"Nothing in four days. No movement, no construction... nothing." Luna tossed their latest scouting reports away with a flick of her magic. "One might almost suspect them of not knowing what to do."

"And that would be a gross assumption on our part," said Shining Armour. "I'm equally willing to suspect them of having a plan that lulls us into a false sense of security. At the very least I'd suspect them of having a plan."

"Yes, yes," Luna drawled. "I imagine their vaunted Lady is rather disappointed with their progress, and blah-dy blah-dy blah. If they appeared to be preparing to travel through the north, fine, but they don't even appear to be doing that. They're just sitting on their hooves around the tunnel to Ponyville."

"Nopony's seen anything of the griffons either," said Stormguard. "I mean, even less than usual. I don't want to assume anything, but perhaps they've abandoned the Mareitanians?"

"Now that would be assuming things," Luna said, dismissing that notion straight off the bat. "It's been mentioned that the Bloodfeathers don't renege on a contract."

"So all we can do is sit and wait for the Mareitanians next move," Shining sighed. "That sounds like a terrible idea. At the very least the peace rally can hopefully be undisturbed by enemy actions."

"Are they still refusing a number of our forces for protection?"

"'Fraid so. The organisers feel that having soldiers there as protection would promote the wrong image to the attendees."

Luna laughed scornfully, "Basically you are saying they don't want soldiers to be seen as protectors. They want us to be seen as warmongers fighting an unjust war."

"Not at all, as I think even they're aware that it's us under attack, not the other way around. All they want is a peaceful end to the war."

"Yes, well, I believe I've said enough on that already." Luna shrugged at the two generals, "If they wish to be left to their folly, then far be it from me to argue."

Static exploded from Rainbow's wings, heading in no particular direction. She wobbled through the air back to the ground, fumbling the landing and tripping over her hooves to land face first in the dry ground of the San Palomino desert, her wingtips gently smoking. "Ow."

"That was worse than last time Rainbow," Cloud Chaser said cheerfully, having watched the proceedings with glee, along with Lightning Dust, Thunderlane, Sky Stinger, and Vapor Trail. "Maybe you should try again, and do the exact same thing."

"Why the fuck would I do the exact same thing?" Rainbow asked, her words muffled by her mouth's proximity to the ground.

"Why indeed?" Cloud asked back, a cheeky grin on her face that Rainbow couldn't see until she finally pulled herself back up.

"Har har Cloud. I do believe it's time for you to have a go."

"Nah, I'm good. I was thinking we should take a break, and I don't just mean from this."

"We can't take a break from being soldiers," Lightning said carefully, wondering where Cloud was going.

"I didn't mean running from the army or anything. I just meant that since we haven't had no contact with the enemy in four days, and that nothing is happening, perhaps we could take a night off and go to that peace rally by Appleloosa?"

"Are you even serious?" Sky Stinger said to Cloud. "A peace rally? Really? Why the hell would we want to go to that?"

"Because there's a concert there, headlined by Countess Coloratura, Songbird Serenade, and Sapphire Shores. Who wants to miss that?"

"I'm guessing the answer is 'not you?'"

"Hell no! Not when it's free! Who'd want to miss them for free?"

"Again, I suspect the answer is 'not you.' I also suspect you haven't realised that going there means going AWOL, and that we'll never get permission from Spitfire if we ask?"

"I've thought of those things, yes, and we're not on roster for patrolling tonight, so we're not missing anything if we go." Cloud turned to address the rest of her squad mates, "Come on guys, who's with me?"

Lightning delicately cleared her throat, "As much as I'm unhappy about agreeing with him, Sky Stinger is right-"

"Thank you!"

"-And going to this concert will count as going AWOL at a time when we could be attacked at any moment. I'm not sure we can do it Cloud."

"But you want to," Cloud insisted, a coy grin on her face.

"Of course I do! I love Sapphire Shores, and the other two aren't so bad either, but we can't risk it."

"Aww come on Lightning," Rainbow said to their leader, "lighten up. We can go for a couple of hours, then head back. We'll be gone for three, maybe four hours, tops. Seeing as how we'd be doing nothing at the time, we won't be missing anything except maybe some sleep."

"And if the rest of our Squadron grasses on us?" Lightning said back, "What then?"

"Then we take our punishment in the knowledge that we saw three of the top singers in Equestria, totally free. By that point, I'd say we've already won."

Lightning closed her eyes and sighed, "I don't know. Thunderlane, Vapor, you're both being quiet. What do you think?"

"I'd love to go," Vapor said quickly. "Come on Sky, it's just one night. What's the worst that could happen?"

"I get the feeling you don't actually want me to answer that." Sky pursed his lips as Vapor gave him puppy eyes, silently begging him to give in. "Please stop that. You know I consider puppy eyes cheating." He started to sweat as the puppy eyes intensified, and he looked away at Thunderlane. "What do you think of this?"

"He used to have the biggest crush on Songbird Serenade," Cloud answered for Thunderlane before he could so much as open his mouth. "At least until he got a piece of this ass. I'd say he's in." Behind Cloud, Thunderlane nodded sheepishly.

Sky Stinger swallowed hard as the three other mares made three more sets of puppy eyes to join Vapor's. "There should be a law against this. You know you could easily go without me. I won't tell on you or anything."

"Or you could come with us?" Cloud suggested.

"This isn't going to end until I give in, is it?" All four mares shook their head simultaneously. Behind them Thunderlane grinned helplessly. "Fiiiiine."

"Woo!" Cloud cheered as Vapor leapt onto Sky to hug him viciously. "Party time!"

"What about the rest of the squadron though?" asked Thunderlane. "They'll probably be suspicious."

"Nah, they're used to us disappearing for hours at a time," said Rainbow. "They'll probably think we're off doing this again, or something. No offense to them, but I don't trust all of them to keep quiet about it if we ask them to come. Especially Fast Clip."

"Sadly true," Lightning agreed, reaching into her pocket to pull out a watch. "Okay, so concert starts at... nine?" She looked at Cloud for confirmation, getting a nod in return. "Yeah, nine, so if we split up and meet here at eight, we should be there in time for the opening act. We stay for a couple of hours, then head back for midnight at the very latest."

