Thank you... thank you all so much."

There was an awkward silence, before Grand Feast stepped forward and hugged the alicorn gently. Her forelegs were barely able to reach up to his neck, but she managed to hug him still. and he hesitantly, warped one hoof around her, and hugged her back, a content smile on his lips.

Neither Happy Meal nor Grand Music stepped forward to hug him, too hesitant to do so. But when their mother slowly let go of the stallion who they had grown to adore as a grandfather figure, the ancient stallion gently reached out and patted their heads. His warm smile making both of them choke down sobs as they saw he was not upset, and rather, looked so content and happy that they had forgiven him.

Their mother gently hugged the two with her wings and smiled at the kind stallion who had saved her family several times. And he smiled back, happy and content, knowing they had forgiven his lies.

The moment was broken however when the large horn of Canterlot gatehouse rumbled out a signal across the city. All of them looked towards the windows of the store, and before the long and open streets they could see it. The light streaking down upon the city walls and slowly bringing light to the sky. The dawn had come. And Maleficus knew, that as the Dragon Lord Talos had promised, the dragons would come to try and raze Canterlot to the ground at first light.

"I have to go. The dragons are coming soon and I need to help Celestia stop them. Do not take part of this fight unless absolutely necessary." The two knights looked at each other, they wanted to fight. But they had been commanded by Princess Celestia to use all their resources to guard the Shield Cone, as the device had come to be named, it was far to vital to just leave defended by a light force.

"Will we meet you again?" Grand Music asked, a bit of uncertainty and concern in his tone. Happy Meal just hugged him as her close friend tried to act tough. Knowing how he really felt.

"The next Red Sun is within twenty years. So stay safe, stay healthy, stay good and stay alive. And we will meet again." With those words said Maleficus' horn shone with a crimson light and he covered the outer portion of his body with magic. And a the supernatural energy touched his hide his form twisted and shifted into a black miasma.

At first he just looked like a flowing and almost unseen phantom, near invisible to the naked eye. But then he focused more magic upon himself and his shape turned more clear, but less solid, as the once vague near invisible pony shape turned into solid darkness that melting into the ground into the shape of a moving shadow.

He moved out of the restaurant, moving out of the lower gaps of the door in the entrance. And disappeared into the morning light, moving to once more assume the identity of Achilles.

Talos woke up before the dawn would come, and he stomped over to the large horde of his remaining kin and followers. With glaring eyes he looked to spot anyone who had dared to flee during the night, he counted five gone. And would make examples of them once he finished with the ponies.

He had a plan for how to handle the ponies when he himself entered combat. After all, the ponies had shown they were compassionate, protective and caring, all points that he could exploit with a resource he had been gathering for the need of information. Now they would get a final use before their end. "Get me the remaining 'snacks' we have and put them in a single cage with a long chain on it."

The dragons complied and gathered the remaining ponies they had captured, most that remained were young foals or elderly ponies too small or too tasteless to be filling or enjoying the flavour of. As their snacks cried and begged they put them all into one slightly larger then average cage they had made out of melted metal from the pony cities. Then they put the chain of a sail boat's anchor and welded it into place on both sides of the cage.

With a smirk Talos watched them work. This would be his edge against those compassionate ponies. A living insurance that he could use, to destroy them without being targeted. A most excellent use of small snacks if he got to say so himself.

When it was done he took the cage with over a hundred cramped ponies and put the chain over his head ,careful to not let it tangle into his horns, and finally felt it rest around his neck. Then he smirked and turned to face north, where the mountains blocked the sight of the city that had so profoundly humiliated him and his kind. IT was time for it to disappear.

"Fly now! Cover all directions! Give them no way to keep you out of their mountain home! Melt it to the ground!" Then eh took off and over a hundred dragons followed, spreading out and flying into a large encircling formation. They followed their leader's orders with an intent on assaulting the city from all directions.

While Talos took the lead, flying ahead, with the cage of screaming ponies around his neck. Confident that none of the ponies would dare to shoot him as long as he held their oh so precious kin on his body.

The wings of hundreds of flapping bat wings filled the morning air as Celestia raised the sun. As the first light of dawn cracked down upon the city. And with her horn glowing Celestia made a swinging motion with her hoof towards the ponies gathered upon the roof of the castle's central keep. A large gong was struck and the signal to activate the Shield Cone was sent.

Why Achilles had been laughing when she suggested the name was a mystery. But he was more the happy to let the name stay, saying it was going to make him laugh every time he heard it.

Even as the sun light revealed that sky was filled with a spread out force of dragons flying from all directions, she knew they would be repelled. For the shield cone had been ready for at least an hour because of the many hours of work made by her ponies and their horse allies.

It was funny. Had she not been besieged by dragons she might not even have let the horses enter Canterlot itself. What would have happened then? She dared not think about to for too long, feeling rather uncertain about herself and that was not needed at the moment.

"We shalt endure this storm. And We shalt bring an end to these monsters." The Princess vowed as she stood there upon the fortress, glaring at the beasts intent on destroying all she had been, and still was, working for.

The signal was hard as Achilles looked out through his spyglass, given to him by General Aerial Grace when he mentioned that he had no such gear for his fleet. The echoing of the signal horn could be heard resounding over the city. And down upon the right tower of the Temple of Law, were the Shield Cone was located, were a team of ten unicorns firing off raw magical blasts at the cone's golden structure.

Achilles smothered a snicker as he thought about that name for a second before resuming his focus as he watched the runes upon the cone light up.

The so called Horse Lord and his Sky Fleet had relocated themselves to the city's mountain side were the ponies had begun carving out the mountain to make the city larger without expanding out into the fields, hills and deep chasm by the city. He knew he could not depend on the ships and thus he had ordered them to only act as support for this battle.

For even if the shield held would the dragons not just leave. They needed something to handle those creatures and persuading them to leave Equestria alone. But how?

The answer to that question came as the dragon horde was revealed by the sun light.

For at the front of the horde, flying from the east, along the mountain side connected to Canterlot itself, was Talos, flying like a black giant whale towards the city. had it not been because he was in a spot to look over the entire area of the city, would Achilles never have spotted the dragon.

"He's much more clever then I'd assumed. But just as sadistic and vile as I thought." Achilles muttered as he saw what appeared to be a chain aroudn the dragon's neck, and on it, dangling from the big beast's throat, was a large cage. No doubt containing at least fifty or so ponies.

"Using the natural instincts of the ponies against them by using their own kind as hostages AND body armour? I am both impressed and appalled. That is something worthy of some of my Dungeons and Dragons playing sessions with evil PCs. Gods I hope this guy isn't as clever as some of those guys or we're rightly fucked in the ass." Folding his spyglass Achilles handed it over to the captain of the crew before he jumped off the longboat and onto the large tower sticking out of the side of the mountain.

"Have the ships spread out above the city. We need to have the advantage over him so we can free the hostages. Be sure to keep track of the battle the best you can and once they have been freed, pull them to safety. The assume bombardment combat against him." The horses saluted and signals were sent out to the rest of the fleet and soon the Sky Fleet began to rise above the city, spreading out like small storm clouds above the city.

Achilles checked his blade, the bronze covered iron sword was well and done. But he felt a slight nauseating sensation through his chest and for a second he thought he was just feeling slightly nauseous from his memories. When he suddenly lurched forward, coughing and gagging. Clutching at the ground with his hoof he reared back his talon, clenched it into a fist and punched himself in the gut.

With a loud splat a familiar looking black and red globe of flesh erupted from his mouth and he wiped his mouth as he stood up, panting. He glared at the fleshy lump reminding him of how limited his time was and spat a wad of saliva and blood over his shoulder, muttering. "Fucking elements."

Then a his attention was caught elsewhere as a bright purple flare erupted from the Temple of Law and Achilles turned his head to see how the Shield Cone activated. The magical energy had been stored and amplified by the cone structure, then focused out at the peak into the smallest exit point. Were the crystal sphere, a massive purple amethyst, released a great and powerful light as the magic went into effect.

As the light grew denser, not as bright but much more... mist like, there was the sound of what could only be described as something heavy hitting grass with a loud grassy thump. And with the speed of an explosion a purple field erupted from the purple mist like light and expanded outwards. It spread out from the center of the city were the Tempel of Law was located ,ti crossed over the markets, the shops, the parks, the palace, the mansions, the city wall and finally, over the edge of the mountain and up over the sky ships.

All in a perfect dome shape. and as the shape stopped expanding, it went from a glowing misty like energy field, into a solid mass of energy. The dragons flew at the barrier, intent on breaking it.

The only thing they broke were their pride, and some of their bones. Not even their dragon breaths were strong enough to penetrate the magical shield, their flames, ice gasses and lightning bolts only washing over the surface like rain.

All except for five. Lord Talos and four dragons one elder and three adults, had been fast enough to get past the barrier. The elder had not managed to get past the barrier entirely, as when ti had turned solid, he had been halfway through it. And thus had been.... cut in half. So his lower half was rolling down the other side of the mountain, outside of the barrier. While his front half was rolling down the mountain side, leaving a massive bloody smear over the surface.

The three adults flew over the walls, and were swiftly slaughtered by the projectiles of the ballistaes, their bodies fell into the city and smashed into three or four houses before laying still.

Lord Talos, however was entirely fine. And had taken the advantage to fly towards what he thought was the location of the Princess. The large stone tower that had been carved out of its side, which reached from the bottom of the mountain's root to near the top of the peak. For a dragon such a high position was a good spot to rule over their lands and regions.

But the thing is that Celestia is not a dragon, and her home was at the base of the mountain not in the tower. The large tower Talos was heading towards was just to be a large tower used as a transportation aid for the construction work on the mountain.

Where a certain disguised alicorn was getting ready.

Talos flew over the walls of the large stone village. His roar echoed out from his lungs and through his throat as he released a torrent of lowing magma over the buildings bellow him, in a single instance had over three hundred houses been set ablaze. And even as s few bolts of magic or wood struck at his thick hide, they did not even scratch the surface.

He spread his wings and with a powerful flap and boom he flew up along the surface of the tall stone tower. His red eyes glowing with triumph. Talos thenfolded his wings and reached otu with his massive claws, and with a loud crack, grabbed hol of the top of the tower.

But as he glared down at the top of the tower, he saw not the white pony who had declared herself the ruler of these lands. Isntead ,ti was a patchwork like pony, looking like he had been sewn together from various types of ponies, and griffin. A freak of nature to the dragon Lord's mind. "What kind of abomination are you!? A mockery made in the face of nature's true rulers!?"

The so called freak just smirked at him and pointed a metallic fang at his face, a determined and strong voice echoing out over the gales created by his wings and bellowing over the mountain peak. "I am Achilles, General of the Horses, last of the Horse Lords. And I bring your death dragon."

"Haahahahahaha! How amusing! A mismatched creature born of weaklings is threatening me! Me!? Lord Talos!? I have never been so amused! Hahahahaha!" Talos the Dragon Lord roared out an echoing and rumbling laughter that shook the entire tower, his two large wings spreading wide as he tossed his head back and kept cackling. But that was an error he would soon regret.

Achilles raised his sword towards the sky as he stood in front of the massive creature, and shouted out. "FIRE!"

"Fire? Where- ARGH!" The confused expression of the massive dragon was turned into one of pain as four iron bolts were fired from the floating triremes above him. Solid iron ballistae bolts piercing through the joints of his wings like big nails, essentially nailing the wings into the stone of the massive tower. Talos had essentially just been nailed in place to the large tower, and he could not just rear back his wings to remove the bolts. If he did so he would damaging them further, because of how they had been struck through his joints.

"YOU VERMIN! I SHALL INCINERATE YOU ALL!" The dragon roared out in utter fury as he turned his head towards the floating ship and was about to inhale and fire off a massive fire, when suddenly a piercing pain pierced his neck as a lightning bolt struck the iron bolts nailed into his wing. He turned his head and glared balefully at Achilles as he stood there, his horn sparkling with electrical energy.

