Morning came, riding on the coattails of an all too short night. Anticipation of the coming fight had stopped Twilight from sleeping for more than a few hours, and in turn that far reduced the shock when the call went out that the Mareitanians were on the move.

"Really looking to make a full day of it, aren't they?" Trixie grumbled as she sipped from her canteen. "I think having Celestia with them must be reason why they're all about doing things 'at dawn.' It's stupid, and annoying."

"I'm pretty sure the temperature is also a factor," Twilight said with a smile. "Doing things before it gets too hot has always been a thing in Zebrica. And Saddle Arabia. And anywhere where it gets really hot during the day."

"And because our stupid sun horse princess advocates getting up at dawn. Do you remember those old motivational posters about it?"

"I'm surprised you do. They were made decades before either of us were born."

"And? I'm not ignorant, Twilight. How do you know about them?"

"The Royal Guard kept some in their barracks, which led me to finding out about the rest of them. My favourite was always the one with Celestia wearing a headscarf and flexing leg with the message saying 'working hard from dawn til dusk.'"

"Why did they even make those posters?"

Twilight shrugged, "It was a drive to boost productivity in our factories as the railways were set up, creating a massive surge in our economy. Better trade links in Equestria led to greater trade to outside Equestria, and so on and so forth. It wasn't sustainable at that rate, and led to a minor depression a few years later. Celestia tried to keep the economy stable after that, rather than push it to heights it can't stay at."

"And now she's doing her best to tear that world down."

Twilight nodded sadly. She wanted to say Celestia was doing it against her will, but it seemed pretty redundant to say it. Celestia was willingly doing everything she was doing right now, even if she wasn't aware of the drastic changes she'd endured to make her do so. The old Celestia would be horrified by everything she'd done.

"By the way, I'm calling dibs on Snowbright."

Twilight was caught off-guard by the statement, and it took her a while to even dumbly ask what Trixie was talking about.

"Snowbright. I'm calling dibs on him, to kill him. And don't say that we're going to capture him, because he's too dangerous to capture."

"Okay, fine, but you're not going to kill him if he surrenders."

Trixie rolled her eyes, "Fiiine... although that is heavily dependant on him doing so. I was under the impression he didn't know what surrendering was."

Twilight shrugged at that, then decided to ignore that to ask something else. "Why do you want to kill him? I'm pretty sure both Luna and myself have far greater reasons to want to kill him than you do."

"Probably, but I'm still calling dibs. That shitbag has it coming to him."

"Well, no, I don't care if you call dibs, because I'd rather take him alive if we can."

"I knew you were going to say that. What possible reason do you have to want him alive?"

Twilight wanted to say that it was the right thing to do, but frankly nopony would care if he died today. There might even be celebrations amongst certain circles if he did. Twilight wasn't sure why she wanted him alive, but she could at least give a reason.

"Faust isn't going to be around to pay for what she did. She gets a nice life in the oubliette. Somepony is going to have to take the blame, and Snowbright is chief among them to me. The Viscount is another if he's still alive at this point. We can't point a hoof at the entirety of Mareitania and expect justice to happen, but we can point it at those that triggered it all."

"Including Daybreak?"

Twilight hesitated, then nodded once. It was unfair to be sure, but his attempts to stop what was happening would matter greatly in his defence. The point was that there were a lot of ponies that would want somepony to blame, and those three, along with the rest of Mareitania's former leaders, were the only ones available.

"Is Celestia going to have to be involved in that?"

Twilight winced at that suggestion, and bit her lip as she thought quickly. Celestia was an unwilling victim in this, as far as they knew, but she had done too much to be absolved of all blame, mind manipulation or not. If the old Celestia could be brought back, perhaps something could be done, but if not it seemed likely she would have her portion of the blame.

"Twilight?"

"We're getting ahead of ourselves," Twilight muttered. "Our current job is to keep Zebrica free. Then we can work on retaking Equestria, stopping Faust, and then blaming the appropriate ponies. Fuck knows what we're going to do about the yaks. We're probably going to have problems with them for a very long time."

