Where the moon becomes brighter

Chapter 11: Deception and revelations.

Concord stood in front of a window inside a tower in Canterlot castle, resting his arms on it as he stared at the almost innumerable forces outside in the night, even the dreaded Landkreuzer P 1000 Ratte would take part in the assault against them. He let out a loud sigh and rubbed his eyes, he knew the Imperium's legacy was about to end.

"Will it all end now?" Asked Celestia, who was in the same room.

"Even in this situation I'm not going to give up...It's still unbelievable that the Empire and the Emperor that battled two world wars, defeated two Goddesses and the God of Chaos himself could fall in such a manner this quickly..."

A pony walked through the door inside with a radio on his metallic gauntlet and approached Concord. "It's for you, sir." He handed the radio to Concord and left the room the way he arrived.

"Concord." The voice of Chaser could be heard through the radio, but Concord did not answer at all. "Concord, talk to me." Chaser asked, but Concord still gave no answer. "I didn't want to kill Charon and you know it..."

"Yet that didn't stop you at all, it seems."

"He was as important to me as he was to you!"

"Not only you shot that THING at him back at Zero's house, you even shot him twice with that other THING you have here and dropped a CASTLE on him--"

"I didn't know he'd not regenerate!!" Silence ensued between the two immortals, Concord hated Chaser for killing Charon, and Chaser was sorrowful that he killed maybe the only person he could understand. "Give up now...You're not heading anywhere like this..."

Concord sighed once again and stared at the ceiling for a moment. "I'll give up when I turn into ashes." He answered before throwing the radio away and walking out of the room.

Celestia walked over to the radio and picked it up. "Chaser, are you there?"

"Will Concord ever give up...?"

"He's traumatized, there's nothing left to do..."

"I've heard Charon and Concord met at the end of the First Great Pony War, and even afterwards they were rather busy fighting...Isn't he overreacting?"

"It's more complicated than that, you know Concord is the son of Discord, right?"

"I heard."

"Concord was raised in a land where ponies were tortured and treated as slaves, and he hated every single moment of his life there, he wanted to stop his father but that's because he couldn't outright destroy him. After Discord was stopped for the first time by Luna and me he ran off to the north and founded Kunatanah, gathering strength and ponies, trying to make the land he dreamed of, but then Discord reappeared and we were corrupted. He sided with Discord at first or else he'd have been defeated quickly, but he planned to betray him and restore order when the time was right. That would have taken more than a thousand years but then Charon arrived and stood against Discord with his Terran Empire and his allies, he defeated my corrupted side, but was defeated by Corrupted Nightmare moon, Concord decided to fight her and send Charon to fight against Discord, and surprisingly he won. That's why Concord owes him everything, if it wasn't for him Concord would have had to live the torture and suffering of every single pony he sees for a thousand years again."

"That's rather depressing..."

"It keeps going. Once Executor appeared he thought this would be the last war in this world, Executor was the one who turned Charon suicidal to begin with, if he was taken care of harmony would return. After that, you appeared and declared war--"

"I'm starting to regret that decision..."

"Don't, remember that me and Luna were the same way and she turned into Nightmare moon. As I was saying, once you appeared and declared war he became annoyed, but was confident that this would truly be the last event since you were the last Terran in this world. But then Charon died...And his mind sunk into depression, just like Luna..."

"Luna too? Why?"

"Luna..." She hesitated a bit to let the words out. "...Luna loved Charon..." She waited for Chaser's response, but seeing as he was not going to answer anyways she cut the radio and placed it on a table nearby. At that moment, Concord arrived with a machine-gun and a backpack filled with ammo, enough to be unable to close the zipper. He walked over to the window and placed the bipod of the gun on the sill, took out a belt of bullets and loaded the gun, but as soon as he finished he heard a loud roar coming from above in the night. He peeked out of the window and looked above to see the silhouette of twelve dragons being led by another giant black dragon among the snowflakes that fell, he shrugged it off thinking it was part of the dragon migration that happens once in a while and moved his head inside the tower again.

"From a single city, to an entire Empire..." A familiar voice echoed inside the tower, originating from the radio. That voice went to every single radio in the Imperium's side, even the loudspeaker installed in the castle, everpony could hear the voice that was none other than Charon's. Concord suddenly turned his head to the radio on the table with his eyes wide open, Celestia just smiled. "I have taken care of these lands ever since I have arrived, every single challenge I have overcome through sweat and blood. I have been there when my people needed me the most: When the corruption threatened to send the world into madness, when the two Goddesses most ponies had faith on had been corrupted and controlled, when the Terran that puts Discord to shame invaded our homes...I've always been there, and now that we're at war once again with a Terran, Death smiled and stared at me, but to leave this place when I was needed? Nuts. Be it pain, fear, exhaustion or even death, I won't leave this world ever again." Concord was still petrified, his eyes didn't even blink and his jaw was shaking.

"C-...Charon...!!! You're alive...!!" He still couldn't believe what was going on, but a loud crash outside startled him enough to break out of his shock. "What--!?" He looked again outside below at the dark and snowy field, only to see a cloud of dust that originated merely seconds ago. Out of the dust, a dark red steel war machine drove out and began firing, completely unscratched by the fall. Confused, he looked above, he saw the same thirteen dragons again but this time more of the dark red tanks fell, being dropped by the dragons to the ground, creating a cloud of dust and a crater as they fell, but moving and firing as if nothing happened at all. "What the hell is going on?!"