"Come on you overgrown lizard! Show me that so called superiority of yours!" The physically mismatched horse cried out as he drew his short sword and ran towards the dragon's chest area. Intent on striking at the most common weak points of a dragon he knew not just from what little he knew of the dragons of this new world, but also from the lore of dragons from the many books and games he had enjoyed as a human.

Their arrogance and pride. Greed was a big factor as well, but for a dragon like Talos, were these his major weak points. And Achilles' taunts worked perfectly, perhaps a bit too well even.

"I SHALL DESTROY YOUR ENTIRE RACE FOOLISH HORSE!" Talos roared out as he slammed down his talon upon the tower. A loud crack erupted as the stone beneath his talon crumbled apart, shaking a good chunk of the structure as he caved in half of the roof.

Achilles suddenly appeared from beneath his elbow, hanging by his sword which eh had jammed into the thick scales of the dragon's body. Which were not connected to any nerves and thus did not feel the small blade piercing them. The dragon rotated his limb to slam down his palm upon the horse, who dodged by running around the dragon's limb again.

Then his voice echoed out as he disappeared from sight once more. "Like I have destroyed your forces on the east coast!?"

Talos went silent for a few seconds as he tried to contemplated what he had just been told. "...What did you just say?"

"Those dragons you left raiding the east coast. We killed them all." Achilles' voice responded, it was impossible to tell were he was located even though the tower and the dragon himself were the only places to be on at the moment so high up on the mountain side.

"LIAR! Foul cretin! There is now way my son would lose to such weaklings!" Talos erupted into a rage and reared back his claw and crushed the remaining parts of the roof top, releasing his wing in the process as the stone his wing had been nailed to were crushed. But Achilles had not been on the still intact part of the body.

He appeared right on the dragon's nose, smirked upon him with his blade pointed at the dragon's glaring eyes. "If your son was the big stupid red scaled brute with the frothing mouth then yes, I killed him. Fairly easy at that, just stabbed through his left eyeball and fried his brain by flooding it with lightning. Shall I demonstrate?"

"Lies! Lies! My brood are not weaker then a fucking pony!" Talos responded by tossing and turning his head, trying to throw off the interloper. The ponies in the cage around his neck cried out in fear and panic as their prison swayed and weaved around dangerously.

"Again, I am a horse, well, mostly a horse. I am partly pony. But I am still mostly a horse." Achilles held himself in place by kneeling down and stabbing the short sword into the thick scales of the dragon and holding himself in place using it as an anchor. Even as the dragon turned his entire head back the patchwork horse remained on his head.

"You know what let's just call me a chimera made of equine beings, that works better." With a wordless roar Talos slammed his head into the mountain. Achilles jerked out his sword and ran over the dragon's head, making a point to kick him in the eye as he did so, not having enough time to stab him. An explosion of boulders and stone poured down as the dragon smashed his snout and forehead a good ten meter into the rock, leaving a rather big hole in the middle of the mountain top.

With a jerk back he freed his head and scanned with his eyes and head, sniffing the air to try and track the so called horse as it no doubt was hiding on him again. Roaring out in rage he climbed up onto the top of the tower and pressed his back against the mountain. "Shut it! You filthy mockery of an animal and submit to your betters!"

"No one is anyone's better. All are equal in the face of battle, no matter their size or power. All face one another as equal in combat, only skill, determination, luck and heart can affect the course of battle. And you are no different." The voice of Achilles state from, above him. Standing on the edge of the hole Talos had made when eh headbutted the mountain.

Deciding to go on the ways of taunting the dragon turned himself around, giving the horse no way to climb onto his back. He then smirked and grasped a claw around the cage hanging around his neck. "Shut it you freak of nature! I know your weakness horse! You and your pony kin are weak! You are unwilling to harm your own and is thus helpless to properly fight me!"

Getting a serious look on his face Achilles stood on his hind legs and flexed his wings. Obviously agitated. "Then I will just have to free them from you!"

Talos smirked and gave a barking laugh, not letting go of the cage he was grasping, unknowing about the glowing figure flying up behind him. "Ha! I'd like to see you try!"

With a glare Achilles hunched down and got ready to charge off the edge of the hole. "Not going to try. I am going to do it. There is no if, no when or no try. Only doing!" And with a sudden push of his hind legs and forelegs he burst out of the hole towards the dragon who reared back his free claw to crush him.

But a certain alicorn of the sun had decided to take part in this fight in her own manner.

"TAKE THIS FIEND!!" Princess Clestia shouted out as she blasted into the back of the dragon as the brute was about to attack Achilles. A powerful burst of light detonated from the impact, tearing up a good chunk of the dragon's left shoulder as she tore through it like a drill.

"Aaaargh!" Talos clutched his shoulder with his free hand, giving Achilles enough time to land on the dragon's body and rush off to disappear from the beast's sight.

Furious Talos let out a stream of magma towards Celestia who suddenly dived down and flew out of sight from him and he turned around to spot her. Still grasping the cage with one claw, unwilling to let his advantage disappear. "Get out and fight you dirty grassmunchers!"

"There is a big error when fighting as small as I am when you are so big. It makes it far too easy to avoid your sight. You should have realized it by now." Achilles' voice rang out once more fro mall around and the large dragon was starting to get enough. And spread his wings to take off from the tower.

*Let us see how well these little worms can handle a sound burst!* With that in his mind Talos flapped down his massive wings and the collected wind burst down like a gale, with a loud boom emitting as he flapped. With the push of his wings he flew off the tower and narrowly avoided being struck in the elbow by the bolt of golden light that was Celesta.

As the Princess let go of her golden aura she summoned a misty shroud that engulfed the air above the tower and made the dragon lose sight of her as well. And he was not happy by that move. As he roared he let out a stream of magma from his maws, the molten rock raining down upon the city below him, causing a whole city block to catch fire. "Show yourself you coward!"

"Says the big strong dragon hiding behind hostages held around his neck by a flimsy looking chain and a big crude cage." Achilles' voice at first was just echoing out. But then at the end of the sentence, his voice could be heard, from behind Talos' head. And there was suddenly a loud crack as lightning coursed through Talos' body from his neck followed by a loud detonation as the chain on the back of his head, exploded into shrapnel.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!" As the exploded metal links dug into his neck and pierced his flesh there was an intense pain like he had never felt before. The Dragon Lord instinctively reach out with both of his claws and tried to dig them out, not realizing ,that he had let go of the cage.

The chain shattered and the cage began to slide off the flying dragon's neck. Four Longboats flew under the belly of the monstrous dragon. Vikings swung grappling hooks and threw them at the falling cage. Clangs of metal striking metal echoed out over the skies as the grappling hooks struck at the bars or crude metal roof and floor of the cage. More then twenty managed to latch on the cage's bars. and that was enough for the ships to work with.

With a loud groan the cage stopped falling, instead it nearly made the sky ships capsize as the weight of a hundred ponies inside a two ton cage made up of various pieces of metal, pulled at their cloud flying shapes. But after a few seconds was the cage no longer groaned, and neither were the ships.

Thus the crews shifted actions and began to row their oars to fly away from the rampaging dragon's massive form. Talos took note of this and roared out in anger, lashing out with his claw towards the cage to grab it from the wooden sky ships. But before he could came a glowing Priness Celestia flying, with her foreleg hooves first, straight into his head. The physical strike was enough to send his entire neck and upper body reeling back from the incredible blow behind it, but it was not thorn open like the last strike that hit him had as it had not been as intensely concentrated as the first blow Celestia struck.

But the gust of wind from the claw as it missed was enough to make the cage wave and wag, and one of the bars broke off the rest and fell down. The ponies in the cage managed to hold themselves together and keep away from he new and obviously dangerous opening. But a small unicorn filly trying to cling to her mother's legs, was suddenly dropped when her mother was pushed in the side. The little filly struck the tilting floor of the cage and rapidly slide down and out of the hole while her mother frantically tried to reach out for her. "Aaaaaaaaaaaaah! Mama!"

"Dining Bell! NOOO!" The mother cried out and tried to use her telekinesis to lift up her baby ,but a sudden shaking of the cage made her lose concentration and by then had her child dropped too far for her to reach out.

At the cry of the mother Achilles leaped off the dragon's shoulder and as he slide down the dragon's upper arm he saw the filly falling and let out a curse. "Shit."

He then spotted one of the grappling hooks dangling in the air, down at the elbow he was standing on and looked at the filly and made a decision. *Sure hope I am as crazy as she said I was or this will probably not work.*

With a kick of his left hind leg he struck the elbow at one of the torn off areas, were he hoped there was a nerve that was like the one of a human. There was a loud roar from the dragon and the limbs suddenly flexed out with intense force and Achilles used this to launch himself towards the grappling hook.

He caught it and swung himself through the air with the line and reached out with his hoof, and managed to barely catch the filly before she could strike the rooftop of a building. "Gotcha!"

His eyes then widened as he saw Talos glare down at him as he dangled there and released a flood of magma towards him. Not even bothering to speak he turned his back to the dragon, lit up his horn, and created a shield around both of them. The magma covered the shield and Achilles grit his teeth as he tried ot keep as much of the head fro mreaching the filly he was clutching to his chest.

Then as the magma burst ended his shield flickered out just in time for him to crash into the wall of one of the towers of the castle. He had to let goof the grappling hook as he reached out with his talon and grabbed the edge and hung there. His wings were badly roasted, parts of his body looked like they had been boiled or roasted, and his horn. Was fractured.

"...Gah! Haaaa... Ouch..... damn that... fucker hit me good there... you okay kid?" He gasped out a cloud of ash and smoke before coughing. The pain was intense but he bit through it, he had gone through worse after all.

"I want my mama..." Little Dining Bell sniffled as she hugged the strange patchwork pony who had saved her from falling.

Achilles just closed his eyes and let out a deep sight. He knew the feeling, it was a feeling he felt almost every time he contemplated his sins, his life and his future. It always made him wish to return to his mother's warm embrace, her soothing comfort. And it almost made him cry, knowing he would never know that again. "Yeah... I know that feeling kid..."

A loud crack filled the air as the patchwork body of Achilles let out a jerk as he clenched his teeth together to not scream out in pain. He looked up and saw that the crimson flesh that had once fused his talon to his foreleg,, was stretching out, and blood was pouring out from the tearing flesh, the bone was no doubt broken as well. "Shit... That's bad."

Then a voice cried out from the top of the tower. "Are you alright Lord Achilles!"

The badly burnt patchwork horse looked up, his left eye blinded by the fire, but he could still see the worried face of General Aerial Grace as she landed on the ledge, reaching out to grip his talon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2nMwMOUIos

"Don't touch my claw... it could break off at any given moment. Just take the kid, get her to safety." Then the tail of the flying monster that was Talos struck the tower and it shattered apart, Achilles' eyes widened for a second as he felt the tower heave and fall, but he just kicked back, letting his talon hang limp, as he spread his burnt wings and flew across the courtyard where the golden streak that was Celestia slammed into the neck of the massive dragon, pushing him away from the palace.

Reaching out with his badly damaged claw again he grabbed hold of a flagpole sticking out of the external wall on the highest section of the fort. Panting badly he knew that the body he was inhabiting would not last much longer. Aerial Grace was flying with her troops, trying to stay out of the fight between Celestia and Talos. She could not get close to the palace with the two struggling against each other.

Achilles grit his teeth as bloody line of his wrist suddenly stretched out an inch with a loud tearing sound. There was a spray of blood erupted from his now unmoving talon. The claws had dug into the rock itself before the nerves finally tore off, so it was anchored for a while at least. He tired to look up to see if anyone had seen him yet, and was rather surprised to see the face of a familiar looking earth pony Captain he remembered as a Private.