Rainbow rubbed her hooves together, "Sounds like a plan."

"Sounds like a terrible idea if you ask me," Sky grumbled.

"Psst! What's the password?"

Rainbow looked around, trying to find the pony that had spoke. "We didn't make a password. Why the hell would we even need one?"

"...Oh, yeah."

"Cloud, get the fuck out here and stop messing around."

"Okay, sorry." Cloud fluttered down to the rock Rainbow was sat on, Thunderlane close behind her. "I kinda thought that since we're being all secretive and stuff that we'd have a password."

"For what? And I'm pretty sure you have to arrange that kind of thing before you start."

Thunderlane chuckled under his breath, "She's been like this since we discussed it earlier. I don't think she quite grasps the concept."

"That might have been because I was too busy grasping other thi-"

"Okay," Rainbow interrupted. "No sex talk, please, I've just eaten."

"You're just jealous," Cloud said teasingly.

"Of the things you two get up to? Each to their own, but there's not a lot of things you two get up to that I'm jealous of. I'm in the camp where every hole is not, in fact, a goal."

"We like to express our love in many exciting and exotic ways."

"Like walking funny the next day, I know. So very romantic. Now seriously, knock it off before I puke."

"Prude."

Rainbow rolled her eyes and ignored the others, leaving them to whisper what she hoped were sweet nothings into each others' ears until the other three arrived. "About time."

"I know," Lightning said apologetically. "I had Soarin talking my ear off about something, and I couldn't get away very easily. Since we're all here though, how about we get moving?"

Rainbow nodded, "Sounds good." She took off, leading them into the easterly direction that she believed Appleloosa lay in, enjoying being able to fly somewhere without an expressly military purpose.

"I feel naked without my flight suit," Sky said after a few minutes.

"Uh, Sky, you are naked without it," Lightning pointed out.

"Yeah, but now I really feel it."

"Feels good to me," said Rainbow. "It's nice to feel the wind on my body for once. No, that was not an invitation to fart in my face," she added as a Thunderlane started to overtake her.

"Aww," Thunderlane sighed, making Cloud giggle.

"Seriously you guys, there's something really wrong with you. Anyway, lets get moving."

Things were starting to kick off at the concert as the six pegasi arrived. The grounds in front of the stage built near the refugee camp, were flooded with thousands and thousands of ponies. Keeping low, the six of them flew in and inserted themselves into the crowd, landing on a small rise that allowed them to see the stage.

"I guess it hasn't started yet," Vapor said, observing that the stage was empty. "I hope Songbird goes on first."

"Have you seen the banners some of these ponies are waving?" said Lightning. "Make peace, not war. End the fighting. No more death."

"My personal favourite," said Thunderlane, "is 'end the matriarchal establishment forcing our ponies to fight for them.' It's almost enough to make you forget that we actually volunteered to join the Wonderbolts."

"Even though the Wonderbolts weren't really given a choice about whether they wanted to fight or not?" said Rainbow. "Not that I'm complaining, because I knew what I was getting into, but, y'know."

"Peace rally," Lightning whispered harshly. "Ixnay on the Wonderbolt-ay. We're just normal ponies here to see a free concert with some of the biggest names in Equestria. That's it."

"Oh thank goodness, I was worried you were here to be party poopers."

"Pinkie?" Rainbow turned to where the voice came from to see the pink party pony and her team standing within touching distance. "How long have you been here?"

"The entire time. You landed right next to us."

"You could have said something!"

"And I would've, but as I said, I was worried you were here on Luna's orders to ruin the party, or something."

"How'd you get here anyway? Appleloosa's miles from the base camp."

"We hired a pegasus coach from Las Pegasus. A bit pricey, but seeing those three on stage in one night is worth every bit!"

"Just to be clear," said Limestone, "I was against this idea from the start."

"And yet you're still here," Lightning pointed out.

Limestone sighed and nodded, "Don't remind me. I don't even like this kind of music."

"What music are you in to then?" Rainbow asked, only to be surprised at the answer.

"Classical."

"Really?" Rainbow bit her tongue as Limestone glared at her. "So you're not into rock then?"

"Nah, that's Marble's thing. And stop typecasting me you jackass."

"It helps me express the rage I feel every day," Marble said as she eyed the crowd nervously.

"I honestly can't tell if you guys are fucking with me or not." Rainbow cleared her throat and was about to try and dig herself out of the mess she'd made, when the lights on the stage shifted to highlight three figures that were walking up the section that extended into the crowd.

"Hello everypony!" Coloratura said into the microphone held in her hoof, her voice cutting clearly across the crowd. "We'd like to thank you all for coming tonight, to support our efforts to end this war."

"Fighting isn't the answer," Songbird said as Coloratura finished. "I know that it's important to protect our homes, but our homes aren't being protected, as you all know. It's only a matter of time before all of Equestria faces the same heartache as all of you."

"Which is why we want to end the fighting!" Sapphire Shores said next. "What's the point of fighting if we aren't even achieving anything? Instead we should embrace the true Equestrian values of forgiveness and understanding, and make peace with the Mareitanians."

Coloratura smiled and nodded at her counterparts. "I know that if we put our voices together we can and will be heard! The princesses can't ignore us if enough of us demand an end to the fighting! Together, we can end this! But now..." Coloratura smiled at the crowd as music started, "Now... it's time for the spectacle, time for the show, the lights are bright and the colours glow..."

The small military component of the crowd stared blankly at the stage while the thousands around them roared their appreciation. "Do they even know what it is we're fighting for?" said Azure. "Faust isn't here to push us around and call us names. She's here to destroy everything that makes us, well... us!"

"You can't blame ponies for not wanting to fight," said Pinkie.

"Is that what you think? Give me a real challenge Pinkie." Azure raised her head and screwed her face up at the crowd, "All you ponies here suck, like, super hard." Satisfied at the response from the crowd, of which there was none, Azure turned back to Pinkie. "Boom. Nailed it."

"That's not what I meant Azure!"

"Forget about it," Rainbow said to the both of them. "We're here to see a free concert with three of the biggest names in music, not get caught up in an... an..."

"Ideological discussion over whether these ponies are right or wrong in wishing for peace with the ponies attacking us," Maud said as Rainbow failed to think of what to say.

