Chapter 52: The Battle Begins

James felt a slight jolt as the wheels of the chariot touched down, followed by a bumpy ride for a few seconds as it slowed and came to a halt. As soon as it had stopped, he opened the door, stepping out into the biting cold wind. At least the snow had stopped.

Behind him, he could hear a constant rumbling sound, like that of a very strong and not-too-distant thunderstorm. Turning around, he saw the sky lit by constant lightning flashes, as if lightning were striking dozens of times a second. But he knew it was no ordinary lightning he was seeing and hearing. It was the combat spells of the Unicorn Guard, shooting magical lightning bolts into the sky that were aimed squarely at advancing griffins. The battle has already begun, then. So much for finding their flank attack forces.

“We're about fifteen kilometers from the front,” he heard from behind him, turning around to see Lieutenant Swift Wing approaching him. Thanks to James' influence, the Royal Guard had adopted SI units, deciding they were a much more convenient form of measurement than the older system of strides they had been using, although their standard meter was based on James' best estimate, given he had no measuring devices from Earth to give them an exact measurement.

“Scouts I sent on ahead have returned with a report,” the Lieutenant continued. “So far, the battle has not been going very well. Our forces are greatly outnumbered and griffin forces have been making rapid progress inland. I suggest we send the majority of our forces forward to join the battle, leaving a few here to set up a base camp.”

James looked around for a moment before responding. The fact that the battle had not been going well so far could actually work to Equestria's advantage for what he had planned. He turned back to Swift Wing.

“Find me some Aviation Weather Command ponies. I want a squall line set up behind us to prevent the griffins from making any further progress towards Trottingham by air.”

“I'll get a messenger on it, Councilor.”

James nodded and turned around again, pointing in the direction they had come from. “The bridge over Aurora Gorge is the only way into Trottingham by ground, right?”

“It is without detouring several hours to the north,” Swift Wing confirmed.

“Good. Find me some unicorn guards to destroy it.”

“Councilor?” Swift Wing questioned, raising an eyebrow.

“It's our last line of defense to ensure that griffin forces can't push into Trottingham. It will also let us stop them and keep the battle here. If they get into town, we'll end up fighting an urban war against an enemy that will have no problem using town ponies as living shields. We'll never get them out of Trottingham again without an enormous number of civilian casualties. Also, if you lead them in this direction, we can trap them against the gorge, giving them no room to maneuver. That should be fairly easy to do. All you have to do is lead them right where they already want to go. We can hide about four thousand changelings in the darkness to the left and right who can spring a surprise attack on them once they are trapped between the gorge and the squall line.”

“Clever, Councilor. Three or four unicorns should be enough to destroy the bridge. I'll have the messenger bring some back from the front.”

James nodded and started to climb back into the chariot. “We better get going, then.”

“You won't be going any further, Councilor,” Swift Wing stated, causing him to stop with his foot on the chariot step, turning his head back.

“Lieutenant?” he asked with confusion.

“We can't have you on the front getting yourself killed, Councilor. Not with Princess Luna's prophecy telling us that you need to play some important role in stopping The Beyond.”

James looked down slightly, taking his foot off the step, a mixture of emotions filling him. Relief about not having to be on the front line of the battle. Guilt about the fact that he felt relief, as well as guilt over the fact that he would stay back at base camp while the changelings and royal guards with him went into battle.

But he knew that Swift Wing was right. As much as he didn't want to admit it, the front line of a battlefield was no place for him. He was no soldier, no field commander. Just a scientist who had been forced into service as a war strategist.

“Besides,” Swift Wing continued, “that bridge is very large and made of reinforced concrete and steel construction. It was designed to support the weight of the trade caravans coming in from the port. Without any Engineering Command ponies around, the Unicorn Guard is going to need your physics expertise to help them bring it down.”

James nodded slightly. “So instead of risking my life on the front line, I get to risk my life climbing around the superstructure of a bridge four hundred feet above a canyon,” he responded sarcastically.

