Days Before... (Plot, everyone in Canterlot)

[Red Charge]

The day before Blackmane's fleet was expected to arrive was a bright morning, a soft breeze blew through Canterlot as a whisper while the refugees and residents alike were preparing the city for the upcoming attack. It was impossible to predict the outcome, even despite the Princess' urgings that Percheron Razorwing would return in time to stop the Dread Talon Clan and her assurances that the Griffon 5th Fleet was capable of protecting them. Much like the time before the Leviathan attacked, there was much panic and disorder in the streets; ponies running here and there to obtain supplies, some even weapons and armor. Guards setting up outposts and converting the city towers into guard towers, creating enclaves and choke points, preparing batteries for mages and archers.

In one of the many libraries in Canterlot, the mage known as Selenia was trying to complete some research for her mentor Red Charge, she was not even sure where she was looking for what he wanted, but she knew he would stand no delays. He insisted on her studying Equiterian signs and symbols and basically any form of communication used by the Equiterian Empire. What did it have to do with becoming a battlemage she had no idea.

In another part of Canterlot one of the refugees, a mare called Masquerade was busy working, using her crafting skills to aid in preparing all sorts for the military. They would need supports and plenty of other miscellaneous devices in order to better protect the city and working with both Canterlot's own craftsponies and the other refugees she was determined to deliver the goods. One of the army ponies volunteered to help her, a pony called Eagle Eye. In the middle of the day Eagle eye snuck off and came back with some food for both of them, saying that Masquerade looked hungry to her and giving her a warm smile.

Elsewhere, Mortar Retort was tending her shop, the effects of the transformation mishap she had were still in effect. She had neglected the place ever since coming under Watermark's tutelage. Watermark himself was preparing to come to Canterlot once he was reassured that Princess Celestia won't attack Hoofington again, so Retort was making ready his shop and laboratory for the transfer. Apparently she has finished the first stage of tutelage and now came the field experience, which unfortunately Watermark was not going to be a part of. For all intents and purposes Retort was free for now. But the kingdom needed potions and Retort was a potion-maker. Much more so after training with Watermark.

Zecora, after delivering the blood to Darkness Reins and having it analyzed was more than content to enjoy the city. Not much was open but she was more than happy to go where she could, often helping out here and there. She prepared remedies and strengthening recipes from her homeland, hoping she might help in any way to reduce the stress and damage from the upcoming attack.

Live Wire was still tethered to Darkness Reins as her punishment so decided for well... being a punk mostly. Darkness wasn't really satisfied with the arrangements either, having to carry around a brat all the time. He took to helping secure the top towers, forcing Live Wire into some hard honest labor. Needless to say she wasn't happy.

Red Charge, Stygg Whitefeather, Princess Luna, the griffon Admiral Tesla and the rest of the War Council were gathered in the war room preparing their forces, giving orders here and there. Admiral Tesla's fleet was undergoing repairs, landed in Canterlot itself and around it to prepare it to the battle it was soon going to face. Even the Leviathan came down for repairs and some improvements.

And in all this chaos, it was impossible for them to notice that there were about two dozen ponies more in Canterlot when there should not have been. No one even took the time to sense the strangeness about them or notice their strange synchronization as they split up within the city.

[Live Wire]

The towers were no party. Live Wire was sick and tired of all the manual labor she was forced to endure and without the aid of her magic, she was stuck trying to use her hooves or mouth - neither of which she enjoyed using for such basic and dirty tasks. She would keep glancing back to Reins, groan with frustration, then continue doing whatever less than appealing order she was forced to obey. The pegasus was not winning any 'cool' points with her - even with some sort of invasion or something coming; not that she paid attention to these things, she really would rather be with her cronies than reinforcing some musty old tower.

"Can I please have my magic back?" She whined between rolling a barrel into a corner and grabbing a length of rope. "Ah ate u'in mah mauth -" She spat out the spoil of robe atop a crate, "I hate picking things up with my mouth, Mr. Reins. It's gross and I'm not some earth pony, please let me have my magic back. I could work faster!" She didn't care about trying to run away anymore, she was stuck here till this whole ordeal was over, but least she figured with her magic it would go far quicker and better than taste-testing everything.

[Mortar Retort]

It was good to be back in Canterlot - mostly. The looming threat of complete annihilation at the hooves of that diabolical Blackmane was hardly something to celebrate about, but for Retort, to see his - her old shop still standing, not a speck or hint of fire-damage or spontaneous explosion in sight, that was reason enough to be glad for now. Not even any hint of looting from frightful ponies, which is good for the new mare's insurance policy. Anyone with half a brain and knowledge of Retort's history would be foalish to attempt stealing something from the shop, they'd likely end up a steaming pile of pain and suffering before making off with anything of value. How Retort was able to navigate his precarious shop was possible one of the many wonders of the world - or least a case for a study on the laws of probability, as in he should have probably killed himself by now and taken a good section of the royal city with him. Today, all that was to change though.

Freshly retrained by one of the best stallions in all of Equestria, Retort was hungry to put her new learning into action. She didn't even register the comments and stares she got as she entered her shop and flipped the open sign. Was it no surprise to them that Retort, in all her infinite ability couldn't accidentally brew a potion for gender-swapping. Heck, she might even market it for couples looking to spice up their private life, the possibilities were indeed endless. Now if it would just revert her back to him already - this whole mare thing was fun for awhile but nostalgia was starting to creep back in, also he felt awkward with the idea of wearing a dress.