At seeing the shocked face of Weak Guts looking out over the edge he gave the earth pony a motion with his head towards the foal he was holding, and the Captain's face got serious. Letting out a sigh he hefted the filly in his hoof and muttered to her as he felt the last piece of stretched flesh start to rip apart in his foreleg. "Get to safety kid. You got a whole future ahead of you. Cherish... every... moment..."

Then he tossed the filly with all the strength he could, straight up. The little filly let out a startled cry as she flew up past the stone walls and up above the edge of the castle's edge, were the arms of Weak Guts caught her. Then there was a loud ripping sound and Achilles' wrist was torn off, leaving the talon gripping the window's ledge as his body fell.

As he fell his body felt surprisingly light and he could feel it, the sensation of magic ringing through his soul. And he began to move his nearly broken body as the energy seemed to fill his body. It was strange ,he had not elt like it before, but it felt... familiar for some reason.

Thus Achilles spread his wings and he flapped them and began to glide towards the battle. And as he did Lord Talos let out a torrent of magma at Princess Celestia who retaliated with a beam of light that disintegrated the magma flow. But neither of the powerful beings were willing to quit and thus were pushing each other's attacks back. Closing his remaining good eye he flew through the ensuing fire storm.

And even as the heat of the fires burnt his fur and feathers he flew through it. And he pulled out his sword with his hoof, the stump on the other end no longer bleeding as profoundly as the flames had slightly cauterized it. Even as his eye burnt out he knew he had slammed into the left side of the torso of Talos, using the sensory magic he had developed as Golden Cross, and began to use his short sword as a climbing tool up the dragon's left side.

Princess Celestia flew out of the way of another gust of fire from Talos while she stared at the badly injured Horse Lord as he climbed up the dragon's side. She had no clue what he was doing but she knew that she needed to keep the dragon's attention off him.

Even as the winds and fires blew out among the battlefield no one noticed, as Princess Celestia used a bright flare of light to blind her foe while powerful fire balls exploded against his face. rendering his eyes and ears useless to spot the climbing Achilles. And with the pain nerves of the dragon's body not extending out into the thicker scales made it possible to climb it without being spotted.

To Talos it would not even have registered as with his enormous size, such small prickling stabs would be as noticeable as the bite of a mosquito. And in his rage as he lashed out at the Princess, this was impossible to notice.

Soon Achilles reached his goal, as he felt the winds slash against his face as he felt powerful muscles move. The wings were just above him. Putting the sword into its sheath he climbed up the rest with his three hooves and soon felt the boundary line between the thick scales of the body and the much thinner but still several hooves thick leather like membrane of the wings.

He unsheathed his sword, stabbed it straight into the membrane at the base of the wings just below the actual shoulder slash armpit part wing itself. And with one hoof griping the blade he began to rapidly run along the base of the wing, slicing up the membrane from the base of the wing itself and towards the other end, while a spray of blood erupted from the massive wound the sword was slicing up.

The dragon lord let out a roar of pain, as he definitely felt THAT. He swiftly turned his head around and released a literal stream of magma and fire towards the growing wound that was leaving a large gap in his left wing. A waterfall of molten rock and fire struck the bleeding gash. Waves of molted earth and liquid fire pushed against the membrane, and though it covered the wound and seemed to seal it up, was it not as effective as Talos might have hoped.

Talos was a fire dragon, his body was initially and externally immune to the effects of heat and fire, while he had sealed the wound and made the blood stop flowing, had he not healed the actual gash itself shut, in fact, he was widening it further as the force of his lava pushed against the membrane of the wing, and tore up the gash even more.

Until it finally reached the end of the wing, where a loud snap was heard as the thick nerve cluster that ended at the base of the membrane, was cut off. As the dragon screeched out in agony, as the inner sail of the left wing flapped was now flapping loose in the wind. At the same time erupted a small shape out of the not yet hardened magma.

It was Achilles and he was badly burnt, his body scorched pitch black. It was a miracle that his body was not just ash at this point. But he had done it the entire left wing of Talos had now been rendered useless.

Achilles' mouth opened and he let out a blarping burp of ash and smoke from his lungs. And then he went limp and tumbled off the dragon's body. But his sightless eyes were glowing with light somehow, even though no life could be seen from his scorched body as it began to fall in a spiraling pattern to wards the streets below.

Princes Celestia flew forward her eyes glaring furiously at the monstrous being before her who just slew one of the brightest minds she had known since the death of Starswirl. She was furious, her body was glowing like a falling star as she streaked through the air towards the dragon lord tried to retain his body in the air.

There was a bright flare as her forelegs struck the dragon's chest and the resounding explosion sent the mountain sized monster tumbling through the air and through seven houses, before his body stomped with a loud crash in the large open training field next to the park.

(Scene Skip)

The charred remains of Achilles rested upon one of the streets of the badly burning city. Within it the essence of Maleficus was contemplating what to do. He could not just assume a new form out of nowhere, there were too many eyes active. He could not just enter the fight as he was.

There was also the fact that he could not remain within this charred mess any longer. It was very uncomfortable.

Deciding to exit the body he went from a flowing mass of darkness into the barely noticeable physical form that to him made his body appear covered by darkness. This way would there be no one spotting him moving out of the corpse, hopefully.

But as he assumed his non tangible sense, something strange happened. He felt something, an invisible force, pressing down upon him. From... all over. At first it was just like a heavy cloth over your body. But soon it became like a heavy rain. and there was a white noise in the background.

"GAAAAAAAAAAH!!" A white noise that suddenly erupted into the crying voices of over a thousand individuals shouting out things into his skull. It was having an earthquake in your skull!

Maleficus clutched his head and tried to hold out the sound but it just kept ringing through him. Finally he had enough and even if it risked him being spotted he roared out in pain. "JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP!!!!!"

As if put on pause the voices stopped and the alicorn groaned as he rubbed his head. After around a minute, the voices spoke back, speaking a sentence together.

"...Yes. Yes I can." He admitted it right away, which he regretted profoundly when the voices started shouting out at him again. Making his head feel even worse then before.

"Quiet! I cannot hear a word you are trying to say!" The voices went silent again and he rubbed his poor ears.

"Okay what are you and what do you want? Please try to not speak too loudly or incoherently." In response to his question the voices seemed to murmur together for a moment. Before they all responded together to the alicorn.

*Ah. Okay. I am apparently able to speak to the dead while I am like this... huh? Who knew? I better ask Luna about this when I return to the moon. But this could work for me though.* Having spent his time thinking a bit Maleficus came up with some questions he needed to ask the Fallen.

"Alright so you guys are the Fallen, which I assume means those who had died recent, or long ago. I am just guessing at the moment, since, how would I know? Anyhow. How would you obtain peace and rest?" His questrio nseemed to bring a pause to the voices, before they spoke out again and once more a twisted mass of answers, only not as loudly.

"Wooooaaah! Hold your horses! What exactly do you mean by that? Talos I get, but the rest? Why do you wish to kill all ponies, dragons, ME and Celestia?" Another moment of silence ensured but the voices responded again, but this time, it felt like it was not as many that responded to his inquiry. The strength of their voice appeared to be linked to the amount that spoke.

"Okay.... so you are all victims from this Draconic Incursion that is occurring. I get it. but let me ask you this. Do you know why the dragons invaded in the first place?" There was moment of silence before the voices spoke up again, many of them answering differently.

The alicorn blinked at some of those theories, and frowned when he heard his own name mentioned again, did they think HE summoned or controlled the dragons? But he decided to ignored it and just kept talking. "...Okay ignoring a lot of those things. Anyhow. One part of you, those I assume are either the dragons or other beings in the known, know who it was that lead the dragons and made them act as they are. Tell me and the rest of the Fallen. Who was it?"

Smiling he nodded, it was working. Now he just needed to get them to focus on that fucker's name. And things could work out for them. "Correct. Talos lead the dragon clan that has invaded Equestria, and is the direct cause for all of your deaths. For who was it that made the so named Rockfire Clan behave like they could fly and slaughter everyone without worries or consequences?"

The voices were vibrating now, the name of Talos growing stronger as more and more of them, felt the logic and anger flow through them. As they began to realize, who they should despise. "Who was it that personally ordered the death of others just for the sake of proving dragon superiority over others? And then caused the death of his own by sending them out to be slaughtered by those they no longer could just hunt at a whim?"

The voices kept growing stronger and by now the shadowy realm around Maleficus began to feel like it was vibrating. And yet he felt no worries, it was like he did not have to worry, these spirits could not harm him. But they could aid him, and he could aid them. He just needed, to give them purpose. "Who was it that personally lead these so called hunts and killed and had other kill, for the sake of his own personal views of what the world is like? And killed those who disobeyed his commands or sought to escape the madness?"

*Now for the coup de grace.* He thought to himself as he could feel the voices vibrating with fury. A final push and he could get them all to listen and things would be able to work out.

He inhaled and he spoke out, his voice echoing out over the darkening realm around him. The streets of Canterlot no longer visible, only the gathering shapes moving out of the dark corners, shrouding the world with their malice and anger. "Who. Is the cause of your deaths, and thus, is the reason why you all are spirits, floating around in suffering. Until he perish?"

It was done, now, he just needed to get them to accept his proposal. With a smirk Maleficus raised a hoof towards the dragon as he stood there in the park, fighting Celestia still. "Well then. I suggest you go about it this way. Join forces."

The Fallen had no idea how to respond to that statement, it was like all of them had gone 'huh' or 'durp' at the same time. But Maleficus decided to keep up the advantage, the spirits would get their rest and he would obtain a way to help Equestria without being directly linked to it! Everybody wins! *Well except for Taos, but who gives a shit about that guy?*

"Put all of your focus into one purpose. Focus it together and move it, here, through me. And I will lend you the power to physically manifest and kill Talos yourselves. You will not only save those he would needlessly slaughter, you would also get your peace and no one else have to suffer from Talos like you have. Do we have an accord Spirits of the Fallen?" There was a long momentary silence but then the world seemed to shift and twist. The shadowy shapes that had gathered, seemed to gain mass, and become more numerous. And as they did some began thousands of blue eyes to glow and they all were looked upon the alicorn, all of them unified for one purpose. The death of their tormentor, to obtain peace.

Smirking Maleficus held out a hoof as if inviting them for a hoofshake, and said one word as the shadowy shapes surged towards him like tidal wave. "Excellent."

And then he felt as if his entire body was turning as cold as ice as the black shapes flowed into his chest and pile up inside his body like someone was force feeding him liquid nitrogen. He had a moment to contemplate and consider something as the black mass moved through him and his body began to feel physically fatigue, drained, hungry and cold. *Okay maybe I did not think this one through.*

The shadowy mass that was the Fallen had begun its work to worm itself into the physical realm. Through him. And that process of using his body as a medium to reach the physical realm was heavily draining his magical and physical strength. It was having your entire body drained of all of its energy, blood, water and nutrition at once.

Before he could so much as protest that they moving too fast, was as the area around him starting to turn dark as a black crack made by the use of his physical and metaphysical essence appeared out of his spine and Fallen erupted out of his back and out of the crack. They moved out in the shape of flowing geyser of black mist, taking on the shape of black fog into the physical realm. All natural and supernatural fuels of his body was rapidly being drained out of him as the black mass moved through his body and out of the crack.

It was not in an instance but it barely took half a minute. And as the final drop of magic left his body the final tendril of shadowy mass moved out of his body. Then the alicorn stallion's eyes rolled back into his head and he dropped to the ground, unconscious. Still invisible to the physical eyes, but unconscious.

But the real world in turn, kept moving, with some new guests. Guests in the shape of the now physical growing mass of spirits, out to seek justice and vengeance.

Out of the air above the fallen charred remains of Achilles, a black shroud was starting to take shape. The shadows of the streets grew darker, the lights of the burning fires seemed to shiver and turn dim. Then a chilling wind blew out of over the street and a black rip in the air appeared, releasing a black flowing fog that moved out over the streets and alleys of the burning city block.