“If you fall, one of the unicorn guards will be able to catch you in a levitation spell,” Swift Wing answered.

“I suppose you're right, Lieutenant … Just make sure you keep me informed about what is going on in the battle.”

“I'll send messengers back on a regular basis.”

“Alright. Lets get on it, then … Perhaps since you will be the one actually leading the changelings into battle, you should be the one to give them the pep talk or whatever.”

“I will, Councilor.”

“The strength and protection of Their Majesties go with you, Lieutenant,” James said, giving the traditional blessing of a council member to a royal guard that was just about to go into battle. An uneasy feeling of dread started to fill him as he wondered if he would ever see Swift Wing again.

“And with you, Councilor,” Swift Wing responded before turning and trotting back to the gathered changelings and the rest of the Pegasus Guard forces they had with them. A few minutes later, they took to the air again and turned towards the constant flashes, heading for the front line.

Except for the changelings medics, the rest of the roughly four thousand changelings who had remained behind began to split to the left and right and move back towards the bridge. Within moments, they blended in fully with the darkness, their black carapaces concealing them completely from view. He smiled slightly at that. It would prove a very distinct advantage for the changelings, both in the surprise attack at the gorge and on the front line. There, the Pegasus Guard would hold back as the changelings dove in for a surprise attack from above. The griffins would never see them coming until they were right on top of them. That initial element of surprise should confuse the griffins long enough for the changelings to do a serious amount of damage in a very short period of time. Once the changelings had begun the attack from above, the ponies would attack from the flank. Although they wouldn't be as invisible in the night sky as the changelings, hopefully, the griffins would still be recovering from the surprise of the changeling attack and be too busy with the changelings to notice the incoming ponies from the flank.

With the changelings and the pegasi out of sight, James turned and walked towards the few remaining guards who were beginning to set up the base camp and started to help them. It was better than sitting around feeling useless until the Unicorn Guard arrived to destroy the bridge over Aurora Gorge.

The guards worked fast and efficiently, and it wasn't long before the landscape around them had been transformed into a tent city. Two large tents stood at the center. One of them was to serve as an armory, and several guards began carrying racks of plate armor, spears, and other weapons into the tent. The other tent was being set up as a field hospital to serve the wounded changelings and ponies who would no doubt be coming in from the battlefield within the next few hours. Not far from the center, they set up his tent, which was, of course, much smaller than the hospital or armory, but still of sufficient size for a sleeping cot, a small table, a map table, and a fire pit in the center.

He took a lantern from one of the chariots and went inside, pulling the flap shut and taking advantage of the respite from the cold, biting wind. It wouldn't do him any good to build a fire yet, though. He had work to do and the Unicorn Guard would be here soon. Instead, he placed the lantern on the table, studying the maps and trying to get a better feel for the battlefield around them. He wasn't sure how long he had been doing that when he felt the wind hit him again as the tent flap opened from outside.

“Councilor? The unicorn guards have arrived,” one of the pegasi who had stayed behind with him stated.

“Thank you … What will you do now?” he asked as he turned around.

“Most of the medics will stay here and wait for the injured to start coming in. The rest of us will fly towards the front and join the rest of our forces in battle.'

He nodded once. “The strength and protection of Their Majesties go with you.”

“And with you, Councilor,” the guard responded before stepping out, letting the tent flap fall shut again.

James turned around again and opened the trunk the guards had carried in, pulling out the warmest clothes he could find, as well as a set of heavy gloves that had been made specially for him. He would need those for climbing around on the freezing steel structure of the bridge. He stepped outside, nodding to the unicorn guards in greeting. They nodded back to him.

“Councilor,” the highest ranking one acknowledged. “I'm Sergeant Mystica. I hope the Princesses aren't going to send you the bill for fixing what we are about to break,” he quipped.

