Snow plastered itself on Spitfire's goggles, blinding her as she and the other Wonderbolts raced to the Crystal Empire as fast as possible, their wings beating hard against the frigid air and cold winds that surrounded the Crystal Empire.

The Empire itself was still a dot in the distance consisting of a shining blue dome that was probably the shield now surrounding the city. Apart from that, everything seemed quiet, although that didn't necessarily mean anything. Somewhere out there was an army led being led by Faust herself, and here they were, not even a full fifty Wonderbolts, going to hold them off, without so much as an idea of how to do so.

Things became no clearer as they got closer. To the west of the city, rather than the north as was reported, was a massive army, at least twice the size of the one attacking the bulwark at Vanhoover, although this one had no tanks or siege weaponry to speak of.

The shield was also smaller than the Empire itself, concentrating itself over the city while ignoring the surrounding area, which was at the very least still being protected from the extreme weather, which came as a relief as the Wonderbolts passed over the threshold, leaving the snows behind. Within moments of that an orange pegasus in Royal Guard armour flew up to meet them from the train station that lay outside the shield boundary.

"Boy are we glad to see you guys," he said. "There's no point going any further because you can't get through the shield, so if you'll follow me down to the station I can give you something that'll let you through."

Spitfire hesitated as the guard flew off towards the station, but it was only for a moment before gesturing for all of them to follow after him to land at the station. A few other stallions in the armour of the Imperial Guard were there as well, along with boxes and boxes of small coin sized crystals.

"What's the situation here...uh, what's your name?"

"Sergeant Flash Sentry ma'am, and I have to say it's an honour to meet you all. As for the situation, it's not great. The Mareitanians showed up about six hours ago, along with their leader Faust. They attacked for a little bit, but it didn't seem like they were trying too hard to get through the shield. Then they backed off and now they're just sitting in the temperate zone, like they're waiting for something. With the Crystal Legions deployed elsewhere, we have nothing to push them back with." Flash leant over to look along the train tracks, "I don't suppose there are any other reinforcements coming?"

"It's just us for now," said Spitfire. "Vanhoover is currently under attack as well-"

"What? How? How could they possibly attack two places at once?"

Spitfire ignored him, "-and we didn't have time to ask what the plan was before flying up here, but I imagine reinforcements will be coming from Camp Freedom once General Armour gets the news." Spitfire gestured at the boxes, "What's up with the crystals?"

"How can they actually attack two places at once? How are they even attacking here?"

Spitfire stomped a hoof, hard. "Hey, focus. What's with the crystals?"

"The-uh... the crystals! Yes! You'll need one of those to get through the shield. Crystal ponies can pass through it without one, but the rest of us aren't so lucky." Flash picked one out of the nearest box and tossed it to Spitfire, "Just keep it on you somewhere and you can pass through the shield. We've been stockpiling them for weeks now, just in case of something like this. We did think the attack would come from a different direction though."

"Stop thinking about it," Spitfire said pocketing the crystal while the rest of the Wonderbolts started picking up crystals of their own. "Where's Princess Cadence now?"

"With the Crystal Heart, maintaining the shield. I'll take you there once you all have a crystal."

A couple of minutes later they were flying again, following Flash through the shield and towards the glittering spire of the crystalline castle at the very centre of the Empire. It glowed from the inside as the energies that normally went into the aurora of positive energies the Crystal Heart produced, were channelled into the shield protecting the city. Thousands of Crystal ponies clustered around the castle, waiting for news, but the area directly beneath the castle remained clear, allowing Princess Cadence and her entourage to work unimpeded.

Cadence looked up and managed a smile as the Wonderbolts came in to land in the empty space. "Finally, some good news."

"Not really ma'am," Spitfire said to Cadence. "The Mareitanians are also attacking at Vanhoover, so until General Armour gets here with help from Camp Freedom, we're all you're getting."

Cadence lost her smile. "I see. Then we'll just have to do what we can with what we have for now. I think the first thing we should do is work out what exactly it is we're up against. What numbers they have, and what weapons."

"We were told Faust was with them."

"She is," Cadence confirmed. "She's not done anything as yet, but if she's as powerful as Celestia, Luna, and Twilight says she is, then I doubt the shield will hold her back for long. To be honest, if the Mareitanians really meant to, they could have taken the Empire by now. I don't know why they haven't, or what they're waiting for."

"Maybe they're looking to make a proper fight of it," Fleetfoot said to Spitfire. "Draw our unexperienced forces up here to defend the Empire, then take out as many of us as possible."

"Possible," Cadence said, sounding like the very idea made her feel sick. "I was hoping to get some advice from a more military minded pony before I acted. Not that there was much I could do anyway. What do you think Captain?"

Spitfire avoided making a face at the question. To her the situation looked pretty hopeless, and without an army of their own there was no way to win this. Perhaps finding out about the enemy forces might help, and would at least mean she could avoid giving an answer for a little bit.

"We'll do a scouting run, then come up with something once we know what's going on a bit better."

"There she is," Lightning said of the large white dot standing amongst the Mareitanians army, as her wing and Rainbow's flew above the shield on their scouting run. "Faust herself, the cause of everything wrong that's happening in the world at this moment."

"I thought she'd be taller," said Cloud Chaser. "She doesn't look much bigger than Princess Celestia."

"Size isn't everything," said Lightning. "Isn't that right Sky?"

"Exactlyyy... Wait, why are you asking me?"

"No reason." Lightning turned back to the Mareitanians. "Look at them down there. There must be twice as many as there is attacking Vanhoover."

"No tanks, or anything like that," said Rainbow. "If Luna can hold them off in Vanhoover, they won't have any heavy weapons to fight with."

"Oh no," Thunderlane said sarcastically, "they'll just have their superiors numbers, better experience, griffon mercenaries, and super-powered alicorn to rely on. How terrible for them."

