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[Attack!] The Spire Burns (Open)


SteelEagle

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For a moment, Bulk didn't know whether to be relieved or filled with dread. When the guards announced that Twilight was alive, he breathed a sigh of relief, but when they dragged her unconscious form to the vault, opening it with her limp hooves, he steeled himself, prepared for these caribou to suddenly decide they weren't worth keeping in one piece any longer.

So it was actually a relief when the vault suddenly exploded.

Shielding his face with a hoof, he looked back to find the ranks of caribou reeling, the guards acting on behalf of Sombra's minions doing exactly as told, attacking the caribou in their disarray, which conveniently was to the aid of everyone else as well. Now this was more like it.

Bulk's muscles flexed, veins popped in his forelegs, his body tensing as he uttered a hearty "YEAH!" ready to leap at the nearest caribou and introduce them to his two best features.

But then, enough of the smoke from the blast cleared out of the gaping hole in the side of the building, so that Bulk could see beyond the horde of landed caribou to their airship, aflame and gradually sinking to the ground below. As he and several other caribou hastily abandoned ship onto the wide open edge of the crystal spire's now much more airy floor he grinned and found a chance. Hoping to take advantage of their trying to stay on something solid, he charged the lot of them at his highest speed, opening his forelegs wide at the last second, trying to catch the lot of them unawares and bowl them off the edge, intent on going with them if need be, as he had something they didn't... wings that would keep him from joining them on their one-way trip to the ground below.

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When Java finally decided to speak up, and shout for everypony to stand down, Ice Storm immediately turned to him. Was he with them now? He spoke of his name and his honor, and how he didn't want to abandon the fight. He pointed to the ponies that were cowered in the corner who didn't want to, or couldn't fight. Instead of being curled in a corner, and instead of him wasting her time, and everyone else's trying to not only lecture them, but give their enemies an opening to come after them, This stallion could have started leading these ponies to safety or do something to get them out of this room. Rose had made a hole in the floor, there were ways out of the spire from here. When he pointed at the ship that was outside and how it had positioned itself to fire upon the spire itself. Ice understood where he was coming from, but only slightly. It was already much to late to not resort to violence. They had killed one of their princesses, and he was going to turn his back and give them what they wanted?

"So... you're suggesting that we should give him the key to the vault, only so that he can lie to us by saying he's going to leave afterwards, and then killing us anyway because he's a Viking because they don't leave survivors?" she started her counter argument before the Jarl began speaking again, only confirming what she had just said. Of course he was going to tell the stallion that they would just take payment and leave. Did he honestly think that the Jarl was going to come out and say, "Yeah, it doesn't matter if you give me the key or not, I'm still going to have my army kill you regardless because that's what we do."? She didn't find the logic in his idea.

All of that went out the window though when a goldenrod colored pegasi entered the room carrying the body of Twilight and approached the Jarl. It took ever fiber of restraint to stop herself from charging at the traitor right then an there as he presented her body to this thing. Once again, of course he would proclaim that the princess was alive. However, he made it apparent that it would be easy to snap her in two, a comment that lead her to believe she was actually alive. She watched the other fiery mare began to make her way towards, the one that proclaimed "Hail Sombra" as the door began to open. Ice Storm wanted to do something to keep the door open, but as soon as she thought of anything, the Jarl placed Twilight's hoof into the vault and it immediately began to glow. With only a few moments to react as energy surged through the vault before it exploded, sending many of the caribou flying, impaling them with shrapnel. She presumed them dead or dying and would no longer be a thread. She did not see the condition of the Jarl, but she did see the flagship beginning to fall. They're primary offense was taken out... Now was the time to act.

Java was right about one thing. They needed to get the ponies who couldn't or wouldn't fight out of here. Only one way to secure that happened., with a quick turn, and a block of ice hurling towards the doors, she managed to dislodge on of them, forcing it open. While she knew that she had no real authority to take charge, they needed a plan. She looked around and tried to estimate what their best option was. She knew Rose could fight well enough, she always had a knack for breaking things, so she figured breaking caribou would be easy for her. She didn't know about anypony else in the room, but she one thing she did know, was they were trying to get out of a tight area where they could easily have ponies get picked off. She also knew that she was most likely the best option to lead them to safety rather than fight in this battle. The white muscly one had already begun fighting some of the caribou, hopefully giving enough of a distraction to give them an opening. She knew that she didn't really have any authority here. She wasn't a guard, but things needed to be done.

"Rose, you and the grey one," she said pointing to Maude, "take care of the Jarl and try to hold him and the Caribou off of us. Java, you were right about trying to get everypony else out of her. If you and Pressy could please round up everypony who cannot fight and follow me. I will get us out of here. Frostlace, Our ice magic is the best line of defense of making sure these ponies get out alive, I would really appreciate you helping me getting them out of here, while the ones who wish to fight the Jarl and those here keep them busy. If the fight is still occurring after we've gotten everypony to safety that we needed to, I will be back to help with the fight. I know I'm in no position to give any sort of orders, but please, we don't have a lot of time. We don't even know how sturdy this place even still is!" Ice said rushing over to Twilight and lifting her unconscious form on her back. All it took was one ill-placed weapon or hoof and they wouldn't be wondering about the fate of the princess. She also made a mental note to apologize to Java after this mess was over with for going off on him prior to the explosion. However, now because of that explosion, they had no idea what the structural integrity of this building even was.

She took a quick look around the room once more and tried to gauge the best way to get to the door from where she was. One thing that was a plus, she could feel Twilight breathing very slightly against her, signaling she was in fact, still very much alive. She looked back to the others. "Everypony who's coming with me, let's go!" she said as she started running towards the door trying both to avoid caribou without losing Twilight off of her back. She promptly started using her magic to make shields around her that would deflect weapons enough to allow her through, although one of the spears did graze across her side. Making true to the Jarl's word, it went straight through the ice armor she had on and left a small cut on her side, thankful the armor absorbed as much as it did. That was the last thing that she wanted, and right now, she was fairly sure, herself and whomever was going to go with her was Twilight's chance of getting out of this alive with the guards having apparently been corrupted. The could not afford to lose a princess, and Ice Storm was ready to make sure that didn't happen through any means necessary. Once she was at the door, she increased the density of her armor making it quite a bit heavier as she waited for those to join her.

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The evident leader of the literal party crashers said some words to Maud as he deflected her projectile attack but Maud didn't acknowledge. Instead she paid attention to how he moved. He was fast and had in him a great strength. He was likely a real match for her, though she had confidence the strength in her was greater. The problem was in controlling her environment and minimizing the damage done by he and those who fought with him.

The situation seemed to in all be poorly controlled. Maud decided to remain quiet for a moment, standing stark and still, watching the events as they unfolded, focused perhaps more on the environment than the ponies within it. Like a chemical agent changing sedimentary to metamorphic, a new element needed to be introduced before they stood a chance of beating back this threat without the entire palace crumbling down around them.

That something came when the leader finally opened the vault he had sought to open and found explosives waiting inside for his mind. This evened things out quite a bit, even as guards serving Sombra appeared in greater numbers. She moved toward the other ponies, listening to the things she said.

A unicorn mare suggested joining up with the caribou against the guards but Maud did not see this as a good idea. "It is more difficult, but I believe the correct path is the opposite," she said. "There is a strangeness reflected in the guardponies eyes. I do not think they are doing this of their own will. If we could find a way to break their spell...."

Her attention was drawn then to a blue unicorn mare who had been attacking with ice. She gave a very slight nod to the words, but at the final few she decided to interject a comment. "I know the likely structural integrity of this palace. It's all in the notes I took earlier today..." she said in response to her saying how they didn't know the sturdiness. "But it would do little good for me to explain in detail..."