Now back in her shop, she went about feverishly dusting and cleaning, throwing out all ingredients and replacing them with fresh new ones from the Everfree Forest and those borrowed from Watermark's own laboratory. Time was of the essence, and Retort had a job to do so once everything was cleaned and tidied, she went to work. With the assistance of Watermark's connections, she was even getting some help. Her shop and its front would make an ideal spot to brew up enough potions to feed the defense force. Supplies from the Royal Academy of Alchemy were already being delivered - finally, some respect from them. Beakers, stills, decanters, granulating instrument, and so on. They were being set up to prepare for the siege. With the fires hot for the vats, vials and flasks at the ready, Retort was prepared to keep the ponies of Canterlot alive and provide whatever else she could create in the name of the Princess and her grand city.

[Selenia]

Selenia laid her head down in the open pages of her current book, a tome that collected every piece of Equiterian language, signage, and written communication that had ever been recovered from the various archaeological expeditions of old. Needless to say, she didn't understand a word of it. It barely resembled any other ancient or current language out there, and the symbols didn't even hold any similarity to the objects they stood for. She groggily picked her head up and scratched her chin, once again dragging her eyes over one of the pages detailing complex grammar structure that there weren't even terms for in basic Equestrian. The book was something of an unholy combination between a dictionary, thesaurus, encyclopedia, and grad-school level language text, as such, almost everything inside flew right over her head. Red had ordered her to do some learning, and Red never did anything without carefully thought out reasoning, so she committed herself to memorizing the symbols for at least some of the hundreds of nouns and adjectives listed near the back of the book.

Even if her brain wasn't wired for foreign language, (she had learned that years prior when, after trying to self-learn contemporary Zebrican, her attempt to converse with a Zebra liaison in Canterlot nearly ended in a diplomatic incident), she still found the language itself piquing her interest. As she had been exploring Equiterian ruins only a short while prior, her new understanding of and insight into the language added a new level of depth to those outings. Selenia furrowed her brow in frustration, if she had had this knowledge, or this book, even better, with her during their tomb raids, she wondered what could have been discovered, what secrets they missed could have been found, and what deadly traps could have been narrowly avoided with much more effectiveness. She sighed to herself and gently closed the book, dog-earing the page for future reference in the process. "Oh well," She said to nopony in particular, draining with a resigned tone, "Maybe next time". The rest of the book was littered with notes and similarly folded pages, a testament to the sheer amount of scanning and research she had done, and she stored away a reminder to buy the book off the library she got it from so she would have it when she needed it.

Continuing with her research held no point at the time being. Everything was swimming around inside her head, including the elephant of Blackmane's approaching attack still hanging in the room. Selenia was definitely anxious for the attack itself, nothing gets a pony going more than legitimate fighting with their life and country on the line. It almost scared Selenia at how her mind slowed down during combat, how seconds stretched into minutes as her mind raced itself through what to do, when to do it, and how to do it with each and every new development during action. She had blamed it on adrenaline before, and then her clear analytical mind, and then her proven ability to work well under duress. In truth, she had no idea what made her so... decisive in combat, and she didn't care. As long as her head kept doing what it was doing, she was happy to accept it and act upon it when necessary.

She wanted to go back to her not-so-temporary apartment and catch at least some sleep before she would be called on for the inevitable, but the commotion outside was nearly deafening. Legions of armed and armored guards clanking down he streets, hordes of civilians running about aimlessly, panicking and epitomizing the term 'crowd chaos', the normally calm city nearly sounded like Manehattan during a riot. Selenia rested her head down on the library table and pressed her hooves to her ears, grimacing. She pushed away from the table and looked around at the shelves of books surrounding her, and after a few seconds of turning back and forth, she sauntered off into the historic nonfiction section. If sleep wasn't an option, she would amuse herself by reading about the wars of old.

[Deleted]

How did you get into this mess? Long Haul pondered to himself as he trotted through the panicked streets of Canterlot, trying to help Willow Wisp through what felt like a tide of citizens rushing past them. Wading slowly through the steady stream of them gave the giant of a stallion some time to think, a gift he wouldn't argue with given the circumstances. The past hour had been such a rush he didn't have much time to consider his decisions, let alone remember most of the details. It seemed as if each block he made it through granted him one more snippet of memory on the situation.

Barely an hour ago, Long Haul had found out about the incoming invasion from a few of his local customers. After a brief moment of panic follwed shortly by lucidity, he realized he had made his way to a military official - whose name he couldn't recall - and asked how he could help. Next thing he remembered he was heading towards an alchemical shop known as "The Mane Ingredient" to pick up and deliver supplies to the defence force.

Snapping out of his trance, he grew more and more aware of curious or questioning looks from the locals, and he had a good impression as to why. Perhaps it was because a few fillies and colts were making roaring noises as he passed, or that almost everypony he made eye contact with was looking up at him, he figured his size and build was making him look like a giant amongst his fellow ponies. No matter how many times Long Haul had caught ponies with that look of curiousity or wonder, it still didn't make him feel like he stood out any less.

He counted his blessings as he finally arrived at The Mane Ingredient, thankful that he could stop thinking about the staring locals and instead focus on his job. With a practiced motion, Long Haul guided Willow to a stop not far from the building's entrance, unbuckled the harness around his torso with his teeth and shuffled the straps from his back. With that done, he approached the door to the building and knocked lightly three times.

