Land of Dreams

Chapters

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

Chapter 2

As the griffons flew for several hours, Twilight made several attempts to get more information out of them. The soldiers completely ignored her. Below, Twilight could see various parts of the landscape had been devastated and knew that some of areas of destruction they passed were former towns. During the flight, Twilight had estimated that the next town they would fly over would be Appleloosa. Nearing closer to where it should be, Twilight saw only ravaged landscape. However, it was here the griffons began to make their descent towards the barren fields.

They landed towards one end of the valley that once had the town’s apple orchard. Gilda walked along the edge of the cliff face and eventually found the spot she was looking for. There was an unusual rock jutting out from the ground and Gilda pulled on it. There was a rumbling sound as a wall of stone pulled back and then slid into the cliff. Gilda led the way into the new passageway and the griffons finally let go of Twilight and let her walk.

After they all went through the opening, the last griffon pulled on another rock hanging from the ceiling and the wall closed behind them. It was now completely dark by the previous opening but as they headed down, torches on the walls lit their way deeper underground. It was about ten minutes before they had finally left the passageway. Twilight gasped at what she saw.

The underground chambers had been completely excavated and now a full-sized town lay below them. A set of steps running down the cliff face led the way to the entrance of the town. This town was like a collage of the various types of pony towns across Equestria. Part of the town reminded her exactly of Ponyville, one part looked like Appleloosa, and there were even a couple of much taller buildings similar to those from Manehattan. Hanging from the high ceilings was a massive network of dim, little orbs. In the center of this makeshift starry sky floated a gigantic, glowing sphere of light.

“Welcome to Haven, one of Equestria’s last shelters,” Gilda announced.

The griffons led Twilight down the steps and before they even reached the town, a couple of onlookers had already noticed the purple unicorn being escorted by the griffons. They quickly spread the news, it was not long before a small mass of ponies and griffons had gathered. As they began making their way through, Twilight could feel the stares of everyone around her. Some were excited, some were afraid, most were surprised. They all murmured to one another, sharing thoughts as to who was being brought in and why.

Suddenly, the murmuring became more excited, but it wasn’t about the unicorn being escorted. Many of the ponies turned their heads in another direction and started to spread apart, making way for a group of ponies wearing the armour of the Canterlot Royal Guard. In the centre of the group was a white unicorn with a long, blue mane. The griffons stopped in their tracks and saluted to him. Tears started to well up in Twilight’s eyes as he came closer.

“Commander Shining!” Gilda said as she saluted to him last. Shining Armor saluted back and looked at Twilight with an unreadable expression. Twilight, losing control of herself, jumped at her brother in glee but the griffons immediately held her back.

“Big brother!” she cried out. Shining’s expression still did not change as he continued to speak with Gilda.

“Captain, status report.”

“Big brother! Big brother!” Twilight continued to cry out as she struggled against the griffons. To cease her shouting, one of the griffons covered her mouth with his hands.

“During our patrol of the skies under enemy territory we came across a unicorn. Upon questioning, she claimed to be Twilight Sparkle so we immediately seized her and brought her here.”

“I see. Where are you headed now?” Shining asked very calmly.

“We will be taking her to a holding cell.” Twilight bit at the hands of the griffon and continued to yell.

“Shining! It’s me, Twilight! Don’t you recognize me?!” For the first time, Shining stared directly at Twilight, but his expression still did not change. The griffons then became more aggressive and brought her completely to the ground. “Brother!” Twilight cried out one last time. Shining looked back to Gilda.

“Are you positive that this is the Twilight Sparkle?”

“That is what she claims.” Shining turned to briefly look at Twilight one last time.

“Continue on with bringing her to the holding cell. I will interrogate her myself, later.”

“Yes, Commander!” Gilda saluted again and Shining and his guards left. Twilight began to cry loudly and the griffons had to carry her again. The crowd of ponies and griffons continued to watch, most of them unsympathetic to her emotional display. Twilight still did not know why exactly, but to the general masses, her name had become synonymous with evil itself.

The griffons threw Twilight into her cell as she continued to cry, but before they left, Gilda had something else to say to her.

“You can stop with that crying; it won’t help.” Gilda had said this insultingly, but for some reason Twilight obeyed and slowly tried to stem her tears. “Whether or not you are suffering doesn’t matter; you have no idea what kind of suffering we’ve all been through as well.”

“Gilda, please tell me what happened.” Gilda’s eyes looked up a bit, as if remembering something. Then, she looked back down coldly.

“Figure it out yourself; I have no intention of helping you in any way.”

Gilda and the griffons left and Twilight sniffled a few more times as she wiped away her last tear. Just what happened? All the towns have been destroyed and all the ponies were living underground now. Her brother, Shining, wouldn’t even speak to her! As she continued to mull over more depressing thoughts, she heard somepony approach her cell. She went over to the bars of her cell and waited for whoever it was to arrive. It was Shining. Twilight subconsciously delighted in his reappearance, but after quickly remembering their last exchange, she cast her gaze downwards and sighed. Shining said nothing and Twilight finally forced herself to speak to him again.

“What do you want, Shining?” Twilight suddenly felt his hoof touch hers from between the bars. Twilight looked back up and saw that her brother now wore a very pained expression.

“Is it really you, Twilie?” Twilight’s heart almost stopped at his words. Her cheeks began to quiver and her vision became blurry from the oncoming tears.

“Yes!” she cried out, trying to jump at him but hitting the bars. She cried loudly, but not from pain. Shining brought both of his forelegs through the bars and tried to pull her in close. Then, the two embraced each other between the bars.

“Twilie!”

“Big brother!” There was nothing else that they could say to each other at the moment. The two just laughed and cried together for several minutes. For those minutes, it was almost as if this was a regular reunion, perhaps meeting him in Canterlot again. Eventually, they sobered up enough from their reunion and could speak more.

“Twilight, where have you been? What have you been doing?”

“I don’t know, Shining. I really don’t know. Shining, what happened?” Shining’s expression hardened.

“Pain. Destruction. War…”

“Why?”

“They say it all happened when somepony unleashed an ancient evil upon the land. At first, it seemed like a minor problem, and not something to worry about. Over the years though, it grew much more powerful and something else started to happen.”

“What happened?”

“Change.”

“Change? What do you mean by change?”

“Ponies would change. First, they would fall asleep for a long time. But then, they would wake up and seem to be normal. Over time though, they started to become a bit different but we thought they were just re-adjusting. At this time, the evil took shape and tried to attack Canterlot itself. I created a barrier to protect Canterlot, and this time I was sure that nothing would break it, but…” Shining took a deep gulp before continuing. “But I was wrong. The ponies who had changed turned against us and took over Canterlot. We were forced to abandon the capital.”

“And the Princesses?” Twilight asked, already fearing for the worst news.

“The Princesses are gone.” Shining looked down at the floor and tears of sadness started to appear. As much as she wanted to, Twilight asked no more painful questions of her brother. Instead, she hugged him tightly again until he cheered up a bit. He smiled at her, but then his expression turned serious. “Twilight, I believe in your innocence, but nopony knows exactly what happened. They say that you were the one who unleashed the ancient evil.”

“Why do they say that?”

“You disappeared just before this all started and there were also accounts stating that you took something from the Canterlot Library.”

“What did I take?”

“I don’t know. However, that doesn’t matter. You’ve been gone for more than eight years, and all this time, many of the ponies and griffons had blamed you in one way or another for causing everything.”

“But I didn’t! Or, at least I don’t remember doing anything like that…”

“I believe you, Twilight; I know that you would never do anything like this on purpose. But, that doesn’t matter to the others. They have all suffered from the ongoing war and they needed an identifiable enemy for causing it. Some blame your thirst for knowledge; some blame your negligence; and there are even some who blame you for secretly wanting to bring about the end of the world.”

“Why would anypony want to bring about the end of the world?!”

“The distress has caused many rumours to get out of control.” Twilight shook her head at everything her brother was telling her and tried to make sense of his story.

“Wait, what about you? Didn’t something happen to you for being my brother?” Shining looked away again.

“Most just think I was blind to any of your intentions. Some think I was betrayed by you like everypony else.” Twilight swallowed. There were so many other things she wanted to ask, but she would let it be for now. Twilight nuzzled her brother and the two just stood by each other in silence.
**

After meeting with Twilight, Shining had to leave to go meet with the other high-ranking officers. On his way out, though, he noticed that another ruckus was happening in the town. He rushed to the scene and found that the other air unit had returned. They too had a captured pony, a pegasus this time. The Pegasus wore a uniform that resembled that of the Wonderbolts, but it was black and purple instead of blue. Shining made his way through the crowd that had gathered and went up to the pony in charge: a grey pegasus with a blonde mane.

“Commodore, status report.” The pegasus focused her eyes to look back at him and then saluted. Immediately after the salute, her eyes drifted apart once more.

“We found this one hanging around near the valley entrance. We captured him and brought him here for questioning.”

“I see.” Shining went up to the pegasus and the captors removed the goggles on his face so that he could get a look at him. Shining did not recognize the pegasus, but somepony probably would. But before that, there was the first phase: interrogation. “State your name and intention.”

“You think I’ll tell you anything?!” the pegasus snarled at Shining. Shining ignored him and continued.

“What are you doing here?”

The pegasus smiled.

“It’s over for all of you!”

“Why’s that?”

“Marshal Shadowbolt’s gonna come and end all of you! You didn’t have any hope at all!”

“Is that so?”

The pegasus smiled wider and started laughing.

“What is this? Acting so calm? What, were you expecting this day to come eventually?!” Shining’s calm expression remained unchanged.

“If Shadowbolt is coming, then we will meet her, and we will defeat her.” The pegasus just laughed maniacally. From the crowd, there was a loud gasp and an earth pony tried to make her way over to them, but she was stopped by a pair of griffons.

“Nimbus?! Is that you?!” she cried out to him. Shining motioned for the griffons to release her and the earth pony went up to the pegasus. “Nimbus, it’s me, Melody!” The pegasus put on a disgusted look.

“Don’t act so familiar with me, you stupid pony! The only ones I know are those loyal to Marshal Shadowbolt!”

“Nimbus! We’re friends! We lived next-door to each other! We went to school together! Don’t you remember any of that?” she asked with tears in her eyes. The pegasus spat at the earth pony’s face.

“No!” the pegasus yelled in response. The pony fell to her knees and wept loudly. Well, that was the second phase, Shining thought to himself. Only one part left to do.

“Take the pegasus to the grounds,” Shining ordered. They dragged the pegasus off to a small plateau at the other end of the town. Just as they reached the plateau, Gilda had also arrived. She went over to the Commodore pegasus.

“Another one, Commodore Derpy?” Derpy’s eyes looked downward at two different angles.

“Yeah.”

“Since he’s been taken to the grounds already…”

“Yeah.”

“Another one, huh? It’s a real shame, isn’t it?”

“Yeah.”

Gilda left Derpy and then went to the plateau, noticing Melody still crying some distance away. It didn’t take a genius to guess why. Gilda went over to Shining and saluted.

“Captain, you’re here.”

“Well, I was informed that another pony was captured so I made my way over here.”

“Are you here do it?”

“It seems I’m the only one who’s been doing it recently.”

“Then I’ll leave it to you.”

Shining made sure that the pegasus was properly tied down on the plateau and then he and the others left Gilda alone with him. Gilda made her way to the pegasus and readied her spear. Surrounding the platform was a massive crowd of ponies and griffons that came to watch the spectacle. Their faces varied from horror to a steeled resolve; everyone knew what was about to happen and it would be far from the first time of witnessing it. Gilda looked down at the pegasus and asked the final question before carrying out the third phase.

“Any last words?”

“Go die!”

“Maybe later.”

Gilda thrust the spear down through the pegasus’ heart, instantly killing him. This was no glorified execution; there were no cheers to be heard. It was merely a necessity. A hard lesson learned from previous acts of mercy. The third phase that followed interrogation and a failed attempt at bringing back their memories: execution.

Gilda withdrew her spear from the lifeless pony and got off the plateau. One of her subordinates handed her a towel to clean her spear and the ponies gave her a noticeably wider gap than usual. They had accepted that this was something that needed to be done, but few were comfortable with it. Melody continued to softly cry as a few other ponies tried to comfort her. Gilda recognized one of them. His brother was caught a year ago and Gilda had carried out the same act. Their eyes met briefly, but there was no malice; his eyes were listless.

A team of ponies went to clean up the grounds and the dead pegasus was placed into a pre-made coffin. He would be buried in a cemetery outside town unless Melody, a living pony that was closest to him, wanted him cremated. That decision would be made later, though. Shining and his guards gathered and Derpy and Gilda went up to him as well.

“Well, it looks like there is another topic we are going to have to discuss during our meeting.” They all nodded in solemn agreement. “I am going to have Twilight Sparkle momentarily released so she can sit in it.” This was not silently agreed to.

“What? You are going to let her sit in on the meeting?!” Gilda cried out.

“I believe she will prove to be a valuable asset in our discussion.”

“No, I agree with Captain Grizelda,” one of Shining’s guards said. “Despite what you may think, Commander, it is too dangerous to let somepony like her be present for our discussions. Especially since she will be the major topic of discussion.”

“I believe that is all the more reason she should be present; she must be given an opportunity to make her case.”

“That should be saved for a later tribunal, Commander.”

“I didn’t think you were so distressed earlier, but clearly you have let your judgement become clouded,” Gilda added. Shining looked around but his other guards did not seem to want to side with his decision. Suddenly, a loud, pompous voice came from behind them.

“It appears I am not too late to meet up with all of you!” The speaker was a blue unicorn wearing a hat and cape. Gilda clicked her tongue.

“General Trixie.”

“Yes, it is I, The Great and Powerful General Trixie!”

“We get it,” Gilda said, taking off her helmet to massage her temples.

“The meeting will be held at the city hall; what are you doing here?” Shining asked.

“Did you not think I would hear about another one being captured?”

“Well, I suppose not.”

“Anyways, the Great and Powerful General Trixie couldn’t help but overhear your little conversation! It appears the world ender, Twilight Sparkle, has finally been caught and her dear older brother is being unreasonable!”

“That is not so,” Shining said.

“Oh really?” Shining did not know what to reply with. “Well, The Great and Powerful General Trixie thinks your decision is right!”

“What? You do? I mean, of course.”

“Yes, it is only natural to bring her in! After all, an interrogation by all of the high officers should prove to be more effective at garnering more information about our enemies!” This was not what Shining wanted but he had no other choice.

“Yes, those were my thoughts as well.” At this, the other guards nodded in agreement and Gilda begrudgingly agreed as well. “I want Twilight Sparkle to be taken out from her cell and brought to the meeting room at city hall immediately!” Shining ordered from some of his soldiers. They nodded and hurried off.

“Well, let us not waste any more time! Goodness knows how precious The Great and Powerful General Trixie’s time is!” They all made their way to city hall and there they met the remaining high officers. When they had all gathered, Shining had now realized that there was an obvious question that Twilight had not asked her. Well, she would get her answer when she arrives.

Chapter 3

Twilight arrived at the city hall and was escorted all the way to the door before the meeting room. During the entire trip, the soldiers had not said a single word to her about what was going to happen, so all she could do was hope for the best. They opened the doors for her and Twilight let out another huge gasp. Before her was a large round table with ponies and griffons seated around it. She recognized Shining and Gilda among the group but there were other familiar faces as well.

“Take a seat, Twilight Sparkle,” Shining said to her. She went to the only unfilled seat by the door. “You can go now,” Shining said to the soldiers. They saluted him and closed the door behind them as they left.

“Let the interrogation commence!” Trixie announced. Twilight very desperately wanted to catch up with the ponies and what had happened but it was obvious that that would have to wait. “So, Twilight Sparkle, if that is your real name, what were you doing in the ruins of Ponyville?” The only thing to do was to simply answer their questions for now.

“When I saw a smouldering mass in the distance, I rushed to it. That place happened to be Ponyville.”

“In the distance? What do you mean?” one of the griffons asked.

“I was at the top of a mountain.”

“What were you doing there?”

“I woke up trapped in a cell. When I escaped, I found myself at the top of the mountain.”

“And you have no idea how you got there?”

“No, I don’t.” Some of the officers started to talk amongst themselves about Twilight’s testimony. As they did, Twilight tried to stare directly into the eyes of an orange earth pony with a blonde mane and wearing a cowboy hat. She simply looked straight back at her, her expression relatively unchanged. She then looked over at a white unicorn with a purple mane and wearing a beret. She, too, did not seem to be trying to give Twilight any kind of signal.

“Enough.” The conversation among the officers was broken when an armoured unicorn next to Shining spoke up. “You, the purple unicorn, I don’t want any more short answers. Answer just this one as fully as you can: Tell me about yourself.” Twilight paused for a moment before answering.

“My name is Twilight Sparkle. I am a unicorn born in Canterlot. When I was a filly, I took the magic exam and was taken as Princess Celestia’s personal student. Since then, I had constantly studied on the various forms of magic. In the early years of being a mare, Princess Celestia sent me and my assistant dragon, Spike, to Ponyville to learn about the magic of friendship. There, I and five other ponies worked together to defeat Nightmare Moon who had reappeared during the Summer Sun Celebration at Ponyville. Following this, I and my new friends became the keepers of the Elements of Harmony and we continued to learn more about the magic of friendship.” Several of the officers seemed to be mulling over if was a factual piece of Twilight's biography.

“Do you think all that exonerates you of your recent crimes, Twilight Sparkle?” Trixie began. “Whether or not you have saved anypony before is questionable at best, but even if it were true, what you have done can never be forgiven!” Some of the officers nodded to themselves. Twilight took a deep breath.

“Whatever you think I did, I assure you I am innocent.”

“Lies cannot fool the great and powerful General Trixie!” Twilight cocked an eyebrow when Trixie said ‘General.’ “Tell me, what evidence can you provide that says you are innocent?!”

“I believe a pony is innocent until proven guilty,” Twilight countered. The officers looked at each other a bit doubtfully now. “Even if I am the only possible suspect for whatever crime I’m being accused of, I fail to see what substantial evidence you have that says I am guilty.” A few of the officers crossed their hooves or arms.

“She makes a valid point,” Shining commented.

“Eeyup,” a large, red stallion said in agreement.

“This war has created enough bloodshed as it is; should we be forced to execute a truly innocent pony, especially when any notion of guilt is based on much rumour mongering over the years?” Shining argued.

“Does anyone else have anything they want to ask her?” the armoured unicorn next to Shining asked. Everyone looked around a little bit but no one had anything else to say. “Shall we commence with our deliberations then?” They all nodded. “You may leave now, Twilight Sparkle.” Twilight got off her seat and left the room. The soldiers outside took her to an empty room in the city hall to wait for her verdict to be made. They left her alone in the room and stood guard outside. Now that there was no one to watch her, she could finally speak her mind fully.

“Oh my gosh! Applejack! Rarity! Big Mac, too! They’re all okay! Well, I mean they look older now and Applejack doesn’t have her freckles anymore but I know it’s them! They’re probably just acting like Shining and not saying anything until they get a chance alone with me. Oh, and Trixie was there, too?! A general?! And was that Derpy? Well, I can’t say much about them but I am glad that somepony else I know is here, too. Wait, general? Ah, maybe that means everypony else is here, too! I mean, there’s no way somepony like Fluttershy could ever become a general! And I just don’t see that with Pinkie Pie, either. Rainbow Dash, maybe, but I’m sure there’s a perfectly good reason why she’s not there either. Oh, I can’t wait to talk to them all again! That unicorn next to Shining seemed like a reasonable stallion and with my friends there as well, I’m sure I’ll be safe!” Twilight jumped around the room for a bit, smiling, momentarily forgetting about the crisis going on above ground.

About half an hour later, Twilight was brought back to the meeting room. Despite her earlier feelings, she still checked the faces of the officers to see whether or not she was found innocent. No sign whatsoever. Twilight took a seat and waited nervously.

“By a vote of eight to seven,” Shining began, “Twilight Sparkle has been found not guilty.” Twilight was a about to breathe a sigh of relief when Shining continued to talk, “Due to the closeness of this vote, and the severity of the crime Twilight Sparkle has been accused of, there will be a tribunal to be held a week from now. Until then, she will be under a number of restrictions to ensure the safety of all the civilians residing here in Haven. Included will be a restriction from using any kind of magic, maintained by the ring placed onto her horn. Another restriction will be constant surveillance by at least one officer at all times. Other restrictions, within reason, may be applied at any point up to the time of the tribunal.” Twilight just looked at them with her mouth half-open. “That is all.” Twilight just remained motionless on her chair.