She looked to Rose and nodded. She didn't know how strong this mare was, but she had a similar air about her to Maud. She was sure that together they could do much. "Let's do what we can..." she said in a low voice and then started to walk slowly toward the Jarl.

A pair of viking warriors approached to intercept her. One was massive, and swung at her with his axed. She dodged the blow with a well timed jump and then grabbed the sides of his head with her hooves. With great might she then slammed the bull caribou's head into a piece of gemstone, denting his helmet and concussing him instantly. She then turned just in time to see the other warrior swinging at her with a sword.
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There was a whole world of silence that greeted the Jarl after the Vault opened. A quick flash of fire and then he couldn't see or taste a thing. One second he was staring at what he could only now realize was a weapon, and the next second, he was outside of the Spire hanging on by one of the moorings the ship had been using to stay teethered to the Spire. The explosion had ripped them from the sides of the building and more important had torn apart the ship, which was now starting to list. Some bodies fell out of it as did some ammunition for the guns, which themselves started to shake out of their positions and topple end over end to the city below. That would take some explaining to the clan chief but there were many ships where that came from. The loss of some crew would hit a little closer, but the glory he would receive from this operation was enough. Many would flock to his banner. All the Jarl had to do was survive.

There were several others clinging to the mooring, including two in front of the Jarl. The top was his Housecarl Bryti, who was falling- and as she passed the Jarl, was caught. Unlike some of the others, she was a member of his inner circle and was high quality. Worth saving. “Bryti!” he bellowed with as much anger as worry, steadying his grip on her, “arm yourself!” she did so, the blood covering her eyes masking a sort of dazed blue expression. She nonetheless grasped her war axe, twirling it in mid-air with as much instinct as excitement, “when I throw you back up there, kill EVERYTHING that is not Caribou! For the clan!” He roared, with his great strength throwing her up and over the next caribou an towards the opening in the wall. She grabbed ahold and rolled into the room, which was a mess of sounds he distinctly remembered and enjoyed., Battle. Ha, finally.

He pulled himself up, the caribou in front of him rolling directly onto a patch of ice and slipping and sliding. Losing his footing, the caribou was set upon by four guards. The Jarl could guess as much based on seeing that same caribou falling out of the hole in the wall once more dragging all four brainwashed guards with him in a titanic embrace- wait, was that a pegasus, that large one to boot, that was pushing them all out? Ha! Talk about fun now. The Jarl finally brought himself over the edge and then with a huge tug pulled the others up, and it was a number game that he well aided. The explosion had either killed or removed from the field half of the available caribou. The ambush was one-sided to an extent as a result, though the guards were quickly discovering why the caribou were feared. Even with the ambush, for every one caribou who was being slain, three guards were going. A storm of sound and fury as the Jarl reconsidered his position and situation.

The blast had ruined his armor, which hung by tattered shreds. Much of his fur had been burnt off, leaving the deep-clan tattoos as the brightest color remaining on his body. His helmet was gone and his face bloodied, one eye partially closed. One antler was on fire for reasons he couldn't piece together. He only had his sword- no war axe, no spear, no javelin, no hoof-mounted bow. Maybe that was why the pair of guards who charged him considered him a good target. The first lunged with his spear, which quickly was taken by the Jarl and pulled it. The Guard lost all balance and fell forward, quickly losing his life when the Jarl plunged the sword through him. The second followed not a moment later, the tips of the the Jarl's burning antlers brushing up against the sword as the Jarl pulled his head down and then forward, impaling the second guard with the many tips of his antlers. The Jarl then raised the mare up on his antlers and then with a flick of his head sent her flying out of the room towards the city below. So now he had two spears. That was entertaining. But he only needed one.

He looked and saw Bryti having a spot of trouble. She had done her part as the small trail of bodies showed, but somepony had gotten a lucky bow shot into her back and now she was writhing in the ground as another guard made a move to try ad put her down for good. The Jarl threw one of the spears with great force, pinning the guard against a wall. Bryti got up and finished the guard off, pulling the spear out and propping herself up on it. As that happened, a group of caribou approached, looking a little shellshocked. “That Prince led us out. Do we have to kill him?” The Jarl shook his head and replied, “no. One good turn earns another. BUT FOR THE REST-” he bellowed out, “KILL EVERYTHING! CHHHHAAAAAAARRRRRGGGGEEEE!”

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Let's see.... this is... the third time? Yes... the third time Java had been knocked to the ground, after being flunged so many feet, and heard the world in silence. The third time something had exploded near him. At least it wasn't in his face this time. The concussive wave, and vacuum forces were the only things he felt. That was... ignoring the rocks and various sharp jagged bits that he landed on that managed to work it's way through his trench coat and into his hide. A minor flesh wound though, but something that would need to be checked for infection later.

He tossed about in daze. He was hoping that he'd have some time to regret his decisions, and sulk before this was all over. As he was probably going to be executed for high treason when, logically, he was choosing a kingdom over an object. Said object apparently being a bomb. So now, he has nothing really to show for.

He opened his eyes, and grumbled. His pupils were staring through scratched up lens with a few cracks and bits of metal sticking out of them. Goggles saved his eye sight once again! First against sky-pirates, second against Vikings!

The next bit he noticed... the brain washed guards were fighting the Caribou! So... his thoughts were correct anyways. That was about the fact that the two factions weren't entirely together. Not the fact that this would turn into the biggest scene of betrayal he has seen outside of a play.

Finally, his hearing began to return to him as he pushed himself up to his feet. A much more sour taste was in his mouth. His vision was clearer... but his preripherals were pretty much unnoticed. He felt his hearth thumping hard in his chest, and all the screams and yells were pretty much thrashing in his head.

Over the high of Adrenaline, he was seeing everything. Gaurds rushing in... getting slain. And slaying Caribou in the process. While... the Gaurds weren't necessary on their sides... they were brainwashed, and will be severely missed by many.

“KILL EVERYTHING! CHHHHAAAAAAARRRRRGGGGEEEE!”

And that was Java's cue to move quickly. His eyes quickly fell in front of himself as a Caribou was already hurtling in his direction. Instead of taking the risk and fighting against an actual trained soldier, the earth pony resorted to his wits. He bounded out of the way, and frantically danced around the field like a frolicing Zebra. Keeping his coat open wide to conceal his body.

The stallion was muttering a variety of swears as he kept twisting and hopping, avoiding the spear thrusts. And then eventually, he heard a ripping noise and a metalic screech. Spearhead had managed to sink his spear through the stallion's open trench coat. The diamond tip easily punched through the layers of lab protection. but the sphere had gone to wide, and completely missed it's intended target.

Not willing to pass up the opportunity, the stallion quickly twisted his body and darted to the side. The end of the spear had been caught inside the jacket, and wrenched free from Spearhead's grip. The stallion planted his fore hooves on the ground, and twisted his body around to deliver a hard apple buck to the aggressor's side, knocking him back and into a turned over table. Instead of finishing the job, he quickly bounded towards the group. The spear in his jacket's linings clattering madly with each bound he made.

Java, you were right about trying to get everypony else out of her. If you and Pressy could please round up everypony who cannot fight and follow me. I will get us out of here.

He didn't need to be told twice! That was for sure. He was already working on getting all of the startled little ponies off of their flanks and storming towards the door. Sure... he could have been nicer about it. But him screaming, "GET TO THE DOOR! NOW," on the second attempt got the message through better than his first attempt with him attempting to coax them up. In fact. He had nearly tripped over a cowering foal. Whom Java quickly snatched up with his teeth, and tossed to his mother's arms. And that... was when something went plowing into his side, and slamming him against the hard wall.

