My Little Warzone: The Return of Nightmare Moon.

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8

Chapter 1

PONYVILLE
TIME: 2400 HOURS:

A loud roaring noise shot up over the place, lights were on, pretty much everypony walked outside, wondering what the hell was going on. As they looked up, 6 sleek shapes, strange shapes, trailing fire and exhaust, were flying in the direction towards Canterlot. All of the sudden rumbling, marching, and yelling was heard. "We are the strong-hearted Union Marines!" A squadron of these strange, blue creatures, 5' 10" at the shortest, were marching, following them were several armored vehicles, tanks, APCS, etc.. They looked like monsters, tall, blue, sharp teeth and stretched front faces, white, glaring eyes, and weird protrusions from the top of the back of their heads, all carrying large rifles, similar to AUG rifles, with large drum magazines, one of the creature was in front "Tall, strong, and armed to the teeth!" the others replied "We are the powerful Union Marines!", they were wearing strange, grey vests, you could barely hear them over the machines, each vest, and the back of the vehicles sported a triangle with a drop of water and another tank inside, almost like cutie marks. All of the sudden, the entire convoy-like line came to a halt, "Resume your sleep, all is fine, just go back to bed," said the leader in-front, then said "Men, for-ward march!" and everything continued, all of the sudden, a large cart, it appeared, being towed by flying pegasi, that moment, all hell broke lose. "Get down! Get down! Get down!" Said the lead, all the weapons started firing off, tanks raised their massive cannons, and enormous fireballs erupted out of the muzzles, rather than a regular shell. No one knew what was going on, Twilight Sparkle watched from a distance, she could only ponder what was going on.

PONYVILLE,
TIME: 0900 HOURS

The next morning, it smelled awful, like fireworks, only ten times worse, there were foot-prints, tread-marks, and skid-marks all over the place. Several of the large creatures, not in a formation this time were walking down the street, when Princess Celestia arrived. Everypony bowed, the men had no clue what was going on, they faced the alicorn, and saluted, "At Ease" She said, the soldiers were dumbstruck, not knowing that something like that could command soldiers "I'm higher authority, and I've been given permission from Tech Sgt. Garavix to give commands", the soldiers acknowledged, about-faced, and continued their rounds. Twilight Sparkle was there, and immediately wasted no time, "Princess, what's happening?" she asked curiously. "This, my dear student, is the Union Armed Forces", everypony had no idea. All of the sudden, a larger of the blue creatures appeared behind her, and stated "Hello, I'm Commander Avrato Gavarixus of the UAF", everyone, dumbfounded, just stared, "The what? That sounds fun!", Pinkie Pie appeared out of nowhere, she, then, just stood there and stared. "Very well, the Union Armed Forces, we're a task-force that originally was at war, some type of dimensional rift sent all of us here, with no idea how", still, they were all clueless. "Look, we're a military, what you saw last night, was a group of special soldiers: 1st Regiment, Echo Company, they are helping us defend against a threat that we discovered, when we first arrived, we had no idea what was going on, then we found the Princess, and she explained everything, the-" He didn't have time to finish, a large, metal, bird-like contraption was heading over there, falling out of the sky, trailing a black smoke-cloud, then, it rang in Gavarixus' earpiece "Eagle 1 going down! All engine power is lost! Brace for impact" With a crash, the large aircraft hit the ground behind the crowd and exploded. "Nightmare Moon has returned..." Said Princess Celestia ominously...

CANTERLOT
TIME: 1000 HOURS

Everyone wasn't sure what was going on, they saw something shoot overhead, and Celestia's soldiers, learning from overheard conversations in the castle, figured out what they were. The 6 airplanes were tube-shaped, with swept wings, each powered by a single, superpowered Dragonclaw T 695 turbofan engine. The squadron of green-camouflaged F-20 Seahawk fighters streaked over, people at a nearby beach, the planes were over the water, barely more than twenty feet, trailing steam behind their afterburners. "Aspire, this is Osprey lead, we are approaching bearing 269, speed: 230 knotts." Said Cpt. Kloverix into his helmet, "This is Aspire, we are ready to receive" said the ATC controller, the UNS Aspire, the largest carrier of its class, was heading towards Canterlot at 20 knotts, like all Union Navy ships, they sported the triangle, inside, a drop of water with a ship inside, on the bow. Admiral Xavus Monosix saw the squadron of Seahawks, or "Steambirds", as many sailors call them for the trail of steam they leave at low altitudes over the water. "Osprey Lead, this is Aspire, order your wingmen into a stack and prepare to land" said the ATC controller, "Yes sir, preparing to land", they all landed successfully, but when they popped open their canopies, and got out, they saw something weird going on with one of the planes, the ATC called him "Osprey 5-4, you're ready to land, what's the issue", "I lost control!" Screamed the pilot, the controller was alarmed "Osprey 5-4, what's your status, what's going on?" "The stick! Some kind of purple glow is around it! I'm losing control! Going down! Going down! Going down!" The pilot screamed, you could hear him struggling, "5-4! Eject! Eject!" Screamed the ATC controller "The lever's jammed! I'm going down!". "Oh crap!" the controller stared in horror as the plane nose-dived, straight towards the flight-deck of the Aspire. The Admiral immediately saw what was about to happen, and picked up the microphone for the carrier and screamed: "Brace for impact!" BOOM! A massive fireball erupted as the F-20 smashed into the flight deck, firemen immediately came onboard and tried putting out the fires, but there was so much, it was covering the flight deck, men were jumping off the side, it was total chaos, and all of them heard it, a low-pitched, female laugh. Nightmare Moon....

PONYVILLE
TIME: 1100 HOURS

Everyone stared in horror, even 2 hours after, at the burning fireball that was one a plane. Gavarixus talked into the earpiece "We have a Gladiator down, send a Med. Corps Condor to pick up any survivors", "What, what happened?" Said another pony, "This is part of our Air Force, it was on a transfer run to another airfield when something shot it down", all of the sudden air was brushing down and you could hear the beating of helicopter blades, the UH-15 Guardian, it looked a like a cross of a Huey and a Blackhawk, and had two miniguns mounted on the sides, it was sporting a Union Navy symbol. "Sir!" it was a sailor, "Sir, the Aspire was attacked, we lost control of a Seahawk and it nosedived!", "God Damn..." Said Gavarixus, "After that, we heard a low-pitched laugh, sounded female, not sure how it was so loud over all the chaos of the attack, but, we heard it." "Nightmare Moon" said Celestia, "Who?" Said the Navy runner and Gavarixus, in unison, "Nightmare Moon, my sister wanted more power and more people to live in the night, after you arrived, she felt she would have a challenge, so she's targeting the Union...". "I know one person that can solve this, I'm going to have the Elites join in on this,". Gavarixus spoke into his earpiece again, "Contact Captain Molukus" he said. The ponies weren't sure who that was, but if it's to stop Nightmare Moon, they'll rely on him. "Also, send a group of Fire-ballers, I have a feeling the next battle's going to get hairy." He got onboard the Guardian as a lumbering V-74 Condor Tilt-rotor, with a triangle with a red cross on it's tail, landed.

FORT WILSON
TIME: 1200 HOURS

Celestia sent one of her soldiers to Fort Wilson, the Union's main army base. There was a flag, a triangle with two crossed swords inside, was on a small pyramid in front of the base. He was given directions by an MP guarding the gate, and headed over to the mess. Inside, he saw a group of soldiers eating, one, somewhat stood out, 6' 4", muscular, with long legs, his hands, like most of the creatures, now known as "Aerisians" (Air-izh-uns), had 5 clawed fingers and feet with two pointed tows, and a smaller claw on the back of his shin, close to his ankle. "Are...are you-?" stammered the small pony, compared to him, he was a giant. The blue figure looked at him "What?", he had a slight rasp in his voice. "P-Princess C-Celestia sent me here, y-you're Captain-" the pony stuttered, "Captain Axisus Molokus, but just call me Axis, what's the issue?", "It's about N-Nightmare M-Moon", Cpt. Molokus stopped eating, he was one of the few Union soldiers to know that name, "W-What about her" He said, he sounded worried, his eyes were slightly widened, and his muscles tensed up. "She's back, and she's trying to destroy the U-Union, is what I know, I don't know, I'm just a runner sent by Commander Gavarixus, he wants you to head to Ponyville." said the terrified soldier. Axis immediately had a look of shock on his face, he shot up, and ordered "Get your stuff ready, we're going to Ponyville. "Yes sir." Said everyone at the table. "Who the hell is Nightmare Moon?" Said Sgt. Gorvonis Aratrix, the unit's combat engineer. "You'll figure out soon enough." Said Axis, full of dread.

