(Original) Chapter 14: Revelations

Gliese System, Planet Equis

Canterlot, Empire of Equestria

Ministry of State Lobby

Friday, August 13th, 2551

11:30 AM

"What are they doing? I thought they just killed everyone one sight!" Some one said in an urgently hushed voice.

"I don't know, but haven't you noticed all of the Insurrectionists that have been pouring into this place and then back out again in the past few minutes? I had no idea that humans and ponies were working with these xeno freaks!" Another replied.

"I've got a feeling whatever cooperation it is, the Covenant are only doing this temporarily. How in Celestia's name can these beasts even stand being in our presence? I thought we were 'unclean' beings to them in their freak religion..." A third captive added.

"Shhh! Quiet, one of them is coming!" The first one hissed, putting a forehoof to her muzzle in the universal gesture of quiet.

The Jiralhanae guard watching them all turned to his companion as he eavesdropped on the captives' muffled conversation attentively, pointing at the first captive. "I've found my dinner! A day's rations says I can finish her with one cut!"

His companion, another brute minor, chuckled in a gruff guttural chortle. "You're on, pack brother. A day's rations it is."

Just as the fur covered alien began to approach the mare with the blade of his type-25 grenade launcher raised threateningly, he was stopped by a talon raised in the air before him. It belonged to a large male gryphon, almost a head taller than him. "These citizens are not to be harmed, Lieutenant Autumn Wing demands it!" The griffon snapped.

While the first brute moved to challenge the order, growling like an angered Ursa Minor, the griffon met him with an equally impressive snarl. Nodding at his sickle blade strapped to his collar, the griffon glared at the brute, then pointed towards the front of the room. "While ze shedding of blood is indeed enjoyable, intoxicating even, ze deliberate consumption of another sapient creature is most foul. I don't know how we tolerate dat scum Ripper doing it. Go out and keep vatch of ze Imperial dogs, it'll keep ze stench of your dishonor far avay from us, Jiralhanae."

The brute blinked at him.

"Vell? Go! Pyramo seychas! Do svidaniya!"

"Yes. With haste, winged one!" The alien replied begrudgingly, loudly marching towards the entrances of the massive lobby.

Shaking his head in disgust, the griffon returned to his original retinue, a clustered gang of ponies, humans, and gryphons. "Why, why must ve work with these Covenant savages? I don't understand what value Mistress Beatrix or Battlemaster Gilda see in dem other zan their tech. Bah!" He muttered under his breath in Griffonian as he past groups of Unggoy and Kig Yar, who regarded him with fear.

Palace Observatory

11:31 AM

As the cheering slowly died down amongst the Grand Assembly, Captain Flash Sentry scoffed in irritation, then tuned the politicians out. With a rapid, deft series of movements, the bronze coated pegasus rested his rifle on the floor, and turned off the holo communicator he had been using with his wing. Leaving only his radio connections to the Celestia and the leaders of the military active, Flash quietly lamented over all his comrades-people he had grown up with-who may have lost their lives this day. "Damn politicians, think they have a right to cheer right now?"

Cursing to himself under his breath, Flash picked up his 99C-S2 Anti-Matériel again, as he witnessed the arrival of the ODST SOEIV's. Peering through its scope, and through his helmet's HUD, he tracked the insertion pods' descent through the skies toward the Ministry of State, which according to Anders, was the last government building held by the enemy.

"Well then gents, get ready for some more long distance death-dealing. We're to hold this post and continue over watch for whatever Imperial squads we can." The Captain instructed. Briefly pulling their attention away from their own rifle scopes, Sentry's force, a crack team of marksman, four humans and eight pegasi, saluted him.

"Yessir."

"With pleasure, Captain!"

Princess Luna had told him and his force to keep watch and provide cover for Army regulars and the Spartans accompanying them, and there was no chance that he was going to neglect his imperial oath to the Regal Sisters over a quorum of arrogant, sniveling aristocrats. As the SOEIV's jettisoned air brakes in preparation for their impact into the Ministry courtyard, Sentry noticed two rather mystifying things.

Firstly, the pods were not the only thing occupying the otherwise empty airspace over the Empire's heartland. Thanks to Canterlot's position on the side of Mount Cantor, Flash spied a massive squadron of pelicans and wyvern gun ships in the vicinity above Ponyville. They were inbound for the capital. Secondly, through one of the massive windows on the State building's side, which revealed the marble floor of the building's cavernous foyer, Flash sighted the answer to one of the morning's most jarring questions. Just where were all of the Equestrian citizens who were supposedly being held hostage?

Behind a network of energy barriers, Clustered in myriad groups, with small contingents of New Sovereignty thugs and packs of Unggoy and Kig Yar patrolling around them, were civilians. Dozens, many of them government workers and officials.

Temporarily forgetting about the aircraft squadron, Flash Sentry decided instead to focus on the civilians he was carefully observing. "Captain! Aren't those the civilians Forge had been instructed to look for at the IBI and the Ministry of Tech?" One of Sentry's squad inquired.

Zooming in his scope to get a better look at the hostages, Flash sighed in relief when he observed that none of them he could see seemed to be injured in anyway. All appeared to be rather shaken and apprehensive. "Indeed, guardsman. Quickly, radio this in to the Empress and Forge at once! Everyone needs to know that we've got non-combatants inside the Ministry of State!"

"Right away!" One of the marksman patched himself into the palace radio channel and got to work updating Celestia and Luna on the urgent discovery.

While the stallion did so, the Captain averted his sights reluctantly away from the State building and gave the nearing aerial wing a quick survey with his scope. Imperial wyverns, their names inspired by the fierce dragon inhabitants of the Badlands, stood at the forefront of the squadron. Their nose and wing-mounted cannons, rocket pods, and decoy systems glinted in the late morning sun, while trailing at their rears were UNSC pelicans. Alongside the squadron flew the Imperial Wonderbolts themselves, with their orange fire-maned leader, Air Commander Spitfire sticking close to the lead wyvern.

Focusing on Spitfire, Sentry noted that she and her fellow fliers were donning the typical flight gear of the Wonderbolts– blue and gold body suits, goggles, and lightweight shielded armor plating.

Despite his relief, Flash Sentry still felt an ominous sense of frustration and trepidation underlying it all. Everything from the Assembly's behavior, to the sudden freeing of Discord, and the fact that the civilians had all been corralled into one location among other things, left Sentry's nerves incredibly fragile at the moment. Regardless, he continued to watch everything he could in his field of vision attentively. A couple of frayed nerves weren't about to distract him from his duty anymore than his prejudice against the aristocracy.

Spontaneously, a strange realization snapped into his head. From what he had seen of her through the holo communicator in the Assembly Chambers, Spitfire's holographic avatar had been equipped in ceremonial silver and gold command armor moments ago, not the Wonderbolt armor he now saw her in. With a new found sense of urgency, he raised his tacpad on his foreleg to his face and blasted out his voice over Spitfire's channel.

"Air Commander, where are you transmitting from, and who are you escorting, if you don't mind me asking?" Flash inquired with a cautious tone of voice.

With the sound of the wind whipping in the background, Spitfire scoffed. "Where do you think, genius?" I've got Colonel Ackerson and a few ONI officials, Lord General Armor, and Honoria and Aurelius in tow up here." She explained. "We're inbound to Canterlot at this very moment to help coordinate the defense of Equis on the ground. Haven't ya looked out a window and seen us? Luna said to us she told you all we were coming."

Muting the microphone on his computer for a brief moment, Flash Sentry swore, then replied back, grasping his rifle. "Princess Luna...told us no such thing, Spitfire." Flash narrowed his eyes, looking over his shoulder at the holo communicator on the desk next to the large telescope.

"In fact, Admiral Terrence Hood, James Cutter, and Shining Armor were just seen communicating with the Empress and the Assembly. The Master Chief mentioned something about an Operation 'Red Flag' while talking with Hood. And apparently a large Covenant fleet has been lured here as a way to spring the op into motion. " Gritting his teeth, Flash raised his voice higher. "The Covenant fleet is being directed by one of the Prophets, Regret. Just moments ago, he announced his intent to burn and glass our world until all life is extinct!"

"WHAT?! Red Flag is still only theory on the board at the UNSC! We showed up with our full force because we had been tracking an unknown slipspace signature to Gliese, thinking it was the Covenant preparing for an invasion. It appears then that we were coincidentally right on that front at least!" Spitfire momentarily ceased communication, relaying Flash Sentry's words to the rest of the squadron and their passengers. Her voice coming back in, Spitfire continued. "Admiral Hood is busy attending a summit at UNSC HIGHCOM on Earth. Admiral Cutter is obviously fighting the Covenant in orbit..."

The worried voice of Shining Armor joined in on the urgent conversation. "...and we're right here! What's going on down there?"

Flash Sentry felt a bitter taste in his mouth, and the hairs of his brilliant blue mane stood on end under his helmet and where it gathered in the crest atop his helmet. "Discord." He whispered grudgingly.

"Captain? What is happening?" Shining Armor inquired once more. "Has there been a communications glitch?"

"It's Discord! He's not only jamming our communications and the media, he must be sending out false transmissions as well! Trying to divide us up...but to what end?" Flash snarled.

"Flash Sentry, we're preparing to land now! Once we're on the ground, my Wonderbolts will provide support for your Guards in case of attack. We'll leave the hostiles in the city to Forge, and the lot." Spitfire declared.

"That's what we brought Spartan Blue Team and the Helljumpers for! My troops and I will be sure to help deal with Discord once I resume command from General Forge in the evening." Shining Armor added.

