It occurred to Luna, perhaps slower than it should have, that the trap they'd placed on the bridge had spent its use on a far smaller force than they had anticipated. The Mareitanians now knew they were waiting for them, and after having the way to Ponyville cut off, would probably be interested in looking north. Admittedly the north was still a poor choice of route, but now it had been made clear that going south wasn't exactly a bed of roses either. If Faust did go north, all of Luna's forces were in the south, and only the fliers could get there in time to slow their advance.

Overall, the whole thing made her think she might've fucked up a little. If Faust took the easier choice and went north, she would lose quite a few soldiers from pegasus attacks, but would inevitably make it to Manehatten. If she pushed south, all she had to do was cross the river, and the Equestrians had nothing to push back with.

"Shining, what do you think the best way to cross the river would be if you were Faust?"

"If I was Faust? There's a fantasy shouldn't entertain." Shining Armour ran a hoof through his mane as he studied the river before him. The command tent had been set on a small bluff overlooking the Equestrian defence, and afforded them a good view of the opposite side of the river as well. "Build a bridge with magic?"

"Possible I suppose, but we've considered that. It's too obvious."

"If it works it works." Shining shrugged at the princess, "I hate to say it Luna, but I don't think like Faust, and she doesn't think like us. She wants to fight this war, but does very little herself. If I was her I'd probably be a bit more proactive in ensuring my success."

"Hmm... yes," Luna said, conceding the point. "Perhaps counting on her to do anything would be a large assumption on our part. Perhaps that is why we haven't been attacked yet, because they are looking for a non-magical solution."

"It's what I would do, but that's also assuming they know nothing about our cannons." Shining pointed along the line of hidden cannons set back from the riverbank. Ponies were currently laying mines in front of them. "They're the game changer for us here. If I knew these were waiting for us here, I'd be going north in a heartbeat."

"We don't know who's making those decisions," Luna said to Shining, frowning into the distance towards where the Mareitanians were. "We have General Snowbright now, so we can't assume they'd reach the same decisions as him. He knows going north would be a massacre, but fighting towards Las Pegasus would be less of a supposed massacre if you didn't know about the cannons. Plus Las Pegasus is a viable target for occupation, whereas the north is nothing but open land fit for pegasus ambushes most of the way to Manehatten, where for all they know we have a force waiting for them, which we could, maybe before they get there."

Shining turned to the map of Equestria on the folding table in the tent. "What about this place called 'Our town?"

"Abandoned, and heavily damaged during my fight to subdue the criminal Starlight Glimmer. There is nothing of use to them there. Even if it weren't, there's nowhere near enough buildings to provide protection for the thousands upon thousands of Mareitanians."

"So they'd take a straight shot at Manehatten," Shining said, half expecting Luna to disagree with him.

"More than likely, although Fillydelphia is also an option should they pass through Hollow Shades. That territory wouldn't be friendly to their tanks though."

"So basically we have no real idea what they might do."

Luna nodded once, not wanting to voice her agreement with that fact. "It's very much in our interest that they attack down here."

"And should they decide to do something else entirely? Like literally anything else?"

"If you can tell me what that might be I'll happily provide a reactionary measure to you," Luna said haughtily. She was rather pleased when Shining failed to say anything at all. "So, besides the gloom surrounding this entire situation, is there anything else of note going on?"

"There's one thing, but it isn't exactly important. There's a peace rally going to be happening at the refugee camps in a few days time."

"There? So close to here? Are they insane? Why would there even be a peace rally?"

Shining stared blankly at Luna for a moment, struggling to decide if she was being serious. "You're surprised by the idea that not everypony supports the war?"

"It's- It's... unpatriotic! And insulting to those willing to put their lives on the line to protect Equestria! Who even came up with this peace rally idea?"

"All I know is that it was set up by a mysterious benefactor."

"Hah!" Luna laughed nastily, "Benefactor indeed? Let's see how beneficial they're feeling when Faust rules Equestria."

"They're also hosting some of the biggest names in music," Shining continued. "Sapphire Shores, Songbird Serenade, Coloratura... I get the feeling a lot of support is going into this."

"Then we'll have to stop it. This... rally, could undermine support for the war entirely, and can't be allowed to go ahead."

"Do you even hear yourself? What you're suggesting is a serious breach of civil liberties Luna, the kind of things we're fighting to preserve. You can't stop it, so forget about it."

"Really Shining? You're being naïve. The only way we can effectively have peace is to surrender. Do you honestly think that is a serious, or even viable course of action? These ponies are only deluding themselves by thinking giving up has a happy ending."

