"Pinkamena Diane Pie has been kidnapped." Specter said, a consoling look in his luminescent eyes.

Rarity gasped, covering her mouth with a hoof, "That's terrible! Who in their right mind would do such a thing?"

Everypony else agreed to that sentiment, and then Rainbow Dash added, "Y'know, I actually feel kinda sorry for the kidnappers."

Specter blinked, not expecting the reaction. "What?" He quirked an eyebrow, "Does this have to do with her 'Pinkie Sense'?"

"That, and other things. Anyway, let's go over these data and make up a plan." Twilight opened the packet Luna gave her and spread out its contents.

Twilight picked up a piece of paper giving a short biography of Warlord Ravenous.

He had been one of Emperor Strongheart's closest friends and most trusted advisors. However that didn't prevent them from having disagreements regarding foreign policy, especially regarding the Principality. Ravenous believed that Equestria was making the griffons weak and diluting their culture through trade.While he wasn't in favor of complete separation, he wanted that the trade between the nations be focused on arms and technology rather than cultural items. Strongheart believed the opposite.

Unfortunately for the Empire, Strongheart hadn't yet been able to name a worthy successor before his assassination during a diplomatic visit to Equestria. The power vacuum and the political infighting that resulted fractured the Empire, reducing it to a collection of ruinous states colloquially dubbed the Confederacies. Ravenous had broadcast a message to the Equestrian government promising revenge and vanished into thin air.

Fluttershy's encounter was the first news of him since the disappearance. It had only gotten worse from there. The Warlord, true to his title, had already conquered several of the Chancellorships that made up the area and integrated their forces into his. He had also reclaimed a significant portion of the former Empire's industrial infrastructure and was using it to build weapons and equipment for his troops.

Twilight knew enough by the end of the bio to know that a storm was brewing. He was a charismatic figure who had stirred his people into a nationalistic fervor, and he would stop at nothing to see Equestria crumble.

Hours passed until it was almost dawn. Fluttershy and Rarity had already gone to bed, leaving Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Specter to go over the minutiae. Pinkie Pie was supposedly being held in a compound within the Sandtalon Desert. Unfortunately, the number of possible targets lay in the hundreds, ranging from simple camps built from prefab modules to massive fortresses that were hundreds of years old. Twilight frowned.

"Look for anything involving baking and party goods."

"Why?" Specter asked.

Realization dawned in Rainbow Dash's eyes.

"Because Pinkie Pie, that's why." She said.

Sharp Sight yawned as she looked out of her R.3 Raven's cockpit, wondering if anything interesting was going to happen. She'd already spent several hours in the air taking pictures of convoys and encampments. The most exciting thing that happened during that time was when a SAM site almost managed to get a lock on her. Given that she was at the upper edge of the stratosphere, she didn't think it would be able to shoot her down. Better safe than sorry, nonetheless.

She stretched her wings and reconnected them to the controls, turning around in a wide arc as her patrol ended. She was just about to key in the autopilot when she saw flares rise from a small four-building encampment at the base of a mountain. And then she realized that those weren't flares, they were fireworks.

Sharp Sight panned her cameras onto the target and zoomed in. She blinked. Were they partying?

"Huh. That's strange."

Fluttershy was dreaming, as far as she knew. The images were blurry and disjointed. One moment she could have been playing on the beach with her father. The next, she was watching him descend into the ground in a black box, leaving her alone with mother. Her beautiful, cold, heartless mother. The next, she was being forced to the clouds by bullies as they mercilessly ripped the feathers from her wings. She was a skinny, helpless foal. She was grown up, but her friends had turned against her after she slit a throat she shouldn't have. Her friends lay in pools of their blood all because she had refused to end their attacker.

Her mother taught her how to fight and hunt and kill to protect herself, and without her father's words of kindness, she broke. Nightmares plagued her mind as she imagined losing control and using her skills to take away the lives of her peers. She became reclusive, increasingly terrified of herself. The bullies did not relent and she longed for an escape from the accursed gift of her bloodline.

And then she found Ponyville.

There, she could be free from her mother's training and the nightmares it brought. She lived among the animals and taught herself how to read and write, how to take care of her new friends and survive in the forest. And she pushed her darkness down, deep down into the depths of her mind.

