After everything was packed, I sat in my room with Knightmare. We both kinda just looked at each other, not sure what to say, until I decided to break the ice.

"So... there's this snowball fight later today in the main courtyard. Guards versus civilians. Are you coming?"

"Snowball fight? Sure, why not?" He replied without much enthusiasm. He looked tired, as if he hadn't slept in a month. Given how he said he had repressed memories which he was starting to get back, my guess is nightmares.

"You feeling alright?" I asked.

"Bleh." he shrugged.

"Oookay?"... That's not an answer. "Anyways, I'm not part of the guard anymore, so I'll be on the civilian side of the fight, along with you, and anypony else who wants to take part."

"Meh, I'm not Equestrian military, unless you count our knightly titles, then we'd both be on the guard's side, so yeah, civvies united." He still didn't seem too psyched about it.

"Well, it's going to be as many civilians as show up, against the guard captains and a number of guards to make the sides equal. Since I'm not a guard anymore, I'm pretty sure Shining will be gunning for me. I want to get him first. Reverti." As I switched back to my griffin form, I stretched out my wings and rolled my joints, then laid on the ground to discuss tactics. The bug propped himself up, still in his insect form, ready to listen. "I don't know how the battlefield will be laid out yet, but one thing I know for certain, is Captain Armor will be using his shield spell to protect his side. There's no way we'll break through it, but he can't toss snowballs if he's got it up. Since he'll be gunning for me, when he sees me, he'll lower his shield." I paused to let that information sink in.

"I won't be able to get him, since if I throw anything at him, he'll just shield himself and wait for me to run out of ammo. Then, I'll be a sitting duck. So, here's my idea. You disguise yourself as me, and hide in the trench beside me. I'll use my magic to kick up snow, blinding both sides. Then, I'll use my invisibility short term to cross the no man's land, while you fly high. Mock, insult, and generally be as annoying as possible."

"Lemme guess, I take your form so he'll think he took you out, while you sneak attack him? It's so childishly simple of a tactic he won't be expecting it.....he might have gotten too used to convoluted plans fighting alongside me." He caught on quick.

"Now you're getting it."

"Can I quote Monty Python?" Knightmare asked while grinning.

"Of course, Monty is epic. One thing you must know however, is we CANNOT be seen at the same time, and you can't be spotted as a changeling."

"I can handle that." He shifted form, now looking like a unicorn with a hot red mane and a flaming shield cutie mark. "What are the chances anyone here read 'Through the Eyes of another Pony'?"

"Zilch, considering I haven't read it either."

"Dude, you missed out!" Knightmare chuckled, reverting back to his 'normal' form. "Still. I wonder what reactions we'd get if there are any bronies hiding among the crowd or the guard. I know some deep sleepers are probably among the civilians." I have no idea what a deep sleeper is, but, Knightmare is weird. I don't read too much into what he says.

"Well, if you go spouting Monty quotes, I'm sure we'll find them." I laughed in turn. "So, we've got the plan, contingencies?"

"Well, like I said, I know some of the deep sleepers are in the crowd, so I'll send a message to ask if they'll join us, so we'll have reinforcements if things go to pot. I know Bonbon and Lyra are gonna be there, and while not 'civilians' in a technical sense, Cadance, Chrysalis, and Nyx are likely gonna join us. I'll let them know to come disguised. Best to not show our cards till we've got a royal flush huh?" Exactly what I was thinking.

"Right. Also, if I get taken down, then I'll leave pegging Armor up to you. With your shapeshifting, you can walk right in the enemy camp and smoke him. It'll mean less than if it comes from me though, so that's only a backup plan."

"But you gotta admit, if he gets KO'd by his own wife, it'd be damn funny."

"True enough. But if she's gonna be there, we definitely can't get seen, even on our own side. She'll know somethings up, and may try to warn her husband."

Knightmare laughed. "Griffy." I didn't say he could give me a nickname... eh, whatever. "She didn't even know about this until three minutes ago. I asked Chrysalis to tell her and she said she'd join our side. She knows damn WELL we're plotting against Shining already."

"Then how did..." He told Chrysalis three minutes ago? But he's been here the whole..."Hive mind?"

