Flowergirl, Percy Jackson

013. Blood, Dirt and Dust

Thalia frowns. "Not the Hunters, we're all here."

"Then who?"

The horns get louder, like an entire army is approaching. Kronos's forces seem equally confused. Even Kronos seems unsure of what's going on. 

Then, to the north, the monsters cry out, surging forward. Lila flinches, expecting them to charge into her, but they don't attack, instead running forward into their southern allies. 

The air shimmers with the new day, dawn on the horizon. In a blur, cavalry appears.

"Yeah, baby!" a voice wails. "PARTY!"

Over their heads, a shower of arrows rains onto the enemy, vaporising hundreds of demons.

"Centaurs!" Annabeth yells.

The Party Ponies explodes onto the battlefields, hundreds of them, until the block is filled. Lila is beginning to register that they're allies, reinforcements - Chiron. 

"Percy!" Chiron shouts. He's dressed in armour from the waist up, and is grinning. "Sorry we're late!"

"DUDE!" Another centaur yells. "Talk later. WASTE MONSTERS NOW!"

He loads a paint gun and blasts a hellhound bright pink. As soon as it hits the hellhound, the dog yelps and dissolves into a pink-black puddle, simmering on the ground. 

"What is happening?" Lila wonders, open-mouthed. 

"I don't know," Percy sounds mystified. 

"PARTY PONIES.'" a centaur yells. "SOUTH FLORIDA!"

A voice yells back, "HEART OF TEXAS CHAPTER!"

"HAWAII OWNS YOUR FACES!" a third one shouts.

Somehow, the chaos is enough to unnerve the Titan army. They turn and flee, getting hit by paintballs, arrows, swords, baseball bats. Many are trampled by the centaurs. 

"Stop running, you fools!" Kronos yells. "Stand and ACKK!"

A Hyperborean giant stumbles onto him. 

"Advance," Percy orders. They begin to move forward, slashing through monsters and cleaving through the army. 

When they're several blocks back, Chiron yells "HOLD! On your promise, HOLD!"

Surprisingly, the Centaurs listen. 

"Chiron's smart," Annabeth says, wiping sweat off her face. "If we pursue, we'll get too spread out. We need to regroup."

"But the enemy—"

"They're not defeated," she agrees. "But the dawn is coming. At least we've bought some time."

Lila nods, looking around. Everyone is exhausted, but thankfully the last dregs of the army are fleeing away from the building. Percy wraps his arm around her, pulling her into his chest. "You're bleeding," he whispers into her ear. 

She pats his chest. "It's not bad. I'll fix it when everything is sorted out here." 

They set up a perimeter two blocks away from the building, with a command tent there. There are about five hundred Party Ponies, but it's not enough to hold more than a couple of blocks. Lila rushes over to Chiron, hugging him. Annabeth follows, while Mrs. O'Leary licks his face. 

"Ack," he grumbles. "Enough of that, dog. Yes, I'm glad to see you too."

"Chiron, thanks," Percy tells him. "Talk about saving the day."

He shrugs. "I'm sorry it took so long. Centaurs travel fast, as you know. We can bend distance as we run, so getting all the centaurs together was no easy task. The Party Ponies are not exactly organized."