"Rise up, brothers and sisters!! The imperium shall not fall this day!!" The words of Charon echoed all over Canterlot.

"Well, looks like all the tanks were released." Said Luna, her and Charon were on top of the giant black dragon flying through the sky.

"True..." Charon replied before turning to the dragon. "I want the dragons to take care of the artillery surrounding the Landkre--...That big machine over there." Being technical with the dragon would be useless, he'd not know what a Landkreuzer was.

"Understood."

"Hey Charon, there's something left." She said as she walked closer and closer to Charon with a smile.

"That's...Rather creepy, Luna..."

"Boo." She pushed Charon with enough strength to make him lose balance and fall down below, then she herself jumped down.

"WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?!!" Charon yelled as he fell through the clouds in the night. Once he landed on the ground head-first, he realized he received no injuries, he didn't even feel the momentum suddenly stopping. He stood up and looked at his arms and legs, he didn't have a single scratch.

"Confused?" Asked Luna as she landed on her feet with the same effect.

"What just happened?"

"Remember back in the castle, when I casted a spell and refused to explain?"

"Uh-huh...?"

"It consists of the removal of almost all inertia, sadly it only works once so if you fall again like that you'll break your neck-- WATCH OUT!!" She screamed as she tackled Charon to the ground making both fall, avoiding a tank shell that flew close to them and exploded behind.

One of Luna's tanks moved forwards and placed itself in front of the two immortals, covering them from fire while returning it. Charon and Luna stood up, he quickly reached his gun only to realize that he actually didn't have one.

'It's good to see Luna happy again...Has she told Charon about her feelings already? Heh, I think she did.' Celestia thought as she look outside the window towards the two immortals who stood behind the tank. Concord suddenly ran outside the room, his footsteps loud enough to gain Celestia's attention.

Concord rapidly descended the staircase of the tower with feverish haste, until he reached the castle's main hall. He continued running towards the main doors and crossed them, reaching the outside part of the castle where the moonlight was the only thing illuminating the scenery. In the field in front of the castle on the road the thirteen T-90's Charon brought with him rampaged mercilessly, destroying everything in their path without taking a single loss, even the dragons took part in the battle.

"The battle's in our favor! Push the attack!!" Concord yelled while climbing on top of a T-34. The engine started generating more noise and began moving with the rest of the tanks and infantry, charging to the rest of the enemy lines and the landkreuzer that towered over the horizon. Halfway through the field, Charon and a T-90 decided to join the charge, driving full speed past Concord while the Terran waved his hand at him, then the other dark red machines followed, their speed was far higher than what the WW2 model tank allowed.

Charon's leading tank received a hit, a cloud of dust followed engulfing the tank due to the explosion but the unscratched machine drove forwards out of the smoke with Charon still intact. "Concord, I want everything around the Landkreuzer neutralized!" He brought his hand to his mouth and whistled, the giant black dragon appeared and flew right next to him matching the tank's speed. "Take me to that thing's top!"

"Understood." The dragon answered, he grabbed Charon with his claw, flew a little higher and threw the Terran towards the landkreuzer's top once he was directly above it.

The resulting impact of Charon landing on the metallic surface of the Landkreuzer surrounded by Kaiserreich's ponies was enough to dent the armor a few centimenters and distract them to focus on him. That distraction worked wonders on allowing Luna and the imperial infantry to climb the tank without being turned into swiss cheese by the several machine gun emplacements on the metallic beast. Charon desperately fought and endured the bullets enough for the ponies and the princess of the night to join the fight on top of the tank.

"T-90's to the left flank, rest of you to the right flank! Surround the Landkreuzer and eliminate any opposition, double time!!" Concord yelled while firing his machine gun at the hundreds and hundreds of soldiers in front of him. Just as the main fighting began with shells and bullets flying left and right, the Landkreuzer began moving backwards and the ponies of the Grey Army began to back off.

The battle progressed rather smoothly: The strength of the T-90's, the Imperial morale rising due to Charon being still alive and Kaiserreich cowering for the same reason was enough to send them retreating with only the first charge.

"Focus fire on the Landkreuzer's tracks! Don't let it get away!" Yelled concord. Every single tank turned their turrets to the giant tracks of the dark grey machine, firing their shells in unison until the tracks finally gave in, immobilizing the Landkreuzer. This gave Charon, Luna and the forces on top of the Landkreuzer more time to break inside and capture the machine.

Time passed, the Landkreuzer was immobilized, and soon enough it ceased to move its giant turret completely. Charon, Luna and the hundred ponies that moments ago stormed inside ran out and jumped off the Landkreuzer even quicker, as if they were running away from something. The reason was understood a split second later, the giant machine exploded raining debris everywhere and pretty much signalling the defeat of Kaiserreich's assault force. Concord covered his head with his arm once he felt the explosion and lowered it in surprise.

"What happened?!" Concord asked Charon, who had landed near enough for the sound to get through.

"That thing self-destructed!! Chaser wasn't there, he must be with the forces that are running!"

"Want my unit to pursue?"

Charon silently stared at the red army mobilizing and chasing the routing units in the distance as he sat on the floor, still recovering from the explosion. "Tell everypony to capture the routers, let's both head to the castle now." He walked towards the tank Concord stood on.

"Hey Charon I forgot to tell you something."