Then it hit him like a brick: He didn't remember the official's name, he didn't have a form, he doubted anypony had gone ahead of him to warn the owner, and he didn't exactly look like a soldier besides his size. His ears drooped, this was going to get awkward fast.

[Zecora]

She admittedly had been a bit reluctant to give up the blood sample of that strange burning timberwolf, but Zecora put her trust in Darkness Reigns that it would be used effectively. Now past that unpleasant welcoming to Canterlot, the zebra was now free to explore the rest of the city. The locals seemed to be on edge and, after catching up with a few familiar faces, she quickly found out about the incoming invasion. First Ponyville and now here; any place that these poor souls wanted to call home was now coming under siege.

One of the former Ponyville residents, a pony by the name of Daisy, had offered Zecora a place in her house after hearing that she had no where to stay. She tried to politely turn down her offer, but the mare was insistent! “No, no, no, I won't have that! It's the least I can do after giving you so much trouble. You've been such a loyal customer too!” The zebra couldn't just say no now. With a grateful smile she accepted her generosity.

Now gifted with the ponies' kindness once again, Zecora did what she could to help prepare for the assualt. The shaman attempted to comfort those overwhelmed by the weight of the approaching armanda, provide her labor where it was needed and brew all kinds of concoctions. Finding some time to herself, Zecora stopped at her host's home and considered communing with the ancestral spirits again. Maybe they had guided her here from the Everfree...perhaps there was some insight they could share about this attack. She prepared the ritual once more, scattering the yellow petals around her and igniting one end of the circle. The chant rolled out naturally after that:

“Though in body you no longer exist now, your child seeks the wisdom you can endow.“

She emptied her mind and keenly awaited a reply. However, none came. Silence was the only answer she was given as the final petal burned to ash. Zecora opened her eyes and stared at the ground, trying to piece together what had just transpired. She always made sure to never press a spirit too often for guidance, and it was very rare that she was received no message at all, even if it was an especially vague one. A terrible feeling of foreboding started to creep upon her, but she decided to shrug it off. The result was troubling, but she could not dwell on it. She tightened her satchel onto her side and headed out the front door. The people of Canterlot needed help through this troubling time, and she would be there for them. This time, though, they wouldn't run. Zecora wouldn't let them lose another home.

[Red Charge]

The preparations were going on at a smooth pace, or as smooth as it could have gone anyway, Tesla's ships were still grounded and undergoing repair, which had forced the shield around the city to be expanded to cover the open area beneath the cliff side. This would weaken it, but allow the griffon ships to be repaired safely while on the ground. Of course they still had days before Blackmane's fleet showed up, so it shouldn't be a problem.

The lead one wandered towards the center of the city, formerly a white pony, but now blotches of old dirt stained his coat, his mane short, matty, grass colored, his eyes leaf green but with a strangely inconsistent pupil, like a cat looking into a dark room. He walked with complete confidence through the city streets, that is, until someone yelled at him.
 
Turning his head towards the shout in preparation for a struggle, the stallion located the voice, coming from a little unicorn filly. He did not know her, but she seemed to think his name was 'Ranger'.
 
She rushed forwards towards him but then stopped, unfortunately she also attracted attention towards him, unwanted attention. She stood and examined him for several moments carefully.
 
"You're not Ranger..."

That was enough for the guards down the street to become suspicious, the details of the Changeling Operation were still not clear it was only natural they'd suspect them. Natural that they'd accost him, but they didn't expect what came next. A swift buck to one's snout and a quick twirl to throw the other to the cobbled road and another kick to keep him there. In the distance he heard the noise from other districts, it was starting.

Distant booms rocked the city, tower after another began to suffer from catastrophic explosions one after the other collapsed. The lone pony charged forwards, sweeping past several more guard ponies who charged his way. He hopped on a wagon, and jumped into the air, falling down on the ground, his shadow growing and growing. As soon as the pony's hooves touched the ground the shadow began to engulf them, spiraling upwards until the whole pony was covered in it and in a puff of shadowy smoke. The pony standing before them now was hidden underneath a black hood and cape, wearing a mask made out of what appeared to be a steel coated skull. A hunter might be able to discern that it was the skull of a Frozen Feral Praetorian, apparently dipped in a steel solution and giving the pony an intimidating look. On his hoof was a wristbow. Naturally his entire demeanor was familiar to any Ponyville refugees. The hood, cape, mask and wristbow... The same apparel their own Ranger used. The little filly who alerted the guards to his presence was following the rioting pony. "You can't be Ranger..." She muttered, but he ignored her and carried on, blasting a market stall out of the way with a gem-tipped bolt from his crossbow, sending ponies fleeing in panic.

Retort felt the explosions from within her own store, it was natural that Long Haul found them deafening to his ears. Around him he saw a couple of the strange ponies, fighting several unprepared guards, leaping on them and throwing them about. One of the strange ponies was in a strange attire, a leather padded armor of sorts with spikes sticking out at each joint and what appeared to be a pair of sun-goggles. The other seemed more like a steam engine than a pony, his armor was so large and so thick it was almost as though he was a walking tank, but where did the armor come from? Long Haul saw no one with such armor while he approached the store.