“That means you may leave now; we need to commence our next meeting,” Trixie said. Just then, something clicked in Twilight’s head.

“You said that I have to under constant surveillance by one of you officers, right?”

“That is correct,” Shining answered, without hesitation.

“So, that means I cannot leave the room unless one of you comes with me.”

“That is also correct,” Shining continued to answer without a moment’s pause.

“So, I guess that means I’ll just have to stay here until you finish your meeting.”

“That is also-”

“Wait a minute!” one of the griffons interrupted, “we have just barely given her innocence and we’re just gonna let her sit on our meeting?!” Twilight had no idea what the next meeting was going to be about, but she had a feeling that it was important that she be present for it.

“This is ridiculous; that restriction should not apply until the end of our meeting!” another griffon said.

“But, if we go with that kind of thinking, then her restriction of magic also wouldn’t apply until the end of our meeting,” Rarity said.

“And that’s the last thing we wanna take a chance on, right?” Applejack joined in.

“Eeyup,” Big Mac added.

“This is true; we have already come to our decision and we cannot simply revoke it on a whim. Twilight Sparkle will sit in on our meeting,” Shining declared. The griffons grunted while some of the ponies looked a bit nervous.

“Fine, fine, we’ve wasted enough time! Let us commence the debate on our next topic of discussion!” Trixie declared, giving Twilight a bit of a dirty look as she said this.

“Yes, it is time to discuss what we will do about the expected attack on us by Marshal Shadowbolt.”

“Is there enough evidence to believe that we will truly be attacked by her?”

“Commodore Derpy, share with us the full details on the capture of the enemy pegasus.”

“Uh, okay. Well, my team and I were patrolling like usual when we saw him sneaking around near the valleys. At first, we waited to see if he would just fly away, but he went all the way to the base of the valley. He also seemed to be tapping on the wall. When it looked like he was coming close to the secret entrance, we went in and captured him.”

“Could this only be a coincidence?”

“I do not think so,” Shining began, “From my interrogation of the pegasus, I can reasonably conclude that he was a scout sent ahead before either an air raid, or a larger scale attack. From what I hear about the pegasus’ activities, he had a very good idea of where our entrance may be located. It may take some time, but I can almost guarantee that an attack will be launched in this valley.”

“What would you say is the estimated time of attack?”

“No more than a few days, I believe.” A few of the officers gasped at Shining’s words.

“What can we do, Commander?” Shining thought to himself.

“I say we fortify our defenses and prepare to make our stand! Show the enemy that we cannot be moved!” one of the ponies suggested. Some of the others nodded in agreement.

“No, I think that with the information we have now, there is still time to evacuate.” This opinion was much less popular.

“Commander, what should we do?”

“Hmmm, what do you think, Twilight Sparkle?”

“What? Me?”

“Yes, you. You say you were Princess Celestia’s personal student, so you should have an idea, too, right?” Shining asked.

“Uh, I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?” one of the griffins said in an accusing manner. Twilight fidgeted in her seat and started to quickly think. She hardly knew anything about the enemy; how was she supposed to come up with a good plan?

“Um, safety of the civilians should be a top priority…”

“So you think we should evacuate then?”

“Uh, no…”

“Then we shall defend?”

“Uh, not quite that either…”

“What are you getting at, then?!” a griffin barked at her.

“I think we should attack…” Twilight finally concluded. All the officers stared at her very intently.

“Well, the great and powerful General Trixie thinks that is a great idea!” Now the attention was turned to her. “It took years for Haven to be made; simply evacuating will spell certain doom for us all. Defending? Why? For all we know that was one of many scouts that were sent out all over the area. Maybe here was also only one of many stopping points for the scout. If we take what we do know into account, Shadowbolt’s forces are probably standing by somewhere, waiting for all the reports to come back. If we wait, Shadowbolt may be able to call upon more reinforcements before the attack, making things much worse for us. But, if we attack them before they have full information and a chance to gather additional forces, we can gain two things: an advantageous battle and possibly hiding our true location if we can eliminate more scouts in the process.” The officers began to deliberate this plan and Twilight was quite surprised that Trixie had summed up her thoughts so well.

“This is a very risky plan,” Shining began, “But if we make our move very soon, it may just pay off.”

“I’m sorry, but I just cannot agree with a plan originally suggested by a pony who has been known as the world ender for the past eight years!” one of the griffons stated. Ad hominem much, Twilight thought to herself.

“Well, how about some kind of guarantee then?” Trixie asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Let’s bring Twilight Sparkle with us onto the battlefield, her magic still restricted, of course. This way we can keep a close eye on her and she won’t be able to do anything suspicious back here in Haven.” The griffons still seemed unsure.

“I will fight!” Twilight declared. “If I put my life on the line, without any magic, will you all believe me then?” Even Shining’s expression suddenly changed to shock when she said this.

“What do you all say? The great and powerful General Trixie thinks this is an excellent idea!” Slowly, the officers agreed with Twilight’s proposal. They set the date for the attack to be tomorrow morning and the officers left to begin the preparations. As Commander, Shining was too busy to monitor Twilight so the duty was left to Gilda for the rest of the day.

“I can’t believe I have to watch over the world’s worst criminal.”

“Hey, I was voted not guilty!”

“Just barely; all the griffons wanted you dead.”

“I am entirely innocent!”

“Tch, whatever.”

“Hmph, at least I know my friends voted for me.”

“From what I know, you do seem to count on friends to help you with everything.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing.” Gilda went to the barracks to inform her troops and make sure that they were well prepared.

“Now what?”

“Nothing, I’m done for the day.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, so go to sleep so I can rest, too.”

“Wait, can’t I stop by my friends first?” Twilight asked hurriedly.

“They’re all busy with their own things. I only finished quickly because our air force is way smaller than our ground one. Also, there are some other things they have to deal with, too.”

“No, I don’t mean Applejack or Rarity.”

“Your brother’s the busiest of us all.”

“I didn’t mean Shining, either.” Gilda paused to think for a bit.

“Derpy?”

“No, not Derpy! Gilda, how can you not know who I’m talking about?!”

“Stop calling me Gilda; you are not my friend.” Twilight growled.

“I’m talking about Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Spike!” Gilda suddenly spun around and thrust her spear into the ground right next to Twilight. Twilight fell over in surprise. "W-what are you doing?"

“They’re all gone!” Gilda shouted while glowering at her.

“What?”

“I said they’re gone!”

“G-gone?”

“Yeah, gone! While you were trapped in some cage or something or whatever, there was a war going on! Did you think everyone would just magically survive until you came back? Was that your plan? Huh?! Summon some evil creature, wait eight years, and then come back to save the world?!”

“N-no! Of course not!”

“Well, whatever you intended doesn’t matter! How many times does it have to be said for you to get it? There’s evil terrorizing the world and we’ve all been dying left and right trying to fight it off! This is one of the last places in all of Equestria we have left! If we fall, all hope is lost! There are no Elements of Harmony or magical friendship to suddenly protect all of us! We use our magic, pick up our weapons, and drive forth right at the enemy! That is all we can do!” Twilight tried to stammer out a few lines as tears began to form in her eyes but Gilda continued. “You can do nothing! You are useless! A burden! A menace! The world would have been better off if you never existed!” Gilda took several deep heaves and then took her spear back out of the ground. She turned to leave but Twilight grabbed her leg. After a long pause, Twilight shakily spoke.

“I’m sorry…” Gilda grabbed her hoof and pulled it off her leg.

“Go to sleep; I’m done talking.”

Chapter 5

After returning to Haven, the wounded soldiers were sent to the infirmary and a meeting of the high officers immediately took place. Twilight had vomited upon her return when the adrenaline wore off and the realization of what she had just done fully sunk in. During Trixie’s betrayal, two other Generals were killed and several officers were then newly promoted. At the meeting, Lyra was now present with the ranking of Colonel. Despite his injuries, Shining was still present as well.

“Let’s not beat around the bush here; we were tricked. We brought out our full force against the Fleet and although we appeared to be gaining an advantage, Trixie’s betrayal and the appearance of the Brigade has forced us to withdraw. Because of Trixie betrayal, it is also now obvious that the enemy knows exactly where we are hidden. This is a very grave situation we find ourselves in.” The officers just looked around without anything to say. Twilight, who was present again, was the first to voice her opinions.

“Judging by the attack, I think it is reasonable to conclude that there is a good deal of disorganization between the, uh, Fleet and Brigade, right? Are there any other units the enemy has?”

“Yes, a very large ground army called the Legion,” Shining answered.

“Well, none of them seem to be very well coordinated.”

“Why do you say that?” a griffon asked.

“Well, I think that because of what Trixie said. She said that if we just waited out here, the full force of the enemy would come and destroy us. But, the enemy knew exactly where we were for so long and still didn’t make an attack. It is also quite clear that they really do want to eliminate us so there must be some sort of reason why the three forces don’t work together.”

“That may be true, but what is the significance of that?”

“At the very least, it means there is time on our side. Any single force coming to attack Haven would have a great deal of difficulty, especially since we know they know our location now.”

“And what can we do with that time besides making fortifications?”

“Time is the best thing we have on our side right now,” Derpy spoke up. One of the griffons sighed.

“Are you still talking about Captain Cloud Kicker and her mission to find reinforcements?”

“She’ll be back soon, I know it!”

“It’s been nearly a year now, Derpy; she’s probably already been caught by the enemy!” The griffon banged his hand on the table. The two stared at each other, well, Derpy did so with some difficulty. Twilight turned to look at Gilda.

“Gilda, do you still have my bag?”

“What?”

“The bag I had on me when you captured me.”

“That? Yeah, it’s being stored somewhere.”

“Well, bring me that bag right now.”

“Why?”

“You seem to think that I caused all of this, and even though I don’t believe you; there might be some kind of connection. In my bag there was an old journal that might give us some kind of clue to the evil. And hopefully, a way to stop it.”

“Captain, why was I not informed of this bag?” Shining asked, his voice a bit raised. Gilda didn’t have a good answer. “Quickly, bring the bag!” Gilda got up to leave the meeting room and returned with the bag about ten minutes later. She gave Twilight her bag and she took out the old journal. She flipped it open and started to read the pages.

The journal seemed to be documenting an expedition that was ordered by a Prince. When they reached the ruins, they explored it and found a chamber. They discovered that the chamber reacted to magic but they did not have enough magic to open it. So, created a magical map instead and teleported one of the explorers back to the palace. There, he informed the Prince of their discovery and the Prince used the magical map to teleport to the ruins to open the chamber with his magic. However, even the Prince’s magic was not enough to open the chamber so he made two more copies of the map and went to bring along his younger brother and sister to open the chamber together. The day the three were brought together was the last entry made in the journal. After that, there was a worn and torn sheet of paper that may have been one of the maps. As Twilight contemplated the contents of the journal, Rarity spoke up.

“I do remember that eight years ago, a series of artifacts was brought in to the Canterlot Library.”

“Yeah, I remember that; that was the night of the fireworks festival,” Applejack said. The two then looked at Twilight, wondering if she remembered. She shook her head at them but went on with her conclusions.

“I think this journal documents the evil. I think that the evil was originally housed in the chamber mentioned in this journal. If we find the artifacts, we may find a clue on how to defeat it.”

“You mean, go to the Canterlot Library?”

“Yes.” Several of the officers began to shake their heads.

“Canterlot fell to the enemy long ago. Even though it isn’t heavily occupied by them, it is still in their territory and Canterlot itself is like a fortress.”

“We can’t get in with an army, but it is possible to infiltrate with a small group.”

“And who would be in this group? Only pegasi and unicorns would be suited for this kind of mission and we don’t have any we can spare.”

“I’ll infiltrate it myself,” Twilight announced. Gilda scoffed at her.

“You think we’re just gonna release you from your magic restriction and go right into enemy territory?”

“I am not an enemy! I want to help all of us and I will risk my life for this!”

“I say let her do it,” Lyra said. “I’ve fought alongside her on the battlefield already so I know she has a strong and determined heart.”

“Colonel Lyra, a single instance of support is insufficient. Have we not seen this from Trixie’s betrayal?” one of the griffons spoke.

“I’ve never fought by Trixie’s side so I can’t say I agree,” she casually snapped back.

“Are you saying it’s the generals fault for not noticing her deceit?!”

“The truth in one’s heart can also be revealed in the heat of battle!”

“Both of you, enough!” Shining shouted. “As it stands, the only thing we have on our side is a bit of extra time. Whether or not it will help us is based on our own faith, now. Twilight Sparkle, you will go and infiltrate the Canterlot Library and retrieve whatever artifact we need. For this mission, your magic restriction will be partially lifted. The new restriction will prevent you from using any offensive spells, but you will be able to use any type of defensive magic. Does this seem like a fair proposal, everyone?”

“I think that her teleportation magic should also be restricted.”

“But teleportation magic would make the mission much easier,” Rarity tried to argue.

“But if we let her use teleportation magic, then she could run off at any moment. World ender or not, she might take the easy way out if her life is in danger.” The other griffons, with the exception of Gilda, nodded in agreement.

“But still…” Shining began to chime in.

“I’ll do it without it then,” Twilight declared. Shining stared at her for a bit before sighing.

“Good, we will go ahead with this then. Now, Rarity, how long will it take to complete a ring with these kinds of restrictions?”

“Well, I think we can modify a spare ring in a few hours.”

“Good, inform the forgers. As for you, Twilight Sparkle, do whatever you need to do to prepare yourself. Now, meeting adjourned!”
**

At Cloudsdale, Shadowbolt and the purple dragon went to give their report. Afterwards, the two flew around for a bit.

“I still don’t think withdrawing so soon was necessary.”

“Well, perhaps you have no idea what I mean when I say this, but my commanding officer was killed in that battle.”

“I don’t think you even liked that guy.”

“What would give you that idea? Isn’t it important for all of us to get along well?”

“Tch, whatever. Anyways, why do you want to go to Canterlot?”

“You were there when I told the Princess my reason after I gave my report. Don’t tell me you weren’t paying attention.”

“Ah, you just go on and on, though! I mean, what’s wrong with just saying we fought and killed a bunch of them?”

“Concision is nice, but a full report should always be preferred.”

“You are such an egghead.”

“Well, what do you think of the Princess, then; she is also very educated.”

“But she’s the Princess so she has to be cool!”

“That is such flawed reasoning.”

“Blah blah blah!”

“I can see you have not become any better as a conversation partner.”

“Whatever, I’m gonna go hang with Spitfire and Soarin’. Later!” Shadowbolt flew off and left the dragon by himself. After she left, the dragon started to make his way to the end of Cloudsdale and a phoenix flew onto his shoulder.

“Oh, Peewee, you’re back.” The phoenix crooned. “I’ve finally been allowed to go to Canterlot.” The phoenix crooned again. “Well, how about we go to the Canterlot Library; I think we might find some very interesting things there.”
**

After the meeting ended, Twilight went to thank Lyra for supporting her.

“It’s no problem; I trust you.”

“Thanks again, but don’t you find it weird how you can trust me so easily? Uh, not that I’m trying to make you doubt yourself; I really am being honest.”

“I stand by what I said about learning about somepony just by being on the battlefield with them. Besides, if what you say is true, then we may finally be able to bring an end to this war.”

“Uh, about that; there’s something I’ve been wanting to ask.”

“What is it?”

“I’m going to the Canterlot Library to find out more about the evil, but could you tell me what you already know about it? Like, how is it taking control of everypony?” Lyra took one long breath.

“I don’t fully understand it myself, but I think it has something to do with putting them to sleep.”

“What do you mean?”

“The first phase of being taken over is falling into a very deep sleep, a coma even. Then, they wake up and over time, they start to change. After a while, they start to forget about things and after that the change is complete. It’s like they’ve become a completely different pony.”

“But why are only some ponies affected by it?”

“I’m not sure. And also, the transformation isn’t the same for all of them. They all develop different personalities, but some of them also have the body change too.”

“You mean like how Trixie gained all of that powerful magic?”

“Yeah, like that. Well, I still don’t really understand any more than that, though.”

“It’s okay, that’s enough.”

“Good luck on your mission.”

“Thank you.” Lyra left and Twilight also prepared to leave city hall when Applejack came up to her.

“Twilight.”

“Yes, Applejack?” she said very casually. Applejack stood rooted in silence for a moment before suddenly giving her a hug. “Yeah, I missed you too, Applejack.”

“So, what do you plan to do until you have to go?”

“I don’t know really.”

“Well, I could show you around Haven to pass the time.”

“Sure, that sounds good.” The two walked out of city hall together. They walked the streets and even though Applejack told her not to mind the stares, it was impossible not to. After a while, they moved in the area of the barracks to avoid the civilians. Then, Applejack heard Twilight’s stomach rumble.

“Hungry?” Twilight nodded. “Let’s get you some apples.” Twilight had hardly ever been happier to hear her say that. They walked to another area that had several large greenhouses. They went inside one of them and Twilight marveled at the ingenuity. The inside was lighted with magic and the dozens of apple trees inside were growing in fresh soil that was either artificially made or brought in years ago. Several earth ponies were inside tending to the trees and making sure the lights were properly functioning. Applejack went to a tree and got up a step ladder to pick a few of the apples.

“You don’t buck them anymore?” Twilight asked as Applejack handed her over the apples.

“Well, not a whole lot of sense to doin’ that anymore. ‘Sides, I feel like I only really did that way ‘cause it was fun.”

“I guess you’ve matured a bit.”

“And ya’ll look the same.” Applejack put on a puzzled expression. “Any reason why that is?”

“I honestly don’t know. Maybe I’ll find something out after I get the artifact, whatever it is.”

“I just hope that thing’s still there.” As Twilight ate the apples, Applebloom walked in the greenhouse.

“Oh, hey big sis!”

“Applebloom! Oh, is already your shift to look after the apples?”

“Yup.” One of the earth ponies left when Applebloom came in and they greeted each other on the way.

“Applebloom, you’ve gotten so big…” Applebloom looked at Twilight quizzically.

“Uh, okay?”

“I guess I’m the only pony who hasn’t gotten any older. Wait, does that mean even Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle are just as big as you, too, now?” Applebloom looked over to the side.

“No.”

“Uh, Applebloom, you should go over and check up on the trees over there, ‘kay?” Applejack said. Applebloom nodded and sort of waddled away. Applejack sighed to herself.

“Wait, don’t tell me that…” Twilight began, her entire body started to quiver.

“Scootaloo…”

“I see. Sweetie Belle, too?”

“Well, Sweetie Belle’s still here with us, but…”

“But what?”

“Well, she got into a terrible accident during the fall of Manehatten. Her whole body got messed up. She was still breathin’ but it was real serious.”

“But she’s still with us?”

“Well, a bunch of smart unicorns and earth ponies managed to figure somethin’ out. Put in some parts and got her moving again. Had to give her a voice box, though, since her neck got torn up.”

“That’s awful!”

“Yeah, maybe, but, as far as Rarity’s concerned, it was basically a miracle that they could keep her alive. Plenty of other ponies never even got a chance.” Twilight looked down a bit before facing Applejack again.

“Applejack, how bad is it?”

“What?”

“The world right now; how bad is it?” Applejack took some time before answering.

“It’s just awful right now.” Applejack did not want to elaborate and Twilight respected her decision. They spent another few hours just walking about and talking about other things and then it was time to get the new ring. Applejack led the way to the forgers and Rarity and Gilda was waiting inside. Gilda took off Twilight’s current ring and she instantly felt magic start to surge in her body. Gilda then put on the new ring, but there was no shock. Twilight could feel that the ring really was only made with offensive restrictions in mind.

“Well, I and a few other griffons are going to escort you to the cliffs of Canterlot. After that, it’ll be completely up to you to get into the Library and back out.”

“Got it.”

“Let’s go.” Gilda and Twilight went back up to the surface with some griffon escorts and they flew her to her destination.
**

The purple dragon arrived at the Canterlot Library, but he was not alone. With him were several unicorns. He was granted permission to go to Canterlot, but there were still escorts there as well for his protection. The purple dragon figured he’d still be under surveillance so he tried not to pay any attention to them. He went into the Library and began looking for a specific wing. Inside the library, he saw a unicorn reading some books.