The mist expanded like thick billowing smoke, engulfing burning ruins, charred streets and cindering piles of ashes. After two or so minutes the crack closed, the thick and almost sludge thick fog started bellowing with the chime of dull bells and squirming like a living ooze. And then, it kept growing, now more like a black slime then a fog.

As the black shroud engulfed the burning section of the city, a quiver went through the ashes and the ground. A vibrating shaking began to erupt from the burning and charred portions of the city. In a burned down building, among a deep pile of ash, the pile shook and vibrated, before a loud crack was heard from beneath it.

Everything went still for a few seconds, and then a skeletal hoof erupted from the pile of ash. And then, out of the ashes, rose the ashen grey skeleton of a unicorn. It reared back its head, the empty sockets glowing blue, before letting out a ghastly cry.

And as the cry erupted across the streets could another crack be heard. and out of the burning remains of a car emerged the bony form of a dead earth pony. Another crack was heard and out of the smoldering ruins of a tree emerged the skeleton of a goat.

Another crack, this time a skeletal dragon the size of a filly dragged itself out of the ashen remains of a store, along with it came a swarm of filly sized pony skeletons. All crawling over the ground in a squirming lizard like manner. Out of the crackling fires of a ruined stone tower emerged a giant serpentine like skeleton the size of a guard tower, its slithering skeletal spine bearing two fore limbs with claws and fin like horns on its head and spike, a sea serpent of some manner.

More and more cracks erupted, and more and more skeletal beings emerged out of the ashes. And as a singular mass they began to crawl, walk and stride towards the park. Their glowing blue eyes staring at the battle between Celestia and Talos, and slowly the ground began to shake, as the Fallen strode over the city streets like an army of the dead. Intend on bringing themselves peace, through violence.

"Keep the shield energized! We cannot let it fall no! Give it more magic!" Grand Music shouted out to his fellow unicorns as they kept charging their magical energy into the Shield Cone.

The glowing runes and crystal upon the golden structure were glowing blue and purple, and every time the magical energy shield the yahd produced started to grow weaker, the runes would slowly start to fade from the lower end of the device. Thus they needed a single unicorn to refill the depleted energy of the machine, at least once every ten minutes.

But something had caused the device to fluctuate, and more energy was being drained now then ever and they needed to have a pony recharge it every minute now. And there was no amount of unicorns available to keep that up.

"We need more magical support, call in any volunteers from the caretakers or the civilians in the Temple!" Runners were sent, pegasus specifically as they were the quickest. The four hundred horses who had helped create the machine were all trying their best to improve the energy output. Adding secondary rings of runes around the cone itself, acting as amplifiers and containers of the magical energy flow.

Heck Grand Music had even seen some of them physically touch the device and add magic through it by themselves, only letting go when falling unconscious! How the buck did horses know how to cast magic!?

But back to the matter at hoof. The machine needed more power and he was rapidly running out of options. He knew he was the magically strongest and though he was the Grand Master of the order, was he a unicorn as well and thus he could contribute to the effort of maintaining the shield.

Especially now, that there was no more unicorns left to recharge the device.

With his eyes narrowing he stepped towards the machine, pulling out a bottle of water, drained it dry, before igniting his horn with magical energy. At the sight of this Happy Meal ran before him and tried to convince him not to do it. "Grand Music what art ya doing!? Ye can't charge that thing up alone! Ye need at least two more fer it to be safe!"

"I have to! Or the city will be over run!" He argued and walked past her. She tried to hold him back but the unicorn used telekinesis to hold the teary eye pegasus away until he reached the optimal range for recharging the machine.

Happy Meal cried out as she was held back by his magical grip, tears running down her face as she helplessly watched him prepare to charge the construct. "No! Stop it! Ya can't risk yer life like that! Ye cannot die like Grandpa did!"

"Sorry Happy Meal, but I have to. Take care of the Order for me until then."

"Grand Music! Please stop yer releasing too much! Yer body cannot handle the drain!"

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!" With a roar the unicorn stallion fired of an even brighter and wider blast of magic from his horn, the beam glowed like a beacon across the city as it struck the magically draining runes of the Shield Cone. He kept it up for as long as he screamed, the amount of energy he released lighting up every rune of the Shield Cone until he finally felt his energy sputter out.

He heard a loud crackle from beneath his throat, and the sensation of something burning against his front for a few seconds before it cooled down. And then, all of a sudden, he felt so exhausted and tired, that he stumbled and began to tilt over.

"GRAND MUSIC!!!!!!" The last thing Grand Music heard before he blacked out was the screaming voice of Happy Meal crying out his name as he collapsed from having used up almost all magic within him to refuel the Shield Cone. As the Grand Master collapsed arrived a group of unicorns guided by knights whom all rushed to pull his unconscious body away from the machine. One of them starting to recharging it again.

After what felt like forever blinked the exhausted unicorn awake as he heard someone crying. At the same time he felt something wet push against his neck while something warm was warped around him. His vision was blurred for a few seconds but soon he could see the crying shape of Happy Meal, hugging him while crying into his neck.

He tried to speak but a loud crackle was heard from his neck and he knew that his Vocal Necklace was damaged. His voice spoke out in long drawn out hollow gasps as he realized what had happened to his necklace. "Huuuuhhh.... oooooh... mahhh.... voicocoooo.... brookkkkkk...."

"Oh ya stupid, moronic, witless, buckin rock headed dumdum!" Happy Meal screamed out at the still slightly delirious stallion as she hugged his limp body to her, her tear and snot stained face glaring down at him.

"Shorrrioe...." He tried to apologies to her, and though the word was still properly heard, he could not speak in full sentences to explain himself. But apparently was the young mare not interested to hear his apologies or excuses.

"No! Yer not sorry! Yer not sorry ya saved da city! Yer not sorry ya made me watch ye almost die!" She shouted at him, glaring at him with teary eyes while holding up his limp body with her hooves gripping him by the shoulders to keep him at eye level with her. He could not do much but speak and blink as he currently was unable to look away from her upset eyes and face.

"Aaahm..." He tried to speak out and apolgies, and got a very sympathetic feeling for his grandfather when Happy Meal interrupted him again. And his respect for Maleficus grew a great deal as he now realized a portion of what he had gone through as Happy Meal started shouting at him again.

The mare in question was shaking and almsot crying against, her hooves almost eager to shake him as she looked at him with so much raw fear, sadness and relief. It hurt to see her like this and he swore to apologies to his grandfather the next time he saw him if this was anything like he went through when he told the truth to them before. "No! Do not speak! Yer magic necklace broke! But dat does not matter! What ya did was stupidly dangerous! Ya made me so scared! Ah thought ya was going ta die like Grandpa did!"

"..." He could not turn or lower his head in shame so he settled for making a sad face while folding his ears while she glared down at him. The ponies and horses nearby tried to not make themselves noticed as they kept the Shield Cone charged and operational, but some of them were watching intently at the drama occurring.

"Ya made me realize now. How much ya stupid, dumb and cute self mean ta me... But Ah know dumb mama says colts are so so Ahm goona say it mah way!" With a determined look on her face she warped her forelegs around Grand Music's neck and pulled him closer. Making the stallion blink before trying to ask what she was doing.

"..Whhhhaammmph!?" Annnnnnd promptly found his broken voice silenced at the lips of Happy Meal claimed his own, with his first ever real kiss. The dumbfounded unicorn stallion found himself blushing scarlet as the strong pegasus mare held him tight there on the rooftop of the Temples tower. Hugging and kissing him like she felt he was going to disappear.

And after a few moments, his eyes rolled up and he blackened out as he fainted from the sudden rush of emotion. After a minute Happy Meal cried out in shock as she realized he had fainted on her and quickly began to drag his limp body to the medical wing. All the while the horses and ponies on the roof all started laughing and wolf whistling together. Her cheeks glowing scarlet as she realized that everypony on the rooftop had seen that.

"I AM LORD TALOS!! THE OLDEST AND STRONGEST OF ALL DRAGONS!!! NO WEAK LITTLE HERBIVORE SHALL EVER HAVE SUPERIORITY OVER ME!!!" Talos roared out as he slammed his closed fist into a large building near the large park he had landed in. Celestia flew past him and fired a javelin of ice which skewered the dragon's side, but the dragon had began to heal himself by covering his wounds with magma.

While it did little to actually heal the injuries, did it help stop the blood flow and the pain. and Celestia was starting to feel rather tired, even the supportive fire of the sky ships were no of much aid. As five of the ships had flown too close and been engulfed by magma. Every ship had detonated into a lightning burst flinging wood shards, metal fragments and body parts over the area.

After they had lost two of their Carracks the horses decided to keep a distance and support Celestia with their ranged options. Which helped in annoying and distracting Talos very effectively. But it had still not given her enough time to charge u pa spell that could kill him in one go.

But then something happened, the ground began to shake. Not by Talos or any magical blasts. It was like... thousands of hooves were rushing together. And then, she heard something from the burning section of the city.

"Art that... music?" She muttered as she turned to look and her eyes widened as she saw something that reminded her far too much of something she had seen over two hundred years ago. A sight that still partly haunted her dreams and memories.

But this sight, was something far beyond that.

Black and ashen shapes were moving out of the flames of the burning sections of the city. Some were small like fillies, most of them were the size of ponies but there were also several ones as large as the dragons she had killed. And they were all moving like a horde of ashen skeletons. Embers were burning through out their bodies, the charred bones and hollow skulls glowing with blue lights within empty eye sockets as they strode forward like a horde of death.

Then as their number reached the edge of the park their voices rang out over the city like a crescendo. Their voice crackled and echoed over the wind as they marched out of the black fog that was flowing through and over the burning streets and buildings A massive chorus of twisted voices that none could decipher the identity of those who sang as their voices rang together into a twisted chaotic harmony.

Celestia stared in shock at the approaching army of corpses. Their rattling and crackling bodies striding over the soft grass of the park towards Talos. Like moths drawn to the flame.

The first of the skeletons stopped, and began... to hug each other. The black billowing fog began to flow out into the park, shrouding the approaching skeletal creatures as they began to move into a singular spot. Their ashen hooves, claws, tails, teeth and paws reaching out and grasping one another, as they began to pile up over each other.

And even the attention of Talos was gathered at this sight. As the ashen figures that emerged out into the park with the black began to frantically climb on top of one another. As more and more of the skeletal forms gathered into the pile, their shapes seemed to meld together. It was like they were folding and shaping themselves into a new shape, built out of their own gathering bodies.

As the skeletal shape of two dragons joined the pile Talos let out a rumbling roar and released a gush of flames at the gathering pile of skeletons. A massive explosion erupted as the magma struck the skeletons and their shapes blew off the pile and scattered across the park like sticks and stones.

Yet even as the smug grin of Talos grew, the parts that he had blown off or destroyed, began to quiver and vibrate before slowly sliding back together. Piece by piece the skeletons slowly pulled themselves together. Even as their ghastly frames were only half shaped they raised their half restored limbs and slowly began to crawl or walk back towards the pile. And as they reached it they once more began to attach themselves to each other. At an even quicker pace then before.

Black fog bellowed out over the growing pile of bones, the intense magical energy flowing out of the fog made Talos shiver as his body told him to not touch the black smog. And he stepped back as the pile of bones grew larger and larger, the black fog almost turning into a corporeal mass as the bones of the skeletons melded together.

The song grew louder and stronger. Talos once more spewed forth magma over the monstrosity growing before him. But even as a massive burst of ashes, fire and embers erupted from the blackened blob of fog and corpses, it reassembled itself and resumed growing larger.

Then a loud crack erupted from the darkness and a twisted misshapen head rose out of the black fog, a misshapen mass of skulls held together by smaller skeletons, taking the twisted disproportionate shape of a pony head made out of skulls. Out of the thousands of heads making up its shape were there seven large skulls from dragons, sea serpents and elephants rose out of the black miasma. Their glowing eye sockets staring at the Dragon Lord with what could only be described as contempt.