While his marksmen occasionally glanced over their shoulders at him worryingly, Flash Sentry rapped his free hoof against the side of his helmet in frustration, creating a series of loud clanking sounds. His shield meter flickered and depleted slightly on his HUD from the more forceful impacts. Lowering his voice to just above a whisper, he muttered back, "Very well then. Spitfire, prepare your Wonderbolts for combat." Keeping the channel open, he returned to aiming his rifle.

"What for? I assumed you and your people had the Palace secured by now!" Spitfire shouted over the din of engines.

"I thought so, too." The Captain replied angrily. "But it would seem we have imposters in our midst. Discord is not on our side, and somepony or someone within the Empire or the UNSC is helping him, and by extension, these Insurrectionists. He will be dealt with."

"Fear not Captain Sentry!" General Aurelius said confidently. "We shall all exact punishment against him in due time. He has much to answer for from his transgressions across the centuries!"

Then, the voice of James Ackerson joined the conversation. "Now, now Captain! We have a unique opportunity here! Think of how Discord could end this war tonight with his magics! I know this incident has likely costed lives of some of those close to you, but if we capture the Prophet of Regret now, then we have the Covenant by their daddy bags!"

"Their what?!" Spitfire asked, vexed by the Colonel's inappropriately colorful word choice.

Flash Sentry could feel his skin start to boil, and his face was a dark scowl as he spoke. He slightly tilted his head towards the tacpad while he rested his rifle momentarily. "You sound exactly like the impostor Admiral Hood hologram, Colonel. Would you like me to tell my ruler, and your admiral, that you are the one who planned this? Because for all me and my guards know, you are the one responsible, sending your two Spartans to do your dirty work for you."

Ackerson scoffed. "I merely sent those two to acquire the Draconequus for study by ONI scientists! Had I known radical elements on your world as well as the Covenant would take advantage of this to wreak havoc in our sole ally's capital city, well..." He stifled a chuckle of incredulity. "I would have scrubbed the entire damn mission!"

"You know Ackerson, the pseudo-Lord Hood of Discord's had been infuriated, and had said he would put you under military arrest for trying to free the Master of Chaos." Flash Sentry said, shifting from anger to mere loathing towards Ackerson.

"Why, that smart ass chimera freak! I offered him freedom, and not only does he waste ONI's time, and endangers my best operatives, but he turns against me? Do with him what you wish then. We can win this war the old fashioned way, like men."

Sentry let out a mirthless snicker, as he zoomed in on his target and cocked his rifle. "I don't need your approval, and you just spilled your own guts, fool. As Captain of the Royal Guard, in the event of the absence of communications with Her Majesty or the Ministry of State, I speak for the throne." With one final malicious growl, Captain Flash Sentry muted Ackerson. "Air Commander Spitfire, as soon as your people land on the VTOL pads, get straight to the Grand Assembly Chambers. All of you inform the Empress and her sister of the truth, I'll meet you there soon."

"Fine, we were heading there anyways. But what about Discord?"

"Engage him only when he decides to turn on you. If he doesn't immediately, wait until I arrive."

"Hey Sentry," Spitfire asked, concern flooding into her normally authoritative voice. "Keep yourself together, okay? We'll punish the people responsible for all of this. I promise you, no evildoer gets past the Imperial Wonderbolts unscathed!"

Flash Sentry chuckled again at her words. "Oh, I'm perfectly fine. We're about to deal with one of Equestria's greatest menaces once and for all. Screw turning him to stone with the Elements!" Satisfied with his angle, the Captain took his shot. His voice followed the shot as the fifty-caliber round was sent on its way in microseconds. "We're about to kill a draconequus."

The brute minor that had been standing at the Ministry door throwing obscene gestures and challenges at Forge's position crumpled to the ground instantly with a yelp, as if the air itself had simply knocked him dead. Back up in the Observatory tower, Flash Sentry, satisfied, stood up from his crouching position and reloaded his now empty clip.

One of his marksmen grinned at him from his own perch near the telescope. "Nice shot sir!"

While Sentry returned the young man's grin with a respectful nod, the occupants of the SOEIV's finally began to spring out of their pods and onto the well-kept lawn of the expansive Ministry of State and Justice.

Ministry of State

Exterior Courtyard

11:33 AM

The Master Chief reacted instantly as his insertion pod slammed into the ground. In a blur of motion, he triggered the release for the pod's door. With a MA5C in his hands and an M41 Rocket Launcher magnetically strapped to his back, Chief stepped out into the chaos and tumult of the brewing firefight. Around him, his Spartan comrades and dozens of ODST took up position at the edge of a large, damaged fountain in the center. Behind them, the Imperial Army, bolstered by the city's guard garrison, began to mobilize itself and were filing through their barricades.

In their combined response, the Covenant and Insurrectionists holding the building opened fire with everything they had. Their armament appeared to consist of hastily-installed Covenant shade turrets, a few vulcan chain guns, and a lone wraith they had somehow managed to smuggle part-by-part into the city.

"General Forge, Gunnery Sergeant Sergeant Buck here! The Covie heavy weapons have us pinned, we cannot advance."

"Don't worry! The Spartans have you covered! Me and my troops are almost there!"

John-117 looked from Kurt-051, and then to Kelly-087. The Spartan II's all nodded at each other wordlessly, then the Chief shouldered his jackhammer launcher and fired, while Kelly and Kurt sprinted forward on opposite sides of the fountain, dividing up the defenders' attention.

Leaving a trail of smoke behind them, both rockets hit home, obliterating the shade turrets and their grunt operators. The wraith was still a major problem however. John rolled out of the way as a plasma mortar round struck the fountain, obliterating half of the statue of the Alicorn Goddess of Justice. Liquid plasma burned and fountain water boiled to a cloud steam, briefly blocking the wraith pilot's view of the Master Chief for several seconds. It was all the time Chief needed.

"Kelly, Kurt, cover the ODST's, I'll knock out the Covenant heavy armor." John ordered. Taking advantage of the smoke, John activated his T-27 Decoy package, a piece of reverse-engineered Covenant technology, and duplicated himself. Through the smoke, the pilot noticed a figure in power armor charging him head on. With a malicious snicker at the soldier's perceived stupidity, the pilot launched another mortar round, while simultaneously firing with his front mounted twin plasma cannons.

To the pilot's absolute shock, the figure merely faded away when the blast of energy and steam cleared. Shock soon changed to horror, as he found that the hatch above him had just been smashed open.The Sangheili felt a powerful green-armored hand press something glowing blue and adhesive into his armor, before the figure jumped away and out of sight. A heartbeat later, the wraith erupted in an explosion of blue plasma.

As the Chief briefly examined his former enemy-now a smoldering wreck-the ODST's joined forces with Kurt and Kelly in keeping the defenders occupied. The green streaks of Covenant carbines rounds flew alongside the orange-yellow of assault rifle and machine gun tracer fire. Two dozen jackal marksman had been harassing the attackers with carbines and needler rifles from the rooftop of the building.That was, until a large detachment of pegasi from the Air Force made there way onto the rooftop. The avian-like Kig Yar were poorly equipped to counter the bite of the airborne infantry's wing-equipped energy blades, M7's, and light machine guns.

Several of the jackals were tossed off the roof, limbs and weapons included, where they all impacted the steps of the Ministry of State with violent force, intimidating many of the defending insurgents. Becoming ever more desperate, the remaining hostiles began tossing small crates of plasma and fragmentation grenades from the top story windows, where the force of the impact on the ground would detonate them. The unicorn ODST's were able to shield everyone from most of the explosives' reign of destruction.

Seeing that measure had failed, the defenders ceased fire, and instead opted to strengthen their barricades on the front doors, attempting to buy themselves more precious time.

Imperial Palace

Landing Pads

At the same time Master Chief and his team were in battle, the air traffic around the Palace had increased ten fold in contrast to the seemingly dormant capital city below, whose residents had retreated to their homes and shops out of fear, even in the districts far from Star Swirl Plaza and the Boulevard of the Ministries. While a dropship carrying Jerome, Alice, and Douglass departed for a rendezvous point in Ponyville, Spitfire's squadron touched down on the landing pads.

Her Wonderbolts landed nimbly on their hooves as the troop bay doors of the wyverns and pelicans opened up. The VTOL's offloaded a mixed force of dozens of heavily armed ODST's, Royal Guards, and IBI and ONI special forces officers. The trench-coat clad Bureau operatives clashed dramatically with Recon armored ONI officers in the sunlight that also glinted off the silver and gold armor of the many guards flanking the entrances.

The latter group escorted Ackerson, Honoria and Aurelius, while the former escorted Lord General Shining Armor. Spitfire and the Wonderbolts escorted themselves. To a political onlooker, their risky simultaneous presences in Canterlot was like a bold cry of defiance to their enemies, if nothing else. Ackerson shielded his eyes from the Sun as he muttered something unflattering about Celestia, careful to ensure he said it out of earshot. The Ancient Equestrian generals sauntered alongside the Colonel with all the mystique and lordliness of a bygone era.

Following them, Shining Armor and the rest made for the entrances in a more respectable manner. Armor saluted the Royal Guards standing at the doors. They gave him confused looks of disbelief for a brief moment, which confused Armor only slightly less so. The guards quickly recovered and stiffened up, hit the ground with the bottoms of their spears, and pounded their hooves and fists to their chests in return, then opened the doors for the commanders with disciplined finesse.

"Flash Sentry has done an immaculate job managing the guard, wouldn't you agree Spitfire?" Shining Armor commented. Spitfire peeked at some of the guards over her shoulder as they moved. None of the men or stallions looked at the newcomers, and stared stone face at the walls in front of them, almost unblinking.