"Exactly! What Maud said. Enjoy yourselves, and don't worry about it."

"And I will," Azure said firmly. "Just as soon as Sapphire Shores comes on stage."

"I gotta dance!"

"You gotta dance?"

"Yes, I gotta dance!"

"So, you want to go and dance?"

"Pinkie, if you don't come and dance with me, I will hit you with the nearest pony I can find, which so happens to be Marble."

Pinkie smiled at the others as Azure started to drag her away. "It appears as though I have to go and dance. Laters!"

Rainbow nodded and sucked on the straw in her drink, wishing she had something stronger than lemonade. So far the evening had been pleasant, if not as thrilling as she'd hoped, but that might have been more her own fault than anypony else's as she felt more inclined to relax than anything else. Lightning, Sky, and Vapor were chilling nearby, along with the remainder of the Hard Corps, while her own wingmates had sought somewhere more secluded to do 'coupley things' as Cloud had put it. More than likely they were having sex in some bushes somewhere.

"This is bullshit."

And Rainbow's mood turned a little downward as Limestone spoke. "What makes you say that? Not a fan of Sapphire Shores?"

"Pfft, no, but that's not what I'm talking about. How many of these ponies here really care about making peace with the Mareitanians? How many have just come here to see the three biggest names in pop for completely free, and aren't refugees at all?"

"You mean like us?"

"Yes, but that suggests everypony was a willing participant in coming here. Come on Rainbow, you must see what's missing here."

Rainbow scanned her eyes across what part of the crowds she could see from her spot lounging on the ground. She sipped on her drink again, then shrugged at Limestone. "I don't see anything wrong."

"Where are the crystal ponies?" said Limestone. "A significant portion of the refugee population is missing, and why is that? I'd say it's because they know what's going on concerning the war, and fighting those attacking us after having their home torn away from them. They don't want to fuck around with shit like this. They want their home back. I'd also like to point out that you couldn't fit a quarter of the refugees into this place, so why hold a concert for them here?"

"I... don't know."

"To buy sympathy for ending the war. You get three of the biggest names in music to put on a concert, have lots of ponies come here, and have them see all the refugees so they think 'oh those poor ponies, we should stop fighting so they can all go home.'"

"That depends on if Faust would even let them go home," said Lyra.

"Exactly! The refugees know the score. They've been forced out of their homes by an aggressive invading force, and a lot of them have seen the Mareitanians in action. They know they can't be reasoned with. Whoever organised this is just using the refugees as anti-war propaganda, which is why this entire thing is bullshit."

"Are you just psychologically incapable of enjoying anything?" Top Spin groaned at Limestone. "Seriously, can't you just enjoy the music and try to not ruin it for everypony else?"

"Excuse me for disliking the dishonesty of it all."

"There's also the chance that you're plain wrong."

"Yes," Limestone sighed, holding back her instinctive angry response. "That too."

Sky Stinger stood and stretched languidly, "Okay, as fascinating as all that is, I gotta take a whizz. Back in a minute."

"Wait!" Top Spin shouted before he could take off. "I need to go too."

"Aww, why?"

"Because I need to go?"

"But that means I have to walk there," Sky whined, stopping only when Lightning pointedly raised an eyebrow at him. "Fine, anypony else need to go?" Wordlessly, Marble stood, followed by Lyra. "Alright then, but I'm not holding any hooves."

"And they say chivalry is dead," Lightning joked as the four ponies wound their way into the crowd, earning herself an irritated huff from Vapor that only made her and Rainbow laugh harder.

Rainbow lay back, spreading her wings and closing her eyes to the night sky above, listening to the sound of the crowd as they cheered and sang along. She didn't want to think too deeply on it, but the sound was relaxing, and far different to the sounds of battle she was becoming used to. It had been a while since she'd heard ponies just having fun.

She let her mind drift off, finding the situation surprisingly restful, and it wasn't until Vapor mentioned the others having been gone a while that she brought her attention back to the here and now.

"Maybe there's a queue at the toilets," Lightning said to Vapor. "Or maybe they went to get snacks. It's really not worth getting worried about."

"But it's been almost twenty minutes now. Sky never waits that long for anything!"

"Then go look for him," Limestone said to the pale mare. "At least stop whining about it."

Rainbow was about to suggest the same when something made her stop, although she couldn't put her hoof on what. A change of tone, or a subtle shift of the atmosphere, something made her stop and adopt the feeling that something really was wrong.

She'd barely made it to her hooves when the screams started, caused by the hundreds of griffons dropping from the night sky and landing in a ring around the concert goers. Most she recognised as Bloodfeathers, but there were others in matching, gold trimmed armour that she'd never seen before.

A male griffon swooped over the crowd at speed, flying towards the stage where Sapphire Shores stood frozen, her mouth hanging open with the shock of what was happening. He landed heavily in front of her, grabbing her around the neck and throwing her to the floor and pinning her down. The microphone rolled out of her grip, and he picked it up, cawing quietly into it before speaking.

"Hello little ponies! I'm Commander Theron of the Bloodfeather mercenaries, and I'm so glad you could join us here tonight for this... this... what is this?" he asked the pony beneath him.

"This is a peace rally," Sapphire spat back at him.

"A peace rally?" The griffon laughed for a moment, then turned serious. "Yeah, no. I can safely deliver the message to you from Faust herself that there shall be peace only when Equestria has fallen beneath her rule. I mean the peace rally is a touching gesture, sure, but you are seriously barking up the wrong tree."

The griffon whistled shrilly, and waved at something offstage. A moment later a dozen griffons walked on stage, a pony each under their control. Amongst those ponies were Sky Stinger, Marble, Top Spin, and Lyra. Rainbow tensed, ready to attack as the griffons pinned them down in the same way that the commander was pinning down Sapphire Shores. She knew there was nothing they could do though, even if they'd had their weapons.

"No," Vapor whimpered as Sky struggled under the grip of the larger griffon, his curses inaudible at that distance. "No, no..."

"Maud, go find Pinkie and Azure," Limestone ordered, her eyes not leaving the stage, or more specifically Marble. "Now." Maud nodded once, and headed towards the stage.