Talos roared out once more and even as he blew out another stream of magma from his jaws the massive massive bone head rose higher out of the darkness, a veritable sea of skeletons crawling up and attaching themselves to its ever growing body. The neck rose up, a skeletal frame of bones and darkness. And then the shoulders began to take shape ,as well as the long and twisted spine covered by bony spike and spire.

Then one of the legs took shape as the giant creature of bones pulled out its assembling limb and made a step forward ,out of the black miasma. A massive foreleg slammed down upon the grassy field. It was a bare boned limb with a hoof made out of what looked like a twisted combination of dragons claws and pony skeletons. A few moments later, the other foreleg was pulled out, but it was much more different then the one that had just been pulled out.

A long and multi segmented limb that looked more like it would fit on a praying mantis that had mated with a scythe grew out of the darkness. The scythe blade made out of the long spiky spine of a sea serpent with thousands of lesser skeletons attaching themselves to the inner curve of the scythe, giving it the vision of being a curved blade. And the massive blade was pressed into the ground, used as support to let the spine of the creature to raise up the rear end of its skeletal body out of the black smog.

The right hind leg rose out of the darkness. And then the left followed. And soon a long whip like tail made out of thousands of skeletons attached together emerged from the black shroud. With the tip taking the form of a curved sickle blade, made out of the spine and tail of a dragon. A pair of long lengths of thin bone erupted from its sides, behind the shoulders, and a pair of massive bony bird wings absent of any feathers finally took shape. And with its final parts out of the darkness, the massive giant of bones and skulls, reared back its head, and opened the thousands of mouths making up its surface, and screeched.

Lord Talos took a step back as the massive black and ashen coloured shape as it stood there. In the the shape of a massive pony monstrosity built out of the skeletons of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of beings, ponies, dragons, griffins, dogs and other beings, making up its twisted body. But as it turned its howling heads to face him, it began to walk towards him ,each step shaking the ground.

"Die you freak!" Howling out in utter rage at the abomination Talos strode forward and released a low of magma that struck it in the chest, as it struck exploded the front of the body, releasing thousands of burning skeletons to the ground.

But as the dragon grew a confident smirk on his lips, the broke shards and pieces, began to flow back and reassemble themselves into the broken hole. And the massive thing, turned towards Talos, and thousands of empty eye sockets across their entire body, began to glow blue. The black miasma they had grown out of flowed up into hollow spaces of the large shaped and filled it up, and then a myriad of voices began to sing out. As the collective of corpses and darkness marched forward, intent on ramming down the dragon.

A massive shock erupted across the ground as the skeletal giant stomped forward against the Dragon Lord. Talos swung his tail at the beast who just let his smash apart its left limb, which shattered like brittle bones. A spray of broken and intact skeletons flew off at the impact and rained over east side of the park. It did not fall, but it lot its momentum.

But before the pieces all even finished landing on the ground they seemed to flow back together into full skeletons. And they began to crawl or run back towards the abomination they had been part of. They reached the broken off foreleg and began to climb up the surface like a swarm of ants and began to put themselves back into place. This looked as if a swarm of grey ants were repairing the broken off limb, until it eventually reconnected with the upper portion that was still connected to the main body.

With its limb restored the abomination reared back its scythe like fore limb and swung it at Talo's gut. The dragon stepped aside, the massive blade slicing a deep gorge across the ground. The thing then used the grip it had obtained with its scythe like limb and used it to pull itself forward in a quick rush towards Talos.

Talos leaped backwards and used his tail once more. This time the massive bone heap evaded by standing up on its hind legs and raising both of its forelimbs into the air. It then tried to slam said limbs down into Talos' body.

The massive dragon moved aside and the massive scythe and hoof slammed into a large stone building, the impact smashing the entire thing apart like it was made out of sticks and rocks. Gravel, dust and sawdust bellowed from its massive limbs as it stepped out of the ruined building and turend its thousands of glowing blue eyes towards Talos, glaring at him,

It tossed up its hoof limb and a spray of ash, dust and gravel struck the Dragon Lord in the face, making his clutch and cry out in anger. And it charged forward with earth shattering gallops, lowering down its head for a head based charge.

With a brutal slam of its head it struck Talos in the chest and sent him crashing backwards into the ground. It reared back its massive scythe blade and swung it down towards the downed dragon who managed to roll out of the way as the forty meter long blade sank into the earth.

It tore outs its scythe like limb and made a move to kick him with one of its hind legs. The dragon took the hit in the side but only stumbled back as the hit had not been as complete as intended, still hurt though.

Then creature turned around and jumped at Talos, who grasped its two forelimbs with his claws and held it back, its thousands of mouths signing out into his face. A scent of a thousand corpses spraying him in the face as the wind of their voices struck him like a the stench of a rotting hydra in a toxic bog. Their limbs pressing down upon him with incredible strength even though they had no muscles.

"Shut up! Shut your filthy mouths and die!" Talos snarled out and let out another stream of magma onto the head of the creature, blowing it apart like he did its chest before. But he let out a snarl of frustration as the pieces of the head just climbed back into place. Even though he blew another gush of fire, it only seemed to encourage the thing to move faster.

With a heave of his legs and forelimbs Talos pushed back the massive behemoth of bones and darkness. It shifted its body and landed on all four, not falling over or onto its back. And it began to circle the dragon who mimicked this, their massive claws and hooves tearing up the ground of the field and park they were moving over.

With a rush the two massive beings rushed towards each other. Talos blew out another flow of magma out of his maw and the head of the creature detonated, spreading another rain of corpses across the land. But once more the tiny pieces began to crawl back, while the main body tackled Talos in the gut.

Princess Celestia landed on a rooftop and stared in shock as the massive skeletal figure rushed forward, even with a still regrowing head, and tackled Talos to the ground, it began to pound the dragon across the head with its none-scythe hoof as the blade was being used as an anchor to keep the dragon from escaping.

Talso blew a gush of magma at hisopponent but they pushed his head to the side with their hoof and his magma struck out at the trees of the park, igniting more of the former green place of tranquility into a burning battlefield.

A strange circle of red embers began to take shape upon the front of the skeletal being's neck as it sang, the glowing red circle seemed to symbolize something. Another strike from its hoof tore up a gash across the Dragon Lord's face and the sound of bone cracking was heard.

Talos spat out blood and grabbed hold of the skeletal mass that was striking him in the face with both of his talons. As his claws dug into the bony limb the tiny skeletons holding it together were he was gripping suddenly started tearing and biting at his claws and scales.

Gritting his teeth in pain the Dragon Lord glared at the burning blue eyes of the head, the stinking, near toxic, breath of the gaping skulls making him feel nauseous. But his eyes narrowed at the latter part of the lyrics, it was clearly indicated that someone had summoned this creature. When he found them he would make them regret they ever lived! No one insulted the Rockfire Clan or the race of Dragons like this!

"Wrong! We dragons are eternal! Our rule shall last forever! And no walking and talking bone heap shall convince me otherwise!" Talos screamed out in an utter frantic and insane manner as he spat out a stream of magma upon the corpse leg keeping him anchored and managed to tear himself free and throw away the creature. Half of his face was badly cut up and some of his teeth were fracture but his eyes were just angry.

Talos glared and swung out with his talon at the beast. It had admitted it would not stop until he died. Thus he could no longer take it easy. He needed to tear this thing apart and burn its remains! His claws tore out chunks of bones and darkness, scattering pieces the size of houses out of the grim being's body.

But no matter how much he tore, broke, melted or punched. The broken parts would return and repair themselves. The creature endured all of his strikes and even when he managed to push it onto its side he howled out in frustration as he stomped down upon it with his heavy rear claws and crushed bones into dust. And yet they restored themselves.

Princess Celestia jumped up and took flight as the dragon lord tried to slam apart the bone creature that had just called itself an Eidolon, with his claws and fists, slamming, stomping and punching with all of his might. But even as he tore apart another part, would another heal.

*Who could hath summoned this being? Could it hath been Achilles? No he hath no time to enact such an endeavor before he fell. Could it hath been Maleficus? No, he would not hath aided us in this battle. Who could it hath been?* Her thoughts tried to decipher who could have summoned such a massive creature of undeath and darkness to sick it upon the dragon. Could there be a new Alicorn? Had some kin of necromancer arisen and vowed revenge? The possibilities never seemed to end.

A loud crack erupted as the skeletal being reared back its head and slammed its misshapen head into the dragon's jaw. Talos reared back, clutching his mouth as his jaw hung lose, having been dislocated by the strike. The Eidolon stood up on its three limbs and screeched out at the dragon.

Talos pressed his jawbone back into place and moved it around for a few seconds before he glared at the bone creature. With a twist of his legs he made a forward charge and with a powerful blow with his right closed claw he punched through the misshapen head of bones and shadows. But as he tried to pull his limb out of the fractured skull, the smaller skeletons tried to grip and tear at his limb, to hold it in place.

With a loud crack he jerked his claw free, pulling out thousands of clawing skeletons out of the misshapen head. Black miasma flowing over his talons and he roared out in pain as he felt his scales and claws corrode by the darkness. As if they had been bathed in acid or aged rapidly.

Then Celestia noticed something in the distance, the massive scythe limb that had been burnt off was twisting and shaking, the dismembered limb's stump twisting and shaking ,as if trying to dig its way back towards its main body. At the same time Talos grabbed there creature by the head and let out a torrent of magma into the gaping hole in its skull. But like before it healed rapidly, and he quickly let go. Not intent on letting his left talon get damaged like the right had been.

And then the Eidolon lashed out with its tail. The tail warped around the left forearm of the dragon as it was pulling back. Talos reached out with his damaged right claw and tugged at it, intend on breaking free of the tail. But then the massive scythe blade's stump slammed into the soil and with a powerful twisted of its double jointed segments,launched itself out of the ground and flew in a spinning manner through the air. Flying towards the occupied dragon from behind. There was the sound of bone slicing through flesh, a loud thumb, and a roar of pain as the cut off right arm of Talso dropped out of the grasp of the tail.

Talos clutched his bleeding stump, screeching out in utter agony. And then the hind leg of the corpse creature struck him in the stomach and sent him crashing through four large houses. And the Eidolon rushed after him, its restored scythe limb raised.

In a state of panic Talos swung out his tail at a low angle and tore apart the hooved limbs, causing the entire thing to fall on its back. he the nrushed forward opened his jaws and bit down on the thing's head. His teeth sank through the bone and black ichor as magma flowed out from his throat. and for a moment he thought he was winning. But then the sick taste of rot, decay and body waste filled his sense and he reared back, barfing magma and stomach juices over the downed Eidolon.

Then a golden beam of light struck him i nthe side and sent him tumbling into a set of buildings. He glared at the glowing figure of the alicorn who had struck him with the powerful spell. The beam of light had left a large gash in his side looking like it hard melted a deep gouge in his thick scales and flesh. He climbed out of the ruined house and spun around to gain momentum and swung his tail towards her.

"How long hath thou been tormenting this world Lord Talos? How long hath thee been slaughtering ponies for this madness to occur?" Celestia asked the furious dragon lord as she flew away from his tail.

The massive dragon's rear limb lashed out and with a loud crumbling and crashing sound the massive limb destroyed four buildings, including one she had been standing on. Above her the Sky Ships kept a safe distance, unwilling to clash with either of the two fighting behemoths.

The Eidolon stood up, its limbs regrown and the massive gap in its head gone. Its clawed limb shifted and twitched a bit before it reached out and slammed down into the ground. Then with a great and heavy pull of its multi segmented parts, it tore out a large chunk of soil and stone from the ground.

