Where the sun doesn't shine.

Chapter 6: Where honesty doesn't exist.

"I see Pinkie Pie has woken up at last. I still can't believe someone like her almost made the last mission end in failure." Noticed the Terran.

"I'm very sorry..." Said Pinkie in a depressed tone.

"I haven't lost a single soldier today, and you have returned to your former self. I know you had no control over your actions."

"...Thanks for understanding..."

The discussion grew as they travelled to the Empire's capital.

"...So where are we heading now?" The pink pony asked with curiosity.

"To my Empire's capital, Stallinox. You'll all rest for a while I organize a force to recover the rest of the mane 6."

"...Your...Empire?!" Both Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie said in unison.

"Long story, you'll have to ask someone else. If you want answers, though, there are the records of everything that happened in the Imperial Archives."

“Now that you say that…I guess I’ll ask Twilight once we arrive…she’s more into reading…” Said Pinkie.

After a week or 2, they arrived to the main gates and the four guards on top of it greeted them, Fluttershy and Pinkie pie were completely surprised to see a city which rivalled anything that they have ever seen, even Canterlot itself. The giant, metallic doors rose to let them pass. Fluttershy's and Pinkie Pie's jaws almost dropped to the floor as they saw what kind of city it was, there were ponies everywhere, but they all left space in the road ahead to let the detachment pass.

"I...I have never seen so many ponies in my life! Not even in the Grand Galloping Gala!!" Exclaimed Pinkie Pie as she almost fell backwards of the surprise.

"There were several waves of immigration into all of Cabalderio, I wouldn’t be surprised if they happened due to Equestria’s situation. Twilight will lead you to the place you'll spend these nights in. Spike, I'll need you to come with me for now, after that you may return with Twilight. Soldiers, return to your barracks and rest, you all deserve it."

"Yes sir!"

Everypony went their separate ways after that. After a while, they all arrived to their destinations. In the castle, Atticus, the Terran and Spike were discussing.

"Spike, you can send letters to Celestia, and the fact that you puked a ton of letters over my crippled body back then suggests that you can also receive letters from her. Is everything I said the truth?"

"It is! Why do you ask?"

"I need to know if you can send letters from me to somepony else, and vice versa."

"I dont know...I never tried it with others before, but I'll try."

The Terran grabbed a quill and paper, wrote something insignificant and handed it to Spike.

"Send this to Atticus."

"Yes sir!"

He held it high, and spewed green fire which engulfed the letter and made it disappear. After a few seconds, the letter appeared over Atticus and landed on top of his head. The same procedure was used for Atticus' letter; lift high, engulf in flames, disappears. Except this time the letter appeared right next to the Terran, and it flew right into his eye.

"OH GOD PAIN PAIN PAIN MAKE IT STOP--AUGH!!" He screamed while taking the letter out of his eye and letting it regenerate.

"...Sorry, I coughed..."

A week had passed already. Fluttershy, Twilight, Spike and Pinkie Pie were told to wait outside the gates, today was the day they'd start the journey to secure another of the mane 6. The gates opened and the Terran, with 3 companies of 120 soldiers, a captain, a lieutenant and a flag bearer each, arrived. Needless to say, everypony was surprised both by the amount of soldiers, and by the fact that travelling with such a military force meant that the mission would be far more difficult than expected.

"There is a storm coming, it seems..." Mention the Terran as he looked to the skies; and he meant it, the skies were covered with grey clouds already. "Twilight, what's the nearest of the Mane 6 from Ponyville?"

"That would be Rarity's place."

"Understood. Units, we march!"

The last time they travelled to Ponyville they were escorted by at most a hundred soldiers, this time they had 3 companies of a regular army.

They travelled through Equestria's surreal scenery, until they arrived at Ponyville again.

"Twilight, guide us to Rarity's house." Ordered the Terran.

She complied and led the small army towards their objective. There they stood, in front of the door into Rarity's place. The Terran shot the lock and kicked the door open. 1st company stormed the house, while 2nd and 3rd stood outside waiting.

"Sir, there is no one here."

"Dammit...No time to be standing still. Twilight, what's the next closest mare?"

"That would be Applejack, she must be in the barn, follow me!"

The nearly 400 ponies followed the purple unicorn to the outskirts of Ponyville, where in the distance they spotted Applejack's red barn. The Terran walked ahead of the main force and looked towards it, after a few seconds she called Twilight, who walked next to him.

"Twilight, do you have some sort of spell that lets you look through walls?"

"I do."

"Go ahead then."

"I...I can't see anything inside..." She said worryingly as she kept casting her spell.

"Is it empty?"

"No, it's all black, as if something blocked my sight..."

The Terran stood silently for a few seconds before deciding to take actions.

"1st and 2nd company, to the front, 3 ranks! 3rd company in reserve! A hundred meters in front of the barn, GO!"