James tried to give a small chuckle at the attempted joke, but it was hard to find any humor given the dire situation they faced. “I'll gladly pay it if it keeps the griffins out of Trottingham, Sergeant,” was all he said in response.

“We should get going as soon as possible,” Sergeant Mystica said. “At the rate the griffins have been gaining ground, it won't take them more than ten to fourteen hours or so to get to the bridge. Of course, hopefully, the changeling reinforcements will be able to greatly slow down or stop that progress.”

James nodded and slipped the heavy gloves on before stepping back out into the cold and climbing into the chariot again.

About fifteen minutes later, he stepped out and looked at the massive bridge spanning the gorge. Only a small portion of it was visible, the rest of the massive structure fading into darkness at the limits of the pole-mounted lanterns. The thick cables of the superstructure whistled and groaned in the wind, which only added to his mounting anxiety of actually climbing up there so he could figure out the best way to bring down the huge bridge. His mind went back to when he had first arrived in Equestria and how he had thought riding on Rainbow Dash was probably the stupidest thing he had ever done in his life. This, he thought, was probably even dumber. This is a necessary risk. Riding Rainbow Dash was not.

“This helmet has a magically charged spotlight on it,” he heard from behind him, turning to see Sergeant Mystica walking towards him, a faint glow surrounding the hard-hat like helmet he was magically carrying. “It will give you about forty-five minutes of light before you'll have to replace it. We can levitate a new one up to you if you run out up there. One of us will warn you when you are getting close to the time limit so you don't end up crawling around in the dark.”

James nodded as he took the helmet and placed it on his head, strapping it under his chin. “Just make sure one of you is ready to catch me if I fall.”

“Don't worry. We will be.”

With that, he took a deep breath, let it out slowly, and waited as the unicorn cast a quick spell, activating the spotlight on the helmet. Then, he looked up, taking his first step onto the edge of the bridge and starting to climb towards the massive support cable that spanned the length of the bridge.

He made a conscious effort not to look down, either at the endless darkness that would be the fall to the bottom of the gorge, or at the surface of the bridge below him. Looking up wasn't much better as the towering supports of the bridge ascended further than the spotlight would cast, giving the illusion that he would be climbing forever to reach the top.

Ever so carefully, he placed one hand, then the other on one of the massive support cables which was as thick around as his closed fist. Then, very carefully, he wrapped his legs around it, straddling it and shinnying along as he slowly made his way up the wire towards the first of the towering supports. His heart pounded in his chest, the cable vibrating in his hand as the wind whipped around it, the whistling and singing of the wind around the wire sounding ghostly up here, as if it were the voice of a wendigo. Mocking him, laughing at him, taunting him, and waiting for him to fall so it could begin feasting on him. He tried to push those thoughts out of his mind as he placed hand over hand, climbing ever higher into the night sky. The unicorns will catch you in a levitation spell if you fall, he tried to reassure himself. Once again, he was thankful to Rainbow Dash for pushing him so hard back in Ponyville with all the physical exercise. Without all the running and pushups she had made him do, he was certain his arms and legs would have given out after only a couple of minutes of pulling himself upward along the cable. Even so, it wasn't long before he could feel his muscles starting to burn.

After what seemed like forever, he finally saw the first support tower fading into view through the darkness. To his relief, he saw a work platform on it that he could sit or stand on. That would definitely be welcome as the burning in his arms and legs became harder to ignore.

Finally, he carefully climbed onto the work platform, letting go of the cable and grabbing on to the railing surrounding the platform as a drowning man might grab on to a life preserver. He took several deep breaths, feeling at least a little safer now that he was on the platform. Still, he knew he was probably a hundred feet above the surface of the bridge by now, and at least four hundred feet above the bottom of the gorge. That knowledge made the small work platform seem very precarious indeed. The sooner you get to work, the sooner you can be back on nice, solid ground.

Looking above his head, he examined how the cable was connected to the support tower and the bridge itself, taking as many mental notes as he could and running through physics calculations in his head about where the highest load points would be, which support points were the most critical to the bridge, and other such calculations.

