Equestrian Dawn: Tiberium is Magic

Silver Alliance

“So…why is it that I have to be here and General Shepherd doesn’t?” Shining Armor asked his princess.

Both Princess Luna and The Captain of the Royal Guard were standing along the southern border with five hundred Royal Guards in tow. These were Shining Armor’s “Siege Stunners” the veterans from the battle of Fort Cadance a few days ago. He coined the name for the battalion and decided to make them his own personal guard detachment. He immediately recognized a few new faces that had replaced his casualties recently.

“General Shepherd is busy mobilizing our defense troops. You heard that these enemies have been spreading around Equestria, have you not?” Luna inquired, raising her eyebrow at her defense servant.

“Yeah, I’ve heard. Why do you think they call themselves The Brotherhood? The captured soldiers from Fort Cadance that we’ve interrogated kept ranting on about Divination and A New World Order. Its unnerving to listen to,” he frowned as he stared out into Karalian territory.

The lush and vibrant grassy fields across from them were only complimented by the purple mountain range in the backdrop. Celestia’s sun gave the landscape that shine of beauty. Shining Armor had heard that while northern Karalia was lively and beautiful, southern Karalia was a pony-made wasteland, thanks to the razing and destruction of the landscape by both the Ustian and Karalian armies.

“Some of them seem to be completely insane. Tiberium, Kane, Nod, your highness, what do all these words mean? I’ve heard many of them repeat these words multiple times during interrogation,”the white unicorn stallion eyed his princess with worry after he finished.

“We wish we can say, but we’re just as lost in the dark as you are,” Luna remarked glumly, as she dropped her head and sighed.

“Also, the public is getting all riled up about some green gems that seem to be spouting out of the ground all over Equestria. That seems kinda strange doesn’t it?” Shining Armor asked, desperately wanting at least one answer to his many questions.

“Well, thousand-year banishment of not, We’ve always known Equestria as a strange country with peculiar events being the norm,” Luna answered.

“So you’re saying its normal?” the Captain said with uncertainty.

“Perhaps. We shall learn more as we progress. Besides, this is much more important,” Luna emphasised, keeping a calm expression.

“What are we doing here?”

“You’ll see,”

After Luna spoke, a purple hot-air balloon touched down behind them and in front of the Royal Guards. Six brightly-colored mares hopped out.

“Ooooh! Why are all these Royal Guards here? Are we gonna have a parade!?” the pink pony with a high-pitched squealy voice yelped with glee.

The pink pony smiled a wide, toothy smile at the Royal Guards behind them. Some of the guards’ eyes grew wide and a few gunners slowly sunk their bodies down their turret hatches and out of view.

Squeak!

Even Pinkie Pie’s cutest squeak made some of the guards visibly uncomfortable.

“No Pinkie. Princess Luna called us out here to announce something important. Why she called us all the way out to the southern border beats me though,” Twilight Sparkle remarked, lifting her eyebrows at the peculiar scene.

She and her friends had landed their balloon in between a battalion of Royal Guards and her brother, who was talking to Luna while staring out across the border with their backs to her.

“Why are they facing in that direction for?” she pondered as she trotted in their direction, the ryhtmic clopping of her hooves clearly audible.

“Ahem,” Twilight cleared her throat.

Both ponies stopped their conversation and turned to the bookish unicorn.

“Your Highness,” Twilight stated politely, bowing before the lunar goddess.

“Ah! Twilght Sparkle and friends! Glad you all could make it!” Princess Luna announced upon seeing the six mares appoach and bow before her.

“Please rise,” she added.

The six friends rose and waited for Luna to speak. Shining Armor was more than surprised to see his little sister and her posse here. He decided to put down the binoculars he was holding and turned his body completely around to listen.

“My little ponies…we are at war,” Luna simply stated.

“An unknown enemy has infiltrated our borders and is wreaking havoc all across Equestria. Not much is known about them at this point. They call themselves The Brotherhood and appartently they use technologically advanced weapons to aid in their cause.

…Also, there is something else as well,” Luna added, her voice starting to quiver.

“Princess, ya just tell us what ya need and we’ll carry it out the best we can!” Applejack commented, ready to take on whatever challenge that may present itself.

“We are at your service, Princess,” Twilight added.

Luna took a deep breath and appeared to be nervous. She looked into Twilight’s eyes with a disheartening expression.

“The Elements of Harmony have disappeared,” the alicorn simply stated.

“WHAT!?” All six friends shouted in unison.

