The Second Ritual

[Red Charge]

Watermark inspected the scene; everything was going exactly as planned. The cloud they were on was secured on all sides by other clouds and by the Barons. An airship was patrolling the airspace between it and Canterlot, knowing that's exactly where the enemies will come from. The red clad Pegasi surrounding him seemed eager and ready to fight, if it becomes necessary.

It was a stroke of brilliance really, making the second ritual in the sky. He knew Equestria will be better prepared to jump their forces this time around, but there was no way they'd be able to raise airships in time. Their only obstacle would be enemy Pegasi, and that's where the Barons came into play. The clouds surrounding them will soon be spewing out lightning in a cage formation, protecting the channeling spell casters from interruption.

Any moment now, they'd begin the ritual. Percheron was not here yet again; apparently Red Charge didn't want him involved in these rituals for some reason. Or he might have been doing something else, even Watermark did not know. White Fire was also absent this time around, having stayed to prepare the defenses on the bog headquarters. Equestria will no doubt attack after this ritual; the cult's defenses had to be complete by then.

Blitz Streak landed on his cloud, trotting over to him quickly, "Watermark, the Barons are ready." She said in an uncharacteristically official tone, knowing the importance of this ritual. She was also representing her commander now, she was not about to make a fool of him, or herself.

The tattooed unicorn gave her a solemn nod; an ice wall could not be erected around them this time, nor any other physical defense. It would come down to the Red Barons to make sure they were uninterrupted. He turned to his circle of mages and began concentrating, channeling the spell.

Blitz Streak took off again, her red bodysuit now serving as an under suit for a red set of armor. Landing on one of the clouds her subordinates were on, she began to go over the defense plans in her head.

* * *

And there it was, exactly what Valkyrie was waiting for, a bright flash of light off in the horizon. A satisfied grin crossed her face as an alarm began sounding around her. No more than mere minutes later the entire Star squadron, minus Horizon, assembled behind her, and they took off, following the dozens of Pegasi soldiers now lifting off. Yes, this time Equestria was prepared, an entire Pegasi platoon had been put on call in case of another occurrence like this.

The sky was clear and blue, with fluffy white clouds and the distant cawing of birds. This gave no clue as to what was now transpiring in the skies above Whitetail Wood, as the Cult's mages continued to channel the magic they were using in their ritual.

As the Equestrian Pegasi Platoon soared towards the bright beacon of light shooting off into space, Valkyrie took point, while the other Stars were dispersed evenly between the other Pegasi soldiers. Pan and Sabre were at the rear, flying slightly above them to have a good view of the battle.

They were already in sight of the mages when the pirate group known as the Red Barons sprung into action, in an all too familiar pattern. They were spread in a triangle formation, the flyers at the edges rubbing against nearby clouds and gathering electricity.

"Sabre…" Pan, one of the distinguished members of the Stars called over, turning to face her compatriot. Sabre however, also seemed to have noticed their formation. "Can't be..." She muttered to him, but he shook his head. Pan instantly dived beneath the Pegasi platoon, she had to hurry.

Sabre also took action. Streaking forwards, he called out, "Valkyrie stop! It's a…!" But it was too late, as the formation suddenly sprung action, lightning shooting between them. They sped through the Pegasi platoon. Bolts of electricity shot everywhere, ricocheting off of the Barons and the soldiers to hit more and more targets. The Pegasi soldiers dropped like flies out of the air, landing on the soft cloud cover Pan had managed to prepare beneath them. She only barely made it, but it was enough to make sure the Pegasi did not plummet down to their dooms. It would take them time to recover however. Fortunately, the Stars themselves were familiar with this tactic and managed to avoid it in time, leaving Valkyrie and her squad flustered.

Obviously the significance of this attack did not elude any of the other Stars, and they all exchanged dark glances before being brought under another onslaught by the Barons. Not only did they have to fight past the best sky pirates in Equestria, but they still had to get past the storm clouds surrounding the ritual cloud, shooting out lightning anywhere.

Pan growled and snapped into action. They didn't have much time and they had to act as soon as possible. Noting that Valkyrie was too busy attacking Blitz Streak to notice, she charged at the large cluster of the rest of the Barons, taking her pan flute to her lips and using her wind affinity to create an extremely high pitched sound and magnifying it as she streaked past the enemy Pegasi, sending them spiraling out of control as the sound debilitated them and crushed their ears' balancing qualities. This was the opening the Stars were waiting for, they charged forwards, Sabre at the lead and broke the baron formation.

Individual fights broke out in the sky above White Tail Woods now, but the Stars were a member short, putting them at a heavy disadvantage. The Barons didn't let up for one moment, always on the offensive, forcing the Stars away from the mages. Valkyrie, still locked in her fight with Blitz Streak however, had had enough. Her magical bracelet charged her up with lightning, catching the lieutenant of the barons by surprise. She barely managed to dodge the lightning bolt shot at her, before Valkyrie was on her, throwing her in the air like a ragdoll with a powerful kick. One of the barons who was besetting Sabre moved to assist, but was intercepted by Fury, another female Razorwing in the Stars. Demonstrating perfectly the Razorwing prowess in aerial fighting, she managed to keep the two Barons occupied while the rest of her compatriots were gaining the advantage.