There, in Ponyville, she met Rarity. She had been collecting herbs when she came upon a pure-white filly with purple hair. The filly's knee was bleeding. It was but a simple operation. They met each other the next day, and then the next, and so on. She had two friends now, and she didn't think she would have any more.

She was wrong.

She had so many now.

A smile crept onto her lips.

Twilight decided that the news was terrible as she nursed a mug of coffee that was as black as the night. Applejack was already up and about, despite the fact that it was just six in the morning.

The television in front of her displayed images of crowds in front of government buildings and the homes of high-profile personalities. They were chanting calls for change and justice, for the deposition of the royalty and the end of corruption.

Celestia was incompetent they said. Six major threats in three years, all of them defeated by six mares barely out of their teens. The guard had been useless, even in defending Canterlot. Those six mares were just trouble, said the speakers, one of them in particular was capable of brainwashing an entire town with an enchanted doll. And her reward was dominion over that town she had previously brainwashed. Celestia was setting a dangerous precedent.

She had allowed the military to wither until it was a vestige of its former might. A mistake that would soon come to haunt them.

The most chilling fact however, was that their arguments made sense.

At least until they started calling her a warmonger, now that recruitment and military spending had stepped up in response. The rally leaders spouted off made-up statistics, creating a strawpony world where the slippery slope made healthcare, education, and social support commodities for the rich. Twilight laughed. She kept track of the budget reports. There was no way in Tartarus that was happening.

"This is simply horrid, isn't it?" Rarity spoke, startling her, "Such hypocrites!"

"I couldn't agree more." Twilight shook her head.

Twilight changed the channel, coming upon Air Force General Glacia Winterheart's live press release. The tall, graceful pegasus mare had just tucked in her massive wings as she bore into a reporter's soul with her ice-blue eyes. The black and gold uniform provided a nice contrast against her snow white coat and pale blonde hair.

"Air Force recruitment is up by ten percent." Winterheart said, "We will be at minimum combat strength by next month, full strength within five. As for the crew problems on our airships, we will be resolving that by adding more unicorns and earth ponies into the crew mix. Does that suffice?"

"Um, yes. But what about equipment?"

"I cannot tell you the details, but I can assure you that the Royal Armories and Forges are working around the clock to turn out arms and armor for our little ponies."

"One last thing, General Winterheart." The reporter raised a camera, "Could I have a shot for my boss?"

The General considered for a moment, and then she shrugged. "Very well."

She turned to face the camera. The reporter pressed depressed the shutter and the camera shattered into hundreds of shards of glass and plastic with a resounding bang, blinding him. The guards tackled him to the ground as the rest of the journalists scattered. The image degraded into a wild, shaking view as the General's aides helped her to her hooves, blood staining the immaculate white of her wings and chest.

"You." Winterheart glared into the camera, a soul-chilling look in her eyes, "Turn that off."

The camerapony complied.

"What jus' happened?" Applejack stared at the now-blank screen.

"I don't know." Twilight shook her head, "And frankly, I don't want to find out."

Flim felt the thunderous applause as his brother worked the crowd to a frenzy, encouraging them to chant and sing. That in itself didn't trouble him. What did was that he was spewing treasonous rhetoric and lies directed against the Princesses and the government. They'd been doing this for weeks now, traveling from city to city to set up cells and attract supporters for the Equestrian Democratic Front.

The EDF promised a bright future with the common pony at the helm, of a free system where birth or social status didn't matter in the eyes of others. They promised a strong nation, protected by competent soldiers armed only with the best. They promised change and reform on a massive scale, and all they had to do was get the Princesses out of the way. Itwas all a con.

He knew, of course. The EDF promised all those things but didn't provide a way of getting to them. Except for one thing. To open up a brighter future, the Princesses and their 'pets' had to be removed at all costs. The idea sickened Flim. This was rebellion!

Even more disturbing was that ponies who entered Flim's tent, no matter what their views were beforehand, emerged in complete agreement with the EDF's propaganda. He doubted that his brother was that charismatic. They'd been run out of Ponyville, after all. And there was that strange amulet he always wore. Something fishy was happening.

But what else could he do?