Commander Theron turned his gaze back to his captive audience as two more griffons dragged Coloratura and Songbird Serenade onto the stage to join the others. "Right then, now we're all ready, let's play a little game. Somewhere here, fully aware of what's happening, is Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. There are fifteen ponies on this stage, and for each minute that passes without her surrendering herself to us, one of these ponies will die, completely at random. Should the fifteen minutes pass without her surrendering, and all these ponies die, we will open fire on the crowd until you are all dead. Clock is ticking Princess. Clock is ticking..."

"No!" Vapor squeaked, trying to not be loud, while at the same time trying to be hear over the now frantic mass of ponies. "We have to do something!"

"Like what?" Lightning asked, an angry edge to her voice that she directed at Vapor. "What do you think we could possibly do?"

"I don't know! Something! Anything! We can't let them kill Sky, or the others!"

"If Cadence really is here, she needs to surrender," said Rainbow. "Otherwise we're all fucked."

"Is she even here though?" Limestone asked as there had been no mention of Princess Cadence being anywhere near the rally. "Even if she is, can we really risk hoping she'll surrender herself?"

"You know what, you're right," Lightning said sarcastically. "All, three, five, eight of us, should take on the hundreds of griffons here. That should end well."

"That's my sister up there you bitch!" Limestone screamed in Lightning's face, curling a hoof to punch the pegasus. Maud returning with Pinkie and Azure was the only thing that stopped her from taking the swing.

"What are we going to do?" Pinkie asked, her eyes frantic. "They've got Marble, Lyra, and Top Spin!"

"And Sky Stinger, we know," Rainbow said to her pink friend. "We're trying to think of a pl-"

"One!" Theron announced over the speakers. Without looking he pointed a claw at the row of captives behind him, stopping at a stallion that cried for help as Theron singled him out. The griffon holding him pulled his head up by his mane, and sliced a knife across his throat, holding the stallion up as he choked on his own blood.

"Fourteen more to go Cadenza!" Theron said as the griffon released the stallion, letting him flop lifelessly to the stage, the sound of the other captives crying out in terror drowning out the thud his corpse made.

"We have to get a message back to camp!" Limestone shouted as the crowd panicked.

"They'll just catch us or shoot us down," Lightning said back. "Even if they don't, there's no way any of us could get to the camp and back with reinforcements in fourteen minutes."

"So we're just going to sit here and let this happen? Fuck that!" Limestone started walking to the stage, determined to save Marble, when the world flipped around her and she ended up on her back, pinned down by Maud. "Get off me!"

Maud shook her head, "I don't want to lose any sisters today. I really don't want to lose two."

"But- But Marble!"

Maud's expression didn't change, but a single tear escaped her right eye, rolling down her cheek until it fell to the ground next to Limestone's head. "I know."

"You can't be serious, Maud," Pinkie whispered. "That's our sister, and our friends."

"Two!"

More screams erupted as a mare was singled out, her throat cut, and her twitching body dropped to the floor as she desperately fought for a breath she couldn't take.

"These lives are on your hooves Cadenza!"

"Maud, please!" Pinkie begged.

Maud held firm, even as Limestone fought to escape her grip. "There's no sense in all of us getting killed trying to save them. We can't do it. Rainbow, please stop Pinkie if she tries to go."

Rainbow nodded, her mouth too dry to answer. She wanted to save those on the stage as much as the rest of them, but she knew there wasn't anything they could really do, so if she had to stop Pinkie to save her life, she would happily do it. She placed herself between Pinkie and the stage, unable to look her in the face as she stood there, waiting for the next minute to pass.

"Three!"

Another mare was picked out, her cerise eyes going wide was the weapon that was going to kill her was held in front of her eyes. The griffon placed it point first against her neck, slowly and gently applying pressure until it pierced her skin, the mares cries being the loudest yet as the griffon pushed the blade further and further in, until she too lost her life.

"Where are you Princess? Don't you think it's rather selfish to let all these ponies die just to spare your own immortal life? No? I guess we'll find out in the next twelve minutes."

A group of pegasi shot up from the crowd, no longer able to stay where they were as the horrific events on stage continued to unfold. Their flight was short lived though as several griffons intercepted them, cutting them down mercilessly.

"Oh dear, oh dear," the Commander tutted. "Trying to escape? What a silly thing to think was possible. I think there should be a thirty second penalty for that, which means we're now onto number four." Theron's pointed claw swept around the captives until it ended up on the pony in his own grasp. "Whoops, guess it's your turn."

"No! Please no!" Sapphire begged.

"Too bad really, I did like some of your songs." Theron drew his dagger and lifted Sapphire's head up, ignoring her desperate pleas as he dragged the knife across her exposed neck. He held her for a moment, then dropped the convulsing mare, cleaning the blade on her outfit and sheathing it as she pawed at her throat.

"That'll put a crimp in her singing career," Theron joked sadistically. "Come on Cadenza! You're wasting lives here! I'll be upset if I have to kill Songbird and Coloratura too!"

Lightning caught the movement out of the corner of her eye, and quickly grabbed hold of Vapor as the mare darted towards the stage. "No Vapor!"

"Let go of me! I have to save Sky! I have to!"

"You can't! You'll just get yourself killed!"

"I have to try!"

Lightning wrestled Vapor to the ground, "I'm sorry Vapor, I really am, but I can't let you get killed as well." Lightning's heart ached as Vapor sobbed and pleaded with her to let her go. "I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry."

"And we're onto five," the Commander announced, his talon sweeping across the remaining captives until he stopped on Top Spin. "Your turn."

Rainbow tackled Pinkie as Crystal grabbed hold of Azure, neither of them wasting the time it would take to slow the two down if they got started. Both of them apologised profusely to the ponies they had grabbed, but neither of them let go, even after Top Spin's body hit the ground.

"Now that one died like a champ," Theron said with something approaching pride. "Didn't beg or anything. Just closed her eyes and accepted her fate. Still, it was totally unnecessary, just as the rest will be if you don't surrender, Princess. Just saying."

None of them dared to say anything as the next minute passed, ending in the death of a stallion that begged his marefriend to look away as the griffon holding him cut his throat open.

"Noble heart that one," Theron chuckled. "I must say, you ponies are really surprising me. I'm curious to see what the next one will do."