"You're talking about future problems again."

Twilight wished that was entirely true. "The yaks are also a current problem."

"Alright, I'll give you that much." Trixie stopped talking as a zebra with two large clay pots strapped over her back walked towards them. She wasn't walking directly towards them, but did stop nearby to lower the pots to the ground. Twilight was about to ask what was going on when she saw other zebras will similar pots spreading out around the zebra army.

"This seems like it'll be important," Twilight said to Trixie. "Come on."

Both of them went over to the zebra, who saw their arrival even amongst the other zebras crowding around her, and smiled warmly at them. "Councillor Kifuniko bid me to say to you hello."

"You're a shaman?" Twilight asked the mare, getting a nod back. "So this must be the Kuua?"

"That it is, as you can see. Put some on and safer from magic you'll be."

"Pass," Trixie said quickly. "I'll be wearing my armour, thank you very much."

"Not all of us have armour," Twilight said brusquely. She peered at the brownish green paint-like substance, then watched as some of the zebras around her put some on in designs that appeared very much like tribal war paint. "You don't cover yourself completely?"

"For some reason that escapes even me, to cover yourself completely is unnecessary. The Kuua works even with minimal spread, so put some on so you won't wind up dead."

"And it won't affect my magic?"

The shaman opened her mouth to answer, then shrugged. "That I cannot say, but choose whether to wear some quickly because we don't have all day."

"A simple 'I don't know' would've sufficed," Trixie grumbled. "Maybe it'll be fine as long as you don't put any on your horn?"

"Maybe." Twilight tried to scoop some up with her magic but failed, much to her embarrassment as some of the zebras sniggered at her. Instead she used her hoof, finding the Kuua to be quite chilly to the touch, but not unpleasant. She was reminded of Sunset's attempt to wear the anti magic armour, and worried that putting the Kuua on would be similar, but there was only one way to be sure. At the very least it would be nice to be distracted from the reminder of Sunset she just gave herself.

"Want some help?" Trixie asked as Twilight tried to work out where to start. All the zebras had paired up to help each other, so clearly this was a fairly common issue.

"If you don't mind. I also think you should put some on, even under your armour. It would hardly hurt," Twilight added as Trixie started to protest.

"Let's see how it affects you first," Trixie said as she started painting the Kuua onto Twilight's back with a hoof, the perfect design in mind for the situation.

"Half an hour," Luna repeated as she helped Rainbow with her own coating of Kuua, the pegasus returning with Vapor to report the Mareitanians progress. Vapor herself was getting helped by Cadence. "That hardly seems like enough time."

"They're not hanging around," Rainbow told her. "You'd almost think they were desperate for this to be over one way or another."

"There is only one way I wish for this to be over in, and that is in victory. I'll happily put off a defeat."

"Amen to that," Rainbow agreed, painting some of the Kuua around her eyes, then making some lighting bolts down her cheeks. "This is the weirdest preparation for a battle I've ever done. I kinda like it. Hopefully it still works under our armour."

"It will," Mistress Mjuzi assured her. "I've given the order for our warriors to hide in the city. All that remains is to draw the Mareitanians in."

"And that must be paid for in blood," Luna said quietly, earning herself an pained look from Cadence. "Hopefully the share of it shall be equal between us and them."

"Our warriors will do their part," Mjuzi stated with a small nod.

"And we shall do ours," Luna said back. If she were honest with herself, she wasn't sure. Both herself and Nightmare had spent many hours trying to teach Cadence how to fight, far from where the zebras could see them, and although she had picked it up well quite well, she was far from making up for the millennia and a half of experience Celestia had over her.

"Off topic, but where are Twilight and Trixie?" Vapor asked. "Shouldn't they be here with you?"

"They seem to have chosen to stay amongst the zebra warriors." Luna breathed in deeply and sighed, "I couldn't say why. Perhaps they wish to try and lessen the blow there, which I am more than happy to let them do, so long as they remember to fall back when required."