PONYVILLE
TIME: 1230 HOURS

The Guardian touched down gracefully, the 6 soldiers got out of the helicopter, all armed. "Axis, over here!" yelled Gavarixus, he ran over, "Y-you contacted me, sir?" Axis asked, "Yes, you're being deployed to the Everfree forest, we'll be sending a Union Marines group to help you out, as well as 6 Fire-ballers." Gavarixus had little emotion in his voice, he was being dead serious, "Yes sir" said Axis, rather upset. They met up with the soldiers from the Union Marines 1st expeditionary force, 2nd Platoon, Alfa company. A squad of 20 men, Axis had full control of them, behind the soldiers, 6 massive battle tanks were idling there, M-5 Dragonsbreath, nicknamed "Fire-ballers" because they shot out a shell that had special nozzles surrounding it with fire, when that shell exploded, a massive fireball erupted in the air. Princess Celestia was there, and she saw 6 ponies walking up there, Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy. "We're going too!" stated Twiliight, "Are you friggin' kidding me?! They're ponies, what the hell are they going to do to help us?!" said Corporal Droko Garvarix, the Elite Corps group's scout sniper, Axis shot him a menacing glare, and Garvarix backed away. "Look," Started Molokus, "This is a real life combat situation, you do this, you can get seriously hurt, perhaps even killed!", the 6 gasped, Fluttershy whimpered, and slowly backed away a step. "You don't think we can handle ourselves?! You're so uncool!" Said Rainbow Dash, before she could even react, Cpt. Molokus was in her face "Listen, you little punk! This is extremely dangerous, if you do this, you especially, you're going to get killed! I've heard about you, and you're very cocky, if you all do this, you're practically signing your own death warrant, do you understand that?!" Axis screamed in her face, Rainbow Dash's anger suddenly turned to fright, and doubt, and she backed off. "Let them go with you." said Gavarixus, "Sir, are you nuts?" the Elites said, "That is a direct order! Follow it or else!", "Yes sir.". The commander told them to move out, and they marched, with the platoon, the ponies just walked by, not sure what to do. All they knew, is that this was going to be a rough ride.

EVERFREE FOREST
TIME: 1300 HOURS

Only recently understanding orders now. Axis remembers what they have to do, the old ruins, where the Elements of Harmony were located, is a specialized weapon, however the castle is heavily defended, they'll be receiving support, but they can't count to much on it. "Hey, I remember this place!" Exclaimed Pinkie Pie. "Yeah, fun times..." said Twilight Sparkle, nervously. ROOOAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRR! A large aircraft flew overhead, underside doors open, revealing grey cylinders. "What in tarnation was that?" Asked Applejack. "B-42 Gladiator" Said captain Molokus, "Specialized airplanes that drop canisters full of rockets-" "Oh, you mean like fireworks?" Pinkie Pie interrupted, "No, these rockets go for the ground, and cause a large explosion." Axis finished. They saw in the distance as the bomber dropped 4 canisters, each firing 7 rockets towards the ground, a bright flash, and an loud bang, then nothing. "They're clearing the way to get to the ruins, okay. Let's pick up the pace!" Axis said, they approached the ruins, it was heavily guarded by two large stallions, "Alright, wait here." whispered Axis, he pulled out, something slung to his back, the ponies didn't notice it before. "What is that?" Whispered Fluttershy, "M-15 Fulcrum Light Assault Rifle, or LAR, it'll take out those guards for good." Whispered Axis, he attached a suppresser, clicked the trigger twice, and a "PMF!" Noise was heard, as the guards fell to the ground, a hole in each guards' chest. The ponies gasped in horror, "B-but why?" Asked Fluttershy, tears rolling down her cheeks, "It had to be done, do you wish for the same to happen to you?" Asked Molokus, "Alright, place some charges on the door, and get ready to breech" he said to his combat engineer, they quietly approached the door, the Elite Corps, that is, as well as the ponies, the Marines stayed back, "Alright, there's going to be a loud noise, wear these." Cpt. Molokus handed earplugs to the ponies. "Charges are set, sir" said the engineer, the soldiers stood on either side of the massive door, cocking rifles and machine guns, "Hit it!" said Axis, the moment the engineer pressed the button on that clacker, all hell broke loose, a deafening explosion turned the door into rubble, they ran in their guns lit up, the ponies had guns too! They were harnesses, on them was a machine gun and a trigger that sat in their mouth that set when they bit down hard enough, "Get down! Get down!" Yelled Molokus as they lit up, the firefight went on for a half hour before everything was done. Staff Sergeant Xereva (X-zehr-ehva) Diatrix was picking up harnesses and handing them to ponies, "Take them, you'll need them" she said, the ponies took them, except Fluttershy "No!" she screamed. "I-" A series of the roaring of jet engines, and explosions, they had to get out of there. "Echo 2-4, Marked LZ at 24, 30" Said the Comms Tech into the phone. In a few minutes, a Condor landed, and picked up the Marines, the Elites, and the ponies back to Fort Wilson.

Chapter 2

FORT WILSON
TIME: 1315 HOURS

They came back in the Condor, and what they saw was horrific, Fort Wilson lie their in ashes, low on fuel, the Condor had no choice but to land. All of the sudden, a purplish-blue glow surround the aircraft, and it burst into flames as everyone got out. "AAAGGH!" The Elites, and the ponies could hear the screams as burning marines were sent flying in all sorts of directions, wheels, rotor blades, all sorts of parts of the Condor became shrapnel as it flew from nowhere. "We-we have to continue on foot, to Canterlot" gasped Captain Molokus, shocked and gasping for air. He passed out, one of the ponies, Twilight Sparkle, could see a vague shape through the smoke and flames, Nightmare Moon. "Fools, did you really think that there was anything at the ruins? Of course not! It was a diversion!" She cackled, "Y-you, b-b-bit-" tried saying one of the Elites before she picked him up, and mercilessly tossed him 30 feet, even from so far away, they heard a loud "CRACK" noise, and he didn't get back up. Axis, woke up and she disappeared.

UNS ASPIRE
TIME: 1400 HOURS

The now crippled ship was slowly crawling to the Canterlot Port. Ponies stared in horror at the ship, it's deck set ablaze, they saw the burning wreckage of a Seahawk on board. A large deafening crack rang in the ponies' ears, all of the sudden, fire blossoms as if the ship tore itself open. A slab of concrete from the hull landed right next to a group of vacationers. It was absolute anarchy, a MQ-90 Dragon UAV, sporting a triangle with wings inside, captured it all. The operator stared in total shock of what happened. "Sir, you need to see this." Major Verivix watched the flaming ship explode, and, dumbstruck, said "Get this on a disc, we need to get this to Union High Command ASAP.". "Yes sir," said the young operator.

UNION HIGH COMMAND CENTER, SOUTH OF CANTERLOT
TIME: 1500 HOURS

"Dear mother of God..." said Gavarixus in horror as he watched the crown jewel of the fleet get ripped apart like paper. "1,500 personnel dead" Said the Major. "T-that bitch! How could she be so damn sick to do this?" Gavarixus had never sworn like that in a military area, he sounded extremely upset. After just a single mare killed 1,500 soldiers, why would he not be upset of something that heinous. "Send a squadron of Halberds and a pair of Goliaths. If she wants an all out war, its what she'll get." He said, his words fused with rage. "We have a boomer stationed nearby, do you want me to send that out too?" Asked the Naval Chief of Staff. "Yes, we need all the naval and air power we can get.". "Nightmare Moon killed 1,500 men, now she's getting the teeth of the tiger!"