“Trixie?” Trixie looked up from her books very briefly.

“Oh, if it isn’t the Brigade dragon. What brings you here?”

“Just here to read up on magic.”

“A dragon reading up on magic? How amusing.” Her voice was dripping with condescension.

“Well, I do find it quite interesting.”

“Hmmm, whatever,” Trixie said, clearly bored of the conversation already. The dragon let her be and continued his search. After a short while, he found it. After entering the wing, he told Peewee to help him search for the books he was looking for.
**

Twilight was dropped off at the cliffs and she made her way into Canterlot. There weren’t any pegasi watching the cliffs so this part was easy enough. Inside Canterlot there were patrols of unicorns, but from the way they walked around, it was quite obvious that they did not expect any intruders to come at any point in time. Twilight stealthily made her way past all of them and finally reached the Canterlot Library. There were a couple of unicorns guarding the front entrance so she went to the side. There, she found an open window and climbed through it. She began walking around the perimeter of the great library when she realized that she did not know the exact wing the artifact would be located. One at a time, she looked at the name of the wings, trying to see if any of them seemed familiar to her. As she did, she heard a clopping sound coming from her rear. As she tried to get ahead of it, she reached the entrance of a wing that was lighted up. It was the Ancient Civilizations Wing. A clopping sound could be heard again, but this time it was coming in front of her. She tried to retreat but heard the sounds from behind her return.

Twilight felt her heart begin to race and she tried to concentrate with all of her might. She had never done it successfully before, but she tried to turn herself invisible. Her horn glowed and the sounds of the advancing ponies grew louder. Her horn flashed and she quickly made her way inside the Ancient Civilizations Wing. She hid in the corner of the wing and waited for the sounds to go away. Surprisingly, the sounds were coming in closer. She took a look around the room and had to stop herself from gasping when she saw a dragon no more than ten feet away. He was purple and had green spikes. He was about three times Twilight’s size and his folded wings protruded out from his uniform. He was standing by a table with a phoenix on its shoulder. Briefly, he turned to Twilight's direction and it almost seemed as if he was staring at her. That moment quickly passed and the dragon went over to the entrance, his body fully blocking it.

“Good evening Major, have you found what you’ve been looking for?”

“Hmmm, I’m getting there, but I think my search might be more productive if your patrols didn’t keep coming by here every fifteen minutes.”

“Just making sure everything is fine.”

“Well, there’s nothing going on in this room so you can just keep on going.” The clopping sounds started up again, but this time they were retreating in both directions. The dragon sighed and returned to his table. He looked through his large pile of books and scrolls and then nodded to himself. He then picked a single book and scroll out and set them aside from the rest. He opened up the scroll, but then he looked up and put on an expression as if he had just remembered something. He left the room with the phoenix.

A minute after he left, Twilight deactivated her spell and went to the pile of books and scrolls on the table. Twilight knew the dragon looked familiar to her but she had no time to dwell on those kinds of thoughts. She rummaged through the massive pile for a little while before turning her attention to the book and scroll that was separated from the rest. She remembered that the dragon mentioned a patrol coming every fifteen minutes so there should be enough time to briefly look over their contents.

She first took a look at the scroll that the dragon had left open and skimmed through it. It appeared to be a story about a god that was once worshipped by the inhabitants of an ancient city by the name of Matias. The god himself was nameless. The scroll said that the inhabitants worshipped the god because it could fulfill their desires. In exchange, the inhabitants dedicated various works and temples in his honour. Through their recognition of him, the god became more powerful. The god was able to take a physical form and could communicate directly with all of the worshippers. The god became ruler of the city and all of the inhabitants became his servants. However, the god’s increased power caused a corruption of some of the desires he fulfilled. Many of the inhabitants became twisted because of it and the god’s power transformed into more of a curse than a gift. All of his servants turned wicked and together they spread their darkness throughout the land.

Amidst the darkness, there was another being that came to challenge the god. They engaged in a battle that lasted days, but the god finally fell. His evil servants also reverted but the dark powers that were released created a powerful curse over the forest they lived in. The god had fallen, but only into a deep slumber. The triumphant being had to seal the god away into an underground chamber so that none could ever disturb his sleep again.

It had taken Twilight longer than expected to read over the scroll because it was written in an ancient language. However, she had not realized that was the reason for her slow reading until about halfway through. Although it took a while, she felt as if she could parse through the information with full understanding. She put the scroll and the other book into her bag and quickly left the room and headed for where she entered. When she was almost at the window again, she could hear clopping sounds again. She reached the window and a patrolling unicorn spotted her. Twilight ran at the unicorn right as it was about to sound off an alarm and she kicked him in the head. The unicorn went down to the ground, unconscious. She dragged the unicorn over to the window and threw him out of it. She exited the window after him.
**

The purple dragon was perched on the roof of the library, musing to himself. Then, he heard something quickly approaching him and Shadowbolt landed powerfully next to him. This startled Peewee a little bit.

“Shadowbolt, what are you doing here?” he asked in surprise.

“I was bored so I just felt like flying around. Ended up near Canterlot after a while so I thought I’d just take a break here. You know, maybe get some food from the garrisons here.”

“I see. Well, nothing exciting happening here so just go and get your food and be on your way.” There was a flash of light on the roof and Trixie suddenly appeared.

“Oh, so it was you who made that terrible racket that disturbed the great and powerful Trixie’s reading!”

“Reading is such a waste of time; you’re better off practicing your fighting.”

“Well, when one’s power comes from the mind, like the great and powerful Trixie, reading is practicing one’s fighting. But, I suppose a muscle-brained pegasus wouldn’t even know what that means.”

“What was that?!” Shadowbolt’s wings flared out and she slowly advanced upon her.

“Oh, you are trying to intimidate the great and powerful Trixie?” Trixie’s horn started to glow.

“You think you can just use your fancy magic on me? From this distance I can take you out in a tenth of a second. Flat.”

“Why don’t you show me, then?” Shadowbolt’s wings started to flap a bit in response.

“Both of you, stop; I don’t want you wreck the library,” the dragon calmly spoke. Shadowbolt continued to growl but Trixie’s horn stopped glowing.

“Hmph! Crushing you with my magic would be hardly satisfactory if this entire library goes down with you.”

“Tch, whatever!” Suddenly, a flare was shot up into the sky. “What? An intruder?!” The dragon unfolded his wings and took flight. “Oh no, if anyone’s gonna catch the intruder first, it’s gonna be me!” Shadowbolt also took to the air.

“No, it’ll be the great and powerful Trixie who catches him!” she ranted even as the two were out of earshot. Trixie’s horn glowed and she teleported to where the flare was shot off. She found herself in the garden outside the library. Next to her was a unicorn with one eye closed. “Where is the intruder?!” The unicorn rubbed his eye a bit before answering.

“She went over to the cliffs right after kicking me in the face.” Trixie’s eyes tried to focus on the cliffs but it was too dark to make anything out. She conjured up a ball of light and shot it at the cliffs. It briefly lit up the area and she was a few griffons flying away, one of them carrying something. She also saw Shadowbolt flying towards them. Trixie quickly tried to teleport over to the cliffs.

Shadowbolt charged at the griffons and tackled one of them. The griffon was knocked out of the air and one of the other griffons flew down to catch him. There were now only two other griffons, one of them carrying Twilight. Gilda readied her spear and told the griffon carrying Twilight to get back to Haven no matter what.

“So, Dash, I didn’t think I’d be seeing you again so soon.”

“You again?! I said my name is Shadowbolt!”

“How’s your wing feeling?” Shadowbolt took that mockingly and charged straight at her in a rage. Gilda dodged the charge and thrust out her spear, but the counter was too slow. Shadowbolt circled back around to make another charge on Gilda. Gilda remained ready as the attack came and dodged again. This time, her spear almost grazed Shadowbolt. Shadowbolt flew back a bit and started to accelerate, a streak of darkness now trailing her. She rushed at her and this time Gilda just barely had enough time to react. Using her spear, Gilda blocked Shadowbolt’s attack and diverted Shadowbolt’s path. However, Shadowbolt did not slow and she came in for another attack even faster. Once again, Gilda parried the attack but this time, a crack appeared along the shaft of her spear. But, when Shadowbolt came in for the next attack, a blast of magic suddenly shot out from the cliffs and exploded right next to the both of them right before the Shadowbolt collided into Gilda. The attack damaged the both of them and they lost control of their flight. They began hurdling towards the ground.

As the griffon carrying Twilight was getting away, another precise blast of magic came in and knocked him out of the air. Twilight and the griffon began falling through the air and Twilight desperately tried to muster up enough magic to break their fall. Only a few seconds from impact, her horn released a brilliant flash of purple light and both of them safely descended to the ground. The two other griffons from before, one carrying the injured one, then came up to the two of them. Shortly after them, Gilda also came flying in.

“Is everyone okay?” she quickly asked. The two injured griffons tried flapping their wings to make sure and the one that was carrying Twilight was unable to.

“Sorry, my wing’s busted.”

“It’s fine, I’ll carry you. Razziel, you carry the unicorn.” They picked them up and took flight again. As they started flying away, there was a flash of light below them and Trixie appeared. The conjured up multiple magic balls and launched all of her attacks at once. The griffons tried to dodge the attacks, but a few of them seemed imminent for the griffon carrying Twilight. Twilight casted a barrier around them, but the final attack broke through the barrier and the griffon lost hold of Twilight. The griffon went to go and pick her up, but Shadowbolt suddenly came charging in and knocked the griffon out of the way. In the last second, Twilight used her magic to cushion her fall. Shadowbolt was about to come crashing down on her when a magical blast was fired, but not from Trixie.

Twilight looked back and saw Rarity’s tank coming in from a distance. The griffon tried to come back down to pick up Twilight again but a magical blast from Trixie forced her to back off again. Seeing how difficult it would be for her to be retrieved, Twilight began using her remaining magic to let her run away as fast as she could. The griffons understood what was going on and flew past the tank. The tank fired a shot at Trixie and she was forced to cast a barrier to protect herself. Then, Shadowbolt came flying in again. This time, though, she wasn’t just leaving behind a trail of darkness; her entire body was shrouded in a black aura. Twilight had a good head start and was almost at the tank but Shadowbolt was gaining on her and her magic was now almost entirely depleted. The tank fired a shot at Shadowbolt but she dodged it.

“No!” Twilight heard this robotic scream just as a shadow was being cast over her. Twilight looked above her and saw that Shadowbolt flying right towards her. Twilight turned to look ahead again and saw a white blur race by her. Rarity threw up her barrier and got in front of Twilight. Shadowbolt collided with the barrier that Rarity had created using all of her magic. The black aura around Shadowbolt instantly wrapped itself around the barrier and then there was an explosion. Thick, black clouds came pouring out from the explosion and the force of the gusts knocked Twilight’s body right into the side of the tank. As she hit the tank, Sweetie Belle jumped out of the tank and began running into the dispersing darkness. Quite a distance away, Shadowbolt was lying on the ground, having rebounded from the barrier.

Using her modified eyes, Sweetie Belle scanned through the darkness and found her sister. She went up to her and felt for her pulse. Not only did she find it, but she could also hear her breathing.

“Rarity, you’re alright! Come on, let’s get back to the tank and get out of here!” Sweetie Belle started to drag her sister but she felt Rarity’s hoof touch her head.

“No, just get out of here…”

“Oh, you can even talk, too! Come on, we’ll get you back to Haven and they’ll heal you up in no time!” Sweetie Belle continued to drag her sister but Rarity suddenly pulled her face towards her sister's. Rarity’s eyes had gone dark and a black smoke was emanating from her body.

“Sweetie, just run. We can’t waste any more time…”

“What are you talking about? It’ll only take me a minute to get you back in the tank!” Rarity coughed and blood came out. “Oh, just a bit of blood. Don’t worry, the doctors will fix you up!” Sweetie Belle continued to drag Rarity and the black clouds were now mostly dispersed. In the distance, Trixie was preparing to use the last of her magic for one more blast.

“Sweetie, I won’t make it. You’ve spent enough time on me, already.”

“Don’t talk like that; I’m bringing you back.”

“Don’t…” Sweetie suddenly stopped dragging Rarity.

“Why not? Why not?! When I was caught in an explosion, I was burned all over, my legs were broken, and I could barely breathe or see! I was just lying there in pain forever, wanting to hurry up and die! But then, you found me and carried me for miles until I could get help. But the whole time, I still wanted to die! Even when you told me it’d be alright, I didn’t believe you. But you said we needed to stick together until the end because we were sisters! I know what you’re feeling, but you can’t give up like how I wanted to! It’s just pain, sister. There’s a lot of it, but we can get through it. So, come on, let’s go back together.” Sweetie Belle prepared to drag Rarity again but this time, she slapped her in the face.

“Sweetie, do not be an idiot! I am going to die here, and that’s that! Now, get back in the tank right now and never look back!” Rarity suddenly shouted.

“What are you saying, Rarity! You’re not making any sense!” The clouds had now almost fully dispersed and Trixie was almost able to make the two ponies out.

“Everything I said was because I am nothing more than a selfish pony! I let you go through all of that pain because I didn’t want to be alone! You were suffering while on the battlefield, while I carried you, while you recovered, and even when you went through that operation! All of that pain you went through was just for myself! Now, get out of here!” Rarity started coughing up more blood. Sweetie Belle stared at her sister for a few seconds.

“Well, maybe that’s how I am, too. Maybe I also only want you around just so I’m not alone? Don’t I deserve it, then? You kept me around because you were selfish; why can’t I do the same? I am not taking any excuses! You are going to come back with me and we are going to stay together, and we will continue to love each other as sisters! Do you hear me?! Sweetie Belle suddenly grabbed Rarity again and began racing towards the tank, the abrasive dirt and gravel scraping against Rarity’s body.

“Let me go, Sweetie!” Rarity shouted after coughing up more blood. When they were only ten yards away from the tank, the purple dragon suddenly came from the sky and landed right in front of them. At this time, Twilight could finally get back up and looked upon the scene with a mix of fear and confusion as she climbed the tank. Sweetie Belle narrowed her eyes at the dragon, but kept dragging her sister. Above them, Peewee suddenly unleashed a blinding flare of light that only those immediately beneath it could see through. The dragon threw Sweetie Belle inside the tank before kneeling over Rarity.

Rarity had already gone blind from the effects of Shadowbolt’s explosion and her whole body was writhing with pain. It took all of her willpower to stop from screaming. The black smoke that was emanating from her body was decaying all of her organs. From the scrapes on her body from being dragged, one could also see that her blood had turned murky and was becoming poisonous even for her own body.

“Do you have anything you have left to say?” Rarity recognized the voice and also realized that Sweetie was no longer by her side. Tears began to stream down her eyes as she coughed up blood one last time.

“Tell Sweetie that her sister will always love her…”

Without another word, the dragon sunk his claws into her heart and killed her. The blinding light had now died down and the frustrated Trixie launched her final blast and it struck close to the tank. Inside, Applebloom immediately began to drive away while the Flim Flam brothers used their magic seal the hatch to prevent Sweetie from trying to escape. Both sides ended their engagement with the belief that the other was fully capable of continuing the fight. Trixie came over to the dragon and complained to him.

“Why did you get in the great and powerful Trixie’s way?!”

“What are you talking about? I was just dealing with the enemy.” The dragon spoke very evenly, his face completely emotionless.

“What was with that blinding light?!”

“I just wanted to make sure they couldn’t target me with their tank.” Trixie was about to go on when she realized that Rarity’s body was right there. “I managed to finish off one of them, but the other managed to escape.”

“I see.” Trixie calmed down a little bit. The wounded Shadowbolt got back up and clumsily made her way over to them.

“What did I miss?”

“I finished off the unicorn you collided with,” the dragon stated.

“What? Hey, what do you mean, ‘finish’?! That was my kill!”

“Well, if you want to deliver a fully-detailed report about everything that just happened, then by all means, go ahead and claim it as such.” Shadowbolt groaned.

“Fine, but you had better mention me in it!”

“The great and powerful Trixie should also be given an honourable mention!”

“Yeah, I’ll make sure to properly include the both of you.” As they talked, the black smoke had finished eating away at Rarity’s insides and the body collapsed on itself. All that remained were her bones and skin, and the skin was quickly melting away. “I may choose to exclude some of the finer details, though…”

Chapter 6

The griffons flew in sombre silence and Twilight did not know how to act. More and more terrible things kept on happening around her and she wasn’t sure how much more she could handle. Inside the tank, Sweetie Belle’s heart wrenching cries reverberated through all of the crew. When they arrived back at Haven, they had all relatively sobered. Rarity had decided to go to Canterlot without consulting with Shining first and her crew came with her. Upon the news of what had happened, nobody really knew what to say. An attack from the enemy was imminent so there would be hardly any time to grieve and honour her actions that allowed the mission to succeed, assuming it was as great as a gain they hoped it would be. The high officers quickly convened to discuss what Twilight had retrieved from the library.

Twilight explained to them what she read in the scroll and showed it to them. They really had to take her word for it because none of them could actually translate the ancient script. The book she retrieved was written in a more recent language so they could talk about it better. It turned out to be another journal and when Twilight looked at her other journal, she found that the writing style was actually very similar.

The journal appeared to be written after the Princes and Princess had unsealed the chamber in the ruins. It did not say what exactly happened and from the way it was written, the journal seemed to be more of an account of the author’s regrets. He mentioned that undoing the evil required a terrible cost. Much of the journal seemed to be talking about the loss of his exploration team and the greatness of the Princes and Princess who had saved the world. He then cursed that they had ever created a map to the ruins. He cursed their curiosity over the seal and how he wished he had argued better with the Prince as to why the expedition should never have been carried out. He then started to apologize and explicitly noted that the only one to blame was him. The journal was quite short and at the end, there was the map. It was quite worn, but looked like it could still be used. After looking over all of this, the officers took some time to think to themselves. Right as she saw the map, though, Twilight had already come to a decision.

“We need to go the ruins.”

“Why do you say that?” Shining asked after a long pause.

“Taking these two written sources into account along with my journal, I believe there is a clue as to how to defeat the evil in those ruins.”

“Let’s say that all of these accounts are true. That would mean that the evil is a god that was sealed in the same chamber twice. The first time the god was beaten, it was through a sheer contest of strength. The second time was done with some kind of heavy cost. From what I can induce, the god became more powerful when he returned. Even if there was something in the ruins that helped to seal him in the past, would it be strong enough? Would it even work anymore as well?”

“We don’t know if the god is any more powerful. It may just be that the first being to seal him away was very powerful. Also, a lot of time must have elapsed between the first and second sealing, so at the very least, that chamber should still have some way of confining him.”

“How would we be able to confine the god? Few of us have ever seen his form and none of us have seen him in years.”

“Do you know where he might be right now?”

“Actually, we do. He resides in Cloudsdale.”

“Why Cloudsdale?”

“I can’t be completely sure, but it may be because in all of Equestria, it is the most difficult city to invade. This is not only because earth ponies and unicorns can’t normally walk on it, but the Fleet they have greatly outnumbers our own air force. In addition to that, they have an enormous wall of storm clouds underneath it that prevents our own forces from even scouting it.”

“How do you know he is in Cloudsdale if you can’t even scout it?” Shining looked down for a bit.

“That was the last time he was seen. When Cloudsdale was conquered, we saw him flying towards it.”

“What form was he in?”

“A giant black dragon.”

“Enough talk about the past!” the general next to Shining said. “We must plan for the present so that we can ensure a future.”

“You’re right, Iron Heart. So, what do you think we should do?”

“I usually like to have all of my reasoning to be well-grounded, but we are currently standing at the edge of destruction. A risk must be taken; those ruins should be explored for any clue as to how we may defeat the evil.”

“What does everybody else think?” Shining asked. The first to speak was Gilda.

“I’m willing to try anything.” Twilight was quite surprised by the unexpected statement from Gilda. “In only two days we have lost four of our high officers, and one of our losses was an outright betrayal. I don’t want to think that everything happening is just bad luck. I hope that this is an advance payment for a great reward. The reward of freedom. Twilight Sparkle, we are not wrong in calling you the world ender. Whether or not you were the one to unleash the evil is no longer relevant to me. But with the actions you do now, you can bring an end to the world we are living in right now. I ask of you to end this world, and with it, all of its madness and chaos.”