There was little more to say or do after that, at least until Lightning Dust returned with the fifteen minute warning. Luna spent the time adorning herself and Cadence with the Kuua for whatever advantage it might give them over Celestia.
They had barely finished when Lightning Dust returned, giving them the final warning before the Mareitanians reached them. It seemed a bit redundant in the end as from the top of the small rise they occupied they could see the Mareitanians well enough, their armour shining in the morning sun. Cut in half as it was, the Zebra army seemed pitiful in comparison.

"I think they plan to attack as soon as they get here," Lightning told them as her body was quickly smothered with Kuua. "They're heading right for you at any rate."

"Then there is hope that they are totally unaware of our greater plan." Luna grinned with relief, "Perhaps we might pull this off. Mistress Mjuzi, the field is yours."

The zebras started forming lines as commands issued in the zebra tongue echoed across the land. Twilight and Trixie had no chance of following the commands themselves, but as they made their way towards the front the zebras around them seemed more than happy with their presence, making room for them, and for the grey, axe wielding unicorn that joined them.

"What are you doing here?" Twilight asked Nightmare as she sidled up beside them. "I thought you were with Luna."

"Luna hardly needs me to hold her hoof. I was supposed to be fighting in the city with you two, but since you're here, I decided I should be here too. Gives me a chance to work on my yak tally."

"Why aren't you wearing any Kuua?" Trixie asked. "I'll happily put some on you if you want?"

"First, that was creepy. Second, you gave Twilight zebra stripes in a way that's borderline racist, and third, that stuff would ruin my disguise, so I'd rather not do that."

"That would happen?"

"Yep. Apparently they use this Kuua stuff to test for changelings. It forces them to shed their disguises, so it would probably do the same to me. Besides, doesn't that stuff interfere with your magic?"

"Doesn't seem to so far."

"Have you tried teleporting with it?"

Twilight's eyes widened a little. She hadn't thought of that, and was now a little mortified that it never occurred to her that the Kuua would probably mess with teleportation in a serious way. A quick attempt, and failure, to teleport confirmed as much.

"Fuck. Fuck-fuck-fuck. I bet Luna and Cadence are wearing this stuff as well."

"At least I won't lose my armour this time," Trixie said like it was some kind of serious consolation for the four of them fucking up their ability to teleport out of danger. "Uh... you can still fly with it, right?"

Twilight flapped her wings, then performed a little loop-de-loop. "Flying is okay, because we'd be having to wash this stuff off me pretty quick if it wasn't. It's also lucky that I can still pick you up by your armour if I have to."

"You guys really didn't think this through," Nightmare snickered. "You know it's a good day when I'm being the sensible one."

"Makes me think we're doomed," Trixie laughed. "I mean, look at all those ponies and yaks, and here we are fighting them using an army of zebras armed with fancy paint and pointy sticks."

"Trixie," Twilight growled, letting the tone do the talking for her.

"Fine. Spears. Pointy wooden spears."

"That is not what I meant!"

"I know, but I enjoy frustrating you."

Twilight shook her head, hoping the motion would somehow stop Trixie from trying to annoy her further. It seemed to work as neither she nor Nightmare said anything more, at least until a chanting started amongst the zebras as they banged their spears on the ground.

"Kifo huja, kifo huja, kifo huja kwako! Kifo huja, kifo huja, kifo huja kwako!"

"I wonder what they're saying," Trixie asked loud enough to be heard over the chanting. "No doubt it's meant to unnerve the enemy, but I severely doubt the Mareitanians know what they're saying if we don't."

"Celestia might," said Twilight.

"Death comes, death comes, death comes to you." Nightmare shrugged at the both of them, "I know some zebra. Sue me."

"Hopefully this is more foreboding than it is ironic then," Trixie commented. "I can imagine the zebras' shock when it turns out that death came for them instead."

Nightmare sniggered at Trixie, "Is this your idea of a pep talk?"

"Not quite. Normally I'd shout 'last one to get their throat cut is a rotten egg,' but most of these zebra wouldn't understand me anyway."