Though the Barons were one member up on the Stars, they were missing their leader. Percheron would have undoubtedly turned the tide on this fight. The thought only briefly crossed Blitz Streak's mind as she desperately blocked blow after savage blow by the leader of the Stars. Valkyrie seemed to only gain momentum, but Blitz couldn't find a single opening to counter attack. She had always underestimated the Razorwings, other than Percheron that was. Her grave mistake was thrown literally in her face as a sucker punch from Valkyrie sent her spiraling in the air backwards. Valkyrie was gaining grounds quickly, and with her, the rest of the Stars.

Pan and Sabre were now fighting back to back against two of the barons, as they managed to deflect yet another swoop by the red armored ponies, they took the offensive. Sabre and Pan locked their hind hooves together, and with a thunder charged buck, Sabre sent Pan speeding towards a cluster of Barons. Pan began spinning in mid air, increasing her momentum and creating a massive wind vortex behind her. As she crossed in the buffer zone between the fighting Barons and Stars, the Barons were thrown backwards, while the stars, familiar with this tactic, managed to gain the offensive.

However, on the other side of the battle three Barons were executing their own combat move, three of them flying in a circle around a fourth, sparks of electricity shooting between them as the outer three collected lightning from nearby clouds. And then a sonic boom, like a rail projectile, the baron was shot straight towards the now progressing Stars, shooting lightning as he streaked by, paralyzing the ones farthest from him, and knocking the ones closest to him senseless.

The stalemate did not let up, but Valkyrie could not waste anymore time. It was time to end this one way or the other, once more getting past Blitz' defense, she charged her fist with wind purposely. She knew how damaging the impact would be, especially considering what she was about to do. But sometimes Pony life had to be taken for the greater good. With a loud bang, as the compressed air around Valkyrie's hoof exploded, Blitz was sent straight through the cage of storm clouds, receiving the full measure of their lightning strikes, and crashing through the ranks of the mages. Valkyrie wasn't wasting the opportunity and sped after her, preparing for the finishing blow as she was suddenly caught in mid air.

The Ritual was interrupted, Watermark was now in the battle. His face contorted with anger, a tendril of water from the cloud he was on captured Valkyrie in a watery tomb, and with a flash it froze, and she began to plummet through the air.

Both the Stars and the Barons saw the attack Valkyrie performed on Blitz Streak. It was taboo. The Stars never fought to kill unless the life of civilian ponies were threatened, and Valkyrie had just broken their most sacred ideal in the most horrific manner.

Watermark gathered the Barons, counting to make sure no one was missing, and setting his mages to apply healing solutions to the wounded Blitz Streak and Barons immediately. From the cloud he was standing on emerged a hidden zeppelin, while it seemed they were all under a cloud walking spell, they were merely standing on top of the zeppelin, so that if one of the Stars managed to disperse their cloud, they would still be able to carry on. However, this ritual was a failure, he had failed and there was no more time. The third ritual would have to proceed as planned, without the second one. Two of the Red Mages took positions at the aft of the zeppelin and began acting as jet engines, firing fiery flames to propel it away with the mages, wounded Blitz Streak and barons on board. Watermark could only hope the Cult's defenses would be ready by the time they begin the third ritual…

She knew she was speeding towards the ground, and that if she wasn't able to free herself from the ice she would meet her doom. The leader of the Stars was moments away from crashing into the ground, she could only barely move, if only she could break out of it. She saw the land becoming large, more detailed… almost free… it hit her in what must have been the final stretch of air that she wasn't going to make it. She had ticked off the wrong pony. It was then that she was grabbed by Sabre, right in the nick of time, and brought back up to the air.

She smashed out of the icy tomb as her squad hovered nearby, curious, furious and unsure of what to do next. "That was out of line." Sabre said dangerously, referring to her deadly attack on Blitz Streak.

"The Stars do not kill unless pony lives are at stakes." He continued. Valkyrie scoffed.

"As far as we know all of Equestria is at stake!" She called, her voice still shivering with cold.

"You broke the most sacred principal of the Stars unit! I will not let you make us into some kind of rabble!" Sabre retorted heatedly, one could virtually feel the sparks flying between the two as they stared each other down.

"Better your traitor captain Percheron?" She nearly screamed out, causing Sabre to back off at the accusation, knowing full well what she was intending. "Did you think I am ignorant? That I did not see? All of you know Percheron was the one who trained those traitors! Just give me one reason, one simple reason to believe you're all in cahoots with him, and I'll have you all locked up, do you understand?" She cried out. "I believe the Princess," she then said to Sabre in a low voice, "As well as the head of the family will agree with me, that they deserve nothing short of oblivion…"

The stars exchanged worried looks as they watched their leader take off towards the palace, leaving them to take care of the wounded Pegasi platoon. This was it, with Valkyrie alerting the Princess to Percheron's defection; it could only mean one thing... War.