“Not again!” Rainbow Dash complained.

“This is just like what happened with that Discord feller!” Applejack groaned in exasperation.

“WE HAVE ALSO LEARNED SOMETHING ABOUT THE ELEMENTS THEMSELVES AFTER DOING A LITTLE RESEARCH!” the Princess shouted in the Royal Canterlot voice to yell over the complaining, groaning, and whining of the six Element bearers.

She cleared her throat to start her briefing but saw Shining Armor holding his ears and wincing in pain. All Luna could do was give him a guilty smile.

“Sorry,” she said in a contrastingly soft voice.

“Rest in peace eardrums,” he grunted quietly, his hooves still over his ears.

“It is said that when history witnesses a great change, the Elements disappear. They are hidden across the land, hidden together during the first two major changes in history and scattered apart the third time, to test the ponies that seek them. And only the true Element bearers can find them without the aid of the Tacitus,” Luna recited the passage she had read earlier in an aged book of legends that she had stumbled upon. It was in the Royal Library while she was looking for a passage on mysterious green gems.

“This tactic is employed by the Elements themselves as a countermeasure to falling into the wrong hooves during a time of crisis. Inconveinent for you of course. Seeing that Celestia had to gather the Elements to imprision us in the moon, the first and second changes of history have already been expended by you six,”

“Are you implying that we have to-” Twilight was cut off before she finished.

“The first being Nightmare Moon’s return and the second being Discord’s recent return. So yes, this time the Elements won’t be hidden together,” Luna finished.

“So…let me get this straight. You mean that the Elements are spread across Equestria and only we can find them? But what about this Tacitus?” Twilight asked, her inquisitive nature kicking in.

“I’ve never heard of that anywhere,” she shook her head, looking puzzled.

Luna scrunched her face momentarily. She was afraid Twilight might pick up on that.

“We might as well tell them the full legend. We were hoping this day wouldn’t come,” the princess thought.

Sure it was a long-shot, but for some unexplained reason, she felt that this topic was relevant to their predicament.

But why?

Why did she feel this way?

Why was it nessesary for her to tell them about this? Of course she knew about the Tacitus, but only from what Discord had told Celestia and her…

During their battle with him, two thousand years ago.

Discord had been trying to search for this mysterious anomaly once he realized that he was losing the battle against the Royal Pony Sisters. Luna remembered that Discord believed that it would give him an edge. Discord retreated frantically from the two alicorns, looking for his ace in the hole. He believed it could absorb the power of the Elements and thus, steal them from his adversaries.

But the Spirit of Chaos never found it.

He was turned to stone before he had a chance.

Twilight looked at her expectantly.

“Fine. The Tacitus is an anicent artifact that is said to be connected to the Elements of Harmony. In fact, the Elements are actually pieces of the Tacitus. The Tacitus itself is considered to be the object that created the universe,” Luna paused to take a breath, taking notice of the eavesdropping guards that were listening intently behind the six friends.

“It itself was created by a god that Discord had destroyed long before Celestia and I were born. His name was Tiberius Hoofius Seasoar, if memory serves us right,” Luna took a breath, almost completing her history lesson.

The Lunar Princess had two more important points to cover. As much she wanted to shut up and speak no more of the subject, a small voice inside of her urged her to let it out and convinced her that it was unhealthy to keep secrets bottled up for so long.

“The Tacitus must be united with the Elements of Harmony to function. And even then it still needs one more piece to the equation…” Luna paused, making the anticipation kill the six ponies sitting on their haunches, listening to the secrets of the past.

“The device itself is powered by a substance, supposedly one that bears that dead god’s name. This substance is said to have brought unspeakable horrors to the world in ancient times before Discord’s power vanquished it. And the Tacitus itself is said to be even worse. There is an ancient rumor that it has the ability to do anything the wielder wishes,” Luna began to visibly shake as just telling this tale was making her uncomfortable.

The contents and imagery of the next line used to give her nightmares when she was younger.

“Appartently, it has the power to vaporize entire worlds,” Luna finished.

“That would make sense really. After all, it did create the universe,” Rarity analyzed.

“Frightening. Does it really exist Princess?” the fashionista added shuddering at the concept that such destruction was possible.

“Not that we know of. Though if you asked Discord, he would claim it true,” the alicorn answered.

A retreating draconequus banked hard right to dodge a bolt fired from the Element of Laughter. Another bolt, this one from the Element of Loyalty, grazed his horn while letting out the cry of a riocheting bullet, and caused his tusk to singe.

He was losing.