Nightmare laughed, "Trixie, it is going to be an absolute honour watching you die stupidly on the battlefield."

Trixie looked sideways at Twilight for a reaction to that, because even she thought it was too soon to be saying that kind of thing after losing Sunset. Twilight seemed to hiding it though, with the only sign of her getting annoyed being a tightening of the skin around her eyes.

"And that's the end of that discussion," Trixie muttered. The Mareitanians weren't far away now, spreading out to flank the zebras, so it would've ended soon anyway. "Wish us luck, guys," she said as she placed her helm on her head.

Shields started springing up as the Mareitanians came into what they considered to the range of the zebra archers. Twilight would've done the same, but she decided to not tread on the zebras hooves like that. They believed the Kuua would protect them from magic, so she would too. Of course arrows were a different matter, but the Mareitanians couldn't fire any with their shields up anyway.

"Come on you bastards," Nightmare growled as she twirled her axe lengthways, "stop fucking around and attack us."

"Who said anything about waiting for them to attack us?" Twilight said to Nightmare, a hint of a grin on her face. Almost as if they had been waiting for her word, the call to attack sounded with the blowing of a horn. Twilight charged forward with the zebras, leaving a temporarily stunned Trixie and Nightmare behind for a moment.

The zebra crashed against the shields the Mareitanians had raised, much to the amused confusion of those within it. The amusement soon fled as the zebras started to attack the shield with their weapons. Weapons coated in Kuua. Even to Twilight's surprise the spears were cutting through the shield, making small holes that were quickly forced wider. Entire sections of the shield were soon collapsing as the zebras pushed themselves through the gaps.

Twilight joined as the Mareitanians gave up on the shield entirely to focus on attacking. Arrows started to fly from both sides as the zebras met a line of yaks that seemed to be considerably more unyielding than the shield had been. Zebras were being gored by horns, and trampled by hooves, and for a short while the attack faltered. A break had to be made in the yaks' line, and Twilight would make it.

A powerful blast of magic leapt off Twilight's horn, hurtling towards a yak that Twilight considered to be the largest of them. It was about to strike when a shield caught the blast. A shield conjured by none other than Nightmare.

"What the fuck are you doing!?"

"Mine!" Nightmare shouted back, laughing merrily as she ran up to the yak, dodged his horns, and split his head with her axe.

Twilight blinked, dumbfounded, then shook it off to run screaming towards the yaks as the zebras surged towards the opening. Swordy appeared, striking out with lightning speed to widen the gap even further. She leapt over the bodies of the yaks to find even more yaks, although they were too busy keeping clear of the axe wielding Nightmare. They never saw Twilight coming until one of them found two of his legs missing.

Zebras followed after Twilight, trying to overwhelm the yaks through numbers, dragging them down and killing them, or bracing their spears on the ground if they charged. It was working, but the rate of attrition was far too high. For every yak that fell, at least one zebra fell with them. The exchange of arrows and magic was also becoming rather one sided in favour of the Mareitanians.

Three booms of thunder echoed around the savannah as the Wonderbolts joined the fight with their lightning. It was then that Twilight saw Celestia for the briefest moment, taking off to confront the three pegasi. Twilight near shrieked in panic at the thought of the alicorn going after Rainbow and her friends, but to her great relief, Luna and Cadence were there to protect them.

"Twilight!"

Twilight jumped at the sound of Trixie shouting her name, and turned just in time to see the yak charging at her for a split second before her senses were overwhelmed by being struck with its horns.

Twilight landed hard, tumbling over and over until the body of a fallen zebra stopped her. She heard a scream, although that might've been herself, then it stopped. A moment later a hoof was offered, and Twilight used it to pull herself up.

"Your problem," said Trixie, her armour spattered with blood, "is that you're too easily distracted."

Twilight looked back over Trixie to the yak that hit her. It was dead in a way that Twilight could only describe as being classic Trixie.

"Come on, we're almost through the yaks. We can start hitting the ponies after that."