"Sonova..." he began in a daze. His eyes blinking the stars away to find himself now slumped against a wall on the ground. His head propped up, gazing up to a viking. No... the same Spearhead that had attempted to skewer him. A grin on his maw, and a axed raised high into the air with Java's name on it. The stallion bawked in surprise as the axe came down for his head. He closed his eyes and quickly shifted bis body to the right, he might have wet himself if he had anything to drink at all that night. He heard the axe plunk soundly mere centimeters away from where his head had been.

With his own life at stake, the stallion quickly opened his eyes and threw his hooves into the air. One hooked around the back of an antler, catching it by his leg's joint. The other went to lock with his fore-hoof as he proceeded to twist, and throw the stallion to the ground with newly found leverage. The struggle continued with a flurry of hooves from both parties. Java taking a number of blows and being pinned underneath the hulking viking. And as for Spearhead, now being refereed to as Axebuck, he too was taking a number of bruises as well. Though... his doesn't show as well as Java's, whom feels like bull rot at the moment. Well... to Java's credit, he had managed to roll the two over once more after a cheap jab to the side of the neck, striking a nerve. And then his jaws clamping around the other's neck, hoping to choke the struggling viking into unconsciousness.

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The stallion shot a glance to the towering mare. “We will be fine if this turns sour. And I promise you that Pressy will too.”

“Well…” the stallion began, as he tapped the side of his head. Forcing some soot out that had been clogging his ears. “We’re not going to the back. A. Because your cousin isn’t the type to back down. And nor am I. And… B. Severely outnumbered and skill beats raw power any day.”

“Java’s right, There’s no way we’re stayin’ behind the scenes while all the action goes on!” The painter Got to her hooves and looked as the caribou troops got themselves up as well. It seemed they were ready to get back into the fray as a few of the younger looking ones backed up in preparation for a running jump to cross the gap made by Pressy’s cousin. “Besides…” She began just as two of the bucks leapt into the air, arching for a moment before the painter’s horn lit up and soon the end of her tail did as well. Some strange magial swirls seemed to fill the air for a split second before Presteza spun in place, her tail whipping in a forward slicing motion and a powerful blast of wind sent the bulky brutes back to their friends, unharmed, save for a bruised ego. “I’ve been comin’ up with some new tricks lately.”

Soon there was a loud squeak that could be heard as a purple blur swooped overhead and dropped a wooden paintbrush over her head, which she caught with some telekinesis, “Fresco! Thanks, Pal!” The mare pointed back to the rest of the group,”You go help out the others! Just be careful!” The fruity little flyer swooped back to the battle with the jarl.

Fresco is available for anypony to use, in their post. He can cause a distraction and he’s a fast little guy!

There was shouting from Java, The red jarl, several other ponies and then another explosion. This one seemed to rattle the spire rather intensely, One particularly large piece of stone seemingly about to land on Pressy’s cousin, who retaliated by bucking the large piece of debris to bits, coughing once from the resulting dust cloud before she looked to a rapidly approaching Ice Storm with the princess on her back… she seemed to still be breathing.

"Everypony who's coming with me, let's go!".

He didn't need to be told twice! That was for sure. He was already working on getting all of the startled little ponies off of their flanks and storming towards the door. Sure... he could have been nicer about it. But him screaming, "GET TO THE DOOR! NOW," on the second attempt got the message through better than his first attempt with him attempting to coax them up. In fact. He had nearly tripped over a cowering foal. Whom Java quickly snatched up with his teeth, and tossed to his mother's arms. And that... was when something went plowing into his side, and slamming him against the hard wall.

With his own life at stake, the stallion quickly opened his eyes and threw his hooves into the air. One hooked around the back of an antler, catching it by his leg's joint. The other went to lock with his fore-hoof as he proceeded to twist, and throw the stallion to the ground with newly found leverage. The struggle continued with a flurry of hooves from both parties. Java taking a number of blows and being pinned underneath the hulking viking. And as for Spearhead, now being refered to as Axebuck, he too was taking a number of bruises as well. Though... his doesn't show as well as Java's, whom feels like bull rot at the moment. Well... to Java's credit, he had managed to roll the two over once more after a cheap jab to the side of the neck, striking a nerve. And then his jaws clamping around the other's neck, hoping to choke the struggling viking into unconsciousness.

Pressy could hardly hard herself back from hugging the unconscious princess but she decided against it. She wasn’t sure how badly she was injured so she waited to squeeze daylights out of her friend when she awoke and once the worst of this was over... and the end of this seemed far away as Java was dragged into a thrilling battle with one of the caribou. Wow! JAva had gotten a lot tougher than she remembered him being when he was younger... but the vikings had yet to bring out a giant building sized spider so it might be a bit early to jump to conclusions on how well he could handle himself. The painter carefully watched the battle, waiting for a chance to strike, slowly moving forward and as soon as Java had gotten the fighter distracted by his choking attempt Pressy's horn lit up and engulfed the athletic engineer before yanking him off, sending him tumbling back towards icy. Before the creature noticed who 'saved' his life he'd notice his breath growing shorter and shorter. A glaring young mare was conjuring up a small tornado over his head, the speed of the wind tearing the air from his lungs... if she wasn't stopped she may do something she'd thoroughly regret,but seeing how much damage these monsters had done to the empire, She kind of doubted she'd feel sorry for one of them.

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"Rose, you and the grey one," she said pointing to Maude, "take care of the Jarl and try to hold him and the Caribou off of us. Java, you were right about trying to get everypony else out of her. If you and Pressy could please round up everypony who cannot fight and follow me. I will get us out of here. Frostlace, Our ice magic is the best line of defense of making sure these ponies get out alive, I would really appreciate you helping me getting them out of here, while the ones who wish to fight the Jarl and those here keep them busy. If the fight is still occurring after we've gotten everypony to safety that we needed to, I will be back to help with the fight. I know I'm in no position to give any sort of orders, but please, we don't have a lot of time. We don't even know how sturdy this place even still is!" Ice said rushing over to Twilight and lifting her unconscious form on her back. All it took was one ill-placed weapon or hoof and they wouldn't be wondering about the fate of the princess. She also made a mental note to apologize to Java after this mess was over with for going off on him prior to the explosion. However, now because of that explosion, they had no idea what the structural integrity of this building even was.

From the look of building, Rose could only guess that it -might- not take another explosion like the last.This was only from a cursory glance however and was in no way to be taken as a fact.Looking at Icy, Rose looked at her with a fairly serious expression,”Make sure no harm comes to my cousin or her new… I don’t know what he is.” With that Rose stepped over next to her new ally in stoicism and daring and smiled just faintly...

She looked to Rose and nodded. She didn't know how strong this mare was, but she had a similar air about her to Maud. She was sure that together they could do much. "Let's do what we can..." she said in a low voice and then started to walk slowly toward the Jarl.

A pair of viking warriors approached to intercept her. One was massive, and swung at her with his axed. She dodged the blow with a well timed jump and then grabbed the sides of his head with her hooves. With great might she then slammed the bull caribou's head into a piece of gemstone, denting his helmet and concussing him instantly. She then turned just in time to see the other warrior swinging at her with a sword.

The demolition pony nodded, to reflect her seriousness. Rose took off her longcoat and left it on the floor, as well as her headphones and Trotmare. Just a quick look at the Jarl made it clear that he was no pushover. She’d need all her senses intact if she wanted to stand a chance against him or his horde. It felt kind of weird to have her jacket off after having worn it all day. The red maned pony joined with maud in her walk towards the jarl.