"Worse than losing? I doubt that. All your hopes are pinned on Twilight, and we have no idea where she is!"

"Where is this treasonous talk coming from Shining?" Luna asked softly, burying her anger for the moment as she knew it wouldn't be constructive. "If you have concerns about the war, voice them."

"Luna, I hate to be the pony that says this, but throwing ponies at Faust's army to slow them down while we wait for Twilight to find a miracle solution is stupid. How is it any better than surrendering?"

"We're buying time-"

"Yeah, with lives!"

"It's more than that! You know Faust's intentions! Do you want to be the pony that gave up and let the world suffer? We have to do this Shining, you know that."

Shining nodded slowly, but not in agreement. "We've stopped Faust from using our ponies with those implants, so if we sabotaged our country's infrastructure to stop Faust from using that as well, we could buy months of time before she takes her war elsewhere. More if we used guerilla warfare to keep sabotaging things. Far less lives would be lost."

"She'd also hold our entire country hostage," Luna said back. "There are plenty of ways to coerce ponies without magic. If she executes a hundred ponies for every structure your guerrilla warriors destroy, how is that better?"

"Do you really think she'd do that?"

"Do you know that she wouldn't?" Luna smiled as Shining failed to reply, although it felt hollow even to her. "I wouldn't trust her not to."

Shining sighed. There were far too many arguments for doing too many things, and spending lives to save lives always had that odd distinction to it where you were fucked either way, especially if you lost. At least a pony could fight for their survival in a war, but a mass execution to get ponies to obey you was... He didn't even have a word to describe it as beyond being horrible, but the war was horrible too.

"What about the peace rally?" Shining asked after a moment, having almost forgot that's how the discussion began. "You can't seriously expect to stop it. You'd only make those ponies think they're right."

Luna gestured dismissively with a hoof, "Let them have their rally then, for all the good it will do them."

"Movement! We have movement!"

Both of them looked up as the scout flew in to land at the command tent. She removed her helmet and wiped the sweat off her forehead. "We have incoming Princess."

"How many?"

"Thousands at least."

"Fucking hell Pinkie! Those aren't toys!"

Pinkie stopped twirling the landmine on her hoof and lowered it into the small hole she'd dug on the riverbank. "I'm just trying to make this more fun. Celestia knows there's a severe lack of that going around these days."

"It won't be fun when you've blown your leg off. In fact, it'd be decidedly not fun."

"But I haven't activated it yet!"

"I don't fucking care! Knock that shit off!"

"Alright Captain Grumpy, sheesh."

"That's Sargent Grumpy, thank you very much." Limestone eyed Pinkie as the mare activated the mine and buried it with exaggerated care. "That's better."

"Hey guys!" Both of them looked up, along with the rest of the Hard Corps, to find Lyra running over to them, her eyes wide with panic. "Didn't you hear? We have incoming!"

"Incoming what?" Pinkie asked, earning herself a groan from Limestone.

"Seriously?"

"What? It's a legitimate question."

"Mareitanians Pinkie!"

Pinkie narrowed her eyes and nodded as she stared at the horizon. "I suspected as much." After a moment she stopped and turned back to Limestone, "Sooooo, what are we supposed to be doing exactly?"

"Not standing here for starters." Limestone whistled sharply, alerting the others along the bank. "Incoming! Get back to the line!" Limestone led by example, turning Pinkie in the direction she wanted her to run and passing by Lyra who turned to follow her towards the gap in the line of cannons where the bridge had crossed the river. A minute later the rest of the ponies laying mines joined them, although they were ignored in favour of her Hard Corps as they ran up to her.

"They're actually insane enough to come back here?" Azure panted as she stopped in front of Limestone. "I seriously thought we were wasting our time staying here."

"Don't ask me why they're coming back, but feel free to enquire how much they might go on to regret it."

"Uh, alright, how much will they-"

"That was rhetorical Azure! Fucking hell." Limestone rolled her eyes, "Anyway, we're sticking here in case they make it this far, so you might as well make yourselves comfortable and enjoy the show. I don't know what these cannons are really meant to do, but I'm betting they fire more than confetti."

"More's the pity," Lyra whispered to Pinkie, trying to at least get a smile out of the mare. She succeeded, barely, but it felt like Pinkie was making the effort for Lyra's sake rather than her own. Pinkie actually seemed oddly focussed, which was different from the mess she was the other day. Lyra wasn't sure which worried her more.

All of them stepped back as ponies ran forwards to start loading the cannons, watching with interest as they shoved a cylindrical packet of gunpowder into the cannons muzzle, pushed it down with a stick, then repeated the process with the cannonball. They then moved the cannon so it was pointed directly at the opposite side of the river, where there was nothing to aim for as yet. A unicorn stood nearby, a pole with a slow burning fuse at the end held ready in their magic.