Rearing back on its hind legs the skeletal creature raised the large chunk of earth above its head before it threw it towards to occupied Talos who was trying to strike down Celestia. The large projectile flew through the air like a flying hill and struck the dragon in the side. The mass of dirt, earth and stone shattered, but the speed and weight of the impact had sent the dragon realing back, and the Eidolon charged.

His bleeding stump paining Talos blew out a mass of magma over it. Before getting an idea. He did the same to his remaining arm, covering the entire thing with a layer of magma. Then as the Eidolon charged towards him, he lashed out with a punch and smirked as it sank into the chest of the thing, and he could not feel the back ichor or the skeletons within tearing at his flesh.

Feeling confident once more he blew another layer of magma over his arm and punched out, a large section of the collective of corpses erupted into black ooze and falling skeletons. These ones were far slower to recover the damages. And Talos found out the weakness of the Eidolon, it needed to physically hit something alive to recover its injuries quicker!

"As long as I cover my body with a layer of protection, I shall have victory!" He cried out and he began to pummel the corpse giant. Lashing out with rapid punches with his magma covered arm, tearing out chunks of the creature. But then the Eidolon lashed out with its tail and a deep gash appeared across Talos' right wing, and as the dragon reared back in pain, the damage dealt was being restored.

Talos tried once more to resume his tactic of magma punching the corpse creature to death. But the Eidolon managed to dodge his first strike, and headbutted him, sending him reeling back. And the creature of bone and darkness raised its claw to strike at the disoriented Dragon Lord.

But as the Eidolon swung down the scythe came one of Talos' legs up and kicked it back. And with another physical effort the dragon lord jumped backwards, blowing out magma over his upper body as he did so. Then as he finished he made a rush forward, intent to bull rush the massive bone heap. But the skeletal creature was ready and grabbed hold of the dragon's neck with its hoofed foreleg and used his own momentum to turn around with him, and then released him in a sideways motion. Throwing him off balance,

The throw sent Talos into a forward fall and there was a loud crash as he land on his back. There was a loud crack as the left wing of the dragon broke. And the dragon let out a pained roar before the skeletal being descended upon its prey with the scythe blade held high.

As the creature sang it sank in the scythe blade into the dragon's left shoulder. Causing him to roar out in pain as the curved blade claw spit through his shoulder, splitting the bones and nerves.

And even as the dragon let out a torrent of magma, tearing off parts of the body they tore out the scythe blade in a bloody geyser before slamming it down into his other shoulder. And then again it tore it out. And then again ti slammed it down, this time into his left knee. And the next it was the right knee.

Again they tore it out, again Talos tried to melt them apart. Again they stabbed the massive blade down ,this time into his cut. The dragon lord screamed out and tried to grasp and break the blade with his remaining claw. But let out another scream of pain as the edge blade cut off his claws and left him with only a thumb on his ruined right claw.

The skeletal giant reared back the blade again, tearing out a long stretch of intestines and them slammed it down into the gut again. Talos screamed and roared ,but never did he beg. He was the Lord of the Rockfire clan, and he would die before he begged for his life.

Not that the Eidolon seemed to care about that as it tore out another strip of his intestines, rendering another scream from the dragon as several gashes across his chest and stomach had bared his organs to the world. Upon the middle of the skeletal scythe claw were two long stretch of intestines now impaled, stretched out of the screaming dragon's gut. And with this in claw the Eidolon made one final brutal act upon Talos.

It shoved ghastly blade one final time, in and down the throat of Talos. Forcefully stuffing the gagging dragon lord's mouth with the gristly blade as it tore through the back of his neck, not in the spine but next to it. That would have been far too kind.

Then the creature just went still, and let the scythe clawed limb rest buried there. Letting the once proud dragon lord choke on his own stretched out intestines, as body waste was pushed out of them and down his throat. A better end then he deserved, and it watched with all of its thousands upon thousands of glowing blue eyes, as the dragon's fearful eyes, began to fade.

And as the light of life finally left the eyes of the monster who had killed an untold number of beings. The skeletal giant that was the Eidolon removed its claw with a jerk, took two steps back, raised its misshapen head to the sky, and finished its song.

Its physical structure sagged as the blue glow of the eye holes of each corpse that made up its physical structure flickered out like candle light. Pieces began to fall, off, black ichor began to pour out of its internal parts. Until it finally began to crumbled apart, its shape collapsing with a loud groan.

As its shape struck the ground of the park it broke apart and became nothing more then a giant pile of charred corpses. The black misty ichor that had filled its hollow spaces poured out and disappearing into the earth, swallowed up by the soil.

Over a million different beings, acting as one to kill the one source of their torment. And a sense of clarity and comfort could be felt as their corpses no longer moved. Their souls finally at peace.

After a while moved ponies and horses into the ruined remains of the park, flying down ro mthe sky above them came Celestia. Who had flown off to tell her subjects that talos had been defeated.

But the way he had been defeated was baffling, and concerning.

As Princess Celestia walked over to the sight before her she felt conflicted and confused. Her city was badly damaged but only a few had lost their lives. All thanks to the aid of the horses and the large skeletal being that had rose out of the ashes of her burning home to kill the dragon. It was so confusing that lat part. She did not understand a thing.

"What was that being We wonder?" She muttered as she looked at the pile of bones her troops were sorting out. It was so much that it would take weeks to clear out so the park could be restored. Not to mention the large corpse of Talos needed to be handled somehow.

A horse bearing the armour of a knight came walking over to her, bearing an leaf shaped sigil upon his shoulder, marking him as a Captain. "Princess Celestia. We wish to have a word with you."

"What doest thee wish of Us?" She asked with an absent look on her face, still trying to contemplate the insane event that had oh so recently occurred in her city.

The horse nodded and gave her the short and simple question he wished to ask of her. "Me and my kin wish to take the head of Talos, as a trophy and as a scare tactic against the dragons."

At first the words did not register in her mind and she just agreed to it, "Do as thou wish... wait... what did thou say", then she realized what she had just heard.

"Thank you for agreeing Princess we shall begin immediately." The horse said with a half bow before trotting off to gather the rest of his fellows.

Princess Celestia ran after him shouting out to him, trying to figure out what he just said meant. She needed some clarity Tartarus dammit! "No wait! What does thou mean by trophy and scare tactics!?"

The dragons flying outside of the city had been at it for several hours at trying to break the barrier. But no luck thus far. And there had been no more sounds coming from the barrier ever since they had heard their Lord screaming in anger and pain.

And the silence had only gone to make them even more nervous. The Rockfire Clan was down to one fourth of its original numbers, including those who had remained home in the East. If the other dragon clans got nose of this, things would turn ugly for them as Lord Talos had few allies within the other Clans.

The hundreds of dragons all turned their heads to look towards the large mountain home of the ponies as they head a strange humming sound. And then their eyes widened as the large purple light wall that had covered the city, began to dispatch, fading away in the afternoon sun light.

At first they wanted to charge forward and do their Lord's will! But the remaining few Elders held them back, feeling that something was wrong. and their fears were confirmed, when the flying wooden huts of the ponies emerged out of the center of the large stone village.

At the front of the now less then forty vessels flew three ships with multiple sails, the Carracks. And hanging down beneath these three leading ships, hanging from three long and thick chaisn, hung a grisly sight. A blood leaking terrifying and mind shattering sight.

The badly torn up, but mainly intact, head of Lord Talos of the Rockfire Clan, hung upo nthe chains, his dead and empty eyes staring out at his clan. And the ponies upon the vessels, all raised their hooves into the air, and roared out a cry of victory!

Panic was the one word to describe what followed as all the dragons realized that their Lord was dead. Killed by ponies.

One of the younger ones cried out first. "Lord Talos is dead!"

"No way!" Another older dragon cried out in shock.

"Retreat! Return to the homeland!" One of the elders shouted out as she flew away from the crazy place. Their lord had tried to kill the ponies like they always did, and now he was the one who had been killed. Madness! The World was going mad!

They roared in fear and despair, their wings flapping out and those of them unable to fly running as fast as they could. The rumbling of the storm clouds beneath the ponies' flying huts as the followed causing their hearts to escalated int oa rapid beat of utter panic and terror!

And as the ships finished routing the dragons over the western peaks of the Foal Mountain, the horses of Ancient Hellas, all smirked together and cheered. While the city behind them did the same.

"Do you see what I meant by Scare Tactics now Princess?" The Captain asked an amused Princess Celestia as they both stood on the gatehouse of the city, observing the fleeing dragons along with the rest of the Generals and high ranking Knights of the city.

"We truly do Captain. A bit unsavory for Our taste but efficient no less." Princess Celestia responded with a slight smirk on her lips. To see those beasts cowed and retreating was such a relief to her stress levels it was slightly funny. Now if she could work out something similar in handling court matters then things would be even better.

For the rest of the day the ponies and horses worked on repairing most of the damages dealt to the city. It would take a good amount of work but Canterlot would recover from this ordeal. Sadly the same could not be said for those who died saving the city. One of them being the Horse Lord Achilles who died saving the life of a young filly and grounding the Dragon Lord Talos by slicing up his left wing with his final psakr of strength.

A death worthy of a legend, equal to the feat of Golden Cross.

While this all was going on was a certain unconscious alicorn still slumbering in the streets, but he would remain hidden for the entire duration of his rest. And only because of his horses covering up his shape. Using the excuse of preserving the body of Achilles by having the part of the street were he crashed blocked off, and a big tent prepared. With an excuse that they needed to prepare Achilles' body for its final rites they could do so, and thus could protect their Creator as he slumbered within the tent..

No one dared to bother the horses tending to their dead Lord. And by the next day would things have gotten even more interesting, as some other guests would be arriving. By Sky Ship at that.

The morning sun shone upon the city and a pair of gards were both taking the early hour watch, and about to end their shift, when one of them spotted soemthing in the distance.

"You seeing what I am seeing?" The pegasus town guard asked his colleague.

"Yup." Was the agreeing statement of his fellow.

"So another go at the horn?" He asked again and his fellow guard just nodded and responded with another easy to understand answer.

"Yup." Truly a marvelous communication system.

"Just great." With a sigh the guard walked over to the signal horn and inhaled deeply. Then he put his mouth to the horn and exhaled with such force that his rear body flew up into the air and stuck there for the duration of the blow. It was impressive how much force he could put behind that.

And thus the City of Canterlot was woken up, to the sound of a signal being given.

Allies Visiting. A signal that had not been given until now.

A group of three small Sky Ships sailed over the walls of Equestria. Bearing two tall masts bearing wide rectangular sails and frames only as long as twenty meters and about seven meters wide. These were cogs, the precursor of the Carrack, a smaller ship only capable of holding up to about fifty people. They also had no oars on their shapes, instead they had four large wooden fans sticking out of the lower hull, and the clouds beneath them were white clouds not of storm or rain variation.

They were not as glamorous or defensively equipped as the war ships the horses used. These were more civilian in appearance. And as their shapes flew over the city ponies looked up in wonder at the three ship sailing on white clouds moving over their city. They were just as curious about the ships with the storm clouds, but these were new having just arrived.

Silver Army Pegasi troops flew up and guided the ships to the Palace were they began to lower down towards the ground. In and outside of the courtyard were over two and a half thousand horses gathered in formations, looking up at the ships arriving from above with anticipation.

Princes Celestia with her own Sun Guard stood by the stairs leading to the large gates into the palace, her battle armour replaced by a beautiful white gown and golden jewelry. Her pink eyes looking up with eagerness as those the Ancient Horses had spoken of. Their descendants.

And as the three ships landed on the courtyard were long and wide wooden planks lowered down. And down from the ships came robed horses, bearing with them various books and staffs, floating by invisible magical grips. The modern horses strode forward, lead by an elderly looking stallion with an almost pre-madness Starswirl look about him, it almost made Celestia mistake the large horse for her old mentor.