"What is it, brother?" He asked with a silly smile on his face.

Concord suddenly jumped towards him and began strangling him with all his might, making the Terran choke on his own words. "YOU MAGNIFICENT BASTARD I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD!! HAHAHAAAH WHAT AN ENTRANCE YOU MADE HERE!!"

"C-Con...You're chok--choking me!! Bre--Breath!! A...Ir!!!"

"Both of you, stop it already." Luna giggled, walking up to the wrestling show.

"Glad to see you're back again too, Luna!" Concord cheered, still not letting go of Charon, who had passed out already. "You better explain yourself later, Char...I knocked him out, didn't I?"

"How many prisoners?" Asked Charon in Canterlot Castle's main hall in front of the table, several of the Imperium's reimaining officers, Celestia and Luna were there, but Concord was nowhere to be seen.

"Ten thousand approximately."

"Ponies involved and casualties?"

"Kaiserreich deployed fifteen thousand ponies, incluiding tanks, artillery and the Landkreuzer. The Imperium's last three thousand soldiers that weren't defeated already stood here. Kaiserreich lost a total of 12,400 ponies, of which 10,000 were captured and 2,400 KIA, the rest routed and the Landkreuzer destroyed. The Imperium lost only 800."

Charon raised his hand and started rubbing his bearded chin at the results. "Was Chaser present in the conflict?"

"He isn't among the prisoners, and interrogating a few revealed that he didn't leave his capital at all."

"His capital...What is it called anyways? I can't really remember."

"Marerlin, sir."

Charon raised his hand further and rubbed his nosebridge. 'So interested in German history he named his own capital a variant of Berlin...?' "Did he name that capital himself?"

"No sir, it was named like that since before the three Terrans arrived."

'Well that's a creepy coincidence...' Charon thought as he lowered his hand to his mouth and his eyes widened slightly. "We're going to invade Marerlin directly." The room stood silent at Charon's words, everyone thought he had gone nuts now. "What?"

"You're crazy..." Started talking an officer. "Not only is that almost impossible with our current resources, it would serve of no purpose!!"

"You want a purpose? This is a purpose: We capture Chaser, he surrenders, this war ends."

"And if we fail?!"

"It's still better than sitting on our asses expecting to turn the entire tide of the war here. Canterlot is the only Imperial territory standing, remember? Hell, Canterlot is the Imperium right now."

The officer backed off, seeing as both decisions were desperate. "Fine...How do you plan on getting to a different continent entirely?"

"I'm the lord of the dragons, well actually I just command them but the title's good too."

"Dragons?! Hah! As if!"

"You mean you haven't seen those giant things in battle a few hours ago?"

"I saw, but I'm pretty sure they'd just be taking advantage of the carnage to get food. You expect me to believe that you can tame an entire nest of creatures that are five times as big as you?"

Charon let out a loud sigh and rubbed his nosebridge, then he whistled inside the room. At first the officers didn't know what its purpose was, but once Luna covered her head with her arms they knew it wasn't just for show. A loud and deafening whistle followed by a rough noise and the castle shaking a bit was heard and felt, filling the officers with anxiety as they stared at the broken glass part of the ceiling where snow fell. The room was darkened by the giant black dragon landing on the roof, the claws of his feet looming over the ceiling, accidentally tearing off a piece of cement, making it fall and break the table, thus scaring the officers enough for them to back off considerably, one was even cowering in a corner.

"You called?" Asked the dragon.

"Yes, hold up a moment." Charon answered before turning to the officer that talked before, his eyes were wide with terror, but most importantly, awe that Charon could do something almost impossible: Take command of an entire nest of dragons. "Is this enough proof?"

The officer nodded, his words couldn't escape his mouth.

"Good. Luna, can you make more of those tanks?"

"Of course, I make them out of darkness."

"Splendid. Are there any other nests that you know of?" Charon asked the dragon.

"Of course, they don't answer to me yet but it won't be hard to...'Convince' them."

"How many exactly?"

"I hold no knowledge of that. What I know, however, is that they're enough to darken the skies. Maybe literally."

"Go and ask for their help then."

"At once."

"Fillies and gentlecolts, rest and eat well, we'll step into Hell soon." Charon told everypony in the room.

Concord stood in front of Discord's statue in Canterlot's garden, confused because of everything he had been told, it's as if he knew nothing even though he lived as long as the two princesses. After a minute of meditation, he reached his hand to Discord's forehead and tried to unpetrify it, unsure if it was in his power or not. He was slightly surprise once he succeeded.

"Ugh...This again?" Discord sighed, seeing as once again his head was the only thing not petrified. "Hello Concord, need something?" He asked in a snarky tone.

"Two months ago, Charon turned to ashes. If he didn't die, then why did that happen?"

"...What?" Discord asked, not knowing of anything that had happened.

Concord sighed and rubbed his nose bridge with his fingers. "A castle crumbled on top of him, he was crushed and buried under a pile of rocks. Then, he turned into ashes and disappeared, we thought he died back then but now he's alive and well. Why did he turn into ashes instead of regenerating like he always did?"

"Fine, fine...This kind of Immortality I granted doesn't turn the bearer into an indestructible being, so whenever the immortal is split, loses a limb, or whatever may happen, the now useless part turn into ashes and disappears while the other regenerates."