"Is it just me or do those things seem a bit... primitive?" Crystal Moon asked, the other unicorn to have joined the Hard Corps after Vanhoover. "We've invented steam trains and other stuff, but here we've stuck a ball down a metal tube with a packet of gunpowder. It's rather underwhelming."

"More than running at each other with pointy bits of metal?" said Maud.

"Well, no, I suppose it's a bit better than that."

Luna counted six tanks on the opposite side of the river, slowly crawling into position in what she supposed was an intent to bombard them over the river. She wasn't really sure what the range on their catapults were, but she had taken reasonable care to ensure her forces were probably out of their range. On the other side of that she'd taken care to ensure her cannons could reach far enough to strike the enemy ranks, which they could, so she had the advantage on two counts, in theory.

"That's a lot of ponies," Shining Armour murmured as Stormguard nervously looked on. "I'm counting five thousand at least. They could overrun our cannons before we've taken out even a tenth of them."

"That would involve some rather reckless behaviour on their part," said Luna. "I'm guessing since they haven't sent their entire army to attack us, they have no idea what our numbers here are. It's like they're sending those ponies here to die."

"Or to test our defences," suggested General Stormguard. "Why send so few if they were serious about crossing the river here? We haven't heard anything about them crossing the north?"

"Not as such," said Luna. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt to find out, although with the griffons out there capable of waylaying our messengers it shall have to wait until the attack has ended one way or the other."

"The Mareitanians have upwards of thirty thousand soldiers," said Shining. "There's no practical reason they couldn't overwhelm us down here and go through the north while we're distracted. Our own numbers are still too few to fight back if that happens."

"If that happens we've lost," Luna told him. "Once they dig their hooves into the east coast it'll be impossible to get them back out." Unspoken was the fact that it was only the Mareitanians hesitance preventing that. Should Faust decree it, they could swarm across Equestria, and there was little that could be done to stop them. It would be a costly campaign for them though, as Luna would make them pay for every inch.

"I think they're preparing to fire," Stormguard said after a moment. Luna moved to stand beside him to see what he could. As he said, the tanks were in position and seemed to be ready to fire. As they were watching, one of the tanks launched its payload across the river, although it would fall far short of the defences. Instead it landed on the riverbank and exploded. Two more explosions set off, the first one having set off a couple of the landmines they'd laid.

"By my sister's morning breath," Luna cursed as the other tanks turned on the spot to start firing on the riverbank. "They intend to destroy our minefield!" Luna grit her teeth as more explosions rumbled along the riverbank, destroying yet more landmines. "Stormguard, get our pegasi into the air and order the Air Corps to start bombarding the Mareitanians. Shining Armour, order the cannons to focus their fire on the end tanks."

Luna stood still, hissing between her teeth as her generals ran off to direct things from nearer the front. The tanks fired another volley, destroying yet more mines, each one firing a plume of fire and earth into the air as they were denied their purpose. As the last explosion echoed off the hills, the pegasi took wing, flying off over the river to deliver some payback.
Beams of colourful magic shot up into the air as the pegasi flew over the Mareitanians, and the sheer volume of it was enough to take out some of the fliers, rather than any decent accuracy on their part. Seconds later flashes of light went off throughout the enemy ranks as the bombs fell, but it was only for a few seconds as the Maretanian Adepts changed from attacking to shielding, and the flashes were suddenly happening a dozen meters in the air as the bombs struck a shield instead.

While the Adepts were forced to shield their forces they were unable to do anything else, which suited Luna just fine as they'd neglected to cover their tanks with the shield, probably to allow them to continue firing, but leaving them vulnerable to the cannons as they fired, concentrating their fire on the left and rightmost tanks. Not all of the shots hit their targets, but it was enough to send the tanks scurrying away.

Luna smiled to herself. Barely minutes into their attack the Mareitanians were already on the backhoof, their assault having amounted to very little. It took her a few minutes to notice the Adepts' shield had reached the river, and that there was more to their attack than she had anticipated.

Pinkie covered her ears as the cannons fired again. They didn't have the fun sound of her party cannon, but instead a bang that rattled your brain inside your skull. She didn't like it one bit, but didn't have the means to stop it, so clamped her hooves over her ears and hoped it would end soon. Even then it wasn't enough to block the sound of Limestone swearing.

"What the fuck are those bastards doing?" she asked out loud as she watched over the defences.

"Which bastards?" Azure asked, gaining herself a funny look from the team. "I stand by what I said."