Nodding dumbly, her head still spinning, Twilight followed after Trixie.

Cadence did at least deserve some credit. True she hadn't once made a single attempt at attacking, but her shields were both quick and strong. While she hadn't struck an enemy once, not once had an enemy struck them, which served Luna just as well, and the Wonderbolts had to at least be thankful after Celestia tried to incinerate them.

Luna smiled as Cadence saved her from another attack from Celestia. She wasn't too proud to admit that she was enjoying the aggravation Cadence was causing Celestia more than she probably should. Each blocked attack had Celestia howling with rage. That sound of that was slightly less enjoyable.

Luna couldn't even begin to guess what was going on in Celestia's head. She appeared to look the same, except for cutting down her bulky suit of armour into something that looked more like what Luna had worn as Nightmare Moon. Her behaviour was something else though. If Luna were to guess, the fake personality Faust had given Celestia had split. Most of the time she appears as she would normally, but when confronted with Luna, or Twilight, or anypony against her mother, she turns into a raging, equicidal maniac.

The joke Luna had made about Celestia's 'fiery temper' really hadn't helped.

Waves of flame rolled through the skies over the battle, all emanating from Celestia. The Wonderbolts had retreated at Luna's order, because this was quickly becoming something that they shouldn't even be near, let alone part of.

"What is she trying to do?" Cadence asked, her chest aching from breathing in the uncomfortably warm air. "Is she trying to cook us?"

"We all know that wouldn't work. Not outside like this. Just keep your eyes on her."

Cadence did so, all while maintaining a shield that saved both her and Luna from the flames. As Luna had said to, she kept an eye on Celestia, watching as she suddenly reversed the flow of the flames, drawing them into a massive fireball that she lobbed at the two alicorns.

It was to little avail though, as between them Luna and Cadence held it off. They hadn't accounted for the distraction it provided though as Celestia followed in the wake of the fireball, teleporting behind them and attacking as soon as it had weakened their shield.

Cadence screamed as Celestia's magic burned a line down her back, and the shock alone almost knocked her out of the sky. Luna was quickly to her side, fending Celestia off to give Cadence a little time to recover. Cadence screamed again for good measure as it felt like somepony had poured molten metal over her.

"Fight, Cadence! We won't beat her using nothing but shields!"

Cadence nodded shakily, gasping in lungful's of air as her words failed her. She'd gotten a taste of what real pain was, and she had no desire to experience it again.

Cadence turned and fired a beam of magic at Celestia, the elder alicorn holding it back with a shield as Luna flew around to attack her from the other side. Celestia couldn't hold back the power of both of them, so teleported up to escape, then flew back down directly towards Cadence.

Cadence froze for a moment. She wanted to teleport, but couldn't, and was afraid that Celestia would attack her from behind again if she used a shield. Thankfully Celestia became distracted by something below, giving Cadence a chance to simply fly away.

"Don't freeze," Luna scolded as they joined back up.

"If I didn't have this stupid Kuua on I could've teleported."

"That stupid Kuua saved your life. That burn on your back would've been a lot worse without it." Luna glanced down, trying to see what it was that had distracted Celestia, and supposed that it could only have been Ember breathing fire down on the enemy. The distraction didn't last long for any of them.

"Why must this go on?" Celestia suddenly asked out loud. "How many lives could be spared if you just gave up on this unwinnable war you insist on fighting?"

Luna raised an eyebrow at her sister, "You actually care about their lives?"

Celestia didn't answer immediately, like she was thinking about the question. "Of course I do. Each death here is one less soldier to create my Mother's vision."

"Then you really are lost. Each death on both sides would've horrified the Celestia I know and love, and not because she felt obliged to be horrified. Faust's turned you into a monster."

"Sometimes it takes a monster to stop a monster!" Celestia flew straight for Luna, a spell building on her horn that she unleashed once she was in range. Luna blocked the attack, and Cadence, feeling a little ignored, but mostly frightened, fired a beam of magic point blank at Celestia, knocking her off the course she was holding directly towards Luna.