Pinkie collapsed to the ground, dragging Rainbow down with her as her chest heaved with sobs. "Why is this happening? Why?" Rainbow had no answer for her.

"Seven! Halfway there now Cadenza!" Theron extended his talon and swept it across the depleting line of captives, ending on Sky Stinger. "Your turn to go big boy."

"Nooo!" Vapor screamed, thrashing against Lightning. "Nooo! Sky!" Lightning tried to hold her back, but an unexpected shock of static stunned her into letting go, and the white mare rocketed away, a massive build-up of lightning forming around her as the griffon holding Sky pulled him up and started to draw her weapon across his neck, his blood spilling down his chest.

Vapor quickly neared the stage, and realised that at her speed she was going to overshoot her target, so she slowed herself, flapping hard to cancel her momentum. It wasn't even something she intended, but as she did, the tips of her wings brushed each other, and a massive bolt of lightning shot between her and the griffon holding Sky.

It only lasted for the barest second, but the effects were still visible after as the blasted body of the griffon was blown into the rear of the stage, smashing into the background where it became wedged in the wood and hung there, smoking and lifeless.

"Woah," Rainbow said in the silence that followed, her jaw regaining enough of its tension to utter the single syllable that went pretty much unheard as the thunder still echoed around the area.

There was a flash on the stage as Lyra leaned her head back to fire a single blast of magic at the griffon holding her, his surprise at what had happened making him let go of Lyra enough to let her bend her head back. She removed the griffon's head in a spray of gore and viscera, and quickly did the same to the griffon holding Marble.

"Go!" Limestone shouted as Lyra started to tackle the griffons holding the other captives. "Now's our chance! Get to the stage!"

Rainbow didn't waste time finding out if Lightning concurred with the order, and sped through the air towards Vapor who hadn't moved since she threw a bolt of lightning. She tackled Vapor out of the air towards the stage as Lyra and Marble fought the griffons, with Lyra doing the vast majority of the fighting with her magic. Lightning flew in, her right rear leg outstretched in a flying kick that cracked the skull of a griffon that was moving to attack the pair.

Moments later rocks and blasts of magic flew out of the crowd as the rest of the Hard Corps caught up, the dry rocky landscape of Appleloosa providing them plenty of ammunition to chase the griffons off, and to buy the time to gather the other captives behind them.

"Still think peace is going to work?" Limestone spat at the two remaining singers. She looked away from them when she saw Vapor crawling over to the body of Sky. She shook him, her cries and pleas for him to not be dead becoming more and more desperate with each passing second until a slow clapping over the speakers pulled Limestone's attention to the one griffon still on the stage, Commander Theron.

"Well, well, well... look at all of you mighty heroes. Too bad you forgot your courage until the pegasus died, so I can only give you a B for that."

"Fuck you," Limestone swore at the griffon.

"So eloquent, but that's what I should expect from rock throwing barbarians."

"Have we got you so beaten you can only pick on unarmed civilians now?" Rainbow shouted at the Commander.

"Ah, the much spoken of Rainbow Dash. Such a pleasure. I think you'll find that I'm very much here with a purpose actually. I'm not here to terrorize these little ponies for the fun of it, although it was kinda fun if I'm honest."

"You'll never get your claws on the princess!"

Theron's eyes twinkled, "I know, and do you know how I know? She's not even here. I've been fucking with you this entire time."

"What? Th- Then why do all this?"

Theron looked up at the sky and grinned, "I had to get your attention somehow." Rainbow wondered what he meant when the shrill calls of griffons started to be heard. She'd spent enough time fighting the griffons to know that particular one meant 'incoming.' "Finally."

Before Rainbow could question him further, the Commander took off, along with the rest of the griffons, freeing the ponies who started to flee in blind panic, leaving those on the stage alone.

"Marble!" All of the Pie sisters clustered together in a group hug, relieved that the youngest of them had escaped death. For a brief moment there was elation, but that was soon forgotten about as they remembered they were surrounded by the bodies of the griffons victims, two of their fellow soldiers included.

Vapor sobbed brokenly as she held onto Sky's body, rocking back and forth as she willed him to come back to life. Nearby Azure sat next to Top Spin, her hooves over her mouth as tears streamed down her cheeks. Rainbow took one took at both of them and fell to her rear, the shock of everything that had happened dragging her down.

Lightning joined Vapor, holding her as she wept. A moment later Rainbow joined them as Pinkie went to hug Azure, both of them crying. Behind them, Limestone pulled Lyra into a bone crushing hug, repeating again and again how thankful she was to Lyra for saving Marble.

"This was supposed to be a peace rally, for peace..." All of them turned towards the voice, finding Coloratura and Songbird standing next to the body of Sapphire Shores, tears choking their words. "How could this have happened?"

"Do you really want to know?" Limestone growled at them, stomping past the other shell-shocked survivors towards the two singers. "There is no peace with Mareitania. Whoever got you here to do all this sold you a massive lie! Or got royally screwed over themselves. We either fight them, or we lose."

Limestone turned her back on the two stars, her eyes wandering over the few other ponies that hadn't fled, like the marefriend of the one stallion, who wailed over the body of her beloved. "Coming here was a stupid idea."

"What now?" Pinkie asked. "Where did all the griffons go?"

"Fighting ours I think," Rainbow said to her. "The griffon calls for incoming were going around, so I guess that means our guys have got here."

"Oh." Pinkie stared blankly for several seconds. "So what are we supposed to do now?"

"We should probably get out of here. The other survivors too, before the griffons come back." As if to emphasise her point, there was a griffon call from above, and a short clash of steel. "Come on Vapor, we need to get out of here."

"I'm not leaving him," Vapor stated quietly yet firmly.

"But it's not safe here," Lightning said patiently. "I know it hurts, but staying here and getting yourself killed won't help anything."

"I don't care. I only joined because I wanted to be with Sky, but now he's dead! The only reason I had to be here is gone, so you- I-" Vapor's breath shuddered with emotion, "Just leave me alone."

"Please Vapor, I can't lose two wingmates today, I can't." Lightning begged Vapor, but the pale mare steadfastly refused to budge, resorting to giving nothing more than an almost imperceptible shake of the head every time Lightning pleaded with her. "Please!"