“Grizelda is correct; let us bring forth a conclusion to all of our struggles up until now. Twilight Sparkle, make sure the conclusion is a favourable one,” one of the griffons said. Begrudgingly, the other griffons gave silent approval.

“It appears you are being nominated, Twilight. Do you accept?” Shining asked.

“I do.”

“Then, get some rest to recover your magic. Tomorrow you will be headed towards the ruins. We will give you your bag and fill it with whatever supplies you need. We will also be removing all of your restrictions.”

“Don’t betray our faith,” one of the griffons said. Half of them looked at him strangely, whereas the rest looked to Twilight with slight desperation, knowing how critical of a decision they are making.

“I won’t. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” Applejack smiled sadly.

The next morning, they gave Twilight her bag. Inside of it were a dozen apples and cupcakes, various apple treats, water, the journals, and the locked box. Gilda removed the ring off of Twilight’s horn. The officers gathered around Twilight as they brought the map out.

“Are you sure you only need apples and cupcakes for food?”

“Yeah, they’ll do just fine.”

“Good luck, Twilie,” Shining said for the first time in public. He then embraced her as well. None of the officers were particularly surprised. It was a long hug and when they were finished, Twilight turned to look at each of them.

“I promise to all of you that I’ll be back with a way to stop the evil!” Twilight used her magic and she teleported away.
**

Soon after the purple dragon delivered his report, both he and Shadowbolt were called in. The purple dragon was called in by his commander, and Shadowbolt was called in by his.

The purple dragon made his way to the Cloudsdale coliseum. He flew in from above and landed near the stands where the giant green dragon was. The stands where the dragon was lying over were overflowing with his hoard of gold and jewels. The purple dragon gave a tiny bow after landing.

“They told me you wanted to see me, Brigadier Fafnir.” Fafnir gave a toothy grin.

“That is correct, fledgling. I have heard about the incompetence of my previous subordinates and the calm and calculated commands you give.”

“I believe that rumours on both regards have been exaggerated.”

“Well, I always knew Garble was always a hot head; hearing that he died after fighting close-range with a war machine does not surprise me. I have also heard that you are a very educated one, in addition to being able to use certain kinds of magic yourself.”

“It’s not really magic; just different ways of manipulating my fire.”

“Either way, in all respects you were clearly better suited to being a leader than he was. But, of course, you know why you weren’t, correct?” The purple dragon nodded.

“Yes, my loyalty was still debated.”

“Well, after hearing about how you personally killed off one of the enemy’s high officers, I was very pleased. Not just because we are progressing ever closer to ending them, but also that you are acting as a true dragon should: a dominant predator.”

“Thank you for the compliment.”

“Well, now that I’ve gotten that over with, I promote you to Colonel. You are now the commanding officer of the Brigade, after me, of course.” The purple dragon bowed.

“You honour me, Brigadier.”

“Oh, and I have one more thing to give you. No, it’s not one of my jewels!” Fafnir shouted, after he thought he saw the dragon’s eyes wandering over the treasure filled stands. Fafnir calmed down a bit before continuing. “I am giving you a new name. Your current one is completely unsuited for a creature such as you. I want you to forget your old name completely and how you received it.”

“My old name has lost all meaning to me long ago.”

“Good. Now, your new name shall be Tiamat! Be proud that I have given you this name, for it signifies your ferocity and strength, especially in regards to fire.” The newly-named Tiamat bowed again.

“Thank you, Brigadier Fafnir; I shall carry my rank as Colonel Tiamat with pride.” Fafnir smiled and laughed.

“Perhaps you will be able to help convince the other dragons how foolish they are in staying out of this. Don’t they see we have a new king?! Long live the reign of dragons! Hahahahahahaha!” Tiamat just smiled and nodded with him as his laughs resonated throughout the stadium.
**

Shadowbolt entered the top chamber inside the weather factory. Inside it was completely dark, even Shadowbolt who was accustomed to the darkness could not make anything out in the aphotic room beyond the dim lighting from the hall outside.

“Close the door, Shadowbolt,” a voice spoke in a deep, reverberating voice that seethed with joviality. Shadowbolt did as she was told.

“You wanted to see me, Master Matias?”

“Yes, I did. I was just thinking to myself over the reports I was given.”

“That dragon didn’t make up any lies about me, did he?!” she cried out with unfounded outrage.

“Well, you tell me. When you fought in the battle against that unicorn’s army, why was their air force still standing so strong?”

“W-what do you mean?”

“You greatly outnumbered them, and even the Brigade came to assist.”

“It was the dragon that ordered the retreat! After the other dragons got killed by the enemy’s war machine he ordered all the troops to fall back!”

“Well, that was a wise decision on his part.”

“It was? I mean, yes, that’s why I agreed to it fully.”

“But tell me, what were you doing during the battle?”

“What was I doing?”

“Yes, you were fighting, right?”

“Uh- Of course I was! Marshal Shadowbolt is no coward!”

“I would expect nothing less of you. However, tell me, who were you fighting against?”

“Why do you ask?”

“It is a simple question, Shadowbolt.” Just a hint of impatience was slipping into his voice.

“It was a griffon. I was fighting a griffon.”

“Did you kill her?”

“No griffon can defeat me!”

“I said, did you kill her?” Shadowbolt trembled a bit, noticing the voice was slightly raised.

“N-no. She managed to get away from me.”

“I heard that your wing was injured during that battle.”

“That was-” Shadowbolt stopped herself. “That was…yes, she got lucky.”

“Now, I heard that a team of griffons was also part of the force at Canterlot.”

“Yes, that is true.”

“Is there anything you’d like to mention to me about them?” Shadowbolt struggled with her own pride before answering.

“That griffon was there again.”

“Really? The report said that all of the griffons managed to escape. Is this true?”

“Yes…”

“I am told you were quite beaten during the battle.”

“That had nothing to do with the griffon! That stupid Trixie fired off her magic right next to me! And then that white unicorn put up a barrier right as I was about to destroy them all!” Matias said nothing. “I-I’m sorry,” Shadowbolt suddenly said.

“Oh, no need to apologize, Shadowbolt!” he began light-heartedly. “I am not saying that I intend to punish you for your recent failures! Not at all!”

“Thank you; you are too merciful, Master Matias.”

“Oh, but I did call you hear because I did have something in mind.”

“What would that be?”

“Shadowbolt, I am proud to say that you are our greatest flyer.” Shadowbolt puffed out her chest a bit. “That is something I do not question. But, you see, Shadowbolt, you are not very strong, or should I say, not as strong as you should be.”

“What do you mean?”

“You are a pegasus, Shadowbolt; you have the speed, but what else is there?”

“I can move faster than anything! What else do I need?!”

“Oh, dear Shadowbolt, do not get upset! I am merely saying that there can be more! Shadowbolt, your Princess has just finished a masterpiece creation and I believe there is no one better to test it than you!”

“A creation?”

“Yes! It is a wondrous machine! It can transform any highly skilled and exceptional pegasus into an alicorn!”

“An alicorn?” Shadowbolt repeated.

“Yes, only the Princess with her powers and intellect would be able to dream up something like this. I must say it was beyond even my expectations!”

“Oh, I don’t think anything can be beyond you, Master.”

“You flatter me, Shadowbolt. Now, what do you say? Will you be the first to use her machine? It consumes a lot of power so there will be a long time before another one besides you can use it.”

“I do not think I need it. You said so yourself, Master, I am the greatest flyer there is!”

“And you never want to be greater in any other way?” Matias instantly dropped the light tone.

“Well, I’m sure nopony would want to stop getting better, but-”

“But what? The Princess has worked tirelessly to create a machine specifically built to make you all stronger. Are you trying to say her effort is meaningless?”

“No, of course not! I fully understand what the Princess wants!”

“What does she want then?! Are you saying she doesn’t want one of her friends to become a more powerful pony? Are you saying that she doesn’t want you to be better than you already are? Would we have you die on the battle field because you are too weak to defeat a single griffon?!” Shadowbolt could feel her bones rattle from Matias’ anger.

“I-I’m sorry, Master Matias…”

“What are you apologizing for, dear Shadowbolt?” Matias said, his voice back to normal.

“I was foolish and did not understand that you all only want what is best for me.”

“Of course we want what is best for you! We will want to live out the best lives we can, but those ignorant ones just don’t understand what’s good for them. Those poor souls can only hope to live out their dreams in death, but you, you who are wise, you do not have to do that! You and all the rest of my dear followers can continue to live as you wish, free and together for as long as you want!”

“Yes, I understand that…”

“Then?”

“I would be most honoured if I could be the first to use the Princess’ creation.”

“Oh, thank you, Shadowbolt! She will be most pleased!” Shadowbolt smiled weakly while still cowering a bit.

“Yes, I’m happy about that, too.”
**

After Twilight teleported away, Shining called for a town meeting with everyone. An hour later, all of the residents of Haven and its soldiers gathered to hear what he had to say. Standing beside Shining were the rest of the high officers. After being informed that basically everyone had gathered, he began to speak.

“Everybody, I am sure you are more or less well aware of the situation we currently face. As it stands, the enemy knows exactly where we are. The attack may not be for days, or even weeks, but they will come. And they will come in full force. This is no longer a war in which we can bide our time. These remaining days and weeks will be the last moments of this time we live in. Either we fall, or we rise above and triumph! No longer can any able-bodied pony or griffon lie idle! We are pressed for time, and this is a desperate measure, but we have no choice but to make this decision. Every single one of us must participate to our fullest for these final battles that we will face!” Among the crowd, hundreds became talking to themselves, many quite alarmed. “I understand that you are worried, and you have every right to be. I do not believe there is a single one of us who has not lost friends or family in this war.” Shining’s eyes briefly made contact with Sweetie Belle’s. “Some of us more recent than others. But, to give any less than a 100% effort to the battle is no longer excusable. You have lived in peace, maintaining the goodness of civilization here in Haven, but this is no period of peace. This is war! And we stand at its very conclusion! It is only us against the Fleet, the Legion, and the Brigade! But, if we unite, with all of our hearts as one, we can win! There will be no surprises the enemy can throw at us. We know exactly what kind of forces they have, but they have yet to see our true strength! Let us come together as one, and march on! Let us come together as one, and show to the whole world that there is hope! Let us come together as one, and remake the world! A truly beautiful world. Even in that world we may be lacking, and there may be no happily ever after, but there will be peace and calm. We will be able to live freely without the need of war and violence. Tell me, who here would not give their lives for a chance at that? We had it once, so please, hear me, and let us come together, and return to that time!” At Shining’s conclusion, the crowd let out an uproar of approval. As the crowd continued to cheer and chant his name, Shining stepped back and leaned in close to the officers. “I’m sorry, but you’re going to have your work cut out for you.” Lyra laughed.

“Are you kidding? Few things would make me happier than having another thousand ponies standing beside me. Give me two weeks and they’ll be running their enemies through while in the air.”

“You’re probably only going to get one week.” Lyra sighed and laughed again.

“Okay, I’ll see what I can do.”

Chapter 7

The light faded and Twilight found herself in the middle of a vast forest. It was very dark, but she thought she could see a glimmer of light over the horizon. She looked around briefly and could tell that she was quite far away from the ruins. There was nothing to see but trees around her. She looked down at the ground and saw the map. It now looked in even worse shape than the other one she had. The map probably didn’t have enough energy to bring her to the ruins. It was useless now but she deposited it into her bag nonetheless. She moved forward and hoped to find something to help her in her journey soon enough.

She walked on for hours, and the light in the forest did not change even a bit. She was starting to get really hungry, but she wanted to find a clearing to rest first. She remembered from the journal that there were supposed to be bears and Timber Wolves in the forest. Another hour went by and the forest had still not thinned. Her hunger getting to her, she had no choice but to rest under a tree and take a break. She took out a couple of the apples and munched on them. After she finished the second apple, she heard something coming from the forest. She went on alert and her horn glowed faintly. The rustling got closer and she prepared herself to face the beast, charging a magical blast. The creature burst out from the undergrowth and Twilight just barely held herself back from firing at a brown rabbit.

The rabbit looked at her curiously and then slowly approached her. Twilight stopped charging her attack as the rabbit stopped by her magic, sniffing it. Twilight took an apple out of her bag and gave it to the rabbit. It sniffed the apple a few more times before taking a bite. It chewed the first bit very slowly before swallowing. And then, it began to quickly eat the rest of the apple and looked up at Twilight appreciatively. Twilight smiled at the rabbit and took out another apple for herself. She slowly ate it as the rabbit finished its own. Briefly, Twilight thought about what Fluttershy would be doing in this situation right now, and instantly felt depressed over how she was gone now. Twilight dropped the rest of her apple and lowered her head. The rabbit slowly came closer to her and nuzzled her leg. Twilight looked at the rabbit and it continued to try to comfort her.

More rustling came from the forest, and this time, Twilight could tell it was bigger than a rabbit. Twilight turned around to try and figure out where the sound was coming from when a pair of Timber Wolves suddenly sprang in close to the two. Twilight quickly picked up her bag and ran. The Timber Wolves pursued her and although she was able to put some distance between them because of her nimbleness, her unfamiliarity with the forest was starting to hinder her. It was dark, and she stumbled over an exposed tree root. She could hear the Timber Wolves growling right behind her and she forced herself to not look back. She looked to the side and saw the rabbit running as well. A small gap appeared at the side and the rabbit briefly looked at Twilight before running into it. Twilight followed after it and just barely squeezed through the immense tangle of branches and vines. The two Timber Wolves got caught up in it and were having difficulty trying to just free themselves. The rabbit continued running ahead and Twilight followed. They ran for another five minutes or so and the two finally stopped running. Twilight took some time to catch her breath.

“Thanks, you really saved me there!” Twilight said to the rabbit. The rabbit just looked at her and nodded. Twilight took a look around where they were and saw a light breaking in from another massive tangle of undergrowth. Twilight moved in closer to it but she was too large to fit through. When the rabbit saw her trying to get through it, it tugged at Twilight’s leg and started leading the way around it. Twilight followed the rabbit again and eventually came across a larger gap. Just barely, she squeezed through the opening and after a few moments inside, she came out the other end. Before her, there was light. At the horizon, she could see the sun just barely peaking up out of it. It looked like it was just about to rise or set, but that simply wasn’t possible, was it? Well, there wasn’t a whole lot of time to dwell on that, though, because there was something far more important in the foreground. Before her lay the ruins she was looking for. Massive piles of stone, mostly rubble, lay across the flat earth and colonies of vines wrapped itself around all of the stone columns she could see. Twilight looked back down at the rabbit near her side and thanked it again before beginning her exploration.
**

After speaking a bit more with Fafnir, Tiamat left and flew around for a bit. Then, he started wondering what happened to Shadowbolt. He flew to the usual place in the clouds she tended to rest on and when he didn’t find her there, he went in search of Spitfire and Soarin’. They told him that they hadn’t seen her. He knew she went to see Matias, but he definitely did not want to ask him about her. Left with no other choice, he let it be.

Built in a separate section of the weather factory was the machine the Princess had built. It looked quite plain; it simply looked like a cube filled with a purple solution. Attached to the walls of the cube were several thick wires that hooked up to another machine that had a small screen and a large panel of buttons and switches. Like the rest of the weather factory, this room was also very dimly lit and the operator of the machine could barely be seen.

“Are you ready, Shadowbolt?” the Princess asked from the shadows. Her voice sounded very strange.

“Yes, Princess!”

“Okay, strip down and slowly sink into the solution.” Shadowbolt did as she was told and the cool solution sent a chill down her spine. “Do not worry about holding your breath, you can breathe in the solution. After you are fully submerged into the solution, I am going to activate the machine.” Shadowbolt nodded and let her head sink beneath the surface. The Princess activated the machine and energy started to flow through the wires. As the energy began to pulse throughout the cube, Shadowbolt felt the solution rapidly heating up. She also felt several sharp jolts of electricity. She yelped a tiny bit and almost panicked as the solution flowed into her mouth. She almost flew straight up back to the surface before realizing that she was fine. She bore the pain of the shocks and thought she could feel herself sweating from the heated solution. The jolts started to become more consistent and a constant surge of electricity starting to travel throughout her body. Shadowbolt gritted her teeth as the solution started to get even hotter. The entire solution began to glow and she felt a throbbing pain develop above her head. The pain rapidly escalated to the point where it felt like her skull was about to split in two. She screamed but the noise was completely muffled in the thick solution. The pain started to resonate throughout her entire skull and the electric current became even stronger. Along with this came even greater heat. Along with the now-flashing solution, she became blinded and began to lose consciousness. She screamed again to try and keep herself awake but the pain continued to grow worse. Shadowbolt felt one last powerful burst of pain from her head before blacking out.

A few hours later, Shadowbolt awoke in the infirmary. She felt relieved to no longer be in that painful solution, but she could still feel a throbbing pain on the top of her held. She tried to massage it with her hooves when she felt something. If felt hard, like bone. She tapped it a bit and could feel the pain shoot up a bit. She quickly tried to get out of bed but instantly fell over when she stepped onto the ground. She flapped her wings, but they were too weak to carry her. She lifted her head up and looked around the room. In the corner she saw a mirror. She crawled her way over to it and finally got a good look at herself. On top of her head now was a cyan horn. Gently, she touched it again and it still felt tender. She slowly worked her hooves to the base where the horn sprouted out and felt around it. She was slightly bald around the base of the horn and actually felt a little bit hot. She narrowed her eyes at herself and tried to concentrate, but nothing happened. Suddenly, she started feeling very sleepy and her head started to sway. She turned away from the mirror and slowly tried to make her way back to the bed but collapsed just as she reached it. She tried to grab onto the sheets to stop her fall, but ending up pulling the blanket off the bed and over her. She had no strength to try and get back up and fell asleep on the floor.
**

Twilight tirelessly searched through the ruins for any sign of the chamber. She picked through the many large mounds of rubble to try and uncover it and had to use her magic to pick up the larger boulders. As she worked, the rabbit stayed close by, looking on with curiosity. Twilight entertained the thought of the rabbit being able to find the chamber for her as she looked over to the horizon. The sun was still stuck in the same position as when she had started. She had no idea how long she had been working for, but she had been ignoring fatigue and hunger for at least an hour now. She rested by the next pile of rubble she needed to excavate and took out an apple pie from her bag. She broke off part of it and gave it to the rabbit. They ate in silence during their short break before Twilight resumed her work. There was no time to waste; everybody was counting on her to return with the means to end the war.

She cleared several more piles of rubble when she heard howling nearby. Twilight quickly ushered the rabbit to follow her up a pile of rubble as she charged an attack. She had already used up a lot of her magic so she figured she only have about three shots at best. She looked all around her from her high position, searching out the Timber Wolves and finally saw them emerge from the forest. There were only two of them so she figured they were the same pair.

Before they caught sight of her, she fired off her magical blast and hit one of them dead on. Its fur of bark caught fire and the blast knocked it back into the trees. The other Timber Wolf immediately began charging at Twilight as she charged up another blast. She fired it off right as it started to climb up the pile but it dodged. The blast broke apart one of the boulders and the pile began to shake. The Timber Wolf leapt at Twilight as she stumbled over the shifting pile, falling backwards. The Timber Wolf ended up going past her and landing on the other side of the pile. The unstable pile shook a bit more from its landing and the rocks started to flow downwards. Twilight started to charge her blast again as the Timber Wolf started climbing towards the top of the pile. It made its way to the top and spotted Twilight crouched down. The Timber Wolf ran down the side and Twilight fired her blast. The blast hit one of the Timber Wolf’s legs, breaking it off. However, the blast also struck the pile of rubble again, and caused another boulder to break apart. The giant pile of rubble collapsed on itself and Twilight tried to jump off the pile before being buried underneath the avalanche like the Timber Wolf. She almost made it. She made it to the ground but part of the pile fell onto her back, trapping her hind legs as well. The impact hurt her spine, but didn’t break it. However, she was now out of magic and unable to free herself.