"You could say that, and then some, Armor." Spitfire replied back, astonished by the stoic discipline of the Empress' Guards.

The entire entourage was taken aback at the sight they beheld when they made their way into the Assembly chambers. In stark contrast to the now largely tranquil corridors, the chambers were in absolute pandemonium. Everyone was cheering as Princess Luna was making her way out of the chambers, her bat-like Night Guards trailing closely behind. Luna stopped cold in her tracks when she saw the Lord General and company appear in the entryway.

Discord ceased his scathing glares at Archon Spectra, who still did not notice the Draconequus, and stared instead at the newcomers with venomously malevolent eyes.

Flanked by tall alabaster marble columns, Shining Armor and Spitfire trotted warily into the chambers. Upon seeing the holograms they had allegedly been using to 'attend' the meeting of the Grand Assembly, they too froze up. The holograms stared back at them with their crazy red eyes independently, sizing up their real versions with an uncanny intensity.

The Princess of the Night took one look from the Equestrian military leaders, to the crazy-eyed holograms, and back again. Her cyan eyes narrowed, and her tone was steady and dangerous. "Pray tell, what is the meaning of this? We assumed most of you all far above in space, fighting the Covenant with Lord Sir Terrence Hood and Fleet Admiral Cutter! Why art thou here now? Well...explain yourselves!"

Shining Armor shook his head, and pointed a hoof accusingly at Discord and his false holograms. "Flash Sentry has helped us to detect the true plot afoot here! Lord Hood is on Earth, and is not at all participating in this battle! There is no Operation Red Flag, Cutter and the UNSC Admiralty board brought us here only because we had detected a possible Covenant slipspace signal nearby!"

Luna looked from Shining Armor and Spitfire to Celestia, whose eyes were wide in surprise. The Empress, no longer hiding her previous suspicions, nodded at her younger sister, and slowly, wordlessly, started to back far away from where 'Hood' and 'Cutter' were standing, as well as Discord. Spectra noticed the trouble brewing, and took his place at Celestia's side. While he was seemingly unarmed, he nevertheless formed up with the Royal Guards, creating a protective physical barrier around their ruler.

Noticing Honoria and Aurelius, the Archon attempted to wave his friends over to him, but they oddly payed Spectra no heed, instead gazing intently at Discord. I knew it, I knew it, I knew it! Why in the world did I think he could be trusted? He'd always been out of his mind since the... Something cut the Archon of Fortitude's musings short.

Surprising everyone in the room, Flash Sentry sprinted into the chambers at a frightening speed, entering via the throne room. Sentry shouted between panting breaths. "Everything that has been said...by these holographic imposters...IS A LIE! The UNSC, would never...sacrifice a single allied life...even to capture an enemy Prophet...without...years of planning! They would have warned us ahead of time!"

Spitfire nodded slowly, looking to Luna, then Celestia and her crowd of guards, and finally to Flash Sentry himself with worry. "Flash, please control your rage, it is not helping anyone at the moment! Flash is telling the truth your majesty, only Ackerson is responsible for the freeing of Discord, and nobody in the UNSC or the Empire is behind it but him, he admitted it himself in broad daylight on our way here."

Upon hearing his name, the Colonel scowled at Discord with undisguised animosity, his emotions being one of the few things the man had ever willingly revealed to a crowd in his secretive life. Ackerson cleared his throat. "Indeed, indeed! I, and I alone thought we could use the draconequus as a weapon."

Celestia gazed at the black-haired human, her mane concealing part of her face, making the alicorn seem more worried than she actually was. In reality, she was more resentment than nervousness. Celestia was no fool; centuries of leadership had taught her to never take things for face value, and to always question the things around you until legitimate evidence is provided that it is truly as it seems. The holographic Hood and Cutter had not provided that evidence, and she had given them several opportunities to do so.

They failed every time, and this was the moment Celestia had been waiting for, to finally draw out and divine the true conspiracy. But for the Colonel, she could see right through his flimsy shell of ambition and ruthlessness. The evidence backed up his statements.

"So then, do the other Admirals..." Celestia glared at the holograms, who stared blankly back with their demonic red pupils. "...Are they informed of your actions this day?"

"Ugh, no your majesty. None of the other Admirals know about it other than Margaret Parangosky, and she only reluctantly gave me permission to carry it out, with the strictest of secrecy, and the fact that she would disavow all knowledge of it, if I failed or was discovered." He waved his arms around broadly. "Or...This all were to happen."

As despicable as the man may seem to her, Celestia could tell he was telling them the truth. "Well Ackerson, I will make it my personal point then to ensure what you have done is brought to light for the entirety of this planet as well as your superiors upon the conclusion of our crisis."

In a move that surprised even herself, the Empress snatched a halberd from one of her own guard's hands. He reeled back slightly in surprise, then equipped his pistol and returned to his original position. Celestia held the shaft of the weapon , keeping it in an upright neutral position. Then, she slammed the bottom of the halberd into the hard marble floor.

The sound of ringing metal filled the chambers and forced the attention of every soul present on her. "You're desire to unchain and control that which should not, and cannot be, has resulted in the unnecessary deaths of some of Equestria's finest, most loyal warriors. My own dear human and pony subjects! For this, I will leave you at the mercy of your commanding officers."

"May they devise a fitting punishment for you." Luna added severely.

Celestia then fiercely turned her wilting gaze onto Discord. Pointing the blade of the weapon at him threateningly, her magenta eyes burning with scorn. She inquired, "And what of you, menace of all Equestria? What do you have to say for yourself in your defense? What is your position and involvement in these attacks, what is your role in the arrival of our mortal enemy, the Covenant, upon our metaphorical doorstep?!"

Discord laughed at the Empress, and then to everyone, as he slowly walked towards the holograms, who stared obediently back at him. Celestia's arming herself, together with Discord's sudden movement, created enough anxiety to trigger the mass readying of weapons by every armed individual in the room.

The Royal Guards raised their halberds, spears, and rifles. The Wonderbolts drew their wing blades at such a speed that the air cracked around them, their eyes glaring at the Draconequus with unfathomable loathing. All of Ackerson and Shining Armor's entourage readied their weapons and trained them on Discord. Together, they made a symphony of shifting armor, ringing metal, crackling magical energy, and the clicking of firearm mechanisms.

The entire Assembly, both physically present and via holo communicators, let out a collective gasp, before the ones present in person went into a panic. Some of the Royal guards ushered the non-combatants out to safety, while the others remotely turned their holo communicators off, including the Director, who had remained sternly silent throughout the whole exchange. Their holograms flickered away as the air became ever more charged with tension.

Ceasing his laughter abruptly, Discord finally addressed the dire accusations that were being levied against him. "My oh my, everypony is talking as if I'm somewhere else. I am of course right here you know!" He chuckled again. "Why the long faces? I thought we were all among friends! Weren't we all just consorting against aliens, and deciding the fates of planets here? Were we not fighting against a common enemy?" Discord put a paw to his chest dramatically, and comically adopted a puppy-dog look in his strangely glowing eyes. "What happened to that, hmm?"

"Empress, if I may speak freely?" Captain Flash Sentry called, taking a place near Shining Armor and the other warriors.

"Yes Captain, you may." Celestia replied, not taking her eyes off Discord.

"I suggest we simply put him to the sword! If what Spectra has said about Discord's history is true, we would be doing him a service! A mercy he hardly deserves!"

Celestia shook her head firmly. "No. Our enemies may be ruthless, but that is not our way, Captain. You should know this. Discord will be..."

Sentry cut her off, much to the other guards' collective horror. "Enough is enough! We will imprison him with the Elements, and then he will just find a way free in another hundred years." He drew out his wing blades, and began to sprint towards the draconequus, taking flight and soaring over Celestia, Luna, and the crowd of guards. "I'm ending this crisis, here and now!"

Princess Luna pointed to him with a hoof. "Archon, seize the Captain, such blatant disregard for a direct order is not to be tolerated!"

Reluctantly, Spectra attempted to intercept him. "Wait, Captain..." He broke out from the guard barrier and galloped forward, but before he could continue something halted his advance. Honoria teleported in front of him in an instant, and rammed her hooves right into his muzzle, the force of her ancient hardlight armor almost knocking him out cold. On the ground, Spectra looked up at her with disbelief, coughing up flecks of blood. "But...why?"

Aurelius stood next to her, grinning under his dark mane, while the unicorn herself looked at the pegasus with cruel pity. "This is only for the best, Dashie." Aurelius said, his brow furrowed and his grin growing wider.

"Surprised? You shouldn't be! Only an idiot would oppose our Master." Honoria murmured.

Simultaneously, Discord observed the charging form of Flash Sentry with callous indifference. He chuckled thrice, then snapped his fingers. Sentry cried in alarm as his wings shrunk to the size of a newborn colt's, unable to carry his weight aloft. Like the Archon, Flash tumbled to the ground, momentarily dazed.

Honoria teleported herself and Aurelius to Discord's side. Honoria looked up at him with impatience. "At last!" She declared with a voice reminiscent of Nightmare Moon. "We have waited over a thousand centuries, but finally we can carry out his majesty's orders! Is that not right, Senator Discord!"

Discord sneered at her, and his usual piercing yellow eyes were quickly giving way to green irises and demonic red pupils. An ethereal black fog, the inky black of a starless night sky, swirled around his body and face. Discord uttered in a deep voice that was not his own."The draconequus senator...is not available at present." Discord's body twitched oddly, as if trying to fight off a presence only it could detect. He chuckled like a sane individual as his body convulsed, contributing to the unsettling nature of the scene unfolding. Celestia, Luna, and many of the others could only watch Discord with their mouths agape.