Rose was pretty happy to see how well her new friend could handle herself.She’d swiftly Knocked out one of the two guards that intercepted her path to their leader. She however left herself open to attack from the other one, With some good twitch reflexes, rose stood in front of maud and with a flash of her magic on one of her hooves she slammed a hoof on the flat of the buck’s blade. She’d only narrowly managed to touch the blade, that was enough though for her magic to take effect and have the blade turn to dust. The surprise of this gave Rose enough of an opening to Kick him in the chest, with her magic as well… To her surprise his armor didn’t bust apart. In a way she felt sort of insulted, but at least she could take pride in the fact the force behind the kick was purely physical and her own… and had sent the Viking staggering backwards. With another bit of quick thinking Rose tapped her hoof to the ground and created a hole behind her victim and then slammed it down forcefully to have the ground around the hole, fill up with the floor’s remains and leave the brute immobilized for a moment before he got a strong punch to the helmet that left him down for the count. “Please be careful, Maud.” She said flatly,”I don’t want to lose my new friend so soon.”

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The scene was quickly descending into further chaos. Before the icy blue mare’s plan had the chance to come to fruition, one stallion was yelling for them all to retreat as though they could do that without fighting. Yes, there were a lot of ponies too scared to fight. And running away was the best option? A true predator’s blood burned hot the moment its prey began to run, so those who could fight should come to the defence of those who couldn’t and provide them opportunity to escape, try to salvage the situation. Frostlace found herself frowning. No, she would not run. Her dedushka would roll in his grave if he knew his beloved granddaughter had turned tail and run away when a great foe threatened the peace of ponykind. Her determination only burned brighter when Princess Twilight was carried to the Jarl’s cursed vault. Imagine, her first time seeing the Princess and it was in a nightmare such as this! Frostlace was oozing fury.

The time to act was at hoof – or at least Frost thought it was. It seemed as though it was time for yet another explosion to level ponies to the floor. This time, though, the pale unicorn managed to keep her footing with a tight grimace. Something miraculous followed this explosion, though: half of the Viking forces had been wiped out and guards fighting under Sombra’s banner had turned on the caribou. Good. They would wipe each other out.

The blue mare’s speech pulled Frostlace out of her assessments, and immediately she felt herself torn in two. Protect the helpless or stay and continue to fight in the thick of the battle? The flat-voiced grey mare made an excellent point as well: the guards who were throwing themselves into battle for Sombra were not themselves. Traces of magic were etched into every facet of their expressions…it turned the hoar witch’s stomach to worms. That wasn’t right. As mindless servants to black magic they lacked any true sense of self-preservation, their lives were being wasted before their eyes.

Frostlace offered her fellow cold magic mare a pained expression and nodded, removing the knife from her mouth with a blue-gold glow of magic, “I will help you, brave friend. It hurts me to leave the thick of the battle, but the helpless must be shepherded to safety.”

The pale unicorn nodded to the two mares who were to stay behind, “You both have impressive might and skill. I trust you will end this Jarl and his assault and free the guards from Sombra’s magical snares. Do svidanya, brave friends. Now, my comrades, we must away!”

And with that, Frostlace took her knife in her teeth once more and followed after the blue mare, steeling herself for the oncoming battle. She heard the Jarl roar the command for slaughter as they made their way to the door, cursing to herself when she noticed her comrade getting hailed on with spears. The Stalliongrad mare gritted her teeth and watched the attackers who approached their group. Her ice magic was not so showy – it was subtle, clever. She watched the placement of hooves of two caribou coming from the right and immediately planted small patches of ice where they would step just in the nick of time. All those who tread on ice knew it well, but having it spring out of nowhere as you were charging was a little more difficult to deal with. The mare’s horn sizzled with arcane energies as she summoned a cold snap of wind behind the two; one kept her footing and readied himself to throw her spear, the second stumbled and fell forward, where a spike of ice popped up to greet his neck.

For the one who remained standing, Frostlace brought to life a clever little blade of ice and sent it flying at her eye. The viking dodged, but the unicorn summoned it back with magic and managed to slash across her foe’s forelegs and disarm her. It didn’t stop her, though. She pulled out a knife and advanced for one of the older fillies, who looked to be in her tween years.

“Nyet! Ustupat!” Frostlace roared. She leapt in front of the filly, turned, and bucked out at the caribou. This pretty little unicorn, after all, spent many of her workdays in shipyards and steel foundries, pumping bellows and doing hard physical labour. Her legs were no joke, and she smirked with satisfaction at the crunch that followed when her hoof caught the caribou in the jaw. Her smirk disappeared when her enemy’s knife slashed into her flank, though. As the caribou toppled back, unconscious, Frost lifted her knife into her arcane grip and nuzzled the filly reassuringly, gritting her teeth as they continued to press forward and hot lances of pain rushed from her leg up through her back.

Drat.

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Despite being reconditioned to serve King Sombra, Flash Sentry and his fellow guards apparently hadn’t been taught the finer points of combat tactics. They were suffering excessive losses against the remaining caribou, for even under insurmountable adversity, a battle-hardened warrior of Whitescar could outfight at least two run-of-the-mill volunteer soldiers and expect to come out on top. As for Flash himself, he was in no position to assist his brothers-in-arms as he alone lacked a weapon to fight with. His tasks of retrieving Princess Twilight and initiating the triple-cross ensured to that.

Speaking of nobility, Flash Sentry quickly encountered a new royal pain to grapple with. The clumsy Blueblood managed to land a lucky hit on the guard’s helmet with a wine bottle. That helmet of Flash’s helped immensely in softening the blow, but it was still enough force to send the pegasus reeling towards the ground. As his head collided with the wine-soaked floor, the armored combatant saw for a fleeting moment the images of a vile-looking changeling mare and a slimy cocoon, prompting feelings of sheer terror. And poor Flash, he couldn’t understand what all that meant.

Fortunately (or unfortunately), Flash Sentry’s sense of purpose returned as he caught from the corner of his eye a blue unicorn trying to run off with Twilight Sparkle. “The princess!” he snarled like a demon, for his mysterious masters had one last objective for the young stallion to accomplish. Princess Twilight must not be allowed to escape from the Spire, and must be captured or eliminated with extreme prejudice. A unholy fire awakened in the brainwashed guard, enabling him to swiftly get up and take to his wings in hot pursuit.

“Twilight Sparkle is MINE!!!” Nothing had better get in Flash Sentry’s way.....

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Sunrise sighed as the stallion seemed not to hear her, though another mare had, pointing out that the guards seemed to be in some sort of trance and were likely not acting under their own will. An ally as powerful as these caribou seemed to be would have been nice to have, but Maude was right that they should probably take care of the caribou. That point was only emphasized as the order came for the caribou to kill everything that wasn't one of them.

Soon enough, one charged at the coffee colored stallion, and by extension her, causing the two to have to split off in different directions. Luckily for her the ruffian decided to go after the stallion, and she skidded to a halt, turning back to the battle that was raging. The icy mares were leaving, taking the non-combatants with them, and Sunrise figured she should go as well, as the ones left looked like they could handle things without her.

Grabbing her dress and purse in her magic, she rushed out the door, catching the approaching pegasus out of the corner of her eye. Well, he was moving fast, and apparently was trying to get to Princess Twilight. Now that was something she wasn't going to allow. Whirling around, she used her magic and blasted him with a concussive force. She began walking backwards, peeking over her shoulder to see where she was going every now and then and preparing to blast the stallion again should he keep coming.