"That makes sense to an extent, but it doesn't answer why his entire body disappeared. He told me he regenerated out of a single tooth, wouldn't it have been easier to regenerate out of the parts that were unburied? Not only that, when he was thrown into lava his skeleton didn't even melt, how did he manage to achieve that and where did he get the energy to do so?"

"Too many questions, son. Give me the details, what happened exactly with that castle incident?"

"He was buried entirely by stones, the ponies unburied his hands before they turned into ashes."

"For how long was he was buried to the point his hands were revealed?"

"About 10 minutes, maybe more."

"I see...The mechanism might have been activated already then..."

"What mechanism?"

"There's a self-defence mechanism in the immortality I granted both him and Chaser, one part of their body is literally indestructible, Charon's was the tooth he talked about. After he regenerated, the indestructibleness that covered the...How do Terrans call that...? Ah yes, the calcium, his regeneration caused the invulnerability to spread out to his entire skeleton, that's why it didn't melt when he was thrown to the lava you spoke of."

"And the energy to do so? It couldn't have happened out of nothing."

"Ahhh...The power of a 'Discordian Immortal'...Such a fascinating, yet life-threatening mechanism..." Discord started to brag, Concord narrowed his eyes with confusion and worry once he heard the words 'life-threatening'. "You might not believe what I'm about to say, and I wouldn't blame you...An Immortal uses everything at his disposal. It might look as he had nothing to regenerate, as if he just 'got better' out of nothing, but in fact he uses what the naked eye can't see and it's all over the place: The atoms themselves." Concord was surprised that Discord actually thought about such complex things, him being the God of Chaos. "The immortality both Chaser and Charon hold makes them walking Nuclear Fusion Reactors, in Terran terms..."

"Wait, what?! You mean whenever Charon turn black and his eyes red it meant he was about to explode?!!?"

"No, the dark colour is the 'waste' of the energy production mixed with his sweat. It all goes directly to the skin and dissipates in the air, thus giving him that 'dark aura'. The red eyes are because of the blood vessels being stressed so much."

"That's insane..."

"If it looks insane, but it works, then it's not insane."

"Charon and Chaser are walking nukes then?!"

"Hahah, yes and no...The process of energy gathering is automated just like the heartbeats, but should something break their limits, something that could send them berserk...Remember how Charon turned into a shadow and his eyes red when he fought against me? Remember how he also turned into that when he killed Executor? That's not even a fraction of their true power, demonic strength and determination aren't their only ability...Remember how Charon was defeated without effort by the corrupted Nightmare Moon? In the berserk state I talked about, he'd be able to defeat literally hundreds of corrupted Nightmare Moons all by himself...And nopony would be able to stop that blinding fury from destroying all life in this world..."

"Why would you give them something like that then?!!?"

"Terrans are bloodthirsty and vengeful creatures, their hatred can not be matched by anything in this world nor in the other, I thought it would be a failsafe should my plans be threatened, but I guess it wasn't enough to break him, thus I failed."

"What kind of failsafe would senging two walking nukes berserk be?!!?"

"Ever heard of the saying 'Either I rule or nopony does'?"

"You're crazy..."

"God of Chaos, remember?"

Concord quickly petrified him back, he realized Discord had planned far worse things for Equestria. Worse yet, one of his plans was still in danger of being executed: Either Chaser or Charon going berserk. He didn't know much about Chaser, but considering the things he had gone through in Terra he could do nothing but hope he wouldn't go Berserk. He shifted his priority to Charon, thinking about what could be his 'Berkserk trigger'. He was suicidal to begin with, there isn't much for him to lose, and even if he loses this war his Empire would be in good hands. The Empire was taken out of the question, but Concord suddenly realized something: Charon had only one thing left in this world, and that was Luna; should anything happen to her, Hell would break loose. He knew Luna doesn't have the same kind of Immortality Chaser or Charon have, he knew nothing of her capabilities nor limits, the only thing left would be to keep an eye on her and prevent any real threat from reaching her at all cost, it wasn't an exaggeration that the entire world might depend on her safety.

3 days later, in pitch black darkness...

Concord stood on top of a tank being carried by a dragon in the sky, being part of a group that included hundreds and hudreds of dragons and tanks, flying towards the Kaiserreich capital city of Marerlin. They traveled over land and ocean until they reached Kaiserreich's continent to the far north, which was far colder than the Imperium.

'If something happens to her...' Concord thought, staring at Luna who sat on top of the same dragon that also carried Charon, 'How will Charon react?' He lowered his vision to the icy lands that were present several kilometres below him. 'Has my father really given him the power to destroy everything?' He turned his sight to Charon, who was standing with his arms crossed, his longcoat flowing with the wind. 'Even Chaser...'.

"Hey Concord, you ok?" Charon asked, seeing as he was staring at him.

"Uhhh yeah, uhh..." He desperately tried to think up of an excuse. "It's freezing here, I'm surprised the water of these parts didn't freeze, you sure this was the right choice?"

"I didn't plan an entire campaign here, just a single attack. I thought I made it clear already."

"I'm spacing out lately, can't get used to this being the last chance we have..." Charon turned his head to the front once again, Concord had managed not to get his entire attention. He didn't know how Charon would react if he was told he was a walking nuke, holding the power to destroy everything and everypony whether he liked it or not. 'Capture Chaser, the war ends...Simple enough, I hope. I don't expect him to have anything to harm Luna anyways.'