"While powerful, this body was not ideal for Flood immunity, even in its original form. Faber and the Forerunners were fools thinking we would be their lap dogs, but their wasteful research inadvertently created something that will serve my endeavor quite well."

"My lord, is that you in there?" Aurelius inquired with casual surprise, as if greeting an old friend.

Discord's body turned its now demonic eyes on both of the ancient generals. "Yes my faithful vassals. Soon, it shall be time for our Reclamation!" He raised his talon and paw, and waved them towards Celestia. "Alicorn, your pretentious kind were never fit to rule our Imperium. Your empire, this entire planet, everything and every species in this arm of the galaxy falls under my dominion. It is mine to rule, and mine alone!" The impostor holograms spoke in tandem with their master. As one, they all converged into a single ball of energy, which dissolved into Discord's talon.

In a magnificent charge of magical energy, Celestia changed the shape of the halberd in her telekinetic grip. The weapon's head changed from the usual blue plasma, to a divine-like white light. Its shaft, handle, and spear point turned to a gold color, while the ax blade was morphed into a shape resembling the Sun rising over the horizon. The otherworldly-looking weapon now found itself pointed straight at Discord's possessed body. "What are you? What is your purpose in causing so much destruction and misery for this city?" Celestia asked, her voice trembling with rage.

The being inhabiting Discord chuckled once more. The voice was devoid of any form of amusement, only a deep underlying malice. "Is it not all clear to you Celestia? Do you not recognize me even in my present form?" Not waiting for the alicorn's response, Discord's body snapped its fingers again. "MY WARRIORS, TO ME!" He roared. By now, Sentry and Spectra had recovered, and glared at the trio.

A sizable crowd of New Sovereignty and allied Covenant troops winked into existence behind him. Pointing his paw at the Regal Sisters and the soldiers, he roared again. "KEEP THEM OCCUPIED. I HAVE WORK THAT MOST BE DONE!"

Snapping his finger a final time, the draconequus dismantled the stone wall nearest him, turning it into an archway of ugly gray crystalline structures. He marched his way out into the garden, with the ancient, turncoat generals following him like obedient hounds.

All enemy fighters, an unlikely group of at least forty-strong Sangheili, Unggoy, ponies, humans, and gryphons turned their motley assortment of weapons on the Imperial Equestrians in the room, blocking the new entryway leading to the gardens. The mixed forces of the Royal Guard, ODST, Imperial Army, and both Intelligence agencies fiercely responded in kind. Everyone braced for the inevitable first shot that would surely crack through the room.

Ministry of State

Entrances

During the moment of tranquility on the battlefield, the Chief picked up a transmission from a Royal Guard channel, originating in the Palace. It was the Captain of the Royal Guard. "Master Chi...! Can an... of you hear me?"

Flash Sentry's voice was distorted as static threatened to make his words incomprehensible. "Discord was delibe.... interfering... an... bloc... ...ommunications! He's not a... ...nd he's a threat to..." Master Chief shook his head. "Say again Captain? I'm not reading you clearly!"

"Princ... ...una cannot assist... Tell Forge the Palace is un... at... again! Lo.. Hood has not ordered Operat... ED FLAG! I repeat... Operation RED FLAG is not in effect! The Ministry of State is ju... a... div...ion! The main enemy force is at...cking..." Sentry's channel went dark, ushered out by Discord's demonic laughter. As his laughter faded away, all the other channels went dark as well.

Whereas previously radio communications had been spotty and unreliable, all conventional communication networks in the Canterlot Area were now completely jammed by Discord's malignant magics. By now, Forge and his force had reached the Master Chief's position near the front entrances. The General was flanked by Elizabeth B312 and Edward B313, with five centurions on either side, who bellowed orders to their soldiers and waved their energy sabers about as they all approached them.

"All divisions, twin formations! Divert the enemy's attention upon entrance to the Ministry!"

"Keep your hands and your hooves near your triggers, use grenades only on our command!"

"Rifleman, target enemy squad leaders if any are sighted!"

Oddly enough, the enemy could say similar things, given how centurions are easily distinguishable from standard Equestrian troops by the prominence of their manes pluming out of the tops of their helmets–or for human centurions, the artificial decorative crests. As John briefly studied the Imperial soldiers, he was constantly reminded of his history lessons back on Reach about ancient battles like Thermopylae, Julius Caesar's conquests in Gaul and North Africa, and Greco-Roman styles in general.

Breaking into two separate bodies, the Equestrian humans and ponies rushed forward, many with DMR's and BR55's taking potshots at any Insurrectionist foolish enough to show their faces in the windows. They trooped around the General and the twin Spartan III's. The commandos nodded respectfully to the Master Chief and his team, but kept silent. General Forge greeted John with a hardy handshake, but his usual mischievous, care-free demeanor was strikingly absent. Instead, he looked deeply disturbed. "Master Chief. I take it you just heard Sentry's..."

"...Transmission? I did. It explains why Luna and her Night Guard reinforcements aren't here." John replied. Under his helmet and armor, his body language was dangerous. "This Discord...he's manipulating us all."

"Dammit." Forge looked at the ground, downcast.

Gunnery Sergeant Buck patted his hand briefly on the General's shoulder. "Hey! General, I know the situation might be complex, but that's what we're all here for. We all wouldn't be needed if it were easy." Buck motioned towards his squad, then the rest of the ODST's and Blue Team, then to the entirety of the Imperial Army division. "There's people in there who need our help, and only you all can save them. C'mon, we've got your back. Helljumpers, best of the best!"

Grinning at Buck in spite of the situation, Forge drew out his M90 shotgun with gusto. "You're right trooper!" He exclaimed Buck nodded at him, then darkened his helmet visor once more. As if they were Forge's shadows, Edward and Elizabeth readied their exotically designed GSM-01 rifles in kind. The revolutionary Prometheus batteries whirred to life in the hearts of the weapons as safeties were disengaged.

Cradling his M90 like a war hammer over his shoulder, Forge turned to face his troops. "Alright ladies and mares, gentlemen and gentlestallions! It's time to go in their, free our people, and show these terrorists and their Covie allies the true meaning of terror!" He emphasized 'terror' by pointing at the State building over his other shoulder, then tightening the free hand into a fist.

Forge's declaration was received with much enthusiasm. The scores of soldiers and ODST's bellowed war cries, Several shield gauntlet-wielding Imperial skirmishers roared and beat the stocks of their SMG's, and their blades, against their shields. A timeless display of challenge and aggression by shield bearing warriors of all eras. Regardless of this show of determination, the occupying enemy force within met their cries with nothing less than total silence.

"But first," Forge continued. "We need to assess the conditions on the interior. Before Sentry dropped out of contact, one of his marksman told me that not only are our people being held here, they're everyone who didn't make it out of Star Swirl Plaza. That is why only insurgents and Covenant squads have been encountered thus far. We have to be careful."

"I need a magic user or two to scan the front of this building and assess how we should proceed. Any takers?"

In an instant, two unicorn soldiers, two robed unicorn battlemages, and a unicorn centurion stepped forward and arrayed themselves in an arc, with the center of the arc, where the centurion stood, the furthest away from the Ministry HQ. "Alright then." Forge interjected, impressed.

"Lads, prep analysis magic on my command!" The commanding centurion ordered. They each bowed their heads, and their horns ignited as one. A single bolt of energy gathered on the centurion's horn. "Engaged to my armor systems...now. Commence scan!" In an instant, their magic auras converged, and bathed the entire structure in a brilliant blue light. Meshed together with an Identify Friend or Foe detection spell, the facade vanished under the magic, revealing red-marked shapes of several species. Behind all of them, and numerous Covenant portable energy barriers, were the yellow-marked forms of over two hundred pony and human civilians, all adults.

Forge and the others were quick to take note of the current layout of the place, the positions of various hostiles, and how barricaded the doors were. Many of the red shapes flailed around in alarm, sensing the arcane energy piercing through them and the building itself. Rapidly soon after, the spell's effects wore off, returning the building to normal.

"Very good soldiers! It's now time to end this battle once and for all!"

Despite being a marine at heart, the General had spent enough time the past several weeks leading the army in Shining Armor's stead, that he knew how to conduct himself like any true commander of the Equestrian Imperial Army. One of the centurions handed him a saber, and he temporarily stowed his shotgun away. Raising the energy blade in the air, Forge bellowed. "SINGLE COLORS! SINGLE COLORS! Same as you were, two columns, two avenues of attack!" Forge waved the blade at both groups of warriors and then two the massive sets of doors like a conductor in a symphony. They all formed ranks and filed together like clockwork.

"Now, units...Forward march!"

Reminiscent of the armies of classical antiquity, the Imperial soldiers marched in two well-ordered columns. The first row of each were shield walls with human skirmisher units. Behind them marched stallions and men of greater height than the skirmishers. Behind them all were mixed ranks of humans and ponies of both genders. In the middle of both columns stood pairs of Imperial battlemages, the central, critical element of any proper Imperial Army division that lacked a significant number of normal unicorns.

Proven to be magically adept from a very young age at the prestigious Imperial College of Arcane Sciences on the snowy summit of Mount Cantor high above Canterlot, these unicorns are almost without peer in the fields of war magic and destruction spells. The battlemages now cleared the way for their compatriots to storm the building. Using their telekinesis, the objects piled against the insides of the doors were flung back violently, and the ornate copper and wood doors themselves were nearly obliterated to splinters. Charging in at the head of the force guns blazing were General Forge, Master Chief, Kelly and Kurt Ambrose, as well as Elizabeth and Edward.