From the Library's window, Selenia could see a unicorn pony, or at least it LOOKED like a unicorn pony, one which was tall, lanky and who could easily climb up from terrace to terrace to get to higher positions. The pony was almost spider-like in a way, he used his superior position to bombard the guards coming at him and in a flash he shot down a nearby tower. Continuing towards Selenia's library.

Zecora was hurried into the house by a terrified Daisy, who couldn't stop screaming at "The horror!" As something was going on outside, unfortunately, Zecora could not see, but only hear terrified ponies and the sounds of mayhem and explosions.

Darkness and Live Wire who were just finished with one tower and had descended to go to the next encountered a rather beastly looking pony, so large he could make a rhinoceros feel inadequate, his shoulders and head were armored with suspiciously heavy armor, in fact he almost looked like ...

"He's going to ram the tower!" Darkness called, snatching up Live Wire and moving aside in the nick of time to avoid getting squashed. Due to the pony's size and obvious power, the foundations of the tower cracked, one more hit like that and the entire thing would collapse.

"Hey kid, you wanted to use your magic?" Darkness asked, giving her an approving grin, "You help me take down this bad boy I'll make a badflank out of you." At that he took off in the air, swooping down at the tank's unarmored behind and kicking it with as much force as it could muster... to know effect. "Tough cookie huh?" Darkness asked, as the giant pony turned to him, "Hope you like lightning."

[Selenia]

Selenia was neck deep in the florid prose of some random historian, recounting the history, development, and what declassified technology there was of the griffon navy. Just as she reached the section that detailed propulsion systems, a dull rumble shook the ground. She tentatively looked up and out the window, her ears swiveling around to catch anything of interest. Satisfied that there were no sirens or screams of panic, she shrugged to herself and went back to reading. Before she could find her place, there was another rumble, and then another, and a trembling boom that carried the doubtless twang of an explosion. Selenia stood up, closing her book and inserting it back onto the shelf, and made a light canter to the nearby window, and what she saw did not ease her.

Ponies in the streets were running around in a panic, with guards yelling orders and directions which fell on deaf ears. Smoke was rising from a building a few blocks away, Mortar Retort's own store, if she wasn't mistaken, and she just barely caught one of the castle towers collapsing to the ground before she ran back among the shelves. She skidded around a corner and gathered up her belongings, stuffing them in her saddlebags and levitating the bags onto her back. She ran back to the window, pushed it open, and ran out onto the balcony to get a better look. Combat had erupted on the streets, with the guards engaging numerous ponies, some bearing armor, and others simply wearing cloaks. She was about to run back inside and down to street level to lend the guards a hand when her ears picked up the telltale noise of a combat spell being launched and she instinctively ducked for cover.

Luckily for Selenia, the spells were aimed nowhere near her. She heard them impacting the street, shattering flagstones and sending the guards scrambling for cover. She looked around, trying to find the source of the attack, and pinpointed it on a unicorn clinging to the outside wall of a tower right next to the library. Selenia took a closer look and discovered the thing barely resembled a unicorn at all past its horn. He, or at least she assumed it was a he, had frighteningly disproportionated limbs and was gripping the surface of the wall with naught but said limbs. She watched on as he released another volley of spells at a group of advancing guards, blasting them with bits of dirt and gravel and knocking them on their flanks, he then turned his attention to a nearby tower and released another spell, blowing the structure to nothing but rubble with enough power to send Selenia ducking and covering her head.

She wrestled herself back up with a groan, her ears still ringing from the blast. She looked up to see that the pony...thing was still on the wall, clinging there like a turret, engaging targets of opportunity. Selenia huffed, blowing her bangs out of her eyes and charged up her horn with a volley of concussive blasts, flooding her formula and horn with energy from the sun high above. She'd be damned if she let this guy knock down her city. She grinned, for the time being, he didn't seem to consider her a threat, and she would take any advantage she could get. With her spells prepared, she widened out into a sturdy combat stance and let her three bolts fly. The first she shaped into a concussive blast and aimed it directly at the pony. The other two she shaped into kinetic javelins and arced them towards spots on the wall above and near him, aiming to turn the section of wall he was clinging on, and a fair portion extra, to rubble and dislodge him. Immediately after releasing her spells, she conjured up an ablative shield, a solid defense just in case he tried to turn one of those building buster spells on her, it pays to be careful.

[Live Wire]

Live Wire was bewildered, shocked, and mostly ticked off. She had spent, what felt like, the better part of her life preparing that tower for the siege and now some tank pony was just going smash it down like it was a stack of blocks. This would not do. No, somepony was going to have to pay and it looked like metal butt would be that pony, punishment for daring to even think he could just knock all her work down.

Though being swept out of the way was jarring, she still had enough wits about her to hang on tight to Darkness Reigns. Though she rather not be right here in the middle of some surprise attack, nearly getting steamrolled, least her community service was finally getting exciting. Her cronies behind the donut shop were going to have a hard time believing this when she told them about it. That is, if she lived. Her second of wandering thoughts were interrupted by Darkness when he addressed her, acknowledging with a simple, "Huh? Oh, yeah!"

Live Wire prepared her magic, planting her hooves into the cobblestone street to steady herself as she charged her horn. The horn sparked and arched with electricity, putting off a pretty and quite violent showing as snakes of lightning snapped out and licked at the walls, street and air, like head of Medusa. Till it finally started to ball together in one bright, swirling dense sphere and released. A loud thud, almost a boom, cracked the air, as a ball of lightning the size of soft-ball shot through the air and struck at the armored pony in its side with the intention for it to explode, encapsulating him with rivers of electricity moving around his armor and the rest of his body, leaving behind burns to his very core - and a smell of sulphur, she had no idea why the spell made them stink of old eggs.