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The thread moved faster that I imagined, but let me see if I can catch up

The ensuing invasion shook Zecora to her core. It reminded her of a similar event, a Nightmare Night two years ago where all the laughter and fun turned dark as Queen Chrysalis and her changeling army attacked Ponyville. She fought bravely that night along with the others, and now it seemed she needed to fight again. The warriors clearly were fighting for the riches of the Empire a cowardice move to attack and to betray their employer. The Zebra was unsure if this truly was King Sombra, the dark creature that enslaved the Crystal ponies many years ago, who was pulling the strings or if it was somepony masquerading as the dark king. Before she could react, a twist occurred where another army was dispatched in anticipation of the caribou's betrayal. This one though was of guards sworn to protect but now were brainwashed.

"A mighty force descends I see, and with it a former enemy. But the matter has grown worse it is true as now certain friends are enemies too."

The battle had now turned so that the caribou fought ponies and possessed guards and the guards fought the caribou. Both were a threat, so Zecora focused on one single pony who led the guards.

“Twilight Sparkle is MINE!!!”

"Not if I can defeat you first, you that have been cursed! You may be strong with your little herd, but luckily I've come prepared!"

With that Zecora opened her saddlebag which she kept always handy in case a pony needed help. But she knew to also keep it stocked with non-lethal attack potions especially after facing Queen Chrysalis.she tossed a green bottle at Flash Sentry which depending on his reflexes would either hit him or smash on the ground. Either way would release a small powder cloud of itching powder which although wouldn't stop him would hopefully slow him down enough.

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Bulk ran fast as his rear legs would take him, bowling the two or three dazed caribou over the edge while still moving at full speed himself. Giving them an extra shove downwards to give some distance bewteen them and him, his wings started beating with the ferocity of a hummingbird, gradually slowing his descent, then finally propelling him upwards after he had gotten very close to the ground himself.

The odd caribou weren't the only thing that was falling from above, however. The listing airship was dumping out much of its own equipment by now, and Bulk had to dodge everything from personal weapons and bits of hull to the odd cannon plummeting to the ground. As he approached the sinking ship, though, the fate of the abandoned vessel, and its equipped weaponry, gave him an idea.

Bulk approached the ship from the far side, keeping it between him and the building for now, as he flew across the deck, entering the caribou airship from the gaping hole in its side. As he lightly kept his hooves on the deck, still using his wingpower to balance him on the unsteady vessel, he finally found what he was looking for. Before him was a deck full of cannon, aimed to the sides of the vessel. Beside each, stacks of cannonballs, and the heavy paper sacks of black powder charges.

Grabbing one of the charges, holding it under his foreleg, he lept from the ship and took full flight once more, rising back up to the level of the ballroom that still laid open to the air. As most of the caribou were busy facing the fleeing party guests, he smiled to himself, and took the charge, slitting it with his hoof slightly to reveal some of the black powder within. Hovering near the edge of the building, he drew his hoof back, and heaved the parcel of powder in the direction of the Jarl - and his flaming antler.

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Ice Storm watched as Java tried to round up some of the fillies and the other ponies in the room who shouldn't be here for a situation like this. Granted, no pony in their right mind would have ever planned for a situation like this to happen, so it made little sense to prepare for it. She had stopped just in front of the door to try to give the group of ponies a clearing to get through so she could hold off advancements from the others until they could get everypony out. Everything began to spiral out of control quickly. The guards were under the control of some sort of spell, which meant quite literally, she, and whatever ponies came with her that were capable of fighting were the only protection the princess had for the time being. The Caribou had been ordered to kill everything that wasn't one of them, A thought that disgusted her considering how many fillies and colts were still in the room.

In the process of rounding everypony up though, Java had gotten tangled up with some caribou before. Before she could do anything to react, the viking was on top of him and swinging wildly. "Java!" Even if she wanted to though, there was no way she could do anything right now other than stay where she was at maintaining a defensive front as the fillies, colts, and other non-combatants fled through the doors. Especially with the unconscious princess on her back, and she would use any means necessary to get the princess out of here alive. She knew that she hadn't teleported in a very long time, and the last time she did, was actually when Twilight was trying to help teach her how to control it better. She's never needed to use it though since then so she hadn't bothered. She knew that if she tried, it would probably knock her out, but as long as it got Twilight out of harms way, it would be worth it. Of course, right now, she still had a chance of getting Twilight out of here before things got that bad.

Thankfully, even though Ice was not able to lend any sort of assistance to Java given the circumstances, it seemed Pressy had that covered. It seemed that both the Grey one and Rose knew what the plan was as well, and she could see the death glare in Rose's eyes telling her to make sure nothing happened to Pressy. She gave a firm nod before she had to react quickly with a shield of Ice to keep and oncoming attacker from getting to her, copying what the Frost was doing, but leaving a portion of the ice raised for the impact of the head on the ground. Frostlace had agreed to come with her and help defend the once who couldn't. She was making good on her word as she was also helping guide the group of ponies out, but took what looked like a pretty nasty slice across her flank in the process, and it was enough to where she very easily looked pained by it. Although Icy's thankfulness of Pressy started fading quickly as she seemed to be heavily in a trance now with her wind magic. She watched as she appeared to be using some sort of advanced magic. She couldn't identify what it was doing, but it seemed to take much of her focus, and right now that was a bad thing.

Her own attention was shifted though as the guard that brought Twilight in was now charging after her, making it very clear his intentions to try to recapture Twilight. The fiery unicorn that she saw earlier fired a concussive blast at him, but a trained guard would be able to avoid that, and the Zebra was using something to try to cut him off, but she didn't trust either of those to work very well, with a look of pure determination on her face, her horn lit up with the pale blue aura that she emitted with her magic and stomped her hoof into the ground making Ice grow directly out of the crystal below creating a solid wall in front of him. A wall that easily two hooves thick and about a pony in height. It may not stop him, but it will definitely slow him down enough for her to make it out of the room and down one of the corridors before he could regain his composure and come after them.

The last thing that she noticed though, and the most disturbing thing that she noticed, was that the white, heavily muscled stallion was now launching explosives from the ship at the Jarl. "No! Dont!" she started to yell before it was already too late. She watched the charge leave the hooves of the stallion and she knew immediately it was time to go. "Everypony Out! NOW!" she yelled in response to the explosive being thrown. The Spire was already in bad enough condition, throwing more explosives, especally explosives to the caliber that Java had mentioned, was only going to weaken it more. The amount of time she had to get everypony out of the Spire was drastically shortened. Plus, with the ship itself listing and starting to move down, still being anchored to The Spire, it was only a matter of time before it pulled on the building as well, and she had little doubt that it doing so would definitely bring The Spire down.

She turned to Java whom Pressy had just saved. "Java!" she started. "Grab Pressy and get her this way. Frost, if your able to, Guard the back of the group, I'll protect the middle and the front by staying in the center of the crowd. now let's Go!" she said as she began moving herself through the ponies to the and they all began to make their way down the halls of the spire to find the best way out.

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For an instant, as Blueblood was staring into the wine-soaked face of Flash Sentry, he was almost certain he was looking at his own death. The next instant, he thought he saw a flash of sanity in the guard's face. And then the little tete-a-tete was broken off by Flash's roaring after Twilight Sparkle, and subsequent beatdown he got for his troubles, leaving the Prince to get shakily to his feet.

That he would actually have the time to do this was strange, but the mystery was cleared by the exchange between the Jarl and the caribou that had just escaped from the now-falling vessel, as the anchor chain, weakened by the stresses of fire and weight, was near to snapping. Apparently, having saved the life of some of the enemy, they would spare his in return. *Great, does that make me a traitor?*

In any case, it left him thoroughly confused as to what he was to do next. The charge of the caribout put them between him and the ponies, brainwashed or not. No line of retreat was behind him, and he'd just shattered his only weapon. Well, broken glass could still be used-

And then, over cracking and crashing of the falling ship, over the roars and clashes of battle came a strange noise.