"Why are they even attacking here?" Vapor asked before anypony could rebuke Thunderlane. "The crystal ponies don't have an army here, or anything really."

"They could just be trying to attack us on two fronts, to weaken us," said Cloud. "It's working too."

"Maybe they want the city itself," said Rainbow. "I'm no expert, but there's some seriously powerful magic locked up in the Empire. Perhaps that's what Faust's after."

"Does it even matter?" Sky Stinger scoffed. "I really don't think that Faust has the power to get through the shield, so as long as that stays up, we're fine."

"And we're not going to listen to that," said Rainbow. "What you think, doesn't mean she can't."

"We got griffons incoming," Thunderlane said suddenly, as dozens of griffons broke away from the Mareitanians encampment towards them. Rather than try and fight them off, the six of them dipped back into the safety the shield provided, and waved back at the griffons as they slammed their weapons against the blue dome in frustration.

"How fucked would we be if they decided to go raid the train station?" Cloud asked.

"I think the answer to that, is very," said Lightning. "Maybe we should suggest they move those crystals somewhere else." Lightning led the way into a long downward loop that brought them back outside the shield, but much lower down. "How are we supposed to identify the enemy's composition if we can't get close? There might be ten thousand soldiers there, but that's all we can tell."

Rainbow shrugged, "I don't know. I was expecting to get thrown straight into battle, but then this all happened. Let's just keep doing this until somepony tells us otherwise."

Pinkie watched the snow zoom past the window of the train they were in. A train that was going full steam ahead to the Crystal Empire. A train that was ferrying them into direct contact with the enemy in what was probably going to be an actual battle. They were still weeks from completing their basic training, and hadn't even started to train other members of the Hard corps. To say she felt woefully unprepared was an understatement.

Still, despite the news that both Vanhoover and the Crystal Empire was under attack, the atmosphere seemed almost cheery, with declarations that they were going to kick the Mareitanians collective butts. Pinkie liked to think she picked up enough from Twilight to not think like that, and her sisters knew enough that if Pinkie wasn't being cheerful, it had to be bad. That wasn't the only issue though.

"Are we really going to run into battle carrying bags of rocks?" Azure whined, wriggling uncomfortably in her combat armour and pulling at her collar. Next to her were saddlebags, filled to the brim with hoof sized rocks. "Gah! I thought these uniforms were supposed to be flexible!"

"They are," said Maud, who had requested the uniforms to be just so. Within a few days they'd received uniforms that were very similar to the Wonderbolts' flight suits, except dark grey in colour and slightly more armoured. "Is there something wrong with yours?"

"...Nah," Azure sighed. "I think I'm just freaking out a bit. They're sending us to fight without even finishing our basic training, and I'm going to fight using a skill I developed barely even a week ago? That's fucking insane."

"Aww," Pinkie cooed, "you'll be alright. You and Top Spin just need to stick with us and do what you can without putting yourselves in too much danger."

Top Spin raised an eyebrow at Pinkie's reassurances, "And what makes you immune to danger? Huh? There's no safety on a battlefield guys. I don't even need experience at this to tell you that much."

"It'll be fine," Pinkie insisted. "You'll see- Oh hey! We're almost there!" Moments after Pinkie had pointed it out, the line in the snow demarking the temperate climate of the Crystal Empire rushed past, and just like that, they were being bathed in sunshine. The train station lay just ahead, and the train lurched as it began to slow. "I guess this is it guys."

A minute later the train ground to a halt, and ponies started to disembark, either onto the station, or by jumping to the ground where the platform couldn't reach. Pinkie led the way, jumping down to the ground before heading around to the station to where Shining Armour should be.

"Alright, listen up ponies. The city is being shielded right now, so all of you will need to grab a crystal out of these boxes allowing you to pass through it. Once you have your crystal, head to the city centre as quickly as possible. From there we can assess the situation and protect the Empire. Now get moving ponies; we have another train incoming, and I want this station cleared before it gets here!"

Pinkie and the rest of their small unit pushed forwards to the front of the queue, grabbing their crystals as fast as the guards could give them out. Once they had their crystals they set into a brisk trot and made their way towards the city, passing harmlessly through the shield and into the shining metropolis beyond.

"I've never been here before," Azure said as they made their way towards the city centre, passing between the shining homes of the crystal ponies. "I thought it'd be bigger being called an empire and all. They definitely got the crystal part down though."

"I was told the Empire used to be bigger," Top Spin said to Azure. "The city you see now was the part that was hidden away by King Sombra's curse, while the rest was either destroyed in the battle to free the crystal ponies, or swallowed by the frozen north after the city vanished. Of course that doesn't make sense because they need this land around the city to grow food, and there's other stuff in it, but I'm just repeating what I was told."

"There's some very big caves under the mountains," said Maud. "There's some very old buildings down there under the ice as well. I think this city was built after the Empire was made."

"How do you know that?" Limestone asked her sister.

"I studied the crystal formations in there as part of my rocktorate, although the buildings were interesting too."

"Okay," Azure said, nodding slowly. "Why build this place then?"

"Why build anything anywhere?" Maud asked back. "If I was to guess, I'd say there's a large convergence of ley lines right under the city that powers the magic here."

"And what makes you say that?"

"You can feel the power in the crystals. It's impressive."

"That doesn't explain why it was built though." Azure rubbed a hoof over the smooth crystal, humming to herself. "I guess this place does kind of feel magical now you mention it though. I thought it was just the feeling of walking on crystals."

"Or you're more in tune with it now," said Pinkie. She looked up as they passed between the arch under the castle, then back down, spotting the pink form of Princess Cadence. "Ooh! Hi Cadence!" Pinkie shouted, waving vigorously at the princess, who smiled sadly back.

"I didn't realise you were fighting as well Pinkie," Cadence said as their group got closer.

"Of course I am! How else am I going to save Equestria and get my friends back?"