[Mortar Retort]

Long Haul was greeted at the door - following a few moments of yelling for him to wait - by a blue unicorn mare, wearing a shoddy fez atop a wild mane. "Yes, what do you want? If it's about a poisoning or a refund, you can trot out of here, you signed the waiver - I am not liable." She paused from her rant, clearly rehearsed from years of use, to take notice of the pony. "Wait... are you here for the potions? Well come in, don't stand out there like a ninny. In, in." She ushered the pony inside, leaving him for the back room.

"I'm not quite ready with them all, but I've managed a few crates full of healing tonics, enhancing elixirs, things of that nature." She exclaimed from the back, her voice trailing over the sounds of bubbling concoctions and machines. Pops, wheezes, and whistles were erupting from every which way inside the old, dark, shop. She returned a few moments later with two medium sized crates wrapped in her magic. She floated them over to Long Haul and set them down before him. "There, more to come. Come back in an hour-"

The first explosion sent a few of her materials on the shelves to the floor and startling her frozen. Was there another accident in her shop? Did the distiller erupt again? But there were no bubbles streaming out from behind the distillers door and trying to drown her in a sea white foamy apply delight. She waited, listening, ears twitching each and every direction. Another boom came, from somewhere further off and only then did she breath again. It wasn't her doing, for once.

Retort grabbed a few more falling materials with her magic and quickly stuffed them back into shelves. She then went to the window facing the street to see the commotion. Ponies running and screaming, chaos and destruction were being wrought by what appeared to be one or two darkly dressed ponies. Honestly, it didn't seem all that weird after the Changeling incident. Moving away from the window, Retort quickly barred the door with a shelf of expired potions she hadn't gotten rid of yet.

"Well, seems the siege has started early - quite rude of them." She mentioned to Long Haul, oddly cheerful despite the terribly circumstance unfolding out. "I'm going to need more time, but feel free to exit out the back... or take those -" Pointing with her hoof to three decanters filled with some amber, viscous liquid. "And toss them down at whoever the bad ponies happen to be this time. It'll stick to their coat and ignite on contact, burning them not unlike an overly cooked s'more. You can use the windows on the second floor, just don't get it on the shop. I, meanwhile, have more work to do."

She then took off around the counter, time was running short and she still had more potions to make - this time, she opted for something a little more dangerous, something she could use against these new intruders and begun working as quickly she could without compromising the concoction while leaving Long Haul to decide his next course of action.

[Deleted]

Long Haul's mind raced, desperately attempting to come up with an explanation for the pony that was inevitably on it's way to the door, frustratingly to no avail. Even now as he searched through his mind for the name of the official he had spoken to, he could hear the attendant telling him to wait, likely incredibly busy with their work on the other side of the door.

Sure enough, before he could compose himself the door had opened, revealing a unicorn mare with a strange choice in headwear, by Canterlot standards anyway. "Yes, what do you want? If it's about a poisoning or a refund, you can trot out of here, you signed the waiver - I am not liable." he heard her say. He decided to drop the whole 'plan out your sentence' spiel and opened his mouth to speak, yet was promptly interrupted by the mare. "Wait... are you here for the potions?" he breathed a sigh of relief as he heard the mare continue, no longer anxiously trying to compose himself as this unicorn seemed to know why he was there. "Well come in, don't stand out there like a ninny. In, in." with that said, he stepped inside, grateful for being out of the streets.

All around him were a large number of concoctions and alchemical devices, most of them he had recognized yet many of them he had never once seen before. Considering the amount of places he had travelled within Equestria and the many shops he had stepped into, or worked for, he had never once seen some of them. Must be higher-end materials, this is Canterlot after all and she is no doubt an adept, he thought to himself. "I'm not quite ready with them all, but I've managed a few crates full of healing tonics, enhancing elixirs, things of that nature," he just barely heard the mare continue from the back room over the din of the bubbling mixtures and whistling devices. He idly thought back to a very unfortunate accident that had him shamefully shave off his coat and mane to get rid of black gunk that had reacted violently and covered the insides of an alchemical shop in Fillydelphia months ago.

After a few moments of idly looking about the room, Long Haul spotted the mare on her way out of the back room, carrying two crates in her magical grip. Long Haul was mildly impressed, not all unicorns could carry objects that looked this heavy without showing a few signs of strain, yet this mare treated it as if she was carrying two feathers instead of two full crates. "There, more to come. Come back in an hour-" Long Haul smiled, nodded once, and started mentally going over how he was going to get these crates to Wil-...

Boom

His thoughts were halted and his body shot into a very tense-looking stance, neck upright and not a muscle dared twitch. Had the incident from Fillydelphia repeated itself? Well, judging from the state of the room: no, and judging from the shock the alchemist was projecting, this wasn't something even she was aware of. Now Long Haul was curious, what caused that explosion if not something in the room?

Boom

Yet another dull explosion, this time he could tell it was coming not from the shop, but from the streets outside. What a relief he thought, That's just coming from outside.. he froze once again, realizing just exactly what that meant. Something had gotten into Canterlot, past the guards and fleet and was now causing havoc in the streets of Canterlot. He could see ponies panicking outside, and he was clearly on the verge of joining them, worrying profusely over his and Willow's safety and completely unsure what to do.