The night was illuminated by powerful lights coming from below in the city, followed by the distinctive trace of several anti-air guns. "Fly faster, dammit!! Evade!!" Charon screamed at the dragons who scattered while still pursuing their objective.

"Charon, how far till the castle?!"

"30 Kilometres at most, we--" He was interrupted by an anti-air shell hitting one of the dragons, making it fall from the skies. "Forget it, we move on land!! I want every tank dropped and the dragons supporting them!!" He yelled, at his command every tank was released and started falling. Luna, Concord and him jumped down from where they were and dove down below. Every single dragon scattered and shot themselves to the guns that rained hell.

Charon landed with his feet, destroying the skin but not the bone, but his pain was mitigated by the situation while his blood-drenched boots regenerated. "We need to capture Chaser, not the city! Rush to the castle, ignore everything else!!" He yelled as he got on top of a tank, opened the hatch and jumped inside. Concord ran up to the same tank and jumped to the machinegun installed on the outside.

"Space for one more?" Luna asked, jumping on top of yet the same tank.

"Move it fatties!! Hell waits for no one!!" Charon yelled through the radio, speeding up the tank and making the tracks almost slip on the snow and ice. The hundreds and hundreds of machines followed his lead through the city, taking damage but moving forward through hell and back in Marerlin in pursue of Chaser.

"They're everywhere!!" Concord screamed, blindly firing the MG he held, there were was so much opposition he could fire anywhere and not even miss.

"Tank traps to the front!" Yelled Luna, pointing at it.

"See if I care!!" Charon retorted, aiming the turret and firing at the tank traps destroying a few, the machine gathered far more speed than before and rammed through the remaining defences managing to break through, the tanks behind him followed lead through the gap. They had reached the main street of the city and the castle was in sight at the end, but what was also seen was almost the entire army waiting for them. "Phantom division break through the right side of the city and flank them, Revenant division push forward, Ghost division and dragons deep-strike them!!"

At his command, one third of the entire tank force split to the right side of the city while the other two thirds stood their ground. The hundred dragons arrived from the sky and picked up another third of the tanks with Charon, Luna and Concord, then the remaining forces began pushing forwards. The dragons and their machines flew higher and higher and began circling above the main formation, until they threw with all their might the tanks they were carrying.

"I hate this tactic dammit!!" Desperately screamed Concord while clinging to the tank that was thrown. It impacted the ground, sending Concord flying and the tank spinning, Luna was nowhere to be found. "Where's Luna?!" He asked, she was one of the most important factors in this battle.

"She'll be fine, get shooting!!" Charon talked through the radio, the tank positioning in front of him and absorbing the bullets, they had landed in the middle of thousands and thousands of forces anyways. Concord shook his head and stood up, he looked around to see where they were; he realized they were outside the castle, they had reached their objective.

"You live up to your title, Charon." A voice was heard through Charon's and Concord's radio, it was none other than Chaser's. "I'm surprised you decided to take the fighting to my grounds."

"Hah, friendship aside we still have a score to settle!!"

"You're crazy, and you know it. What did you want to accomplish with this?"

"Isn't it obvious? We capture you and force you to surrender, the war ends and we're all happy again."

"Just like in Terra, once again you have nothing to lose...Hmph, so be it."

The castle's walls crumbled, startling Charon and Concord who didn't expect such event. Out of the debris, several tanks with a particular design drove out, engaging the T-90's but this time causing considerable damage.

"Leopard II's!?" Charon yelled.

"Leo--what??" Concord asked, confused.

"They're on the same level as these tanks, but they are of German design instead of Russian!! That crazy bastard prepared even more surprises even though my side was done for! Dammit, tank's hit! Bail out!!"

Charon desperately jumped out of the tank with the other ponies that crewed it, but Concord's sight was fixed on another matter. In the fog, snow and dust of the night, the silhouette of a Terran walked towards them, that silhouette was Chaser who held a G36C on his hands, and strangely enough nopony was fighting him, as if it was a matter between two Emperors, not of an army.

"Is it really over almost...?" Chaser spoke. "The Third Great Pony War that would let the best rule the world...?"

"And here it is settled, in the freezing lands of the north, such a nice field for an event that'd change the world as we know it one way or the other..."

The gunshots and explosions became less and less frequent while they talked, until the battle had reached a standstill. Both sides were focused on the two Terrans at this point.

Both Terrans charged at eachother and tried to hit the other with their fist, only to be blocked. Both were blocking eachother while also trying to deal the blow.

"May the best Emperor win." Chaser said behind his gasmask.

"Indeed."

"It's going to end with you two exchanging blows?" Asked a rather strange Terran-looking figure on the top of the castle.

"...The hell is that thing?" Asked Charon looking above, both he and Chaser had stopped fighting and focused on this unknown guest.

"Your guess is as good as mine." Answered Chaser.

"Oh, you stopped fighting? What a shame..." The silhouette jumped down of the castle but its fall was slowed down by a pair of insectoid wings it sported. Upon closer look it was a female Terran of pale skin, green hair and eyes, with ragged black clothes and a crooked black sword strapped to her belt. "Well, time to present myself. My name is Chrysalis, Queen of the Changelings." She explained while bowing.

'Another Terran...' Chaser, Charon and Concord thought in unison. "Are you another Terran?" Chaser asked, confused by the fact she actually had insectoid wings.