"The Mareitanians," Limestone emphasised, "are doing something at the river." As she spoke the Mareitanians broke apart letting three large teams of earth ponies through to the river. Between them were long wooden platforms on wheels that they shoved into the river, one above the train wreck, and two below, pushing them further and further until they rose up the other side. "Oh shit! Bridges!"

The Adepts changed their tactic, shifting their shield to protect the bridges as their forces crossed, with Adepts leading the charge so that those crossing the bridge had protection at the other side. They waited until they had a sizable force across the river before advancing towards the Equestrians, trudging over the mostly destroyed minefield. Mostly.

"All cannons fire on those bridges," Shining Armour shouted. It took almost a minute before the first shot was taken at the bridges, and although the Adepts shields couldn't withstand that kind of firepower, the bridges remained intact. The ponies on them were a different matter, as the Equestrian air forces started swooping in during breaks in the cannon fire.

"Damn, that's ballsy," Azure commented on the pegasi as they dived the ponies trying to cross the bridges. The Adepts and archers on the opposite bank responded to the pegasi attacks by firing at them as they dived, the bodies of those hit splashing down into the river.

"Please be okay Rainbow," Pinkie begged as the pegasi broke off their attacks, allowing the Mareitanians to continue crossing. The cannons roared again, striking the bridges with their fury. The middle bridge was hit directly, its frame shattering as a pair on cannonballs sheared through its frame in the middle. It sagged, then broke completely, dumping the ponies crossing it into the river.

A ragged cheer went up from the defenders as the bridge collapsed, but there were plenty of ponies still crossing to cause an issue. With the Adepts shielding them, and the cannons focussed on the bridges, there was nothing stopping the ponies that had already crossed from advancing further.

"Mage Corps, raise shields behind the cannons!" Shining Armour commanded. Seconds after he did a line of shields popped up behind the cannons. "Advance past cannons when I say. Everypony else, get ready to hold off the attackers!"

"What the hell is going on?" Lyra asked, hoping for some kind of detailed plan off Limestone, but all she got was a shrug.

"I'm guessing the cannons can't attack while they're swarming us, so we hold them here while the pegasi deal with the bridges. Or something. More likely something."

"But that's stupid."

"Their plan or ours?"

"Both!"

The cannons fired again, then fell silent as Shining ordered the shields to pass the cannons, their crews falling back away from the fighting. The Mareitanians were barely a dozen meters away, safe behind their shield, just as the Equestrians were safe behind theirs.

The Mareitanians moved, overlapping their shield with the Equestrian one and raising theirs above it to start pounding on it with everything they had to try and break through. The Mage Corps unicorns all braced themselves for the inevitable backlash that the shield collapsing would create.

Pinkie swallowed nervously as cracks formed in the shield, her hooves running over the surface of the rock she held in her hooves to try and keep her mind away from what was about to happen. She glanced at Lyra who was watching the shield with apprehension, but didn't contribute to it as she was no longer part of the Mage Corps. Under her breath she started counting down from ten, but didn't even make it to three before the shield buckled, breaking completely, knocking ponies back with the backlash.

A bright light filled the gap between the two groups as Luna teleported onto the battlefield, her glaives shining at her side for a second before being put to work, carving into the Mareitanians ranks.

"Advance! Earth Corps with me! Mage Corps and Uni Corps maintain ranged fire! Push them back to the river!"

Pinkie hesitated as the rest of the ponies around her ran past the Hard Corps, following Luna's orders to repel the attackers. The rest of the Hard Corps hesitated as well, unsure whether Luna's orders had included them or not.

"Are we meant to be doing something?" Top Spin asked, hoping Limestone hadn't ordered them forwards for a reason.

"I have no idea," Limestone admitted. "We're not ranged or melee! This is so fucking stupid! What the hell are we supposed to be?"

"Unconventional," Maud said bluntly. "Which we are. I think I have a plan to destroy those bridges, but we're going to need two really big rocks."

"And what are we going to do with these really big rocks?" Limestone asked sceptically.

A faint smile tugged at the corners of Maud's mouth. "We're going to teach them to fly."

This felt more familiar to Luna, throwing herself into a chaotic mêlée of blades and spells. It was also something she excelled at, compared to other parts of warfare. The bridges had completely thrown Luna off, and not least because they'd placed them so close to the train wreckage. That meant they'd also bridged the trench made during the trap, which had come to her as being unnecessarily hard to do, which could explain why she hadn't anticipated the attack coming from directly in front of them.

