Chapter 2: Attack
Hurricane and Silver Wind stood side-by-side on the balcony. They watched the sky with large eyes, waiting for the Solar Empire to appear. It may take them the entire night to find the invisible orb that hid the castle. Or they could be right outside, planning their attack under the trees.
The one good thing about the wall was that the ponies on the inside could see out, but the ones on the outside could not see in. This gave the New Lunar Republic a very big advantage.
Suddenly, a large group of armored pegasi appeared over the treetops. One in the middle of the group was ultimately larger, and a superior horn on its head signified who it was.
"They're here…" breathed Silver Wind.
The group of pegasi continued getting ominously closer.
The captain of the Royal Guard, Storm Shield, flew out into the sky, looking back at the castle and all of its members. They stared at him awaiting their orders.
"Royal guards of the night!" he addressed the colony below. "Ready your weapons! Solar Empire incoming!"
Hurricane shifted nervously from hoof to hoof. He had never fought before. As long as he'd been on the Guard, he had only been captain spy. Never had he been involved in a real battle.
"Scared?" asked Silver Wind in a hushed voice.
Hurricane nodded and gulped.
"Well, I guess if we go down, we go down for our princess." Silver Wind said with a sigh.
The two guards continued to watch the incoming army with wide eyes. Neither of them had ever fought in their lives.
Then the sky was filled with a terrible rumbling sound as the leader of the Solar Empire fired a yellow beam from her horn. It must have been a very special and well thought spell, because instead of going through the invisibility wall, it struck it like stone on glass.
And the New Lunar Republic's only method of protection shattered before their eyes.
Their entire castle was revealed to the enemy.
Silence spread throughout both armies.
The pegasi hovered in place, just staring at the enormous castle below them.
"Maybe they won't attack…" hoped Silver Wind, still beside Hurricane.
The silence dragged on a while longer, until-
Hweee-CHOOM!
The leader of the Solar Empire fired another beam of magic strait at the castle, crumbling an entire wall.
The pegasi from the sky shot down, battle-ready.
From behind the awed army of bat ponies, Princess Luna flew.
"IT HAS BEGUN!" she shouted to her army. "THE SOLAR EMPIRE HAS DECLARED WAR UPON US! GUARDS! ATTACK!"
From all around the castle, bat pony guards shot out into the air, all covered with armor and weaponry.
Hurricane was frozen.
"Come on!" Silver Wind shouted at him. She was already hovering, waiting to fly off to battle. She kept glancing up, and back down at him. "Let's go!"
Hurricane tried to make his legs move, but they just wouldn't go. He was so scared.
After another few seconds of waiting, Silver Wind grunted and flew back down to him, headbutting his side. This snapped him out of his frozen state.
"What?" he snapped.
"We need to defend ourselves! The war has begun!"
She was right. Across the sky, pegasi and bat ponies were clashing. There was no getting out of this. He had to do it. For his princess.
He pumped his wings, and flew gingerly into the battle alongside Silver Wind.
Then he looked down at his hoof guards, and realized that he had no idea how to work them.
"How do you work these?" he shouted to Silver Wind over the clangs of battle.
Silver Wind glanced down at her own.
"I'm not quite sure. I think there's some way to unsheath them, like, um…"
She tried many different things, flipping them outward, flicking one then the other, then finally got them to work by swinging them both down at the same time.
"Well," she said. "I guess that's it." She swung the blades around, making sure they wouldn't retract again during a fight.
Hurricane swung his blades down to unsheath them, and made sure they were locked as well. Then he realized that he was using these to fight. He really did not like this idea.
"Alright," Silver Wind said. "Let's do thi-"
She was cut off abruptly by a grey pegasus in gold armor and metal claw-blades as he rammed into her. Hurricane saw the pegasus's weaponry claws slash across Silver Wind's chest in the fall, and tiny beads of scarlet trail in the air behind them.
"Silver Wind!" he shrieked. "NO!"
Soon she went limp under the pegasus, and he lifted off her before she slammed into the ground of the Everfree, about 100 wingbeats from the castle.
The pegasus hovered in the air above the forest, looking down at where the unfortunate bat pony had crashed to the earth. Then he flew away, back into the battle.
Hurricane, although scared out his wits, dove down to the place where Silver Wind had fell, hoping desperately that she was okay.
He hurtled through the leaves and branches of the treetops so fast, he almost slammed into the ground like his friend had just a moment ago. Luckily, he was able to slow himself down enough so that he didn't get hurt.
The Everfree forest was not such a terrible place for a bat pony. But with the sounds of battle overhead, and knowing that another of your same kind was down here, most likely dead, it didn't feel too welcoming, anymore.
Hurricane awkwardly raised his left hoof and set it down on the flat metal talons of his right hoof guard. Pushing down on them, he pried his right hoof from its armor, then proceeded in doing the same for the left. If he had only asked how to work the claws earlier, this could have been so much easier.
He hated these evil hoof guards. The sounds from the castle were enough already to remind him of the battle taking place. So he left his guards behind, but kept his armor on, just in case.
Then he set off to find Silver Wind.