The soldiers arrived at noon with orders to escort them to Fort Equinox for an emergency meeting. They were crammed into unmarked vans, a high-speed train car with no windows, and then another set of vans that wound their way into Mount Avalon's heart. They passed through dozens of checkpoints, each of them marked by a massive set of blast doors. Finally, they were chaperoned into the labyrinthine underground complex's heart: a massive conference chamber.

The lights came on with a resounding snap as television screens winked to life.

Shiny wasn't kidding. Twilight thought. It really does look like the one in that WarGames movie.

They all took their seats at their appointed places, waiting for the rest of the ponies to file in. The seat reserved for Laughter was depressingly empty. The rest of the Elements wore contemplative looks as they pondered the ramifications of being requested to attend a top-secret meeting under a mountain in silence. Tension and a foreboding feeling weighed down the air.

Suddenly, the doors hinged open and Princess Celestia and Princess Luna stepped in. Twilight looked closely at Celestia. Cake crumbs stuck to the sides her mouth, and an odd feeling radiated from her that hovered at the edge of her consciousness.

"Greetings." Luna said, "Welcome to the seat of my power."

"If only we could meet in happier times." Celestia said more to herself.

They took their seats opposite each other. Twilight noticed that they were seated along the cardinal directions. Celestia sat due east, Luna due west, and herself due north. That meant Cadence would seat to the south. There were also seats for the various generals as well. This was going to be a military affair, why involve the Elements?

Twilight had just opened her mouth to speak when Celestia cut her off, "All will be answered in due time."

The answers came thirty minutes later, once all of the staff had taken their seats. Surprisingly, General Winterheart was also in attendance. Twilight swore the room temperature dropped a couple of degrees upon her entry. Her heart sank when she noticed that Shining Armor's seat was unoccupied. She saw the look Fluttershy had when Winterheart entered and made a note to ask if she was alright later.

"Greetings, Everypony." Celestia said, "We will skip the formalities as we have grave matters to discuss. The first of which is what will be done with the Elements of Harmony in these dark times." She turned to her sister, "Luna?"

Princess Luna's horn glowed, and a map of Equestria appeared on the largest screen. Red dots and crosses overlaid various locations on the map, most of them clustered around large cities and government centers.

"It has become clear to us that the events today," Luna nodded at Winterheart, "are part of a concerted effort to erode the public's confidence in the government, which was already shaky before, might I add due to various circumstances at the turning of the millennium."

At that, a shameful look briefly crossed Celestia's face. Luna cleared her throat, bringing attention back to her.

"The red crosses are targets that have already been hit, such as Lord Fancypants's estate in Seaddle, MIST, and recently, General Winterheart's conference in Stalliongrad."

Winterheart scowled, glaring at her bandaged wing.

"The dots," Luna continued, "represent planned targets. They may or may not be hit, but we must be cautious about this... Which brings us to the second matter at hand."

Another map, this one of Ponyville, appeared on another screen. "If you would study the map, Elements, you would notice that the dots correspond to your places of residence or places of work. To ensure your safety, my sister and I have decided to induct you into the Office of Shadows and Secrets, Section 4."

Rainbow Dash jumped out of her seat, "You mean we get to be spies? Do we get fancy gadgets? This is gonna be awesome!"

"In a manner of speaking. You will serve as the public face of the Government." Luna held a calculating look.

"Excuse me, Princess." Twilight raised a hoof, "Aren't we princesses already the symbols of the government?"

"Yes, but we need symbols the citizenry can relate to. We need them to see that ponies from all walks of life can be united under our government, not just under this so called 'Democratic' front."

"Ah get it." Applejack placed her hat on the table and ran a hoof through her mane, "Ya need us to get the bourgeois, the proletariat, and the petty-bourgeoisie on our side instead of those...hooligans. And that's where our personalities come in...

"Indeed, Applejack." Luna smiled, "Though we wouldn't use those terms."

Twilight was surprised, and a little bit proud, at how fluent Applejack and pronounced those terms. She chuckled softly as Rarity blinked away the disbelief on her face.

"But how...?" Rarity whispered.

"Marketing, Rares." Applejack grinned.

"I still don't see how a bunch of foals playing tinker, tailor, soldier, spy is going to help is get the situation under control." Said General Salt Rock, a stocky stallion wearing Army insignia, "We should just send in the troops and be done with it."