"Hah, no. I am a Changeling, if you didn't hear well."

"Why are you here then? There's nothing of your interest in this place."

"You say that, yet you don't know of anything..."

"Explain yourself, who exactly are you and why are you here?!" Charon asked.

"Hmph." Chrysalis smiled. She lifted her hand and snapped her fingers, at this sound the entire force that Charon was commanding earlier began shooting at Chaser's side, but strangely enough they were ignoring the two Terrans, the Draconequus and the Changeling Queen.

"Hold it! Hold it!!" Charon desperately ordered, but his orders were not listened. "What did you do?!" He asked Chrysalis.

"Fire back!!" Ordered Chaser, seeing as they wouldn't stop shooting.

"I've been keeping an eye on the three of you even before you were brought to this world..." She explained. "I've engineering every single event up to this point, and the three of you didn't suspect a thing..." The red army suddenly flared with a green light, then it revealed an army of black pony-looking creatures with holes in them, piercing blue eyes and insectoid wings.

"What the hell?!" Charon asked surprised, Chaser and Concord shared his surprise.

"Let us start with the basics, because by this point there's nothing you can do to stop me. You, Executor and Chaser weren't brought into this world by sheer accident, remember that light that struck the three of you in your world? I was responsible for that."

"How did you manage to get three Terrans from another plane of existence entirely into this one?! That's impossible and you know it!!"

"I'm the Queen of the Changelings, remember? Me and my loyal subjects used our magic to bring you into this world, sadly that 'Pool of Magic' was depleted so I was stuck with the three of you. The location that you appeared in wasn't a coincidence either...The three of you were far away enough not to notice each other for a long time."

"Why did you bring us here?!"

"My plans, my dear fool...To sum everything up, my subjects need a place to stay in and creatures full of love to feed on. Thanks to the two of you and Executor, this world is weak enough for me to capture it."

"You planned everything? The three world wars?!"

"Everything to the slightest detail. You see, in the first world pony war without my meddling you'd have defeated Discord easily, I needed to weaken you enough to struggle with the rest of your story. First world war, I deceived Discord to grant the two of you immortality and avoid Executor being granted it. Of course I didn't deceive him directly, I just engineering several events for him to consider that option, and so I succeeded. Later, in the battle of Cloudsdale you remember, notice how that officer that you sent for reinforcements arrived and told you they were defeated didn't actually tell you how?"

"If he had told me I could have prepared better for the war...You managed to convince him to betray me, right?"

"Not entirely." She transformed herself into that officer from decades ago. "I was that pony." Charon, Chaser and Concord opened their eyes wide at the fact that Chrysalis could change shapes, that would mean she could have been anywhere and they wouldn't have noticed. "It wasn't the fact that you didn't prepare well enough that you almost lost, I had my subjects transform into important figures in your army and cause confusion and disorder, enough for them to lose many battles." She said as she walked around them in her Terran form again as they stared at the revelations. "You beat Celestia, go to the moon, fight Discord, ding dong the warlock is petrified but at a great cost, your forces were crippled. World war 2, you against Executor, later Chaser joined. Executor attacked you, drove deep into your territory and almost defeated you again, I had to once again disrupt order in your army and goverment to weaken you, but then you introduced these so-called 'Firearms'. By this point Chaser had also introduced them, so I told myself 'Chaser is ready already, time to finish this war.' and allowed you to fight him with all your strength. I made a mistake and made you too weak, so I shitfed priorities and caused disorder in Executor's ranks for you to defeat him easily, then you killed him and found Chaser. World War 3 Begins after a year, and even though Chaser had far better technology you still had incredible numbers. It's funny, without my interference the 'Imperium of Patria' would have won several years ago already."

Chaser and Charon looked at themselves, the answer they fought for was revealed.

"Anyways, Chaser attacks, you get pushed back and defeated until Stallinox. I had to work with two sides now, taking care that the two of you waste enough forces for me to capture this world without trouble, one day I was siding with Chaser, the other with Charon, and so on. Zero's house was a rather fun event, it was more like 'How bad can Kaiserreich fail to capture that building until the Monster arrives.', then you were hit by that Monster. Fastforwarding a few days you were fighting in the castle grounds waiting for Concord's and Luna's reinforcements, this was harder to accomplish than any other: I had to take care of three sides, to help Chaser win and destroy the castle, to slow down Concord's and Luna's divisions and to make sure Luna's arrival would be just in time for Charon's turning-into-ashes event. Remember that general in stallinox?" She shaped her form to the general that was under Charon's command. "I was him, and my subjects were the ones undigging you."

"You purposefully sent Luna into depression for your own gains...?" Charon asked with anger, his eyes were slowly turning from gray to red. Concord was despairing at this sight.

"Well, duh. I continue: 2 months of ceasefire followed, Luna was depressed in the Ancient Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters, Concord became a drunkard and Chaser was sorrowful due to your death." She changed her form back to her Terran appearance. "Of course, I also knew you couldn't die, I sent my subjects to 'rescue' you from that pile of rocks and send you to Celestia. She told you to get the dragon's help, which you did, and when the battle commenced you arrived in full glory with the tanks and Luna to the field, destroying the Landkreuzer in the process. You had nothing else to lose, so you came up with a suicide mission to capture Chaser and end the war, and here we are now."

"You...The reason so many lives were wasted..." Charon began muttering, trying to control his fury.