The captive civilians cheered behind their energy barrier prisons at the sight of their rescuers. Oddly, there were only a few dozen insurgents or Covenant waiting to receive them. All that offered resistance were several grunts and around eighteen haggard earth ponies in tattered New Sovereignty uniforms and mismatched combat armor. Their Griffonian assault rifles jammed frequently, and only managed to make harmless rents in Spartan Blue Team's armor.

Effortlessly, the five Spartans dispatched the rebels, the final ones falling from the impact of blazing white energy bolts of the twin commando's solar pulse rifles. With a jokingly irritable moan, Forge commented on their stunning lethality. "Oh come on guys, save some for me will ya?"

The Spartans briefly shared a chuckle at the General's expense, as the rest of the Army division marched in, broke their formations, and seized the surrounding areas of cover they could find.

"That, well that was too damn easy. Where are the rest of the bastards we saw?" Micky, one of Buck's men asked.

Koje Agu, another of Buck's squad, snickered in response as he surveyed the Spartans' handiwork. He made his visor transparent, revealing his face as he spoke "Huh, maybe they all went running home scared to their mommies!"

"Yeah, but their mommies can't save em' from our horned friends' little parlor magic tricks, can they?" Dutch, the final member of Bucks squad added, grinning at a unicorn ODST nearby. The armored stallion glared at him beneath his own visor.

Gunnery Sergeant Buck, sensing that the Spartans and the Imperials were all staring at his squad strangely, scolded his men. "That's enough troopers, don't start getting too cocky on me now!"

"You're one to talk!" Koje jeered, snickering again. "Mister 'I'm such a lady's man like old Romeo', but can't even win over the heart of one Miss Veronica Dare."

Buck narrowed his eyes and spoke low and dangerous. "Keep that lip to yourself trooper...your sailing some rough waters right now, and... DAMMIT! Forge, behind you!"

"General!" Kelly shouted urgently. "Contacts! Motion sensors are going crazy!" Forge ducked just in time as the camouflaged silhouette of a Sangheili energy blade cut through the air he had just occupied. Buck fired his MA5C at the massive figure, and the bullets pinged off the elite's shields. The elite rolled away, and engage easier prey. More stealth elites, and three cloaked Jiralhanae with maulers materialized into view.

"Light em' up people, light em' up!" Forge shouted. Pumping his M90, Forge hit the first Jiralhanae who tried to rush him in his stomach, dropping him instantly. Stepping backwards a pace, the General found himself back to back with Master Chief, Kurt, and Edward. As one, they all fired in a rough circle, dropping several elites and gravely wounding the two Jiralhanae.

"Buck! Get your team over to the controls for the energy barriers and free those civilians!" John ordered. "Kelly, Elizabeth, cover them. We'll keep the Covenant distracted!" Wasting no time, the two Spartans and ODST troopers made their way to the control panel for the energy barriers. All around them, Army regulars attempted to hold off the cloaked melee weapon-wielding assailants with their blades and rifles. Dozens of them were sustaining brutal injuries from slashes and stabs, and some had been killed outright before they even could see their foes.

"Battlemages, we could use your help right about now!" Forge shouted.

The robed unicorns silently nodded, and began murmuring incantations, their horns aglow. In a large flash of energy, all of the enemy's cloaking systems failed simultaneously, revealing their bodies in the light drifting in through the massive gilded windows of the second story.

At that moment, a new menace leaped into the fray from above. Five gryphons, lead by a very tall dark feathered male, drew their sickle blades and descended from the second story balconies overlooking the lobby. Before the mages could move to defend themselves, two griffons and their leader cut them down exactly like rye in a field.

Enraged, the few nearby soldiers who could have helped were stopped by the other two griffons, who ran them through with their own sickles, raising them in the air and tossing them like rag dolls towards other soldiers, who were stunned and knocked over. As the five gryphons shook their blood-stained feathers clean, they cried out their notes of triumph at their kills. "Titanium Gryphon be praised, ve are great and powerful! Hurrah!"

Their triumph was short lived, as John tossed a fragmentation grenade into the center of their group. All but two were killed instantly in the blast. Meanwhile, the remainder of the cloaked Covenant were losing the battle. Edward finished the first griffon off with a plasma strike to her head. The mortally wounded gryphon was reduced to an ash pile from the solar rifle's intense heat, capable of burning targets at nearly the heat of a star's surface.

Kelly held her hand in a thumbs up sign as the freed civilians rushed their way out to the doors of the now peaceful courtyard, ODST troopers and imperial soldiers following close behind. "All clear. Hostile forces in the city have been eliminated, General." She said.

The last remaining griffon, the leader, tried to crawl pathetically away from the Spartans. Kurt was about to finish off the large griffon with his BR55, but Forge and Master Chief halted him. "There were more of them than just this lot. I would've sworn I had seen a damn horde of em' going down Ministry Boulevard towards this place! I've got a bad feeling about this now." Forge said with frustration.

"Stop. This one might know something." John said firmly. Kurt shrugged, and put his knife back in its sheath. Forge took two steps towards the griffon, before taking a good look at him.

Unlike the other survivor, he had taken the least damage. His armor was burned and scratched, dozens of feathers had been singed away, and one of his wings was bent at an improper angle. "Now, I'm only gonna ask you nicely once you Innie son of a bitch." Forge said in a low voice, his eyes boring into the griffon leader. "Where are the rest of your forces?"

"I don't know..." The griffon began. Forge grabbed a hold on his bent wing, threatening to tug at it. "Ahhh!... I, I mean... They're being teleported into the Palace as ve speak."

"WHAT?!" Forge shouted. The griffon nodded, his eyes blurred with tears of pain. "Yes. Ve...My people here vere merely supposed to delay you!" The General released his vice grip on the griffons injured wing, and made his way to the entrances, turning back to face the five Spartans.

"So that's what Flash was trying to tell us! Master Chief, Kurt, Kelly, Edward, and Elizabeth, form up on me! Everyone, the bastards have deceived us again, the Empress is in danger."

"Don't forget Princess Luna and the others." John added.

"And Colonel Ackerson." Edward concluded.

"All the more reason we should hurry." General Forge muttered. "Centurions, we can't send out word remotely because of the damn comms blackout. I want you to take your soldiers and spread out through the city. Alert every guard garrison and Army brigade you find, the Palace is under siege!" The stallions saluted him, and began to marshal their troops out of the courtyard, evacuating the fleeing civilians in the process.

Imperial Palace

12:00 PM

The two opposing forces still stood there, neither side willing to make the first offensive move and risk a tactical blunder. Ever so cautiously, Celestia lowered her halberd as Discord neared out of sight into the gardens of the Palace. "Does your silence and inaction indicate your unwillingness to fight? Or is it simply foolish arrogance I am observing here?" Celestia inquired angrily.

Two gryphons emerged from the group with their weapons either carelessly, or arrogantly, holstered. One was of average height with blonde feathers and a suit of titanium and fur armor, while the other was taller with pale white feathers and purple shade around her eyes, with a much more ornate suit of combat armor.

"Allow us to introduce ourselves." The shorter one said in her thick accent. The other took over for her, holding up a talon. Unlike her comrade, her accent was very much like that of an Equestrian. "I am Battlemaster Gilda. This is Lieutenant Autumn Wing. Together, we will be killing you today. I hoped you have all enjoyed the day thus far, dweebs. You're not gonna to live long enough to see the evening!"

Celestia had heard enough. Forcefully slamming the hilt of her halberd into the ground, she charged a spell. Outside, the midday Sun was now at its zenith in the sky, and a tiny portion of it now glowed with great intensity from the snow-white alicorn's horn. Utilizing her Royal Voice for the first time in recent memory, Celestia bellowed at the crowd of insurgents. "IF YOU VALUE YOUR LIVES, LAY DOWN YOUR ARMS AND FLEE THIS PLACE, NEVER RETURN! I GIVE YOU ALL ONLY FIVE SECONDS TO YIELD!"

"FIVE"

The light charged in her horn,and the grunts, pony, and human insurrectionists of the crowd were the first to drop their weapons and flee.

"FOUR"

The bravest of them shouted curses and profanity at their fleeing comrades.

"THREE"

Only the Sangheili, gryphons, and two unicorns held their ground, the elites snarling and shouting their defiance.

"TWO"

Celestia's normally serene, majestically flowing mane had become a billowing maelstrom of fire, as the spell in her horn neared the zenith of its power. Her eyes glowed pure white with rage, quite literally.

"ONE! YOU LEAVE ME NO OTHER CHOICE!"

The two former Griffonian officers widened their eyes, and activated devices on their armor, just as the spell enveloped the area where they stood. One of the unicorns, a heavily armored one, activated a shield spell around herself and the other, a spike-armored red-maned stallion. The remaining enemies were unable to cry out, for the unleashed gamma radiation from Celestia's beam of solar energy had already reduced them to ash.

Breaking out of their emergency shields, the two surviving griffons and unicorns found that the rest of their back up had been sent on a one way ticket to the Great Journey. Soot blanketed much of the marble surfaces nearby, marring their passive beauty with the cremated remains of the wicked.

Outside, the last surviving majority of the force that had commenced the attack on Canterlot were raiding areas of the Palace, completely ignoring the civilians and killing guards with extreme prejudice. It would seem they were completely indifferent to the palace staff or even government officials as they went about trying to loot and desecrate priceless symbols of Equestrian art and history. The rest of them made it their point to form a perimeter around their alleged leader inhabiting Discord's body, as well his two pony minions. Discord was hunched over the plinth of his former prison, analyzing something. Clutched in his paw and talon were the actual missing Elements of Harmony.