She'd cursed herself hard for that. She'd been so convinced some big grand event would happen to get them across the river that she'd overlooked the simplest method. The river was only a few dozen meters wide, so what the Mareitanians had done should have been obvious. The fact that they did it in triplicate was just insulting. Now they had crossed the river, forced the cannons into silence through fear of hitting their own, and were doing far too well in their attack as far as she was concerned. Her soldiers needed an edge to push back with, even if that edge was herself. All they needed was an opening, and she'd give them one.

"Push forwards!" Luna cried, her glaives sweeping round to cut down an earth pony that had thought to attack her from the side. She kept a space clear in front of her to move into, cutting deeper and deeper into the Mareitanian ranks. The fact that it had come to a charge like this was bad enough, but if the Mareitanians made it past the defences, it would've been a nightmare to push them back out again. It may even have cost them the position, as well as the cannons, which Luna would rather not see in the hooves of their enemy.

A large pony in thick armour pushed into the space she kept in front of her, unexpectedly ramming into her to try and push her back. She braced herself, her hooves digging into the ground as she halted the pony's attack. She brought her glaives down on the pony's sides, stabbing them through the chest until the two blades met. She was surprised to hear a feminine cry come from the pony before pulling her blades free and kicking the pony away.

That short loss of momentum did have consequences though, as more of the armoured juggernauts were able to halt the Equestrians push, although not to the point that they had pushed them back, as even they couldn't push back a few thousand ponies. As it was, all they had really done was slow it, as the juggernauts were outnumbered, forced to the ground, and summarily killed. Perhaps their sacrifice was worth it, but Luna doubted it as she raised a shield to fill the gap that the juggernauts had allowed to form between the two sides. Arrows bounced off the shield Luna had erected, the gaps quickly getting filled by the Mage Corps as they caught on to what Luna was doing. Their attack thwarted, the Mareitanians did the same.

Luna looked up in the short respite that had been made. The two sides had turtled up now, shielding themselves from the other. Chances were the Mareitanians wouldn't attempt to try what they did before and batter the shields down to attack the Equestrians. They still had plenty of distance between them and the river, and it seemed unlikely that they were going to retreat, so something had to be done to break the stalemate as Luna wasn't exactly keen to drop her shield either. What that something was she had no idea.

If there was ever a more pointless activity Rainbow could think of in this battle, it was escorting the Air Corps fliers as they dropped bombs. If the griffons were here she could see the point, but they weren't, so what she was meant to be protecting them from was a mystery, especially as it put her and all of the other fliers at risk of getting hit by the Mareitanians attempts to stop them with magic and crossbow fire. Rather ineffectively at that. It seemed to her that this war, and the weapons that had come into being because of it, had severely changed the typical balance in pony versus pony combat. With bombs pegasi no longer had to get close to attack ponies, so unicorns lost their ranged advantage. In fact, with bombs pegasi could dominate any force, so long as they didn't hide beneath shields like the Mareitanians currently were.

In fact the entire battle had come to a deadlock as far as she could tell, with the Equestrians so determined to defend themselves that the Mareitanians simply couldn't push forward, and vice versa. The cannons were stuck not being able to fire, so no help was coming from them, and the sheer volume of bombs required to bust through the shield was more than the pegasi could drop at any one time. Contrary to that, the order to cease wasting bombs was going out, allowing Rainbow and her squadron to fly back to the southern side of the river to safety.

"Wonderbolts to me!" Spitfire shouted, separating herself out from the rest of the fliers to address her squadrons. "We have a problem," she said once the four squadrons were assembled. "This battle is going nowhere at the moment, and it's up to us to get it moving again. We need to get the Mareitanians shield down on this side of the river."

"Why us?" Rainbow asked. "Couldn't Luna do it?"

"Both Princess Luna and General Armour are down in that mess somewhere," Spitfire replied. "While they're keeping our forces safe they can't begin to break the shields. Pegasi are the only ones free to get through it."

"Isn't keeping our forces safe a bit stupid?" Sky Stinger snickered. "Last I checked this was supposed to be a battle, so why are they all trying to stay safe?"

"I'm guessing this wasn't what the Mareitanians had in mind when they decided to attack here again," Spitfire told him. "The cannons must have changed things for them, and I bet they never expected Luna to lead a charge against them either. Now they're stuck, unable to advance or retreat because we'll tear them to shreds as soon as they try either of those."

"So what's the plan Captain?" Lightning asked.

"I'm sure you all remember your shield busting training?"

"Well, sure."

"Good, because we're not doing it. The Air Corps are."

All of the Wonderbolts shared glances. "Did you hit your head at some point?" Soarin said, turning Spitfire's head to inspect it.

"Get off me," Spitfire grunted, pushing Soarin away. "The Air Corps are busting the shields, and we're following them in along with the Exiles and Night Guard. It's not complicated."

