By the time the Awoken were all in position, the enemy forces had rounded the rocky outcrop outside the fortress and were forming up. Discord could see no sign of Arzeroth.
Frozen used his magic to form ice around him and into the shape of a wzard's staff, in his hoof. The wind picked up around them, howling over the nearby mountains, and a distant clap of thunder heralded what was to come.
As Discord stood with his Wildcard Guard, a pegasus came down to report on the enemies movements. "They've sent a small expeditionary force around our flank, to try and break through where the defences are weakest!" He blurted, breathlessly. Discord looked to Frozen. "I'll take my wildcards to deal with them, can you hold their main force off here?"
Discord took to the air, accompanied by the changelings, to see where exactly this sortie was. Spying them moving towards the Northwest corner of the fortress, he lead his guard to the top of a narrow canyon, directly in their path, flying close to the ground for the benefit of the Zebras. Once there, he had the Zebras take up hidden positions inside the darkened canyon, and waited with his changlings until they could get a better view of the troops they were about to face.
Frozen used his magic to form a ballista and a few trebuchets, in case the army decided to advance towards them.
Once they came into view, Discord had the changelings take the forms of the advancing soldiers, (who appeared to be similar to the former guards of the fortress) and sent half of them to discretely join the back of the column. The other half he sent to the far end of the canyon. As the group reached the middle of the ravine, surrounded now by the hidden Zebras, Discord flew down and hovered behind them, laughing raggedly. "Did you really think it would be that easy?" His appearance provided the distraction the second group of changelings needed to join the head of the column; the sortie was now surrounded on all sides, unbeknownst to them. Discord smiled grimly, and with a nod of his head, the Wildcards fell upon them like wolves on the fold. In the near distance, Discord heard the chanting of war cries and the rattle of weapons; it seemed the battle proper was about to begin...
The whizzing of explosions and bombs filled the air, as Frozen's makeshift artillery let fly. Bombs impacted the ground some distance from the wildcards, explosing and freezing everything in its radius.
Discord left half the changelings in the ravine amongst the dead, disguised as wounded and those tending to them, to act as a trap should another attempt be made on that approach. With that sorted, he and the rest of his Wildcards headed back to the fortress, to lend what aid they could to Frozen and the rest of the defence. "How goes it? Have they been able to reach the walls yet?" Discord asked, landing next to Frozen.
"Not..yet.." he said, in between creating artillery shells with his magic, "but they are getting closer as their numbers grow."
"Well, we do have a contingency for that eventuality," Discord said, glancing at the earth ponies and Minotaurs, "But I rather not have to use them." He flew up to get a better view of the attackers. There were more than he'd thought. "I'm not sure this is a battle we can, or would want to, win by attrition; our best option may be to take out their command structure; throw them into disarray." He looked at Frozen Solemnly. "I don't think this is something I can do alone."
"That sortie I intercepted? That was no invasion force; my guess is they were tasked with either opening the gates from within, or capturing you and I. I propose we make our enemy think they were successful; The Changelings can take the form of their troops, and then escort us back to their leader. It's risky, but it would be our best chance to take him out. Alternatively, if you could provide cover with that weather control of yours -big fan of that by the way- then my Wildcards and I could just blitzkrieg their command tent. The choice is yours."
"Well, assuming he is the one leading this counter attack, you may well get your wish. Let's go." Discord lead Frozen and his Changelings back through the ravine, picking up the ones he'd left behind and allowing the others to transform. When they were done, he formed them back into a column, the way the originals had arrived, but with him and Frozen at the centre. "You're sure you want to do this?" He asked, turning to Frozen, "Last chance to change your mind..."
"I'm not doing this for myself," he said, "I'm doing this for Xarame. Whatever he did to her must have been unspeakable, so i'm going to make him pay.."
"Don't forget Met; whatever he did to her made her unable to speak." Discord added, as they were marched towards the attacking forces. As they got closer, he stopped talking and tried to emit an air of defeat. There was some leering as they reached the first of the soldiers, but they parted to let their Trojan escort through; it seemed this plan might actually work. Luckily, the command tent was easily visible, so they didn't have to break the illusion by asking for directions. It seemed like no time at all before they were inside the tent. Discord counted six Minotaurs and two Unicorns, as well as Arzeroth himself, standing behind a map table; he looked up as they entered. "What do you have for me?" He grated.
"They don't look like the usual rabble; are these the two reponsible for this mutiny?" Arzeroth demanded, stalking over to inspect them. "Attempting to escape you say? Cowardly asss well as stupid then; two worthier candidates for my chambers I have never seen; they shall be a welcome addition to my group of, mmmm-playthingsss."
Frozen looked at discord for permission to engage. His anger had begun to rise, as he was certain discord's had. It seemed they were both fighting for a mare..