Then, from out of the forest, came the burning Timber Wolf. Most of its back was on fire and was quickly eating away at its body, but its eyes were very much alive with rage. It snarled as it caught sight of the trapped unicorn. It was too damaged to run without breaking, but its four legs were still intact so it could simply walk towards her. Twilight tried to free herself but the rocks were too heavy to move off in her position. The Timber Wolf edged closer and Twilight tried to muster up any amount of magic but could only cause her horn to spark. Then, the rabbit threw an apple at the Timber Wolf. It hit it in the head and it looked over towards the rabbit, but it would not waste its time. It wanted to kill the pony. The Timber Wolf leaned in take a bite out of the pony as the rabbit threw another apple at it. This time, the blow caused the Timber Wolf to lurch forward slightly and Twilight’s spark managed to jump onto the Timber Wolf’s flames. The flames instantly grew larger and burned up its entire torso. The burning wood fell to the ground and the wolf's lifeless head fell next to Twilight’s.

Twilight’s heart rate was yet to return to normal though, as the fire continued to burn and started to surround her. A few sparks flew off from the burning body and fell onto the head that lay next to her. The head caught fire and she swatted it away, but the fire around her still inched closer. The rabbit threw another apple at the fire, and although this did nothing to put out the fire, it did give her an idea.

“In my bag there is a bottle! Quickly, throw it over here!” Twilight frantically pointed at the bag the rabbit was rummaging through. The rabbit took out another apple. “No! Not another apple! A bottle!” The rabbit put the apple down and took out an apple pie. “No, not food! A bottle!” The fires came in closer and Twilight tried to fan the flames away, but to no avail. Finally, the rabbit took out a bottle of water and she nodded furiously while holding out her hooves. The rabbit threw the bottle of water and she caught it. She quickly opened it and poured the water on the fire around her. She managed to put it out mostly, but there was still the main fire from the Timber Wolf’s body and it was still spreading to the rest of its body parts. “Quickly, another one!” The rabbit took out another bottle and threw it over to her. She poured out all of the water and finally reduced the fire down to a small camp fire. She then threw the bottles at the remaining fire, smothering it.

Twilight finally breathed a sigh of relief. The rabbit misread the cue and threw another bottle of water that hit her on the head. She just picked up the bottle and smiled at the rabbit. Twilight would not be able to free herself until recovering her magic after resting, so she motioned for the rabbit to come over and thankfully it brought the apple over to give to her. She took it appreciatively and the rabbit kept her company until she fell asleep a little while later, still under the same frozen sunset.
**

In a forest far from where Twilight was, there was a hunt going on. Just moments earlier in the morning, the scouts alerted the camp and they quickly packed up and fled. The zebras of the camp split up and tried their best to escape their pursuers. They broke up into groups of three or four and the other groups could hear the cries of their companions as they were captured nearby. The zebras knew who they were up against and the best answer was to simply run; sacrifices had to be made. After nearly an hour of running, one group of four zebras finally slowed down, believing to have evaded the enemy.

“We mustn’t rest too long, for our pursuers are not truly gone.”

“Aye, Zecora, but we need to recover a bit of our strength first.” The zebras found a nearby stream and drank from it.

“Do you think we’ll all be able to meet up again?” asked the third zebra.

“Don’t talk like that, have some faith,” said the fourth zebra.

“I’ve been running pretty low on that lately,” said the third.

“The times are dark and terrible indeed, but we must stay strong for all of our friends in need.”

“We’ve been going at this for years and nothing’s changed!” said the third. “When will this finally end?!”

“Never,” a deeper voice replied. The zebras looked around and saw a Minotaur coming out from the bushes.

“Run!” The zebras fled, but the fourth zebra did not escape in time. The Minotaur pounced on him and smashed his body into the ground. After killing him, the Minotaur began to chase after the rest of the group.

As exhausted as they still were, the Minotaur was not a very good runner and the zebras managed to lose him soon enough. However, there was no time for rest after hearing some howling. They heard some rustling coming from the side and they immediately began running again. After a moment, the Timber Wolves burst out from the bushes and went into pursuit. They were not something easy to get away from even under ordinary circumstances. The third zebra took out something from his bag and threw it behind him. As it hit the ground, it rapidly released a cloud of gas and when the Timber Wolves went through it, their skin of bark began to dissolve. The rest of the pack fell back and tried to find another way to continue the chase. The zebras ran on and after dropping a couple more gas bombs, they managed to finally get away from them.

“I didn’t think they would bring out so many for just one camp,” the third zebra said, panting.

“Aye, but with most of Equestria under their rule, the Legion can send out as many units as they want.”

“Maybe it really is hopeless…”

“Nay, we still have a chance. We’ve spent years developing our brew to use in the future battle. Your new herbicide is especially volatile.”

“Well, it only works on things like the Timber Wolves.”

“Enough talking about our plans; we best get a move on to escape our enemy’s hands.”

“Aye, the forest’s end is just an hour away.” The three zebras began making their way out of the forest and half an hour went by fairly peacefully. After that, though, they could hear the howls nearby again. The third zebra quickly checked his bag and counted only two more gas bombs.

“Zecora, take this,” he said, passing her a journal. “It has all the recipes I’ve been working on for the past several years. If we run into trouble again, make sure that you get away.”

“Aye, here’s mine as well,” the other zebra said, passing on his journal to Zecora too.

“To trust me with your books means much to me, but do not give up hope on leaving this forest with all of us three.”

“That’d be nice, but it’s going to be difficult to say the least. Say, Zecora, just how amazing how are those ponies, anyways?”

“Many tribulations they have faced, and many troubles they have erased.”

“Well, tell them ‘hi’ for me.” The Timber Wolves burst out from the bushes and the third zebra through a gas bomb at them. It caught a few of them but the others weaved around the cloud. The zebras started to run again but they were quickly gaining on them. Then, the third zebra intentionally tripped. Before the other zebras took notice, the Timber Wolves all pounced at him together and he threw down the last gas bomb right as their jaws were about to clamp down on him. The cloud caught all of the Timber Wolves and started to eat away at their bark skin but that did not stop them from savagely attacking the zebra. “Run!” The zebras turned forward again and ran off as the dying Timber Wolves carried out their vengeance. For the next couple moments, the two zebras ran while having to ignore their fallen comrade’s screams of pain as the wolves tore him apart.

The zebras ran on for about another twenty minutes before they encountered another obstacle. The Minotaur crossed their path and they had to change directions. Their sides were hurting and they were gasping for air between strides but they persisted until they escaped from the Minotaur. As they got closer to the edge of the forest, they took one final break, their vision starting to blur because of the exhaustion. Just in case anyone tried to sneak behind them, they went next to a large, dark tree and decided to rest there. They could not even take two deep breaths before something horrible happened.

The tree they carelessly went towards suddenly grabbed one of the zebras. Zecora stepped back a bit and could finally see it clearly. It certainly looked just like a tree with its branches, leaves, and layer of black bark, but it was something far more sinister. It had two sunken eyes and a gnarled and twisted mouth. The tree had four large branches that acted like arms and it tried to snatch Zecora away but she dodged it. Then, the tree began to move towards her, using its roots like the tentacles of an octopus. Zecora got further away and started looking for something in her bag.

“Nay, just run, lass! Run!” Zecora wanted to say something before leaving her last companion, but the Minotaur suddenly reappeared. Zecora turned tail and ran. As she ran, a spike made of bark started to come out of the trees mouth. The tree grabbed at it and broke it off, now holding onto a spike about a foot long. The tree then threw the spike like a javelin at Zecora. Zecora got behind a tree but the spike tore right through the tree anyways. Fortunately for her, the spike passed just above her. Zecora continued to run and the Minotaur was about to pursue but the tree held out one of its arms. The rest of the spike receded back into the trees mouth. It then began to talk, but its mouth did not move.

“Such a resilient creature. How ironic she will only grow to know greater despair by living,” the tree said in a deep masculine voice.

“Heh, that zebra has no idea what she is in for, General.”

“Aye, your end is coming soon! Your reign will not last, I say!” the zebra spoke. The tree brought the zebra right before its face.

“Oh, I didn’t crush you, yet? I’m so sorry about that; I’ll take care of it right now.” The tree squeezed its hand and the zebra writhed in agony as he felt his back breaking. The vertebrae finally snapped and the zebra let out a gasp. “Say, zebra, I’ve had my fun now. Would you like me to let you go now?” The zebra said nothing, just gasped some more. The tree tossed the zebra aside.

“Going soft, General?”

“Watch your words, Iron Will; even joking has its limits with me.”

“Ah, sorry, sorry!” The tree slowly made its way out of the forest and Iron Will followed after it. An hour after they left the forest, a Fleet pegasus flew towards the tree.

“I have a letter for General Black Forest!”

“Alright, give it here.” The pegasus gave the envelope to Black Forest but it had difficulty trying to open it with its large fingers. “Iron Will, open this letter for me.”

“Yes, General!” He took the letter and opened it up. Black Forest took back the letter and brought it to its face. Iron Will was also curious about the contents of the letter, but Black Forest could not change its facial expressions and he did not want to risk being nearby if it was bad news. After some time, Black Forest handed the letter over to Iron Will.

“Pegasus, do you have something I can use to write a letter?”

“Yes, General!” The pegasus took out a quill and paper.

“Iron Will, I need you to write a letter for me. Address it to Lieutenant-General Ursus and inform him to cease all of his current activities. Tell him that I want all of his forces beneath Cloudsdale as soon as possible.”

“Yes, General! Uh, should I say why?”

“That’s where we’ll all be gathering before the final battle.”

“Final battle?”

“Yes, final battle. I’m looking forward to it.”

Chapter 8

Twilight awoke, her lower body feeling very sore and numb. However, she could also feel the magic in her horn again and she lifted the rocks off of her back. After that, she stood up and staggered a bit, having lost much of the feeling in her hind legs. Her back and hind legs were also scraped up and had patches of dried blood. She took the bottle of water and washed some of the dirt out of her wounds. Then, she took out some apples and a cupcake to eat. As she ate, the rabbit returned and she greeted it with a smile. Twilight passed one of apples to it and they ate peacefully. After she finished, she stomped her hind legs a bit to get the feeling back quicker and went back to work.

As she dug through more piles of rubble, the rabbit followed her and would occasionally sharply glance from side to side, as if being on the lookout. Twilight gave a small smile when she noticed this and actually worked rather happily for a couple of hours, before the seriousness of her mission returned to daunt her. She was yet to find any clues to the chamber where the god was sealed and although the sun was still yet to move, the clock was ticking.

On and on she worked at excavating the piles and she had no results to show for her effort. She started growing sick just looking at all of the piles, more than three quarters of them she was yet to go through. When she took another break to eat, she decided to do it in the forest. She looked for a good spot and noticed the spot where the Timber Wolves had come through. The leaves of the bushes were burnt and gave off that smoky aroma. Curious, Twilight went through the bushes and came into a clearing. As Twilight walked onto the clearing, she felt it seemed a bit odd. She looked down and noticed that the ground was almost completely level. She took a few more steps and although she was walking on grass, her hooves did not really sink in at all. She stomped on the ground a bit and brought her ears close to the ground. As she hit the ground, she thought she heard a thud sound, not exactly natural for soil. Twilight started looking around the clearing and circled around it, stomping every so often.

Soon enough, Twilight’s hoof stamped onto something hard. Twilight started to clear the dirt away and revealed stone. After clearing more of the dirt away, she uncovered a stone slab that had a keyhole-shaped marking. She took a closer look at the marking, and saw that it was sunken in, as if something was meant to be inserted into it. She tapped on it a few more times and the rabbit came over to tap on it as well.

After thinking for about fifteen minutes and tapping on it at least dozen different ways, she temporarily threw out her rational thinking and smashed the slab as hard as she could with her hooves. The impact caused her hooves to go a bit numb, but she repeated to stomp on it until she was fairly certain that this was not the way to open it. She rested her hooves underneath her body and waited for the pain to subside. She suddenly realized that she was still hungry and she used her magic to levitate some food out of her bag. As she did this, the keyhole marking also began to glow. Twilight stopped using her magic and the glowing of the marking also stopped. She used her magic to levitate the apple treat again and the marking glowed again. Twilight narrowed her eyes. She went up to the marking and bent her head down to get the tip of her horn inside the hole of the marking. She then started just releasing magic and the slab glowed brightly. After a few seconds, there was a rumbling sound, and the slab sunk into the ground a bit, and then slid away a bit, revealing a slit. Twilight got off the slab and started to push it in from the slit, revealing an underground passage.

Twilight picked up her bag and went down into the passage. She walked down some crudely carved stairs and eventually made it to the floor. At the bottom, another narrow passage was revealed, lit by torches. As she walked down the passage, she felt that this was quite similar to the cave she woke up in. As she started to think about the connection, she suddenly felt a sharp pain go through her head. She leaned against the wall and held her head tightly. In her mind, everything went black save for very vague images. She could not distinguish any of them, but after the images went away, so did the pain. Twilight took a few breaths and continued, feeling a shiver down her spine as she continued onwards.
**

Shining had put this off because he thought yesterday was too soon, but now it had to be done. He called the tank crew to discuss with them the issue of who the new tank commander would be. Present at the meeting was Sweetie Belle, who the tank crew had brought along. Shining gave a brief nod to Sweetie Belle.

“Is there some reason as to why you brought Sweetie Belle along with you?”

“Yes, we’ve been thinkin’ about it, and we’ve decided that Sweetie Belle should be the new tank commander,” Braeburn said.

“Sweetie Belle?”

“Yes, she is very familiar with the tank and her eyes can see better than any of us with the binoculars,” Flim said.

“I’m sorry, but I cannot allow this.”

“What, why?” Applebloom asked.

“She is ranked below all of you. The natural choice to be next tank commander should be Braeburn.”

“Who cares about rank?! Sweetie’s the best pony for the job!”

“You may think that, Applebloom, and you may even be right to say so, but there is more. Why do you think a unicorn has to be tank commander?”

“But Sweetie is a unicorn!”

“Answer the question.”

“Because they need to be able to create a barrier to protect them from enemy fire,” Sweetie Belle replied in her robotic voice.

“Exactly. It is good that you understand this Sweetie Belle. Having you as tank commander is just too great of a risk for not just you, but the entire crew as well.”

“But if we had a solution to this problem?” Flam asked.

“What kind of solution?”

“Flim and I have been working on this for a while now, and we have finally completed it.”

“Completed what?”

“The designs for a new defensive system for the tank. Not only will it be able to use its magic storage to improve the durability of the tank’s armour, but the system can be linked up to the tank commander to manipulate the size and shape of the barrier.”

“How much more effective will this shield be than ordinary?”

“At least twice as much; that ought to compensate, don’t you think?”

“How long will it take to add this onto the tank?”

“Ten days, no, a week; just one week will be enough.” Shining thought to himself.

“Please let me do this,” Sweetie Belle said. Shining thought some more before sighing.

“Make it six days, and I will allow this.”

“Thank you very much, Commander,” Braeburn said.

“Thank you, Commander,” Sweetie Belle said as well.

“Just make sure it’s even better than before.” The ponies saluted him and then turned to walk away. However, Shining suddenly went after them and stopped Sweetie Belle.

“Is there something else?”

“Um, yeah.”

“What is it?”

“Your sister…you…”

“You don’t have to say anything more; I understand.” Sweetie Belle turned back around and left Shining standing there, still unsure of what exactly he wanted to say. He took in a deep breath and hit himself. He then went back to the preparations.
**

Shadowbolt opened her eyes and found herself resting on a cloud. Below her was a busy town, with ponies of all kinds going about their day, chatting to each other, playing, and working. All in all, it was very peaceful. She looked around at the sky and saw that none of the pegasi were looking for her. Smiling to herself, she yawned and stretched out her legs. She closed her eyes and resumed her rest. A moment later though, she heard the sounds of heavy wings flapping. At first, Shadowbolt just tried to ignore it and continue sleeping, but the sounds came right above her.

“So that’s where you were,” a familiar voice said. Shadowbolt opened her eyes, but because of the sun directly above, only saw a large shadowy, winged figure. Her eyes began to focus and made out a pair of yellow eyes before all of her surroundings went completely blank.

Shadowbolt truly awoke and found herself in the infirmary again and back in bed. She looked around and saw Tiamat sitting in a chair by her bedside. Over on the other side of the room was Trixie lying down on an empty bed.

“How are you feeling, Shadowbolt?” Tiamat asked.

“Where, no, what happened? How long have I been out?”

“Well, I think you’ve been passed out for more than a day now, although I did find you lying on the floor some time ago. As to where and what, I think it’s pretty obvious.” Shadowbolt tried to remember that dream she was having, but the images were just blurs to her now. She shook her head a bit.

“Okay, I see.”

“Hmph, so disoriented from simply adding a horn to your head? The great and powerful Trixie wouldn’t need a moment’s rest if I gained a pair of wings. No, I’d be flying immediately.” Shadowbolt rolled her eyes.

“What are you doing here, Trixie?”

“What, are you not overjoyed to be in the great and powerful Trixie’s presence?”

“Not even a bit.”

“Well, I was merely accompanying the dragon.”

“Why were you doing that?” Trixie narrowed her eyes and did not answer.

“Trixie was recently made Lieutenant-Colonel of the Brigade,” Tiamat answered.

“So?”

“Well, I was promoted to Colonel, so-”

“Wait! When did all of this even happen?”

“While you were blissfully wasting time that could have been better spent preparing.”

“Preparing? Preparing for what?”

“The annihilation of all of our inferior enemies!”

“What?”

“Easy there, Trixie. Here, let me try and explain from the top. When I met with Brigadier Fafnir, he promoted me to Colonel. A little while after, Trixie was officially assigned to the Brigade and she was given the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. While this was going on, there was apparently an executive order made to the Commanders of the Fleet, Brigade, and Legion.”

“I didn’t get any messages!”

“Shadowbolt, I’m getting to that. You were asleep at the time, so the message was directed towards Spitfire.”

“What was the message?!”

“You stupid pegasus, just let the dragon finish speaking to you, or is impatience the only feature you have.” Shadowbolt growled at her, but did not say anything.

“Anyways, the order made was for all of the Commanders to prepare their forces and have any necessary troops to come to Cloudsdale.” The dragon paused for a second, expecting Shadowbolt to ask why, but she didn’t. “The reason why is because we will be launching a major offensive. Maybe even the ultimate offensive.”

“With the great and powerful Trixie present, it will be an absolutely spectacular victory for us!” They both just stared at her for a bit. Shadowbolt then turned to look at Tiamat again.

“All three Commanders will bring their full forces to Cloudsdale?”

“Well, not necessarily. The order is only to bring necessary troops. My own Commander will actually not be participating in the battle, probably because he is such a large target.”

“I think he is simply a coward!”

“Isn’t he your Commander, too, Trixie?” Shadowbolt asked.

“Hmph! That is only because of seniority!”

“Yeah, whatever. Anyways, when is all of this happening?”

“Well, there was no real time set in stone, but we plan to move out with whatever forces we can gather in two weeks’ time.”

“I say we already have more than enough to strike them down.”

“Striking too soon would be careless; it’s not as if they are going anywhere soon. Anyways, Shadowbolt, I am assuming that you will be joining the offensive.”

“Of course! I will make sure to kill every last one of them!”

“I see. Well, rest up until then.” Tiamat got up and left and the room and Trixie followed after him. Shadowbolt started thinking about how the attack would go and started thinking about the griffon who had evaded her twice. However, when she tried to recall specific things about her, the image got blurry and her head started to hurt. She massaged her temples and lay back down in bed.
**

After a while, as Twilight walked down the passageway, she saw it was pitch-black up ahead. There was no other path, so she simply continued to walk. She passed the last torch and entered into the darkness. As she did, she tried to brush up against the wall, just so she could feel something else in the darkness. Very quickly, she found herself growing very tired and was having difficulty keeping her eyes open. There was still no light ahead, though, so she decided to close her eyes for a bit as she kept on walking. A few steps later, she suddenly tripped and she could see something very bright flash behind her closed eyelids. She opened them and found herself looking up at a wooden ceiling.

Twilight blinked a few times, but nothing had changed. One brief look around, and she could see that she in her bedroom in Ponyville. She pulled back her star-patterned sheets and got out of bed. She tried to then quietly exit the room when she heard little footsteps coming from the stairs. She darted behind her bed and watched for whoever it was to climb the stairs. A moment went by, and she saw a small purple dragon arrive at the top of the stairs. He looked towards the bed and she hid herself.

