Within a few minutes, Holly returned, followed by Cricket. Silver was not surprised to see that Blackout had come, too. It was for the best. Cricket was stronger when her husband was around, and Blackout's magic seemed to be more powerful in the presence of wife. Silver greeted Blackout with a polite nod, and addressed Cricket. "We have a problem that only an Earth Pony can solve. As there are none around that I can trust with this task, I am hoping that you may be able to help us out. I need you to take the form of Heart Song." Cricket did as she was asked, and transformed into her Earth Pony form. Silver nodded, and gave her the Ring of Earth. "Star Swirl never knew about the Changelings, and this is only a basic enchantment. Let's see if we can't fool the master. Cricket... or should I call you 'Heart Song?' I need you to place this ring on Blackout's horn. Do not worry about harming him. Without the full set, the effects only last as long as the ring is in place." Nervously, Heart Song placed the ring on her husband's horn. Blackout sank to his knees, and she quickly removed it. As Blackout got back to his hooves, Silver grinned. "Good. The Ring recognizes you as an Earth Pony. Looks like you two will be joining us for the final attack on Celestia."
Crimson and Ocean decided to get an early start for their journey, already equipped with their weapons and armour, to remove any obstacle that stood in their way to catch up with Silver. They left only an hour earlier then Silver and Venquis. Soon setting up a major camp almost twenty kilometres from the Equestrian border once they both teleported, the Republic quickly established a deadly encampment inside an abandoned town, with the barracks located at the bottom of the hill. Midnight soon left later towards this camp, arriving late into the night. The camp, as quickly as it was set up, soon rivalled Celestia's original encampment when she attempted to take the Crystal Empire.
Silver arrived at camp just before dawn, accompanied by Blackout and Cricket. He immediately headed to the command center, and waited for the others to join him. His plan of attack was complicated, and everypony involved had an important role to play. If all went as planned, the Phoenix Queen would be dead before the day was over.
Celestia's mysterious hooded figure wandered across the landscape towards what appeared to be an encampment, as described from a Royal Guard, to the north while The Phoenix Queen continued to focus towards more resurrections. To help ensure the strangers safety, Celestia started to bring out the big guns. She had deployed 'Juggernaut's', walking tanks which are incredibly strong and generally carry enormous two hoofed weapons. Along with this added danger of their armour being some of the strongest in Equestrian's existance, this added to their reputation of being practically unstoppable. To cover up her weakness, Celestia also deployed "Swifts". Swifts were known to be exceptionally fast Pegasi who focus on speed and agility instead of brute force. Their only weakness was their lack of armour to ensure maximum speed and success in battle. Her hooded asset was heading to burn this fort down before Equestria can fully defend itself from the Republic.
The Equestrian ring leader was a kilometre from the camp. The force was small, barely over a hundred when put in comparison to the tens of thousands already at the camp. However, the Equestrian leader made up the lack of numbers in lethality. Crimson and Ocean, upon receiving the warning from Cricket, made it to the southern gate in full armour. Midnight also arrived dressed in his black armour. He awaited Silver and the Night Guards while the Republic prepared to defend the fort.
Silver flew to the gate with Rainbow Dash, followed closely by twenty Shadowbolts and fifty Night Guards. He landed near Crimson, and explained the situation. "We have a small problem. From what I can tell, there are about fifty Swifts and fifty Juggernauts approaching the camp. They won't be too difficult to take out. However, I have a feeling that this is just a distraction. I have the entire camp on high alert, but we don't know what to look for." He sighed. "Alright, here's the plan: Ocean, you're one of the fastest ponies I've ever met. I want you flying with the Shadowbolts. The Swifts are fast, so you'll need to be faster. Midnight and Crimson, I want you with me and my Night Guards. We're going to meet the Juggernauts head-on. They may be strong and tough, but they're slow and, from what the Changeling spies tell me, stupid. Don't let them hit you, and you'll be fine." He thought a moment. "One more thing... leave one of the Swifts alive. We need to know what they're planning."
