44- Set
The entirety of the invasion force in and around Canterlot waited, counting each passing second. The shields were up on both sides. Prayers to Panar and Celestia were whispered. Squad leaders made last second checks.
The rapid BANG BANG BANG of the fireballs pelting the Equestrian shield never let up, always reminding the Equestrians just what they were facing; doom. Once the shield fell, there would be no sortie out. There would be no heroic charge by the defenders to take the fight away from the city. The defenders were hunkered down in what defenses they had, and they would have to be dragged out, or burned out.
Crossbow bolt tips peaked out of murder holes. Ballistae meant for slaughtering great dragons were lowered to be level with the changelings forces, and springs were pulled down as massive spears were loaded onto the slide and pulled back. Unicorn anti-air teams took positions in the towers ringing their gleaming city, ready to engage the invaders. Pegasi lined up in formation, ready to intercept any targets that charged the defensive emplacements, and to engage foes that had made it all the way to the walls.
The changelings waited, like a beast stalking its prey, prowling at the treeline.
The ponies stood unwavering, resolute in their oaths to protect their city and Princesses. They stood ready to fend off the foreign, cloaked invaders. When the Battle for Canterlot would start, they would fight with every last breath.
But the Battle for Canterlot did not start on the Promised Day. On the contrary, the changelings had no intention of fighting fair, and had been at war with an oblivious enemy for quite some time. The Tenth Legion, Underhive Scarabs, had established a forward base within the crystals caves, and from that they sabotaged the springs of the ballistae, sapped the power from shield enchantments placed on the fortifications, and created accurate layouts of the defenses, which were then distributed to the attacking force.
Even now the entirety of the specialist legion, a few hundred changelings strong, waited patiently for the shield to drop, only on the inside of the shield. They waited in alleys, in near-empty drinking halls, in shops, and parks. They waited just behind the Canterlot outer defenses, waiting for the shield to drop and for their greatest duty to begin.
Between a hammer and an anvil, the Equestrian defenses would be shattered, swiftly and brutally.
The Equestrians were expecting a pitched battle, where force would clash against force. Where heroes would emerge from the battle, as strong and courageous as the tales of yore. A gentlemare’s war, with no real idea of just how high the stakes were.
The changelings merely counted the moments passing. They had waited their entire lives for this, and were willing to wait just a few minutes more.
‘How many seconds of time are in eternity?’
I looked to my side. Oestridae was with me. Chamberlain Eucharis had fallen to the rearguard, where the majority of the Chosen Conquerors were. It was his duty as nominal Captain of the Twelfth to lead them.
“Oest…. What happens when we die?”
“Hmm?”
“When we die. What happens to us? Is there a paradise waiting? Judgement?”
“Dunno.”
“What do the teachings of Panar say?”
“A changeling who gives everything to the hive ascends above The Great Tapestry, to the realm of The Six Halls. A changeling who lives for themselves, is cast off The Great Tapestry.”
–A field of white petaled flowers–
A shiver went up my spine.
“And beneath The Great Tapestry is…?”
“No one knows. No one wants to know.”
Our conversation lulled, and I looked up to the moon. That’s when I noticed the craters and seas that formed the so-called Mare in The Moon had vanished. Now, it lacked any of the black patches that formed its seas.
‘The cretin moon no more is howling, gone its mourning black. Nightmare Moon walks Equus.’
“What about reincarnation?”
I heard Oest’s armor clink as he turned his head to me.
“Reincarnation?”
“What if, beyond everything, there is a new life? A new world?”
“I suppose anything’s poss–” Oestridae cut himself off with a sharp intake of breath.
Ahead of us, the pink shield that was maintained by Captain Shining Armor flickered out of existence.
“And so it begins.”
The barrage of enlarged fireballs coming from Panar’s Hammer ceased, though the ones still in flight hit the great pony city, causing untold damage to the houses, shops, parks, and infrastructure.
‘We’ll fix that later.’
Now that the shield was gone, I could see the city of this world’s desire far clearer.
It was a four tiered behemoth, each layer a concentric ring. I could pick out white stone, greenery, rivers, and an offensive amount of purple in the metropolis.