Luna and Celestia were on his tail, Elements of Harmony in tow. Discord soared through the air, desperately trying to reach the volcano. This volcano was the spot where he had defeated Emperor Seasoar, and the spot where the Emperor made his grave.

“I can’t believe I let them get their hooves on the Elements! No matter, once I have the Tacitus, I can use it to absorb them. I was such a foal for not grabbing it when I had the chance! It has to be here! Can’t teleport just yet- a little closer an-”

Two bolts from the Elements of Kindness and Magic struck him in the back simultaneously. He cried out as he started to lose altitude, smoke billowing out from where he was hit. His body began to swivel out of control as gravity took a hold of him.

A bolt from the Element of Honesty drilled him in the shoulder during his descent and followed by a Element of Laughter bolt causing the Spirit of Chaos to grunt as it slammed into his gut.

His body rammed into the earth with a crash, kicking up dust from the newly-formed crater under him. To say he was disoriented was an understatement.

It was then when two majestic alicorn princesses approached him slowly. Their hooves clopped against the barren, hard ground beneath them, the Elements floating over their heads forming a perfect cirle with the Element of Magic in the middle.

The white light that emanated out of both alicorns’ eyes was as blinding as the identical light coming from the Elements themselves.

“DISCORD!” Celestia yelled in an powerful and otherworldly version of the Royal Canterlot voice.

“YOU HAVE TERRORIZED THIS WORLD FOR FAR TOO LONG! THE TIME HAS COME FOR JUSTICE TO BE SERVED!” the sun goddess declared.

“THIS FINAL BLOW WILL TURN YOU INTO STONE FOR THE REST OF ETERNITY AND ALL YOUR DELUSIONS OF YOUR PRECIOUS “TACITUS” SHALL BE WIPED FROM YOUR MEMORY! THE NEW WORLD MY SISTER AND I WANT TO BUILD WILL NOT TOLERATE SUCH HORRIBLE WEAPONS…OR YOU!” Princess Luna’s voice boomed.

At the last line, both princesses channeled their energy into the Elements of Harmony and fired a beam reminiscent of that of a rainbow. It blasted through Discord’s magically hardened flesh and fur and burrowed deep into his body. It even reached his core and his soul. The stone chewed its way through his body until all was taken over. His pained scream was the last thing heard as everything went silent.

Rainbow hopped ontop of Pinkie’s back and gave Luna a confused look.

“So you’re telling us about an artifact that can end life as we know it why?” Rainbow demanded, tilting her head in curiousity.

Luna ignored the disrespect and answered sheepishly while pointing a hoof at Twilight.

“She asked,”

Pinkie Pie took this chance to turn her head three hundred and sixty degrees and looked up at the pegasus standing on her.

Rainbow gave her a confused glance.

“What?” she bluntly asked her friend.

Pinkie proceeded to give Rainbow Dash one long lick from the bottom her chin, over her mouth and nose, all the way to the top of her forehead. When the pink pony completed her task, she went wall-eyed with her tongue still sticking out, her face a mere few inches from Dash’s.

Rainbow just blinked and stared at her hyper pink friend for a few seconds.

“Uhh…”

“So you do taste like ice cream!” Pinkie cheered happily while clapping her forehooves together in delight.

Rainbow wiped some of Pinkie’s drool from her mouth and shifted her eyes back and forth uncomfortably.

“RRIIIGGHHT,” was the only response the cyan flier could formulate as one of her wings twitched briefly.

“Did I…enjoy that?” the pegasus pushed the thought away in horror as a shiver went down her spine.

The creaking of deisel engines could be heard as two tiny black specs became visible over the hoizon from across the border. As the two specs got closer, the noise of the roaring engines only grew louder.

The tracked vehicles that stopped in front of them reminded Shining Armor of the ‘Battle of The Valley’ as the engagement that took place at Fort Cadence was being called. They looked exactly like the light tanks that his Seige Stunners fought.

The only difference was that these were painted pure black, in contrast to the light gray of the Nod tank. The two ponies in each of the turret seats had hopped out and landing in front of their respective tanks.

There was a short yellow unicorn colt on the left. He looked very young and was donned in all black. His bell-shaped helmet had a single silver bar painted on the front of it and on the collar of his solid black combat uniform also showed the bar again, one on each side.

His mane was sticking out of the bottom of his helmet, revealing him to be blond with sky blue eyes. His uniform hid his cutie mark and held the submachinegun laying over his back in place. A pair of night vision googles with light green lenses sat over his helmet with what appeared to be a microphone attached to it.