"Let her be," Rainbow said soothingly, pulling Lightning into a hug, the mare shaking in her hold. "She'll come around."

"And if she doesn't?" Rainbow dropped her gaze, unable to answer.

"Where's your security and stuff?" Azure asked the two songstresses.

"I guess they're... gone," Songbird sniffled.

"I guess you're stuck with us then. We'll get you out of here, don't you worry. Limestone, permission to get these civilians moving somewhere safe?"

"Permission granted, although I'm surprised you even asked." Limestone gave one long, lingering look at the body of Top Spin, "We can't afford to bring them with us right now."

"You want us to leave them?" Pinkie gasped.

"No I don't want to, but our priority right now is keeping us and these civvies alive." Limestone patted Pinkie on the back, "We'll get them back later, I promise."

"Okay then." Pinkie looked up as five figures flew towards the stage, and her heart leapt into her mouth as she initially thought they were griffons. She soon realised that they were Wonderbolts though, and she cringed as they flew silently towards Rainbow, Lightning, and Vapor, two of them loaded with bags.

Spitfire took one look at Sky Stinger and Vapor, then looked back at Lightning, whose eyes were wide even as she stood stiffly to attention.

"Effective immediately, you are relieved of command of B squadron," Spitfire said harshly.

"Understood ma'am."

"Suit up and meet up with the rest of your squadron asap, because there are a lot of griffons out there. Sergeant Limestone, can you take care of these civilians?"

Limestone snapped a salute off at Spitfire, "Yes Captain!"

"Good." Spitfire gave Lightning and Rainbow one last glare, then took off with Soarin and Fleetfoot, leaving the other two Wonderbolts to drop the bags they were carrying.

"I think this one's yours Rainbow," Cloud said, kicking a bag towards Rainbow. "I guess we won't be... needing this one," she added sadly, placing Sky's equipment next to his body as Thunderlane gave Lightning her stuff, and dropped Vapor's next to her.

"I'm so glad you guys are alright," Rainbow gushed, pulling Cloud and Thunderlane into a hug. "Where were you?"

"As soon as we saw the griffons arrive, we took off to warn base camp, but they already knew, and ran into them halfway here."

"They already knew?" Lightning said as she pulled on her flight suit. "How?"

"Equis caught wind of it an hour before the attack, but it's actually worse than you know," Cloud sighed. "There's another company of griffon mercenaries fighting with the Bloodfeathers, called the Golden claws, and these guys are serious professionals that make the Bloodfeathers look like amateurs apparently. We're in for quite a fight."

"Shit." Lightning pulled her suit on and zipped it up, and she was about to start strapping her weapons on when she saw Vapor start putting her own gear on. "Vapor? What are you doing?"

"I've just lost the best thing in my life. I'm sure as hell not going to lose anything else!" Vapor looked at Lightning with watery eyes, "I've got your back."

"And I've got yours," Lightning said in return, truly appreciating what Vapor was doing. She strapped her weapons on and placed her helmet on her head. "Come on guys, let's go hook up with Fast Clip, and kick some griffon ass."

Pinkie said nothing as Rainbow flew off with her squad mates. She silently wished the five of them luck, and turned back to her own squad mates to hear the plan off Limestone.

"Alright, so we can't head to the refugee camp because I imagine the griffons are all over that place too," said Limestone. "I think our best bet is to head to Appleloosa and hole up in one of the buildings until the griffons are taken care of."

"Wouldn't it be better to hole up here?" asked Lyra. She gestured around the now empty grounds, "There's no griffons here."

"No, but there might be later, and we can't risk that. No, we'll head into town and try and find somewhere safe." Feeling guilty about it, Limestone emptied the bag containing Sky Stinger's gear, stacking it neatly beside him, then passed the other three empty bags out to her sisters.

"What about me?" Azure asked as they started to fill the bags with whatever rocks and pebbles they could find.

"You'll have to use what you can find for now," Limestone said with a hint of an apology in her voice. "Mostly though, I want you to take care of the civvies. We'll make sure the way is clear, then you bring them along."

Getting an affirmative nod from Azure, Limestone gestured for the rest of her team to follow her. She dropped off the stage and made for the western exit of the concert grounds, in the direction that the town lay in. Stepping outside of the boundary, she gasped in amazement as her vision was no longer obscured by the lights on the stage.

In the light of the moon, hundreds, if not thousands of figures darted about the sky, clashing violently in a vicious dogfight. The battle stretched from over the town, to out over the refugee camp to the south. Suddenly it didn't seem like such a good idea to head to the town, not that staying put seemed safe either.

"What should we do now?" Marble asked Limestone, seeing that she was now questioning whether to change the plan.

"There's a train station in Appleloosa, isn't there Pinkie?" Limestone asked her most colourful sibling.

"Yeah, there is."

"Then that's where reinforcements will probably arrive from if they're coming. When they do we can get these civilians out of here, and maybe ourselves. Until then, we'll hold up in the train station. Sound like a plan?"

"Yes," said Maud. "We should go before the griffons don't have enough to occupy them."

Limestone waved to Azure to start bringing the civilian ponies, then started running towards the town to stay ahead of them. It was a needless rush though, as they were totally ignored by everything in the sky, even as they reached the town.
"The train station's in the north part of town," Pinkie said, noticing a small hesitation in Limestone as they reached the outskirts.

"Okay." Limestone nodded, but didn't make a move. She could hear a lot of ponies shouting, or at least she hoped it was ponies, and quietly wondered what was going on, as she was certain that most of them would want to stay in the safety of their homes. "Stay here. I want to go see what's going on. Lyra, come with me."

Not waiting for anypony to argue with her, not that she thought they would, Limestone trotted forwards, the mint green form of Lyra right behind her. They reached the gap between two buildings, and gawped at the hundreds of ponies there. She concluded that they could only be ponies that had escaped the concert. She saw them being directed by a brown stallion in a vest and stetson, a shining star on his chest.