The lower tier held the manufacturing districts, as well as transportation in the form of the rail yard close to the front of the city. The middle tier held the shops, homes, and many of the parks in Canterlot. It was by far the largest section, bigger than the other three sections combined. The upper tier held the lavish pony estates, foppish shops and restaurants, as well as buildings and complexes dedicated to the running of Canterlot and Equestria as a whole. I heard there were also schools and universities there, though I could not spy them from our locations.
Finally, standing tall in alabaster white chiseled stone, Canterlot Castle towered over its city. Its towers, walls, and ramparts like a panopticon, ever present and watching, no matter how far away from the center of the city you were. I saw banners of purple and gold flapping in the wind, atop the tallest towers of the keep. The sprawling compound also seemed to be home to the biggest garden in the entire city, complete with a hedge maze.
A bolt of lightning zapped the shield in front of me, just a few hooves in ahead, snapping my attention back to the siege.
I didn’t bellow an order to hold. The Legions knew the plan, they knew what to do. As the Equestrians started opening fire, crossbow bolts, ballistae shots, and all kinds of spells ranging from focused-will laser beams to classical elemental projectiles, the changelings did nothing but hold the line.
Some shields at the front started to falter, the combination of attacks starting to wear down the casters as they constantly cycled through the different key combinations of defenses to counter the projectiles and spells they saw coming their way.
To stop this, changelings fell back out of formation as new casters took their places, taking the burden of maintaining the shields. This went on for a minute at most, yet the rapid pace action made each second feel like their own period of time, marked with events that stuck out in memory.
The Equestrians were throwing everything they had at the fangs of the monster closing in for the kill. They had no idea the lower jaw was rapidly snapping up to tear into them.
The flashes of light and lessened rain of blows against us were all the signals I needed to know the next phase of the invasion had occurred; the attacks from within, against the relatively unprotected backside of the defenses.
Now, it was finally time to join the battle.
"LEGIONS! CHARGE!"
The legionaries gave a rallying cry as the forward X formations started the rapid advance to the outer Canterlot defenders.
Around me, changelings surged forward in flight. Oest flew by my side, and a group of changelings started to gather immediately behind me. The Will of The Nine would be sticking close to me throughout the battle up until the Princesses are taken out.
Though until there was a threat that actually warranted my attention, I would be sitting safe in the back lines. I almost looked longingly at my hammer which I had slung over a shoulder, but I knew I would get to use it eventually.
Corporal Solar Vision ducked back into cover after he finished firing a salvo of fire bolts at the green shields of the hostile forces outside.
Nopony knew where they came from, why there were here, or even what they were! Somehow, an entire army made its way to Canterlot with nopony knowing, not even the Princesses!
Solar Vision looked to his left and right; Private Cold Comet, a white coat blue mane unicorn, and Corporal Shining Star, a golden yellow coat red mane unicorn, were peeking out from behind their parapets and were in the middle of letting off their own attacks. He watched as Cold prepared a particularly brutal looking Ice Tempest spell, the small icicles spinning rapidly in the forming cyclone.
Solar peaked out from behind his thick stone parapet to watch the fast moving spell construct zip across the open air, only to shatter harmlessly against the shield closest to his squad’s position.
‘By the sun, how are we not even breaking a single shield?!’
He knew that these spells would normally drain the mana reserves of an opposing unicorn maintaining the shield quite effectively. Yet with so many teams of Royal Guard throwing everything they had, there was nothing to show for it.
“Star!” Solar called out after getting back behind his cover. The unicorn in question finished his barrage and retreated to his own cover, before answering Solar.
“What?!” Shining Star yelled over the deafening sound of the spells
“Nothing we’re doing is working!”
“You just noticed that?!”
Solar shook his head. “We need to do something different!”
“What do you suggest?!”
“Firefly’s Pillar of Flame!”
Shining Star stared at Solar for a moment, before yelling at him.
“Are you outta your mind? We haven’t managed a single successful cast of it yet!”
“This time will be the one! I know it!”
Shining muttered something that Solar didn’t pickup over loud shouting and spell casting. Then, Solar turned to his other side and waved to get Private Cold Comet’s attention.
“I need you to switch off of cold spells! Me and Shining Star are going to dual cast a fire spell together, cold will interfere more with our channeling!”