“Twilight?” Twilight did not answer and the dragon came closer to the bed. “Twilight?” the dragon called again. She still did not move from her spot and even began holding her breath. The dragon went around the bed and Twilight screamed when he saw her. She wildly waved her hooves around before galloping away. She went down the stairs and then outside the library. After opening the door, she saw the bustling town of Ponyville.
All around her were ponies that she recognized and although a few turned to look at her when she suddenly came out of the library, they paid her no real attention.

“What is going on?!” This did cause a few more heads to turn and she suddenly felt frightened when they all looked at her. The dragon came down the stairs and tried to run up to her, but Twilight ran off again. She headed down the streets and came by Sugarcube Corner, looking perfectly fine. For some reason, this sight was almost as disturbing as the charred remains she saw last time. The door opened, and a pink earth pony came bouncing outside. She turned, noticed Twilight, and then gave a wide smile.

“Oh, hi Twilight! How are you today?” She started to bounce towards her and Twilight began running away. “Hey, where are you going? Are you late for a party?” Twilight ignored her and continued to run. The pink pony chased after her and Twilight put on an extra spurt of speed to try and get away. However, the pink pony did not give up. As they ran, Twilight then came across Carousel Boutique. Its doors were open and there was a white unicorn inside arranging some dresses. When Twilight ran past it, the unicorn took notice and came outside.

“Twilight? What is the big rush?” Twilight turned around for a second to check to see if the white unicorn was also joining in the chase, but she was not. However, Twilight ran past a corner and ended up running right into a wagon while her head was turned. She picked herself out of the wreckage and saw herself surrounded by apples. Looking down on her was an orange earth pony with freckles and wearing a cowboy hat.

“Are you okay, Twilight?”

“Woah, what happened here?” a cyan pegasus with a rainbow mane asked as she came flying down from the clouds.

“Twilight here just crashed right into my wagon, Rainbow.” Twilight started cowering when a rabbit came up to her. She was about to feel some kind of relief from this but the rabbit was a different colour; it was white. Then, coming from the side was a yellow pegasus with a pink mane.

“Oh, Twilight, you’re not hurt are you?” Twilight started breathing deeply as the pink pony and then the white unicorn came up to her. Twilight started to sweat as they came in closer and then she suddenly burst into tears. All the ponies started asking her what was wrong and Twilight simply did not know what to say. She continued to cry and the pink pony suddenly hugged her.

“Don’t cry, Twilight! The pain’s not that bad, right?”

“Yeah, if you really hurt or something, we can take you to the hospital.”

“Here, let me fly you over there.”

“Don’t worry, Twilight.”

“We’ll help you; that’s what friends are for.” Twilight started to stop crying and finally spoke to the pink pony.

“Pinkie Pie?”

“Yes?” She then looked at the other ponies.

“Fluttershy? Rainbow Dash? Rarity? Applejack?”

“Yes?” they all said in unison. Twilight’s panic faded and relief began to spread over her.

“Was it really all just a dream?”

“Was what just a dream?” Rarity asked.

“You all were gone. Well, not all of you, but you two were different. Rarity and Applejack, you were both older. And then Rarity…she was gone too.”

“What a terrible dream you must have had, sweetie.”

“I was gone? What a lame dream you had,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Just a dream…”

“Yup, just a dream, silly; we’re all still here!” Twilight started smiling and hugged Pinkie Pie. Suddenly, the skies darkened, and there was the sound of thunder.

“W-what’s going on?!”

“I don’t know, but I’m pretty sure it aint good.” A portal opened up in the sky, and a massive black dragon slowly began to come out of it.

“W-what? A black dragon?!”

“I aint never seen a dragon that big before!”

“Eep!”

The purple dragon came running from around the corner, holding a box. It stopped in front of them and began to pant heavily.

“Spike!” The dragon held out his hand and tried to regain his breath. The dragon came further out of the portal.

“Spike!” the other ponies yelled.

“Haa….haa…okay, I’ve caught my breath.”

“Do you really think this is the time for that?!”

“Don’t worry, I’ve already brought them.”

“Them?” Spike opened up the box and revealed the six Elements of Harmony.

“Go get him, girls!”

“Okay, but, just what is that?” Applejack asked.

“I-I think it’s from my dream,” Twilight said.

“What?”

“I had a dream where an evil god took over the world. Apparently, it had the form of a black dragon.”

“So your dream predicted something like this?”

“Maybe.”

“Enough chit chat, let’s take this guy down!” Rainbow Dash shouted out. She grabbed her Element of Loyalty and put it on her neck. The others did the same except for Twilight who was still hesitant.

“What’s wrong, Twilight? We need to hurry up and beat him!” Twilight picked up the Element of Magic, but still did not put it on.

“I do want to beat him, but something feels wrong…” The dragon was now almost fully out of the portal. It let out a powerful roar that shook the town.

“Come on, Twilight we have to hurry!” Twilight brought the tiara to her head and was thinking if this would play out just like the other times. Would the magic resonate together and defeat the enemy in a single hit? Would that really just be it? Twilight put it on her head and the six Elements started to glow. Their bodies began to float upwards and the Elements began charging. Twilight felt light beginning to fill up her body, a strange sensation that she felt twice before. Magic began to swirl around the six of them as the dragon now fully exited the dark portal in the sky. No! Twilight suddenly tossed aside the Element of Magic and the magic stopped swirling. All of the Elements stopped glowing and the ponies fell to the ground with the exception of the two pegasi. The ponies went up to her and said something to her but their voices were initially drowned out by the dragon’s roar. It was obvious what they were saying though.

“This isn’t right! This isn’t what it’s really like!” Twilight yelled out amidst the roaring.

“What are you talking about Twilight?”

“Twilight! Ponyville is in danger! We have to stop that dragon.”

“Didn’t you say yourself that it was an evil god?! Come on!”

“No! I mean, yes! That thing is the evil god, but not really!” Twilight tried to explain.

“What?”

“I don’t know how this is happening, but there’s no way everything that happened was just a dream!”

“Yes it was Twilight! We’re all fine, or at least until that dragon destroys all of Ponyville! Let’s hurry up and stop it!”

“No! No! No. No, none of you are real. None of this of real.”

“Twilight?”

“I wish this was real. I wish I could just beat this dragon with all of you and continue living happily together, but this isn’t how it is.” The ponies stared at her in silence as the dragon breathed fire on a distant building. Twilight looked up at the dark portal. “That is where the world really is. That is where everything is really happening.”

“That portal?”

“Are you crazy, Twilight?! That place is where that evil dragon just came from! Why would that be the real world?! Why would you even want to go there?!”

“I don’t. I really don’t. But I have to.” The dragon started making its way towards them. “Spike. Pinkie Pie. Rainbow Dash. Applejack. Rarity. Fluttershy. This isn’t where I belong. I need to be somewhere else.”

“In that dark world?”

“Yes.” They all just looked at her in silence as the dragon came closer.

“Okay,” Rainbow Dash suddenly said. “I am not the Element of Loyalty for nothing. I will stick by you as long as you think that that is the best decision.”

“Rainbow Dash…” The dragon was now upon them and breathed fire at them, but they managed to avoid it, Rainbow Dash carrying Twilight away.

“In there, right?”

“Yes.”

“…I’m sorry that I can’t come with you.” Twilight closed her eyes and shed a tear. Rainbow Dash flew towards the portal and the dragon breathed its flames at them. Rainbow Dash threw Twilight into the portal as the flames reached them, engulfing Rainbow Dash. As Twilight was flung towards the portal, she looked at Rainbow Dash and saw that she was smiling sadly at her. Twilight looked down and saw the others as well all waving goodbye to her. Twilight smiled back at them as her body went through the portal.
**

After the darkness faded, Twilight found herself back in the underground passageway. She looked around saw that there were still torches on the walls. She got up and noticed that her eyes were wet. She touched her face and felt tears. Twilight closed her eyes for a moment before continuing down the path. After walking for about five more minutes, she arrived in the chamber. It was circular, made of stone, and had a very high ceiling. In the very center of the room was a very large crack in the floor. Twilight got closer to it and thought that she could see the edges of some kind of marking around the crack. She looked into the crack, but it was pitch-black. After looking around the rest of the room and finding nothing, though, she decided that she had to go into the crack. Twilight lit up her horn and then jumped down.

Using her magic, she slowly reached the bottom floor. The room was vast and her light could only light up a couple of yards around her. She started walking around the perimeter of the room and so far, saw that the room was empty. As she walked, she thought she could hear some kind of sound. She would stop, and try to listen intently, but she would only feel a light breeze. She continued to walk around the room and thought the noise was getting louder. She stopped and this time it continued. It wasn’t a constant sound, but it was definitely a real sound. She strained her ears to try and figure out where the sound was coming for. She continued to walk and as she neared one end of the room and the sounds got louder. She continued to walk and finally reached the end of the room.

“Can you hear me?” a voice said very faintly. Twilight leapt back in surprise. She could continue to hear some kind of sound, but it was only noise again. Twilight stepped closer to the end of the room again and heard the faint voice once more. “Can you hear me?”

“Y-yes,” Twilight nervously stammered out.

“Really! Oh, that’s great!”

“W-Where are you speaking from?”

“I’m inside this room.” Twilight looked around again but still saw it was empty.

“Where in the room?”

“Oh, well, technically not really inside the room.” Twilight cocked an eyebrow at the wall. “I’m in this room, but also not really; I guess you can say I’m trapped.”

“Trapped?”

“Yes, trapped.”

“Who are you?” Twilight said with just a hint of hostility in her voice.

“You’ve come to stop the evil god who was released, right?” Twilight stepped back a bit in surprise, but moved forward again when she remembered how faint the speaker’s voice was.

“How do you know about that?”

“Well, I remember you; you’ve come here before.” Twilight slowly came closer to the wall.

“I did?”

“Yes, you did.”

“Why do I not remember?”

“I’m not sure; it may have something to do with the god.”

“What did the god do to me?”

“The same thing he does to everyone; put you into a dream. In that dream, he lets you live out the kind of life you desire, and slowly, you lose yourself in it. When that happens, he forces you awake, but your true self is still dreaming. In its stead, another you; a different personality forms. This one is a corruption of your true self, and is related to your desires in some way.”

“But, what about me?”

“You managed to escape his grasp; not everyone loses to his powers.”

“That dream I had earlier; was it because of him?”

“Earlier? How much earlier?”

“I don’t know, I just woke up in the passageway and came down here.”

“Really? I’m pretty sure the first time you came here was quite a long time ago…”

“A long time ago?”

“Wait, you woke up in the passageway? That doesn’t seem right; I tried to send you farther away.”

“What?”

“When the evil god was first released, you fell down into this hole and he tried to use his powers on you. I was trapped here for a long time, but I learned to be able to use some of my magic, as long as it’s on something nearby. I tried to teleport you away to safety, and was just randomly thinking of far-away places from my memories since I was in a rush.”

“Wait, are you the reason I woke up in that cave?”

“You woke up twice? You had two dreams?!”

“No, I just had one dream.” The voice stopped speaking for a few moments. “What do you think happened?”

“I’m not sure…”

“You know, you still haven’t answered my question; who are you?”

“My name is Prince Morning Star, well, I guess I’m probably not really a Prince anymore.”

“Prince?” Twilight remembered her journal and pulled it out of her bag.

“What are you doing?”

“Just doing a quick check. Wait, can you see me?!”

“Well, why else would I call out to you?”

“Where do you see me from?”

“Um, I guess near the top of this wall you are facing.” Twilight looked up at the spot and it was empty. Twilight stared at it a bit before going back to reading.

“Hey, are you the Prince mentioned in this journal?”

“Journal? What’s it about?”

“It mentioned an expedition to these ruins a long time ago.” Twilight thought she heard the speaker sigh.

“No, it was not I who ordered it; it was my elder brother, Prince Dusk Star. He was always an adventurous one and wanted to see the wonders of the world.”

“The journal did mention that the Prince had a brother and sister.”

“Yes, Dawn Star, my brother’s younger twin sister.”

“So you are the three royals who sealed away the evil god?!” Twilight asked.

“Yes.”

“And the terrible cost that was paid?”

“As you may already realize, it was that we had to be sealed away ourselves.”

“So, the other two are also in this room somewhere?”

“No, they are not. When the sealing happened, only I was trapped down here. I have no idea where my brother and sister may be.”

“How did you do it?! How did you seal him away?!”

“We used our combined powers, along with the Elements of Heroism to seal him away.”

“The Elements of Heroism? I’ve never heard of them before.”

“Well, when we made our sacrifice, we knew that although our bodies may be sealed away, the Elements would remain intact. We had specific instructions on taking the three Elements and putting them away in a safe place. It may be in some ancient vault somewhere in the world.”

“Is that the only way to stop him?”

“Other than overpowering him with magic, I do not think there is another way.” Twilight swallowed and then looked down at the ground. “I’m sorry.”

“B-but what if we can release the three of you and combine the magic of all the other unicorns?!” Twilight suggested, holding out hope.

“That might work, but releasing us would be difficult.”

“What do we need?!”

“Since we were sealed away using the power of the Elements of Heroism, we would need them, as well as an extraordinary amount of magic to temporarily force their activation.”

“So we would still need the Elements no matter what? What about the Elements of Harmony? Would that work?!”

“The Elements of Harmony? If memory serves me correctly, there were six of them.”

“Yes, there are!”

“And you have all six of them?”

“Uh, I think?”

“As well as someone able to represent each of them.” Twilight painfully thought back on her lost friends.

“No, we don’t.”

“Then I’m sorry; that won’t work either.”

“No, something has to work! We need something! Anything! If we can’t find something then he is going to end the world!” Morning said nothing. Twilight started screaming and powering up her horn. “I’m going to bust you out of there right now!” Twilight fired off a magical blast at the wall and the blast exploded. The wall, however, was completely undamaged. Twilight powered up her horn again and fired again. She repeated this a few more times, but none of the attacks did anything to the wall. Panting heavily, she fell to the ground and started to tear up. “Why?! Why does it have to be like this?! Everything I have is useless!” Twilight took off her bag and threw it at the wall, the contents falling out and scattering on the floor. Twilight cried and the speaker remained silent for a moment.

“Wait, what is that?!” Morning suddenly asked. Twilight didn’t answer him and just kept crying. “No, listen to me! That box on the floor, show it to me!” Twilight stemmed the flow of her tears and looked at the little box.

“It’s just some stupid locked box. I don’t even have the key.”

“There is no key to the lock! Or at least there shouldn’t be if it is what I think it is; please, show me the box.” Twilight choked back a few tears and got back up and went over to the box. She tried lifting it with magic and the keyhole started to glow.

“W-what?” she asked, her tears now almost fully stopped.

“Focus your magic into the keyhole!” Twilight did as she was told and the box opened. Inside were three pendants that each had a unique symbol. One was a golden, five-pointed star; one was an orange semi-circle; and one was a black semi-circle. “Yes, that’s it! Those are the Elements of Heroism!”

“W-what? Really?!”

“Yes! I don’t know where you got them, but there they are; all three of them!”

“R-really?!” Twilight had to ask again.

“Yes!” Twilight smiled and started to jump around saying ‘yes’ over and over again. After some time, she finally calmed down.

“So, what do I have to do now?”

“Well, the Element of Hope is the one I used; it’s the one with the star. If you could just bring it up close to where I am and infuse some magic into it, I’m sure it will react in some way.” Twilight levitated the Element of Hope up to the top of the wall and started focusing her magic into it. However, the flow of magic was quite feeble because of how much she had already used.

“I-I don’t have enough magic.”

“I’m sure you do!”

“No, I don’t. I used so much of it already.”

“You were able to muster enough magic to originally unseal this chamber; you must have an enormous reserve.”

“Even if you say that, I don’t remember any of that and I can barely keep it floating right now.”

“What is your name?”

“What?!”

“Your name. You never told me what it was.”

“It’s Twilight Sparkle, but what does that even matter?” The Element of Hope was beginning to gradually drop towards the ground.

“Twilight, I know you are greatly confused about a lot of things right now, but from what you already know, you know that there is no time to waste. You have come here alone with no memories all for one thing. Think only of this and then summon all the strength you can!” Twilight did as she was told. She thought back on the destruction of all the towns, the darkness that covered the land, the loss of her friends, and the ongoing war fought between former friends. She thought about the struggles she had to deal with and how much worse it must have been for those who had to live through all those years she was apparently asleep for. Twilight’s light grew stronger and the Element levitated back up to its position. Twilight gritted her teeth and she began to feel her whole body getting hot. Beads of sweat began to form on her forehead and the glowing light grew brighter still. The Element began to flash with a golden light and sparks of light began to fall from the ceiling above the Element. Twilight focused harder still and the Element started to make a very loud noise as her body got even hotter. The Element then began to release more golden light and there was finally a loud cracking sound.

A visible crack appeared in mid-air and then it exploded. A dark portal was revealed and the glowing Element slowly went towards the opening. Twilight’s legs gave way and she collapsed onto the floor. From the portal, an alicorn emerged. He had a silver coat and a golden mane. The Element went to his neck and put itself on him. The alicorn flew down to the ground next to Twilight. He was much larger than Twilight and she would say that he was close to the size of Princess Luna.

“Thank you very much for all of your hard work, Twilight. Now, it is time for us to return the light to this world.” Morning put all of the items back into Twilight’s bag and then levitated her with the bag onto his back. He then flew out of the underground chamber. Back in the higher chamber, he flew up to the ceiling and his horn began to glow. The ceiling then glowed as well and he flew through it and ended up back on the surface of the ruins. He looked around at the piles of rubble all around him and noticed how many were leveled. He then looked to the horizon where the sun was frozen in its place. Twilight looked at the horizon too and stated what she had already figured out a long time ago.

“I guess the Princesses really are gone.”

“Did your Princesses raise and lower the sun?”

“Yeah, they did. Where everypony else is, there is only a dark grey sky; I don’t think any of them have seen sunlight in years.”

“Then I do not think they will mind this.” Morning flew up into the sky and his horn began to glow again. He stayed in mid-air and concentrated. Then, slowly, the sun began to rise. Twilight’s mouth was agape in awe as the sun rose higher and higher in the sky. Finally, it settled in a higher position than anything else her eyes could see. Unfortunately, the sun could still not be seen anywhere else under Equestria’s dark and clouded sky. Even Cloudsdale had another cover of clouds above it that blocked out this sight.

“Who are you?” Twilight asked incredulously.

“I told you already; I am Morning Star.”

“And you can raise the sun just like Princess Celestia?”

“Well, only if the sun is already above the horizon; I am not strong enough to bring it all the way up by myself. It was my sister Dawn who would have to dispel the night first. The three of us combined, though, could control day and night.”

“That’s a lot like what we have. Had…”

“There is no need to think back on the past right now. The times have been dark, but there will always be light as long as we believe in it.”

“So, just have hope?” Morning smiled at Twilight’s remark.

“Yeah.” Morning began to fly away from the ruins and headed towards Cloudsdale.

Chapter 1

Wearily, the purple unicorn felt her consciousness stir. The first thing she felt was the cold stone floor beneath her, followed by a chilling wind blowing through her mane. Still a bit disoriented, she opened her eyes and, as expected, did not find the familiar territory of her bedroom back in Ponyville. Instead, she was in a poorly-lit, subterranean cell, roughly carved into the stone. Before her was a grid of simple iron bars, with some light trickling through the spaces between; there was no door. At first glance, the whole room was mostly barren. Although this was surprising, her most prominent thought was how in Equestria she could have ended up in a room with no doors.

The mare tried to get up onto her feet and was faced with much difficulty. Her entire body felt sore and weak. When she finally stood up on her four hooves, her stomach rumbled]. She let out a sigh in exasperation. She looked around the stone hovel once more to see if she had missed something in the darkness. In the very corner of the room, she spied her saddlebag, a mere silhouette in the gloom. She made the decision to see what was inside. Within the confines of the satchel, the mare saw what appeared to be several apples, and her face lit up at the expectation of satisfying her hunger. Unfortunately, upon taking the apples outside of the bag, she found them to be rotten. The useless fruit was tossed aside as the contents of the bag were further examined.

First, she uncovered a book, along with a small rectangular box made of white stone, probably marble. Then, much to her delight, she found a couple of unspoiled, frosted cupcakes. The mare ate the first one ravenously and delighted in its delectableness. Despite still feeling hungry, she decided to save the second pastry for later. After returning the snack to the saddlebag, she turned her attention to the box. She paused for a moment, trying to remember how she could have acquired such an expensive-looking box. The unicorn tried opening it and found it to be locked. Upon closer inspection, she noticed a tiny keyhole. The hole was so small that she wasn’t even sure if such a small key could even be properly operated with a pony’s mouth.