"Then why bring up our shield busting training?" said Rainbow.

"Because it's relevant. When the big shield goes down, the Adepts are likely to try and put up a bunch of smaller shields. We'll have a few seconds to do as much damage as we can, but then we'll have to go into busting the smaller shields. The Air Corps will probably take a few hits, so they'll pull out after busting the shield, meaning we'll have to do it ourselves from there on."

"What do you mean they'll take a few hits?" Cloud asked once Spitfire was done explaining the plan.

Spitfire groaned and looked away, not meeting their eyes as she explained. "The Mareitanians are likely to open fire as soon as the shield goes down, and the Air Corps will be between us and them..."

"So we're using them for cover?" Rainbow said, shocked that they would do that. "We're seriously making the Air Corps into meat-shields?"

"It would happen anyway," Spitfire snapped. "If it's going to happen anyway, we might as well try to get something out of it. Believe me Rainbow, I'm no happier about it than you, but its simply something that's unavoidable."

"Okay, I get it," Rainbow lied.

"Anyway, We'll be busting the shields with the Night Guard from there on, so we'll be taking plenty of fire after that while the Exiles clean up. Any questions?" Spitfire tightened her jaw as a dozen ponies raised their hooves, "No? Good. Let's move out and make this happen ponies!"

"This is going to blow," Rainbow said as Lightning led them higher into the sky. "Who's keeping the Mareitanians on the other side of the river occupied while we're doing this?"

"I think the idea is to do this quickly," Lightning said back with a shrug. "They can only be a problem if we give them the time to be. Anyway, enough questions and all that, get yourself ready for the attack."

Rainbow nodded and drew her blades, scraping them up and down the other as a means of passing the time until the attack began. They didn't have to wait long as the Air Corps gathered just below them. They waited a few seconds, then dived as one to strike the shield simultaneously. Seconds after they dived the rest of the fliers followed.

The shield vanished, but not because the Air Corps had hit it. The Air Corps overshot their intended distance as the shield dropped ahead of them, flying straight into a hail of magic and arrows that they scrambled to avoid, scattering quickly.

The Wonderbolts, Exiles, and Night Guards held their course, dodging and weaving between the incoming fire. There were no smaller shields being formed so they flew straight in to attack. Rainbow landed heavily on a stallion that was aiming a crossbow away from her, making him fire the weapon in his shock, the arrow hitting a pony on his side a few meters away. Rainbow took back off to the safety of the sky, a lot of the other pegasi following her up.

"Cloud! Thunderlane! You still with me?" Rainbow looked back to see if her wingmates were still there, and grinned as she found they were. It also gave her the chance to see Princess Luna begin pushing against the Mareitanians. It had only been a single strike, but it was enough to get the ball rolling again.

Luna could have cheered. In fact she might have, but hadn't been able to hear it over the renewed sounds of battle. As soon as the shield had dropped, Luna had ended hers to start attacking. A single blast from her horn had blown a gap in the Mareitanians in front of her, allowing her to race into the gap and start pushing it wider.

A sword clipped of the rear of her armour, and she spun to face the pony that had struck her, swinging her blade around to behead the pony. Such an act was almost an afterthought, but it did allow her to see something which she hadn't thought to pay attention to before because she was so occupied with fighting. The Mareitanians were retreating back across the bridges as fast as they could.

Luna hesitated for a moment, unsure of whether to cut off the bridges to halt their escape. Even if they refused to surrender, costing her own side more, taking out such a number of the enemy was almost too good to pass up. Her own forces were becoming rather stretched pushing forward like they had, and there was the risk of a counterattack damaging her forces if she got it wrong. She was stuck deciding what to do, when a shadow passed over her, preceded by a shout of "Timber!"

"Pinkie Pie?"

"So we have to hold our shields like this?" Lyra asked, nervously eyeing Crystal just across from her, who was making the exact same face back. "You do realise that neither of us have a chance of holding that kind of weight? Especially when it's moving."

"I know," said Maud. "You won't need to." Maud shielded her eyes as she looked up the steep slope where Pinkie and Limestone were roughly carving two channels into the rock, starting at the plateau above them, and ending them by where Maud was stood with Lyra and Crystal. Two ramps had already been built, so all that remained was for Marble to craft two perfectly round boulders with Azure and Top Spin, and for Maud to get the spin just right using the two unicorns' magic.

Maud placed her hooves on the square shield and tried to shape it a little. She was rather surprised to find that she couldn't. "Could you make the shield soft so I could shape it?" Lyra nodded, and the shield started to shift in her hooves. She twisted it a little, looked down at the nearest bridge, then twisted it a little further, nodding to herself. "Okay, make it hard again."

