Their advance had not liberated Ponyville, despite using its train station. As Golden Wind led his small group through the town, ponies remained in their hovels, watching through windows with huddled, defeated expressions.
But the attack had done its work. No security checkpoints stood in their way - not after their walls were broken down and their gates were crushed by advancing hooves. He turned and saw several burly, furred ogres, who were now bound by rope, their weapons and armor taken from them and thrown into a growing pile. A small force of ponies would remain behind to guard the prisoners and ensure that news of this victory could not spread to Canterlot, assuming they had no other way to pass the news.
When they finally arrived at the train station, it was a flurry of activity. The front cars were already packed, with crews of ponies hastily boarding up every window. Others worked to load supplies aboard, while a smaller group of wounded ponies lay in a covered medical area. Some ponies were injured, and others seriously wounded. But impossibly, Golden saw not even one covered corpse.
Maybe they're serious about not killing each other. Even when the future of their nation is at stake, they resist. Would the guards at the Storm King's gallery be as accommodating with him?
Their car was the last in line - the only one with its doors still open. As they approached, Applejack rolled her cart of boards over, while a few unicorns levitated them in place to hammer the windows shut.
"This work seems beneath your talents," he told Starswirl, nudging the old unicorn by the shoulder.
Starswirl's hammer drooped in his magic, and he couldn't seem to make eye-contact with Golden. "War is the domain of young colts and fillies, not old stallions like me. I'm sure you're more than capable."
Starlight stopped just beside him, her expression turning dark. She whispered so quietly, even Golden Wind had trouble hearing her. "I have no idea if I can make the spell work. I couldn't reproduce it under laboratory conditions. Either the spell doesn't work, or I don't."
Starswirl said nothing. He backed away from the windows, letting a frustrated Applejack finish what he started. The earth pony somehow managed to do the same work with only her mouth and hooves.
"I transformed the piece you brought me. It's possible the one you were practicing with came from a different kind of crystal. A piece taken further from the body of a prisoner might not be animate for the purposes of transfiguration. Yet our imprisoned Alicorns will not have that issue, given their cells are occupied by definition."
Golden Wind tilted his head to one side, baffled. But before he could ask the stallion what any of that meant, Starlight nodded.
Her ears perked up, and her tail started moving again. "You're saying it will work. I might not have done it wrong at all!"
"It is possible," he said. "The true answer I cannot know, since of course I was not party to your preparations. But knowing you, I imagine the spell was cast correctly. You've never shown anything but competency in my experience."
Starlight smiled nervously. But before she could say anything, a whistle sounded from nearby. "All aboard! Departing in one minute! Everypony in position!"
"Right, well. Good luck to you both! Equestria go with you."
Golden Wind glared at him for another few seconds. But his anger was in vain - the stallion turned his back on them and rejoined the other support ponies. A few of those remaining on the platform squeezed into a front car, like Applejack. Starswirl was not among them.
Golden Wind was the last to enter the car, shoving a heavy security bar down behind him. "Alright, everyone, armor on. Whatever happens when we get to Canterlot, we have to be ready to react." He gestured towards the back of the car, where the caboose had a few old sofas. The interior had not been well-maintained - the mirrors were broken, and graffiti was now carved into the walls.
"If you need the time to keep studying."
She nodded gratefully. "I'm supposed to save my magic. But if I have to use magic to even get us to the gallery or we lose... you might as well ask. Lower chance is better than none, like you said."
Golden Wind helped his teammates get ready before prepping himself. He had little more practice than they did, but they were still looking to him as a leader. He needed to maintain that confidence now, that strength and authority. Without strong leadership, their odds of success were slim.
There was still enough time for him to get ready before their arrival. He left his helmet aside for that moment, checking that everypony had every strap in place, and their own modifications hadn't come undone.
"Seems like an awful lot of work to not cover everything," Carlos said, as he secured the last of his own buckles with a tug on the strap. "We're basically knights now, right? Metal plates, chain. What good does this stuff do if they have magic?"
"Or guns?" Harvey asked. "Don't think the old knights would do too good against a gun."
"I have no idea what a 'gun' is," Starlight said, looking up from her notes. "But the royal armor you wear is magically insulated. It will deflect most attacking spells, and insulate against others. Penetrating its protection requires an expert unicorn, or a power like the Storm King. Against anyone else, spells should deflect."
Golden Wind could feel a little of that when he wore it. His magical senses were weak, yet time in Equestria helped them grow. Power flowed around him, rather than directly into him as it usually did. That would make his own magic weaker too. But he wouldn't be attacking with weather magic in a castle anyway.
"We're slowing," Harvey said. "Does that mean..."
"Yeah," Golden said. "Everyone, gather near the doors. We aren't going anywhere yet. But we have to be ready to move when we get the signal, or... defend the VIP." He pointed back at Starlight, raising his voice so that it echoed in the car. "Remember! She's the one who knows how to send us home! If we don't keep her alive, we will live like this forever!"
With the windows protectively covered, Golden had no view of what the city looked like outside, not yet. All he could do was linger by the door, waiting.