"How indeed..." Cadence half whispered. "As nice as it is to see you Pinkie, I'm afraid I'm too busy keeping the Crystal Heart running to talk much. Is... Shining with you?"

"Yep! He's getting ponies sorted out right now, but I'm sure he'll be along soon enough."

"Okay. Thank you Pinkie."

"No problemo Cadence. I'll-" Pinkie stopped as somepony tapped her on the back. She turned, and gasped as her eyes caught onto the rainbow mane of the pony trying to get her attention. "Rainbow!"

"Hey Pinki- Ack!" Rainbow gasped as Pinkie leapt onto her, dragging her down into a hug that threatened to crush the life from her.

"Eeeee! I'm so happy to see you Rainbow! I haven't seen you in ages!"

"Take it easy Pinkie!" Rainbow wheezed, her lungs struggling to pull in breath from the weight on top of her. "What have you got in those bags? Lead?"

"Nope! Rocks!" Pinkie released Rainbow and climbed off her, offering a hoof to pull Rainbow up after her.

"Why the hell do you have bags full of rocks Pinkie?"

"It's something our unit's doing." Pinkie pulled her sisters and the other two members of their unit over, "Rainbow, say hello to the Hard corps."

"Hi," Rainbow said blithely, seconds before realising that Maud was there. "Wait, you brought your sister into this as well?"

"Sisters," Pinkie corrected her. "Rainbow, meet Limestone and Marble, my other sisters. The other two are Azure and Top Spin. They aren't related to us, but we still love 'em just as much! Anyway, everypony, meet Rainbow Dash, one of my bestest friends in the world!"

"Hi," Rainbow said again, to all of them, standing there as they returned the greetings. "Pinkie, can I talk to you for a moment?"

"Sure! What about?"

"About you," Rainbow replied, pulling Pinkie away from the rest of the to talk in private. "Why the hell did you sign up to fight?"

"What do you mean? Equestria and our friends are in danger, so what else was I supposed to do?"

"Literally anything else! This isn't like that stupid fight between the Appleloosans and the buffalos Pinkie, using pies as weapons. This is real war, with killing, and fighting, and dying! Why would you sign up for that?"

"You think I don't know what I signed up for? Rainbow, have you seen how much blood you have on you? If I wasn't prepared for that I'd probably be a lot more freaked out."

"That's not what I mean Pinkie! I-"

"Oh no, I can see where you're going with this. Poor ole Pinkie Pie's too happy-go-lucky for this. She couldn't possible be able to handle all the stuff that's going to happen in a fight, so she should just go home where it's safe and throw a party for all the ponies off risking their lives to save our country!"

"I just want you to be safe Pinkie! Is that so wrong of me?"

"No," Pinkie said after a moment of consideration. "But I want you to be safe as well, and the rest of our friends, and everypony in Equestria. I'm not going to make that happen by hiding somewhere until the war's over, one way or another."

Rainbow bit her tongue, knowing full well she was being a bit irrational as Pinkie had as much right to fight as she did. That really didn't make her feel better though.

"I'm sorry Pinkie. I just don't want any more of my friends getting hurt."

Pinkie gave Rainbow a gentle smile, "Don't you worry Rainbow. Me and my sisters, and Azure and Top Spin, are all going to take care of each other. Just like your Wonderbolt friends are going to look after you. Speaking of, aren't you going to introduce me to them?"

"Sure, but you already kinda know my wing ponies."

"And that's pretty much the situation," Spitfire said to Shining Armour, getting him up to speed on the situation. "Ten thousand Mareitanians and griffons, as well as Faust, against five thousand of us, hiding behind a shield."

"I hate to say that the biggest complication here is Faust," said Shining. "It'd take them some serious effort to bring down or circumvent the shield without her, but I'm betting she could do it in minutes."

"Then why hasn't she already?"

"Who knows?" said Shining. "She can't be unaware we're all here now, so there must be something to her plan. What would you do in this situation if you were her Captain?"

"If I was Faust?" Spitfire hummed and peered at the map of the Empire before them. "Right now, if I was Faust, I'd move my forces south to take the train station, both capturing the trains and cutting off our only means of retreat. Then, since we brought the shield accessing crystals in here with us, I'd either bust down the shield and wipe us out, or simply starve us out. Without Cadence powering the shield through the Crystal Heart, the shield would come down soon enough anyway, and we'd be too weak to mount a decent defence."

"Why take the trains?"

"So I could send my spare soldiers down to attack the bulwark at Vanhoover from the rear, if it hasn't fallen already. Then I'll need the train to ferry supplies up here for my soldiers laying siege to the Empire. Then once the Empire has fallen, I'd gather my strength and march straight on Canterlot, because if you take Canterlot, the rest of Equestria should fall easy enough." Spitfire coughed awkwardly as she saw the way Shining was looking at her. "I guess I'm getting a bit ahead of myself there."

"At bit." Shining shrugged, "Still though, even in that scenario, why take the Crystal Empire at all?"

"No idea," said Spitfire. "I'd say she's doing it to divide our forces from defending the bulwark, but she easily has enough forces to take both."

"From our last intel, we've only seen two thirds of her forces at most." Shining sighed and twisted the map to look at it from another angle, hoping that might help him figure out what Faust was planning. It didn't. "If she's not doing what you said, what is she doing?"

"Does it matter?" said Spitfire. "We don't have the numbers to hold them off, and their army has more experience. I hate to say it General, but if, and when, she decides to attack and get through that shield, this isn't a fight we can win. There's no point throwing all those lives away for nothing if we have no chance of holding the city."

Shining closed his eyes and nodded. He'd suspected as much, but to hear it from one of the few ponies with more actual military experience than him was a definite sign it was true. "What do you suggest then?"

"Evacuate the city. The sick, young, and elderly can take the trains, while everypony else dresses warm and walks. We'll perform a holding action in case Faust tries anything, falling back street by street until the city is empty, then follow the civilians south, acting as a buffer between the Mareitanians and the crystal ponies."