RUINS OF FORT WIlSON
TIME: 1530 HOURS

The rubble had cleared up, and once Axis was able to get the others and himself up, he saw the devastation that was once the Union Army's most powerful fort. His Comms Technician was dead, but his combat transceiver and receiver were still in tact, and Axis called for help. "Is there-is there anyone out there?" he coughed into the transceiver, "This is MC medical camp Juliet Bravo, what's the issue" crackled from the receiver, it was hard to hear, but it was clear enough to understand. "Oh, thank God! We're at Fort Wilson, it was attacked, we need a Medivac ASAP." Axis coughed, he was on the verge of blacking out, but he had to stay awake. "Oh God...c-copy that, sending a Condor your way.". Axis dropped the transceiver, he had very little energy left. Fluttershy stumbled up to him, the only pony that was awake after the attack, tears rolling down her cheeks, she was cut up, bad. "Are-are we going to die?" She said, barely loud enough to understand, "No, no we're not going to die, and we're aren't going to let anymore die, we just lost 21 men, we can't lose anymore" Said Captain Molokus, tears were beginning to well up in his eyes, too. The beating of rotor blades could be heard, they looked up, and a massive V-74, gear down, was preparing to land. A combat surgeon ran out over to them, "Are you okay, sir?" he asked. Out of breath, Axis said "Yes, I'm fine, but get body bags, we lost several comrades, and assist this one too, she's cut up pretty bad.". Fluttershy hadn't even noticed until she looked down, there were cuts and bruises all over her legs, chest, and rear, her cutie mark was covered in blood. "Yes sir. Come on! Get some stretchers and bags out here now!". It was total chaos, and they knew who was going to pay for this.

HARRISON AIR FORCE BASE
TIME: 1545 HOURS

"Ghost lead, you're clear for take-off," Said the air traffic controller, "Copy that, heading towards the runway now." Said the pilot. The F-34 Halberd was a magnificent specimen, tan, sleek, with it's engine intake mounted behind the canopy, powered by a single Jericho T 470 Turbofan engine, this baby could hit up to 1, 850 in a half hour. It was armed to the teeth with two 20 mm miniguns in the nose, 6 AAM-14 Javelin heat-seeking missiles, and an external fuel tank, this plane could travel 1,000 miles, take out 25 aircraft, and travel back, of course, this plane wouldn't be taking out any planes. Major Jerivixus Marikross, was a Union Air Force ace, and he'd be flight lead for 6 Halberds on an escort mission for 2 B-95 Goliath heavy bombers. He taxied on the runway, pushed the throttle forward, and sent off, building up speed, halfway down the runway, speedometer reading 200 kts., he pulled the stick back, and lifted off, 5 other Halberds, or Hals, as they are nicknamed, took off behind him. "Spearhead lead, this is Ghost lead, approaching off your starboard wing." He said into his helmet, the leader of the two bombers replied "Copy that Ghost lead, we see you.". The Goliath was a massive bird, 270 Feet long, a wingspan of the same distance, 6 massive turbofan engines, and carrying enough bombs to take out a quarter of a mid-sized city. The weather was clear, and everything was looking fine, but one of the fighter pilots spotted something. "Ghost lead, this is Ghost 4-3, permission to speak" Said the pilot, "Granted." said Marikross, "I see something off of my right wing, can't tell, but looks like a, pegasus." He sounded nervous, something wasn't right. "Copy that, proceed with cau-" The pilot started screaming, Marikross shot a look behind him and saw his right wing was missing. "AAAGGGHHH!" He screamed, Marikross looked in shock and horror "4-3, eject! Eject!" he screamed into his helmet. "Levers jammed! Some sort of purple glow is around it! Oh shit! It's surrounding the stick too! I can't do anything, I'm going down!" the third pilot was livid with fright, he didn't know what to do. As his plane was spinning, he started entering a dive, straight towards the ground by a nearby house. "UURRRGG-" Then nothing, Marikross tipped to the side to see the ground, where a blossom of flame and smoke appeared. Pretty soon, bolts of blue and purple started flashing across the 7 planes, and cut off the tail of the second Goliath. "Tail's lost, we're going down!" Screamed the pilot and co-pilot and unison. They managed to jump out the doors, but not fast enough, the second they did, something detonated all the bombs in the bomb-bay at the same time. The blast caused a chain reaction with the lead bomber, and it exploded, it vaporized every Halberd, except for Marikross, the blast not only severely damaged the aircraft to the point of crippling it's wing, but sent the hapless fighter into a stall. "Going down! Going down!" He pulled the lever, but nothing happened, he saw a blue-purple glow surrounding the canopy, he started praying, right before the plane slammed into the ground.

UNION HIGH COMMAND CENTER, SOUTH OF CANTERLOT
TIME: 1600 HOURS

"Sir", it was a radar operator, "We just lot contact with our flight group of the Hals and Goliaths.". "God damn, she struck right under our noses..." Gavarixus said, he had a bottle in his hand with a scotch-like fluid inside, he took a swig, "Fort Wilson's been turned into rubble, and we lost contact with Serpentine 5-9, however, the Elites, excluding their comms technician, and the ponies all survived." Said the radar operator, bleakly. "That's good, but we still lost 21 men, and 6 tanks, each with 6 man crew, god damn, we lost 67 men..." said Gavarixus, he took another swig, much longer than before. "Is there any hope left?", "Well," Started the operator, "We still have the Justice ready, and we still have another carrier that's ready to deploy, the Inspiration.", "Send them, but take a fleet of 5 destroyers to cover them, we can't lose any more ships, or men." Gavarixus said, a sliver of confidence regained. "Nightmare Moon will be captured, and, if we need to, killed." Gavarixus sounded dead serious, he realized he would have to tell Princess Celestia this, after all, it's her sister, but after all she's just in half a day, it might have to happen.

Chapter 3

UNS JUSTICE
TIME: 1615 HOURS

"Admiral Loverix" said the comms technician, "We've received orders from Union High Command to head over to Canterlot Port to meet up with the 5th Destroyer Fleet. They said we'll be catching up with the Inspiration before heading over, though.", "Very well," stated the Admiral, "Order course to 317, speed 18 knotts.". The UNS Justice is the largest, fastest, and most powerful ballistic missile submarine in the Union Navy. They heavily rely on it for it's good maneuverability, and it's high speed, as well as large torpedo and missile load. It has never been used in combat, however, these operators, with the exclusion of the Admiral, who commanded 2 submarines before that, were all recruits. He was worried about them now being fresh onboard their first sub, but he puts his trust in these men, and he's going to pull through with it. They were nearing the Inspiration, "Inspiration, this is the Justice, we are heading your way, bearing 317, speed 18 knotts, distance 100 nautical miles and closing." the comms technician recited that into the microphone like a 10 year veteran, Loverix was sure that they would pull through. "Copy that, we are stopping and waiting for you to catch up." crackling through the receiving speaker. Loverix walked over to the sub-driver, "Private, raise the sub to the surface so the Inspiration can see us." he said into his ear, "Aye sir." he replied. That moment, everyone could feel a tilting sensation as the sub rose to the surface, eventually breaking the water with a CRASH! noise, and hitting the surface of the water, the sub automatically released the water in it's ballast tanks, and the comms tech. called up the Inspiration. "Inspiration, this is Justice, do you see us?" he asked, "This is Inspiration, we can see you, probably not smart if you're getting shot at, though", the young technician let out a chuckle, Admiral Loverix went over to the microphone, "Inspiration, this is Admiral Loverix onboard the Justice, turn and follow us to the Canterlot Port.", "Aye sir, turning now" they looked through the periscope and saw the ship turning a bit. They were still somewhat unaware of orders, but they don't go to a public port unless there's a state of emergency, so they knew something was up.