“Ten minutes until your light runs out!” he heard faintly from below him through the blowing wind. The voice sounded distant and echoed off the gorge, which only added to his anxiety and to the feel that he was suspended precariously in space and the slightest misstep would send him plunging to his death.

“Cast a light spell up here and find me!” he yelled back. “I'm sitting on a work platform!”

A second later, a beam of light pierced the darkness, sweeping towards him until stopping on him.

“Got you!” he heard from below. “We're sending up a new light! Send the old one back down when you get the new one so that we can recharge it!”

A few seconds later, a glow approached him and the new helmet became visible. He took it, replaced the one he was wearing, and called back down to the unicorn guards to take the old one. Taking a few more seconds to recover, he took a deep breath and left the safety of the platform, venturing out onto the cable once again as he painstakingly made his way to the next junction point on the superstructure.

For the next four hours or so, he continued this slow, methodical process of finding a work platform, mapping the structure of the bridge, replacing the helmet with a new one, and then climbing back out on the cable and performing his dangerous high-wire act. Twice, he nearly slipped and fell, but was able to catch himself, his heart pounding as adrenaline shot through his system. Finally, his survey of the bridge complete, he carefully made his way back towards the ground and the waiting unicorn guards. Desire to be safely back on the ground again provided a strong temptation to speed things up and hurry his way back down the cables, but he checked himself and move slowly and carefully. Falling so close to the end would do him no good at all.

Finally, he stepped off the support structure and onto solid ground again, breathing a sigh of relief. Never in his life had the ground felt so good beneath his feet. He only allowed himself a few seconds to enjoy the feeling, though, before turning his attention back to the unicorn guards.

“Well, I'm not a bridge engineer, but I think about twenty well placed hits starting at the center and moving outward should do it. Can one of you cast a light spell up there again so we can mark the spots where the hits need to happen? Try to commit them to memory since we won't be able to shine any light on the bridge once the griffins arrive. It would tip them off to the ambush.”

Sergeant Mystica nodded and his horn glowed as he cast a light spell at the bridge.

“A little to the left,” James guided, the unicorn moving his spell slightly in that direction. “There. Mark this point,” he instructed. They continued this for awhile longer until all twenty of the points he had decided on had been located.

“How much time do we have?” James asked.

“Assuming the griffins are still making inland progress at the same rate, they could be here in four hours,” Mystica responded.

James nodded slightly. “Are you confident you can bring the bridge down?”

Mystica nodded. “As long as your targets are good, we can bring it down.”

He thought for awhile. What he really wanted to do, was wait until griffins were on the bridge, then blow it up underneath them. That would ensure the griffins would have no indication the bridge was out until it was too late for them to avoid the trap that four thousand changelings had waiting for them. But that also ran the risk of at least part of the griffin invasion force making it to the other side if his calculations turned out to be wrong and the bridge didn't fall on the first attempt. If that happened, they would have to resort to brute force, simply hammering the bridge with magical blasts until it fell. And that would take awhile. Then again, any griffins that weren't already on the bridge would be unlikely to venture out onto it once it became clear the unicorns were intent on destroying it.

He ran through some more calculations in his head, estimating how many griffins the bridge could hold at any given time and thus, the maximum number of griffins that could likely make it across if his plan didn't go exactly the way he wanted it to. About five hundred changelings on the other side of the bridge should be able to deal with any griffins that did make it across. That would still leave him with thirty-five hundred to spring the ambush trap he had waiting for them on this side of the bridge.

“Send five hundred changelings to the other side of the bridge,” he said, turning back to Sergeant Mystica. “Tell them to hide themselves and be ready to deal with any griffins that make it across. If our plan goes the way I hope it does, none of them will, but we need to be ready. And post hidden guards on both sides to stop any ponies who get too close.”