"That's almost forty miles of freezing snow and ice Spitfire! There's no way we can ask all those ponies to walk that far! It'd be suicide!"

Spitfire resisted the urge to roll her eyes at her superior. "The other option is to leave them here with Faust after we all kill ourselves in a battle we can't currently win. Your choice General. If it helps you could ask the crystal pegasi in the Imperial Guard to try and clear the clouds out in front of the civvies."

"Won't work. The weather up here is wild even for wild weather standards. I guess we don't have a lot of choice though, although the choice is ultimately yours Cadence," Shining said to the other pony standing there, who had remained silent until now.

Cadence couldn't even pretend to be happy that the decision was hers as she spoke in a flat, near monotone voice. "I feel that Captain Spitfire might be right in her assessment of the situation. There's no point wasting lives for nothing."

"Only if you're sure honey," Shining said, shifting briefly from military leader mode to husband mode.

Cadence nodded once, "I'm sure."

"Then it's settled. Spitfire, can you handle the defence while I sort out the evacuation?"

Spitfire grinned and saluted, "You can count on me General."

"Good." Shining returned the salute, and held it as Spitfire flew off. Then he turned to the unicorn holding the only thing as precious to him as Cadence. "Sunburst, you are taking Flurry, and you are going on the first train out of here. Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal- Uh, I mean, yes sir."

"Good. Thank you Sunburst." Shining lifted the bubbly baby alicorn out of the crystal basket Sunburst was holding, and took her over to Cadence. "Mommy and Daddy are going to have to go away for a little bit, but don't you worry because uncle Sunburst is going to take great care of you until we come back to find you."

Cadence planted a kiss on Flurry Heart's cheek, then another as tears started running down her own cheeks. "Mommy and Daddy love you very much. Always remember that." Cadence nearly choked as Flurry giggled and hugged her nose, totally ignorant of what was happening as only a foal could be.

Shining held them both for a moment, then placed his daughter back into the basket, kissing her gently next to her horn. "Stay safe Flurry." He nodded to Sunburst, who turned and ran towards the station. "We'll see you again soon," he said as Sunburst galloped into the distance.

"I'm curious," Thunderlane said as he followed Rainbow Dash through the skies, keeping an eye on both the Mareitanians, and the ponies running about below.

"About what?" Rainbow asked a little unsurely. Knowing Thunderlane it was going to be something either stupid, or puerile.

"About the crystal ponies. I mean... um, okay, you go for a night out and you meet a nice crystal pony mare, and she's amenable to... suggestions."

Cloud Chaser burst out laughing. "Amenable to suggestions? Is that what the cool kids are calling it these days?"

"I'm trying to be serious here!"

"Okay, okay," Cloud snickered. "Right, so you go out and meet a nice crystal pony mare who's 'amenable to suggestions,' so naturally you want to take her home and show her your collection of dolls and mint condition comics."

"They're action figures, and no. What I'm getting at is, if you-uh... follow through on those suggestions-"

"Good grief Thunderlane," Rainbow groaned. "The fact that you're being so careful about how to say this to two mares already suggests this is about sex, so how about you just get on and say it?"

"Alright! Fine! I was wondering, if I were to, totally hypothetically, have sex with a crystal mare, would I be able to see my junk inside her?"

Rainbow snorted harshly at the question, and struggled to speak through her laughter. "Wh-ha-ha-what the hell Thunderlane?" she asked as Cloud elbowed him on the side.

"Always asking the big questions, as usual."

"What? I'm just curious. I think it'd be kinda neat is all."

"Typical stallion in love with their own junk," Rainbow sighed. "Thunderlane, can you see the rest of a crystal pony's insides?"

"Well, no, I guess not."

"There's your answer then."

"But it might be different if a non crystal pony were to have sex with a crystal m-"

"Movement!"

And just like that they were all business again, swinging back around to face the Mareitanian army, that for some reason they couldn't understand were moving north, rather than attacking. They weren't just spreading out either as the entire army moved north, with Faust in the lead.

"What are they doing?" Rainbow wondered out loud. So far none of the Mareitanians actions made sense to her. When they'd left the bulwark the Mareitanians were practically throwing themselves at it, but here they were acting strangely and being beyond cautious. It made Rainbow think they were planning something.

All they could do was react to the situation, and make sure the crystal ponies had time to evacuate. Something Spitfire appeared to be determined to do as the Equestrian forces rapidly repositioned themselves to face where Faust was moving hers.

"I guess it's show time," Lightning said as Rainbow and her wing regrouped with her Squadron. "I guess they didn't want to wait until we could evacuate the city."

"Of course not," Rainbow said sarcastically. "That'd be way too easy. Ah!" Rainbow shielded her eyes as a bright light from the north blinded her for a moment. When she dared to look again, the light was far dimmer, but what she saw instead was no better. If there were any doubts about Faust's power, they'd probably been silenced.

Rather than bring the entire shield around the city down, Faust was instead just tearing an entrance into it, forcing it wider and wider until a dozen ponies and griffons could pass through it at a time. As soon as they were in, the Mareitanians adepts put up a shield, protecting their forces until there was enough inside the shield to be a threat. Then they started moving forwards.

"Ouch time," Rainbow muttered, clipping her muzzleguard into place.

Pinkie gulped as Faust tore a hole in the shield, the clash of powerful magic sending flares of raw, chaotic energy tumbling through the air until it settled down. Then the Mareitanians entered, running through on both sides of Faust, who stood in the hole she'd made, holding it open for her soldiers.

A shield went up around the Mareitanians, and suddenly Pinkie felt very silly, standing here, preparing to fight an army led by an alicorn like Faust, with only a bag full of rocks. Thankfully she wasn't alone, and the members of their own Mage Corps put a shield up to protect their fellows, stretching between the gaps in the houses. It would hardly be enough though, as what the Mareitanians had was twice the size of the Equestrians'.