PONYVILLE HOSPITAL
TIME: 1615 HOURS

Captain Molokus, Fluttershy, and the others were rushed into the hospital. None of the workers themselves helped, but instead, several Union Medical Corps EMTs rushed them in. Axis, unbeknownst to them, wasn't severely harmed, but still had a broken leg, 2 concussions, and a plethora of cuts and bruises. The others mostly had cuts and bruises, the most severely injured, was Twilight Sparkle, she broke several ribs, broke a leg, and had several burns, cuts, bruises, and several concussions that put her in a small coma. Axis, once again, was about to black out, he could hear them too, "I need an IV for this one", one of the combat surgeons said, "This one's busted up pretty badly, get me a couple splints and some bandages.", Fluttershy, now passed out, was turning pale, she lost a lot of blood, they didn't realize until she was on the stretcher that she had a CD sized chunk of shrapnel lodged in her stomach, directly under her diaphragm. They were all rushed into a normal room that was turned into a makeshift ICU. Axis watched as they were giving Fluttershy a blood transfusion, treating Applejack for burns on her back and right thigh, trying to fix Rainbow Dash's broken right wing, Pinkie Pie's dislocated shoulder, Rarity's cuts from shrapnel, and trying to fix Twilight Sparkle's broken leg. Axis saw his comrades also being treated for fractures, cuts and burns. He noticed that a doctor was grabbing a hold of his twisted and broken leg, then blacked out.

CANTERLOT PORT
TIME: 1700 HOURS

The Inspiration and Justice were making their way over to the port, they saw the 5 destroyers in the distance: The Voyager, Trident, Explorer, Seeker, and the Vigilance. They also noticed a smaller ship, each carrying a massive concrete box, each one with white letters saying: EOH: DO NOT OPEN WITHOUT PROPER AUTHORIZATION. "E-O-H, well what the heck does that mean?" Asked a spotter on the deck of the Justice, standing next to the Admiral. "Not sure Corporal, but whatever it is, we can't open it without permission, so it must be important.". The Justice and the Inspiration started blaring their fog horns, a spotter on each of the five destroyers noticed, and the ships blared theirs. The sub and carrier both followed each other in tandem into port, and docked. Eventually everyone got off, and small vehicles carrying ammo, food, and water filters came on board, a large crane-like machine also hooked up a fueling hose to a port on the ship. The Admiral went to meet the commanders of the destroyers, as well as the Inspiration. They were sitting in a conference room in a large building by the port, having a discussion. "We received an order from UHC and the Navy Chief of Staff that there's a compound-like fortress nearby, it's dark, but it's close to the water, this could give us the opportunity to launch a sea based strike from the Justice" started Admiral Loverix. "Good, I also suggest that we launch an air strike, a squadron of 5 Silvertide bombers escorted by a flight of Seahawks." added the Admiral of the Inspiration. The Admiral of the Vigilance stated "We could also use our weaponry to assault the base, as well as protecting you're ships.", "Yes," added the Admiral of the Seeker, "How about half our armament towards the castle, half towards covering you're defenseless asses!" The table bursted into laughing. "Yes, but in all seriousness, we need to tell this to Union High Command, if they approve, and we get more for a ground and air based strike from land, we'll have this in the bag.". They were still unaware of who they were after, but they'd find out soon enough once they reported to Union High Command.

Chapter 4

THE CASTLE OF PRINCESS CELESTIA
TIME: 1630 HOURS

A limousine parked in front of the castle, on the rear passenger doors were 2 triangles, inside them was the 5 symbols for each branch of the Union: Marines, Air Force, Army, Navy, and Medical Corps. It looked like a normal black limo, minus the fact that there was a soldier mounted on a machine gun standing out of a circular opening in the middle of the car. Gavarixus stepped out, following was two guards holding M-15 Fulcrum LARs. He had his 44. Magnum in a holster attached to his waist, and in his hand was a copy of the Equestria Daily, the headline: UNION-OWNED CARGO TRAIN DERAILS AND KILLS 5 PONIES, 4 SOLDIERS: ENGINEER SAID SEEING AN OMINOUS BLUE GLOW AROUND EVERYTHING BEFORE INCIDENT. He knew he had to talk to Princess Celestia, he got the message in the UHC center from the 7 admirals, and with this, he believed she would have to say yes. Two guards at the gates saw them, they parted from the entrance, the commander nodded at each of them in gratitude and continued forward, his own guards doing the same. The castle was normally how it was, pristine, beautiful, but when Gavarixus went into Celestia's bed-chambers, what he saw wasn't a pretty sight. Several bottles of scotch lying around, the floor had tear-water, and then they saw her, Princess Celestia wasn't how she was, rather than the beautiful, white mare that usually stands proud, on a bed was a mare with a scruffy mane and tale, she turned around, tears rolling down her cheeks, bags under her eyes, she spoke. "W-what the f-fuck do you want?" She was drunk, and depressed, the commander just stood there, awestruck how someone as high up as the princess could hit rock bottom like this. Her voice was hoarse, her words were harsh and laced with profanity, he saw another copy of the Equestria Daily on the floor, he felt awful, but there was nothing he could do. "Princess, we received word from the admirals of the Justice, Inspiration, and the 5th Destroyer Fleet. They said that they were prepared to strike, and was requesting for a ground and other air-based attack on her castle. They said a joint Marine-Army group would capture her, and we need your consent for Nightmare Moon, or Princess Luna, as you know her, to be...", "To b-be what? Just let me hear it, at this point I d-don't give a s-shit..." said the Princess, the commander paused a minute, mustering up the strength to finish, and he spoke "To be...sentenced to death by firing squad.", Princess Celestia's shock had her sober up a bit, but was still very drunk, "What are you fucking crazy? You really think that I will-", "Princess, we don't have much of a ch-choice we-" the commander didn't even get the time to finish, "I'm not letting you kill my sister, you can go fuck yourself if that's what you have to do!" Gavarixus took no time, he walked up to her, slapped her across the face, grabbed her by the back of the head, and forced her face into his, "Look! I don't give a damn if she's your sister, she destroyed an aircraft carrier and killed 1,500 sailors, she destroyed a fighter squadron and two bombers, killing 12 men, she destroyed a Condor and killed 67 of my men, and now she derailed a train and killed 4 of my men, and 5 of your citizens. If you're going to say no, fine, but, for the love of God, get your drunken ass off this bed, and take responsibility and do something about your murderess sister!", the Princess just stared at him, she's never been talked down like that, she felt awful, she was about to take another drink of scotch when the commander smacked it away where it hit the ground and broke. Celestia finally spoke back, "Y-you're right, just look at me, I'm a f-fucking mess....alright, capture her if you must, but if a death sentence is required, j-just let me confront her.", The commander was happy that she was complying, "Fine, we will, if she can do something to feel at least a bit remorseful, we'll drop the sentence, and sentence her to imprisonment on the moon, if I'm correct, that's how severe punishment's carried out in these parts." "Very well." She replied, he bowed a little in respect, and walked out.

PONYVILLE HOSPITAL
TIME: 2100 HOURS

After several hours, Molokus woke up, everyone was asleep, and what he saw, was kind of peaceful to see everyone recovering, but still not as great. Fluttershy's legs, from the shoulder and flank down to her ankles, had medical tape, she also was laying on her back, and Axis could see where there was a line of stitches about 5-6 inches long, next to her, on a stand, was a piece of bloodstained metal. Applejack, had bandaging around her mid-section and flank. Rainbow Dash, was laying with her right wing outstretched, on her face was a book, the title said "Daring Do", so she must've been awake earlier. Pinkie Pie had a small amount of bandaging around her front-left hoof, and there was bandaging on her right shoulder. Twilight Sparkle, to their demise, was still in a coma, probably for another couple of days, she had a cast on her left-hind leg that was suspended in the air by a sling attached to the ceiling, she had bandaging on her head and other areas of her body. Rarity was, 'Wait,' Axis thought, 'Where the hell is the white one?'. "Um...how are you" said a female voice, she had an English accent, Axis looked down to the left and he saw Rarity staring at him, a couple bandages on her legs and midsection, as well as her neck. "I'm...fine, thanks, I suppose you were the least hurt, then" Axis said, he was still very tired, "Yes, they said that I just had some minor cuts and bruises from the explosion, they even said that they were amazed how I received the least amount of damage." said Rarity. The second she finished, a blue unicorn ran in, she had a purple cape with stars on it, and was holding a rose bouquet clenched between her jaws , Axis had no idea who it was. "Is my sister alright?" She was panting, "And....who are you?" Asked Axis, "I'm the great Trixie, Twilight's sister, where is she?", Axis raised a bandaged arm and pointed to Twilight Sparkle's bed, "She won't say anything, though, she was put in a coma by the blast.", said Axis, she walked over and placed the carnations on her stomach. "They said she was lucky to be alive, I managed to shove her out of the way before a rotor blade came flying by us, or at least that's what I thought happened, it's hard to remember, I fell out and hit my head pretty hard in the explosion" said Axis, Trixie walked over and kissed Axis on the forehead, "Thank you so much, then." she said sweetly, and walked out. "Well, I'm still a bit tired, I'm going back to bed." Said Axis with a yawn, Rarity responded, "Yes, I probably should to, it's late, goodnight!" she said sweetly. Axis went back to sleep.