"Agreed." Midnight only responded. Crimson and Ocean then looked at each other and nodded as Ocean launched herself into the sky, creating a shock-wave that could be felt across the camp as she literally disappeared. Crimson took out his new weapon, the spell-sword styled blade that the Eriborian gave to him. Midnight preferred no weapons, rather using his practically god-like magic abilities and his martial arts. Both of them nodded as they gave Silver the heads up as the Night Guards and the two ponies began to walk slowly, backed up with an impressive number of Night Guards and some Republic troops on standby. The leader of the Equestrian side stood there as she watched the troops advance. The Juggernauts were slow, and that speed disadvantage was their only weakness. The Swifts, as dangerous as they were, knew that they could not defeat The Blue Lightning when acting sloppy, especially when backed up by Shadow Bolts. Nonetheless, being fanatically loyal to Celestia, they advanced even through they knew they were about to die in her name. The enemy leader, covered in a brown leather cloak simply stood there. While the leader's gender was hidden, plus the illusion of appearance, the leader was using rings around her fore-hooves to hide her magic signature. She and Celestia knew that these troopers were all going to die, but Celestia knew that the leader was going to survive. She alone, was the biggest threat in the entire battleground, even more so then the Night Guards and the Arcane Prince himself.
Silver gave an almost imperceptible nod, and he and the Night Guards charged forward. Flying at the closest Juggernaut, he dodged a swing of the massive weapon, and landed hard on it's back, knocking it to the ground and jarring the weapon from it's grip. The creature had the shape of a normal stallion, but was nearly twice the size a normal pony. It was even taller than Celestia herself. With heavy armor covering every inch of it's body, it was a formidable foe. Plunging one of his swords through the armor plate and into it's spine, Silver paralyzed the Juggernaut. He quickly hopped down from the creature's back, and pulled it's helmet off. "By the gods... you are one UGLY motherbucker." The Juggernaut's face was a mass of scar tissue and open sores. One of it's eyes had been removed, and replaced with an odd glowing crystal. Tubes, filled with a strange blue liquid, were inserted into the back of it's neck. Whatever had made these ponies so big and strong, it clearly was not natural. As the enchantment from the sword in it's back took hold, ice crystals began to form on the Juggernaut's skin. Less than twenty seconds after Silver's first strike, it was frozen solid. Pulling his sword from the Juggernaut's corpse, Silver looked around. Six more of the beasts had already fallen. He could hear one of them screaming in pain as several Night Guard Unicorns used fire spells to roast it alive in it's armor. As he flew at the next opponent, he was nearly struck by the headless body of a Swift that fell from the sky. He looked up to see Rainbow Dash, holding a dripping sword in one hoof and the head of the Swift in the other. They Republic forces were clearly winning, and that had Silver concerned. He knew that the attack was only a distraction, but even so, it wasn't enough to buy anypony a whole lot of time. Obviously, Celestia was trying to cover for a small group, maybe even a single pony. He wished that he had brought Holly to the camp with him. She would have been able to smell an intruder from a mile away. Unfortunately, the Timber-Wolf was on a mission of her own, gathering the surviving packs of the Everfree for the upcoming attack on Canterlot. Whoever was coming, it would be nearly impossible to find them before they struck.
The figure watched as the small force was decimated, quickly. However, the Equestrian leader remained emotionless, especially since the Juggernauts were merely ravaging beasts. All he/she did was watch, and watch as ponies were sent to their deaths. While the battle was being drawn to a close, the leader began to walk towards the base. Crimson, taking advantage of his newest weapon took down four Juggernauts with a combination of magic through his sword. He now understood why Venquis and the Ryborians held the weapon so dear to them, its lethality and practical use were almost off the charts. Ocean easily outperformed Rainbow Dash and killed almost twenty Swifts within the time span of a minute with her daggers by either cutting the wings of the Swifts and allowing them to fall to their death, decapitation, or strikes on fatal organs. Midnight obliterated five in a single blow, one of them getting hit with enough kinetic force to almost make his own limbs literally explode, followed with several fire moves as he flew into the air. The Republic was clearly winning the battle, but the Leader was walking closer and closer towards the battle. As the battle was drawing closer towards a close, the Leader stopped moving just over a hundred meters from Crimson’s location. As if a flash of lightning had happened, Ocean seen her husband flying across the air as a yellow light in the shape of an arrow pierced his heart and had pinned him into the stone walls of the fort. Crimson’s view of the world became blurred before everything became black as he screamed in an almost silent agony. Crimson was dead. Before she could scream or even react, Ocean was catapulted towards the ground as a simular arrow went straight through her wings and straight through her heart as she hit the ground hard. She had been killed in the same attack. Midnight turned around to barely see the leader holding what appeared to be a large golden bow that suddenly transformed into an axe as more simular arrows rained down from the sky, hitting several Republic troops in the heart and killing them instantly. Shocked beyond belief, he was going to slaughter this leader with the force of a thousand supernovas. However, he needed to attended to the now corpses of Crimson and Ocean, seeing if he could revive them due to his knowledge of magic. However, that would have to happen after the battle. It seemed that Celestia sent one of her very best against them, Midnight could tell that his mother was getting serious.