“Yes, Councilor,” Mystica acknowledged, then turned and walked towards the places where the changelings had concealed themselves.

Well, the trap is set. All we can do now is wait for the griffins to arrive …

o.O.o

“Tell me everything, Captain,” Princess Celestia said as she switched into Princess mode again after their brief and emotional reunion, the two of them walking along a secluded forest path a short distance away from the mountain house where Eric and his team were working.

“The Griffin Kingdom launched a surprise attack on Ponyville, Your Majesty. The town is mostly destroyed, but actual loss of life was minimal. We are officially at war with the Griffin Kingdom now.”

Celestia frowned at the news regarding Ponyville. But there had been little loss of life. That was the most important thing. “They must have been after the element bearers to bother attacking a small town like Ponyville. King Aetos must be a fool. Doesn't he realize the entire world is at risk?”

“Fortunately, Your Majesty, we were able to capture a griffin scout. Lady Twilight interrogated her and found that apparently an aisling has been in contact with Aetos. He believed the promises of power the aisling made him if he helps defeat Equestria.”

“Perhaps he will come to his senses. Hopefully, he will do it before it's too late.”

“War with the griffins might not be all bad news, Your Majesty. At least it gives us an excuse to capture and interrogate the bastards. Maybe one of them will know where Princess Luna is. In fact, Twilight has the captured griffin scout on a mission. She … persuaded her to find out where Princess Luna is and report back to her as soon as she knows.”

Celestia smiled slightly at that. She didn't ask for details on what Swordstorm meant by 'persuaded'. She trusted Twilight enough to know that she would use tactics intended to scare the prisoner into compliance, but that she would not resort to actual torture.

“Unfortunately, there is more bad news, Your Majesty,” Swordstorm continued with a frown. “The Royal Council has determined that the magical barriers protecting Equestria from The Beyond are breaking down. It won't be long before they crack and aislings will be able to enter Equestria in physical form. It's … unlikely we have the Royal Guard strength to fight them off once they enter.”

Celestia felt her heart sink at that, but she forced herself to think more positively. “Twilight and the Council will find a solution. They'll find a way to convince other nations to form an alliance and help us fight the aislings.” She was far more worried about whether they would find Luna in time than she was about the aislings. The aislings could be held off and fought back. But if they didn't find Luna, their entire world would freeze to death. And, of course, even if they did find Luna, their survival depended entirely on whether or not she could raise the sun, and do it without incinerating the planet. She can. I know she can.

She looked at Captain Swordstorm again. He was looking at the ground, his eyes shifting slightly now, the way the eyes of someone who wants to say something but is nervous about the reaction they will get tend to do. Finally, he looked at her again and spoke with a slightly uncertain tone.

“I … won't be of much use to Eric and the others at helping figure out how to get us home, Your Majesty. After all, I'm not a scientist or anything … And I am an officer of the Royal Guard, and we know very little about –”

“I know where you are going with this, Captain,” she stated flatly.

“It … would be useful to do some threat assessment and learn what we can about their military capabilities, Your Majesty. Just because James, Eric, and the other humans we have dealt with so far have been friendly and helpful doesn't mean all of them will be and that this world might not pose a threat to Equestria … I think I should probably –”

“Relax, Captain, you've convinced me. Find out what you can. But passive intelligence gathering only. We can't afford to have you getting caught snooping around a military base or something.”

“Of course, Your Majesty. Passive intelligence gathering only.”

She nodded in confirmation. “One of Eric's male students. Michael, his name is. The one with the long, brown hair. He seems to be rather critical of his own nation's foreign policy and government … He might be a useful resource.”

“I'll talk to him, Your Majesty.”

She nodded again and said no more as the two of them continued on their walk through the mountain forest …

o.O.o

Eric listened intently as Michael spoke to the rest of the team.

“As expected, we weren't able to recover anything of value from the Tevatron's detectors. The data links failed almost instantly when the earthquake hit.