NIGHTMARE MOON'S FORTRESS
TIME: 2200 HOURS

Standing, watching a shadowy orb, was a dark, menacing figure. She was about 5 feet tall, about the same height as Princess Celestia. She was laughing at all that she had done, "Fools! Now you know that I am serious, and that you will be destroyed!", she started laughing, maniacally, she had went from a power-hungry mare who became so out of jealousy, to becoming a cold-blooded killer that wouldn't have anything get in her way. Two of her guards, both wearing machine gun harnesses, came in and spoke. "Princess, we've discovered that a sea, land, and air based force is going to invade the fortress, and that they're going to capture you, and you'll be sentenced to death by firing squad.", the black, armored mare turned around to speak, "Really, I doubt they'll be able to touch me, but, as a safety measure, prepare defenses around the fortress, the Union's preparing for war, and that's exactly what it's going to be!".

Chapter 5

OVER THE SKIES OF MANHATTAN
TIME: 0100 HOURS

A high pitched roar could be heard, half of the city came out to see what was going on. They saw a black jet, an F-34 Halberd designed for nighttime combat, it was carrying a varying armament from missiles to bombs. They also saw what looked like a pegasus, it was holding some kind of container, or at least what they thought. "Big Bird, this is Wolf 1-1, I have a lock on target, permission to engage." Recited the young pilot into his helmet, "1-1, this is Big Bird, request denied, we still need to find out what it's carrying", replied Davidson AFB Air Traffic Control, code-named "Big Bird", in case Nightmare Moon's soldiers were able to intercept radio transmissions. "Copy that, I'll fly under to see what it is," Said the new pilot, 'Damn,' he thought, 'and I thought I'd actually be able to score a kill this time', he inched the throttle a bit to see what it was, he looked up, and what he saw was horrifying. "Big Bird! Big Bird! Come in!" he was extremely worried, "This is Big Bird, what's the problem 1-1?", "The Pegasus, it's carrying...a...a, a bomb, a Union-owned bomb!", the controller was shocked, "1-1, do whatever you can to shoot that thing out of the sky, we can't risk d-", he was too late, the pony relinquished his grip, and the rookie pilot watched in horror as the bomb fell out of the sky, right towards city hall, "Shit! No!", he was too late, the bomb smashed into the roof, and detonated, anything within a half mile of the massive building was completely obliterated, at least 1,200 ponies had to be dead. The pilot was full of dread, "1-1, return back to base, there's nothing we can do now...", "Copy that", he banked around and flew back to base, realizing that he just let so many innocent lives to be lost.

THE CASTLE OF PRINCESS CELESTIA
TIME: 0900 HOURS

Gavarixus came back, there were several reporters outside the castle, waiting to see the Princess. He walked into her bed chambers, and what he thought had changed with her, didn't mean anything. He saw the same thing, no changes, empty bottles of liquor on the floor, a bed with 2 white silk pillows soaked in tears, on the ground was the scruffy-maned, depressed, drunken mess that Princess Celestia became, there was a small puddle in front of her face from all her crying, and she looked up. "I-I know, I tried to fix it, but I didn't change j-jack sh-shit!" She said, she had lost all hope, "I h-heard what happened, another o-one of her f-fucking soldiers just took o-out the goddamn center of M-Manhattan.", "Princess, it's not your fault, I take full responsibility for this, I should've let him take him out-" the commander tried saying before she interrupted, "Don't try to make me f-feel an f-fucking better! I've s-screwed up and now over 3,000 people are dead! I should j-just end it all.", She used her magic to grab Gavarixus' revolver from his holster, she put it up to her head, and she cocked it. "No!" he smacked it away, miraculously the gun didn't go off when it hit the ground. "Look, what just happened 8 hours ago was not your fault, alright? It was mine! There have been issues here and what has happened in the past is both our faults. The reason that they had a Union owned high-explosive non-nuclear weapon is not a mystery, when Fort Wilson was attacked, they must've stolen as much as they could from the armory, and that's how they developed a bomb, that's the Union's fault. You also need to take responsibility for your sister, drinking your problems away isn't going to help defend Equestria, and killing yourself won't either. So you need to sober up, and get ready, I'm about to launch a strike, and we need all that we can get. The Med. Corps said that the 5 ponies and the Elites will be out of the hospital in a week, but besides that, we need to get ready for war. I have an established firebase near her fortress, we can use that and maybe find out how she got all this equipment." He said, "R-right, we c-can do that. Oh God-" She got up and stumbled over to her bathroom and shut the door, Gavarixus could hear her vomiting. He sighed, picked up his revolver, put it back in his holster, and walked out of the building.

FIREBASE ROMEO
TIME: 0930 HOURS

The Brigadier General walked into the briefing room, "Atten-hut!" Barked Master Sergeant Verivisix. "At ease." said the general, the 15 soldiers sat down. "Men, we've received word from Union High Command that we need to send a group of soldiers to scout out the target's fortress. I picked you 15 because you're the damn-finest soldiers I've ever served with during my stay here at this base. We need to do this carefully because-", "Get down! Get down!" he could hear a voice outside of the small building, a massive explosion blew open a wall of the building, luckily, no one was harmed. "What the hell is going on?!" The Brig. General asked, "We're being bombarded by a mortar team" a scout said, "Friendly fire?", "No, Nightmare Moon, where the hell did she get mortars?", the General was dumbfounded, a high-pitched wail followed as another shell landed in the mess. "Men! Get readied up, we need to take out that mortar squad!", the soldiers grabbed their rifles, a sniper was in a tower, he shouted at them, "I see them, but they're in a makeshift shelter, we need a rocket-launcher.", "I got it! I got it!" A soldier came running out of the armory with an GGM-45 Phoenix Side-Loading Rocket Launcher, or SLRL. "I need a loader,", the general acknowledged, "Get this man a load-" "Shit, General, get out of the way!" screamed one of the riflemen, he was too late, a mortar landed only 8 feet away from the General, it launched him 20 feet before he smacked headfirst into one of the buildings, and cracked his skull. "He-he's dead...." a nearby medic said, after feeling for a pulse. The rocket-launcher and his loader wasted no time, they rushed to the tower where the sniper is, he pointed where the target was. The launcher looked into the digital scope on the side and read out: "Range: 80 meters, alright, load up a rocket." The loader hit a switch, a part of the rocket launcher popped out with a hollow tube in, he inserted the 2 foot long missile in, and closed the compartment. "Alright, let's watch some fireworks", a beeping noise told him he had a lock and he pressed the trigger, followed by a loud blast a missile shot out of one end, smoke out the other, it traveled 240 feet, landing right on target. "Got 'em." said the soldier cheerfully, but the base was still in ruins, a squadron of Med. Corps UH-15s saw them and landed to pick them up.

