𝐕𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐁𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐲.

Centaur Stampede

Annabeth used her invisibility cap to sneak behind the enemy lines. Whenever a monster disintegrated for no apparent reason with a surprised look on his face, they knew Annabeth had been there. But it still wasn't enough.

"Hold your lines!" Katie Gardner shouted, somewhere off to her left.

The problem was there were too few of them to hold anything. The entrance to Olympus was twenty feet behind them. A ring of brave demigods, Hunters, and nature spirits guarded the doors. Lilia and Percy slashed and hacked, their swords destroying anything that got close. But they were getting tired.

Behind the enemy troops, a few blocks to the east, a bright light began to shine. She thought it was the sunrise. Then she realized Kronos was riding toward them on a golden chariot. A dozen Laistrygonian giants bore torches before him. Two Hyperborcans carried his black-and-purple banners. The Titan lord looked fresh and rested, his powers at full strength. He was taking his time advancing, letting them wear their selves down.

Annabeth appeared next to them. "We have to fall back to the doorway. Hold it at all costs!" She was right. Percy was about to order a retreat when they heard the hunting horn.

It cut through the noise of the battle like a fire alarm. A chorus of horns answered from all around them, echoing off the buildings of Manhattan.

Lilia glanced at Thalia, but she just frowned.
"Not the Hunters," she assured them. "We're all here."

"Then who?" Lilia asked.

The horns got louder. She couldn't tell where they were coming from because of the echo, but it sounded like an entire army was approaching. She was afraid it might be more enemies, but Kronos's forces looked as confused as they were. Giants lowered their clubs. Dracaenae hissed. Even Kronos's honor guard looked uneasy.

Then, to their left, a hundred monsters cried out at once. Kronos's entire northern flank surged forward.
She thought they were doomed, but they didn't attack. They ran straight past the campers and crashed into their southern allies.

A new blast of horns shattered the night. The air shimmered. In a blur of movement, an entire cavalry appeared as if dropping out of light speed.

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

A shower of arrows arced over their heads and slammed into the enemy, vaporizing hundreds of demons. But these weren't regular arrows. They made whizzy sounds as they flew, like WHEEEEEE!
Some had pinwheels attached to them. Others had boxing gloves rather than points.

"Centaurs!" Annabeth yelled.

The Party Pony army exploded into our midst in a riot of colors: tie-dyed shirts, rainbow Afro wigs, oversize sunglasses, and war-painted faces. Some had slogans scrawled across their flanks like HORSEZ PWN or KRONOS SUX. Hundreds of them filled the entire block.

"Percy!" Chiron shouted across the sea of wild centaurs. He was dressed in armor from the waist up, his bow in his hand, and he was grinning in satisfaction. "Sorry we're late!"

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

He locked and loaded a double-barrel paint gun and blasted an enemy hellhound bright pink. The paint must've been mixed with Celestial bronze dust or something, because as soon as it splattered the hellhound, the monster yelped and dissolved into a pink-and-black puddle.

"PARTY PONIES." a centaur yelled. "SOUTH FLORIDA!"

Somewhere across the battlefield, a twangy voice yelled back, "HEART OF TEXAS CHAPTER!"

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

The entire Titan army turned and fled, pushed back by a flood of paintballs, arrows, swords, and NERF baseball bats. The centaurs trampled everything in their path.