PING-NG-ng...!!!

It was as if a giant chime had just been struck, a pure note, ringing and clear. It wasn't much louder than the noises surrounding it, but it resonated right through your hooves and rattled your teeth. Not currently fighting for his life, Prince Blueblood was able to look around for the source, and eventually found it running along the floor underneath him. A flaw in the great crystal floor; a crack, spawning spiderwebs with every blow of a warhammer and axe, with every thud of charging caribou hooves.

There was a great flash, and bang of ignited black powder, which cut through the noise for just half a second. Just enough time to render one last desperate warning. Sucking in his lungs, Blueblood summoned all his vocal power for one last cry. "CEASE FIGHTING, YOU BLOODY FOOLS! THE FLOOR IS CRACKING!" So was the Prince's voice; still more the salty sailor than the panicked royal, but a little of the latter was there, too. He summoned another breath for a follow-up, not quite so loud. "If that breaks, you'll all die, having gotten nothing! No gold... no glory..."

And that was that. He hadn't anymore of it left in him, and he could only hope that the evanescent respect he'd gained from the foe would make them stop and listen.

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Maud in all likelihood would have been able to handle the second viking as well. With her strength, it was a simple thing to block and disarm a foe. Regardless of that, to see Rose come to her aid did bring the hints of a smile to her face. Rose seemed quite strong, especially for a unicorn, and made short work of the other caribou. Maud looked at her.

"Thanks," she said simply. She had called her a new friend. Maud liked that thought. It was rare she ran into ponies who were willing to call her a friend, most off-put by her temperament. "I know my limits..." she added, "I will not put myself in unnecessary danger."

Maud noticed then as the absurdly muscled pegasus she had spied threw and explosive barrel right at the Jarl. She doubted it would kill one who moved as well as he did, but it was sure to damage the infrastructure of the palace even more. It made Maud realize that they needed to move quicker.

"Come, we have to stop their leader now, before too much more damage is done," she said, to Rose and then she ran right toward the Jarl, grabbing a blunt and heavy hunk of gemstone on the way. As the smoke from the explosive cleared, she threw the rock with incredible for right to where the Jarl had been standing, hoping to catch him off guard.

"You will not win. Give up," she said in monotone, as she stood before him, waiting to see how he had been affected.
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Thanks to her attackers, Frostlace now found herself at the rear of the retreating group of ponies. All for the best - they needed defensive efforts on both sides of the escapees and the pale mare was no less useful in her new position. She did her best to ignore the pain in her flank, and let out a hiss of frustration when all of a sudden some winged guardpony came crashing down after them screaming for the princess.

A fiery mare blasted him once and prepared to unleash her force on him again, a look of defiance about her. Frostlace grinned at the display, feeling a sense of pride over how fiercely those who were able were fighting. As her cold comrade joined the rear and erected a wall of ice, Frost shook her head. The guard after them was a pegasus, the icy one was wasting her reserves of magic by summoning that ice.

"Hvatit, darling, enough. Spare your magic. That will not do much against a pegasus and we are not in the clear yet. We must think our actions through now, these ponies need us-"

Frostlace was cut off by yet another boom! Oh dear...oh no. The Spire would not last through an attack such as this. Frost grimaced as their group readied for actions again, stepping closer to the non-combatants and placing a reassuring hoof on a little colt's head. She nodded to the mare she had dubbed Blue and and steeled herself for the push to safety once more, but felt a surge of panic as her comrade finished speaking, already surging forward.

"You cannot leave these ponies defenceless at the front, and you cannot protect them properly from the centre! You will not see all threats present if you are swallowed in the crowd! Do not underestimate this foe!"

Frostlace gritted her teeth. Blue was doing well to spur them into action, but how could she think she could properly protect these ponies from the front? It was foolish beyond measure! Caribou are able warriors, if any approached from the front then they would know how to make that advantage work and the blood of the helpless would be spilled. The pale unicorn turned to the stallion named Java.

"You, Java, I beg of you. Get this Pressy of yours and go to Blue's side, quickly! Take the princess off her hooves and protect her, in the centre of the group. I refuse to see the blood of these ponies spill. They need Blue at the front!"

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The glorious fighting was taking its toll on all sides, but once the fighting became less about ambushes and hidden secrets and more about who could smash and claw and kill the very best, the caribou were turning the tables. The guards were many but brainwashes guards were just as ineffective as the normal bunch and he'd fought the REA and REN enough to know just how pathetic physically a pony was. Now mentally they could be grand warriors, but there was a certain lack of hardness in their souls that the Red Jarl could take advantage of. Brainwashed they didn't even really have a soul and were more automatons. Took away that advantage. Oh well. Right before they passed the brainwashing would fade, leaving a very confused pony wondering why his or her life was bleeding out at the end of a caribou spear. Hopefully their last confused cries would pierce the hope of the others!

War was fun.

But what was less fun was that large pegasus throwing a bag of black powder at his flaming antlers. It was far too slow to pose a threat to him, however. He dodged it and the bag landed in a thud some ways away. Six brainwashed guards were in the midst of charging or flying towards the Jarl as it happened- a heavy commitment considering how close the guards were to being crushed in this battle. Well, this was a fortunate turn of events. Thank you muscles pegasus. The Red Jarl grabbed his antlers and pulled, tugged, and roared- and then with a snap, off came the flaming antlers. With a step of momentum he launched the antlers into the bag of black powder as the six guards were over it. The resultant explosion sounded like the end of days and it WAS as far as those six guards were concerned. Mostly simply vanished in the explosion, but the shockwave sent half of one of them hurtling at extreme speed towards Bulk Biceps- faster than even the Red Jarl could have bucked it.

The Jarl himself was tossed down from the explosion, another deafening silence overtaking him. He staggered back up and shook his head, which felt pleasurably lighter without one of his antlers. Hah, what a story to tell the doefolk of his homeland, how he killed six ponies at once with his burning antlers. Sure, some called them cows but call a caribou doe a cow to her face and losing your life would seem preferable to whatever she would do to you! But when he finally did get up, he was confronted by the splitting of the floor and the dour mare in front of him ready to fight. Oh, such words they spoke and did not understand their foe.

“Ha! Yes, it does appear this building will soon collapse,” he spoke jovially at Blueblood while putting a spear in the still beating heart of a downed pegasus guard. “How exciting is this? The Spire destroyed, the great Crystal City in flames...so much has already been done. But nay, it is not yet over. Caribou...fall back!” He yelled, his caribou looking concerned until he pointed out a few, “except for you, you, you...and me. The rest of you, scale back, join the battle down below. The rest of us...ha, I can think of no greater fight than this. Bring the Spire down on top of us my brothers, and ATTACK!” and with that, the Red Jarl leapt at Maude and Rose, the Spire be ****ed.

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Java clenched tighter onto the Viking's throat, his frantic gasps being the only thing signaling his success over the struggle. Well, that was till some magical force had literally propelled the stallion backwards in the air and slamming on his rump against the hard tile. A burning pain flashed down his leg, as something cut into him. Didn't he have a spear in his coat?

One brief glance down confirmed it. Yep... it slashed right into his arse. Right along the cutie mark. He also managed to break off a portin of the buck's antlers too. Confirmed by the thing poking out of his sleeve. This certainly wasn't improving the apperance of Java. Heck he looked like he had met the wrong end of a wood chipper already! He had bruises, bumps, all over his body. Not to mention cuts along his arms and legs, AND BURNS from the multiple explosions he had endured! Heck! His goggles had seen better days! The left lens was more cracked than the Las Pegasus fault, and the right had been utterly destroyed and carved into the stallion's face. The eye behind it reddened, and squinting.

