I waited on the crest of the hill overlooking Unicornia. Watching for the moment when that shield finally fell.

I had already talked to Bright Shine, she had been busy organizing freshly rested Unicorns when I found her. Like Appleflower, Bright Shine had the foresight to get ready.

Since she was on top of things, I left her to her devices and sat down where I currently waited.

Around me, was a plethora of Ponies, all waiting for the same thing I was. Each was armed and armored. And unlike my first true battle with the Windegos, nearly every Pony I saw held a true weapon. While yes, there was the occasional pitchfork or shovel, they were by far the minority. Spears, pikes, axes, swords, maces, and shields were all present.

It only occured to me then just how much like an actual army we looked.

We had all come a long way since the fight with the Windegos. Of that there could be no doubt.

Fillies and colts had become mares and stallions, and mares and stallions had grown tired and weary.

Everywhere I looked, Ponies even as young as I was had this haunted look in their eyes. A haunted look that made them look decades older than they really were.

I wondered... If I had that same look.

Far away, the shield gave a particularly long shudder as a boulder hit.

It wouldn't be long now.

I imagined that I did. How could I not? I'd seen the same things these Ponies had. And not only had I done the same things these Ponies had, but I had done worse.

That stallion whose horn I broke at Casúrdomhain?

That peasant mare I had killed at Pegasopolis who was only trying to feed her family?

The fact that I was ultimately behind every single death that resulted from breaking those two cities?

I was the worst culprit here.

And the only thing I had to justify myself with was that I was fighting against Eternal Winter.

Oh what a sick and cruel joke it would be for me to fail now. To do so much only to trip at the very end.

I had to make sure everything went perfectly.

I glanced behind me to look over the crowd of waiting soldiers.

My eyes fell on a team of Pegasi, busy keeping several tightly compressed thunderstorms under control, out of sight of the city.

They already had their orders. When the shield fell, they would rise into the sky, and strike the chosen wall segment as one, waiting for Captain Magnus to give the order to fire. With luck, it would all happen within half a minute.

Not for the first time, nor the last I suspected, I took a deep breath. Chasing away the nervousness that was settling on my chest like a particularly annoying cat.

The crowd behind me shifted, disturbed by the passing of a Pony.

A Pony who carried a Moon banner tied to a pike.

"You don't have to do this Stygian." I told the colt, not bothering to turn around. "There's no shame in keeping your innocence."

"If you'll pardon me speaking freely Ma'am..." Stygian replied. "I've made my decision and I'll be sticking to it."

I released a breath I hadn't realized I had been holding.

Oh Stygian you brave naive fool.

"I can only hope..." That you aren't doing this to betray me when I'm needed the most. "That you know what you're doing."

One of the Unicorns, who was shooting at the city, and thus wouldn't be joining us, got a good hit on a flickering portion of the shield, making the whole thing shudder as the casters in charge of it struggled to keep the spell together.

"I hope so too." Stygian nodded.

Please don't betray me Stygian. I don't want to remove your head.

I jostled my breastplate, checking for what must've been the twelfth time that everything was in place.

And just like every other time, it was.

While I hadn't yet donned it, I reached to my side to feel my helmet, still sitting where I had left it.

Something caused the shield to spark wildly, but I didn't notice what could've caused it.

The start of a cascading failure?

I held my breath in anticipation, watching the wounded shield wobble as it fought to stay alive.

The tension in the air struck a high note, as everypony around me did the same thing. And for a moment, just one moment that felt like an eternity... The shield seemed to freeze in place, a huge gash splitting the shield like a stone thrown into a still pond. And then...

It faded away entirely as the matrixes within unraveled.

The shield had fallen.

All around me, Ponies bustled into activity, doing the final preparations they had been putting off for hours now. Behind us all, the crews of Pegasi swiftly rose with their compressed thunderstorms.

I myself didn't rise to my hooves immediately.

Instead, I took the helmet at my side and turned it over, staring into the openings that I would soon see out of.

One... Final... Time.

I turned the helmet back over and lifted it over my head, letting it slide into place easily.

I pressed my ears as close to my skull as I could.

"FIRE!"

ZzzzzRACK!

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

To say the sound was deafening was like saying the Sun was dim. To say the light was bright was to say a warcry was a whisper.

It was so bright and so loud I half expected the world to have ended right then and there, with only the tranquility of death as a companion.

But no. My ears began to ring, and the light slowly faded. When it became comfortable to see again, I lifted my head to see what had happened.

I was uncertain if I gasped, but I certainly felt like I should've.

The lightning had hit the wall alright. The lightning had been so charged and so strong that even now, as the light faded away entirely, the white fire of lightning could be seen streaking through the air, embedding itself in what remained of the wall.

The aim of the Pegasi had been true. So obliterated was the wall that there was barely any debris, what debris there was, was in the form of hoof sized rocks and stone powder raining from the sky.

A startled calm fell over the entire valley as everypony present realized what it meant.

The Battle for Unicornia had well and truly begun.

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