“Shining Star and I!” Was all the Private said, before switching to casting lightning based spells. If Solar ever needed a reminder that Cold Comet was here only for a Canterlot University scholarship, Cold was more than happy to supply him with one.
Rolling his eyes, Solar turned back around to face Shining. Shining had taken off his golden Royal Guard helmet, letting his long red mane flow freely in the low wind.
“You ready?!”
“As I’ll ever be!”
Solar Vision took a deep breath, and started forming the constructs and pathways by channeling mana through his horn. He slowly built up half of a cylinder made out of the complex formations in his mind, trusting Shining to complete the other half. Here and there, he even let channels end abruptly, spilling their contents into the open air. Solar had to, as those were where Shining would connect his own channels, linking the two halves of the spell construct together.
A single mistake on either of their parts would cause the entire structure to fail, inflicting serious damage to both of them. That would mean neither of them could cast anything to protect themselves– or continue firing at the invaders– until they could recover.
“Done! Aim it!” Shining called out from the other side of the spell.
Solar Vision opened his eyes, not realizing he closed them to help him concentrate. There was a gold and orange swirling mass of dots between them. As he concentrated on holding the spell, Solar couldn’t help but stare at the nascent spell, giddy with happiness that he and his friend finally managed to pull off the group casting.
‘Right, enemies!’
He leaned out from behind the parapet to look out over the enemies. There were two shields close enough to hit, one right in front of their section of the wall, and one on the left within range. Solar Vision was about to direct the spell to hit the shield in front of him when he spied a silhouette of a larger invader behind the shield on the left.
‘Whoah, that’s one big pony! I bet they’re important!’
Switching targets, Solar finished casting the targeting matrix, completing the spell.
“Loose on my mark!”
“Ready!”
“Three! Two! One! M–”
A searing burning pain in Solar’s horn wrenched him away from the crenel in front of him, sending him onto his back as he clutched the base of his horn with two hooves.
‘Ponyfeathers! We had it! What went wrong?!’
“Shining!” He managed to hiss out, squinting an eye in his direction. Corporal Shining Star was on the ground, not moving.
“S-Shining?!”
Solar saw Shining’s prone form twitching on the ground. Solar started to drag himself over to Shining’s prone body, eyes blurring from tears as his horn seemed to burn a hole in his head. Shining was only four hooves away, but it felt like Solar was crawling for a solid hour before he reached him. Solar Vision pushed Shining’s helmet out of the way on the ground as he got to him, and tried shaking him.
“Shining Star! Get up! Please!”
Something was wrong. It took Solar a moment to realize that it had become considerably quieter.
‘We’re right in between the 103rd and 106th, but I don’t hear them casting spells. What happened?!’
Solar got an answer to the question he asked, as well as the one he didn’t ask. The same thing that happened to the other two squads had happened to his, he was just the last pony standing.
When rolled to his side to look at Private Comet, he saw him slouched over against the parapet he was behind. Standing next to the private was some sneering thing, all covered in black and staring right at–
Oest and I watched as changelings swarmed over the ponies, dozens of stunning spells zipping through the air at any given moment. It took only a few minutes for the deluge of hostile fire upon us to cease, lessening at first before halting all together. The defenders, at least those still standing, were using everything they had in a vain attempt to stop their imminent defeat.
Here and there, squads of changelings were starting to break away from the engagement, flying deeper into the city now that their targets were dealt with.
“My Prince!”
I turned to the changeling calling me, “Yes?”
“The advance teams report the outer defenses of Canterlot have fallen below effectiveness, and are ready to move into Lower Canterlot!”
I eyed the city ahead of us. The fires were spreading at an alarming rate.
“Give them the go-ahead to pursue targets at their own initiative, but emphasize the need to extinguish the out-of-control fires. We need Canterlot intact.”
The changeling saluted and flew off.
“Alright Oest, let’s go find Princess Cadence and get her autograph.”
Princess Cadence’s last known location was Canterlot Castle, which meant I would run into and have to talk with… her.
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God, reading every one of these chapters is making me so tense splitting the Siege of Canterlot into so many chapters was either pure evil or pure genius. Perhaps both.