The leading horse stopped before the Princess and gave a decently deep bow, a sign of respect to her, and spoke up in an elderly and kind voice that gave him a clear grandfather vibe. "We are honoured to finally meet you Princess Celestia. We are one of the last clans of the modern horses, the descendants of the Ancient Ones. My name is Asclepius, otherwise known as Cursed Blessing, the elder of the Tome Keeper Clan. I hope me, my clan and my ancestors, may bring a great future for both your nation and our people."

Princess Celestia returned the bow with a half bow, she did not know this horse after all but he was being very respectful and polite. "We welcome thee to Our home Elder Asclepius. Though We art curious, why doest thee hath two names?"

Smiling a little Cursed Blessing gave her the honest answer for why he had two names. "After the fall of the horses and the Windigos bringing the Winter of Conflict, we tried to keep to ourselves for the most part. But my clan decided a different path, to disguise ourselves as large ponies, thus allowing us to hide among the ponies as to work without hazard to restoring our ancestors from their curse. Thus we took on pony names to make it more convincing, even painting ourselves with cutie marks, and the tradition to take pony names has ever since remained among us."

Princess Celestia blinked at that. She had not been expecting to hear that the horses of this particular group had decided to rather then hide away in isolation, hide in plain sight as earth ponies. "We... see... That must hath been difficult."

Smirking at that Cursed Blessing chuckled and tapped his face. "Truthfully your highness, we have been part of pony society since before the Age of Chaos, apparently one of my clan was even part of your mother's court before he fell to Discords twisted magics. I believe he was named Ground Shaker, his true name was Taurus. Discord apparently turned him into a twisted creature called a Minotaur."

Almost dropping her jaw in shock at that revelation the Princess tried to hide it by coughing into her hoof. She decided to put the current subject off and focus more on the present, she needed to regain control of the conversation. "We wish to extend Our most sincere gratitude for the aid thee and thy ancestors brought to Us against the dragons. We art sad however that Lord Achilles fell in battle doing so. He hath a remarkable mind for arcane theories and devices."

Cursed Blessing gave a sad smile and nodded to the Princess. "Aye my dear Princess. Lord Achilles was one of a kind, a General, a Fighter, a Gladiator, a Leader and a Hero. One who fought impossible odds and came out with victory grasped in his hooves. But he died a good death, a death worthy of his heritage as a Spartan and a Viking, to die in battle for either, is to die with honour and to receive the greatest blessing upon death."

The viking slammed their hooves into the ground and cheered out with their axes pointing out towards the sky, shouting out the world. "VALHALLA!"

While the Spartans slammed their spears into their shields and raised their spears into the sky, shouting out a different words. "ELYSIUM!"

And both of the forces cheered out together with pride. While the Samurais bowed with respect and the Knights knelt down and prayed with their weapons resting against the ground. The ponies of the Sun Guard and the various bystanders, including a lot of nobles, awkwardly looked on at this scenery.

Seeing Princess' Celestia giving him a questioning look Cursed Blessing explained what was happening. "Elysium and Vahlalla are two names for the Afterlife of Warriors if the Vikings and the Spartans, two specific Horse Clans of Warriors. Both of these symbolize a place after death where those who die in battle, in duel, or with honour, are carried beyond either a rainbow bridge into the realm of the gods or through a mythical rivers into an underground paradise. To join other heroes in the afterlife and enjoy the finest of feasts, the greatest of battles and the most sweetest of delights, for the rest of eternity. The myths differ for either group, but the intents are the same."

Celestia nodded and understood a bit better now. After a while the horses resumed their normal stoic looks. Although the so called Vikings and Spartans seemed a lot more relaxed. "We see. But We should move forward, We hath to properly finalize the alliance Lord Achilles sought to sign with Equstria. And We also wish to know what thee wish to do with Lord Achilles' remains, as We wish to witness it Ourself."

Cursed Blessing smiled and nodded. "Of course your majesty. I am currently the one in charge of my people, but a leader may be chosen for each group in the future once we have become more unified. For now, I shall do what I can to bring a great future for my kin and your nation."

And so the elderly horse entered the Palace alongside Princess Celestia, and the horses and ponies outside, cheered out as some of the Vikings brought out kegs filled with various manners of sweet drinks made out of honey to celebrate. While the other horses offered various forms of food like various types of sea weeds, some manner of sour fruit the Knight's called a lemon and a berry the Spartans called olive.

While the ponies brought pastries, bread and fruits. The ensuing celebration spread across the city like wildfire. Celebrating the defeat of the dragons and the alliance of the Horses and Equestria.

As Princess Celestia lead the elderly horse past the hallways she wanted to ask him something she truly could not figure out. "Pardon Us asking Lord Asclepius. But if thou hath two names. Doest that not mean that the other horses doest now that they no longer art hiding?"

Chuckling a bit Cursed blessing shook his head. "By now it is more of an old tradition. But I know that several of the horses who came from the ancient times wishes to take pony names, as to start over with entire new names and lives. As to not let the past haunt them."

"Did... Achilles take such a name?" She felt a bit bad asking, for Achilles had never spoken of it, but she felt a need to ask. For some reason she was truly curious about it.

"Aye, he did. Not a common pony name either. He wanted to use his old name as an official name, as a Horse Lord, with his pony name being less official and more private. He would have revealed it to you Princess had he gotten to know you more." At those words she felt a bit flattered that the elderly horse thought that Achilles would have revealed his more personal name to her. It made her feel a bit... happy.

She then asked what manner of name he has chosen. "What name hath he chosen, if We may ask?"

The gates of the throne room opened up and her aids were moving in with paper work and had even put up a small table for the two to discuss matters face to face ,as her instructions had been for it to be a meeting for equals. Cursed Blessing chuckled at her question and told her. "The name he had chosen was based upon his mother, the woman who raised him and gave him the power to become a hero. She supposedly had him blessed by the gods by dipping him as a foal in a magical river. Thus he had picked the name Holy Water."

With a smile on her muzzle Celestia closed her eyes and let the name roll over her lips. Envisioning the horse lord in her mind, telling her this new name. "Lord Holy Water... a fine name." And indeed it was.

There was a bit of a silence again, until they both sat down by the finely made oaken table and the paperwork began to be put on the surface for them to work with. But as they did, another question struck Celestia. When she saw the elderly horse make a half circle movement with his hoof, and cause an quill to levitated out of an ink well, and start writing. "How doest thee use magic? We hath never heard of non-unicorns wielding arcane matters before."

Chuckling again Cursed Blessing raise his hoof and Celestia saw a blue glow emerged around it. "It is no real secret that all ponies and horses have magic within us. While the Ancient Ones were more inclined to the arts of crafting magical devices or artifacts, learned my clan over the centuries how to channel the internal magic of our bodies to cast spells like unicorns. We are not as quick as a unicorn when it comes to magic casting, nor are we a strong when compared. But we horses are known for adapting and thus we can use a wide variability of magic unlike most unicorns who seem to be limited to a limited numbers of spells."

And so the two leaders went through the paperwork of finalizing their alliance. While discussing theories and facts about the ways of magic based upon the arts of external and internal magic to create spells. It took a while, which was a good thing since it made the paperwork bearable.

In a tent outside of the city, next to the anchored Sky Fleet, laid the unconscious shape of Maleficus on a bed. The alicorn had been in a manner of coma ever since he let the Fallen use his essences to physically manifest themselves into the world. A horse mare was treating his boy wit water, grounded up foods of various types, feeding him carefully while making him swallow by pressing various pressure points.

His body was so thin and malnutritioned that it looked like a mummified corpse. The horse mare looked towards the doorway when a small shape poked their head into the open flaps, and the face of a concerned Happy Meal entered. "Is it okay ta enter?"

"Yes young one. You and your beloved may enter." The horse mare said in a kind voice and the blushing mare entered the tent alongside her newly confirmed coltfriend Grand Music, who was being lead in by a smiling Grand Feast.

The sight of the unconscious and near skeletal body of Maleficus made Happy Meal nealry tear up but Grand Music gave her a comforting hug before she could and she just sniffled a little. Grand Feast looked at the mare who as treating te alicorn and asked her about his condition. "How does that stupid stallion fare?"

With a sigh the mare pressed a wet cloth to the alicorn's forehead, letting the moisture pour out over his head as she washed it slowly. "He's not any different from yesterday. We truly do not know what he did to end up like this. But it must have involved summoning that massive beast of bones that brought down the dragon Talos. Whatever it did it drained his body of all manner of nutrition, be it magical or not. His magic is rapidly recovering and the more food I feed him the more his muscles and body fat is restored. But he's still unconscious."

"Will... will grandpa be okay?" Happy Meal asked with teary eyes. The horse mare smiled, when she had decided to take the initiative and inform the three ponies her creator was so found of, of his current state, she knew it had been the right thing. And she was glad she did, it truly proved her that her creator was a good person, no matter the faults or flaws that he kep trying to push onto himself.

"Even should he not have been an alicorn do I doubt he would let himself remain like this for long. No he will be okay, and perhaps he will learn to not take stupid risks, but I doubt it. He's fr too willing to hurt and sacrifice himself to not do so when necessary, though many of us wish he would consider his own health and our concern for him." The mare finally stated with a sad smile at the unconscious alicorn. He felt like a victim and yet treated himself like a criminal, seeking atonement for the deaths he indirectly caused. The alicorn could just not find it in himself to forgive himself, he was treating everything he did as mediocre, not something worthy of praise, and while he did not wish to submit to being treated like a common criminal, did he still see himself as a monster for what he had caused.

Even though he had paid back for all of those things a thousand folds. He would never stop hating himself for it. And thus he would not stop the risks of hurting himself, to atone for it. And all of his creations knew, they just knew somehow, that he could not keep doing so. Or it would destroy him.

Thus she had asked these three to visit him, thinking that at least their presence and voices, would give him some comfort. He truly needed it. "I will leave to get some more food and water. Take care of him for me until I am back please."

Grand Feast just gave the large horse mare a smile and nodded. "Ye did not even need to ask. Me and mah kin owe too much to this stubborn bone head of a pony to just let him decay like this."

The mare smiled and walked out of the tent. Grand Feast walked over to the sleeping form of Maleficus and reached down and put the wet cloth against his still form, rubbing it over his head, horn and mane gently. His ear flickered slightly as the water tickled him, but he kept sleeping, not even snoring as his soft breathe made his thin frame raise and lower itself.

"Ye stubborn old fool. Yer far older then me, yet ya are as dumb as they get. Hurting yeself needlessly like this. Ye could just have hid or escaped, not needing to aid the Princess when she had everything under control." She smiled sadly at the sleeping face of the alicorn, his sleeping face covered with marks of exhaustion that could be seen even beneath his thick black fur. He must have worked himself ragged for days, never sleeping properly.

"Hey Grandpa. Ah wanted ta tell ya something when ya woke up but... da Horses are gonna leave fer da East soon ,ta bury their big shot General. And me and Grand Music need ta stay home and repair da city. So Ahm honna tell ya now. Ahm dating Grand Music, he acted just like ye, a self sacrificing and rock headed dumdum who cannot think of others feelings when risking yer darn life!" At the end of her rant she jumped up on the bed and hugged his side, sniffling into his fur. The large soft body felt comforting, familiar, even if he was not in the shape of Golden Cross, it still held that warmth, that comfort she had felt back then all those years ago.

Grand Music grew flustered and looked away a bit, fiddling with his newly made Vocal Necklace, as his old had been too damaged to repair. He felt slightly silly and childish, he wanted to do what Happy Meal did. but he did not know if he could do it. It had been so long since he had done that, and no one but Grand Feast and Happy Meal ever did it to him. It felt so awkward and yet he wanted to do it.

"Just hug him already ye silly little colt. Hug yer silly grandfather while he be restin'. No 'ne here is gonna make fun of ye." Grand Feast said with a kind smile to her adoptive son, and perhaps soon to be son in law. She had known about the growing feelings between them. With Happy Meal growing closer to Grand Music without really realizing it, and Grand Music growing more attracted, and thus more protective, of her in turn, and also not realizing it.