Robin noticed a swift heading straight towards an unsuspecting Silver who was busy dealing with the ground forces. He had already shot the wings of 5 swifts forcing for them to land on the ground and face the nightguards he was working with. He launched an arrow straight towards the white and pink maned pegasus hitting her in the joint that connected her left wing to the body as she closed them in for a dive. The mare lost control speeding straight into the ground her face barely touching Silvers armored feet. "Silv, watch your back next time and who do we have here." he knelt down lifting up the mares head. "I'm private Jewel Ring, Swift civilian division."
Silver grinned at Robin and flapped his rather large ears. "I could hear her coming. No need to worry about me. I do appreciate the help, though." Leaving the remaining Juggernauts to the mercy of his Night Guards, Silver flew slowly towards the hooded leader. "I do not know who you are, or why you would choose to attack with such a small force, but I do know one thing..." His voice lowered to a furious growl. "Those ponies that you just attacked are my friends. You will not leave this place alive."
Robin motioned for some soldiers to take Jewel Ring to be interrogated. He then followed silver, pulling back his bow with 3 arrows placed on it all enchanted. "You heard him. Oh let me tell you in my 120+ years with a bow I've NEVER missed a single shot. Even when I worked for old Lesti back in the days of the final eclipse."
The figure laughed quietly to himself/herself as Silver began to get closer. Soon, Midnight decided to join Silver in ending the murderers life. The leader then had a smug smile on his/her face. "Good. Make's things simple" The figure then launched himself at Midnight and sent him flying across the battlefield. She leapt into the air and her golden sword turned into an Bow as she fired more arrows at Midnight with ridiculous accuracy. As she was coming down from her jump, her bow turned into a sword as she came down barely a foot from Robin, creating a huge shock-wave that sent anything nearby flying.
the blast pushed him backwards but he kept his bow steady firing the three arrows into the direction of her neck and head.
The figure, now revealing herself as a female, stopped the arrows in mid flight with a yellow wall while managing to defy the laws of physics with her hood still covering her face despite the flips and flight she has been performing. She noticed that the archer was incredibly precise, but not as much as her. She suddenly appeared behind Robin as her sword turned into her yellow bow and swung the weapon at the back of his head before teleporting above the ground as she loaded five yellow arrows upon the strings and firing into the air. The arrows flew into the air and went came back down. What completely suprised them was not the speed of the arrows themselves, but a much sinister suprise. The arrows could not only pierce armor like paper, but are even able to change their trajectories in mid-flight and repeatedly pepper a target before expiring. With these arrows soon finding their targets, their main targets focusing on Silver and Robin. Midnight had managed to stop just before the arrows hit Silver and Robin by using a arcane field to protect both of them while the arrows kept changing their direction and trying to pierce the field.
The blow made him flip over though he managed to roll it out instead of falling flat on his face. "Now things get serious" he quickly pullled out two arrows with a shaper more harpoon like arrow head. cast magic on them and fired. Aiming mainly at where possible gaps in the armour were to allow the hooded figure to move fluidly. while one shot was deflected by her the other went past unnoticed lodging in the gap of her left front knee.