PONYVILLE HOSPITAL
TIME: 1000 HOURS

Axis woke up again, still everyone was asleep, except for Rarity, the purple-maned pony, she was sitting in her bed, reading a book, the title said something like "The Basics of Dress Designing"? He couldn't tell, she was on the other side of the room, Axis tried raising up and putting his back against the head of the bed, that's when he learned how sore he was, he wanted to say "Ow", but he didn't want to startle her, so he just winced in pain. He noticed an unloaded handgun at the bedside, as well as a screwdriver and allen wrench. There was a note on it, it said "From: Trixie, To: Captain Axisus Molokus.", 'The blue unicorn?', Axis thought, 'How did she know I liked doing that', one of Axis' favorite hobbies was disassembling and reassembling firearms, this particular pistol he's worked on a lot, he took a tray, and quietly laid the gun down on it, he then took the screwdriver and wrench and proceeded to take the gun apart, he did so in 2 minutes, when he started putting it together again, he accidentally dropped the spring for the firing pin, and said "Dammit!", under his breath, but he wasn't quiet enough. Rarity put the book down and looked up, "Oh, you're awake.", she asked, "Yeah, I guess the purple unicorn's sister gave me this gun, she somehow knew I had a hobby to take them apart and putting them back together." He said, "Yes, she's usually quite arrogant, but she can be friendly every once in a while, probably because you kept Twilight Sparkle from getting hit by that rotor blade.", he chuckled in agreement. He, with difficulty, looked over to Twilights bed, the heart rate monitor was low, but not too low. "So I suppose she's still out cold then?", "'Out Cold'?" she asked, "You know, when you get knocked out, or in her case, put in a coma." Axis answered, "Oh, yes, they said she'll wake up within the week. I wish I could do something but all the magic in the world couldn't wake her up.", she felt bad, but felt reassured that she would be up in no time. "I'm sure she'll wake up, I had a friend that was put in a coma for a month, but I was at his side when I could, and he woke up eventually." Axis said comfortingly. "You're very sweet, thank you." Rarity said nicely, they then continued to do what they were doing.

Chapter 6

PONYVILLE
TIME: 1200 HOURS

The citizens of Ponyville watched in curiosity as a convoy of Union trucks, humvees, APCs, and tanks came through. With Applejack gone, Granny Smith and Applebloom decided to head to the market to sell their produce. They were curious what was happening when they saw Big Macintosh towing something, normally it would be a cart full of apples, or something. But when they saw him, they saw that he was towing a 120 millimeter artillery gun. Applebloom walked up to him, and asked him "What are you doin' big brother?", before he responded, a high-ranked looking soldier carrying an M-15 responded, "Big Macintosh, here, is helping us tow an artillery gun, we've run out of vehicles to carry our equipment, even resorting to using helicopters to carrying some guns and small vehicles. But being out of supply trucks and humvees to carry supplies, we had to use him as a war-horse, with pay of course." He looked down at Big Macintosh, "Alright, we need to get this onto that Condor up ahead, got it?" "Eeyup.", the large red stallion responded, "Alright good." the soldier patted him on the back as he continued pulling the massive gun. A couple of UH-15s passed over with the same gun on a rope-and-harness attached to the underside of the vehicle. Granny Smith and Applebloom looked up as a squadron of 3 F-43 Silvertide bombers were being escorted by a group of Seahawks.

UNS JUSTICE
TIME: 1230 HOURS

The young comms technician had a weird look on his face, Loverix noticed. "What's wrong?" He asked calmly, "Well, sir, I don't know if this is right, but, we got coordinates and permission to launch a strike..." the tired admiral's eyes shot wide open, "Is it the proper UHC encryption code?", he asked, "Yes sir, it said to head to 24, 58. They said that they found another base that's mobilizing and getting dangerously close, and that Nightmare Moon is there as well." Said the young technician. "Well, alright then." He said, finally it was time to put the big sub to the test, he spoke to the 1st mate, "Order course to 2-4-5, Speed at 32 knotts", "Aye, sir. Order course to 2-4-5, speed at 32 knotts." Barked the young officer, "Aye sir, course 2-4-5, speed, 32 knotts.". Loverix could hear the submarine's nuclear reactor and single engine roar to life as the vessel picked up speed. "Loverix!" the speaker crackled, it was the admiral of the UNS Inspiration, "What the hell are you doing?", the admiral replied, "We got orders from Union High Command to launch a missile strike at these designated coordinates, did you get the same?", "No..." said the admiral, "No we didn't, that's weird...", "Very well, we will come back to port, but right now we need to do this.", the Admiral said calmly, "Ensign," he said to his main navigator, "How much longer until we're in striking distance?", "Three hours, sir." the sailor replied, "Very well. Well, I guess it's time we show this mare the meaning of 'Shock-and-Awe'!", the sailors in the control room cheered in agreement.

MANHATTAN
TIME: 1235 HOURS

Several of the ponies outside saw a massive group of V-74s passing over, they were all sporting the triangle with the red cross, the symbol of the Union Medical Corps. Several of them already landed at the blast sight, searching for survivors, there were also 3 APCs carrying 20 Union marines each, all heavily armed. "Anyone out there?" Called out one of the Med. Corps combat medics. "I-I....I'm o-okay..." gurgled a voice, they were so relieved, they heard it coming from a pile of rubble, "Okay, come on boys, lets get this one out." Said one of the marines, they weren't very agile, but Aerisans were some of the strongest creatures ever, two soldiers have the combined strength to lift 10 times their body weight, on average, that's 250 pounds, that means a single soldier can lift a ton and a half and hardly break a sweat. Once they were done moving the rubble out of the way, they saw a young filly, probably nothing older than elementary age, covered in soot and dirt. She had cuts all over her body, and they saw one of her legs were twisted, she was hurt bad. "Okay, come on, I need a medic for this one!" yelled one of the marines, "I'm coming! I'm coming" yelled back one of the medics, he crouched down and calmly asked "Are you okay, sweety?", she let out a frail "Yes.", and the medic picked her up and carried her to one of the Medical Corps Guardians and spoke to the pilot, "This one needs an airlift." The pilot nodded and as the small filly was being loaded on on a stretcher, the helicopter lifted off towards Ponyville hospital.

PONYVILLE HOSPITAL
TIME: 1300 HOURS

"Are-are you awake?" Axis looked up from his work on the gun, he looked over to Rarity, she fell asleep with the dress designing book on her stomach. "Hello?" Axis looked down, and what saw him made him jump. It was Twilight Sparkle, "Oh, you scared me. Wait, you're awake?" Axis had wide eyes, "Yes, can you tell me why we're here? All I remember was the explosion, and then everything just faded to black." She asked. "I remember, yeah, you fell out of the Condor and fell right on your head, the impact put you in the coma for a few days. But...how are you awake? They said you were going to be out for a week, and you're leg..." She raised up and he saw a wrapped leg tucked under her stomach, "It's a bit harder to walk, but having three legs is better than nothing, I guess...", she said, they both laughed in agreement. "I suppose you were also aware of the roses your sister gave you." Axis said, "Yes, and I see you're aware of the gun my sister gave you." Twilight responded, Axis was still very confused on how she had known that he had a hobby like that. One of the nurses at the hospital walked in, "Oh my!" she was ecstatic at Twilight's condition. "But...how are y-...but...wha-?" the nurse was flabbergasted, "Yeah, I had the same reaction, just a quick recovery." Axis said. The nurse went to a telephone mounted on the wall, "You have to see this, we have a certain someone that's back on their feet!", in a couple minutes, the doctor of the hospital, the other nurses, as well as 3 Med. Corps surgeons, 4 EMTs, and a pair of doctors all rushed in. The Union doctors, surgeons, and the pony doctor were all dumbfounded, they all kind of huddled together, "How is she back on her feet?" one of them asked, "Maybe these ponies have a faster recovery-time then we think." another suggested, "Who knows? Who cares? We should be happy that she's back on her feet!" another exclaimed. Axis and Twilight Sparkle just stared at them. "Well, good news, with this, you'll be able to check out within a couple of days!" One of the doctors showed Axis' and Twilight's x-rays, "You're legs are both healing very well, and so are your concussions, you should be able to help in the assault in a couple of days!" said the doctor gleefully, "Assault?!" It was Fluttershy, her normally beautiful, yellow skin was getting better, but still pale, next to her on a stand was a bag of blood that was marked "O+". "Yes, assault, there will be an attack on Nightmare Moon's fortress to capture her...and sentence her to...death.", Fluttershy's widened eyes got wider, tears began to well up in her eyes. "Is it really that n-necessary to k-kill her?" She was on the verge of a breakdown. Axis, painfully, got up and looked at her, "Look, we don't have much of a choice, with over 3,000 ponies and soldiers dead, you think that they will just banish her to the moon? No, she's turned into a bloodthirsty monster and something needs to be done, and we need all the help we can get, I'm sorry, but if this is the case, you have no choice but to come with us." Axis said, Fluttershy began crying, she knew Axis was right, that was it, but she had to at least do something. "Look, I'm sorry, but at this point, we don't have much of a choice.", she sniffled and looked up at him, "Y-you're right" she said hopelessly.