"...you didn't know changelings can communicate through a hive mind?" He gave me a deadpan stare, as if this should have been obvious... "...You haven't abused your knightly privileges at all, have you?"

I returned the deadpan. "... You mean after that farce of a ceremony, I'm still considered a knight? I thought she just did that to save face."

Knightmare smiled, "Celestia was pissed about it but, yes, it's legally official. Your title is, fittingly enough, 'Lord-Captain'. Aoi was pissed, last time I heard." I snickered a little at hearing that Aoi got it as bad as I did.

"Yeah, well, after I gave him a ride, food, and supplies, he trashed my ship, and flipped me the finger before bailing. Didn't even say thank you. I don't care if he got mad. Serves him right." He shrugged in response.

"I refuse to comment for the sake of both of our frail sanities."

"Anyways, back to the business at hand, I think we're ready. Get in disguise. I wanna head down to survey the battlefield. Also... watch out for Inky. She's been pushing rocks around her whole life, and has a mean throwing arm."

He saluted and shifted into his previous disguise. Without saying another word, we headed down to the court.

Reaching the courtyard, ponies were busy making walls and trenches of snow. There looked to be about seventy or so on each side. I motioned to the disguised Knightmare to get to the battlements, while I marched out to no-man's land, where Captain Armor, Barricade, Doom, and Carton were standing with their squads. I was wearing an aviator's scarf and goggles, just to complete the feel. While all the rest were wearing their guard armor, including my former team mates.

"Captain Armor."

"Captain." He nearly choked as he said the word. "Griffin." He replied.

"Let's dispense with the pleasantries. I'm going to be gunning for you, and I know you'll be gunning for me. I hate losing, so I intend to win this little game. I am going to rain down frozen, lightly packed, fluffy hell on you. You best hope your shield holds." With that, I walked back to the trenches, as did he, on the opposite, as we prepared for war.

I jumped down into the trench where I saw Lyra, BonBon, and a couple other ponies next to Knightmare's disguised form, laughing. "Alright, we all know the plan, right?" I looked to each of them.

He and his companions grinned, "As always. Though her royal prissiness wants to be the one to land the last blow, even if you take him out first." Everyone looked to the pink pegasus, wearing a circlet that magically concealed her horn. 'Cadence wants to finish him off?'

"Fine by me." Was my answer.

As we were in discussion, Celestia stepped out on the balcony overlooking the courtyard. "Friends, guardians, faithful subjects. Welcome to the three hundred and seventieth annual Canterlot snow brawl! This longstanding tradition was started to kindle kinship between the protectors, and those they protect. In the year sixteen forty-" Her speech was cut off by a snowball smacking her square in the face. She wiped it off and when she looked down at the crowd, she saw me, casually tossing another up in the air. "The first shot has been fired! Let the battle commence!" She giggled like a school filly before settling in to watch.

"Nice shot!" Kngihtmare cheered. "Wait, who hit, you or Chrysalis?" He looked at the queen who was also grinning, "Looks like they hit at the same time." I didn't even notice her throw. Damn, she's good.

"Don't go out yet. Wait for the numbers to thin first. We don't want to get taken down in the cross fire." I advised. A number of ponies were taking potshots, trying to harass the enemy side, seeing if they could get Shining to drop his shield in order to return fire. They failed. While the guards returned fire, Shining sat calmly in his pink bubble, eyes scanning the trenches for me, expanding it when shots came to his side of the field to protect them.

"Everyone, hold... hold... FIRE!" I shouted. A mass of ponies stood up, cocking their arms back and letting the frozen spheres they held fly across the yard, into the enemy trench. Knightmare watched as a number of our foes dropped, though several stood back up with snowballs of their own.

"Down!" I called again as their response rained into our line, smashing a number of our troops in the face. Peeking out, Shining was still waiting calmly behind his shield, waiting, waiting, for me.

"Comeoooon, let's find a weakpoint." Someone whined from our group.

I turned to our troops. "Okay, we need a diversion. You eight, over there, grab snowballs and rush the field. Try to get into their trench and disrupt them." I pointed to a random group.

"But, that's suicide!" They replied.