Beating his wings furiously, Silver was easily able to halt his backwards momentum. Turning around in midair, he noticed several glowing arrows headed for him. He dodged them easily, and flew at mare that had fired them. He had nearly reached her when he heard a slight whistling noise behind him. Glancing back, he realized that the arrows were somehow following him. "Magic arrows. It's never simple, is it?" Whirling around, Silver sliced two of the arrows in half with his swords. They lost their glow and fell harmlessly to the ground. The third arrow grazed his cheek as it flew past his face. He quickly turned to watch the path of the third arrow. As he expected, it made an impossible turn and flew at him again. A grin formed on his face as he sheathed his swords and flew, with the arrow close behind. Despite his speed, he knew that it was only a matter of time before the projectile caught up with him. In fact, he was counting on it. Silver went into a steep dive, landing right beside the Equestrian leader. He could see a glimmer of confusion in her eyes as grabbed her in a tight bear hug. The confusion quickly turned to pain as the arrow that had been meant for him struck her instead, smashing through her ribcage and piercing her lung. Releasing his wounded opponent, Silver drew his swords and spoke coldly. "I do not know why you thought you could do this alone, but you must understand by now that you are outmatched. Surrender now, or die. I will not ask again."
The hooded mare laughed as she looked at the blade that Silver carried and the others slowly gathering around her, before looking at her kneecap to see the arrow and the several arrows in her ripcage, which strangely popped out from her chest. Laughing quietly and menaceling, she took her opponents of guard as a huge blast of wind pushed anything nearby her sailing, the wind technique also blown her hood off, now revealing the face of a light brown coated mare with a long yellow mane tied into a ponytail. "You underestimate me severely." Suddenly, she pointed her hoof towards the Republic encampment as a yellow light simular to her arrows was fired at the encampment, rocking the environment with an enormous explosion that wiped out half the camp within moments. Midnight decided enough was enough and flew at ferocious speeds and delivered a blow that would have shattered an entire mountain, only to find that his attack phased through her completely. The mare took advantage of this situation, finding the Alicorn prince defenceless as she returned the favour by delivering an uppercut that would have killed a normal pony followed with another shot of her beam that exploded on contact the moment Midnight was hit. The explosion then spread outwards to hit Silver and Robin. The mare slowly walked up towards the three heroes as her golden weapon transformed again, turning into two golden gauntlets that held several different coloured jewels. “The day I set my flag down, it would be over something I believe in. And I believe in Equestria.”
Silver used his wings to shield himself from the blast, and continued walking towards the enemy mare. He gestured towards to camp, and laughed. "Congratulations. You just destroyed a bunch of empty tents. Did you really think that you could take us by surprise?! The troops were under standing orders to evacuate the camp if it came under attack. You've been fighting the rear guard. The real army is already well beyond your reach." He looked the mare in the eyes. He knew a patriot when he saw one. It was unfortunate that the Equestria she fought for no longer existed. "You believe in Equestria? So do I. That's why I've spent my entire life fighting to make sure it is ruled by a princess that deserves her crown. Luna has made mistakes in the past, but she is a fair and just ruler. Can you say the same of the Phoenix Queen?"
The mare paused before responding. The Equestria she was raised in, born in and taught in was starting to crumble like a snake eating it's own tail. She knew only the Equestrian Empire's law, and knew of little alternate history from before Celestia took complete power 176 years ago and transformed the kingdom into the Empire it became, and once was. Even if she surrendered, she already killed Crimson and Ocean, in which her cooperation between her and the republic would swiftly end her with her being hung. She lowered her gauntlets as they disappeared and surrendered herself. "I received orders to kill your friends, the ones that the queen told me were Crimson and Ocean. They are actually dead, but they can be resurrected by the Prince over there. It see- " Midnight pointed his hoof towards the mare as she struggled for breath while being lifted off the ground slowly. Midnight's eyes were a different colour and glowed much brighter then what is usually common with him. It seemed like He was returning. The Mare tried to plead with Midnight as she looked at the soldiers shocked faces behind them. Midnight's grasp got tighter until the mare's face started to turn red and her eyes started to water. Midnight’s much darker side was coming out, it seemed Plague could be returning.