I love the new cover art. He's just smiling with a smug grin as canterlot burns behind him as if saying "you mad bro?"
One thing I love about this story is googling up the chapter names. It continuously amazes me how appropriate they are. In this case, Set is the Ancient Egyptian god for "deserts, storms, disorder, violence, and foreigners".
Awesome chapter! I can feel the climax drawing closer, and I'm giddy with anticipation!
Also, I think you meant "stories" here.
whow this is getting tense, nice battlewriting :D
10638480
Nah, sortie as in "an attack made by troops coming out from a position of defense"
I'm sure there are eleven different errors somewhere in the chapter, though.
10638480
I disagree, I believe that KKSlider has used the right word. According to Google, a sortie is "an attack made by troops coming out from a position of defense". In this case, Phasma means that the Canterlot guard won't be able to counterattack or put up any real defense at all.
10638504
Aah, okay. I never heard of that word before. Not even back in school yet and I'm already learning new things!
10638480
Nope, just an obscure term. Well, not that obscure, seeing as I'd heard it before and only looked it up for the sake of the link, but still.
10638459
You clearly have at least four.
This is what happens when an army that does "the gentleman's war" meets an army of "anything to win." Even if Equestria was kept modern and competent i doubt the effect would be different; might take another minute though...
10638535
Ponies are lucky that they are needed alive and don't have to die for Changelings to win.
But if it was the opposite, then ponies are lucky that Phasma doesn't know how to create killing gas for example.
Well, he probably would figure out mustard gas anyway if it was needed. Maybe even made from changelings goop to make them invulnerable to it
This has been a great chapter and story as a whole! we saw his development and now we are seeing the fruits of his labor. I just get this nagging feeling that the confrontation won't go the way he expects it... Having said that I AM very intrigued to see how that goes!
also,
10638632
why did you post 7 individual comments instead of just one long one? I hope I don't sound rude saying such and you do you but I question your methods.
Just nine more likes and you'll hit 1,000! 🎉
📣
Nice story so far! Sorry I avoided it for so long but I thought the reincarnated person was a Star Wars character. Boy do I feel stupid. I really hope Thorax finds that alternative feeding method he found in canon that Phasma wants.
Amazing fight. Brilliant trill of battle.
They better stop the fires... Canterlot is a great base of operation plus there Pony food will die to fire and smoke if they dont get the flames under control.
Propaganda pictures Canterlot on fire via illusions is a great idea but losing the city would screw ponys and Changelings equaly over...
10638415
Agreed. Best kind of evil
10638416
Yep but i hope its a propaganda made via illusions. Losing Canterlot would ruine a lot of things for example:
- Nightmaremoon mood, capitol is needed
- Killing pony and Changelings via fire & smoke
- Destroying materials raw and refined
- Books. Save the library! All the spells and lore!!!
- Phasmodias chance to keep his record clean of casual property destruction
10638459
You just contradicted yourself
10638471
Got to love this deep themes
10638525
10638535
Be fair... 2 hole minutes
10638687
Check & mate
10638808
I can see why it might seem the main character might be a star war character with the name phasma.
10638875
Phasma is the Nickname his friends give him.
His actual name is Phasmatodea .
10638897
*Phasmatodea
10638940
O crap! Your right
10638552
It would be incredibly easy using only high-school biology and physics. Nothing as fancy as mustard gas though...
He has all the materials he needs in the air. Oxygen is flammable, a lack of oxygen is suffocating. A conventional bomb is made by making and gathering combustible materials together. A series of shields in the air to comb out the oxygen and use that much purer oxygen as an accelerent. What gives a bomb range is the air pressure. That is why frag grenades work; the sudden explosion of air carries the shrapnel to the targets. Now this is chemically assisted by real explosives but large quantities of pressurized air with rapidly displace the normal air and carry fire/shrapnel. You won't approach the yields of explosives but oxygen can work as light incendiary weapons.
But that's not all! The left over atmosphere is now oxygenless; effectively a CO cloud (depending on what's in the air it might just be that). Depending on wind conditions, indoors or outdoors you won't necessarily kill anyone with it. However it is odorless, invisible and fast acting. Or you might kill yourself too if indoors. The problems i see are all engineering ones; safe manufacture, a valve to allow air in but not out and a delivery system that still allows it to work. Oxygen isn't an explosive and if the grenade is too sturdy you might only succeed in puncturing a small hole creating a flaming, spinning ball; a good distraction, hazardous even, but not the lethality i would aim for.