"We're so fucked," Top Spin whimpered, looking like she was more ready to flee than fight. Nopony felt could blame her though, as a lot of them felt the same.

"Not necessarily," Maud said calmly, pulling a rock out of her bag and testing its weight in her hoof. "Not all of them are stallions."

It was a terrible joke, but right then, while staring death in the face, it felt like the funniest thing they'd ever heard, and there were more than a few chuckles going around. Pinkie did at least feel a little better after hearing the laughter. Then the Mareitanians struck.

The Mareitanians dropped their shield, and a wave of earth ponies sprinted towards them, while in the sky the griffons screamed their battle cries, pumping their wings to meet the Wonderbolts and Air Corps in battle. That wasn't Pinkie's concern though, beyond hoping Rainbow was okay. Her concern lay on the ponies battering their way through the shield protecting them.

"Here they come," Limestone growled, a hoof holding a rock pulled back ready to throw. A crack formed in the shield, and not wasting any time attacking, Limestone threw her stone through the gap as hard as she could, hitting one of the Mareitanians right on the forehead, denting his helmet and dropping him to the ground, either dead or unconscious.

Seeing Limestone do that spurred the rest of the Equestrian forces into action, and those that could began firing their weapons through the cracks in the shield, or even stabbing their spears through them if that's what they had. The unicorns held the shield as long as they could, but the Mareitanian Adepts, no longer occupied with shielding their own forces, soon brought the Equestrians shield down.

Pinkie yelped and dove out of the way as the Mareitanian earth ponies surged into the now open way. Colourful bolts of magic roared through the air overhead, gouging chunks out of buildings, the streets, and more unfortunately ponies. Pinkie froze as one of the Mage corps unicorns fell, half his head blown away by an errant blast of magic.

Pinkie stared blankly at the unicorn as his blood pooled beneath him, and likely would have stayed there had a shout from Azure not distracted her. She quickly searched around and found Azure pinned on her back, desperately holding the spear of a Mareitanian in her hooves to stop it being used against her. "Azure!"

Without thinking, Pinkie grabbed a rock out of her bag and launched it the head of the pony attacking Azure, clipping her across the top of her head, not hard enough to kill, or even really hurt, but it was enough to knock off the mare's helmet, giving Azure enough of a distraction to kick up at the mare, off-balancing her enough to wriggle away. To make sure Azure did get away, Pinkie threw another rock, punching a neat dent into the mare's forehead, killing her.

Azure scrabbled back from the fallen soldier, her chest heaving as she fixated on the blood dribbling from the mare's nose. "Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck! Pinkie?" Pinkie didn't answer. She was too busy staring at her hoof. "Pinkie!" Azure stood and smacked Pinkie on the side, "Snap out of it!"

"That wasn't funny at all," Pinkie whispered.

"Come on Pinkie! Don't do this! We need to find the others-" A deafening crunch cut Azure off, and they ducked down as fragments of crystal off one of the nearby buildings rained down on them, followed by a dead pegasus. "Aah! What the fuck?!"

"Fall back! Fall back!"

"Oh no! We have to find the others!" Pinkie gasped as the call to fall back went out, her eyes suddenly focused and alert.

"That's what I've been trying to say!" Azure said, her eyes fixed on the pegasus that had almost landed on them. She yelped as Pinkie dragged her into the lee of a building, where some of the unicorns of the Mage corps had taken shelter. Unicorns they knew.

"Come on Pyrelight! We need to fall back!" Lyra pleaded desperately, unaware that Pinkie had slipped in behind them. "Please Pyre, come on!"

Pyrelight curled up tighter, blood running from a cut on her left shoulder. "I don't wanna die! I don't wanna die!"

"And you won't," said Pinkie, alerting them to her presence. "Azure, grab Pyrelight. Lyra and I will protect you."

"We will? I mean, yeah! Just hold on to Azure Pyrelight, and we'll all get out of here!"

Pinkie peeked around the corner as the Equestrian line fell back past the building they were hiding behind. It seemed to make little difference though, as the Equestrians were already pretty scattered. At least those still living.

"I think we need to go if we're going to get out of here." Pinkie grabbed a rock out of her bags and held it in her teeth as Lyra finished pushing Pyrelight onto Azure's back. She nodded, and Pinkie peeked back around the corner. Thankfully the Mareitanians didn't seem to be in a hurry to follow after the Equestrians, so after waving for Azure to start moving, she ran out, hoping to distract them while Azure fell back. She spat the rock into her hoof, and prepared to make use of her small repertoire of profanities when a shower of rocks from across the street pelted the Mareitanians nearest to her.

"Run you idiot!" Limestone shouted, ducking behind the corner of a building to escape the smattering of arrows and bolts of magic that were shot at her.

"I'm not the idiot!" Pinkie tossed the rock into the air and delivered a roundhouse kick to it that sent it hurtling at one of the Mareitanians hard enough to knock him over. "They are! Run for your lives!"

Pinkie turned and ran, Lyra running out behind her, firing a single blast of magic that felled a single Mareitanian soldier before they could try to defend themselves. From across the street the other members of the Hard corps ran as well, hooves pounding on the crystal paving as they retreated back to the safety of the purple shield set up around the castle.

"Twitchy tail!" Pinkie shrieked, her tail almost vibrating. "Twitchy tail!" All of them started weaving as arrows fell upon them, and they picked up the pace again as the ponies firing stopped to reload. Pinkie's tail refused to stop twitching though, and a cursory glance behind them showed that there were a trio of griffons quickly catching up to them, with Maud being their most likely target as she was the furthest behind. "Watch out Maud!"

Maud looked back as Pinkie shouted, seeing the griffons behind her. Very close behind her. She veered to the left, onto the grassy verge that lined the streets and sunk her right hoof into the ground as she ran, grabbing a clump of soil, then jumping and twisting in midair to throw the clump of soil into the eyes of the lead griffon as he dove for her. He squawked loudly in surprise, and failed to pull up out of his dive in time to avoid slamming into the ground. He quickly clawed the dirt out of his eyes, just in time to see Maud's rear hoof flying towards him, and that was the last he ever saw again.