Back inside, the alicorns took notice of all this. Before anyone could stop the four survivors of Celestia's solar attack, the power-armored unicorn teleported them all out of the Assembly chamber, where they all eventually took up position alongside Honoria and Aurelius. As one, the alicorn sisters, Shining Armor, Flash Sentry, Spectra, Spitfire, and all their warriors rushed out to confront their fleeing enemies. Ackerson went outside with them, but had himself and his men stay back towards the entrance for now.

Suddenly, a heavily damaged civilian merchant ship dropped out of nowhere from behind a cloud front at top speed and came to rest several hundred feet above the Palace. A lone phantom emerged from its hangar bay with haste just before a trio of Imperial Nightwing fighters and a dozen pegasi companions struck the freighter's engines with pulse lasers and M41 warheads, causing it to careen into the side of Mount Cantor. The small cargo vessel exploded into a fireball as it plummeted over a thousand feet to the foot of the mountain. Believing themselves to be the next targets of the Air Force squadron, The phantom pilot dropped the alien dropship like a brick onto the flat of the outdoor café, flattening furniture and disrupting the elegant topiary sculptures and shrubs. Fortunately for them, the pegasi had decided to veer off, not wanting to endanger Canterlot or its residents any further.

A single Sangheili in the silver and white of a Covenant Counselor wielding an energy sword stepped out, and walked through the line alongside the other enemy leaders. His right abdomen was horrendously scorched, and a distinctive crescent moon scar shown prominently in the sunlight through a burn mark in the armor. Luna recognized him at once, and her earlier rage returned. It was at that moment, that Forge and the Spartans all arrived in force on the side of the gardens opposite the 'entrance' to the Assembly rotunda Discord had created.

The gunfire around the Palace reached its crescendo as the second Insurrectionist attack on the Palace today was swiftly broken. The enemy insurgents and remaining Covenant survivors fidgeted nervously as soldier after soldier, and even police, began to take positions all around the gardens, rooftops, and windows. Spitfire and her Wonderbolts made the highest spires and minarets their nests, waiting to pounce on any worthy prey. General Forge, John 117, and the others spread out and waved over to the far end, indicating to their compatriots on the other side that they were present. Luna used her Royal Voice to convey a critical fact to all the combatants.

"HEED US, DISCORD POSSESSES THE ELEMENTS OF HARMONY! WE MUST WREST THEM FROM HIS GRASP!"

For a brief moment, the opposing forces glared at one other. Master Chief, Forge, and every other military mind present knew that Luna's forces were a hammer, and Forge and division was the anvil. Discord, and all near him were the molten metal, waiting for the blacksmith to strike.

And strike she did, for at the same time, Luna, Shining Armor, Forge, and Sentry all shouted, "Engage!" Their combined shouts were answered by a massive volley of gunfire aimed at the heart of the gardens, where Discord and his remaining force stood. To everyone's horror, the thousands of bullets all halted in midair, bouncing off a red magical kinetic barrier that had just become visible from their impacts.

Amplifying his voice to echo across the entire Palace grounds and out into the capital, Discord's possessed, twitching form cackled. "Did you really think it would be this easy? I did not spend all these eras scheming, just for it to end here, at your pathetic hands! In a moment, I will distill these Elements back into their original, primal state. With them, all will come to fruition. But that is for another time. Now, you have other matters to concern yourself with."

As the dark entity laughed again, the area inside the shield began to crystallize and change. Barricades, short ramparts, and foxholes formed across the ground, uprooting plants, tilting statuary, and tearing the tiled pathways apart. Many Imperials couldn't help but feel slight amazement as a small fortress sprung up before their very eyes. The Insurrectionists and remaining Covenant were quick to take advantage of the new cover, for the shield was not meant to last. The Director was somehow aware of this as he emerged outside near Ackerson, who greeted him with surprise and a glare of rivalry. Gathering his own IBI operatives, together the seven fedora and trench coat-clad agents marched in perfect synchronization towards Celestia and Luna.

"Your majesties, that shield will soon break. When it does, Discord, or whatever has him under its thrall, will not hesitate to attempt to use the Elements and seize control of the ancient Forerunner and Equestrian warships you acquired from Aurora."

Celestia shook her head incredulously. "But how...how is that possible."

Spectra stepped forward. "I'm afraid I was not specific enough in my explanation back in New Alexandria. The Elements are not mere weapons, or even simple power sources. Their true nature is that of pure harmonic energy, and the crystals are merely six specific vessels to contain this energy. This being aims to corrupt the energy and use it to seize control of the remaining Imperium technology that may linger in this star system."

The Director folded his arms behind his back. "With the energy and captured technology in hand, this being will be so powerful..."

"...That not even the Covenant could challenge him." Celestia finished for him.

"Precisely."

"And in truth, the technology and the power was intended for Equestria--us all along, wasn't it Archon Spectra." Luna asked.

The pegasus nodded, his rainbow-colored mane matted and his fur disheveled under his armor. "That is what my ancilla Percival had essentially told me just before my interment when Aurora was falling to the Forerunners. 'When the next civilization finds this place, you will be the voice of our people.' I believe he had said. I wonder what became of that little fella." Spectra scowled at his two former comrades, still gathered near Discord. "And Percival never mentioned Honoria or Aurelius having similar roles. They were not suppose to survive the Collapse as I did, then."

"And yet, they did." The Director pointed out. "Ah reckon that they too have been consorting to bring this all about since the moment they were awoken. Ackerson made the perfect puppet, and we had carelessly given them free reign to mingle among us and sift through our records, as we did with the Covenant 'defectors'."

The Princess of the Night ceased her observation of her elite nemesis. "A mistake, we shall never make again, Director. Thou would be wise to keep that in mind." Luna put her hoof down. "Now, enough talk! For the shield falls, and our opportunity to attack arrives!" Sure enough, the shield flickered once, twice, thrice, before finally collapsing to nothingness. The inhabitants within took cover as best they could.

"ATTACK!" The military leaders shouted once more. The Imperials and Ackerson's men fired volley after volley of bullets and attack spells. The fortress almost resembled a bizarre art sculpture as thousands of rounds slammed around crystalline fortifications, striking those who manned them.

Regardless, the crystals themselves were scarcely harmed. On the opposite end, Master Chief, covered by Forge and the others, tossed a small, 2x2 block of C-12 explosive over the nearest crystal wall. Sprinting several dozen feet from the small fort, Chief triggered the bomb. Half of the enemy forces were annihilated all at once, and many of the rest wounded, as the crystals shattered like broken wine bottles. The explosion was of such great magnitude, that the crystalline shards were reduced to a fine powder, which fell almost like snow as the smoke and fire cleared.

Knowing that Discord's remaining force was no match for them, Luna, Forge, Master Chief, Spectra, Sentry, and the rest of the elite warriors pressed the attack. The others began mopping up the stragglers, as the heroes charged towards the possessed draconequus and his apparent lieutenants.

Luna zeroed in straight for the silver-armored elite with the lunar scar. "Toyah Kusovai, you thought you could escape me this day? Fate has betrayed you, and now your doom is at hand!" She charged at him with her horn held out, aimed at impaling him in the chest. She impacted with the flat of his blade, and they hung their, locked in a battle of wills.

Master Chief focused his attention on the unicorn they called Ripper with the nasty shoulder wound, dodging the seemingly infinite supply of cleavers coming from the red maned stallion's satchels and sheaths.

Together, Shining Armor and Archon Spectra rushed at Honoria and Aurelius. Shining fought against the latter with his broadsword, while Spectra and Honoria clashed their hardlight blades against one another, Honoria trying to find ways around his wing blade flurries with her long sword. Their movements resembled a strange dance as the lights of the blades and Honoria's aura bounced off them.

Forge went  toe-to-talon with Gilda, both taking pot shots at one another with their combat shotguns as Gilda took flight and attempted to flush him out of cover.

Sentry, despite eerily wanting to spill Discord's blood himself, and whose wings had returned to normal, instead resigned himself to dealing with the smaller griffon Autumn Wing. She would occasionally fire her griffonian rifle and take swipes at him with her sickle blade as he strafed around in the air, firing an M7 SMG at her.

Fighting identically as if they were one Spartan in two separate bodies, Edward and Elizabeth rushed at the heavily armored unicorn, who fired at them with numerous combat spells. They attempted to break through the mare's thick armor plating with their MA5B's, but to no avail, while they swerved and dodged her spells.

As the seconds passed, the battle continued to unfold. Spitfire and her Wonderbolts assisted the Imperial soldiers and guards on the ground, striking down many insurgents and suffering virtually no casualties. In the midst of the carnage, Celestia stood near the edge of the battlefield. Accompanied by a few guards who reluctantly kept themselves from engaging the enemy, she did her best to help the medics distribute medi-grenades, as well as healing some of the wounded directly with her own magic.

"Get these people to the infirmary wing, quickly!" Nearby, Princess Cadence, who had appeared at nearly the same time as the Director, helped to heal the wounded as well. Watching the youngest of the three alicorns running about with the medics and Palace doctors, Celestia could not even begin to fathom how relieved she was that Twilight and her friends were safe and far enough away from all of the fighting. Back in the heat of the battle, the carnage only increased.

Frustrated that he could not injure the Spartan with his knives and cleavers, Ripper maniacally rushed at Master Chief with his horn pointed right at the super soldier's chest. "Just die, will ya? It's lunchtime, and I'm hungry!" It was his final mistake. John stepped to the side, and grabbed a hold of Ripper's horn, detaching it with a sickening crack, before plunging it straight into the back of the psychopath's skull. The unicorn anarchist toppled over, dead before he even hit the grass.

"Eat that." The Chief said, without any intonation in his voice suggesting humor.