“However, the analysis of the Vela satellite data was a different story.” He placed a diagram on the clipboard they were looking at, pointing to a sharp dip in energy during one the gamma ray bursts it had recorded.

“This is a very interesting anomaly. There's strong energy signatures on both sides of this dip. But for this brief millisecond, it's like there was no energy at all. Which raises the obvious question: Where did it go?

“When we compare it with this second graph of the energy profile, we can see a large distortion. And here's the most interesting part: The time stamp on this energy dip is exactly four hundred fifteen milliseconds before the satellite first detected the GRB.”

“You're suggesting a time distortion, then,” Eric said.

Michael nodded. “According to the notes James and Twilight sent us, time distortion is theoretically possible inside the portal between two dimensions. And according to Captain Swordstorm's clock, he arrived on Earth fourteen minutes before he left Equestria, which validates the theory.” Michael looked at Wendy now, who was standing next to him and picked up where he had left off.

“Since we obviously know that energy can neither be created or destroyed, the missing energy from the GRB didn't just disappear. It had to go somewhere. Based on our analysis, we think the GRB opened a portal to another dimension and the energy traveled through it, thus becoming lost to our detectors, even though it actually still exists.”

“Equestria?” Eric asked.

Wendy shook her head. “Probably not. Probably some other dimension that isn't important for our purposes.”

Eric nodded once, “How come no one found the time distortion in this data before now?”

“The Vela satellites were originally intended to detect Soviet nuclear tests in space. The fact that they could detect gamma ray bursts was an unexpected side-benefit. Probably no one found the time distortion because no one was looking.”

He nodded again and smiled. “Good work, you two. That's the starting point we need. Our next step should be to gather all the data we can on that particular gamma ray burst. Find out exactly what makes it different from all the other GRBs that didn't produce the portal signature. And then find out if we can artificially reproduce those conditions.”

“Wait a minute,” Thomas interjected. “Aren't we moving a bit too fast here?”

“We have to move fast. We don't have very much time to figure this out,” Eric responded, turning his attention towards Thomas.

“Yeah … but suppose we can pull this off. How do you know we aren't going to open a portal to hell or something?”

“You believe in hell, Thomas?” Eric asked with a slight grin.

“It's a figure of speech,” Thomas protested.

“Thomas does raise a valid concern, Eric,” Annette interjected. “I mean how do you know we won't open a portal directly into a black hole, or into an alternate dimension made up entirely of antimatter or something like that? Either one could completely destroy Earth in just a few milliseconds.”

Eric sighed and frowned slightly. It was the question he knew would come up eventually. The one he had thought a great deal about, and the one he dreaded. But he had to give them an answer. After a few more moments, he started slowly.

“I've thought a great deal about that possibility … And there is a very remote, but not entirely nonexistent possibility, that what we are going to attempt could completely destroy Earth, either by collapsing it into a singularity, or by instantly causing all matter on Earth to annihilate itself.”

“And that's a risk you're willing take, Eric?” Thomas questioned with more than a hint of accusation in his voice. “A risk you are willing to subject the rest of our entire planet to without their consent? To save a race of alien … ponies?”

Eric responded quickly, with more anger in his voice than he intended. “Five million to one odds that we will destroy Earth if we do this against the almost one hundred percent certain odds that her world will be destroyed if we don't? Yes, it's a risk I'm willing to take, Thomas.”

“And Celestia … Does she know about this?” Thomas asked, an even more accusing tone in his voice now.

This time, Eric felt a slight jolt of fear go through him and he shot back quickly, almost shouting now.

“No! And you're not going to tell her! I won't have her going back to her world and spending the rest of eternity wondering whether sending her home destroyed our entire world!”