All marched until they were in front of the giant doors. At that moment, the Terran alone advanced, broke part of the door with a kick and went inside.

"Heyya, how ya doin'?"

From above a completely grey pony greeted the Terran, it was Applejack.

"..."

"Not the talking type, are ya?"

"..." The Terran kept silent as he tried to remember what Twilight said about the corruption. He remembered that it turns ponies into their contrary, and Applejack's element was honesty, meaning she'd lie at any chance she had.

"Well? Whatcha doin' in my barn?"

The Terran sighed before deciding that playing her game would take too much time.

"I come to get you and cure you from the corruption."

"What? But I ain't ill or nothin'!"

"Prove it."

"..." She kept staring at the Terran with a surprised face and saying nothing.

Suddenly, next to her appeared 2 small, dark clouds, and the next instant, those clouds turned into 2 heavily armoured ponies with both dark skin and dark armour. The Terran stood still having no idea what was going on, but 5 more clouds which turned to ponies appeared near Applejack, and then more, and more, and more until it almost filled the barn.

"...Why does the Terran take so much time?" Questioned Spike while lying on the floor contemplating the sky.

From inside the barn a rumbling could be heard, everyone outside noticed it and questioned what was going on, but before anyone could come up with an answer the Terran came out running at a ridiculous speed through the hole he made, and after a few seconds a hundred dark ponies broke through the giant doors destroying it completely while chasing the Terran.

"HOLD THE LINE HOLD THE LINE OH GOD WHERE DID THEY COME FROM?!!" Screamed the Terran as he desperately ran towards the formation of soldiers, and once he reached it he hurled himself above the line to land behind them into safety. All the soldiers clashed their shields together and maintained formation as they saw a black swarm heading towards them.

The hundred dark ponies clashed with the imperial soldiers into battle, as more and more came out of the barn.

"What's going on?!" Asked Twilight.

"If I knew I'd tell you! Those... things came out of thin air and started chasing me!"

"Out of thin air?!"

"Did I stutter?!"

"Fine, what’s the plan?"

"We wait and pray that my soldiers can defeat them, and then we storm the barn for Applejack." Said the Terran as he stood up and looked worryingly at the main line, this was the first fight he had been in command of.

The fighting intensified as both sides threw themselves against each other, and after an hour the fighting was taking its toll. He could see as the swarm got closer and closer before making his next decision.

"1st company, fall back! 3rd company, take its place!" Screamed the Terran. It was either victory or death. "Fluttershy!"

"Y-yes!" She answered as she hid from the bloodshed behind Pinkie Pie.

"I'm sorry to ask you this but here we go. I haven't seen a single Pegasus in the enemy's ranks, that means you can fly without any danger; I need you to get on top of that barn and see what's going on inside!"

"…I will!"

Fluttershy took flight and landed on top of the barn, and the Terran desperately waiting for her to come back. Once she was done, she took flight again and returned.

"It looks like Applejack is sleeping, and the dark ponies you mentioned aren’t appearing anymore!"

"You heard her, brothers! Push into the barn! 1st company and Twilight, with me!"

The war cry of the remaining imperial ponies was heard all over the place as they gave a final effort for victory. The Terran and the 1st company ran around the barn and destroyed the back door; they could see the exposed rear of the enemy formation from where they were.

"1st company...UNLEASH HELL!" He screamed as he pointed to the dark ponies.

The yelling of the 1st company echoed inside, such a moment would be remembered by those who heard it. The Terran and Twilight climbed the ladder of the barn to the top where Applejack was resting, and while he restrained her, Twilight casted the memory spell on her. By the time Applejack regained colour, the last dark pony was slain. Everyone went outside and regrouped, with Applejack being carried by both Pinkie and Fluttershy.

"Where is 2nd company's captain?" Asked the Terran.

"I'm here, sir."

"Good, you and your men have been closest to those things we fought, tell me what you saw."

"Well… As far we could see, they wore dark armour and had dark skin. I'd dare to say they looked like Princess Luna's soldiers, but as we struck them they just disappeared into a cloud of smoke. They were as real as they could get, their armour wasn't just for looks, since it could deflect our strikes, and they even had facial expressions."

“…I see. Ask the other company captains how many casualties they received, then return to me with a report.”

The Terran stood still as thoughts started appearing in his head; they were fighting against…something else, this kind of enemy was new to everyone.

“Sir, I’ve returned with the report: 1st company lost 102 of its 120 combatants, 2nd company lost 86 and 3d company lost 70.”

Upon hearing the report, he sighed and lowered his head. He then sorrowfully raised his voice for everyone to hear. "Let's go back to Stallinox...This mission was a failure..."

"But...we succeeded, we got Applejack, right?" Said Twilight as she tried to cheer him up.

"I call having to sacrifice more than half of my brothers to rescue a sleeping pony a god damn failure! Now let's go!"