The mare placed the odd container back into the satchel, and then opened up the book, only to find that many of the pages had been ripped out. The first intact page seemed to indicate that the book was a journal of some sort.

Thirtieth Day of the Expedition

It has been a long journey, but I feel we are now reaching its end. Deep inside of me, I had actually felt that locating the ruins in the Forest was a maddening idea, but other than the occasional timber wolf and common bear, we had experienced few difficulties. As I write, I and the rest of the group are camping out atop a small hill. From our position, just a couple days trek from here, we can see the great stone structures jutting out from the overgrowth. Who knows what wonders we will find in those ancient ruins? I am positive that the Prince will be most pleased.

The unicorn was about to turn to the next page when a sudden rumbling noise from outside startled her. She immediately whipped her head around and peered through the iron bars. Strangely, there were no cells across from hers*. She tried to force her head through the grid, to see if there were rooms any next to her, but her head was far too large to fit. She did not hear any other sounds, so she pulled back from the bars.

The sudden noise was quite unnerving, but first things first, she needed to get out of here. The mare secured the journal into the saddlebag and then latched it onto her back. The next task was to get her magic to work. A feeble light was being emitted from her horn, but even this felt draining. There was no way it could produce enough magic to teleport back to Ponyville. Teleportation anywhere always demanded a great amount of magic, so instead, she tried to bend a couple of the iron bars. She grunted and concentrated harder, causing the light from her horn to flash brightly for just an instant, releasing enough magic to warp the bars.

She took several deep breaths to recover and then squeezed through the opening. After an uncomfortable effort, she had worked her way outside. She could see that there were more cells next to hers. To the immediate right of each cell was another torch. Looking in one direction, she could see that her cell was fairly close to the end of the corridor. The mare examined the other rooms to see if she was the only prisoner. After finding them vacant, she then turned back around. It was peculiar, there had to be dozens of cells, but all were empty.

At the end of the passageway, there was a stone stairwell. She noticed that the steps were much thicker than the ones she remembered back in Ponyville. The unicorn was not completely sure about what this meant, but the larger slabs definitely made the ascent a great deal more difficult. Her fatigue gradually increased as she got closer to the top of the stairwell. She literally collapsed after reaching the final step.

She closed her eyes and wheezed for a moment before getting back up. After recovering a bit, she saw that she was now at the back of a massive cave. This new environment was actually less interesting than the one she just left, but far in the distance, she could see a dim light. After stretching a bit, she continued on her way and she could hear a very loud rumbling coming from outside the cave, similar to the sound she heard earlier. Exhausted once more, she had reached the entrance to the cavern and across the level stone. Outside was no more appealing than the prison, there was a blackened sky and turbulent winds; the world was in the midst of a vicious thunderstorm. The light she had seen from inside of the cave was apparently the result of periodic lightning bolts. Looking up, she could see that she was near the top of a mountain. Because of the rolling thunder and heavy downpour, she decided to retreat back inside of the cave until the end of the storm.

Returning to the dryness of the shelter, the soaked mare attempted to make herself comfortable. However, this was not her biggest concern. She had seen little solid trace of anypony so far, and that was a worrying prospect. Although her memory was fuzzy, thoughts of her friends were still just as vivid. She did not know how they were separated, but her hopeful side was sure they would meet again soon.

The storm raged on. Eventually, the drone of rain and lightning blurred to nothing more than white noise. The mare’s eyelids became heavy, her breathing slowed, and her senses became ignorant of her body’s shivering. Soon, she was deep in slumber.
**

When the mare awoke the next day, the storm was over, but the skies were still overcast. She walked out of the cave and made her way to the edge of the mountain. She looked down at the forest floor below. Her eyes made their way across the landscape and noted several patches of burnt trees. Her eyes continued further along and she saw the faint line that seemed to indicate a dirt trail. She then trotted along the cliff’s edge to get a full view. Far in the distance, she saw something smouldering. Whatever it was, it was big, and it burned down a while ago.

The unicorn had taken in enough of her surroundings, and after making a mental note of the dirt trail and the smouldering mass in the distance, found a safe path down the mountain.

Hours had gone by, and the only thing that kept her pace was sheer determination. Every step she took sapped some strength away, but her willpower continued to fuel her. Unfortunately, no amount of willpower can satisfy one’s hunger. Her body could continue to move forward, but the stomach pains increasingly grew worse.

After another enduring hour or so, she had finally reached the end of the pathway. But her body then tensed up in a mix of surprise and grief. The path had ended, but there was still a steep section of the mountain face that she would have to climb down. On any other day, this kind of climb would have been no problem, an easy ten minutes. She finally lost her cool and screamed out to the skies.

“Oh, come on! I wake up all alone in some dungeon at the top of a huge mountain! And then, I have to climb down this huge mountain! And I do all this with no memory of what happened to me, no idea where my friends are, and I'm so! Darn! Hungry!”

She took many quick breaths and her eyes dilated a bit. After her breathing returned to normal, her anger had faded away and was replaced with sadness.

“I have no idea where my friends are...” Her body quivered a bit, but not from the cold this time. She sniffled and closed her eyes for a while. In the background, there was only silence. No birds chirping, no wind blowing. It was as if even nature itself had left as well. Then, she slowly reopened her eyes as a quiet calm came over her. This was all the more reason to carry on.

She stretched out her body again and backed up to the edge of the mountain face. Slowly, she began her descent and made her way to the very bottom. After stepping onto the ground, she took a few deep breaths, but amazingly, a small part of her fatigue had left her body. She even smiled just a tiny bit before looking down the dirt trail.

Then, something suddenly stirred in her mind. It was a memory; this place was familiar. The mountain, the trail, the mare had been there before, she could still remembered the smoke and the dragon, as if it was only yesterday. But something was amiss, things did not add up. There was no dungeon back then, only a cave, so somepony had to have built it recently? But wait, the dungeon certainly did not seem newly built. And who needed a prison there anyways? Perhaps more importantly, why was she there? It was these questions that swirled in her mind, distracting her from the troubles that previously plagued her psyche. It was during this contemplation that she recalled the journal.

Just as her mouth closed on its binding, a sudden realization struck her. That smoke in the distance! That location! That’s where Ponyville was! She closed up her bag and sprinted down the dirt trail. The fires had happened a while ago so it wasn’t the thunderstorm that could have done anything to it. No, something else had to have happened to it. Something terrible. She started running as if her life depended on it.

Her breathing and heart rate raced as she prayed for the safety of everypony there. She hoped that she had overestimated the extent of the damage. Maybe it was just a small fire? Maybe Derpy just messed around with a few too many storm clouds and they were just about ready to clean up the mess. Oh, what an idiot she would be to be dashing into the town square to find out everything was alright. Rainbow Dash would be so surprised with how fast she could run. Fluttershy would ask if everything was okay, and she could say yes. Rarity would comment on what a mess she looked like. Applejack would give her some fresh apples to eat after hearing her rumbling stomach, and Pinkie Pie would hold a giant party for her return! Oh, what a great party it would be after doing whatever stupid little thing she did! She probably just messed up some spell and was missing for a couple of days. Everyone else in Ponyville would be so happy that she finally came back and then she would write a letter to Princess Celestia about how you should never do something to worry your friends. Yes, that’s how it should be.

She finally arrived at the outskirts of the town just as her hunger returned. The pain made it feel like her stomach was clutched in an iron vice, but it was still being mostly ignored. She had stopped running upon seeing what lay before her now. She made her way over a bridge and saw the levelled buildings. Nothing remained standing. Only blackened rubble where the structures once stood. Pockets of green-tinted smoke hovered over the larger piles of devastation.

Near the centre of the town was the library that she had housed. Now, it was nothing more than a blackened ring of burnt and crumbling bark. The candy decorations of Sugarcube Corner were now little more than charred debris. Carousel Boutique no longer stood out in any way, looking just as fashionable as the next heap of debris. She made her way near the Everfree Forest and saw that Fluttershy’s cottage was not only destroyed, but completely buried under a mound of earth. Continuing on, the unicorn then reached Sweet Apple Acres. In an orchard that once had hundreds of apple trees, not a single one was now intact. The same green-tinted smoke was here as well. It was no ordinary fire that ravaged both the fields and the barns. All the while, the unicorn had shouted out to anypony. Nopony returned her calls and after verifying the virtual destruction of Ponyville, she returned to the spot of the former library.

She entered the ring of burnt bark and settled herself in the centre. She lay down and nestled her head in her fore hooves. She just cried. Her tears flowed and her weeping was the only sound heard in the town that night. After what seemed like hours, her crying finally ceased, perhaps finally realizing her sorrow would bring her no solace. The tears were gone but the sadness remained. The rest of the night was completely silent save for the occasional sniffles and squeaks. Before she fell asleep, she spoke aloud for the only time that night.

“Dear Princess Celestia. Today, I learned that losing all of your friends is a terrible, terrible thing. And that there will never be a greater sadness you can every experience in life. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.”

A few moments later, as her consciousness waned, she wished with all of her heart that this was just a dream. But if it was not, she hoped that whoever did this to Ponyville would take her away as well.
**

Twilight awoke the next day, feeling the cold earthen ground. Before she opened her eyes, she faintly wished to be in the middle of camping with her friends, even pausing to hear one of them tell her to wake up. A moment passed in silence and she opened her eyes; she was still surrounded by the burnt ring of bark that was once her home. Her hunger pains still wracked her stomach but they had been greatly dulled by her depression. However, having nothing else she could think to do, she opened up her bag and took out her last cupcake. She held it delicately in her hooves. She smiled sweetly while tears began to form in her eyes. Of course, her smile almost immediately flipped itself.

A part of her now wrestled with either eating the cupcake, or holding onto it as a keepsake from her friend. This dilemma was probably the most difficult one she had ever been given. In the end, her decision was made based on the hope that her friends were still around somewhere. The tears held in her eyes started to flow as she closed her eyes and opened her mouth.]*

Right before she forced the cupcake into her mouth, she heard the flapping of wings. Pegasi? She kept the cupcake firm in her hooves and opened her eyes to look up, fully expecting to see a whole flock of them. At the very least, she hoped to see Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. Above here were certainly winged creatures, and they were definitely familiar, but they were not pegasi. Their wings were much larger, as well as the rest of their bodies. And instead of hooves, they had arms ending in talons and legs ending with paws.

The griffons landed on the ground and surrounded Twilight. Each of them wore a bronze helmet as well as some light armour on the rest of their bodies. They were each equipped with a metal spear. One griffon remained in flight while the others landed in a circle around Twilight. Being unable to back up, Twilight cowered downwards as the griffon still in flight spoke.

“What are you doing here?” the griffon asked in a fairly deep voice.

Such a simple question that was. Wouldn’t a better question be what they were doing there?

“I live here, well, I used to. But what are you doing here?”

“I’m the one asking questions here. Who are you?” the griffon asked, placing one of its clawed hands under its chin.

“My name is Twilight Sparkle and I want to know what happened here. Where is everypony?!” Twilight did not raise her voice in anger, but in desperation to know the true answer.

“Twilight Sparkle? I suppose you do resemble her, but...” The griffon then landed onto the ground right next to Twilight.

“But what?” The griffon then removed her helmet. The feathers on her head were fringed and her eyes each had a large, fiery purple mark around them. She looked bigger and older than Twilight remembered, but the flair she had in taking off her helmet had convinced Twilight who this was. Twilight finally found someone she knew.

“You are Twilight Sparkle?” the griffon asked again.

“Gilda?!” Twilight finally gasped.

“It’s Captain Grizelda, but yes, I was also called Gilda back then.”

“So you are Gilda; you were Rainbow Dash’s friend.” At this, Gilda looked over to the side a bit and then sighed. Gilda’s expression softened for just an instant before turning to look back at Twilight with a hardened stare.

“So, Twilight Sparkle, you have finally revealed yourself.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Seeing as how you have been hiding out for the past eight years, I assume you are well aware of what you’ve caused. So, was it guilt that brought you back?”

“Gilda, what are you going on about? I haven’t been hiding! I was trapped in a cell, and what is this about the last eight years?!”

“Has the guilt from your deed broken your mind? Not surprising, those that suffered because of you also found themselves near the edge of insanity.”

“I don’t understand anything you’re saying! What did I do?! Where is everypony?!” Gilda continued to ignore Twilight’s questions and she signalled to her troops.

“Arrest her!”

“What?!” The griffons immediately advanced and brought their spears to Twilight’s neck. Gilda then reached inside of her armour and took out a ring.

“Do not struggle, Twilight Sparkle; this is the end.” Even if she wanted to, Twilight did not have enough magic left to escape from this bind. Gilda slipped the ring onto Twilight’s horn and then twisted the ring. It made a clicking sound and Twilight felt a shock go through her horn and then the rest of her body. Twilight let out a cry of pain as she felt what little bit of energy she had left completely disappear.

“Why are you doing this?” Twilight asked weakly.

“You have been charged for a number of things; the most notable of which would be conspiracy to end the world. That last one was added to the law just for you.”

“End the world? Why would I do that?!”

Gilda turned her back to Twilight and signalled for her troops to carry her. They withdrew their spears from her neck and two griffons came up to grab her. She quickly tried to think of anything she could to find a way out of this. “Wait, stop! I don’t know what happened earlier! Somepony is up to something and I want to help! Uh, my bag! Yes, in my bag there’s a journal! It might give us some kind of clue!”

“Bring the bag with us,” Gilda coldly ordered. “I suppose it is important to understand your motivations. Well, after your execution, of course.”

“E-execution! That has never happened even once in Equestrian history!” Gilda then turned around and grabbed at Twilight’s neck.

“You!” Gilda began angrily, “You speak to me about Equestria?! You sick and twisted unicorn! It’s because of you that Equestria is no more! You brought forth the great darkness to the world and you try to lecture me on the state of the world?!”

Gilda’s grip tightened around Twilight’s neck and she began to choke.

“We did all we could to try and defeat it, but it was too much. It destroyed countless towns and killed thousands, if not millions of both of our kind!” Gilda’s breathing quickened a bit but then she relaxed her grip. “You know, I’ve heard a little bit about your history. You were Princess Celestia’s most faithful student. How ironic it is that you were the one who brought about her end.”

Gilda let go of Twilight and noticed the cupcake on the ground. She picked it up and rotated it a bit in one of her hands. Twilight was shocked into silence by Gilda’s words. The great darkness? The end of Equestria? The end of Princess Celestia?

Gilda popped the cupcake in her mouth and ate it.

After that, she told the griffons to proceed with her commands and after one of them picked up her bag, they took to the skies. Twilight looked down as the destroyed town slowly got further and further away from her. As terrible as the situation was, Twilight could not shake the sensation that something much more horrible was drawing near.

Chapter 4

“Wake up!” Gilda shouted into Twilight’s ears, the shock causing her to slip off the bed.

“Ah! You don’t need to yell!” Twilight responded, quickly picking herself back up.

“We don’t have time to waste; get ready to join up with Lieutenant-Colonel Lyra.”

“What?”

“Did you forget already? You said you’d fight on the front lines, so you will be joining her squadron.”

“Where’s that?” Gilda turned her eyes up a bit and realized that she forgot to mention it. “Fine, I’ll show you where it is, but that’s it!”

“Can’t I at least get some breakfast first?”

“Come on, let’s go!” Twilight got out of bed and followed Gilda. On the way out, Gilda picked up an apple and gave it to Twilight. “This might be your last meal, so remember it well.”

“Thanks,” Twilight said with a tiny bit of contempt. Gilda led Twilight to her destination and then left without another word. At the barracks she was taken to, there was a large group of ponies wearing light armour standing with spears. Wait, they're standing. A mint green unicorn with a cyan mane streaked with white saw Twilight and went over to her.

“Are you the latest recruit for the BATS?”

“What?”

“BATS: Bipedal Assault Technicians Squadron.”

“Uh, yes.”

“Alright, go inside to pick up the armour you’ll be wearing.” Twilight did as she was told and put on the armour. It was composed of a helmet, chest plate, skirt, armlets, and shin guards. At either side of the skirt, there was a sheath for a dagger. Twilight picked up a couple of daggers and put them in their sheath and then picked up the spear as well, but had difficulty holding it. She was hoping there was something she could use to strap it to her side but there wasn’t any. After a while, Lyra came inside. “What’s taking you so long?”

“Uh, I’m not quite sure how I’m supposed to hold this.”

“Hold it like I am.” Lyra was standing on her hind legs and was holding the spears with her fore hooves.

“How am I supposed to do that?”

“The rest of the BATS can do it.”

“But I just joined today!”

“Well, if you don’t want to die today, I’d suggest learning fast.” It was said without any intended offense, but the seriousness of the situation did make Twilight pause for a bit. Eventually, Twilight got up on her hind legs and tried to balance herself. It was shaky at best and in the end, she used her spear like a cane to keep her balance. “That might be fine for training, but how do you expect to fight like that?”

“Could I get some training first?” Lyra looked at her like she was crazy. “Yeah, I’m sorry. I’ll think of something.” Twilight hobbled after Lyra and she went to the front of the group of armed ponies to make a speech. Twilight looked around and saw that most of the ponies were earth ponies.

“BATS! Today is the day we march forth against our enemies and deal them a decisive blow! We may be small in number, and many of us cannot use magic, but none of that matters! Our enemies are unprepared, and we have never been more ready before in our lives. We have mastered our techniques and no advantage over us in flight or magic will overcome us! Not as long as we fight together! BATS! We are the vanguards of the attack but we are not the most vulnerable. No, we are the ones to be feared the most! They will come to pick us apart, but we will hold strong and drive them into the ground! Our spears, our daggers, our wills! They have all been trained to perfection! Now, BATS, let us go forth and walk the road of victory!” Lyra lifted up her spear high over her head and the rest followed. Then, they all cheered loudly and Twilight tried her best to just lift the spear off the ground for a moment without tipping over.

Outside of Haven, their forces were gathered and Twilight looked around to see the army that had been amassed. Dozens of griffons were perched over the cliff face along with about a dozen or so pegasi. Twilight was with the BATS and she looked around to see the other units. Big Mac and Applejack were surrounded by many large stallions and armoured ponies. Rarity had a pair of binoculars around her neck and was standing just inside of a red tank, the only tank present in the entire army. There were also hundreds of other soldiers all gathered and Shining and his Generals were in the middle of everything.

Last night, a scouting air unit was sent to find traces of Shadowbolt’s forces. The gathered army stood by for the reports. It was probably late in the morning now, but the air was still the same dark grey it always was when the scouts returned. They gave the report to Shining and an order to march was made. Twilight walked on her hind legs with the rest of the BATS, trying to gradually learn to walk like this along the way.

After about a two and a half hour’s march out of the valley, they saw them. Here the skies were black and rumbling with thunder. But, you could see them. Coming from the distance, wearing black and purple, were the pegasi of Shadowbolt’s air force.

“BATS, we’re leading the charge!” Lyra yelled out. They all yelled back in response and broke into a charge. Twilight who had difficult just walking found herself being left behind the rest of the group. The pegasi came diving down and the BATS readied their spears to counter. A spear was long and one of the best weapons to use against enemies coming down, but against the speed of the pegasi, it was usually a toss-up who would win. Dozens of the pegasi came raining down and although several of them were skewered by the spears, many more were either able to knock down the BATS or at least bring it to a level fight.

As Twilight caught up with the rest of the BATS, the griffons above her also engaged the pegasi. Twilight tried to look ahead and saw as a couple of her new comrade were kicked down by the pegasi they were fighting against. She also saw the blood dripping from the spears of others. Twilight knew this was a war, but her first time witnessing this bloodshed left her nauseated. She lost her balance and fell over. When she did, a pegasus came diving right at her, Twilight grabbed her spear but couldn’t get back up. Just as the pegasus was about to smash its hooves right into her body, Lyra came and intercepted the dive, thrusting her spear into the pegasus’ chest. Drops of blood spilled onto Twilight’s face. Lyra pulled her spear out of the dead pegasus and picked Twilight back up.