The room was silent now and every eye was focused on him and Thomas, as if waiting for the sudden hostility between the two of them to erupt like an exploding volcano. Thomas had a valid point about subjecting the rest of the planet to such a risk without their knowledge or consent. That much, he had to concede. Furthermore, he knew he should have brought up the risk to the rest of the team earlier. He had been avoiding it because he was afraid they would all abandon the project if they knew. But none of them were stupid. The question was bound to come up sooner or later. Getting angry at Thomas for being the one to bring it up wasn't fair. He took a deep breath and began speaking slowly, deliberately, choosing his words carefully.

“Look … I'm sorry. I should have brought up the risk earlier. I was afraid all of you would back out if you were aware of it. I wanted you all to get some time to know Celestia and understand just how serious this situation is before you made a decision about whether the risk was acceptable or not.

“I've thought about the risk very carefully and determined that it's extremely remote. No more than five million to one at worst. If what we are doing has any potential to destroy Earth, than it should have already happened two million years ago when the event that split the two dimensions apart to begin with happened. After all, that event had to involve energy millions of orders of magnitude greater than what we will be using to open a temporary and very localized portal between two dimensions.”

He paused before continuing and looked around the room. Thankfully, everyone appeared to be listening and considering everything he was saying.

“That said, I agree it's not an ideal situation that we are subjecting the entire planet to the risk without their knowledge or consent, no matter how small the risk may be. But it's not as if we can simply go on national television and announce that there's an alien on Earth who is so powerful she can control the sun or the rotational speed of the planet itself, we need to send her home because her world will likely be doomed if we don't, and oh, by the way, there's a very small chance we might destroy our own planet in the process. Even if the U.S. government didn't decide that keeping her here and trying to weaponize her power was more important than getting her home, and that's a very big if, by the time we got through all the bureaucracy and red tape, we'd miss the window and it'd be too late to send her home.”

He paused again to see if anyone had anything to say, but was met with nothing but silence. He continued now, but in a softer, less lecturing tone.

“Now … If any of you want to back out of the project at this point, I'll understand and I won't hold it against you.”

He waited anxiously, butterflies fluttering in his stomach and his heart pounding. What was he going to do if one or more of them did decide to back out? He couldn't simply let them leave. Not now. They knew too much and might tell someone of what they are planning and the risk involved. The only thing he could do now if one of them backed out was to venture into the deeply criminal world of kidnapping and not allowing them to leave until it was all over. It didn't take long to make up his mind that's what he'd do, though. He'd deal with the criminal consequences of it later.

But that wasn't the only problem he had. How would he explain it to Celestia? Obviously, he couldn't keep the fact that he was holding one of the students here against their will a secret from her. And she'd definitely want to know why they had changed their mind about helping her.

Michael was the first to speak, indicating he would stay, followed quickly by Wendy, and shortly after that by Annette. Thomas was the last to respond, but eventually nodded his head in assent.

“Alright … I agree it's important enough to take the risk,” he said slowly. “You realize we're probably all going to end up in prison for this, right?”

“I thought about that," Eric said. “Whatever happens, I'll take the fall for all of it. I'll tell them none of you knew exactly what you were working on because I was dishonest about it … So we're all in agreement, then?”

The sense of relief he felt when all four of them nodded their heads in affirmation was indescribable. Like a first breath of air after coming up from near drowning. Now that he thought about it, he wasn't sure if he hadn't been holding his breath while waiting for them to respond. He nodded his own head and gave a brief smile.

“Alright … We've got a lot of work to do, then. And not much time to do it. So we better get back to it … “

o.O.o

James sat with his back against a tree trunk, pulling his cloak tighter around himself against the biting cold. The light whistle of wind through the wires of the bridge had started turning into a gusty howl. Light snowflakes fell on him, increasing in intensity until they whipped painfully at his face as the Aviation Weather Command ponies began to conjure up their blizzard. The constant rumble of battle had become routine, the flashes of the Unicorn Guard battle spells lighting up the night sky like a strong thunderstorm.