The stallion barely had the chance to get back up to his hooves before he heard more orders being barked his way.

“Oh for bucks sake! I've been flung around this room four times already! Give me a chance to stand up first,” the stallion snarked back to the two mares as he starts his dead pan charge back towards... or where he believed the mare was. He bumped into the mare, and sniffed her over. Heck... it was the only thing he could do to verify it.

Vanilla Scent. Oil Paints. Yep definitely her.

He whirled around the mare, noticing her focus, but what she was doing, he had no idea. He gave her a few shakes, before his hoof met her cheek in a hard slap. “What ever you are doing, it's over! We got to get...” he trailed off as he noticed a shadow loom over him.

His eyes darted over his withers to watch in... slow motion a barrel of explosives sailing towards the hulking Jarl. It made contact with the antlers, causing a large bloom of light and fire to erupt into the stallions vision. This time around, luckily, he wasn't flung anywhere. But the same couldn't be said for whom ever else was caught in it. He swore he heard a distant viking scream out, “WHAT THE BU-” before the massive eruption had cut him off... and sent large fractures to the ground.

Now alarmed, and his adrenaline spiking through the roof once more. The stallion quickly dipped underneath the mare's chest and slid under her body. His head popped out at the other end, and in a single moment had her scooped up onto his back. He darted forward, his eyes making out vaguely moving blobs. Could have been friendly... maybe not. He couldn't care to confirm it.

The first creature he ran up to was the handsome stallion, Blueblood. He spared him no time before lashing out with his teeth to snatch him up by the mane and toss him into the air. If successful, the stallion would land on his back, on top of pressy while the frenzied engineer screamed out, “PONY!”

The next creature he ran up to, was in fact another pony. Though... maybe not the most logical choice to save. It was indeed one of the corrupt guards in the midst of combat. The stallion snatched him by the tail and tossed him into the air and on his back. Once again, “PONY,” was chirped out like a role call.

The next was the confused viking that Java had turned on. Not once did the crazed stallion stop to think that this was actually an enemy. No, he joined the rest on his back. “PONY!”

“OUT OUT OUT OUT!” He chanted as he now began to hightail it out with the mish-mash group of friendlies and enemies on his back. His hooves frantically working so fast... that his fore hooves were skimming on the air. And only his back hooves were actually touching the ground. Yet he had probably never ran so fast in his life... likely bulldozing anyone down the hallway whom was unfortunate enough to stand infront of the door.

“ICE! STALLIONGRAD! Everypony! C'mon yall! Six stories down spiral stairs, straight down the hallway right outside of the stairs! GET TO THE AIRSHIP! NOW! IT'S ONLY WAY OUT! Place is fixin'tah go down like a buckin tree in ah forest fire!”

What a sight he must have looked. A spear and antler stuck in his coat, and a mass of ponies on his back.

(Have pressy's permission. Racken, what Java did is an attempt. Feel free to pull away if you don't want to play jenga with ponies.))

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"Come, we have to stop their leader now, before too much more damage is done,"

"You will not win. Give up," she said in monotone, as she stood before him, waiting to see how he had been affected.[/bg]

“Ha! Yes, it does appear this building will soon collapse,” he spoke jovially at Blueblood while putting a spear in the still beating heart of a downed pegasus guard. “How exciting is this? The Spire destroyed, the great Crystal City in flames...so much has already been done. But nay, it is not yet over. Caribou...fall back!” He yelled, his caribou looking concerned until he pointed out a few, “except for you, you, you...and me. The rest of you, scale back, join the battle down below. The rest of us...ha, I can think of no greater fight than this. Bring the Spire down on top of us my brothers, and ATTACK!” and with that, the Red Jarl leapt at Maude and Rose, the Spire be ****ed.

Such destruction, such suffering, The destruction was something Rose could sort of get behind, that was her job in the end; but the cries of ponies who were massacred by the caribou attacks. The homes and lives of innocents who had only recent come back into the world. It was enough to boil a mare’s blood. While she wasn’t showing it, Deep down Rubble Rose was enraged. These Caribou had to be taught that Ponies were in no way weak and if there was any two ponies who could show this Boisterous brute of a viking who’s boss it was the two mares who were standing defiantly before him; Maude and The Demomare.

“You’d best listen to-- Nevermind.” The red maned mare took note of him breaking off one of his horns, With the loss of all that weight he’d probably be even more dangerous. He seemed very eager to fight his new opponents given how he recklessly jumped at them, The distance he had gave Rose enough time to shout at Maud, “Jump outta the way!”

Hoping Maud listened, Rose’s horn lit up and she leap out of the Way. Once The Jarl Landed he’d notice the floor below him was suddenly brittle, unlikely to hold his weight if he stayed on there for long. While The Jarl dealt with Rose’s hastily made trap, its maker galloped behind one large chunk of stone from the building that was falling to pieces around them. Lifting up her hind legs she kicked the large stone, The mass of granite sliding swiftly towards the Jarl’s direction.

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Stay on target, stay on target! One of the civilian unicorns fired a magic blast at the pursuing Flash Sentry, which he dodged with considerable ease. Next a zebra threw a splash potion that the pegasus managed to mostly avoid. Yet despite Flash’s aerial maneuvers, some of the potion landed on his wing, causing it to break out in a severe itch. The urge to scratch the afflicted wing momentarily distracted the brainwashed guard’s focus on the situation at hoof, proving to be his ultimate undoing. For Flash did not notice the third and final obstacle until too late, slamming right into an ice wall at full speed.

“OOOOMMMPH!!!!” At the exact moment of impact with the ice, Flash Sentry saw another half-second vision in his head; this time imagining a gang of changelings putting a black bag above his head. Obviously, Flash wasn’t in any position to ponder on these flashes; considerable pain racked his head, forcing him down onto the floor in the clumsiest dive imaginable. If it was any consolation to the warped frustrated underling though, at least his body skidded to a halt relatively close to the blue unicorn protecting the princess.

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Well, that hadn't worked. At least the combined efforts from the zebra, one of the icy ponies and her caused the pegasus to run headlong into a wall of ice. Unfortunately, he also came to a stop next to the one carrying the princess. Sunrise narrowed her eyes a bit, dropping her things as she galloped over, tackling the stallion to the ground using her weight and momentum.

Sunrise was no fighter, but that doesn't mean she couldn't fight. In situations like the one she was in, fighting became an unfortunate necessity.

"Go! I'll hold him as long as I can!" Sunrise called to the icy mare carrying the princess, trying to buy her some time to get away. Unfortunately, that likely wouldn't be too long. She wasn't heavy, at least not any more so than the typical mare, and she had never been physically strong. She added her magical strength to the hold though, to make it last longer, at least that was the hope.

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Frostlace ate her words the moment the guard chasing them collided into the ice wall that Blue had made. Or perhaps not - it took precious time to make that wall, and now the stallion was over it and had reached the other icy mare and her royal charge. Frost let out a steady stream of curses in her Stalliongrad tongue, proving herself to be quite prolific in them. She was, indeed, the granddaughter of a steelworker. She cursed just like one!

“You will not have Princess, raspizdyai,” she bellowed at the guard, rushing up to him without hesitation, “You sound pathetic like sad little boy who cannot get girl, disgusting babnik stallion wretch! Princess is safe with us!” She slowed to a stop before she reached the stallion, blood oozing over her cutie mark and magic bubbling from her horn as hoar frost continued to creep up her mane.