“Do you want to die today?!” Twilight simply shook her head. “Then fight!” Twilight nodded and charged forward, suddenly perfectly balanced on her two legs. Ahead of her, enough pegasi had landed to already outnumber the BATS by at least two to one. She had never used a spear in her life but there was only one thing to do. She jumped ahead and with her spear straight ahead of her. The pegasus flew back to dodge and a pegasus beside that one tackled her. Twilight fell to the ground again but another BAT next to her drove it away. Twilight got back up and the BATs came closer together. Some of the pegasi tried to charge again, but a wall of spears pierced into its body. Many of the rest of the pegasi started to fly up, preparing to dive down on them again, but in unison, half of the BATs threw their spears into the sky, managing to take down about a dozen pegasi. The BATs then charged forward to either take out the wounded pegasi that had fallen or retrieve their spears. As they did, the other pegasi dived down again. The remaining half of the BATs raised their spears to protect against the attack and the outcome was a mix of skewered pegasi and knocked down BATs. Twilight felt blood flow onto her own hooves as she realized a pegasus had dove right into her spear.

Panicking, she tossed her spear aside and another pegasus dove right into her now that she no longer had any protection. Twilight bruised her back as she was tackled into the ground and lines of the BATS had started to break apart now that even more pegasi had joined the battle. Twilight tried to push the pegasus off of her but it started to pound her with its hooves. Twilight started weeping from both physical and psychological pain as the pegasus beat her. When her survival instinct kicked back in, her first instinct to use magic was met with a tiny electric shock coursing through her body as the ring on her horn reacted. She looked around to see if any other pony could help her but they were all in the middle of their own fights. She even saw pegasi and griffons alike being dragged into the ground in the distance as the battle in the air intensified. Above her, past the snarling pegasus’ masked face, she saw a large burst of magic soar into the sky and explode, dropping a few of the enemy pegasi. The pegasus on top of her then started to strangle the badly beaten unicorn. Twilight tried to grab onto anything with her hooves off of the ground and felt something by her hip. She unsheathed the dagger and stuck into the pegasus’ side. It howled and then Twilight unsheathed her other dagger and stuck that in as well. The howling intensified and Twilight continued to stab the pegasus until it fell off of her on its own. Twilight grimaced before slitting the throat of the dying pegasus. Tears then started to mix with the blood spattered on her face. She was trembling and felt the urge to vomit, but she forced the sensation back down. Her disturbed state of mind had to be disregarded if she wanted to survive. Twilight clenched her teeth and charged back into the fight with the rest of the BATS, her two daggers at the ready.

The fight on the front lines continued as Twilight hacked and slashed at the pegasi whenever she could. To the sides of the BATS were the other units of the army, engaging with other pegasi. As she continued to hear the great explosions of magic in the air and saw the dropping pegasi, she started to believe that they were winning. Then, two streaks of lightning clouds came from the enemy’s side. They went right through a flock and griffons and their now-seared wings caused them to fall to the ground. The two at the heads of the streaks were pegasi wearing black and purple just like any of the others, but Twilight had been around Rainbow Dash long enough to see something familiar about them.
**

In the skies, Gilda, Derpy, and the rest of the air force were fighting against the enemy and Gilda’s stern expression hardened even more at the appearance of the two new pegasi. Another griffon officer came up to the two of them and started talking.

“Looks like Spitfire and Soarin’ finally showed up.”

“I guess Shadowbolt isn’t far behind the two of them, then,” Gilda commented.

“Derpy, Grizelda, can you two deal with them? I will handle Shadowbolt when she comes.”

“No,” Gilda answered.

“What?”

“You two deal with Spitfire and Soarin’; Shadowbolt is mine.”

“Don’t be a fool, Grizelda; Shadowbolt is too much for you to handle.”

“I said I’ll do it!” The griffon was about to speak up again but Derpy held out one hoof.

“I believe in Gilda; if she says she can do it, she can do it.” The griffon growled.

“Fine, but don’t you dare do anything crazy!”

“We’ll see about that.” Gilda flew off far ahead of them, anticipating more pegasi to soon join the battle.

“Well, let’s try to keep the damage to the minimum here.”

“Why can’t we just win?” Derpy said with a crooked smile.
**

Gilda raced past the air battle and tried to find the enemy’s leader. Solitarily perched upon a storm cloud was a pegasus with a black mane and cyan wings. This alone was not distinguishing enough, but no pegasus under Shadowbolt would ever just hang back like that. Gilda charged at Shadowbolt.

“Why are you being so passive?” Gilda asked as she thrust her spear and Shadowbolt dodged.

“Is there a need for me to make a move?” she asked back nonchalantly.

“You might be a bit too far away to see, but we’re beating your Fleet!” Gilda lunged again and Shadowbolt slipped to the side.

“Oh really?” Gilda started to fly after Shadowbolt.

“Yeah, we are. Isn’t that why you sent in Spitfire and Soarin’?” Gilda picked up her speed to catch up to Shadowbolt but she accelerated as well, leaving a streak of darkness behind her.

“I was just thinking you were getting too cocky; trying to beat my Fleet with ground forces.”

“Well, it looks like it’s working.” Shadowbolt suddenly turned around and came charging right at Gilda. “Come and get some!” Gilda stopped in mid-air and prepared her spear. When Shadowbolt got in close, Gilda thrust her spear but Shadowbolt just nearly avoided it and rammed right into Gilda. Gilda lost some height but as Shadowbolt started to fly off, she threw her spear and it grazed one of Shadowbolt’s wings. A few beads of blood flew off from the torn feathers and her flying became unsteady. Gilda accelerated towards Shadowbolt before she could regain her proper flying. Shadowbolt put on a burst of speed, releasing a streak of darkness but Gilda managed to close one claw onto Shadowbolt’s back hoof. The streak of darkness left Gilda with a very foreboding feeling and even made her cough a bit but she held on tight.

“Let go!”

“Not happening!” Shadowbolt tried to shake Gilda off but she continued to hold on, even bringing her other claw to grab on as well. Using her weight, she now started to drag Shadowbolt down onto the ground. Shadowbolt struggled against the griffon but was brought all the way down to the ground. Then, with one more burst of extra speed, Shadowbolt freed herself from Gilda’s grip but ended up crashing into the ground anyways when she lost control. Before she could get back up, Gilda pounced on top of Shadowbolt and pinned her to the ground. Gilda closed one claw around Shadowbolt’s neck and started to squeeze.

“You damn griffon!” Gilda began to strangle the pegasus when she suddenly loosened her grip. Instead, she tore off Shadowbolt’s goggles and head butted the pegasus. The pegasus yelled out in pain. The pegasus’ crimson eyes looked back at the griffon, filled with rage.

“I am not some damn griffon; I have a name.”

“Like I care!” Shadowbolt continued to struggle and Gilda was finding it difficult to keep her pinned on the ground. Gilda head butted the pegasus again.

“My name is Gilda!” Shadowbolt just continued to stare at her angrily. “Doesn’t my name mean anything to you?!” Shadowbolt said nothing and Gilda then ripped off her mask, revealing her face. “Damn it, Dash, remember!”

“My name is Shadowbolt!” With a great amount of force, she broke out of Gilda’s pin and flew up a bit, but Gilda grabbed onto her hoof and threw her back down onto the ground. She then pounced on her again.

“No, it’s not! Your name is Dash! Rainbow Dash!” For an instant, Shadowbolt’s eyes were filled with confusion, but that was quickly replaced by anger again.

“What kind of stupid name is that? I am Marshal Shadowbolt, Commander of the Fleet!” Shadowbolt broke free from Gilda again and this time, she flew far enough away to avoid getting recaptured.

“Come back here, Dash!” Gilda flew up again to resume the chase but saw something coming from the distance. Shadowbolt looked over there as well and smiled.

“Looks like the Brigade is finally here.”

“You brought them?”

“Yeah, and that’s not all.”

“What do you mean, Dash.”

“My name is Shadowbolt. And what I mean is that there is going to be wonderful light show coming up!” The figures in the distance started coming in closer and Gilda began to retreat.

“This isn’t over, Dash! I’ll be back!” she yelled as she flew off. Shadowbolt felt her choked neck and then her unmasked face. She grinded her teeth in anger.

“Go ahead and survive and come back; I will destroy you when you do!”
**

Twilight could tell that the air battle above them was not going as well for them after the appearance of the two new pegasi. On the other hand, the rest of the ground forces were making headway. The earth ponies were slowly driving back the pegasi and the supporting fire from the unicorns and Rarity’s tank further increased their advantage. Things were definitely looking to be in their favour when another magical explosion occurred, but this one was not in the sky. From behind the front lines, a magical explosion happened back where Shining and the Generals were. The pegasi that were fighting against the BATS suddenly flew back and Twilight looked behind her to see what the cause of the explosion was.

Twilight saw dozens of wounded ponies lying on the ground far back and some of them were Shining’s guards. Shining himself looked to be injured and the armoured unicorn from the meeting was standing in front of him, protecting him from the attacker. Trixie’s horn was glowing blue as she fired off another powerful blast at Shining and his guards. They created a barrier that deflected the blast but just from the one attack, it had already cracked.

“BATS, we’re moving back!” Lyra shouted out. Twilight and the rest of the BATS started to retreat towards the middle as the rest of the ground forces held the line for them.

“Why is Trixie doing this?!” Twilight asked aloud. She received no answer as they made their way back. Trixie continued to conjure balls of light and let them fire against everything around her, breaking the barriers by other unicorns and knocking down more of Shining’s guards. Shining’s horn then started to glow itself and at this signal, Trixie began running towards the front lines. Shining fired off a blast at her but she defended with a quick barrier. The only ponies in a good position to intercept her were the BATS. As the two sides came in closer to each other, Trixie conjured a few more balls of light. Twilight considered doing the same but a slight shock reminded her that she could not. Trixie fired off a blast and Lyra jumped ahead of the BATS, creating a barrier. Unfortunately, the barrier could not withstand the attack and Lyra was knocked away by the blast. The rest of the BATS continued their determined charge as Trixie rained down more magical blasts at them. Most of them were earth ponies and the unicorns that were there did not know how to create barriers, making them easy targets. Several at a time, she blasted away until the only ones who finally made it into combat range were Twilight and half a dozen other BATs. The first of them thrust their spears but Trixie blocked the attacks with her barrier. She then sent out a magical shockwave from her barrier that traveled along the barrier and their spears, electrocuting them. The other BATs threw their spears at her and this actually cracked Trixie’s barrier. They charged with their daggers now drawn. They attacked at the weakened barrier and finally broke it. But, when they moved in to attack Trixie, she suddenly teleported away from them and ended right behind Twilight. She kicked Twilight down onto the ground and threw another magical blast at the other BATs. Twilight got back up and swung her daggers at Trixie but she caught both of her hooves with her magic and knocked the daggers out of her hands.

“Surprised, Twilight Sparkle? I didn’t become Lieutenant-General by chance,” Trixie said with a huge smile on her face.

“Trixie, why are you doing this?!”

“Why? For revenge, of course!”

“What do you mean?”

“You and all the rest of you humiliated me all those years ago! You labeled me a fraud! For years I was at the bottom of society and even after struggling for so long, nopony would take me seriously anymore! Nopony would accept me in any way!” Trixie replied in anger. She took a deep breath and calmed her voice down. “But then, something happened. I felt something. At first, it was cold and dark, but then it was warm, so very warm. And with that feeling, I could suddenly use such powerful magic! I became truly talented! I was blessed with a gift!” Trixie's eyes lit up.

“You don’t mean…”

“That darkness found me and it would offer me all of that power if I would just carry out a few of its simple tasks. Become a soldier and help bring about a quicker downfall for its enemies.”

“If that was your mission, why did you wait until now to do it?”

“A personal preference of mine. I could have tried to convince the others to pick the worst option of evacuation, but there would be no satisfaction in that. No, I would go along with your plan. I would go along with the plan of my most-hated unicorn and I would even let it go along perfectly. That way, when I made my move, I can say that I have completely and utterly defeated you and your best plan!”

“Trixie, you would kill other ponies just for some power?” Trixie slapped Twilight in the face and she fell to the ground.

“Just some magic? Oh, so easy for you to say! You were one of the most gifted unicorns to come along in ages! If I didn’t do what I did, I would never have gotten stronger! But, look at me now! I am stronger than the Royal Guard, I am stronger than their Captain, and I am even stronger than you! I am truly great and powerful!” Lyra suddenly lunged at Trixie and she dodged the attack.

“You die today, traitor!” Lyra howled.

“I think not,” Trixie’s whole body started to glow. “Wallow in defeat, Twilight Sparkle; it is done.” Trixie teleported away and the remainder of Shining’s guards and the recovered BATs made their way over to them.

“Are you alright?” Shining asked.

“We are fine, Commander. Shall we continue the charge?” Shining thought to himself as more figured appeared on the battlefield. They were enemy unicorns and they were using fireballs.

“Oh no, it’s the Brigade!” Shining's eyes widened a bit in horror.

“Curses, Shadowbolt must have already asked for reinforcements!”

“Alert everyone; we are making a full retreat!” They all nodded and left. The unicorns started shooting flares into the sky, alerting a retreat. The BATS moved back up to help the front lines make their retreat.
**

As the Brigade entered the battlefield, their officers went over a breakdown of tactics with Shadowbolt.

“So, you say they have a long-range war machine?” A uniformed, purple dragon with green spikes and wearing an eye patch asked.

“Yes, Major,” a pegasus officer replied.

“Hey, I’m the leader here!” A maroon dragon announced. The purple dragon folded his arms.

“Yes, we are well aware, Lieutenant-Colonel,” the Major responded.

“I don’t care which one of you is in charge; just get rid of all of those annoying ponies!” Shadowbolt shouted.

“We’ll just burn them all up; what else is there?” spoke the maroon dragon. The purple dragon patiently waited for his advice to be counseled for. Shadowbolt looked at the maroon dragon cock-eyed and waited for someone to actually say something smart. The maroon dragon sighed and nudged the purple one.

“Well, our greatest difficulty will be the war machine. I do not think our fireballs will be enough against it. We should use the special bombs we have made to destroy it.”

“So, we get the unicorns to use the bombs on it?” Shadowbolt asked.

“No, an aerial assault will be much more effective.” The purple dragon then went to pick up a couple of spherical bombs from the wagon. “I will help lead the attack if you wish.” The maroon dragon picked up the bombs out of the purple dragon’s hands and took them for himself.

“Oh no, I know what you’re trying to do! You are trying to make yourself look good! You wait here and stay on standby while me and the rest of the guys blow up the tank!” The other dragons laughed and the purple dragon silently moved back.

“Whatever, just get it done!”

“Hey, don’t get all high and mighty on us, Shadowbolt! Fafnir is our Commander, not you!” The maroon dragon said as he waited for the four other dragons to each pick up a pair of bombs. They all then took flight and went off towards the front lines.
**

The ground forces began their retreat and Rarity’s tank stayed at the front to help the retreat. As the unicorns came in closer, Rarity yelled out her instructions to the crew below her. Inside the tank were the Flim Flam brothers, Applebloom, and Braeburn. Applebloom was no longer a filly; in fact she was nearly as big as Rarity now. The Flim Flam brothers were in the back of the tank infusing magic into the machine and controlling the levels of power that went into the cannon. Applebloom was in the centre, driving the tank and repeating Rarity’s instructions as necessary. Controlling the cannon was Braeburn in the front.

The cannon fired and blasted away several of the oncoming unicorns. Then, Rarity spotted several large figures flying towards them. They were young adult dragons. They were individually almost as large as the tank that they controlled.

“Dragons incoming! Adjust the cannons upward 17 degrees and fire!” Braeburn adjusted the cannon and fired. However, the dragons managed to dodge the blast. Rarity hit the side of the tank. “It missed! Move the cannon 8 degrees to the left and fire!” Braeburn obeyed and fired, but the shot missed once again. “Curses!” Rarity focused her binoculars on just one dragon to see what they were up to. It was difficult to see, but she saw the bombs that they carried. The dragons were coming in close and they would probably only be able to fire a few more shots before they would be right on top of them. Just then, a unicorn came running up from behind the tank and jumped onto it, right next to Rarity. Rarity was about to say something to her when she focused her eyes on the dragons and barked out a command in an almost robotic voice.

“Braeburn, adjust the cannon 2 degrees down and 3 degrees to the left and fire!” Braeburn did as she said and fired. The blast managed to hit one of the dragons right as it suddenly changed direction. The blast caused the bombs it carried to explode and caused the maroon dragon behind it to also get knocked down to the ground. The maroon dragon dropped its bombs onto the Brigade unicorns below, exploding upon impact. The resulting carnage halted the advance of some of the ground forces below. The remaining three dragons in the air spread apart.

“Sweetie!”

“No time, sister. Braeburn, move the cannon 5 degrees down and 4 degrees to the left and fire!” The cannon fired again and landed another hit. Without even waiting for the dragon's corpse to fall to the ground, Sweetie Belle gave the next instructions. “3 degrees down and 6 degrees to the right and fire!” Braeburn quickly readjusted the cannon to fire and once again the shot landed just as the dragon was changing direction. The final maroon dragon however was getting very close and started diving towards the tank. “15 degrees up and 3 degrees to the right and fire!” The dragon accelerated towards the tank as the cannon readjusted. Less than twenty yards away, the cannon fired and Rarity put up a barrier over the tank right after it fired. The blast hit the dragon dead on and flames from the exploding bombs scattered over the barrier.

“Sweetie, what are you doing up here?! Go back with the rest of the troops!”

“I expected that there would be some difficulty in acquiring the aerial targets; I was very concerned.” Sweetie Belle looked up at Rarity with her big eyes and Applebloom inside of the tank spoke up.

“Thanks for the help, Sweetie Belle!” Sweetie looked down inside the tank.

“You are welcome, Applebloom.”

“Thank you kindly for the help!” Flim said. Rarity sighed.

“Yes, thank you, too, Sweetie. Come on, let’s head back with the rest.”

“Roger!” Applebloom started putting the tank in reverse when something started coming racing toward them. The maroon dragon who was knocked back by the blast was back up and flying in low towards the tank. Sweetie’s eyes focused in on the dragon and she quickly called out more instructions.

“23 degrees down and 2 degrees to the right and fire!” Braeburn changed the angle of the cannon and fired but surprisingly, the shot missed. Less surprisingly, the shot also had a lot less power, as even the inside of the tank started to overheat. Just as the shot was fired, the maroon dragon’s flying faltered a bit and it dipped down very low to the ground. “4 degrees down and 1 degree to the left and fire!” Braeburn readjusted again and fired but nothing came out; the tank needed to cool down first. But before that, maroon dragon was already right at the tank. Rarity intensified the barrier as the dragon started slashing at it with its claws.

“You damn ponies! I’ll kill you all!” The claws began to scratch at the barrier and Sweetie tried to jump at the dragon but the barrier wouldn’t let her escape.

“Rarity, let me out of the barrier; I can knock the dragon back into the cannon’s range!”

“No, Sweetie!”

“But if we don’t, it will break through!”

“That dragon will tear you apart!”

“That dragon will get all of us if we don’t do something right now!” Rarity’s face tightened as she concentrated harder to keep the barrier up.

“I’m not going to let you go out alone!”

“Rarity…” The dragon’s claws began to dig into the barrier and the cracks began to widen. Rarity hugged Sweetie close to her.

“We stay together from here on out…” The maroon dragon’s claw sunk in deeper into the barrier and it lifted up its other claw to take another swipe at the barrier. Then, Lyra suddenly jumped on top of the dragon and thrust her spear into one of the dragon’s wings. It let out a roar and shook her off. Lyra rolled along the ground and got back up. The maroon dragon took the spear out of its wing and tossed it aside. Lyra unsheathed her daggers and motioned for the dragon to come at her. The dragon accepted her challenge and she smiled.

“Fire!” Rarity yelled out. The cannon fired (now charged up again) and hit the dragon from behind. The dragon fell to the ground with its wings destroyed. Lyra quickly ran up to it and cut into the dragon’s neck with her daggers to finish it off. The scales would have made the attack futile if not for the fact they had already melted away. “Reverse and don’t stop!” Applebloom began backing up the tank and Lyra jumped on top of the tank. They were the only ones left on the front lines and they saw a flare being shot up from behind the enemy lines. The Fleet and Brigade stopped pursuing and started to move back. The battle was over.