"See? Just like that," Luna said, feeling a little proud of the pink princess. "If we watch each others' backs, she won't be able to beat us."

"I didn't mean to do that! It just happened!"

"Then let it keep happening!" Luna juked left as Celestia came back with a vengeance, dodging the magical projectiles her sister was firing with wild abandon. She turned back as she remembered that Cadence was still down there, then stopped, stunned as Cadence not only shielded herself, but then smacked Celestia with the shield. Luna used the opportunity to fire a beam of magic down at Celestia, knocking her into a freefall that it took several seconds to recover from. Recover she did though, flying straight back up at them to attack again.

"Why does she keep trying?" Cadence asked. "She can't win when she's outnumbered, so why does she keep trying?"

"The trick is to make it so you're not outnumbered. Take out one of us and the fight is so much better for her." Luna drifted to the side so she could see Cadence's back, and the angry red burn going up it. That was going to be a problem when the adrenaline wore off. "Try to trap her using your shields, then I'll take her out."

Cadence nodded, then flew down towards Celestia. Celestia fired a spell at her, but Cadence rolled to the side to evade it, the twisting of her back painfully pulling at the burn. Her horn lit up, placing a shield between Celestia and Luna as she flew down past, forcing Celestia to quickly stop or hit it. Another shield went up to stop Celestia from attacking her, while Celestia left her back exposed.

Magic tore into Celestia's back as Luna attacked, pushing her forward to also smack painfully against Cadence's shield. Luna pushed the attack, pinning Celestia against the shield until it shattered from the pressure, and Celestia dropped from the sky to land roughly on the battlefield.

Luna and Cadence followed her down, only to back up quickly as a burst of flame reduced some inquisitive zebras to charred husks. Celestia roared up into the sky on a trail of fire, weakened, bleeding, but still kicking.

"You think you can win here, but you can't! Even now your pitiful army breaks!"

That much was true at least. The zebras were doing better than Luna had expected, but that wasn't saying much since she hadn't expected them to do very well at all in this current battle. Luna looked back up at Celestia to deliver a retort, but her sister was already gone.

"I think this has gone on long enough," said Luna. "Cadence, head to the Kumbi Mzee and wait there. Maybe get something to treat that burn while you do. We'll start pulling back into the city, and see if we can't even this fight a little."

Even as she fought, Twilight found herself wondering how much of the Mareitanians military methods were her idea. The Adepts certainly were, while the arbalests with their crossbows were probably too standard an idea to claim credit for. The equipment they used was probably her idea though, with their focus on quality armour that could protect a pony from most things. What Twilight didn't remember was taking that idea and running wild with it, creating a branch of earth ponies whose thick armour was also a weapon. Somepony else had to have thought of that.

The idea wasn't without merit though, as Twilight had quickly found out as one of those Juggernauts came right at her, brushing off her magic until he was close enough for Twilight to pierce his armour with Swordy. For a moment Twilight had been genuinely concerned, which was a feeling that wasn't going anywhere as there were plenty more of the armoured bastards around.

Twilight braced herself as one came right for her, and tackled them to a standstill, much to the Juggernauts' surprise as they were stopped by a pony half their size. There wasn't much to see of the pony through the narrow slits they used to see through, but the sharp intake of breath Twilight heard suggested recognition on the Juggernauts' behalf. Twilight had no idea who they were, and as she stabbed Swordy up into their chest, she supposed she never would.

A loud clang of metal on metal told Twilight that Nightmare was still nearby, and that she found the Juggernauts to be far less interesting to fight than the yaks. All Twilight could sense of Trixie was a chilly feeling coming from nearby. She had tried to not use dark magic, but as the fight got heavier, she soon fell back into using it almost exclusively. Twilight had decided to merely sigh about it and move on.

Twilight pushed ever onwards, opening the gap they'd made in the Mareitanian lines wider and wider. The Juggernauts ran dry, and Twilight suddenly found herself face to face with an Adept, who instinctively fired their magic at her before Twilight had so much as a chance to think about putting up a shield.