NIGHTMARE MOON'S ENCAMPMENT
TIME: 1315 HOURS

The menacing creature that is known as Nightmare Moon stared coldly into the shadowy orb. "An assault?" She said, "Ha! I doubt they'll ever get to me, let alone kill me!", "Your majesty," It was one of the soldiers, "Our mortar team attacking the Union firebase was destroyed." She turned around, "What?! That's it, the Union is going to be destroyed.", "But how, your majesty? We also saw them in a convoy with pretty much every weapon imaginable, how do you think we'll destroy them. I think you've lost it, you're highness." The soldier said, "How dare you talk to me like that, you will certainly suffer!" She used her magic to grab the soldier and lifted him in the air, "Hey! Hey! He-" she threw him towards a tree where he cracked his skull, he let out a dieing gasp before crumpling onto the ground. She laughed, and she continued looking into the orb.

Chapter 7

UNS JUSTICE
TIME: 1515 HOURS

"Sir!" Called out the navigating officer, "We are within firing range of the target. Should we begin to find firing solution?" he asked. "Yes. ensign!" He called out to the dive officer, "Raise the planes to 50 degrees", "Aye sir!" the officer replied, he said back to the dive controller, "Raise planes to 50 degrees!" "Aye sir!" replied the dive controller, he must have been no older than 20 years old. Another tilting sensation followed as the massive boomer rose out of the water, and came down with a "CRASH!", the ballast tanks released the water, and small openings unscrewed to let oxygen into the tanks. All of the sudden, the layout of the submarine changed, or so it seemed, the lights dimmed, and the only things keeping everything lit was a dull glow, it went silent, the only noise was the "ping" noise of the sonar system. "Sir, we have a firing solution." it was the missile officer, "Alright!" called back Loverix, "Open the hatches!", a mechanical whirring could be heard as the ship's 16 missile hatches opened up. "Alright, firing in 5-4-3-2-" the officer didn't even finish before a massive explosion tore the submarine in half, destroying almost everything before the control room of the Aspire, "Get out! Get out! Get out! Get the fuck out!" screamed the admiral, the thought blast-proof control room was quickly taking on water, all of the sudden, a strange blue glow forced the waterproof door to the what-used-to-be galley open, and the room flooded, "You-you b-bitch!" The admiral said before his head went under the water. A low, menacing laugh passed through, even underwater, the drowning admiral heard it, he tried screaming, but he then passed out, and drowned as what was left of the submarine sank to the bottom of the sea floor.

NIGHTMARE MOON'S ENCAMPMENT
TIME: 1520 HOURS

"Alright, come on, let's get ready to head out!" Yelled Nightmare Moon, nopony was aware that she had murdered one of her own soldiers. "You're highness, why are we moving out? We've been here not even a day." asked one of the soldiers, "I had this encampment to set up the Union's strongest missile submarine, it was going to lead the strike, and with it out of the way, we'll be unstoppable!" the mare let out a cold laugh, "Now they can't do anything during the assault! We'll be invincible! Equestria will be ours!"

UNION HIGH COMMAND CENTER
TIME: 1530 HOURS

"Sir!" the UHC communications interceptor said, "One of our satellites picked up something, they're preparing to move back to the fortress, and they...sunk the Justice..." Commander Gavarixus, "Dear God...", he put his head in his hands, "Two ships, a squadron of fighters and bombers, the center of a city...I can't do anything about it, and the goddamn Princess, instead of helping, is drinking her problems away. What the hell are we supposed to do now?", the Army Chief of Staff walked up to the commander, "Sir, we decided that, maybe we should move the strike up to tomorrow?", Gavarixus looked at him, "At this point, yes, we should be able to move the six ponies and the elites out of the hospital, make sure the Med. Corps sets the purple unicorn and Captain Molokus with a walking cast.", "Will do, sir." the Chief replied. The commander stood up, the Chief of Staff saluted Gavarixus, who then saluted back, the Chief about-faced and walked out of the room. Gavarixus took out a scotch flask and took a quick drink.

PONYVILLE HOSPITAL
TIME: 1600 HOURS

Everyone had finally woken up, but only a few moments later one of the doctors came in, he had two plastic shoe-like devices, one looked like it was designed for a 25 year-old Aerisan soldier, Axis' age, and another one for a young pony, probably for Twilight sparkle. The doctor started, "These are special casts, now that your legs are healed, they are still damaged, and this will help as you go on the assault tomorrow-", "Wait, what? Tomorrow", the 5 soldiers and 6 ponies asked in unison. "Yes, the UNS Justice was sunk, we can't lose anymore, we're storming Nightmare Moon's fortress, tomorrow, you're being checked out today.", everyone cheered, except for Fluttershy, she was still upset. "Alright, come on, we need to get to Fort Davidson for a transport to Firebase Foxtrot.", the soldiers as well as Applejack, Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity got up, Fluttershy refused. Molokus was surprised how much had sobered up between them, Rainbow Dash wasn't cocky and hot headed, Pinkie Pie didn't treat everything like a game, he was amazed. "Well, alright then, let's get a move on!" Said Xereva, she opened up a footlocker that was delivered to her by a friend, inside it: 5 throwing knives, a combat hatchet, a smooth-serrated blade knife, and an M13 .45 caliber handgun, one of the strongest and most accurate ever built. "Hm," Axis said, "You were prepared then?", she gave a nod and a smile, Axis got up, "Alright, let's go kick this mare's ass!", they all walked out to a Union Army APC, towards Fort Davidson, they knew what they were doing, and they were ready to fight her, even if it means taking casualties, to free the planet from her reign.

FORT DAVIDSON
TIME: 1645 HOURS

A military police officer saw the APC (Armored Personnel Carrier) sandwiched between the two humvees, all three vehicles had a soldier mounted on a heavy machine gun, the humvees, it was in the middle, the APC's HMG gunner stood on the gun that was located behind the front passenger seat, it had a narrow bullet-proof windshield so the driver and the man next to him, a communications officer, to see through. When they arrived, commander Gavarixus walked up to the back, where the main door of the vehicle was, as it folded down, the 6 ponies and 6 elites walking out, Molokus and Twilight Sparkle in the back due to their slight limp from the pain in their legs and the stiffness of the casts supporting them. When they walked out they saw a busy military base, more soldiers running around than normal, they also saw a massive group of APCs, humvees, and tanks, they were preparing to move out. "I need you to follow me," Gavarixus stated as they paced over to the base armory. They walked in where he tossed Axis an M-15, along with a bandolier strap along with 8 magazines and 2 grenades. His combat engineer received a satchel full of C4, she was also given 3 of these weird square plates that were toothed on the bottom, it was about an inch and a half thick, breeching charges, she was also given a .44 caliber snub-nosed revolver, as well as a 2 canisters with 6 speed-reloaders inside each. Seeing Xereva was set, Gavarixus passed over her. He handed Molokus' scout-sniper an M-250 sniper rifle, it was kind of like a WA2000, except the short barrel and muzzle was on the bottom of the frame, and above it was an empty space, this was where the horizontal 10-round magazine was inserted, he was given 5 magazines attached to a bandolier strap, and an AP (Anti-Personnel) mine. He was also given an M13, coming with 8 clips. Finally, Axis's machine-gunner was given an M-232 7.62 mm light machine gun, as well as 3 150-round magazine-boxes attached to his belt, he was also given an M-82 grenade launcher, which came with 4 4-round clips. His men were all set. Gavarixus gave each of the 6 ponies a stolen gun-harness, of course, Axis had to pin Fluttershy down as Gavarixus fitted the contraption onto her. Gavarixus started, "Alright, you have your equipment, it's time we take this fight to where it began, and finish this once and for all!", "Yes sir!" barked the 6 elites, and 5 ponies, Fluttershy was still upset. "Alright, let's go! Let's go!" barked one of the marine leaders as they hustled them onboard. Next stop: Firebase Foxtrot and the fortress of Nightmare Moon.