"Are you really sure you know what you're doing?" Lyra insisted. She'd never come across earth pony magic that didn't involve growing things before now, and had no idea if that was what she was looking at, or if it was all Maud. Either option worried her.

"Yes," Maud said bluntly in answer to Lyra's question. She morphed Crystal's shield, shortening it a bit and adding a flick to the end that would add a nice spin to the boulder as it flew. "I feel I should apologise, to both of you."

"Why?" Crystal asked nervously. Whatever Lyra was thinking about what was happening, it was worse for her. Lyra had at least spent a significant amount of time around earth ponies, long enough to pick up on their eccentricities, but she'd lived in Canterlot her entire life and had limited experience with what earth ponies could do. Now they were practically throwing boulders at her.

"For the headache," Maud said. "I get the feeling giant boulders smashing through your magic won't be pleasant."

"Then why are you doing this?"

"This needs to be perfect, and they'll last long enough to give us what we want." Maud gave the shield one last little tug and nodded. "Okay, don't change these shields. I'm going to make sure everything is ready."

"I should never have agreed to this," Crystal sighed as Maud near sprinted up the near vertical slope.

"And you'd rather be down there?" Lyra said, gesturing with her head towards the battle below them.

"Y'know, I almost feel that would be safer."

"Then clearly you don't know Pinkie. I wouldn't be doing this if she didn't agree with it."

"Oh, and Pinkie's the expert on everything is she? Huh? What is it about her opinion on this should we trust? Her stunning knowledge of geometry and geology? Or her ability to, what? Punch rocks?"

Lyra gave Crystal a funny look, "No. We should trust it because she's Pinkie, and that's all that matters. It's a thing back in Ponyville." Lyra grinned at the incredulous expression Crystal adopted, "Hey Pinkie, where exactly would you say these boulders are going to land?"

"Well the near one is easy," Pinkie shouted back down the slope to Lyra, stopping her work to look at the bridges. "It's going to land right on the nearest edge in the middle of the bridge. The other one though... it's going bounce off the top of the highest carriage in the river, hit the shield and break it, bounce directly upwards, then land on the bridge either breaking it or not breaking it. That's up to the bridge. I'm not exactly an expert at bridges, so I can't tell."

"Cool. Thanks Pinkie." Lyra raised her eyebrows at Crystal, "And that is exactly what will happen," she declared.

"You're all insane," Crystal muttered back.

Azure leaned against the boulder that was near three times the height she was, and grinned at Maud as she clambered up over the edge of the slope. "Two big, smooth, hairless, dragon balls sized balls, ready to go," she said, trying to sound like she came across those things all the time, and therefore knew exactly how big they were.

"Dragon testicles are only the size of your head," Maud said dismissively. "Depending on the size of the dragon of course. These are just big rocks."

Azure pouted at Maud, "Right... yeah, whatever. Big rocks. Yep. I'm guessing dragon jizz isn't as hot as lava either?"

"I'd say not."

"Damn. I feel like my entire childhood was a lie now. Anyway, did we make good balls?" Maud inspected the boulder that Azure was leaning against, chipped a few bits off, then nodded in satisfaction. "Sweet. Worked hard on this."

"Marble did most of this. I recognise her work."

Azure hung her head and nodded once, "Yeah. She's a lot faster than me, and better, and she's so adorable I can't even get mad at her."

"No hitting on Marble!" Limestone shouted from over the edge of the plateau.

Azure rolled her eyes, "Yes mooom!"

"Especially since that would actually make Marble your aunt!"

Azure blinked as she thought about what Limestone had said, "Oh yeah... that is a bit gross."

"Also, it's Sergeant to you, you purple pain in the-"

"This one looks good," Maud said about the other boulder Marble and Top Spin were working on, effectively ending the conversation between Azure and Limestone.

"Thanks Maud," Marble said appreciatively. "I'm trying to get them as round as possible, but it's a bit hard doing it like this."

"It's fine, they don't need to be exact. I think they're both acceptable, and ready to-"

"Roll?" Azure said excitedly. She cheered when Maud nodded. "Finally! I said something and didn't get argued with! Can I push one?"

"Nope," Limestone said happily, climbing up onto the plateau with Pinkie. "Pony in charge gets to push one, and pony that thought of the plan gets to push the other."

"I don't mind-" Maud began to say, getting interrupted by Limestone.

"Don't care. Pony in charge gets to say who does the pushing as well. Frankly, anypony but Azure, who got to blow up the trench the other day."