Maud backed up against the side of a building, trying to figure out how to deal with the other two griffons that had gone past, but were coming back for her. She hefted a rock in her hoof, and waited a second before throwing it in a curve that led it to meet the wing joint of the rightmost griffon with a meaty sounding slap that left it to wobble down to the ground. The other griffon was undeterred however, and dove straight for Maud faster than she could get a rock out of her bag. Her luck held though, and a split second later the griffon smacked down onto the crystal road, sliding to a stop right in front of Maud, Spitfire stood on its back with her backs impaling its back.

"I said, fall back!"

Maud saluted hastily, and galloped for the safety of the shield.

"It was a simple fucking order," Spitfire growled, pushing herself back into the air. "Was it too much for it to get obeyed?"

"But did you see the way she took out those two griffons?" Fleetfoot said excitedly. "An earth pony? One with a clump of dirt, and the other with a rock? That was awesome!"

"She could have got herself killed!"

"Anypony else having déjà vu?" Soarin asked. "All we need are some diamond dogs and thestrals, and this would feel a lot like the battle at Caverndown. Y'know, falling back as we evacuated the city. Only this time we actually had some time to prepare."

"Great, so those poor bastards from Caverndown get to lose another home to the Mareitanians." Fleetfoot sighed heavily. "This is fucking ridiculous."

"Truth," said Soarin. "Anyway, I think the north of the city looks clear of civvies and friendlies, so I guess we should fall back too."

Spitfire nodded, and led the way back to the purple shield that spread around the base of the Crystal castle, bisecting the city. They passed through it and landed next to the Crystal Heart, where Shining was maintaining the new shield, while Princess Cadence maintained the one over the city, giving the pegasi somewhere to retreat from the griffons if things got too heavy.

"North of the city looks to be clear General," Spitfire reported.

Shining nodded, "We're almost done evacuating the south as well. What about casualties?" he asked.

"Not... great," Spitfire answered hesitantly. "We've barely scratched their forces, while they've taken a significant chunk out of ours. Our ponies just weren't ready."

"I know. We'll load the wounded onto the trains if there's room, but I'm afraid we're going to have to leave the fallen." Shining winced as he heard a whimper from Cadence, "I'm sorry honey."

"I am too," she said, but not to Shining.

"How much longer can you hold that shield?"

"Without the love of the crystal ponies powering it, not long. I'm giving it all I have."

"Just hold on until the last of the crystal ponies are away, then we'll get out of here ourselves." Shining smiled as Cadence nodded, his heart brimming with love for his dear, brave Princess. "Spitfire, I want you and the all the pegasi up there deterring the griffons from flying over the south of the city. We'll hold them on the ground here until the last of the civilians is away, then we are out of here, understood?"

"Yessir!" Spitfire saluted, holding it until Shining returned it. "Just try not to take too long, okay?"

Rainbow was pissed. Even with all the extra fliers from Camp Freedom, the griffons still managed to outnumber them at least two to one. Even one on one the fight would still be in the griffons' favour because they were simply more experienced, better equipped, and born to kill. Ponies simply didn't have that same natural instinct. They could learn it, but that took time, and to have that time you needed to live, and to live in this situation, you had to be good at fighting, which brought them back to the beginning of the problem; the Equestrians weren't very good at fighting. Unsurprising for a nation that tended to sometimes use baked goods as weapons.

So far Rainbow felt like she'd spent less time actually fighting the griffons than she did making sure ponies didn't get themselves killed. Admittedly she was doing that by attacking the griffons attacking others, but that little fact had passed her by, swallowed up by her frustration at the situation. They were losing, and Rainbow hated losing, but she was instead having to put her effort into making sure they didn't lose as badly as they could.

Rainbow dove towards a cluster of griffons, putting her frustration to the side for now. Saving the other pegasi from getting killed was still important, and as group of them fled the griffons, Rainbow knew it was up to her to save them. She nodded back to her wingmates, both of them nodding back and drifting further sideways away from her, ready to follow her through as she pierced through the heart of the griffons giving chase.

She held one blade wielding hoof up as she raced towards them, and brought it down as she passed the first griffon, striking it across the back. Whether she did serious damage or not she couldn't tell as she raced past it, lashing out with her other blade towards the rear of a griffon, missing most of it, but cutting it's paw instead, hard enough to sever pieces that fell to the ground as she pulled up, Cloud Chaser and Thunderlane right behind her, along with most of the unwounded griffons. Two others were falling to the ground, so their attack had some success.

Rainbow flared her wings sharply, stopping herself rapidly. The griffons were unprepared for her to do so, and as they chased after them, they were surprised to find their quarry not fleeing, but instead twisting in midair, deflecting the middlemost griffons weapon aside with one blade and plunging the other into the griffon's side, getting dragged back into motion as the griffon fell.

Rainbow braced her hooves against the body of the griffon, and tore her blade free, shaking her hoof as the griffon crashed into the side of one of the many buildings. She'd forgotten to account for the sudden momentum that stabbing the griffon like that would give her, and now her leg hurt. Still, it was a small price to pay, and she grinned as she looked up and saw the griffons confusion over whether to split up and chase her, follow her wingmates, or go elsewhere. The Wonderbolts had quickly learnt that while experience in aerial fighting was good, being totally unpredictable tended to work much better. So when another wing of Wonderbolts swooped in, the griffons really didn't see it coming.

Rainbow tossed the other Wonderbolts a lazy salute, not entirely sure who it was that had helped her. Recognising ponies simply by the colour of their tail was actually harder than you'd think. Still, they'd helped her, so now it was up to her to meet back up with her wing and pass the favour on.