If Frostlace could have her way, she would make quick work of this guard with her knife. She had the feeling, however, that he was being manipulated under curse magic the same way the guards above had been. If he was doing this against his will, there was no way the mare could attempt to claim his life. Instead, she planted a stretch of ice under his hooves as he skidded towards Blue and the Princess, which would cause him to slide right on by. Waiting for him would be a large, cold hammer made of ice which Frost conjured with a crackle of her horn. Waiting wasn’t the right word, though. Swinging into his head would be a better way of putting it. Frostlace wasn’t about to kill him, but she certainly wasn’t above conking him out.

“In Stalliongrad mares eat stallions like you for breakfast. I will have you in bowl with milk before you can reach Princess!”

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Alistair Goldmane had been fond of swimming. The gentle swish of water over his feathers, the quiet burble of the creek feeding the lake, the cool kiss of sunlight on matted fur, and fluttering babble of currents under the surface. For a moment, that’s where Alistair was. But as the concussion from the explosion slowly dissipated, he remembered the dire situation at hand.

The griffon marine’s head swam. It wasn’t the worst he’d endured and without his improvised piece of cover, it surely would have been lethal. Besides, now was not the time for laziness and self-pity. Alistair leaped to his feet, stretching the kinks out of his wings and tossing the decorative shield he had been using for cover aside. Now was the time to act.

On one side of the room were caribou, vicious invaders to the north. On the other side, a valiant group of ponies formed a line, defending those too weak or unwilling to fight. As a marine, Alistair knew his role. As the first caribou mook set eyes upon him, Alistair reached into his coat and drew his karambit.

The caribou soldier leaped at him with a wild battle cry. Alistair could practically smell his breath. With a scowl on his face from disgust rather than fear, the marine ducked under and axe swing and delivered aimed knife strikes to the caribou’s striking arm. The shock of assault made him drop the axe with a cry of surprise. Alistair’s hind legs coiled like springs and launched him forward, knocking his quarry to the ground. The predator inside lashed at its prey, sundeirng armor, pinning limbs, and ending with a knockout blow to the head.

Stowing his knife, Alistair seized the fallen caribou’s hatchet and surged forward, his free hand grabbing at anything that could serve as a better weapon on the way out. When he looked at his left hand however, he grabbed not another axe or sword, but a crystal flugelhorn! It was no matter, he could make it work!

His next target was up ahead. The Jarl. But standing in his way, was another caribou, this one beefier than the rest. She stabbed her spear with great force, skewering a guard and sending him floundering away. Another swing with the haft and another guard was sprawling on the floor. He had to draw her attention away from the rest of the ponies!

Alistair raised the flugelhorn to his beak and blew. A note somewhere between a G# and an A came out, a cacophonous blast of cringe-inducing noise at full volume. He was never a gifted musician, but the pained cry of the flugel was the closest to a warhorn blast he could manage at the moment. With Bryti’s attention fixed upon him, Alistair tossed the flugelhorn aside, twirling the axe in his right hand as a vicious grin crossed his face.

“Ladies first.”

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Zecora was pleased to see her itching powder gave a moment of distraction as the possessed guard faltered. But just as she was about to launch another potion the ground shook. She knew that the spire was weakening and that it was only a matter of time before it collapsed. She galloped back to where the others were protecting the fallen Princess thinking of a way to stop them.

"If you would be so nice," Zecora said to the blue unicorn nearby, "Bind this guard's wings and hooves in a block of ice.If you do this then he will not try to attack again."

Zecora then turned to the others nearby and skpoke.

"If we want to make it out of the Spire unseen I do have a potion to create a smokescreen. But if you want to defeat the leader, I can also use this potion in our favor."

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There are two kinds of endurance necessary for a steadfast soldier, the mental and the physical. While individually not very strong, at least as compared to the Viking breed, your average equestrian would often find reserves of one or both that they were previously unaware. Physically, Blueblood was not so soft as one might have expected. Long voyages alone wrestling with the wind and waves had built up his body to be able to withstand more than even he thought he would be able to.

Mentally, of course, the Prince was still pretty much a nonentity. Between the confusion of battle, and the incautiously-guzzled half-bottle of wine, he'd practically forgotten what side he was on. In a vague sort of way, he felt that the caribou whose lives he'd managed to save were his crew. Java suddenly tossing him about like a ragdoll did nothing for his mental balance, and the impact he made upon the floor when the stallion missed his mark just about finished him off.

Dizzily, the Prince staggered to his feet, eyes and ears greeted by the sight of some hornless fool who was trying to get every member of Blueblood's crew killed! He wasn't standing for this! Already, impacts were beginning to loosen the floor. Anything more, and it would fall down on both the retreating ponies, and the caribou sent below!

"Enough!" Blueblood's voice was hoarse, and his gait unsteady as he lurched between the charging mass and the stairs. "Stop that idiot-" He swung a hoof wide to indicate the jarl, "Or the roof will crash on top of you when you go below. Killed by your own!" He spat the last word sarcastically. "No gold, no glory." He repeated again, hoping against hope that his words would get through, even as his hooves trembled and his voice gave out at last into a hoarse whisper, in the face of a squadron of armed Vikings. It was perhaps the most, the only courageous act of leadership Blueblood had ever tried in his life.

Characteristically, it came when he was on the wrong side and drunk. It might have been wholly without effect, even, save that two more blows further cracked the floor. First was the Jarl's leap, and the second was the final detachment of the crippled ship, which tumbled away in a slow arc towards the ground. Cracks were all through the floor now, and one almost felt the pieces slip.

It was one thing for caribou to charge into the fray for glory and for gain. It was quite another for all the glory and the gain to go to the one caribou who got all the others killed. This thought was beginning to sink into some of the Vikings, especially those who were most inclined to listen to the Prince who'd helped them out of a jam...

As for Prince Blueblood, even his physical endurance was now spent, and he collapsed to his knees, as if to beg acceptance of his warning. If one of the Vikings decided to give him a whack, there was no longer anything he could do about it.

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"Horseapples!" Bulk cursed under his breath as what he thought had been a wonderful idea went precisely the wrong way. Now he was just getting mad, but before he could do anything about it, he was suddenly faced with catching half - and only half - of a royal guard, the look of surprise from the blast still frozen on his face.

Wincing at this reminder of his failure as he hovered there, slowly sinking in the air under the weight of holding up the pony's torso, he took the helmet off the guard's head, and placed it on his own, then took the spear from the guard's frozen grip. Finally, he closed the guard's eyes. "Thank you, friend. Forgive me." he murmured, then dropped what was left of the guard and sped up towards the gaping open hole in the side of the spire once more, hovering to contemplate his next move before his wings gave out from the strain.

The talkative brown pony was hastily ushering others out of the ballroom, through the now reopened doors. Only those who had any possible chance of defending themselves were still trying to cover the escape of those who couldn't, or were in no position to. As he looked to one side, there was the ever gallant Prince, trying to prevent the caribou from doing any more damage to the spire, lest it fall on top of everyone. But then his resolve ran out, and he collapsed to the floor.

Bulk quickly scanned the ballroom. The spire itself might remain standing, but the floor certainly didn't look like it could take much more, and that suited him just fine. Flying through the wide open hole, high above the reach of any caribou through the vaulted ceiling, he finally dropped to the floor with a heavy thud, standing in front of Blueblood between him and any caribou who may have just decided to take him out anyway. Dropping the spear to the side, he reared up on his rear hooves, muscles tensed and looking ready to explode from his coat at any moment, screaming primaly before slamming his hooves down with all his considerable might to the cracked floor in front of him.

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