"Oh yeah," Azure said dreamily. "I'd almost forgotten about that."

"I don't see how," Limestone grumbled. "Anyway, the ramps are ready to go, so all we need to do is get on with it." She walked around the back of the nearest boulder and placed her hooves on it, pushing with all her might, but only moving it a couple of inches. "Damn it. Azure-"

"Yes ma'am!" Azure quickly joined Limestone, along with Marble as Top Spin and Pinkie helped Maud to push the other to the edge. They stopped at the edge, making sure to line the two boulders up with the ramps before shouting down to see if Lyra and Crystal were ready. They were, so with an almighty shove they pushed the two boulders off the edge of the plateau.

"Timber!" Pinkie shouted as the two boulders rumbled down the slope, bouncing a little as they quickly gained speed, creating a massive trail of dust in their wake.

They reached the ramps that would launch them into the air, and shot off the end, Lyra and Crystal crying out in pain as the boulders crashed through their shields, but holding them long enough to alter their trajectory slightly. The right boulder flew directly at the nearest bridge, punching directly through the shield and hitting the edge of the wooden structure, smashing through most of it so that the barest bit of solid structure remained. It couldn't support the weight of the ponies on it, and snapped, throwing them into the river.

The other boulder flew majestically through the air as only a boulder could. It clipped off the top of the highest carriage in the wreckage from the train still in the river, knocking the carriage over as it continued. It smacked into the side of the shield tunnel, bouncing up off it as the shield held long enough to totally alter its direction to upwards. It quickly succumbed to gravity though, and fell directly onto the bridge which half snapped, the weight of the boulder dragging it beneath the water.

"Nailed it!" Pinkie shouted gleefully.

"And that is why we don't question Pinkie," Lyra said to Crystal, her hoof squeezed to the side of her head to stop the feeling that her head was going to split in half.

"Good grief," Luna muttered, stunned by the sudden arrival of the boulders, and stunned again by the sudden removal of the bridges. "Excellent work Pinkie, as always."

Luna pulled back a little, ordering her troops to do the same. With the sudden loss of the bridges, the Mareitanians were without their sole means of both gaining reinforcements, and retreating. They were now effectively trapped on the Equestrian side of the river, and were likely to be feeling a bit desperate, meaning they would either face reality and give up, or lash out in an attempt to hurt the Equestrian forces as much as possible. Luna hoped that by denying them the chance to attack, she could force them to surrender instead.

Some of the Mareitanians were already tossing their gear to swim back across the river, and Luna wished them luck as the river would claim at least some of them before they made it. The rest though, she offered them an ultimatum, her voice blasting out over the battlefield.

"You're trapped here now with no hope of succeeding. Stand down and you shall be granted mercy, or face a bloody end if you resist. It's your choice."

Nothing happened for a little bit. Luna thought they were actually going to reject her offer, or die through inactivity as she had no intention of standing here all day waiting for them to decide their future. Across the river their forces were already falling back, their attack thwarted by the destruction of the bridges. Luna was thankful, as their attack had proven far too successful considering how close they had come to overrunning the Equestrians' defence. Her charge against the Mareitanians had been a gambit, if a successful one. It could easily have gone wrong.

"Please surrender," Luna sighed. "Your Lady isn't coming to save you, so give up. I'd rather not have to drag this battle out if I don't need to. Accept your defeat, and surrender."

By Luna's estimation there was maybe a thousand Mareitanians trapped with them. Behind her Luna had thousands of ponies. Not all of them were on the battlefield, but the disparity of numbers had to have been obvious, and it did seem to be as the Mareitanians started throwing their weapons down.

"Excellent! General Armour, are you still with us?"

"I'm here," Shining said, pushing his way to Luna. "What are your orders?"

"Claim their weapons and start rounding them up into small groups. Make sure our numbers remain obvious to them, so that they don't get any funny ideas. We'll transport them to the prisoner of war camp at Dodge City tomorrow."

"Yes ma'am."

Luna sighed as Shining ran off, barking orders. She returned her blades to the nether and pulled her helmet off her head, letting her mane loose. While she was pleased that they had seen off the enemy, she couldn't help but feel that they had come far too close to the edge of disaster against what was less than a quarter of the Mareitanians forces. This defeat would get back to Faust, and whatever she tried next would likely be a lot worse than what they'd seen so far.

Author's Notes:

And we're back with the posting of the chapter things in what happens to be an entirely new and different year. Still has that nice new year smell to it and everything.

My new years resolutions: finish this story, eat more Mexican, diet to lose the weight I put on from eating too much Mexican, write a clop scene/ story, stop making up fake new years resolutions, and get a car newer than ten years old.