"Lyra, go get the others, including Azure and the civvies. I'm going to go talk to the Sheriff over there and find out what's going on." Lyra ran off and Limestone trotted out into the mass of ponies, pushing through them to the Sheriff. "Excuse me!" she shouted at him, only to be ignored. "Excuse me!" She frowned as she was ignored again. "Hey!" she shouted, smacking the Sheriff on the chest with the back of her hoof.

"What? Can't you see I'm busy?"

"Sergeant Limestone, Equestrian army."

"And I'm just meant to believe that am I?"

"For your benefit, I suggest you do." Limestone gestured back at the mass of semi-panicked ponies, "What are you intending to do with all these ponies?"

"I'm jus' tryin' to keep them calm for now."

"Keep them calm? Really? After what they've just seen? When there's an entire battle taking place above them? Or did you miss that since it's not raining bodies right now?"

"There ain't enough room to protect them all missy, and you better watch that tone of yours before I have you arrested!"

"Yeah, what I did isn't illegal. Anyway, you need to get these ponies out of here! The train line goes to Dodge City doesn't it?"

"Dodge City and Ponyville, yeah."

"Good, although I wouldn't recommend Ponyville just in case the bridge is out. Get your deputies, or ponies you trust, or whatever, and start guiding these ponies along the train tracks to Dodge City. Although, you might want to make sure that they don't walk on the tracks themselves, as there might be some trains coming through at some point."

"Uh-huh, and what about the refugees? I doubt the griffons are going to let them go."

"Just... worry about the ponies you can right now," said Limestone. "You might want to take the townsponies as well. Can you do that?"

The Sheriff stuck a hoof under his stetson and scratched his mane, "I reckon so. Probably a better idea than anything I can think of right now. Alright Sergeant, we'll get these ponies moving. What are you goin' t' do?"

"Me and my team are going to hold up somewhere in town and wait for reinforcements. Hopefully then we can get these griffons out of here, and you can bring your ponies home. Now get moving; time's wasting!"

Limestone started to head back to her team, pausing only when she spotted a satchel hanging off a nail just inside the door to the jailhouse. She tipped its contents out and ran off with the bag, tossing it to Azure once she was close enough.

"Listen up," Limestone said to the ponies they'd escorted from the concert. "They're going to start moving ponies from the town to Dodge City on hoof along the train line. You're going to go with them."

"But-" Songbird started, only to get cut off by Limestone.

"No but's. There's a battle going on, and we have other concerns. The Sheriff and his ponies will take care of you." Or so Limestone hoped at least. She had the feeling that if something happened to the ponies in the Sheriff's care, it'd somehow be her fault because she suggested moving them.

"Are we going with them?" Crystal asked as the group of ponies shuffled off to join the others.

"No," Limestone answered, not missing the slouch that formed in Crystal's posture as she said so. "We're going to do as we said before, and hole up at the station, or maybe the town hall."

Having said that, there wasn't really anything to do but wait as the town slowly emptied. Curiosity slowly drew them to the town hall, where they took shelter after the body of a griffon plummeted to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust that lingered in the moonlight for some time.

"I wish we could help the pegasi," Pinkie said after a while.

"I just wish we weren't here," Limestone muttered, making a point of sitting right next to Marble.

Maud perked an ear up as the others all muttered their various laments, the sound of beating wings catching her attention over the sound of the battle above. The deeper sound of the wingbeats suggested larger wings, so more likely griffons. "Someone's coming. I think they're griffons."

"Shit!" Limestone swore. "Inside, now!"

All seven of them dove inside, slamming the doors shut behind them and moving to the windows to peek out. Scant moments later a dozen griffons landed, all but one of them in the gold trimmed armour of the Golden Claw mercenaries. The one that wasn't was easily recognisable as Commander Theron.

"See? The town's empty now," Theron said, waving a claw at the empty buildings. "Now why did you drag me away from the battle."

A large griffon wearing armour even more resplendent than that of the other griffons stepped forwards, and slashed a claw across Theron's face, making him cry out in pain.

"You might be trying to save face with your employers by hiring us as well, but I am not working at your standards. You said we'd be fighting military targets, and what do we do on our first mission with you? Oh that's right, we killed civilians!"

Theron wiped a claw across his face, wiping the blood away. "Do you have any idea how many of us these ponies have killed? Thousands!"

"You attacked them in a war! You don't get to complain if you lose! It's embarrassing enough that you've had to come to us in the first place, although I'm starting to wish you hadn't. I don't know what game you're playing here boy, but the price had better be worth it for all this."

"Oh it is, trust me."

"I'll trust you when you tell me what it is."

"Griffinstone. I help Faust win her war, she gives me Griffonstone in return."

"Griffonstone..." The other griffon grunted, turning away from Theron and walking away for a moment before turning back to him. "And what exactly are you planning to do with that? Hoping to win your father's approval by giving him and the Empire back Griffonstone?"

"Fuck my father! His days are well and truly numbered. This is about me getting what I deserve."

"You deserve nothing you stupid boy! If you were counting on your uncle to attempt a coup, you'll be waiting a long time. He's is in prison, charged with treason."

"It's all going according to plan then," Theron said smugly. "You can't think we didn't know exactly how my father would react. He got to be emperor by sheer dint of being born, not by being intelligent, or unpredictable."

The gold adorned griffon snorted harshly, "Just like you were then."

"I'm having to work for everything I get!" Theron shouted. "I just wanted to go have a few adventures while I was young and unburdened with ruling anything, and I certainly didn't deserve to be disowned for that!"

"You humiliated your father! The Emperor! You were expecting him to be fine with that? You just said you knew him!"

"I never expected him to make my sister the heir! My father always favoured me, while Calissa was always weak!"

"Clearly you don't know your sister either then, because while she might not have your stature, she is far from weak. I'll help you win this war, boy, but should you attempt anything against your father you will find us on opposite sides. Consider that my only warning! You've had your distraction, so I'm giving the order to fall back before we end up with more innocent blood on our claws. I suggest you follow suit."

"Consider me warned then," Theron said quietly as the other griffons flew away, leaving Theron on his own. "I guess I can't count on your support then, you old fool."

Limestone raised her head to follow the griffon as he flew away. "Did you get all that Pinkie?"

"I sure did!" Pinkie folded the paper she'd wrote down the details of the conversation on, along with a few squiggles and a picture of a angry face, and hid it in her mane. "Good job we came to the one place with plenty of paper."