The best i can think of is a two ling unit. One handles the barriers that he compresses while the other forms a hollow orb out of slim around the compressed barriers. As long as the pressure doesn't overwhelm the orbs you have done it. Hopefully they are easy to break when you want them to. Failure is an easy to clean mess; leave the room and circulate the air. Too much oxygen can cause oxygen poisoning so both materials will kill you. Without good ventilation the room will be unusable for awhile.
The excitement builds ever greater...
You got a 1000 like congratulations🎉🎉
10638866
I now one particular pony that would love to mate with our favorite prince
10639308
Its the time of the first episode of MLP your mind is of a event after season 2.
10639314
If that would be so simple the invasion and use of a hivepopulation wide attack wouldnt be needed. Foalnapping Cadance would be simpler...
10639315
??? What? Were did you read that as established lore?
In the blog? Havent checked it... Yet.
Or is that a personal theory?
Can you top spamming? Chain your messages. You can also edit old ones! Dont get surprised if you receive a penalty for this behavior. Technical difficultys do to playstation keyboard is no excuse to blatantly ignore community and Authors comment sections guidelines!
Have a good day.
10639315
Alright, this is just spam at this point. Please limit your comments as much as you can. I understand wanting to post a comment multiple times, but this is ridiculous.
If you have a lot to say, please edit a comment to include everything, rather than posting 17 comments separately.
Ah Congratulations on hitting one thousand likes!
10639339
There’s no such thing as a comment that’s too big. Don’t split your comments.
I personally can understand difficulty in editing previous comments especially on mobile, but you have to make an effort for the sake of those trying to read comments.
Now onto the battle with Princess of Food. Man you're doing a great job, nowadays there is just a little bit of good stories around Fim and this one is great! Keep up the good work
Excellent chapter!
Hmmm how will it play out?
10639393
What you're doing is annoying everyone else, and as such there are rules against doing it. Do we need to bring a mod in here?
When a bird that sharpens its beak on a diamond mountain every day has worn the entire mountain to dust, the first second of eternity will have passed. ;)
Yessss hype
10638415
I just figured this bit of calm would be nice before things start getting really tense
10640711
Hey, I have a weird question. So, earlier we saw Bug Mom singing the beginning of "Dark of the Night". Does that mean this universe operates on spontaneous musical logic, or is Chrysalis just a big fan of hearing her own voice? Or both?
10640797
Both, but I won't be including any original songs nor any copyrighted ones. Basically, no songs in general other than a few references. None of you want to see me trying to write song lyrics.
Too easy...
*its
Nice, and obscure SCP reference. A stallion of culture.
Celestia let the military grow weak, really her fault how easy the Changelings steamroll Equestria.
I guess once the Storm King (Yeti ruler) comes for Equestria, he will no longer have any easy run.
Matter of facts could Phasmatodea free his Empire and gain major Harvesting grounds for the Hive ♡
That last backstab attack was particularly timely!
Still, one has to wonder if he had gotten the shot off, would it have been as effective as he hoped?
Phasma ask for a Autograph and gets:
From Cadance to Phasma ♤
He hoped for a ♡ at the end, perhaps next invasion
11595275
A question we never get answered, but we later learn of something that makes it unlikely.
10826497
The organization that tipped of the Equestrian military at Canterlot?
10651716
The Element of surprise is a huge force multitude that can not be overstated.
Equestria was at best prepared for Barbarians that are badly trained and equipment that was besrly holding together.
Instead they get spec black ops levels of opposition.
It's like a adult steamroller teenager at best, children at worst.
Also once the surprise is lost, Changeling kind is at a very hard disadvantage by population numbers alone!
Just like Pear Harbor was a magnificent victory for the sun empire, so do the waking of the beast will eventually come at a cost.
Even if Changeling get all of Equestria to surrender...
Griffons, Yak, the Crystal Empire, Discord, the Stirm King army... yeah... no matter what, they are as a extreme disadvantage.