He looked completely lost and astonished, but then he scanned and picked out a certain yellow pegasus in the group across from him, and stared intently. Fluttershy grew nervous and slowly backed up to hide behind Rarity, poking her head out slightly at the two newcomers.

“He’s creepy,” Fluttershy whimpered.

“Shh…it’s okay darling,” Rarity whispered back to her.

The other was dressed in the same fashion as the yellow unicorn but instead of a single silver bar, his helmet and collars displayed dual gold bars linked together by thinner gold bars on the top and bottom of the insignia.

This one was a brown earth pony with olive green eyes. His mane also showed brown and stood about the height of Twilight Sparkle. He also looked younger than her as well. Over his back laid a chrome black, Mare-4 assault rifle and a katana with a hoof grip, clipped to his uniform on his flank. He also had an exact replica of the yellow unicorn’s googles over his helmet as well.

His face was stern yet exhausted.

He did not look like he had smiled in a month.

He eyed the group of ponies in front of him with curiosity. He rose an eyebrow, sighed, and turned to face Luna. He then struck out with the wierdest salute Twilight and her friends have seen.

He had his saluting foreleg tucked in close to his chest, rather than sticking out at an angle like a normal salute would have looked, and the bottom of his hoof was facing back towards him, the tip touching the brim of his helmet. The yellow unicorn followed suit and snapped his own identical salute.

“Who are these weirdos?” Rainbow Dash thought, giving both of the foreigners an glance that betrayed her feeling of awkwardness.

“Ma’am, Ensign Silverstein reports as ordered,” the brown earth pony half-yelled in a young voice with a professional tone.

The alicorn goddess shifted her eyes awkwardly at the situation, not having any clue how to respond to that. Shining Armor glared at the display of improper acknowledgement.

“That courtesy might be proper for a senior officer but to a *Princess*!? Who does this prick think he is?” the Guard Captain audibly growled at the thought, almost loud enough to draw attention.

Twilight caught on to tension and awkwardness and decided to act immediately. She cleared her throat and glared to both of them to get the two ponies across from her to look in her direction.

“Pssst…you’re supposed to bow,” she whispered to them with a nervous smile, failing terribly at being inconspicuous.

The brown colt dropped his salute and turned to the violet unicorn.

“Uhh…you’re serious?” he replied aprehensively.

Her violet eyes strained even harder at him.

He shot his subordinate a bemused glance and the yellow unicorn just responded by cutting his salute and kneeling to the ground in a pitiful bow. The brown pony merely sighed and dropped as well.

As he began to speak again, a feeling awkwardness overtook him.

He had never bowed before.

Maybe to dodge a stray bullet or to do push-ups but never as a formality.

“Your highness…my apologizes.  Ensign Blaze Silverstein, field commander of the Delta Strike Commandos, Republic of Karalia Special Forces Division,”

He pointed a hoof towards the yellow unicorn.

“This is my second-in-command, First Lieutenant Thundercoy Davis. By the orders of the Chancellor of Karalia himself, I am hereby obligated to confirm that our nation is willing to extend a military alliance with the Kingdom of Equestria,”

The Ensign was trying his best to be as professional as possible and to hide his nervousness. He cleared his throat and prepared to speak again.

“Also by the order of the Chancellor, I and my division are to be placed under the command of the Royal Pony Sisters and I myself am to be treated with the equal rank and respect as your ‘Captian of the Royal Guard’. We have also been notified that all Delta members are to train your Royal Guards in the art of modern weaponry,”

The dark blue alicorn was visibly stunned.

All of that came so fast that there was no way she could’ve absorbed everything the brown young stallion in front of her just said. Needless to say, she still didn’t completely trust ANY Karalian thus far.

“Uhh…so we already have created a plan to seek out the relocated Elements of Harmony and integrate our own troops with our Karalian allies,” Luna announced, though her voice seemed strained at the mention of the country.

As she went ahead to speak of her and Shining Armor’s plan, they came to the conclusion that Twilight and her friends must split up and search across Equestria in teams. Each team will consist of mixed Royal Guard and Delta Commando forces, allowing the Karalians to train the Royal Guards in the field.

Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Lieutenant Davis were to make up the first group with some attached Royal Guards and Deltas for protection. Their mission was to search for the Elements in western Equestria, from Ponyville to Manhattan.

The second group would be responsible for Eastern Equestria, spanning from Canterlot all the way to Appleloosa. This team would consist of Twilight Sparkle, Shining Armor, Ensign Silverstein, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and the other half of the coalition troops.