"Well, seems the siege has started early - quite rude of them," he heard the mare speak up after a few moments of figuring out how badly things were going wrong outside, "I'm going to need more time, but feel free to exit out the back... or take those -" his gaze followed her hoof to a few amber alchemical concoctions, "And toss them down at whoever the bad ponies happen to be this time. It'll stick to their coat and ignite on contact, burning them not unlike an overly cooked s'more. You can use the windows on the second floor, just don't get it on the shop. I, meanwhile, have more work to do." Long Haul was lost in confusion and revulsion. These sadistic types of things existed? Not only that, but this mare knew how to craft them?! Suddenly, the mare wasn't seeming as 'nice' as he might've wanted, and he considered staying inside the building with her that much less as he came to realize what they were.

There was no way he could bring himself to using these himself, burning folks alive be they 'good' or 'bad' just didn't seem like something he could deal with. He couldn't stay here and do nothing either, he would just get in the mare's way and leave Willow at risk while contributing exactly nothing. Finally, he came to a conclusion, no matter how fearful it made him to consider it. He snatched up the crates, balancing them on his back very precariously and heading towards the back door the mare had mentioned. "I'm going to deliver these as best I can, maybe pull a few away from the building here!" he figured saying stuff like this would make him sound much braver than he really was in this scenario, "Keep doing your thing, and if I'm still alive I'll try to loop back around," he nudged the door open, rushing out into the streets once more.

Dull explosions and thuds racked the area around him, drowning out anything else the stallion could have heard. He ran to Willow's side, dropping the crates into the 'cargo hold' he had attached to it earlier and locking the 'hatch'. Even when deaf, panicked, and in a city being invaded by Celestia-knows-what, he was still ever thankful of his father's talent in woodworking. Willow had been one of his father's grand creations in Long Haul's younger age, and had since been re-purposed with multiple 'add-ons' to adapt her to different tasks. Since her creation, Long Haul dared not part with her for very long, and he dared not do that now. He hurriedly hitched himself up to the cart, adjusting the harness as appropriately as he could, then started a mad dash towards where he had been told to drop off the cargo. A barracks in the middle of town, if his memory served him well enough. Ignorant of everything but the fearful ponies around him, including his own paranoia, he galloped as fast as Willow dared let him towards the centre of town, uttering a silent prayer that he wouldn't encounter one of these invaders along the way.

[Zecora]

As Zecora was gathering her things, she heard a loud rumble resound from outside. The zebra gave a puzzled look. Just what had that been? She had been told that the fleet wasn't expected for at least another day. Maybe it was a misfire from the soldiers readying their defense? As if answering her musing, another boom sounding even closer and dashed that thought. She quickly stashed the neariest elixers and remedies she could fit into her satchel and headed towards the door to investigate the noises.

She didn't get far, though, as Daisy darted into her and rushed her inside, holding the door behind her. “The horror, the horror!” the mare gasped between sobs. Zecora rested a hoof on the pink pony, attempting to relax her.

“Calm yourself, Daisy, and tell me what is wrong. What is happening out there that has you worked up this strong?”

Daisy stammered a bit, trying to get her words together, before finally managing to calm herself a bit and release her grip on the door. “It's horrible! Strange ponies running about and tearing the city apart!” Zecora could feel her heart sink upon hearing this. She rushed to the door, but the pink mare quickly stepped in the way. “No! You can't go out there! It chaos out there!” She was not going to be stopped this easily though.

“You know I cannot just stand by as things outside are going awry!”

She continued to plead with the zebra, but Zecora only returned her stern gaze. Defeated, the mare stepped out of the way and allowed her to exit.

Just as Daisy had said, the zebra could see the ivory towers of Canterlot collasping around her. Had the siege already begun so soon?! Many ponies were galloping around in panic, though she didn't see any espeically strange ones among them. Zecora did spot guardspony laid collapsed in the crowd, though. It seemed that whatever had tore through here had dispatched the guard effortlessly. She waded through the crowd and recovered the body of the unconscious pony before he was trampled. The zebra carried the body back to Daisy's place and rapped on the door, the owner answering within the second.

“Care for this soldier and do him this deed. I will keep searching for others in need.”

Though still fearful, she returned an understanding nod and took the guardspony inside. Zecora turned back to look for any other ponies in peril, when she noticed a cart apporaching fast in the distance. A large stallion was pulling the load and there appeared to be crates full of potions inside. Perhaps wherever this shipment was heading her own mixtures and herbal lore could be of use? She stepping into the road and attempted to get the attention of the pony.

“Hail, sir, where are you heading? I could help prevent more dispair spreading.

[Red Charge]

The leather armored pony immediately took notice of Long Haul and chased after him mercilessly. To Long Haul's surprise the pony was surprisingly quick and caught up to him easily. There was no escape from this pony. He was barely even able to gallop some distance away before the pony dashed in front of him, a terrifying grin on his face, his goggles reflecting the light of the sun in a way that made him seem even more sinister than his spiked armor already made him out to be. Long Haul was barely able to brake in time before colliding with the nightmare, but he was too close and the nightmare pounced.