"Yeah," Limestone said. "Equis is going to have fun with that one."

Rainbow had found something worse than griffons. Griffons with shields. The Golden Claws all favoured a small shield on their left leg, and a spear or short sword on their right. They also fought with an experience and efficiency far different to the screaming mass of glory hound hooligans the Bloodfeathers tended to be. These griffons were seasoned veterans, and it showed.

Too bad they didn't have any way of blocking lightning.

A miniature storm rumbled around Rainbow as she zoomed through the battle, Lightning, Vapor, and her wingmates flying alongside her. Vapor had described what she'd done to create a lightning bolt, as best as she could remember considering what was happening, and they could only conclude that having your wingtips touch was the secret they needed to making it work.

And made it work they had, although there were some issues as to how aiming the lightning worked. Vapor had no idea how she did it, and wasn't even sure she hit the griffon she was aiming for, or had been aiming for the lead griffon instead. They'd had a few hits, and thankfully no friendly fire accidents, but the rest hit nothing, save for one unfortunate apple tree that was rendered into a smouldering wreck by the lightning strike.

Of course it was only a drop in ocean, or so it felt. They still outnumbered the griffons, but the advantage was lost against the Golden Claws. Even the hardy thestrals were stumped by them, and the Equestrians casualties were mounting. They weren't losing yet, but they were far from winning.

All five of them slowed and leant back, bringing their wings together around their fronts until they touched, and lightning arced out in front of them, flashing brightly in the night, and rumbling loud enough to hurt their ears. Only Thunderlane hit anything, killing a griffon hen instantly.

Lightning threw her legs up in aggravation, "How the hell are you supposed to aim this?"

"Maybe you're thinking too much about it," said Rainbow. "Maybe you just gotta think 'hit that one,' and then let it happen."

"Oh sure, sure, I bet it's exactly that easy."

"Incoming!" Cloud shouted over the sound of Lightning and Rainbow bickering.

Half a dozen griffons flew at them, and the five Wonderbolts readied themselves. They quickly banked up as the griffons got close, using their superior agility to avoid the griffons weapons, and flipped around to try and attack them. The griffons had already turned back to face them without changing their direction, and hoofblade clashed against shield, with only Rainbow's enchanted blades successfully breaking through the shield, impaling the griffon holding it.

She was about to help her wingmates when Spitfire and her squadron flew in, clashing with the griffons. One of them swung round, his blade stretched out, stabbing Misty Fly in the chest as she stabbed him, and they both went down together.

"What the fuck are you doing?!" Rainbow screamed as she watched Misty falling. "We had them!"

"Protecting you!" Spitfire shouted back. "Thanks to your lightning you've made yourself valuable assets, so we can't let you die!"

The night sky flashed again as Lightning flung her namesake at a griffon, smashing them out of the sky. "So you do have to not think about it."

"Where's the rest of your Squadron?" Spitfire asked Rainbow, risking not moving to talk.

"No idea ma'am. We couldn't find them in the battle."

"For fuck sake! We need to get out of here before we all get killed! Rainbow, get back to base camp and tell Luna what's happening here, and that we're falling ba- Wait, what's that?"

Griffon calls sounded in the night, recognisable as the call to fall back. Almost as one the griffons disengaged, fleeing the battle.

"They're going? Why are they going?" Spitfire asked. "Have reinforcements arrived?"

"I don't think so," said Soarin. "I think they're just going."

"Thank fuck for that," Spitfire breathed. She flew down, seeking Misty Fly, but it was clear that even if being stabbed hadn't killed her, the crash would have. "For fuck sake." Spitfire pulled her helmet off and flopped into a sitting position next to Misty. "We can't keep on doing this."

Rainbow swallowed as she looked around the area she could see. Bodies dotted the land, mostly pegasi, although there were a fair few griffons as well. She removed her helmet and dropped it, sitting hard as the adrenaline left her, making her feel horribly weak as tears worked their way out of her eyes.

"Vapor wait!" Lightning shouted as her surviving wingmate darted back towards the stage. "Fuck sake... Captain, permission to go with her?"

"Oh, so we're asking permission for things now are we? How novel."

The four members of B squadron shifted guiltily as Spitfire and the other Wonderbolts glared at them. "I'm sorry ma'am," Lightning said. "It won't happen again."

"You're damn right it won't!" Spitfire said threateningly. "Get out there and find the rest of your squadron, then find the rest of the Wonderbolts for a headcount. If we've lost as many as I think, we'll have to change the squadrons again." Spitfire shook her head ruefully, "Once you're together, secure the town and the refugees until further orders."

"Yes ma'am."

"And don't forget Fast Clip is in charge now."

"He should be," said Lightning not arguing the point.

Luna stared blankly at the pony before her in the uniform of an agent of Equis. "Run that by me again."

"The tanks are moving through the north, along with an army of ten thousand Mareitanians. The rest of the Mareitanians are heading here. Nearly fifteen thousand of them."

"There's no way we can hold against that many," Shining Armour said to Luna. "Even if our fliers weren't all in Appleloosa."

"I know," Luna said quietly. After the last battle they have barely twelve thousand soldiers to field, and full third of them had flown to fight the griffons when the news of their attack arrived "It seems Faust has finally remembered her advantage."

"What are your orders?"

Luna looked out across the river, imagining fifteen thousand ponies storming across it. It wasn't a comforting vision.

"Luna, what are your orders?"

"We can't hold against that many. We need to fall back to Appleloosa to regroup. Transport what munitions you can, destroy the rest, and get the cannons ready to move."

"What about Las Pegasus?"

Luna frowned, unsure of what to say. Or rather, how to say it. "Send a messenger to the Mayor of Las Pegasus informing him of what is happening, along with my apologies. Advise him that things should be fine if nopony resists the occupation. Other than that, there is little we can do for them now."

"And what of the Mareitanians going through the north?"

Luna shut her eyes and shook her head, "I don't know. I really don't know."

Author's Notes:

Ten thousand words exactly. Yup. I certainly didn't alter things and add twenty extra words just to make it happen. Nope.

Anyway, bad things have happened, and... yeah. Poor lil pastel ponies.