It brought the mature mare a warm feeling to her heart, knowing that those who had finally discovered their growing attachment to each other. It truly felt wonderful.

Grand Music in turn, at the comforting and encouraging words of his adoptive mother, slowly reached out, climbed up on the bed and joined his marefriend with hugging their honourary grand father by laying down on his back, resting his head on his neck, where he used to ride as a foal.

The comforting warmth from his black and ragged fur making the two ponies feel like they were little foals again, sitting next to him, falling asleep against his fur. As he told them stories in his wagon.

In the end Grand Feast watched with a smile as her two eldest fell asleep on and next to their adopted grandfather. And she saw a look of comfort and enjoyment spread across the unconscious alicorn's face. A sign of content that mad her reach out and gently rub his cheek, feeling the fatigue and exhaustion in his body even as he laid there asleep. "Yer always welcome back to us, whenever ye return here. We will be waiting for ya as long as we live."

When the horse mare returned she found a rather adorable and heartwarming sight. Sleeping on his side and on his back laid Happy Meal and Grad Music, snuggling into his fur. And next to happy meal, laid a sleeping Grand Feast. And upon the tired face of Maleficus Victoria, laid a look of content and a slight smile that made the mare smile, satisfied that she had made the right decision. And then left to speak to the other horses about delaying their schedule to the East for as long as possible.

In the end she managed to delay the lift off to the East for two days. As the time of Maleficus' return to the moon was approaching. And the horses knew they had to move swiftly to keep things on track. Thus they left at the light of dawn, carrying with them the body of Achilles and the hidden sleeping shape of Maleficus. With the three ponies waving goodbye to the Sky Fleet s the entire city of Canterlot cheered and waved farewell to the horses.

The sun was near the evening and by the coastline of the East coast, just between Baltimare and Fillydeplhia, stood a large gathering of ponies and horses. Over ten thousand ponies and over four thousand horses. It was massive gathering, with ponies from all over the nation of Equestria, gathering to take farewell to the one who had fought to save their home and died doing so.

It had taken 12 hours for the horses to fly from Canterlot to Baltimare, and through that time their ships had spread out in a wide formation and any dragon actively raiding or murdering was given the sentence of death by Assaulting Sky Ships. With them, hanging from large thick chains, they carried the decapitated head of Talos, making all but the more stupid, stubborn or brave dragons flee Eastwards.

The ships did not all fly off at every dragon they saw. The three Carracks did not just carry the Head of Talos, they carried the body of Achilles as well and was thus heavily guarded by seven more ships.

News had been spread by Celestia to Blackstone Keep about the sacrifice of Achilles, the Rise of the Eidolon, and the death of Talos and the horses routing the dragons by using the head of Talos as a psychological warfare. Commander Rock Steady had in turn decided to travel to Baltimare along with the Wind Strider Elder Ancient Ruins and her son, as they had been saved by Achilles in the Woods of Blood.

Others had come with them, and others had heard through rumours about the ancient hero of the past who died in the final fight against the dragons. and thus had more then a few come to view the final farewell of the Horse Lord. A monument had been set up by Celestia upon the hills outside of Baltimare, a ten by ten by ten meter sized cube shaped rock with the statue of Captain Iron Wing standing proud with the banner of the Order of the Golden Cross held above his head. The names of all those who died saving the citizens of Baltimare, Canterlot, Blackstone and all other villages and towns were written down there.

Numbering over two thousand dead knights, five hundred dead horses and four thousand dead soldiers. A total of six thousand and five hundred when rounded down. The city of Baltimare would be restored and ti would grow stronger from this event of Equestrian history.

But for now, it was time to take farewell of one of those who had died ending the Draconic Incursion.

Upon a wooden rowboat, engraved with runes filled out with gold, upon a pile of weapons, gold and fur, laid the warped up remains of Achilles. His shield and sword, both melted into misshaped lumps, rested upon what remained of his chest. A single sail had been put into the rowboat, the sail bearing the symbol of the Vikings and the Spartans.

Cursed Blessing stood by the boat alongside one of the Vikings, both of the speaking out in the ancient tongue while pouring out clear oil over the cloth covered form and down onto the floor of the rowboat. As they did a solemn music was being played by the horses.

Among the crowd of thousands of souls watching the preparation of Achilles' final rites stood a pair of knights. A young pegasus mare, Sir Rapid Fire, the daughter of Iron Wing, leaning against the side of her coltfriend Sure Shot, one of the few surviving knights who held back the dragons at Baltimare. She was tired, sad and yet hopeful. her father died saving as many as he could, her coltfriend survived, only losing his left eye when the dragons burned down the city.

Both of them listened to the strange music and the strange lyrics of the two chanting horses. they had both come to a decision, they would start over, rebuild and make Baltimare the strongest city East of the Foal Mountains. Together.

An elderly earth pony stallion carrying a badly burn but still repairable scythe was standing next to his family as they watched the strange form of funeral of the one who had aided in ending the dragons who burned their home and fields. It had been hard to escape his home when the knights and town guards had come to guide him and his kin to hide under the city. But they had survived, their home could be rebuilt, their fields resown and they would farm again.

Dark clouds had flown down from the mountains and a gentle rain had begun to fall upon the coastline. A soft rumble of lightning ad thunder echoed over them softly. But no one was bothered by the falling rain.

Then as Cursed blessing and the Viking ended the final rights, they walked off the boat. and together a group of twelve warriors gathered in the waves, and each reached out ,grabbed the edges of the boat, and began to push it out into the waves. While one of them unfurled the sail.

A soft gust struck the cloth and the small boat sailed off towards the golden red light of the sunset. And the Vikings chanted out together as they watched the body of their General and Leader float away. The waves seemed to aid the small ship in its journey and no pony moved as they watched the ship reach such a distance that ti almost seemed to have disappeared.

But then four horses strode forward, each bearing a long bow of their specific culture. One Viking with a thick and rough looking longbow. A Samurai with a sharp curved long yumi bow. One Spartan bearing a smooth and supple long bow. And a Knight bearing a longbow equal in size to the yumi, but much thicker and not out of the same manner of wood.

One of the modern horses walked over, levitating a bowl of burning oil and held it out to the four archers. Each archer pulled out an arrow from a quiver and dipped the tip into the burning oil. And then they nocked the arrows to their bows and began to pull back the strings and wooden arms of the bows. The wood made almost creaking sounds as the bow string was pulled back, and the muscles of the four ponies pulsed with strain as they reared back their hooves further and further.

All ponies were staring in confusion. Wondering how anypony would even think of hitting suc ha distance target. It had to be at least a kilometer away from the shore by now!

Their answers were given. When each archer let go of their arrows, and as one the four arrows flew like falling stars across the heavens, rain nor wind stopping them. They whistled through the air and water, flying i nan arc over the waves and then began to dip down.

And soon they rapidly began to fall, until they struck the surface of the wooden boat, each arrow struck a corner of the wooden frame, holding Achilles' body. And in a burst of light, the ship caught fire. And the sunset finally settled itself down, and Princess Celestia let a single tear drop down her eye at the beautiful sight of the burning ship as the sunset settled. It had been a wonderful sight, one of her better efforts.

Commander Rock Steady, Ancient Ruin and Truth Seeker all looked out together at the burning light. Two of them seeing their saviour being put to rest. The other seeing a respectable and old warrior reaching the end of his journey.

Gold Digger hugged Wild Whip as they looked out at the sight together. Both ponies sad to see the saviour of their clan gone, but glad to know he was given a proper ending.

Several other ponies bowed their heads in appreciation. Many of them were of those who had survived the dragon attacks. Others were f those who had been in Canterlot when the dragons attacked. Some had been saved when the Sky Ships made their swift journey, scaring off or hunting down the remaining dragons. And some were just glad, that the nightmare they had witnessed or been part of, was over.

But some... were looking with anticipation and concern at the horses. Thinking of plans that now needed to take these newcomers into consideration. And maybe even try to find one among these large giants of the past, who shared their mindset for a better future for Equestria.

Plans and schemes were being made in the shadows, and the horses would find themselves tested. Even with the knowledge and abilities they had been granted by their creator they knew little of the interactions of ponies. Their minds were less of that of a herbivore and more of that of an omnivore. Their integration into society would be difficult not just for them but their new neighbors as well.

But they would do their best to follow the guidelines of the Creator. To establish themselves and their future generations a home they could be proud of in the locations they had been told to use in the construction of their cities and towns. For they were the Horses of Maleficus, the personal creations of the one who commanded Terror and Courage at a whim, and to him, they were eternally loyal. Even if it would mean their deaths.

Their mental pep talk completed. The horses all looked up towards the ocean. And as one they all saluted their fallen General, each in their own way based upon their culture, to honour not just the fake facade of Achilles, but their creator Maleicus Victoria. Each Clan of Horse performed this show of respect in a different manner but that mattered little to them.

As their respect and loyalty to the stallion who had created and lead them, was worth more to them then anything. And as the final prayers of the rite was sung out by Cursed Blessing. The ship disappeared out of sight and the funeral ended.

As the boat finally sank down under waves of the ocean, the hero Achilles was put to rest. And the ponies felt a great deal of comfort, knowing that he had lived a good life. While the horses were glad that their creator's false persona had been so respected, even though it had mostly been made up. Was it still comforting to them.

Princess Celestia smiled softly at the scene of the burning boat sinking beneath the wave, before her horn ignited with a magical aura. And she began to raise the moon from its slumber, yet her eyes narrowed with anger as she saw a sight she had momentarily forgotten she would see. As the moon rose.

The burning specter, marking that Maleficus had been returned to the moon. And all of the horses began to murmur with each other. Acting as if they had never seen it before. While the few horses who were made to be of the modern age, began to explain things to them. While the ponies grew uncomfortable, as the tale of the Stallion of Torment, was revealed to the newcomers.

Maleficus' unconscious body had been lying on the bed of one of the Sky ships when the sun settled. hours before the moon had risen. As the final ray of light was gone, there was a bright flash of light and his body had disappeared from the bed it had been laying down upon.

And up on the surface of the moon ,a bright flash emerged out of the sky above the pale grey desert. And with a soundless thump the body of Maleficus landed like boneless heap upon the moon's surface, still unconscious and unable to wake up. He just laid there among the dunes, unknowing that he had been tossed back to the surface.

And thus, as the moon rose, it rose with the burning specter once more upon its surface. Its prisoner once more in his isolated hellscape. Only now, unconscious and unable to wake up. But for how long would that last?

It is hard to tell how long it may take for Maleficus to wake out of his forced slumber. But as his body lay there, limp and motionless among the dunes. There was a content smile upon his lips, even as he laid with his face buried into the silvery sand of the moon desert.

Author's Notes:

Staadnauthursil: Okay this chapter is... huge. It is massive. It is NOT beautiful. But it is the largest chapter I have ever written. And I am pretty proud of that.

Pinkie: Yay! Go Staady!

Staadnauthursil: But there is a problem. Because you see. This chapter. Is Fucked Up. I have already spoken of how much this thing is fucked up that I cannot even give a fuck to describe how much this thing is fucked up. I cannot for the life of me find a more proper way to describe this thing then the words. Fucked. Up. Even though this is my largest chapter, EVER, it is also my most fucked up one by far.

Pinkie: Oh don't say that! It can't be that bad.

Staadnauthursil: Pinkie. I somehow managed to write in the death of a pregnant mare AND her unborn fetus. Without. Realizing. It.

Pinkie: Oooooooh...... Okay that IS fucked up...

Staadnauthursil: Exactly. That's why I am both proud and horrified of myself right now.

Pinkie: Cupcake to feel better?

Staadnauthursil: Yes please, with chocolate coating and stuffed with fudge filling if you can.

Pinkie: Okie dokie!