Chapter 8

FIREBASE FOXTROT
TIME: 1700 HOURS

The tanks, humvees, and APCs all entered the camp and parked, merely three quarters of a mile away was a black fortress, it looked like the combination of a castle, and a high-security prison, Molokus noted. At the corner watchtowers were 2 guards each, and patrolling the grounds were more of Nightmare Moon's guards. "Alright, let's get the artillery guns in place." whispered one of the marines, quietly, Big Macintosh as well as a couple of the marines hoisted up the guns, and set a range for them at three quarters of a mile. "Alright, here's the plan, the second we give the order to start firing, you're going to run over to the castle, onto the grounds, and engage? Copy?" whispered Gavarixus, the 12 nodded, "Alright, let's begin.", the commander stood up from his squatting position, he then yelled,

"Order!", the patrolling unicorn guards as well as the ones in the tower stopped dead in their tracks. The admiral screamed, almost like a war cry, "Fire!" the black stallions didn't even have time to react, the second he ordered to fire the 20 massive guns started firing off their 120 mm shells, each one smashing into the fortress walls with a bang. "Alright! Move! Move! Move!" yelled Gavarixus, the 6 ponies, the elites, and an entire company of marine and army soldiers came running towards the castle, guards started firing at them, "Get down! Get down!" started yelling one of the army soldiers, all of the sudden a large "Thump!" noise could be heard as they saw black specs shooting into the sky, mortars! "Oh shit! Get out of the way!" started screaming several soldiers as they came down, some hitting at the roots of trees, causing them to be knocked over. Fluttershy just stood their, and what she thought was worse in the Everfree forest, was a cake-walk compared to this. "Aaagh! My leg!" she looked to the right and saw a marine lying on the ground, everything from the knee down on his right leg was completely blown off, she stared in disgust, about to vomit, "You-you gotta help me, I have ki-" he didn't even have a chance to finish, a bullet from one of the guards' machine guns went straight through the bottom of his jaw, right out the top of his head, a small spirt of blood came out as it happened. Something grabbed the pink-maned pony by the back of the neck, it was Molokus, "He's gone, we can't do anything now, we have to go!", tears started welling up in her eyes, she almost started crying, about to bite down on the trigger handle in her mouth, Axis screamed, "No!", he grabbed her bottom jaw and forced it open before anything could happen, "If you bite down, that gun's going off." she remembered that she had the thing on her back, and nodded weakly.

They managed to get inside the walls of the castle where several soldiers had already gotten, she saw medics carrying just the torsos of soldiers, the ponies had also gotten their, and put their guns to the test. "I got this one!" Applejack said as she bit down on the handle, a burst of 5 bullets hit one of the guards in the chest that was located on one of the watch towers, he fell out right onto his back. "I got this one!" Pinkie Pie said gleefully, she shot one of the soldiers that was charging her, she was a little scared when she saw what she had done, though. "You needed to do it, now come on, help us out!" Xereva screamed as she grabbed a throwing knife by the blade, she threw it where it landed right between the eyes of a soldier 20 feet away. But there were heavy casualties in all that they did, they didn't notice but an artillery shell hit one of the Union's own marines, a blood-stained arm landed in front of Fluttershy, "Eeek!" she screamed, her face turning a hideous hue of green. After the fighting had ended, they had reached the keep, "It's your turn now. We've done our job, good luck." Said one of the army soldiers, they realized they had to head in, 5 F-43 Silvertide delta-wing bombers flew over dropping their bombs onto the grounds, luckily, no one was harmed, but they had to go in, they had a feeling that wouldn't be the last volley of bombings.

THE FORTRESS OF NIGHTMARE MOON
TIME: 1745 HOURS

"5-4-3-2-1, hit it!" Axis yelled as his combat engineer placed a breeching charge on the gate. It blew the door down, and they walked in, Axis fired 5 rounds from his rifle, all hitting 5 guards in the head, a small spatter of blood followed as they quietly crumpled to the ground. "Alright," he began into his radio, "Where's she at?", "She's in the main chamber, about 20 feet, you should see a door at the end of the corridor.". He was right, about 20 feet or so from their position was a large set of wooden double-doors at the end of a long hallway, they quickly ran over to the doors, and stood on either side. They slowly walked in, and they saw her, a tall, menacing-looking mare with dark-blue and black armor protecting her. She turned around, "So, you've finally came here?", Axis nodded, he pointed his rifle up, and was about to shoot when, "That won't do anything, you fool!", she used her magic to grab the captain by his good leg. She tossed him towards a wall where he hit it with a crash, and slid to the floor, he was badly hurt, but he wasn't dead. "Now, you will all learn my name, and I will rule Eq-", a "PMF!" noise was heard, Nightmare Moon looked at the bloody hole that punctured her armor. She slowly transformed into Princess Luna before crumpling to the ground, the ponies turned around and they saw Fluttershy, her gun-harness having a small trail of smoke, she shot Nightmare Moon. Axis slowly limped over to her, and said sweetly, "Y-you did it, good j-job, kid...", before he tripped, Xereva and the sniper got on either side of him, where he put either arm around their necks. His engineer put Luna into a fireman's carry, and they walked out, on the castle grounds they saw a looming Condor waiting to get them. They traveled to Canterlot, to Princess Celestia's castle.

CANTERLOT
TIME: 1745 HOURS

The princess, now sober and standing proud. Looked in shock at what she saw, her princess, resting on a stretcher, a bandage around her chest. "S-she...she's....dead?" tears began welling up in her beautiful eyes, Gavarixus walked up to her, "She had injured captain Molokus, and was about to do worse, Fluttershy was the one that fired the shot, it, had to be done, you're highness.", Gavarixus stood at attention and saluted, Celestia quickly rushed up to him and hugged him, crying into his shoulder. "If...if it had to be done, then I am proud of your work, well done." she sobbed, the 6 Elites and 6 ponies stood at attention, they then saluted, she down and looked into Fluttershy's wide eyes, soaked with tears, "Y-you did good work, thank you." said the princess, she then raised up to look at Axis, "You did a great job, and you've freed Equestria, we are in debt to you.", Axis nodded, he saluted, and she nodded. Nightmare Moon was gone, Equestria had been saved, but, who was to raise the moon? Axis realized this, and the ponies did too, all of the sudden, 6 circular stones appeared, each with a mark carved in, everyone stared at them in awe. The ponies were surrounded in different color glows as they raised in the air, all of the sudden, a multi-colored beam shot towards the deceased princess, she then was encircled in the glow, a bright flash, then the 7 ponies were back where they were. Luna's eyes opened, and she looked at her sister, she began crying, "I know...I'm so s-sorry" she began sobbing, her older sister walked up to her, and hugged her. "It is fine, my dear sister, but after all you have done, you need to make some amends." said Celestia sweetly, Luna walked up, over 15,000 soldiers stand before her, as she sobbed and apologized, "I'm sorry for all that I have done, I did not realize what had come over me, please forgive me.", the soldiers were all at attention, even Gavarixus, they looked towards the small mare, and everypony behind her, and saluted. "Where are you to go now?" asked Princess Celestia, "We're not sure," started Gavarixus, "But if there is ever an issue, the Union Armed Forces will be there answer the call, and save Equestria once more!" everypony, every soldier, started cheering, Gavarixus saluted towards the two princesses, who saluted back, and he turned around, and walked into the crowd of soldiers.

We've been brought here for a reason .
Be it fate, or internal treason.
Souls will be saved,
Or mutiny's waged,
As we plead for something to believe in.

-Excerpt from Nowhere to Go, by Mushroomhead.