“It’s settled then, everypony up to speed?” Shining Armor asked.

“Well Captain, my Mirage Battalion will be here soon to mingle with your Guards. Most of them, including myself and Davis, are veterans of the Ustian war. But don’t worry, I’ll tell my colts to play nice,” Blaze told Shining while giving him a wink.

Shining Armor frowned as the brown earth pony passed him and advanced towards his sister and her friends.

“I have an ominous feeling that me and this Karalian kid are gonna have issues,” Shining Armor thought, his gut feeling like he had swallowed a rock.

He already disliked the Ensign.

As he watched Blaze make acquaintances with the six mares, he heard the buzzing of more engines from across the border.

“So uhh…Ensign is it?” Twilight asked apprehensively.

The brown pony looked at all six of the attractive mares in front of him and choked on his words as he tried to speak.

Rainbow and Twilight raised their eyebrows at each other as Blaze was trying his best to resist a faint blush on his cheeks.

“Aww, his cheeks are turning a delightful shade of red. Isn’t that cute?” Rarity mused as the others began to chuckle.

He frowned slightly and took a deep breath and tried to speak again. This time the mares’ laughter cut him off and he sighed in frustration. No matter what he did, he couldn’t shake the speechlessness.

This only made his face redder.

“Ok girls, I think he’s had enough,” Twilight said as she let out the last of her giggles.

“Right...anyways Ensign, tell us more about yourself,” Twilight asked with a grin.

“What IS Karalia like anywho?” Applejack inquired.

“Have you ever killed anypony?” Rainbow brashly asked, earning a jab in the ribs from Twilight.

“Rainbow!”

“What!?”

“HUUUU! HI! I’M PINKIE PIE! WHAT’S YOUR NAME!? DO YOU LIKE TO PARTY!? BECAUSE I LIKE TO PARTY! DO YOU WANNA BE MY FRIEND? PLEASE SAY YES! PLEASE SAY YES! I ALWAYS WANT NEW FRIENDS! I EVEN WROTE A SONG ABOUT IT AND STARTED A FLASH MOB IN PONYVILLE! WHY DO THEY CALL IT A FLASH MOB ANYWAY? THERE’S NO FLASHING AND THERE’S NO MOBBING EITHER BUT I DID FIND A TACO! DOES THAT METAL THING ON YOUR BACK SHOOT LOLIPOPS?! I WANT ONE! I LOVE ALL LOLIPOPS EXCEPT FOR GRAPE FLAVORED! WHY ARE YOU SO YOUNG? HAVE YOU EVER LICKED YOUR FRIEND’S FACE THINKING IT WAS ICE CREA-”

“Ok Pinkie, let’s try to not to fry his brain today. Alright?” Rainbow chuckled sheepishly as she pushed Pinkie Pie away from him with a hoof over the pink pony’s still active mouth.

“Sorry about that. She can be a little…”

“Overbearing?” Blaze finished.

“Yeah, that’s it,” Twilight confirmed.

An awkward silence began to ensue as the Karalian looked over his shoulder to watch a convoy of black humvees and light tanks cross the border into Equestria.

“My battalion’s here,” he stated blandly, no emotion to betray whatever feelings he had, if he had any.

“Well, if I may introduce myself finally, my name is Twilight Sparkle,” the unicorn said with a heartwarming smile.

The Karalian saw her offer her hoof and he shook it.

“Nice to meet you too. Judging by your lack of uniforms…or clothes for that matter, I’ll assume that you guys are civilians. In that case, Blaze or Silver will do fine,” he said as he released Twilight’s hoof.

“Why, hello Blaze. My name is Rarity if you may,” the other unicorn addressed with her best ettique as she gracefully bowed in front of him.

Blaze, without a clue of how to react, but stood there naively.

“Howdy there pardner! You got any trouble, you come ta Applejack, ya hear?”  an orange earth pony said as she shook his hoof with a vengance, making him dizzy.

Applejack realized what she was doing and let go, causing the young military officer to stumble and fall flat on his face.

“Whoops…” the farm-pony uttered.

As his face left the dirt-covered ground, a wide-eyed Pinkie Pie stood mere inches from his face. She gazed down at him and glared with the poutest face the hyper pink pony could make.

“…PINK-IE PIE!” she growled slowly and deliberately as she backed away cautiously, still glaring at him with every step.

“FEAR ME!” she yelled randomly into the air as she suddenly turned around and ran away, giggling like a schoolfilly.