"Are you crazy?" Thunderlane spat as soon as Rainbow joined back up with them. "We're supposed to stick together."

"Divide and conquer," Rainbow said back. "You know being unpredictable works."

"You had literally no idea what was behind you! You could have gotten killed!"

Rainbow ignored him. She knew that following doctrines was only getting their side killed, and yes she knew she was being reckless, but from what she could tell, being reckless in this situation didn't seem to make you any more or less likely to get killed than simply following procedure where you could get killed at any moment by a lucky strike from a less predictable opponent.

"Guys, shut up!" Cloud shouted. "Do you see that?" Cloud pointed a blade south, where through the shield they could just about make out hundreds, if not thousands of colourful blobs flying towards them. It didn't take a genius to work out they were pegasi.

"What the hell?" Rainbow pulled up, flying out through the shield to get a better look. They were indeed pegasi, and they were flying straight for the Crystal Empire. They weren't uniformed by the looks of it, which concerned her. "Are they on our side or what?"

"Should we go find Spitfire?" Cloud asked.

"Yeah, probably. Let's go!" Rainbow dove back downwards, her keen eyes searching for a Wonderbolt with a flame coloured tail, possibly flanked by ponies with a short, dark blue tail, and a white tail. In the massive airspace over the Crystal Empire, filled with ponies and griffons moving at high speed, that was not that easy-

"There she is!" Thunderlane shouted, pointing down towards the shield around the castle.

-Unless you're Thunderlane. Rainbow opened her mouth to ask how he did that, but decided to save her breath for flying through the dogfight to their commanding officer.

Rainbow pushed ahead of her wing, holding her blades forward to strike down the griffon locked blade to blade with Spitfire, then changed her mind to lead in with her back legs instead, bringing her blades in to stab the griffon as she impacted against it, then quickly pushing off again. "Captain!" Rainbow shouted, while Spitfire seemed surprised to see her. "Pegasi flying up from the south!"

"Pegasi fl- What?"

"There are pegasi flying up from the south! Thousands of them!"

Spitfire didn't ask again, instead flying straight up to see outside the shield, Rainbow's wing and her own following closely behind her. As Rainbow had said, there were pegasi flying up from the south, and although they were clearly uniformed, she knew they were friendly as they passed over the fleeing crystal ponies without bothering them.

"Here," Soarin said, throwing a small monocular over to Spitfire. She fumbled it, then held it up to her right eye, bringing the pegasi flying towards them into sharp focus. They were definitely uniformed, and also unarmoured. They were on the other hoof, armed. There was only one bunch of pegasi that she knew was crazy enough to fly into battle without armour, and they were the liberated pegasi from Mareitania, who hopefully were on the side of Equestria now. Or at least things could hardly get worse if they weren't.

"We need to get this shield down," Spitfire said, tossing the monocular back to Soarin. "If those pegasi are who I think they are, we might just all make it out of this. Come on!"

It was a short flight down to where Shining Armour and Cadence were, still holding the central part beneath the castle, which was filled with noise as the Mareitanian forces tested Shining's shield. It would only be a matter of time before they started to push forwards again, and that shield wouldn't stop them for long. If Faust was around, she'd likely have it down in seconds. Until then however, it was as close to a safe haven the Equestrian forces could hope for.

Spitfire dropped down onto the ground in front of Shining and Cadence, giving them a quick salute. "Sir, we have pegasus reinforcements coming up from the south."

"We do?" Shining turned to face south, and squinted at the distant ponies. "We weren't expecting reinforcements. Who are they?"

"The pegasi refugees from Mareitania."

"Really?" Shining turned to face Spitfire, then the incoming pegasi, then back to Spitfire. "And you're definitely sure they're on our side?"

"I am. I'll make sure they kill me first if I'm wrong. Sir. They'll be here in a another minute flying at that speed, so if you want them to help, you need to drop the shield around the city before they get here. Right before they get here if possible, so we can give the griffons a little surprise."

"I can barely hold this shield any more," Cadence whispered, her exhaustion showing through her speech, "so we might as well. They'll only get in anyway."

Shining looked up at the pegasi once more, then nodded. "Okay, the city is nearly evacuated now, so we should start to think about getting ourselves out of here. Spitfire, head up and meet them. Explain the plan, and make sure they know which side to hit." Spitfire saluted again and raced off up through the shield. "Rainbow, you and your wingmates should get back up there for when they arrive. Try and make sure our own forces don't attack them. Tell them that once the griffons are pushed back, you need to retreat before their ground forces can fire on you." Like Spitfire, Rainbow saluted and went off to carry out her orders. "Cadence. As soon as the shield is down, take the Crystal Heart and get out of here."

"Not without you."

"Cadence, I'm being serious-"

"So am I! I'll wait at the station, but I won't be going any further, not without you."

Shining smiled tiredly, "Alright. I'll tell you when to stop. Flash, you keep her safe."

Flash saluted sharply, "You can count on me."

Shining turned back to face the pegasi, watching as they got closer and closer, Spitfire, Soarin, and Fleetfoot flying at their lead. When they were barely a hundred yards from the shield, he shouted to Cadence to stop. The magic on her horn dissipated, and seconds after that, the shield around the city flickered into nothing, giving the pegasi their chance to ambush the griffons. They took it.

Pinkie and all those around her gawped up at the sky as the shield fell, and a mass of pegasi swarmed into the city, crashing into the remaining griffons forces. Bodies fell from the skies, landing on roads and buildings with sounds that would forever burn themselves into the minds of anypony that heard it. The difference this time though, was that it was mostly griffon bodies falling now as the colourful mass of ponies overwhelmed the griffon forces. Piercing cries sounded above them, and moments after the pegasi's arrival, the griffons were fleeing.

"Holy shit," Limestone swore quietly. "Now this is more like it!"

"Who are those pegasi?" Lyra asked, watching the spectacle with a horrified fascination.