---

Darkness called out in cheer as Live Wire's spell connected with the Nightmare, the tower began collapsing about them in powerful rumble and in the clearing dust, Darkness, flying Live Wire some distance in the air to spare her from injury, could see the giant pony was not at all affected. "What." Darkness said flatly, "Alright sport, looks like we're gonna need more juice. electrocute me, let me show you how a pegasus does it." He ordered, diving around the collapsed building to gather momentum before launching up towards the clouds to gather even more lightning.

---

Selenia's spindly adversary leaped from the buildings he was standing on, above her projectiles and landed on a closer rooftop. With a disgusting sound, the unicorn spit at Selenia, hitting her shield. But it wasn't mere spit, not even acidic one but... blood? Immediately the substance ignited, tearing a gaping hole through Selenia's shield that for some reason she could not close and before she could even prepare for it, a spell had gotten through, throwing Selenia into her own library with such force that it collapsed the front of the balcony, preventing her from being able to go out again. Selenia was flung across the room and into one of the large nearby bookcases, a wide assortment of books buried her underneath before she was able to recover from the impact. The creature did not stop there however, it attacked Selenia's tower, causing it to collapse unto itself. Selenia only had time as she escaped the book pile to see the large chunks of debris crashing down on her head.

---

The tank like pony outside of Retort's shop, having no towers to collapse turned instead in the direction of her funky smelling shop, moving in sharp pneumatic movements, as though a machine and crashing right through Retort's wall, for the heck of it. Potions were thrown about by his dynamic entry and Retort had to take quick cover to avoid melting, being burned, or simply being afflicted with horrible conditions. She could see the other nightmare closing in on Long Haul, she could see it pouncing.

---

But before it could get to Long Haul something took it out of the action, the now dying Nightmare had a vicious looking crossbow bolt stuck in its neck now as it lay twitching on the ground. But now he had a new problem, a guard he saw earlier suddenly approached him, his eyes changed completely and he was covered in oddly dark blood, a nightmare's? He seemed somewhat twisted and there was no good intent behind the glare he was giving Long Haul, as he began to charge forwards with a psychotic battle cry another bolt struck the ex-guard dead in the eye, dropping him.

Eagle Eye was lying atop one of the roofs of Canterlot, with all of the towers gone in the attack it would serve as good a vantage point as any. She was aiming to kill any of the nightmares; they couldn't fuss about containment when they were corrupting half of the ponies they came in touch with, for the sake of the citizens of Canterlot she had no choice, she had to shoot to kill. The ex COLT operative fired bolt after bolt, striking true to her target again and again, covering as many ponies as she could from getting harmed or corrupted. This was not going well.

---

"What in Equestria is going on?" Luna shouted as one of the castle turrets succumbed to a vicious attack.

"We're under attack by Nightmares! Blood Bearing Nightmares!" A guard rushed into call, "They're corrupting everypony they touch! We have to do something!" The panicked pony screamed.

"Summon the Slayer trainees!" She ordered Red Charge, "There is no time, tell them to drop the training and come to Canterlot immediately."

Red Charge nodded and disappeared in a flash of teleportation.

[Selenia]

Selenia's eye twitched in annoyance behind her shield as the spider pony deftly avoided all of her spells. She tried to arc them to follow the slippery fella, but it was too extreme a turn and they smashed into the wall where the pony had been a moment earlier, reducing the façade to chunks. She pivoted her body around as the pony jumped to and fro around the buildings, ensuring her shield was maintaining its defensive phalanx. She would have shot a few spells off, but this guy seemed to have the dodging thing down, so it would be an exhausting fools errand. When the pony finally stopped, Selenia prepared to fire off another salvo, but was interrupted as it spat out a glob of phlegm, undoubtedly acidic, or explosive, or something worse, right at her. She instinctively braced herself for the inevitable, but was surprised when it simply spattered against her shield. She tentatively opened one eye to investigate, and the sludge that covered her shield and the ground before it looked remarkably like chunky, rotten, congealed blood. A shiver went up her spine, "What kind of chuck-wagon..." she didn't even get to complete her appalled exclamation before the blood-sludge lit up into magical flames and burned a hole clean through her shield.

Selenia yelped and covered her eyes, stunned for a few seconds by the ingrained primal fear of fire before she regained her focus and quickly tried to repair her shield. The projectile that hit it was undoubtedly magical, as all her efforts failed to whisk the still flaming napalm blood away and patch up her defense. She was so caught up with reforming her shield that she barely caught sight of the bunker buster spell that slipped right through. The impact force crashed right into her chest, harder than anything she had ever felt before. Well, maybe not as hard as that time she flung herself across a forest clearing with her own telekinesis, breaking several bones in the process, but still. The spell didn't break anything, as far as she could feel, but it stunned the daylights out of her with the shockwave, blowing her back through the balcony door and into the bookshelves, knocking the wind out of her as black stars exploded across her vision. As the force wore off, she fell to the ground in a heap, coughing and gasping to refill her lungs with air before piles of books from the rocked shelves above tumbled down and buried her. Being acquainted with the more kinetic side of magic, as well as being Red Charge's student, she had taken quite a few bucks, hits, and tumbles during her life, but by Luna did that one hurt.