"Oh, and another thing, Charon..." She smiled at him.

"What is it...?" He desperately tried not to charge towards her.

Chrysalis flared green and changed her form to another rather familiar Terran. She now had dark blue hair and pale skin. She brought a finger to her mouth and winked at Charon with a crooked smile. "You're a good kisser..." Those words were enough to reveal a horrible event: It wasn't Luna who was depressed in the ancient castle, it was Chrysalis in disguise, Luna had disappeared ever since Charon's death and he knew nothing about it.

'Oh god...Not this...Everything but this...!!!' Concord didn't want to believe what was happening, it's what he feared the most.

Charon lost his control, the iris of his eyes turned completely red, gave a loud warcry and charged forward at Chrysalis, unfolding his rapier and trying to slice her in half, only to be stopped by her as she grabbed him by the neck and lifted him up. "Where...Is Luna..." His words barely escaped as he was choked.

"You're so predictable it's not even funny..." She changed back to her original appearance and threw him towards the other two, and before Charon could stand up she raised her hand, making it glow with a green colour as she pointed at the three. They were enclosed by a green sphere, trying to escape but being unable to do anything; the sphere dug deeper and deeper into the ground until the three disappeared completely. "Hpmh," she raised her hand, "Now to take care of the rest..." An entire swarm of changelings arrived from the horizon, swarming the skies and darkening the sun.

Charon, Chaser and Concord woke up in a pitch black place, not being able to see anything past their noses.

"Everyone okay...? Gah..." Chaser asked, painfully trying to stand up in the darkness.

"Seems so..." Concord answered, creating a sphere of light in his hand, thus illuminating the place. They were in a dark cave with walls that reflected every image, and crystals growing up from the ground. "Charon, what are you..." He tried asking.

Charon inspected a segment of the reflective wall, passing his hand over the surface. He narrowed his eyes and tried punching the wall with all his might, but it didn't even leave a dent. He punched it three more times but the only thing that changed was the blood that was splattered on the wall.

"Well isn't this a comfy place?" The reflection of Chrysalis appeared on the wall.

"Where did you send us!?!" Concord yelled, Chaser and Charon stared at Chrysalis with anger.

"That's for you discover. I sent you to one of the caves below a remote place through teleportation, and now you're trapped here...Naturally, I'd like you to witness the new way of life I'll introduce, so there is a way of out here. You might want to explore this place for a bit, maybe you find something of 'interest'...Hahahah!!" Chrysalis laughed loudly, Charon became more and more furious, punching the wall Chrysalis was reflected seconds ago with a fraction of the demonic strength Discord talked about back in Canterlot, thus destroying the wall. Behind it, there was the skeleton of a pony with a note on the side.

"What's this...?" Asked Concord, walking to the skeleton and picking up the note. Upon reading some of the words, he realized whose skeleton it was and became sorrowful that things became worse and worse. "Charon...You should read this..." He handed him the note and backed off a few steps. Charon began reading it.

'Day...I assume it's two weeks already.

Found paper and quill, I assume they were brought to me since they were in optimal conditions, and it's rather strange to find such things in this place, wherever this place is located. I have learned that writing a journal might slow down the effects of isolation, and so I write this. Food and water were also brought to me, but I've yet to see my captors, I only find a day's ration in front of me when I wake up. Scratching the wall with my hoof to count the days now, shame I didn't think of that earlier.

Day 15.

Heard something outside, the voice of a pony in pain. Judging by the voice it's a young adult. I tried yelling for his attention but it appears he didn't hear me, most likely he's unconscious. I'll try another day.

Days 1~14.

I'd better write what happened in those days too, in case anypony finds me. At first I had no hope but seeing as another pony was brought here this place must be accessible, I lose nothing either since the ink bottle I was brought gets refilled every day.

The Great Pony War against Discord had finished, I saw peace and harmony returning once again thanks to Charon and heard about a 'Draconequus' that helped him. I heard he was the son of Discord, but seeing as he helped Charon he has good intentions. A day after that I woke up here, found bruises in my back and arms as if I was carried for a long time, those bruises are long gone now. Climate compared to Cabalderio is far colder, wherever I am I fear it's too far away for somepony to arrive by just coincidence.

The first day I feared I'd die of starvation, but at the second day I found food and water when I woke up. Strangely enough only after the second week was I given paper and quill. Nothing else happened this far, I don't know why they hold me prisoner, I don't know where or how I got here, I just want to get out.

Day 18

Tried to call for the other pony every day, no response. I'm starting to believe these...Cave-looking cells are soundproof somehow. Rations are lowering and becoming less frequent, less ink for writing too.

Day 21

Have to rationalize, writing less and eating just to survive. The kind of food they give me doesn't rot, saving for hard days.

Day 34

Starving, had to use the rations I saved.

Day 172

It's the end, I can see my bones, it's of no use holding out. Whoever holds me here is planning something and they need me out of the board. This is my last will and testament for whoever finds this: Let all my possessions be granted to Charon, he'll know who needs them the most and distribute them accordingly. Tell him he was an example to follow, and that Cabalderio owes him everything and more for his services. Who knows, maybe he is another God like Celestia and Luna...I'm going insane, the isolation is taking its toll. I still feel the thuds of the other pony on the wall, he is still alive and has the energy to move every day, whoever reads this *MUST** find him and see if he is alive. Let it be known that here fell Atticus, always faithful and loyal subject of the Immortal Terran Emperor Charon. Let his strength help the Terran Empire and its surrounding states in the dark times to follow.*

~Atticus'

A tear mixed with blood fell on top of the note, his sorrow and fury made him pop a vessel in his eye while he cried.