"You imbecile." Winterheart said flatly, "You would only be adding fuel to the fire. Have you even read the reports our agents have sent on the EDF, or even the news?"

Winterheart's eyes narrowed. General Rock shrunk back for a moment, and then scoffed, tearing his eyes away from hers.

"A show of force is often enough to cow them into submission." Rock continued.

"Enough." Princess Celestia had a hint of steel in her voice, "We do not want to cow our citizenship into submission through brute force. We want them to feel safe under our leadership, prevention before cure, as some may say."

"Can't we do both?" Admiral Silent Hunter whispered, "Many of our little ponies are scared. If we send some crowd control in, no provoking the protesters into action of course, they would probably feel safer. And at the same time, we show them that we do care."

"Something scares me about that 'probably'." Twilight mused.

"Indeed. But it is a risk we might have to take." Luna sighed, "There seems to be an increasing trend of violence in these protests, having security forces on station will help alleviate the nervousness our little ponies will feel."

Celestia cleared her throat, "Carrying on. One Element is already missing. We have decided to provide additional security and a safe place to stay for the meantime." The distaste in her voice was almost palpable, "I take it you've met Agent Specter?"

The Elements nodded, "Will we be meeting more like...him?"

"Yes."

"That said, we will not waste the Elements' talents by hiding them away." Winterheart declared, "We need to get our military ready and keep the citizens calm at the same time, and they are the right ponies for the job." She looked each one of them in turn, "Applejack and Rarity, I want you to coordinate with the Royal Armories and Forges and Princess Twilight on manufacturing." Applejack nodded.

"Commander Dash, we are returning you to duty. It will be your job to train new recruits."

Rainbow Dash saluted. "Ma'am!"

"Lieutenant Fluttershy, you will tend to our larger air assets." Fluttershy shrank back, and then set her jaw as she nodded, realizing what Winterheart meant about that.

"And, Princess." Winterheart's unblinking stare chilled Twilight's soul, "We need you to organize the war effort's production and logistics and research." She tilted her head, "Don't worry about working alone. We have expert staff on hand."

Twilight gulped, realizing the responsibility this entailed and the work it would bring, "Of course. Thank you, General."

Heavy Metal yawned. Border patrol was always boring, even on the old griffon border, even at night. The warlords usually spent too much time fighting among themselves to even think of invading Saddle-Arabia. That was good too, since the Protectorate couldn't really put up much of a fight if they did.

"Isn't that right, Betty?" He patted the magically-enhanced steel under him.

The Mk. 1 Stalwart was a little under a hundred years old, kept in good condition in the hands of Col. Wrench and his team of mechanics and enchanters. If anything, Betty had a nice low profile and a killer depression angle on her 75 mil so they could hide behind something and plink the attackers off. Unless it was one of those Emperor tanks.

Metal had seen an Emperor only once, and that was when he visited the Royal Arms Museum in Equestria with his parents, but the memory of it still inspired awe. That what was when he got his stud stamp too. He actively refused to call it a cutie mark, it was demeaning to his stallionhood.

The Emperor was a fortress on four treads, bristling with guns and covered in thick armor. The griffons didn't have magic so they made do with their technical prowess, and the result was a wonder to behold. Emperors had a listed top speed of 60 kilometers per hour on good terrain, and could turn on a bit in under ten seconds.

He was just about to close his eyes and drift off to sleep under Princess Luna's night when the radio crackled to life.

"Metal, is that you?" The voice sounded frantic, pained, "I've got a whole armored column moving down the pass. They've got triple-A and fighter support. I'm the only one who made it." A cough, clattering in the background, "They've got Emperors! Oh shi -- " static.

Metal sat up and stared at the horizon. A long plume of dust was approaching, lit from the inside by hundreds of lights. He grabbed his binocs and zoomed them all the way in. His blood froze. It was indeed an armored column, and it wasn't friendly.

The tanker popped red flares and woke his crew mates, slamming the commander's hatch behind him.

"What's wrong, Boss?" The Loader, Lieutenant Magazine, rubbed her eyes as she woke.

"Griffons."

The rest of the crew was awake in seconds, and the tank's engine joined them soon after. Comsat spread the word and soon, the border was abuzz with activity as ponies prepared for the fight of their lives.