The griffon Autumn Wing had run out of ammunition trying to shoot down Flash Sentry, and he had managed to hit her several times in turn. Her face was beginning to pale beneath her tan feathers as blood trickled out of the bullet holes in the leather parts of her armor. Autumn took one final futile swing at him with her sickle, before collapsing. As the first two of Discord's Lieutenant fell, several insurgents rushed in to fill the void. Spectra, who had managed to behead Honoria at the cost of one of a deep gash in his shoulder, roared in fury and cut down rebel after rebel. His cyan coat and armor was stained in blood as he cut his way through the enemy mob, intent on reaching and killing General Aurelius before Shining Armor or any others could.

Now rid of his opponent, Chief moved to help Luna, who was dodging and weaving around the Sangheili swordsman's deadly arcs, while Flash Sentry emptied the rest of his ammo into Gilda, whose shielding blocked the spray of bullets.

General Forge was in a bad way. While he had managed to score several good shots at the griffon, Gilda's being airborne and possessing shields proved too much for him to counter. He fired at her with a scopeless M6 Magnum, trying to knock her out of the sky. "I'm gonna clip your wings, ya damn Innie!"

Gilda laughed. "Go ahead and try it! I'm already kicking your ass anyways, you little wimp." Forge had a gash across his cheek and right arm where Gilda had nicked him with her own gold-plated version of the griffons' trademark sickle blades. Now noticing Sentry entering their duel, Gilda snarled and crashed into him, knocking the Guard Captain straight into the ground. One of his wings snapped into an unusual position, and pain shot through his entire body. Using his free wing, Flash threw both wing blades at Gilda, who had foolishly returned her attention to Forge.

The blades hit home in both of her own wings, forcing Gilda down with a cry of pain and anger, while turning things strictly into a ground-only fight. Abandoning her attention for the General, Gilda lunged again at Sentry, pounding his head into the ground forcefully with her talons. She repeated it again and again until Sentry felt his nose and muzzle fracture slightly. He remained still then, too dazed and hurt to get up and return to the fight.

With Gilda's back to him, Forge held out his M90 horizontally, and brought the weapon around Gilda's neck, trying to knock her unconscious. While her lungs and muscles still had enough oxygen, Gilda bared her teeth through her beak, and bit a chunk out of his already injured right arm, forcing the General to release her.

Toyah Kusovai was similarly forced to cease his attacks against Luna as John dropped his shields with bursts from his assault rifle. Seizing advantage of the moment, the Princess attempted to finish the elite off, but he was too fast. Ramming his shoulder into the Spartan, he shoved Chief several feet away, where several enemy stragglers kept him busy, if only for a few moments. A millisecond later, Kusovai identically rammed Luna to the ground with his other shoulder. With an impressive show of strength, the Sangheili lifted the fully grown alicorn off her hooves, holding her by the neck. He gazed into her eyes, pulling his hanging mandibles into a Sangheili facsimile of a sneer.

In a low voice, he recited from memory the first two opening lines of the Writ of Union, the founding document of the Covenant Empire.

"Say full of hate were our eyes, that none of us could see

A war which would yield countless dead, but never victory."

He raised his sword with a cut aimed at her carotid artery, a quick death. It never came to pass however, as Kusovai felt an immense force comparable to his own knock him to the blood-soaked grass.This was followed by a boot pressed to his sword arm, and another boot to his lunar-scarred side. The elite looked up to see the figure of Chief staring down at him.

"D...d...Demon?" Kusovai growled.

Appearing beside the Master Chief, was Luna. Strangely, her face was lacking in any kind of rage, and was now instead the host of pity. Having poured through Covenant databases aboard the Divine Crusader, Luna knew the rest of what Toyah Kusovai had been about to say.

"So let us cast arms aside, and like discard our wrath."

Luna kicked her hoof at Kusovai's sword, dislodging it from his grasp under the Chief's boot. She then lowered her head, as if in contemplation, then ignited her horn.

"Thou in faith, will keep us safe...." She charged up the combat spell and released it. Hitting Kusovai square in the chest, the burst of lightning fried his armor and electrocuted him, causing his heart to stop and his nervous system to shut down.

"Whilst we find the Path." Luna finished in her normal voice. Her glare and her words were the last stimuli the alien's dying brain detected, before his life finally drained away from his body.

Upon witnessing Kusovai fall, crippled her esprit de corps and caused Gilda to take flight and flee when Forge had involuntarily released her. She dislodged Sentry's blades from the wing membranes at the cost of much pain, as she limply soared away, up and around the mountain side. Flash Sentry called out after her, barely able to stand from the pain in his wing and upper jaw.

"Come back and face judgement coward! Why postpone the inevitable, the Empire will hunt you and the New Sovereignty to the ends of Equis and beyond, YOU HEAR ME!" She was too far away now to reply, but she had indeed heard him. "We'll never stop hunting you!"

The Wonderbolts could have easily stopped her, but Spitfire ordered them to stay put and help out in fighting the rest. Spitfire reasoned that nature and karma would eventually take care of the Gilda problem for them.

Despite the battle still raging on around them, Luna and the Master Chief stood still, staring at the corpse of the Covenant aristocrat. "Strangely, I must confess that I do not feel satisfaction from this monster's demise, Chief." Luna said softly, temporarily abandoning her archaic form of speaking.

"We shouldn't stay here, our allies might still need help, Luna." The Spartan replied.

The Princess nodded slowly, her ears flattened. "Aye, warrior." The midnight alicorn looked at him, her brilliant cyan eyes conveying a message he couldn't quite decipher at the moment. "You know, were it not for you..." She sighed. "You, have my thanks Spartan."

John nodded slowly at her. "Don't mention it, you would have done the same." Chief reached down and pulled a Covenant data chip from Kusovai's belt. "Minister Anders, and your IBI will want to have a look at this. It probably contains his orders from Regret." Luna accepted it with a solemn tilt of her head, then trained her eyes onto her comrades still fighting.

Discord's protectors were on their last legs, but the Empire, had suffered as well. Many Imperial soldiers were limp and lifeless among the corpses of Covenant and Insurrectionists. General Forge had left the fight to get Flash Sentry and a few other injured soldiers to the medics waiting nearby.

Meanwhile, Shining Armor was holding out against the relentless attacks of earth pony turncoat-General Aurelius. The ancient's armor was splattered in blood not his own, and the corpses of numerous humans and ponies in Imperial armor he had slain covered the ground before him. The Lord General was careful not to step on his fallen troops as he fought Aurelius to avenge them. Hearing a bloodcurdling roar near the both of them, they ceased their duel to look at the newcomer. Spectra rushed towards Aurelius, his cyan fur now a mottled red, and his hard light wing blades dripping crimson. By his crazed violet eyes, Shining Armor could tell the pegasus was now blood drunk.

"Spectra?! Wait, let me..." Shining began. The ancient paid him no heed, and instead chuckled arrogantly.

"Ah, I haven't felt so alive in many an age! Such a shame it has to be the blood of traitors I must spill, rather than that of proper, honorable warriors!" Spectra's rage grew with each word, the chuckle descending into a low growl.

Aurelius snickered at him, parlaying Spectra and Armor's attacks with his hardlight staff as if they were gnats. He made a tsk-tsk noise with his tongue under his muzzle as he surveyed the Archon. "Dashie, Dashie, Dashie! You always were the brashest one of all the Archons."

Spectra Dash replied with a snarl. "My brashness just killed Honoria, once one of the finest commanding females in all the Imperium Military Vanguard! And now, my 'brashness' will dispose of another of its traitorous generals!" Spectra shook his blades clean of blood. "Die traitor!"

Aurelius looked from Spectra and Shining to his sole remaining comrade, the armored unicorn. She was simultaneously holding off the combined attacks of three Spartans, and an unarmored alicorn. Turning back to face his old war comrade, Aurelius continued his own monologue. "So steadfast and loyal you are to your friends. It's no wonder why Empress Lucena had chosen you to bear the Element of Loyalty when she forged them deep beneath this city's very mountain, so long ago!" He raised his stave, casting a force push spell from a gemstone embedded in his armor.

The spell sent Shining Armor flying away several feet, knocking him to the ground. "Such a shame, that she spent so much of her power to create them all, only to have five of the Archons nearly die, and to be captured by the greatest enemy of the Imperial Family, not counting Astra's three corrupted sons."

The Archon growled fiercely. "Speak not of the Empress, her daughters, or any of their family, you backstabbing trash" Spectra flared his bladed wings and lunged. "Had I known you were in league with that monster, I would have gladly used you and Honoria as bait against the Parasite, rather than helping to sacrifice a third of Man's population."

Aurelius said nothing in return this time, only grinning at his former comrade, and lunging back. The pointed tip of Aurelius' staff pierced clean into Spectra's armor, and he collapsed to the ground, but not before finishing the swing of his own blades.Too late, Aurelius saw his mistake. In his anticipation of striking the pegasus' chest, Aurelius had ignored Spectra's wings, leaving his own neck wide open for attack. The hardlight blades slid straight through his breastplate like a knife through butter, carving significant gashes in the muscles of his thick neck, but miraculously missing any arteries.

The Earth Pony reeled back, and half sprinted, half limped himself over to his master's side, who briefly looked up from his diligent work on the plinth. Covered in soot and splatters of blood from warriors fighting near him, Discord's body grinned at the two and Shining Armor. "Yes...yes you fools! Continue your bloodshed, the chaos only provides further fuel for my host!" The dark being Aurelius hailed as his leader, declared in his deep demonic voice.

"Spectra, are you alright?" The Lord General inquired.