After that, a cyan pegasus flew in front of him and hovered a few feet in the air.

“Oh yeah!” she grunted with a cocky flair as she licked her hoof and slicked her mane back with it.

She stretched her legs and wings, as if she was getting ready for a race.

“Name’s Rainbow Dash. Buuuuttt, I’m pretty sure you’ve already heard stories of my bravery and awesomeness,” she milked as her voice cracked mid-sentence.

“Uhhh…and who are you?”

The brown earth pony was pointing his hoof at a butter-colored mare trying to hide behind Rarity once more. She poked her head out and with great reluctance, she spoke.

“I’m Fluttershy,” she whispered as she lost confidence in mid-sentence.

“…She’s Fluttershy,” Twilight reverberated.

“Delicate as a water lily,”Rarity added.

“Quiet, shy, and yellow-coated? She reminds me of Davis already,” Blaze commented.

“So Blaze, you’re about our age. Er…maybe a little younger. How did you become a commanding officer so fast?” Twilight asked with geniune curiousity.

“It’s kinda easy when the Deltas recruit foals at five years old. I’ve been either in training or fighting the Ustians for about ten years now,” Blaze replied.

“Ok, so I’ve been the Ensign for four years, which apparently is quite a feat, considering that most Ensigns usually get clipped by their second or third year. So if I get clipped, Davis is the new Ensign. One time, our country chewed through twenty-six Ensigns in the span of one year. That would also explain how a buffon like me finally got his turn,” the Karalian answered, chuckling at the dark humor.

“Hmm…how many Ensigns does your military field at a time?” Shining Armor asked, sneaking up behind him.

“Well…uh, one. One at a time to command the Deltas. I die, Davis takes my place. Davis dies, somepony else will take his. Neat system, right?” Blaze quipped.

“Not that much different from us…I still don’t like him though. Hehe,” the guard captain thought.

Then he noticed something strange that caught his eye. A black pegasus with a few yellow stripes in his mane approached Blaze, donning a metal gold dot on the front of his Delta helmet. The odd-looking pegasus snapped Blaze one of those funky-looking Karalian salutes.

Blaze quickly returned it and they both cut simultaneously.

“Sergeant Matrix, good to see your still alive,” Blaze smiled.

“You know I can’t be killed sir,” Matrix replied with a cocky yet playful undertone.

“Yeah, that’s what the sergeant that you replaced told me. I’m putting you in charge of Alphex team. Think you can handle it?” the Ensign asked with a smile.

“I save your life and you only give me Alphex team? What’s up with that?” the pegasus replied with an evil smile.

“It was one time man! Haha, you take care of yourself Matty,” Blaze chuckled as Matrix saluted him and Blaze returned it.

As the black pony left the scene, Shining Armor was appalled.

“He…that coat color…what the…” he mumbled incohernetly.

“Actually, black-colored ponies are pretty common in Karalia,” Blaze stated matter-of-factly.

“You Karalians are wierdos. So…different from us…yet…so similar,” Princess Luna wondered outloud, trotting in between Blaze and Shining.

“We just spoke with a lot of your stallions…and mares, commander. Mares in the military! Can you believe that?! Why doesn’t our big sister have that already? We’re going to legalize it in Equestria too!” Luna droned on happily, excited that her prejudice against the Karalians had been proven wrong for the moment.

Blaze smiled at that.

Today was an excellent day for him.

He usually never smiles this much.

“We were having doubts about you foreigners, but your troops are so well-mannered! They even bowed properly for us!” Luna cried with elation, as she could swore she felt her heart flutter with joy.

Silverstein laughed nervously at that, his own botched greeting attempt with the lunar goddess still fresh in his mind. He was also wondering why his troops decided to act like angels now, when usually his troops heartless killers on the battlefield.

Maybe the Equestrians gave them the boost in morale and spirit that the Deltas so desperately needed. After only knowing a nation ripped apart by constant war, the sight of these rather peaceful Equestrian ponies must have opened up their hearts in a way, even if it was only for a brief moment.

“We will take our leave to check up on our big sister and her recovery. Farewell, brave souls,”

And with that, Luna flew off into the sky, the sun sitting high among the clouds, indicating that it was around noon.

“Hey, I think its time we split up into our teams and get this thing started. What do you say?” Shining Armor asked.

“After you…” Blaze replied.

Huge filler chapter! Plot advancement and no action! Sorry guys but don’t worry, things will start to pick up again starting next chapter!