Azure shrugged, "Who cares if they're helping us? You go you crazy sons-a-bitches! I mean, seriously, they must have some real guts to do that without armour."

"I wouldn't get too excited," said Maud. "This just means they're more likely to send in their ground forces."

"That's bullshit," Limestone scoffed. "Now the skies belong to our pegasi they wouldn't dare atta- Hey! What the hell are they doing?" Limestone's mouth hung open as the pegasi stopped attacking, and fell back to the south. "No!"

"Retreat! Retreat!"

"Guess that means they're done evacuating the city," said Pinkie, offering a hoof to pull Marble to her hooves, her wild-eyed twin having not said a word since their first contact with the enemy. "Come on Marble, let's get the heck out of dodge!"

Pushing Marble in front of her until the slightly younger mare took the hint to get running, Pinkie didn't look back, not wanting to think about all that had happened. She, like so many others, just wanted to get out of there. She slowed as she passed Shining Armour under the castle, taking note that both Cadence and the Crystal Heart had gone, leaving him alone to maintain his shield. "Shining?"

"Get moving Pinkie! We are getting out of here!"

"But what about you?"

"Yes I'm coming too Pinkie! I just have to hold this shield long enough for all of you to get away."

"Then I'm staying too. You're Twilight's brother, and I'd be remiss in my duty to her as a best friend if I left you here on your lonesome."

"That's sweet and all Pinkie, but this is an order! Get movi-angh!" Shining collapsed to his knees as his shield buckled from a single strike, it's supplier striding gracefully towards them, her tall, white, unarmoured body a stark note in the sea of soldiers that now ran towards the castle.

"Okay, time to go." Pinkie pushed herself up under Shining until he was back on his hooves, then dragged him until he started running himself, taking the most direct route towards the train station, even if they didn't take the straightest line running, dodging back and forth to avoid anything that was fired at them. Crystal turned to dirt beneath their hooves as they left the city, bringing up the rear of a massive column of ponies fleeing from the battle. The mass of ponies flowed around the station, running straight for the frozen waste beyond which was ironically the safest place to be. The only ones not running were Cadence, Flash Sentry, and the other members of the Hard corps including Lyra.

"Get moving!" Shining shouted at them, slowing enough only to make sure that they stayed in front of them, with Flash taking to the air, along with a large number of the other pegasi that hung back to cover the retreat of their allies. Nothing followed them though. Not a single pony or griffon left the city limits to chase the retreating Equestrians, instead making room for Faust to walk to the front, her horn glowing brightly with a prepared spell that she fired directly at their small group, although who it was directly intended for would remain a mystery.

With a shout Flash threw himself into the path of the crackling orb of magic, intercepting it before it could reach any of them, and most importantly before it could harm the princess he swore to defend with his life. Hoping he'd made the princesses proud, he caught the magic on his chest.

All of them shielded their eyes from the blinding flare of magic as Faust's attack struck Flash, and when it faded, and they dared look again, there was nothing left save for a faint shadow on the ground marking the point where Flash Sentry had made the ultimate sacrifice for their safety.

"No!" Shining bellowed, skidding to a halt and turning back to attack Faust. A pale blue haze of magic caught him, easily overpowering him and dragging him away from the Crystal Empire and after Cadence, who knew just as well as Shining did how much this hurt him. All of them had lost something today, and without the Crystal Heart to hold the frozen north back, she hoped the Mareitanians also failed to gain anything as the frozen north claimed the Empire.

Swearing to return one day to make things right, Cadence led their group into the snow, and away from harm.

Faust sighed, her breath condensing in the air as the temperature continued to drop. Whatever the former inhabitants of the city had done before fleeing, it was having a serious effect on the weather. Besides the plummeting temperature, vicious storm clouds swirled around the city, unleashing heavy falls of snow that had already covered the lands around the city. Twice she had cast back the storms, and twice her efforts had been ignored as the storm kept coming and coming.

A thin dusting of snow whipped around her hooves and covered the snowflake on the ground beneath the crystalline castle that dominated the centre of the city. A city that now felt almost dead beneath her hooves. When she had first set hoof onto the crystal streets, she could feel the magic interwoven into the very fabic of the city, beating like a heart. She could no longer feel it, and she suspected that was related to the sudden change in the weather. Most importantly it had made the Empire useless to her plans to spread her influence over Equestria.

She hoped she could salvage something from the situation though, and let her magic search through the intricate spellwork laced through every inch of the city. Spells designed to spread love and joy to every inch of Equestria. Spells powered by the love and joy of the crystal ponies. Spells designed to rid the land of the influence of negative energy, which fueled far worse things. Spells which felt so very familiar...

Faust gasped and let her magic drop. Even after all the time spent apart from him, she could still recognise the spellwork of her beloved Starswirl. Now she could see it, every inch of the city was covered in his work, like it had been built into the city. And the Equestrians had torn the very heart out of it. Faust felt her rage build, then sighed, letting it go just as fast. Minutes earlier she had been willing to twist the magic of this place to her own ends, defiling Starswirl's work. She was no better than they were. Perhaps it was best that this place had been made dormant for now, so nopony could misuse it.

"My Lady?"

Faust pulled herself out of her thoughts as one of her followers addressed her, and graced him with a smile. "Yes my little pony?"

"We've searched the city and found no sign of any crystal ponies left behind."

Faust smiled and nodded, as that had been the plan. They simply didn't have the means right now to support the population of an entire city, and she was glad the Equestrians were predictable enough to evacuate the city instead, saving them the effort of having to look after the crystal ponies. It also saved them from now having to evacuate the city themselves as the frozen north continued to push in.

"Very good," she said to the soldier who was watching her expectantly. "Any news from General Snowbright?"

"Not as yet my Lady."

"Then let us leave this place before we become trapped here, so we might lend him our assistance." Just because one avenue of attack had been closed, there were still plenty more.

Author's Notes:

Was this predictable? It feels predictable.