"Charon..." Concord tried to talk.

Charon grasped the note and crushed it with his hand, more tears fell down to the floor and his teeth showed. He punched on the walls next to him with fury and sorrow, shattering it a bit. "CHRYSALIS!!!!" He yelled, both Chaser and Concord could do nothing about this. "It was all a lie! My life here, the things I sacrificed myself for, the peace I fought for!!". He stood with his fist on the wall for a few moments, trying to cope with the losses and events that were revealed by Chrysalis. "And it was all my fault...I should have died back in Terra..." He suddenly felt the wall slightly vibrate, as if someone was hitting it with something. ' 'I still feel the thuds of the other pony on the wall...' ' Charon thought, remembering what Atticus wrote before passing away. "The other pony's alive, check the walls!!"

"What do we do?" Chaser asked.

"He's hitting the wall, go see where the vibration is greater!!"

The three of them scrambled and began checking the walls, passing their hands over the surface and feeling the thuds, trying to discover where it came from.

"Found it!!" Concord exclaimed.

"Move aside." Charon ordered from the other side of the narrow cave. Concord moved, Charon charged towards the wall and cracked it open with his shoulder, once he got to the other side and the debris settled down he saw a pony on the ground starving, his bones could be seen over the skin. He was a white-skinned unicorn with blue mane, his eyes were light blue and he had a blue shield with a pink-purple six pointed star in the middle as his cutie mark, it also had three light blue stars above the shield.

"Back off, I know more medicine that you all." Ordered Chaser.

"You know horse anatomy...?" Asked Concord.

"I was in a farm until I turned 12, then I moved to the city. The conditions of the farm were horrible at best, so the horses my family had often got injured and we didn't have enough money to pay for vets." He explained as he checked up on the pony. "He has no external nor internal damage, he is just starving." He carefully picked up the exhausted pony and carried him over his shoulders, thankfully it was just a pony, not a full grown horse, so he could cope with the weight.

"Concord, can you get us out of here?" Asked Charon.

"This place blocks my teleportation magic, maybe it has something to do with those crystals."

"Fine...The letter said that this place was accessible, where?"

"There's only one path through the cave, let's follow it." He suggested, running over to Chaser who almost fell to his knees and helping him with the white unicorn.

The three of them walked through the cave, seeing the reflective walls all over the place and the crystals that grew from the floor, but they reached a point where the crystals looked like they were halfway extracted. After more walking they saw almost no crystals, as if it was mined out in this part.

"We're getting closer to something, it seems." Stated Chaser.

They kept on walking, the pony had already passed out, until they arrived to a railway with a cart stationed at the end. It was at the top of an elevation, being held in place by a plank that looked like it could break any moment.

"Everyone to the cart." Ordered Charon.

"Are you sure of this?" Asked Concord.

"I accept any other suggestion."

Having no other ideas, Concord shrugged and helped Chaser get the pony on the cart, then he and Chaser jumped aboard. Charon positioned himself on the front of the cart inside, gripping the plank holding it in place ready to break it.

"Everyone ready?" He asked.

"Ready." Answered Chaser.

Charon sighed. "And here we go..." He gripped and twisted the plank which didn't let go until he broke it, the sudden movement of the cart threw him back inside with the others. It moved at considerable speed through the twists and turns of the railway. Charon narrowed his eyes as he looked at the front, until he saw that one side of the railway was broken. "Railway's broken! Push left on my mark!!"

"Dammit!!" Complained Concord as he positioned himself with Chaser ready to push.

"Mark!!" At his order Chaser and Concord pushed the cart to the left, making it lean on its side and successfully pass the broken railway. "Another!! Lean right on my mark!! ...Mark!!" They shifted positions and threw themselves to the right, avoiding the broken part. "Ramp in front, no way to avoid it, brace for impact and protect the pony, we're about to go flying!!"

"Ramp?!" Concord moved to the front and stared, Chaser soon enough joining. In front of them was the broken part of the railway with the steel rails bent upwards forming a ramp directly above a chasm, with a cliff and a cave exit directly in front emanating light. Chaser gave a head gesture to head back and prepare the pony, to which Concord complied.

They neared to the ramp at considerably speed until they were sent flying by it, in the air they managed to stay in the cart with the pony, but when it landed the cart was sent spinning with the four occupants being thrown out violently and scattering in the dirt.

"No injuries?" Asked Charon, standing up and holding his head with pain.

"I don't have any." Answered Concord, cleaning the dust off his clothes.

"The pony's bleeding, but it's still alive." Stated Chaser while carrying the pony that bled from one of its legs.

Charon looked at the cave exit, he saw a blizzard far worse than what was present in Kaiserreich, this place wasn't anything they had known already, and if they got out it would severely affect the pony's injury. "Does your magic work now, Concord?"

Concord grabbed a small rock on the floor and focused on it. It suddenly turned into smoke and the same rock appeared a few feet away in a cloud of smoke. "It does." He stood up and walked closer to Chaser and Charon, he held their shoulders and closed his eyes, focusing on the spell. They turned into smoke in an instant, leaving the strange place they were located in seconds ago.