It felt a little like the coin flip at the start of a game. Factors outside his control were about to decide his future, and all he could do was react.
A roar rose up from the cars in front of them, followed by the peal of trumpets. Hooves pounded on wood, and metal clashed against metal. Shouts, screams, cries of pain - the station was a battlefield.
"We're just gonna sit here?" Carlos demanded, rapping his hoof up against a window. "What if they lose? We can't just..."
"We can and we will," Golden said, louder. "We have to be strong enough to protect Starlight. That's our focus. We just have to hope they know what they're doing."
The battle continued outside. Golden pawed anxiously back and forth on the wooden floor, like a racehorse ready to begin. No matter how badly he wanted to start, he held back.
Then someone knocked up against the door - a panicked series of three brief taps. "Golden! Golden!"
He shoved the security bar out of the way, then swung the door open.
Rainbow Dash stood there, her mane disheveled and her uniform torn. "Golden, we've got a problem! The Storm King's capital ship turned around! He's on his way back!"
Past her, the busy train station was in ruins. Fallen ogres and ponies lay everywhere, and not all in the uniforms he expected. Some of those in the Storm King's colors had been ponies, fighting their own kind. Even so, the fight was over now. The army pushed away up the city, leaving the fallen of both sides behind.
"What do we do?" he asked. "Have to... free the Alicorns before he gets here, I guess?"
"Duh!" Rainbow took off, gesturing. "We're not sure how fast that ship can go! Applejack told me to tell you this was... Hail Mary?"
The emergency backup plan, where they advanced using an underground route through the city, separate from the pony army. They would go alone.
"You sure?"
"Pretty sure!" She dropped close to him, somehow keeping in the air only a foot above the platform. "Applejack said so! You wanna argue with her? She's already pushing the army the other way! They're going for the armory, making it look like we're seizing weapons!"
But there was no conventional weapon strong enough to stop the Storm King. Golden knew that, just as he knew what Applejack must have been planning. If the ship arrived, she would turn her force into a distraction, leaving Golden Wind to escort Starlight to the gallery.
"Everyone out!" he yelled. "Starlight, in the middle! Everyone else, like we practiced! Follow me!"
Rainbow pushed off, saluting him. "Good luck, Golden! You too, Starlight!" Then she was off, vanishing in a rainbow-colored blur into the sky above.
They crossed the war-torn train platform not in darkness, but in daylight. Ogres were not fond of the sun, not compared to ponies. But if the rolling bank of clouds was any guide, it wouldn't be bright for much longer.
Canterlot was not so beautiful or elegant as the old photos he'd been shown. The outer city had been transformed into a sprawling slum, stretching down the mountain beneath the pinnacle of a castle high above. Where that building was once covered in white marble and gold, was now painted dark blue, defacing what should've been a beautiful edifice.
They wouldn't be able to stare for long, though - Golden Wind took them directly out of the station, towards a locked metal gate labeled "sewer access."
"Underground, right. You meant stink. Rats, decay... not part of my seasonal contract.," Danny said, taking one step back. "Good thing it's locked."
Starlight rolled her eyes. The lock glowed for a second, then clicked, sliding away. "Ponyville has an amazing little spa. If we live through this, I'll treat you all. The Lotus Sisters will take care of even the strongest stenches."
Golden suppressed a laugh, imagining five of the largest, burliest players in the league walking daintily through a day spa. They could splash through flower petals, then get mud smeared on their faces.
Maybe not so much. But a hot tub with Starlight wouldn't be so bad...
A wall of stink so strong it was very nearly visible to the naked eye smacked into Golden, dislodging him from that happy imagination.
The space beyond was exactly as awful as he had imagined - almost black, lit only by the glowing crystals they had brought for flashlights. "Look for the junction labeled with the lowest numbers," Starlight called up the group. "The whole system starts at the castle! The lower the numbers, the closer we're getting!
Thus began their inglorious trek. Occasionally, Golden heard the roar of a battle overhead, or the charge of an advancing force of ogres. Then they passed through deeper sections, and the fighting was replaced with a pervasive gurgling of filth.
The sewer system had received as much neglect as the trains. Some passages were completely impassable, clogged with manure up to the ceiling. Others were so stagnant that they needed Starlight to conjure up a breeze.
Only the slowly-decreasing numbers on the wall were any guide of their progress. They started in the hundreds, but soon left passage after passage behind them, until they were in the teens. The higher they climbed, the wider and clearer their route became. Obviously, the Storm King did not house very many at the top of Canterlot, preferring his subjects to look up from overcrowded slums.
Finally, they reached another gate, this one far sturdier than the old chain waiting at the base of the hill. There was no visible lock on this side, just a heavy security bar. Before they could start bashing up against it, Starlight levitated it helpfully out of the way, then pushed the door open. "Canterlot Castle," she said, pointing up a set of steps. "Home to the gallery - and the captured Alicorns of Equestria."
"Stay together," Golden said. "Starlight, stay between us. We're armored; you aren't."
"I know." Somehow, she'd managed to stay almost clean throughout the hike. There was no dirt on her face, or anything worse. "I trust you. Time to save Equestria."
tf-sential