Static tingled prickled Twilight's skin as the blast of magic washed over her. And that was it, there was no serious pain, no solid impact, nothing. A zebra jumped past her, going for an Adept. The Kuua she was daubed with glowed brightly as it absorbed the magic of a spell, but that was it. The zebra grunted with discomfort, then speared the Adept that attacked her.

"Holy shit, that stuff actually works."

They'd found a weak spot in the Adepts, whose magic could overwhelm the Kuua, but not fast enough to stop the flow of zebras. Twilight went with them, capitalising on the chaos to try and thin their numbers as much as she could.

"Rudisha! Rudisha!"

Twilight looked around as the zebras faltered, then started to pull back, wondering what was going on. "What are you all doing? We're winning!"

"Are you so sure about that?" Nightmare asked. "We might be winning here, but it might be going to shit everywhere else!"

"But-" Twilight cursed, fully aware that Nightmare was probably right. She fired a few blind blasts to deter those that wanted to follow her, then ran after the zebras, grabbing Trixie along the way. "Stick with the zebras, Nightmare! We'll find you in the city!"

"What are we going to be do-waahhh!" Trixie shouted as Twilight hauled her into the air by her armour. "Fucking hell, this is pinching me in all the worst ways."

Twilight ignored Trixie, her eyes fixated on the battle. As Nightmare had said, the battle had not progressed as well in other places. In other places they hadn't even made it past the yaks. If Twilight had kept going, eventually the Mareitanians would've surrounded them, and that would've been a death sentence for the zebras with her. Maybe Trixie too.

"I guess Luna took care of Celestia," Trixie said as Twilight continued to scan her eyes over the battlefield.

"For now. Even if Celestia died today, we lose this battle and she wins anyway."

"And there's the optimistic Twilight I know and know." Trixie looked down as a rush of heat buffeted Twilight and herself. Ember was attacking the Mareitanians, but only to try and give the zebras a better chance of fleeing. "Should we be helping her?"

"You carry on if you want," Twilight said to Trixie. "I'm trying to see if there are any pockets of zebras trapped."

"So you can, what? Teleport them out? Not if they're covered in Kuua you won't."

Twilight cursed under her breath, having forgotten about that. She was probably better off helping those that could get to the city. The Wonderbolts had the same idea as the roar of their thunder informed everyone for miles around that they were back. Swooping down, Twilight decided to help them.

Bolts of magic peppered the battlefield, but Twilight had to admit that even between Trixie and herself, they didn't compare to the devastation that Ember was unleashing. Swaths of flame consumed dozens of Mareitanians at a time, deterring them from chasing right after the zebras. She had to be careful to not overplay her claw though, because there were still plenty of ponies capable of attacking her.

"She's going to get herself killed doing that," Trixie said as several Adepts tried to hit the dragoness. She deftly evaded the spells, but she wouldn't be lucky every time, and dragon or not, a lucky hit could bring her down. "Do you think we should go stop her?"

"Probably." Twilight flew down and dropped Trixie amongst the retreating zebras, "Head into the city and try to catch up with Nightmare. I'll find you both when I can."

Twilight waited for a confirmation of any sort from Trixie, then quickly flew up towards Ember. With less zebras around she was quickly becoming the main target for a lot of Mareitanians. Both magic and arrows were attempting to batter her out of the sky, but so far she'd been lucky. Twilight didn't expect that luck to hold for much longer.

"Ember!" Twilight flew alongside the dragon, using her magic to deflect the magic and arrows that she felt came too close. "You need to fall back! You're going to get yourself killed!"

Ember shook her head, "I can't. I need to buy the zebras more time to escape."

"But the Mareitanians are supposed to chase us!"

"Not that fast!" Ember rolled left suddenly, leaving Twilight to wonder why when a bolt of magic whistled past the end of her wing, barely missing singeing her feathers. "You need to go."

Twilight scrunched her nose up, the decision made that Ember was going to go with her, like it or not. That decision was rather wasted when Luna joined them.