"Just a flesh wound!" The Archon replied, winking at him briefly. Turning his gaze away from Aurelius to the unicorn, he said, "Leave him for now. Let's finish off the unicorn in the tin can over there!" The armored unicorn mare snapped her head towards the new approaching pegasus and unicorn.

Under her armor, she cursed, and channeled more magical energy from her body's reserves. Casting another combat spell at the Twins, she was forced to cease as a blow from the butt of the John's rifle was barely stopped by one of her shielding wards.

Deciding to roll out the big guns, the unicorn let out a cry of exhaustion as she pulsed out a shock wave of electricity from her armor. The blast caused every one of her assailants to double over in pain. The effort it took to use it left several cracks in her armor as well. Sensing that this was a fight she simply could not win, even with pure magical might, the unicorn mare decided her only option was retreat. Shoving the charging form of Shining Armor aside as if he were nothing more than a rag doll, the unicorn galloped over towards Discord's statue plinth.

A few surviving insurrectionist elite ponies, humans, and shockingly enough–two spec ops grunts and two jackals, stood position with heavy weapons around the draconequus. Their armor all resembled Gilda's, and were completely stark white with glowing blue versions of the wand and glitter symbol of the New Sovereignty. The lights indicated personnel-grade shields equipped on their persons, also like Gilda.

At Discord's feet, Aurelius bled profusely, his face growing paler. "Master, is this almost concluded? This battle is...quite taxing." Discord's body snickered and snapped his fingers. The earth pony's wounds sealed up, and new blood formed in his body.

He arose as he felt new-found strength flow through him. "Ah, Thank you, my liege!"

Just before the unicorn could rejoin Aurelius and the others, she was tackled by something airborne. "Just where in the Empress' name do you think you're going? I'm not done fighting you!" Spectra spat, rage and adrenaline coursing through his ancient veins. When the unicorn said nothing and shoved him forcefully off, he began pounding the blunt edge of his blades against the cracked portion of her helmet, speaking in between raps.

"I. Said. I'm. Not. Done. FIGHTING YOU!"

His final hit shattered her helmet, revealing her identity to all. From afar, Celestia and Flash Sentry, his wing now set into a sling, gawked at the mare with disbelief. "No, it couldn't be..." Captain Sentry sputtered.

"I'm...I'm afraid so Captain. So that is what had become of my previous student..." Celestia confirmed with dejected resignation.

The unicorn regarded Spectra, and then the distant alicorn and pegasus with cruel, bright cyan eyes and an arrogant smirk. Her curled mane spilled out over the collar of her breastplate, and it shone brightly under the sun in crimson and yellow. Still silent, she forced a hoof into Spectra's chest wound. His eyes widened as he gasped at the sudden resurgence of pain.

Holding her hoof in position, she leaned in close to the pegasus' contorted face, as if to tell him a secret. "Archon, tell your Empress..." She withdrew her hoof from his wound without warning, drawing out fresh blood. "That Sunset Shimmer, sends her warm, loving regards from the New Sovereignty."

Using telekinesis, Shimmer shoved the now sickly looking Archon straight across the grounds, who fell limp into Shining Armor's hooves, almost knocking both stallions over in the process. Then, she teleported herself over to her comrades. With Sunset Shimmer's arrival, Discord's body ceased its efforts, and looked back to his remaining followers with fury.

Not explaining himself, he seized Shimmer's hoof, still dripping with Spectra's blood, and dipped it into the pool of light where the Element of Loyalty sat. The light ignited red and green upon contact with the blood of the Archon of Fortitude. However, the central pool of light, the Element of Magic, glowed only crimson in response as Sunset Shimmer's hoof was released. Quickly, she pulled it back to her chest with a yelp.

Discord forcefully brought his hands down on the plinth in fury, cracking the stone and scattering the Elements, whose pools of light disappeared as the tiara and amulets fell onto the burnt grass. "This requires the blood of all the Archons at once! How could I have not foreseen this?!" The being scoffed. "Of course, the draconequus was jesting. One mere Archon is not enough."

The allied combatants crowded around Discord and his remaining protectors, sensing an imminent victory. "It is over, Discord, or whomever is controlling him! Drop your weapons now and face justice, or continue to defy us and spell your likely doom!" Luna thundered.

The being controlling the Master of Chaos glared at them with its red-green eyes, then laughed so loudly and abhorrently, the inhabitants of Cloudsdale and Ponyville could likely here him and feel chill runs down their spines. "You may have Discord. I no longer need him as my puppet." The being declared. In a flash of eldritch smoke and light, the being began dispersing itself from Discord's head, and then its voice rung out seemingly from everywhere at once.

"You have failed me Discord, but no matter. I have other means to my end. In less than a year's time, my power will return in full. The Elements will no longer be needed then, to fulfill my goals."

The glowing lights in Discord's eyes faded, and his crazy yellow eyes returned. "Releasing control of this form."

Just before fading out entirely, the being briefly took possession of the body of General Aurelius. "You've changed nothing, lapdogs of Celestia and Luna. Your actions, and those of the whom you call the Covenant and UNSC, are attracting the attention of the ones who are infinitely your greater."

Aurelius sneered, his eyes glowing just as Discord's had. The draconequus himself had regained his faculties, only to faint soon after. "Only my lordship, is your salvation from destruction." Aurelius' body raised a hoof towards space, where Cutter was still engaging Regret's fleet. "You will learn this fact in time, or your empire will be swept away by the coming tide, just as the Imperium, the Forerunners, and your forefathers all did before you." As the glow faded and Aurelius returned to normal, all of the New Sovereignty members vanished in a spontaneous wink of light, leaving Discord behind and ending the battle at once.

Peace at last settled over Canterlot, while the sun shined brightly over the terribly-damaged gardens. After a morning of horrendous bloody conflict in one of the most cosmopolitan cities on all of Equis, everyone had finally earned their rest.

Looking up at the star she raised everyday, Empress Celestia regarded her subjects; her fanatically protective guards, her steadfast soldiers, her loyal military commanders and intelligence agents, and the ponies and humans who were working to ensure their injuries were treated. Also acknowledging the ODST's, and Ackerson and his ONI officials, Celestia waved a regal hoof, and cleared her throat, drawing all eyes upon her.

From Celestia's position near Discord's prone form, who snored lightly, the light of the Sun shined over her. The light pierced through the Sun Banner that still waved proudly on its pole directly behind her, serving to augment the glory of her already divine-like appearance.

"Brave protectors of the Equestrian Empire, today is a day that will forever descend into infamy, for it is the day that one of our true foes revealed themselves, and sought to tear at our very hearts!" Many of the soldiers booed, and shouted, yelling numerous anti-Insurrectionist slurs. "But, they have failed! And not only have they been defeated for now, we have demonstrated that we have only just begun to show our true power, and what a group of species, can truly accomplish as a united force!"

The crowd shifted their cries from derision of the enemy, to ones of patriotism and pride.

"Celebrate today, my subjects! Celebrate and take time to mourn those we have lost, for they will be guiding us in these next several months of trials and tribulations. This war, this terrible, dreadful conflict, will claw at us! Gnash at us! Pound against us like a great tsunami cast by the oceans! It will threaten to tear down everything we fight for, everything we hold dear! But in the end, it cannot break us!"

By now, all of the Ministers, and other members of the Grand Assembly had come out to listen in on Celestia's words. "We are Equestrians! Our compassion, diligence, loyalty, and kindness are renowned the world over!"

Dozens of soldiers, aristocrats, servants, and even random ordinary citizens who had wandered in payed homage to her with their applause. Forge, Luna, Master Chief and the other Spartans, Shining Armor, and a rather frail looking Spectra, who was helped to stand up by Shining and Forge, saluted Celestia. With the lifting of the blackout on media and communications, all of Equis and many of the surviving colonies in UNSC space were tuning in to hear her words, from Reach, to Earth, and beyond.

"And so long as we have harmony in our minds, and compassion in our hearts, no obstacle can stop us! No force can overcome us, if we stand together, if we stand united and strong!"

Several aristocrats, including Ministers Prince Blueblood, Fleur de Lis, and Princess Cadence, waved handkerchiefs and threw flowers towards the Sun alicorn. All the present military officials saluted with their fists and hooves on their hearts or at their foreheads.

Buck's squad took the salute a step further. "Present, arms!" All of the ODST's both UNSC and Imperial, raised their rifles to the sky, and fired their salute. Near them, the Director laid a hand on James Ackerson's shoulder.

"Well, well Colonel, isn't this one of the most engaging speeches you've ever heard?" Ackerson looked at him oddly for a moment, before smirking and raising an eyebrow.

"Indeed. Celestia reminds me of a younger Admiral Preston Cole during the Harvest Campaign."

The Director chuckled. "That she does, James, that she does." He patted him on the shoulder twice, before moving to have a conversation with Commandant Wexley, who observed the proceedings from the balcony with some aristocrats. "I need, to get the recording of this speech back to ONI. With a few adaptations, it could make for some brilliant pro-UNSC propaganda. At least I'll come back with something, then." Colonel Ackerson said under his breath to nobody in particular.

"Finally, my loyal subjects, when we and the UNSC win this war, the Covenant will be dragged out into the light of day, and taught the true error of their ways! Justice will be enacted, and the worlds they destroyed will be rebuilt anew in time while we slowly work to expand Equestria into the stars! Toast, to brighter days my subjects! Toast to a peaceful evening, and a bright future for both our species!"

As the entire capital city roused itself with reprieve from the several hour siege that had finally only now been broken, the battle to secure the space high above Equis from Regret and his Armada was still raging. Meanwhile, other activities were afoot elsewhere.