"I'll handle it." Knightmare closed his eyes. A few seconds later, a group of ponies jumped out of their protection and began bobbing and weaving down the field. Huh, hive mind. I watched in horror as those brave souls were mowed down by the relentless barrage of ice.

Knightmare sighed. "Remind me to get them some dancing practice after this massacre...." He turned to me, looking entirely serious. "You're the Captain, what's next, boss?" I stood still for a moment, thinking.

"Everyone! Fire on my command. Shining will raise his shield to protect his side, and I'll rush the field. Knightmare, you know what to do. Cadence, you're up after that." Knightmare saluted as our side prepared for a massive volley.

"FIRE!"

As our side let loose with a hail of snow, I dove from the trench and started rushing across the field. Shining raised his shield to protect his side, and seeing me out in the open, smiled deviously.

"Tempesta! Ventus grande!" With a great downwards thrust of my wings, I kicked a mass of snow into the air, covering the entire no man's land. It slowly began to fall back to earth, making a whiteout in the process. "Obscuro." It wasn't a complete invisibility spell, though it was enough that given the conditions, I'd be blurred enough by the snow to make me indistinct. With that, I began sneaking across the field, crouched low to avoid the inevitable blind fire from the other side. As I drew closer to the other side, I heard Armor shouting orders to his team, to prepare for when the shroud dropped. I felt the ground drop off, indicating I was at their trench, and heard Armor's voice extremely close, so I laid flat on the ground, balled up a pile of snow in each of my wings, they laid perfectly still to let the snowfall cover me completely. I waited, and waited, and waited.

That's when I heard a crash, and my own voice.

"Ooogaboogabooga! Come'n'get me, dead-eye!" Knightmare was certainly doing his job of 'annoying'. I just hope Shining would buy that horrible impression of me. I tried very hard to resist the urge to facepalm. I've never said 'oogabooga' in my life.

"Ready!" I heard Shining shout. "Aim!" A whoosh of magic as his shield dropped. "Fiiiir---"

As soon as his shield was down, I jumped up, a mass of snow in each of my wings. "Brainfreeze!" I shouted before slamming my wings together, Captain Armor's head right between them. He didn't even have time to react. Nor did I, when I received about twenty snowballs in the face. I fell to the ground laughing, no longer caring about the remainder of the battle, as I had accomplished my goal in taking out one of the enemy commanders. I laughed even harder as Shining was pegged in his already snow covered face by a snowball with sniper accuracy and force, knocking him onto his back. Looks like Cadence did get the last shot.

I heard my own voice shout from the sky. "MAKE IT RAAAAAAAIIIIIIIINNNN, as Knightmare swooped down, still disguised, and grabbed me while he grinned at Barricade and Harbinger. "One down, two to go!" He jetted off back to our side with a mad laugh as a barrage of snowballs came down like a meteor shower onto the unprotected royal guard.

And they dropped like flies.

Back in my room, Knightmare, Shining, Cadence and I all sat around a fire, warming ourselves while she tended to her husband's bruised eye, a wound she inflicted.

"Come on, you've taken bigger hits than that." Knightmare chided.

"Not from a freaking snowball!" The captain replied angrily.

"You-oo should have ducked theeeeen." Cadence sang as she put on some ointment.

"You have to admit that it was fun." I added.

"Yeah, yeah." Shining said, unable to fully hide his smile.

"I certainly had fun!" The princess giggled.

"Only because you knocked all THREE of the head Captains on their plots!" The bug laughed in turn.

"I have to say, I was not expecting that. Very clever Griffin. You come up with that all on your own?" Armor asked.

"Yep. Never get in a snowball fight with a Canadian." I heard a ding. "Oh! Coco's ready." After passing out the cups, I laid back down in my spot by the fire.

"Finally!" Cadance said, licking her lips. At Shining and Knightmare's grins, she blushed. "What? A gal can't like chocolate?"

"Cadance, me and Shining BOTH know that you're practically addicted to the stuff...." The changeling began to laugh as the princess pouted, all of us joining in.

"You know, it's kinda nice..." I said after finally calming down.

"What is?" Shining Armor asked.

"Having friends."