The bulkhead in front of Metal disappeared, replaced by an augmented reality view of the outside. It was the newest thing in the tank, having been installed five years ago. The display was fuzzy and crackled sometimes, but it still worked.

"All systems checked and ready."

"All armor units, fall to defensive positions." Metal barked, "Load sabot, select individual targets."

Mechanical sounds filled the cabin as the auto loader got to work. Magazine levitated a new shell into the loader's hopper and waited, beads of sweat rolling down his forehead. "Up."

"Contact! Range twenty-one hundred metres, two-zero clicks per hour. Bearing twelve o'clock."

Metal counted down the seconds until they were in effective range. "...three, two one. Fire!"

"Away!"

The tank recoiled as the 75mm sabot spat out of the barrel at ten times the speed of sound, wrecking a Swiftclaw light tank in a burst of flame and smoke. The rest of the armor fired as one, sending hot tungsten barreling into the enemy formation in a thunderous cacophony. The shells did good work, reducing six more light tanks to scraps and disabling a Reaper medium, in just as many hits.

The column ground to a halt almost instantly, barrels training upon the outnumbered defense force. The Emperors' turrets rotated ponderously, bringing massive 125 millimeter cannons to bear, shrugging off hits that would have disabled lesser tanks with contemptuous ease.

They spoke.

The world shattered.

If the ponies' fire was a thunderclap, the griffons' answer was a storm. Two dozen tanks of all classes fired in a staggered salvo that broke more than just armor and flesh. Twelve Stalwarts were reduced to nine, and then six, finally three.

Cover wasn't taken into consideration because it simply ceased to exist. Retreating was suicide. There was only one thing left to do.

Minutes later, only the birds were left to watch the column thunder into the horizon, leaving behind wreckage and corpses.

They had adjourned for the night to reconvene the next morning. Now, they sat glued to the screen as the recorded events unfolded on television. Fluttershy watched on in growing horror, yet she found herself unable to tear her eyes from the screen. Memories of nightmares flashed unbidden into her mind and she fought to banish the images before she snapped.

"...You can literally feel the thunder of the guns from here, and quite frankly, it scares me." Said the reporter as gunfire and explosions raged in the distance behind her, "Roughly eight hours ago, the griffon First Army rolled into the city of Bagdad, crushing any and all opposition in a hail of bombs and gunfire. Five hours later, they are here at our doorsteps in the city of Oil Sands. This is Flash Report, Al-Poneera News, signing off."

Images flashed into a montage of devastation. Everypony was silent, a mix of emotions warring on their faces. Great plumes of black smoke rose into the sky, shading the sky red like blood amidst shattered buildings and the wrecks of vehicles. Corpses from all races littered the streets. A proud skyscraper collapsed as griffon bombers poured missiles into the retaliating structure. Fires burned everywhere amidst the flashes of nighttime gunfire.

Rainbow Dash cheered silently as a pegasus struck down a griffon and moved to rejoin his flight, only to be ripped apart in mid air by a stream of tracers. Her heart sank. Applejack wore a horrified, slack-jawed look as infantry were crushed underhoof by tanks and armored vehicles as their weapons thundered. Fluttershy stared blankly at the screen, uncomprehending at the level of death and destruction. Rarity had long since fainted and moved to the infirmary.

How could anypony do this? Fluttershy thought, images from her hellish training flashing into her mind.

She pushed them down. She wouldn't break down.

"Enough." Celestia whispered just as an image of ponies lined up against a wall flashed onto the screen.

The screen mercifully blacked out.

"We will reconvene in one hour. I believe we all need time to come to grips with what we have seen."

General Winterheart said as everypony filed out, "Fluttershy, I would like to speak with you, in private."

Fluttershy reassured her friends that she would be fine and sat down across the general. Rainbow Dash shot Winterheart a dirty look, and then the doors slammed shut with a resounding boom.

Fluttershy whispered, lowering her hair so that the General couldn't see her. "You asked to speak to me, mother?"

Author's Note

Thanks again to Jioplip for pre-reading!

What do you think of the OCs?

Originally, I'd planned Winterheart as a standalone character but then the way she looked at people go me thinking. Gen. Salt Rock's name is actually a pun on a certain ingredient on a certain basic explosive.