He tucked his head down in defense against the attacking snowflakes. The griffins had gotten closer, as indicated by the increasingly loud explosions and the flashes that were now sometimes bright enough to see the bridge even without a light spell illuminating it. But time seemed to be moving very slowly. Minutes seemed like hours as anticipation and anxiety grew within him. On one hand, every time a flash illuminated the dark, he hoped to see the silhouettes of griffins moving closer so that they could simply get this over with. On the other hand, he hoped they would never arrive. A particularly loud boom caused him to jump slightly and quickly reinforced the fact that the griffins never arriving was not an option. The bridge was becoming less visible now, the driving snow of the increasingly powerful blizzard reducing visibility to just a few dozen feet in front of him.

His thoughts turned to Twilight Sparkle again, as they often did when he had nothing to do but wait. But the thoughts were not comforting. Sooner or later, he was going to have to break things off with her. To tell her that even if it were socially acceptable for them to have a relationship, it would still never work because he was on the Council. The longer he put it off, the more it would hurt when he told her. Right now, he was merely stringing her along because he was too afraid to tell her. And that was completely unfair to her.

Yet, he suspected she had probably already come to the same conclusion. No doubt, she knew the Council law that bound councilors strictly to their duty to Equestria and forbade them from 'distractions' such as romantic relationships. Nevertheless, since he was the reason the relationship would never work, it was his responsibility to initiate the conversation.

“They're coming.”

The statement snapped him out of his thoughts and instantly brought him back to the situation at hand. He stood up, making sure to keep himself hidden in the brush, scanning as far as he could see each time a Unicorn Guard spell flashed. His heart pounded as the silhouettes of advancing griffins faded into view through the snow, like giant, ghostly trees in some kind of living forest. A lightning bolt shot from the ground into the air. A loud screech and the flashes of a falling griffin told that the unicorn had found his target. He could hear the noises of battle very clearly now. The clang of steel against steel, the shouting of battle cries, and, he winced, the occasional cry of agony as a griffin was hit by a spell, steel found its target, or a changeling or pony became the victim of griffin talons and beaks. Focus. You have to stay focused.

He turned to Sergeant Mystica.

“Get your guards ready. No light on the bridge, though. The griffins are oblivious to the ambush we have for them. Let's keep it that way.”

“Councilor,” Mystica acknowledged before turning to the three unicorn guards with him and giving them instructions. “Wait for my command. Don't blow the bridge until the first griffins are well out onto it. When I give the command, we'll work outward from the center, hitting four targets at a time. Speed and accuracy are both important.”

The griffins were landing now as the blizzard intensified, as were the pegasus guards and changelings who had been on the front line. A few unfortunate griffins waited a bit too long, getting caught in the severe blizzard turbulence, screeching in fear as the wind buffeted and tossed them around like rag dolls before slamming them to the ground. The blizzard had slowed their advance, but still, they pressed onward, moving ever closer to the bridge.

The Royal Guard and Changeling Army line was faltering now, leaving large gaps where the griffins could break through, something the large avians eagerly took advantage of. What they didn't know was that Equestria's forces were intentionally breaking their line so they could get out of the way of the impending ambush. At the same time, they were luring the griffins ever closer to the doomed bridge and the trap that awaited them. By the time the griffins realized what was going on, it would be too late. The faltering Equestrian line would have reformed behind them, along with nearly four thousand changelings waiting in ambush from both sides, cutting off any retreat for the griffins and trapping them between the four hundred foot plunge into the gorge and nearly fifteen thousand Equestrian and Changeling soldiers. The griffins would have no choice but to surrender. At least, that's how the plan was supposed to go.

The griffins began shouting cries of victory as the Equestrian line broke completely, leaving their progress unimpeded as they broke into a run.

“Make ready,” Sergeant Mystica said to his guards.

All warfare is deception, James thought to himself, recalling the words of the great Changeling general, Queen Dorylini the Great, founder of the Changeling Empire,  as he watched the first griffins arrive, shouting war cries as they flooded out onto the bridge, completely oblivious of what was about to happen to them …