After a few seconds of blissful peace, even though buried under a mountain of knowledge, was enough for Selenia to cinch her eyes shut and clear her head of the spinning and the ringing. Thankfully, her head hadn't been hit very hard, so her magic would remain clean and clear, but her chest felt like somepony had been dancing on it for the last hour, so endurance would be harmed. She would have been content to stay in there and continue some breathing exercises and possibly use some first aid spells to return to full effectiveness, but the sudden bucking of the floor underneath and steady rumble from the library around her was warning enough that she needed to move. She sucked in a deep breath with moderate pain and pushed her way out of the book pile. She looked around and squinted through the sunlight... wait... sunlight? She had a roof over her head with no skylights, why would there be sunlight? She looked up and her eyes went wide with surprise. There was a massive hole where the roof and upper floors were, and the missing pieces were coming down to meet her.

Selenia frantically kicked her way out of the books and pushed off with her hind legs as rubble smashed through the books and shelves, straight through the floor and down to ground level. She galloped like a mad mare for her target window at the back of the library. Exiting to the front street was undoubtedly the safest way to clear the building in event of collapse, but even if she made it out that way, the spider pony was still waiting, and she bet 20 bits that it would be more than happy to pummel her with countless spells before she finally kicked. So, instead of heading for a leap of faith out to the front street, she charged up her horn and shot a concussive bolt at the window exit leading to the fire escape out back, blasting the wood and glass to bits as she leapt out the window and on to the rickety escape scaffolding.

Once upon the scaffolding, Selenia knew she was an easy target if the spider pony deigned to search her out. Even though her shield had proven useless against it in the long run, the protective barrier had still stopped the blood projectile dead in its tracks. She didn't want to find out what were to happen should one of those hit her directly, so she put all effort not devoted to running for her life into bringing up another shield, and soon enough the scintillating energy plane of her shield popped back into existence. Once she was clear of the building, she would have to keep her head on a swivel, ready to block any blood shots from the pony and then dodge to the best of her ability around whatever spells it might have cooked up, all the while heading straight for the palace, the core of military presence in Canterlot where the remaining guard forces, the Princess, Red Charge, General Tesla, and anypony else that mattered would undoubtedly be. She mentally hit herself, 'one thing at a time, Selenia,' she chided as she scrambled down the stairs and ran out to a different street on the other side of the block and kept running, praying to Luna that the library didn't fall on her. She didn't even want to turn around to see how close it was, but the thundering cacophony of splintering wood, shattering glass, and crumbling stone on her heels did give her some idea.

[Deleted]

Long Haul had to admit, he was grateful for much of what he had done in his youth. All that practice running with a weighed-down Willow attached to him seemed to be paying off, as though his mind was racing his body was letting him continue without slowing. He barrelled at high speeds through the streets of Canterlot, passing by a few equally-panicked ponies with Willow squeaking and whining in tow. He absently thought he should take the time to oil up her wheels when he got the chance, a thought that was quickly drowned by panic as he looked behind him. A monster clearly not belonging to this city, judging from it's choice of attire - spiked leather and sungoggles - had taken up chase, and it was gaining fast! Long Haul tried to pick up the pace, but was quickly halted by the freakish creature when it dashed ahead of him. By Celestia, this can't be where I die! Not now, not like this! his panicked mind thought loudly as he dug his hooves into the road, painfully slowing to a halt just a few feet away from the creature. Now that he could see it clearly, his mind began to wander about just exactly what was about to kill him. A corrupted pony? Some sort of cultist? Some madpony who had escaped a mental institution? He felt his heartbeat skyrocket to an unbelievable rate, experiencing the worst moment of fear and panic he had ever felt. All he could think about now was how this deformed pony was absolutely, without a doubt, going to kill him. The very thought didn't leave him in much better a state, in fact the thought caused him to start desperately trying to back away, halted quickly by Willow's presence. He cowered, whimpering and holding his forelegs up to his face as the pony pounced at him.

...


Wait, I'm not dead? he thought, rather confused and only mildly relieved when he pulled his hooves away from his eyes to see what had happened. The pony that had leapt at him now lay sprawled out limply on the road, a bolt sticking out of it's neck, it's legs twitching as if to try and cause Long Haul more harm even in death. Immediately, Long Haul looked about for his saviour, spotting a guardpony. He smiled, standing up and waving his thanks to the stallion. Mere moments later, he stopped cheering, only now noticing that the guard was *really* off...so many things were wrong with this. The guard was covered in blood, wasn't carrying anything that would've fired a bolt to save him, and had eyes like a madpony. It snarled and charged towards him, causing Long Haul to try and scramble for footing on the road as he watched this vicious, insane stallion charge towards him. Just like before, however, a bolt from above saved him yet again, striking the creature in the eye.

Long Haul cringed. He knew it was a creature with absolutely no good intent towards him, but that had been a pony mere moments ago! And now it had a bolt firmly lodged in it's eye! He shuddered at the thought of being in that pony's predicament, his anxiety only getting worse by the second. He started to run again, pulling Willow behind him. Looking behind him on his way out, though, he could see a single pony with a crossbow firing into the streets from a rooftop, no doubt Long Haul's two-time saviour. As much as he normally wouldn't mind staying and thanking the pony, he desperately needed to get out of this disastrous area before he was killed by a creature, an explosion, a falling building, his mind just continued to come up with ways he might not make it to the palace.

Wait, the palace! he absently thanked his luck, as thin as it was growing, and started running towards the palace with Willow in tow. If anypony can help deal with these...things, they *must* still be at least near the palace! Red Charge, Luna, and the griffons there would be able to save not only me, but the rest of Canterlot as well.....right?