"What are you both doing? You need to fall back to the city!"

"That's what I was trying to say!"

"But the zebras aren't all away yet!"

Luna aimed a sympathetic smile at Ember, "You can't save them all, Ember. I wish we could, but we can't. We'll stop those giving chase, but we really do need to go."

It seemed like Ember was going to refuse to listen for a moment, but eventually gave them a sullen nod. It occurred then to Twilight that Ember hadn't really been in a battle like this before. She'd never had to cross that line of letting people die. This had to be a rough experience for her, which Twilight could sympathise with.

"Come on, we'll take down as many as we can while we go," Twilight offered. Ember readily agreed, so the three of them flew down together, making sure that any yaks and ponies tailing the zebras really regretted it.

"I really hate that dragon," Snowbright said as he watched the two princesses fly away with the object of his ire. "How are we even supposed to fight that?"

His question, while rhetorical, was also directed at Celestia while she had her wounds treated. He wasn't about to say it, but he was also annoyed that she had once again failed in her mission to defeat her sister. Yes he could understand that fighting more than one alicorn at a time was hardly easy, but it was literally the one task that Celestia was here for, other than convincing the zebras of the true path. Considering the fight they were putting up, she had already failed at that task.

"Without fliers, you can't. You might get lucky if you hit her wings, but that's the kind of chance we can't reply on. Besides, I wouldn't try too hard to kill her."

"Why not?"

"Because eventually her father would find out, and her father is maybe half the size of Canterlot. He could wipe out this army in minutes if he applied himself even a little."

Snowbright found himself shuddering at the thought of that. The only thing that could save them from that was Faust herself, but she was nowhere near here. "So you recommend leaving the dragon alone, despite how much damage she's done to our mission?"

"If capturing her was an option, I would do it in an instance!" Celestia snapped, her patience fraying. "As it is, I've gotten an extra alicorn to fight now because Cadence seems to have developed a spine! The dragon is not my concern. It is yours!"

Snowbright kept his mouth shut. Getting into an argument with Celestia was increasingly seeming like a terminal decision. Even here, under the sun of the Zebrican savannah, he could feel the heat coming off her. He was sweating buckets under his armour.

"Well?" Celestia asked after a few minutes, "What are they doing?"

"Retreating into the city. No doubt they wish to give us a hard time trying to take it. Clearly Twilight and Luna have forgotten that we have experience at this."

"And are you sure the obvious trap isn't in fact obvious?"

"I'm sure it is, but we outnumber them at what must currently be at least a three to one ratio. If we take it slow we'll root out every last one of them. All that leaves is for you to take care of your sister, Princess Cadence, and Twilight."

"What did you just call her?"

Snowbright cursed himself for the slip of his tongue. Faust had forbidden everypony from mentioning Celestia's relation to Luna, to help maintain the mental image she carried of Luna. He didn't know why, since Celestia was aware even now that they were technically sisters, but that is what they were all bidden to do.

"Apologies, Princess, I meant no disrespect."

"She is not my sister, and her existence is an insult to everything my Mother and I stand for."

Snowbright swallowed as the temperature crept up a few more degrees. The ponies treating Celestia seemed to be having trouble even being that close to her, let alone touching her. "It won't happen again."

"See that it doesn't." The temperature lowered again, much to all their relief, and Celestia stood to observe the city. If they still had ships they could attack from the harbour the city was built around, but alas that option was no longer open to them. They would have to take the city directly, fighting back whatever pitiful resistance the zebras that fled the battle could put up.

"Start preparations to enter the city. By the time the sun sets, Zanzebra, and Zebrica with it, shall belong to Faust."

"And if it doesn't?"

Celestia hummed, a cruel smile sneaking onto her lips. "Then I might have to see how flammable that city is."

Snowbright nodded, not looking to refuse in front of Celestia. In the depths of his mind though, he was wondering if Faust would still recognise the mare her daughter had become over the last week.

Author's Notes:

The battle begins!